"Holly, I know this morning was very hard for you, but you don't have to go in today if you don't want to," Barbara spoke reassuringly as they pulled up to Anders Prep. "I'll explain everything to your principal, just wait here," But Holly grabbed her mom's hand and stopped her from getting out. "No, I need to go. I need some time to clear my head," Holly sighed. Deep down, she knew that going back to school so soon after her father's arrest was probably not the best idea, but it was far better than being couped up in her room all day sobbing for hours.

Barbara looked back at her daughter with hesitancy. The thought of the other students at the school discovering the news of Jim's arrest made her worry for Holly's wellbeing. But the more Holly persuaded her mother to let her go, she eventually caved in and unlocked the passenger door. "Just... call me if you need me to pick you up early," Barbara insisted. Holly promised she would before blowing her a quick kiss goodbye. Fortunately, Holly was only a minute late to class, but that didn't stop the teacher from glaring at her, sternly reminding her to be more punctual.

As the teacher began to drone on about The Giver assignment, Holly tried to concentrate, but her mother's desperate pleas for her father to run away with them consumed her mind, and all she could think about was what came next. Where would they go? Where would they hide? Surely, her dad had enemies much more powerful than him. And they wouldn't hesitate to kidnap Holly and her mother and hold them for ransom. But as Holly took a silent breath, she guided herself back to reality and continued working on the assignment, taking part in reading the next chapter of The Giver.

"Hey, Hols!" Cara smiled as she and Holly met up in the hallway. "Hey, Car," Holly acknowledged before they walked up a set of stairs. But as Holly stared at the ground, Cara took notice of her friend's prolonged silence. "Everything okay? You seem pretty down," Cara touched her shoulder. Despite the urge to tell Cara everything that happened that morning, Holly didn't want to drag her into all this drama, especially since their relationship was still fairly new. "I'm fine, didn't get enough sleep last night," Holly explained.

"Up all night painting again?" Cara questioned. "Nope, let's just say I went on a Harry Potter binge," Holly answered, cracking a small smile. Cara chuckled, admitting that the series was quite addicting. "I will say though, the books are better than the movies!" Cara said. "No way! The movies are way better!" Holly contradicted. Cara stopped and gasped dramatically, drawing the brief attention of their passing classmates. "You take that back!" she playfully argued. "Come on! The movies got me into the series in the first place!"

"But it all started with the books! You can't just throw them out the window!" Cara shook her head. "I just haven't had the time to read them, alright?" Holly shrugged. Cara rolled her eyes before they continued walking up to the third floor. "You, Holly Gordon, continue to surprise me. Hey, if you're mom's cool with it, how about we hang out at my house after school?" Cara suggested. Holly paused in thought, remembering how overprotective her mother was when it came to Holly's friends. She remembered barely being able to visit her friend's house, and it became a rule that only her friends could visit her house, not the other way around. 

But maybe, just maybe.

"I'll have to text her and ask," Holly responded. As the bell rang and the girls ran off to their next classes, Holly sent a quick text just as she sat down in her seat for Algebra.

~~~~~~~~

Things quickly became tense at the GCPD after Oswald made his welfare known to everyone, and instantly, everyone had turned on Jim like a pack of wolves. Embarrassed, Montoya and Allen let Jim and Harvey go, but the detective's earlier spat was far from over. Jim walked into the locker room and dialed Barbara's number, but her phone went straight to voicemail. He tried calling Holly, but her phone also went to voicemail. "Come on, either of you pick up," Jim muttered quietly.

"Hey, you've reached Holly. Leave a message, and I'll get back to you," the voicemail spoke before the beep rang in Jim's ear. "Holly, if you and your mom are home, listen to me. I need you to get out right now," Jim closed his locker door and was instantly greeted by Harvey's fist connecting with his face, and Jim fell to the ground, his phone skittering across the dark tiled floor. "I thought we were friends," Harvey glared, pointing his gun at the surprised Jim. "Harvey..." Jim tried to protest. But Harvey was quick to interrupt him.

"Shut up! The game's over. Now I gotta kill you, and take your body back to Falcone and beg him for mercy!" Harvey spat. "Listen to me, I screwed up. But I have a plan to make things right. Don't kill me, help me," Jim pleaded. "You think I'm an idiot?" Harvey scoffed. As they had their confrontation, two GCPD cops walked into the locker room and stopped at the scene in front of them. "Walk away!" Harvey growled to them both. With Harvey distracted, Jim twisted the gun out of his hand, and kicked him to the ground. "Help me, we don't have to go out like this,"

But Harvey's anger continued to consume him, and he refused. "You better hope you never see me again," He spoke lowly. With no one else to help Jim with this predicament, he picked up his phone and rushed back to the apartment, hoping his daughter and fiancée were safe and sound. But as he slowly approached the apartment door, he was shocked to find it open and two foreign voices talking. Jim slowly reached for his gun, taking quiet steps into the apartment.

On the living room couch, Barbara's heart pounded as the two men had broken in not too long ago. Her phone sat in the middle of the coffee table, and as it vibrated with the text messages from Holly, Barbara just prayed she wasn't in harm's way. "Wow. What a place, huh? A beautiful home for a beautiful lady," Butch chuckled, leaning behind the couch and whispering into Barbara's ear. "Please tell me what you want," Barbara shook, desperately avoiding his gaze.

"I guess there's no harm in the truth. See, your boyfriend was supposed to kill a certain person for somebody. Only he didn't, and now that somebody is real mad," Butch explained. Barbara's eyes widened as she realized who they were talking about. It all made sense now. "Cobblepot..." She whispered. Butch leaned in closer, asking her to repeat herself to which Barbara told him her fiancé didn't kill Cobblepot. "There you go!" Butch hit the back of the cushion, making Barbara jump, and he chuckled as he looked to his partner. 

"You're hip, you are hip," Butch exclaimed before sitting down. Barbara shivered as Butch's leg gently brushed against hers. She wanted to run and hide, but with the other man keeping his gun pointed at her, it was just not possible. "That Jim Gordon is one lucky son of a gun. What are you, like a hundred pounds?" Butch questioned. He slowly leaned in and sniffed her curly blonde locks, his voice growing darker and darker the more he stared at her. "I bet that's your real hair color too," 

"What are you gonna do to Jim?" Barbara asked. But Butch dodged her question and continued his unwanted advances toward her. "You ever been with a criminal? Some ladies find it a turn-on," Peeking his head out into the living room, Jim pulled out his gun and started approaching them. Barbara sighed with relief when she saw him, and Butch and his accomplice turned around to face him. "Speak of the devil. I was just getting to know your lovely lady,"

Jim calmly warned them they were trespassing and ordered them to get out. "You're misreading the situation. I'm the shot caller here," Butch clarified. "The situation is you've been told to bring me in alive, or I'd be dead already. But I'm happy to kill you right here and now," Jim threatened. Barbara looked at Jim surprised, having never heard him say such things before. But in this situation, it was to save her life, so she felt a bit at ease. "Don't be such a hard-ass. Come on, you know the rules. You play nice, you take your lumps. Nobody else gets hurt," Butch scoffed.

Noticing the other man loading a few bullets into his gun, Jim pointed his gun back at him. "Tell your friend to drop his gun, or I'll blow his brains out," Jim instructed. "Oh my god, Jim!" Barbara gaped. But he reassured her, saying everything was going to be okay. Butch instructed the skinnier man to lower his gun, and he did as he was told. But this was not over quite yet. "Have it your way. But now, after we kill you, we're gonna kill blondie and find your little girl and kill her too, nice and slow,"

Threatening the life of his fiancée was one thing, but to threaten the life of an innocent twelve-year-old crossed the line with Jim. A single gunshot rang out, and the skinnier man fell onto the ground clutching his bleeding leg, while Jim knocked Butch unconscious. Barbara gasped in shock as Jim rushed over and hugged her, helping her to her feet. "We've got to go right now. Where's Holly?" Jim questioned.

"S-she's at school right now. I told her she could stay home, but I guess it's a good thing she didn't," Barbara answered. She reached over the coffee table to grab her phone and desperately tried to call Holly as they both rushed out the door. 

~~~~~~~~~

"The Krebs Cycle, otherwise known as the Citric acid cycle, is a series of chemical reactions in the cell that breaks down food molecules into carbon dioxide, water, and energy," Holly's science teacher stood at the chalkboard. Holly was about three seconds away from falling asleep at her desk. But the only thing that stopped her from doing so was not Tommy Elliot constantly poking at her back with his razor-sharp pencil. It was the feeling of her phone vibrating in her skirt pocket. At first, Holly thought maybe it could've been a telemarketer call, so she decided to ignore it, but as the calls kept coming in and the vibrations continued, she realized something must've been seriously wrong.

"Mr. Roberts, may I please go to the bathroom?" Holly raised her hand. Mr. Roberts turned away from the blackboard and let out possibly the loudest sigh in Holly's existence. "Fine, but just so you know, this will be on next week's quiz. So, it's your fault if you miss anything," Jeez Louise, he must've forgotten his daily cup of coffee. Holly thought as she walked out of the room and over to the bathroom, where Holly checked her phone to discover she had about a dozen texts and five missed calls from her mom and... Dad?

Holly quickly scrolled through the text messages, and each one became more and more urgent for a response. Holly quickly dialed her mother, hearing the frequent buzzing up until the fifth ring when it went to voicemail. Come on! Whenever I finally get a chance to call you, you don't pick up? Holly paced back and forth in the stall, desperate to hear the sound of her mother's voice. Finally, after the third call, Barbara picked up. "Holly, thank goodness! Are you alright?" Barbara questioned. "Yeah Mom, I was in class. What's going on?" Holly questioned.

She could hear the trembling in her mother's voice as she composed herself. "Someone came by the apartment, they were looking for your father and took me hostage," Barbara explained. Holly's jaw dropped upon hearing this. "Oh my god, are you okay?" Holly asked. "Yeah, I'm fine. Your father swooped in and helped. But Holly, you need to listen to me. I need you to go to the front office right now. I'll be there shortly to pick you up. We're leaving Gotham,"

If hearing about the hostage situation wasn't enough to make Holly stop dead in her tracks, this was it. She couldn't leave Gotham, not after her life just got started. How could she leave Cara and Bruce so suddenly and without an explanation? No normal person leaves their friends questioning what happened to them, especially in a city like Gotham. Just then, the bathroom door squeaked open, making Holly look up. It was Cara. "Hols? What are you doing?" She asked, slowly approaching her. "Hold on one second," Holly said to her mom before taking the phone from her ear.

"Cara, I think this is the last time we're gonna see each other. For a while anyway," Holly sighed. "Why? What's wrong?" Cara inquired. Holly brought the phone to her chest, feeling like her heart was about to leap out of her throat. "Someone's targeting my family," Holly admitted. Cara's eyes widened with fear. "That's horrible! Do you know who it is?" The Gordon shook her head, feeling the earlier tears rise again. "No... but my mom wants us to leave Gotham. But I don't want to leave here. Yeah, times are tough, and the crime might be rising, but I can't just leave my new home,"

"I know, sweetie," Barbara's voice spoke through the phone, and Holly put her on speaker. "But it's dangerous for you," Holly put the phone down again, too scared to accept the gravity of this situation. Cara placed a hand on her friend's shoulder. She and Holly may not have been friends for long, but she'd do anything to help the people she cared about. There had to be a way to keep Holly in Gotham and out of danger.

And then it struck her. 

"Let me talk to her," Cara offered. "What are you gonna do?" Holly asked. "I think I have something in mind," With hesitancy, Holly handed her the phone. "Hi, Ms. Kean. I'm one of Holly's friends, Cara. Listen, I know you are scared right now. But maybe me and my family can take Holly in until the matter is settled," Barbara briefly went silent on the other end. "Cara, I don't want you or your family to be dragged into this mess, okay? I think it'd be better if Holly and I stuck together," Barbara insisted.

But Cara held firm on her offer, reassuring Barbara that Holly would be safe in the hands of her and her parents. Holly could hear the distant chatter and the low voice of her dad. "Holly, are you sure this is what you want to do?" Jim asked. "Yes, Dad. I promise me and Cara will go straight to her house, and I'll keep in touch with you both," Holly vowed. After another minute of prolonged silence, they all reached an agreement, and Cara told the Gordon-Keans that she'd get in touch with her parents at their lunch period and let them know about the situation.

While the family of three said their goodbyes for now, Holly breathed a sigh of relief as she hung up and hugged Cara as tightly as she could. "Thank you so much for this..." Holly muffled. "We're friends. We're supposed to look out for each other," Cara replied.

~~~~~~~~~ 

The ride to the bus station was full of panic and worry as Barbara tried to get into contact with Holly. Despite knowing the chance that Holly was most likely in the middle of class and unable to answer her phone, Barbara was still worried about the welfare of her daughter, as any normal parent would be. She knew it was going to be hard to be separated from her child for who knows how long, but after hearing the calmness and soothing in Cara's voice, she hoped her daughter would be safe in the hands of her friend.

Jim quickly led Barbara into the police station and bought her a ticket to the first available bus out of Gotham. And as they approached the terminal, Barbara came to a sudden stop. "Barbara, listen," Jim tried to calm her, but Barbara knew where this conversation was heading. "No, no, no," Barbara blinked away her tears. "Just a couple of days and me and Holly will join you. There are things I need to do," Jim explained. "Fine. Then if you both stay, I stay. Okay? Because I love you, Jim. I cannot leave you and her!"

"I love you too. That's why you need to leave. If I know you two are safe, there's nothing they can do to me. I'll make things right, and then I'll get Holly, and we'll come join you," Jim promised. "And what if you don't?" Barbara questioned. "Don't come back. Don't come back to Gotham," Jim instructed. "No, Jim," Barbara begged. As the boarding call began, Jim stayed with Barbara until she got onto the bus and took her seat, pressing her hand against the glass window. Jim could see the sadness shining in her eyes as she mouthed the words, "I love you so much,"

Jim mouthed his love back to her, and as the bus doors closed, he watched as the bus began to drive away.