We Were Born Sick • Gotham Fanfiction •

XXVII: Birds of a Feather

"Thus strangely are our souls constructed, and by slight ligaments are we bound to prosperity and ruin." ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

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The late morning sun was shining in through the windows of Bird's apartment when she started to stir. Slowly she blinked her eyes a few times trying to adjust her vision with the lighting, looking down at the mens t-shirt she fell asleep in, she smiled to herself and became aware of the heavy feeling of an arm draped over her side.

Looking over her shoulder she saw Harvey's face, as he slept peacefully next to her in the bed. Moving as gently as possible to not wake him, she scooted back in the bed until her body was as close to his as she could get.

The sun became her biggest enemy as she tried to close her eyes and drift back to sleep. She wasn't ready for it to be morning yet, her body was sore –a mix between all the running and fighting she'd done to find her brother and the active night she'd spent with Harvey.

She'd give anything to stop the clocks and lay there with him forever. The night before was nothing short of amazing, magical even and she never wanted it to end.

With the daylight brought a new set of worries and fears for her. In the moment, lost in passion it was easy enough for them both to believe they could make things work, but what about now, she wondered. Now that the sun had chased away the moon and they'd both have to get back to their lives, their jobs and being opposite sides of the ongoing war in Gotham.

Bird had the feeling that his willingness to stay by her even after learning more about her was stemmed out of not only his love for her, but also from thinking that she was going to start down a different path in life and away from the one she'd been on for the last few years.
Something that she wasn't entirely sure she was ready to do – now or ever.

Oswald was her best friend and had been for going on five years now, she'd swore she'd help him climb to the top of the crime ladder. That was always their plan; overthrow Falcone and Maroni claim the thrones for themselves. Create a new Gotham, a better Gotham under their ruling –only now Bird wasn't sure if she even wanted that anymore.

Maybe it was a result of her getting older and growing up, or losing her parents and feeling so responsible for her brother now, in truth her relationship with Harvey probably had something to do with it too –but she was steadily noticing the shift in things that were and weren't important to her now.

In many ways she felt like a new person, she felt lighter and happier than she had in a very long time. She had a sense of hope that she didn't even know she was still capable of feeling.
But she tried not to dwell on it much, after all what good is being a new person if they're still weighed down by their old demons?

Closing her eyes tight, she snuggled her face against her pillow and tried to push all the thoughts from her mind. She could use a few more hours of sleep before she went to work later that evening.

It wasn't much later that she felt his arm slide off her side and felt the bed move, looking up at him she thought he was leaning over her to see if she was awake, but then she realized he was looking at the alarm clock on her nightstand.

With a loud groan, he laid back down and wrapped his arms around Bird, pulling her body against him as he nestled his head against the back of her neck and breathed in the scent of her conditioner.

"I am very late for work." He admitted, thankful he didn't have to be in court that day.

The feeling of being held tightly in his arms put a sleepy smile on her face, and she let out a content sigh as she said, "I would say I'm sorry, but I'm not. I like waking up with you here."