Author's Note:

Ok, so after falling in love with the insanity that is the Joker, I thought I'd take a stab at these Dark Knight stories. We'll see how this goes... don't forget to review! Also, nothing is mine, except for Rose and the plot.

TO THOSE PEOPLE WHO READ THIS BEFORE: I updated a few things, so take a look back! It's important!

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It was never Rose's intention to go back. She had never visited her uncle or any of her mother's family, nor had Rose had never even met him until the day of her mother's death. That was the day everything changed, and certainly not for the better; that was the day she discovered she was the niece of Sal "The Boss" Maroni, the most notorious mob boss in the entire city.

"Don't worry, Rosie," she remembered how he had gripped her shoulder tightly, possessively, as they left the hospital and walked toward his black limo. "I'll take care of everything."

Rose had just seen her mother die at 3:17 am on a Sunday, due to an inoperable cancer in her lungs. Rose then had spent almost six hours talking to the life insurance agency, the funeral home, the doctors and nurses, everyone. She finally ran into Maroni, dressed in a tailored grey suit, accompanied by two large thugs, his usual entourage of protection as he roamed the city. Her mother's stories about her family were vague and uninteresting usually and Rose had no photographic evidence of her parents and siblings to clarify. So when Rose saw a handsome man standing outside of her mother's private hospital suite, she assumed he was just another one of her mother's lawyers to clarify her mother's affairs.

"I'm your uncle Sal, sweetie," he had said in such a charming voice. It took Rose off guard at first, but she couldn't help but feel comfort after having faced the all-business expressions of the insurance company and funeral arrangers, even the sickeningly unhelpful priest who tried to console her. She wasn't upset to see him because despite who and what he was; he was family, the only family she had around at the moment. With her father thousands of miles away in Pakistan, his home country and her older and estranged siblings Paul and Alex completely preoccupied with their lives in Cairo and Sydney, respectively, Rose knew she could not deny the support of an older male figure.

They barely spoke, but even in the ten minutes they spent together before leaving, Rose began to feel slight trepidation around he newfound uncle. His charm and warmth wore off almost instantly and was replaced with an arrogance that could only come with holding the soul of Gotham City in the palm of his hand. Rose regretted her acceptance of a ride back to her hotel, of her uncle taking over the funeral arrangements, of meeting "the family" that night for dinner. But it was too late; she had no one else to turn to in her world of deepening despair.

"Uncle" Sal pulled her out of her thoughts as they drove away from Gotham General. "Where are you staying?"

Rose's weary and exhausted eyes met her uncle's alert ones. "The Hilton on 47th, near the art museum."

He laughed heartily and Rose couldn't help but feel like he was laughing at her. "There? No, Rosie. No niece of mine is gonna be staying at some flea-bit hotel like that. I'll put you up in one of my apartments. You'll have it all to yourself and you can stay there for as long as you like. How does that sound?"

"Thank you, but I don't think I can," Rose said apologetically. "I mean, I have to get back to New York for work and—"

"Rosie, Rosie, please," he put his hand up to stop her. "Don't insult me. You're an author; you don't have to go back to New York to write. And besides," he added with a grin that gave her goosebumps, "we're family, I want to see that you're well taken care of. "

You mean so you can keep tabs on me, she thought to herself. She was slightly insulted that her uncle had only taken interest in her after the death of her mother, his sister. There had never been so much as a letter or phone call from him during her entire life. The only reason she even recognized his name was from stories her mother had told Rose about her youth in Gotham, not to mention the reporters and journalists who were always broadcasting and publishing his name all around the streets of New York, her current location. She could only think that he was after her inheritance money, which thanks to her law firm in Washington, DC, was a considerable amount.

Knowing there was no way out of this trap she suddenly found herself in, Rose accepted. "Thanks, Uncle Sal."

"There's my girl," he leaned back casually into his seat across from hers, and rested his right ankle on his left leg. "Stay as long as you like. An old... friend used to live in the apartment, but she's since moved away. It's all yours if you want it. I'll make sure the cabinets are stocked and you've got everything you need to live like a Maroni. You deserve it."

Rose smiled and looked out the tinted window, her forced cheer leaving her face as they drove through the dreary, rainy streets of Gotham. Life as she knew it, was over.

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Ok, nerds, that's all you get! Now, quickly! Review!