No One Can Know || Victor Zsasz

thirty nine

He wasn't exactly pleased with his findings.

His displeasure stemmed mainly from the fact that the woman he loved, really the only person he loved, was the daughter of Jim Gordon. Not only was she now a target because of himself, but now she was a target because of her father. Everyone in Gotham that hadn't wanted her dead just for being with him would surely want her dead now. It wouldn't surprise him if someday someone wanted him to kill her just to get at Gordon.

He might actually pity the poor fool that tried to get him to harm his Novella, but there wouldn't be anything left to pity.

Lost in his thoughts, he almost didn't notice that he'd made it to the formal waiting room where Jim had been waiting for his daughter to wake up. As soon as the man saw Victor he jumped up and made to go to Novella's room, but Victor stepped in front of him, preventing him from going any farther.

"I don't think so," Victor said in his drawling voice."We need to get the story straight."

Jim gave him a confused look and Victor let out a sigh before explaining that Novella didn't remember anything from her night at the orphanage due to the minor head trauma that the Pyg had inflicted upon her.

"So do we tell her or not?" Victor asked. He didn't want to lie to Novella, but it wasn't his place to spill those beans, no matter how much he thought Novie deserved to know everything about herself.

"I've kept this secret for twenty-one years," Jim said as if Victor would know what that meant, but he didn't.

"I didn't ask how long you've been lying to your daughter-niece. I asked you if you want to tell her the truth." Victor's voice had risen as he spoke and they'd now ensnared the entire waiting room with their drama.

"She just has forgiven me for being an absentee uncle lately, but I don't think even she could forgive me for this." He ran his hands down his face and looked to be on the verge of a breakdown. Victor on the other hand was fuming.

"Then you don't know your daughter," he spat the word at Jim," at all. If Novella can get past everything I do then I think she can forgive you for wanting to give her a better life."

"I just - she was so small and I was only sixteen." Jim looked at Victor with eyes like Novie's and it took Victor a second to pull his mind from the girl that was sitting in a hospital bed a few halls away.

"I'm not the one that needs to hear your excuses."

Victor turned on the detective to go to Novella. He'd already been gone longer than he'd wanted to be and he still needed to find a piece of gum so she would actually let him near her.

•*•*•*• 

Novella looked up from the blanket she was picking at when the door opened, and with the rush of air came a rush of tension. She'd been expecting Victor, but not Jim. The two men walked in and sat on either side of her bed, each taking one of her hands in theirs.

"I see you got the whiskey breath fixed," she said in an attempt to lighten the mood, but the tension was still there. "Okay you two, whats going on? I've been sitting here for," she looked at the clock, "twenty-one minutes all alone."

"That's not the only thing that's been sitting for twenty-one-" Victor was cut-off by Jim elbowing him in the stomach. "Dude, not cool!"

Novella's light brown eyebrows furrowed and confusion flooded her blue eyes. "Uncle Jim whats going on?"

Jim took a deep breath of air before asking, "How much do you remember from the Orphanage Fundraiser?"

Novella's eyebrows remained furrowed as she thought. After a few minutes she shook her head. "Not much if I'm honest. It's really just flashes. I think there were meat pies and homeless people," her eyebrows furrowed a little more, "and a . . . pig?"