Mama Gotham

The White Queen

A/N: This was kinda all over the place; Alyssa's life has become very hectic.

It was several weeks before Alyssa and Edward spoke again.

She had been down to The GCPD several times; wrangling an irritable Harvey Bullock who wasn't doing well without Jim. Edward had seen her, but hadn't approached her. He was too ashamed.

When they were kids, Alyssa had always been a terrifying thrill for him. He had quite honestly been scared of her, and if he was honest with himself, he still was now. He spent years trying to figure her out, but everytime he thought he had it, she proved him wrong.

She had always said he would be the impressive one because of his intelligence. She was very bluntly aware of the fact that she didn't match up, but he was very bluntly aware that she beat him out in other, more important categories.

Alyssa Connors had always been aware of the lousy state of the world around her, and yet she had managed to thrive in it. She put others before herself everytime; her sister, her daughter, even him.

As for her feelings toward him, well, Alyssa was his best friend. It never occurred to him to see her as anything else. But now he thought about it. Probably more than he ought to. He had always admired her; both physically and personality wise. She was remarkable to him in every way possible, he had found himself marveling over her on many occasions, but he had always thought that was because she was breaking every rule he knew.

The rational side of him said there was no fixing this. Logically, he had ruined his friendship with her and there was no going back.

But the rational and logical side of him never seemed to be right when it came to Alyssa. She had been the one to bring out the new side in him; the stubborn and wild one who just wanted her back beyond all reason.

So when the detectives called her in for the Arkham escape case – apparently she did volunteer work there – he hovered nearby, waiting for a chance to speak to her.

"Since when does Arkham let in volunteers anyhow?" Harvey said, clearly not liking the idea of Alyssa around the mentally ill.

"Since I became rich enough to bribe people." Alyssa informed. "I was curious about the place, I always have been."

"I know I had to bail you out when you got arrested for sneaking in when it was closed down."

"The patients did seem rather fond of you." Jim said. "Especially Tetch."

"Hatter." she lit up. "Yeah, he adores me."

"He calls you the white queen." Jim frowned.

"Its a character from Alice in Wonderland. In the story, the white queen is the rightful ruler that Alice and her friends are trying to reinstate in place of the red queen." she explained. "Means he thinks highly of me. Also means he expects me to show up for tea parties."

"Right..." Jim shook his head. "Your bizarre life aside...."

******

The second she stepped away from being questioned, Edward stepped up to her. She spoke before he could.

"Mr. Nygma, I believe you had this sent to my office." she shoved a small bakery box at him.

Edward flinched a little at her cold and professional tone, but held onto his confidence. "Its a riddle."

Alyssa flipped the lid of the box open to show a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese icing – it was her favorite. "Its a cupcake with a live bullet sticking out of it."