'I am gentle enough to soothe your skin, light enough to fly in the sky, strong enough to crack rocks.'


The next morning bright sunlight coming in through the windows eased Susan awake groggily, she shuddered in the crisp morning air and felt her skin tingle with numbness in her feet and fingers, she'd intended to find the heating last night after a short rest on the bed but her short rest had turned into a full blown sleep right through to the early hours of the day. Stiffly she sat up and stretched, her limbs and back were twisted and sore from sleeping in a tightly balled up position all night, it was nothing a warm cup of coffee and a bath would sort out, however this meant a trip to the local shop as she had no essentials in the apartment as of yet.

Susan didn't bother dressing any differently, there was no point yet if she was going to be getting a bath; Susan checked the local area on her phone for a convenience store, there was one just around the corner so she grabbed her keys, pulled on her shoes, picked up her purse and left the apartment in search on amenities. When she reached the so called shop the place looked like it had been boarded up and abandoned for some time, the streets were still quite deserted apart from the weekend workers hurrying over to the tube station, Susan huffed and saw her breath in the icy morning before rubbing her eyes and returning back to her apartment, she'd have to make a trip out to the city this weekend and use what she little she had left of her expenses allowance to stock up.

The bathroom was clean but very out of date, like it had been fitted back in the fourties, the suite was a dark green in colour and made the room look smaller than it actually was. Susan twisted the tap to the hot water and she heard a knocking noise before water started to come out, a rich brown, Susan recoiled away and waited for the water to run clear but as it did the water turned from a spurting gush into a slow trickle, she turned it off and tried the sink which did exactly the same but then slowed to nothing. Today was going to be a pain, she could already tell.

Susan knocked for a third time, this time as loud as possible, on the landlady's bottom floor flat which was completely silent inside but still there was no answer. Susan looked around the hallway for any sort of sign on the wall that would indicate an emergency contact number but the walls were bare apart from the strips of wallpaper peeling off here and there. Susan was starting to get frustrated and a little emotional, she'd not wanted to come back to Gotham, she's been so completely happy where she was and now she'd been dragged back to this slum to live out the remainder of her days, she wondered why she was being punished.

Back upstairs Susan stood outside her apartment door looking over the one on her left, as much as she didn't want to she had no other options, Edward must have some sort of contact for the landlady, so she walked over flattening back windswept strands of her hair and hesitated before knocking, why did she feel so anxious about this? Perhaps it was because she's only really had to interact with Edward in a working environment and it was usually he that initiated conversation first, she'd never had to rely on him in the GCPD for anything, how the tables had turned. Susan knocked on the door and stood back waiting for his familiar face to appear in the doorway but just like downstairs there was no answer. Of course Susan smiled wearily, everyone has a social life on the weekend including Edward of all people.

Edward was stood halfway out of the lift watching Susan in her failed attempt to contact him, he smiled at the thought that it had been less than twenty four hours and she was already in need of his assistance, though he hadn't expected any less. Edward had sabotaged the water supply the previous morning, all it would take would be a quick tweak of a wrench on one vital spot of the plumbing and the water would flow freely again, as for the landlady downstairs, he'd slipped some Valium into her morning brew earlier when he'd gone down to the local shop a couple of blocks away which he purposefully removed from the local GPD so that it didn't appear on internet searches. Edward was always two steps ahead of everything.

"Hi Edward," Susan said tiredly as she caught him walking towards her down the hallway, "Sorry to catch you so early but I need your help."

Edward looked over Susan's tired and dishevelled appearance, she clearly hadn't slept well, she was still wearing her clothes from the previous day and dark circles were starting to appear under her blue eyes, Edward felt a twinge of something as he watched her try to smile at him, yes there it was again as she patted down her usually kept hair and leaned on the wall waiting for him to draw nearer, it was definitely a pang of guilt but quickly he dismissed it.

"Ms. Lewis." Edward said approaching the woman, "Is everything alright?" He knew the answer already but he had to play the game.

"Call me Susan Edward." Susan said rubbing her eyes, "Not really, there's problems in the apartment and I can't get in touch with the landlady. Do you have a number for her?"

"Afraid I can't help you there," Edward lied, "The woman goes out on the weekend to visit family and as technophobic as she is, no mobile phone."

Susan was at a loss, she felt like she was going to burst into tears at any moment but managed to hold herself together a little while longer, "Okay no problem, thanks anyway Edward." Susan said crossing her arms and heading back to her apartment.

"Susan," Edward called after her and he watched as she slowly turned back towards him, "What's your problem? All these apartments are pretty much the same, I might be able to help you out." He watched as Susan's face changed again from hopelessness to something brighter, the power once again to have control over the simplest of things.