I'm just gonna establish right here and now, in case anybody had any illusions otherwise, or feel that I am under a similar illusion: Sophie and Victor's relationship is by no means a healthy one. Yet, these are two broken, and heavily flawed people coming together and fitting the jagged pieces of themselves together in the only way they both can. No excuses, just the truth. Hope you enjoy, this is where it starts to get interesting...for me as the plotter of this story anyway.
Chapter 11
Sophie ran and ran, mindless of the pebbles and twigs under her feet. The passage seemed hardly to be used and was dark, with only a random dim light spaced at long distances from each other. Every now and then she would look back, but no one seemed to be following her.
It seemed like an hour or more had passed when she finally came to another door, and when she opened it, she was in the shed Victor had told her about. She closed the door behind her, and then noticing the small window in the door, bent and slid up to the door, noting the lock was on the inside, and locked it. Flashing police lights were to the east of her, the house up on the hill to her left and a surprisingly great distance away. Although she had paid no attention to curves on her path, it had indeed taken her around or under the house and back towards the main road, but farther on, beyond the house, farther than where guests would have turned off, and in the opposite direction of where everyone had run. Sophie waited for the inevitable police car to drive by, shine a spotlight into the woods, but all of their attention seemed to be focused on the house and the lands behind it. People in fancy clothes were being chased over the snow in the front of the yard before being tackled or shot by police. Others were being pushed into the backs of police cars, and yet it wasn't nearly as many people as had been in the house itself.
Sophie slid to a tired heap onto the ground, the adrenaline rush leaving her, and the shock setting in. She didn't care about the white of her dress getting ruined, only put her head in her hands, and focused on breathing deep and slow.
It was becoming cold, and the next time she looked at the window, fewer police cars were outside the mansion, and the front yard had been taped off, Sophie could see the lights of the police cars flashing off of the reflective yellow. She desperately wanted to text him, but feared she would put him in more danger, maybe give away his position if he was in one.
Sophie began to wonder if she should make a spectacle of herself and lead some officers away from the house. Considering her options, Sophie fidgeted with her dress, and then began to take the length of it and knotted it just below her hip. Yay for dress slits, she inwardly rejoiced. Goosebumps broke out over her legs from the cold, but she ignored it as she unlocked the door and crept out. Her white dress blended in with the snow, but was stark against the dark wood of the shed as she slid along its side. A branch broke in the distance, and Sophie's head turned to see two officers coming her way, flashlights dim in a new onset of falling snow.
Her back was numb from the cold, and her legs were heavy, but she back tracked slowly, towards the front of the cabin, and ran into someone. Sophie inhaled sharply, just as a hand clapped over her mouth. His heat was tremendous against her back, and she wilted against him. His other hand was tight on her hip as he pulled her to the front and then spun her to face him.
Victor motioned for her to be silent, bullet grazes dotted across his face, but no further damage from what she could see. He gave her a commanding glare, and then like a cat he slid around the other side of the shed and blended into the dark silhouettes of the trees.
Sophie held herself still for a minute, before once again peering around the side of the shed. The cops were closer now, and having spotted the shed, began to pick up their pace, their voices now being carried to her ears.
"I'm gonna radio this in before we get too far out," one stated, pausing to fumble his numb fingers to his radio.
The other cop continued his advance forward, flashlight pouring over the snow, closer and closer. A blurr of motion to the right drew Sophie's eye, and she caught sight of Victor creeping from tree to tree, and then advancing on the cop who had finally gotten his fingers to grip the radio button properly.
Very suddenly Victor was behind the man, the shadow of his hands darting up to the cop's head. A quick jerk, and the man fell to his knees, and then disappeared beneath the snow.
"Jesus Chris, did you radio this yet?" the closer cop yelled, swinging his flashlight back to where his partner had been, where now there was only snow.
"Chris?" he repeated, flashlight swinging this way and that.
Sophie inhaled deeply and then dashed to a tree, disturbing a branch here and there.
The flashlight swung her way as she slipped behind a tree.
"GCPD, you better freeze and drop to the ground, or I will shoot you!" the cop yelled into the night.
Sophie gripped her heels tight in each hand and then stepped to her right just slightly, and this time, she stepped on a branch without meaning to. She cursed silently, and the light of the flashlight came closer, as did the cop's loud breathing.
"Freeze!" yelled the cop.
Strangely calm, Sophie stepped from behind the tree, into the light of the flashlight, which hit her full in the face and she squinted, frowning in its brightness.
"Drop to the ground, hands behind your head!"
Sophie dropped to the ground, and did as she was told.
'Just run' she thought towards Victor 'Run, be free.'
The light of the flashlight fell just slightly and Sophie was able to just catch a glimpse of the man's face as he came closer, before Victor's visage appeared behind him, and Victor's hands were on either side of his head and twisting. The snap was sickening, and he fell boneless to the ground.
Sophie's arms fell to her sides, and she released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Victor walked on the man and over him, offering a hand that she accepted and brought her to her feet. Sophie bent and retrieved her heels, and then looked up at him, her hand still in his.
"Are you hurt?" she whispered.
"Hnn," he rumbled, and touched her face with his free hand.
"What now?" she whispered, and her eyes flickered to the body behind him.
"Now, Fish Mooney and Salvatore Maroni will come to a bloody end," he said like a promise, and led her through the snow farther into the darkness.
Eventually they reached a far distance, and Victor used the hand that wasn't holding her own to text someone, and a car with no lights on came and picked them up.
"What happened? Are you in trouble?" Sophie muttered once they were inside.
"Betrayed," Victor summed up for her, "As we've suspected we would be one day. I got the Don out and safe, my job was done to the highest degree, and he is pleased. Your text to myself and Francis alerted us before even those who wanted to leave unseen had reached where we were in the house."
Sophie smiled at his tight grip on her hand and brought it to her cheek.
"I'm so glad you're safe," she whispered, "You should have run, not taken on the extra risk for me."
"I'm not a coward," he snapped.
"I never said you were, you're too daring for your own good," she rebutted and then shivered, letting go of his hand to rub some heat into her toes. His suit jacket magically appeared around her shoulders, and then he was on his phone, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and speaking rapidly.
When they pulled up to her apartment, Sophie wiped off the blood spatter on his cheek before they left the vehicle. With his arm wrapped around her shoulders, and her heels and clutch in her hand, to all the world they appeared to be a couple just coming home from a long night of partying to welcome in the holiday. Sophie's dress was still knotted at just below her hip, hiding the dirt stains there.
He walked her to her door and hung up on the phone just as she opened it. Victor followed her in, but made no move to take off his shoes. Sophie gripped the lapels of the jacket tightly and turned to look at him, knowing.
"I've more business to attend to tonight. I may be gone for an undetermined amount of time after this."
"I understand," she said softly, and looked around at her apartment, and wished only that she could follow him. Nowhere felt safe anymore without him.
"Your attire fit the evening, and I was pleased with your actions, you carried yourself well among the jackals."
Sophie laughed heartily at that, and took off his coat and handed to him, knowing he would need it. As he slipped the jacket back on, she began to undo the pins from her hair, letting the chignon fall loose.
"I felt like I made a terrible fool of myself, did so many things wrong."
Victor shrugged and buttoned the front of the suit, "The Don was pleased by your presence...and Cobblepot.." Victor paused and looked at her hard.
"He is...a questionable ally, deceitful and playing to his own endgame, take care to reveal very little to him, if anything in the future."
"I got the feeling he could be dangerous," Sophie acknowledged, and setting the pins on the counter, ran her fingers through her hair.
"He raved of your beauty," Victor murmured, and then his fingers were lightly brushing over her jaw, up to her temple and down the side of her cheek.
"You were as a princess," he continued, "My Sophie, all in white."
A heated blush went over her cheeks, and she placed her hand over his own, while the other fiddled with the diamond at her neck.
"Wait for me, my Sophie," he rumbled, strangely subdued, and caressing her face, placed a kiss to her temple, and then left.
"Always," she whispered, and locked the door behind him.
..ooOoo...
Francis had given her a big hug the next time she'd seen him at work, and although they never did speak of that night, their teamwork within the hospital had improved as a result. Neither of them were called upon for anything, and neither of them questioned it.
The New Year came and went with no word of him. When Valentine's day came rolling along, Sophie swallowed her fears, but suspected she was developing an ulcer as a result. While she was working that holiday, a bouquet of red and white roses was delivered to the ED desk, her name presented by the delivery boy.
All the females on the unit congregated around Sophie as she signed for the delivery, and was alerted that she'd received 4 dozen roses by her peers. The card was signed only with a computer printed 'V', but Sophie's heart became immediately a million times lighter, and her face hurt with the intensity of her smile.
"Someone realized what a catch you are, hmm, little girl?" asked Ruth with a wink and an elbow.
Sophie handed a rose to each lady there, and to each of her female patients that day. When Francis came in for his shift at the end of hers, he looked from the roses held in her arms to the smile on her face.
"I will never understand you," he muttered, and shook his head, but wished her a happy holiday.
Sophie required a taxi to get home that night with her flowers and she knew that she probably wouldn't hear from him again for much longer still, but it didn't matter, because … he had let her know he was okay.
Bad days and good days came and went, and Sophie worked and worked, keeping her mind and her hands busy. As usual, new interns came and went from her unit, but this newest round had brought a young man who just wouldn't get the silent hint that she wasn't interested. His name was Isaac and he wore his hair in a ponytail and his eyes were a rich rich blue in a face that smiled easily. Sophie could easily see herself falling for him, pre-Victor entrance into her life, but now she found nothing of interest in any male that crossed her path.
Isaac invited her for coffee, stayed after his shifts to talk with her and ask her about her day. Each time she declined with a smile and a shake of her head.
"One day, you'll say yes," he said leaning over the counter as Sophie typed in her notes. She glanced up at him from the computer and quirked her lips, "I'm spoken for," she replied.
"I don't see a ring," Isaac teased.
"I don't need a ring," Sophie responded, hitting enter and then pushing away from the desk.
"I'd get you a ring," he continued.
Sophie turned and walked up to the counter, "Listen Isaac, I'm flattered, but really, I love him, and he loves me, and it isn't going to end anytime soon. I've loved him since I was six."
The intern's face fell, and she patted his hand and turned away. Once upon a time, he would have made her heart stutter, in fact, he reminded her of the man she'd foolishly given her virginity to in college. He'd dropped her so quickly once she had finally slept with him, and it had hurt, until she realized that she'd really just been thinking of that boy next door the whole five minutes of it.
He probably didn't even own a nice suit anyway, Sophie joked to herself.
It was April before she saw him again. Sophie was giving report to Claudia, paging through scribble of notes when a black silhouette caught the corner of her eye. His head shone under the fluorescent lighting of the ED, and his suit was black on black, now with the addition of a vest underneath his jacket she noted. Sophie raced through the rest of her report and with little regard to how she looked, she bounded to the break room, grabbed her light sweater and slid her badge through the time clock before turning to him.
Her smile was going to split her face in two, she concluded, and with a happy bounce she stood on her toes and kissed his cheek. She'd missed the scent of his cologne, of him. Her hand slipped into his, and he turned to lead her out.
"Excuse me," a voice stuttered, and Victor paused as someone barely caught himself before colliding into him, and then stepped around them.
Sophie caught Isaac's wide eyes staring at her as they made their way around him, but she paid him no mind as she nearly skipped in her joy.
Their lovemaking in her apartment that night was fierce and rough, and Sophie wanted to sear the image of him spasming underneath her as she rocked on top of him into her eyelids. His fingers were bruising as they gripped her hips and his teeth were a white flash as he let out a stifled roar, and his heels lifted them off the bed. Sophie laughed breathlessly, and ran her nails down his chest lightly.
When she slid off to his side and rested her head on his chest, she felt one of his hands begin to wind her longer blonde hair around his fist, over and over again, pinching strands between his fingertips, taking in its texture.
Just as she was starting to doze, he began to speak.
"Management is changing, and I am being gifted to a new boss," he rumbled.
Sophie frowned, "You're not a possession to be given from anybody to anybody," she said, feeling anger bloom fresh and red in her chest. His loyalty was so fierce, she hated that it was traded so thoughtlessly.
"It is an honor to be thought so highly of," he said with a finality, "And I get to use my talents freely."
She rolled that around in her head before speaking, "I heard Maroni's body was found,"
A rumble of acknowledgement came from his chest, "Yet new challengers rise to take his place everyday."
Sophie nodded, and traced her fingers over all the new tallies, on his arm, his side, his neck. All of them possible takers of his life, she was coming to realize, and it made her heart seize for a moment.
"I have a proposition for you," he murmured, and Sophie blinked.
"It would provide us with closer and more frequent proximity, but would also involve you becoming a part of my...profession. Times are changing, and the world itself will change. Safety wont' be guaranteed for anyone in Gotham anymore."
Sophie laid back to stare at the ceiling and pondered.
"Wouldn't I be more of a liability?" she finally questioned.
"I would make that no longer a problem. You would need to trust me completely and utterly," his voice graveled.
"I already do," she replied instantly.
"Are you willing to give up this life for me, Sophie Summers?"
"To be with you?"
"Yes," he hissed in the dark.
"That's all I ever wanted," she replied, "There really isn't much to give up anyway."
"You'll never want for anything," there was that promising voice again.
"I only ever want you," she reminded him.
"Then we will begin soon. I would recommend giving Gotham General your two weeks notice," he said, moving over her again, eyes flashing in the dark.
So the next day, she did.