Okay so we skip on a bit in this chapter so I hope there's no confusion or anything. Anyway please review! I get oddly excited when I get reviews :p
Chapter 4
"We are all here tonight to celebrate the life of Harvey Dent , Gotham's true hero." Bruce began speaking to the crowd that had gathered in his penthouse that he had bought when Wayne Manor was under renovations. He preferred having parties there so no harm would come of Wayne Manor again because it seemed that during every party or event he threw, some bad guy would show up. "It's hard to believe that it's been a year since his life was unmercifully taken, so tonight with all his friends, family and colleagues, let's celebrate everything he stood for and every improvement he started. To Harvey Dent!" Bruce concluded and raised his glass. The movement was was mirrored by everyone in the vast room before they returned to their own conversations.
Rachel sighed. Thinking about Harvey's death was always very painful. It had been worse before she and Bruce had moved in together; it helped having someone to comfort her and loving Bruce had taken away some of the rawness of what happened.
Bruce could always tell when Rachel was upset, no matter how hard she tried to hide it. He put his arm around her waist and Rachel rested her head on his shoulder.
"This is a nice thing you're doing, Bruce." She forced a smile as she looked up into his eyes. They were one of Bruce's features that she loved the most. She loved the dark brown colour of them.
Bruce took a sip of his champagne. "I have to, since Batman is one of he reasons he's dead in the first place." Rachel frowned. Bruce had always felt responsible for Harvey's death.
"Bruce it's not Batman's fault! The joker wanted to prove that even the best of people could turn evil. He was going to kill Gordon's kid! Batman did the right thing." She hated seeing him torture himself for something that had to be done.
Bruce gave her a strained smile. "You're right." He said not wanting to take the topic any further and kissed Rachel's forhead.
Rachel pulled away and grinned at him. "I'm always right."
Just then they were joined by Commissioner Jim Gordon who Rachel (and Bruce, though Jim didn't know it) worked with regularly.
"You sure know how to throw a party Wayne, I'll give you that. Never do things by half do you?" Jim said referring to the incident when Bruce drove his Lambourghini out on front of a truck to stop it hitting the police car Jim was traveling in.
Bruce gave him the fake cocky smile he wore so convincingly. "Definitely not." he agreed.
He turned to Rachel. "Rachel, someone told me the other day that you handed in your resignation, is that true?"
She nodded. "I'm only going to be doing some court appearances for a while. I couldn't take the risk." she smiled putting her hand on her now noticeable baby bump.
"I think we can all agree from previous experiences." Bruce added. Rachel didn't want to quit her job, not at all, but she had to. It was Bruce who had first brought it up but he was justified; how many times had Batman had to rescue her? She couldn't put their baby's life in danger anymore.
Jim thought about it for a moment then nodded in agreement. "Yeah that's probably best although the Batman seems to have a soft spot for you." he commented and Rachel stiffened but obviously Bruce was used to playing along with things.
"As long as he doesn't make a play for my woman than we're good." Bruce joked and put his arm around me again. Jim knew that she knew who the Batman was. In his defence his claims were justified; Bruce hadn't been very discreet when it came to Batman coming to Rachel's rescue. He had adressed her by name in front of Gordon countless times.
Suddenly a gun shot rang out in the far side of the room. Rachel looked worriedly at Bruce.
He seemed worried aswell but hid it quickly. "Some day I will throw a party that is not crashed by some lunatic!" Bruce complained and rolled his eyes. "Excuse me Commissioner." he said and quickly disappeared to see what was going on.
Gordon looked around and decided to follow Bruce. He was, afterall, a police officer and if something was going down he was there to help. Alfred came rushing over to her. "Ms. Dawes," He began, flustered but she cut him off.
"What's happening Alfred?" I wondered starting to panic but just as Rachel said that I was picked up into someones arms. She started to fight before I realised who it was. "Bruce? What are you doing?" She half shouted as she tried to shake her way out of his firm grasp.
"Rachel keep your voice down." He warned as he brought her into the bedroom.
"What's going not until you tell me what's going on!" She knew Bruce was over protective of her since she'd gotten pregnant but this was going too far.
"It's the joker Rachel! He's looking for you!" As those words escaped Bruce's lips Rachel wished with all her heart that she hadn't found out what was going on. He used his fingerprint to open the concealed door in the bedroom and brought me into where the batsuit was hidden.
"Why? What does he want with me?" She wondered frantically as Bruce put her down and turned on the lights in the fairly empty storage room.
He put his palm up against his forehead and shut his eyes tightly. "I don't know Rachel! My heart is saying get you as far away from Gotham as possible right now but my head is saying that I can't stand by while he's out there!" That was the most uncomposed Rachel had ever seen Bruce.
"Bruce it's me he wants! Let me go out there and buy you some time! No one else will get hurt because of me!" Rachel told him and bounded for the concealed door again. Bruce caught her by the arm quickly.
"Rachel we are not having this conversation! I will not put you and the baby in danger!" She looked him in the eyes.
"Bruce, you have to let me do this. He's just gonna keep looking for me anyway! Get into the suit quickly!"
Bruce sighed in defeat. "Fine! But be careful! Don't get yourself thrown out the window again! I'll be out in two minutes!" he warned and sped off.
Rachel looked though the peephole to see if there was anyone there before she scanned her finger print and the door quickly opened.
As she walked back into the main hall, Rachel had never been so scared in her life. Why on earth was she willingly going to face a psycho? How messed up was she? She appeased herself that Bruce would come to her rescue soon, at least that's what she hoped. Everyone eyed her with shock as she re-entered the room. They must have all thought she was a mad woman.
"Where is Rachel Dawes?" The joker demanded with his back to her. He was by far the freakiest person she'd ever seen. He was dressed in his usual psychothic clown attire.
Rachel composed herself so that she sounded confident. "I'm here." she replied firmly and he turned around. Seeing the smeared face paint again made her shudder at the memories.
He smiled weirdly. Then again, everything about him was weird. "My, my, Ms Dawes- or can I call you Rachel? You're looking stunning as ever." He told her as he inched towards her.
"I wish I could say the same about you." Rachel commented smartly and fliched as he took her by the wrist.
The Joker chuckled. "It's nice to see that you're as feisty as ever. How's this.. celebration going? Huh? I doubt you'd be celebrating his life if you knew what Harvey Dent did."
She grimaced. "Oh I already know." Rachel would never give him the satisfaction.
"I'm not surprised but I doubt everyone else knows that it was in fact Harvey Dent, and not the Batman, that killed those two cops and three other people." He said loudly so everyone could here. Everyone looked shocked but were too afraid to say anything.
Rachel had enough. "What do you want?" She spat coldly.
"Why so hostile?" The Joker wondered in his mocking tone. "Where's pretty boy, huh? It's funny how he always seems to disappear at times like this."
That threw her a bit. "He was called in to work, there was a problem." Lying had never been Rachel's strong point.
The Joker scoffed. "Please! I bet he never lifts a finger in "Wayne Enterprises"! In a way you should be thanking me."
Rachel couldn't wait to hear his reasoning for that. "And why would that be?" she wondered boldly.
He chuckled intimidatingly. "Well, if I hadn't driven Dent to the brink of insanity you would have never got your playboy billionaire. And that baby." The Joker added while pointing to my baby bump. Rachel had had enough of his games.
"Okay this whole act is getting old, so why don't you just tell me what you want." She demanded.
"You see, sitting in that cell in jail, I realised that since I'm not going to be around to mess with him anymore, I actually do want to find out who the Batman is and I want to share it with the world." He said that as if he was a man with simple wishes.
"And you want me to help you with that?" If she was going to continue being with Bruce, she would have to get better at playing indiferrent.
The Joker shook his head and smiled wryly. "I figure you do know, because you seem to be at the centre of everything. The common denominator if you will." He started circling her and before Rachel knew what he was doing, he had his arms locked around her with a knife pressed against her throat. Damnit! Rachel thought. How could I be so stupid? The Joker had obviously figured it out.
"Let her go!" Rachel was never more relieved and scared to hear Batman's voice. The Joker spun her around so she could see Bruce.
"We had this conversation before, take off your mask and show us all who you are and then I'll let her go." They had reached an impasse.
Rachel could tell that Bruce was considering it. "No! Don't!" What would things be like if everyone found out that Bruce was Batman? He'd be arrested and she would have to raise their baby on their own. No matter how much money she had, Rachel would hate to do it.
The Joker tightened his grip. "Sshh, you're not in a position to be making any requests princess." One of his gunmen broke the window and Rachel had a very bad sense of dé ja vu. Things were going to end badly, she could tell. She felt her self being pulled closer and closer to the edge. Bruce had told her to stay away from the windows. Rachel saw Bruce stiffen.
"Take one step closer and I drop her." The Joker warned Batman and Bruce didn't know what to do.
What he did know though is he had to act one way or another and he took that step forward. The Joker quickly let go of Rachel's hand and she began to slide.