Sorry for the delay, as usual. The semester is getting geared up and it has a bit more of a work load than last one, so this probably won't be an unusual thing. You are all fabulous and a big thank you for all the reviews!

Bree's footsteps fell heavily onto the cracked pavement as she hurried back to her apartment. The cool air provided a stark contrast to her still heavily flushed cheeks and slightly swollen lips.

Shit.

She cursed silently as she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and she nearly dropped it as her hand scrambled to fish it out.

"Hello?" she answered shakily.

"Bree, we have a problem," Edward's voice rang urgently.

"Why—what is it?" she asked, a sense of dread snaking into her gut.

"Detective Gordon is missing. Bullock is acting panicked, which is highly unusual, and he's having officers check addresses for him. I offered my help, but he didn't seem to have the time to chat. However, I do believe that I may have discerned Gordon's location."

She paused, slowing her pace to a halt.

"Then why don't you tell him?"

She could practically visualize him shaking his head on the other side of the phone.

"I did try," he grumbled, "But you know how Detective Bullock is…..or everyone in the precinct is for that matter…"

"You think it has to do with the office murders?"

"I know it does. Gordon's one of the few competent detectives we have. I'd rather not lose him to the office of death as you christened it…"

"Agreed. So what do we do?"

"Grab your things, I'll pick you up in approximately fifteen minutes."

"Will do, Cap."

"Nygma, over and out."

After the line went dead she stared at her phone for a solid minute before flipping it shut. She shoved it unceremoniously into her pocket and doubled her pace home.

Distractions. Yes, very good.

When she arrived at her flat she nearly bolted up the stairs and shoved the door open with enough force to make her question if it remained on its hinges. The thought was fleeting as she threw off her work clothes and snatched the first casual set of clothes in sight. She grabbed her oversized pea coat and carefully holstered her firearm in the inside pocket. With a steadying breath she gazed out the window.

"Okay…..okay," she muttered, mentally running a checklist of everything she needed. Her phone buzzed loudly against the kitchenette counter and she scurried across the room, snatching it and bringing it to her ear.

"I'm on my way down."

The old town car rocked slightly as she clambered into the passenger seat and slammed the door shut.

"Hey Ed, let's go!" she said grabbing her seat-belt and looking up. He looked slightly perplexed and she noticed his eyes drift down to her neck.

"Did….someone try and hurt you? You look like you've sustained some sort of strangulation markings…."

Bree's eyes widened and she stared at him blankly, mouth slightly agape. She felt her face beginning to flush as she searched for words and moved her hair forward to cover her neck.

"Oh….it's nothing…..just…we need to go."

She turned her head away from him and stared blankly forward. She could feel his eyes on her for another moment before she could see his throat bob in the corner of her eye and he reached for the gear shift.

Bree's head pounded as she tried to act natural.

"So, Gordon didn't even trust the officers enough to tell them where he was heading?"

"Evidently not…"

"I suppose in his defense, everyone in the precinct did pretty much abandon him in the shootout…"

Edward hummed a half-hearted sound of acknowledgement. Bree glanced over at him, noting the way his lips pressed into a tight line, and his hands fidgeted on the steering wheel as they turned abruptly into a side street.

"We're almost there…"

The car rolled to a stop outside a rather nondescript office building. It almost looked normal aside from the few broken windows on the second floor. Aside from that, it had the appearance of an average office building.

"I think we know where to start….." she said nodding at the windows. Edward met her eyes and nodded as he unbuckled his seat-belt. Bree pushed open the door and out of her seat. In less than two long strides, Edward stood beside her.

"The 8 of us go forth not back, to protect our King from the foe's attack….what are we?" he quipped, a rather sardonic smirk on his lips. Bree eyebrows rose as she reached for her firearm.

"Chess?" she offered.

"Ah, more specifically, pawns."

"Always with the specifics," she said, allowing herself an ironic smile as she clicked off the safety.

They crept forward towards the building. Edward reached for the door and it swung easily open.

"Well….that is a promising sign…." He chuckled nervously, gesturing forward, "Ladies first."

Bree half-scoffed as she moved ahead, gun lowered in front of her. Edward nudged her and she looked back. His glasses reflected the dim light softly as he nodded to a door on her left. The sign labeled stairs half-chipped away. She quietly pushed it open and it swung ajar with a loud creak.

Wordlessly, they climbed up the staircase. When they reached the second level they stepped out into a narrow hallway. Four doors lined the corridor, varied in their spacing. As Bree took another quiet step toward, she noticed all but one door was ajar. She looked to Edward, whose gaze seemed to be glued to that same closed door. His eyes flickered to hers before he stepped forward, gently jiggling the handle.

"Locked," he whispered, kneeling down.

Bree nodded softly, turning her back to him and scanning the hall.

Click.

She drew in a shaky breath as turned back towards Ed. He rose from his kneeling position, his figure looming over her. The windows emitted a dim glow behind him, casting shadows across his features. His glasses glinted softly as he turned and grasped the door handle.

He gently pushed the door open and took a wary step inside. Bree trailed inside behind him, turning to crack the door.

"You know….don't you think it's a bit—"she began quietly as she turned back to face him, but a shadow in the corner of her eye caught her attention. "—Ed!"

He had only begun to turn his head when a solid object collided with his cheek. Edward stumbled backwards with a yelp, clutching his jaw and almost knocking Bree to the ground. He jerked his head up, facing his assailant. A relatively averaged sized male clutched a pole in one hand and a stapler in another. His face was obscured by what seemed to be a ski mask.

Bree pulled Ed aside, slowing stepping back from the man. Suddenly, he lunged forward. Bree steeled herself, raising her weapon and firing at the man's leg, sending him down to the floor, clutching his thigh in pain. As soon as she began to lower her firearm, a hard kick landed on her back, sending her sprawling to the ground. She hissed in pain as she met the hard linoleum, her gun skidding across the floor. She winced as she began to push herself off the floor and heard the crack of glass underneath her palm. The thought flew to the back of her mind as she saw her assailant begin to walk back to her, and she frantically clambered back to her feet. She bent her knees and raised her fists.

"Easy there…..we don't want to fight!" she barely bit out before she ducked away from the man's punch.

"I said—!" she tried to continue, but realized it was pointless as she dodged another punch. She threw one of her own parries before he hooked her hard in the ribs, knocking the breath out of her. In a grunt of anger, she stepped on his foot while she sent a kick to his chest. His arms swung wildly for a moment before he tripped, falling to the ground. His head hit the floor with a deafening thud and he lay motionless.

Bree huffed silently for a moment, clutching her likely bruised ribs as she made sure the man wasn't going to climb back up and attack her again. Her ears piqued to the sound of a muted struggle behind her. She turned her head to see a man sprawled across the floor, another atop him, completely wailing on him. Dark, raven hair sprawled messily around bottom man's head, and the masked figure wrapped his hands around the other man's throat.

Ed.

Her eyes frantically darted around, resting on the discarded pipe on the floor. She grabbed it and ran towards them.

"Get the fuck away from him."

The man's head only had time to spin half-way around before the pole collided with his head in a deafening clunk. After freezing, he slumped, falling on top of Edward. With an audible grunt, Edward shoved the large man off of him, letting him fall unceremoniously to the side.

Cling!

Bree let the pole fall from her hands and stared at Edward, wide-eyed. Edward laid still, his eyes glued to the ceiling, his chest heaving.

Bree fell to her knees, her heart still thumping painfully hard against her chest, her ribs throbbing. She flexed her hands, ignoring the shards of glass embedded in her palms, adrenaline still pumping strong through her. She looked up, her eyes resting on Edward's neck. Then, despite everything, she laughed.

Edward seemed to fall out of his trance, and his eyes snapped to her, eyeing her as if she was the strangest creature on the planet. She smiled, letting the laugh continue to ring softly as she pointed to his neck, and then to hers.

"We match."

He blinked several times, his face blank for a moment, and then a goofy grin spread across his lips. A laugh erupted from his mouth, harsh and a sharp, but genuine. He shook his head softly as he sat up.

"Well, it would seem so…" he began carefully, his voice hoarse, as he looked around the eerie office, "And, it would also seem that we found our place…..but no Gordon in sight."

Bree wordlessly climbed back to her feet, looking around until she saw her gun resting half-across the room. She shook her head.

"A lot of help you were…" she muttered, making her way over and picking it up.

She turned back to Edward, who had climbed back onto his feet. His dark hair was mussed and pointing out in odd directions, his tie almost undone and his shirt half-untucked.

"Come on…." She said with a shaky voice, coming out much clearer than she expected. "Let's get out of here."

…

..

.

They hardly spoke a word as they climbed back into Edward's rickety towncar. Edward called in an anonymous tip to GCPD about the warehouse. Evidently, they had already found Gordon, in another sketchy office building.

Ed did say he had narrowed it down to two places….I guess both were the right ones. Bree mused, staring blankly out the window as Edward drove towards her place.

As Edward pulled the car over to the curb, Bree looked back over at him, her eyes flickering across his face.

"You should come inside. I'm not going to lie, you look kinda rough…" she said. He considered this a moment as he put the car in park, and pulled the keys from the ignition with a nod.

They made their way up to her flat and Bree scanned the big room as she pocketed her keys and held the door open for Ed behind her.

"Sorry if it's a bit messy…." She offered with the wave of her hand. After Ed shut the door behind him, she notice him visibly swallow hard as his eyes swept across her dwelling.

"It's not much, but it works," she added. The flat essentially was just one large room with a kitchenette, a couch, and her bed stuffed in the corner.

"Come on, the bathroom's over here," she said, grabbing him by the hand and pulling him into the only other room in the flat. She ducked and opened the bottom cabinet, pulling out a small bag of basic first aid supplies, and a towel.

"You could really have gotten hurt out there…" she said, looking at the caked blood on his forehead, and the slight swelling in his cheeks, And I mean really hurt, not just these scratches," she put the small bag on the counter and motioned him over.

"You were out there too," he said, shuffling closer to her and the sink. She rolled out the first aid kit and hopped up on the counter for better access to his face.

"I know, I know…I was being an idiot too. It was rash….we shouldn't have gone, but you know how it is…." she sighed, wetting a small wash cloth.

"Do you mind if I take off your glasses?"

Ed shook his head slowly, watching her as she reached up and delicately slid them off his face and placed them beside her.

"There we go…" she muttered as she touched the cloth to his cheek and forehead.

"I guess we just have that in common…"

"Sorry, what?" she asked, trying to be a bit gentler as he flinched away.

"We had to go," he began with a nervous swallow. "We had to go….because we both needed to know. Call it nosiness, or insatiable curiosity, but it almost works as an irresistible force, doesn't it?"

Bree knew he was right, and she smirked, but she didn't say anything else as she finished cleaning his cuts.

"There you go. You will have some have some nasty bruises tomorrow, but at least the cuts won't get infected," she smiled, patting him on either shoulder, and then reaching for his glasses. She wiped off the smudges and delicately slid them back onto his nose. They fell lopsided and she laughed as he reached up and fixed them. His lips twitched upward a fraction.

"You're still a bit roughed up yourself…" he noted pointedly, gently grabbing her wrists and facing her palms up. He tisked lightly, examining the cuts on her hands. He grabbed a pair of tweezers from the pouch beside her and began plucking out stray shards of glass. She hissed softly as she sucked in a sharp breath of air.

"I'm surprised you didn't mention this before you cleaned me up. There's a lot of glass in here…"

"I'm a big girl, I think I can handle a few shards of glass," she bit out with a sharp laugh as he finished with a particularly large piece. He swabbed the cuts with disinfectant and wrapped her palms lightly with gauze.

"So is this going to be a regular thing now? You and I alternating patching each other up?" she said with a softer laugh. He didn't look up, but finished securing the gauze.

"Do you have any other injuries?"

"Ahh….yes. I think. That guy caught be in the ribs pretty hard."

She lifted her shirt enough to show the bruise and Edward tilted his head in examination.

"I don't think you have any cracked ribs, but you may still want to check later," he said, awkwardly dropping the hem of her shirt. She nodded with a swallow.

"So, again, is this going to be a regular thing?"

Edward's lips quirked upward.

"You can have me but cannot hold me; Gain me and quickly lose me. If treated with care, I am great, and if betrayed I will break."

"So, is that a yes, or a no?"

"Bree…just answer the riddle."

"Okay, okay, fine…." She paused, narrowing her eyes as they drifted across his face.

"Trust…?"

He smiled, gently releasing her hands.

"And if situations like this come to pass again….then I trust that you will to patch me back up again, every time."

Bree opened her mouth, but before she could respond, Edward wrapped his arms around her. She still sat atop the counter, now clutching to Edward for balance as her legs dangled on either side of him. Slowly, she hugged him back.

"I don't want to lose you…." He breathed shakily against her hair, barely audible.

She couldn't help but a give a slight shiver. She hoped he hadn't noticed, but she knew he had when his eyes snapped to hers, glimmering more darkly than usual. He pressed against her, his hands on her back pulling her closer into an oddly intimate hug. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers gently brushed against his hair as she clutched him tightly as well. She felt him breath in deeply, his face resting in the crook of her neck.

What are we?

She mused, letting herself meld against his lithe form.

It feels more intimate than friendship….but not exactly a relationship either.

"Edward?"

His grip tightened, his fingers scrunching the fabric of her shirt slightly.

"Yes?..." he breathed, warm against her skin.

She grew silent for a moment, the heat of his hands seeming to burn through her. She opened her mouth, then closed it again.

"Nothing, never mind…"

It's almost expectant…like

Necessity.

Very action-y chapter, indeed. Till next time!