Fractured Mind

Chapter 2: Kiss and Make Up

Gotham University….

On a bright sunny day, a class lecture was taking place within the dorms of Gotham University. Dr. Henry James Langstrom (Ring A Bell?), a malnourished man in his early fifties with short gray hair, a pale complexion, wore a white buttoned shirt with black pants and black shoes and blue eyes was in the middle of teaching a lesson about Bats to his class but not everyone was listening or particularly one individual.

"At one point the bat population was around the millions but over time their numbers have slowly decreased," He explained. "Much like us, they can have children but can only have one children at a time which is one of the reasons that led to their population declining so heavily." Sitting at the very back of the classroom was a young man with short black hair, blue eyes, wore a black shirt under a brown coat, gray pants and possessed a slim but muscular figure. His name is Terry Mcginnis, a recent freshmen in college and he was currently taking a nap due to not getting any sleep the other night. However his much needed rest was put to a halt when he felt something poke him on his left arm so begrudgingly he started to wake up and gave a grunt to signify that he was awake.

"I was wondering when you were gonna wake up," whispered a girl with pink hair. "I've been doing this for about 5 minutes…" Next to him was a girl of african descent with a yellow and black shirt, a black armband and black tights. Her name is Maxine Gibson or simply Max, a friend of Terry who was very smart and happened to have a perfect score on the GAT test from Hamilton Hill High.

"What'd I miss?" He whispered back while rubbing the drowsiness off his eyes.

"Nothing much," Max said with a shrug. "The usual?"

"You have no idea…" Terry whispered, laying his head on top of his arms. "I spent all night tryin' to get a lead on the Jokerz. Apparently, they've been stealing weapons and the old man's been trying to find where they get them from."

"Has he found a lead?" Max whispered.

"Not YET," The black haired boy said, emphasizing on the yet. "Knowing him, he's probably still looking as we speak. He isn't called the 'The World's Greatest Detective' for nothing."

"I can help if he needs it," The pink haired girl said. "I have saved your life before ya know."

"I'm sure he's got it," Terry insisted. "But I'll let em' know." While she wrote some more notes down as her teacher continued on with his lecture, Max decided to change the topic, one that Terry was a bit hesitant but she was curious and what better way to know from the source?

"How's everything with Dana?" She whispered. Just as she predicted, Terry's sleepy demeanor turned to solemn as he turned away from Max for a few seconds before turning back and said, "Complicated."

"What now?" Max asked.

"Oh the usual," Terry said in a sarcastic tone. "She and I were gonna go out on a date but I had to cancel. That was a week ago and she hasn't talked to me since. I really blew this time, it's a wonder she still goes out with me."

"Sorry to hear that," The pink haired girl whispered sympathetically.

"Thanks for the sympathy but I don't deserve it," The black haired boy whispered. "I know being Batman is a responsibility but I can't let it interfere with my personal life. Dana's too good for me and I take advantage of that and never even think about how SHE feels. The least I can do is make it up to her…"

"If she's willing to talk," Max said, finishing his sentence.

"I've given her space so I'd like to think that just maybe she'll give me another chance," Terry whispered. "Though I wouldn't blame 'er if she doesn't. I've practically blew every chance she's given me." Max looked at Terry with concern, knowing this was hard on him as it was Dana. It wasn't like he could tell her he was Batman and it would make things better. If anything, it would probably make things worse between them and Max didn't want to see that, especially with how long Dana and Terry have been together. Sure they've broken up and got back together multiple times, it was a miracle in itself that they've lasted this long without splitting ties with each other but Max surmised that was just love in it's finest and she didn't want that love to be broken apart just because of one secret. Max spent a majority of her life not getting any love from her parents and she sure as hell did not want that on someone else, especially on her friends.

"Want me to talk to her?" The pink haired girl asked.

"If there's anyone she'll listen to, it'll be you," Terry whispered with a smile. "I'd appreciate it."

"Anytime," Max whispered back with a smile of her own. All of a sudden, Terry felt a bit better now that he talked about his issues with Dana to Max. She was another person that he was grateful to have in his life, not to mention she had his back ever since she figured out his secret back in high school. All he could do now was wait for Max to work her magic and pray that Dana would listen and they talk things out much like they have before. It's like he said, he owed her that much for sticking around as long as she has and the least he could do was to be a man of his word and show Dana just how much she matters to him.

Gotham University; History Hall….

'Stupid jerk! He always does this to me!' thought Dana Tan as she sat in her desk, trying to listen to her lecture but failed to do so. She was a young woman of Asian descent in her early twenties with long black hair, brown eyes, (I looked at multiple pictures of her and can't tell for the life of me so I'm going with this.) a thin but curvy figure that could be seen through her short light blue dress and black boots. She was quite irritable due to a certain boy she was with but for reasons she can't explain, found herself calming down despite being upset with her boyfriend(?). The problem was that as mad as she was at him, Dana had forgiven Terry two days after he cancelled their date for the umpteenth time but she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that things were alright or in other words from an old saying that her father would use: 'He was in the doghouse.' Dana knew he had his reasons for doing this but at the same time she felt that he could do better or maybe she was being a little to sentimental for him. 'No! He needs to know this is hurting me!' In that moment something popped in her head, like something that had been there but it wasn't until she finally knew about it once she put some thought into it. 'Oh God...I'm really selfish...No! He should do better! But..but..' Dana clutched the side of her head as if an internal battle was going on in her head. One side, she felt that she was being selfish of belittling Terry for always not spending time with her but on the other hand she thought that he deserved it and should try harder or even quit his job with Mr. Wayne. 'No! He needs that job, why would I even think of that?' The black haired girl sighed heavily, her shoulders feeling a great deal heavier as if it was a symbol of her selfishness getting the best of her and clouding her mind to see the real truth behind Terry's reasons. She KNEW why he had-no, NEEDED this job, it was the only reason he, Matt and his Mother even had a roof over their heads. Was she really that blind to it? Had she really let her emotions get the best of her and lost sight that Terry wasn't doing this for himself, he was doing it for his family which was another thing she was blind to especially back to when he got the job from Mr. Wayne a few years back. Dana didn't notice it back then but now that she thought about it that job changed Terry a little bit, if not more. It kept him out of trouble along with giving him a sense of responsibility but sure, his timing was the worse but he made up for it every once in a while. Apart of her wanted to thank Mr. Wayne for that, the other wanted to give him a piece of her mind for always taking Terry away from her but perhaps she was being a little too clingy. Before she could linger more into, Dana snapped back to reality when she saw people getting up from their desks through her peripheral vision and the teacher saying, "And remember, make sure you read Chapters 11 and 12!" The black haired girl grabbed her stuff and quickly made her way through the hall of people that were getting to their classes like she was until she spotted someone not too far from where she was heading, a very familiar someone so she quickly put up a mad expression to cover up her real face.

"H-Hey Dana…" said Terry awkwardly but her reply was a harsh glare. 'Man she's pissed, I really screwed up big time but I gotta do this!' He turned to Max and said, "Sorry Max but do ya mind?"

"Of course," Max said with a nod. Terry watched her leave through his peripheral vision and once she was out of sight, he turned back to Dana who still looked at him with a glare but he was more surprised that she was still here and didn't leave otherwise this whole speech he made while getting here would've been a waste. However he didn't say anything and simply stared at her, almost admiring her in a way that he had not done before.

'I don't know, but she's as beautiful as the day that I met 'er…' Terry thought, a small smile appearing on his face. However he had to stop when he saw her tapping her foot on the floor which meant that she was growing impatient so he cleared his throat and said, "I know you're upset but just listen to what I have to say. I know I've screwed up a buncha' times and the fact that you've manage to stick with me this long is nothing short of a miracle. For that, I appreciate it but I wanna let you know that I'm sorry. I'm TRULY sorry for what I do to you, you deserve better than that…"

'You're damn right I do!' Dana thought but her mad expression was slowly fading off. 'But I can't, I shouldn't! Not after realizing how much of a bitch I was to you…'

"I know I ask a lot from you, that I ask you to trust my word," Terry continued. "Hell, I've realized that your patience is one of the qualities that I like about you but I also realize that I take advantage of it. You don't deserve that and that's why I'm goin' to do better if you give me a chance!" Dana raised an eyebrow which was progress in Terry's book or in other words, he had her attention so he continued on and said, "I know you've given me too many that I've lost cost but just give me one more chance, that's all I ask and I can SHOW you just how much I care about you." He gave Dana that look that always made her feel funny inside and she would always give him a heartwarming hug but this time it was different. Prior to this, Terry would always apologize to her for his mistake and immediately repeat it again and so on, however this time he meant every single word of it. She felt the sincerness, the sorrow, the pain through every word he said and it made her heart skip a beat along with even bringing a small tear in her right eye but it also gave her an idea.

"Ok.." The black haired girl said, wiping the tear off her eye. "I forgive you."

"Then that means…" Terry said enthusiastically, trying to hug her. All of sudden, she backed away much to his confusion and had a sly smirk on her face which also made the black haired boy wonder what was going on through her head. 'Oh boy, she's planning something…'

"But!" Dana said.

"But?" Terry repeated, unsure of what was going on.

"Show me," She said. "Prove to me that you care, do that and I'll forgive you."

"Right here?" The black haired boy asked with a raised eyebrow. Dana nodded with a serious expression and Terry saw that she meant it so just as she requested, he gave her a loving kiss to which she immediately sunk in to then he brought her closer to her so that he could feel her body. Terry rubbed his hand on her smooth skin with the gentlest of touch, he always liked doing this and he could tell she felt the same and it got him curious as to what she used to make her skin so damn soft. While he did this, Dana put her hands on his chest and felt the muscles underneath his shirt. He wasn't as built as Nelson Nash but he still had a decent amount of muscle and she couldn't help but cop a feel of it and it felt GOOD. Before they knew it, they pulled back from the kiss so that they could catch their breath as they did not realize they had been kissing for the past 5 minutes or so. "W-Will...that do?"

"I-It did…" Dana said with a warm smile.

"How about this?" Terry said, still holding close. "How about tonight, you and I go out for REAL this time? I can ask Mr. Wayne if he can give me a night off or somethin'."

"I'll hold you to that," The black haired girl said before giving him a kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you then Terry Mcginnis…" Terry watched her leave as if he were in a trance of sorts and even when she was out of sight, he just stood there like a statue as he pondered what happened and for once he felt pretty damn good right now even if a grim thought came up in his mind.

"Last time I asked, he nearly tried to kill me with that look he gave me.." Terry thought as he rubbed the spot on his shirt where Bruce grabbed him. He remembered the conversation going south in an instant as he recalled saying, 'I put my life on the line all the time, one night is not gonna make a difference!'

'One night always makes the difference!' Bruce yelled, grabbing Terry by the shirt. Terry shuddered slightly at that as he didn't understand the meaning of it back then and he still didn't get it now but it left a mark in his head.

'I gave her my word..' Terry thought. 'The least I can do is act on it…"

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Thank you and have a good day!

Red1998