'I can be stolen or given away and you will live, yet you cannot live without me.'


And there it was.

Edward noticed it immediately, the look in her eyes, the quick look back down away from his penetrating stare, her thumbs rolling over the edge of the cup anxiously and her lip slightly indented, not obvious to the regular person, where she was biting it inside. Her body was tensed, her breathing heightened, though this may have been down to the cold, and her excessive blinking coupled with silence. Right now Susan's body would be exuding pheromones in little puffs from her skin and and her heart would be thumping more beats to the minute, palpitating in her slightly aroused state. Weren't bodies a marvellous thing, Edward could almost smell the newly realised want she had begun to feel and all it took was timing, a 'knight in shining armour' approach and a heavy gaze. Susan was as he expected, a submissive.

"I'm glad you're enjoying it." Edward smiled clasping his own cup and continuing to let his gaze linger on her face, she wouldn't pick up on the double entendre he had used purposefully but he was surprised he saw her quickly glance up with a spark of realisation in her eyes, she had, what a good girl and clever too, even more exciting. "So what are you planning for the rest of your day?"

"Oh," Susan said after swallowing her mouthful quickly and feeling the hard lump painfully go down her throat, "Shopping mainly, essentials and housewares. Which tube stop is the closest, I could do with it being near, I've got quite a lot to get." Susan thought that she'd probably need to make a few trips back and forth to fully kit out the apartment but today food and bedding was the priority.

"Well there's a shopping mall you'll get everything in one go in the next district but that's quite far away, right in the centre of Gotham, here in the outskirts we've got grocery stores and that's your lot." Edward said breaking his gaze after she had not looked at him for several minutes now, the moment of rapture had now eluded Susan he noted, they were back to polite conversation, how he enjoyed then to and for of this game.

"The shop nearby is derelict, looks like it has been for sometime...didn't you say you went out earlier to one?" Susan asked casually looking over but Edward was no longer staring, her body relaxed again and she stopped squeezing her thighs together.

"Dont tell me you went to the one two blocks down?" Edward said giving her a sideways look and a sly smile as he drank more of his tea.

"That's what it gave me here." Susan said tapping the top of her phone with her index finger.

"Hmph. Technology for you." Edward said, "You never know what will go wrong, imperfect machines made by imperfect machines. Now, the human body, that's something you can rely on knowing everything about for sure." Edward raised an eyebrow and finished his tea, he saw Susan look up and knew he'd sparked her interest. "For example," Edward placed his cup on the saucer and pressed his palms together entwining his fingers, "Did you know, loneliness is actually physically painful. Just as you have a drive to avoid physical pain, you have a similarly powerful drive to connect with others and seek companionship - in order to avoid the pain of loneliness." Edward waited for Susan's response to the information he'd just given her, there was, as always, two sides to it but he wondered if she'd catch this one though it was rather obvious.

Susan felt watched again, was she imagining things or was that some sort of subconscious suggestion he'd just thrown her way, was he trying to tell her in his bizarre way that she didn't have to be lonely or was he trying to suggest that he thought she might be hurting because she'd had to come back to Gotham and she had no one. No, he was just being brain box Edward, showing off his vast intelligence hoping someone would notice him for once, but she did question herself as her instincts were screaming otherwise.

"Well," Susan smiled draining the last of her tea and placing it down also, "It's also know that crying alleviates stress and allows the body to decrease feelings of anger and sadness. Loneliness shouldn't be so painful after that I guess." She shrugged and pushed her chair back standing up and watching one of Edward's eyebrows twitch and his eyes narrow, "You're not the only one that studied biology Edward." Susan smiled and buttoned her coat, "Thanks for the DIY and tea, see you at work Monday." She gave him a quick flash of a half hearted smile watching his almost exasperated look and turned to go smiling smugly to herself, Susan could play little games as well, though they were only womanly wiles and nothing compared to his superior intellect she'd graduated from university as well, she could throw him a bone every now and then to keep him on his toes, wondering. The sad thing was she was actually letting Edward see the real Susan underneath, the one that was actually lonely and would probably cry herself to sleep that night in her apartment.

Edward watched as Susan crossed his apartment to the door leaving him sat there a little confused, this wasn't like him, it was as if his new found courage and sureness had just disappeared with her words, had she just admitted that she was actually lonely and she was hurting so badly underneath? He couldn't stand the thought of her in the flat alone just like he had been for so many years, no one understanding him or being there when he needed someone, but Edward pulled himself back together quickly and got to his feet.

"Essentials," Edward called after her making her stop in her tracks, "Just get yourself essentials for the weekend, you can eat, eat food, here, tonight, tonight with me..." He watched as Susan gave him a strange look and he swallowed back a hard lump forming in his throat, "If it might please you..." Edward had lost his train of thought, he was back to dithering awkward Edward, the Edward he thought has disappeared and let the real Edward take over, "Susan I'm asking if you'll have dinner with me t-tonight." He stammered for the first time he'd done so in months, he'd also noticed the increase in his heart rate and the perspiration that could hardly be because of the temperature, Edward was not pleased.

Susan smiled as she watched the man scrambling for words and she knew he was wringing his fingers together behind his back as he held them out of sight, Susan realised the full extent of her previous epiphany and her mind raced with so many thoughts, this was the last situation she would have been expecting and especially with a man like Edward, shunned and ridiculed by the entire department. What was she doing?

"Thank you, tonight then." Susan said brushing her hair out of her face.

"Call round at 7pm, I'll have something ready for you." Edward said placing his hands on the back of his chair as he stepped round and watched her smile slightly, catch his eye for a moment and then disappear behind the closed door back to her own apartment.

"Oh. Dear." Edward said tapping his fingers on the back of the chair. He took off his glasses and rubbed his head, it was aching and he felt angry and a little sick, he went over to the mirror and looked at his reflection which just stared back at him. Edward smiled and laughed to himself, that was a good one, he almost though that old Edward had come back but no, the reflection in the glass didn't speak to him just mirrored his joyful expression, old Edward was long dead.

Edward straightened himself up fixing his hair and placing his glasses back on his face, "Better prepare for tonight's endeavours." Edward glanced a final time in the mirror with his smug impression, "And I'm not going to kill this one this time." He winked at himself.