Fools ||Edward Nygma|| [1]

Chapter Seven || Smiles and fondue

"Eleutheromania:

(n.) an intense and irresistible desire for freedom".

Things had been quite stressful at the GCPD. Jerome Valeska, the ginger boy who had led the attack on the precinct had made an appearance at the Children's Hospital Gala. He killed Harrison Kane, the Deputy Mayor and almost killed Bruce Wayne, the billionaire boy who had lost his parents in the previous year. If it hadn't been for the millionaire Theo Galavan, more people could have been hurt. Theo stabbed Jerome before he could do any more damage.

Jerome's body was taken to the medical examiner's office to be examined on the next day. Lee had been at the Gala and was too tired to work that night. So after she was gone, Charlotte sneaked into the office and locked the door. The body of the ginger boy was laying on the metal table covered by a white sheet.

What crept her out the most was the smile. Even though he was dead, his face had frozen with his eyes wide open and a large grin. Charlotte had never seen anything like it. People's faces could freeze in different expressions when they died, but Charlotte had never seen someone smile so widely at the time of death.

Charlotte had been scared to death in the day he attacked the GCPD, but now that he was dead she couldn't feel mad at the boy. He died doing what he wanted. He was free. Charlotte didn't feel free. Not at all.

Maybe she didn't need to tell Ed how she felt. Maybe she just needed to learn how to feel free.

"Perhaps you're right, ginger," Charlotte spoke to the dead body in front of her. "I really need to laugh more".

Charlotte smiled to herself and promised right there to never show anyone how sad she really felt. Jerome just wanted to go out with a bang and a smile on his face, so that's what he did. Maybe she could do it too.

***

"I did it!" Ed exclaimed when he walked into the lab a few days later. "I finally did it".

Charlotte looked away from her sandwich and sent a confused look towards Ed. "You did what?"

"I invited Miss Kringle for dinner and she said yes," Ed told her with an excited look on his face.

Charlotte did her best not to frown and sent him her best smile. "I'm so happy for you, Ed".

"You're in a good mood today," Ed commented and went to reposition a fake skeleton back to the corner of the room.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Charlotte asked. "My best friend just invited his crush on a date and she said yes. I couldn't be happier".

'Oh, I'm really getting better at this,' Charlotte thought to herself as she continued to eat her lunch. She was doing her best not to run to the records annex and choke the strawberry blonde working inside.

"What do you think about the new Captain?" Charlotte changed the subject to Nathaniel Barnes. The man had just arrived the day before and was already making a huge change in the Police Department. On his first ten minutes on the place, he broke a chair and fired a bunch of corrupt cops. That day he went out with Jim Gordon to who knows where.

Ed took out his lunch and thought about it for a few seconds. "I don't know. He just arrived yesterday, but I do have to say that he knows how to make an entrance".

"That he does," Charlotte agreed with a laugh, remembering the faces of the cops he fired. One even demanded to be respected because he had his rights, only to end up with his face slammed against a desk and his hands cuffed behind his back. "He's got style. I'll give him that".

It was a new day at the GCPD...

That night, Charlotte went home and she and Ed departed. He was so excited to go home and cook the meal for his date. When she was home preparing her lasagna, Charlotte received a message from him.

'Everything is ready and she will be here soon.

Hope everything is okay with you.

- E.Nygma'

"Of course I'm okay," Charlotte mumbled to herself. "The man I love is about to be on a date with another woman and I'm home eating cheap lasagna. Why wouldn't I be okay? I'm freaking peachy." She threw her phone against the wall of her living room in anger and the device broke into many pieces.

Charlotte did her best to calm down. Her mood swings were getting worse and now she was letting anger get the better of her. It was better to smile and laugh it off. People wouldn't ask you if you are okay and you wouldn't have to lie.

***

"So how was your date?" Charlotte asked Ed on the next day.

Ed smiled widely like a kid on Christmas day. "It went very well. I prepared dinner and she enjoyed it very much. But she said it would be better if we went out with other couples. I ended up asking Detective Gordon and Doctor Thompkins. We're going to Thompkins' house tonight. Guess what we will eat. I was very popular at one time in my life, but I guess I was just a fad. But, you can still find me melting away at your taste buds. The pyramids on the boxes are a big clue. By looking into the hot flame, my kettle is very hot with liquid glue. What am I?"

"Fondue, huh?" Charlotte asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Fondue," Ed confirmed with a nod.

"That sounds nice," Charlotte said sarcastically. Ed was so happy with the way his relationship was going that he didn't even notice the sarcasm in Charlotte's voice.

"Yes, it is," Ed happily replied. "Do you wanna come too? I'm pretty sure Jim and Lee wouldn't mind, neither would Kristen".

Charlotte shook her head. "No, you four have fun".

The blonde really wasn't feeling like being the third wheel, or in this case fifth, for the whole night. She preferred to eat the rest of her cheap lasagna.

***

A/N: "Do you... fondue?" Asked Steve Rogers confused out of his mind ;) Marvel reference in a Gotham fanfic? Of course, why not?

Love you all <3