Quick Note: This starts out very shortly before the beginning of Season 4.

Episode One: Gasoline

"You can't wake up, this is not a dream. You're part of a machine, you are not a human being. With your face all made up, living on a screen. Low on self-esteem so you run on gasoline."

- Halsey, Gasoline Lyrics

"It's not so bad." Ivy pointed out, taking care of one of her many plants she'd placed around the manor after moving in. "How much trouble can one girl be?"

"Difficulty isn't the point!" Oswald snapped back, knowing that there wasn't going to be much of a turnaround in discussing anything intellectual with the girl but talking all the same. "It's him thinking I should function as a babysitter when there are more critical issues facing us right now. We still need to find Kean and continue to regulate the city. With Gordon being a constant issue there is bound to be a challenge to the changes the cities gone through. More than there has already been."

"Then why deal with this Asian dude at all?" Ivy asked, not seeming to notice the annoyed tone that dripped from Penguin's every syllable. She instead gently moved aside one of the leaves to water the latest plant.

Explaining to her is like dealing with Gabe all over again…

When had she hung so many of her plants here anyway? It didn't really harm the room, the girl did have a skill for making them flourish, but it was starting to smell like a greenhouse…he'd have to get around to telling her to move them out. Perhaps he could give her the yard if she hadn't already taken it over.

"Tsukika's a clever one, he bought up a large portion of the city while it was falling apart to Tetch's virus. While we've been distracted, they snatched up enough of the shoreline both here and in local cities to make business very difficult for us. I run most of the city but I need those docks, without trade economy dries up." He detailed, despite his distaste at doing so. It helped to have someone to bounce ideas from, even a stupid someone.

"Okay, so why not just gather up the popsicle and fire ant and you know…kill the guy?" Ivy paused a second, as if planning to say something wittier then just finished her sentence bluntly with a shrug. Turning back to face Penguin now that she'd finished watering her 'friends', though she still gently rubbed a leaf between two fingers absently.

"He's never had a lot of interest in Gotham, it's always been too volatile for him beyond a few small operations and limited trade of goods." Oswald replied. "Tsukika just wants to sell off the land for a favor, and it was a good deal. Too good to pass up since every shred of information about him talks about how much he loves his daughter."

"And the favor is watching the dude's daughter?" Ivy looked confused, which seemed to be her default setting. "That seems simple, I like kids…I guess. I can watch her if you want. Ooh, I can teach her about plants! Why is this even a big deal?"

"She's not some small child, she's in her twenties. I've heard the girl likes risks and getting away from her guards. Even if she lacked that stupid mentality if you haven't noticed it's a little tricky keeping anyone in Gotham alive and well. No matter how well the city is going now…" Oswald hissed back, closing his eyes and rubbing his face, trying to remain civil. Ivy had saved his life once after all, it was just so difficult putting up with her lack of intellect when he was already having a dreadful day.

Oswald knew all too well how easy it was to lose people whose lives you were guarding. To watch the light fade out of their eyes, feel the warmth and softness of a person transform into rigid chill in your arms…

"Not that I had a choice but to agree and that snake knows it. If I don't keep making money all of the underworld will turn on me and everything I've done will be undone." Oswald drummed his fingers on the arm of his overstuffed chair, listening to the clicks on the wood as he considered his predicament. "I just have to watch the creature for a few years while she finishes college and he'll hand me over his assets in the area. He has traditionally been a man of his word but it all feels too simple. What is his game?"

"Maybe they want her to kill you, this gets her close." Ivy pointed out. Oswald raised a brow at her, mildly surprised she'd managed to keep up with the general conversation enough to come up with a reasonable conclusion – for her.

"No, if they wanted to kill me they wouldn't be sending me someone they cared about, they'd just hire an assassin." He waved a hand along with his dismissal of the idea and then picked up a nearby bottle to pour some wine into his glass. "Even if they wanted to spy on me sending someone that they're attached to is not a good method to do that. They're basically giving me power over them should I decide to turn on them and not make good on the deal from my end. Neither option is smart and while Tsukika is a bit odd sometimes as a businessman, he's both obsessed with his daughter and not stupid."

"What about the girl, what's she like? Spoiled probably." Ivy rolled her eyes at the idea, like she hadn't dealt with enough of those making fun of her when she was on the streets. She liked being one of Penguin's only friends, he let her keep all her plants, even if he was whiny and had temper tantrums a lot. "If you want to keep her safe can't you just lock her in the attic and be done with it?"

"A tempting thought, but I'm sure her dad will want to check in on her." All the same Oswald smiled at the idea of just shoving her upstairs and not thinking about it. "He probably wouldn't appreciate a report that I'm holding her like a prisoner."

"Okay." Ivy shrugged, she thought it was a good idea.

"No." Oswald sighed after a sip of his wine, swirling it in his glass absently. "She is supposed to like the club scene, so perhaps she can spend time with you at the lounge when it's complete."

"Oh, yeah. Who doesn't like parties? All the tasty, free food. Still, it's sort of cold…and there aren't many plants." Ivy had repeated this complaint many times during the club's building process so Oswald barely noted it now.

"Sadly, she's arriving tonight and we don't open for a couple days so I still have to keep her busy in the meanwhile." Oswald lamented, setting the glass down again as if he'd lost his taste for it that quickly.

"Maybe let her help, with the lounge." Ivy suggested, walking toward one of the windows and pushing back the curtains more so sunlight could get in easier.

"What do you mean?" Oswald inquired. Ivy wasn't very smart but she had the rare useful insight, and other skills, it's why he kept her around and did his best to put up with her idiocy.

"Well, if she likes it, maybe letting her help out with some of the small parts of design might keep her busy." Ivy suggested. "My mom let me decorate my room however I wanted once. I didn't bother her for weeks I was so busy with it."

Penguin stared at Ivy, silently wondering if he was losing his edge, he wasn't expecting her, of all people, to have a viable answer for him. "Perhaps you are right."

"Yeah?" Ivy blinked at him, also not seeming to have expected him to ever agree with her. "You gonna let her decorate the club?"

"No, no." He shook his head at that idea, he already knew exactly what the club would look like, and it was already far too late in the building process for that. "But, perhaps I can offer her a job there. It would let me keep an eye on her while she still gets to do something she likes."

"Oh, okay." Ivy shrugged at the answer, as if not fully knowing where he was going. "I think it'd be more fun to decorate but I guess that's fine too."

There was fair reason to keep Ivy around…sometimes in her simplicity she did have answers he didn't consider himself.

"Ivy," He spoke up to draw her eyes back to him again. "Have you already taken over the backyard? Perhaps we could acquire the building behind us, extend the yard and get you a nice greenhouse…"

- - - - - Elsewhere - - - - -

"Really?" The girl's voice was slightly higher pitched, her voice was rich with bratty protest. "I ask to go to Gotham and you want me to be looked after by the crime boss named after a bird?"

"It is for your own good, Sumi," Her father stated, slightly exasperated by her attitude. "Like it or not Penguin is on the fast track to owning most of the city. Besides, you are the one that wanted to come here for college. Did you expect me to leave no one in charge? That I wouldn't want eyes on you?"

She rolled hers in response to that answer, glancing out the window at the dark city that loomed ahead. They were driving across a bridge toward the city that was center to so many interesting macabre stories, that had so many possibilities for change. It looked less ominous than she was expecting. Full of gutter trash and choked with the fog of industry…like any other metropolis she'd been to, perhaps a step up from some. She'd wanted something with an exotic flair for the dangerous but so far everything was just turning out to be disappointing as opposed to exciting. Figures Father would choose now to let her come, when it was as boring as a city this size could be…

"Why do you want to go looking for trouble?" Her father asked, voice resigned and clearly tired. Seemingly able to read the thoughts in her head. "You promised you would try and keep yourself out of trouble this time, you are growing too old to always be moving."

"I will, I will." She answered, frowning at her father's exhausted appearance. He had so many lines on his face these days, many more than she remembered from when she was young and giggling as he held her on his knee. She knew he was planning to retire soon, were those lines work or family? How many of his marks of age were stresses she had caused? She softened at his rare show of frustration and took one of his hands. "You don't need to worry so much for me father, you know I can take care of myself. You taught me well."

"Too well I fear." He answered, but smiled when she squeezed his hand. "I just want the best for you. I don't want you to end up like me."

"I would be lucky to be like you, father. You are the best person I know." She answered, reaching up to fix his tie and move a few strands of hair from his face. "You don't need to sound so dejected, you are about to retire. You can finally buy that home you want in the tropics and work on your art."

"Assuming I don't have to come running here for you." He answered and she pulled back away from him again, feeling less sweet as he continued to chide her. How could she help him when he wouldn't let her?

"I told you I'd behave. I do want to get my degree after all, and Gotham's one of the last places that would take me." She returned, mostly serious. She didn't want him to have to worry, and she couldn't admit she had ulterior motives. "I'll be fine father, you did find the person running the city to look after me…though I'm not sure you should have bribed him into it. Seems like he won't really want to help much."

"He will, it'll be a hit to his pride, and more importantly his money, if he doesn't keep you safe I'll shut every bit of trade out of the city he has." The man's voice had grown stronger, darker, a promise of pain. Sumi smiled at that, that was the father she remembered, resolute and unforgiving to anyone else. She leaned over to kiss his cheek as the limo pulled to a stop in front of one of the older gothic styled homes, there were several large guards outside but the home itself looked nice enough, if old. "Are you going to come in and threaten him yourself?"

"No, he doesn't know I was accompanying you to drop you off." Her father answered with a shake of his head. "I'm sure you'll manage to alienate him quickly enough all on your own."

She pursed her lips in a pout at him. "I won't see you for half a year and that's the kindness I get? The last words? You think I'll annoy him that fast?"

"Keep your phone on you in case he tries something you don't like." He replied, pulling her close to kiss her forehead. "I'll call you every Sunday after church. Try not to wander off this time. You are getting too old for that sort of behavior. Gotham isn't a safe place, and even the Penguin isn't perfect, if you aren't in view he can't help you."

"Yes, yes. I love you too." Sumi answered, wishing a few more less aggressive goodbyes before she got out and took her two bags from the driver who waited patiently for her outside. Glancing up at the building again. The gothic mansion seemed somehow more ominous than the other structures around it, as if something sinister had taken place here.

"Probably more surprising if nothing malevolent had happened here."

She pressed forward, ignoring the guards that were looking at her and walking up to ring the bell on the door.

- - - - - Inside - - - - -

"Good, good, work on the sort of design you want and we'll call an architect tomorrow." Oswald said to Ivy, glad it took so little placate her. It was easy to forget to take proper care of one's followers, but he didn't want to end up like Frankie Carbone after all. He let her wander off happily with this new idea in mind, just as well since her presence could make dealing with his new unwanted ward all the more difficult. He straightened his tie and looked over his hair when the bell rang…moving to sit back at the table when he heard his butler opening the door and exchanging words with a woman. He sipped at his wine, considering what else he needed to work on when this pleasantry finished. Always something to be done when one owned a city…

The girl walked in carefully, her steps less noisy than they should have been, only a light click echoing from her heels. If he hadn't been waiting for her, he may not have noticed it at all. You could see Asian blood in her almond shaped eyes and stygian black hair, but her pale skin, soft features, and blue eyes helped show her half-Caucasian parentage. All the information had stated that Tsukika had been married to an Irish woman that had died while his daughter was young. Parts of that were obvious in her appearance, she certainly had taken aspects of both.

"Sumi Tukika." Oswald spoke her name confidently, rising to his feet before gesturing to the table. "I'm certain you're hungry after the long journey, please sit. We can speak over dinner."

The girl was looking around the home as opposed to at him until he'd said her name, people usually snapped to attention if you used their names directly. Her expression was full of distaste, Oswald could recognize that swiftly enough on almost anyone, he'd had a lot of experience with it. However, it faded slightly when she had refocused on him, it was for the house as opposed to him if he was judging right, that or she had caught herself to fix her expression very swiftly. He got a new skeptical look after she glanced over the table and back to him. She slowly made her way over, instead of sitting at the opposite end of the table, which had been set for her, she turned a chair around next to his end of table and straddled the back.

"You're Oswald Cobblepot?" She leaned forward, picking up his glass of wine. Oswald silently watched, making mental notes and measuring this new unwelcome force in his life. She was going to push him, wasn't she? It matched up with what little he'd been able to find out, her father had done a stunning job of keeping information on her scarce. Until he'd requested Penguin keep her safe he hadn't even been aware of her existence.

"I thought from your pictures you'd be shorter." She stated, looking at him directly. "Why do you have a whole goth vibe going? Are you an emo kid?"

"Well, the media always have a way of distorting the truth." Oswald answered, motioning a servant forward to ask for another glass as the girl sipped at his. He ignored the other comments as to his appearance. "Do you like it, the wine?"

"I prefer sweet to dry." She shrugged, setting the glass back down. "So, I'll be staying here then?"

"That is the plan." Oswald answered, doing his best not to frown at the woman when she picked up his silverware and started to eat from his plate. He knew she was actively pressing and trying to test limits, she wasn't making her intentions subtle.

"Okay, are there this many plants in my room? I don't mind some flowers but this is a bit much isn't it?" She asked, cutting off a piece of the steak to pop between her lips. "Hmm, the food is good at least."

"Not only full of complaints and poor manners then…"

"I am not the owner, I simply allow a friend of mine to keep them here. Ivy, you'll meet her sooner or later. She is very attached to her plants, I wouldn't move them without asking her." Oswald replied, taking his new glass of wine and then motioning for the other plate, originally for the girl, to be brought to him instead.

"An odd choice of friend for the King of Gotham." Sumi observed, amused that he was keeping a lid on his notorious temper. Her father really did have a hold on him then. She supposed he was being cordial enough, given her own behavior. "But, I hear you make a lot of unique choices in friends."

"I prefer to have friends to enemies." He offered a small disarming shrug.

"Don't we all." Sumi answered. "Sorry to take your food like this, but father always told me to be cautious. Don't eat anything a host wouldn't himself."

"Your father is a shrewd but capable man." Oswald tried to keep his face free of his irritation as he offered the compliment but he could hear it leak into his voice. He took a drink of the wine, doing his best to remain civil but he wasn't comfortable with her forwardness, and outright distasteful of her lack of manners. "It is an understandable precaution but I would have no need to poison you."

"No, I suppose that's true, you did agree to play babysitter in all this." She nodded, still eating between their pieces of conversation. As if perfectly comfortable with her rude behavior and stance at the table, as if she already lived here for months or years.

"Do I need to take an active role?" He asked, earning an eyebrow raise from Sumi. He smiled to himself at her surprise and cut into his new plate of food. "You should try the potatoes, they're one of Anita's best."

"You don't plan to keep me constantly on a schedule?" Her youth gave away to a moment where she dropped the game, she was honestly curious about his intentions.

"That depends on you. Your father trusts me with your safety after all, there are of course precautions that must be met, but I am a flexible man and we could develop an agreement that works out to our mutual benefit." He offered, hoping she'd remain civil enough to work with him as opposed to him needing to put more effort toward this than he wanted.

"Maybe…" She narrowed her eyes slightly, the look of 'there has to be a catch' with which the Penguin was intimately acquainted. "You'd let me have time to myself?"

"Obviously you will always need guards available to you and my people need to know where you are but you are a grown woman are you not? Do I need to track your exact location at every moment of every day? I'd rather you not feel like a prisoner, you plan to go to college so I expect you'll be busy but if you want a job or a social life it seems pointless to refuse such reasonable things." Oswald answered, watching her as they spoke and ate. She was confused by this approach, it was clear as well as she tried to hide it this wasn't what she was expecting in return for her rudeness.

"…so, you'll let me have a job, and go out?" Sumi sat back, her meal dismissed at the turn of conversation. She wiped her mouth, not seeming to notice she'd taken some of her lipstick when she did. "What's the catch?"

"You will agree to inform your guards as to where you will be after your classes and any job you maintain will need to have both limited hours so you may focus on your education and it will need to be at one of my businesses but you'll be treated as any other employee. I have a club opening soon, perhaps you'd like to work there." Oswald stated, enjoying that he'd knocked her off her game after she'd tried so hard to do the same to him.

"Okay…so assuming I want to agree to this. I tell you where I am, and you don't just put cameras on me all the time? If I want to have a boyfriend you won't just come jumping in beating him up" Sumi asked.

It seemed the few stories he had heard about Tsukika's obsession with his daughter were totally true.

"That seems an accurate, if summarized, measure of terms. You'll check in with me once every two weeks unless I see you at one of my businesses or here, but we have no need to pretend that we're friends if you'd rather not." Oswald remarked. "I expect you don't mind that."

"Not at all." She said swiftly, shaking her head. "You are up to something."

"Always." Oswald agreed. "If you stick to our terms and attempt to keep yourself out of reasonable danger then we shouldn't have a need to talk much beyond tonight and general check in's. Is this acceptable?"

"I will think it over." She replied, not immediately taking the bait. Oswald couldn't blame her, she'd been trouble for decades, she probably didn't know how to react to someone offering her the very thing she'd been rebelling for. "I imagine you'll be watching me until then."

Oswald threw his hands slightly to the side, in a small gesture of innocence. "That is what your father is paying me for. If we must continue, then I expect I'll see you at breakfast."

"Great…" She frowned at that swift turn. For all the freedom he'd offered it was also crystal clear how fast the cage door could again be slammed shut with her inside it. This little man though, he wasn't imposing, he had a glint to his eyes that spoke of danger but not much more than many men she'd run with. She'd dined with murderers before. She lifted her glass and stood up. "I could just make it impossible for you if you don't decide to give me what I want anyway. I'm not the one with a need for father's businesses, you are. You can't hurt me."

"Yes, you could do that…and you do sound very self-assured as to your safety at my hands but such behavior would make our interactions regrettably messier for us both, wouldn't it?" Oswald phrased it like a question, but he was making a statement. He didn't want to do this dance with her. He had no desire to be watching after her in the first place, it was all beneath him, he had a city…and she was just a random girl that had been dumped on him.

Sumi was going to pour the alcohol over his head but he caught her hand. She was taller than he was, but he'd stood up quickly enough to pause her. He had predicted her intentions. He was tiny and by all she knew not trained at all for combat. She was no highly trained assassin but she could take care of herself, father had made certain she had many self-defense courses. She probably could have kicked the crap out of him right here, but there were dozens of guards and she doubted they would be very keen on her beating their boss. That might not have stopped her, not by itself…it was the challenge in his eyes, the fierce unblinking stare of something much more than his stature was capable of saying, that gave her pause.

"You wanted this, Sumi. You chose it, now you will learn to conduct yourself with grace no matter the consequences or on your mother's grave I swear you'll never sit down again."

Her father's words came back to haunt her, and she frowned at the memory, it was one of the only times father had not budged on punishing her for her actions. The only time he had spanked her, and he'd spanked her until she was sick with tears and unable to breath, unable to sit…

She didn't struggle with the wine in some attempt to continue her plan to douse the Penguin with it. Even if she could overpower him, it would have been graceless to press when he'd already known what she'd meant to do and caught her. Instead she let him have the glass and straightened her shirt, uncomfortable with this turn of events. Unwilling to meet his eyes again right now. "It is late, and the conversation grows dull. I will consider your offer and speak with you in the morning."

"I'm glad you are open to deliberation." Oswald answered, seating himself back at the table after Sumi's refusal. "Anita, please escort our guest to her room. Sleep well Miss Tsukika."

"I hope your dreams are interesting Mister Cobblepot." Sumi answered with less finesse, considering it was far from a well-wish in certain cultures. She followed the girl that had been bringing them things to the table upstairs and away from where he continued to eat his dinner, opening a paper as though already putting the exchange behind him. Sumi frowned, frustrated at her own real lack of power here…moving upstairs. She was tired and there was little reason to argue when she wasn't at her best. They could continue speaking in the morning just as he had said. He had other things to focus on after all, and all she had to do was consider how to best deal with him…or get him to let her have a much longer leash this time.

Then, there was father to consider too…she'd come to this city for a reason…and while this wasn't exactly what she wanted it wasn't wholly unfortunate circumstance.

- - - - - Upstairs – Sumi PoV - - - - -

After getting upstairs I'd made myself comfortable, put clothes away and gone to shower and relax, but after the exchange downstairs I was stuck considering memories I hated to think about. I was turning eight when father told me I could have the pick of a litter of cats. Siamese, was what I wanted. A lovely little chocolate and burnt vanilla darling with blue eyes and a bell on her collar. I expected her to be perfect, that she'd follow me about and do any tricks I wanted her to. I'd grown up loving Disney, and Aristocats had been my favorite film. Disney has a way of making the world seem impossibly better than it is…I lost a lot of interest in anything with a cartoon mouse slapped on it after I got that cat. It taught me dreams can turn into nightmares in an instant.

At first, she was good, she was a cute little bundle, the tiniest one in the litter with a pink bow and a tiny mewl that could warm your heart. Any girl would have died to have her, would have picked her from the litter of cats crawling around them. That was, until we got her home for a few days. I was trying to get her to play the piano, the way the cartoons had done. I didn't know that cats couldn't do that, we'd never been allowed to have animals in the house when mother was alive, she'd been allergic. I was only eight, I thought that was something any cat could learn to do. I think father was hoping the thing would offer me companionship without my mother, some sort of friend when he was gone on long business trips and I wept for him.

That cat was the devil itself.

It never really grew up, it remained quite tiny, never growing past about eight inches on her whole body, a monster in compacted format. It didn't like the piano. That was the first day of many days that I learned to hate felines. It scratched me deeply, and I knew it must be broken. When I asked father to replace it, he frowned at me and told me that I'd picked that kitten out of all the ones in the litter. When the breeder had told us, Mimi had a lot of energy and would be difficult I'd said I wanted her anyway. Father wouldn't let me take her back. I had assumed at the time I'd done something to anger him, that I was being punished somehow for some other transgression. I didn't know he was trying to teach me responsibility, kids never really get those lessons until later after all.

I finished my shower, lost in thought about my first and only pet as I toweled off and turned on the hair dryer. I was still mad at the breeder, I was sure we'd been sold a defective kitten. One moment she'd be fine and want affection, then I'd pet her and be watching a movie and bam she'd bite down so hard on my hand she'd draw blood. I was in the emergency room countless times that first summer, all cause of that hateful little puffball. Father was obviously not understanding, since he was usually away when it attacked, but even when I told him he'd just tell me I needed to learn to deal with it. Like the insane feline could just be talked to. I tried feeding her nicer foods, buying her nicer toys, playing with her…but she was just broken. I used to think she planned to harm me, to lull me into a comfortable spot then bite into my flesh…that she plotted how to best ruin my clothes with her ill controlled bladder and the sharpening of her claws…

I was ten when I finally decided I'd kill her, then obviously father would let me have a new kitten. That would deal with the problem and he'd told me that's what I needed to do. He hurt me more than he'd ever hurt me again that night when he caught me trying to drown her and she was fighting me, yowling for her agony inducing little life so loudly I couldn't stop her. He hasn't touched me since then, but that was the only night I was ever truly afraid of my father.

"You wanted this, Sumi. You chose it, now you will learn to conduct yourself with grace no matter the consequences or on your mother's grave I swear you'll never sit down again."

If ever I knew he meant a threat against me, it had been that one. For some reason, he'd picked the damn cat over me. Well, obviously not, but that's the way it felt at the time. I had to deal with her, take care of the wicked thing. I certainly was afraid to let anything happen to her after that. I had welts for over a week from where I'd gotten father's belt and it was something I discussed at some length with several therapists before realizing father was just trying to help me. Eventually, the devil and I seemed to come to some sort of mutual understanding, she was in charge and I wasn't her keeper, I was her servant. If I kept her fed and was wary of her moods then she didn't attack as often, and I had little choice but to comply.

I headed out of the bathroom he'd provided and pulled down the covers, plugging my phone into the wall. I stared up at the dark ceiling, watching a light go by with the headlights of a car outside. That cat was the meanest thing I'd ever known all wrapped up into an eight-inch ball of claws and fur. I watched her take out a group of neighborhood cats once and my personal maid was impressed instead of shocked like I was. I'd been quietly hoping they'd kill her and then it wouldn't be my fault, father could not blame me if the thing was murdered by other cats. Sadly, the nurse picked Mimi off the ground after her shuffle and got her off to the vet for care before the wounds could finish her off.

"Mimi might be small, but she's fiercer than the rest of them combined. You should appreciate her passion. She's not a kitten, she's a tiger."

I made sure that maid got fired.

I closed my eyes, if I was going to be up early for breakfast I needed to get some sleep now. Still, my mind remained on topic…I know father was trying to teach me responsibility, to learn to take care of something once you committed to it, but it backfired. I hate commitment now, I hate being trapped by anything…almost as much as I still loathe that damn demon cat from hell. The thing is almost fifteen and still looks like a kitten – it's grayer but it still lingers in my room back at the mansion like a poltergeist, I wonder if it will haunt the place forever. It's half the reason I haven't visited home for more than a week since I got out of high school. I've not really felt safe at home since the first time she scratched me. I would celebrate when that thing finally died but I'd never forget it. I would always remember the fierce little feline that could strike terror into me when it looked at me the wrong way.

I rubbed my hand, frowning and turning on my side to hug a pillow to my chest. That look, the one the devil cat used to give me, I was certain I'd seen it again tonight. That small man downstairs, I didn't care how petite he was…he called himself King of Gotham but he might as well have been the Prince of Darkness at the look he'd given me. He wasn't just some random murderer, not like the others I'd spent time with cause of father's work. He was exactly what I'd been looking for, but I wasn't sure if I was biting off more than I could chew…

- - - - - The next morning – Oswald PoV - - - - -

"Continue to process applications, weed out any you might consider issues in the future and give the name of the wedding to Zsasz." I explained to Mr. Penn, he was good at his job but he did need direction now and again. He often sought permission, or specific orders, to make use of Zsasz for the most part. I hung up the phone, sliding it into a pocket and looked over myself in the mirror. The fabric was nice, Italian, the sort of thing his father would have worked with and approved of. Dark pinstripe, the black and silver tie complimented the colors well, it would work well for his business this afternoon with the mayor and police commissioner.

"Louie has your car ready at the front when you need it, sir. Carmichael is downstairs as well. I have your breakfast ready; did you want me to serve it now or wait?" Anita asked, the girl often was quite good with dealing with the day to day care of the house and my morning details. I was growing accustomed to her skills at juggling the details I didn't have time for.

"Go ahead and set it out." I answered. "I can arrive a few minutes late. No point in starving myself after all."

It also showed them who was in charge, if they were forced to wait for me. I couldn't have them thinking that my time wasn't more precious than theirs after all.

"The girl sir, should I wait for her to join you?" Anita asked, falling into step behind me as I walked out of my room.

Damn, I'd forgotten about Tsukika's little brat. I had promised to speak with her in the morning, hadn't I? Already she was interfering with my usual plans, hopefully she'd decide to be reasonable. I nodded to Anita. "If she isn't awake get her up and downstairs, I don't plan to wait for her."

"And here I thought you were a gentleman," The voice wasn't as harsh as she'd been the night before, likely she wanted something or had some plan in mind. "Can't wait a few minutes for a lady?"

"Are you coming around to my proposition then? Anita, serve the table for two please." I requested of my staff, waiting for the girl to walk around the balcony and toward me. Easier to speak if I wasn't half down the steps. "I hope we're able to…"

"I want to work for you." She interrupted and I closed my eyes a moment before she continued speaking and I refocused on her. "I mean, you said you'd give me a job. I want to learn from you, directly. Not just at your club, I want to see what you do."

I was warned she was obsessed with danger…

"There are a number of jobs I can offer you," I answered instead of telling her I wasn't going to let her follow me around. Moving downstairs and around the dining table to hold her chair for her, at the opposite end of the table today, and pointed in the right direction. Perhaps she'd humor me by being less of an etiquette slob.

"I don't want some other job. I wanna follow you around, see how your day works. You look like you're ready to go. I dressed for the same." She replied, offering a nod of appreciation and sitting while I pushed the chair in slightly. I resisted the urge to knock her over the head when she didn't give up this insane idea. "Father wants me safe yes? Where safer could I be, than next to the man that organized all crime in the city? Father couldn't argue that."

"No." I answered as I walked to my end of the table. A bit amused that she immediately stuck her lip out slightly, had her pouting always worked with her father so readily? No wonder she was so spoiled. Ivy had been right about that much… "I may have made the city a safer place, but I'm also a target. You'll be less safe with me, and if you die or come to harm standing next to me, I think your father would have a lot to quibble over. Besides, you aren't supposed to be in the limelight."

"You can say I'm one of your guards," She pressed on, ignoring my refusal and the logical points I made afterward. She reached forward to put jam on her toast as she spoke animatedly. "As you say, most people don't know who I am. Even if you call me by name, no one will really figure it out. Father's always kept me so locked down that I could hide in plain sight."

I ignored her, I was already losing my appetite, but I took a bite of the eggs all the same, working on an empty stomach was intolerable. Was this going to be my existence for the next few years while she finished her degree? Had I become a parent to this…thing, while her father held the keys to my financial success?

"Besides, after father fully retires, I'll gain his stocks and what he owns." She remarked, laying on the innocence too thick for it to be even mistaken as genuine. "Even without the docks he's promised you I'll have a lot of sway. You said yourself you prefer friends, show me the ropes."

"I think your father doesn't want you following his footsteps or he would have shown you himself." I answered, taking a breath to steady myself. "I have a lot of work to do. If you aren't going to present a reasonable compromise, then I'll need to have you locked in your room."

"If you do that, I'll have to tell dad you keep trying to touch me inappropriately." She answered, smirking when I raised both brows at her. Why was it everyone thought I would want to rape anyone? It was quite insulting.

"You are totally sacred, I assure." I replied, disgusted at her implication. She was pretty in her own way, but I didn't really consider her a romantic possibility. I'd given up on such pursuits after Ed turned on me so readily.

"Yes, I probably am, I haven't seen you looking like some men will." She answered, nodding. "But the truth, and what father believes is the truth, those are very different things. I don't use this gambit with him, not very much. Enough that he'll believe me immediately if I call him crying on Sunday."

"Dad…d. , he kept…he kept rubbing his hand on my thigh…and he." Her voice was colored with small sobs, her face fairly straight despite the emotion in her voice. She could play it off, and she could play it off very well if she wanted to. I narrowed my eyes at her.

"You do realize who you are talking to, I could just kill you." I answered, annoyed at the laugh that came from her when I made the obviously empty threat.

"Yeah, but you won't. Not with daddy holding all the docks." She replied with a confident shrug.

"Why?" I asked, exasperated at this girl that was ruining my plans for the day. Today was supposed to have been a new day for me… "Why do you even want to follow me around?"

"I don't like you." She replied bluntly.

"Oh, well that explains it then." I remarked sarcastically.

"My dad used to tell me that you can learn the best from the teachers you despise." She continued, smirking at my answer and pointing at me with her butter knife as she worked on a second piece of toast. "He wasn't wrong either, for as cruel as my math tutor was I can still remember most of my work and do a lot of calculus by hand. I want to learn how you run a mob, I might not like you but clearly you are pretty good at your job. Besides that, it'll annoy you, and if I'm stuck feeling like I'm in a cage, you may as well be too."

I didn't have time for this. Just killing her and her father still seemed like a good plan but that would still be messy and I didn't have time to change my suit again right now. There was being fashionably late to make a statement, and so late that you just seemed incapable with your time. I needed to maintain the respect of the mayor and the commissioner…

"I will give you a day." I answered, regretting it the moment she grinned at me giving into her, I was just promoting this poor behavior. "If you do a single thing to compromise my position or give away who you are, I will alter my generosity to this point and this will change."

She rolled her eyes at my threat, but didn't laugh or immediately seem to consider me making idle this time. I took a deep breath to keep from doing something I'd regret, focusing on my food instead. "Oh, calm down, I do know what bodyguards act like. I've had more than you. This is going to be fun."

I was going to regret this…

End Episode

Longer than my usual chapters by far but I felt I needed to introduce my characters and sort of catch up to the opening of the new season since this will be an AU of those events. I always hesitate to introduce OC's but I wanted to give this idea a try once I had it. I guess it might be a little out there, but isn't all of Gotham? Anyway, I hope people enjoy it.

-Aura

P.S. Thanks for any reviews or words on my work. I always appreciate the extra bit of time if someone leaves me comments.