"Just because everything is different doesn't mean anything has changed." - Irene Peter

•••

"Stop saying that! There's always something you can do. A retrial... or have him transferred to another prison, for God's sake!"

Bird slowly opened her eyes before quickly laying her arm over her eyes trying to block out the sunlight she was met with.

She could hear Bullock arguing with someone, presumably over the phone, in the next room.

"You know what, Dent? Just keep doing what you always do, which is nothing!"

Bird moved the arm she'd placed over her eyes when she heard approaching footsteps.

Blinking lazily she watched the dust particles in the air reflected the sunlight like dull glitter.

She could barely remember the events of the prior night. With the pounding in her head, she could barely form thoughts.

"That's some boyfriend you got." Bullock grumbled as he plopped down into the chair he'd ended up falling asleep in the night before and sat a drink carrier with two coffees down on the coffee table along with a white paper bag containing the couple pastries he'd picked up from around the corner.

"Ex." Bird groaned as she flailed and struggled to get sat up properly, "And his hands are tied-"

"Yeah. Yeah. Yeah." Bullock shook his head, "I already heard the spiel from Dent. Hands tied. Nothing he can do. Yada, yada, yada. It's all bologna if you ask me."

Running her hands through her tangled hair, Bird couldn't find the strength or mental process she'd need to argue with him.

"Is that for me?" She questioned, pointing towards the bakery bag.

"One of them." He nodded, barely looking up from scrolling the contact list in his phone. There had to be someone he could call a favor into to help Jim.

When he heard the rustle of the bag, he quickly added, "Paws off the jelly doughnut. That ones mine."

With a sigh, Bird pulled the other doughnut out of the bag and took a bite before she reached forward and plucked up one of the coffee's from the carrier and washed the bite of food down.

"Thanks." She said so quietly he could just barely hear her over the sounds of morning traffic on the street below.

"Welcome." He answered, eyeing her for a minute before he took a drink of his own coffee.

Bird had just finished her food when she spotted her purse on the floor next to her legs.

Leaning down she picked it up and starting searching for her keys to no avail.

"Harvey?" Bird sighed, letting her purse fall to the floor with a thud from the full bottle of perfume inside, "Did I drive here last night?"

"Hope not." He answered, "You were barely able to walk."

"Great." She groaned.

Reaching up she rubbed her hands over her face and regretted the very moment she'd chose to drink the night before.

"Can, uh..." She sighed, "Do you have time to drive me home before you go to work?"

"I took a personal day." He admitted, finally closing his phone and giving up hope of finding someone with enough juice to pull the strings to get Jim out of Blackgate.

He'd had every intention of going in to his shift that day until he'd woke up in the chair with a pinch in his back and a crook in his neck.

For a moment, the day felt just like any other, that was until he spotted Bird passed out on the couch and realized just how real the events of the day before had been.

Jim Gordon was in Blackgate.

It wasn't a nightmare. It was reality.

And the thought of walking into the police station and having to face Captain Barnes was more than he had the strength to do that day.

For someone who claimed to think of Jim like a son, Barnes had been quick to turn on him.

The injustice of what was happening to his partner was enough to turn his stomach; especially with the lack of outrage that had followed the verdict.

From where he was sitting, he felt like the only one who actually cared about what happened to Jim.

Well, him and Bird, but the latter wasn't going to be much help if she couldn't stay off the bottle.

"Okay, well, can you drive me home?" Bird restated her question before adding in, "Please?"

"I've got places to be." He dismissed, "Got an old buddy who works at Blackgate. He's gonna get Jim visitation today."

"How is Jim?" Bird asked the same question she'd asked him about a million times the night before.

"They got him in protective custody." He answered now that he had more information himself, "Not a lot of contact with the rest of the prison population. Probably his safest bet for now."

"That's good." Bird answered before her nose wrinkled and she shook her head, "Or, I mean... better then general population at least-"

"I knew what you meant." Bullock interrupted, "This whole thing is a nightmare."

When Bird continued to stare at him with a nearly unblinking, expectant expression, Bullock finally asked, "What?"

Realizing he wasn't going to invite her along to visit Jim, Bird said, "I'd like to come with you... to see him."

When she saw the look on his face, she knew she was going to tell her no.

"He's my friend too." She was quick to defend.

"Sure." His eyebrows raised, "You kiss all your friends?"

Bird's face immediately contorted and she was left scrambling for her words, "I... How? He told you? Because we both agreed to not talk about that. It was a mistake-"

She started to ramble off all the excuses she and Jim had come up with to write off what had happened.

"You told me." Bullock reminded her, "Last night, in all your rambling and boo-hooing about this and that."

"Look. I don't care about that. Each to their own. Whatever." He said holding up a hand to make sure she heard him out, "But I am worried about him."

"You were a mess when you showed up here last night and I've got no room to judge. God knows you've seen and been through enough that you got every right to be. But another mess is not what Jim needs right now, okay?" Bullock said in a surprisingly soft tone for as harsh as his words were.

When Bird shot him a look, he nodded, "You can give me the stink eye all you want, but you know I'm right. Barnes and the rest of the police force are siding with the evidence. It's over with Lee and my money is on her skipping town now anyways. The DA's office is as useless as ever. Which leaves me and you left on his side."

Swallowing down her anger, Bird bit down on the inside of her cheek to keep from snapping at him as she really gave his words a once over in her mind.

"We're really all he's got now, huh?" She managed a whisper and looked up to see him nodding, "Okay... so what are we supposed to do then?"

"Fight for him. Find out who's framing him and a way to get Jim outa Blackgate." He said what they both already knew. With a heavy sigh he continued, "But until then, we make sure he knows he's not alone, that he's not been forgotten. We keep money in his commissary and do everything we can to make his time in there bearable until we figure something else out."

"That is if you're up to it." Bullock added, "It's kind of an all in or all out sorta deal. If you're not up to this then you're better off to just stay out of the way."

Bird nodded in understanding.

And even though a part of her was still up for wallowing in her own guilt and self-pity, she knew she had to pull it together.

She'd never said it out loud to him, but she was sure that a huge part of the reason she'd survived her stay in Arkham was how often Jim would come and visit her.

Being locked away from society doesn't leave much to look forward too; so vists from friends and loved ones made it easier to get up and keep going from one day to the next.

Though she didn't feel like she deserved all the judgment and ultimatums she was being given from Bullock, she also understood where he was coming from.

If she wasn't able to keep herself stitched together enough to be there for Jim, then he'd be better off to have her out of sight and out of mind.

With the longer she'd been in Arkham, the less people came to see her.

First she'd had a falling out with her brother and he'd stopped coming.

Then visits from Harvey Dent slowed until they finally stopped and he'd even stopped taking her calls.

In the end, it was harder to deal with that then it would have been for them to have never showed up in the first place.

For all of their disagreements and conflicting moral standings, Jim had been the only one who'd made regular trips to Arkham and had even been there once she was released.

Now it was time for her to return the kindness.

Checking the time on his watch, Bullock stood up and grabbed his coat off the back of the chair.

He started for the door and called over his shoulder, "You in or out?"

Bird stood and turned around to see him opening the front door and looking back to see what she'd decide. When she seemed hesitant to move, he said, "But if you're still here when I get back, I'm gonna expect dinner on the table or something."

"Ha-ha" She commented with a slight eye roll, before she leaned down and picked up her purse to start for the door as she stated, "I'm in."

•••

Bird leaned against the side of the picnic table as she looked up to the chain link fencing over the top of the outdoor sitting area.

"Nice digs, huh?" Bullock commented when he saw her eyeing the armed guards on the roof.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Bird squinted as she pushed the dark sunglasses off her eyes and up to the top of her head.

Just as she reached up to rub her tired eyes, there was a loud buzzer sound in the air and they both looked up to see Jim stepping outside.

"Looking good, brother!" Bullock bolstered with a big smile as he attempted to lighten the mood, "Not everyone can pull the uniform off."

With a lame attempt a chuckle, Jim rubbed a hand over the top of his head and greeted, "Hey."

"Hey, Jim." Bird struggled to force her lips up into a smile for his sake.

"What are you both doing here?" He asked as he walked over to sit down at the table they were around.

This was his first full day in prison and as if that didn't feel strange enough, now he was met with a visit from both of them at the same time.

That was a strange enough sigh within itself.

"Checking up on you." Bullock admitted as he sat down next to where Bird was leaning and motioned for Jim to have a seat across from him.

"You don't need to." Jim tried to assure them.

It was hard enough trying to adjust to life in a cage, the last thing he needed was the looks of sympathy from anyone.

He'd given a lot of thought to how his life would change if he was found guilty at trial and just like he'd ended his relationship with Lee, he was thinking life on the inside might be easier to face without reminders of everything he was leaving behind.

"Yes, we do." Bird flatly stated, "You're our friend, Jim."

Jim glanced over at her and then back to where Bullock was sitting. He'd never once heard her group herself in with Bullock before. Nor had he seen them together for more than five minutes without his partner calling her crazy eyes or finding some way to offend and get a rise out of her.

"And we're gonna get you of here." Bullock repeated his promise from the night before, "I'm gonna keep working the case and find out who's behind framing you. And crazy eyes-" Jutting a thumb in Bird's direction he continued, "Is gonna talk to Dent. See if she can get him to have the investigation reopened."

"And!" Bird loudly cleared her throat and sighed at how much he'd downplayed her plans, "I have my lawyer looking into this, okay? She's going to see what we can do to get the ball rolling with an appeal."

"I highly doubt I can afford whatever lawyer-" Jim started to shoot the opportunity down, but Bird didn't let him as she said, "She's doing this pro bono. Let's just say that she owes me far more than this one favor."

Bullock looked between Jim and Bird.

"You stay strong." Bullock said as he stood up with a groan.

His back was still bothering him from spending the night in a chair not even fit to be sat in for a few hours at a time.

Crossing around the table, he slapped a hand on Jim's shoulder and offered some advice, "And keep your head down. Stay outa trouble."

"Yeah. I'll try." Jim called after him as Bullock headed for the door.

He was off to make sure Jim's commissary account was going to have him set for at least a couple weeks.

Along with giving them a minute alone.

Bird looked towards the door and asked, "You're not gonna ditch me, right?"

"We'll see." He answered before disappearing inside the building.

"You rode here together?" Jim asked, unable to hide the surprise on his face.

"It's a long story." Bird dismissed, "It's just been a long night and morning and... whatever the hell time of day it is now."

Jim's eyebrows furrowed as he got a better look at her in the sunlight.

Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy and her skin was blotchy with the freckles spanning her nose much more noticeable than usual.

Looking from her unwashed hair down to the her wrinkled clothes, he tried to remember if that was the same clothes she'd been wearing the day before because they certainly looked like they'd been slept in.

"Are you okay?" He questioned, his voice lowering some.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" She weakly tried to joke.

"Bird?" He sighed.

"Jim." She replied in a tone matching the level of defeat and exhaustion in his.

Minutes passed in silence as he watched her and she refused to look him in the eyes.

In fact she seemed far more interested in looking at the cracks in the cement ground than she did in him.

"You don't have to do this." He broke the silence first, "You don't need to come and check on me."

"I do." She turned to face him.

"No, you-" He started to protest.

"People aren't meant to be caged, Jim." Bird interrupted, "And I know right now you probably think you're handling this all fine, but in a week or a month, at some point after spending your days locked alone in a cell and eating the same slop for every single meal... you're going to start feeling like there's nothing to look forward too."

Jim's gaze fell to the table and Bird pulled in a deep breath, before she stated, "But you'll have this. You'll have me."

"And Bullock." She quickly tossed in.

This time when he looked at her, she diverted her gaze down to the metal table and provided more of an explanation, "You were the only one who kept coming to see me in Arkham and I know I never told you, but that was the only break I got from that place. A thirty minute window to forget exactly where I was and that counted for so much."

"It, uh..." She breathed, clearing her throat when her voice started to crack, "It sort of meant everything."

With a slow nod and thinking he had her motives figured out he leaned his head down some trying to catch her line of sight, "You're welcome, but that doesn't mean you owe me."

"I'm not here because I feel like I owe you." Her voice came out harsher than either of them were expecting.

Pinning her eyes shut she took a moment to breath and then held her hand up as she said, "I have my own motives."

With a weak and unsteady smile, she locked eyes with him and admitted, "Sometimes I need something to look forward to too. I'm not always the best at finding a reason to get out of bed in the morning, but this-" She motioned to him, "This is something we can both look forward too -something, someone to depend on and honestly, that's something I need too."

Leaning forward some over the table and seeming more concerned with her situation than he was his own, he asked, "What's going on?"

"Nothing." She ran her tongue over her lips and could have sworn they still tasted of alcohol, "I guess coming back from the dead just isn't all it's cracked up to be."

Once she caught the clouds of worry in his blue eyes, she shook her head and started to stand up, "I should probably find Bullock before he really does leave me stranded-"

"Bird." He complained, knowing there was far more bothering her than what she was letting on.

When she ignored him and continued to walk away, he got up and followed her, taking hold of her arm to bring her to a stop, "Bird-"

"No touching!"

They both looked up to where one of the armed guards stationed above was at a stand still and watching them like a hawk about to swoop down and carry away it's prey.

Letting go of her, Jim held his hands up and nodded, waiting until the guard went back to pacing before he tried to talk to Bird again.

"Whatever's going on, you can-"

"Times up, Gordon."

His head dropped forward with a heavy sigh.

He was already starting to understand what Bird was saying earlier.

This was a rather short, off the books visit, but even in that time he'd started to forget where he was.

That was until the prison staff started barking orders at him; leaving him feeling like he was in chains even though they'd been taken off the night before.

"I'll be back Friday." Bird promised.

Friday was the next regularly scheduled day for visitors and she was planning on being there when visiting hours would begin.

Jim couldn't do much other than give a single nod and turn to where the guard was growing more impatient by the second.

"You know what..." Bird finally exclaimed, dropping her arms to her sides and turning back to look at him, "What you did wasn't okay."

Jim spun back around and met her frustrated expression with a look of confusion on his own face.

"I said times up-" The guard barked, but Bird silenced him with a look that could have burnt him down to ash as she held up a finger to signal she needed another minute.

"I get why you did, what you did, but that doesn't make it right." She finally let out what she'd been holding in.

"What are you talking about?" Jim asked, glancing around them.

He'd been in Blackgate since the night before; he didn't have the first clue what he could have done in that time to anger her.

"Lee." Bird's eyebrows raised, "You shouldn't have made my a part of what happened last night. It wasn't right. It wasn't fair."

"No, it wasn't." He agreed in a quite voice with a knowing expression taking over his features.

Bird bit down on her bottom lip and nodded before looking at him one more time, then going over to the door visitors and staff were taken though.

••• later that week •••

Slowing down as she neared the end of a long driveway, Bird picked up the notebook out of the passenger seat and looked down to the address she'd been given by Oswald.

It was just the day before that he'd called her, once again expressing his wishes that she'd come and visit him, finally meet his father and his wife, Grace.

Only once she'd agreed to come for dinner on Friday evening, the invitation had quickly turned into an offer to stay the weekend.

She wasn't too keen on the idea of taking off to stay in a house with people she'd never met before, but when she heard the hopefulness and excited tone in his voice -she didn't have it in her to turn him down.

So she'd set off in search of the Van Dahl residence directly after leaving from the visiting hours at Blackgate.

After matching the numbers on paper to the numbers on the mailbox, Bird pulled in a deep breath and turned onto tree lined drive.

Her eyebrows lowered and she leaned her head down forward to get a better look at the place through the windshield of the car.

Bird hadn't been sure what she was expecting -but the sight she was met with wasn't it.

Oswald had clearly said house and not mansion.

Though that's what she was staring at, a beautiful old mansion, it's brick covered in lush green ivy.

Slowing down even further, she pulled up beside a sleek black car and eyed it for a moment before finally shutting her car off.

Taking her phone out of her purse, she sent a quick text to Alfred letting him know she'd made it safely to her destination, he'd insisted before she left that she call when she got there.

He couldn't seem to understand why on earth she was insisting on running off to spend the weekend with Oswald and his new found family.

Stepping out of her car with her purse slung over her shoulder and the overnight bag she'd packed in hand, Bird reached the front door and pushed the doorbell.

It felt like only a few seconds later that the door was opened by a young woman, who's eyes were as dark as her hair, which was elegantly pinned back.

"You must be Bird." She greeted with a tight smile on her lips, as she took a moment to survey the young woman standing in front of her, "Oswald hasn't stopped talking about you."

"Hmm." Bird hummed, straining through a smile of her own.

"I'm Sasha." She introduced herself, before standing to the side and motioning for Bird to enter the house as she further explained, "Grace's daughter."

"Oh, so you're Oswald's stepsister?" Bird realized once she was through the door and turned back to face her.

"I suppose I am." Her voice came out in a huff, not near as friendly as she sounded mere seconds before.

It was clear to see that she wasn't fond of being reminded her of her familial bond with him.

When she caught sight of the disapproving expression on Bird's face, she quickly tried to recover, "Still adjusting to it, is all. None of us knew he even existed until a short time ago."

Silently Bird nodded, not buying the overly friendly act for a second.

But she held her tongue.

She was a guest in someone else's house after all and even though she didn't really want to be there, she knew just how much this meant to her best friend.

So, she'd smile back and play along as best she could during her time there.

"Where's Oswald?" She questioned.

"He's-" Sasha started to say that he should be along any moment now, but she didn't get the chance when Oswald scrambled into the entry way.

"Bird! Bird!" He jubilantly called out, smiling as wide as his cheeks would allow.

His pace didn't slow one bit as he hobbled to her and wrapped her in a hug with such force it nearly knocked her down.

"Hey." She greeted back with a chuckle as she dropped her bag to the floor so she could return the embrace, "How are you?"

"I'm wonderful." Oswald answered, finally letting go so he could take a step back, "I'm so happy you made it."

Though Bird was nearly always a woman of her word, he could easily tell through their conversations that she wasn't eager to be coming there.

So he'd been worried all day that she might cancel, but now he could let out a sigh of relief.

Bird was still there for him, just as she'd always been.

His best friend. The most important person to him.

Sasha eyed the friends for a moment.

She'd never seen a smile that big on Oswald's face and he'd hardly stopped smiling since Elijah had brought him to the house.

Her new stepbrother was always a little on edge, jittery with nervous ticks and never seemed to care much for being touched.

Or so she thought until she saw him with Bird.

"Here." She interrupted the moment between them, "I'll take your bags to the room you'll be in."

"Thanks." Bird nodded as Sasha picked the bag up off the floor and Bird handed her purse over.

Once she was out of sight up the stairs, Bird looked to Oswald and eyed his new clothes and the new way in which he was combing his hair.

"You look good, Oswald." She complimented, observing that he truly did seem much happier than the last time she'd seen him.

"And you're a vision, as always, Bird." He immediately replied.

"You look happy." She reiterated, "Really happy."

"I am." He agreed.

Bird smiled, this time much more sincere that when she'd been interacting with Sasha.

She'd been skeptical when he'd first told her about Elijah, but maybe this really was a good thing.

Especially after the pain of losing his mother.

"You've made it just in time for dinner." Oswald told her as he grabbed onto her hand and started to lead her through the house.

"So..." Bird breathed as she looked around at the elegant decorations. The inside of the mansion was every bit as beautiful as he outside, "How long are you planning on staying here?"

Slowing to a stop, Oswald looked over to his friend and answered in a manner of voice as if she should have already known the answer, "I'm home, Bird."

"You're going to live here?" She questioned, "Permanently?"

With a smile, he reassuringly squeezed her hand before continuing their journey to the dining room.

"Ah." Elijah smiled as he looked up to see his son and the pretty young woman at his side as they entered the room, "Bird, I'm so glad you could make it. Oswald has spoken a great deal about you. I'm Elijah. Elijah Van Dahl."

Bird could immediately see the resemblance between Oswald and his father as the older man stood from his seat at the head of the table.

"Thank you." Bird smiled, as she reached out to shake his hand, "It's nice to finally meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine." He assured her as he raised her hand and gently placed a kiss to the back of it, a true gentleman.

Bird's smile grew. In the time she'd known Oswald's mother, Gertrud, she knew that was how the woman had expected to be greeted by men.

This was exactly the type of man she could imagine his mother would have fallen for.

"I don't want you to feel the least bit out of place here." Elijah said, "Please feel free to explore the house and come and go as you please. You mean such a great deal to my son... which makes you family. I look forward to getting to know you better."

"And I, you." Bird agreed.

She looked over to Oswald and then back to Elijah, she wasn't sure if it was solely based off of how much he reminded her of her friend or more, but Bird already liked Elijah.

In just the few minutes she'd spent interacting with him, she felt much more at ease about Oswald's sudden move to live with him.

"I hope you've brought your appetite." And older, but well dressed and made-up woman said as she appeared in the doorway, "Elijah has instructed the chef to create quite the feast."

"Bird." Elijah said as he placed a hand on her upper back and motioned to the woman as he warmly smiled, "This is my wife, Grace."

"It's nice to meet you." Bird kept the polite smile on her face even though the temperature of the room seemed to drop when the woman made her presence known.

"Please." Grace beamed a smile as she motioned to the table, "Have a seat."

With a nod, Bird looked to Oswald wondering which seat she should take at the grand table.

Understanding, he quickly moved to scoot one of the chairs out for her, the one next to where he'd be sitting.

The group of four had just gotten sat down when a young man entered the room wearing a custom tailored black suit and bow-tie. His dark golden brown hair was combed back and over to one side.

"Charles, there you are." Grace greeted her son, "Where's your sister?"

"Washing up for dinner." He answered just before his eyes cut over to where Bird was sitting.

When she started to scoot her chair back to stand up, he held up a hand and with a smile on his lips that appeared more of a smirk, he said, "Don't get up on my account."

He took his seat at the table across from where Bird was sitting and complimented, "You're much prettier than I expected."

"Charles!" Grace scolded as Elijah lowered his head and let out a small chuckle.

"What, mom?" He questioned, flashing a smile back in Bird's direction and stressing, "It's a compliment."

Bird looked over to Oswald, who seemed unsure of what to do or say.

Her friend had spoken the most in their phone conversations about his father and some mentions here and there of Grace, but she couldn't recall his mentioning either of his step-siblings.

"Sorry." Sasha apologized for being late as she entered the room, pausing for moment when she saw her brother had taken her usual seat.

Without drawing attention to it, she sat down next to him and eyed Bird before greeting everyone else at the table as the kitchen staff began to enter the room and set up the dinner spread.

Bird mostly remained quiet as she listened to everyone else talk, she was trying to get a read on Grace and her two children.

So far, she was more fond of Elijah than the rest of them.

When Charles broke out into an entertaining story about an encounter he had with a ghost, everyone had broken out into laughter.

Taking a drink from her glass of table wine, Bird eyed him as he insisted, "It's true, I swear it!"

"Clear as day." Charles continued, "A ghost. She was this pale old woman in this long black dress. She was this close." He said motioning to the distance between himself and Bird.

"What did you do?" Oswald laughed as he wiped his mouth on the cloth napkin.

"Well, I ran away screaming, of course!" His voice boomed through the room as he laughed.

"Do either of you believe in ghosts?" Grace questioned looking to where Bird and Oswald were seated.

"Yes." They both answered in unison, before glancing at each other.

"I do." Oswald furthered, "I've seen them."

"This house has several." Elijah confirmed, "But don't worry, they're all quite friendly."

"Don't listen to him, Bird." Grace laughed softly, "There are no ghosts here."

"Oh there are ghosts, alright. This house was built by grandfather. He died here. His wife and two sisters also passed away upstairs." Elijah explained as the laughter died down to silence, "And my poor dear parents. Yes, many ghosts."

"Don't let that spook you." Grace followed.

"It doesn't." Bird answered, taking a sip from her glass of ice water and explaining, "I grew up in an old family home with ghosts of its own."

"Oh?" Grace's eyebrows raised, "And that didn't scare you? Even as a child?"

"As a child, yes." Bird smiled, "Terrifying, but you see -as I got older I learned that it was the living that were dangerous, not the dead."

Caught a little off guard by comment, Oswald adjusted in his seat and tried to bring the conversation back to a happier topic, "Bird's family home is quite the display. A mansion, more expansive than this one."

"Really?" Sasha asked; as she, her brother and her mother all focused their dark eyes on where Bird was sitting.

"I didn't realize." Grace admitted, her eyes narrowing inquisitively as their newest house guest, "What kind of work does your family do?"

"A little bit of everything." She answered, pausing for a bite of her soup, "It's a large company that own subsidiaries in everything from technology and biotech to food and steel mills."

"Oh my..." Grace breathed into her glass of wine.

"I'll admit, I've never really had much to do with the inner workings of the company." Bird dismissed, not caring much for being the center of attention.

She was about to ask Elijah and Grace how they met, but before she got the chance Charles pushed, "What company?"

"Wayne Enterprises." Bird answered in a flat tone.

Funny how they seemed interested once they found out she came from money.

Grace nearly choked on her the wine, coming up away from the glass sputtering and reaching for her napkin, "I... I had no idea."

"My great-grandfather, Manfred, open a tailor's shop in Gotham, many years ago. He made suits for city's elite." Elijah beamed, "I was still just a boy when, I believe it must have been your grandfather, would come into my family's shop. The Wayne name was a very important name in in the city, I'd imagine still is."

Bird smiled at him, thinking that for as large and expansive as the world was, it always feel so strange to realize just how small it can be.

She and Oswald crossed paths at random and now here she was learning that her family had ties to his.

"Oswald." Grace cut in, "Why didn't you tell us?"

When he grew confused at her question, her teeth clenched in a strained smile, "That your friend here is a Wayne. You've only every referred to her as Bird."

"I'm sorry-" Oswald stuttered.

The last thing he wanted to do was upset his new family.

"Don't apologize." Bird interrupted, before looking back to Grace and stating, "He probably never said anything because it didn't cross his mind that he should -because it never mattered to him where I came from or what name I bear."

Biting down on the side of her tongue, Grace nodded and looked down to her plate of food.

"So." Bird began after downing the last of the wine left in her glass, "How did you two meet?"

"Oh, that's a boring story..." Grace tried get out telling it as she followed suit and finished off her wine as well.

"No, let me tell it, dear." Elijah insisted, "Oswald has yet to hear it too."

Bird glanced across the table to where Sasha and Charles had stopped eating and seemed just as displeased with the conversation topic as their mother was.

After a drink from his glass of water, Elijah began,"After my mother died, I sat alone in this house for months. Barely got out of bed, in fact. Finally, I found a diner, not too far from here. I'd go there every day at the same time, order the same thing. Chicken soup and a seltzer."

Smiling over to his wife, he continued, "Grace was my waitress, and I grew very fond of her. She told me of her two poor children, Sasha and Charles, and how they suffered at the hands of their abusive father. I had to help. I offered her refuge, and she accepted. And this house heard laughter once again. Then one thing led to another. Love blossomed." After another sip of water he beamed, "And here we are."

"But you are my only true blood relative, Oswald." Elijah smiled proudly over to his son.

The silence of the room was broken by the sound of glass shattering and Sasha gasped as she looked down to where she'd broken her nearly empty wine glass.

"Oh, my poor dear, are you hurt?" Elijah questioned, genuine concern in his voice.

"Oh, no." She nervously laughed, as she looked down to small cuts and blood on her hand, "I'm fine."

Seeing that Sasha's napkin was covered in shards of glass and and droplets of red wine, Bird picked up her own clean napkin from the table and offered it to her.

With an appreciative nod, Sasha accepted the napkin and wrapped up her hand.

"Hmm." Grace hummed against her glass, "Clumsy girl."

"To family." Elijah proposed a toast as he held his glass up.

"To family." Grace and Charles immediately echoed as their glasses raised to the center of the table.

Sasha smiled and picked up her glass of water for the toast as Oswald laughed and seemed overjoyed, "To family!"

"Yes." Bird's lips twisted up into a smile, now entirely certain that she didn't much care for Grace or her children, "To family." She joined in on the toast with her glass of water.

•••

"How'd it go today go?" Bird quietly spoke into her phone as she softly padded the stairs in her socked feet.

Crossing through the nearly dark house, she listened as Bullock told her that so far he wasn't having any luck trying to uncover who'd framed Jim.

"I just don't get it." He huffed into the phone as he leaned down to pull a bottle of beer from his open refrigerator door, "If I didn't know he was innocent, I'd buy into all the evidence too."

"Okay." Bird sighed, rubbing her forehead as she located a small sitting room, plenty warm from the fire in the mantle. Sitting down on a dark burgundy love-seat, she continued, "But we know he didn't do it. So there has to be something somewhere that proves it."

"From your mouth to God's ears." Bullock commented as he dropped into a seat on his couch and kicked his tired legs up on the coffee table, "Hey, how was he today?"

"As good as can be expected, I guess." Bird replied, "When's the next visiting day? Tuesday?"

"Yeah, but I'm gonna talk to my guy, see if I can't pop in Monday to check on him." He answered, before asking, "You gonna make it Tuesday?"

"Yeah, I should be back in town by then, so I'll be there."

"Where'd you say you were goin' anyways?"

"Visiting family out of town." She vaugly replied.

"Uh-huh." He nodded taking a drink of his beer, "We talking Wayne family or crime family?"

"Goodnight, Bullock." Bird refused to give him anymore details of where she was.

"Catch you later, crazy eyes."

With a small sigh Bird, closed flipped her phone shut and immediately tensed when she heard footsteps.

"Oh!" Elijah exclaimed, seeming surprised when he walked into the room to find Bird sitting by the fire staring at him, "I'm sorry. I didn't think anyone else was awake."

"I came for a snack." He laughed looking down to the small plate of cheese and crackers in his hands before questioning, "Mind if I join you?"

"It's your house." Bird smiled motioning to the seat across from where she was sitting.

"Couldn't sleep?" He questioned, "I do hope your room is alright?"

Looking to where he was sitting across from her, Bird said, "The room is lovely, thank you. No, I'm a hopeless night owl." Dropping her shoulders into a shrug she explained, "I worked in a nightclub for years and got a little too used to going to bed when the rest of the world was just waking up."

Erin kept insisting that if she wanted to get this adulting thing down then she'd need to start keeping the hours for it, but so far she hadn't had much luck.

"That sounds exciting." He replied, clearly surprised by the newly learned tidbit of information.

With a nod, she answered, "Feels like a different life now though."

"Still." He insisted, "I'd imagine it gives you lots of stories to tell."

"True, though most of them aren't appropriate for the dinner table."

They both laughed and he cleared his throat, "I haven't had the most exciting life myself. No, after my father succumbed to illness, my mother kept me close. Homeschooled and didn't want me venturing off into the city."

"He was sick?" Bird picked up on and frowned, "I'm sorry, that must have been hard to watch."

"Not physically ill." Elijah explained with a deep look of sadness filling his eyes, "He was plagued by impulses."

When Bird's eyebrows lowered, he continued, "Evil thoughts of violence. My mother told me later in life that many in his family had the same affliction."

Scooting forward in her seat, Bird's voice lowered as she said, "Mr. Van Dahl-"

"Oh, Elijah, please." He insisted.

Nodding, Bird questioned, "Do you know much of Oswald's life before you met him?"

"Some." He answered, taking a bite of cracker.

"The, uh, the way he is now..." Her face twisted up, unsure of how to get the right words out, "He's not always been so..."

Holding up a hand, Elijah tried to help her get what she was trying say out, "I never understood my father's torments, but I've suspected that my son might."

With his eyes focused on her he guessed, "Am I correct in that assumption?"

Slowly, with a nearly mournful look on her face, Bird's only answer was a silent nod.

Elijah looked down with a knowing expression on his face.

"I don't want you to think any less of him." Bird finally broke the silence, "It's just that, he's suffered enough in his life and he's happy here. Happy with you and I don't want anything to come out later and jeopardize that."

"He is my son." Elijah declared, "He is and will always be loved. My life with him started the moment I met him. He's forgiven for all past transgressions."

"Thank you." Bird managed a smile, "When he told me he was going away to live with his father, I honestly wasn't sure what to think about it.

"You see, Gertrud told me once that Oswald is naive and to some who don't know him very well that might sound silly, but he's not always the best at properly reading situations -at reading people and with the way he is now, I've been so worried about him." Motioning to Elijah, she admitted with relief, "Now I see I've been worried for nothing."

With his head tilted towards the side, Elijah pointed out, "You seem troubled, dear."

"Ghosts." Bird answered with a sad attempt at a smile and mirrored his earlier words, "I've got my own share of past transgressions. Ghosts and demons. Sometimes I'm afraid it's not only being a night owl that keeps me up."

With a nod of understanding, Elijah said, "We're all sinners. We all have things to be ashamed of, wished we'd never done. I hope you can learn to be free from yours. To live in peace."

Rising to her feet, Bird thought to herself that even though she was now much more at peace than she'd felt in a long time, it still seemed to be an unattainable state of being.

"I should probably try and get some sleep before the sun comes up." Bird excused herself, giving him a warm smile she parted, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, dear." He called after her before looking down to the last few crackers on his plate and settling back into his seat further.

•••