A/N
Hi everyone. I'm back!! My exams are all over now so I'm going to try and return to regular updates. Just a little heads up, the next couple chapters might not be my usual standards and I've fallen out of practice with my writing so they may not be that great. Anyway ... back to the story ...

Holly POV

Gotham Hospital

Listening to the steady heartbeat of Alfred was a comforting sound to hear, even as I could see him sitting awake in his bed, it was nice to hear he sounded more normal than he looked. I'd only known Alfred for little less than a year now yet it killed me to see him looking so ... so hopeless in his little hospital gown. I dreaded to know how awful Bruce would be feeling right about now but from the look on his face that had become a permanent fixture over the last 24 hours, I had a feeling it was about ten times worse than what I was feeling.

Dad had stayed at the hospital with us over the night and had taken it as his liberty to try and locate some at least semi-edible food but in a hospital that was easier said than done; good thing dad loved a challenge. About twenty minutes after leaving dad returned with two sorry-looking bagels in his hands.

"Slim pickings at the food court," dad smiled gently as he handed Bruce and me a bagel, my stomach rumbling at the sigh of it having not had the stomach to eat since bringing Alfred up to the hospital. "Got you guys a bagel."

"Thanks, Dad," I said, taking the bagel from him and passing one along to Bruce.

"Nothing for the invalid?" Alfred asked, making me smile softly as I tried to not draw Alfred's attention to the bagel cause that would just be cruel.

"Sorry. Hospital food only," dad reminded him, taking out his phone as it started to buzz. "Doctor's orders. How you feeling?"

"Alright. Slight puncture, leaked a bit," Alfred attempted a half shrug but stopped due to the tubes going into his hands.

"So I know last night must be kind of a blur but do you have any idea who did this?" dad asked, and beside me, Bruce started to shift uncomfortably.

"It—it was—" Bruce began but Alfred was quick to cut in.

"Dark. It was very dark," Alfred interrupted, making dad briefly glance over at me and Bruce. "I saw a shadow, then my saviours, Master Bruce and Miss Holly were leaning over me."

"You remember that?" I asked in surprise, having remembered Alfred to be pretty out of it.

"I do, miss," Alfred confirmed with a small smile.

"Bruce, Holly, did you get a look at the guy?" dad inquired, and I looked over to Bruce to answer. Clearly, Alfred had his own reasons for not telling dad but I didn't want to be the one to lie to him, something that Bruce appeared to notice when he turned back to look at dad with a subtle nod that I'm certain only I saw.

"No," Bruce answered, and dad didn't have the chance to ask me any further when his phone began to buzz fiercely in his hand again.

"Sorry, my captain keeps calling," dad apologised, looking at his phone in confusion.

"It's alright, dad. If the captain needs you, you should probably go to her," I said, hoping he would leave and my guilt would cease.

"No, no. I can stay," dad answered.

"I really appreciate you sitting with Master Bruce and miss Holly but as you can see, I'm completely fine," Alfred insisted. "Go."

The phone began to buzz in dad's hand again which may have been what lead dad to nod in agreement.

"Alright. I'll try and stop by later," dad said.

"Thank you again for coming, detective," Bruce replied, standing up.

"Say hi to the captain and Harvey for me," I requested as dad headed towards the door. He nodded his head in acknowledgement before he placed a kiss on the top of my head and left the room.

When he was gone both Bruce and I returned our gazes to Alfred.

"Why not tell him the truth?" Bruce asked Alfred.

"Well, believe it or not, Master Bruce, Reggie is a mate. You don't set coppers on your mates, do you?" Alfred responded.

"I may not be the most intelligent person in the world but friends don't stab each other, Alfred. I mean, you're never going to see me stab Bruce nor he stab me. It's like an unspoken rule ... you don't stab your friends," I said.

"But I served with that bastard," Alfred countered, yet I still couldn't see how that made it any better. If anything, it made it even worse. "Anyone sorts him out, it's me, nobody else. It wouldn't be right."

"Why would he stab you?" Bruce asked.

"Now, that's a bloody good question," Alfred nodded his head. "And one I mean to find out."

Alfred began to rip the tubing out of his hand and the other tubes that were connected to his chest, making me jump to my feet and Bruce stare at him with wide eyes as the machines around us began to beep loudly.

"Alfred, maybe you should lay back down," I suggested, starting to move around to the other side of the bed to where he was starting to climb to his feet as Bruce came over to my other side.

"Can't do that, miss. Because as long s that bloody lunatic's out on the loose ... the harder it's gonna be to find him," Alfred said, grunting as he stood on his feet, leaning onto the side of the bed for support. "Now you just—" Alfred cut himself off with a catch of his breath.

"Get back in bed, Alfred," Bruce said nervously.

"Just pass me my robe," Alfred requested but neither Bruce nor I made a move to do that.

"Get back in bed," Bruce said firmly, making Alfred stop and stare straight at him. "That's an order."

Alfred seemed to consider fighting Bruce's order for only a moment longer before he lowered himself back onto the bed with shaking legs.

"I'll go find a doctor to reattach his tubes," I muttered to Bruce, who nodded in agreement.

I spared Alfred one last look to make sure he wasn't gonna make a run for it and only once I was sure he wouldn't did I leave the room to find a doctor. How the hell was I going to explain how it all became unattached, though?

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Third Person POV

G.C.P.D. Precinct

Fury burning through his chest, Jim dropped the newspaper onto Captain Essen's desk, practically begging her to yell 'April fools' at him. The paper headline read 'Narco Detective Vindicated: Murder Charges Dropped'. Upon his arrival to the office, Harvey Dent had arrived, clearly having seen the paper also.

"This can't be true," Jim said in frustration.

"I was prepping the case for the DA when word came down this morning," Dent told him, only briefly halting his pacing around the room. "Press got it last night, of course."

"We had the murder weapon. With Flass' prints," Jim reminded Essen. "There's no way."

"Apparently the defence dug up a witness, cleared Flass of all charges," Essen told him.

"What witness?" Jim asked.

"No idea," Dent shook his head before a sarcastic self of happiness crossed his face. "Only the judge and the lead attorneys were privy and our honourable DA is staying mum."

"What about a subpoena?" Jim inquired, referring to a decree that orders a person to attend a court, or in this case the witness so Jim could lay his eyes on the bastard.

"We don't have sufficient grounds," Dent shook his head once again, much to Jim's frustration. "But I did a little snooping around."

"And?" Jim encouraged, practically begging for it to finally be some good news.

"The mystery witness was provided by Commissioner Loeb," Dent informed them all, making Jim internally groan at not noticing this before. Of course, it was Loeb. There's no other asshole who liked to push his limits as Loeb did.

"Let me guess, Loeb's reinstating Flass as head of Narco," Jim predicted.

"Worse. He announced he's backing Flass for president of the Policeman's Union in the upcoming election," Essen countered.

"So you're telling me a man we know is a drug dealer and a murderer is gonna hold a major position in the G.C.P.D.?" Jim summarised, his anger bubbling up to the surface of his skin after all that he had done to get Flass sent off to trial in the first place.

"Loeb is sending a message," Essen sighed, resting her hand on her hip.

"This is not gonna stand," Jim said firmly.

"Look, Jim, I'm just as upset about this as you are. But it's the commissioner," Essen reminded him.

"Which is what makes it worse," Jim said before he turned to leave the office.

"Jim! Jim!" Essen called after him, knowing him better than he knew himself. Jim would do something stupid that would then lead to her having to discipline him which would then look even worse to the commissioner and the rest of the police on her team who didn't like the guy. But Essen also knew that there was very little that she could do to stop him.

Storming through the precinct, Jim's eyes suddenly locked on the tall figure of Flass like a predator on its prey. He barely acknowledged the murmurs of protest as he shoved past a group of cops as currently, all he could think about was the poor victim that Flass had killed to protect himself a few months ago.

As he reached the entrance of the precinct to leave and grab some fresh air, Flass and two of his men remained right in the way.

"Jimbo," Flass smiled cruelly. "You heard the good news?" Jim stayed silent as he cleared his throat, waiting for them to move. "Hey, the boys are throwing me a welcome-back down at O'Donnelly's. Figure you'd wanna stop by ... you know, show support for your soon-to-be new president."

"I wouldn't celebrate just yet," Jim retorted simply.

"You just don't learn," Flass shook his head, the smile still playing on his lips. "You still wanna take me down. I'm like the phoenix. I'll just rise again and again and again."

Jim didn't wait any longer for them to move and having had enough of Flass's bullshit, Jim moved right through their group and out of the door, leaving the arrogant fool to go and gloat to someone else.

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Holly POV

Gotham Hospital

Rhythmically, the sound of Jonathon's heartbeat bleeped into the silence of the darkened hospital room. I hadn't turned on any of the lights in the room, nor had I opened the curtains as before entering the doctors had informed me they were trying an experiment of sorts; They wanted to see if there were any changes in Jonathon's condition depending on his surroundings. Today's trial ... the dark. The only light that allowed me to see the slow rise and fall of his chest came from the small screens displaying his vitals and the light from the hallway that managed to sneak through the closed blinds.

I'd left Bruce and Alfred about an hour ago while the doctors reattached all of Alfred's tubing. Bruce would probably be able to explain it all better than I would and be more believable rather than my excuse which was gonna be 'our friend decided he needed to get out of here and beat his old friend for stabbing him'.

As I repositioned myself in my chair, I noticed that the rhythm of the heartbeat had started to speed up, faster and faster at an alarming rate. The doctors had also warned me prior to coming in that if this were to happen I would need to get out of the room as, even though they had him permanently restrained to the bed, yesterday there was an incident where Jonathon broke free and grabbed one of the nurses, bruising her arm quite badly.

I moved up onto my feet as Jonathon's legs started to twitch in his bed before I rushed over to the door and threw it open.

"I need a doctor! Is there a doctor here!" I called out the door and down the corridor.

A few seconds passed before two pairs of footsteps came rushing down the corridor and towards me. Clearly, they had guessed what had happened already as the tall male was holding a syringe of something while the shorter male nurse held his clipboard tight against his chest.

"I'd suggest you wait out here, kid," the shorter nurse suggested.

I nodded my head and moved out of the room and out of their way. Part of me wanted to stay and be there for Jonathon but I knew that I would end up doing anything other than being helpful. I just needed to leave the doctors to it so I remained outside of the door, leaning my head back against the wall as I listened to the frantic heartbeat from inside the room that was no longer a comfort to hear. Shouts of panic started to echo out of the room and I recognised them to belong to Jonathon.

The shouts continued for a few moments longer before the room fell quiet again, the heartbeat calming down again but it refused to go back to the pace it had been before. I waited a couple of seconds until I poked my head around the door.

"Is he alright?" I asked.

"He is for now," the tall nurse answered as he reached up to the small screen and readjusted it. "It appears that the dark has only made his fear worse."

"Maybe it's because his attack happened at night?" I said, watching the short nurse pull the curtain open so half of it now allowed some light in.

"Maybe," the short nurse offered a small sympathetic smile. "I'd recommend leaving Mr Crane for a while just in case his condition is more sensitive today."

"Ok. I'm erm ... I'm going to be in the hospital for a while now with another friend. If anything changes, is it okay to be told? I'll be on the second floor in room 17 most probably," I requested.

"I'm afraid we can't make any promises on that, kid," the tall nurse said. "It'll all depend on what changes."

"Ok, that's understandable," I nodded my head before I glanced back at Jonathon.

"We'll look after him. Try not to worry yourself," the tall nurse said, leading us all out of the room.

Try not to worry? That's easier said than done. Of course, I was gonna worry about my friend who couldn't even stay peaceful when unconscious and possibly never would be able to. But sure, I'll try not to worry.

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Third Person POV

Commissioner Loeb's Office

After leaving the precinct, Jim made his way straight to the culprit behind all this shit; right to the man who had destroyed everything that Jim had worked his ass off to achieve, to get a dangerous criminal off the streets and behind bars ... Commissioner Loeb.

Ignoring the protests from Loeb's assistant, Jim walked straight through the rest of the office space and into Loeb's private office where he immediately shut the door behind him loudly yet Loeb didn't even blink an eye in his direction.

"Ah, Detective Gordon," Loeb sighed, shuffling through some of his sheets. "I had a presentiment that I might be seeing you."

"Arnold Flass is a murderer. He belongs in jail," Jim said, rushing straight to the point of his visit, no time for any niceties.

"Detective Flass was legally exonerated. The judge heard testimony," Loeb responded. "The case is closed."

It took every bit of willpower Jim had to not launch himself across the desk and strangle the worthless life out of Loeb and instead he settled on leaning forward onto the desk that Loeb hid behind.

"You used your connections to orchestrate his release," Jim corrected him. "You perverted the system."

"Petulance and naivete are a bad combination," Loeb answered calmly before he took a sip of black coffee from his mug. "Know when you're beaten."

"I was knee-deep in the Flass investigation," Jim reminded him as Loeb placed his mug down onto his desk and opened the drawer to his left where he then took out a cassette tape. "There is no one with enough credibility to trump our evidence."

Loeb got up from his seat and placed the cassette tape into the small block tv beside him.

"I do enjoy when unwavering certainty is undermined by the truth," Loeb said, a small smirk playing on his lips as he pressed play and stepped back to let the destruction take place right before him.

The screen flickered to life to reveal a tired-looking Harvey Bullock who was sat in an empty room, arms crossed over his chest and looking anywhere but at the camera.

"Look into the camera, state your name and why you're here," the woman behind the camera said.

Eyes widening in disbelief, Jim moved around the desk to get a clearer view of the screen. He ignored the way that Loeb continued to stare at him, practically shining with a smugness that made Jim want to shove the older man out of the third-story window.

"My name is Detective Harvey Bullock. And I presented false evidence against my fellow G.C.P.D. detective Arnold Flass," tv Harvey said, his voice monotone and void of all emotions.

Feeling sick to his stomach at the newest stench of betrayal, Jim quickly left the Commissioner's office and made his way back to the precinct with one intention only ... to get the truth out of Harvey.

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Never had Jim been so anxious to see his partner as he was while he stood on the upper level where he could overlook the rest of the precinct. Harvey, typically, wasn't late this time with meeting him as Jim had barely been stood there for five minutes when the familiar face of Harvey appeared from the stairway.

"Dude, I feel like a herd of cattle had a dance party in my head last night," Harvey chuckled as he reached the top of the stairs, failing to notice when Jim gave him a fierce side eye.

"Why the hell would you lie to exonerate Flass?" Jim demanded, cutting straight to the chase. Harvey hesitated before he slowly turned to look at Jim. "Don't deny it, I saw the tape."

"I'm not denying anything," Harvey replied, turning to give Jim his full attention. "I did what I had to do. If I didn't do what Loeb told me to do, I would have lost my job. Probably gone to prison."

"What does he have on you?" Jim asked. "Harvey—"

"Do you honestly think you're the only one who had the orders to take a punk down to the end of a pier and put a bullet in his head? Huh?" Harvey retorted, his voice rising slightly but quickly lowered it when he noticed a couple of glances being sent in their direction. "The difference is my Cobblepot didn't come back."

"Who'd you kill?" Jim said after a moment.

"Some scumbag mobster," Harvey murmured. "Caught him coming out of a club one night. My sergeant put a gun in my hand, held another to my head and said 'make a choice'. I decided to keep breathing."

"Damn it, Harvey," Jim groaned.

"So, what? What are you gonna do, arrest me? Go ahead, arrest me, but don't stop there. Half the cops on the G.C.P.D. have a Cobblepot and Loeb has the goods on all of them," Harvey said, his voice now nothing more than a deadly whisper. "That is what Loeb does."

"Well, it ends now," Jim said before he went to turn away.

"Jim. Going after Flass was bad enough. Going after Loeb is suicide," Harvey warned him.

"So, what. I'm supposed to stay quiet? Fall in line like the rest of you?" Jim remarked.

"That's exactly what you're gonna do and you know why? Cause this war you're gonna create with Loeb isn't just gonna affect you. You go against Loeb and he will use every ounce of his power to take you down and that includes using Holly against you. Loeb plays dirty cause he can, cause he's the goddamn commissioner so if you ain't gonna listen to me then at least think about your kid," Harvey said angrily.

"She's the reason why I've got to do this," Jim replied. "If I let Holly see me back down to a criminal like Loeb, like Flass, then what am I teaching her, huh?"

"Don't give me that, Gordon. Like hell you're doing this just as a life lesson," Harvey scoffed. "Why can't you just take a step back from this?"

"Cause the day I do that is the day I quit being a cop," Jim answered before he turned on his heel and left Harvey alone.

Waiting for Jim's footsteps to retreat, Harvey took out his phone knowing there was only one person who would be able to talk some sense into Jim.

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Holly POV

Gotham Hospital

"Damn machine," I muttered, giving the vending machine a small shake as I stared at the galaxy bar that had gotten stuck on the wiring.

Bruce and I had gotten hungry again so I'd offered to take a trip to the local vending machine. But of course, it was my luck that the one chocolate bar I had wanted was now stuck between the glass and the machine. I looked around for someone to help but I didn't wanna be that person who is just a complete pain in the ass.

Just as I was about to give up on the chocolate, I saw it move slightly.

"Yes," I said in excitement before I gave the machine another shake. It didn't move, typical.

Suddenly, my phone started to ring in my pocket, scaring the absolute crap out of me. I took it out and saw Harvey's name pop up on my screen.

"Jesus," I muttered before I raised my phone to my ear. "Harvey, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Hey, kid. How you doing? Jim told me about the butler," Harvey said.

"I'm fine. Tired but I'm doing alright," I answered.

"Look, Holly, I need you to do something for me," Harvey requested, making me drag my attention away from the chocolate and instead focus on what he was saying.

"Sure, what is it?" I asked.

"I don't know if you've spoken to Jim recently but there's something you should know. Arnold Flass, you know the guy that your dad got arrested a couple of months back for killing our witness?" Harvey said.

"The cop guy? Yeah sure, I remember," I replied.

"Well, he's been exonerated—" Harvey began.

"Exonerated? But how? I thought you guys had loads of evidence to convict, not to mention that DA that dad's friends with. Can't he do something about it?" I asked.

"We did have loads of evidence but ... Holly, I'm sure you remember when Falcone tried to have Cobblepot killed, right? Well, I had my own Cobblepot a while back but my guy never came back," Harvey said and I didn't say anything as I listened intently. "Commissioner Loeb is holding it against me and forced me to withdraw the credibility of the evidence or he'd have me fired or arrested."

I was silent for a moment before I nodded my head slowly.

"You had little choice, then," I sighed, falling into the seat beside the vending machine.

"Thank God you at least understand," Harvey said. "Cause I was gonna ask if you could talk some sense into Jim and get him to see that."

"Little choice or not, Harv, you should probably try and get him locked back up or your confession discredited or something before he does something you'll regret," I suggested.

"I'll get right on it," Harvey responded, and I noticed the sarcasm in his voice, making me roll my eyes. "Another thing, though. Jim is planning to take Loeb down by himself so I think you should try and talk him out of it cause it's gonna get him killed."

"Of course he is," I groaned, running a hand across my face. "I am too tired for this crap. I'll give him a call in a bit, alright? And until then, try and sort this mess out, Harvey, whatever it takes."

"Whatever it takes, kid," Harvey repeated. "Speak to you later."

Harvey hung up the phone and at the same time, I heard a clunk beside me. My eyes widened slightly when I turned around and saw the galaxy bar had finally fallen to the bottom of the machine. At least something was going well.

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Third Person POV

G.C.P.D. Precinct

Hands clammy and heart beating faster than normal just as it always did when he was around her, Ed entered the medical examiner's room and stood silently, waiting for Miss Kringle to turn around and see him. When she eventually turned around, the sudden arrival of silent Ed made her physically jump.

"Oh, my," Miss Kringle gasped, grasping her notebooks closer to her chest.

"Fun fact," Ed giggled in excitement. "The human species attracts the opposite sex via pheromones secreted through saliva, sweat and urine."

"Gross," Miss Kringle muttered.

"But one can't always trust such an animalistic method to find a suitable partner," Ed said.

"What are you trying to tell me?" Miss Kringle asked.

"Arnold Flass was released," Ed answered. "I know that you two were dating, and if the attraction wasn't intellectual—How could it possibly be with that gorilla? –then it must be physical. He's just—He's such a bad, bad, bad—"

"I appreciate your concern," Miss Kringle interrupted him, placing a hand on his forearm, freezing Ed right in his tracks. "But it won't be necessary. I've realised there are far better men in the world than Arnold Flass."

Miss Kringle offered him one last smile before she walked passed him and out of the door, leaving Ed in a stunned trance as he placed his hand on his forearm where Miss Kringle had touched. Ed swore in his mind that he was never gonna wash that jacket again.

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