The Beast Within

Chapter Twenty-Three: Double Troubles

Nyssa sat on her couch reading a book when there was a knock at he front door, she stood up and opened it to see a tall, black haired male smiling at her "uh hi.. sorry to bother you, but I'm your neighbor Drew" "hi.. I'm Nyssa" she beamed and he smiled "I was hoping I could trouble you for some sugar? I literally just moved in and all my kitchen supplies are at my ex girlfriends house" "not at all.. I get it, I just broke up with my boyfriend too" she opened the door and let him in.

Jerome waited for Crimson to wake up from her nap to take her back to Nyssa and hopefully talk to her, Nyssa and Drew sat on her couch laughing and getting to know each other "ugh! I'm so glad I can drink coffee again" she said holding the cup to her lips and he chuckled "took a break from it or something?" "not voluntarily.. I just had my daughter not too long ago" "oh.. I didn't have any idea, you don't really-" "look like I birthed something the size of a watermelon?" "not really.. no offense" "no offense taken at all.. I'm so glad I still look the same" "well you look great if you don't mind me saying.. but, won't I get my ass kicked for talking to you?" "why?" "well where there's a baby.. there's normally a father" Nyssa chuckled "you're right, she does have a dad and she's with him right now.. but we're not together.. and we're just hanging out, you don't need to worry" he relaxed a little and nodded "so.. how old is she?" "a week and a half" "oh wow.. so she's a new, new baby" Nyssa smiled and nodded "she's my pride and joy" "what's her name? if that's not too personal" Nyssa chuckled "Drew relax.. I'm not gonna bite your head off, her name is Crimson and she's a beautiful red headed little girl" "red head?" "her dad's got the most reddest hair I've ever seen" Drew chuckled and nodded.

There was a knock at the door and Nyssa opened the door to see a not so happy Jerome Valeska and Drew's face went white, Nyssa happily took her daughter and gave her a kiss while Jerome eyed Drew dangerously "hello my baby girl" she said kissing her little cheek "Drew.. this is Jer-" "you-you're Jerome Valeska!" he said getting to his feet and backing away, Jerome felt his anger rise "I know what my name is! who the fuck are you!?" he stepped closer and Nyssa pulled him back slightly "Jerome relax! this is my new neighbor Drew.. he came over for some sugar" "excuse me?" his gaze darkened and Nyssa realized how bad that sounded to him "not like that.. we were just having coffee and a friendly chat" "I-I swear I didn't touch her.. we were just being friendly" "I think you should leave.. now" Jerome growled and Drew quickly ran out.

"Seriously Jerome!?" "how the fuck did you expect me to react when I find you cozying up to another man!?" "we were having coffee!" she placed Crimson down and stormed to the kitchen with their empty cups and put them in the sink "I came here to talk to you about working on our problems and I find you alone with another guy!" "this is my house.. and there's only two people that live here! if I want someone to come over and have coffee, they can" "I don't want him near my daughter" "you're being ridiculous! he's a nice guy that I just met!" "exactly! you just met him.. you don't know what he really came here for!" "he came for some sugar! you're way too paranoid!" "of course I'm paranoid! I run the fucking Gotham underground and here you are letting strangers in where my daughter lives!" Nyssa stopped for a minute and realized that this wasn't just jealousy, he was worried someone would try and hurt Crimson "Jerome I'm sorry.. I didn't think about that part, he just seemed friendly" "I was working with your sister for months and had no idea who she really was.. I didn't know what her plan was, I can't lose either of you" thinking about it, she'd never actually asked if Talia and Jerome ever really hung out.

"Jerome.. you never, spent time with Talia alone.. did you?" suddenly his face went slightly pale and Nyssa felt a pang in her chest "you had sex with her.. didn't you?" "Nyssa.. I didn't know-" "you fucked the woman that tried to kill our daughter!?" "I didn't know who she was at the time!" "oh my god! I'm gonna be sick!" "Nyssa.. this was before I even knew you were pregnant!" he stopped for a second then spoke again a bit calmer "well.. actually a few times after that.. but it didn't mean anything!" "it was more than once!?" "Nyssa will you just relax.. I didn't know who she was!" "were we ever together when you did!?" he stepped back a little and her heart sank "she kidnapped me!" "she came to the church.. one of the followers let her in, she was crying and I stupidly fell for her act that she was forced into doing it" Nyssa had tears in her eyes and stood back with a sickening feeling in her gut "you.. you knew who she was.. and you still-?" "I'm not proud of it and I never wanted you to find out like this.. but it was a week after we made it official" Nyssa couldn't hear anymore and her gaze darkened "get out" "Nyssa-" "get out now before I kill you!" "Nyssa" she picked up a plate and threw it at his head but he ducked it quickly and it smashed against the wall "are you fucking serious Nyssa!?" "get out!" "will you please calm down!?" "you fucked my sister after she tried to kill me and you saw her try to kill me!" he didn't have a response for that, she was right "I'm sorry!" "if you don't get out.. I'm going to kill you!" he stepped back when he saw fire raging in her eyes and her hands started sparking again "Nyssa-" he cautiously said stepping back "I'm warning you Jerome" he sighed and nodded "okay.. okay, I'll leave.. just let me say goodbye to Crimson" she nodded her head and turned away from him, he walked into the lounge room and kissed her little head "daddy will see you in a couple days princess" he took one last look to the kitchen to see Nyssa was washing the dishes angrily, he sighed and walked out.