Miss Mooney got you a job at a busy Italian restaurant that another one of Falcone's top men run. You're a waitress again. A simple, safe, and very content waitress, with no connection to the mob, no memory of a man named Oswald Cobblepot. You can smile at your coworkers and clients without worry, you sigh after a long day of work. You're new, but get along with everyone. You're used to waitressing, so you fit in nicely.
It's a good job. A little less pay but also a lot less risk. You call it a win. You've just gotten settled in and over the shock of your last occupation when a familiar face limps in, asking for a job at the very same place.
You excuse yourself to the bathroom and lock yourself in a stall. It's not him, you tell yourself. He's dead. Oswald is dead. Fish killed him. Deep breath. Calm down. Go back out and help your customers. They're probably wondering where you are.
You walk out of the bathroom and into someone. "I'm sor-" Your apology was cut short by a gasp. Those icy eyes meet yours. That smirk below it.
"Hello!" he greeted cheerily. "How wonderful to see you again!" You stand with your mouth hanging open. His face dropped. "What, no 'Hello!'? No, 'Hey, Oswald, you're alive! How's it going?'"
"I-I have to work," you manage and push past him.
"Alright, see you later!"
Six o'clock rolls around, and you hang up your apron, say goodbye to your coworkers, and head out the back of the restaurant.
"Hello again!"
"OhmyGOD" you scream as your heart almost leaps out of your chest. "Oswald," you breathe.
He stands with his arms out in a tadah! kind of gesture. "In the flesh!"
"You're dead!"
"Am I?" He snickers. "I wasn't aware of that. Boy, I wish someone would have told me." He waddles up to you. "No, I was pardoned by a kind saint. Although, he told me to never return to Gotham...but Gotham is my home, so here I am!" He smiles and holds his hand out to you. Not to take, just a gesture he always does. "I'm not supposed to be alive, so let's keep this our little secret, alright?" You don't know how to respond, so you only stand there with confusion twisting your face. "This alley is no place to have a friendly reunion. Come, let's go somewhere else. I'll pay. I recently came into some money."
"No thank you," you decline. "I'd rather not." You try to walk casually towards the street, praying for this conversation to end.
"Oh, but I would love to know why you're not working for Fish anymore. She must like you, getting you into a place like this."
"Shut up!" you whisper harshly, rushing back over to him again. "No one here knows that and I'd like to keep it that way."
"So we both have secrets to keep…I suppose we have an agreement then? We both keep quiet about each other. Have each other's backs, so to say."
You scowl. "I do not and will not have your back. I'll shut my mouth unless I'm asked. I'm not putting my life on the line for you."
Smile. "That's good enough for now," he says and hobbles into the alley. Just before he rounds the corner, you hear him mutter to himself, "Such a good girl."