I've always thought Rachel was an odd character- making promises and claims she couldn't keep. So, I decided to try to figure her out. Hope you enjoy.

Past Tense

She could wait. She would wait. She had made a promise to Bruce- a promise she intended to keep. She loved him.

Of course, she loved Harvey as well, only in a different way. It wasn't as deep, or as soulful, as the affection she felt for Bruce. She had loved him since childhood, and when they were so close to finally being together, she wasn't going to walk away.

Once the Joker was captured- then they could be together. He was the last real threat to Gotham, and with him out of the way, there would be no further need for Batman. She and Bruce could have a real life together- no costumes, no affectations-

But who was the real Bruce Wayne now? As much as it pained her to admit, she wasn't sure. Had a part of him become the worthless playboy he masked himself with? Had he become as dim as he appeared? Or even worse, had he come to enjoy the violence and adrenaline that came with the his nocturnal vigilante? She could give up Harvey, but could he give up the Batman?

Apparently not. There he was, on the news, watching stoically as Harvey was arrested for his crimes. How could he do it? How could the Bruce Wayne she knew and loved allow another man to take his fall for him? It was wrong. Sick. Disgusting. The man that she knew would never have let such a thing happen. The man she knew- the man she knew was not the man she now saw. The Bruce she had promised herself to was not the man who was waiting for her to keep her word. He had changed. And how could she live her life with a man who had lost all her respect, and in doing so, her love?

Harvey. Harvey had always been loyal and true. Harvey loved her, more than she had ever cared for him. But that was alright, she could learn to love him. She would love him. He deserved it, and his brave- albeit idiotic- claim to be the Batman proved it. He was the man Bruce had once been. The man he had intended to be. The promise would be broken; it had to be. She had loved Bruce. She had intended, and wanted, to wait for him. She had admired his willingness to forfeit his own safety for a city that thought nothing of him. She had- she had once felt so many things. But they were all past tense now. He loved being Batman too much to give it up for her- too much to save an innocent man from God knows what. She had moved on; Bruce must do the same.

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