Laura Dawes stared at the phone she had just talked into, the busy signal emanating from it. Her knuckles were white with fury, fear, and amazement. The Joker was back in Gotham. Only a month after she helped Batman, aka Bruce Wayne, aka her boyfriend, put him away, he was back. She slammed it down onto her desk. Her boss, Commissioner Jim Gordon, stuck his head in the office. "Everything ok in here?"
She looked up at him and couldn't help but fear for him. The Joker had gone after Gordon before… through Harvey Dent, but there really wasn't a difference then. Now, though, there was a profound difference. Two-Face, as Harvey had become known, did his crime in totally different ways, and for different reasons. She forced herself out of her reverie and answered, "It's fine, boss. Just some things going on."
"Well, if you need to talk, I'm here." He smiled.
"Thanks, Jim. I might eventually take you up on that." He nodded and walked out. She put her head in her hands. She couldn't tell Gordon about her problem. She didn't want him to stress. His son had nearly been killed because of the Joker's inspiring madness. But the other thing that was eating at her she had pushed out of her mind, well, about a month ago. His voice had brought it back. The way he had called her Beautiful. How he said he was going to find out how she felt. It had been hard to do, but she had managed to forget the fact that the Joker was completely and irrevocably in love with her. She pursed her lips and got back to the paper work.
Later, when she got off, she went to Bruce's. All the way there she debated whether to tell Bruce about the Joker or not. Batman would take him down, and that is what she wanted to avoid for the time being. She needed to see just how hostile he was before taking action. Alfred greeted her when she stepped out of the elevator. Wayne Manor was still in the process of being rebuilt so they were all still living in the pent house Bruce had bought.
"Hey, Alfred," she said, tossing her coat over the back of a chair. She sniffed. Something smelled awfully good. "What you cooking?"
"Oh, you know. It's only your favorite thing."
Her face split into a smile. "Shrimp scampi."
"And I managed to make a cheesecake for dessert."
"Alfred, my mouth is watering, but I must ask. What's the occasion?"
"It's yours and Master Wayne's anniversary tonight," he said, slightly shocked that she didn't remember. He leaned in closer and joked, "Honestly, I'd like to call it your 7 years and 6 months, but Master Wayne insists on leaving it 6 months."
"I guess he's right. We weren't dating when he left Gotham."
"Dating, no, in love, yes."
She grinned. "Whatever you say, Alfred. Do you know when Bruce is coming home?"
"Not really. Why?"
"Do you think I have enough time to run out and get him something?"
"I really don't think he'll care whether you got anything for him or not, Miss Dawes. Just having you is greater than anything in the world."
"How do you know that?"
"I can see it in his eyes."
"Well, that's probably as good an answer as 'I feel it in my bones'. Guess I'll trust you."
"Always a smart move. Now, run along. I'll have this ready soon. Bruce should also be arriving sometime within the next hour."
She walked off, taking in, once again, the beautiful qualities of the pent house. She always had loved the way that the outer walls were windows. It made her feel like she was on top of the world…not unlike Bruce himself. Speaking of the devil…
"Master Wayne, welcome home. Good day?"
"Fine, Alfred, thanks. Now, where is Laura? I know I saw her car."
"I believe she walked off that direction, sir."
Laura stayed standing at the window, waiting for him. His footsteps clicked on the floor as he approached her. She sighed when his hands slid up her back to her shoulders. "Hello, beautiful." She suddenly tensed, remembering the Joker's words from earlier. He sensed the change and asked, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, it's nothing." She turned around and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Hello, handsome." She got on her toes to place a kiss on his cheek. "How is my hero? Of 6 months," she asked.
"Fine now that I'm here. Wayne Enterprises is so boring!"
"Why do you go?"
"To keep in touch with Fox."
"Ah, I see."
"So, tell me about your day. Anything interesting happen?"
She paused, then answered, "Not really. Paper work. Gordon never told me the amount of paper work you have to do as Lt. I ought to get him back for that." She smiled.
Alfred called, "Supper is ready!"
"We'll be right there," Bruce responded. He swung Laura up into his arms and carried her in. Before sitting her down he whispered, "Happy anniversary." She smiled and watched him walk around the table to his spot. Alfred set down their dishes and walked out. She eagerly grabbed her fork and starting stabbing at the little, plump shrimp on her plate. "So," he said around a mouthful of noodles, "explain to me again the Harvey Dent problem."
She swallowed and said, "He escaped police custody. What needs explaining?"
"They thought he was dead. Hell, we thought he was dead!"
"He wasn't and he escaped. It's that simple."
"No, he was with the Joker. And you said yourself that it's never simple with him."
"Bruce, could we not talk about him? I'm still pissed that he corrupted Harvey," she lied, easily.
"Fine, fine." He observed her from across the table. She met his eyes and very nearly fell into them again. They were so richly brown. "You look really nice," he said suddenly.
"Oh, uh, thanks! You look good too." And he did. He was in one of his expensive suits that was a true black and had a dark blue tie on. She glanced down at her work clothes. A business suit with a green blouse underneath. She felt rather underdressed. "Alfred says that we should say it's our 7 years 6 months anniversary, but that you disagreed. Wanna share why?"
"Just because we really weren't together until after I got back. If we're really honest with ourselves, it wasn't until Ra's Al Ghoul was stopped that we were officially together."
"That's getting nitty gritty. But, Alfred is right. We were in love long before we were together. You know," she laughed, "I fell in love with you the moment I saw you pull that gun out of your sleeve. You had wanted to kill Joe Chill. I was so mad at you! But then, later, I realized how you were feeling and I forgave you. I even admitted to myself that I loved you. But by then, you were gone." She paused, remembering what she had thought and how she had felt when Alfred told her that Bruce had never come home the night before.
He picked up. "I never stopped thinking about you while I was gone."
"Yeah, you told me."
"You need to hear it again," he said. "It's strange that you should fall in love with me on the same day that I fell for you. But, it was a little earlier on. I knew when I walked into the kitchen at the Manor and saw you standing there, coat over your arm."
She smiled and cried, "And you said that Alfred still kept the condensed milk on the top shelf?!"
"Yup. You turned to look at me and every barrier I had ever built around my heart just fell down. You do that quite a lot." His face became expressionless. Then he adopted the Batman voice and said, "And it really isn't healthy for me."
She chewed on a lip and looked at his blank face. Batman and Bruce Wayne were not the same person anymore and she feared what that might lead to.
After dinner, the two love birds wandered into Bruce's bedroom. Laura was sprawled out on the bed and he was just pacing around the room for no good reason. He turned and looked at her, curious. "Do you like musicals?"
She turned and looked at him with a confused expression. "Yeah, I do. Why?"
"Have you ever seen Newsies?"
"Of course! Who hasn't?"
He smiled mischievously. "So that's what they call a family. With a daughter, father, son. Guess everything you heard about was true," he sang. She smiled and he went on with growing intensity. Soon, she joined him. "Santa Fe!" they voiced together. When they got to the final lines they found themselves in each other's arms. "So that's what they call a family. Aren't you glad you ain't that way. Ain't you glad you gotta dream called: Santa Fe." They gazed at each other for a short moment before bursting into laughter.
"We are insane!" Laura cried.
Alfred chose that moment to walk in. "Oh, nonsense. I thought you sounded quite nice!" Bruce had to turn away because he was cracking up. Laura stuffed her face in a pillow to keep from laughing too loud. Her phone buzzed and she jumped. That made her laugh harder.
"I'll be right back, Bruce." He just nodded because he was incapable of saying anything. She walked out of the room and to the other side of the house before picking up. "Hello?" she said, still slightly laughing.
"Laura, are you busy?"
Her laughter stopped. "How in the hell did you get this number?"
"It's wasn't hard. Gotham doesn't protect their cops' personal information very well."
"Don't you dare tell me you have someone inside again! I swear to god, Joker, if you do…"
"Calm your jets! I never said anything about having a man inside."
"No, I guess not."
"But I do have a woman, do I not?"
"What?" she gasped.
"You heard me."
"I can't! I couldn't possibly betray everyone I know and love like that!"
"So are you admitting that you don't love me?"
"NO! Well, I'm not saying I do either." She clenched her hand into a fist. "What are you doing? If you're going to start up strife with anyone I care about, you better think again."
"Hmm, that statement comes a little late because there is a gun pointed at Bruce Wayne right now." Laura ran to look around the corner. "Oh, it's not in the house. Look at how many buildings there are around. My thug could be on anyone of them."
"What do you want?!"
"I want you. You're allegiance, your brains, and eventually your heart. Keep the cops off my trail and Bruce Wayne stays alive. Fail to do so and… BANG! What's your answer?" She said nothing. "Fine, I need to go. I'll see you at the funeral."
"WAIT!" she cried. "Don't hurt him! Please don't hurt him! I'll do whatever you want. Just don't hurt him," she sobbed.
His voice changed. It was the pitch she hadn't heard since the night he told her that he loved her. "I'm sorry it has to be this way, but until I'm sure of your faithfulness, this is necessary. I'll be keeping in touch. Good night, love." He hung up. Laura covered her face with her hands and slid down the wall to the floor, sobbing as quietly as she could.
