Ch 2.
Rachel drove Bruce to Wayne enterprises. That worried Rachel. Bruce Wayne would not let her drive the Batmobile with him in it unless he was in near death shape.
Alfred met them at the door. He had a bat in his hand ready to ambush them if they were unfriendly. "Master Wayne." He said, the relief evident in his voice.
"Get ready to go." Bruce said, ending the good cheer in the room.
Bruce stopped Rachel from leaving. "Rach. Let's see what happens tonight. Just stay here. No hidden agenda, I promise."
Rachel acquiesced and let Alfred set up a bed for her in the corner and then watched him set one up for himself and Bruce.
She was astounded as to how sleepy she was. Even though her 'bed' was coats and some sheets she fell asleep in ten minutes. Stress does that, I guess, she thought.
"Bruce," Rachel said sleepily when she woke up for a second three hours later. "What are you doing up?"
"Go to sleep." Bruce said, uncomfortable that Rachel was surveying all of his extensive injuries.
He continued sharpening his equipment.
Rachel, of course, got up and walked to Bruce. "I am sorry." She apologized.
"Not your fault." Bruce, nevertheless, allowed Rachel to rub some cream on his back.
"How did you get Alfred to sleep when you are this battered?" Rachel asked, trying not to spend more time with the wounds than medically necessary. Not caress his back.
"Didn't take off my cape until he was asleep." Bruce admitted. "I just prepped the equipment until he got tired of watching. Plus, he knew I wanted to keep one eye on the news."
"Anything yet?"
"No. But I don't expect anything for another hour." Bruce said.
Bruce's eyes also strayed to his cell phone telling Rachel that he hoped Gordon would warn him before the media released the news.
Sure enough, forty five minutes later, Bruce's cell phone rang. "Mr. Wayne, this is Commissioner James Gordon. I apologize for the hour."
"No worries, commissioner. May I inquire as to the purpose of this call?"
"I was informed that tomorrow Gotham News is going to unmask Batman."
"Ah." Bruce said, keeping the good charm in his voice.
"If you would like me to guard any property, please just let me know."
"I appreciate the offer, Commissioner." Bruce said. "Alfred, Rachel."
Both were awake in a minute. "Alfred, you, Rachel and I should leave Gotham for awhile."
Rachel paused. "This is where I fight. I will sneak back into my house."
"Rachel." Bruce was conflicted. "I cannot leave if you don't come."
"Yes." Rachel closed the distance between herself and Bruce. She cupped his cheek with her hand. "Yes you can. You have fought your battle. Let me fight mine. I will be your source within Gotham."
"Rachel." Bruce said.
In the meantime Rachel's cell phone rang. "Harvey… what, Bruce Wayne is Batman?" Rachel affected some surprise. "Get him to leave Gotham… Let me go to Wayne Enterprises and I will call you back… No, I am sure that if things went sour last night that is where he would go. I will call you back… You are right, this is not the tim e to talk about that…" Rachel laughed, "good bye."
"Harvey says that I should tell you to leave Gotham." Rachel reported. "He says he will try to manage affairs from here and calm the waters."
"Smart man." Alfred said, but his eyes were dim. Bruce would not leave Rachel.
"Harvey, bruce won't leave." Rachel said, reading the same truth in Bruce's eyes.
"He says that he won't leave loved ones and Wayne Enterprises."
Harvey read into Bruce's refusal. "Rachel, go with him for awhile." Harvey said. "This will help you see who you truly care for as well."
"Harvey-"
"Bruce Wayne is a hard man to compete with. If you even have slight feelings for him, that will shadow any relationship. Give me a way to contact you. I will keep you guys informed."
Rachel's eyes beamed with the joy of Harvey's greatness. "Come on, Bruce. Harvey, as DA is giving me some vacation. I don't want you to get hurt."
Bruce said, "All right. Alfred, we can take the plane to Africa. You have some contacts there from your army days. We can set up camp in a remote area."
"Camp. You sir."
Bruce cocked his head. I am a man of many talents."
"In the meantime, Harvey will handle Gotham. Joker is gone and Harvey should be able to more than handle the normal wear and tear of Gotham."
"You, sir, will be forced to relax." Alfred said, warming to this idea. "You need to recover."
Rachel and Alfred shared an amused look. They knew how hard that would be for Bruce. Especially after his caped crusader escapades just sitting would be hard. Rachel was going to enjoy this.
"I am taking a well-earned vacation." Bruce said, walking onto his plane past reporters. "I will be helping with Wayne Enterprises through the miracle of technology."
Alfred and Rachel had snuck onto the plane earlier. Bruce smiled at Rachel and went to the cockpit.
"Wait, there is no pilot?" Rachel said when she followed Bruce and saw that Alfred was in the pilots seat and Bruce in the co-pilot.
"Alfred knows what he is doing." Bruce said. "What is better for secrecy than us flying ourselves. I filed a false flight plan. They think we are going to Barbados."
Rachel nodded. The flight was surprisingly smooth given that the pilot had not flown such a distance in twenty years and the copilot had never flown.
When they arrived they found that Alfred's contacts had cleared an area in the jungle for them and had set up the foundation for a house for the three.
Rachel and Alfred groaned, loudly or internally seeing the look in Bruce's eyes. "Well, we are going to need a house."
"Alvin is getting an irate phone call from me." Alfred muttered. "I said, have everything ready for us. I had everything ready for him in Taipei."
"This will be fun." Bruce said, limping to the foundation, his expression showing that he was ready for his next challenge.
End note- I purposely left whether Rachel and Bruce or Rachel and Harvey end up together ambiguous. I know which one I think will happen but… I am considering an epilogue.
"Easy Bruce." Rachel cautioned, as she had already done fifteen times rushing over to stop him from lifting too much. "This is why Mr. Fox sent over some of Wayne enterprises' toys and we have hired help."
"Just helping the process go faster. We are in for a storm." Bruce said.
Alfred hurried to call some more of his contacts to help. "Master Wayne, perhaps you should scout some of the neighboring areas. Get a lay of the land, so to speak."
"Nice try, Alfred. But a good idea nonetheless. I need to find a higher spot. I cannot get through to Lucius." Bruce said, craning his head to see what peaks he could concentrate on going to first.
"Don't stray far, sir." Alfred cautioned. "There is no need for us to require medical attention especially so early."