A Few Steps Ahead [Riddler]

[Nina Stenet]

Since the day of her visit to the warehouse well over a week ago, Nina has found herself a bit more content to remain in the apartment. Once bitten, twice shy perhaps? Not that she hasn't had plenty of time to reflect upon it and, just as she'd said, come to accept it: both the items in the warehouse and the words they'd exchanged. In fact, she found it mildly disturbing how quickly she'd been able to do so once she'd had some time to be alone with her thoughts. But once she managed that, she could enjoy the easing of the tension during the infrequent times Edward was around now that they weren't so actively avoiding each other. Still, Edward was obviously keeping himself busy, and she forced herself not to speculate upon what he's up to.

Of course, she's been keeping herself busy too, and not just with typing up her research. The closer to the end of the month long time frame he'd given it gets, the more pressure that she feels to be prepared for it. There would be a lot for her to do, picking up the now scattered bits of the life she disappeared from. And though she'd gone into this with the idea of simply picking up her life where she left off, at least as much as possible, the more she's reflected upon it the more she's realized that she needs a change. The same old rut doesn't seem to fit her any more, though she's not sure if it's because she's changed more or her surroundings. And the more she's reflected upon what, exactly, needs to be changed, the bolder and yet more feasible the ideas have become.

But up until this point, Nina hasn't talked to Edward about any of it. Mostly because she didn't want to be throwing around half formed ideas she was uncertain about around someone she knew would probably try to guide them his way. Not that she doesn't respect Edward's opinion on her life (even though she has to disagree with it much of the time), but her career plans are simply something she feels the need to figure out herself. Instead she'd allowed him to lead their conversations rather than bringing up the thoughts swirling about in her head. She's always been an open book, but that doesn't mean that she has to point out every page that has been overlooked - especially when they've only been partway written. However, one by one the decisions have been made, and Nina likes the way that her plans have been shaping up. Not that they're not still being revised frequently, but they're pretty firm at this point.

But this evening she's not working or planning, she's sitting on the couch reading. And not something on her laptop, but an actual book from Edward's library. One of the volumes from an encyclopedia, to be exact - and to judge by the markings on the spine and where it's open to, she's near the middle of the 'F's. And whatever it is must be fairly interesting to her because she hardly stirs when she hears Edward coming in.

[Deleted]

Edward was in a decent mood. There were a few mishaps in his plan, but everything in the end went the way he wanted it. They always did. He walked into his apartment feeling relaxed and comfortable. He couldn’t even feel stressed over the next step of his plan. Museum heists were the Riddler’s specialty, and framing them towards two different people made something that had become tedious quite entertaining.

When he entered into his apartment he had almost forgotten that Nina might be there. Then again Robby had been helping him out with his riddle so he wouldn’t have been able to take her anywhere. Therefore, he shouldn’t have been surprised when she was seating on his couch reading. He paused for a moment, the comfortable feeling being replaced for a different type of nervousness. He glanced down at his shirt for a moment. There was some blood on the white tee. Normally, blood only touched his body when someone confronted him, but Allen had an issue with one of the traps when he was moving it. You can stress dangerous, but still the unintelligent manage to make mistakes. The big man forced him to rework the kinks of the machine getting the big man’s blood on his shirt and jacket. He hadn’t come back to change and had forgotten all about it. He could only assume Nina would probably think the worst, but once again he would not defend himself.

He looked over the book she was reading. The encyclopedia? He smirked. He thought he was the only one who read through that book. It was interesting for basic facts, but it still never compared to the military strategy books he had become addicted to. “Hello dear, I have to freshen up, but by any chance you want to get dinner with me?” he asked not really paying attention to his words. He wasn’t hungry, but he felt the urge to celebrate. He also hadn’t spent that much time with Nina….and a small part of him found that factor disappointing...

[Nina Stenet]

Nina hasn't been reading through the whole encyclopedia - actually taking the amount of time it would take to do that would be wasteful in her mind. The biographies of long dead people hardly seem relevant to her, as do the many entries on exotic places she'll probably never go, and pretty much anything on medicine are things that she already knows. However, a selected portion of the articles actually are interesting, and more useful for her to know than she'd realized. But then, she's had a lot more opportunity to realize just how specialized her education has been lately, as well as the drawbacks of that.

She doesn't look up from the book until she's spoken to, and her eyes immediately go to the blood on Edward's shirt. Given her profession and education, the blood itself isn't at all that alarming, though naturally her thoughts jump ahead to what it might mean. And of course the thought of the worst possible explanation comes to mind first, but she's also quick to remind herself that there are less terrible reasons people get blood on themselves. And she has to hope that the fact that he didn't avoid letting her see him that way makes something more benign more plausible. She can assume the best of him can't she? At least as far as she can without letting herself be foolishly naive.

"I can see that," she comments quietly, not hiding the hint of unease in her tone and her eyes linger overly long on it. Yes it bothers her, and she's not going to apologize for that. But, on the other hand, her gaze quickly lifts to meet Edward's and she's much more upbeat when she replies very simply with, "I'd really like that." She's not especially hungry either, but then again time with Edward is time with Edward. And she has to reflect that this may be a good time to finally talk about some of the things she's been thinking about by herself.

Once she's given that answer, Nina's attention drifts back to the book - if he's going to take a moment to change, then she'll have time to finish the article she's on.

[Deleted]

He frowned at her tone and wary look to his clothes. This acceptance thing seemed to be difficult for the both of them. He didn’t know if he could handle constantly watching his step and words around her. He never cared for another person’s opinion and therefore, always spoke what was on his mind. But it was getting to a point with Nina that he felt like he was tip toeing over thin ice and he was about to fall through. He didn’t like it, and he mentally knew he had to change that. He wouldn’t care about her looks. He wouldn’t care about her sensitive morals. She said she could accept him well he would test that. It wasn’t his job to change himself for her. He knew he was perfect the way he was so why would he attempt to change perfection.

“Ah yes that is what the eyes were made for. I’m glad you’re taking use of them,” he remarked off handedly at her tone with a smirk. It wasn’t the nicest thing to say, but he didn’t quite enjoyed being judged right after dealing with Batman and another Rogue. The happiness though in her acceptance made up for the previous statement. He smiled with a nod. “I’ll see you in a bit,” he stated walking to his bedroom stripping off his clothes.

When he got in the shower he took in the warmth. It had been a few days with how busy he had gotten. He thought over the last riddle, and realized that Batman was probably just arriving on the scene. It wouldn’t be safe to go out in public. He frowned. He had gotten to caught up with seeing Nina he didn’t even consider it. After the shower, he put on his question mark boxers followed by green slacks and a nice black button down shirt. He then walked out seeing Nina closing the book. “I hope you don’t mind, but I’m actually going to cook. Do you want a glass of white wine?” he asked as he headed towards the kitchen.

[Nina Stenet]

If Nina is at all bothered by Edward's remark, she certainly doesn't show it. In a way she almost feels as if her own words were provoked, but if they were then so were his. And she's not so fragile as to be hurt by a little back and forth - at least, not unless there's some obviously very real hard feelings behind it. If Edward felt the need to walk on eggshells around her, then that was almost completely in his own head; yes, there are a lot of things he could do or say that would bother her, but she doesn't expect him to not bother her. She only expects him to avoid doing anything that would actually hurt her. And that's a pretty short list, all things considered.

Besides, she's all too quickly reabsorbed into what she was reading before he came in, and is just reviewing one of the more interesting bits of it when she hears the bedroom door open again and she sets the book aside. She's mildly surprised by the alteration in the plan, but she's certainly not bothered by it. As she gets up from the couch she answers "Why not?" to the wine. She's not a person who drinks very much or very often - she can literally feel what it does to her brain and her liver, after all - but she can appreciate how it takes the edge off if enjoyed in small doses.

Seating herself on one of the barstools where she can more easily watch and talk while remaining completely out of the way, she hesitates for a moment before stating, "I'm not going to ask for my job back at WayneTech." Which is a fairly good place to start, as that's probably one of the firmer decisions she's made as she's been mulling it around. "They'll want me back when they find out I'm alive, but I've come to realize that working for some large corporation puts too many limits on what I'm able to do," she adds quickly, and without any actual arrogance. She simply aware of just how capable she is, and knows that she's being inhibited from reaching that. "I think that the only reason I've stayed there as long as I have is because it's helped keep me out of view, and that felt safer."

[Deleted]

He listened to her as he pulled out a full bottle of Riesling grabbing the corkscrew to undo the top. When he popped the cork out he laid it on the counter reaching up into the cabinet to grab the wine glasses. He turned to the bar where he saw Nina sitting across from him. “It’s a wise decision,” he stated as he poured the wine in the glasses, “I’ve never been fond of someone taking credit for another’s work. Corporations have a talent at it.”

He moved her half full glass to her then took a sip of his own glass before corking the wine bottle. “The real riddle is though,” he started as he turned to the fridge to grab a packet of chicken breast, “Why come to this conclusion now? You’ve been working there similar to how a fat kid would work at a candy shop.” He smirked at his own joke, pulling out the pan and the other materials he needed to flavor the chicken. One benefit for never being home is that he always had food, especially when Robby got fresh groceries every week. You normally would assume that a man who had little respect for woman wouldn’t know how to cook, but there were very few things that Edward didn’t have knowledge on. He was a better chef then most women.

He spread a few chicken breast in the pan waiting to hear the preheat beep as he layered the chicken with spice and herbs. He paused then turned to look at her. “A better riddle…is why are you telling me this?” he asked staring at her. He reached for his wine and took a sip. It was a strange concept. Was she just telling him to inform her of her life…or was she looking for a reaction from him? Was she trying to judge whether he believed it was the safe decision or a dangerous one? Why would she want to know that? Did she think where she worked effected him?

Was she just trying to have a conversation and he was over analyzing like he did with everything with her? Yes, the last question was probably correct.

[Nina Stenet]

Nina smiles just a little at Edward's first statement. "I know. I've been letting WayneTech do it on purpose for years," she replies. She's hidden her true talents in plain sight for quite awhile that way, not to mention all the other stumbling blocks she's put out to keep anyone from really noticing exactly what level of work she does. That the only sort of people who tend to appreciate her research at the moment are other top level researchers in the same field is a very real accomplishment.

She accepts the glass of wine and takes a small sip, enjoying the flavor for a moment before swallowing. And she has to smile at Edward's joke: WayneTech really did give her everything she'd wanted - it was a good deal for both of them. But there's one thing they couldn't give. "Partly because I've simply had a lot of time to think about it," she answers, but she hesitates slightly before saying the next part, "Though really, most of it boils down to why I've kept out of view in the first place. It would be no exaggeration for me to say that I can out do any medical research team any of the current giants in the industry would care to put together. And if I start showing that I can do that... well, that would rock a lot of boats. I'm sure that some people would get greedy..." She frowns a little at that thought, but shakes her head and dismisses it.

"But that matters a lot less now because I already have a good reason to worry about my personal safety. And if I feel the need to protect myself better, why go halfway about it? And why, once that's in place, can't I risk drawing some attention to myself for a different reason? This may turn out to be one of the best things that's ever happened to me, actually," she concludes thoughtfully. And as she talks, she watches him work. She didn't know that he could cook - but then again, he probably doesn't know that she can either. Well, a short list of recipes anyway, but she's good at what she does know - she mostly avoids doing it because of the time involved.

And his last question causes a surprised lift of her eyebrows. "Because I want you to know and I respect your opinion," she answers easily, not even having to think about it. Why else would she be telling him? Just because her tone seems to indicate that these things have already been thought over and decided upon doesn't mean that she's not interested in hearing what Edward might have to say about it. And just because she's likely to go forward with it whether it has his approval or not doesn't mean that she doesn't want that too.

[Deleted]

He listened carefully to her reasoning as he sipped on his wine. The reason she had been limiting herself was for her safety…he hadn’t even considered that thought because her powers naturally gave her a protection the average person would not have. He replayed the first time he had met her in his mind. She hadn’t advertised her power then either. He had to deduce it from subtle signs, tone, and body language. She really preferred to keep her power a secret. It was probably for the better because once the secret was revealed it only took one more step further to determine the weakness of such an ability.

For some reason when she mentioned increasing her personal safety because of recent events a sense of relief covered him like a blanket. He hadn’t realized how a little tinge of worry had crawled in the back of his mind. He mentally knew her month stay was a about half way through. She would soon be getting back to her life, and he would no longer be able to keep her like a bird in a cage. The more he thought it over, he realized he had been treating Nina similarly to how one treats a bird.

Protect them from the wild and enjoy their singing.

He would once again have to have her watched in case another rogue stupidly decided to get involved in his business. She put a drain on his resources….it bothered him, but he also couldn’t deny the fact that she was worth it…so he tried to push away that mental debate for another time and instead enjoy the present time now. Her last statement caught him by surprise causing an “Oh,” to escape his mouth before any logical sentence could. He would have continued, but the oven made its protest in a beep. He turned around opening the oven and placing the chicken in. He set the timer before grabbing a pot from the hanger above the oven and putting it down on top of the stove. He walked over to the sink filling it up with water. “I think it sounds like a logical choice. There is no reason to purposefully limit your work to stay in the lines of the lesser beings. Besides, you stress how important your work is to others, I’m quite surprised you haven’t done it sooner. Better and higher quality work means you’re able to help more people. In some ways, you not taking this step sooner have prevented many from a cure sooner causing death. They could charge you with negligence,” he stated with a smirk as he lit the stove to boil the water while bringing down another pot. Of course, while everything he was stating had some truth to it he was just teasing her. He had a habit of twisting people’s words around to prove they were not as special as they claim to be. He also loved to see people’s reaction to it.

He walked over to the pantry and grabbed the shell noodles and sauce. “You’ve probably have killed more people then the Joker. I’m afraid I will have to tell Batman of your location,” he said walking back over to the stove and her at the bar placing his other material on the counter.

[Nina Stenet]

If only Edward knew just how concerned Nina is about her own safety! Well, perhaps it didn't seem like it in her interactions with him, but the moment she ran into him also happened to correspond with the moment that her shield of secrecy started to weaken considerably so perhaps that's only to be expected. That shield protected Nina for a very long time, but now some cracks and holes are starting to form, she's aware of them, and she's going to do something about it.

She takes another small sip of the wine as she listens to Edward give his take on the subject. The first part only makes her suppress a roll of her eyes - she'd never put herself on such a pedestal as to consider other people 'lesser beings', whether either her intelligence or her power might justify that in the mind of anyone else or not. But the rest of what he says does brush up against a nerve, though she does realize that he doesn't strictly mean it so the brief hint of guilt that crosses her face is mild. Because she's always second guessing within herself about whether or not it's reasonable for her to expect more of herself, because she can never shake the feeling that she ought to be doing as much as she's able to for that very reason.

However, that feeling and expression only lingers for a few moments before she counters with, "But, if in my eagerness to get my research out where it can be used to help people, my lack of caution caused me to be killed, then by that logic I'd be guilty of far worse - the deaths of anyone who might have been saved by cures I would have made had I been more careful. Take the time I'm spending here, for example. This is an interruption to my research - who knows how many more lives I might have saved this month if I'd refused to hide? But how much less likely would it be for me to still be alive now if I hadn't?" She takes another small sip from her glass before adding, "Of course, I'm sure I fail to live up to that standard all of the time too - but I'm human. Can't expect me to be perfect."

Then, abruptly switching to a lighter note, she has to add, "And I'm sure that if you told Batman exactly where I am now, he wouldn't spare much attention on me. It seemed like the moment he was certain that I wasn't working with you, I became very uninteresting to him. Of course, I'm not sure what he'd have to say about all of this - I suppose I'll find out when I come back from the dead." But she doesn't sound at all concerned about that. She knows only tiny bits and pieces about Batman, but what little she does know seems to indicate someone who understands the difference between what is right and what is legal. Then again, she's in a definite gray area even by that measure at the moment.

[Deleted]

When he poured the pasta into the boiling water, he was surprised that her response back to his teasing comment was very serious. He must had hit a nerve with his previous comment. A small part of him felt guilty and purposefully grabbed a spoon from the cabinet so he wouldn’t see any sad features. But she seemed to be justifying her decision. He noticed a lot of flaws with her defense though. She said the reason she hadn’t done it yet was because it opened up the possibility for her to get hurt, but that possibility had not lessened. If anything the possibility of her getting hurt or dying had increased exponentially. If she wanted to use the argument that her dying would cause for many other lives then her decision to break free from Wayne Enterprises was a stupid one.

While he could easily point this out to her, she continued with her next statement. It sounded happier and lighter. It sounded like he thought her first response would be, but the light tone didn’t destroy the gravity of her words.

He dropped the spoon into the water going stiff as his mind spaced out. “You spoke to Batman,” he said to the wall in front of him. He had completely forgotten of the high possibility of Batman talking to Nina. He had been so distracted recently without any challenge from Batman, he had almost forgotten the man was a threat. He almost thought Batman didn’t care…slightly agitating but only pushed Edward to do larger schemes. He turned to face her, walking right to the counter so he stood right across from her. “What did he say? How did he react? How many details did you give him? Did you mention my riddle? Did he understand the meaning or did he keep his expression straight with an annoyed grunt? Does he know about your power?” he paused as his mind went off in another direction. If he knew about her power, he would be able to deduce that the way of death they presented could never happen. Nina would be able to stop someone from beating her with a blink of an eye. If he knew Batman knew of her power he would have tried to frame it as a gunshot wound. He frowned sliding his hand through his hair. Batman knew then. Batman knew Nina was alive.

If he knew…did he know where she was staying? “Does he know of this…” he paused pointing between the two of them to hint at whatever this was. If Batman did then he would know that Nina was with him. Shit. If Batman found his hideout the whole ordeal with Scarecrow and Lex would be for nothing. He had no problem giving Batman a riddle, but he did find it frustrating when Batman accidently got a hold of other clues that Edward didn’t want to give. It was cheating.

He looked back up at Nina showing her a face probably very few had seen. While it was focus and thoughtful there was an underlying expression of panic that could really only be noticed by the few that spent time with him. It only lasted for a moment because with a deep breath he managed to calm himself. The Batman always got involved with his business. It was what made his job entertaining. While he didn’t like the idea of the man in a bat suit finding his home, he also realized the man hadn’t yet. It told him that any possible clue Nina could have accidentally given him had not helped Batman.

He smirked thinking over that. “Is he completely lost and frustrated?” he started laughing a bit at the idea. He must be furious that he is always one step behind him. “The little Bat can’t keep up, he chases after pawns believing they’re the King. Fool,” he muttered to himself. Had Edward gone off tangent there? Yes. Was it expected? Well…yes.

[Nina Stenet]

In Nina's point of view, her possibility of getting hurt or killed started rising pretty much the same moment that she met Edward, and there's been little she could do to prevent that. And especially with this whole business with Lex, it's no doubt skyrocketed. Then again, at this exact moment she doesn't have much to worry about because anyone who might want to do so thinks that she's dead. The real trouble will be when she comes out of hiding and starts to do research again, but she intends to have everything she needs in order to make her likelihood of getting hurt relatively low again in place either by then or as soon as possible thereafter. Keeping her head down to avoid trouble just doesn't seem to be working as well as it used to.

Edward's reaction when the conversation shifted to the subject of Batman is a bit surprising to Nina. Not that she's unaware of how he feels about Gotham's self-appointed protector, but she didn't realize the degree to which he felt it. She waits patiently through the list of list of questions, and simply summarizes the answers, "He asked me a few questions, and I answered them. Mostly about how I fit into the picture - I'm sure because the clues he would have found would make my part in things a bit unclear. But I didn't really know anything else at the time. And of course I gave him your message - he said that he understood. And I told him that I have 'an ability', but not anything else and he didn't ask. Of course, he did spend a lot of time looking at my microscope, so who knows what he knows?" And she doesn't seem to be especially concerned about any of those answers. Of course, she has a lot less to fear from Batman than Edward does and has never had a problem with paranoia.

The extra question, on the other hand, causes her to hesitate for a moment. At the time it had seemed only natural to give the answer that she gave, and things had been a lot different between her and Edward at the time. Taking that answer out of that context and putting into this one doesn't seem like the best idea, so she answers that by saying, "He asked me why I thought you kept contacting me." Which, knowing Nina, meant that she told him nothing less than her honest answer to the question.

With no more questions to answer, Nina goes silent and watches, perplexed, as Edward seems to panic for a moment before managing to calm himself. She'd think that he'd be used to having Batman on his tail by now - in fact she suspected that he enjoyed it by how interested he was in giving her a riddle to pass along to him. Though she's actually a bit relieved when he starts to laugh it off. "Well, I didn't really know much of anything to tell him back then, did I?" she reminds him. She hadn't a clue about this apartment or even exactly where Edward had been during her riddle, so she'd been completely useless as a source of information on anything that Batman would have found very helpful, "And I don't know how much I would have said at the time if I did. I just know I can't put myself between you two now." And it's probably pretty easy to tell what she means by that, because as she says this a weak version of the same troubled look she'd had when he'd asked if she could accept him. When she's so torn between loyalties, she feels that she can do nothing for either.

The feeling doesn't last for very long, however, and she takes another sip of the wine - suddenly she's a bit more grateful to have its relaxing influence.

[Deleted]

He listened carefully as she explained what she had informed the Batman. He would have preferred more details, a lot of details. The best way to predict the action of your challenger was to know the exact way he reacted or responded. While Batman’s face was usually expressionless, the Riddler had learned to predict Batman’s moves based on a subtle lip movement or by the time it took him to throw a punch. He couldn’t predict if all he knew were the basics, but….he shouldn’t have expected Nina to be analyzing the details he needed when she didn’t even know she would have to report them to him in the future.

Well, I didn’t really know much of anything to tell him back then, did I?

Her obvious statement caused him to relax and nod. Yes, she was right. He was over reacting. At that point, Nina was just another victim of his riddles, and just like all people who managed to get away from his riddles, they knew very little about where or how to find him. Yes, there was no way she could have given a way any unwanted information. He was over reacting. Why did he tend to over react when Nina was involved with things? He laughed again a bit at himself as he turned back to the food he had left unintended, but pause when she finished her last sentence.

“While I support your initiative for neutrality you do realize that Batman will relate your omission of the truth as consequently supporting me. By some standards, I would agree with him. If you informed him of my location he would be able to capture me sooner and, as you say, ‘save’ countless of others, but since you choose not to you unintentional help me further my goals. I won’t lie, I greatly appreciate it, but I don’t want you to fall for your own hypocrisy,” he stated stirring the noodles and putting the sauce in the other pan. He then turned back around to her reaching out for his wine and taking a sip. For some reason, the conversation didn’t seem as force as it had before. It felt like it was coming natural to him. He also enjoyed the fact that they were challenging each other again. He wasn’t purposefully trying to tear her down, but merely curious of her thoughts.

(OOC: sorry it's short! im totally ready to pass out.)

[Nina Stenet]

Once she got over the mild surprise at the strength of Edward's reaction to the subject of Batman, Nina almost found his sudden panic mildly humorous. She'd have expected him to realize just how harmless to him the conversation had been as instantly as he could piece together any other fact, but apparently not. And she had a vague sensation like one might get while watching two people play poker - both of whom thought that she might have gotten a peek at the other's cards and were watching her for any hints she might inadvertently give off. It was a somewhat uncomfortable position to be in, but also very interesting at the same time.

This time when Edward tries to point out the flaws in her logic, Nina is completely unbothered. Given how easy it would be for her to hand Edward over to the authorities at this very moment or at many other previous points in time, she has to have well and truly justified not doing so a number of times. And she has more than one reason, actually. "I can argue with that on four levels. First, because what I know now I only know because you decided to protect me. And you didn't have to. And it would be profoundly ungrateful for me to then turn around and use anything I happened to find out in the process of that against you."

Pausing just a moment to collect her thoughts for the next one Nina continues, "Second, if I saw it as my role to capture people who were hurting people, I'd have been doing that already. I, like a lot of people who discovered that they're more capable than the average person to alter the course of the world, decided to use my abilities to help people. But unlike a lot of them, I didn't think that chasing down criminals was the best use of my abilities. Instead I became a doctor, and there's an inherent neutralness to that profession - at least among good doctors. We don't dispense justice, we take care of patients."

There's a bit of a longer pause this time as Nina hesitates over her next point, but she forges ahead while telling herself that it probably ought to be said sometime, "Third, I'm guessing that you wouldn't appreciate it if I did help Batman catch you, and I know exactly how much you could hurt me if you take that as a betrayal." And, not wanting to let that thought hang in the air for too long she proceeds with her last point immediately, "Fourth, I don't know if I could do anything I thought would hurt you whether I thought it was 'right' or not anyway. And I don't really care if Batman or anyone else takes that to mean that I support you or not." And it's not like her last point is really under her conscious control anyway. She has a hard time causing harm to anyone for any reason in the first place, even if she has a very good reason to do so. And if it was Edward on top of that...

She takes another small sip of wine when she's finished, looking remarkably unphased by the direction that her answer went. But that's one key difference between Nina and Edward: she lines up the emotional facts in her mind right alongside the logical ones whenever they apply, because she both knows what they are and accepts them.

[Deleted]

Trust.

Was that what had formed between them? It was such a strange concept to Edward he had a hard time coming to terms with it. Every time he put his faith into another’s person hands he was used by either the other rogues….or even his own father. It’s hard to have trust in anyone when all of your life’s greatest mistakes came down to relying on someone else. Trust was like handing the reins over to someone else and expecting them to make the right decisions. No one ever made the right decisions. They were too incompetent to. For that reason, Edward never trusted anyone but himself….and Nina?

Did he trust Nina?

Her first two reasons made practical and logical sense, but then she hesitated which always drawled the Riddler’s focus. If a person hesitates they either plan to hide something or they are debating over whether they should say it at all.

Trust. Did he trust her?

People would argue that he must because he revealed many secret places to her. She had many opportunities to cause him harm because he gave them to her. He wouldn’t show such a weakness to her if he didn’t trust her, but others would argue that he still held the cards even with showing some of his secrets. He knew her location and knew if his situation were to be compromised it would be because of her. He could easily punish her for such disobedience and that fear gave him the power so he didn’t need trust. But to be honest, that logical step process had never even jumped into his mind until that moment. He didn’t think of her as a henchman and therefore, didn’t treat her like one. He wouldn't punish her. Since he hadn’t considered it did that mean he trusted her? Another argument that his logical side brought up was the factor he had not revealed any of his plans to her….but once again he disputed this claim by pointing out the fact that she asked to be ignorant to them. Would he tell her if she wanted to know? He wasn’t sure.

But her third reason proved something to him. It caused a frown to appear on his face so he forced a gulp of wine down his throat. She didn’t trust him. If she did trust him she wouldn’t be worried of him hurting her. Could he trust someone who didn’t trust him? Could he ask her to trust him? The better riddle that forced him to take another gulp of wine before lowering the glass was…

Was she right?

Would he hurt her if she betrayed him?

Her last reason though seems to contradict his logic. She didn’t trust him, but she couldn’t hurt him…or maybe that was the exact same way he felt….he didn’t trust her, but he couldn’t hurt her.

But…he did trust…

Uncertainty crossed his features as he put his glass on the counter before walking back over to her. He hated this feeling she managed to pull out of him on a repetitive basis, yet…

I don’t know if I could do anything I thought would hurt you

It replayed in his mind as he looked across her with an expressionless face. He brought his one hand up, using his index finger to say come here. He knew she would be confused but would still obey so he waited until she leaned her body partway over the counter. When she was close enough he leaned down and kissed her. It wasn’t aggressive or forceful like his other kisses had been. This was more sweet, an unexpected response. His hand gently touched her cheek for a moment before he pulled slightly away. “Thank you,” he whispered finally pulling away from her to get back to his cooking.

He wasn’t sure if he trusted her. He wasn’t sure if he could trust anyone, but he did know for a fact that that one statement was true….and that was enough….for now.

[Nina Stenet]

Trusting Edward has always been a very tricky issue for Nina. However, in the end, she's come to a certain understanding of him and trusts him to be himself. Which means that she trusts him to keep his word about trying not hurting her because she sensed the sincerity of those words. But that also means that she expects him to not think clearly when he's upset and to make rash decisions when he's in that state of mind. She expects that if she were to do something hurtful to him that any promises he made would not be on his mind.

However, her last point also indicates how she figures the odds of her ever being the one to cause such an upset - she just can't picture it happening. So, in the end, it's more that she trusts Edward enough. Her third reason is on her mind, but it seems hypothetical. She's not going to betray him, so it's not something she's actually worried about - she's just aware of what could happen if she ever did. The man she loves is a dangerous person, and she's accepted that.

She's bemused when his finger calls her forward, and she's pleasantly surprised, to say the least, by the kiss which she easily returns. And she's not even certain what she's done to deserve it until she hears his whispered words. They're surprising to her too - she'd have thought that it would be a more obvious point between how she doesn't make her views on people getting hurt a secret and how she'd told him that she loved him, but evidently it hadn't been. She smiles and haphazardly says "I'm only being honest," having been momentarily rendered incapable of saying anything more profound and, indeed, incapable of saying anything else at all.

While she's aware that Edward doesn't fully trust her, she'd be a bit surprised by just how conflicted he is on the issue if she knew. Most people she meets see her as the type of person who is trustworthy from the beginning, and that's a good assumption to make with Nina. With most people she'd take that for granted, though she's aware that a lot has happened between her and Edward that isn't exactly conducive to trust. But she has no idea that the issue goes far beyond that for Edward. Of course, even if she did that wouldn't change much - trust is something that simply takes time to grow between two people, so long as neither of them kill it.

Once she's able to talk properly again, she comments, "That smells really good." Partly because she's not sure there's anything more to be said on the previous subject, partly because too much silence is just plain awkward, and partly because it's true enough.