Insanity // J.Valeska

Part Two: The Start

"Harvey, I swear to fucking God, if you take another one of my motherfucking fries I'm going to fuckin-"

"Steph, watch your language. And Harvey, you know better than to touch her goddamned stuff by now."

Steph smirked in victory and twisted her body in order to pluck a fry from between Harvey Bullock's lips. With an almost sinister look on her young face, she dropped the fry onto the floor of the GCPD, muttering a mock innocent oops.

Harvey swore and flipped the teenager off, grumbling irritably as he stood. As he adjusted his fedora atop his greasy curls, he risked a glance back at his partner's niece. The petite girl was hanging quite elegantly off of her uncle's desk; her long jean-clad legs crossed and in her lap she nursed a cardboard box of Gotham City's best french-fries.

Harvey visibly shuddered as the girl blew a kiss his way, waving her fingers girlishly in mock farewell. The man stood abruptly, needing to distance himself from Stephanie and her crazy eyes.

Harvey cursed again under his breath and made his way towards Jim Gordon, not before catching the girl in question snapping her pearly teeth together in a rather feral way. She was truly nuts, but she meant the absolute world to Jim and Babs.

Harvey felt for the young girl. She was an orphan now. She had played witness to her mother and father's murder. To top it all off, she now had to live with her grandparents in another town over, grandparents that she had no relationship with whatsoever.

It was actually Barbara, the blonde socialite that successfully wrapped James Gordon around her French-manicured fingers, that had convinced her boyfriend to bring their distraught niece to work and go out for lunch together.

Of course, going out for lunch really meant picking up fries from the best, if not sketchiest food cart in the city. And taking her to work meant unleashing the sometimes seemingly monstrous girl on his coworkers. Anything to get her mind off of the horrible realization that she was homeless and alone.

******

Stephanie disagreed strongly with her uncle. In his 'expert' opinion, her misbehaving meant tidying his desk, organizing the mass of paperwork, and maybe annoying Harvey; really that was hardly anything bad. Her uncle couldn't really complain.

Anyways, Steph would be heading back to her Grandparents' estate in Blüdhaven by the end of the week, so she hardly thought her uncle (or anyone else for that matter) could complain. Originally, Barbara had fought hard with Jim and the courts to allow for them to gain custody over Stephanie. However, logistically, it was more of a hassle to fight against the final wish of Steph's parents - having chosen to place their only daughter in the care of her grandparents. Stephanie's grandparents lived a ways away from any sense of normalcy to which Stephanie still desperately clung onto, making the transition even more difficult for the orphan.

That's where Barbara came in.

The sassy blonde strutted into her grandparents ancient manor in her platform stilettos and made the senile old birds an offer. Stephanie got full access to the city as long as she was accompanied by her aunt or uncle, and she was to stay with them one week a month and after school until a car was sent to pick her up. If Stephanie had any say in the matter, she would be in Gotham all the time, but the courts of course, prevented it.

 Therefore, with no relationship with her paternal grandparents, Stephanie was alone.

****

Having popped the last of the fries into her mouth, Steph hopped off of her uncle's now organized desk and brushed the container into the trash. She stretched her back as she scanned the large room for her Uncle Jim.

Her eyes landed on him in what appeared to be a rather heated discussion with a police officer, which made her grin. Steph often found herself caught in the middle of arguments and she secretly adored causing conflict. Besides, it could hardly count as conflict when it concerned a lowly police officer. She, along with almost every other citizen of Gotham, loathed the men and women in that pale blue uniform. They were unfair and treated the people they 'protected' like they were garbage and beneath them. They were pretentious assholes who had no idea how to help people.

Steph however, knew that many people were intimidated by her. The sudden death of her parents left her cracked when she should've been broken. Despite the circumstances, she grinned and made jokes like a human Cheshire Cat; like a jester. As she pranced over to her uncle's side, the epitome of perkiness and delight with a sickly sweet smile settled upon her porcelain face, the surrounding officers could not help but feel a tad uncomfortable.

The officer before her immediately reacted with what could only be described as unease. He tottered slightly on his tree trunk legs, and the tiniest beads of sweat glistened upon his chubby face, sliding all the way down to his rather beefy neck.

Jim appeared oblivious to his companion's obvious discomfort - some detective he was - he merely continued to rant quite animatedly about some new criminal or case.

Steph didn't bother listening to the conversation, and instead put all her effort into making her smile as large and sinister as possible. She widened her eyes until it was almost painful and allowed her head to tilt to the side. She then proceeded to bounce on the heels of her feet, sending the nervous man before her a flashy wink that had him scuttling for the door, tossing a halfhearted excuse to Jim behind him.

Jim groaned and massaged his temples, turning to his niece who only managed to smile innocently, batting her eyelashes in a childlike way.

"Really? Did you really need to do that?"

"I have no idea what you're referring to, Uncle Jimmy," was her reply.

He let out another irritated groan. "Look I've got a case to handle now. Here's," he paused to rifle through his wallet, "twenty bucks, I'll meet you at Babs' place later. Got it?"

He didn't wait for a reply and made his way out of the station, leaving all thoughts of his troubled niece behind him.

Steph clutched the pale paper bills in her palm, her hair falling in front of her eyes as she glanced down at it.

The money was symbolic if anything; a metaphor for the grief Jim felt and promptly gave away. He wasn't the most emotional person in the world - it made him an excellent detective and soldier - however, dealing with the loss of his sister and his orphaned niece was not under his jurisdiction.

Choosing to ignore the evident grief in his life was James Gordon's method of dealing with it. Closing the door on Steph was just a catalyst of the situation.

First chapter officially complete! This was more of a closer look at the relationship between our lovely protagonist, Steph and her uncle. Dw though Jerome will make an appearance quite soon!!

Hope you all enjoyed it :)

Proofread and edited by my amazing beta @Aderlyn18!!!

*edited*