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Indian Hill.
Indian Hill was only a bad memory, he repeated to himself, but the torture to which he had been submitted, the experiments of which he had been part didn’t allow him to sleep some nights and that just got worse when he was alone.
Alone in the wide bed, waiting for Ed to come, he wasn’t usually late, a part of himself was saying to Oswald that Jim had had to do something in that. He had taken charge of Nygma had to work until high hours of the night, to be able to speak with him and during a few moments it had worked, the emotion, that strong feeling fluttering in his chest making him unable to think about anything that shouldn’t have to do with the detective had done appearance.
And it had gone away as soon as the bitter memories saturated his mind:
–You left me! What makes you believe that I would like something from you now?! –the words changing from being something mumbled between teeth to an open claim– and not for the first time, you always do it, you turned your back on me when it was caught in Arkham and you did it when you knew the result of one of their experiments on me, even worse, you did it when you knew that one of the twins wasn't yours – the tone of his voice increasing, his voice momentarily broken for the anger and the pain, he paused– I sincerely hoped that this time you won’t return Jim – he added in voice barely audible.
There was a long silence before the detective answered something and when he did it, nothing of what went out of his mouth turned out to be enough.
– I’m sorry – he did a gesture of approaching but the Penguin stepped back– Oswald I’m sorry I didn’t believe you and I’m sorry I left but it wasn’t easy for me, I needed to think, to process the information before doing something.
–Right, I forgot it –he smiled ironically– for a moment I forgot how incredibly easy this was for me.
The conversation extended a few minutes more before the detective left the apartment of Edward Nygma where Oswald had decided to stay, unable to make Butch pay for his betrayal and unable to raise again with the title that belonged to him, at least for the moment.
*********
–He asked me to go away with him –Oswald cocked his head and laughed when he listened Nygma’s steps in the apartment– can you believe it?
–I knew that he had to be here, certainly there was the possibility that he had remained in the clinic with doctor Thompkins and his new-born son, but considering that I had detective Bullock watching me and pressing me to obtain a few results not urgent at all, it was to be hoped that he was here –he looked him in the eye– you should’ve called me.
Oswald didn’t answer.
Ed held the eye contact until Oswald broke it, he knew why he hadn’t called him, he didn’t need to ask it but he had done it, Ed had given him an opportunity to deny the obvious and Oswald hadn’t taken advantage of it, he could feel how his fist were narrowing, his reflex in the mirror shouting to him what he already knew.
–Enough! Shut up! I don’t want to listen to anything else.
Ed looked at himself in the mirror a few moments before he turned to direct to the kitchen, a blow, two, the sound of the china breaking under his fingers. Keeping calm to doesn’t harm his pregnant boyfriend was going to be more difficult than he had expected.