"The soul, fortunately, has an interpreter - often an unconscious but still a faithful interpreter - in the eye." - Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
•••
"See, this isn't so bad." Mario pointed out with a smile as he took another bite of steak then asked, "Why were you so hesitant to get to know me?"
Bird shook her head and paused the conversation long enough to take a drink of her lemonade.
The lunch with her half-brother had been going surprising well so far.
She'd expected it to be strained, the talking forced -like being stuck in an elevator with a stranger.
But it wasn't.
Despite the vastly different upbringings and lives they'd led, there was a strange sense of familiarity in his company.
They'd ordered similar dishes for lunch even.
More than once she'd caught herself staring just a little too long at face, seeking out their resemblances and tallying them up in her mind.
"I don't know." She exhaled loudly, "I guess I just... felt like I knew everything I needed to already."
His eyebrows lowered, "Like what?"
"Come on." She could have rolled her eyes. Motioning over the table and nearly knocking her drink over she pointed out, "I haven't met a single person who knows you that has anything bad to say, Mario. All anyone does is sing your praises and I guess I thought we'd have absolutely nothing in common. You probably came out of the womb knowing you were going to grow up into this great person who saves lives and I..."
Shaking her head she avoided his eyes but was more honest than she'd ever intended to be with him, "I already have one golden boy brother. Didn't think I could handle two."
"Well, not everything is what it seems." Mario answered, "Don't get me wrong. I love what I do and I wouldn't change it, but I didn't get a choice in the matter."
She listened as he explained that their father had pretty much told him how his life would be. It wasn't Mario's first choice to become a doctor, but Falcone made it clear that -that was exactly what he'd be doing.
"Huh..." She exclaimed.
"What?" He asked.
"I thought you'd decided to be a doctor for some poetic reason like; your father takes lives and so you grew up wanting to save them, or something."
She chuckled to herself and shook her head.
"No." He mirrored her laugh, "But that's good. I might have to steal that the next time someone asks why I chose this career."
"You know..." Bird began, "He had plans for me too. Falcone tried to force me into filling his shoes as a crime boss."
"He told me." Mario began, "Well, not all of it I'm sure. Mainly just how he wanted that for you -how close you were to stepping up-"
"Stepping up?" Bird's face twisted, "Did you tell you how he forced me into working with Victor Zsasz to toughen me up? How he nearly had my fiance at the time beat to death solely to keep me in line? Or-"
She could have went on and on. Told him a thousand stories that could have forever changed the way Mario would look at his father, but she stopped when she saw him lay his fork down and scoot his plate away.
Yeah, she thought, as she dropped her napkin into the center of her plate; it was enough to take anyone's appetite away.
"The last promise he made to my mother before she died was that he wouldn't raise me in that life." His chest felt tight as he spoke, feeling defensive.
Though he wasn't sure over what? Defending himself? His not being raised in life of crime or their father's actions?
Mario had no delusions about who his father was. He was sheltered from much of it as a child and then as he grew older a big part of it was his choosing to stay willfully in the dark.
The petulant child in her started to break though and before she could stop herself she added, "Must be nice to be born into a place of love like that, to have been wanted and have a mother who cared so much about you."
Mario frowned.
He couldn't speak for Lily, but he knew how much their father wanted and loved her.
It seemed like she was all but flat out saying he was the favorite and she was bitter about it.
He nearly laughed, nothing could have been further from the truth.
The one thing he was sure of was that even if Bird had been raised in their family, she always would have been Falcone's favorite.
He'd have raised her right under his wing in a way he never even tried to with Mario.
"First born male and all." Bird added with a swish of her hand.
This time he couldn't hold it in and the laugh escaped, "That has nothing to do with it. You do realize you're his namesake, right? Carmina Falcone."
"Do not call me that." She barely let him get her birth name out.
"Fine." He conceded, "All I'm saying is that you've got it backwards thinking I'm the favorite."
"This is stupid." She shook her head. Pinning her eyes shut, she started to apologize for the outburst.
In truth she wasn't sure where that had came from so suddenly, but he spoke instead.
"So that's the real reason you stayed so distant?"
"All everyone kept saying was what a good guy you are-" She began.
"I am a good guy." He insisted.
With a half-smile, she argued, "In my experience, the good guys, don't need to go around pointing that out."
"You wouldn't know one way or the other." Mario pointed out, "Not if we don't talk."
"I know that you punched Jim in the face at your engagement party." Bird finally brought it up, "Completely unprovoked, by the way. Which... strangely enough considering I'm not her biggest fan, made me lose some sleep wondering if you ever lose control of your anger like that with Lee."
"You really think..." His voice trailed off, he was stammering, "That... I would hurt Lee? The woman I love? You thought I was even capable of that?"
"Do I think we have it in our blood to hurt the the things we love?"
Now it was Bird's turn to laugh, "Yes, brother, I do. I know we're capable of that."
"Look." He leaned in over the table some, his tone lowered and speaking with a sense of necessity, "Things got out of hand that night. I reacted in a way that I never should have with Jim, but that's not who I am. Bird, I would never hurt Lee."
He seemed genuinely hurt the insinuation. Like it were so far beyond his realm of comprehension that someone would think him capable of a such a thing.
Maybe he was the exception in their family -maybe not.
"Let's start over?" Mario offered.
He was on his way to pointing out that they both, well mainly she, had come into this already thinking they had the other pinned down when really they didn't know one another.
But he stopped when he heard a phone chime and saw her start to rummage around in the side of her purse.
Bird flipped open her phone to see a message from Bruce asking where she was and if she could come by the house; stating they had uncovered some new information about the key.
She'd just start to close her phone and planned on replying to him later, but then a picture message came through of the newly cleaned key -all the buildup and tarnish was gone, displaying the top of the key to be the shape of an owl.
"Damn it." Bird exclaimed and tried to get out of the seat so fast she banged her hip bone into the side of the table and cursed again under her breath at the jolt of pain.
Mario scrambled to his feet, "What's wrong?"
"I, uh..." She breathed as she gathered up her coat, "I need to go."
She'd made it a few steps away from the table before whirling around and saying, "And no, we can't start over... but I don't know... maybe we can keep building from here?"
"I'd like that." He agreed with a smile but didn't get to say anything else as she hurried from the restaurant.
•••
Bird stared down to the key in her hand, silently running her thumb over the owl mask engraving.
Selina was proud of herself for coming up with the idea to use a solution of vinegar and baking soda to remove the tarnish and Bruce had been in a panic since before Bird had ever shown up.
Alfred let out a burdened sigh as he watched Bird with the key before stating, "Merely possessing this key could be seen as breaking your agreement with the people that the woman in the owl mask represents."
"Which is why we have to contact them. They have to understand that Ivy didn't know what she was stealing." Bruce blurted.
Bird closed her eyes and encased the key in her fist.
"This is bad." Bird breathed.
She hadn't yet told her brother what she'd learned about the cabal from Falcone.
Which wasn't much to begin with.
She knew their name, The Court of Owls and her biological father seemed reluctant to even give that much information to her.
He'd warned her in the strongest possible terms to stay off their radar and put as much distance between herself and the Court as she could manage.
"I'll reach out to Kathryn." Bird offered, thinking that Falcone would surely know a way to reach her, "I'll explain what happened, return the key and see how many of our heads we can save from the chopping block."
"By yourself?" Alfred barked at the same time Bruce asked, "You know how to reach them?"
"No directly." Bird answered her brother, "But I think I know someone who does."
"Wait..." Selina interrupted and Bird was about to point out that it would make more sense if she did this alone. If she played her cards right she might be able to get by without even letting the Court find out anyone besides her and Ivy knew about the key.
But Selina was arguing that point, instead she was looking around the room. "Where is Ivy?"
Alfred's gaze cut over to the door which was left open after the redhead had made her escape for the day, "Bloody hell, she's gone!"
"How did she disable the alarm?" Bruce questioned.
Meanwhile Selina kept staring at Bird, until she finally turned to the curly haired teenager and questioned, "What?"
"I just figured you'd know where she was." Selina's shoulders rose and fell with an overly-dramatic shrug, "Seeing as how every single time she leaves and comes back all she wants to talk about is her new best friend."
"She attached herself to me!" Bird defended, "She somehow got it in her head that we're besties and now she will not leave me alone."
"Yeah!" Selina exclaimed, "Because she doesn't have anyone-"
"And I've been looking out for her!" Bird spoke over the younger woman.
"Stop." Bruce cut in looking between his sister and Selina, "Right now we need to find a way to return the key and explain what happened."
"No." Bird turned to her brother who was now just as tall a she was, "We have to find Ivy first. She's still a target and probably out there as we speak stealing other things that's going to get us all killed."
"She's probably fine." Selina's comment seemed optimistic, "She'll come back when she gets hungry anyways."
Bird shook her head and started towards the table that she'd dropped her purse on to get her phone and try calling Ivy.
A few weeks ago Bird had given her a cellphone so she could reach her if she ran into trouble.
A privilege Ivy had almost immediately started to abuse by calling at random times just to see what she was doing.
Before she could retrieve her cellphone the landline started to ring.
A sinking feeling rose in her stomach and instead of picking up the receiver, Bird turned back and looked at everyone else.
Sharing in the same feeling of dread that shrouded Bird, Alfred walked over and answered the call, "Wayne Manor?"
"You have the necklace? We have your friend. We'll make exchange, no?"
Alfred glanced over to Bird, silently relaying that Ivy wasn't just out for a stroll.
"Where and when?" Alfred's tone was flat.
Bird looked down to the best friend bracelet on her wrist. The one that Ivy hadn't just gifted to her, but had spent the time to craft by herself.
"Give me that." Bird muttered as she pulled the phone away before Alfred could stop her.
"Who is this?" She clutched the phone to the side of her face.
"What's going on?" Selina questioned from the background, "Is it about Ivy? Is she okay?"
The line was silent before she heard a male's voice with a thick accent, "You have the necklace?"
"I think we both already know the answer to that." Bird's tongue was sharp and she looked over as Alfred slid a pen and paper on end table to her so she could write down the directions.
"We'll make exchange for your friend."
"Yeah?" Bird breathed, "Then let me speak to her."
"We will kill her-"
"You kill her and you lose your leverage." Bird didn't miss a beat.
"Wait!" Selina's heart started to race in her chest and she moved closer but Bruce stopped her, "No, it's smart. We need to know that they actually have her... that she's okay."
"She is alive. For now."
"Listen..." Bird loudly breathed the word into the phone, "I've had a rough week and frankly I'm not in the mood be playing games-"
The man on the phone tried to interrupt her, but she spoke louder and didn't stop.
"If you want your necklace back then I need to know my friend is alive and in once piece -because like I said, if she's not then you've lost your leverage and I can guarantee that necklace looks a hell of a lot better dangling on my chest than it would on yours."
"You have no idea what you're dealing with."
The person on the other end of the line warned, but she thought she'd heard something resembling a laugh.
"Neither do you." She kept her voice firm.
There was silence, so quiet in fact, that for a moment she thought they'd hung up on her. But then she heard some rusting noises and it sounded like he was commanding someone to speak.
"Speak?" Ivy bumbled, straining to put her ear to the phone that her captor was holding out for her, "What am I supposed to say?"
"Ivy?" Bird's grip tightened on the receiver.
"Bird!" Ivy's voice echoed through the tunnels around her, "Thank God! You have to save me-"
"You have your proof of life. Whether or not she says that way is up to you."
Picking up the pen from notepad, Bird repeated the same question Alfred had asked earlier, "When and where?"
•••
Bruce stepped out of the car and looked around. They were in a part of the city he didn't think he'd seen before; even during the time he spent on the streets with Selina.
It looked deserted.
Crumbling buildings with broken windows spread out for blocks in either direction.
They hadn't passed a another car for the last several minutes of their drive to the location.
"Anybody else realize we're in the middle of nowhere?" Selina questioned as she hugged the open flaps of her leather jacket closed, "If we disappeared literally no one would even know where to begin to find us..."
Her voice trailed off and her shoulders drooped with the realization that no one would come looking for her anyways. The only people who'd notice her absence or care enough to try and find her were the ones she was there with.
"Bringing anyone else in isn't an option." Bird stepped up beside her. Then she quietly added, "Not even Jim."
"The deal we made wasn't about protecting ourselves." Bruce nodded at his sister and then looked to Selina, "The woman that we spoke to made it very clear that they'd come after everyone who we cared about."
Alfred retrieved a crow bar from the trunk of the car to remove the cover to the manhole they'd been instructed to go to and offered to the the rest of group, "Give me the key and I'll sort it out."
"No." Bird and Bruce in unison. They looked at one another and Bruce added, "We need to speak with them personally. We're the ones who made the deal."
"Very well." He accepted. It was clear there would be no talking either of them out of it.
"There's no way of asking you to say here that doesn't end with you yelling at me, is there?" Bruce asked Selina.
"Nope." She replied.
As the group made their way down into the underground tunnels, Bird thought in some ways meeting with an top secret organization under the city was fitting.
Then again, this couldn't have been further from the way things happened the first time around.
For the first time since seeing the owl engraving on the key it crossed her mind that maybe they weren't dealing with the Court at all.
"Guys-" She started to voice her concern, but at the same time Bruce caught sight of where Ivy was handcuffed to a metal railing and yelled, "Over there!"
"Ivy!" Selina called out to her friend.
A wave of relief rushed over her and she stopped struggling against her bindings, "About time."
She wasn't sure how long she'd been held hostage but it felt like the ordeal had lasted days.
As they moved closer to where she was chained, three men, all dressed in black walked out of their hiding spots in the shadows and stood between them.
Bird stepped closer, as if she alone would be enough to shield Bruce, Alfred and Selina from harm.
But it was Bruce who spoke first.
"My name is Bruce Wayne. I need to speak with Kathryn."
One of the men stepped closer to them, taking the lead of the group and Bird narrowed her eyes -he had to have been one on the phone.
"She needs to understand that we've honored our deal!" Bruce's voice cracked at their stoic expressions.
Everything and everyone he cared about was possibly on the line due to a mistake and yet he was looking at three men who didn't seem to care the slightest for what he had to say.
"Hand over the necklace and you get your friend back." His eyebrows raised, "That's the deal."
Did they not realize how a trade worked?
"The family name isn't a door opener everywhere little brother." Bird glanced back at him.
She knew he was used to the Wayne name capturing attention and perking up ears, but there were some places in Gotham where that didn't matter.
And it seemed they were currently standing in the middle of one.
"I thought we went over this on the phone." The leader of their group directed his attention at Bird, recognizing her voice as the one he'd spoke with, "The necklace in exchange for your friend."
"You mean the key, right?" Bird took a slow step forward, then inched even closer when no one immediately drew their weapons, "You're not getting that until we've spoken with the people at the top of your organization."
"Maybe we just kill you and take it?" He had an amused expression on his face. A knowing smile.
Like he was privy to things they knew nothing about.
"You think we're stupid enough to bring it with us?" Selina called out as she started to march forward.
Bird's slow yet steady advances hadn't been enough to raise the alert with the trio of men, but Selina's quick movements caused them to raise their weapons.
The very same crossbows they'd been chased with before.
Alfred drew his gun in response and Bird threw a protective arm in front of Selina before she could move any closer to them.
Selina looked down and then back to where Bruce and Alfred were standing. Again, realizing the only people in the world who truly cared about her were standing in the same room -only this time she didn't feel sadness over it.
"You want your key?" Selina asked with a jolt of attitude, "Then I'd listen to them."
"Put the tools down." Alfred nodded to the two men standing to the sides of their leader who were both holding the crossbows.
Bird stared at the man she'd been speaking with on the phone, "I get it... usually my go-to is violence as well, but my little brother is here -so let's try to keep this civil, yeah?"
The smirk he'd been wearing spread into a bigger smile and he signaled for his men to lower their weapons.
"We will return the key to you, in exchange for Ivy and the reassurance that our original agreement stands; the assurance that our friends are safe." Bird moved closer again.
This time it was him who narrowed his eyes at her.
Bruce also advanced a few steps, "We need to speak with the woman in the mask."
"Any assurances that woman gives you are lies." The man responded and this time he stepped towards the group, "The people you are talking about have no honor. They will betray you as they betrayed us."
"You don't work for the Court, do you?" Bird asked and without a breath in-between added, "Who are you?"
"I'm Luka Volk." He introduced himself, "And no, we don't work for them. We work to destroy them."
"Who are they?" Bruce stepped out from where Bird had kept strategically placing her body in front of him in case they were under fire.
"They call themselves The Court of Owls." Luka answered the question.
Bruce's eyes immediately went to where his sister was standing beside him.
'You don't work for the Court, do you?'
Her words replayed through his head. The Court, she'd used the terminology before their name had been revealed.
It dawned on him that she'd already known, that she'd been withholding information from him.
"And you are?" Luka questioned, his attention going back to Bird.
"Bird." She introduced herself but didn't make eye contact.
Instead she was watching the other two men release Ivy.
"That's my brother Jacob and Dmitry." Luka motioned towards his fellow gang members.
Once freed, the frightened redhead darted over to her friends as she fast as her legs would allow and got behind Bird, confident that she'd protect her from any further harm.
"What's with the stupid mask?" Selina questioned, wondering why the one they called Dmitry was donning a metal mask covering the lower part of his face.
Luka let out a small laugh and pointed at her, "I like you. You remind me of my sister back in Kiev."
Then he explained to the group that Dmitry is only an initiate to their gang, that the mask would insure his silence until he's able to prove himself and become a full member.
"A member of what?" Bruce pushed, seeming to have recovered from from learning Bird hadn't been entirely honest with him.
"We are the called The Whisper Gang-" Luka started, but Bird cut him off, "Gotham's most notorious smugglers? No... they were ran out of the city years ago."
"Wrong." Luka argued, "We used to number in the hundreds until the Court saw our growing strength and offered us a partnership... only to betray us. Many of our members fled back to the Ukraine, but a few of us stayed behind, hoping to find a way to enact revenge."
Another smile appeared on Luka's lips, "And we did."
"The key?" Bruce asked, "What does it open?"
"A safe." The man of formerly few words seemed to be spilling information to them now like a open faucet.
Enemy of my enemies seemed to endow a strange comradery.
Luka went over to the table near them and spread out some maps that had been rolled up, explaining their theory that there was safe in one of the buildings owned by the Court that they believed contained a device that could destroy them.
"Like some kind of weapon?" Alfred asked the question on Bird's mind.
"Honestly, we don't know." He admitted, "We captured a member. They wouldn't say what was in the safe, only that the Court fears it falling into the hands of their enemies."
"Wait..." Selina breathed, "Wouldn't they know you stole it? They'll probably just be waiting for you there."
Luka told them that there were originally two keys. The court still has one of them and the second one was lost until they'd found it.
"You mean we did." Bruce displayed the key they'd brought with them, despite saying they hadn't.
Bird watched him; apparently the trust born out of having a common enemy had grown in him as well.
"The Court killed my parents and I agreed to stand down because I thought there was no way to defeat them." Bruce said.
"What are you proposing?" Luka asked with a raised brow.
"If what you're saying is true, if there is something in that safe with the power to defeat the Court then that's no longer the case." He voiced his train of thought.
Bruce offered up a partnership. Suggested they join forces to take down The Court of Owls.
Luka seemed reluctant at first, but quickly came around to the idea. This might very well be the best shot they had at their revenge.
They made arrangements to meet at the end of the week to further develop a plan of attack.
The walk to exit the tunnels and climb to above ground was silent -aside from Ivy asking if they could stop somewhere for food on the way back to Wayne Manor and then excitedly realizing she was no longer a target.
That she was free to go about her life now and no longer needed to stay at the house.
"Starling." Bruce said once they were near the car.
"Yeah?" She turned to face him.
"I thought that after we spoke with Kathryn that we both agreed to stop looking into what happened to mom and dad -into the organization." His face was twisted up.
"We did..." Bird nodded.
"Did you?" He pushed.
"Of course!" She exclaimed.
And in reality she had.
She hadn't dug into anything or asked around; the only thing she'd done was confront Falcone about knowing about the cabal and the hit on her parents.
"Then how-" Bruce started to ask but then stopped. It dawned on him that she hadn't been aware of her own slip up.
And he wasn't going to tell her. He just wanted his sister to be honest with him.
"I stopped." He stated, "I completely stopped looking into any of it to keep us safe. To keep Alfred and Selina and Detective Gordon and everyone else safe."
His eyes locked with hers.
He remembered something their father had told him once, about how you can always see the truth in a person's eyes -no matter what their mouth is saying.
"Can you say the same?" He asked.
"Yes." She answered, "Of course, little brother."
Bird eyed him for a moment before shaking her head and walking past him, giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze as she went.
Bruce stood in place for a while longer, a sinking feeling in his stomach growing by the second.
She'd lied to him.
With their lives and the lives of loved ones on the line -and she couldn't be honest.
A part of him wanted to chase her down, confront her with the evidence, ask her how she'd known the group was called The Court of Owls then, but he didn't.
Instead he pulled in a deep breath and started for the car where everyone else was waiting on him.
The feeling of hurt wasn't dissipating at all, in fact, it was growing.
If she'd lied about that, what else could she be hiding from him?
••• A few days later •••
The setting sun was at her back as Bird made her way into the GCPD building.
Coming to a stop inside, she glanced around trying to catch sight of Jim but she didn't see him.
The chair was slid out away from his desk but he wasn't there.
Looking up to the open second level she saw Bullock in the Captain's office but he was alone.
"Can I help you?"
Turning around she saw a young officer dressed in uniform.
She opened her mouth to ask if he knew where Jim was, but before she got the chance he recognized her and said, "Oh."
Angling his head over his shoulder he yelled, "Gordon!"
She arched a brow.
The judgemental look on his face hadn't been lost on her.
"Yeah?"
She heard Jim's voice from across the station and looked up to see him approaching the railing of the interior balcony that over saw the station.
"Girlfriend's here." The young cop yelled as he was walking away.
Like being in her near vicinity was toxic and he might catch something.
Bird glanced around as the noise from the sea of desks quieted some and she could feel several sets of eyes on her.
Maybe they all thought she was a criminal or maybe it had something to do with her shooting of Captain Barnes the week before.
Possibly even the fact that she was wearing a dress that cost more than what most of them made six months.
"Bird." Jim greeted, walking towards her so fast he was nearly in a run.
He had a manila folder in one hand and his free hand landed on the small of her back as he guided her away from the middle of the station where so many people were staring.
"Everything okay?" He asked once they had a bit of privacy.
"Yeah." Bird looked over towards where she'd been standing and asked, "What was that guy's problem?"
"Oh, he's new."
"Okay..." Bird breathed. That didn't explain anything, "Why was he acting like I've got the plague.?"
Jim's eyes met hers and he looked back out to the station where a few sets of eyes were still on them before he looked back at her, his head cocked to the side.
"Is this because I shot Barnes?" She asked.
"No. Everyone knows he was infected with the Tetch Virus."
"Oh!" Her head titled back some and she asked a little too loudly, "Because I'm a criminal."
She could have laughed, as if a big majority of them weren't on Oswald's pay roll or involved in illegal activities on the side.
Jim's face scrunched up and he ran a hand over the back of his head.
He was all too aware of how many of his nosey co-workers were watching them like they were the leads in some bad reality show. "Maybe don't yell that so loud in a police station?
"Wait..." Her voice lowered this time around, "Do they all give you crap because of us being in a relationship?"
"No..." Waved a hand through the air, "Not all of them."
"Wow." She sucked in a breath, "I honestly hadn't thought of that. I mean I get crap from people about us -along with reminders of what would happen if I betrayed anyone I used to work with, but I didn't realize the blow back from here you'd get. Why didn't you tell me?"
"It's not a big deal." Jim assured her.
And it wasn't.
They didn't know Bird like he did.
Plus, a good majority of the force was still dirty and some of them even thought he still belonged in Blackgate.
"I can stop coming be here?" She offered.
"No." He stepped in closer, "I'm serious, it's not a big deal."
"What are you doing here though?" He asked, "I thought tonight was the pre-rehearsal dinner-"
"Yeah." She cut in, "But I already told Mario I wasn't going to make it."
"You're off the clock now right?" She looked hopeful, "I thought we could grab dinner instead. I mean-:" She gestured to the dress she was wearing, "I want to go home and change first, but after that."
"Sounds good to me." He agreed with a smile, between all of the wedding preparation and his working late this would be their first dinner together all week, "Is everything okay though?"
Bird had been meeting with her half-brother every day for a while now. Just that morning they'd went to breakfast together.
"Yeah." She smiled, "You ready to go?"
"I just have to talk to Bullock about this." He held up the folder, "But then I'm ready to go."
Bird smiled to herself as Jim led her over to his desk so she could have a seat while waiting on him, as if she didn't know where it was.
She watched him go into the office, which was now Bullock's since he was acting captain of the GCPD.
Letting out a heavy sigh, she reached down and pulled the uncomfortable heels she'd been wearing off.
It had been a long day.
She'd had breakfast with Mario and then went to the office for a few hours before she'd reached out to see if Bruce wanted to join her for lunch before her busy afternoon; but her little brother declined, citing he was too busy.
She wasn't sure with what, it wasn't like his social calender was booming. But he'd gotten off the phone so fast she didn't have a chance to pry.
Then her afternoon was full with a dress fitting now that she was bridesmaid in the wedding and then changing into the dress she was in now and shoes that were definitely built for viewing and not walking in.
They'd hired some photographers to take some group photos before the wedding of the bride and her crew. Something Bird didn't even want to be a part of, but ended up getting roped into.
And now here she sat in a dress shades lighter in color than she preferred. She was pretty sure the light color would leave her looking washed out the photos; especially if they did them in black and white.
It also seemed to have countless layers; much poofier than any dress she'd pick for herself.
A familiar feeling of static was on her skin now. The alert of someone watching her.
She looked around, wondering if the officers were still watching her, but they weren't.
That's when she spotted a little girl with dirty blonde hair spying on her her.
She couldn't have been more than seven or eight.
She was sitting on the floor next to a woman who Bird assumed was the girl's mother.
The woman was sitting in a chair next to Detective Alvarez's desk.
The girl gave Bird a big smile, a few gaps were visible from where she was losing her baby teeth and Bird smiled back at her.
She nearly laughed as she remembered when Bruce lost his two front baby teeth right around the same time and had trouble enunciating words correctly in their absence.
The girl looked back down to the coloring book she'd been scribbling in but the activity only drew her attention for a few more brief seconds before she was watching Bird again.
The girl looked up at her mom and then as quietly as she could, got to her feet and trotted over to Bird with her coloring book and few crayons in hand.
Bird thought at first the girl maybe recognized her from TV or the papers, but instead she shyly asked, "Are you a princess?"
Bird laughed and looked back down to the dress she was wearing. To a bright eyed young girl it probably did look like a princess dress.
"What's your name?" Bird asked her.
"Mary." The girl beamed as she climbed up into the chair by the side of Jim's desk and laid her coloring book on top of some closed file folders Jim had laying there.
She was coloring a picture of a cat; a pink cat with yellow stripes.
She started to roughly scribble in more pink color on the cat image on the page, the cheap crayon leaving uneven layers of wax behind.
"What's your name?" Mary repeated the question back.
"Bird."
She stopped coloring and looked up at her, "That's a silly name."
Bird smiled at her, "It sort of is, isn't it?"
She watched as the little girl laid the crayon down and started flipping through pages until she found what she'd been looking for, a picture in the coloring book that was already half-filled in from the week before but then she'd moved onto another page.
Bird couldn't help but let out a small laugh as she saw the girl staring at the bird she'd been filling in with a dark blue crayon and then looking back to the few crayons she had with her -none of which were hues of blue.
She finally decided on the pink crayon she'd been previously using and stared to color what was left blank on the bird.
Bird looked over to Mary's mother, who had her head in her hands and was nodding at something Detective Alvarez was saying to her.
"What happened?" Mary asked Bird as she pointed towards her still bruised neck. The little girl's bright green eyes went to the side of Bird's face that was still healing from where her face had collided with the pavement.
"It's not as bad as it looks." Bird kept the smile on her face.
"Did a bad man hurt you?" Mary questioned and then quickly dropped her eyes back to her coloring book and seemed to grow uneasy.
"I survived." Bird lowered her head some trying to catch the young girl's line of sight again but she wouldn't look back up at her, "That's what matters."
Mary nodded and nervously glanced over her shoulder to where her mom was sitting.
It was when she turned her head that Bird caught sight of the faded bruise on the side of her face.
Her eyebrows lowered and she realized the girl was wearing a coat despite it being a rather warm day.
She watched as Mary reached out for a different crayon and she saw her wrist peek out from the sleeve; purple marks on her skin in the shape of fingerprints.
Swallowing hard, she glanced around them and then leaned in closer as she asked, "Did a bad man hurt you?"
Mary's coloring came to a abrupt halt and she refused to looked back up at her.
Bird whipped her head back around to where Mary's mother was still speaking with Alvarez and for the first time she took the entire sight in.
The woman's slouched posture, the long sleeve shirt and the way she kept fidgeting nervously with her arms at her sides, hands in her lap. Like she were trying to fold in on herself, shrink down; became too small of a target to hit.
"Mary." Bird's voice was barely a whisper and she gently reached out to move the hair from the side of her face to reveal more of the faded bruising. The girl recoiled from the touch as if she'd been stung by a bee.
Bird jerked her hand back and apologized before she whispered, "Did your daddy do that?"
Mary looked back over her shoulder to make sure her mom wasn't watching and then she nodded in an answer to the question. Quickly adding in, "I'm not supposed to tell anyone."
Bird did her best to keep smiling, despite the rage building inside of her.
"Does he do that a lot?" She asked.
Mary chewed on her bottom lip, directing her attention back down to the page and trying her best to color inside of the lines on the animal shape.
"Only when I'm bad." She whispered.
"No." Bird argued, "You've never done anything bad enough to deserve that. It's not your fault."
"Is that why you and your mom are here?" She pushed, "To get help?"
She shrugged.
Then in a rare moment of trust for her, she admitted, "Sometimes I wish he'd go away and never come back."
Mary's bottom lip quivered as she looked up at Bird.
The expression on her small, round face made Bird's heart feel like it had snapped in two.
"Marisol!"
Mary jumped at hearing her mom's voice and her full first name.
The woman rushed over to them, profusely apologizing for her daughter's intrusion.
"It's okay." Bird rose to her feet and looked behind where the woman stood to see Alvarez wasn't at the desk anymore.
"I'm sorry." She apologized again reaching for her daughter's hand, but Mary pulled away, scrambling to finish coloring the leaf of the branch the bird was sitting on.
The last part of the picture that needed filled in.
Shifting nervously on her worn out shoes, Mary's mother looked back at the empty desk she'd been at moments before, "Honey, we need to get going. Remember we need to get back before Daddy gets home from work?"
"You're leaving?" Bird took a step forward.
"Yeah." She smiled and nervously touched her split lip when the stretch of skin stung, "Just taking care of some traffic tickets."
The lie came out without hesitation. Second nature to cover up the truth.
"There are places you can go-" Bird started to say, "You don't have to go back there."
"I'm sorry." She blurted out, like it was a nervous tick and she couldn't stop apologize for anything and everything she said or did, "But I don't know what you're talking about."
"Do you know who I am?" Bird questioned.
The woman avoided her eyes and nodded. She recognized her from the news.
"Then you know I've opened shelters around the city and I can help-"
"Marisol." The woman wasn't listening any longer. Panic had started to set in, she had to be home before he got there, "Now. We have to go."
Sliding down off the chair, Mary tore the page she'd been coloring out of the book and offered it up to Bird.
Doing her best to smile, Bird took the page and looked at it before she cooed, "I love it! Thank you, Mary."
The girl smiled back but the traces of light were quickly leaving her eyes; she didn't want to go back home.
Her mother took her hand and they started to walk away.
Bird looked around for Alvarez or someone else, anyone else to stop them from leaving, but no one was paying attention.
"Hey." Bird called after them.
When they stopped, Mary turned back around but her mother didn't.
"An artist always has to sign their work." A tight smile stretched across her lips and she held out the page as Mary ran back to autograph it.
Using the pink crayon she scribbled on the page while Bird stared at the back of the woman's head who was still refusing to face her again. Bird internally tried to will her turn around, to accept the help she and her daughter so desperately needed.
Mary handed the picture back to Bird and then ran back to her mom.
Helplessly, Bird watched as they walked away, knowing the hell they were going home to.
Just before they were out of sight, Mary looked over her shoulder to Bird one last time; her green eyes saying every single thing her mother refused to say out loud.
Once they were gone, Bird dropped the page on the desk and sank back into Jim's desk chair.
Her movements were slow and defeated as she put her uncomfortable shoes back on.
Hearing a loud sigh she looked over to see Alvarez standing at his desk, palms flat against the surface with his head hung in disappointment. Shoulders tense from frustration.
"Alvarez." She started for him.
"Bird." He greeted, eyebrows raising in question of what she wanted.
"That lady was just here, with the little girl-"
"Yeah." His voice was as heavy as his heart, "She asked me for a cup of water and now they're gone."
His eyes settled on the paper cup of water he'd brought back for her.
Wondering how he didn't realize it was a ploy to get him gone long enough for them to run.
Or maybe it wasn't and she'd gotten cold feet while he was away.
"But you can get them back, right?" She pushed, "Go arrest her husband and-"
"Bird..." The detective sighed, "You know it's not that easy."
"Yes, but there is a child involved. At the least we can try to get CPS involved." She pointed out.
"She didn't give me her name or anything concrete I could even start to track down." Alvarez explained, "My hands are tied."
Looking at her he said, "I saw you talk to the child; did you get anything from her?"
"The name Mary." Bird shook her head knowing how useless that tidbit would be.
"But that doesn't help at all, does it?" She already knew the answer to her own question before her tongue had formed the words.
Nodding he said, "You know how this works. It takes time for some of them to build up the courage to come forward. Best case scenario; they'll be back and we can step in."
"And worst case scenario is they both wind up dead." Bird pointed out.
"Look." He loosened his tie as he spoke, "I laid the options out for her. Told her about the shelters and groups that she can turn to. Highly recommended the ones you're involved in. They'll turn back up."
"Hey-" Jim's greeting trailed off as he got close enough to Bird and Alvarez to see the sullen expressions on both of their faces., "What happened?"
"DV case." Alvarez explained, "Mother and daughter. They fled before I could get much out of them."
Jim pulled in a deep breath and looked over at Bird, he wished he could say he was surprised but the truth was this was too common an occurrence.
His hand landed on her arm when she seemed to be lost in space, "Ready?"
"Yeah." She answered, her throat felt tight.
She walked over to Jim's desk to retrieve the clutch bag she'd left and her eyes fell to the coloring page. Which as she'd requested, the little girl had autographed.
"To: Princess Bird
From: Mary Briggs"
It was right there in waxy pink crayon.
Her eyes widened. Marisol Briggs; she had a name. That should be easy enough to reach out to schools and see if they could find her.
She turned back around to share the information, but then stopped.
If the mother wouldn't come forward and press charges than the most they could do would get CPS involved to remove Mary from the home. Do it by the book, the laws that let so many victims fall through the cracks.
Instead of passing the information along to Alvarez, Bird folded the coloring book page up and slid it into her small clutch bag.
GCPD might have to abide by the laws and only have one approach they could take with the situation -but she didn't have to.
••• Later that night •••
Walking back into the sitting room of her townhouse, Bird sat the large bowl of popcorn down on the coffee table and looked at hte TV screen, which was playing the start up menu for the movie they'd rented on repeat.
Crossing her arms over her chest, she stared in the direction of the staircase, but didn't hear any footsteps.
Shaking her head, she yelled, "Jim?"
When she didn't get a response from him she went on a search.
Bird walked into the master bedroom they shared and found Jim sitting on the edge of the bed, a few open folders in front of him spread across the foot of the bed.
"How's it going?" She greeted leaned against the edge of the doorway to the room.
Jim looked over at her and gave a small, apologetic smile as he promised, "I just needed to check over something. I'm almost done."
"You better be." She complained, arms dropping to her sides, "I already fixed the popcorn and you're the one who picked out the movie and-"
"Almost done." He repeated.
She stood there for another minute or so before she trekked over and sat down behind him, draping her arms over his shoulders and leaning against his back.
"Does it bother you?" She questioned.
"I don't know..." He blew out a breath and rubbed his eyes before he held onto one of her hands that she had danging in-front of his chest, "What are we talking about?"
"The guys at the station giving you a hard time...about us?"
She leaned in further, pressing against him and resting her chin on his shoulder as she waited on a response.
"I already said it didn't." He reminded her, giving her hand a squeeze.
"Yeah." Her voice was a little strained from the underside of her chin and her throat pressing against his shoulder, "But you never told me about it."
"Because it doesn't matter." He stated once again.
Then his posture relaxed some and he pointed out, "Some of them think I should still be in Blackgate."
"Screw them." Bird said and Jim nodded in agreement with a small laugh.
"But still..." She couldn't let it go.
Harvey was always so troubled about her history and public perception of her criminal ties.
Always worried it would cause problems for him at work or he'd be considered guilty by association.
Deep down she feared Jim had the same concerns but wasn't saying it out loud for her sake.
"Bird." Her name came out with an exhale as he turned his head to try and get a look at her, "What did you do today?"
"Uhh..." She laughed, thrown from the seemingly out of nowhere turn the conversation took, "Had breakfast with Mario. Went to the office for a little while. Then I was forced to wear a god-awful dress and pose for pictures for the wedding. Then I met up with you at work and you know the rest: we got dinner and rented a movie for tonight."
"And at which part of the day did you break the law?" He questioned.
"What?" She laughed again.
"You stood in the precinct and declared yourself a criminal -but sounds like you had a pretty mundane day." Jim pointed out.
"Yeah, but-" She started to argue but he cut in, "What about yesterday?"
Bird was quit for a moment before she turned her head and kissed the side of his face, "I see your point."
She pulled back from where she'd been draped over his back and pulled in a deep breath before pointing out, "Maybe I haven't broken any laws lately -but there are people out there who think I'm so bad that the world would be better off without me in it."
Turning around, he faced her, his expression twisted with emotion and concern.
"People like who?"
He instantly felt like he'd missed something major.
Had someone been coming after her and she didn't tell him?
"Barnes." Bird reminded him.
"He's sick." Jim pointed out, "That was the infection; the virus that fueled him that day.."
"I know." She diverted her gaze down to the space between them, "It's just... I don't know, Jim. A lot of the stuff I've done, I justified it by thinking the world truly is better off without some people in it and I guess I just didn't expect someone to think that way about me."
"It's the virus." He repeated as if saying the same thing again would break through.
When she didn't look up at him, he reached forward and tilted her chin up so he could see her face.
"I know who you are." Jim said, his eyes bore into hers, "And I don't care what anyone else thinks."
"Because you love me?" She smiled.
"Yes." He answered.
Leaning in, she pressed her mouth to his, then pulled back long enough to agree, "Then I don't care what anyone else thinks either-"
The last of her words were muffled when Jim kissed her again; hungrily.
As if he'd walking through a desert and she was the oasis he'd found just in time.
Her hands landed on the sides of his face, then slid down between them to his chest.
Palms flat against him for a time before she slid his already unbuttoned shirt off of him, it landed on the still open folders he'd left on the bed.
She dragged her short nails over the bare skin of his arms with a slight shiver as his mouth found the spot on the side of her neck that always managed to seal her breath away.
Heat quickly pooled in her stomach.
Heart racing as her fingers gathered he material of his undershirt in her hands and soon the white ribbed fabric was on the floor beside the bed.
Jim's breath was heavy and humid against her skin; every place her hands touched him felt like she'd set fire to his flesh.
Bird pulled back, her cheeks already flushed as she looked at him from under her lashes and joked, "I guess the movie we rented can wait?"
"You think?" Jim grinned at her and she knew if she'd been standing that her knees would have just buckled on her.
And just like that his mouth claimed hers again. He leaned in, his body pressing against hers, his hand making it's way up the smooth skin on her outer thigh under the short dress she'd changed into before they left for dinner.
She moaned into his mouth causing his entire body to tense and tighten.
When he moved closer, his body pressing firmly against hers she laid back, allowing him to move over the top of her.
Bird's fingertips caressed his muscular arms as he paused to look down at her face, her dark hair laying messily against the sheet just beneath the pillow where she'd landed.
His eyes met hers, darkened with want; with need.
But she knew why he'd stopped; more so what he was waiting on.
For her to signal it was okay, that this was exactly what she wanted too.
He knew her past, what had happened to her as a teenager and how it still effected her.
Sometimes intimacy started to happen to too fast and she needed a moment to catch up, to take the time to remember she was there with him and not let her mind get pulled elsewhere.
Jim always stopped to make sure she was okay.
She nodded at him; raised up some from the mattress and pulled his face back to hers, her movements carried an urgency with them.
She wanted him every bit as much as he wanted her.
Just seconds later her phone started to ring. She turned her head and looked over to the chair where she'd tossed her bag that still had her cellphone inside of it.
"It's probably just Ivy." She thought out loud.
Followed with a low gasp when one of his hands made it's way further under the hem of her dress.
Bird was so wrapped up in Jim that she didn't even hear her cellphone as it started up on the second round of ringing from the person calling back.
There was beat of silence before the sound of a phone ringing interrupted them once more, only it wasn't her phone, it was his.
"Uh-uh." She breathed against the side of his face. "Ignore it."
It came out as more of an order than a request; the temperature in the room felt like it was soaring up to dangerous levels.
His hands snaked behind her back, searching for the zipper on the dress she still had on and she leaned up more to make it easier.
Both of them fully set on ignoring the outside world -until the landline phone rang while Jim's cell was getting a second call.
Something had to have happened.
Bird dropped back down onto the bed and tried to catch her breath.
Jim let out a heavy sigh, his forehead lowered to rest against her's for a moment before he moved off the bed and grabbed his phone from the nightstand.
Bird crawled over to the other side of the bed and plucked the portable phone from it's charger.
"Hello?"
"Bird."
Her name came at the end of an exhale, a sigh of relief from the person on the other end of the line.
"Don Falcone?" Bird was still struggling to catch her breath. Her eyes went over to the alarm clock and she wondered why he was calling her so late. What happened?
"Are you okay?" He questioned, "You sound like you're out of breath."
Taking the phone away from her ear, she looked over to where Jim was still half-dressed, speaking with someone on his cellphone.
"I'm fine." She answered as she brought the receiver back to her ear and tried to steady her heart and lungs, "What's wrong?"
She listened as he explained that someone tried to kill him. That there had been a bomb in the car; like an old style mob hit and he'd been concerned someone might have came after her too.
The explosion happened as he'd been leaving the pre-rehearsal dinner with Mario and Lee.
Everyone was relatively unscathed; other than the poor valet that went to bring the car closer.
Bird turned around to tell Jim what was going on but saw he was already looking at her, the phone call he'd gotten must have alerting him to the crime.
"I'm on my way." He said before closing the flip phone and dropping it onto the bed.
Walking over to him, Bird picked up his shirt from the floor and handed it to him.
His head cocked to the side with an apologetic expression. He opened his mouth to tell her that he had to go to the scene of the bomb, but she didn't let him speak.
"I know." She nodded, "And I'm coming with you."
•••