Nygmakins Drabbles

Until the End

I care about you. And I always will.

Ed had witnessed their entire conversation from behind the grate of the elevator and was seething. Who was Jim Gordon to come down here and offer Lee that kind of deal? A chance to leave Gotham, The Narrows, leave everything behind and begin anew. Alone. Without him.

The gall.

Worse was witnessing Lee absolutely crumble as Jim left with those parting words. She still cared about him. He knew it! But there was no satisfaction in being right about that.

Her shoulders drooped forward, her head hung down, and the fringe of her dark hair obscured her beautiful face. But she was not crying. He could tell.

How could Jim Gordon still have this effect on her? Wasn't he good enough for her? Wasn't he enough?

His hand clenched into a fist. He wanted Jim Gordon dead. Right now. He could do it himself. Cut down his competition once and for all. . .

But as he watched Lee he melted. This was not what she needed right now. Despite feeling slighted, rejected because she still had feelings for the man she had once loved, he still loved her himself. Overwhelmingly. And right now she needed his comfort, not his anger.

Ed put his feelings aside as best he could and let himself out of the cage of the elevator, walked over to her, and without a word, took her in his arms. He cradled her head against his chest, expecting her to cry. But no tears came.

"He has no idea who I am anymore," Lee said into his chest before placing her palms on it and pushing away to look up at him. "But you do."

"Does it matter?" he asked bitterly. Those pesky feelings of jealousy that he had been trying to keep down boiled to the surface. "Despite what you told me, you obviously still have feelings for him."

"So?" she challenged. "What I told you was true. Whatever was between Jim and I . . . it's over. And it has been for a long time. Forgive me for being sad that he's trying to tap into what we had . . . trying to making it linger in order to control my actions. To control us."

A bit of the gloom lifted from his eyes.

"Yes, Ed. Us. He wanted me to leave behind everything we've built here in The Narrows. Including us." She looked down before rubbing his chest and saying softly, "And I'm not willing to do that."

That was hopeful . . . but Ed wouldn't allow his heart to open fully just yet. There was still a bone of contention between them. "Jim thinks you're just using me."

"So did Oswald. And that didn't seem to matter to you." If only she knew . . .

"Does that make it any less true?" he demanded.

"No, I guess not," she said and sighed. "But Ed –"

"Yes?"

She placed a hand on his cheek. "I've only been using you the way Antony and Cleopatra used each other. For power, control, territory. Their heady lust turned into a fierce love as they nearly conquered the world together . . ."

He gulped.

"As did ours . . ." She kissed him.

He looked down at her and said in a gravelly voice full of warning, "But their love affair ended in tragedy."

She smiled. "And so may ours. But we're in this together, Ed. Until the end."

xxxxx

Author's Note: I know this is totally not the way it's gonna go down after 4x21 but a girl can dream, no?