XXXII – Where the Past Comes Back to Life
"Promises made without clarity of thought still counted. A careless yes and you were bound." - Megan Miranda, The Last House Guest
•••
"Sorry 'bout this, Bird." Gabe apologized, "You were always fair to me. You're good people."
Bird stared unblinkingly up at him from where she was tied to a chair next to Ivy.
"Then untie me and just let me go." She said in a flat voice.
She had far bigger things to worry about right now, and being held hostage at the mansion Ivy had been squatting in was the worst inconvenience she could imagine.
When Bird had made it back to the house after parting ways with Jim, she wasn't alarmed to see Gabe and several other of Oswald's henchmen there.
Even though she had made it clear to Ivy that no one should know Oswald was still alive, she knew her former best friend would be anxious to start rebuilding his empire and get revenge on those who wronged him.
Gabe had acted so glad to see her, pulled her into a tight hug that she didn't have a chance of escaping -and next thing she knew, her arms were bound and she was being tied down to a chair in the greenhouse next to Ivy and Oswald.
"I think you know we can't do that." He nodded with his head towards Oswald's direction, "Seeing as how when one of you gets in a bind the other one loses their mind. Can't trust you."
Bird let out a breath that was more growl than air and she could hear Oswald sigh from the other side of Ivy.
"My apologies, Bird." Oswald snapped, straining against his own bindings to lean forward and look over at her, "Perhaps if you'd just finished me off when you had the chance, I wouldn't be putting such a crimp in your day."
Ignoring his outburst, Bird looked at Ivy and said, "I specifically told you that no one can know he's alive."
"Yeah, I know." Ivy stomped a foot against the concrete floor.
With a jolt of attitude she turned to complain at Oswald, "I told you we needed to listen to Bird and not call anyone, but you did it anyways."
Oswald's jaw hung slack. He was the one Gabe wanted to sell off to the highest bidder. He had been betrayed by the few people he'd trusted and Ivy and Bird weren't showing him even a hint of sympathy.
Instead, both women were acting like everything going wrong in the moment was entirely his fault. As if he'd asked for this to happen; as if he'd tied them up himself.
He was just as much a victim in this as they were, in fact, he thought he was worse off than either one of them.
His body was still weak from being shot and nearly dying. In just the weeks he'd been unconscious and under Ivy's care, his muscles had lost some mass.
In a bout of rage, he struggled against the ropes trying to get them to give even slightly from his efforts, but the bindings didn't loosen at all.
His head hung forward; he was nearly gasping for air from the all the movement.
It hadn't occurred to him just how much he'd been physically set back until just then, when putting up even a small fight had stolen his breath.
Oswald closed his eyes, trying to focus on catching his breath and slowing his racing heart that was trying to burst free from his ribcage.
Begrudgingly, he had to admit to himself that it was going to take longer than he'd care for to get back to full strength; back to fighting shape, so to speak.
Ivy stared at him as he struggled to breath, for a second she thought he was going to pass out. She opened her mouth to chastise him for not drinking the herbal blend she'd brewed to help him in his recovery, but then she thought of how similar his state looked to when Bird had collapsed from a panic attack.
"Are you okay?" Ivy asked him, not giving him the time to reply before she complained with a whine in her voice, "Are you having a panic attack too? What is wrong with you guys?"
"I'm-just-" Oswald struggled, "trying to-to catch my breath."
It was then that her words fully hit him and his eyes darted back over to Bird. It had been a long time since she'd struggled with panic attacks.
"When did you start having those again?" He questioned.
Ivy, who didn't much care for how Oswald completely ignored her whenever Bird was around took it upon herself to explain, "When you went missing."
"Shut up, Ivy." Bird groaned.
She just didn't know when stop talking.
"You should be nicer to me." She cautioned them both, red tendrils wildly flying as she looked between them, "I'm the only one who has a plan to get out of this."
"I have a plan." Bird insisted.
Oswald noted Bird seemed just as bored as she was any other time she'd been held against her will.
He didn't put much stock in Ivy being able to get him out of this safely, but if Bird really did have a plan then Gabe and his men would be dead in no time and he would be home free.
He grimaced and it felt like his heart had climbed to the back of his throat.
What if she meant what she said about really being done with him this time?
The thought dug its thorn covered roots in and before he even had time to fully process the thought, it had fully sprouted and this time when he couldn't breathe it was coming from a deep panic.
If she had meant what she said, then he couldn't rely on her to get them out of these situations anymore.
They wouldn't be a team any longer and she'd be solely out for herself.
He'd seen her leave others to die in the past, but it never once crossed his mind that he could be one of them.
She'd always valued his life over her own, for reasons that even he couldn't understand, but if that was over. If Bird truly was well and done with him -then he was on his own.
He couldn't remember what it felt like to not have her to count on.
In his core he had always believed their fates were bound, that their lives would forever be intertwined.
He'd had to let that notion drift away when she'd nearly been killed saving his life from Tabitha and everyone thought she'd been killed.
Ed had helped him through that.
Dying was one thing, he thought, but the idea of them both being among the living and just parting ways was unacceptable.
His thoughts grew dark, clouded and swollen with rage.
He'd rather she be dead than living separate from him.
Rather she'd actually been killed years ago.
Did she really think she could just walk away from their bond; from all of the years they were the only constant in each other lives?
Did she really think he'd let her just walk away and discard him?
No, he gritted his teeth and his hands balled up into fists behind his back.
A manic laugh slipped out.
No, he'd kill her with his bare hands. Strangle the very life out of her before he'd just let her walk away from him; from what they'd built.
Gabe stared at Oswald; a chill crept up his spine from the laugh emitting from the smaller man.
"Hurry it up." He slapped one of the other men on the back who was taking polaroid pictures of Oswald, "Make sure to get him from all sides. Potential bidders need to know that he's alive and well."
Another bright flash of light from the camera finally brought Oswald's mind back to the room; back into his body.
When he was forced to turn his head to the left for them to get a picture of that side, his eyes locked with Bird and the simmering rage slowly dissolved.
She was still his Bird, and if what Iyy said was the truth and just the prospect of him being missing or worse had sent her spiraling into panic attacks then all hope wasn't lost.
He just needed to figure out a way to reach her.
He still loved her, after all. Always had and always would -even during the times he hated her, he still cared deeply for her and there wasn't a world he could accept in which she didn't feel the same.
First thing first; he just needed to get out of this current situation and kill Gabe and the other men who'd betrayed him. Then he could sort things out with Bird.
He waited until they stopped photographing him and Gabe walked away before turning to Ivy.
If she really had a way out of this, he would have to partner with her since he doubted Bird would help him.
"Well," Ivy's brows raised as she stared back at him, "Looks like you got yourself in quite the pickle."
"You're sitting right next to me," He pointed out.
Bird looked around the room, she had indeed been bluffing when she said she had a plan to get herself out of this.
There were several things she could try, none of them would be foolproof and for the current moment, she didn't feel like the circumstances were dire enough for her to risk it.
She looked over at her friend, she had a feeling Ivy really did have an idea of how to get out of this. More than likely she was wearing the perfume blend she'd made that would put people under her control.
Bird had seen first-hand how well that worked the night they'd teamed up to go after the abusive father of the little girl, Mary, that Bird had met at the police station.
All it took was one whiff of the perfume and he'd put a gun to his own head and pulled the trigger.
"Ivy," Bird offered her a smile, "Sorry for snapping at you. I rushed right over here when I got your voicemail."
"You did?" Ivy squinted at her.
"Of course." Bird excused the lie, it was mostly true. She'd rushed there after parting ways with Jim at his Uncle's house.
"You were worried about me?" Ivy's expression softened and her voice took on a hopeful tone.
Bird nodded, "Your voicemail just cut off and I didn't know what was going on."
Ivy did a little excited wiggle in her chair.
"I told Penguin I didn't trust Gabe." She was clearly very proud of herself.
Oswald's eyes narrowed at them.
"If you have a plan you need to share it with me." He urged.
Ivy turned her body further away from him to make as blatantly obvious as possible that she was ignoring him; quite literally giving him the cold shoulder.
Judging from Bird's sudden change in mood; rolling over and playing nice with Ivy, he could only guess that she was depending on the redhead to get her out of this and he wasn't fond of being the odd man out.
"Seeing as how were all in this together, it's safe to say our fates are somewhat intertwined. If you have a way out of this, you should share it." He pushed.
"We'll be fine." Ivy said, leaving him with the distinct feeling that he wasn't included in the sentiment.
Holding back a laugh, Bird echoed, "Yeah, Ivy and I will be fine."
Oswald scowled, "Are you expecting me to beg?"
"I just want you to be nice to me." Ivy yelled too far too loudly for the room.
The outburst got Gabe's attention and he turned to watch the trio for a moment; for three full grown adults they all seemed to be acting like children in the schoolyard. Jealous and petulant.
Oswald bit down on the side of his tongue, waited for Gabe to turn his back to them before he said in a quiet voice, "Be nice to you?"
"Yes!" Ivy stared at him and held back the urge to point out, yet again, that she was the one who'd saved his life, "Is that too much to ask?"
"For some people." Bird muttered under her breath.
Ignoring his former best friend, Oswald agreed, "No it isn't. I'll be nice I promise. Now what's the plan?"
Ivy's green eyes bore into his until she broke the eye contact without saying anything.
He strained against the ropes binding him, trying to lean to the side to listen as the two women next to him spoke softly to one another, but it was useless.
"Forgot these in the car. Cannolis from Alberto's, boss."
A man who's name escaped Oswald said as he walked into the greenhouse with a pink pastel bakery box in his arms.
"Thank god, I'm starving." Gabe smiled widely and Oswald sneered at seeing his former underling being referred to as boss.
Did he really think he'd be able to usurp the power he had held and step into his shoes?
Oswald let out an irritated sigh at the thought, Gabe had been loyal since coming to work for him, but Oswald never considered him anywhere near being an intellectual equal.
He was definitely more brawn than brain; dumb muscle, so to say.
"Yoo-hoo." Ivy called out, "Cannoli guy, come here."
Gabe and the rest of the men who too preoccupied eating to notice.
The guy turned and faced them but seemed hesitant to approach them at all.
"Come here." Bird repeated nodding with her head for him to come closer.
She offered him a smile and Oswald didn't even have to be able to fully see her to know the guy would take the bait; anyone would.
"I have a question." Ivy said as he moved closer to them, "If we had information -like really good information that would get you a ton more money for Penguin – would you let us go?"
The man looked between the trio and shrugged, "I don't know, maybe. What is it?"
"Well…" Ivy drew out, "I can't just tell you in front of him. Come here, I'll whisper it in your ear."
When he leaned down, Ivy whispered, "Do you like my perfume?"
She heard him take a deep breath near the side of her neck and she knew from the dazed look on his face when he stood back up, that it had worked.
"You'll do anything I say?" Ivy asked him.
He nodded, eyes transfixed on her.
"Super!" Ivy exclaimed with a wide smile.
"Kill them." Bird said.
"Kill them all!" Ivy yelled.
Pulling his gun, the man turned around and shot his entire crew to death; only when he got to Gabe, Oswald yelled for him to stop.
A command that Ivy repeated, forcing him to leave the last one alive.
"Get Gabe's gun." Bird called out, when Ivy seemed too giddy from the plan working out to give any more instructions, "And untie me!"
"Yeah, get his gun and untie her." Ivy instructed. Watching as the man holstered his own weapon and crossed the room to take the gun from Gabe, "First, give me the gun."
Obeying without any hesitation, he handed the gun over to Ivy who kept it pointed on Gabe as Bird was untied.
As soon as she was freed, Ivy instructed him, "Now untie me."
Oswald was getting ready to demand they untie him too, but he didn't have too.
The second Bird was free she got to work on freeing him from his restraints.
Like it wasn't even a conscious choice, more like muscle memory.
It was enough to instill further hope in him that she really wasn't ready to turn her back on him.
Gabe was in an utter state of shock as he stared at the trio now all standing and watching him, the redhead pointing his own gun at him.
He'd only had his back turned for a second, how did things go so wrong so fast?
Ivy handed the gun to Bird and without a single word to him she pointed it between the eyes of the man under Ivy's control and pulled the trigger; executing him.
Oswald took a step towards her and then stopped; he wasn't sure he felt much better with Bird holding the gun than he had when Gabe was handling it; a feeling he wasn't at all used too.
Bird looked between the gun in her hand and down to the body of the man she'd just killed; an expression on her face that no one else in the room could decipher.
A jolt of annoyance coursed through her system; an electric shock of anger at being put in this position yet again.
She had meant it when she told Jim she understood now, that she understood why all of the lawlessness was wrong, she'd told him that she wanted to be better; swore she'd do better, even when he hadn't asked it of her.
And now here she was, standing above the lifeless body of yet another person dead by hands.
But what was the alternative? Let him go?
Eventually Ivy's spell over him would wear off and if he'd flipped alliances so easily from Oswald to Gabe, then he couldn't be trusted.
He'd hold a grudge against them for sure and Bird knew better than anyone that the only good enemy to have was a dead one; one who couldn't seek revenge when least expected.
"Bird." Gabe finally spoke up, "Come on, it ain't gotta go down like this. We been through a lot together, think about it."
Raising her head to look at him, dark waves spilled over half her face when she cocked her head to the side.
"Now you want to be sentimental?"
A crooked grin spread over Oswald's lips, not only at her words but at the coldness of her tone.
Sometimes he worried about losing her in the not so obvious ways, worried that she'd go soft and wouldn't have the stomach for this life anymore.
She'd told him so many times she didn't want to keep doing this, that she didn't want to keep living this life and in those moments, he feared she really might change.
But time after time, again and again, she proved that she was still who she'd always been.
That she was still his Bird.
His posture straightened with an exhale of relief.
She could say she wanted something different, rage against her own nature but at the end of the day she was still Bird; they were who they were.
All it would take on a bad day was a little push to remind her of that; he wrapped himself in the comfort of that thought.
A wave of confidence rushed over him; Gabe picked up on the change in him and sweat beaded across his forehead.
The tension of the room enveloped him like a thick cloud of humidity.
Ivy, growing impatient from the extended silence and inaction right after she'd been so hyped up just seconds before tossed her arms out to the side and complained, "What now?"
"Bird," Oswald strode closer to her and repeated, "What now?"
Her eyes cut from where Gabe was halfway across the room from them, back over to where Oswald was now standing right in front of her with a grin on his face that she didn't care for.
This wasn't her fight. She had once again gotten pulled into a mess because of her closeness with Oswald. Nothing ever changed with him; she was convinced it never would.
Which was why she had to let what was broken between them stay in disrepair.
Spinning the gun in her hand she offered the handle of the weapon up for Oswald's taking.
He reached for it so fast that he grabbed onto her hand along with the cold metal of the gun, breath hitching in his throat at the contact.
He could have sworn a spark jumped from her skin onto his own.
Bird caught the recognition in his eyes, an expression she hadn't seen from him in a quite a while.
Not since he'd declared his love for Edward Nygma.
She pulled her hand back as quickly as she safely could without risking either of them touching the trigger.
"What are we going to do with him?" Ivy broke the moment of silence between them, pulled Oswald's attention to her for the briefest of seconds before he turned both his attention and the gun on Gabe.
"You know, Ivy." Oswald said as he limped over to Gabe, "I think I like the idea of an auction."
Pressing the gun under Gabe's chin, he added, "I think I'll auction you off to myself, piece by bloody piece."
Ivy beamed an excited smile and looked over at Bird expecting her to look far happier than she did in that moment.
Bird glanced at the door of the greenhouse and Ivy stepped in her way.
"What's wrong?"
Bird laughed at the loaded question.
What was wrong?
A simpler question would be what was right in her life.
"I don't want to be here." Bird answered.
Ivy looked a potent offended, but mostly confused and had no idea the various meanings behind the simple statement.
Before Bird could elaborate, her phone started to buzz on the table near where Gabe's men were sprawled in a bloody mess on the floor.
Without a word to anyone else in the room, she stepped over the corpses, avoiding as much of the crimson puddles and smears as possible, swiped her phone from the table and walked outside to take the call.
"What did you find out?" She started without even a hello.
"Not much." Jim's eyes scanned the ground floor of the station to make sure no one was listening to, or watching him.
Sliding down some in his desk chair, he let out a heavy breath and lowered his voice, "Barbara's insisting she'll only talk to you about whatever she learned at the docks."
"Did you tell her we don't have time for this?" Bird rubbed her forehead, hoping to ease the pounding in her had that had started much earlier in the day.
Any patience she'd have had to deal with Barbara Kean was already long gone, having been spent on everyone else that day.
"I tried, Bird." Jim's voice trailed off with an unspoken 'you know how impossible she is' left lingering in the air and space between them.
When she didn't say anything back he questioned, "Hey, you okay?"
"Yeah, I've just been tied up." Bird answered honestly, "I'll drop by and see her as soon as I can but it might a while."
Not taking the tied up part as literally as she meant it, Jim's brows furrowed.
He knew when they'd parted ways she had said she was going to check in on Ivy, and while he knew they were friends and had gotten close in the recent months, Bird had been the one stressing to him how dangerous the Court of Owls was.
Not understanding what on earth she could be doing that was more important than finding out what dock 9C was about, he reminded her, "This is serious, Bird. If Uncle Frank was right about the Court bringing in a weapon to destroy the city, time is really of the essence here."
"I have been tied up, Jim!" Bird repeated back, much louder than before.
Her voice seemed to echo back from the silence outside of the abandoned mansion behind her.
"With what?" His voice raised some in response, but nowhere near to the level hers had gone.
With what, she silently mouthed in disbelief.
"With ropes and held at gunpoint, Jim."
"I didn't know you meant it literally!" He quickly apologized, "Are you okay? What happened?"
She couldn't control the pull of a smile at the corner of her mouth from the instant concern in his voice.
Not having the time or the energy to even begin to explain her current predicament to him, she promised, "I'm okay-"
A loud thud drew her attention back to the lit up greenhouse and she repeated, "I'm okay, but I have to go. I'll meet up with Barbara as soon as I can, okay? Love you."
With that the call ended and Jim pulled his cellphone from his ear to look at it in disbelief
He had no clue why Barbara was so insistent about talking to Bird, nor could he begin to understand the very tentative friendship between the two of them; but he didn't like it.
Any trust he'd ever felt for his ex was long gone and even though she had never gone after Bird the way she violently pursued Lee, he was long past the point of putting anything past her.
"Did you get ahold of Bird?" Bullock questioned. He leaned against the desk next to where Jim was sitting.
"Yeah, she'll stop by and see Barbara as soon as she can." He filled him in.
"Any sorta timeframe on that?" Bullock asked not giving him time to respond before muttering, "What the hells she doing that's more important than this?"
"She's been tied up, Harvey." Jim explained.
"With what?" Bullock questioned. He took another drink from his cup of coffee.
Blowing out a sigh, Jim dropped his cellphone to his desk with a thud and leaned back in his chair.
"What?" Bullock asked, watching as Jim rubbed his tired eyes.
•••
When Bird walked back into the greenhouse, she realized the thuds she'd been hearing from outside was the sound of the dead bodies being loaded up onto a pallet of exposed dirt.
Gabe picked up the last body from the floor and laid it next to the others as Oswald paced the tile nearby.
Ivy had apparently been entrusted to hold the gun now, only she let it hang loosely in her hand, limp wrist with the barrel pointed mostly at the floor.
Bird had the thought that she should teach her how to properly hold and operate a gun.
The knife of nostalgia edged it's way into the soft space between her ribs at how Butch had been the one to teach her that very thing back when she was a teenager.
Yet another person they'd trusted that had betrayed them.
She shook her head, as if she could so easily shake the term 'we' out and replace it with just a singular pronoun.
For so long, even inside of her own head, she always lumped herself and Oswald into one singular entity. Two halves of the same soul.
Oswald stopped pacing when he realized Bird had returned to join them.
When she'd grabbed her phone and headed out of the greenhouse, he'd assumed she was leaving them to clean up the mess, but if there was one thing Fish had taught them -it was that you never leave loose ends.
Gabe was a loose end.
"I trusted you, Gabe." Oswald said, watching as the larger man wiped sweat from his forehead, "And how did you repay that loyalty?"
"Betrayal!" He continued.
Taking a deep breath to slow his hastened breathing from all of the heavy lifting, Gabe turned back to his former boss and said, "Not for nothing, but I was there after your mother was killed; when you thought Bird was dead. I was there with you when no one else was – and how did you repay me? By passing me over!"
Bird's eyes dropped to the floor at the truth in his words, Oswald had passed them all over for Edward Nygma.
Oswald had worked hard, clawed and fought his way to the top -and he had reached the highest of highs, running the city both from political office and the underworld.
He'd had everything he'd ever wanted and he'd blown his own life up because of the obsession, because of the love he claimed to hold for Nygma.
He'd forgotten about and cast aside so many of the people who'd helped him on the way up.
In Bird's case, he'd used her as a stepping stone to get to the top.
Bird knew there was truth in the words Gabe spoke, but she thought it would fall on deaf ears where Oswald was concerned.
She didn't even know if he was capable of actually hearing what Gabe was saying, she imagined he wouldn't care.
Apparently, they were all disposable to him.
Oswald looked down to the floor, before he looked Gabe in the eyes and agreed, "A valid point."
Bird's jaw tensed, she waited for the outburst. For Oswald to scream at Gabe, to even just shoot him dead.
But he didn't.
The acknowledgment was followed by an even greater moment of self-reflection as Oswald voiced, "Perhaps we forget that loyalty must be extended before it can be returned."
Oswald thought of the night they'd launched their counterattack plan against Theo Galavan. How Gabe had not only offered to take the risk and take the budding politician out, but pleaded with him to keep himself safe and not risk his own life.
It was one of the many, many times that Gabe had been willing to put his life on the line for him.
Bird swallowed, the blade of nostalgia continuing to twist and causing enough pain it could have brought her to her knees.
For the first time in such a long time, she could see the Oswald she had cared about and loved above all others.
Back before Hugo Strange had scrambled his brain, before the losses he'd suffered had bent him until the traumas broke him into someone who could do something as monstrous as feed a woman cooked roasts from her own children's flesh.
She was no fan of Grace either and would have gladly helped kill and dispose of her and her horrible children, but Oswald had come out of it all capable of a new level of cruelty she hadn't anticipated.
Bird had excused it away, along with every other horrible thing he did.
Not like she herself was an angel with bloodless hands -she had hoped with everything in her that she'd start to see part of her Oswald come back.
It was something she had all but given up on, it was a big contributing factor in her making the choice to cut him out of her life.
But it was too little, far too late now.
"You were loyal to me once, Gabe. I wonder… could you be again?" Oswald asked.
"Yes!" Gabe's eyes brightened at the prospect of living to see another day. He dropped to his knees, hands clasped at his front. He wasn't above begging for his own life, "Oh, boss. I'll swear it on my dead mother's grave right now! God rest her soul."
Bird's heart sunk at those words.
She didn't believe him, the ploy of trying to connect over dead parents with Oswald knowing how much his mother meant to him was a beyond desperate move; it felt too insincere.
"No need for anything so dramatic." Oswald shushed with his hand up to stop the man from crying and begging any further.
Oswald looked over at Bird who'd been closely watching him, she tilted her head slightly to the side and he could see she didn't believe Gabe.
A damned man would say anything to change their fate and they both knew it.
Ivy caught it too, she hadn't trusted Gabe from the minute he showed up there and it was clear to her that Bird wasn't feeling very warm towards him either. She readjusted her grip on the gun -just in case.
"Ivy?" Oswald questioned, "Would you mind insuring that Gabe's loath of loyalty is noble and true?"
Her face changed, features scrunched up.
"If what is what now?" She questioned.
Closing his eyes and letting out an irritated breath, Oswald's promise of being nice to her faltered as he snapped, "Make him smell your perfume."
"Right!" She exclaimed, "Okay."
She walked over to where Gabe was knelt on the concrete floor still and held her inner wrist under his nose, forcing him to breath in the mind altering chemicals.
"Raise your right hand." She instructed to see if he followed directions, and he did.
Satisfied, she asked, "Do you swear to be loyal and true to Penguin?"
Bird's eyes stayed on the gun in her hand as she shook it absentmindedly with every word spoken. She really was going to have to teach her how to use a gun.
"No." Gabe answered, devoid of any emotion while under the influence of Ivy's perfume.
"Ouch…" Ivy commented as she glanced at Oswald over her shoulder.
Bird didn't expect Oswald to be near as surprised by the revelation as he was. She had seen the answer coming and thought he must have too.
"What?" Oswald stammered out, "I… I don't understand. Why can't he be loyal?"
Ivy instructed Gabe to answer and he said, "Never was. I only followed you out of fear, we all did."
"I can live with that." Oswald reasoned, "Fear and respect -management 101."
"No one ever respected you. We all saw you for what you really are; a tiny freak who used to hold an umbrella and nothing more." Gabe verbally shot at him.
"Freak?" Oswald spat back, "A freak!"
His vision hollowed; laser focused on the man kneeling before him who'd had the audacity to speak to him that way.
It had been quite some time since he'd been met face-to-face with such a level of disrespect, since anyone had the stones to talk to him that way.
His umbrella boy days were so far in the rearview that it now felt like a different life than the once he'd ascended to of ruling Gotham both in government and the underworld.
Blinded with rage, he picked up a small 3-prong gardening tool from a nearby table and lunged at his former underling, screaming and manically laughing through the attack as he unleased all his pent up anger on Gabe.
Ivy took a few steps back when she was nearly hit by a flying bloody chunk of skin that had been ripped up was stuck to the gardening tool when Oswald raised it for another attack.
Bird stood in place, making no attempt to stop the violence playing out in front of her. The darker parts of her soul felt that the punishment was just, but it wasn't entirely Gabe's fault.
Coming from such a meager beginning, Oswald saw any kind of power as just that: power. Confused loyalty and respect with fear of stepping out of line.
What he'd failed to learn in the years they'd spent plotting to overthrow Falcone was importance of actual loyalty. For someone who'd been bullied his entire life, he hadn't made it a point to treat the people working under him with any meaningful level of respect.
A foothold gained by nothing but fear can't last. It breeds resentment and it's only a matter of time until someone gets brave enough to take their shot.
People are an asset, that was one of the most valuable lessons Bird had learned from Don Falcone early on.
And while there is most certainly a time and place to use fear as a weapon, not every situation called for that.
With time and distance between them, Bird was now able to see what she couldn't before, when Don Falcone and Don Maroni – when anyone had said there was no way Oswald would fill their shoes, she'd seen it as a slight and jab to hurt him.
She had believed in him above all else and refused to believe his naysayers.
Only now, for the first time, she could see that in many ways he really didn't have what it would take to reign over the city long term.
It didn't matter how much power he gained, or how high on the ladder he'd be able to climb -at the end of the day, he was just wasn't cut from the same cloth as those who'd came before him.
•••
"I don't know why I let him get to me." Oswald huffed as he dropped another shovelful of potting mixture over the top of Gabe's body on the pallet of dirt they'd dragged him onto.
Ivy glanced over at him from across the greenhouse where she was giving the plants an evening watering.
"I should get going." Bird took a step back from where she'd been standing near Oswald, "I have a meeting to get too."
"Bird, wait!" Oswald dropped the shovel to the floor with a clank and limped after.
She was nearly to her car by the time he'd managed to catch up with her and grabbed onto her arm to keep her from making it any further.
Pulling out of his grip, she at least turned to face him with the reminder, "I told you I was done."
"But you can't be." He argued, his hand still frozen in the air from where he'd had her in his grip mere seconds before, "You are my oldest and dearest friend."
"Oswald…" She sighed shaking her head, "I need you to hear me when I say this, okay? Really hear me. Somethings can't be fixed."
Motioning between them she reiterated, "We can't go back and we were foolish for ever believing that we could. We should have just let it die long ago when everything started changing.'
"No!" He cried out, "We can go back, we can fix this… we always do."
She opened her mouth to protest again, but he didn't give her chance.
"I couldn't see it before but I realize now just how badly I've hurt you. You have been a better friend to me than I could have ever dreamed of. I became so blinded by the things that weren't important and along the way I lost track of what does matter to me -and that's you."
The very same thought crossed her mind as when Gabe tried to beg for his life earlier that night; a damned man would say anything to change the course of fate.
She bit down on the inside of her cheek so hard that she instantly felt the tinge of copper on her tongue from blood.
Oswald had said that so convincingly that she almost believed it, could have so easily fallen back into the same pattern with him.
But it wouldn't last and she knew that.
Lately she had been wondering if he was even capable of real growth and change.
"You say that now, but-"
She fought to keep her voice steady.
"You don't know the trials I have been put through!" His body trembled from the outburst.
If she would just stop being so stubborn and listen to him, then he knew she'd believe him.
He told her of how Barbara had been working with Ed in an elaborate scheme to not only seek revenge on him for killing Isabella but to torture him for weeks on end, all while leading him to doubt his own sanity and raze everything he'd built to the ground.
Oswald studied her face as she listened to his recount of the hell he'd been put through, only he couldn't tell if he was actually reaching the place he needed too; her heart.
When she didn't relent in the slightest, he came to the conclusion that another method might be needed here.
"If you leave me, Bird. If we're on opposing sides… well, you should remember that I know all of your secrets. I know where the bodies are buried – literally!" He added with an unhinged laugh, "I know things about you that would stop Jim Gordon from being able to ever look at you the same way."
Bird lowered her head, a shadow cast from a nearby tree making it impossible to see expression. When she finally raised her head to face him again the expression on her face chilled him.
"Oh, Oswald… did you forget that I, too, know all the skeletons hidden in your closets? How easily I could burn the rest of what you've built to the ground. Don't threaten me, it won't end well for you."
He scowled at her.
They had curated quite the treasure trove of mutually assured destruction in their years together.
Plus, he knew Bird would burn his house down with her inside of it just to spite him.
Closing his eyes, he pulled in a deep breath and tried to think of what words he could string together to accurately explain how he felt, let her know how serious he was and that the one thing in his life he couldn't lose was her.
He remembered Ed standing over him while he'd been strapped to the hood of a car with a vat of acid strung precariously above him. How Ed had told him that he'd sacrifice anyone to save his own neck; accused him of being incapable of changing.
Bird must have come to the same conclusion, he realized, and probably viewed him as a lost cause.
Ed had wanted him to die realizing that he was incapable of loving another person, but in the end, he'd been willing to sacrifice himself to save the man he loved.
Even if Ed was unwilling to forgive him for killing Isabella, Oswald now knew that he was capable of change and he just needed her to see it too.
Another memory wrapped around him, this time like an old favorite blanket, and he confessed, "You are my best friend, I love you." His glossy eyes sparkled in the left-over glow of the setting sun, "Do you remember the first time I ever said that to you?"
"The night of my senior formal dance." Bird recalled it well, it had been the same memory that had kept her from injecting him with a fatal substance when he'd been incapacitated, "On the roof of the tall building across from Fish's club."
"That's right." He nodded, clearly pleased she was able to remember it so quickly, "I don't know if I meant it. I thought at the time that I did, but…" His voice trailed off.
"I meant it when I said it back." She rubbed her burning eyes and shook her head, "But you know what? Now when I think about it… all I do is wonder how differently my life would have been if I'd listened to just one of the many people who told me to stay away from you."
Oswald pulled in a fast breath; it sounded more like a gasp. Knives, guns, acid -he couldn't think of a single weapon that would have caused more pain than her words just did.
"I love you." Oswald finally managed to say, "I mean it and I see it clearly now, Bird. I know now that love is about sacrifice, it's choosing to put another's needs and happiness above my own. So, if leaving me is what you need, if that's the only way you'll be happy -then I'm not going to try and stop you."
She stared back at him, mouth agape and empty with a total loss of words.
This was something she had tried to tell him over and over again through the years and it was a message he could never fully receive -until now apparently. The only explanation she had was that must have been something Nygma had told him and like so many other things he listened when it wasn't coming from her.
Still, she didn't trust that he actually meant it.
Wondering if it was some kind of test, she now wouldn't put her back to him, she instead walked backwards slowly until she reached her car, not taking her eyes of him until the door was open and she looked back at the house to see Ivy standing in the open doorway.
"Be careful, Ivy." Bird called out to her.
With a wide smile, Ivy raised her arm and waved bye to her friend.
Bird quickly got into her car and locked the doors before she started the engine. She looked back to Ivy one last time, wishing that she could get her to understand the full meaning behind the warning to be careful.
But she knew she couldn't.
She wouldn't listen to anyone who cautioned her against Oswald Cobblepot so many years ago and she knew Ivy wouldn't hear the message any more than she did.
•••
A/N - Thanks for reading!
I also want to apologize if the editing on this chapter was spotty.
I had a pretty serious health scare last month and got started on some medicine which unfortunately have been causing extreme drowsiness and dizziness and some other pretty terrible side effects.
This is probably the first week since all of that started that I have felt well enough, and been able to stay awake and focused long enough to do anything at all productive.
I had the majority of this chapter finished before then -I meant what I said on the last update about really trying to keep up with the updates. I was finally able to finish the chapter and edit it today to the best of my current focusing ability.
I'll try to go over it again once my brain doesn't feel so foggy, but in the meantime I wanted to go ahead and get this posted.
Thank you to: Lara The Fangirl, Adela, BrookieHazel, SmellYourScentForMiles, and the Guest who reviewed the last chapter!
I appreciate it so much you guys!
I don't know about you all, but I've been having trouble getting emails/notifications through Fanfiction lately.
And while this is my preferred place to post my stories, I do also post this story over on Wattpad as well and the easiest place to reach me is on my Tumblr, both accounts under the same name I use here, twofacedharveydent
As always, I would appreciate you taking the time to leave a review if you enjoyed the chapter to let me know what you thought!
xx