Mama Gotham

Stars

"Why did you come back?" he asked in a small voice. "I-it can't just be the promise you made."

Alyssa sighed and leaned back against the table. "You see all those stars up there, J?"

Jerome looked up. As always, Gotham was cloudy, but there were spaces in between the cloud cover that revealed the twinkling stars.

"According to my science teacher, they're all billions of miles away. And thinking about that makes me feel really small." she looked over at him. "But then I think about you. The one star that I get to see up close. And when I'm with you, I don't feel that small." she shrugged. "That's why I came back."

"You think I'm a star?"

"Are you kidding? You're the most talented person I've ever seen! If you're this good now, I can only imagine how amazing you'll be when you get older. You're gonna take the world by storm kid."

Jerome beamed and hugged her tightly, having no other way of expressing how grateful he was that she believed in him.

*******

*Now*

"What's harder to catch the faster you run?"

"Your breath." Edward answered automatically, turning around. "Alyssa. Lovely to see you."

""And you." Alyssa smiled. "I brought you a present." she held up a small bottle of green liquid.

"Where did you get that?" Edward's eyes widened as he took it from her.

"One of my kids swiped it from someone. Matches the description of the broken bottle you told me about, I figured you might want to test the real thing instead of traces."

"Oh, you are brilliant!" he grinned.

"I know." Alyssa nodded. "Have to be to keep up with you."

Edward beamed and was about to set to work when the door to his office opened.

"Oh." the blonde woman in glasses stood there awkwardly. "I didn't know you were busy, Mr. Nygma."

"Not at all." Edward said quickly, making Alyssa frown. He didn't notice. "What can I do for you, Ms. Kringle?"

"You forgot to sign out the files you took again." she said, looking annoyed. "And you still haven't returned the ones from the last case you worked on."

"Ah! How silly of me! I'll get those for you right away!" he ran to the other side of the room.

Meanwhile, the woman turned to Alyssa.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude. Kristen Kringle." she held out her hand.

"Alyssa Connors." she shook it.

"Here you go!" Edward handed Kristen a pile of files with a wide smile.

"Thank you, Mr. Nygma." she nodded. "It was nice to meet you Ms. Connors." she nodded at Alyssa then left.

Alyssa rounded on her friend. "You never forget anything. What's your deal?"

Edward blushed and looked down. "To be completely honest, I just keep the files so she'll have to come get them."

Alyssa blinked and forced a smile on her face. "You like her!"

"Is it that obvious?"

"Well, to be fair, you can't fool your best friend." she shrugged, trying to ignore the pain in her chest at the fact that Edward like someone who wasn't her.