Mama Gotham

Don Falcone

The Spirit Of The Goat, oh yes, Alyssa remembered that nightmare.

Harvey didn't speak to her for weeks, Edward had wanted to investigate the case, and Mrs. Kableput had worried over her son like he was the next one on the killer's hit-list – despite the fact that he was targeting the top 1% of the city.

After Dick's accident, Alyssa had been the one to comfort Harvey. The detective was by no means one to cry on someone's shoulder, but he did appreciate the homemade danishes and the girl keeping him from drinking himself to death.

Which was why she was at the precinct with one of said danishes now.

"Ah, ah ah!" she snatched the flask from Harvey before he could drink from it. "Remember our deal: no drinking on duty."

"Kid, I'm havin' a long day." he sighed.

"Yeah, I know. I brought comfort food." she held out the small white box.

"Strawberry danish?"

"Your favorite." Alyssa nodded.

"....Thanks kid." he took the box from her and went for the pastry inside.

"Alyssa." Jim came up the staircase with files in hand. "Nice to see you again."

"Detective." she nodded.

"Look, I don't mean to be rude, but we're really busy –"

"Oh not at all. I just came to make a delivery. Good luck on your case." she smiled and headed down the stairs.

******

Planning to check in on Edward, Alyssa was certain he'd be happy to have a chance to be involved in the Goat case this time around. But instead she found him in the corner of his office with his knees in his chest, crying.

"Eddie?"

His head snapped up at the sound of his name. "A-Alyssa!" he jumped up and rubbed at his eyes under his glasses.

"Eddie what's wrong?" Alyssa asked, her voice laced with concern.

"Nothing, I'm fine."

"I just walked in on you in a corner crying. Now I may not be as smart as you, but even I know that's a bad sign."

He looked down, pushing his glasses up slightly. "...Do you think I'm odd?"

Alyssa frowned at the question, but answered anyway. "I think you're the smartest person I know, and living in a city made of brutes and idiots does make you the outlier. Why?"

"I tried to improve the filing system in the records annex. I wanted to help Ms. Kringle..." he looked away shyly. "But she got angry with me, and said I was odd."

Alyssa sighed, battling with herself. Part of her wanted to grab the genius and shake him by the shoulders, wanting to know why he was wasting his time with a girl who had no interest in him when she was standing right there. But another part of her just wanted him to smile, to go after his crush in the hopes that she'd realize just how wonderful he was and not break his heart.

The supportive best friend part of her won.

"Ed, the filing thing is a little inappropriate." she informed. "If you want this girl to like you, you need to go smaller. Flowers, maybe a poem?"

"That's brilliant!" He lit up with that stupid smile that made Alyssa's heart flutter. "Thank you, Alyssa! You never fail to have the answers to my social issues.

"What are friends for?"

******

On her way back to the Flee, Alyssa stopped when she felt a hand grab her arm and a gun press against her back.

"I'm Alyssa Connors, who the hell are you?" she asked politely.

"Name's Nico, sweet cheeks." an accented voice purred in her ear. "My boss would like a word with you. So you get in the car, and we won't have a problem."

"Who's your boss?"

"Don Falcone."

******

Despite her time working for Fish, and her own rising power in Gotham, Alyssa had never met either of the Dons of the city.

Maroni, from what Oswald had told her, was nothing but a hot head. What she had heard of Falcone however was more...sophisticated. Alyssa supposed it came with his experience, but even she knew that everyone thought he was getting too old for his job

"You know you could've just called." Alyssa said as she was lead into Falcone's office. "I never did like being forced to do things at gun point."

"A simple bit of insurance." the old man said. "I believe a formal introduction is long overdue; I'm Carmine Falcone."

"Yeah, I know. I'd introduced myself, but if you didn't know who I was, I wouldn't be here."

"So you've heard of me then?"

"Of course, you're Don Falcone, you've been Don Falcone since I was a kid. You practically own this city, but you're getting old and other people are getting greedy. You're good, but the ground is shrinking beneath your feet." Alyssa said bluntly. "Is that why I'm here?" she cocked her head to the side.

"Straight to the point I see." he chuckled. "Your reputation precedes you as well; you bought your own corner of the city and had nearly every child off the streets within a week. But the interesting thing is, you don't work for me, and my sources tell me you don't work for Maroni either."

"Nope." Alyssa said, popping the 'p'. "I'm a self-made woman. Well, the start up cash was my dad's, but you get the point."

"Is that so? Well there must be quite a story behind your success."

"So that's it, is it?" she raised an eyebrow. "I'm here to satisfy your curiosity?"

Falcone smiled and raised his hands in surrender. "Humor me."

"Alright." she nodded. "Full disclosure? I was born and raised in this city. But I got my start working for Fish Mooney, a woman who currently thinks I'm dead."