What if.

Saying I Love You

(we're doing a time skip because i'm lazy! and i just cant wait any longer to write this part)

"Kristin, what's wrong?" he sounded so sincere it pained her. He was the complete opposite of Tom and Arnold, they had been rough and mean, whilst Ed was kind and gentle, after thinking a minute she spoke "I'm scared" she said, Ed immediately looked concerned "of what?" he asked, there were a lot of things really. But there was one thought that scared her the most "of Tom Doughtery and what might happen if he comes back" she said, he looked her straight in the eye "you don't have to worry about him" he sounded so sure, blissfully unaware of what Tom could do. She looked up at him from her tea "how do you know?" she said, he took the Tea from her hands and placed it carefully on the bedside table, he sat back down and kissed her gently, when they parted he said "Because, i care about you, and i won't let him --or anyone else for that matter-- hurt you" Kristin's eyes watered "thank you" she said, her voice barely above a whisper, she threw her arms around him and dared to utter those three simple yet powerful words

"I love you"

When Ed froze Kristin almost started to panic, until she felt tears on her shoulder, she quickly realized they were Ed's and pulled away to look at him, he was crying "Ed. hey, what's wrong?" He looked up at her with a tear stained face "no one's said that to me before" Kristin's face dropped, no one? not even his mother, Kristin hugged him again even tighter than before, she never wanted to let go "well i'm glad that i got to be the first to tell you how amazing you are" she said, Ed put his arms around her "i love you to" he said, Kristin smiled, and hesitantly let go "come on, we should get some sleep"" she said, Ed nodded, she flicked of the lamp on the bedside table next to her long forgotten Tea, they laid down, her arms hooked under Ed's, her hands resting on his back, his arms over her waist hands resting on the small of her back, they fell asleep calmly and peacefully.

Kristin woke next morning to Ed snoring softly, she smiled as she looked at him, he looked so peaceful in his sleep she wondered what he was dreaming about, Ed moaned gently and turned away from her onto his side she moved up against his back, she moved her hand up his back and felt something rough near his shoulder, it felt like a circle shaped mark, she moved her hand under his shirt and felt many more on his back "are those scars? where did he get them?" she thought "please stop that" she sat up when she heard Ed speaking "i-i'm sorry i shouldn't have done that i'm so sorry" she stammered Ed stood up "it's okay, i understand being curious, i've never showed them to anyone, but, if you promise not to make fun of them" he said, she paused for a moment before speaking "of course i won't make fun of you, nothing you could tell me could possibly make me like you less" She said, Ed hesitated for a moment before turning around and pulling off his shirt, Kristin couldn't help but flinch when she saw the scars covering his back.

Some looked like they were made by cigarettes others by being punched, or cut in with a knife "Ed, who did this?" she asked shocked by how many of them there was, Ed remained silent "Ed who did this" she said again, he finally spoke "there was a kid in school who made the ones that were cut in and the others were done by, uhm, my parents" his voice cracked on the last word, Kristin looked at the scars  in disbelief, disagreements between a parent and a child is normal, but this, this was horrid, Kristin couldn't imagine a parent doing this "but why? why would he do this to you?" she spoke quietly feeling as if any noise above a whisper would set off  panic attack of some sort "he hated me, how stupid i was" he said speaking just as quietly as she was "but you're not stupid, you're incredibly smart" she said, and he was he was the smartest person Kristin knew "i wasn't back then, i was the person who sat in the back doodling more than actually listening, i actually, never graduated high school" hat didn't make sense though, he was so smart and talented "but, how do you work at the GCPD then?" she asked "well when i was 19 i moved to Gotham, i took my dad's car, i lived on the streets for a while, i went to the library everyday and learned everything i needed to know for the job i wanted, it was easy because of my photographic memory, and it's actually quite easy to fake a degree, i just hope you don't think any less of me for it, or tell the captain" she paused for a moment, yeah he'd done something bad, but it was to help catch the people doing worse then him "i'm not thrilled that you broke the law, but it' not like you killed someone, i don't think any less of you for it, you may have done something bad but you did it for the sake of the rest of the world, and i think that makes up for it" she said "thank you, for staying with me" he said, she was silent for a moment "you don't have to thank me, you're still a great person despite what you did, now, why don't we get ready for work, we still have a long day ahead of us"