"How have you been?" she asked after they sat down. The two had managed to find as solitary a spot as possible in the mess hall.

"Fine. Just sorry that you were stuck with my doctor. Here, have this," he said, scooping the berry cobbler from his tray to hers.

"Eddie! You're going to be hungry if you keep doing this!"

"And you'll get sick and run a greater risk of slipping into a coma if you don't take it. The way Matthiessen is messing with your meals is wrong and dangerous, and he knows it!"

"My hero," Dee smiled shyly at him.

His temper cooled some at her smile. Still it angered him that a doctor would play so dangerous a game with a patient's health. Of course the staff could find no reason for Dee's hypoglycemia. She wasn't diabetic, which is the group the affliction hit the most. But he knew. He knew exactly the reason for it.

He reached across the table and took her left hand, running his thumb along the chain of her ring. "You haven't said anything about this, have you? They haven't tried to take it off?"

"The orderlies tried to take it. But they can't figure out how to open it. And of course I haven't said anything! They all told me not to say how I did it. Let them all believe it's natural. First rule of all the items." She sighed. "I miss them. After this," she gestured at the walls with her fork, "I don't know if they'd want me around."

"But they knew about the schizotypal and schizoid tendencies, didn't they?"

The look on her face was disheartening. "I hid it all as best I could. Adaptation is what I do. I couldn't do a lot there and I had something to focus my energy on. I suppose that in itself was a treatment. But if they had known, I would never have been accepted. Had they found out after I was in, I would've been kicked out."

"So you knew about your own disorders?"

"I read some psychology for my schooling. I had an idea of my problems and worked harder to hide them."

He nodded as he ate the last bite of his potatoes. "They love you a lot. I'm sure this won't change anything if they really do love you."

"I'm getting full. Split this cobbler with me? Half of it's yours anyway."

Drop the subject, she was saying. Making no further comments, he helped her eat the cobbler. He wanted to give her a kiss and a hug to let her know he cared. There were too many people around though, and he wasn't certain how she would act to such a display of affection. Not to mention the hoots and hollers the other inmates were bound to start at the sight. He nearly jumped when her foot caressed his calf.

"Thanks, Eddie," she said.

"For what?"

"Understanding. Being here. Being a good friend." A friend I'd like to curl up with and kiss for being so nice. He looks good in grey. It brings out his eyes.

Just a friend? Say it. See what she says. "Just a friend?"

Now her smile grew as she blushed. He loved to see her blush.

"A good boyfriend. Better?"

"Dinnertime is over, folks! Let's return those trays and head back to the cells!"

They stood and he held her back. He was feeling bold now as inmates milled about. She looked up at him as he stepped in front of her.

"Take these up for us," he said, tossing the trays on top of another inmate's.

The man was about to protest, but stopped when Eddie glared at him. When the man skittered off, Eddie turned back to Dee. She had an amused smile on her face and was giggling.

"You'll have to teach me that one."

"There's a few of us the lessers don't mess with. Now..."

Dee cut him off, bouncing up on her toes and kissing him. Her kiss was eager and hungry, her hands pressed to his chest. Edward's hands rested on her hips, holding her close. The taste of berries in his mouth doubled as they kissed. She pulled back slightly and looked at him through her lashes. The chuckle he gave worried her.

"I'm sorry," she quickly said, attempting to move away.

"It's ok. I was about to say the same thing." He held her firmly.

"Really?" Her voice was uncertain.

"Really." Without another word, he returned her kiss.

Inmates still milled about, but they were thinning out now. The same guard yelled, "Cells, people! Let's go!"

"Watch the good doctor, ok? I don't know what he might have said to you, but he's always up to no good," Edward warned as they walked out of the hall.

"I don't like him one bit. It's a shame I can't just..."

"No. Don't start thinking like that. You have to keep quiet about that or he'll have a field day with you. If he finds out through the news or Batman, fine."

They had come to the T-junction and stopped. Neither wanted to leave the other just yet. But neither had the nerve to say anything. Instead they stood there, looking and acting nervous. Dee felt the same right then as the first time she had seen him, and her face was on fire. He felt like a schoolboy again. At the end of their first date he hadn't been this nervous, but now...

"Get moving, Nigma!" a guard said, grabbing the rogue by the back of his collar and hauling him off.

"I say, I like your coat!" he called out.

"Thank you!" she replied with a grin as a guard did the same to her. She bit her lower lip as she scrambled to keep up with the guard. He liked her. She was pleased. ~ ~ ~

"What? They were kissing?" shouted Dr. Matthiessen. He snarled and slammed his hands onto his desktop.

He couldn't understand it. In every test he had given the man since becoming his doctor, Edward Nigma had shown a low interest in personal relationships and sex. Offer him a dirty magazine or a puzzle book, and he would always choose the puzzle book. How active he was when it came to sex, Matthiessen wasn't certain. Try as he might, he couldn't get Nigma to tell him a thing about his sex life. He had a feeling the man was impotent or gay.

The only thing was the cog that had now been thrown into that theory. Dee Lemma was proving to be more of a problem than he thought. Everything had been going well until she stepped in. The authorities were still trying to piece together where she had been for the last eighteen years since running away from the orphanage. He didn't like knowing so little about a patient.

"We had to drag them away from each other and to their cells."

Sighing and rubbing his temples, Matthiessen sat back in his chair. "Did they say anything to each other?"

"Uh, he complimented her on her coat, and she thanked him. Funny thing is, she wasn't wearing a coat," the guard said scratching his head.

"It's that song again," mumbled the doctor.

"Huh?"

"Nothing. Unless there's anything else, you may go."

"Yes, sir."

"Bring me Dee Lemma early tomorrow morning. At seven. And bring me Edward Nigma now."

"Yes, sir. I'll leave a note for the morning shift."

One way or another, he was going to get one of them to end this thing they had going. It was possible that Dee would talk more freely when asked more personal questions. Snorting in disgust at the idea of the two kissing, he pulled Dee's file. On a sticky note, he began jotting questions to ask her. Sex was at the top of his list to know about, but he would start with something simple: Why did she attach herself to someone like Edward Nigma?

A twinge of curiosity made him flip to the medical exams that had been given to the girl her first full day there. He had skimmed them, looking more at her blood chemistry than anything else. Now he read the report more carefully, uncertain what he was looking for, but knowing he had skipped something important. His eyebrows shot up as he found what he was looking for.

~ ~ ~

"Doctor," Nigma said, voice filled with displeasure at the late evening meeting. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this extra session?"

It irked Edward that he had been pulled out of his cell. On the walk down the hall he had had to endure kissing noises, catcalls, and hoots of "lover boy" from the various inmates. This had not helped his mood, which up until the guard ordered him out of his cell had been extremely blissful. When Dr. Matthiessen looked up from Eddie's chart, Eddie's stomach leapt to his throat. He knew that wolf look the man had far too well, and it meant only one thing...
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