AN: Wow, long time since I updated this and hope if anyone was waiting for an update that you didn't wait too long. I've decided to go for shorter chapters on this fic but I still very much hope you enjoy them.

Chapter Two: The First Night

Kirk sighed and ran a hand over his eyes, he felt exhausted and he wasn't sure why. Maybe the exhibit was drawing it out of him or maybe it was the wedding. After everything that he had been though he should be thankful for what he had earned for himself. However, he didn't know if it was enough. He wanted control and more than that he wanted control over himself and his body. He didn't want to leave it to chance. He wouldn't leave it to chance.

"Doctor Langstrom," he heard a voice behind him and just the pitch of the man's voice made him feel completely nauseous. Something wasn't right here. He had to improve his hearing, he didn't want for the sound of a man's voice to leave him susceptible to weakness.

Closing his eyes, Kirk let his head drop and felt as if he were standing in the shadows. He need to take a break, he needed to be by himself in his office and think about how to best proceed in his project. That's all he needed. A little alone time.

Without even saying a word to the other man, he left everything and tried to go back to where he could be alone. Too many things were happening and he felt afraid and alone. He needed to focus on what was in front of him and what he could control. He could control himself. He was a smart and reliable scientist and science was based on the building and formation of logical theories.

As he entered the office and reached towards the drug, he saw that the veins in his arm were visible. Was this a side effect or maybe something that was prompted through the chemical stress that had been on him. He didn't have time to think about that. He had to put the needle into his body.

As he did that everything felt calm for a moment. He relaxed his body, flexing his arm. Yes, he felt better. It had worked but…he crashed onto the ground and felt his body start to expand. This must be some kind of inflammation. He hadn't tested the drug well enough and it had led to full body inflammation. He felt that his legs were pulling apart from one another and the experience was agonizing but then it stopped being so.

It started to feel soothing, gentle even such as when a mother comforts their young child after a nightmare. Kirk closed his eyes and upon reopening them, his vision had completely changed. He stood but found that he couldn't balance well. He stared down at his feet and froze. Those weren't the feet of a man and his clothes had ripped. He moved one foot forward and felt how the ground felt harder to him.

He looked to the side and lifted an arm to show that it was a huge wing.

What was going on? He didn't feel well.

"Okay, Kirk, calm down," he tried to tell himself but the sound that came out wasn't a human's speaking voice, it was the loud screeches of a bat. He made his way over to the window and stared at his reflection. He was a bat? He paused, his heart beating painfully in his chest. He was no longer human, he was as much a bat as that family he had made in that cave.

He heard footsteps outside the door and knew that whoever entered would be forced to only see him as a monster. They didn't understand his research. They wouldn't understand him or how this had happened and he felt angry about that. He needed to get himself out alive. The risks were far too great without any ability to communicate.

He wanted to get to his fiancée and jumping out of the window certainly seemed like the best method of getting what he was hoping for. However as he opened the window and managed to squeeze his larger body out, he froze. There was no way that she would be able to see him. She wouldn't accept him and then the most precious thing to him would be lost forever. He closed his eyes.

He wanted to be with her because he loved her and part of that was because of the protection that he could provide for her as well as the love. He had spent so many years of his life being alone, watching from the shadows and unable to really interact with other people. This was no different. He knew that with him out of the picture, if he waited too long she would start to date other men and she would fall in love with other men, she couldn't fall in love with this.

Still, he knew things about her. He knew her favorite color and her favorite flower. He knew what she liked for breakfast and for dinner. He knew when she liked to drink and what other things would comfort her. He batted his wings, daring himself to jump off of the building and soar into the sky. He knew those things about her and as long as he could watch her, he was never alone. She had been his greatest study and in field research, people were often told not to interfere with the life around them.

He felt happy to fly but he would have to operate in the shadows these days. He couldn't risk being seen.

Still he wanted to see her, he wanted to make sure that she was okay.

…..

…..

As Francine stepped outside the residence and onto the street, Kirk watched her longingly. He saw the way that she pulled her coat in and wrapped her arms around herself and he felt that she was mournful. He had only been gone one night? He had been gone like that before, he had fallen asleep at the office and not returned home to her. It wasn't something she should be upset over.

As she moved down the street, he moved so that he could keep watch over her. It was then that he heard a couple of people on the ground.

"Hey, did you see something?" one person asked, "On the roof over there,"

"You think we could put it on Twitter?" the other man asked and Kirk finally felt his body straighten and he paused terrified of what was going on. He felt so weak. As he closed his eyes, he felt that the drug was wearing off. It couldn't be, not when he was up here.

He managed to fly unseen to another rooftop but this was closer to the ground and therefore it was much easier to spot him. He felt his vision failing him again and he lost consciousness. He heard a yell of someone and then her voice.

"Kirk?" Francine asked confused as she went over to him and let her hand brush through his hair. What was he doing here? Why was he in torn clothes on the roof? Why hadn't he come home last night? She froze before looking around for someone to help him. None of this seemed normal to her and she didn't know how to react but she knew that she loved the man in front of her no matter how crazy the general public might call him.

"Let's get you down from here," she said as she called someone to help her husband down from the roof of the one-story store. She had a million questions but they could wait. She didn't know about the uploaded video that all of Gotham would be gossiping about and really she didn't care. She just wanted to know the truth. She had always been more open minded than people had given her credit for.

End of Chapter Two

Thank you for reading

Thank you to Red-Wayne-Hood for their review

(love that name 😊)