"I'm gonna fight for you, until your heart stops beating." - Stephenie Meyer, Eclipse

•••

"Morning." Jim greeted once Bird had pulled the car door shut after getting into the backseat of Bullock's car next to Jim.

"Hey." She greeted back, barely ever looking over at him when she pulled one of the cups of coffee from the drink carrier and handed it to him.

"Thank you." He said, taking a drink even though it was still a little too hot to go down comfortably.

He'd been waiting in Bullock's car for well over an hour for his partner and Bird to show up, but apparently both were running late that morning.

Looking back over to where she was sitting beside him, Jim tried to get a read on what kind of mood she was in that day.

They'd parted ways after getting into an argument the night before and he wasn't sure if she was still angry with him.

When he saw her take a drink of her iced coffee, he half-smiled when he said, "You know coffee is supposed to be hot, right?"

"Don't be so old fashioned, Jim." She replied without a missing beat, but the tone in voice sounded off to him.

It wasn't how she sounded when she mad and more than anything she sounded distant -possibly even a little sad.

"You okay?" He questioned, cringing his way through another drink of coffee. Trying desperately to warm himself up after sitting for so long in the cold.

"Yeah." She answered, not bothering to make eye contact or even look at him while she pulled the third coffee from the carrier and leaned between the front seats to set it in the cup holder for when Bullock got there.

"Bird?" He pushed, lowering his head some and trying to catch her line of sight once she was sat back down.

But she didn't answer him.

He wasn't even sure she was in the car to hear him.

Not that he got much time to try and get through to her when Bullock opened the car door and got in, immediately starting the car to run the heat and loudly complaining about how cold it was.

Picking up the coffee from the cup holder he took a drink before turning some in his seat to look at them both, "What the hell happened last night?"

When they both stared back at him with blank expressions, he clarified, "A uniform came into the station with a goose egg the size of Texas and babbling about how Jim Gordon and some masked girl tried to kill him."

"That is not what happened." Bird sighed.

"Stumbled onto a mugging." Jim explained, as he fished the envelope containing the tape from his pocket and handed it to Bullock, who'd lifted the correct kind of player from the station for them.

"And Jim Gordon couldn't just walk by." Bullock breathed, before glancing back and questioning, "Where'd you sleep?"

Despite Falcone having set him up a safe house in the city, most nights Jim ended up falling asleep at Bird's in the room they'd all three turned into the headquarters for trying to solve the mystery of who who framed him.

"I didn't." Jim admitted with a small sigh, "Just walked around."

Shrugging it off he asked, "How's Barnes?"

"He's on the warpath. Governor announced a ten thousand dollar reward for anyone who helps catch you." Bullock announced while he reached over and picked up the bag of pastries Bird had gotten with their coffees.

"Ten thousand?" Jim chuckled, "Maybe you should turn me in."

"Hey, if he doubled it to twenty, I'd give it some thought." He laughed, before his face fell into a more serious expression and he successively managed to feed the tape from the small round disk into the player, "Alright, here we go."

"I want to report a crime-"

"You recognize that voice?" Bullock asked, quick to stop the tape.

"Sounds like it's been disguised." Jim admitted with a heavy heart.

Bird turned her head in an eerily slow manner to look at him.

This was exactly what she'd been afraid of. That they were going to hedge all their bets on this one piece of evidence and it end up being entirely useless.

"I know." He sighed, finally turning to face Bird after trying to ignore her heavy gaze on him.

"I saw Detective James Gordon shooting Mayor Theo Galavan on the southside docks. The Penguin was beating him with a bat, but it was Gordon that pulled the trigger."

The end of the recording played a strange garbled sound that somewhat sounded like an owl.

"The hell is that?" Bullock asked, "Was that a bird?"

"Play it back." Jim instructed.

But a second listen of the tape didn't make the recording any clearer.

"You're going to have to find someone to clean up the audio." Bird shrugged, seeming a little too despondent.

"She's right." Bullock nodded as he tucked the tape back into the envelope and handed it to his partner, "Listen, I gotta get going. Barnes is watching me like a hawk."

"Alright." Jim agreed, "Hey, you've done more than any partner could ask... from now on stay away from me. For your own sake; if Loeb was behind this you don't want to get mixed up in it."

"What are you doing to do?" Bullock asked.

"I still got a few friends I can ask for help." He reasoned.

"Hey." Bullock said catching Bird's attention, "You keep an eye on him, okay?"

"I can't." She blinked, avoiding both sets of eyes that fell on her when she admitted, "Not today. I have somewhere I need to be."

"What?" Bullock scoffed, "We're in the middle of the muck and now you're gonna get cold feet about helping-"

"I have a funeral to attend today, okay?" Bird snapped.

"Who died?" Bullock questioned, but Bird didn't give an answer as she got out of the car and ignored both of them when they called after her.

She'd nearly made it the end of the block before Jim finally caught up with her.

"Who's funeral is it?" He asked, his voice soft with understanding when he managed to bring her to a stop.

Turning to face him, she shrugged, "It doesn't matter."

"Obviously it does." Jim pushed, "You're clearly upset. You lost someone-"

"That's what gets me!" She exclaimed, tossing her arms out to the side and nearly popping the lid off her iced coffee, "I didn't lose anyone. I..." She shook her head, blinking back the tears stinging her eyes.

"I, uh... I barely even knew him, you know? I -I feel like I don't even have the right to be upset here. And I cried when I got the phone call, you know that?" She loudly admitted with unstable laugh, "I cried and it's so ridiculous because it's not even my loss to feel. I... I just..."

"Hey..." Jim breathed, with a comforting hand on her upper arm as he tried to get her to calm down and still her stammering, "Sometimes it doesn't matter how long you've known someone. You can feel a stronger connection to someone you've just met over someone you've known for years. Life's just funny that way."

"Who are you going to see about the tape?" Bird questioned, pushing the thoughts of where she was headed out of her mind.

"Don't worry about me. You've done more than enough to help me. I'll take it from here." He nodded as he spoke.

It was the truth, she'd done more than he even could have asked and just like he'd warned Bullock about keeping his distance, he didn't want Bird to wind up in danger because of her helping him either.

"Please don't." She sighed, rubbing her forehead, "Can you just wait until tomorrow when I'll be back in town?"

"Every minute that passes is another chance that I could be caught. I can't take a day off-"

"You can't trust anyone, Jim." Her forehead lined, "You're a good person and so you want to see the good in people, but you can't risk that right now. There's a ten thousand dollar bounty on your head."

"I know-" He began to say, but she cut him off.

"Do you? Because I've seen people do terrible things for a lot less money. You can't trust anyone." She restated her argument.

"I'll be fine." He promised, "And I'll call later if anything comes of the tape."

She stood in place as she watched him turn to leave.

He'd only made it a few steps before he turned back and said, "And I'm sorry, for whoever it is that you lost."

•••

"Bird!" Oswald called out the moment he saw her as she stepped up onto the sidewalk outside of an old grand church.

"Oswald." Her face twisted in emotion as she rushed forward and wrapped her arms around him, "I'm so sorry about Elijah."

Nodding against her shoulder, his tears started to soak into the fabric of her black coat as he clutched onto her.

Stepping back she held onto his arms as she looked around them and asked, "Where's Grace?"

"She's already inside." He admitted, hanging his head as he sobbed, "Poor Grace. We were all there when he collapsed; she watched her husband die right in front of her eyes."

"Yeah..." Bird quietly said, "Poor Grace..."

"We should go inside-" He started to say when he grabbed onto her hand and started to pull her towards the doors, but she firmly planted her feet against the cement and said, "Wait."

When he turned back to face her, she asked, "I don't mean to be insensitive... but doesn't this all see so sudden? I mean he only died yesterday. Did they even have a time to do an autopsy?"

"Why would there an autopsy. He'd been sick for some time." Oswald clearly failed to see where she was trying to lead him.

"I know, but-"

Stepping forward and hugging her, Oswald said, "Sometimes bad things just happen, Bird. I wish you'd gotten to see him one last time, but you're here now. He'd be happy to know that."

Biting down on the side of her tongue, Bird slowly nodded and manged a smile when he finally stepped back.

There was so much she wanted to say.

Wanted to voice her suspicions aloud that Grace and or her children might have done something to result in Elijah's death.

But now wasn't the time.

For now she needed to be there for her friend. Let him lean on her in his mourning.

"Let's get inside." She managed to say as she grabbed onto his hand and gave it a squeeze.

Once the were inside the historic church, Bird let Oswald lead her up to the front pew on the left side of the isle, while Grace and company were on the right.

The rest of the church was nearly empty, aside from a few scattered people who looked to have been about Elijah's age, but Bird didn't know any of them.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Oswald stammered out with his voice thick with emotion and still holding onto her hand as they sat together, "The -the casket. Grace let me choose it and the flowers... I think he... I think he would have liked them."

Blinking rapidly, Bird finally turned her head to look at the shiny wood coffin that was now Elijah Van Dahl's final resting place.

Her eyes drifted over to where there was a picture of him on display and finally up to the large display on flowers draped over the wood.

"Lilies." Bird's voice cracked with a sad smile spreading over her lips.

They were Gertrud's favorite.

"Oswald." She cleared her throat trying to make her voice stronger, but it wasn't helping much, "I'm so sorry."

"Thank you for coming." He hoarsely said, his voice trailing off and growing quiet when he spotted the priest making his way up to the podium to deliver the funeral service.

Bird nodded, giving his hand a small squeeze but she couldn't look over at him.

Her throat felt tight and swollen, like even if she had something to say, it would be impossible to squeeze the words out.

Eyes burned like someone was holding a lit match to them and she knew if she looked over and saw the tears on her best friend's face that she'd start crying all over again and it was nothing short of a miracle that she'd managed to stop after the phone call informing her of the older man's passing.

Pulling in a deep breath, she clung to the air. Pinning the oxygen deep within her lungs until she fixed her sight on one of the stained glass windows behind where the priest was standing.

Slowly, she exhaled, determined to not look away from the spot she'd chosen.

Time felt like it ticked by at a snails pace, though she was barely even aware of what was being said.

The only sound she was aware of aside from the thudding of her own heart was Oswald's audible sobbing as his body trembled next to her.

Once the priest had said his peace and passed down the isle gently swinging the incense burner from it's chain as he went and letting the smoke hang in the air behind him; Oswald stood up and the pull on Bird's arm finally brought her back to the present, she stood up next to him.

Though she was hesitant to move her feet when he started to walk up to where the closed casket was displayed.

Bird's breath caught in her throat and when she finally started to follow Oswald, she realized just weak her legs felt beneath her. As if they could give out at any moment.

"Would..." Oswald had to stop to wipe his noise and get a breath, "Would you say a few words, Bird? Please?"

"W-what?" She stammered out. Brown irises darting around in the red tint her eyes had sense taken on.

"It would mean so much." Oswald pleaded.

Slowly, Bird let go of his hand and turned around to face the rest of the church.

There seemed to be a few less bodies in the pews than she remembered.

And suddenly she found herself wondering about each and every person sitting in that church with them.

If they'd personally known Elijah and what sort of impact he might have had on their lives -no matter how brief.

She wondered why on earth anyone would be there who hadn't known him, but then she was caught off guard as she remembered a boy she was friends with her freshman year of high school, who, for whatever reason, seemed to get a kick out of showing up to funerals for people he'd never known.

That never made sense to her.

She hated attending funerals for people she knew.

"Bird?" Oswald gave her side a gentle nudge as he wondered where her mind had drifted to.

"I, uh..." She breathed, scanning the faces who were all focused on her, "I was asked by Elijah's son, to say a few words."

Oswald nodded, standing sideways to watch her.

His father deserved to have people remember him; to say something beautiful about the sort of person he was. Only, he wasn't sure he could get the words out himself.

Pulling in another breath and clearly struggling to find where to begin, Bird's forehead lined and her gaze fell to the floor.

"I didn't know Elijah Van Dahl for very long before..." Her voice trailed off and she glanced back at the casket, "In fact, when I first heard news of his passing, I remember breaking down into tears and not fully understanding why. But I guess... I guess life is funny that way, right?" Bird shook her head as she thought of what Jim had said to her early that morning.

"I guess it doesn't really matter how long you know someone. What's important isn't in the amount of times; it's in the moments you were lucky enough to share. Those moments when you're able to connect with someone else on a level that you can't quite explain. Moments that change your life-" Bird cleared her throat and swatted away the tears leaving lines down her cheeks.

"That was all it took for me was a moment, just meeting Elijah for the first time for him to feel like family. He was a great man. Warm and kind and understanding and he..." Bird ran her tongue of her lips, tasting the salt from her own tears when she turned to face her best friend, "And he loved you, Oswald. I'm so sorry that you didn't get longer with him. It's not right... it's not fair."

Stepping forward she wrapped her arms around him as his cries grew in intensity and volume.

"You should have gotten much more time to have those moments with him. Years and years to make memories and get know him." Her voice was so muffled from Oswald's shoulder and strained through her own tears that the only one who even even understand her was Oswald.

"What is wrong with them?" Sasha lowly said as she leaned over across her brother and looked to her mother for an answer.

Grace gave a shrug with a nearly stunned expression on her own face.

She had no idea.

She'd read newspaper article after article about how vicious and violent they both were. Having been reduced to nothing more than tales of blood thirsty criminals -and yet here they stood, brought to tears over Elijah's death when neither of them had even been in his life for long.

"God..." Grace sighed, sliding down in her seat some, "How much longer is this going to take?"

"I think she's done." Charles commented, not taking his eyes off Bird when she finally stepped back from Oswald and turned to walk away from the casket.

"Let's go-" Sasha agreed starting to stand up, but had to plop back down when Oswald turned to the wooden box containing his father's body and started up on a speech of his own.

"Father, I only knew you a short time, but you came to me when I was alone in this cold dark world. You gave me a family... I will never forget you. As long as I live."

His words broke into pained cries that seemed to erupt from his very core.

Bird hung her head and ran her fingers through her hair, trying to block out the sounds, but she couldn't.

When it started to feel like the air inside of the church was too thick, Bird stood up and quickly rushed down the isle and out of the doors.

Though the ice cold air she was met with did little to soothe her aching lungs.

Walking over to the side she leaned against the cold stone of the building and fished her phone out of her small handbag.

Her eyebrows lowered when she saw she had missed calls from both Bruce and Alfred and even a missed call from one of the numbers she had saved under Selina's name.

Selecting her brother's number, she called him back but didn't get an answer.

With her heart starting to race, she tried Alfred's number and then Selina's but neither of them were answering the phone either.

"There you are." Oswald called out, holding his coat closed as he walked over to where Bird was standing.

Her eyes darted up to him and then over to the doors where they were bringing the casket out to be loaded into the back of the hearse.

"Are you coming with us to the cemetery?" He sniffled.

"Yeah, I just need to get a hold of my brother first." She sounded frantic as she put her phone back up to her ear, hoping her calls would be answered.

Something had to have happened for all three of them to call her.

When her call went unanswered yet again. She blew out a sigh with her breathing turning to white fog in the late evening air.

"Is something wrong?" Oswald asked.

"I hope not." Was the only answer she could give.

Focusing her attention back on him, she asked, "Where are you going to go from here? You should come back to the city with me."

"I'm going to stay here." He declined.

"Why?" Bird couldn't help but ask.

"My father would have wanted our family to stay together. He told me and Grace will need help around the house and..." He breathed, still clutching onto a section of the lilies from the display, he stammered, "This is where I need to be."

"Grace isn't your family." Bird bluntly stated, "Neither is Sasha or Charles."

"What a cruel thing to say." Oswald took a step back away from her with a shocked look on his face.

"I'm sorry, but it's the truth. I don't like them, Oswald. I don't trust them and it worries me that you're going to be living with them, without Elijah. Please, just come back to the city with me, okay? We can find a lawyer and-" Bird started to explain her reasoning, but it only served to confuse Oswald further.

"Why would I need a lawyer?" He questioned.

"So you can get what's rightfully yours." Bird's eyebrows lowered, "You told me Elijah was going to be changing his will, to include you in it."

"Yes, but he didn't have the time-"

"Which is exactly why we're going to need a lawyer."

"No." Oswald shook his head back and forth, "I'm not doing that to Grace. After the cemetery, we're all going back to the house together and we'll live as a family, just like my father wanted."

"There's no changing your mind is there?" Bird sighed.

When Oswald shook his head, Bird knew she didn't have a choice in the matter.

He was doing what he felt was right and she couldn't talk him out of it.

"Okay, but if something starts to feel off, or anything happens. Anything at all, you call me and I'll be there as fast as I can. I know you believe them to be your family, but I don't trust them." She sternly said, before linking her arm with his and leading him over to where her driver was parked as she said they'd ride to the cemetery together.

•••

"Hey." Bruce greeted as he walked into the kitchen of Wayne Manor to find his sister had started a pot of coffee.

"Morning, little brother." Bird greeted back in a slightly raspy voice.

"Is Detective Gordon still sleeping?" He questioned.

It now been several hours since Jim had found his way to the building Selina had been living in -badly injured and bleeding heavily from a gunshot wound to the leg.

He'd barely been able to say anything before he'd collapsed on the floor right in front of Bruce and Selina.

That was the reason everyone was trying to get a hold of Bird the prior night.

"Yeah. He needs the rest." Bird nodded before turning around and saying, "Thank you -for not calling 911. I know that was probably your first instinct."

"It was smart calling Alfred." She added.

"I tried to call you first." Bruce explained, "Before he collapsed, he was trying to tell me something. I couldn't understand everything that he said, but he said something about needing to find you."

Bird gave a small shrug in response.

She was sure that had something to do with whoever had shot him; but until he woke up they wouldn't have the answer to that question.

Bruce watched his sister as she crossed the kitchen and retrieved a coffee mug from a cabinet before sitting down at the kitchen island and rubbing her forehead in an attempt to relieve the massive headache thundering away behind her eyes.

The night before, after being able to get to his phone and see she'd tried to return his calls, Bruce called her and the only thing she'd tell him is that she was headed back into the city after a funeral.

Bruce had told her about Jim's condition and sounded rather proud of how he'd stitched the detective up himself before Alfred had gotten there and brought them all back to Wayne Manor.

After she'd gotten to the house, Bird sat down in a chair in the study where Jim was sleeping on the couch and hadn't moved until now.

"You aided in his escape from Blackgate?" Bruce guessed, but it sounded more like a statement.

"Yep." Bird sighed.

Just like his sister had done, Bruce got a mug from the cabinet and sat down with her as they waited for the coffee to finish brewing.

He'd been outraged when he'd caught a glimpse of the news coverage over Jim's trial and learned his friend had been convicted.

Bruce had wanted to do something to help him, but he wasn't sure what that would even be.

The idea of a prison break had never crossed his mind.

That certainly wouldn't have been a solution he'd thought of, but it didn't surprise him that -that was his sisters go-to plan.

"The doctor I called to come and look at him said you did a hell of a job of stitching him up." Bird beamed a proud smile in his direction.

Looking down to hide his own smile, Bruce modestly agreed, "I just did it the way you and Alfred taught me."

"Well you did good." She reinforced, "It's honestly a miracle he made it to Selina's and that he didn't bleed out on the street."

Standing up to fix herself a cup of coffee, she muttered to herself about how all she'd asked from him was just to wait until the next day so she could go with him and this entire thing could have been avoided.

"Good morning to you both." Alfred loudly said as he walked into the kitchen and immediately retrieved his apron from it's hook to begin on breakfast.

There was quite a bit of cooking to be done that morning. Not only were both Bird and Bruce there, but Selina was wandering about the house somewhere and he looked for Jim to be waking up at any moment.

Shooting his sister a look when she returned the pot of coffee to the machine instead of handing it off to him, or filling his cup too, Bruce looked over and said, "Thank you for coming when I called, Alfred."

"Of course I came." Alfred watched the youngest Wayne pour his coffee before adding, "No questions asked."

"And after all, Lady Wayne has landed herself in the quite the mess with this whole thing." He added, "So, we might as well get neck deep it in it ourselves. Harboring a fugitive and all."

Bruce laughed against the edge of his cup and Bird rolled her eyes as she retrieved the pitcher of orange juice from the refrigerator.

"Hand me eggs, would you?" Alfred said and as Bird did what she'd been asked, he turned to Bruce and commented, "You're looking thin."

Slowly setting his mug down on the counter, he promised, "I'm getting plenty to eat, Alfred."

"Sure you are." Bird commented, reaching out to ruffle his hair as she sarcastically said, "And plenty of hot showers as well?"

With her nose wrinkled, Bird quickly walked over to the sink to wash the oils from his hair off her hand and commented, "You should really shower while you're here."

Nodding in agreement, he reached up to smooth his hair back down and then wiped his hand on his clothes that needed washed just as badly as his body did.

"Baby powder." Bird spoke up.

When she looked over her shoulder to see he looked confused, "Pretty much does the same thing as dry shampoo when you're in a pinch."

She said, before explaining how he'd need to use it to help dry up the grease on his scalp without leaving a white residue behind.

Alfred couldn't help but smile to himself as he listened to them.

It was nice hearing voices in the house again, feeling some life come back into the place.

He'd always keep it this way if he could; keep them both there with him.

But Bird had gotten her own place and Bruce had already made it clear that he was leaving again with Selina.

"Master Bruce." Alfred drew his attention, "There are things we must discuss."

"I'm not coming back." He was quick to argue.

"No, I understand that, but-"

"Not yet."

Their argument was interrupted when Jim limped into the kitchen and greeted them all, "Good morning."

"Detective Gordon... should you be up?" Bruce questioned with concern flooded across his face.

"Probably not." Bird commented, "But then again he shouldn't have been chasing down leads by himself either."

"I'm fine." He sighed, trying to straighten his posture despite the amount of pain he was currently in as his gaze went past Bruce and over to where Bird was standing with a guilty expression on his face.

Bird had been right in her warning they'd parted with the prior day. She'd told him not to trust anyone and going against what she'd cautioned had landed him running for his life from someone he'd considered a friend.

"You stitched me up?" He questioned, looking over to Alfred.

The last thing he remembered was stumbling to the last known place Selina had been living and finding Bruce there.

From there he didn't remember anything, but he'd guessed Bruce must have called on Alfred for help.

"Actually..." Alfred breathed, wiping his hands on a towel, "That was Master Bruce. He called me from Selina Kyle's after you passed out. So I thought I'd bring you here. Safest place for you."

When the room fell into an almost uncomfortable silence, Alfred asked Bruce to go and fetch Jim's clothes from the laundry room. After getting him back to the house, Alfred had taken his bloody clothes and dressed him in a clean robe in the meantime.

"Take a seat. I'm making some breakfast. Want some coffee?" Alfred spoke so fast it took Jim's hazy mind a while to process what he'd been asked.

"Yes, please." He nodded, as he gingerly sat down at the table with a pained grimace on his face.

He nodded in thanks when the butler sat a cup down in front of him and then filled it with the fresh pot of coffee.

Crossing the room, Bird stood across the table from him as she sat down two prescription bottles with hand written labels.

"Take one of these for pain. The doctor said about every six hours as needed." Bird instructed pointing to one the bottles and then scooting the other one closer she continued, "And this is an antibiotic. Twice daily with food, okay? To ward off any infection."

With a stunned look Jim repeated back, "Doctor? What doctor?"

"Oh, you know. One of those off the book types that charges an arm and leg for the risks involved." Alfred chimed in.

Picking up the bottle of antibiotics, Jim's brows furrowed. He didn't even remember a doctor being there.

He must have really been out.

Sitting down across from Jim, Bird drank down more of her coffee while she stared at him expectantly.

Both waiting to know who'd tried to kill him and for some sort of admission that she'd been right and he was wrong.

"So, how long has Bruce been living with Selina?" Jim asked, diverting his gaze away from Bird and over to where Alfred was adding some thick cut bacon to a skillet on the stove.

"Ever since the Matches Malone debacle." Alfred answered without looking over his shoulder, "Tuns out staring into the cold dead eyes of the man who kill your parents, doesn't bring the right amount of closure."

"Bruce never should have been in that room." Jim sighed, head hung in defeat, "I should have gotten to Malone first."

"Yes, you should've." Alfred agreed, "But you didn't did you?"

From the beginning he'd been vocal about his disappointment in the detective for not actually solving the murders.

Then, of course, when it felt like Jim had pushed the Wayne Murders to the back burner, Bruce had delved even deeper into obsession.

A portion of the blame in which fell upon all their shoulders for not handling the situation better than they had.

Jim stopped with his cup midway in the air on his way to take a drink at the remark.

Seeing he'd been caught off guard, Alfred went started cracking eggs open to whisk for scramble and said, "You can't unbreak an egg. As my dear old mother used to say." With another egg cracked and shell tossed in the bin, he continued, "So, why don't we leave that situation alone and let's discuss yours."

"It's a long story." Jim sighed, forcing every last ounce of air from his lungs.

"Right, so you were framed for murder of that other policeman. Then with Lady Wayne's help you escaped from prison and tracked down the man who framed you -where you're promptly shot in the leg." Alfred broke down what had originally felt like a never ending story in a few sentences.

"Okay, maybe not that long of a story." Jim conceded.

"Who was it?" Bird broke in, not able to hold her silence for a second longer.

"Nygma." Jim answered, still seeming to hardly believe the revelation himself. "I went to him to see if he could clean up the audio off that I.A. tape." With a shake of the head he added, "I never thought it would be him."

"Really?" Bird's eyebrows raised, "You know he's not the most sane person, right?"

When Jim looked at her with an expectant expression, she seemed a million miles away before she gasped, "Oh my god, but it makes perfect sense now!"

"How?" Jim argued, "How do you figure that?"

"We were looking at it all wrong. We thought this was about you. That someone had framed you because they hated you when really it didn't have anything to do with you." Bird explained, "His own paranoia caught up with him and you just happened to be person caught in the middle of it."

"Let me guess..." Bird furthered, "At some point before all of this went to hell, you were probably asking him about Miss Kringle or Tom Dougherty?"

Jim nodded before abruptly stopping and asking, "What do you know about either of them? Nygma said that Kristen had run off with Dougherty..."

"Ha!" Bird exclaimed, "Pretty impossible considering the last time I saw Officer Dougherty -he was in pieces." After a drink of her coffee she added, "Literally."

"Good god, Lady Wayne." Alfred stopped frying up the scrambled eggs and turned to look at her.

With eyes as wide as saucers, Bird slowly turned her head and looked between Alfred and Jim who were both staring at her with horrified expressions.

"I didn't kill him." She was fast to defend.

"Just bloody helped hack him to bits, eh?" Alfred couldn't hold his tongue.

Although, that was indeed the truth, Bird shook her head, "I didn't say that."

"Your burning the eggs." She added, avoiding his eyes as she stirred up her coffee and took another drink.

"How long have you known?" Jim questioned, his eyes meeting Bird's from across the table, "You once told me you and Nygma were friends-"

"About Miss Kringle -not long." Bird admitted, before tossing out, "And friends can be a rather loose term, okay? He's a different person now."

Jim opened his mouth to push for more information, but Alfred cleared his throat upon seeing Bruce and Selina enter the room.

"Breakfast is almost ready." Alfred smiled at them.

"Cool." Selina said before she hopped up and sat on the table next to where Bird was sitting -instead of taking the empty chair there.

Bruce took a seat next to Jim and once everyone had plates of food, Jim filled all of them in on what had happened when he'd gone to Edward Nygma for help.

Alfred stood, leaned against the counter as he listened and watched Bruce finish all the contents of his plate with such speed he doubted he could taste any of it.

"Nygma was right about one thing." Jim said with a bite of bacon in his mouth, "I can't just go to the cops. They'll never believe me. I need hard proof."

"Cops, right?" Selina scoffed as she stabbed a bite of scrambled eggs off of Bird's plate with her own fork and ate it. Eyeing Jim's plate she quickly snatched up a piece of bacon and complained, "Jerks."

Jim and Bird both look down to their plates and then over to Selina who happily munched unaware on the crispy bacon before chasing the stolen food down with a drink of cold milk.

"Nygma said that he met Oswald for the first time in the woods. After Bird was shot." Jim said before he glanced over at her and then down to his coffee, "That's around the time his girlfriend went missing. I think he was burying her."

Jim's gaze traveled around the room before it fixed on Bird and he added, "Just like he was going to bury me."

"No." Bird curtly answered as she got to work on splitting the food on her plate in half.

Everyone watched her as she scrapped one half onto her bother's empty plate and then handed the rest of her plate off to Selina who gladly took it.

"No, what?" Bruce questioned, finishing off the last of his coffee.

"I'm not involving Oswald." Bird announced to the room.

Standing up, she walked over and started to pour a glass of orange juice.

"I'll do anything to help you, Jim." She spoke with her back him, "Anything except for that."

"If they crossed paths in the area he buried the poor girl, then that would be easiest way to find her body." Alfred chimed in.

Turning back around with two glasses of orange juice in her hands, Bird asserted, "We'll have to find another way."

"Drink this." She instructed to Bruce as she sat one of the glasses down and stated, "It's better for you than that coffee you've been guzzling."

Setting the other glass in front of Jim, she plucked up the bottle of antibiotics and and got one of the pills out before she held it out and said, "Take your medicine."

After eyeing her for a minute, Jim breathed, "Yes, ma'am." As he held out his hand for the medicine."

Bruce looked between his sister and the detective with a small smile, before he took a drink of the juice he'd been instructed to drink and asked, "Then what do we do?"

"Sometimes..." Bird breathed, "Sometimes, little brother, you have to let people be their own downfall."

"So we're just supposed to sit around and wait?" Selina asked, before shoving the last bite of eggs off the plate and into her mouth.

"No..." Jim said, his eyes narrowing slightly in thought as he picked up on what Bird was saying.

"Nygma knows where Kristen is buried. He can lead me to the body..." Pulling in a breath he added, "But I'll need some help."

"Of course." Bruce nodded, "Whatever we can do."

"Thanks, but I need someone Barnes knows will betray me." Jim said as he turned his head and looked over at Selina, "Someone willing to turn me in for that ten grand reward."

"I don't get it." Selina shrugged before chugging down the last of her milk.

"You're going to have to go to the police station-" Bird started to say.

"And do what?" Selina cut in.

"Tell the truth." Jim explained, "Mostly. Say I showed up at your place -shot and bleeding. That I left and you don't know where I went, but I said I was going to find out where Penguin was hiding, because he knows where the body is buried."

"You have to make sure Nygma is within ear shot of you saying that." Bird agreed, "Then it's pretty much a matter of waiting on him to self-destruct. His paranoia will take over again he'll slip up. He'll have to go move the body to keep from getting caught."

"How do you know this Nygma character won't just skip town?" Alfred entered his two cents and Bruce nodded in agreement.

"He won't." Bird and Jim both answered in unison.

"But how can you be so sure?" Bruce pushed.

"Because Ed thinks he's always the smartest guy in the room." Bird reasoned, "Most times he probably is, but it's that arrogance that says he'll think he can still outsmart everyone else. That he'll move the body and things will go back to the way they were."

"Well then." Alfred clapped his hands together, "Then what? We follow him into the woods?"

"No." Jim argued, "Just me. I'll follow him and then GCPD will show up. They have to see this. Barnes has to hear what Nygma's done, straight from him."

"The minute they see you -they're gonna lock you up." Selina hastily pointed out.

"That's why I'll be the one to go to Barnes." Bird offered, "He'll listen to me. He already suspects I had something to do with Blackgate."

"No." Jim shook his head, "You've already done more than I could have ever asked-"

"I'm not asking for your permission, Jim." Bird cut him off, before stating, "It has to be me."

Bruce went to take a shower and get himself some clean clothes, while Selina had snagged an apple from the fruit bowl and went to watch T.V. until they were leaving. Once Bird left the room to gather her bag and get ready to leave, Jim and Alfred were left alone.

"Well, Detective Gordon." Alfred commented as he started to clean up the mess from breakfast preparation, "If all goes well, then you should have your badge back by the end of the day. If all fails, then I suppose your Captain Barnes will arrest Lady Wayne."

"I won't let that happen." Jim promised.

"Hmm." Alfred hummed in a disbelieving tone as he walked over to open a cabinet and put the nonstick cooking spray away.

As Jim got to his feet and slowly walked over to the island stool where Bruce had placed his folded up bundle of clean clothes. Jim's line of sight fell on three identical soap dispensers lining the edge of the sink.

Stepping over he started to pick on up as he asked, "Got enough soap?"

"I wouldn't touch that." Alfred was quick to say, "Move it even in the slightest and she'll know."

Jim glanced around the kitchen and realized it looked much more crowded than the last time he'd been in there.

Random items were in rows of three and the top of the refrigerator was absolutely over filled with cereal boxes.

The first couple times he'd been in Bird's old apartment, he'd noticed items in sets of threes and her kitchen had been so overstuffed with food there wasn't any counter space.

Later, when he'd been back the place looked completely different and he hadn't given much thought to it until now.

"Right." Alfred cleared his throat when he saw Jim eyeing the cereal collection, "I'm still trying to get the place back in order from when Lady Wayne was staying here recently."

With a slow nod, Jim waited on a better explanation, perhaps even one which would explain Bird's reasoning behind her doing those things.

But instead of that, Alfred let out a heavy sigh and said, "I'd keep her right here with me, if I could, you know? But she's all grown now and truth be told she stopped listening to me years ago."

"We're all wounded in our own ways. Some more than others -she does the best she can." Alfred continued as he raised his head and with a knowing look added, "She's not always the easiest to love. In fact, more often than not she makes it damn neared impossible."

"But she is worth it." Alfred added with a sad smile and a gleam in his eye, "She's absolute in everything she does; from her difficulties and flaws... to her unwavering devotion to the few lucky ones in which she holds dear. Do you understand, Detective Gordon?"

"I-" Jim started to say with his brows knotted in near confusion.

"That she deserves absolutely nothing less than that same devotion from the people around her, yeah?" Alfred cut him off.

"I get it..." Jim nodded, "At least, I think I do."

"Good." Alfred curtly said with a nod before nodding to the clothes in Jim's arms and saying, "Best get dressed then."

The butler stood in place and watched as Jim, lingered in the doorway as if he had something to say or another question to ask, but instead he silently walked away.

Letting out a sigh, Alfred rested his palms flat against the counter and lowered his head.

He could clearly see the closeness that had developed between Jim and Bird. In truth, he'd known for quite some time and while he liked the detective well enough, it didn't stop him from worrying about her.

If someone meant enough to her, Bird would give and give until there was nothing left of herself.

He saw it time and time again with Oswald and caught glimpses of it in her relationship with Harvey Dent.

For whatever reason, Bird didn't do many things like the average person -including the way in which she formed bonds and built relationships.

It was always an all in sort of deal for her.

All or nothing and time again he'd seen Bird come out on the nothing end of the equation.

•••

"Bullock!" Barnes yelled as he thundered down the steps from his office when he saw the Detective had a hand on Bird's arm and was trying to lead her back out of the precinct doors she'd just entered through.

This was the second time today he'd seen this happen.

The first time was just earlier that day when Selina Kyle had came in claiming to have information on Jim Gordon's whereabouts and Bullock tried to intervene and get her to leave before she could speak to anyone.

"Captain!" Bullock bolstered as he quickly let go of her and turned to face him.

"Miss Wayne." Barnes greeted, ignoring his detective, "Is there a problem?"

"I need to talk to you." Bird stated, "It's about James Gordon."

"Whoa! Hey, hey, hey." Bullock laughed like she'd told a joke, "Let's just think this through for a moment, aright?"

He wasn't sure what was going on. The last he'd seen or heard from either of them was early morning the day before.

Since then Selina had came into station claiming Jim had been shot and now here was Bird, who he didn't know what to expect from.

"Let's talk in my office." Barnes agreed as he stood to the side and held out his arm to motion that he'd follow her.

"I don't have time to explain." Bird whispered to Bullock, "You're just going to have to trust me."

With that she breezed past him and headed up the stairs.

"Bullock!" Barnes complained when the detective followed them both right into the office like he had every right in the world to be there.

"It's okay. He can stay." Bird quickly said and nodded to Bullock as he shut the door so no one else could eavesdrop on the conservation.

"What information do you have on Gordon?" Barnes wasted no time.

"I can give you his location." Bird promised, "But only if you promise to hear me out first."

"Go on..." Barnes let every ounce of skepticism show on his face.

"Jim didn't kill Pinkney." Bird explained, "Edward Nygma did and he framed him for the crime. He set the entire thing up."

"Uh-huh..." Barnes sat down in the chair behind his desk, "And why exactly would Nygma do this?"

"Because he killed Kristen Kringle." Bird said, glancing over her shoulder when she could hear Bullock mumbling something, "Jim is good at what he does, okay? A little too good. He's a dog with a bone that can't let anything go until it's solved and Nygma must have gotten it in his head that Jim was onto him."

"Miss Wayne-" Barnes sighed.

He wasn't even sure he could be angry with her for lying at this point.

Over all, he was at an utter loss as to why on earth she felt the need to come in and toy with GCPD like this.

"Don't you Miss Wayne, me." She shushed him, "The last time I stood in this office and tried to tell you the truth about what was going on, you acted like I was crazy and I was right about Galavan the entire time."

"She's right, cap." Bullock stepped forward in her defense, "We should have listened to her then, but we screwed up, we didn't and she paid the price for our mistakes."

"The last time I saw Jim he said he said he was going to a friend for help-" Bullock unintentionally told on himself, and Barnes didn't miss the slip-up.

"You told me you weren't helping him!" Barnes yelled, his eyes then darting back and forth between them before his eyes landed on Bullock and he realized, "You went to her for help, didn't you? The Blackgate escape..."

"I did what I had to." Bullock defended with fire in his eyes.

"What other choice did he have?" Bird shook her head, "He went to you, tried to tell you that Jim was innocent and you didn't listen. You're bound by your laws and your morals -I'm not. I'm exactly the person he needed help from."

"What exactly are you confessing to?" Barnes questioned.

"Only that I know where Jim is right now." Bird coyly replied, "He's following Nygma to the location where he buried Miss Kringle's body."

Taking a small electronic device from her pocket, she offered it up and said, "You better organize your team fast, Captain Barnes. Nygma's already tried to kill him once."

Barnes looked down the GPS tracker she'd handed him and watched as a small red dot moved across the map on the screen.

"If you're lying-" He pointed a finger at her and shook it, "If you're sending me on some wild goose chase-"

"I'm not." Bird cut in.

"We gotta get to Jim before it's too late." Bullock urged his captain.

Who gave one last look at Bird, before rushing out of his office and calling for the strike-force to assemble.

•••