Birds of a Feather (Oswald Cobblepot)

Bold Beginnings

   I'm sitting down at my desk at the GCPD doing paperwork when one of the other officers walks up to me, “Hey Officer K, a Barbara Kean is here to see you.”

I raise an eyebrow, what is she, of all people, doing here? I get up from my desk and walk over to the entrance where Barbara is sitting on a bench.

“Natalie, I’m so glad I could catch you on your shift,” she smiles in her usual light voice. She coughs before continuing, “Look, I just came here to apologize for V and the others back at the art gallery. She can be critical sometimes, but she didn’t mean to be cruel.”

“Uhuh,” I nod, it’s going to take more than an apology to forgive her, but it’s a start.

She moves a lock of blond hair from her face, “So, how’s Peter?”

"He's...alright," of course I don't mention the fact that I comforted him with sex...but I’ll spare her the details.

“He didn’t take the whole thing too hard, right?”

If her definition of “taking it too hard” doesn’t involve him petting me like a cat in the bathtub and talking about making Veronica Vreeland “grovel at her feet”...yeah, he didn’t take it too bad.

“He can be a bit...sensitive at times, but he’ll recover, I’m sure,” I tell her.

“Well, if I don’t see him, tell him that I’m so, so sorry about what happened,” she looks around, “where is Peter anyway?”

“Barbara, what are you doing here?” Gordon appears from the side.

“Jim, you know Natalie, right? I saw her last night with Peter at the gallery I was featured in, you know, the one you couldn’t go to because of work-”

He shifts his head rapidly from me to Barbara, “Wait, she was with...‘Peter’?”

Oh no...he must know that “Peter” is actually Oswald, by the way he reacted.

“Yeah, she and Peter are good friends, at least, that’s what they say,” Barbara smiles, crossing her arms and winking.

Gordon places his hand on Barbara’s shoulder, “I’ll see you tonight, I need to talk to Natalie for a bit.”

Her smile fades as she realizes she’s said something she shouldn’t have. Gordon leads me out of the office area and into one of the side hallways.

The moment we’re out of view, he throws me against the nearest wall, startling some nearby officers, who quickly leave the area.

“I knew you couldn’t be trusted! You’re here to spy for Falcone, or Fish, or Oswald, any of them! Who’re you working for?!” Gordon hisses, keeping his voice low even as he pins me against the wall.

I look up at him, my dark brown eyes shaped like daggers as I stare him down, “...first of all, why would Falcone or Fish need a spy within the police? They own the police. And Oswald? Heh, I thought he had you-”

He slams me into the wall again, the hard wood of the building impacting against my head, “Answer me! Who sent you here?! If you know about Oswald, then you know something-”

“Detective,” a crisp, nasal voice calls. It’s Ed, standing at the end of the hall with his hands folded together, “I suggest you put Officer K down.”

“Ed, stay out of this,” Gordon commands, tightening his grip on my shoulders.

Ed cocks his head almost mechanically, “I’m afraid I can’t let you do that, Detective. You see, Natalie is a close, personal friend of mine, we’ve known each other a very long time. If you find her untrustworthy, I can testify that I’d trust her with my life.”