Mama Gotham

Keeping Your Word

*Kansas City, Five Years Ago*

Alyssa knocked repeatedly on the trailer door.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." a familiar voice called.

The rusty door swung open and green eyes widened when he saw who was on the other side.

"Hiya J." Alyssa grinned.

"Alyssa....What are you doing here?"

"Well, there were some...conflicts, that kept me out of Gotham when the circus came to town. But, I couldn't just leave you hanging, so I found out you were coming to Kansas, and well, here I am."

The seventeen year old stumbled back as Jerome threw his arms around her.

"I-I didn't think I'd see you again...I thought you forgot about me..."

"Aw J, I could never forget you. You're my star, remember?"

Jerome smiled and held her tighter. She always called him that, ever since they had snuck into the main tent after dark and he had put on a show with her as his audience. She had said that one day he was gonna be a star, and the name stuck.

"Actually..." Alyssa pulled back slightly to look at him. "I got that house I told you about."

"You're living on your own?" he frowned slightly, doing the math in his head. No, she was still seventeen, which made her a minor, Minors couldn't live on their own, he'd checked.

But Alyssa nodded. "Yeah, but you know, big house, gets lonely sometimes. But I remember promising you a room there."

Jerome's eyes lit up. "You mean it?"

"A promise is a promise, J."

******

*Gotham City, Now*

"You did what?!"

"I found Edward Nygma." Selina said with a smile. "He's coming over for dinner tonight."

"S-Selina-"

"I saw you, Alyssa." she cut her off. "I saw how much you cared about him."

"I don't know what you're talking about...."

Selina sighed. "For as long as I've known you, you always put everyone else first. Your turn."

******

Alyssa paced the apartment. Why was she so worried? This was her best friend, the man she knew like the back of her hand!

The man she had never been able to shake her feelings for, even when she hadn't seen him for six years. The man had pushed away to protect, the man who probably thought she had abandoned her...

Well there was no way this was going to end well.

A knock at the door made her whirl around. Here goes nothing....

Alyssa opened the door. The man before her was taller and certainly older, but he was unmistakably Edward Nygma.

And he looked even cuter than when she'd left. Damn him.

"...Hi." she said lamely. Come on! Where was the fierce Mama Gotham that wrangled rowdy teenagers for a living! She wasn't afraid of anything, why was she afraid of him?!

Oh yeah....

"Hello Ms. Connors."

Alyssa frowned. He hadn't called her 'Ms. Connors' since they were twelve.

"Please, come in." she stepped aside. "I-I made parmesan chicken. That's still your favorite, isn't it?"

Edward nodded, surprised she remembered. "Yes."

They ate in very awkward silence until Edward finally broke it, dropping his fork onto his plate with a clatter.

"Alright, I'm just going to say it; Why did you leave?"

Alyssa bit her lip. "Ed-"

"We were happy. We were a family. And you just left!" he exclaimed before sighing. "Just...please, tell me what I did wrong."

"No. No, you never did anything." she shook her head. "It was all on me."

"What do you mean?" he frowned.

"...Do you remember how we used to gather bottles from all over the city and sell them to the recycling plant?" he nodded. "Well, one day when I was out, one of the people running the bar found me in the alley. And, he let me come inside, clean myself up. But then he wanted me to meet his boss. Fish Mooney."

Edward's jaw slacked and his anger dissipated. He knew all too well who Fish Mooney was, and how dangerous she was.

"She uh, she was nice for a while. Acted like she was my friend, but you know, I could always tell she had an ulterior motive." Alyssa looked down. It was hard to re-visit these memories, but she owed Edward an explanation. "When we were sixteen...one of her boys held a gun to my back and she offered me a choice; work for her, or he pulled the trigger."

"So that's why you were always sneaking out." Edward realized. "You were going to work for Fish..."

"Mmhm." Alyssa nodded. "It wasn't anything bad, at least, not at first...But uh, eventually she wanted me to be more dedicated. She didn't want me to have any 'distractions.'" she spat the word angrily. "So it was either never speak to you and Oswald again...or she'd her men after you." she looked up at him, tears in her eyes. "I-I didn't want you to get hurt, Eddie, I'm sorry..."

"...Alyssa...." he shook his head and stood to pull her into his arms. They both sunk to the floor, tears pouring from Alyssa's eyes as she finally stopped ignoring what she had been through.

"I-It was fine for a while...But when I messed up on a job, she got really mad. One of her goons beat me within an inch of my life and threw me on a shipping truck. I woke up in a hospital Metropolis three weeks later..."

"Alyssa, I'm so sorry. I should've known something was wrong with you, I should have protected you!"

"Its okay, Eddie. Its my job to protect you, remember?"

Edward held her close, and Alyssa reveled in his warmth. She wasn't sure how the hell he could still make her feel like this, but at the moment she didn't care.

"Well I'm here now. And I'm not going anywhere."

"No." she pushed him away reluctantly. "Eddie, Selina inviting you here was a mistake. I left because I wasn't good for you anymore."

"Only I decide that." Edward declared. "I promised you that I would always be there for you. And I'm nothing if not a man of my word."