Wow, sorry for that delay. Midterms, papers, and such are never forgiving to the recreational writer. That and I'm a horrible procrastinator. I couldn't ask for a more amazing group of readers. A big thanks to everyone for the reviews!

Rolling over in bed still came with excruciating effort as Bree's ribs still throbbed at her side. She told the doctor she had gotten in a bar fight. Of course combined with the red marks littering her neck at the time, he had simply shot her a sympathetic look and subtly handed her a domestic violence hotline number. As sweet as the gesture seemed, she still scoffed a short laugh as she tossed it in the garbage.

If only it was that easy to explain.

Still better than telling the doctor the truth that she actually had stumbled upon an office fight-to-the-death ring during her extracurricular, crime solving exploits with her quirky forensic scientist friend…..but that would more likely earn her a cell in the newly reopened Arkham.

Luckily for her, the marks that Harvey had left had faded, but her other cuts and bruise had yet to subside. Her face flushed as she stared at the ceiling, thoughts of Harvey crashing back to her. She felt bad leaving him hanging like that, but she couldn't bring herself to regret it.

You did the right thing.

She tried reassuring herself as she rolled out of bed, staring out the window at the overcast sky. She ran a hand through her long, tangled hair.

"I really need a haircut soon…." She mused quietly, wondering idly towards her small closet to begin her morning ritual.

The precinct seemed to be in its usual state of bustle as Bree made her way to the rickety old desk she had grown rather fond of in the way a child grows fond of their first, but half-broken bicycle. She tossed her belongings down and made her way towards the stack of paperwork she knew was waiting for her by Captain Essen's office.

"He's highly dangerous and known to be unstable,"

She slowed to a stop for the briefest moment, unable to fight the wave of curiosity coursing through her. She looked down at the stack of files and loose paper, her fingers tracing atop them as she pretended to be focused on something on the page.

"This wasn't your usual prison escape. Our guy was broken out of an armored vehicle by trained armed guards."

"Care to take these for me?"

Bree blinked, snapping out of her reverie. She looked up to see Detective Bullock's smirking face, his arm outstretched. She glanced down and the file in his hand and quickly took it from him.

"Uhhmm….sure."

"Oh, did I interrupt something?"

"No! I—"

"You were just listening in on the Captain's briefing," Bullock finished with a knowing grin.

She just stared at him wide-eyed for a moment until he laughed.

"It's okay, kid, I'm not going to rat on you. I get it. It's some interesting stuff."

Her shoulders lowered a fraction and she released a silent sigh of relief.

"Shouldn't you be in there?" she ventured. Bullock shrugged.

"Jimbo and I already got a more detailed briefing. Just do me a favor, be careful on whose business you decide to snoop on, yah hear?"

She nodded with a small smile, picking up the sizable stack of papers. Bullock tipped his hat, turning and taking his leave. She pressed the stack to her chest and made her way back up the stairs. When she reached her desk, she plopped the stack down, her brows furrowing at a white-noise sound coming from a nearby room. She pivoted around, her eyes landing on the forensics lab door, cracked open. Her hands brushed the doorframe as she peered inside and spotted Edward hunched over in intense focus over what looked to be a black box, but she couldn't tell from where she stood.

"Hey, Ed, so what's that whole deal with an unstable convict escaping police custody?" she remarked casually, quickly glancing around, checking if anyone was in earshot. She smirked as she saw his shoulders stiffen and he tilted his head towards her. He blinked a few times in surprise before he finally gathered his thoughts.

"Well….it would seem that an expert bomb maker is out and about our little burg."

"Hmmm…..sounds problematic. Whatcha working on?" she nodded to the box. He smiled, turning back to his task.

"Ahhh! Well I just happened to find a broken radio in the cabinets and I'm just finishing fixing it!"

"Mmm….sounds enthralling," she quipped with a good-natured grin, "of course, not nearly as exciting as the stack of paperwork I have waiting for me!"

Edward giggled and gave a short nod as she turned out the door. She folded her arms across her chest as she moved back towards her desk.

` The day passed with a strange sense of monotony that she hadn't felt in the precinct for some time. Gotham City seemed to just be growing odder by the minute these days. The next day the precinct hustled once more with the sleep-deprived faces of officers and an unspoken feeling of urgency.

"There's been a bombing."

She heard in passing, her ears perking up eagerly for more information, but no one seemed to have much of a chance to talk. Fighting to stay nonchalant, she painted a blank expression on her face as she fought the urge to run to her desk and ask Edward for an update on that case.

God, I've turned into such a loser.

She silently cursed herself at just how excited she got about hearing news of the latest disaster.

Blame it on the job.

Her eyes swept across the banister as she climbed up the stairs. She peaked into the forensics lab, only to find it empty. She frowned, making her way to her little desk. She sat plopped down with a sigh and began her paperwork.

A few hours went by before a familiar figure slid into her peripheral.

"Hey, Breeeee, guess what I found?" the figure chirped, and she raised her head to see Edward's grinning face, holding up a small plastic bag. She smiled.

"Whatcha got?"

"You're supposed to guess," he said with a note of exasperation. She nearly rolled her eyes, but relented.

"Fine then…..it looks like a scrap of metal…..a little charred."

Edward nodded, urging her on.

"Is that…..from the bombing?" she offered and he beamed.

"Yes! I found it in the shrapnel from the bomb site. It's a name plate!"

"That's awesome, have you told Gordon and Bullock yet?"

His smile faded slightly as he shook his head.

"No, I was just on my way over and I figured I'd stop by."

"Well, you have been a bit MIA lately," she offered with a smirk. He gave an awkward half-shrug as he pressed his lips together in a tight line. Just as she looked back down at her work he piped up.

"Hey….I was wondering if you wanted to possibly get together after work….with me….or something."

Bree's eyes snapped to his and she gaped at him silently for a moment. He didn't seem to want to meet her eyes.

"Oh….well actually, I'm getting together with a friend tonight."

His face fell.

"But we're just getting together and watching movies or playing video games, so if you want, you can join us!"

"Oh!" his eyes lit up, "That would be great! I love video games!" he beamed. She returned a light smile.

"Soooooooo…..what about this bomber."

His eyes crinkled as he giggled.

"You've turned into quite the murder gossip, Bree."

"What the hell is a murder gossip?"

"Well, the name itself is quite self-explanatory."

Bree fought the urge to roll her eyes and shot him an unimpressed glare as she folded her arms across her chest. His grin faded into a smirk.

"It happens to a lot newbies. They get all excited about every case to enter the doors of the precinct and gossip about every detail of other's cases," he added.

"Sounds a lot like you," she retorted.

"And you."

"Well, you can't blame me. Hell, you'd be the same in my position. It's not like I get the chance to do any real investigating beyond…..you know."

"I'm not blaming, just observing," he said with a low chuckle. "Oh! And another thing—"he pulled something up from the floor beside him and placed it on her desk. "I fixed the radio!" he said flicking the button on the side.

With a static-y hum it crackled to life, the familiar tone of Jeopardy emitting from the ancient boom box.

"Do you listen to Jeopardy? I love Jeopardy."

"I'm….not a huge Jeopardy person."

"Oh, come on. I'll give you an easy one. Okay, how many elements are in the periodic table?"

"Ed, I—"

"Okay, okay, it's 118."

She narrowed her eyes slightly.

"You realize that we both know that you're going to win every time, right?" she pointed out tiredly.

"Fine. I should run this evidence by Detective Bullock and Detective Gordon anyhow," he sighed, flipping off the radio. She smiled lazily.

"Yeah, that could be important."

Hours later, Bree shuffled the stacks of papers on her desk with a sigh and climbed to her feet. She clutched the stack to her chest as she shuffled down the main stairwell. As she turned the corner toward, she nearly slammed into an excited-looking Edward.

"Geeze, Ed!" she breathed as she struggled to keep the files from sliding out of her arms.

"Oh, my apologies! I just came back from the lab," he began, his hands fumbling with a large hunk of metal.

"What's that?" she asked, nodded to metal,

"What's what?—Oh, you mean this!" he said, lifting the rectangular object baring a large hole in the center. She nodded slowly, her arms beginning to tire from holding the large stack of files.

"It's iron. Apparently the bomber had used a very specific type of explosive; exclusively used to penetrate iron!"

"Well, that's awesome, Ed, I—"

"Nygma!"

Both of their heads shot around as Captain Essen's voice rang out. Ed glanced back to Bree quickly.

"Gotta go, I'll be right back! Hold this for me!" he said, dropping the hunk of iron atop her files.

"Wait—Ed, are you going to take this back?" she began, but Edward had already disappeared. She looked around, her mouth still slightly agape as she tried to grab the heavy hunk of iron from atop the files. She propped her knee up to see if she could grab it and bit her lip as she tried to shuffle to the closest desk.

"Brianna?"

She turned, wide-eyed as she was met with Harvey Dent's smiling face.

"Oh, hey! Harvey, what brings you here?" slight disbelief slipping into her voice. She wasn't really sure why. He was a councilman and a lawyer, being in a police precinct couldn't be that unusual.

"I happen to be helping Detective Gordon with a case, but he happens to not be here yet….now, what is that?"

He gestured, pointing to hunk of metal in her grasp.

"Oh….yeah, this is just….iron," she stared at it a moment and began laughing. "I'm holding it for a friend."

"That's what they all say," he offered with a smile and a laugh of his own.

"Ummm….could you do me a huge favor and actually grab it for a moment, this stack of files is heavy enough without the extra ten pounds of iron," she said, furrowing her brows slightly.

"Of course," he said, grabbing the rectangular metal off the stack she held, "That is definitely heavier than it looks," he whistled lowly with charming grin. Her gut wrenched slightly and suddenly she wasn't so sure she had made the right decision in turning him down.

"Yeah….it is…" she said, setting the files down on the nearest empty desk. When she turned back, she jumped slightly as Harvey was only a step or so away, his expression still amiable. "I can grab that now," she said taking the metal back and setting it down beside the files.

"So how have you been? I hear the precinct has been busy pursuing some sort of bomb maker."

"Yes, well that seems to be business as usual in Gotham," she shrugged, her hand reaching up to brush a stray hair from her face. Harvey's eye's snapped down to her hand.

"What happened to your hand?" he said, catching her wrist lightly as she lowered it back down.

"My wh-Oh!" she suddenly remembered she angry looking scratches that still covered her palms. "It's nothing I just fell the other day."

"On what, broken glass?" he prodded with a light laugh, turning her palm up and tracing the marks lightly with his thumb.

"Yes," she said simply, slightly tugging away from his grasp. His eyes snapped to hers and his grip tightened a fraction. She opened her mouth to speak when suddenly he brought her palm to his lips and kissed it gently. She blinked as he released her hand and let it fall back to her side.

He isn't giving up, is he?

"Maybe it'll feel better now," he said with a small smile, but his eyes drifted up over her shoulder. She glanced back over her shoulder to see Edward frozen in place, his eyes locked with hers and he shuffled towards her.

"Ed! Hey, I was wondering where you ran off to," Bree said, angling slightly away from Harvey. Edward's lips pulled together into a tight smile as he moved closer, his shoulder brushing hers. She glanced back at Harvey, whose eyes seemed to harden into a sharper stare.

"And who's your friend, Bree?" he said, clearing his throat. Bree looked back to Ed.

"Oh, this is Edward. I was holding his…..iron for him," she said with an awkward laugh as the glanced between the two. She felt a hand land on her shoulder and she looked up at Edward's rather forced smile.

"Edward Nygma," he said, not bothering to extend his hand, but rather squeezed her shoulder.

"Harvey Dent."

Harvey and Edward seemed to stare at each other in an almost palpable silence.

"Uhhmmm….well. I really need to drop these files off. It's good to see you, Harvey. Edward, your iron sample is on the desk," she said stiffly, trying to slide out between what little free space she had and snatched the files.

"Take care, Bree."

"See you later, Bree!"

When she took another cursory look back, they still seemed to be in a rather uncomfortable locking of gazes. She faced forward and picked up her pace. She hadn't felt that uncomfortable in ages….but then again, discomfort seemed to be becoming the as commonplace as the crazies on the streets of Gotham.

A bit of a short one this time, a bit filler-y and light-hearted. I'll get the next one up much more quickly. I have no idea why it took me so long to get up. Thank you all, and as I'm beginning to catch up to date with Gotham episodes, I grow wary. I want to stick as closely to Gotham canon as possible, and unfortunately with Edward they seem to just give us breadcrumbs at a time. So let's just hope for the best and keep Kringle far away from Eddie so his heart isn't further torn to shreds. Because my course of action will change with where they decide to go with it, so I'm very much unveiling this story carefully as I go. Till next time.