We Were Born Sick • Gotham Fanfiction •

IV: Changing Tides

"My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together." –Desmond Tutu

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After saying goodbye to the other worker who'd been tasked with staying until close that night, Oswald walked out of the back exit with the two bags of trash to throw in the dumpster. After a slight struggle with getting the rain slicked lid flipped backwards he threw the bags in and walked around to the back of it to throw the lid shut.

He'd barely taken a few steps away when he heard a thud behind him, spinning around he saw Bird crouched down on top of the dumpster. His eyes drifted up trying to see where she'd jumped from –her ability to do so had never ceased to amaze him.

"You went from holding an umbrella to taking the trash out?" She asked, with a small smirk. Her glossed lips were just visible from under the shadow her dark hood had cast over her face from the streetlight, "How the mighty have fallen."

His head dropped to the side as he stared at her with an unamused expression, irritation laced his words as he sighed, "A temporary but necessary fall, I assure you. I have a plan in place." Looking back down to the lid she'd landed on, he added, "And I should have left the top open."

"Can't wait to hear it." She said, as she jumped of the dumpster and ignored the snarky remark he'd made about leaving it open so she'd have landed in the dumpster when she jumped.

"I'm parked over here." Bird called over her shoulder as she started towards the end of the alley, and he breathed a sigh of relief as he followed her. He knew her preferred method of getting around town wasn't by car –she preferred to get around Gotham by foot; normally leaping from rooftop to rooftop. Something that wasn't plausible for him before, let alone after the severe leg injury he'd sustained.

Once they were in the car and she'd turned the heat on, he aimed the passenger side vent at him, appreciating the warm air on such a cold night. He'd been having to walk or take the bus to and from his new job and it was a welcomed relief to be in a car, especially with her.

"Where to?" She questioned, watching out of her window as a car drove past them on the road.

The only answer she got was silence as he thought the question over in his head. The only place he really had to go was back to the small hotel he'd been paying cash for by the night, and the heat didn't work in his room.

"Hungry?"

Looking over at her he gave a small, almost weak nod, before sliding down in the seat some and crossing his arms over his chest as he stared out of the window. She watched him as he pulled the white work hat he'd been forced to wear off and crumpled it in his hand in a childlike manner.

Silently, she pulled her car out onto the street and drove off knowing just the place to go. A small all night diner she'd watched the sunrise from many nights growing up.

It was a long drive there, but neither of them seemed to mind as they rode together in complete, but comfortable silence.

Every so often she'd look over at him, hardly able to believe he was really alive and beside her after so long of thinking she'd never see him again. While he remained locked inside of his head, sorting out his thoughts and absorbed in his ever growing plan to get to the top of his game in Gotham; he'd suffered some mishaps and acted too quickly without thinking the plan through before and he'd nearly met his fate. It was a mistake he didn't intend on making again.

No, from now on his every thought, every little move had to be perfect –leaving no room for error.

"Hey, we're here." Bird said as she reached over and gently shook his shoulder.