Mama Gotham

Lookin' Too Closely

Alyssa stared up at the building before her as though it had personally offended her. It wasn't the building's fault, so much as it was what lay within; the office of Dr. Erin McMartin, the local cop psychiatrist. After Jervis' latest tea party, Jim and Harvey had ganged up on her and all but book the appointment themselves. She knew they were right; she had to talk to someone, but a professional psychiatrist appointment just didn't sit right with her. The last thing she needed was to be locked in the Arkham cell next door to a certain top hatted man.

Her detective friends refused to let up however, so she was her to placate them. She had no intentions of discussing her 'feelings.' In all honesty, Alyssa hadn't been feeling much of anything since that night. She wasn't looking forward to when those floodgates inevitably opened.

Huffing, she finally stepped off of the curb where he car was parked and climbed the front steps to the building. Might as well get this over with.

******

Erin McMartin was a sharply dressed blonde woman who was several years older than Alyssa. She had a pair of rectangle glasses with thick black frames pushed up her nose her hair was up in a tight bun that was perfectly centered on the back of her head with absolutely no flyaways. She smiled at Alyssa as she entered in a way that did not fit her starchy appearance.

Alyssa immediately decided she did not like the woman.

Still, she laid back on the classic therapy style sofa, feeling rather foolish as she did so, and folded her hands over her stomach as the doctor began her opening spiel.

"– so why don't we start with what brought you here today." it wasn't a question.

"Two overly concerned cops. Or a late model Lexus." Alyssa said simply.

Dr. McMartin gave a stiff smile. "Ms. Connors, I get the sense that you aren't taking this very seriously."

"Ding ding ding, Johnny tell the lady what she's won." she said sarcastically.

"Hmm. You know therapy is a two way street; if you don't work with me, I can't help you."

"I'm not asking you to."

"Then why are you here?"

"To get those cops I mentioned off my back. They say I've been through a traumatic experience. An experience, which I'm sure you heard about on the news."

"I did, yes." she nodded. "I also heard about Mr. Valeska's raid of the GCPD, Mr. Nygma's attempt at framing detective Gordon, Mr. Cobblepot's rise and fall in the underworld...." she trailed off. "The criminally insane, they seem drawn to you Ms. Connors."

"For your information I came into the picture long before the insanity did." Alyssa informed.

"Well there are people to associate with that aren't, shall we say; off kilter."

"We live in Gotham! Name one!"

The doctor's smile dropped and she shook her head as she set her clipboard to the side. "Okay, I get that you don't want to talk about that night. So let's talk about something else. Something that makes you happy. What makes you happy Alyssa?"

"My kids." was the immediate response.

"Yes, I've heard about that in the news as well. What you've been doing, taking in these kids who have no where else to go and giving them a sense of home and belonging, it's quite admirable."

"Thank you."

"It's quite a shame no one created something like you did sooner. While the Gotham Narrows have never been superb, you certainly made a big difference."