paper love | edward nygma

Chapter 44 ○ Notable

Jim Gordon called for an ambulance to take Grace back to the GCPD Medical Ward. He couldn't believe the news. It did seem suspicious how the Arkham Asylum earthquake was just underneath the area, but he assumed it had to do with construction. Now he understood. Grace was still unconscious but there were tears streaming down her face. He had never seen anything like this. 

Lee Thompkins was still the head of the M.E. department, and it's the only person Jim could trust to look after Grace. He figured that if another member of staff knew what happened and how Grace is still alive, her life would be in danger, along with his own credibility. Who would trust him after knowing that Jim harbored a freak? 

"Lee, she's a murderer. Once she wakes up, I'm putting her in jail." Lee sighed with discontent. "I know Grace. She wouldn't kill anyone on purpose. I remember this time. We were in my lab, and there was a fly. I was going to squash it but she instead opened the window and let it out." Jim leaned on the door and contemplated what he would do.

He had a supernatural being here. It's not every day that someone comes back to life. "I guess it is Gotham. There must've been more to the story." For the rest of the day, Lee monitored Grace's heart. The results were a bit strange. Every few minutes or so, the rhythm of her heart would speed up immensely. Then, they would go right back down. 

While Grace was in her coma, she was having hallucinations, at least that's what she thought they were. All she could see was the Riddler. "This was not supposed to happen. Sorry about that. Oh- who am I kidding. I'm not sorry! You completely interrupted me!"  He was wearing different attire. It was a green suit jacket with gold question marks on the back, a black vest accompanied by a white button-up shirt underneath, black fingerless gloves, green suit pants, and brown combat boots. 

"You look ridiculous. Where did you come up with these outfits?" Edward looked at Grace with an annoyed glare. "I paid a lot for these, as you describe it, 'ridiculous' outfits. In fact, I have my own tailor. Even though he makes these articles of clothing by force rather than through payment, they turn out rather nice."  

"Your pants look like curtains. I'm done talking to you. Can't you just let me wake up now?" He sighed and rubbed his temples. "Sure, wake up. I was getting bored of you anyway."  With that, Grace started hearing the muffled sound of the GCPD. She recognized the voices of the cops. There was faint yelling which she assumed was from the criminals in the holding cells. The telephones rang due to anonymous tips being given every minute. She knew most of them were fake. 

Her eyes opened suddenly with a green glow. "You're welcome"  was the only thing that she would hear from the Riddler for the rest of the day. Grace took a deep breath in. "Oh! You're awake. I didn't notice. I'm Dr. Lesl-" Grace interrupted by saying: "I remember everything, Lee. You don't have to tell me." Lee stood in awe while looking at Grace's eyes. They were still a bright green.

"Uh- your eyes. They are, um- green. I don't think I have any medicine for that." Out of no-where, Jim came in with anxiousness. "Is she awake- oh, nevermind. How are you doing?" Jim took a sip from his coffee mug and looked up at Grace's eyes. She started to become annoyed by this negative attention. "I know Jim, you don't have to remind me that I'm a freak." The word freak rang in his mind. "You aren't a freak. Sure, you are different. But it could be a lot worse!" 

"How could my life be any worse right now? I don't even have a j-" Grace kept her mouth open after almost uttering the word job. She was right. She didn't have one. "Maybe my life could be better if I got one." Her eyes slowly returned to their normal color. She would be normal again. All she needed was a job. A place to work. 

"I'm pretty sure most people won't hire a woman whose eyes turn neon green. The leather doesn't help either." Jim was skeptical of the idea. "I could maybe find you a position here." He put the coffee mug down and relaxed his posture. "Jim, I don't think she wants to work here. She worked with a man who killed her. She was in a shooting. That doesn't sound like a good experience to me." 

"You're right, but being an assistant wasn't terrible. Maybe that's what I will do." Grace said. "Maybe a vigilante would be a better job-" Lee gave Jim a death stare after he said this. "-or not."

**TIME SKIP - 3 HOURS**

It was still very busy in the GCPD. There was the usual chatter going on, more criminals were being added to the cells, and interrogations were happening in the back rooms. She changed attire to something a bit more typical. A police uniform had done just fine, and her name tag read Clarke. If anyone knew it was actually her, she would have to explain some things. She didn't want to explain everything again.

 Grace sat at Jim's desk reading the Gotham Gazette. The newspaper had topics that she hadn't heard of. She assumed these things had happened while she was dead. But, a sudden miracle happened. Her eyes fell upon an article. It was entitled: Oswald Cobblepot Running for Mayor, Positions Open!

She thought to herself about how amazing it would be to be an assistant to the Mayor. She would finally be noticed or at least shown in some pictures with a person as notable as the Mayor. The article showed that he was getting a lot of support from voters, too. The only thing left to do was to get the number Mr. Cobblepot's campaign office.

Jim wasn't at his desk, and instead, he was off dealing with a mugging-turned-murder. "Let's see what he has in here." She started going through the drawers of the desk, realizing that some of them were locked. She guessed that the detective kept things tighter than usual after the GPCD shooting. The only drawer that was open was the bottom one. She opened it and noticed a giant book. "Bingo."

After looking through the book for a few minutes, she found the number. There had to be something to write on, and there was. Harvey Bullock's desk was parallel to Jim's. There was a napkin and a half-eaten donut on it. She carefully slid the napkin out from under the treat. She found a pen and quickly wrote down the number, and stuffed the napkin in one of her bulky pockets. "What are you doing near my donut?" 

Grace looked up and saw, in all of his glory, Harvey Bullock. "H-hey, Detective Bullock! Nice weather outside, isn't it?" Harvey looked at her face, made this weird look, and then said: "Holy Jesus, how- what?" Grace rolled her eyes and walked away while exclaiming: "Jim will explain!" 

It was time to get herself a job. She was going to be the best assistant ever. Who wouldn't want a super-powered assistant? What could possibly go wrong? There were only two words to answer this: a lot. 

A/N

HEYY sorry about those miscalculations on my part. My computer recently got fixed so I'm trying to re-download and adjust everything. But okay, I know a lot of you want Ed and Grace to meet up. I think you can guess what will happen. Ok, I'm done.

xoxo