What if.

Back to Work

Ed walked into the station and was immediately greeted by stares, he didn't say anything and continued to his desk on the way he ran into Detective Gordon "Oh, hey Ed how are you feeling?" he said a look of concern on his face, Ed was surprised at how concerned he seemed "much better" he said happily his usual excitement back in voice "hey the three of us got a case, we need to, now. Hey Ed welcome back" said a voice from behind them it was Detective Bullock, before Ed had the chance to say hello back they were headed to the crime scene.

"'You'd miss him if he was gone' 'no I wouldn't'" Harvey repeated those words over and over the minute he'd found out Ed had been found nearly dead on the sidewalk, what he didn't know is how odd it would be not having Ed there, it felt almost empty without him there to annoy everyone.

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They had just gotten back from the crime scene, Ed was walking down the records annex to get a folder he needed on a case, he was almost there when he was pushed against the wall when he looked up to see who it was, his heart dropped. It was Tom doughtery "I hope you haven't told anyone about what happened last week." He said his voice low and menacing "N-no I didn't" Ed whimpered his voice barely more than a scared whisper, he was slammed against the wall again "better not" Tom growled he let go of Ed and walked away to go chat with his friends.

Kristen sat in the records room reading a book as she had nothing else to do when she heard someone enter the room "good morning Ms.Kringle" it was Nygma she was surprised to see him it had been over a week since he'd just stopped coming in "Hello
Mr.Nygma" Ed didn't have the happy look in his eyes he usually did when seeing her "Im looking for the file on Mason Beck Anderson" he said simply Kristen stood up and got out the file all the while Ed stayed silent, it was honestly a bit weird, weirder than he normally was she handed the fuel to him he accepted it silently "hey, uh, are you okay?" She asked nervously his silence was making her feel a bit weird.

Ed was caught off guard by her concern "y-yeah never better" he said "uh, thank you for the file ms,Kringle" he said as he took the file from her hand and proceeded to walk out of her office "your welcome" she said as he walked out, he could tell his silence made her feel uncomfortable.

This pattern of silence went on for a few days until something tragic occurred with the GCPD...the shooting. He was behind a desk when he saw me,kringle standing there seemingly frozen in fear, he saw someone aiming to fire at her and without thinking he ran forward shielding her from the bullet with his arm and pulling her down behind the desk with him. He felt pain, searing pain, pain he soon realized was from a bullet. The minute he saw the blood on his coat sleeve his mind started racing, this wasn't a feeling he was used to and it was definitely not a feeling he ever wanted to experience again, one moment he was cowering behind a desk the next the bullets stopped and there were people walking around making sure everyone there was dead or mortally wounded when one of the men came around behind the desk he and ms.kringle were behind he closed his eyes and stayed as silent as possible

Later he sat on one of the desks having his arm taken care of he looked over to where Kristen was standing, she was talking to Tom making sure he was okay afterwards she walked towards him "hey" she said "thanks for saving me" she sounded genuine "no problem" he said, he winced as the medic pressed a piece of wet cloth to his arm to his arm, Kristen held out her hand, in it was aspirin "thanks" he said "no problem" the conversation was becoming repetitive Kristen walked away to talk To Lee and Tom walked over, Ed's stomach dropped when he saw Tom coming "Hey Ed hope you haven't told anyone about our little conversation, not that you could, cause if your planning on it and I catch wind of it, well I don't think I have to tell you what I'll do." He said he towered over Ed by quite a lot especially since Ed was sitting "n-no of course not, I haven't even mentioned you" he said meekly Tom walked away but neither him or Ed had noticed that Jim had heard the thing.

Jim was standing not all that far away after talking to Bruce he looked over to see Officer doughtery standing over a very Meek looking Ed, so he walked a little closer "I hope you haven't told anyone about our little chat...cause if you have...well I don't think I need to tell you what I'll do" That had sounded like...a threat, so Jim listened a little closer "n-no of course not I haven't even mentioned you" Ed had said very hurriedly and weakly he sounded like a scared little kid, Tom walked away from Ed and Jim went to stand beside Ed "hey your not to hurt are you?" Jim said genuinely concerned "n-no the doctor said I'll be right as rain by tomorrow" Ed responded weakly, it looked like that shot had hurt "Good, we'd be lost without you here" Jim said patting Ed's uninjured arm and walking away to talk to doughtery, in private.

Jim asked Doughtery if he could speak to him in private Tom had said sure so they walked over to the men's locker room "what was it you were saying to Ed." He says Tom stomach dropped but he tried to play it off "it was nothing just checking up on him" he said, Jim didn't seem to believe it "really? Cause it sounded like a threat, and nobody looks that scared when being checked on." He said, Tom was starting to get nervous so he brushed it off "relax it was nothing" he said with that Tom walked off and Jim was left standing there feeling confused and concerned as to what was going on.

Ed saw Jim walking towards him and felt uneasy as he saw him walking away with Tom. Jim walked up to him and smiled calmly "hey Ed what was officer Doughtery talking to you about?" He asked, Ed felt his heart rate increasing "can I talk to you...some where a little more private" Ed whispered Jim nodded and they walked off. Once they arrived in the locker room Jim asked Ed what happened one more time, he was silent a moment before he spoke "that night that you found me on the ground with Lee, I wasn't actually mugged, I was confronting Officer Doughtery about bruises I saw on Ms.Kringle's arms, I didn't expect him to use physical forces and I wasn't strong enough to hit him back, he said I couldn't tell anyone what happened or else he'd beat me up again but that time he'd do a lot more than leave me wounded." Ed Said, he felt tears threatening to pour and they did. Truth be told Ed was scared of Officer Doughtery and he didn't want anything to happen to Kristen either. He looked up at Jim who looked concerned "don't worry, I won't tell him you said anything, I'll look into it" he said "I'll make sure to keep it quiet" he added seeing the panic on Ed's, Ed wiped his tears "sorry I stared crying I don't know what's gotten into me" Jim raised his hand at first Ed flinched expecting a smack to the face just like he'd gotten as child for crying, but instead Jim put a hand on Ed's shoulder he looked at him "it's okay to cry, but do it on your feet, crying isn't a show of weakness it's a show of emotion, c'mon Ed let's go it's a new day after all" he said they walked out of the locker room and got down to business to help cleanup the precinct.

((//AN//)) hey guys! This took a while tog get out sorry about that anyways hope you guys enjoyed it!