"Stupid recipes, turning deliciousness into work..." Alyssa muttered as she fumbled to find all the necessary ingredients. A bag of flour slipped from the counter and exploded all over her. "Ah! Damn it..."
"What are you doing?"
She looked up to see Jerome in the kitchen doorway watching her with an amused smirk. Alyssa huffed and let her hands drop to her sides, the flour puffing where her hands hit her legs.
"Uh, the 'Mama Gotham Foundation' is having a bake sale. Or its supposed to anyway; for some reason I'm only a good cook when I'm the one that gets to eat what I make."
"Want some help?"
"Yes please."
He smiled at her. "Go clean yourself up, I'll see what I can do here."
With a grateful smile, Alyssa left the kitchen to wash the flour off her. Selina watched the exchange from the living room, slightly unsettled. She had been unsettled ever since what Jerome had told her last night. The Jerome she knew was the sweetest, most caring boy in the world. Not that his mother didn't deserve what she had gotten but....whoa.
She felt bad for it, but it made her see him in a slightly different light. She had seen Lyla's body, how the hell could the same person who did that be baking brownies in her kitchen with a content smile?
"Ya know, I can feel you staring." he said without looking up.
She blinked and shook her head. "Sorry."
"No, if you have something to say, then say it." he looked up at her.
Selina frowned as she studied his expression. No, there was no sign of malice, or even anger. Right now, Jerome looked like the same sweet boy she'd declared her brother. "I'm just...still trying to process it."
"The bitch deserved what she got."
"I know. Its got nothin' to do with her, its you. I never you'd be the kinda person...."
"Selina I'm still me." his hands gripped at the edge of the kitchen island. "I'm the same Jerome I've always been. I'm still your brother."
His grip tightened with every word, and his gazed hardened. Selina nodded and agreed with him, but she couldn't ignore the chills going down her spine.
For the first time, Jerome had looked like somebody who'd kill someone.
******
Alyssa Connors was rude, brash, obnoxious and stubborn as heck. But....she was also a good person. She was loyal, and she had a good heart.
Jim knew that, and he respected it. But after she had all but shut down his case, he didn't really think much of the woman's redeeming factors.
He tracked down the man who had worked the case to get Alyssa custody of Jerome, and was stunned when the name came up: Harvey Dent. What the hell was a district attorney doing working with Alyssa?
As it turned out, quite a bit.
"Alyssa approached me when she first returned to Gotham." Harvey informed, once he had calmed Jim down slightly. "Want my help in creating a charity that takes in street kids. The kids took to calling her 'Mama', and the press came up with the name from there."
"But why you?" he frowned. "She had the money, why not hire her own lawyer?"
He shrugged. "Said she wanted someone who genuinely wanted to help; not someone who was only there for the paycheck."
"And Valeska?"
"Good kid in a bad situation, you can see how that's Alyssa's MO."
"And you just went along with it?"
He nodded. "Alyssa Connors gets whatever she asks from me."
"Can I ask why?"
"Jim, in your career as a detective, you've been trying to clean up the city, yes?"
"Yeah." Jim said, not sure where this was going.
"I've strived to do the same as a district attorney, and neither of us have gotten very far. But Alyssa has."
"Because she's one of the crooks!"
"Because she understands how this city works!" Harvey countered. "Instead of trying to change the corrupt system, she's used it to her advantage and done nothing but good with it. She has saved those kids, and countless others." he leaned against his desk. "I think we can both respect a woman who knows how to thrive in darkness."
******
Respect or no respect, Jim simply didn't like to loose.
He drove himself nuts looking over the documents Harvey had given him copies of. There had to be something that could get his case going again; surely if he found the evidence it wouldn't matter what protections Alyssa had.
"Dinner's ready." Lee said, but he didn't look up. "Jim."
"Hmm?"
"You're not still trying to find something on Alyssa, are you?"
Having such a close relationship with the GCPD – and Edward – Lee and Alyssa had met several times. Alyssa was pleasant, other than the times she'd told the doctor off for psychoanalyzing her.
"There has to be something. No one can be impervious to the law."
"You know I always found it odd that you two don't get along. You've actually go a lot in common."
"We do not." Jim frowned. "I'm a cop, she's a criminal."
"She runs a charity."
"Its a front."
"If you say so." Lee sighed. "But you can't deny facts; you're both stubborn, loyal, and you hate to loose. Got a steady set of morals too." She stepped up to the bed and sat down next to him. "So I wondered; how to such similar people clash so much?"
"Lee...."
"Then it hit me why this girl drives you so crazy: she's better than you."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Means you've been trying to do good in this city and failing. She came out of no where and did twice what you've done in half the time. And that drives you nuts."
******
With Jerome making things for the bake sale, Alyssa was able to go out on a date with Edward, which left him and Selina alone in the apartment.
"Are you ever gonna tell her?"
"Tell who what?" Jerome asked sliding another pan into the oven.
"Alyssa about Lyla."
Jerome stilled at the sound of his mother's name. "....No."
"Why not?"
"I'm just not, okay?" his voice cracked slightly.
"You don't trust her?"
"I trust Alyssa with my life." He said instantly. "I just...I don't wanna get her in trouble. She's happy, I want her to stay happy."
".....Okay." she nodded.
******
For a few days, everything was perfect. Alyssa had full custody of Selina and Jerome, she and Edward were going strong, and the bake sale had sold out.
It was perfect. It was normal.
But it was just a shade pulled over the poor woman's eyes. Behind the scenes, Selina was breaking up inside with the secret she was keeping.
She loved her brother, and her mother. Loved them. And Lyla was an abusive, drunken bitch, why should her death bother her so much?
Except it didn't. What bothered her was Jim Gordon. Selina knew him well enough to know that he wasn't going to drop the case. He'd keep at it until he found out Jerome had killed her, and then the perfect family Alyssa had worked so hard to build would be shattered.
Like Jerome, Selina's main goal was for her mother to be happy. Just knowing that it was only a matter of time before that happiness would be torn from her was enough to bring tears to the strong girl's eyes.
And what would happen when she found out? Alyssa, for all her street smarts, had a habit of putting those she loved on a pedestal. Finding out what he had done would knock Jerome off his pedestal. She didn't want to see that.
God, why had she taken the woman's offer of a home all those years ago? Oh right, it was everything she had ever wanted.
Food, a warm bed, people who cared if you came home at night. She wanted to scream at Jerome for putting all of that in jeopardy, but she found she couldn't.
Because damn it all, he was still her brother.
******
"Boyscout, its almost midnight, why are we here?" Alyssa asked, annoyed. Selina and Jerome stood on either side of her, looking slightly tired after working the bake sale all day.
"We just need to talk with Jerome." Jim gave her a tight smile. "If you'll just take a seat, we'll call you when we're ready for you."
"You gonna be okay?" she looked to the ginger, who nodded.
"You worry too much, Alyssa." he smiled slightly.
She chuckled slightly and patted his arm. "Somebody's gotta." she turned to Jim. "You've got five minutes."
When five minutes came and went, Alyssa headed down towards the interigation rooms.
"Mom!" Selina called, running after her. She had a bad feeling she knew exactly what this was about, and it wasn't something she wanted Alyssa to see.
But see she did as they stopped outside the one-way window where Jerome, Jim, Lee, and for some reason Mr. Cicero were.
"Did you find out who killed my mother?"
"You killed your mother, Jerome."
Alyssa froze, her face going pale. Selina gulped.
"....Me?" Jerome frowned.
"You killed her up on that hill, and Mr. Cicero let you clean up in his trailer." Jim continued. "He told you to scratch the saintist stuff on the hatchet and throw it off the bridge."
Jerome shook his head. "Sir, that's absurd, an-and offensive."
"But its the truth." he said simply. "I figure Alyssa and Selina don't know; Alyssa's lenient, but not that lenient. What I don't know is why this man risked so much to help you. I think he's your father."
Jerome chuckled breathlessly, but the smile didn't stay in place for long. "You don't know what you're talking about. My father was a sea captain."
"Am I wrong, Mr. Cicero?" Jim leaned back in his seat.
"Yes."
"He was a sea captain, his name was Sven Carlson, he died at sea." Jerome recited the story he had told Alyssa when she'd asked about his father.
"What was the name of his ship?"
"He worked on a lot of different ships."
"The one he went down in."
"......She never said."
"We can do a blood test to prove I'm right. Takes only half an hour to get a fool-proof result, isn't that right Dr. Thompkins?" he looked at Lee over his should.
"Yes." she nodded.
"Save yourself a needle."
".....I do hate needles."
Alyssa and Selina shared a shocked look behind the glass.
"That son of bitch." Alyssa whispered. "I knew there was a reason I hated him."
Back inside the room, the blind man continued, unaware of the woman watching.
"I'm sorry, Jerome."
"W-What are you talking about?" Jerome's voice shook.
"He's right. I am, your father."
"No your not! Why would you say that?!"
"You must've suspected the truth."
"You're not my father, my mother would never –"
"Your mother was a cruel woman, she was often unkind to me. But she did once love me, in her way." he patted the boy's arm. "And she loved you very much, that's why she gave you a better father."
Jerome broke down in tears, bending his head down to hide the sobs. Alyssa was about to run in there and comfort him – and maybe break Mr. Cicero 's jaw.
But then his sobs turned to laughter.
"My mother, was a cold hearted whore who never loved anyone." he said in a raspy voice. "And she'd never touch a pathetic, old, creep, like you."
"All these years, do you think I was kind to you because I'm such a good man? If I wasn't your father, would I helped you as I have after what you did?"
Jerome gave him a very dangerous look, but it faded as he turned back to the detective. "My father. Hmm. I'll be damned." he only received stares. "Oh no, its very funny." he laughed, but not the sweet, joyful laugh Alyssa had heard everytime they set off fireworks. This was an evil laugh. "Ba doom tish!" he mimed a drum and cymbal. "Looks like the bitch got me with a zinger in the end."
"Why did you kill your mother, Jerome?" Jim asked, surprisingly calm.
"Oh, you know how mothers are." he waved his hand as though talking about the weather. "She just. Kept. Pushing. And I'm like fine mom, be a whore. Be a drunken whore even. But don't be a nagging drunken whore. Ya know?" he smiled. "Don't come yell at me to do the dishes, if you've been banging a clown, in the next room!" he banged his fist on the metal table. "Ya know?" The anger faded from his face as quickly as it had come, a grin nearly splitting his face in half as he laughed. "And you can do whatever the hell you want to me, but when you mess my family, well that's when I get mad."
"When she attacked Alyssa...." Jim realized.
"Oh my god...." Alyssa breathed.
********
Getting Jerome out of the precinct was....a challenge, to say the least.
Once he saw that Alyssa and Selina were outside the interrogation room, he fought against the cop pulling him by his handcuffed arms. He screamed that they couldn't keep him from them, that he'd kill anyone who tried to take his family away.
"Alyssa –" Jim said, probably planning to question her about the murder.
"Don't." she cut him off, and for once he listened. Or maybe he was just in shock. Alyssa Connors, the single strongest woman he knew sounded...broken. She stared after Jerome until he was out of the building, then muttered a 'what the hell?', and turned and socked Mr. Cicero in the jaw.
Looking pale herself, Selina grabbed her arm before she could take another swing. Without a word, she lead the woman out of the precinct.