2014.04.21 - Unexpectedly Missed

Coming morning of April 22nd, 2014, Edward Nygma found himself finally coming up the stairs to his office. He'd called Mabel and said he'd need a few things once he was in the office and to prepare for a busy day. He wasnt' prepared for the hug and the 'I'm so glad you're safe!' moment in the reception area of his office, and was left staring out the door as she took his dry cleaning an hurried off to the place down the street.

This, he supposed, is what being a 'good guy' was all about. He shrugged one, sipped the coffee she'd had ready for him on his arrival, and went back into his office.

He'd had time to shave, bathe, and make himself presentable so he shrugged out of his jacket, and started going over the stack of phone messages from earlier in the week.

Okay. So Jess had promised Luke no more active cases until the baby was born. But, well, she had to be in Gotham anyway, so she'd gotten into the habit of stopping by Nygma's office with junk food, coffee for him, and, finnally, a blend of herbal tea she actually liked. A budding working relationship that may just one day become a friendship, if he didn't relapse on her. Or if she didn't completely lose her goddamn mind and relapse herself. Just say no to tights, Jessica.

Then, Nygma'd gone missing. So, while still not technically /on/ a case, she'd started looking in to things. Mostly around is office, figuring it most likely had to do with one of his cases. Car stakeouts were right out, considering how often she needed the bathroom these days, so she spent a lot of time at a cafe across the street, drinking a lot of decaf tea and eating more pastries than she probably should.

Should she try to find his home address again? That seemed intrusive, especially since she'd probably have to break a few laws (and locks) to get inside and have a look. She'd been mentally going over the list of friends she could call that might be able to help her (while visions of him floating dead in the river danced throuhg her head), when she saw the familiar figure stumbling into his office. She left more money than she needed to at her table and rushd out, cronut and tea forgotten.

She entered without knocking. On the upside, the door remained on its hinges. She rushed past Mabel (sorry! she'll bring cupcakes next time!) and into his office proper

"Oh thank /God/." Holy crap, she's got the Worried Mom look down pat already. "What happened? Are you okay?"

Cue the most befuddled of looks. Edward Nygma is not a man who gets on well with women. With anyone, really, but with women especially. Call it sexism, call it resentment for his mother leaving him, call it whatever you like. He did poorly with them.

So he stood there, blinking, before he said, "I had my first night in week in my own bed, busted window be damned, and Batman did most of the leg work on handling my problems. Pissed off a lot of rich people, but..." he shrugged, nonchalant. "I'm pretty sure right now I'm the least of their problems."

He tilted his head, and the befuddlement returned. "Were you... worried?"

"Well, yes, I do tend to worry when people I know go missing for a week with... very, very, very little trace, and now you're mentioning that Batman was involved in your're /not/ being missing anymore, which leads me to think the being missing was /not your idea/, which worries me a little more," she says.

Now she sounds both annoyed /and/ worried. She crosses her arms over her chest, but then remembrs why she doesn't do that anymore, because... so not comfortable in this state. "Why wouldn't I be worried? It was evident you were in trouble." A pause, and she takes a breath, and her voice is a little softer. "What... exactly happened? If you can... you know... talk about it?"

Edward sat down in his chair, gesturing the one opposite again. Welp, in for a penny, in for a lot of pounds of pregnant busy body. He still wasn't quite sure what to make of that. It wasn't logical. But people sometimes weren't. She cared. She got easily invested. She had chosen to invest in him. He'd deal.

"I broke the Court of Owls case, gathered enough evidence to put four out of the five Founding Families into the clink and... well, now I'm home." He sipped his coffee. "That's about the sum up of what I'm able to share."

"Good work," she sounds genuinely impressed. "But... I was worried, I thought maybe you'd stepped into the wrong case and gotten yourself-" she starts to admit, and then she's tearing up a little. "Oh for fuck's sake!" she curses herself. "Goddamn fucking hormones-" she mutters, wiping at her eyes, smudging the ever so tiny bit of makeup she'd bothered to put on today. Try not to feel too bad about that one, Eddie. Yesterday a cell phone commercial made her cry.

Oh god the crying is back. The crying!

Intensely uncomfortable, Edward reached out to push the box of kleenex on one corner of his desk forward. There you are, terrifying woman. Blow your nose. Over there.

"I'm fine now, really," he said. "Look. Just... stay calm. I probably pissed some people off, but they're stupid people and I can handle that. More money than sense."

Jess takes a deep breath. "I'm fine, really, it's just hormones. Last week, I cried because they hadn't painted my new office yet, and it was still purple. I really hate purple," she admits. "I'm not going to freak out on you and... I don't know... induce myself into labour forcing you to deliver the baby," she says. "And don't tell me the thought hasn't crossed your mind, because you have that Look on your face, that look that I've only ever gotten from men since I've started showing," she says. "I have a c-section booked with a surgeon who specializes in mutant and metahuman births. The only risk you take being in my presence is having to drive me there." Which would, admittedly, be hilarious.

Hates purple? Edward looked down at his purple tie and and waist coat, before he looked back up at Jess. Take your time, Eddie, its only your second favorite color. If she'd dissed green, it woulda been fightin' words.

"I'm simply a thirty-something bachelor with no experience here. I've never been married or had a long term partner." He didn't say he'd never been a father, because that was a lie. He had a teenage daughter out there, right now. "I'm flattered by your concern," if highly confused, "but you needn't worry about me, I promise I can take care of myself."

Jessica Jones winces a little as she looks at the tie and makes a connection, and sighs a little. "Kilgrave," she says, in explanation for her distaste for the colour. The Purple Man. A villain with the ability to simply persuade anyone to do as he asks via pheromone control. "I... kind of... spent almost a year under his control." The way she admits it, short, clipped, almost mumbled. It's... not a time in her life she enjoys talking about. Like she almost doesn't want to say it. But hey, he's recovering from the Owl thing, maybe knowing she has her own thing she's still recovering from will... build some sort of... something. "Stopped being Jewel after that," she says, standing up.

"I really am glad you're okay." And here comes the hugging. Made extra awkward due to belly. And the admission of her fucked-up past. Oh hey, the baby kicks a little during the hug! Neat! Or creepy, depending on how you look at it. "I'll see you around. Try not to get in too much trouble before I can get back into things, alright?"

Edward flinched; he had his own experiences with Poison Ivy he didn't want to recount just this moment, but he nodded in understanding. Empathy was tentative, but he was learning it little by little.

Then she had to burst his bubble and start coming toward him. He put is coffee down, because he wasn't sure what she as coming toward him for, and-- then was hugged for the most awkward span of seconds of his life.

"R-right. I'll do... my best." This woman is insane, he decided.