Fools ||Edward Nygma|| [1]

Chapter Five || Feelings and crazy gingers

"My brain hums with scraps of poetry and madness."

- Virginia Woolf, 'Selected Letters'.

One month had past and things hadn't changed much. Ed and Charlotte continued their work at the GCPD. What had changed was the fact that Ed had been quiet. Charlotte became more worried and would sometimes ask him if there was something wrong, but he would just smile and say everything was fine.

Inside Charlotte was hurting. Her heart seemed to clench every time she saw how Ed was not okay. That and the fact she could feel herself change as well. A few days back, she had witnessed a man killing another on her way home from work, but she had done nothing to stop it. Charlotte could have stopped the killer. She would just have to fight one man, but she didn't and didn't even called the police. She just continued on her way home. Deep inside she knew she did a horrible thing but also didn't care about it.

When Charlotte arrived home, the first thing she did was drink a whole bottle of whiskey, ending up missing work the next day. During that entire time, she felt nothing but emptiness and numbness. Ed called, but she didn't even move to answer the phone. For lunch and dinner, the blonde ate pizza and then went to sleep.

On the next day, the young forensic scientist couldn't stay home again so she went to work much against her will.

"Why didn't you come yesterday?" Ed asked as soon as she entered their lab with concern in his voice.

Charlotte was surprised that he had even noticed she wasn't there since he was always focused on 'Miss Kringle'. She felt it was better to put her bitter feelings aside and just continue like she was totally fine. It would be easier that way.

She put her things down on her desk and looked up at him. "I wasn't feeling very well, but don't worry I'm much better now". Charlotte sent him a reassuring smile and he smiled back at her.

"How were things here at the precinct?" Charlotte asked trying to change the subject where the main focus wasn't her sanity or lack thereof.

"You won't believe it. So many things happened while you were away," Ed informed his partner and she tried her best to look interested. "Jim Gordon was fired and then Loeb decided to retire. Sarah Essen is now the Commissioner of the GCPD and Gordon is back".

It was really a lot of information but Charlotte was glad that Gillian Loeb finally stepped back. She didn't like him one bit and everyone knew he was a crook. Sarah Essen was perfect for the job, though.

"That's great, Ed," Charlotte said honestly.

Ed seemed to remember something else, but this time he wasn't feeling as excited about the news. "Oh, and six inmates have escaped from Arkham Asylum".

That was actually quite a concerning issue and would certainly have the population on high alert until the inmates were caught again. Charlotte was going to start working when she noticed the nervous look on Ed's face.

"What? Is there something else?" She asked and chuckled. "Come on, I've only been gone for twenty-four hours. What else could have happened?"

"Nothing, it's just..." he hesitated and looked away from her. A small part of Charlotte, the irrational part, thought that maybe he was finally going to admit having feelings for her. He looked anxious and kept scratching the back of his neck.

"Just what?" The blonde asked trying to keep herself calm.

"We were thinking about asking Kristen out," Ed told her in a rush.

Charlotte sighed in disappointment. She felt stupid to even think he would have admitted to having feelings for her. He was head over heels for Kristen Kringle. She was the love of his life. Charlotte would forever be the lab partner and the best friend. Nothing more. But then Charlotte finally processed all of his words and felt really confused.

"'We?'" She asked. Charlotte was sure Ed had said 'we were' instead of 'I was'.

"What?" Ed asked with wide eyes. He couldn't believe he had slipped up about his other half. The other Ed that kept teasing him about not having the courage to ask Miss Kringle out. He couldn't let his best friend know about him. She was the only one who understood him, but the other Ed was something she wouldn't understand. She would leave him and he couldn't lose her. So he lied. "No, I meant to say 'I was thinking about asking Kristen out'" he let out a nervous chuckle. "Not 'we', obviously".

"Oh, okay," Charlotte said, seeming to believe his lie.

Ed scratched the back of his neck awkwardly and grabbed a file from his desk. "I'll take this file to the records annex and then I'll ask her". He quickly made his way out the door and to the records annex.

Charlotte huffed in frustration and slumped in the chair in front of her desk. She grabbed her hair with her hands and a few tears rolled down her pale cheeks. She was so frustrated with Ed, Kristen and herself. She should never let herself fall for Edward Nygma. She was not good at love and knew she would never be able to tell him how she felt about him.

She felt bad for hoping Kristen would say no to Ed. She should want her best friend to be happy and knew how selfish she was being. Charlotte wanted him to be happy, but not with Kristen or anyone else but her.

After a few minutes of sitting there feeling sorry for her miserable life, Charlotte cleaned her tears and went to fix herself in front of the mirror. Even her own reflexion made her want to throw up. She was a mess. Her eyes were red from crying and rubbing with her hands to dry them. Her face was even paler than usual. Charlotte asked herself why she was acting like that over a man. No woman should feel like that for anyone. She knew it was stupid but she couldn't help it.

Turning on the faucet, Charlotte splashed water on her face and proceeded to redo her light make-up. Then she decided it was better to go and drink a cup of coffee. She stepped out of the lab and made her way to the coffee machine. After a while of standing there drinking with her mind far away, Ed appeared in front of her.

"Charlotte, did you hear what happened?" Ed asked and Charlotte almost jumped, not having seen him approach her.

"No, what happened?" To Charlotte, it appeared like it had been convincing enough. She had been getting better and better at faking interested in things lately.

"Apparently, the Arkham inmates tried to kill a bunch of Cheerleaders," Ed told her. "They bathed the students with gasoline, but Jim Gordon managed to save everyone before the fire got to the bus".

Charlotte smiled slightly and nodded. At least someone continued being the same around there. "Of course he did".

Suddenly she felt someone bump against her shoulder. She and Ed looked at the cop who continued on his way to the stairs like nothing had happened. Charlotte could only see the bright ginger hair under the hat.

"Look where you're going, man!" Charlotte snapped, but the man never looked back at her. He said something to another officer who was by the stairs without ever stopping and entered Essen's office. The blonde shook her head and looked back at Ed. "Some people have no manners".

Charlotte brushed off the odd encounter and noticed Kristen stopping by an officer's desk from behind Ed's shoulder. She fought the urge to hit the strawberry blonde's head against a wall, but she was soon distracted by a metallic noise not too far away from her.

She looked down and didn't have time to see what it was before smoke enveloped the whole room. Then all hell broke loose.

***

A/N: 'Who could that ginger possibly be?' I wonder XD

Don't forget to smile today, my lovelies. Love you all <3