The Joker And The Fool

7.(2) Fools can be kings

7.2

For a week Diana had offered her bed to her brother and her niece. After that time Tommy suggested to take Diana's place and sleep on the mattress in the laundry room. He allowed Elizabeth to sleep in the same bed as Diana. To which Diana had shown little objection. She imagined that a small child like Elizabeth would not use up much space. Elizabeth had made the remark that they would have a pyjama party evert night. But the reality of that was very timid. Every night Tommy would come to prepare Elizabeth for bed, then would put her to bed. It was only after a week that Elizabeth requested that Diana would read her a bedtime story. The first night on which Diana had slept with her niece, she had woken up from another terrible nightmare. Her face had been covered in a cold sweat. She would have wanted to sit up straight, however she quickly felt that her niece had curled up against her. It felt somewhat discomforting at first, however she grew used to it.

After a month or so, it was clear that both Tommy and his daughter were not going to move anywhere soon. Tommy did not discuss it with her, nor did she ask him about it. For some reason she wanted them to stay. Not just because they had nowhere else to go, nor wanted nor to go. But because they gave Diana a reassuring sense of home and responsibility. And though she feared it and tried to have some sort of distance from them, did she grow too fond of it that she could not so easily part from them. So, this was love. She was very sure that she loved Elizabeth with all her heart. And for a very long extent of time, she did not think of John anymore.

Diana would tend to care for her niece as if she was her own child. Sit would appear that they grew to resemble one another in more than mere appearance. Diana sought the company of her niece as a way to pass on her knowledge and value. Elizabeth was a smart child, that was more than clear. She would grow to have the same interests as her aunt.

Diana did as much as she could to allow Elizabeth to fit into her environment, as well as make her environment as suitable as possible. She was very much concerned with the safety of her child. Thus, she would act to pursuit the person responsible for their calamities. Though, Tommy did not allow for her to understand much of what had happened to him and his wife. He did not trust her. He did not know how impulsive her thoughts could be, as he expected them to be.

Somewhere Diana knew very well that the person to whom Tommy owed his life was not the Penguin. She knew Oswald too well. Oswald did not allow people very much into his life. He would not likely start an operation of lending strangers cash. She imagined that Tommy must have been active in some type of criminal field. He had no education, he had not even a single diploma. He had not been able to finish school because of his struggle with substance use. Diana knew this. In the time that he had stayed in St. Elizabeth for the treatment of his addiction, she had been studying in Gotham City. But she remembered that Thomas had once called her to tell her of his perils. Diana did not have any contact with Tommy, not then, nor any following time. Nor did she speak with Jane for that matter. She assumed that Tommy hadn't either. But she did not know how his story had progressed.

She did not know who it was to whom he owed money. but she guessed it to be either Warren the White or Tony Zuko. She knew that they often paid men to launder money through gambling. An addiction of which Tommy had quite the hand in. at least, so he claimed. Perhaps he had been less skilled in it as he had proclaimed, perhaps he had a bad deck of cards. But even though she thought not that penguin played a particular part in Tommy's story, did she seek to blame him for it. Simply because she wanted to use her familiar affairs as an excuse to attack him.

Though, Diana had wanted to confront him with the case of her brother, she found it opt for debate whether it was safe to mention her extended family. She remained mostly out of sight, she never visited clubs and was most active during the day. She never went out for dinner; she never went out to see friends. She was only out of her home during the night that the monthly meeting of the circle would take place. It was remarkable that Penguin never spoke to her about her absence. She thought that perhaps he was rather pleased about it. He remembered a time in which Roman had vastly retreated from his social and financial occupations once. He took it as a sign, a sign that Diana was going to fail as much as Roman had. But he did not know how well she had organised her little world. He did not know of her contract to the Batman, nor her friendship with Jim Gordon, nor of the state of her financial business. He did not know that she had the power to undo him, if only she was willing to bet on it. For she was not simply going to end the Penguin's reign. She sought to replace him. She had no certainty that if she were able to rob Penguin of his titles, she would be able to take his place as well. There were more, perhaps even better candidates for that position.