Olivia struggled to take another step, but she knew that she had to. Holding onto her physio's forearms, she tried to put more weight on her left leg, but it was continuously shaking. Looking down to the ground, she gritted her teeth as she clung tightly onto Jason's arm and he tried to encourage her forwards. Jason Bond was a tall, tanned man. He had bleach blonde hair that hung down his neck and he constantly wore board shorts and a white shirt. He barely looked like a professional physiotherapist, but he was well renowned.

"You can do it."

"Can I?" Olivia asked him back.

"I know you can," he responded to her. "You've spent weeks building up the strength to get here."

"Christ," Olivia complained again and grunted loudly. She took another step forward, but stumbled. Jason was there in an instant, catching her before she could fall to the ground. He wrapped his arm around her waist and held her steady as she continued moaning in pain.

"You're getting there," Jason said to her, helping her hobble over to the bed.

He helped her sit down on the edge of it and laid her crutches at the side of the bed. He tossed a hand through his hair and shook his head slowly as Olivia looked down to her leg. Jason glanced over to her as he went into his bag and searched for the lotion he used on her skin.

"You know," he said in a slow drawl, "it isn't that bad."

Olivia scoffed and looked to him with an arched brow, sceptical over his comment. "My leg is completely marred, Jason. Luckily that's the worst of it…I know I got lucky. I should have died in that car crash."

"But you didn't," he responded to her and went over to kneel in front of her. He pressed to the side of her thigh and she winced again. "You're still here and you're still alive. We're going to have you walking again in no time, I promise you."

"Do you think so?" Olivia questioned. "Because no matter how long I keep doing these exercises, I still can't put any weight on it."

"Olivia, your entire leg was basically shattered," he said to her. "It is going to take a while, but we will get you there, I promise. Besides, how is your shoulder doing?"

"Now that feels better," Olivia said to him and she rotated the joint to prove it to him.

Jason chuckled and massaged the muscle of her leg, knowing that she was clenching in pain. She tried to hide it well, but knew better than that. "You know, I've dealt with quite a few injuries in my time, but I have got to say I don't think I have ever dealt with someone in your situation."

"I don't know whether I should take that as a complement or not," she said.

He chuckled again. "No," he drawled, "I don't know either."

There was a moment of silence between the two of them. Olivia balled her hands into fists by her side to fight through the pain. Closing her eyes for a few moments, she tried to find some sense of inner peace, but she was struggling. She had struggled ever since Lee and her brother had shipped her off to Florida.

"Right," Jason said and stood up, rubbing his hands onto his shorts. "That's me done for the day and you set. I will be back in a couple of days to see how you're getting on. Keep doing your exercises and stay focused."

Olivia nodded. "It's not like I have anything else to do, is it?"

Jason grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder. He gulped and nodded his head. "I'll see you around, Olivia."

"Bye, Jason."

Jason took one final look at the back of her head and wondered why she was here. He had been sworn to keep her identity a secret. He had been paid a considerable amount and he hadn't turned it down. But he wondered what it was that she was involved in. She seemed so sad.

Leaving the bedroom, he closed the door and made his way to the hallway where the two men were sat. He bid them a goodnight and told them that he was done for the day. He would be back to see her soon enough.

Ed had done what he had thought impossible. He had been rescued by Barbara after Jim had left in that warehouse. They had crashed into Jim's car and captured Oswald. Jim hadn't come looking for him. Ed suspected he had other things to worry about. And that was fine. It was fine because it allowed Ed time to extract his revenge on Oswald. He had taken him to the docks and he had shot him. He had watched him fall into the water and he knew that his revenge was complete. But he still felt empty.

He still felt nothing without Olivia. Killing Oswald had not brought Olivia back to him. His darling, sweet Olivia was gone, but now so was Oswald. It had been what he deserved and Ed knew that.

And so Ed had to do something else to fill the void in his life. He would prove Oswald wrong. He would show him that he could be something. And so he began devising his plans.

….

"This is not fair, Jim!"

Olivia was on the phone to her brother. She might be locked away, but she had access to everything she wanted. It just so happened that it was monitored so that she had no way of getting in touch with Ed. The cell had restricted access to just her brother's and Lee's numbers. But she could read the news and she saw what was happening in Gotham.

"Liv, this isn't about what is fair."

"No, this is about me," Olivia snarled down the phone.

She was sat in the window seat once more, her gaze set on the sandy beach in front of her.

"And I am doing this for you," Jim responded to his sister. "I am doing this to keep you away from him. You will see that. You can make a life for yourself in Florida. You can move on without him."

"I could do that anyway!" Olivia snapped down the phone, anger clear in her voice. "You know that locking me away is wrong, Jim. You cannot keep me here."

"I am not going to keep you there, Liv," he sighed back to her. "I am only keeping you there until you understand that you can build a life on your own…until you see sense."

"Are you insane?" Olivia demanded from him. "You just told me that you intend to keep me locked up here until I come around to your way of thinking? This is like some Stockholm Syndrome experiment you have going on here and it isn't right. You know that…and you know that it is him behind what is going on in Gotham."

Jim had to admit that she had a point. There had been a string of cases where the culprit had left riddles and killed intellectuals. A man with riddles was the only man Olivia knew. It had to be Ed. Who else could it possibly be? Olivia knew that.

"If it is him then that only makes me realise that you are definitely safer out of Gotham," Jim responded to his sister. "Besides, Harvey and Lucius are working that case. I'm not at work right now…I'm with Uncle Frank."

"Uncle Frank?"

"Yeah, he turned up the other night from nowhere," Jim said to his sister.

"What does he want? Is this about what happened between him and dad?"

"I have yet to find out."

"But Ed…Jim…just tell him I am alive. If this is him on this killing spree then that is only because he isn't himself-"

"-And when he killed Dougherty? Pinkney? Kristen?" Jim snarled back. "Was that because he wasn't himself? Why can you not simply admit that he is a killer? He is a cold-blooded killer and you are still trying to save him."

"No," Olivia snapped, "I'm not trying to save him. I am trying to tell you that I don't want anyone's life on my hands. If this is Ed killing because of…because he thinks I am dead…then how do you think that makes me feel? If my death has sent him on this path then he needs to know the truth. Why is that so difficult for you to see?"

"Because Harvey will catch him and he won't need to know about you."

"You're a right piece of work, Jim," Olivia snarled.

"You'll thank me one day."

"I doubt it," Olivia said and she hung up the phone, tossing it onto the seat next to her.

Harvey shook his head. This man had left them another riddle, but they didn't know who it was as of yet. He had been at the chess tournament and had electrocuted numerous individuals. They had found numbers written on the bottom of chess pieces and had called that number. It had gone through to a man, but Harvey couldn't be certain if it was Ed, despite Jim's suspicions.

"If this is Ed then perhaps she has a point," Harvey said from his desk as he sat down and spoke to Jim on the phone. Jim had gone off with his uncle for a few days.

"I don't doubt that this could be Ed, but Olivia doesn't have a point," Jim snapped back to him. "She is not coming out of hiding for this. You and Lucius can deal with this, Harvey, and I want you to do that. Olivia…I can't bring her back to this. I just can't."

"And if we can't get to him before someone else dies? Just think about what you are saying, Jim. I know she is your sister and you love her and want to keep her safe, but she is her own person."

"The answer is no," Jim said and he hung up abruptly, leaving Harvey to sigh and shake his head.

Ed had waited for Harvey and Lucius to discover his riddles. He wondered if they were clever enough to solve it. He had one final riddle that they had to solve and he was excited. This was his biggest event yet and he was excited. He had dressed in his sharpest suit and had headed to the swearing in of the newest police recruits. He had turned up in time to hear Harvey practicing his speech. He slowly clapped as he approached him as Harvey turned around. Harvey glowered at Ed, but he couldn't say anything. He had to keep quiet.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded from him, knowing that Ed could be the killer they were dealing with.

"Well, seeing as how your department is failing to locate the missing Mayor I am here to give a few remarks in his absence."

Harvey shook his head. "No way am I letting you give a talk to new police officers, you cop killer."

Ed smirked. "How does it look on that moral high ground?" he wondered from him.

"Pretty damn good. Now get lost," Harvey said as his phone began to ring.

Ed looked down and saw that it was Lucius calling. He must have found his clue. He lunched forwards and grabbed Harvey by the neck, placing his hand over his mouth and knocking him unconscious easily. He left him on the floor before moving to complete his speech to the new cadets. He was eccentric. He was enjoying his new persona. When he asked them a riddle, they all remained silent, no one answering. And so Ed had struck then. He had set off the gas cannisters and knocked them all unconscious before dealing with Harvey. The gas was deadly and only he had the toxin.

Tying him to a chair on the fifth floor of the building, he let him dangle there and waited for Lucius to make his presence known. Harvey was dangling on the edge of the bannister, three ropes holding his chair in place. He was about to stuff a gag in Harvey's mouth, but Harvey was already speaking.

"Is this about Olivia?" he demanded from Ed.

Ed remained mute. His glower on Harvey seemed to increase and he shook his head. "You do not mention her," he warned him.

"Why?" Harvey wondered, looking down and seeing the drop. He wasn't going to let Ed kill him. He was never going to let that happen. "You've done all of this since she died, Nygma…is it because you're lost, is that it? You're missing her."

"Do not talk about something that you do not understand!" Nygma snarled at him. "Olivia was mine and she was taken from me…but this is the real me. This is who I am."

"No, it isn't," Harvey responded with a shake of his head. "Killing me won't bring her back."

"Oh, I might not have to kill you," Nygma retorted. "The cadets down there are knocked out and only I have the toxin to save them. Your life or the cadets…that is the choice that Foxy is going to have make when he gets here."

"Nygma, that's crazy," Harvey hissed in a low voice. "You can't let all of the cadets die. Just…just let me go and save them…because this…you don't need to do this…."

"Oh, I do," Ed responded.

"No, you don't, because I have information you would want, Ed," Harvey responded, voice verging on the edge of the desperation as he spoke. Harvey closed his eyes and prayed that he could get out of this. It was his life. He didn't want to ruin Olivia's life, but he wasn't prepared to lose his either. He only hoped that Jim would understand.

"What information could you possibly have for me?" Ed demanded from him.

"Olivia…she isn't dead, Ed."

Ed froze then. His cell began to ring, but he didn't answer it. Instead he looked to Harvey and shook his head. His teeth ground together and he jabbed him in the chest. "Do not lie to me!" he demanded from him.

"I'm not," Harvey said with a shake of his head. "I am telling you the truth. Olivia Gordon is alive."

"No!" Ed yelled loudly. He began pacing, hands on the top of his head. He kept shaking his head back and forth, refusing to believe what Harvey was saying to him.

"I will tell you everything if you let me go and go downstairs and save those cadets."

"You liar," Ed snarled once more, his upper lip curling and he advanced back to Harvey. "You are lying to try and save your own skin."

"I can prove it to you," Harvey responded. "Just do this-"

"-Prove it first," Ed interrupted him. "You prove it first and then you can leave here with the toxin."

"My phone," Harvey said to him. "It's in my jacket pocket."

Ed reached for it and held it in his palm. Harvey let out another deep breath, closing his eyes and hoping that Jim could get Olivia to somewhere safe before Ed found her. This didn't mean the end for Olivia. She could flee again. They could send her somewhere else. But Harvey only had one life.

"Her number is under Amelia," Harvey said. They had all agreed to have an alias for her number. Lee, Jim and Harvey were the only ones who could contact her. No one else could get close.

Ed scrolled through the contacts and found Amelia at the top. He pressed the button to dial the number and he pressed the phone to his ear. He let it ring, his gaze still on Harvey who had taken to looking to the ceiling and groaning to himself.

"Harvey, what is it? Is it Jim?"

Ed almost dropped the phone. He stumbled backwards, a gasp escaping him as he heard her voice. He placed a hand over his mouth and turned his back to Harvey and began walking down the corridor again, his footsteps echoing through the room.

"Harvey?" she spoke his name again.

Ed's throat clenched and his mouth dried. "Not quite," he responded.

She was silent this time and he suspected she knew who it was. She let out a shaky breath before speaking down the phone.

"Ed," she spoke his name in that soft voice of hers. He leant against the wall and his knees almost gave out as he slipped down the wall and crouched there. "I…I don't know what to say."

"Neither do I," Ed responded, hand running along his chin. "I thought that you had died, Olivia. You're supposed to be dead…your brother…he told me…he…"

"They sent me away," Olivia responded. "Jim and Lee sent me away. They thought that it would be for the best if you thought I was dead. I…I never wanted to do that to you, Ed. I thought that it was cruel. It wasn't right…after everything we've been through, you didn't need to think I was dead."

"Where are you? Why didn't you come back?"

"It isn't that simple, Ed," Olivia said to him. "I'm locked away in some apartment…Falcone…Lee asked him to have men guard me to make sure I couldn't get out. Not that I could get out if I wanted to. The accident…well…it caused a lot of damage."

"But now?"

"Learning how to walk again," Olivia retorted to him. "I'll make it and be fine, but why do you have Harvey's phone?"

"That's a big question with a long answer," Ed responded, "but don't worry about that. I just need to find out where you are. I can find you and help you."

"Ed, that…you know that we can't be together. You know I'm alive…perhaps it is best to leave it at that now? Perhaps this is for the best?"

"Do you still love me?"

Silence once more. She seemed to gather her breath. "You know the answer to that."

"Then I will come and find you," he responded to her. "Because I love you, Olivia. I love you and I will make things right. I will make everything right. Just wait for me."

"Ed, whatever you are planning, just think about it."

"The only thing I am planning is bringing you back to me," Ed responded. "Sit tight, Olivia. I am coming for you, I promise."

Ed hung up the phone and dropped it into his own pocket. He felt a tear fall down his cheek before he wiped away and sniffed loudly. He had business to attend to.

….

A/N: Do let me know what you think!