"I leaned against my door, struggling to catch my breath, and thought that maybe hell wasn't a place at all, but a thing. A contagious thing. A thing that could creep up the steps, seep through the crack under my door, grow horns and sprout fire - smelling faintly like sulfur. A thing that could sink its tendrils inside and take root, coloring everything gray and distorting a smile into a sneer." - Megan Miranda, Fracture
•••
"Starling?" Bruce questioned as he sat in the chair opposite of where his older sister was sitting, "Did you hear me?"
Slowly Bird raised her head and looked at him.
Her face was nearly expressionless and maybe it was the lack of response, of any readable emotion, that sent a chill down Bruce's spine.
Without a word to him, Bird stood up and started to walk away.
"Stop!" Bruce scrambled after her, grabbing onto one of her arms to stop her when she seemed determined to leave without speaking to him.
"Why?" Her voice was razor edged.
"Did you hear me?" His voice cracked, "You could be in danger. All of us-"
"I heard you." Bird interrupted, "Every damn word, Bruce. How Volk got killed and his brother showed up... how you went ahead with the plan to steal the weapon that could be use against The Court."
Her voice raised, "How could you not fill me in on this? How could you move ahead with the plan and not tell me any of it? What happened to being in this together, huh?"
Bruce shifted on his feet under her hard stare. Death by a thousand cuts.
The way she looked at him. The tone of her voice.
His face twisted, she was far from innocent and yet was laying all of this at this feet like it was all his fault.
It wasn't something he was used too; being looked at like like he was the guilty one.
A bitter pill he refused to swallow.
"You were the one hiding information from me!" He yelled back at her.
After all she'd done; he didn't see how she could stomach playing the victim in this situation.
"What are you talking about?"
"The day we saved Ivy." Bruce's voice was shaded in venom that he'd been holding in since they day in the tunnels.
The hurt and betrayal he'd felt had morphed into rage somewhere along the line.
"You called them The Court... long before The Whisper Gang told us about them." He argued, echoing her hurt and sentiment, "What happened to us being in this together?"
"A name!" Bird took a step back, "You purposefully went behind my back and hid things from me because I knew what name they used?"
"What else did you know?" Bruce stared her down.
It wasn't just the withholding of their name, more so that if she hadn't shared that, what else had she been hiding?
It doesn't take much for the seeds of distrust to bloom.
"Nothing!" She defended, "I asked Falcone about them and all he gave me was the name. I didn't tell you because it wouldn't have any good, Bruce. It wasn't a real lead, nothing that could help us."
"I asked you. After we were out of the tunnels, I asked if you'd been honest with me about everything and you said yes. You lied." He accused, "And I'm sorry, but I couldn't trust you-"
"That's the thing about trust." Bird's voice was muffled behind her clenched teeth, "It's a two-way street little brother -and now I don't trust you."
"I didn't do anything wrong!" Bruce defended.
"Neither did I!" She screamed over him.
Running her hands through her hair she sucked in a breath and looked around the room.
"I have always tried to be as honest as I could with you. Done as much as possible to protect you." Bird's voice had lost it's anger, "Even when you tried to make it impossible. No matter the personal cost and now you're going to act like this?"
She shook her head in disbelief and he stared back at her.
Personal cost.
The term echoed in Bruce's head, words bouncing around the inside of his skull, ricocheting against bone and settling into soft tissue.
"They killed my parents." He blinked rapidly as tears stung at his eyes.
Bird's head titled to the side, "Your parents?"
She repeated his words back to him.
"And what?" She tossed her arms out to either side, "I can't understand that because they weren't technically my real parents?"
"No-"
He cried out. His face twisted.
That didn't come out the way it was supposed to.
Bruce stared at her, brokenness in his eyes as he pleaded for her to understand he didn't mean it like that.
That he'd never think that, let alone say it to her.
She was his sister, even if they weren't blood siblings.
Bird stared back at him, the look on his face that would usually lead to her forgiving him and wanting to console him just left her feeling cold.
She didn't know if it was teenage hormones or if somewhere deep down he was jealous that while he'd lost his family, she seemed to keep gaining. First her biological parents and now a half-brother.
"I didn't want this to turn into a fight." Bruce pleaded, "I just needed you to know The Court might know it was us who broke into the safe and they could come after you. I wanted to tell you so you'd be careful."
He couldn't stomach the loss of anyone else.
He couldn't lose his sister -not again. But for some reason he couldn't get himself to say it out loud.
Judging from the volatile feeling in the room, even if he'd tried the sentiment would have fallen on deaf ears.
"Message received loud and clear." Bird gave a lazy attempt at a salute, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
She started to leave again but this time paused in the doorway. Not sure if it was lack of sleep or he'd simply cut her too deep, but it was time to take the dagger our of her own back and throw it at him.
"I've got a busy day ahead of me." She explained, "My brother is getting married."
•••
With a heavy sigh, Bird closed the door to her townhouse behind her and leaned against it for leverage as she pulled her high heel shoes off and tossed them carelessly to the side.
She'd be spending hours in uncomfortable shoes later on that day, no need to prematurely torture her feet.
As she walked barefoot down the hardwood flooring of the entryway, she checked the time on her watch. It was still early, still plenty of time before she had to go get her hair and makeup done for the wedding.
Maybe even enough time to sneak in a short nap before wedding duty time.
She started for the stairs but stopped when she noticed Jim was in the sitting room.
"Hey." She greeted as she walked into the room, "What are you doing home?"
Jim was sitting on the couch, leaned forward with his hands in his lap; he didn't look up at her.
"I tried to call you." He stated.
"Oh." Bird's shoulders sank with a shrug, "Bruce called me earlier and when I left I remembered my coffee but not my phone." With a sleepy smile she admitted, "Realized half way to Wayne Manor that I left it here on the kitchen counter."
Maybe it was the lack of sleep or the fact she was still reeling what happened with her brother that morning, she wasn't sure, but it took her longer than it should have to realize something was wrong.
"Jim?" Bird took a step closer, "What's wrong."
"You tell me." Jim replied, finally looking at her.
"I don't follow..." Bird's voice trailed off.
"GCPD got a call about a body this morning." Jim explained, "Suicide. Guy shot himself in his car outside of a bar downtown."
"Oh." Bird's brows raised.
Jim had a hell of a poker face and she was struggling to read what was behind it.
"Oh?" Jim's voice had a jolt of attitude.
When she didn't show her hand or give anything away, Jim continued, "Then Alvarez tells me it's the damndest thing, that this guy left behind a wife and a young daughter. The same mother and child who was at the GCPD last week."
Slowly rising to his feet, he said, "I called to tell you, because I knew since you talked to that little girl it had been weighing on you."
Bird's posture stiffened as Jim explained how he felt something was off the night before when she'd got home and when she didn't answer her phone, he was worried and had come home to check on her.
She didn't say anything, only stood in place waiting on what he had to say next.
Waiting for the other shoe to drop.
"I found this." Jim pulled a folded page from his pocket.
He didn't have to open it up all the way before Bird knew what it was. It was the page torn from Mary's coloring book, the one she'd signed with her name.
"No one knew enough to track down this family." Jim shook his head, "No one but you."
"Say what you really want to say, Jim." Bird avoided his eyes, "I'm too tired for these games."
His jaw tensed.
When he'd got home from work the night before he'd been armed with an apology for canceling their dinner plans, for the way he'd been gruff with her at the police station after Falcone had injured the suspect.
To let her know he knew that wasn't on her and he was sorry that he'd taken it out on her and promise it wouldn't happen again.
She had no more control of where she came from than he did.
Only she wasn't there, he'd wandered the house for a bit before he finally saw the new message scrawled on the dry-erase board she'd left for him.
That she'd gone out with a friend and not to wait up.
It was the lack of details in the message that had kept him awake.
What friend did she go with?
Where were they going?
But he'd figured she'd left it that way on purpose. To unsettle him because she didn't appreciate his attitude towards her earlier that same night,
He'd only just fallen asleep when she'd crawled into bed with him.
He remembered the shift of the mattress and cracking an eye open in the near darkness of the room to check on her.
"Sorry." She'd whispered, leaning over to press a kiss to the side of head, "Didn't mean to wake you up."
He'd been thankful for the disruption, knowing he could rest easier with her there. Knowing she was beside him and safe.
He'd been so tired that it wasn't until after finding the coloring page and thinking back the prior night that the irregularities came into focus.
Every other night when she came to bed she smelled of her toothpaste and a sugar scrub she used on her face. An oddly pleasant scent of sweet mint he'd grown accustomed to.
But last night when she'd leaned over to kiss him, her breath smelled of alcohol with a touch of mint. Like she'd chewed a stick of gum but hadn't taken the time to brush her teeth.
When her hair brushed over his face he could faintly smell cigarette smoke; there was a staleness with it, like nicotine stains on walls that seemed to cling when you brushed against it.
Her skin was cold and along with the booze and smoke she smelled like the night.
Like she'd came home; peeled her clothes from the day off, changed into her nightie and went straight to bed with the cold air still lingering to her skin.
It all made sense now.
The bar they'd found the man's body outside of was one that allowed smoking; the air would have been thick with it, so much so that even walking through the door would leave you smelling of it.
"You killed him?" Jim asked but it obviously a statement.
"He killed himself." Bird retorted.
Jim's brows lowered, that the was the part he hadn't been able to piece together either. By all accounts the scene was a classic suicide. Nothing out of the ordinary or to lead anyone to believe foul play was involved.
"Bird..." Jim shook his head at her, not amused with the deflection. He repeated her own words back to her, "I'm too tired to play these games."
"You did this." He stepped closer, "Didn't you?"
"Yes." She admitted, her mouth was dry and her tongue almost felt swollen against the roof of her mouth.
"Damn it." His head dropped forward.
As if he didn't already know the answer.
She watched him while he refused to look her at her and wondered if he'd wanted her to deny it.
Bird tilted her head down, trying to get him to look at her again but he didn't.
"How?" Jim asked, "The crime scene was textbook suicide. How?"
She swallowed hard.
She would admit her role in what happened, but she had no intention of telling him how she'd pulled it off.
"It doesn't matter." Bird shrugged again even though he wasn't watching her.
She and Ivy had discussed how they'd kill him on the way to the bar but they'd still been undecided by the time they got there.
It wasn't until later on that night that she'd pulled Ivy into the bathroom with her for a break from the noise. From the unpleasantness of the atmosphere that the plan had come together.
They'd barely been at the bar for ten minutes before their target had approached them. Squeezing in the space between them and making them both uncomfortable. Arms stretched out across their shoulders as he repeatedly told them they were much too pretty to be there alone.
The obvious glances down their tops as he stood above them.
Unwanted touches that left them feeling like they'd need to scrub down with bleach.
It wasn't even a part of the plan, talking to him.
Bird had said they'd observe him and probably follow him when he left, but he'd been the one to approach them.
"Another for them!" He called out to the bartender to refill Bird and Ivy's drinks, "On me."
Like it would guarantee that at least one of them would leave with him.
As if plying them with alcohol and picking up the tab would ensure they owed him something.
It was the feeling of his hand sliding down Bird's back and the liquor stench on his breath as he leaned over to whisper to something to her that she didn't want to hear, that Bird jerked away from him and scrambled off the bar-stool.
She'd have laid him out if she wasn't trying to avoid making a scene.
"Ladies room." She chuckled with a tight feeling in her throat as she grabbed Ivy's hand and pulled her along.
Once the door swung shut behind them, Bird leaned over the sink and took a few deep breaths.
"He's sooo gross." Ivy complained, wrapping her arms around herself with a shiver.
"If I wasn't trying to be invisible, I'd break every single bone in his hands -one by one." Bird grumbled.
She started to say they needed to figure something out fast because it was only a matter of time before she snapped.
With a mischievous grin, Ivy pulled the small of clear liquid that she'd tucked away in the side of her bra and reminded Bird of the perfume she'd made from strains of exotic plants that would temporarily make someone be completely under her influence.
"We could make him break his own hands." Ivy pointed out.
"Oh my god!" Bird exclaimed, "Ivy! This is perfect."
"Right, he deserves it for how he keeps trying to touch us." Ivy agreed.
"No." Bird shook her head, "Well, I mean yes, but Ivy... we could make him do more than that. We can make him kill himself."
Ivy's eyes widened and she nodded in agreement.
"This is perfect." Bird repeated, "Okay, look I need to get a gun that can't be traced. You distract him and get him out of the bar."
It was perfect.
No one looks for the killer when it's a suicide.
GCPD wouldn't have to exhaust any resources trying to sole a crime that didn't deserve an ending.
It would be as simple as taking the trash out.
"You got it." Ivy grinned.
"Jim." Bird took a step closer to him, her hand finding his arm, "You have to believe me. Gotham is better off with this guy gone."
Her touch was light over the sleeve of his white button up shirt.
Like she expected him to pull away; to recoil from her touch.
But he didn't.
"You should have come to me with the information you had." Jim finally looked at her again, but there was a look on his face as if doing so as painful, "It didn't have to come to this."
"But it did." Her voice begged for his understanding, "It was the only way."
"You're wrong." He argued. Voice raised.
"I'm not." Bird tried to keep her tone steady, "You might not want to admit it, but this was the only way to ensure that bastard would never lay a hand on his daughter or his wife again."
"I saved them." Bird stated.
"Saved them?" Jim's eyes went down to his arm where Bird's fingers were now curling around the fabric of his sleeve. She could feel it coming; knew he was about to pull away and she was trying to hold on.
An expression flashed across his face and in a move that surprised them both, it ended up being Bird who recoiled and backed up.
She'd seen that look on his face before, also directed at her. Back when she'd tried to tell him the truth about Theo Galavan and he most certainly thought she had lost her mind.
"I know this isn't the way you wanted it handled." Bird tried to stop herself but one of her erratic sounding laughs erupted from her chest to spite her, "But if you think the law is set up to protect the victims of abuse... then you're the delusional one, Jim."
The system was deeply flawed. No one could deny that.
"You're missing the point." He ran his tongue over his lips, unsure of how to get her to understand.
"I weighed the value of their lives against his." Bird flatly stated, "And I made a decision."
"But it wasn't your decision to make!"
Jim's outburst caught her off guard.
He took a moment to calm down, compose himself. Knowing that yelling and screaming at each other wouldn't accomplish a single thing.
"Bird." His tone was back to normal and he walked up to her, bridging the distance she'd struck between them. Physically at least. "Do you hear yourself right now?"
"Do you hear me?" Her eyes squinted, "I understand that you don't want me to kill people, but he deserved it."
There it was again, the look on his face shifting, looking at her like she was from a planet other than earth.
'I understand you don't want me to kill people'
Jim rubbed his face.
Her words still inside of his head. Partially in disbelief this was even a conversation they were having.
Not to mention Bird's completely caviler attitude with such a discussion.
Saying she'd made a choice as if she'd opted for pizza over burgers at dinner.
They were talking about lives. About human beings.
He stared at her. Though he wasn't sure what he was waiting on.
Hoping in part maybe the light bulb would ignite above her head, realize that she couldn't just carry on with her life making decisions as to who lived and who died.
But she didn't.
In fact, she was looking at him like he'd been speaking to her in some language she wasn't versed in.
"Are you planning on turning me in?" Bird questioned.
"You already know the answer to that." Jim answered, his posture slouching.
The physical weight of keeping her secrets like they were his own.
He was as loyal to her as she was to him, but she certainly didn't make it easy.
"Then what's the big deal?" Her tone was a little lighter than moments before, "As far as anyone is concerned he realized he was a just a waste of space and did his family a favor."
"The big deal is that you killed someone, Bird." He was at a loss, "That you wrote me a note saying you would be home late. You left our home planning to take someones life and came back like nothing happened -you really can't see what's wrong with that?"
She opened her mouth but before she could try to defend her actions again, his cellphone started to ring.
They stared at each other through the interrupted silence for a few seconds before she took a step back and silently waved her hand for him to answer it.
She listened with her arms crossed over her chest to Jim's side of the conversation.
Knowing immediately their own disagreement was on pause. Duty calls and as always -Jim was bound to answer it.
"That was-" He started to say.
"Work." Bird finished with a feigned smile, "Go. It's okay."
He looked worn down, older than he did when she'd first saw him in the room waiting on her.
"Do you remember the night we were in this same room after Tetch had dosed us with Red Queen?" She hoped she could get him to understand her side of what was happening, "I wasn't in a good place -and you tried to remind me of all the good I do with my position at Wayne Enterprises and all the people I've helped?"
Jim didn't know where she was going, but he slowly nodded.
"Do you remember what I said about all of that?" Her brown eyes were wide as she waited on his answer.
"That..." He searched his memories, "That you didn't feel it."
She nodded.
"I felt this." Bird said, "I helped this family. I did the right thing."
Jim looked deflated. A punching bag someone had let the air out of.
Reaching out he gently took hold of the side of her face and tilted her head so their eyes met again.
She wasn't lying.
He knew that she truly believed she'd done the right thing, but it was far more complicated than that and she didn't seem to realize the position that put him in.
Did she even stop to think before she'd set out to the bar the night before, he wondered.
Leaning in he pressed a kiss to her forehead and then left without looking back.
Left her standing in place with the ghost of his touch still lingering on her skin.
•••
"Oswald." Bird answered her phone with a breath of relief.
When her phone had rang just several minutes before it had been Bruce calling her and she didn't feel like talking to him yet.
She'd just been thinking the day before how she hadn't spoken with her best friend in a while and had planned on calling him after the wedding was over and things calmed down again.
Today was a Mayor's award ceremony where he'd be handing the city award in literature to a man who'd published a book on the city's sewers and history.
It was still beyond her why anyone would want to write a book over sewers.
"Bird!" His voice was nasally, amplified by the small speaker against her ear.
"Sorry I can't make it to the book award ceremony today." She began, thinking it was a normal phone call. A catch up between friends leading very busy lives, "But with the wedding I just don't have time-"
"Never mind that!" Oswald took the phone away from his year to yell into the speaker as he was pacing back forth in front of the fire place.
Cringing, Bird quickly took the phone away from her own ear.
By the time she gained the bravery to raise her phone again, Oswald was in the middle of a frantic rant about how he'd confessed his feelings to Nymga; believing that's where the conversation was headed
As it turned out, when Nymga had suggested he felt they should be more than employer and employee -he'd been about to bring up a business proposal for them to be partners on and not enter into the romantic relationship Oswald had been hoping for.
"I mean-" Oswald scoffed, scuffing the side of his shoe against the floor as he spun around to pace back the other way and nearly lost his balance when his bad leg gave way beneath him, "When he said he wanted to take it further than his working under me... what was I supposed to think?"
"Right." Bird agreed her tone a little scratchy as she sat up on the side of the bed and rubbed her tired eyes with her free hand.
Sleep had evaded her yet again.
"I'm sorry, Oswald." She added, "Anyone would have taken it to mean a more personal relationship and not just business partners."
"Thank you!" He barked.
Sometimes he felt like she was the only other person in Gotham that had any sense.
"But now it's all ruined." His heart sank as he replayed the conversation he and Ed had -had before his Chief of Staff walked out, unpleasantly shocked from the revelation.
"Maybe he just needs time?" Bird tried to offer him some hope.
Throw a line to someone who was drowning.
"You didn't see his face." Oswald's free hand gripped the side of the table for support as he walked by it, "I don't know that he'll ever look at me the same."
"I know what you mean." Her breath was heavy into the microphone, "Jim and I had this... I don't even know if it was a fight, just..." She struggled to explain, "Basically, I did something that needed done but he doesn't agree with my methods and he was looking at me like I was delusional-"
"Who cares?" Oswald's stomach was a ball of nerves and he couldn't hold still.
Nor could he stomach hearing about Bird's love life troubles when he'd just ruined a shot at his own.
Her brows raised, if they'd been face-to-face she didn't think she'd have had the restraint to not strike him.
"If you don't want someone to wallow in misery with then why did you call me?" She snapped.
"To fix this." He answered like it was the only answer that made any sense.
"How?" She laughed, "Nygma and I aren't exactly friends."
"Because we fixed this." Oswald strained, "We fixed us. After..." He lowered his voice, "After I told you how I felt towards you and you didn't return the feelings. I need to know how to get back to the way things were before."
"I don't know that you can." Bird said, trying to be as gentle as possible but still tell him the truth, "I hope you can but every situation is different. Maybe you should start with telling him how much he means to you-"
"That's what destroyed it in the first place." Oswald rolled his eyes.
His heart was still racing against his rib cage.
Trouble thinking clearly when his body was stuck in a state of flight or fight.
"Not like that!" She grumbled with a small noise as she stood up and stretched her back out after her unsuccessful attempt to nap, "As a friend. Tell him how important he is to you and that you want him in your life -even if all he can give you is friendship."
"That's...." He pulled in a breath and his racing thoughts slowed some. He didn't feel as hopeless, "That sounds like a perfect place to start."
Taking the silence on the phone as her turn to vent, Bird said, "Jim knows me. He knew how I handled things before we were ever together. So it's not like he didn't know what he was getting into. And it's not like I walked up and gunned some innocent person down in the street-"
"Bird!" Oswald interrupted her again, "Focus. This is about Ed!"
Without another word to him, Bird took her phone away from her ear and clamped the flip-phone shut.
If he didn't have time to listen to her then she wasn't going to make time to listen to his woes either.
Sometimes he was the most selfish person she'd ever crossed paths with.
As she made her way into the bathroom, her reflection in the large mirrors brought her to a halt.
She looked awful. Her face was blotchy and her eyes were puffy -not to mention the tangled mess of hair hanging limply from her head.
What a mess, she thought as she stared at her reflection, The stylists for the wedding would have to work miracle to get her presentable for all the photopgrahy that would be at the wedding that night.
A mess, she thought again, her life had spiraled into disaster within a matter of twenty-four hours.
It felt like someone was playing a cruel joke on her and she wasn't in on it.
••• Later that day •••
"You didn't have to rush over." Mario said as he opened the door to let Bird into his house.
"Jim arrested you?" She asked as she walked past him inside of the house.
Rolling up the sleeve of his royal blue shirt, Mario showed the band-aid on his arm, "I couldn't leave until they tested me for the Tetch virus. Results were negative, of course."
"God." Bird sighed, "I am so sorry."
"For what?" His brows lowered, "This is on him; not you. You don't need to apologize for him."
"But I think this is my fault." Bird shrugged off her coat onto the arm rest of one of the chairs and dropped into the seat, "We got into a disagreement earlier and he's tried to call me a few times since then and I haven't answered."
"I just..." She laughed and rubbed her face, "I am having the absolute worst day."
"I don't even know why I'm laughing right now because it's been terrible. One thing after another, It's awful." She shook her head at herself.
"One of those days where if you don't laugh about it, you'd cry?" Mario guessed with an empathetic expression.
"Not gonna lie." Bird nodded, "I'm getting there."
"Drink?" Mario offered as he started to pour himself one.
"No." She declined.
"You sure?" He asked, "Come on. Have a drink with me and we can play a game of trying to one-up the other with how miserable the day has been."
She didn't agree, but didn't protest when he set the crystal glass half-full of amber liquid on the coffee table in front of her before sitting down on the couch across from her.
"You don't want to play 'whose got it worse' with me." Bird warned, "I'll win. I got into a fight with Bruce this morning, he practically disowned me."
"Well..." Mario let out a heavy exhale, "I got arrested on my wedding day -by my fiancee's ex. Who is telling people I'm infected with a blood virus that's turned me into a rage driven lunatic."
"That is pretty bad." Bird chuckled.
"And we've still got a good part of the day to go." Mario tipped his drink in the air.
"I killed somebody." Bird cleared her throat, "And Jim found out."
Her brother stopped, his expression falling blank for just a moment of hesitation before asserting, "I'm sure you had a good reason for doing what you did."
Bird nodded, eyeing the drink on the table but not consuming any of it.
She had a feeling if she started drinking that day she might not be able to find it in her to quit.
"I did." She agreed, her eyes getting a bit of life back in them, "He was beating the crap out of his wife and kid. He wasn't going to stop either."
"So you saved them." Mario pointed out.
"That's what I thought too." Bird agreed, "But then Jim..." Her voice trailed off.
"It's not important." She swiped a hand through the air. Clean slate. "You're getting married today and the last thing you want to do is listen to my troubles."
"Not true."
He assured her that he cared, that he wanted to hear what was going on and that he'd always be there when she needed him.
It seemed like her biological half-brother was the only one she could get along with anymore.
Several minutes later their conversation was interrupted by a phone ringing.
The siblings stared at each other until Bird asked, "You gonna get that?"
"It's not..." His voice trailed off and he raised up from his seat, feeling around on the cluttered coffee table until he uncovered a cellphone right as it stopped ringing.
"Lee's." Mario explained, "Must have forgotten it this morning when she left."
Bird nodded, accepting it was left there by mistake. After all, Lee surely would have a lot on her mind that day trying to get all the last minute touches together before the wedding.
She laughed as she told him how she'd actually forgotten her own phone earlier that morning.
When he didn't respond to the coincidence, Bird asked him what was wrong.
Holding out the phone he showed her the missed call log with the most recent at the top: Jim Gordon.
The phone chimed an alert of a voicemail and Bird's heart sank.
Seeing the look on her face, Mario reasoned, "It's probably nothing-"
"Play it." Bird ordered.
Obeying, Mario played the message on speaker for them both,
"Lee! Lee, it's Jim. Listen you can't marry Mario. I have to tell you something. Call me as soon as you get this."
There was a pause, the sounds of car honking nearby.
"You cannot marry him."
The message ended and Mario slid the phone shut, letting it fall from his hand on the table without a word.
"It's not what it sounds like." Bird immediately defended.
Though she didn't have an explanation for what was happening either.
"I am so sorry." Mario walked over and put a hand on her shoulder, "I know it's hard to hear, but this is what has had me so concerned. That Jim's still in love with Lee."
"No." She stammered getting to her feet to face him, "I don't have an explanation for that-" She waved her arm wildly toward the phone on the table, "But he's not in love with her. He -he can't be."
When she was met by a look on his face of sympathy, saw that he felt sorry for her she felt her legs start to wavier, "I would know, right? I mean why would he be with me... be building a life with me if he loves her?"
"I don't have an answer for that." Mario shook his head, "Other than he's not as good a man as you think he is."
When they heard a car door slam outside, Mario looked towards the windows and said in a tone of disbelief, "Speaking of the devil."
Without a word, Bird walked away, ducked around the side of the stairs just out of sight from the room.
Just seconds later the front door flew open as Jim darted in without even knocking, "Lee! Lee are you here? It's Jim."
"Hello Jim." Mario greeted from the chair he'd just sat down in, "Lee's not here, but I saw you left her a message."
He picked up the phone from the table and shook it back and forth. Taunting him.
"Drink?" Mario motioned to Bird's still untouched glass.
"No, thanks." Jim declined, "How'd you pass the test?"
"Because I don't have the virus." Mario stated in a tone showing he felt Jim lacked all common sense.
Stepping closer to him, his voice lowered so only Jim could hear, "Or do I?"
With that he smiled wickedly and walked around Jim, going for a refill of his own scotch.
"You going to arrest me again Jim?" Mario called out, "You want to look even more like the paranoid ex-lover?"
The glass bottle stopper clinked as he pulled it from the bottle and looked over to where Bird was staying out of sight, "I'll only pass it again."
"I'll find out how you beat it." Jim swore, "Only a matter of time."
"Let's say I do have the virus. How would I have gotten it?" Mario questioned.
"From Tetch." Jim answered, "When he dosed me with a hallucinogen."
Crossing the room and going closer to where Jim was standing, Mario said, "For Barnes, the virus stoked his anger at the guilty."
He paused to take a drink, "What dark part of me has it brought to life."
"Jealously." Jim didn't miss a beat, "You're afraid of losing Lee."
"Careful..." Mario warned, "Don't say something you can't take back. You are in a relationship with my sister after all."
His expression grew pointed but his voice stayed level, "Wouldn't want her to get hurt, now would you?"
It didn't sound like a threat, but the look on his face gave the true intention of the warning away.
"This has nothing to do with Bird-" Jim stepped forward, confrontational.
It was then that he saw the familiar coat draped over the edge of the chair, realized there was a second glass already full on the table.
"Where is she?" Jim growled.
Misreading the situation, he thought Bird was in danger.
What he didn't realize was the damage he'd done himself.
From where she'd been hiding she could hear the level tone of Mario's voice when he'd brought up about Jim not wanting her to get hurt, but hadn't been able to see his face to know it was a threat.
She'd been to far away to hear her brother taunting Jim over the possibility of being infected with the virus.
From where she'd been standing the situation made it look exactly like Mario had wanted, for Jim to look like the unhinged one. The paranoia ridden ex who couldn't let Lee go; no matter what it cost him.
"She's right here." Bird announced as she stepped into view and entered the room.
"Thank god you're okay, I was worried-" Jim started to say but the relief he felt at seeing she was unharmed didn't last long as she refused to look at him and made a beeline for where her coat was.
"I am far from okay, Jim!" She exclaimed as she gripped the fabric of her coat tightly in her shaking hands.
Her face felt like she had flames licking at her skin.
"Bird!" Jim yelled as she darted past them towards the door.
She had to get out of there.
Physically blocking him from going after her, Mario stepped in the way, "Let her go." He said, "I think you've damaged her enough."
"You son of a bitch." Jim's voice was a growl from behind his teeth.
"You sure you don't want that drink?" Mario smirked.
"I want to know why you put me on your trail. What your endgame is here." Jim stared him down, "What are you after?"
"You still haven't figured it out?" The smirk pulled the corner of his mouth tighter against his teeth.
Mario walked past Jim to return to the seat he'd been previously sitting in. Leisurely crossed one leg over the over.
With the drink in his hand he looked like he didn't have a care in the world.
Drawing his gun, Jim pointed out, "The virus makes you strong, not bulletproof."
"You know, Jim." Mario asked, "With all this virus talk you seem to keep forgetting one thing."
His voice centered, "I'm still Carmine Falcone's son."
Jim's brows lowered.
Looking past Jim's shoulder, Mario smiled, "You know Victor, don't you?"
Jim whirled around but not in time to get the drop on Victor Zsasz, who already had a gun and trained eye on him.
Victor smiled, predatory as a shark, "Hi-ho."
With a satisfied smile on his face, Mario raised his glass and finished off the last of his drink.
•••
"You're a miracle worker." Bird complimented the stylist who'd just finished up with her, "I look human again."
With a chuckle, the woman finished closing up her make-up case and laughed, "That's why you pay me the big bucks."
"Bird!"
Looking in the mirror on the vanity she was still seated in front of, Bird stared at Jim's reflection as he stood in the doorway, trying to catch his breath from running through the church trying to find her.
"You're not supposed to be here, Jim." She stood up and turned to face him, her eyes cutting up to the clock on the wall. The wedding was close. The church was already filling with the guests.
When the stylist hesitated to leave, Bird gave her a small nod letting her know it was okay.
As soon as they were left alone, Jim started, "Bird, listen-"
"What are you even doing here?" She crossed her arms over her chest, avoided his eyes, "Looking for Lee?"
"She can't marry him." Jim walked closer, "Mario is infected with the Tetch virus."
"Yeah?" She scoffed, "Then why did the test show otherwise?"
He looked around the room, his eyes settling back on her and a pain shot through his chest at how she was acting. It wasn't even that she wouldn't look at him; it felt more like she couldn't look at him.
It had felt like an impossibly long day. The fight they'd had -had been the first in a chain of events that had unraveled into disaster.
"Last night one of the employees who works at the lab where they developed the test for the virus was killed. His key card was stolen." He shook his head, he didn't have time to give a play-by-play of his entire day. He just needed her to believe him, "It was Mario. That's how he cheated the test."
"You saw him there?"
"No."
He explained how he'd been attacked at the lab. How he'd woke up with the word Arkham written on his hand and he'd followed the lead.
Spoken to Jervis Tetch and how managed to outsmart him and get him to all but admit he'd infected Mario with Alice's blood the day he'd dosed Jim with Red Queen at the hospital.
"What is wrong with you?" Bird's tone was sharp.
Her eyes raised to meet his.
After wanting her to look at him for so long he suddenly regretted it.
The expression on her face, the look in her eyes cut through him like a shards of glass blowing through.
"Seriously." Her tone was breathy, exhausted and weak, "What the hell is wrong you?"
"I know how it sounds, but you have to believe me-"
"Why should I?" She took a step back, "All this time acting like I'm the bad guy. Like there's something wrong with me when even I'm not cruel enough to do what you've been doing."
Jim's face lined.
"You want to say I'm the one living with one foot stuck in the past?" Her voice faltered, eyes stung, "Mario tried to tell me, but I couldn't hear it. Do you still love her?"
"What?" His voice raised. Growing frantic, "No. I'm trying to save her from him. He's sick. He's infected he'll kill her!"
"I have to find him. I have to stop this!" His voice bounced back from the paneled walls of the small room.
"I -I can't do this." Bird blinked as she started past him towards the door but he grabbed onto her arm to bring her to a stop.
"Stop it!" She yelled, jerking her arm away from him and pushing him away from her, "You need to leave, Jim."
"Bird-" Her name came out as a cry for help. An unanswered prayer.
A single tear rolled down her cheek, traced black from the thick coat of mascara on her lashes.
Jim's mouth was open. Trying to think of the right words to say. How to get her to believe him.
Her chin quivered, voice cracking as she asked, "Why?"
"I don't understand." She swatted the tear away and blinked to try and keep anymore salt from spilling out, "You said you loved me, that you wanted a future with me... why... how..."
She felt the moisture on her cheek as another tear broke free and then another.
Her hand went to her chest, heaving for a breath but all the oxygen was gone.
"After everything-" She stammered in broken words. Breathing in fits and gasps, "How could you?"
"No." It was his voice that was cracking now, "I do love you! Bird-"
Her blurry eyes focused on his face, his frantic expression, the way his eyes kept dating towards the doorway. Like he didn't have the time to be standing there with her.
His mouth was still moving but the sound of his voice had faded into nothing as she stared at him.
And then he stepped forward, a hand reaching towards her. Verbally and physically trying to get her to understand how dire the situation was. How many lives could be in danger with Mario being infected by the Tech virus.
She stepped back. She didn't want to talk to him, didn't want him to touch her -in that moment she didn't even want to look at him.
And so she didn't.
She turned and ran for the door; ran from the room as fast as her legs would carry her. She wanted to keep running, find an exit of the large church and break free into the city and shed parts of her along the way.
Her heart was breaking, her chest physically hurt.
Heart with a jagged break down the center. Struck by lightening and cracked. Torn apart.
But she couldn't. As much as she wanted to just keep running she couldn't.
The wedding was minutes away now and she didn't think she had the strength left in her body to flee.
So she settled for a bathroom down the hallway.
If she couldn't put the distance between them that she needed then a three inch thick door would have to do.
A physical, tangible barrier between herself and the person who'd hurt her.
If she could torn her heart from her chest to stop the ache she would have.
"Bird!"
The sound of her name came with a groan as Jim tried to open the door but it was locked and he'd practically collided with it.
Bird backed away from the door.
Two steps back.
Retreating into hiding; the smartest move when you know you don't have the energy left for a fight.
"Listen-" He started, his open palm hand hitting against the door.
"I'm done listening to you." She yelled with the strength she could muster, "You need to leave."
"Bird-"
"I want you to leave." Bird clarified.
All day she'd been telling herself to just make it through the day.
It had been one awful occurrence after another.
When it rains it pours.
But she'd been so convinced that if she made it through the day that with the sunrise she could pick up the pieces -now she wasn't so sure..
"Go away." The emotion in her voice betrayed the anger she's put up as shield.
"This isn't what you think." Jim tried to reason, "Mario is infected. He's dangerous -we're running out of time. I have to find him and stop this before it's too late."
He was met dead silence.
Cold; a layer of ice covering his skin.
"I'll fix this." His voice softened. Quieted with the vow.
Bird moved closed to the door to hear him.
"Okay?" His head fell forward. Forehead resting against the sanded wood, "People are in danger and right now I have to stop Mario, but when this is over... I'll fix this. I promise, Bird."
He raised his head, he wasn't sure if he heard her move behind the door or if he'd imagined it.
She didn't say anything and he couldn't hear any more movement.
Slowly, she inched closer her eyes going to the gap under the door where she could see his shoes and knew he was still there.
He was hesitating to leave and internally she willed him to stay. Even if someone else was in real danger -she still wanted him to choose her.
To prioritize their relationship above all else.
There was a hesitation in his step, but finally he walked away.
Internally vowing the same thing he'd promised her out loud.
That he'd fix everything.
•••
"Hey?" Mario's voice raised in question as Bird darted into the room with him and shut the door behind her, "Is everything okay-"
"We need to talk." Bird asserted.
"Right -right now?" He stammered with a laugh, "You do realize I have a very important event to get to."
She didn't crack a smile at the joke.
The last traces of his smile fell from his face and he took a step closer to her, "Are you okay?"
"I don't know." Bird admitted, standing her ground she asked, "Are you infected?"
"You can't be serious." Mario's worry turned to annoyance.
"I am." She walked closer, "Did Jervis Tetch infect you with Alice's blood?"
"How could you even ask me that with a straight face?" Mario stared at her.
"Jim is convinced-" She started to say but he didn't let her finish.
Closing the distance, he rested his hands on her shoulders, "Look at me."
When she did, he continued, "Do I look like I'm infected with the Tetch virus?"
Her eyes traced his face, the familial features.
In the grand scheme of things she'd only known him a short while; but it felt like a lifetime.
He was family and more important to her was that he felt like family.
Lately, he'd been there for her more than anyone else.
Which is why a pain shot through her when she honestly answered, "I don't know, Mario."
The look on his face was as if she'd stabbed him too.
His hands fell from her shoulders and he stared at her, silently asking how she could think such a thing.
"I looked Captain Barnes in the eyes and I didn't have a clue he was infected until it was too late." Bird swallowed hard, "And all I keep thinking is that I know Jim and he's-"
"Obsessed?" Mario scoffed.
Dog with a bone.
The phrase ran through her head, the way she used to hurl it at Jim like an insult.
But it was that very attitude that saved countless lives. It was part of what made him -him.
"A great detective." Bird corrected, "And usually right... as annoying as that can be."
"Yeah?" Mario bit down on the side of his tongue, "Well he's wrong about this."
"If you are infected, then I need you to tell me. To trust me." Bird pleaded, "We can find somewhere safe for you until there's a cure and -"
"I'm not infected!" His voice raised, "I passed the test multiple times."
"I'm asking you to be honest with me." Bird talked through his protest, "As your sister."
"And as your brother, I'm telling you I don't have the Tetch virus." Mario swore.
"And!" He cleared his throat, "I don't have time to stand here and argue with you. I can't be late to my own wedding."
Bird's eyes darted over to the clock and with a slow exhale, she accepted his answer.
Decided to believe him.
"Okay." Her voice was quiet.
"Okay." He nodded, leaning down some to catch her line of sight.
Managing a smile and trying to ignore the ache in her own chest, she added, "Okay. I'm sorry."
She waved a hand through the air like she could erase the last several minutes, "I'm really happy for you."
Stepping forward she hugged him, squeezing tightly and silencing the doubt in her mind.
It was a few minutes later she was walking down the hallway when a trio of women passed her, their whispering muted the moment they saw her.
Bird stopped in place, her eyes squinting in question at them.
None of them said a word to her as they scurried past her in their formal gowns.
It wasn't until they were a ways down the hallway that she remembered they'd been in the photo shoot prior to the wedding.
Friends of Lee's -or at least acquaintances that were involved in the wedding.
She felt the color start to rise to her face, the blood starting to pool under the surface of her flesh.
They way they'd whispered and rushed past her, a group of grown women acting like school girls with a secret...like she was the butt of a joke she wasn't even aware of.
They were coming from the direction of the room where Lee would have been getting ready for the ceremony.
Jim hadn't Mario -he must have found Lee instead.
Her heart wanted to turn the other direction, follow in the trio's direction towards the filling pews of Gothamites showing up to witness a Falcone wedding.
But her feet didn't follow what she wanted, instead they carried her closer to the room.
"Can't you see?" Lee's voice was shrill with emotion, "Tetch is planing ideas in your head! Don't you remember? He's done this before."
"No!" Jim yelled back, "This isn't like that!"
"What is more likely?" Lee argued, "That Tetch is messing with your head or that Mario has Alice's virus?"
"He's infected!" Jim's voice raised.
As if the louder he yelled the more of what he was saying might sink in.
"Damn you!" Lee's voice cracked with emotion, "I moved on. After everything you've done... I had to go through the worst time of my life alone and it was Mario who helped me heal from that. And now you... you show up with these accusations on my wedding day! When I finally have something good in my life. Why?"
Bird stepped into the room after eavesdropping from the hallway.
"Come on." Bird calmly said, extending her hand to Lee, "You have a wedding to get to."
Who'd tried to make several exits from the room but kept getting pulled back in by Jim.
Bird didn't look at Jim, she couldn't. If she looked at him she feared she wouldn't be able to breathe again.
So she kept her eyes on Lee, her hand still extended like a life raft in frigid water for her soon to be sister-in-law to take.
And she did.
Lee tightly gripped her hand and let Bird pull her from the room. Holding onto her like she was only the thing keeping her standing -she might have been.
Jim tried to go after then, but Bird hadn't been the only one out in the hallway. Carmine Falcone had been there too, and he intervened.
Placing himself as a barrier between the hallway Bird and Lee had made their escape down and where Jim was trying to get to them.
"Detective Gordon." Carmine's greeting was dry.
Nodding to two of the guards near him, he continued, "Show him out."
Jim's mouth hung open, watching both Lee and Bird walk away, he finally understood what Mario's plan had been all along.
It hadn't made sense to him why Mario had-had Zsasz only hold him until right before the wedding.
Why he'd even put Jim on his trail to begin with.
All to make him look like a crazed jealous ex.
Not only to erase any care that Lee still felt for him -but also to drive a wedge between him and Bird.
•••
Standing barefoot in her kitchen, Bird pulled the pins out of her hair that was holding together the elegant updo and dropped one by one with a small pink onto the counter.
Each one landing next to the open bottle of wine and the stem glass she'd been drinking from.
With her hair finally loose, she massaged her scalp and shook the rest of her hair free.
Even though she'd been home for several minutes she was still in the dress she'd wore to the wedding reception.
The party had barely been mid-swing when she'd noticed Lee and Mario ducked out.
Not that she blamed them.
Detective Alvarez was there, officially keeping an eye on the party from GCPD -unofficially, she knew Jim had sent him there.
Nothing kills the buzz like a police state at a celebration.
She'd left shortly after the newlyweds, drove herself home and took a long way through the city to the get there.
Trying to clear her mind some; it didn't help.
Taking another drink of the burgundy, her attention was drawn to her clutch bag from the party laying on the counter. It was buzzing from her phone vibrating inside.
She stared at the small bag. Laser focus until it stopped.
Just as she'd started to take another drink the phone rang again.
Setting her glass down, she reached forward and unsnapped the clasp on the bag.
Who could it be, she wondered.
At this point the possibilities were truly endless.
Bruce could be calling to apologize again. Oswald could be calling to vent more about how terribly wrong his declaration of love went with Nygma.
Most likely of all, she guessed it was probably Jim, who'd surely still be touting the new company line that Mario was infected with the virus.
She wondered if he'd come home that night -and if she'd even be there when he did.
Pulling her phone out she saw it was Bullock calling.
She nearly ignored the call, but on second thought she answered it.
"Bullock..." She drew his name out in a greeting that showed how his call was an unpleasant surprise.
"I know Lee and Mario skipped out of the party early." Bullock started, "Where were they going?"
She could hear the buzzing of voices in the background.
"Why would I tell you?" She shot back, "Because Jim wants to know?"
"He's infected, Bird." Bullock sighed, his breath hitting the small microphone and hurting her ear, "It's true. We got the proof."
"But Lucius gave him test-"
"Lucius is the one who found the proof!" Bullock argued, "Ch-chloro..."
His voice trailed off, not having a damn clue how to pronounce the medication Mario had used to alter his test results.
Despite the fact that she was gripping the phone to her face, pressed tightly against her ear -Bullock's voice started to sound further and further away.
"Look, the point is it's true. He's infected." Bullock gave up.
"Where's..." She cleared her throat, trying to stay in the present. Process information as it was being given to her, "Where's Jim."
"Took off to see Falcone." Bullock answered, "Look, we all want to bring Mario in without incident before he harms Lee. I know that you know where they are."
"The cabin." Bird recalled.
"What cabin?" He questioned, "I need more detail than that!"
"It's a cabin Falcone owns. A woodsy retreat." Bird stammered, managing ton get the address out before she traded the phone in her hand for the car keys and raced for the door.
The drive to the off road cabin was a blur.
Her body had ran on autopilot to get her there while her mind was overtaken.
She felt guilty for not believing Jim.
Stupid for letting Mario get in her head and convince her that Jim was still in love with Lee.
Under all of that, a sick part of her was relieved it was true.
That Jim was only concerned about Lee's safety and he'd meant it when he swore he loved her and not Lee.
But above it all was a weighted feeling of dread.
Despite the beautiful scenery she felt like she was driving straight into a storm.
Presented with proof that his son was infected, she knew Falcone would also disclose Mario's location.
And with her confession of the same, GCPD would already be en-route to the cabin.
With the gas pedal pushed to the floor, she'd sped there as fast as possible to try and beat everyone there.
If she could get there first, maybe she could talk to him. Get him to come in, to agree to a temporary hold until a cure was found. The last she'd heard from Lee, the lab was working on that and hoped to have it fully developed within the next few months.
But as she pulled into the drive she saw Jim's car was already there, the driver's side door left standing open.
Her stomach lurched.
The entire time she'd been thinking about keeping Mario safe, even hoping to get there before he had a chance to hurt Lee - it hadn't crossed her mind about Jim's life being in danger.
She hadn't expected him to beat her there.
Getting out of her car, she darted up to the front door.
"Mario?" She yelled as the screen door shut behind her. The sounds of crickets chirping was loud through the screen. In the otherwise silence it was almost deafening, "Lee?" She called out.
The dizzy rush she'd been in had slowed as she moved through the house.
No sign of struggle. No blood. Nothing seemed to be amiss.
But she couldn't breathe a sigh of relief.
With each step she started to fear what she'd find at the next turn.
A horror movie in slow motion.
Until she saw someone.
It was Lee, just in view from the open sliding door.
She was fine, standing next to table with bottle of champagne on ice.
When Bird started for her she saw Lee wasn't alone. Mario was there with her.
Creeping up behind her with a large knife drawn into the air.
"Mario!" Bird screamed, breaking into a run in their direction.
Lee started to look inside the house but then something else drew her attention when she heard her own name being yelled.
"Jim-" She started to question as he came up the side stairs to the porch.
There were two flashes of light, The heat of bullets zipping past her. The way the gunshots shattered the silence.
The absolute shock of what was happening paralyzed her.
Bird made it to the door just in time to see Mario's body drop to the sanded deck.
His white shirt turning crimson with blood from the gunshot wounds.
She staggered towards where he was laying, his glassy eyes met hers -he was there for a fleeting second and then he was gone.
Lee's hands went to her face that had been spattered with blood. The sickening warmth against her cheek.
Her head caught up with what had happened quicker than her feet and she nearly tripped over herself trying to turn around and see what had happened.
The hands of the clock had slowed. Time was moving in slow motion; nearly standing still.
Bird's eyes pulled away from her older brother's dead body just in time to witness Lee's reaction to her husband being killed on their wedding night.
Her legs swayed, her hands clutching onto own scalp like she was trying to hold her mind together.
The mournful scream that sounded louder than the gunshots had.
•••
Bird stared down to the screen on her phone as it grew dim before fading to black.
It was a rare thing for her shut her phone completely off, but times like this called for it.
Times when she didn't want to be found or be reachable to anyone.
It was mere moments after Jim had shot and killed Mario at the cabin that GCPD was on the scene and Bird had used the chaos to slip away unnoticed.
"Thanks." She said with a grateful tone as she took the crystal glass offered to her with something much stronger than the wine she'd been drinking earlier that evening.
"I've had the absolute worst day." She dryly laughed against the rim of the glass before throwing it back. Letting the alcohol burn her tongue. The heat filled her belly. "Everything that could have gone wrong did and now Mario..." She shook her head.
"These next few days... maybe the next week or two is going to be really hard." She sat the glass down on the coffee table in front of her, "It's not only that Jim's going to try and find me when I cannot see him right now. It's going to be the press. The reporters. Even Bruce, who'll want to make nice now that this happened."
Waving a hand through the air, Bird explained, "We're fighting over something right now."
She scratched at the side of her neck. Ran her fingers through her hair.
Like she didn't know what to do with her limbs anymore and was struggling to find a use for them.
"I know I have no right to show up like this." Her head dropped forward, eyes going to her travel bag of belongings. What she called her go-bag that she always kept on hand, "But I can't go to Wayne Manor. Oswald is too focused on his own heartache. As it turns out I don't have many friends."
With a dry chuckle she ran her fingers through her hair again, scratching at her scalp and messily pulling most of her hair over to one side.
"I thought about a hotel." She continued to fill the silence with rambling, "Fleeing the city even. But Mario's funeral will be coming up soon and... the truth is, that I... I don't trust myself to be alone right now."
"This is the one place where no one will think to look for me." Bird pulled in a deep breath; looked across the coffee table and asked, "Can I stay here for now?"
Harvey swallowed hard. His chest felt tight. Lack of air; lack of oxygen.
Bird was a bad idea.
She always had been and yet here he was, still getting tangled up in his ex-fiance's mess.
"Of course." The agreement was forced out with what little air he had left.
Years later and he apparently still couldn't say no to her.
"I..." He cleared his throat. He wanted to tell her this wasn't smart. That nothing good ever seemed to come out of them spending time together, but instead apologized, "I still never got around to getting beds for the spare bedrooms-"
"I'll sleep here." Bird relaxed back into plush cushion, "I've slept worst places. Plus, I picked this couch out."
Harvey's eyes darted back to Bird's face.
She hadn't been in the house for a full ten minutes yet and she was already reminding him that the space used to belong to her just as much as him.
"Yeah..." He managed to say.
This was definitely a bad idea.
•••