Chapter 3 – Maternal
Two months had flown by as winter quickly spread its wings around Gotham. Lucy's daddy had initiated strict rules; now the only time Lucy was allowed her key was when she left for school. When she was at home she had to leave her key in her parents' room.
When she had returned, she had not seen her mother for days. In fact, it had felt like months before she saw her mother again when in actuality it had been near a week. When she did see her again, she had been horrified by Harleen's appearance. Harleen's condition had been so severe she had to visit the dodgy clinics of the Narrows.
Harleen had bruising on the entirety of her left side. It stretched from her eye to her chin; her eye had been swollen and Lucy suspected that it initially had been swollen to the extent where she might've lost her sight in that eye, her lip was swollen and her cheekbone looked like it was broken. Her arms also looked wrong like they had been twisted and contorted into the wrong directions.
Every time Harleen was beaten by Arthur her resentment for Lucy grew ten-fold and it had grown to a monumental size now; each time they graced the other with their presence Harleen would not utter a word to her but she would glare daggers of death at her.
She had made it her mission to end Lucy, and unbeknownst to both Lucy and Arthur, the pit in Harleen's heart had grown to the point of no return. She couldn't love her daughter any more. Not that there was much love to begin with. It was perhaps pea sized, but it had been crushed by the ever mounting pressure of envy and the need to covet everything Arthur gave.
Whenever Arthur was home which was growing less and less frequent, Harleen would make a show of feeding Lucy, never speaking to her, but making it obvious that she was tending to Lucy's needs. However, when Arthur was away Harleen would lock Lucy in her room with every chance she got, but seeing as how Harleen was spending much time outside with her friends it was not an often occurrence.
Nonetheless, it traumatised Lucy – she didn't like being alone, the darkness would creep on her and in the darkness there were monsters that wanted to hurt her and eat her. Worst of all though Lucy's body had become frightfully thin: before she could still argue that there was some fat on her body but now she could see her ribs.
Lucy was no doctor or even an adult but she knew it was bad for people to be alone for too long and to be able to see one's skeleton. That's why whenever Harleen took Lucy's wrist in her vice-like grip, she would kick and scream the best she could. Yet, no one came to her aid and she always ended up in the room alone.
The worst part was that she couldn't even tell her daddy because Harleen promised to lock her up in her room even when Harleen was out and she didn't want that.
School, once a place of anguish, was now a place of solace. Lucy could pig out as much as she could and no one would question her. She had begun to steal people's lunch in school and fish out food from the garbage in the narrows to feed herself. The teachers saw the state of Lucy's body but none wanted to report it to anyone as it would mean attention would fall on them and none wanted that sort of attention in the Narrows. Good people were killed within the moment they revealed themselves.
Her father had, in truth, also began to neglect Lucy in some way as ends became harder to meet so he would have to work himself to the bone just to pay the bills but what he didn't know was that the majority of the food he brought home, which was near to nothing, hardly went in Lucy's stomach as well.
In her last 'time out', Lucy beat the door for hours until her hands were bruised and her ankles were sprained. That was yesterday and unfortunately her daddy had not returned the night before, thus it had been a full twenty-four hours since she was eaten.
It was in this moment of solitude that Lucy finally admitted Aashi was right: Harleen was no mother. It's not like Lucy didn't know this before, but the child within her wanted to deny this fact for as long as possible but that was not an option anymore.
For once, Lucy sat in the middle of her room and gave up – the fight completely left her for that one small moment.
Her body convulsed violently as she cried silently. She was afraid that if Harleen heard her she would come in there and shout at her again, possibly even harm her. Lucy wouldn't put it past her.
However, it was so difficult having to close her heart when it screamed for a release. She wanted a release from this situation. She wanted someone to tell her everything was going to be alright.
She wanted to be happy for once.
A hoarse cry left her lips but she quickly slapped a hand to her mouth. The tears slid over her hand which made it difficult to grip her face to quieten herself. She waited to hear the footsteps and came they did.
There was a bang on her door. The monster had come, "Hey, don't make me come in there to shut you up, huh!"
Fear shot through her and travelled up her spine, but just as the fear began to take hold of her heart and her hope almost distinguished a voice rang in her head. It was a familiar and gentle voice, one she recalled belonging to a particular woman whom she had feared originally 'So, don't let anyone ever take that away from you. They can take your body, your freedom, your life but they can't take your will to live.'
Those words spoke such volumes to Lucy that she suspected that Aashi could see the future or had known a situation like this would arise. Those words were the ammunition for the spark in Lucy to grow again and her anger began to rise in her again. It was not the same type of anger that she felt against Dennis but a type of anger that was etched with suffering. A type of suffering that Lucy hoped no one else would ever experience – the type that made one mature years beyond than what they actually were.
She sniffed and wiped her tears dry. She could still feel the tear tracks on her face but that was ok because today she would break out of here. She would get out of here and she would die trying.
She would have to take action before Harleen left but she need something to help her in her escape because even in her high Lucy knew her body wouldn't be capable of hurting a fly. She scored her room, searching, and she found a bat under her bed.
Her daddy's paranoia finally was beneficial to someone. She crawled over like a dying woman to a lifeline and grabbed the bat and brought it to her chest as if it were her own heart she were cradling. She then shakily got to her feet and slid to the side of her doorframe. Her back was completely against the wall now.
Lucy was so sure in that moment. It didn't matter that she hadn't the energy to fight or that she hadn't washed in forever or that her clothes consisted of just her socks, her trousers and a plain pink blouse. She was going to leave this room.
Aashi spoke to her again, 'That's why you shouldn't be scared, child, because at the end of the day all the monsters in the world they are all humans'.
That's how she would do it: pain. Everyone felt pain, even Harleen, even her daddy.
First she would get Harley into the room, hit her as hard as she could, run to her parents' room, grab the keys and unlock the door. That was all that mattered. She would have to improvise the rest.
She inhaled just like she did that time when she went swimming the first and last time.
"You can't tell me what to do! You're NOT my MOM!" Lucy rattled using her hoarse voice.
"What was that, you little bitch?" Harleen screeched. The locked rattled open and the door swung with such force that it hit the wall and dented the dilapidated thing.
Now!
Lucy swung the bat down onto Harley's knees. She cried out in pain and swiped at Lucy but Lucy moved away quickly towards her bed. Harley followed but Lucy hit her again in the other knee which caused Harley to fall and hit her head violently on the bed frame.
Lucy's heart nearly froze in her chest. She hated Harleen with a passion but she didn't wish her dead and in that moment she looked just like that; especially with the amount of blood spouting from her forehead.
Lucy almost fell to her knees and crawled over to her but she recalled the wise words of Aashi again, 'humans are cruel creatures'. Harleen was indeed a cruel creature so she didn't check if she was alive or not.
Lucy dropped the bat and darted from her room to her parents' room where she practically flew towards the bed. She didn't know where to look first so she rummaged through the desk draws, checked underneath the bed and nearly cried in frustration when her efforts were fruitless.
However, she did not give up. When she flipped around to look towards the ajar door she saw a small wooden wardrobe behind the door.
She used the chair from the desk to access the handle of her daddy's wardrobe and when it did open it did so with a large groan, it was ancient after all, and in the corner underneath the clothes and tin cans of face paint there was a rectangular tin. Lucy snatched it open and found her keys much to her relief. It had taken her too long to find the keys.
However, when she turned to go through the door, she found that it was blocked. Harleen stood there with a promise of pure ferocity and death for Lucy shining in her glossy eyes. Even Lucy's night terrors couldn't conjure up what Lucy was seeing.
The left side of Harleen's faux blonde hair was matted with blood whilst the other was frizzy and looked like it could come alive to latch on to her like how it did in her night terror. Harleen was limping and her head was lolled to one side, regardless she was intimidating with that rusted hammer in her right hand. Her blue eyes looked like they were glowing and her teeth were also stained with her crimson blood making Lucy think she might have been secretly a vampire – it would explain why she was always wearing makeup.
Lucy almost became paralysed with fear.
"Yo-u wan… tha play- li' 'hat?" her speech was slurred almost like she was drunk.
Lucy felt the hammer rush past and scraped some skin off of her ear as she barely dodged it. Lucy scuttled behind her and pushed her but it only worked because of Harleen's head injury.
Harleen stumbled to one knee and Lucy took this chance to make a run for the door. Yet, she knew she wouldn't make it so she ran back to her room for her bat. She thanked whatever Lord that was out there that made Harleen so dim witted that she didn't go for the bat.
She grasped it just as Harleen slumped into the threshold of Lucy's room, "You… you!"
Harleen rushed her again and this time Lucy ducked which gave her time to aim for Harleen's stomach. She took her shot but Harleen took Lucy by surprise when she didn't fall over. Instead she leaned over and brought her hammer down; it caught Lucy on the toes of her foot.
Lucy yelled and stumbled back but she didn't let go of the key or the bat. Instead it drove Lucy to work harder. She took the bat and hit Harleen directly on her head wound as Harleen had fallen to her knees.
That one hit slammed Harleen's face on the floor. Lucy ran with haste out of her room but when she glanced back to Harleen she took notice of how sluggish her movements. This made Lucy slow her pace and shout back to her, knowing full well she was conscious still "You're not my mom! You never were and you never will be! I hate you and I never want to see you again!"
As Lucy finally stumbled towards the door and unlocked it she took one last look down the hall and said just loud enough for Harley to hear, "I loved you".
She briefly saw the top of Harleen's head as she crawled towards Lucy, hammer still in hand, and eyes full of animosity for Lucy.
With one last glance Lucy stepped outside taking only the clothes on her back and her keys. The moment her other foot stepped outside she was sprinting down the hall, down the stairs and outside not noticing the blood trail she was leaving.
When she came out of the apartment complex, she paused and breathed in the polluted air like it was her last breath. She looked to the grey sky which was probably the most beautiful thing to her at that moment. She spread her arms like she was stretching her wings, ready for flight, ready for freedom.
She took a moment and adjusted her footing then bolted off. She didn't know where she was going but it didn't matter because she was free from Harleen. She could go anywhere she wanted, could eat what she wanted and when she wanted, though in the back of her mind a voice whispered to her about all the dangers of the narrows.
What frightened Lucy was that she had no memory as to how she got to the high-street or how long she was even out but she guessed it had been some time considering that it was well past noon. She was in unfamiliar territory though she saw a few familiar landmarks. She deduced that she was in the city centre, near the area where she and Aashi passed when they went to the beach.
The beach, maybe she could go there.
The crowds consumed her soon and few people saw or even gave a damn about the young girl that they were stampeding over. It was painful as people pushed, shoved and budged but then someone yanked her to the side and away from the crowd. When she looked up she saw it was a police officer.
Piggies.
He had brown hair, with kind brown eyes and a funny moustache. He had a pair of glasses tucked in his pocket. He was strange because he looked like he was trying to help which was a bad thing in Gotham. Even Aashi had reluctantly helped Lucy in the beginning.
"What are you doing here? Are you ok?"
Lucy didn't answer him which gave the man the impression that she was either in shock or was a homeless orphan who had been caught red-handed in a mugging as her appearance would support either theories.
He looked over her with gentle eyes and asked her once again her name but she didn't answer him. Her daddy had always taught him that the cops were bad pigs all her life so she didn't trust him despite his kind demeanour.
He took her to his patrol car and sat her in the back with the door open. He offered her a donut but she didn't take it. He offered her bottled water but she didn't take it.
In the end, he resorted to kneeling in front of her and smiling, said "I'm Officer Gordon, you don't have to tell me your name… but I would like to know what happened to you. Your foot is bleeding there and your hands are in bad shape." He pointed and indeed it was.
Lucy lazily looked from her bleeding foot to her bruised hands then to Gordon. She didn't answer him again which made him sigh and turn away from her. He pulled out his radio and called his partner but when he looked back she was gone.
Lucy had taken her chance to run and run she did. She went any way she found and thought few people would go. This landed her in a rather dodgy looking area even for Gotham's standards. When she looked to see what sorts of shops that surrounded her she saw a variety of signs which she couldn't make sense of.
Then she stopped outside of one shop that had the sign of 'TATTOO' whatever that was. Most of the shops didn't even have windows but a few display signs. The shop door opened and a hooded figure stepped out. He was about to walk away but he paused a few feet from Lucy. They both just stared at each other, scrutinising.
The man was short but hench. His clothes were grimy and didn't consist of much only a black hoodie, ripped jeans and a pair of high top sneakers.
The man then grunted as if he had come to a decision but before Lucy could scatter the person had a hold of her. The man reminded her of the man who tried to eat her so she screamed as loud as she could but no one helped.
Lucy had been held under his arm with her face facing the back end rather than the front so she couldn't see much.
She had seen some people idly watch as the man carried her under his arm and they did nothing; this was Gotham but Lucy was still disappointed, this was her neck on the line.
He turned down a narrow street and went through several doors; some were metallic but most were rotten wooden ones. She soon realised that they were travelling underground because with each door there was less light and the man descended further down many sets of staircases.
He brought her deep in the jungle that was underground and passed through a corridor full of open arches and each room was filled to the brim with people. Her screams were drowned by the sounds of cheers and shouts. In the end she had halted her screaming and was curiously looking through each archway to see where he had brought her and she didn't like what she saw.
In one archway, there were people hanging from ceilings with hooks. In another, men were gathered around different tables with chips scattered around the room, some were crying, some were cheering.
He entered one arch way which led to a cave like room where the area was lit by a few spotlights and in the middle there was a ring of sorts; this is what attracted the larger crowds in the area.
There were men and women of all kinds in the area. On the left there were the betting stands and on the right was the bar. In the middle there were two fighters, one man, one woman. Lucy couldn't get a good look but she could tell the man towered over the woman. And was that paint on her face?
Someone was screaming, informing the lively crowd, "Final round! Final round!"
Lucy didn't get to see much before she was pulled into a small room in the corner. After the door was shut a curtain was drawn after it. This did not look good at all.
The man dropped her but held her fast before she could dash off, "Stay" his deep grouchy voice commanded.
Lucy listened knowing that if she disobeyed this man would hurt her. That did not mean she was going to stay in that position forever.
It was in that moment that she got a good look around. The room was small and was cramped. A desk had been shoved into the room which was hidden beneath stacks of papers and behind those papers was a woman. She had her face buried in the papers and was frantically searching for something from the draws of the desk.
Behind the desk were two filing cabinets both were also stuffed to the brim and the one of the right was even leaking papers like a leaky pipe would. Just page after page, the papers fell to the floor.
The walls were painted an ugly yellow which had faded to look like urine. The walls had some graffiti on it but it wasn't as bad as it was out there.
"Aha!" the woman cheered and jumped up from her position, "I found it! She held a sorry looking crumpled small rectangular piece of paper in front of her but she quickly stuffed it into her pocket when she saw the strange man.
"What do you want? I told you not to come in here without permission-"
The woman froze in the middle of her sentence when she Lucy and Lucy almost jumped in relief when she finally recognised the woman. It was Aashi's friend, the friendly black woman, who had tried to assure her Aashi was a nice woman.
The woman quickly averted her eyes from Lucy like she had been stung, "You know that sort of business doesn't happen here no more, not since we got here. What are you doing with the gir-"
"Yeah, I know that, woman. But ain't this the girl that was with your friend. I heard she put the word out to keep an eye out for this kid"
The woman held her breath as the man continued, "Just wanted to know what all the fuss was about, is all."
"Leave the girl and get the hell out of here!" the woman demanded as she closed in near Lucy.
"Nah! I wanna meet her! Right here, right now!" the man clenched his fists and raided them somewhat to frighten the woman but it didn't have the desired effect.
Instead the woman became enraged, "You can't just come in here and demand things, not after you tried to cheat-"
Lucy pressed herself to the side of the wall not wanting to get caught in between the both of them.
"I can do whatever I want, you stupid hoe!" the man snapped, and made to throw a blow on the woman. However, before his fist could even move it had been caught in a deadly grip.
The man struggled to removed his wrist from the perpetrators hand and the more he struggled the more grip intensified like a snake around its prey. The man's anger wilted and instead fear grew as the grip intensified to a painful degree. The man cried as a snap was heard and fell to his knees as the hand let go.
A shadow was cast upon the man as he fell, a towering, dark, ominous figure was above the man ready to eat him alive if necessary.
Lucy gaped at the man who had fallen. Although the situation had transpired in a matter of seconds for Lucy it had been longer for the fear of the unknown was starting to catch up to her.
When she diverted her gaze to the figure she found the dark figure of Aashi looming over him.
She was sweaty, bloody and bruised around the face and torso but otherwise she was unharmed. Her face was clear of any makeup and yet her eyes were the darkest shade of black that Lucy had ever seen before in her life.
Aashi was wearing a black pair of sweats with a black sports bra which revealed the rest of her lean and pulsing body. Her hair was pulled up in a tight bun but a few strands had come loose which gave her a crazed look. When Lucy inspected her face again she saw something strange on Aashi's face, something ashy smudged on her jaw.
Lucy was astounded by Aashi's body. Aashi always covered up so she never revealed her body's form and quite frankly it was intimidating. Lucy wasn't even aware woman could have such bodies. Sure, she was no Hulk Hogan or Arnold Schwarzenegger but she had muscles that packed quite the force.
From what Lucy could see Aashi had large arms; her biceps and trapezes as well as her forearms were well defined and large enough to crush her opponent with one strike though not large to the extent where they could rival that of a body builder. Her abdominal was ripped to the point where one could see each muscle contract and relax with each movement. It would also explain why her breasts were near to non-existent. Lucy couldn't see Aashi's body below the waist but she could see the outline of thick thighs.
Overall, Aashi's muscles were nowhere as large as that of some of the male fighters that Lucy had seen outside but she could tell with one look that those muscles were not for show… those were for killing people. Those muscles may not have been bulky but they were lean and packed a lot of power.
It dawned on Lucy that it had been Aashi who had been in the ring. She was a fighter, an underground boxer. She only knew this because her daddy was a fan of such things and often babbled on about these sorts of people.
"Now, now. Let's not act like savages, man. What is it that we can help you with?" Aashi asked in a cold tone that sent chills up everyone's backs.
The man sputtered but was unable to loose coherent words. Aashi picked the man up from the hood, which had fallen from his head, but the man's face was no longer important for the story so Lucy didn't pay attention to it, and Aashi shoved him out of the room, stating "You're drunk, old boy. You should leave."
When Aashi had shut the door and locked it, she had remained facing the closed door until she took a rather large inhale. When she flipped to face the two other occupants her eyes assessed them both. Aashi's eyes fitted over the woman briefly as she was unharmed but when she locked her gaze on Lucy her face became stern.
She did not speak a word to Lucy. She called to the woman, "Asilia, we're leaving".
The black woman, Aashi's friend, Asilia, gathered her things whilst Aashi finally stepped into the room fully. She never moved her censorious gaze off of Lucy. She didn't ask any questions. She just stood there and stared at Lucy pensively.
When Asilia was ready, she began to fiddle with something on the filing cabinet meanwhile Aashi simply held out her hand to Lucy, but didn't say anything.
Lucy brought her hands to her collar bones and looked at the hand hesitantly and with the same amount of reluctance, Lucy accepted Aashi's hand. Just as her small hand was enclosed into Aashi's large bare warm hand, Asilia had managed to press the switch which opened up the secret passage way.
As Asilia took the front she illuminated the way with a torch. Next, Lucy was gently urged forward directly behind Asilia by Aashi. Along the way Aashi had snatched a shawl and perforated leather jacket that was lying around.
It was dark and dank but no one spoke a word. They all just wanted to leave the narrow bricked passage. Lucy's grip on Asilia's coat hardened when a dim light was staring to filter into their path. At the end of the corridor there was a door with a small window that was barred. Asilia managed to open the rusted door after a few budges and when she stepped out, Lucy let go of her coat and began to loiter at the threshold.
She didn't want to go out there. It was the same street where the man had nabbed her. She felt a gentle tap on her shoulder and saw Aashi's was beginning to wrap Lucy in the jacket; she had taken the Salmon coloured shawl. She looked strange mainly because she wasn't wearing all black.
As she zipped up the oversized brown jacket she whispered to Lucy, "Don't fret, child. I'll keep you safe."
Lucy's lower lip began to quiver. She goggled up at Aashi, who was leaning over her, and began to silently cry.
Unlike Aashi, Asilia was the first to notice Lucy's tears. "Hey, kid. What's wrong? Is it your foot? Don't worry. I'll take a look at it later."
It wasn't her foot. She was just so grateful for Aashi because she had looked out for her. Her own mother had tried to just kill her and this complete stranger, who she had befriended in that same year, was now taking care of her like it was no big deal.
Aashi's knowingly looked into Lucy's watery eyes and wiped her tears, "You're not fine right now, but we'll make it alright later, ok, child?"
Lucy nodded and hiccupped, the tears still flowing, she couldn't stop crying and in her shame she bowed her head and pulled her covered hands to her face. Before she knew it, she was lifted onto someone's hip. Lucy didn't look up but she weaved her arms around Aashi's neck; knowing that the woman holding her was going to keep her safe.
"We need to go" Lucy heard Aashi command to Asilia.
The wind rushed against Lucy's face but she took comfort in the arm that was holding her secure against Aashi's strong body. Soon, she found that she could no longer keep her eyes open despite being hungry, injured and cold. However, she was with Aashi and she said she would keep Lucy safe.
;-;-;-;-;
Arthur had returned home that night late for the first time in four days. He had managed to secure enough money to keep his family secure for at least two months. He could take it easy for now but not too long; otherwise he would go soft and he couldn't do that.
He hadn't seen Lucy in a few solid days in the voices in his head were screaming at him, bellowing, that Lucy was in danger and that it was his fault. He pushed these thoughts away, chalking it up to his paranoia, but it was difficult to ignore the voices.
He needed to see her soon or he would go mental.
His mind would often torment him about the poverty he was forcing Lucy to live through and on rare occasions the voices would make him regret his violent behaviour with Harleen. She was the mother of his child after all. Perhaps not now but he did once believed to be in love with her; a sentiment she once shared with him too.
How the years had changed her. He had fallen in love with her because of her positive attitude to life, her bubbly personality and her need to prove herself to her own person rather than the people who surrounded her.
Now, she was self-absorbed, submissive and plain repugnant. The only thing she loved now was herself and she was always trying to prove to others that she was the best, at what he wasn't sure, but he saw her no better than the majority of people.
In his eyes, people were shit, very few people were worth his time. People like Lucy and Bob. They were his family. Everyone else could have been damned to hell and he couldn't have cared less.
The first thing that set off the warning bells in his head was the fact that one of Lucy's pair of shoes (her white turned grey sneakers were missing) and she had only two pairs of shoes, which meant that she was out. That was not normal. No matter how mature Lucy was, she shouldn't have been out. It was way past her bedtime and even though it was the beginning of the holidays, it was late.
Too late. It was nearing two in the morning.
The second thing that set him on his nerves was Lucy's room looked clean. Too clean. The carpet looked like it had been cleaned and it couldn't have been Harleen. She was too lazy. So, who was in his home with his daughter?
The third thing issue was that the entire apartment was vacant. No Lucy. No Harleen. He sieved through the entire house and found no trace of them. Even their clothes were missing.
His thoughts ran amuck.
"Maybe Harley finally someone else!"
"Maybe they both left you!"
"They hate you!"
"Maybe they were kidnapped!"
"Maybe the mob took them!"
"Maybe a psycho ate them!"
"They hated you!"
"It's your fault!"
Just as he was about to throw a fit, he saw a note on the round kitchen table. He rushed over to it nearly ripped it as he shook violently.
It was in Harley's curvy writing, 'Hi Pudding, I've gone with the girls for a trip. Lucy's with a friend. Don't worry, I'll be back soon, KISSES!"
A vein throbbed painfully in his head. This was possibly the most useless note Harley could have left. It didn't tell him the location of either Lucy or Harley nor did it give him an exact date when they would return. Not to mention this was the fourth time she had pulled a stunt like this; leaving her family for her girls.
Harley couldn't just leave like that! And which useless friend did Harley leave Lucy with? She couldn't have even called him!
He whipped out his Nokia and begun to ring her up but each time it went to voicemail. He called, quite literally over twenty times, but it was fruitless. He almost threw his phone out the window, not that it would have been damaged or anything, but thought against it.
He dropped everything and dashed out of his apartment. As he exited into the corridor, the wind was almost knocked out of him.
At the top of the corridor was a woman at the threshold of her door. Not just any woman though. It took a moment for Arthur to piece it together but he finally recognised her despite having met her the first time.
"The scary lady with the all those hoops saved me, Daddy!"
Piercings on her ears, some outlandish ones too like the industrial.
"She had a lot of these spikes on her clothing!"
Spiked collar. Spiked boots.
"And all her clothes were black. Daddy! Even her makeup was black!"
Black leather jeans. Black slayer T-shirt. Black make-up. Black jacket.
"Oh and her hair was SO LONG Dad, it went up to her butt!"
Long hair, indeed.
"She, uh, she was brown and she was tall like the Green Lady"
She was as tall as Arthur himself but that didn't put him off.
That was the woman who saved Lucy.
"Hey, woman!"
The woman was already staring at him, but funnily enough not at his scars but at his person. "Yes, may I help you, sir?"
"You, uh," it was difficult to control his anger but he had to in order to get answers, "You seen my daughter, Lucy?"
The woman looked form his face, to his shaking fists and then swivelled her head to look insider her apartment, "Child, your father is here!"
Arthur cocked a brow at her but he begun to hear small pit-pats. Suddenly, from below the woman's legs appeared Lucy. She wore her PJs and a new set of woolly socks he hadn't seen before. She had a bed head like she had just woken up. No matter how tired she was, it didn't show when she beamed a cheesy grin at him and raced towards him without a care.
"Daddy!" she yelled.
Arthur literally felt the tension leave him the moment he lifted Lucy into his arms, "Heya, you little monkey!" Arthur shouted back.
Lucy giggled, hugged him and whispered, "I missed you, Daddy"
"I missed you too, kiddo" Arthur murmured into her ear.
He didn't set her down so Lucy turned her head to look at the woman, "Daddy, this is Aashi, my friend. Aashi, this is Daddy."
When Arthur looked back to the woman she was directly in front of them a few paces away. They both scrutinised each other, not trusting, not daring to even offer a reply.
"Come on, Daddy! You're supposed to shake her hand!"
Arthur felt his jaw tighten as the woman coolly held out a hand. They shook but both applied pressure into that one shake.
Arthur was judging her on her appearance which he shouldn't but the majority of his anger was towards Harley. She wasn't here so the woman had to deal with his anger instead; although in his professional opinion, Arthur thought he was doing a good job at controlling his anger.
Aashi on the other hand had a pretty good guess as to what Arthur's issue was not just in the current situation but in his life in general as well.
"Pleasure" was all Arthur said but Aashi said something completely different, "You need to feed her more."
Now that she mentioned it, Arthur did recall that it was easier to lift Lucy in recent days. He didn't reply to that and Lucy's smile was slowly wavering.
Aashi looked to Lucy, "Go with your father, Child. I'm just down the corridor." Then she was gone down the hall and like a ghost she left them both stupefied.
"See Daddy! She's not that bad!"
To be continued…
A/N:
Aashi is supposed to have a mixture of Michiko Nishiwaki's and Kiran Dembla's body, but leaning more towards Nishiwaki's muscle structure.