Gotham's Unknown 2 (A Batman Fanfic)

Chapter 13: Meanwhile

While Joker was spending his time with Sarah, Edward Nygma felt a little more at ease with Daniel's incarceration. Oswald was coming to visit Ed everyday and once a week he would check in with Daniel's psychiatrist because she did seem to actually care about Daniel's wellbeing but it was obvious to her and his fathers that Daniel didn't care.

One afternoon after Oswald's visit with Ed, Dr. Natalie Wright showed Oswald into her office to discuss Daniel's condition. "So is he getting any better?" Asked Oswald as Natalie sat down at her desk.
"You ask that every time." She stated as Oswald barked back in response as he felt she was trying his patience.
"And!?" He shouted as she sighed.
"He's not doing any better he's actually getting much worse, he's not only unresponsive to staff but now the other patients. Yesterday he was caught in a riot and because he hasn't been eating much he got pushed around and trampled. He has three broken ribs and a concussion so we have confined to the Infirmary. I'm considering taking him off of his sedatives, personally I'd rather have a violent patient than a vegetable." She stated as she rubbed the bridge of her nose from under her glasses.
"Does that mean I'll be able to see him?" Asked Oswald as the doctor nodded.
"Once the meds are out of his system absolutely, honestly I think some contact with the outside world would do him an immense amount of good especially because of your relationship with him." Stated Natalie as Oswald paused in thought.
"What do you mean?" Asked Oswald as Natalie sighed.
"Right, um Dr. Ivory has taken a leave of absence and I have taken over as Edward Nygma's temporary psychiatrist. Edward has been very cooperative in our sessions as I am also Daniel's psychiatrist. He's told me quite a lot about you and Daniel's relationship more than you have told me." Said Natalie as Oswald wasn't very surprised that Edward was willing to talk with her.
"What exactly has he told you?" Asked Oswald as she smiled.
"He said that Daniel has looked up to you since you started looking after him. He's said many times that Daniel admires you and that he's a little jealous that he thinks so highly of you. Though I've been Daniel's psychiatrist for over 6 months and still I don't know much about him but what I do know tells me that if you tell him how much you regret your actions, I think it would greatly help him with his self destructive behavior." Said Natalie as Oswald sighed.
"That's your professional opinion?" Asked Oswald as he felt a little strange when he thought of apologizing. Oswald had never felt guilty for his actions because he was always so focused on how these actions would benefit him that he never even considered that it was hurting people he cared about. Not when he was starting war between Carmine Falcone and Sal Maroni, not when his mother was held captive by Theo Galavan, not even when he murdered the woman Ed loved, but making Daniel choose between the love of the only woman that ever loved him and his place in his family only then after he got what he wanted did he realize his happiness didn't matter when it cost Daniel his.

A few weeks went by and then it became much more obvious that the medication had left Daniel's system. He seemed more emotional even though it was mostly angered glares and bitter toned swears under his breath it was still more emotion than he had shown since he was put on the medication. Even Edward noticed Daniel's change in behavior which was actually very pleasing. Oswald got the call that he could finally see Daniel so he decided to try to show Daniel he was sorry. He went through Daniel's old room and found Daniel's old tape player and headphones. He knew Daniel loved music that was the one thing that set him apart from his fathers, he loved to play piano and though Oswald was certain he couldn't get a grand piano into Arkham he decided to settle for getting him not only his favorite cassettes but a few new ones that he picked out based on what Daniel liked the play in the Iceberg Lounge. It was mostly Mozart and Beethoven but Daniel did occasionally play some swing music.

Once he found the perfect gift he went to Arkham. He sat in the visitation room for a while longer than he thought he should've but then Daniel walked in. He was in shackles and when he sat down they chained him to the floor. "Are those really necessary?" Asked Oswald as Daniel scoffed.
"They seem to think so!" Said Daniel as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"May I ask why?" Asked Oswald as Daniel sighed.
"I got tough with a guard this morning and he clocked me in the face so I hit him back." Said Daniel as he lifted his hands and shook the chains a bit to show this was the result of his anger. "Why are you here?" Asked Daniel as he looked into Oswald's eyes.
"Daniel I-I...." He paused trying to say it but the words weren't coming out.
"What?" Asked Daniel as he gestured trying to get Oswald to finish his sentence. Oswald wanted to apologize but couldn't, not yet so he decided to start with the gift he brought.
"I brought you something." Said Oswald as he picked up the gift bag he had set next to his chair and placed it on the table then slid it over to Daniel.  Daniel took the decorative tissue paper out and looked inside then smiled which was something Oswald hadn't seen in a while. Daniel tipped over the bag and poured it out on the table and his smile only got brighter.
"My music." Said Daniel with a soft sweet kind of smile. "God I haven't listened to this stuff since I was a teenager." He said as he looked at the older tapes first.
"I also bought you some new ones, thought you'd like something different." Said Oswald as Daniel picked up the new tapes.
"Thank you Oswald, now I can finally get a good night's sleep. The screams of crazies aren't as soothing as one would think." Said Daniel sarcastically with a smile.
"Yes I remember." Said Oswald as he smiled too. They sat in silence for a moment as Daniel looked at the tapes then Oswald decided to just get it over with. "Daniel, I'm sorry!" Said Oswald as he hung his head.
"What do you have to be sorry for?" Asked Daniel as he didn't even look up from the tapes he was still reading the songs listed on the backs of their packaging.
"For what I did to you! You're in here because of me!" Said Oswald as Daniel smiled and chuckled a bit finally looking up at him.
"Is that really what you think?!" Asked Daniel as Oswald nodded.
"Yes! If I had just let you marry that girl, you would've never hurt her and you would've never admitted yourself! It's all my fault!" Said Oswald as Daniel shook his head.
"I guess I never really had the chance to explain myself before they drugged me up so much I actually don't know what month it currently is. I didn't admit myself because I hurt Sarah, killing the woman I loved was really more of a tipping point for me." Said Daniel as he ran his fingers through his hair. "I guess it all started after I left Gotham. I knew this city was horrible but being around normal regular people really opened my eyes to how horrible it actually was. I realized that getting out of Gotham wasn't a permanent solution because even though I kept telling myself I was safe I still couldn't really convince myself that I could drop my guard for more than a couple hours a night to sleep. I couldn't walk past people on the street without begging in my head that they'd try to jump me so I could slit their throat and bury them in the woods." Said Daniel as he tapped one of the tapes against his palm. "Even though I thought I wanted to be normal, inside I knew that I was only wanting that because that's what Sarah wanted for me but I could never live up to that expectation. All she ever wanted was to be normal but in truth all I ever wanted was to be you." Said Daniel as Oswald hated that he found himself feeling proud of that statement.
"Don't say that." Said Oswald as Daniel smiled.
"But it's still true! I tried to be normal I really tried but it didn't work for me.  But knowing Sarah hated me till the moment I killed her just made me realize that I can't be normal like she wanted but I can't be like you until I figure myself out. I knew that if I stayed with you, I'd be expected to just immediately get better and I had nowhere else to be so I thought since Arkham had people trained to deal with insanity they could help me figure out who I'm meant to be." Said Daniel as Oswald then became confused.
"Wait if you came here to find yourself then why did you try to kill yourself?" Asked Oswald as Daniel sighed.
"Sarah always said she suspected that I was a schizophrenic and I guess she was right. The last thing I remember before everything became all blurred together was that I was sitting in my cell then I heard someone pounding on my cell door and so I told them to go away but then I heard Sarah screaming at me telling me that she should've let Joker kill me, that if I was dead it would make everyone's lives easier. Then I saw Dad standing in the corner of my cell telling me that I was the biggest mistake of his life." Said Daniel as tears started to well up in his eyes. "I tried to tell myself it wasn't real but then I saw you sitting next me and you leaned close to me and said that Sophia Falcone should've killed me when I was a baby because maybe then you wouldn't have such a monumental failure tied to the name of the Penguin." Said Daniel as he smiled and started laughing but it was a painful kind of laugh. "So I smashed the window in my cell and slut my wrists with broken glass. I couldn't stand the thought that everything I had ever done to prove my worth and loyalty to you only proved that I was only worth anything to anyone as a corpse." Said Daniel as tears dropped onto the table. "The last thing I remember is guards rushing into my cell as I passed out from blood loss." Said Daniel as Oswald grabbed Daniel's hand.
"Daniel you mean everything to me, I never wanted to hurt you or make you feel like a failure. I felt like I was losing you to that girl so like every other time in my life when I felt powerless I put my feelings first without even considering what it would do to those I care about. That's why my mother died in my arms, why Ed tried to kill me the first time, and why you suffered so much. Daniel you are the most important thing in my life, if I was ever told to choose between my position and your life I would choose you a million times over." Said Oswald as he squeezed Daniel's hand. "Daniel I love you." Said Oswald as Daniel let go of Oswald's hand.
"Oswald..." Stated Daniel as he hung his head.
"Yes?" Asked Oswald as he felt his heart sink.
"Can you come over to me so I can hug you, I would but I chained to the floor." Said Daniel as he chuckled a bit finding it to be sort of silly that he had to ask him that. Oswald smiled and stood walking around the table. Daniel stood and hugged Oswald tightly. "I love you too, Dad." Said Daniel as Oswald started to cry too.