Devil's Playground • Gotham Fanfiction •

XX - Not Even a Little Bit. Not Even at All

"A cut. That's what I felt. Words can cut, slice, like a razor." - Megan Miranda, Fracture

•••

Harvey let out a small sigh when he entered the living room to see Bird wasn't on the couch.

Her  bag was still on the floor next to it and the blanket and pillow he'd  loaned to her was pushed to one end; the exact spot he'd left them the  night before.

The scent of coffee tickled his nose long before he'd walked into the kitchen.

"Did you sleep?" Harvey questioned as he walked into the room with Bird.

Drying  her hands off on a towel, Bird ignored the question and said, "You're  running late. I made your breakfast and coffee to go."

"My... my what?"
His brain was having trouble keeping up.

In truth he'd barely slept the night before.
He'd  been both worried about Bird and nervous about her being in his house.  Which had left him tossing and turning, wondering if she was behind  every noise he'd heard in the house.

When they lived together, despite knowing how uncomfortable the company she kept made him -she'd still have people over.
Invite criminals right into his house.

And  even though she'd shut her phone off before he'd went to bed and  insisted she was there to hide out from everyone, he wondered how true  that was.

"Here-" Bird's voice interrupted his thoughts.

Next  thing he knew, Bird had pushed a travel coffee mug into his hand and  was offering up a bagel breakfast sandwich filled with bacon, egg and  cheese.

"Uh..." He stammered.

Back when they were dating and  would spend the night at each others apartments, hell, even when they  lived together he couldn't remember a time she'd actually fixed anything  for breakfast.

She'd sometimes have his coffee ready for him, sure.
But if she did anything for breakfast she'd dart out for bagels or muffins from a nearby bakery.

His wide eyes went from the freshly washed pans and utensils in the dying rack, back to where she stood in front of him.

"Did you sleep?" He repeated his earlier questioned, "At all?"

"I tried."

Lie.
It was a lie and they both knew it.

"Starling."  Harvey exhaled her name and tried to pick his next words carefully to  deal as less a blow as possible, "You know how... bad it is for you to not  sleep."

A kind way of pointing out how quickly her mental state could deteriorate with lack of sleep.
Especially when it was something she was depriving herself of; like a punishment.

She'd sat in front of him barely ten hours before and told him how Jim had killed her half-brother.
Her voice and choice of words was very matter-of-fact.

One might even say emotionless.

"I'll sleep while you're at work." She dismissed his concern.

"You  don't have to do any of this." He pointed out raising his hands up in  the air with the coffee in one and the sandwich in the other, "You don't  owe me anything-"

"Might as well make myself useful." She  interrupted and then nodded towards the clock on the wall. The clock  she'd purchased from a local artist who re-purposed various items when  they were getting the house ready to move into, "You're going to be  late."