Haly's Circus ~ Jerome x reader

17: The Boss

Jim pov:

"You all know what we're facing here." Commissioner Essen takes charge and everyone in the room has their attention on her. "A few days ago six criminally-insane inmates were busted out of Arkham Asylum." She turns to the officers and stands next to me.
"Two days ago, four of those inmates broke into Yellen Shipyard, kidnapped seven workers, and threw them off the roof from the Gotham's Gazette." She takes a deep breath. "As of now, we still have no lead on the person or persons behind the breakout."

"Jim Gordon's lead, Jim." I nod and take over. "These are our targets." I walk over to the projector and click it on so everyone can see it. "Jerome Valeska, 18 years old, matricide." A picture of the boy appears on the big board. It still scares me to think that y/n must have run into him so many times. Then I click the button again, and the next photo appears. "Arnold Dobkins, schizophrenic, poisoner, rapist." What a creep.

Somehow I hope Barbara is safe with all these weird people. I click the button again. "Aaron Helzinger. Killed his entire family with his bare hands." Well, nobody wants to stare at this photo for long anyway, so I'm already moving on to the next one. "Robert Greenwood, killed and then ate a dozen of women." Geez, how gross. I think again. How do these people get it in their heads to do such a thing?

I click and have to process who I am looking at. Yes, it's Barbara. Everyone behind me now sees that my ex has gone completely crazy in her head. I sigh deeply. Leslie's eyes are on me, I can feel it. She also feels sorry for me. But things are going well between us at the moment. "Barbara Kean killed her parents." Then I turn off the projector.

"We're going to work this in groups of four. I'll hand out assignments throughout the day." I turn around so I can face all the cops. "Alvarez is my coordinating officer. Any questions?" Nobody asks anything. I couldn't get it any clearer than this. "Let's get to work." Everyone gets to work right away, and that's how I like to see it. I walk to her office with Essen.

"Turns out the Maniax stole a refueling truck from the Shipyard yesterday." I start when we are at the top of the stairs.
"Why wasn't it reported?" she asks.
"It was one of over a hundred serviced vehicles," I answer. "Took a while to track down the entire fleet. But, when we did, we found that one was missing." I'm taking a short break.
"Fully loaded with gasoline."
"You get a license place?" I nod.
"And a description of the vehicle. Put out an APB." The words flew out of my mouth piece by piece. I have no problem with this work, it feels like I was made for this work.

"God, I'm so glad you're back, Jim." I smile from ear to ear. "Me too." I follow her into the office. "Do you ever think about walking away, and just stopping all out of a sudden with your job as a cop?" she asks, and I immediately shake my head.
"No. you?"
"I did, for a long time." She takes off her jacket and hangs it over her chair.
"But not anymore?" I ask, with some hope. "I've sat back and watched old, corrupt, lazy men buy their way into this and waste it. Not me, Jim." She shakes her index finger and her head. "Not me."

"A new day," I answer. I agree with her. So far she is my favorite commissioner and the best. She always does everything right and never disappoints anyone.

"You're damn right."

Y/n pov:

I come sluggishly into the living room, oh yes, I think. How stupid. Today is my birthday, but of course, Jerome has something much more important on his mind. The table is full of tasty things, I scan sandwiches, donuts, and alot of tasteful drinks. Jerome sits at the head of the table and I sit next to him. He is wearing his red bathrobe. I give him a quick smile.
"Hey, doll." Has he perhaps forgotten it because of all the hustle and bustle? I hope not, of course. "Hey Jerome, and everyone else." The part 'and everyone else' came out of my mouth very boring, and that was the intention. The chair slides incredibly hard on the smooth floor like I'm very heavy and it sounds like a fart. "That was not me, you know," I call. Jerome laughs.