'I don't live within a house, nor do I live without. Most will use me when they come in, and again when they go out.'
Susan was lying awake in bed tossing and turning from side to side trying to get comfortable but nothing worked, her mind was as restless as her body, sleep wasn't something that was going to come easily after tonight's events, she couldn't stop thinking about Edward and how she wished the night had ended much differently. Without a wall separating them.
Next door Edward was experiencing the same sort of turmoil though Edward never usually slept much anyway, his mind only required about five hours to revitalise itself, anymore was lazy and a waste. Edward was watching late night news to occupy his mind and distract it from the fact he wanted to go round to Susan's apartment, knock on the door and shut himself in with her until Monday came round to claim them for work.
Edward's full attention was drawn back to the TV from his sordid daydreams all of a sudden with the announcement that Jim Gordon was still on the run having escaped from prison, he raised from his chair his eyes narrowing and sighed. Oh no, this wouldn't do, this wouldn't do at all, something had to be done, but what? Jim couldn't possibly think that Edward had anything to do with this could he? No, that was impossible and defied logic, he would be caught and re-imprisoned before long, he'd do everything in his power to make sure the GCPD didn't bumble this up, if fate was on his side he would be leaving the city and keeping his head low but that wouldn't last forever, he knew Jim, he was persistent.
Still, Edward couldn't relax now that he'd been reminded of the inconvenience, Bullock's words echoing in his mind 'Knowing Jim Gordon he's not gonna rest until he finds the son of a bitch that framed him for murder.' Edward paced the apartment thinking of a plan to put in place to assure his safety and 'innocence' in the matter though this was far from the truth, he'd bludgeoned that officer to death in cool blood with a crowbar and placed evidence and clues that all led undeniably to officer Gordon. Edward would not let himself be discovered for the murder of his ex partner Kristen Kringle, he was far too clever for that, then Edward knew what he would do and smiled to himself, time to relax now everything would be fine, he had a plan.
It was the early hours of the morning before Susan's mind finally began to shut down and drift into a heavy sleep, her dreams were strange and dark, they made no sense as dreams often do but she was stood in the middle of Gotham's downtown at the scene of a crime, a murder, police were swarming around and seemed not to notice her as they inspected the area for clues, everyone was there from the GCPD, Jim, Bullock, Barnes and Edward of course who was bent over the body carrying out his forensics duties.
'What's the score Ed?' Bullock asked bending over the body and recoiling away. 'Jesus christ.'
'Victim had been severely abused before ETD, heavy bruising to wrists and ankles, lacerations on the limbs and inner thighs, victim was eventually asphyxiated, without looking to much right now I'd say that there will be severe trauma here.' Edward's hang hovered over the corpse's pubic area and laughed nervously like some sort of schoolboy that had said something naughty.
Susan walked closer to get a look at the body and then wished she hadn't, the body on the ground was hers, she was looking down on herself, cold lifeless eyes staring up into the sky above, her skin bleached and peppered with purple bruises and deep red cuts. There was a banging noise in the air, it might have been gunshots she couldn't quite know, there it was again, Susan stepped back as Edward zipped the black bag over her corpses face and shook his head, 'Such a waste.'
Bang bang.
Susan jolted awake in her bed drenched in cold sweat, my God what a horrible nightmare, working at the GCPD was not doing her any favours, she felt sick to her stomach, the worst thing about it had been that it could actually happen to her now that she was back in Gotham, all it would take would be one psychopath to get her in their sights and she was done for. Susan's eyes flooded and she cried, harder than she'd done in years, she wanted to get away from here, she was so horribly depressed and miserable, "Please take me away." she whispered into her hands.
Bang bang.
Susan almost screamed at the sound coming from the hallway, it was on her door, she hadn't dreamt the sound at all, it was what had woken her from that vile nightmare; Susan was terrified, the clock on the wall read three fifteen am, she'd been asleep only a matter of minutes, half an hour at most. Frozen in the bed she waited for the noise again but it never came, instead a voice called out softly from behind the heavy wooden door.
"Susan?" the voice inquired, "Are you there?" She knew the voice immediately and got out of the bed running to the door and throwing it open to see a familiar face in the doorway which strained to see her at first then their face lit up, Susan thrust herself forward wrapping her arms around the man's neck and sobbing into his neck, the man hugged her back tightly and stroked her hair, "Susan, what's wrong, are you ok?"
"Khalish." Susan's tears were soaking the heavily built man's shoulder but it didn't matter right now. "Khalish, I-I-" she stammered and then fell into a fit of tears once again and he lead her inside and shut the door.
The man at the door was slightly shorter than Susan with a broad face and nose, his brown eyes were soft and full of concern as he led the hysterical woman over to the couch and they both sat together. Removing his overcoat he placed it around Susan's shuddering shoulders to reveal his thick tanned arms, the man placed one around her shoulders and pulled her over rubbing her arm and waiting for her to calm down and talk to him.
Khalish Daeng was one of the colleagues she had left behind when she had moved back to Gotham, she had never been happier in her to see his serene face when she opened the door. They had worked closely for many years and had even seen each other for a short time but that had been when she had first moved to Klang Valley in Selangor, after that they'd become very close friends working in the same division. When Susan had had to leave, Khalish had been retained by the Malaysian division due to the place being the country of his birth, she'd had to make such a quick goodbye and it had pained her ever since.
"Are you alright now?" he spoke softly letting her go.
"Yes," Susan said wiping her eyes and laughing a little, "I'm so sorry," she watched as he smiled widely and shook his head, "What are you doing here?" she said pulling him into another tight embrace. "How did you find me?"
"Oh you know me," Khalish laughed, "I have my ways." he parted from her and held her smiling gaze for a moment, "Our company phones have built in GPS trackers. It wasn't that hard to find you."
"Right." Susan said, how stupid, of course her GPS was turned on, it had been since Saturday morning when she'd looked to find a local store. "So what are you doing here?" Susan asked completely baffled with his sudden arrival.
"I asked for a transfer." Khalish said holding up his arms, "I'm going to be working back in Gotham!"
