1
It feels as if I'd never left Gotham city. The wide streets, the bright city lights; everything brings back beautiful memories. I decided I would no longer delay my encounter with Bruce, since the last time I saw him was my last day here. I jump on the next taxi I see and tell him to go straight to the Long Beach Bar in 57th. Going past O'Reilly's tailoring on Avenue X reminds me of Bruce's suits. His iconic pinstriped three-piece grey suit was my favourite. He always made an impression on me and never failed to surprise me. The cab stops to a halt on 53rd, a few blocks away from the bar, and I'm forced to walk the rest of the way. Gotham really lights up at night now that the Broadway-style sign at the Simon Ford Theatre brightens up the street like rays from the sun. This place is starting to feel like Las Vegas. I just passed the sign on 56th and and I quickly notice the Fulvian Hotel right beside the bar and I cross the street. I brought a sequined green dress with me in my suitcase that goes up to my knees. Since Bruce will surely be wearing a stunning suit, probably the one he knows I love, I want to wear the dress he loves. After 20 minutes of changing, applying make-up and fixing my hair, I walk out of the bathroom looking beautiful and radiant, ready to impress.
I walk in the bar and all I can hear are the voices of the people around me and the loud music in the background. Not as loud as those dirty nightclubs like the one on 62nd though, this volume is fairly good. I keep an eye out for Bruce around the crowd and spot him sitting by the bar, and surprisingly, alone. I stand still for a second, noticing a completely new suit he's wearing. I've never seen it before, but I'd forgotten how stunning he looked in black. I start slowly walking toward him, thinking about what my first words to him will be, but my voice gets ahead of myself. 'Is this seat taken?' He slowly turns his head and recognizes me and puts on a smile so big I start to think he didn't know I was coming.
'Rachel!' he shrieked,
'Hey stranger!' I reply.
He stands up to give me a long, cuddly hug. I'd forgotten how his embraces felt. So nice and warm, they make you feel like home. It's very rare for him to give out hugs, but he never hesitates to put his arms around me whenever he sees me.
'How are you?' I say,
'I've been very good you know, doing the usual things, running a company. How have you been? How was your trip?'
'I've been good, same old, same old. The plane ride didn't feel very long actually, it was a nice flight.'
He gives me a nod while smiling and orders a scotch on the rocks and turns to me, 'Oh the same, please.' He gives a slight chuckle and says 'I forgot we both had a like for scotch,' I take a sip of my scotch and reply 'If we ever run out of scotch in the world and share the last bottle, we'd be in trouble!' He laughs and turns his chair toward me and stares into my eyes.
'It's good to have you back, Rach.' He says,
'It's good to be back,'
We stare at each other for what feels like five minutes, just looking into each other's eyes, analysing our every detail in our faces. His eyes look slightly green since the light behind me seems to be hitting directly in his face. I drink my glass of scotch by taking big, heavy gulps and exhale, thinking about the tension in our conversation.

This bar brings back a lot of memories, but mostly, the fresh memory of my last day in Gotham. The sound of my shoes walking away toward the door, leaving Bruce behind. After a few steps from the door, I heard Bruce chasing me and begging me not to go. I couldn't stay any longer in Gotham since there were too many reminders of my awful past, so I walked away. He ran to me and grabbed my arm to turn me around and kissed me. An indescribable feeling swept through me, my arms, my legs, making me want more. That kiss nearly made me stay. It reminded me why moving to Seattle was such a bad idea because I wouldn't see Bruce everyday anymore. But as much as the idea hurt me and made me want to rip myself apart, I quickly came back to reality. I cut off from his lips and whispered 'I love you' with tears running down my cheeks. I'll never forget his face. I could see his heart shattering right in front of me through his eyes. I hurt him in ways nobody but me could imagine.
He clears his throat and orders a gin and tonic, which I know is his weak drink. By the time he's drinking two gin and tonics, he's already feeling woozy. I'm tempted to take his drink away since I don't want him inebriated in the middle of the night, but I don't want him to know I'm thinking about that, so I let him drink it. When he finishes his drink he stands up and leaves a twenty and a ten on the bar table.
'What are you doing?'
'Come, you haven't been in town for a long time, you deserve a nice night.'
We walk along the streets of Gotham hand in hand and he drags me into the observatory. We walk into a luxurious restaurant and a well-dressed waiter leads us to our table on the balcony. Although the restaurant is filled with people, there are no people sitting in the terrace which leads me to believe that Bruce made a special request.
'Wow, what a nice place! I'm impressed, Mr Wayne,'
'Oh Rachel, when have I disappointed you. May I also point out how ravishing you look tonight?'
'Thank you! And may I say how awfully handsome you look in that three piece silk black suit, shirt and tie and single-buttoned peak lapelled jacket?'
'you've learned your vocabulary, congratulations!'
'Yes, well countless visits to your tailor certainly helped.'
We stare at the menu for some time and call the waiter to order.

As Bruce eats his black caviar and I eat my filet mignon, I stare at Bruce for some time trying to catch a glimpse of his eyes. I've always felt that his eyes revealed his feelings and his problems. And I was right. We finish eating and the waiter withdraws our plates from the table. Bruce orders a piece of black forest cake with a bottle of their finest wine.
'How was your caviar?' I ask, trying to get some words out of him.
'It was really okay. Le Benardin has a better dish in my opinion.'
I turn to my left to see the moon atop the city wrapped in a pool of stars. It really is lovely here; I forgot how astonishing Gotham looked at night. I phase out of my thoughts to find Bruce's gaze on me. I turn back to him and see his stern face turn into a sheepish smile.
'I'm sorry; it's just that you… Look wonderful. I love that green dress it's always been my favorite.'
'Yes, I distinctly remember.' I say, smiling back.
The waiter arrives with the dessert and with a bottle of Petrus Pomerol merlot. I see Bruce flinch at the sight of the wine and I know instantly that the restaurant's finest wine is equal to his cheapest.
'Well, this will do it.' He says. Surprisingly, he doesn't send it back.
'So tell me, how was Seattle?' He asks.
'Very humid and it is an abnormally rainy city in the fall.' I answer.
'So I hear.'
'What about you? What has been happening while I was away?' I'm prepared to hear about criminals, war, Gotham's problems and the mob but he doesn't mention anything to do with crime.
'Well everything has been fine the last couple of months. The company's value has increased considerably and Lucius has agreed to take care of its finances. I hear there's a new girl at your law firm and I also heard Derek's chief of surgery at Gotham General'

'Yeah, Webber finally gave him the job. And what happened to Alicia, didn't she handle your money?'

'Alicia's gone. She moved to Hong Kong to work for a company called Kefton a month after you left. I thought she'd told you, wasn't she a close friend of yours?' I was shocked to hear that Alicia had left. To think that she'd have to notify the firm 6 months prior to her departure and knowing she could have had time to tell me she was going is angering.

'Not a friend so much as an acquaintance' I reply. 'What about Alfred, how is he doing?'

'He's fine, he's been helping me a lot with… you know. He's very glad to know that you're back and he can't wait to see you.' I'm very happy to know that Alfred's okay. The last time I saw him even he asked me not to go. In a subtle message, of course, but I got the idea.

'...You and I are the only thing he has, you know.' Alfred said. I knew what he was implying straight away.
'I know. But I really want to go somewhere else and discover different things. My world has always been set in Gotham city and I need to know if I can find a different setting.' I said.
'Are you sure that what you're going to find what you're looking for?'
'I cannot be sure, but I can at least hope to find out.'

'And what about you?' I ask, hoping to hear good news.
'I've… been missing you. Not missing you but missing your presence. You've left a big hole to fill and really there is no one to fill it.' He says, fiddling with his fork. I feel that I have the need to tell him that I have been feeling the same thing. That my nights in Seattle have been restless without having Bruce by my side. That my Saturday afternoons haven't been the same without spending them at his penthouse, listening to music and cooking whilst dancing. That my life has felt a little bit empty without him. That I missed him. But I don't say anything about it. I simply smile and say, 'I've missed you too.'

We catch a cab to his penthouse and when the elevator doors open, I immediately see Alfred in the far distance. As I walk towards him, I find myself crying out Alfred's name across the living room and extending my arms ready to give him a hug.

'Miss Dawes! How happy am I to see you.' He says,
'Me too, Alfred. Have you been taking care of Bruce?' I ask, jokingly but slightly serious.
'Oh, always.' He replied. 'Well I'm off. I've left some fettuccine in the microwave if you'd like some later and I left a bottle of champagne chilling in the fridge. Lovely to see you Miss Dawes, as always.' Alfred walks to the elevator and I wave goodbye as the doors close. Bruce drags my suitcase upstairs and I turn on the television. It's set on Gotham City Tonight and to my surprise, I find it recording. I start to wonder why when I remember that Bruce never has free time to watch television. Only I didn't think he'd devote his free time watching the news. I quickly switch to the stereo input on the television and flick through his playlist. I find a whole lot of Coldplay songs and Florence + the Machine. Either one of his one-night stands fiddled with his playlist or he knew I was going to flick through his music and decided to put some of my favourite songs in his playlist. I play one of my favorites and start dancing and singing in a low voice. Seconds later I find him standing on the stairway watching me and I stop in embarrassment, blushing.

'I see you found the remote.' He says, smiling.
'I know you always keep it under the couch. Why you never put it back in its place after the girl goes back home is beyond me.' I reply.
He lets out a slight chuckle and leads me to the kitchen, 'Come on, let's open that bottle of champagne.'

We spend the rest of the night dancing in the kitchen, like the old times while we cook some chicken we found in the fridge to accompany the fettuccine and we season it with some of the champagne. We laugh and start to get a little drunk. We get through his one-hour playlist 3 times until the big clock in his living room strikes three. By the time we finish cooking and fooling around with the food (and by fooling around I mean throwing it at each other), we're too tired to even plate up the chicken and decide it was time to sleep. We put the food in the fridge and head upstairs. I go to the guest bedroom and find my suitcase on the bed. I go through it and find I have no sleeping clothes. I can't believe I didn't pack my pyjamas. I hesitate for a minute thinking that I'll have to sleep in this dress for the night and go shopping tomorrow. I look around the room and find some neatly folded pyjamas by the foot of the bed. The pyjamas I used to wear whenever I slept at Bruce's house. My grey silk pyjamas. I change into them and hang my dress in the empty closet.

I walk towards the door, opening it to find Bruce on the other side dressed in his red silk pyjamas.

'I just came to say goodnight,' he said,
'Goodnight Bruce,' I said, giving him a hug. He smiled and walked back to his room and closed the door. I closed my door and walked to my bed. I lied down and stared at the ceiling for what felt like hours. I turned to the clock and only thirty minutes had passed by. I turned face-down on my pillow and I twist and turn until I realize that I can't sleep and that there is only one reason why. I walk to the door and walk towards the hallway to find Bruce also walking out of his room. We stand still staring into each other's eyes and after a few moments we walk towards each other and stop when we're a few centimetres away from each other. We stare at each other again until he quickly leans in to me and kisses me. I kiss him back. The moment is passionate, and amazing. He puts his hand around my neck and I put mine on his cheek. We start moving towards the guest room. When we head in he kicks the door closed and we jump on the bed. We stop kissing and look at each other. He leans on the bed with his elbow and lays beside me with his chest over me and his face looking over me. I hug him tightly and give him a soft kiss on his lips. We fall asleep on each other's arms and I start thinking that I finally got my well-deserved Saturday afternoon with Bruce.