Gotham winters were known as some of the most bitterly cold winters in the United States. Residents from Central City, Metropolis, and New York would argue that their respective cities were far colder in temperature and far bitter. But Gotham's temperature in reality was no colder than any other city but to those who live in Gotham understood that it was something about the city itself which made the cold harsher. No one understood that better then it's most famous resident, the Batman, who's often spent many winters swinging across its rooftops through the cutting snow and wind. Gothamites stood a better chance of catching a glimpse at Batman from the contrast of his black costume against the bleached cityscape, albeit not by much since he had an uncanny knack for finding dark shadows anywhere.

Tonight however another familiar Gotham form clad in red, black and yellow swung deftly through the air tonight. Robin wished at this moment that he should have asked Alfred for sleeves on his costume as his current winter costume insulted everything but his exposed arms., allowing the wind chill to cut deeper into his exposed flesh.

After landing softly on a nearby rooftop, he scanned it for signs of his partner for his nightly patrol. But as usual, the only footprints in the snow were his and that of several stray cats that were already long gone. Robin cupped his hands and drew them to his mouth, blowing into them to keep some heat and feeling in his nearly numb fingers. The recent beating he gave to several gang members trying to attack a family of four did give him a rush of heat but it died down all too quickly in the night's air.

"Hey." Said a familiar male voice "Up here."

He looked up to see the long dark haired figure of Nightwing sitting on top of a wooden water tower. Robin smiled as he used his grapple to soon rise up to where the older crime fighter sat.

"Did you get…" asked Robin

"Yea. Got you the number seven with no pickles. It's behind me."

"Awesome!" Beamed Robin as grabbed the brown paper bag and began to dig into its contents.

After Tim Drake became the new Robin, he had gained a new family. Bruce Wayne became his surrogate father but Dick Grayson became the bigger brother Tim had never had. Dick and Tim had recently a great deal of time in and out of costume along with Barbara Gordon, who was Batgirl, visiting Metropolis. They had formed what Barbara called: A wayward Bat-youth club. Tim would never admit it but he loved spending time with his new "family", often feeling for the first time in his life that he was allowed to be a kid

"Nice moves taking out the guys from the T-gang. But you're leaving your left flank too open."

"Nof hmm cot." Responded Tim through a mouthful of sandwich "Ihm koally whot hoben."

Nightwing smiled before sipping from his thermos of coffee and waited for Robin to finish wolfing down his remaining bites.

"Did you get my cocoa?" asked Robin

"All they had was coffee." Said Nightwing as he poured a bit of black liquid from the thermos into the thermos top.

Robin took the makeshift cup and sniffed it carefully before taking a cautious sip.

"Blagh!"

"It's good for you. Keeps you awake and sharp." Said Nightwing as he smiled at his reaction. "Got a new tip from an informant that the Penguins getting a new shipment in at the docks and that Two-Face is going to try to make a move on it."

"How long we got till it goes down?"

"Half an hour. Enough time for that sandwich to digest."

"Aw man." Cried Robin as he took another bite out of his sandwich.

"Please, you got it easy. When I wore the red tights I had to eat an entire thanksgiving dinner in the Batmobile while chasing down Riddler clues. Woofing down turkey with a chaser of gravy isn't as fun as it sounds."

"Speaking of which, a little birdy told me that the Demon's are now working with the Riddler on a new score."

"The Demons?"

"It's a new gang old man. Try to keep up." Chided Robin before taking another bite out of his sandwich.

Nightwing simply looked over at him with his classic lopsided grin and mussed the younger crime fighters hair.

Both of them sat for a moment watching the crowd below in full Christmas shopping rush. It was a multicolored throng of colored coats colliding and slipping through each other in a chaotic mash. Even in this mess of people, both of them automatically scanned for potential threats of a weapon or a pick pocket. The only stationary object aside from the street lights was a lone man dressed as Santa with a fake beard ringing a bell next to a large black pot full of change

"So are we busting up the party at the docks without Batman or what?" asked Robin

"Didn't tell him about it. We can handle this one ourselves." Responded Nightwing

"Is it because of…"

"Yea. It's cause of her."

Robin finished the last of his sandwich and looked out towards the dark waters of Gotham Bay.

"He isn't gonna like being left out of the loop like that." Warned Robin

"Well he can cry himself to sleep on her…uh…bracelets. Anyway even Batman needs to rest from having damage to his rotator cuff." Said Nightwing as drained his thermos, the feeling of spreading warmth from his core.

"So how long do you think this one's gonna last?" asked Robin as he got up to his feet and began his stretching routine to warm his muscles.

"I don't know this time."

"What do you mean you don't know?" responded Robin as he cracked his knuckles and rose to his feet. "I mean he usually dates them for like two weeks and then he calls it quits. I think Zatanna was the longest out of all of them. Wasn't Catwoman in there too?"

Robin could recall some the women in Bruce Wayne's life and how he mostly would set up several dates and then disappear when it came time to become Batman. It was a fairly regular occurrence that Tim wouldn't even bothering to know their names since they all became such a blur. He knew only knew of one other "cape" from the Justice League that he dated for awhile before his mission in protecting Gotham got in the way.

"Believe me kid, I've seen him do this longer then you have. This one's different." Answered Nightwing

"She's only been around for a month. How serious could it be?"

"He let her drive the car."

Robin froze in place for a moment and let the weight of the comment sink in before answering: "Whoa."

Inside the warm glow of a bedroom inside Wayne manor far from the biting cold of the Gotham night, Bruce Wayne closed his eyes in a rare moment of perfect Zen. Wearing nothing, he was lost in a tangle of bed sheets, sweat, limbs and black hair with Diana of Themyscria, known better to the world as Wonder Woman. His breath slowed to a controlled deliberate pace from the frantic tempo that it was engaged in moments ago. He concentrated on nothing else aside from the long dark silky strands of black hair that ran through his fingers and the soft touch of her breath on his chest.

Of course it didn't' last long as his thoughts drifted from the present moment to whether Nightwing is covering the illegal shipment at the docks.

"You're thinking again." Hummed Diana while tracing her finger around the scar on his lower abdomen

"I am not." Bruce responded

"Liar."

Bruce could feel her cheek curl up into a smile against his skin.

"Oh? Did lie detecting become one of your powers all of a sudden?"

"No. You're heartbeat picked up slightly when you answered me."

Bruce chuckled, feeling a touch of pride that she remembered one of his tricks.

"I know that you're not always here with me, that you're mind is at times elsewhere, even in lovemaking." Said Diana

A rise of guilt came over him as his eyes opened and shifted to the back of her head, trying desperately to read her emotions. Even the tone of her voice belied nothing that he could use to gauge her feelings and that her body seemed perfectly relaxed still, like a cat laying lazily in the sunlight of a window.

"Diana…" he said carefully as if performing surgery.

"I can see it within your eyes, the lines on your face." She said as she turned her head to gaze at him with magnetic, sharp blue eyes. Her smile was gone, making it harder for Bruce to choose his answer. "I know you're going over details of clues, figures, and worries. You're with Gotham."

"Yes." He answered forwardly

"It's alright." She said as she sat up and gave a reassuring smile. "I know what Gotham means to you and I gladly share you with it."

Bruce felt an uncommon awkwardness of acceptance. It felt as if he were staring directly at the sun. All at once he wanted to break the gaze to tone down the intensity but was too fearful of the idea that a moment such as this may never occur again in his life. He tried to control the beating of his heart, which was pulsing at a quickened pace while his fingers became flush with a white nervous cold. His mouth became dry at the effort to control the sudden change in his body while his legs flexed with an unknown anticipation.

Even though Diana's smile faded, her bright shining eyes looked lovingly straight into his very core. Bruce struggled to find words, any words that he could say however it was Diana who broke eye contact first as she reached for his hand, kissing the calloused center of his palm before pressing it against her tender cheek and closing her eyes.

"Bruce, tell me I'm beautiful." She said

With that, Bruce's detective skills kicked back into gear at the seemingly suspicious request.

"Why?" he responded with his gravely soft low voice, a mix of Batman and Bruce Wayne.

Instantly realizing that this was not an interrogation he asked: "Why do you need to hear it from me? Aren't you the women voted most sought after to be saved by men?"

Diana remained quiet for a beat as his mind braced for any one of the emotional fall outs that may occur from his unintentionally curt treatment of her question.

"I know. But…I just want to hear you say it." She answered almost shyly, still refusing to make eye contact as she kept his hand pressed to the side of her face.

With his heart threatening to jump out of his throat, Bruce gently lifted Diana's face up to meet his gaze as he gladly gave into her request and followed it with a gentle kiss that gave way to a heated mixed passion in the cold Gotham winter.