'I am always there but never here, I live to love but hate to live. I feed off passion but am always starving, I long for pain but hate its coming. I'm ever seeking but never finding, I wait and wait but it's always too late.'


Sunday had arrived, the day of rest. For Edward though, this was not the case, he had preparations to attend to that would require a full day of his attention, Susan would have to wait for now as much as the idea infuriated him, how dare Gordon escape from prison, what a boring inconvenience he'd have to remedy.

'He's not going to stop until he finds out who's framed him.' Edward thought to himself as he rummaged around in his storage cupboard and produced some wire cutters and tape. 'He's persistent that one, he doesn't know when to quit, when to know he's been bested.' Edward almost stomped over to his desk by the window and sat down fiddling with a length of wire as sirens screeched past down the rainy street outside. 'We've covered our tracks well enough though, this is just a precaution for an eventuality that's not going to happen, right? Right.' He confirmed to himself as he sat on the floor and measured the wire along the leg of one of his dining table chairs.

In the apartment next door Susan and Khalish were having breakfast and discussing Wayne Enterprises, "At least you got to stay internally." Susan said through a spoonful of cereal, "They've got me down at the GCPD."

"Eugh, How's that working for you?" Khalish said drinking his piping hot coffee and not flinching one bit at the scalding hot liquid.

"It's a mess. The systems are so outdated, everything is just slow, painful really. I should have been done by now but I'm about halfway through installation. It's waiting on deliveries mainly and trying to access work stations when the officers aren't using them, which is never." Susan sighed and carried on eating her breakfast.

"I would offer to help but they've assigned me to Lucius Fox's team. So I'm all tied up." Khalish said with a smug smile waiting for Susan to react.

"Lucius Fox," Susan said dropping her spoon in her now empty bowl, "Are you screwing with me?"
Khalish shook his head, "Nope." He pulled out a badge from his pocket, an access card with his department details on it and handed it to Susan who inspected it and with a disappointed look shoved it back in his hand.

"Asshole." She said bluntly, it had been sarcastic but Khalish could still tell that Susan was extremely hurt she hadn't been chosen for the team, all she'd talked about when they first met was Lucius Fox and how she admired him, "You know that's the department I wanted."

"Yeah well I'll let you know if we get a vacancy." He said casually as if it was neither here nor there to him but he was just winding her up and it worked. Susan pressed her lips together and jabbed him with her foot under the table so that he nearly spilt his coffee, they both laughed long and loud.

Edward looked up from his task sharply on hearing the noise from next door, laughter, two voices, not one; he got to his feet immediately and stood completely silent listening carefully, there it was again, Susan's laughter there was no mistaking it but the one that accompanied he didn't recognise at all. It was undeniably the laugh of a man and the fact that it laughed in tandem with her own ruled out the possibility of something like the TV, there was a man in her apartment with her right now, it wasn't him and he didn't know how long he'd been there. Edward could feel something inside of him building and growing with every laugh that emanated from the wall, a mixture of fear and rage, something had happened that he didn't know about and Edward hated that, he was no longer in control, something had to be done.

'First Gordon, now this, as if I don't have enough to be dealing with already.' Edward thought as he walked to door and grabbed his keys off the side squeezing them tightly in his hand so much that they nearly cut into his flesh.

Susan heard a knock at the door and before she could move Khalish got up and held up his hands, "I'll get it, never know what psycho could be lurking down the hallway." Khalish laughed and Susan laughed with him as he opened the door. Khalish stared at the man before him who was wearing an irritated look, he raised and eyebrow as he took in the beanpole of a man and gave him a wide smile, "Can I help you?"

"Who are you?" Edward asked trying to keep his frustration at bay as he took in the image of the man stood in Susan's doorway, a man which couldn't be more opposite to himself.

"Excuse me?" Khalish couldn't believe his ears, this guy was rude.

"Who are you?" Edward repeated clenching his hands tightly, the one holding the keys digging deeper into his palm, "This is Ms. Lewis' apartment, you are neither Ms. Lewis nor is this your apartment. I will ask you again, who are you?" Edward was starting to get frustrated and it was apparent in his voice as it got louder.

Susan was watching from the table, trying to look around Khalishs wide frame but she couldn't see who was there, then she heard Edwards voice and stood up immediately walking over to the door when she heard his tone, "Edward, its fine I'm here." Susan said catching sight of him, he looked completely different, edgey and unhinged and then his eyes found her stood behind Khalish and he eased.

Edward looked Susan up and down at he gritted his teeth tightly in his mouth, she was wearing a dressing gown without any makeup and her hair was unbrushed, she looked like she just gotten out of bed, the man Khalish on the other hand was fully clothed and giving him a dubious look. "Good morning Susan, who is this?" he asked without hesitation, he wanted his answers and he wanted them now.

"This is Khalish Daeng..." Susan said taken aback by his tone, she'd never seen him so worked up before, it was endearing and somewhat terrifying at the same time, he was clearly quite upset, was he jealous? "Edward, Khalish and I used to work together in Malaysia." she explained placing her hand on Khalishs shoulder to try and move him aside but Khalish wouldn't move an inch and she could tell why, he found Edward in his current state to be quite threatening and he didn't know who the hell he was.

"Ah I see." Edward said staring at the man with a cold blank expression in his and an empty smile, Edward didn't care who he was, he wanted him gone.

"Khalish, this is Mr. Nygma, he's a forensic scientist at the GCPD, he lives next door." Susan said feeling Khalishs arm thick and tensed, ready to strike Edward out at any moment if he needed to.

"Pleasure to meet you." Khalish said sarcastically with a fake smile and nod of his head.

"And you also." Edward returned the same fake smiled and nod.

In that brief moment both of them knew they didn't like each other one bit and never would.

"Later Ed." Khalish said leaving Susan to attend to the bizarre man at the door.

Edward watched the man walk off casually and disappear into the apartment somewhere out of his line of sight, his mind occupied by dark thoughts and plans that may or may not come to fruition. Out of the corner of his eye he caught Susan stood waiting for him to acknowledge her, he looked down to her eventually, she was looking at him with such concern and worry in her eyes, his anger subsided but his paranoid mind kept turning.

"I heard loud noises and came to check to see if you were alright." Edward explained looking over her shoulder every now and then but he couldn't see the man so he kept his gaze on Susan instead, "I didn't expect you to have company. I didn't think you had any other friends in the city yet."

"It was a bit of a surprise to me." Susan said shortly, she didn't want to linger on the subject of Khalish much longer, she could tell the whole thing he really upset him. "Thank you for making sure I'm alright though Edward." she reached out and slid her hand affectionately over his upper arm for moment before she pulled it away. "What would I do without you huh?"

Susan's warm touch had eased his paranoia but it was still there, he wouldn't be satisfied or at peace until he could hold her in his arms and silence that pretty mouth with his, she looked even more inviting half dressed her bare neck and shoulders on show with her brown hair grazing her skin in a loose plait at the side. Edward longed to kiss that skin, from ear to collar bone; he pressed his lips together biting hard on the inside of his cheeks at the thought of sliding that dressing gown over her shoulders oh so slowly until it was down to her waist. Edward stopped his train of thought immediately and spoke, "Would you like to do something today? A walk, a coffee?" he suggested.

"Oh," Susan said coming back to reality, she'd found herself lost in those inescapable brown eyes of his again, "I can't today, I've got plans already." she said feeling terrible, as much as she loved Khalish and was so grateful to see him again she wished that she could change her plans to be with Edward but she couldn't.

"I see." Edward said in a high tone, expressing his disappointment in a cheerful fashion. "Just as well, I have things I need to attend to anyway. I hope you have a lovely day with your friend, sorry to bother you." Edward smiled, turned on his heel and walked off quickly.

"Another time maybe..." Susan called after him but it was too late he'd closed his apartment door and left her feeling awful, "...Edward." she trailed off sadly, shutting her own door.