Disclaimer: I, unfortunately, do not and will not own Batman: the animated series. Nor does the OC belong to me, all info and mentionings of the OC belong to Persian13, who is present on .

The autumn wind whipped through the trees in the small subdivision on the outskirts of Gotham City causing the leaves upon the ground to lift and appear to float through the air. It was a quaint place with only a few houses on each street, giving the residents of these homes all the privacy they wanted. One specific house, a white two story Victorian looking building, sat out of the way at the very end of the street with an old indigenous cottonwood tree in the trimmed front lawn. A very homey looking place with a wrap around front- porch that looked like it belonged in a placid southern setting movie. Off to the side of the house rested a two car garage and a short paved drive way in which rested a blue for seatter Mini-Coup. Its trunk was opened as far as it would go with a few boxes and a bag already sitting in the small open space.

Out from the front door walked a short girl with brown hair in a braid that went down to her mid back, she word a pair of form fitting blue jeans and a purple V-neck short sleeved shirt despite the cooling weather. In both of her hands rested a single box, where as behind her followed a being that carried two boxes one atop the other. When she set the box down in the trunk of the Coup she spun around only to be met by the boxes the other person carried; she giggled a bit and relieved the being of one box. When removed one could see the deep frown of a ginger with big hazel eyes and young face. He of course was male and was considerably taller than the younger girl before him.

"Gee, thanks for giving my vision back I had thought I went blind for a minute or two." the boy frowned again as he set the heavy box into the trunk of the already full Mini-Coup. The younger girl could only smirk and poke his side with a grin,

"Come now, Mr. Nygma . . . there's no need for that. I like it better when you smile." The young man rolled his eyes and leaned against the car with his arms crossed over his chest. The girl could only giggle more, walk around to the front of him, and smile sweetly.

"Right, because I love helping my friend pack so she can leave me for four years."

"Please, it'll go by fast and you won't even know what happened. Besides, I'll come and see you on the holidays and don't forget the summer. Just make sure you make no plans with anyone else except for me."

The words made his frown lessen but only by just a bit. His hazel eyes looked to the right, just any where to focus his vision to where he did not have to look at her face. This caused her smile to drop into a slightly saddened up turn of her lips. Her own doe brown eyes drooped to the dark pavement beneath her black and purple sneakers. With a sigh she tucked a piece of her stray brown bangs behind her ear. Little known to her, the boy fell prey to his own weakness and observed her through his eyes from the side. In his eyes she was so beautiful with her curly brown hair that she wrestled into a single long braid down to her mid back. Her loose bangs framed the upper portion of her face and a few tips touched the side of her jaw.

"I'm sure you're right, Sarah." His words caused her to look up to him with a confused look; a smile started to grace her face again, but only slightly.

"It should go by fast; what with my college and part time job, it'll be quick", he let a small smile reach his lips, which caused the younger girl to smile brightly and stand on her tippy toes to reach the face of the boy.

With her lips she placed a soft kiss on his cheek and then let her heels drop back onto the ground. The quick action caused him to gasp lightly and for his hazel eyes to widen. Before him the girl looked to the ground and held her hands behind her back in an innocent way. Unconsciously, he let his left hand rise to the spot on his cheek where she had kissed him. It was warm and he could feel the spot left by her clear lip-gloss. For a moment he could have swore he got a small waft of her apple-cinnamon perfume. His heart pitter pattered lightly in his chest as the blood rushed to his cheeks.

The young girl's head lifted to reveal a bright smile, the redness in her cheeks only evident a tiny bit. She was always so confident, especially in his presence,

"Well, I guess this is it, isn't?"

The wind whipped around her body and through the trees causing more leaves to drop to ground. Her braid swayed only a bit with the autumn wind. Like the wind she would leave in one direction but like she had said she would be back. Sometimes she would return for long periods of time like during the summer, but at some points she would only be able to come home for the shorter holidays. Unfortunately, he wanted her to stay with him in Gotham and just go to a medical school there. But, she had gotten a scholarship from the college she had been wanting to go to her whole life: Rosalind Franklin University in Chicago, Illinois. Who was he to hold her back from her dream? Just as long as she was happy, right?

"Yeah, I guess so. Promise you'll be back?", a small grin reached his lips, but his eyes did not copy his lips. Instead, they held a frown in their depths; one that he was hoping she wouldn't see.

"I promise. Goodbye, Edward."

"Goodbye, Sarah."

(Present Day: six years later/ January 31st)

"Good morning, Ms. Sheldon. How are you today?"

A brown haired security guard in his early thirties smiled and tipped his hat to the younger woman as he opened the door for her like a gentleman should. The young woman smiled lightly in regards to his kindness while pulling her black coat tighter around her body to shield her from the cold that entered from outside. A shiver ran through her spine when the cool air reached her uncovered legs; she knew wearing a skirt today was a bad idea, but she never listens to herself. When the door finally closed she relaxed her tense shoulders then looked to the man who had spoken to her; with a brighter smile she spoke sweetly,

"Morning, Jacob. I'm cold, how are you?"

Jacob grinned and laughed loudly before opening the second door for the female in front of him. He punched in the key code that only he and a few others knew; the door slid away to the right, leaving an empty doorway for her to walk through into the monotone asylum.

"I'm fine, just a little tired I suppose."

"Aren't we all?" her little statement caused the man to laugh again (it is obvious that he likes the younger woman).

"Ha Ha, yes, I suppose, Ms. Sheldon. How was your time off?"

Before she entered the asylum door she turned and gave a forced smile, the guard of course did not notice it. Her eyes seemed to droop a bit before she pulled her attitude together and grinned brighter.

"It was great; just what I needed. I'll see you, Jacob. I have to get to work; there are probably mountains of files on my desk that would rival the Alps."

A genuine laugh left the guard as he gazed at the short woman before him with an interest. His eyes looked her up and down in secrecy before she walked away. Her green pleated skirt went about mid-thigh, a pair of black knee high stockings stuck to her skin and showed the nice curve of her calves. On top of a white, button up, long sleeve, blouse rested a light green tank top with a purple bow around her collar to finish it off. Her long braid snaked down her back and was tied with a purple bow at the end.

She looked young, high-school young, but this young woman before him was twenty three, plenty old enough. Though it was a wonder how she got this job; she was too sweet, most of the doctors here, though nice, were cold and only gave the patients their medicine and left. This girl was compassionate and actually cared about people, especially those Gotham Rouges. . .

'How can she care about those freaks? They're bad and deserve what they get. . .', the guard thought to himself with a few other nasty thoughts of those prisoners going through his mind.

"Bye, Jacob. Have a good day."

"You too, Ms. Sheldon."

The young woman left the small area and entered the main offices of the asylum. In the middle on the lobby rested a round desk area, where a young woman with auburn hair and amber eyes sat with a headset. She absentmindedly held a nail file in her hand as she examined the other with a critical eye. She was a receptionist, and Ms. Sheldon's best friend.

When she had reached the desk her friend took notice and smile slightly, she set the nail file down and leaned back a bit in her chair. The nail file clattered against the desk when she dropped it down to the cool gray metal.

"Look what the cat drug in. How's it goin', Hon?"

The auburn haired woman dropped her smile when she noticed the forsaken look in her friends deep brown eyes. Her friend was always the happy sweet one, not sad or morose. Something was wrong, or someone had hurt her friend, and she would get down to the bottom of it. But as soon as she was about to mouth out a string of curse words that one would not imagine that could come from a small woman like her, she remembered what exactly the bane of her friend's existence was. She settled back down into her seat from where she had risen slightly; a concerned look passed through the auburn's amber eyes.

"Oh, honey, you were thinkin' about him again weren't you. Sarah, is that why you took a few days off?"

Sarah could only search her friend's amber eyes before she nodded and let a small grin cross her lips. Her eyes brightened up a bit, but only a tiny bit. She took a few more steps forward to look at her friend over the counter of the receptionist desk. She shrugged her black coat off and hung it across her messenger bag that hung off her shoulder.

"Yes, Kim. I was unfortunately, but I'm fine now. Nothing to worry about, dearie."

"Yea, you look fine", the auburn girl stated with a roll of her eyes. "You look tired, love. Why did you come in today if you are sleepy?"

"Seriously, Kim, I'm fine I just need to get back into my routine; you see I'll be fine in about an hour. Just wait."

"Yea, yea, whatever. Listen, Sarah, if you need to talk about him I'm always here. Ok? How do you expect to fix other people, if you can't even fix yourself", the red-head sighed and gave her friend a compassionate look; one that held sincerity in it.

"I know, ummm can we talk about anything other than him", Sarah could feel her smile slowly fading much to her disappointment; but she soon grinned when she thought of something. She bent across the counter of the receptionist desk to speak to where only her friend could hear her. "How have you and Jonathan been doing?"

The short secret statement caused the red head to blush immensely and cross her arms over her ample chest; she looked away but cut her eyes to her friend who was now smirking evilly. Having turned her head to the right, Kim did not realize that she gave her friend a perfect view of a love bite. Except this certain love bite wasn't just a bruise, this bite had teeth markings around it. Some of the indentions were covered over with tiny scabs where the skin had been broken. If Sarah did not know who her friend's lover was she would have called the police on accounts of rape or something along those lines. She knew Jonathan would never hurt her friend; that's why she hadn't had him captured and brought back to Arkham.

"I take it you two had some fun, then."

For once the auburn girl couldn't help but smirk along with her friend; her blush still visible on her freckled face. So no one else could see the mark she brushed her long auburn hair from behind her ear and settled it over the mark. Kim also leaned forward a bit towards the brunette,

"As a matter of fact, he came over last night . . . "

"Oh, seems very juicy. You'll have to tell me all about you and your Scarecrow over lunch today. But for now I have to split. I have lots of work to do."

"All right, but I'm warning you, be prepared. It's a very detailed story."

"I'm hoping it is." With a wink, Sarah walked away from her friend towards the large double sliding doors that lead into the high security ward.

She fished her wallet out of her messenger bag and retrieved her key card; with a swipe the door opened up into a long metal wall, white floored corridor. No pictures, no decorations littered these walls like the other places in the asylum did. This was the maximum security ward and it is always getting rebuilt because of the break-ins and explosions that occurred every now and then. Arkham would not risk all of its antiques being destroyed if one of those criminals decided to escape . . . again.

Sarah normally could not keep anything valuable in her office with the risk of it getting blown to smithereens while she was not there to save it. She didn't blame the Arkham for taking precautions, but she felt that in order for patients to get better that they needed to be in a positive surrounding, not blank monotonous walls. She might try to talk to her boss about it, but then again, she was already in deep with him for proposing her idea of the new type of therapy sessions. She was lucky that he allowed her to experiment with it and Sarah was thankful for that. She had had better not push that luck too far. Maybe she could talk to him about it in another two months time. For now she would settle with the bleak walls.

Sighing, lowly to herself, Sarah began to trudge down the long corridor in the dim lighting. She looked from metal wall to metal wall, watching as her clear reflection followed her same path towards the maximum security doors. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of how she looked in the wall's reflection. It caused her to stop and turn fully to see her form, short and skinny in the wall. Her fair skin contrasted lightly with her dark brown hair and her big brown orbs stuck out on her heart shaped face like two deep holes that one could get lost in. Even when she would be calm and normal a small smile seemed to stay on her pink lips, like it belonged there.

Adjusting her messenger and then placing her hands on her hips, Sarah traced her curves up from her hips to the sides of her chest. She wasn't fat, she was skinny, but her chest and hips were a little wider than the concave of her stomach; she had curves, as one would say, but only average ones, nothing outrageous like most men liked. Just average. That is what Sarah is and has been her whole life, just average; she liked it that way. But, sometimes she had to think about whether or not Edward liked average, or normal, or sexy.

As much as she hated to admit it he became apart of the Gotham Rogues. She'd seen the woman they hung around or kept around for short times and she'd seen the men that the girl's portion of the rouges hung around. Most criminals kept around women to use them for entertainment or to use them as arm trophies. Those women were mischievous, dangerous, and sexy. All the things that she was not.

Another sigh escaped her lips as she tilted her head a bit to the left. The only men that she could think of that didn't treat women that way were Jervis and Jonathan. But even though Jonathan cared for Kim a lot she still was a very beautiful girl. She was one of those girls that everyone had liked in school, and was the top girl with some of the best grades, besides her of course. She hung around people like Bruce Wayne in school, but was not the snobby type. She was not afraid to stick up for her friends.

Sarah remembered that besides Edward, Kim had been her only other friend. And, every once in a while, since Kim had connections with the popular group, she would get invited to come hang out with the upper class kids. Soon she grew on the popular group and they started to talk to her more and invite her to more parties, but she still was not "one of them". Basically they just tolerated her. Kim and Edward were the only ones that she could call her "best friends". Did Edward like those dangerous and sexy girls or girls like her? 'That's a good riddle to ask him one day.' she could only smile sadly to the reflection across from her; the reflection smile sadly back at her.

Just to make herself feel better she reached in her bag and pulled out a mirror and some pink lip-gloss. After applying that, she checked her eyeliner and mascara to make sure everything was in place, and then applied a light shade of purple eye shadow to match her bows. Seeing that her skirt had slid down from its original place on her hips she pulled it up to where the hem rested at just about mid thigh. She really needed to get some new clothes or just gain a little more weight; she had lost some weight, just a little bit, over the last few days.

'Is that healthy? I may need to go to the doctor about that.' She remembered that she had always been tiny, no matter how much she ate. It was like she just stopped growing when she turned 15. She had always been short though. Sarah giggled when she remembered how Edward always use to retrieve objects that she wanted when they were on the top shelf of something. He use to make fun of her for it too. Those memories always made her smile when she was sad or down about something.

"I'd better get to work, I'm wasting time."

With her smile still in place, she walked down the corridor the rest of the way and opened to maximum security door with her key card. The door slid away with only a pressurized hiss to reveal the open space of the Block C Maximum security ward. The inside of the ward just made her want to go home and cry in a corner. It had the most horrible colored walls, a dark grey, and the poor lighting of the place just made the walls seem more dreary than they already are. No wonder she was not making progress with her patients; if this room could make her sad by just walking into it a few times a day, she'd hate to feel what her patients were feeling. They had to be absolutely miserable. A caring look filled her eyes as she looked from left to right seeing the dark lit cubicle like rooms that held each and every one of her patients; some of them she knew a lot about, some she knew none, some that were old, some that were new, some were friends, some were just acquaintances.

The closest one to her left held one of her friends that she had made in the time that she had been his doctor: Jervis Tetch, also known as the Mad Hatter. She walked over to his cell to say hello, but soon noticed that he was asleep upon his bed, the copy of Alice in Wonderland that she had given him rested atop his chest. His breath was slow and calm, a placid look rested on his features. Small tufts of his golden hair lay over his forehead.

Currently, he is her best patient; he progressed well, and seemed to respond well to her sessions with him. They had become great friends and he seemed to trust her more than anybody, but she noticed that he was a bit distant and tried his hardest to keep a little distance from her. Probably because of what happened when he grew close to Alice Pleasance; at least that is what Sarah figured. Each time she delved deeper into it, that theory seemed to grow more and more plausible. She couldn't blame him either, if something like that were to happen to her she would have done the same things he did.

Now that she remembered, he just had a few more sessions with her before she could deem him sane. He would be able to get out within the next week if their next session today went well. 'He'll be so excited to hear that! I can't wait to tell him. Maybe he'll find someone to care about rather than that Alice girl. Hmm . . . what about that girl I met not too long ago in that book store, the one with the glasses? Oh, what was her name? Margaret, no. May, no that's not it. Maxine? . . . Maxine Pennykettle, was her name. He would like her. Maybe. . . just maybe'

She smiled as the thoughts of the girl and Jervis passed through her mind. She was such a hopeless romantic; she could get other people together, but she could not muster up enough courage, no matter how confident she is, to tell the man she loves how she feels about him. As she stayed within the confines of her day dreams, Sarah passed by the cell of the Joker then she passed Harley Quinn's cell, quietly hoping that the girl would not notice her. Though her friend, sometimes Harley was just a little too much for her too handle. Besides, she would get an ear full from the girl later during their session.

But, it would seem that Harley wanted to talk to her right now. The young blonde hopped up from her bed and practically tackled the glass that separated her from the outside world where her friend just walked pass. The clatter of Harley hitting the glass caused Sarah to jump and whirl around to her friend with wide eyes. Her eyes soon went back to normal when she noticed that it was just Harley who wore a big smile on her face. 'Hope to God that she doesn't blurt out anything about Edward. His cell is practically right across from hers.'

"Oh, Sugaaa! Where ya been love, I missed ya."

Sarah turned fully to her friend and let a smile grace her features. She couldn't help but smile at the blonde female; she was just so cute at times.

"I took a break Harles; needed some time to myself. I've been having a hard time lately."

Sarah had hoped that, that would be a sufficient answer for the young blonde, but apparently not. A confused look crossed into the face Harley,

"Were ya thinkin' about him, Hun?" 'Thank goodness, she didn't say his name.'

Sarah nodded and gave her friend a reassuring look, "It's fine now. Nothing to worry about. I'll see you in a bit, I need to clock in."

The brunette then walked away down the hall, all the while messing with her cell phone, and seemingly not noticing that someone was watching her. But Harley had noticed said person long before Sarah had even walked away. Her blue eyes examined said person with a critical look. Would this person be a good guy for her friend or not? Harley couldn't help but wonder this as she studied the said person. Even as she went back to her bed to sit down, Harley gazed at the person with a cold examining look. Though, dubbed insane by the public, Harley still studied psychology in school and could not help but be cynical and analytic of people. She used these skills to examine the person who had an interest in her friend.

Across the hall, Edward Nygma sat upon his bed with his back against the wall, a green notebook in one hand and a black pen in the other. Yet, his eyes were no longer on the pages of his notebook, but on the young woman they gazed softly as she walked pass his cell without a single word or glance in his direction. His hazel eyes blinked as he watched her form retreat into the distance of the ward; her pretty little green skirt swished about her thighs causing a grin to cross his lips. Edward watched as her braid swayed with each of her steps that seemed to have a little bounce in them. When she disappeared behind the door at the other end of the ward he glanced down at his green notebook that had various messy scribbles inside of it. Riddles, tricks, plans, and doodles, covered every page as he fingered through the sheets. The journal was almost filled up and he had only had it for a month.

Sarah had gotten it for him as a Christmas gift. It was not much because she could not sneak very many things into the asylum, but what she could sneak in she did. She tried to sneak gifts in for patients who were also on their best behavior; he had to smirk to himself on that thought. He had been on his very best behavior; Edward wondered what kind of gift he could get from her for being a so called "angel". Grinning to himself, he shook the thought away and went back to his own devices; one could only imagine it that was a god idea or not. Leaving the Riddler to his own musings is not a very smart idea, especially for the personnel of Arkham. There are many ideas that someone could come up with in their time alone, but one could almost triple the amount of ideas they could come up with if they were the Riddler. Oh, the ideas and plans that he had to escape this hell-hole they call an asylum. The only good thing about the damnable place is Sarah; his sweet, gentle, Sarah.

The girl sure had a way to a man's heart, whether he be a well respective citizen or a well known deceptive criminal. Want to hear a riddle? . . . .

How is it that a girl like her had captured his heart and ensnared it so sweetly in her gentle caress?

Anyone, any show of hands? Who knows the answer? No one? Well, that's a shame . . . here I'll tell you.

She had known him even before he became the Riddler. Twelve years ago in middle school he remembers first meeting the young girl. At the time she was in 7th grade and he in 8th grade. Never before had he seen the girl until she approached the older boys who were pushing him around. At the time she was just doing her job.

(Twelve years ago; Gotham Middle School)

Three boys, 9th graders cornered a young Edward Nygma. They cackled and grinned cruelly towards the younger boy; he tried his hardest to take another step back but the lockers in the hall only halted his steps. Why in the world did his teacher need him to run an errand to the office? There were two other people done with their work, why him? He had a busted lip and already had a growing black eye; probably from trying to hold his own against the older larger boys. He was tough but did not hold a single chance against these behemoths. They were on the football team and were built like college linebackers. *cough* Steroids *cough* *cough* . . .

The older boys were not the brightest crayons in the box and hated the fact that Edward, though an 8th grader, was present in their classes, due to the fact that he took Pre – AP classes. In the school he went to in the bowels of Gotham, smarts were hard to come by. Sure you had the kids who got A's and B's maybe a C every now and again, but geniuses were rare. Besides himself, he knew of only two other people that were as smart has him, as much as he hated to admit it, the senior Bruce Wayne and the 7th grader Kim McAllister. He knew nothing of anyone else in the school that also had a mind.

"Come on Dweeb. Why can't you be normal like everyone else?"

Young Edward gritted his teeth, anymore pressure and he was sure they would break. A smirk crossed his face, slowly breaking his busted lips even more,

"Is that the best insult you could come up with? I'm honestly disappointed."

That earned him a fist in his gut, causing him to double over in a dull pain that racked his torso. He should have bit back his words; he just couldn't help but talk back to someone who was so idiotic. How he regretted his silver tongue sometimes. The boy on the left of the one in the middle, presumably the leader of the three, growled, pulled Edward up by his red hair; he then gripped the front of his shirt and shoved him back against the lockers. He groaned when the back of his head hit the hard metal object.

"Nighty, night, Edwierdo."

Even at the last moment Edward could only grimace at the pathetic excuse for an insult that was thrown at him, "How unimaginative."

"Even when you're beat your tongue won't stay still", the boy who held his shirt growled lowly.

"We'll just have to fix that, won't we Jason", the leader of the group asked as he gave the boy, Jason, a look. Jason grinned darkly and pulled his fist back to sock the day lights out of him. Edward could only close his eyes and hope that the next hit wouldn't give him another bruise to add to his collection.

"Hey!"

In mid punch a high pitched girly voice called out from the left down the long hall which caused all four boys to look in that direction.

"Just what do you three think you're doing?"

A girl presumably younger that all four of them with a scowl focused on the three 9th graders stood at the end of the hall. She wore a purple plaid skirt with a short sleeved button up blouse and a pair of black knee high socks. A lime green bow worked as a headband and held back her chin length dark brown hair. The scowl that rested on her heart shaped face reached her doe brown eyes as she stared the older boys down. Her arms were placed on her hips in a stern way, that was when the boys took notice to the black band around the young girl's upper arm; the band had the school crest ironed onto it with the initial's H.M. sewn into it. It took a moment for them to realize what the letters meant, but when they did they smirked. The leader spoke first,

"Hall monitor, huh?"

"We got our hall passes right here, girlie."

The boy who held Edward by the collar grinned a sickly sweet smile and chuckled,

"So just run along."

"I'm afraid I won't."

The younger girl stood her ground, the scowl turned more intense as a dark gleam glittered I her eyes. The older boys, including Edward, stared at her dumb founded with slacked jaws. The leader glared at her at took a few steps towards the girl,

"Listen girlie, you need to split if you know what's good for you."

The boy who was not holding Edward strutted up to where his leader stood with a scowl on his face. What surprised them was that she took three steps towards him to where they were almost a foot apart. With a sneer, the young girl poked one of the boys in the chest and hissed out her next few words that held promise in them,

"Listen pal, unless you want to put up with my father a.k.a. Principle Gerald Sheldon, I would back off, head back to class, and never, I mean never approach this boy again." She motioned to Edward who was staring at her with wide hazel eyes in awe.

Once the words had settled in, the boys' mouths dropped and the one boy who held Edward dropped him like he burned his hands. He fell to the floor as his head hit the back of the locker again; a groan left him but the three boys paid him no heed and only continued to stare at the young female. They started to slowly back away from the girl and when she took another step towards them with a threatening glare they spun on their feet and shot off down the halls like the devil was nipping at their heels. A smirk settled on her pink lips as she watched the boys run down the halls with their tails between their legs.

The girl then smiled brightly and turned her attention to Edward who still sat on the floor staring up at her with big hazel eyes. She let out a breath of air and walked toward him where she bent forward a bit and stuck her hand out for him to take,

"Hey, are you all right?"

In a state of confusion, Edward could only stare at her with a look of awe and bewilderment. The girl above him let her smile slack up just a little bit when she took notice of his busted lip. She stooped to his level and grabbed his hand lightly,

"Come on let's get you cleaned up."

She pulled him up to his feet and drug him to the nearest bathroom, which happened to be the girls'; it of course did not set right with him, but he let her drag him anyway. When inside she grabbed a few paper towels and wet them just a little bit,

"What's your name? Mine's Sarah. Sarah Sheldon."

Sarah walked over to Edward and looked up at him with a sweet smile. He could only look down his nose at the much shorter girl, her doe eyes stared up at him with millions of unspoken questions swimming in them. He cleared his throat and could only blush a light pink when he spoke to the girl known as Sarah,

"Edward Nygma. Umm, thanks, I guess, for helping me and all." He spoke to her with difficulty; he'd never been one for expressing his gratitude towards others. But then again, no one had ever helped him before; not like this girl had.

"It's no prob, honestly. May I?", she asked as she raised the wet cloth to his lips. He nodded and flinched when she as gently as possible wiped the blood away from his busted lips.

"Oh, sorry."

"S'ok."

As she doctored him up, Edward observed the younger girl. She was a pretty little thing; much prettier than the girls in his grade. All of them were blondes or reds maybe one or two blacks, but no brunettes. They were mostly snobby or shy, but this girl she had an actual personality, one that someone could adore. She was calm, kind, and seemed to be smart enough.

"You know you just made it worse."

Sarah had interrupted his thoughts; it took him a few seconds to realize that she was done cleaning up his wounds. He touch was so soft he didn't even notice it. . . .

"Excuse me?"

"You made it worse by throwing insults in their faces, those boys'. If you would have stayed quiet and let them heckle you, you wouldn't have gotten beat up."

He snorted and crossed his arms, "Easy for you to say. I wasn't going to sit there and take their insults."

"Sometimes it's better to take the emotional hurt than the physical."

Edward narrowed his eyes at the younger girl before him, "Physical pain cannot even compare to emotional, Sarah Sheldon."

(Present time: Sarah's office)

Two hours. Three hours. Four hours, all went by slowly with no remorse. Four sessions in that time period, one with the Joker, another with Harley, God help her one with Killer Croc, and lastly one with Jervis. All went by slow and uneventful, but ever since her first session of the day with the Joker she had been banging her head on her desk every few seconds; she could swear the man was not only insane but A.D.D. Then the meeting with his hyperactive counterpart, Harley seemed like it would never end. The conversation never seemed to stop with her; topic of the conversation: Edward Nygma and Sarah Sheldon. She was interested in the happenings between Edward and Sarah like the Scarecrow was obsessed with phobias. She was afraid that Killer Croc was just too far gone to come back. He had tried to bite her hands off twice in the span of twenty minutes.

Thank goodness, Jervis was her last session in the past hour. His sessions usually consisted of them discussing Alice in Wonderland and a few great American writers. Every once in a while she would be able to sneak in a question about how he was feeling in-between their conversations. At least he was not hyperactive or creepy like some of the other or hungry even. . .

Sarah looked to her clock on the wall of her office; it read 12:17. Only three minutes till her next visit, Edward Nygma. Though a migraine plagued her mind she couldn't help but smile even just a little bit as she downed a glass of water along with two Ibuprofens. She would need the medicine for her head when dealing with Edward in more ways than one. His riddles and puzzles were hard for her, problem solving was not a strong point of hers, unfortunately. Plus playing chess with him required a lot of thinking; he was good at that game. In her life, Sarah had only beaten him once at the game, but she knew that he only let her win.

Edward was actually a really nice person to be around, not a joker or a mad being like most of the people in the asylum. To her he did not even belong in the asylum. He always told the truth even if the truth was sometime intertwined within a riddle. Honestly, Sarah did not think he had the capability to lie. She would have to look into it more of course.

Just as she went to pull out the chess board, her office door was knocked upon in a light manner of course.

"Got Mr. Nygma here for you Ms. Sheldon.", a Guard outside the door called to her in her office.

"Send him in, George."

As she stood on her tippy toes to pull the game down from the top shelf in her office the door opened to reveal George and Edward, "I'll be right outside if you need me, Ms. Sheldon."

She only nodded and jumped trying to retrieve to box that taunted her from the high recesses of the upper shelf. Just as she heard the click of her door closing Sarah jumped up only achieving in letting the tips of her fingers brush the bottom of the box.

"Stupid shelves!"

When she stopped reaching and put her hands on her hips with a pout her back hit something behind her softly. She jumped slightly and spun around with a squeak; her body involuntarily pressed up against the book case behind her.

"Edward! Dear God, you scared me; don't do that."

The man before her smirked and reached up above her to grasp the game box in his hand, causing his body to draw nearer to her. Sarah, who seemed to be blushing slightly stared up into the hazel eyes of her patient who could only let his smirk widen at her reaction. He handed her the box but stayed in placed,

'Is he doing this on purpose or dose he not realize what he's doing?'

"Sorry, but you looked like you needed some help. You were always so short."

Her eyes narrowed with a playful malice, "Gee, thanks, Ed. I can't help that I'm vertically challenged."

He chuckled and backed away with a grin towards the table where most of the patient interviews took place. With a few fluid motions he sat down, propped his feet up on the table, and crossed his arms behind his head. He eyes were closed as he settled down into the cushioned chair. If it were another patient she would have asked them to sit upright in the chair properly, but this is Edward Nygma, her favorite patient, best friend, and long time crush. Honestly, she did not believe that she had the power say no to him, which seemed to be a major problem. If he found out about that problem he would surely hold it against her. There would be not telling what he would ask her to do. But maybe he already knew, what if he already knew, what if he was just waiting for the perfect moment hold it against her. What would he do? What would he want her to do? The bigger question: why?

When Sarah noticed that she had been studying the man intently, she blushed and walked over to the same table. He opened one eye and looked at her closely before closing it,

"What's the game for?"

Sarah gave him an odd look; they always played chess, "Well. We always play chess, so I though –"

"It's not good to assume things, Sarah."

His eyes stayed closed as he hummed a little tune with a smile on his face.

"If. . .if you don't want to play a game, then what would you like to do, Edward?"

"Let's talk; I want to know more about you, Sarah."

She quirked an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest, her body moved forward as she leaned over the table just a bit, "Edward, you and I both know we've been friends since you were in 8th grade and I in 7th. What could you not know about me?"

Edward could only chuckle lightly and shift his body to where his feet were on the floor, his elbows were on the table, and his fingers were steepled. His hazel eyes narrowed into her brown ones; her eyes always seemed to have a certain glimmer to them. Even when she was sad or scared. That glimmer represented the spark of interest she always had. Her curiosity drove her to learn as much about anything that she could; he respected that. But unfortunately, her curiosity, also being her greatest advantage, is her weakness. He knew how to twist that curiosity to where he could get anything he wanted from the woman.

'She is so naive sometimes.'

"Riddle me this, riddle me that; tell me Sarah, has curiosity ever killed the cat?"

"Excuse me?"

Another low chuckle left the male as his eyes closed briefly then opened only to reveal a dark glint, "Like yours, my curiosity is never quenched, Miss Sheldon. I can't help but feed that thirst with information. We may have been friends, bu-"

"We may be", she cut him off with a snippy tone. How dare he refer to their friendship in past-tense. She was not one for getting sappy with people – ever, but their friendship is held dear to her. Her tone had actually surprised him but, his expression quickly returned to his "poker face".

"Right – we may be friends but that does not mean I know everything about you, nor you know everything about me. So, I propose, to appease mine and your curiosity, we should just talk during this session."

"But that goes against my –"

He rolled his eyes and huffed, "Yes, yes, your so called, new therapy. Well, this is what I want to talk about. I'm your patient and that is what I want."

He caught her; her therapy sessions consisted or doing whatever her patients wanted to do – under reasonable terms of course.

"O-okay, I guess that is okay. Umm, what would you like to talk about Edward?"

"Let's talk about you, dear."

A smirk covered his lips when an odd look crossed over her fair face.

"Why would you want to talk about me; I'm not interesting."

"Oh, contrariwise, my dear; you are very interesting", the Riddler leaned forward only slightly, resting his head on his laced fingers with a smug grin on his face, "In my eyes at least."

This sudden short statement caused the young woman before him to blush only a slight pink as her eyes held his for a few moments before she looked away; her blush grew immensely.

'Is . . .is the Riddler – erm, Edward flirting with me?',

"I never knew that you found me so intriguing."

With her eyes glancing away and her arms crossed over her chest, she did not notice his gaze soften slightly. Was she really that dense when it came to others? It's a wonder how she became a psychiatrist,

"I've always found you intriguing, Sarah; since the day you walked down the hallway in that hell-hole of a school and scared those dimwitted boys away."

Sarah's eyes cut towards his from the side; his head was bowed causing his normally tame red hair to fall into his eyes. She had noticed the softer tone evident in his voice; a little bit of the old Edward peaked through the Riddler's mask. For once in the past year that she had worked at Arkham Asylum, Sarah had gotten a glimpse of her Edward. She needed to take this risen opportunity and run with it. She needed to keep him talking. She needed to crack the Riddler's shell.

"Really now? If I remember correctly, you weren't very intrigued by me during your ninth grade year in high school. Actually, from how you brushed me away sometimes, I thought you found me an annoyance", he gave her a look like she just sprouted three extra heads. Where did she get a thought like that? Sarah – an annoyance?

"Please, Sarah; you an annoyance? You were the only one I thought as an equal in that god forsaken place. There are only two people in the world that can match wits with me: you and as much as I hate to admit it, that – that Bat!"

He lifted his head to look at her with sincere eyes; whether they were real or not she never knew but it caused her to look at him fully,

"You were the only one who cared about me in my life. My father – and I us that term loosely- never cared about me as much as you did."

He leaned forward even more across the little table; she could almost feel his breath upon her lips and cheeks. The proximity between them to close for a patient and his doctor caused her to blush again. Sarah could only lean back a bit an clear her throat,

"Why is that, Sarah? Why did you always care about me so much?"

"Because you're my friend, Edward. You always have been."

The man could only "tsk" lightly and waggle his finger before her face, like he was scorning a small child,

"No, no, no, Sarah; there is more to it than that, isn't there?"

Like when she was with Scarecrow during his sessions when he was here, she began to become uneasy and nervous. He was asking too many questions; questions that she had the answer to, unfortunately. She watched as a smirk spread across his lips. The slight quirk of those lips made her want to leap across the table and kiss him passionately without abandon. Sarah opened her mouth to speak, but he held up a hand,

"Never mind, I don't want you to tell me."

She blinked a few times and raised an eye brow in confusion, "I'm sure I'll figure it out soon enough."

Edward watched as her blush grew slowly across her cheeks and down her neck; it was unbelievably cute. He had to seriously resist the urge to kiss his angel, lest he wanted her to get fired from her job because of doctor and patient love affairs.

The rules clearly stated that doctors and their patients could not have relationships beyond that of mutual friends. They especially enforce this rule after the happenings between Dr. Quinzelle and the Joker. He really did not want to get his sweet angel fired from her job. If he were to do anything considered romantic wise, like say kiss her, they would both be in big trouble; her at risk of getting fired and him at risk of getting thrown into solitary confinement. All in all, she had more to lose than he did. But who ever said that he couldn't give her a gift?

"How about a riddle?"

Taken aback by the suddenness of his question, Sarah stared at him with a dead-panned look. She then sighed and brought both of her index fingers to either side of her temples to rub her pain away. She needed to take two more ibuprofen after this.

"Again with the riddles, Ed?"

She opened her closed eyes to stare across the table at Edward who held a façade of mock hurt on his face. He then crossed his arms over his chest and gave her a snooty look,

"Well, I am the Riddler."

"I'm going to pretend I did not just hear that", she squeezed her eyes shut in hopes of getting rid of the immense pain in her head. The migraine had entered her eyes and ears, unfortunately.

When she opened her eyes she had realized that he had leaned forward across the table again with a mischievous smirk on his lips.

"What would you like to hear, Sarah?" She shivered at how her name rolled off of his tongue.

"N-never-min-mind . . . Ummm how – how about tha-that riddle?

With a smirk he leaned back, steepled his fingers, and looked over his hands with narrowed hazel eyes.

"Alright, I'll give you a simple one. If you get it you will get a present, if not you won't; deal?"

"A present? Where did you –"

"Ah, ah, ah, I'm the one who asks the riddles, my dear."

"Fine, deal."

"Oh, great; now here is the question:

I am a symbol of passion, a token of love; in the wild I am sharp; you may pick me, but only with a glove. I may come in a variety of colors, but red is more common than the others. What am I?"

It is so simple, but our Sarah did claim that problem solving is not a strong point of hers. You must have already figured it out. Edward designed this riddle especially for her though. He wanted – needed her to answer it correctly. It was all a part of his plan to win her over.

Across the table Sarah had opened her eyes and let go of her temples, a tired look rested on her face,

"Let's see", she stated with a sigh," Symbols of passion that I know of: hearts, flowers, chocolates, teddy-bears, jewelry. Well since it is in the wild it must be a flower. . ."

Edward went to speak, because he thought she was done speaking, but she held up a hand signaling for him to keep quiet.

"But, it's not just a flower; it's a specific flower. It's sharp so it must be a rose; it's most commonly red, but it may come in a variety of colors. Seriously, Edward; that was a simple riddle even for me. What's your point for this?"

The two sat in silence for a few moments. A blank look rested on the face of the Riddler, his fingers were still steepled together as they stared each other down. Both of them staring and studying one another with examining eyes. It was Sarah who first sighed and cut her eyes away. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, the Riddler, seemingly out of now where, pulled out a red rose. He gave it a twirl and let a smirk cross his face when he gave it to her. Sarah's mouth fell open when she saw the plant; she looked in between awe and confusion as she took it from his out stretched hand. His hazel eyes bore into her brown ones.

"What the? Edward, where did -? How did you get this?"

"Let's just say that some of your guards will do anything to get their palms greasy." She looked from him to the rose in her palm.

'Okay, so he got it by bribing someone; it's still sweet.'

"Edward, this is – thank you. But, you shouldn't have done this; you could have gotten in trouble."

"Do I look like the type that would care if they got in trouble?"

She opened her mouth to say something but closed it opting for silence to be her best answer. Her eyes dropped half lidded to look down at the rose; a small smile crossed her lips. Not looking up, Sarah set down the rose and stood up. With silence replacing her voice she walked to the other side of the table and stood next to him. Bending forward only slightly Sarah lowered her face near his; her eyes stayed half lidded as she stared at the floor beneath her feet. Something on the floor must have been extremely interesting, because even as she leaned forward and placed her lips on the corner of his mouth she stared at the floor. Her lips were soft against his skin and her touch was arm; it caused his eyes to close as a blush reached his cheeks.

He expected her to do something but not this. He did not expect her to react this way. For a few moments he sat in silence relishing in the fact that her skin was on his. This had been unlike any other kisses she had given him before. The others were just on his cheeks, or on his nose, or his forehead, but this one, this kiss, was on his lips, even if it was just on the corner.

Never leaving his skin, her lips slowly raked along his cheek, stopping when she reached his ear. Sarah's breath felt warm and made him want to reach out and grab her. Almost touching his ear she whispered lowly,

"Thank you, Edward."

With those words, like nothing had even happened, she stood up straight, her eyes finally met his half lidded ones. His cheeks were still flushed as he gazed at her in awe.

"I believe our session is over, Mr. Nygma."

He had to blink a few time to process what he just heard; and when he did, he stood up, towering over her small form. With nothing else said he left the room and she listened to the door shut with a soft click. Sarah reached over to her left to wrap her slender finger around the stem of the rose; with a smile she gazed lovingly at the thing. The floral scent filled her nose.

Outside the door, at the same time she smiled, Edward smirked as the guards took him away to his cell. A small blush still rested against his cheeks.

The clock read 2:33 A.M. in the morning when the phone rang at the apartment of Dr. Sarah Sheldon. The small tingling like ring was enough to wake her up as she was a light sleeper. With a groan she laid in bed staring at the ceiling, which was illuminated lightly by the city lights outside her window, as the ringing continued in her ears. Would it ever stop?

A week had gone by since she had received the rose from Edward and Jervis had been dubbed "sane". He was released yesterday much to his delight. He even went as far as to send her a bouquet of Tiger Lilies in thanks for "curing" him of his "disease". The vase of flowers sat on her coffee table right in front of her couch. They were really pretty, her favorite flower actually. The rose that Edward had given her a week earlier had a special place on her bedside table. It had its own personal skinny crystal vase that held it up straight.

When she flipped on the lamp that is what she first saw; the rose looked her right in the face causing a smile to spread to her lips. Too bad that the rose had already started to wilt, but she could still see the fullness of the red petals illuminated by the light.

The ringing of the phone reached her ears again; this caused her to groan and slap her hand to her forehead. Hissing audibly to herself Sarah kicked back to covers and walked out of her room to the kitchen where she picked up the phone and brought it to her ear. Though not one for being rude, Sarah gritted her teeth and hissed into the receiver,

"Hello?"

What answered her back was the wailing of loud alarms and a few yells that she could not make out. Becoming worried she gave a less agitated, "Hello?" and sighed deeply with the voice of one of the guards spoke through the phone,

"Dr. Sheldon? This is Jacob; listen we've had a situation at Arkham."

The words struck her like a knife to the throat. The first word that came to mind and the first word that left her mouth was a whispered, "Edward. . ."

"What's happened? What about my patients? . . . . .Where are my patients at?"

"That is the problem, Doctor. They've escaped. Some of Joker's goons came and busted everyone out. Everyone on Block C is gone; we're looking for all of them."

When the guard grew silent all Sarah could hear was the screams of the sirens and the beating of her heart in her ears. Taking the cordless phone with her Sarah walked to her living room where she had the curtains drawn closed. With a wavering hand she pushed back the curtains to reveal the city of Gotham cloaked in darkness, excluding the lights from the streets below. The city still lives at two in the morning. Getting closer to the window and clenching the curtains tightly Sarah looked beyond the outskirts of the city. She dropped the phone.

From the floor the phone could be heard yelling at her,

"Dr. Sheldon. Dr. Sheldon! Sarah, answer me!"

On the outskirts where Arkham should be standing was a ball of fire and smoke. She could not determine where the fire began or where Arkham ended. Jacob did say that it was only Bock C, but from her point of view it looked as if the whole Asylum was getting burnt to a crisp. In the sky above the ball of fire a big tuft of smoke had risen and blackened out that portion of the sky's stars. A few fire trucks still had their sirens wailing that she could hear clearly through the phone on the floor. That is when she noticed the yells for her to answer. Letting out a hitched breath she brought a hand to her chest and picked up the phone,

"I-I'm sorry, Jacob. I dropped the phone."

"Thank, God, Doctor. You scared me; I thought something had happened to you."

"No – no I'm fine. I have to go."

"Wait, Sarah. Listen to me; don't open your door for anyone, okay? There's no telling what one of those freaks would do if they came after you."

Already having her nerves strained and frayed Sarah could hardly take much more. She had no idea what came over her but those words made something bubble up inside her and explode violently. Sarah ripped the phone from the side of her head and held the mouthpiece right in front of her so the person on the other side could retain the full blast of her voice.

"They are not freaks", she screeched so loud that her neighbors next door beat on the wall and shouted for her to keep it down. Of course she just shrugged it off and narrowed her eyes at the wall. A sigh escaped her as she brought one of her hands up to rub both of her temples between her thumb and middle finger,

"Listen, Jacob, I'm sorry but that was just uncalled for."

"Hey, it's alright. . . Are you going to be, okay? Do you need me to send someone over there?"

"No, I'm fine I just – I need to go, okay?"

"Alright, call me if you need anything. Goodnight."

"Night."

With a push of the button the line was cut and Sarah let a pent up sigh escape her; she ran a hand through her loose hair. Quickly, she regretted touching her hair as she come to find out that her palms had grown sweaty. She could not help it though. Her nerves were on edge and on the verge of breaking fully. Comprehending this new information seemed like a very difficult thing for her to do.

'My patients. They've escaped. They're gone.'

She told herself this over and over, but she still could not grasp it. The idea of her patients not being where they should be unnerved her.

She had failed; failed miserably at trying to cure them. Her sessions and treatments did not work. The only life that she could have claim over changing is that of Jervis Tetch's; but then again did she even actually cure him? or did he just act like she did to escape with a clean slate. Did she get through to any of them at all or were her efforts in vain. What about Edward or erm – the Riddler. What should she call him?

"Edward . . . oh, where are you?"

"Behind you."

Catapulting ten feet in the air Sarah squeaked and turned around her eyes wide in terror. With those wide eyes she blinked trying to place the voice the darkness of her living room. The lights from Gotham that spilled into her apartment allowed a little of illumination upon the room. In front of her a few feet away leaning against the doorframe was the Riddler with a smirk on his lips. He stood with one hand in her pocket and the in the other he held his cane, twirling it between his purple gloved fingers. A look that Sarah could not place rested on his face. Whatever look it was, at the moment she did not care. What she did care about was the fact that her escaped patient, a Gotham Rogue, was standing leisurely in the doorway between her kitchen and living room. More importantly how he got there. But she pushed those thoughts away ad said the first thing that came to mind,

"Edward?"

"Hello, Sar- *slap*"

Not even letting him finish his greeting Sarah had stormed over to him and brought her right hand across his cheek. The blow knocked his hat askew and left a growing red mark on his left cheek. Silence was abundant among the two. Of course one would think that Sarah would be apologizing in a rapid manner; she had just slapped one of Gotham's rogues. But no, she just stood there with her head lowered, her bangs covering her eyes, and he just had bewildered look on his face. Edward brought a gloved hand to the burning spot. She had hit him so hard that she was for sure that it had hurt her own hand and indeed it had. Sarah clenched her hand tightly causing the stinging pain to increase. It felt like needles pouring into her hand all at once. She ignored it.

When he opened his mouth to speak that is when she had lifted her head to reveal her brown irises surrounded by redness; tears leaked their way down the sides of her cheeks; she chewed lightly on her bottom lip. The look she gave him said that he should be quiet so he closed his mouth,

"Oh, Edward."

Not expecting her to throw her arms around him, Edward stumbled back a few steps and braced himself and her with one hand on the doorframe. The girl before him sobbed lightly into his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Sarah?"

She shivered lightly and lifted her head,

"I was worried about you."

Because he expected a different statement from her, he cocked an eyebrow and tilted his head to the side. For once he did not know something: what she was talking about.

"You're not mad?"

"Of course not. I'm more upset and disappointed that you escaped, but I'm not mad. I was worried that you would get caught or hurt."

"Honestly, I think I got hurt by coming here. . ."

To emphasize his statement the Riddler pointed his index finger at his burning cheek with narrowed eyes aimed at the girl before him. Sarah could only laughed and wipe her tears away on the back of her hand. She giggled a bit and smiled lightly; her eyes losing their slight redness,

"I'm sorry; did I hurt you?"

"Only a little."

She grimaced and brought a hand up to gently stroke the small whelp on his face. Sarah bit her lip and examined the spot to make sure she did not hurt him too bad. All the while, the Riddler let a sneaky thought come to mind as he smirked slightly.

"You know you could kiss it and make it better – you are a doctor, right?"

Through his domino mask he looked down his nose at the short shorter girl before him who blushed a crimson red when he brought a gloved hand up to rest against her waist. Doing what he said, Sarah stood up on her toes and placed her lips against the decreasing redness. She lingered there a few seconds longer than she should have. When she went to draw away she drug her lips down his cheek to his jaw line; she only pulled away an inch from his face and brought her brown orbs to meet his eyes that were hidden behind his mask. The blush on her cheeks grew to as bright as a strawberry. Clearing her throat and looking to the side she brought her hand to her reddened cheek,

"I-is that be-better?"

The smirk on the Riddler's face never left as her arm moved to fully wrap around her waist and pull her body closer to his; he growled and nuzzled his injured cheek to hers,

"No, not at all. Maybe another?"

Catching his drift and letting her lips turn up at the corners of her mouth she stood on her toes again and placed her lips on the corner of his mouth. Sarah let her mouth linger that way for a few seconds longer than the last time and when she pulled away a smile rested on her pink lips. The Riddler hummed slightly and opened his eyes from their closed position. He let a wicked smirk cross his lips before leaning forward to brush his nose against hers.

"Hmmm, third time's a charm."

As her eyes fell half lidded Sarah skimmed her hands up from his waist, across his sides and against his chest to wrap around his neck and pull his head down towards hers. She blinked once and allowed her lips to brush against his testing the waters before he pulled her closer to him, bringing their lips together fully. Sarah finally closed her eyes and pulled him closer to her. Seconds passed, then a minute, and she drew away to open her eyes and look up at the Riddler who wore a smug smirk on his face.

"Better?", she asked taking in a few gulps of air to appease her deprived lungs.

"It seems doctor that I may need a more extensive examination. But of course that is your medical opinion, not mine."

Not even before the last word left his mouth Sarah had crashed her lips against his causing his to stumble back against the doorframe to keep from fall down. It seemed this girl had a knack for catching him off guard. Dropping his cane to the floor and wrapping both arms around her waist, the Riddler pulled the short woman against him as he leaned against the doorframe. He returned her kiss equally as he brought his hands down to the backs of her thighs.

So he would not have to crane his neck to deepen the kiss with the shorter woman the Riddler lifted her up to wrap her legs around his waist. This action caused Sarah to break the kiss and squeak. A blush covered her fair face again as she looked up into his mask and bit her lower lip. The innocent action made him groan and bring his mouth down to her neck. He nibbled her neck lightly; her blush grew to an insane proportion.

"E-Edward, wha-what are you –ohh." An audible moan reached his ears when he bit down on the juncture between her neck and shoulder. Her reaction caused him to chuckle, bite down again, and much to his delight Sarah arched her back and groaned louder this time. If this was not a boost to his ego he didn't know what was. The Riddler nibbled his way up her neck and across her jaw line to claim her lips in a searing kiss.

Sarah, who decided that she wanted to take over, caressed his lips; the small action caused him to growl and tighter his fingers' grip on her waist. She bit his lip and kissed it lightly to nurture the small sore that she made. Sarah brought her hands up from his neck to snake into his red hair; she knocked his hat from his head with a flick of her wrist.

When he grinned, she smiled and pecked his lips one time before pulling away to catch her breath. She looked up into his mask and kissed his nose,

"That was fun."

"Hmm, indeed it was. How about a riddle?"

Sarah narrowed her eyes with a dead-panned look,

"You're joking, right?"

"If I was joking I would be called the Joker, not the Riddler. This one will be quick."

He nuzzled her neck when she laid her head against his chest, "Okay, but just one."

"Alright:

What has a mind of its own, but cannot think. It can speed up, it can slow down; but only you, Sarah, can control it. Question: what am I?"

Sarah hummed lightly and closed her brown eyes as he kissed her neck repeatedly. His kisses almost threw her mind off, but actually wanting to answer his question she forced her attention to remain on the riddle. The soft thumping of his heart pounded in her ears; a lovely lullaby that sung her to a near unconscious state. The Riddler noticing this pushed off the wall he leaned against and made his way towards her bed room. It took a few moments for him to find it but when he did he pushed the door open lightly with his foot and made his way to her bed.

As he laid her down he spotted the rose he had given her sitting in its own little vase on her bedside table. The moment he set her down and went to pull away she grabbed him by his tie; her eyes still closed, and pulled his face down towards hers. Her eyes opened and she let a smirk cross her lips before she pulled him down by his shoulders and flipped him on his back onto the bed. She laid on leg on either side of his waist as she straddled him completely.

"I give, what's the answer?" Sarah leaned forward placing her hands on his chest and kissed the side of his neck; she brought her mouth up to nibble on his ear. Before he answered her a groan left him and he gripped her waist to turn her over onto her back where her legs were still wrapped around his waist. He kissed her lips once and said two single words,

"My heart."

A/N: To those of you who enjoyed Edward and Sarah's story please keep a watch on my page. I've gotten a few requests to continue this to a short story and so I shall. This document will stay a oneshot, but I will create another file on my page. I do not know what it will be called yet but still keep a look out. Also, please don't get it confused with another hort story that I'm publishing called "After Party", it has nothing to do with Edward and Sarah, but it is a Riddler story that has been plaguing my mind for a while. Thank you. ^.^