This is a sequel story to We Were Born Sick

•••

Hours pass as I dream to remember the pressure of finally moving to a state of mind where nothing matters. All around me, we are broken. Craving for hope and craving for answers, wondering if this is the life for us. Like a caged bird forced to consume a life full of nightmares and tragedies on our own. We are broken, without a choice. Left hiding in all the small things that keep us from dying in the darkness of our own misery." - Aly Johnson

•••

"Honey, you look so beautiful." Martha said brushing a tear from her cheek as she stood behind her daughter in the mirror before adjusting Bird's long brunette hair that had been perfectly curled for the occasion.

"Thanks mom." Bird said, smiling at their reflections as she nervously fidgeted with the shaped organza silk bodice of her wedding dress that flared out into a soft white layered skirt that just brushed the floor once she had her heels on.

Stepping in front of her, Martha smiled proudly as she gently brushed the right side of Bird's hair back and secured it with an elegant hair clip of delicate porcelain flowers adorned with pearls and sparkling diamonds.

"I'm so proud of you." She cooed, laying her hands on Bird's bare arms and taking a moment to take in the sight of how grown up she looked.

"Nervous?" She questioned.

Nodding, Bird held up the skirt of her dress and walked over to the large window of the room she'd been getting ready in.
The window provided the perfect view of the picturesque scene set up in the side courtyard of Wayne Manor –the seats were already filling up and the minister was near the flower-adorned wedding arch she'd soon be standing in front of.

"A little." Bird answered softly, trailing her fingers across the glass as she stared down to the yard.

"I was too." Martha admitted watching her daughter, "Terrified is a better term for how I felt. I was so scared I was going to trip, or say the wrong thing...maybe even faint when I finally made it to the altar."

With a small laugh, Bird turned to face her as she asked, "How long until that feeling goes away?"

"I was so nervous I was literally shaking by the time I reached the aisle –all eyes were on me and I could have sworn all the bones in my legs had turned to mush until I looked up and saw your father." She smiled, her eyes bright with memories as she spoke, "Our eyes met and suddenly all of my nerves and the fears were silenced. He was my calm that day... he always has been. So grounded and strong."

"Yeah." Bird nodded, her eyes glistening as she admitted, "It's like that with Harvey too, he calms me down in a way that no one else ever could."

Smiling, she reached up and rested a hand on the side of her daughter's face. "I love you and I love how happy being with him makes you."

"I love you too, mom." Bird managed to say, blinking rapidly in an attempt to keep her tears at bay and not ruin her make-up.

Hearing a knock on the door, they both looked over to see Thomas Wayne in the doorway.
Dressed in his best tux with a million dollar smile on his lips as he said, "Hope I'm not interrupting... but it's almost showtime."

"No, not at all." Martha smiled at her husband, before she gave another smile to Bird and turned to leave as she said, "It's probably for the best... much longer and we're both going to have mascara running down our cheeks."

With a laugh, he leaned down and kissed his wife as she walked past him out of the door.

"What?" Bird asked, shifting her stance as her dad stared at her.

"You just look so grown up." He commented, clearing his throat. "So beautiful... but so adult."

"I am grown up." Bird reminded him, before she turned back to the mirror to make sure everything was in place and perfect.

"You're sure you're ready to do this?" He asked, stepping farther into the room and watching her as she turned back to face him.

Letting out a breath she nodded and watched as he crossed the room to pick up her wedding bouquet off the vanity and handed it to her. Her eyes fell to the arrangement composed of a mix with purple roses, black calla lilies, blue hydrangeas and purple orchids.

It was perfect, everything about that day felt so utterly perfect that she was having a hard time believing it was real.

Looking back and seeing the expression on her father's face, Bird countered, "Are you ready to do this?"

"Not really." He admitted, "I spent so long trying to hold onto you that the idea of giving you away..." His voice trailed off as he shook his head and had to clear this throat when his voice started to crack.

"It's not like I'm leaving the country." Bird pointed out, her own voice growing unsteady as she continued, "Our house is barely thirty minutes away."

"I know." He said, his voice barely over a whisper, before pulling in a deep breath and nodding to the wedding planner who'd come to check on them, letting her know they'd be outside in mere minutes.

"Well..." He began as he turned and face the door, holding his arm out to the side for her to take he said, "We'd better get out there."

Pulling in a deep breath of her own, all she could manage as a response was a nod of the head as she stepped up and took his arm as they left the room.

The walk downstairs was a quiet one, most of which she spent lost in her own head, barely able to believe what was happening.

After a walk down the aisle and an exchanging of vows and rings, everything would change. By the end of the day, she wouldn't even have the same last name; it was surreal.

Just as they walked past her father's office, Bird looked to the side and let out a loud gasp, coming to a dead stop and nearly dropping her bouquet as she was met with the horrific sight of Alfred laying on the floor in a massive puddle of blood. "Alfred!" She gasped.

"What?" Thomas asked, following her line of sight before he said, "He's probably already in his seat outside."

"He's..." Bird's voice trailed off when she looked back into the office and didn't see him anymore.
Clearing her throat she let out a nervous laugh and sputtered out an apology as they continued their walk to the side exit where the doors were propped open.

The soft piano music reached her ears as they stepped outside and her breath caught in her throat as everyone turned around and all eyes were on her.

Her grip tightened on her father's arm and she was sure that if it wasn't for his strength and support she'd have collapsed onto the ground.

They'd done a total of five rehearsals and every single one had gone off without a hitch –only this was different. This was real.

Bird looked up to see Harvey Dent waiting for her at the altar, a smile on his face and an adoring look in his eyes as he watched her and just like her mom had described to her, she could feel her fears starting to settle.

Her glossed red lips curved up as she smiled back, with a star-struck look on her face.

Her eyes drifted around at all the faces staring back at her as they began their walk down the center aisle and her pace slowed as she realized she didn't know any of the people there.

Her heart started to beat erratically in her chest and the acid in her stomach felt like it was bubbling up into her throat.

"Dad?" She whispered, her eyes darting back and forth before they stopped on where the piano was set up and she saw it was Oswald playing, "Dad, something is wrong..." she repeated.

"Keep walking." Her feet planted firmly on the ground when she recognized the voice, only it wasn't the voice of Thomas Wayne –it was Carmine Falcone.

With widened eyes, she tried to tear her arm away from his, but he kept a stone tight grip on her as he repeated, "Keep walking...this is what you wanted, isn't it?"

"I..." Her voice trailed off and she swallowed hard, her head frantically shaking back and forth. "This is wrong... something isn't right." She stammered, as she looked down to see her bouquet of intense color flowers were now completely wilted and dead.

The blackened and decayed petals were crawling with bugs and just as a spider made its way onto her hand, she dropped the flowers to the ground and started to shake the bugs from her hand.

Before she had time to protest or do anything else, she had to scramble to stay standing as Falcone started to drag her the rest of the way down the aisle.

"Stop!" She pleaded, jerking her arm away from his. "Are you okay?" Harvey asked, concern in his whisper as he leaned forward and watched her closely.

"My parents..." She managed to choke out, trying to fight for her breath.

"Are right there." Harvey said, nodding to the front row. Bird followed his sight and her heart stopped in her chest as she saw them both sitting in the front row in their formal wear –completely saturated with blood.

"Pull it together, Bird. People are starting to stare."

Whipping her head around she stared wide-eyed at Liza standing at the front of her line of bridesmaids as her maid of honor.
Her neck was dark and deeply bruised with blue and black handprints on her skin. Giving her a smile, Liza continued to speak, "Smile... this is your day. This is what you were fighting so hard for, right?"

Bird's mouth hung open as she stared back out to the wedding guests and started to realize that she did know some of them –they were the faces of the people she'd killed.

She didn't know most of their names, but their ghostly faces haunted her in the dark of night.

"Look at me." Harvey instructed, taking her hand in his and gently rubbing his thumb over her skin.
His voice was calm and soothing. "This is the hard part, okay? After this, it's just us."

As she turned back to face him, tears pooled in her eyes when she saw his face was beaten up and his clothes bloody.
It was painful to see him like that again, brought back memories of how Falcone had hurt him to keep her in line.

"Harvey..." She sobbed, mascara laced tears making their way down her cheeks and leaving stained trails on her flesh.

Her stomach was twisted up in knots and her head was pounding, it felt like someone was slowly trying to carve her heart out of her chest with a dull butter knife.

"I thought this was what you wanted." Falcone said, and Bird looked to see he was now standing where the minister had been just moments before. "I don't!" Bird shrieked, her eyes terror-ridden and voice broken between her painful, desperate gasps for air, "I... I d-didn't ask for any of this!"

Feeling an ice cold hand grip onto her bare ankle, Bird looked down to see a dark haired woman was on the ground next to her.

Frantic, Bird kicked her away and took several stumbling steps backward. A scream leaving her lips as the woman followed her in a scrambled crawl that didn't resemble human movement at all.

Her joints seemed to be bending the opposite directions, every single move was choppy and her skin was a bluish tone. A feeling of dread and horror swelled up inside of her chest, fear closing off her throat from any air supply and Bird watched helplessly as the woman raised her head until her face was visible from behind her dark, stringy hair.

The stranger's features nearly matched Birds and she wasn't sure how she knew it, but she could feel it in her soul that the person looking at her was her birth mother.

Some inhuman, mangled version of her –but it was Lilith Wayne. Lilith's head snapped towards one side and Bird stumbled backwards as she watched her mother's eyes turn completely black until there were finally two voids where her eyes should have been.

"I've got you baby girl." A voice called from behind her, and Bird let out a sigh of relief as she felt a pair of hands on her arms and she knew the voice belonged to Fish.

"Fish!" She cried, turning around and clutching onto her in desperation, needing to feel some kind of comfort from the hell she'd found herself surrounded by on what was supposed to be one of the happiest days of her life.

"You always were my favorite." Fish said with a sad smile, and Bird's eyes darted back and forth as she saw her former boss was soaking wet from head to toe.

"The river..." She realized, memories starting to come back to her, "Oswald... he... he pushed you into the river-"

"A-138." "What?" Bird cried out, shaking her head as she screamed, "What does that mean?"

Fish opened her mouth and repeated, "A-138."
Only this time it wasn't Fish's voice.

Bird backed away from her with thoughts spinning around in her head like a category five hurricane with no way to find shelter.

"A-138! Last chance!" With a gasp, Bird jolted awake sitting straight up in her bed, her tangled brunette locks clung to her sweat peppered face and she looked over to see an orderly standing at the doorway of her room.

"A-138, it's time-"

"I have a name." Bird complained, kicking the thin and tattered blankets off her of as she spoke.

"Whatever." The orderly sighed, her eyes drifting up to the ceiling in annoyance before she pointed out, "You don't seem very eager to be getting out of Arkham."

"I'll believe I'm actually getting out of here when I get to step foot outside of those gates." Bird muttered under her breath.

Picking up the box at the foot of her bed, she looked down at the small number of personal belongings she'd gathered up the night before and tried not to get her hopes up.

At her last meeting with her lawyer, she'd been told new evidence had been uncovered in her case and it would only be a matter of days before she'd be released from Arkham.

She tried not to get her hopes up –after all, whoever had framed her had done a terrifyingly good job and she was starting to believe the truth would never come out.

"We've already called the number you provided for your ride." The orderly stated, before nodding for Bird to follow her.

On unsteady legs, Bird tried her best to balance and slide on her shoes before having to rush after the orderly, who led her through the main dining room area on the floor of the asylum.

She held the metal door open and Bird walked in to find all eyes on her, and just like in her nightmare she couldn't breathe.

It was the morning breakfast lull as the inmates sluggishly moved around the room, many of them heavily medicated from their meds from the night before.

Others were alert and eating, some of the older ones were seated very close to the small television playing the morning news with subtitles on.

"Hey, B!" Barbara called out from where she was sitting at a round table by herself.
"Morning." Bird greeted.

"Are you really getting out of here?" Jerome asked, seeming to appear beside her from out of nowhere, his eyes wide with their usual excitement whenever something happened to break the monotony of routine.

"That's what they tell me." She nodded and his smile grew as he proudly announced, "I made you something! A going away present."

With that he displayed a painted and glittered macaroni necklace, "I painted it red – like blood, to remind you of me."

Cracking a smile, Bird asked, "And the glitter?"

"That's all for you sunshine." He grinned, before sliding it on over her head, which prompted the orderly to glance at the number on his inmate uniform before instructing, "C-198 –back up."

Holding his hands up in surrender, Jerome took several steps backwards before giving an overly dramatic bow and walking over to get in line for breakfast.

Barbara flipped another page in the magazine she'd been reading, and looked up to see Bird was being led out the other side of the room.
"Call me... or write me... or break me out of here!" Barbara called after her and Bird shook her head and yelled back, "Bye, B!"

After being led down several hallways and down an elevator, Bird was led into a small room where she was handed the very same clothes she'd been wearing the night she got there.
"Change into your street clothes and I'll meet you outside." The orderly said as she started for the door.

"What you're not going to watch me change?" Bird bitterly replied, "No mandatory strip search on the way out, huh? Just on the way in-"

She blew out a sigh when the woman left the room and slammed the door in the middle of her rant.

This was madness, she thought to herself, as she quickly got to work on tearing the black and white striped dress she'd been wearing in off, letting the rough fabric fall to a messy pile on the floor.

Unzipping the large, clear bag, Bird pulled her own clothes out and brought them to her nose. They still faintly carried the scent of her favorite perfume.

She was dressed within just a couple minutes, clad in the same outfit she'd been wearing at her court date. Sitting down on the small bench against the wall, she pulled her shoes on and then found a small manila envelope in the bag that had been underneath all of her clothes.

A look of confusion spread over her face until she opened it and poured the contents out into her hand. There was a pair of diamond earrings and a matching necklace along a few of her bracelets and her engagement ring.

Swallowing hard, she slowly examined the ring before sliding it on her finger and then getting to work with the rest of her personal items.

She pulled the glittered macaroni necklace off her neck and dropped it into her box of belongings and then slightly fumbled with the clasp on her diamond necklace.

Finally, she was put back together –or at least looked it.

The day she'd spent well just over two months waiting for was here.
She should have run to the door, been in a solo sprint race to get out of that building as fast as she possibly could.

Only, now here she sat. Dressed in her own clothes with her own jewelry and freedom just a few hallway lengths away and yet she found herself feeling more anxious about the thought of going home than she'd ever expected.

•••

"The reporters weren't supposed to be let inside of the gates." Jim said with heaviness in his tone as he watched Bird crack the front doors of Arkham Asylum open before quickly letting them shut and staggering backwards a few steps once she spotted the crowd outside waiting to catch a glimpse of her.

"Funny isn't it?" Bird breathed, glancing over her shoulder to where he was standing and he caught the emptiness in her eyes when she explained, "For months all I've wanted is to get out of this place and now I'm having trouble getting my legs to carry me out of the doors."

"Maybe I've just been caged for too long." She added in a low whisper.

"The best thing you can do is just ignore them." He reminded her, "Don't let them get a rise out of you-"

"I know how to handle the spotlight, Jim." She argued, her eyes catching a spark of her old self before it faded. "Besides... what's the point of trying to hide? They already know everything and the things they don't know they just make up for a better story. Bend the truth to make it more interesting."

"You ready then?" He asked as he stepped closer to the doors and pulled in a deep breath, preparing himself for the circus waiting on the other side of the asylum doors.

After she'd been attacked as a teenager; raped and nearly killed, somehow the papers had gotten news of the day she was set to be released from the hospital and there were reporters and cameras waiting outside of Gotham General that day.

Her parents had tried to shield her from it the best they could, but knowing they couldn't just hide her away; her father had told her to stiffen her lip –show them how strong she was and to remember that no matter what anyone had to say to her; she was a survivor and there wasn't anything they could throw at her that she couldn't handle.

Slowly releasing the breath she'd been holding, Bird nodded and smoothed down the skirt she'd changed into.

Jim paused for a brief moment to give them both time to prepare before he pushed open the doors and as they stepped outside in front of all the people and cameras; the midday sun seemed more unforgiving than usual.

The bitter cold air whipped around them and Bird brushed her windblown hair from her face and eyes before she lowered her head and started to make her way through the crowd with Jim at her side –ordering the reporters to back up and give them space while he led her towards the car.

"Miss Wayne!"

"Do you have anything to say to those who still think you're guilty?"

"Is it true that Carmine Falcone is your biological father?"

"What do you have to say about accusations of your ties to Crime Lord Oswald Cobblepot?"

"Have you had any contact with your brother since entering Arkham?"

"Miss Wayne!"

"How does it feel to going home?"

"Miss Wayne!"

"Miss Wayne!"

"Miss Wayne!"

The badgering questions were muffled once Bird got into the passenger seat of the car and Jim quickly shut the door behind her.

Her breathing was erratic and it wasn't until she became aware of the warm spot on her side that she realized it was from Jim's hand where he'd had his arm around her trying to lead her through the crowd and do his best to shield her from the unrelenting questions.

Once he'd made it back around the car and got into the driver's seat, Jim locked the doors and started the car, pausing for just a moment to switch the heat on before driving away from the asylum leaving the reporters behind them in the frigid air.

"I'd ask if you were okay, but..." He breathed, glancing over at her as he slowed to a stop at a red light.

"I'm fine." She automatically replied without even thinking it over for a single second.

"I know that's not true." He simply stated without pushing her to open up.

"Thanks for coming to pick me up." Bird finally said as roughly pulled her hair up into a messy bun now that she was out from in front of the cameras.

"You're welcome." He replied, glancing back over at her as she relaxed more into the seat and her breathing slowly returned to normal.

"I was a little surprised when I got the call."

"I didn't have anyone else." Her eyes pinned shut and bitterness seeped into her words when she added, "It might have reflected badly on Harvey to be seen with me at Arkham in front of those cameras."

Without even taking a breath she continued, "I haven't spoken to Oswald since the night Fish was going to have all of us killed months ago and my little brother –who is usually way more adult than me... is being a little brat."

"Bruce wanted to be here." Jim reminded her, "You're the one who told him and Alfred that you didn't want them to be."

"Yeah, because they both thought I was guilty and Bruce hired a lawyer to get my shares in our father's company." Bird nearly hissed, shaking her head as she spoke. "And the last time you talked to him... he told you to collect that debt for Oswald so he could use his pull to get you –your job back. I'm not sure what's going on inside that head of his anymore."

"In all fairness, the evidence against you was pretty hard to dispute." Jim pointed out, taking in a breath before admitting, "If I hadn't seen you that night all the way across town from where the murders happened then I might have believed it too."

"Kids, Jim." Bird growled, "I wouldn't hurt a kid, let alone kill a mother and her two kids."

"They had you on tape threatening the lives of Bunderslaw and his entire family." Jim reminded her. "I know because he sent someone to infiltrate my brother's life and Alfred nearly died because of it. I needed Sid Bunderslaw to believe I'd come after him and everyone he cares about if he did something like that again... but I wasn't serious. If anything I'd have just killed him... not taken out his family!" Bird defended her words, before shaking her head at herself for not checking to see if there was security equipment in his office the day she went to threaten him.

"Bunderslaw is still missing."

"Yeah, and whoever took him has to be the same ones who killed his family and framed me for it."

Jim nodded in agreement, the only problem was that he didn't have the first clue where to look for the real guilty parties.
The only thing he knew was that Bird had in fact been framed for the murders of Bunderslaw's family and that she'd been trying to turn things around in her life.
So much so that she'd went about handling the charges against her legally and the system had failed her.

As he pulled up to a stop sign and put the turn signal on, she jerked her gaze over to his direction and quickly said, "I want to go to my apartment."

"But your house-"

"I just want to go home." She softly said, feeling like all her fight was spent, "To my apartment."

"Okay..." He breathed under his breath as he clicked the turn signal off, he questioned, "So you and Harvey..."

She didn't say anything in response to him, just turned her head and looked out of the window.

The next several moments passed in an awkward silence until Jim looked over at her and pointed out, "You're still wearing your engagement ring."

He directed his attention back to the road as he checked the mirrors and switched lanes, trying to appear as though he wasn't invested while awaiting a solid answer.

"Glad those months on street cop duty didn't hinder those detective skills." Bird stated, glancing at him before looking down at her hand and watching the diamonds reflect the morning sun.

"I just mean... when you said you wanted to go to your apartment instead of your house with Harvey..." His voice trailed off and he shrugged, not sure how to finish what he was getting at.

"All it means is that I'm not quite ready to see him yet." Bird said, not planning on going into detail, but ended up confiding, "I was in Arkham for months and at first he'd visit all the time. So confident that we were going to find a way get me out of there and then the more time that passed the less and less he came around. I guess it's not really his fault... seeing me in there was probably just another reminder of how we were supposed to have been starting our life together, but everything just went to hell so fast."

As he watched her from the corner of his eye, Jim saw her pull in a deep breath and open her mouth like she had more to add, but instead of continuing to talk she bit down on her lip and decided to keep her thoughts to herself.

The rest of the ride to her apartment building was mostly silent, aside from a few attempts from Jim at small talk as he tried to get a read on Bird and see just how much her time in the asylum had changed her.

"You didn't have to walk me in." She insisted with a small almost-smile as she glanced over her shoulder to see Jim had followed her in.

"Are you sure being alone is a good idea right now?" He questioned, his eyes looking over the now sparsely furnished space.

"Why?" She questioned with a scoff, "Afraid I might have a mental breakdown and end up in a place like Arkham?"

Giving her an unamused expression, he sighed, "More like the fact that someone framed you for a serious crime and you nearly died."

"I can handle myself." She declared, running her fingers through her hair and thinking out loud, "Besides, if someone is still after me then it's probably best I stay away from the people I care about. We both know how easily innocent people can get caught in the crosshairs."

Jim bit down on the side of his tongue and stopped himself from lecturing her on how serious of a situation this was.

Apparently, Arkham hadn't changed her so much after all –she still appeared to be the girl who didn't take anything seriously.

"Does it seem musty in here to you?" She mumbled under her breath as she crossed the room and started opening the windows against the far wall.

Jim's eyes fell to the small box she'd brought with her from Arkham.
There were a few pictures and other small odds and ends, but his attention was drawn to a red painted macaroni necklace.

When Bird turned back around from opening the windows, she saw Jim pick the necklace up and give her a questioning look with raised eyebrows.

"We had art days in there." Bird chuckled, "Pretty much a repeat of arts and crafts from grade school."

"Well, at least you put your time in there to good use." He jested.

"Ha-ha." Bird rolled her eyes, "And I didn't make that. It was a present from Jerome."

"Valeska?" Jim's tone of voice changed as he dropped it back into the box and she saw the judgmental expression return that would frequent his face when dealing with her.

"Don't give me that look." She accused, "Shame me for consorting with certain people? You have no idea what it was like in there. You might have been a guard there last year, but it's an entirely different thing to be locked in there against your will. If I hadn't made friends in there..." Her voice trailed off and she shrugged.

"You were in that room when he confessed to killing his mother." Jim reminded her, "Or did you forget the part where he graphically described plunging that hatchet into her over and over again?"

"How quickly you forget it wasn't that long ago that you got your own hands dirty, Jim." Her eyebrow arched at him, "When you came to visit me and told me how Oswald wanted you to collect a debt for him, I warned you not to do it. But you didn't listen to me and you ended up killing someone."

"I had to get my job back." Jim defended, but aside from that, he didn't have much to say to justify what had happened.
After taking a stand against Loeb months ago during the gang war between Falcone and Maroni, Jim had been demoted to working the beat as a traffic cop. Loeb was trying to force him to quit, but Jim was a cop above all else and he wasn't going to let the commissioner win.

Finally, Jim had ended up going to see Oswald in hopes that he could use his new pull as a crime lord to get him reinstated as a detective. But it seemed as though Oswald had tired of doing him favors without anything in return and promised that if Jim collected a debt for him that he'd get him his old job back.

At first, he'd been hesitant to do so, but feeling like he didn't have any other options, he'd went to collect on the debt and ended up having to kill the man.

"I told you that Oswald has a reason behind everything he does and that it wasn't going to be as simple as just picking up dues for him-"

"Yeah, I remember." Jim gruffly countered.

The apartment fell back into silence with both of them avoiding eye contact with the other until Jim finally said, "I should get going. You sure you're going to be okay here alone?"

"I'll be fine." Bird assured him. Stopping him just as he was leaving she added, "I don't think I ever said it... but, thank you for always coming to visit me when I was in Arkham."

••• Flashback/months ago •••

"You awake?" Harvey softly asked as he sat down at their dining room table next to Bird who had her head on her arms that were resting on the table and he gently ran a comforting hand over her back.

Raising her head Bird weakly said, "Define awake –because honestly, I feel like I'm living a nightmare here."

Motioning to all of the paperwork spread out over the oak surface she said, "I hate this, I hate this so bad! Airing everything I've been through –the court looking into my medical records and..."

With a weak shrug, she admitted, "I think a trial wouldn't even be this bad."

Seeing the look on his face and knowing he was about to shoot the idea down, Bird quickly said, "I could take the stand, right? Tell my side of the story –tell the truth and maybe the jury would believe me. Then this entire thing would be over and we could just go back to how things were."

"Baby..." He sighed, shaking his head as he pointed out, "Your side of the story is that you're missing an entire week from your memory and that someone is framing you for homicide-"

"That's the truth!" She complained, sounding a little frantic as she spoke.

"I know." He nodded, "But the hard truth is... it's just that if this case goes to trial right now, you're going to be convicted. The public already has their minds made up that you're guilty and I've been doing some digging around the office at work and the prosecution has a really strong case."

Clearing his throat he continued, "I have no doubt that if this actually goes to trial that you'll leave court that day on a bus to spend the rest of your life on the women's wing of Blackgate."

Reaching out he took her hand in his and his heart hurt in his chest at feeling how her cold fingers were trembling. All he wanted to do was make her problems disappear; for them to go back to the way things were before she'd gone missing for a week and everything just spiraled downward.

"You cannot go to Blackgate Penitentiary." Harvey said, in a solid tone. "I have put a lot of people away in there and your relationship with me will put you in grave danger. It would be like walking around with a bullseye on your back. Getting the trial pushed back indefinitely while we try to get to the bottom of what really happened is the best option here, it's the smartest move and for that to happen we have to prove that you're unfit to stand trial for the crimes."

"Indefinitely? I just want this whole thing to be over." She confided, worry lining her forehead as she continued with an exasperated almost frantic tone, "Is this what I worked so hard for? To have the city turn against me for crimes I didn't even commit? This whole thing; this whole situation is crazy, Harvey."

With a shrug, she sighed, "Maybe this is some kind of sign."

"What are you talking about?" He questioned, his eyes never leaving her face. "A sign that it was all for nothing, I don't know. Maybe this is just to show me that no matter how hard I try to change who I am –it doesn't matter."
She shrugged again, trying to distance herself from the emotions and fear building up inside of her.

"You are still you." He pointed out, "You're just trying to build a better life... making better choices-"

"Yeah, and where did that get me?" She unintentionally snapped, bitterness nipping at the tip of her tongue and the food souring in her stomach when she continued, "The old me could have dealt with this. Even if I couldn't make these charges disappear, I could have called in some favors... but I cut all ties with everyone who could have helped."

Shaking her head she considered out loud, "Maybe I burnt bridges a little too soon."

"Listen to me... we are going to fight this and we'll win, it's just going to take a little time." He assured her.

"Things get handled so much faster when you're living outside of the law... maybe I should call Oswald, or even see if I can get a lead on where Falcone disappeared too..." Her voice trailed off, already knowing he was going to shoot the idea down.

Reaching out he gently took hold of her chin and turned her head until she faced him again as he argued, "No, you got away from that life; away from those people for a reason. Don't throw everything away because of this. We will fight this from inside the law and things will eventually get back to normal and we can move on and forget about this."

There was a hopefulness in his tone that she couldn't share and at the moment she was wishing they'd just fled Gotham back when he'd been trying to convince her to leave with him. Leaning in he pressed a kiss to her lips and she melted into him.

His confidence and hope were nearly enough to convince her things would one day be okay again, but with each passing day, it was getting harder and harder to hold onto that feeling.
They were supposed to be finally starting their life together, not fighting off homicide charges.

"Maybe we should move the wedding up." He softly said as he pulled back just enough to speak.

"Move it up from when? We never even got around to setting an official date." She reminded him, leaning her head back farther to get a better look at him.

"I know, but-" He started to say, but Bird didn't let him finish when she added, "And I can't leave our property."

With that, her eyes fell down to the location monitoring device secured around her ankle.

"We could have the wedding here." He offered up a solution, but his eagerness on the matter only caused her to get suspicious.

"Does this have anything to do with how the courts can't force married couples to testify against each other?" Bird guessed, knowing there was still a chance she might actually have to stand trial for the triple homicide.

Blowing out a sigh he gave a small nod as he pointed out, "Starling, the things I know about you... about the crimes you've committed –it would be damning if they called me to take the stand."

"Damning for me, or damning for you to have to admit how much you know?" Bird asked, and she saw his jaw tense in anger, though there was a look of sadness in his eyes when he questioned, "What are you saying?"

"I'm just saying it wouldn't look good for you to have to admit your knowledge of crimes I've committed." She pointed out and before Harvey had a chance to give any thought to his words he argued, "It doesn't exactly reflect well on me now –with the pending charges against you."

Her mouth hung open and she roughly pulled her hand away from his grip and snapped, "So what? You'd be doing me a favor by marrying me then?"

"I didn't mean that the way it sounded." He quickly cut in, "I didn't think before I said that. I'm sorry."

Pulling in a deep breath, he looked around their dining room before adding, "I was just trying to say that it's not me I'm worried about here, it's you and what could happen if this goes to trial. I don't want to start a fight with you."

"And I don't want to rush into some spur of the moment wedding just so they can't force you to testify against me. It feels too much like some sort of business arrangement." She complained, shaking her head back and forth as she stood from her seat and walked into the kitchen.

Harvey followed her, leaning against the doorway as he watched her open a bottle of apple juice and take a drink from it.
Turning around she sat the small bottle down on the island in the middle of their kitchen and looked up at him when he offered, "We could just do this to make it official in the eyes of the law and then once this is all over we can have an actual wedding, a big ceremony or whatever you want."

"No." Bird asserted.

"Why not?" Harvey asked, holding his arms out to the side as he spoke, "I want to marry you and you want to marry me, so what does it even matter how or when it happens?"
His head slightly cocked to the side when he questioned, "You do still want to get married, right?"

"Of course I do!" She exclaimed, taking another drink of her juice.

Her mind drifted back to what Butch had told her once and Bird admitted, "An old friend told me once that once someone is in the world of organized crime long enough that everything, even relationships become business. If we do this solely to avoid you testifying against me, then at the end of the day it really is all just business and I don't want that."

Walking up to him, she laid her hands flat against his chest and leaned up claiming his mouth with a passionate kiss, before pulled back and saying, "You were right before... we should have just packed our bags and ran from this city."

Before he could say anything Bird offered, "It's not too late, you know? I could cut this thing off my ankle and we can take off. Disappear somewhere far away from Gotham City. How do you feel about Italy?"

A smile toyed at the corner of his mouth as he watched her. "I don't know, I've never been to Italy."

"You'd love it!" Bird assured him, "Especially Venice-"

"You were the one who was right to shoot down the idea of fleeing. If you start running, you'll always be running and that's no way to live. You were right before –to stay and see things through." He kissed her and as he pulled back, he gently trailed his thumb over her bottom lip and said, "We'll get through this –we've weathered some pretty rough storms together and we'll fight this one too."

•••

"Miss Wayne." The judge said as she looked through the lenses of her glasses that sat close to the tip of her nose, leaning forward in her chair she looked the young woman over and pulled in a deep breath.

Bird nervously looked over to her lawyer who gave her a reassuring nod, trying to ease her nerves.

"Due to all of the evidence and testimony I've heard over the last week, along with your personal history of mental illness and time spent institutionalized... it is the determination of this court that, as of now, you are unfit to stand trial for the charges brought against you." The judge said, eyeing the small gathering of people in the closed room, before her gaze fell back on Bird and she continued, "I hereby order you to immediately enter into in-patient treatment and be re-evaluated every three months until the court feels you're ready and competent enough to stand trial. Do you understand?"

Bird's mouth hung slightly open as she fought for her breath in the stuffy room with air that felt far too thick.

Glancing over her shoulder she looked at the back of the courtroom where Alfred and Bruce were sitting before she looked at the first row of seats just behind her and her eyes locked with Harvey.

Swallowing hard, she turned back and nodded, "I understand."

"Your honor, if I may?" Bird's lawyer, Erin Windsor asked.

"Yes?"

"As you can see from the list in front of you –the prosecution and my client have agreed on several institutions where Miss Wayne will be able to receive the help that she needs. We'll leave it up to the court to decide which one is best suited for her case." Erin said, giving the unimpressed judge a pearly white smile.

"I see that, yes..." Judge Eldridge nodded, barely glancing at the list for a few seconds before she pushed her glasses back up on her nose and said, "But that won't be necessary. It is the judgment of this court that Starling Wayne will be remanded to Arkham Asylum until the time comes for her to stand trial."

"Your honor!" Erin protested, "The building is nearly two-hundred years old! My client is very vulnerable both mentally and emotionally, and I cannot foresee any good coming out of locking her up with the prisoners there."

"The places on this list might as well have a five-star resort marking next to them, Mrs. Windsor. I can't, in good judgment, allow your client to spend her time awaiting trial in what could be considered a spa. Arkham has been upgraded, retrofitted to meet today's standards and will provide both the help she needs and peace of mind to the citizens of Gotham, knowing that she's in a secure facility where she can't simply walk out of a back exit." Judge Eldridge explained, her voice echoing through the room with the need to defend herself and her judgment.

"This is ridiculous!" Harvey angrily exclaimed as he stood from where he'd been sitting, unable to hold his anger in for a moment longer.

"Counselor Dent!" The judge snapped, her stone cold gaze landing on him as she commented, "I'm surprised at your outburst. Control yourself, or I will have you removed from my courtroom."

"With all due respect, you're making a mistake." Harvey continued, unable to stop himself as he walked up beside the defense desk and loudly exclaimed, "Sending her to a place like Arkham will do more harm than good. The people in there are-"

"Insane?" The judge cut him off, before she nodded, "Criminally insane."

Harvey looked over to see Bird starring back at him with a shell-shocked expression on her face, and his voice lowered as he turned back towards the stand and argued, "You can't do this."

"I can and I am. Now take a seat, Counselor Dent. I will not ask you again."

"Sit down!" Erin whisper yelled at him, rubbing her forehead and thinking he was only going to end up making things worse for her client.

She looked towards the judge and said, "Your honor, if I may-"

"You may not. My decision is final."

"Who's paying you?" Bird suddenly yelled out, her heart racing frantically inside of her chest as she spoke. Her sweaty hands were desperately gripping onto the wooden table in front of her, and her eyes were wide with an almost wild look in them.

"Enough!" Judge Eldridge yelled, "I am deeply offended by that insinuation."

Waving her hand through the air in front of her, she shook her head back and forth before saying, "Miss. Wayne, you will be reevaluated in three mont's' time."
The sentence was sealed with a bang of her gavel and Bird was roughly pulled to her feet by the bailiff.

"Let go of me!" She yelled, struggling to get free, while her lawyer tried to assure her it was only temporary until they could get the charges dropped.

The scene quickly turned to chaos as Harvey tried to intervene and get to Bird, but was restrained by two guards and had to helplessly watch as a few more guards were called in to remove Bird from the courtroom and take her to Arkham.

His stomach was all twisted up and mind was racing, this was a curveball he hadn't seen coming and he was already growing increasingly afraid that after spending time in Arkham, that when he got his fiancé back she wouldn't be the same.

•••

"Clothes and any jewelry in the bag." Bird's continuously dizzying gaze snapped up to the woman speaking to her, dressed in an all-white nurses uniform.

"What?" Bird managed to ask.

In an irritated voice the female police officer in the room with them, repeated, "Clothing and personal possessions in the bag." She nodded towards a large zip-locked bag on the table in the center of the room.

Bird's eyes fell to where the officer was holding her nightstick and was ready to snap into action in case she tried anything.

Slowly she did as she was told, took off her earrings first, followed by her bracelets and finally her diamond necklace.

"The ring." The nurse said, nodding to Bird's hand.

"Oh... no, this is my engagement ring." She argued, not wanting to part with it.

"Congratulations." The nurse gruffly said, "Put it in the bag."

Moving painfully slow, Bird finally removed the ring that had become one of her most prized possessions and sat it in the bag before she got to work removing her shoes, shirt, and skirt until she was left in only her bra and underwear standing under the fluorescent lighting in the room.

"Bra and panties too." The nurse said before explaining, "Undergarments will be provided to you here."

Pinning her eyes shut, Bird prayed that when she opened them she'd be back home in bed and realize it was all just a dream.

Some horrible nightmare –it just had to be, this couldn't be happening.

It was impossible –yet, when she opened her eyes she was still in hell.

Knowing there was no way out of it, Bird slowly reached her shaking hands behind her and began unfastening the clips on her bra. The room seemed to be feeling colder by the second and by the time she finally pulled the padded cups from her body she could have sworn someone had turned the air conditioning on –on full blast right next to her.

Not making eye contact with anyone in the room, she pulled her underwear off and placed them in the bag before quickly trying to cover up her exposed body with an arm over her chest and a hand down lower.

Aside from when she'd been attacked as a teenager, she couldn't ever remember feeling more exposed or violated and in those moments she'd have sworn it couldn't have gotten any worse; she was wrong.

"Squat and cough."

"Excuse me?" Bird gasped, violently shivering from the cold as she spoke and struggled to cover up her nude body, "I swear to you I'm not trying to smuggle anything in here-"

"Squat and cough." The nurse repeated, "We can't just take your word for it."

"No... I won't." Bird argued, tears stinging at her eyes as she spoke and she could no longer catch her breath. "N-no... this... they do this stuff at prisons-"

"Look around you, kid. This is a prison." The officer sighed, "We house the criminally insane here. You're not patients –you're inmates. Now just do what you're told because I really don't want to do a full cavity search and I'd bet you don't want that either."

"This... this isn't happening." Bird breathed under her breath, pinning her eyes shut to hold the tears in then whispered, "Please tell me this isn't happening."

Unable to hold them in for any longer, a few tears started to run down her cheeks as she finally did what she'd been told and turned around, lowered down and gave a few deep coughs.

Once she was finally allowed to put the faded black and white striped dress on they'd given her, she held onto herself –still feeling like every inch of her was still out on display despite now being fully clothed.

The nurse led her down a few dimly lit hallways until they reached a wing that required a key code to open the door.

As Bird crossed the threshold she saw it was another hallway, a much shorter one lined with doors. People were screaming and talking and the lights running the length of the hall were all buzzing so loudly she felt like her ears were going to start bleeding.

"You're being held on this wing for your first seventy-two hours for evaluation and detox of any substances you might currently be on. There will be no visitors or phone calls, no incoming or outgoing mail during that time."

"Wait..." Bird helplessly breathed, as he looked into the door of what appeared to be a padded cell.

"It's for everyone's well-being, we need to see how you're going to respond before we can release you onto one of the general floors." The nurse sighed, clearly fed up and irritated with all her delays and questions.

"I don't intend on hurting anyone... I don't need to be locked up in a padded room. I just..." Her tears started back up again, and for the first time in a very long time she felt completely hopeless –like the light at the end of the tunnel she'd fought to reach had burnt out.

"You killed three people-"

"I did not!" Bird argued, "I didn't kill them, I swear to you I didn't lay a finger on any of them. I'm being framed... set up."

"Save it for your lawyer and the judge. Now in you go." She said as she roughly pushed Bird into the room and slammed the door shut behind her.

Nothing felt real to her anymore as Bird backed away from the door until her back hit the back padded wall. Somehow she felt like she was both floating aimlessly and drowning at the same time.

This was a complete nightmare, this was hell and the longer she stood there the worse she felt.

The room smelled of spoiled milk and urine and there was a prickly feeling on her skin that a hundred hot showers couldn't wash away.

Making it over to the corner of the room, everything hit her at once and the food she'd eaten for lunch came back up.

Choking through her tears, she gagged and fought against the nausea, but there was no stopping it as she continued to retch until her body ached and nothing but bile was coming up.

Falling onto the floor, she moaned in pain and held onto her sides until she could finally muster the strength to make it to the door.

But no one came to answer her cries for help and finally Bird gave up on trying.

Moving to the corner farthest away from where she'd thrown up, she laid down on the cold floor and did her best to curl up and keep her legs inside the fabric of the dress.

Wrapping her arms around herself and trying to stay warm, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and tears flooded down her cheeks and onto the cracked white padding beneath her.

•••

A/N – Thank you all for reading! I hope you're liking the story so far! :)

As you can see, quite a bit happened to Bird since We Were Born Sick ended; you can expect quite a few flashbacks revealing more of her time in Arkham.

You can always find me on Tumblr (username: twofacedharveydent). I'm almost always posting story related content and making edits on there.

Also, please keep in mind that I have been using Crystal Reed as my faceclaim for Bird since when I first started the We Were Born Sick series back in 2015, well before she was cast in the show.

xx