A/N: I'm posting two chapters today because this one is even shorter than the second one.

Chapter 4

Bruce didn't need to see Jim in the darkness of the short elevator ride to know the way his friend's thoughts were going. He was good at hiding his anxiety under an aura of excitement and curiosity, but both men knew very well what had happened the last time they'd been in this place of secrecy and mysteries. Their relationship since that memorable night had been rather unique, to say the least, and Bruce knew that there were a lot of issues they had yet to sort through in order for them to make this partnership work.

They reached the floor of the temporary batcave, and bright lights flickered up in greeting when Bruce stepped off the platform, quickly followed by Jim who gazed around the seemingly empty hall as if he'd never seen it before. Bruce hid his amused smile and made his way toward where the computers and worktables would soon appear. The elevator vanished back into the ceiling with a soft thud behind their backs. Turning back to Jim, ready to begin the grand tour he'd promised his friend a few days ago, he found Jim staring at him, frowning.

After an inquiring look from Bruce, Jim finally said, "We haven't finished our conversation yet."

Bruce could hardly stop himself from rolling his eyes at the remark and groaned inwardly. Just wonderful, he'd managed to find another man with Alfred's annoying quality of following up on conversations everyone else, namely Bruce, had deemed a closed subject ages ago. Sighing, he replied, "You wanna tell Stephens? Fine, go ahead, but don't expect me to like it." He turned away, pushing the hidden button that called Batman's equipment to the surface with more force than necessary. He could feel Jim's gaze boring into the back of his head. And sure enough, after a few seconds of silence, Jim spoke again.

"Are you serious? A few minutes ago you said no."

Bruce turned back to face his friend. "I changed my mind," he said.

Jim just stared at him, brows knitted together in confusion. "Why…?"

"Because you're right," Bruce admitted grudgingly. "We can't have him asking too many questions, and he'd find out sooner or later anyway. By telling him we win an ally who can help us hiding the truth as long as possible." He turned back to the console that had meanwhile appeared behind him and started typing away on the keyboards, calling up various news channels on the monitors overhead and preparing the system for its daily check.

Jim shuffled around a little and at last came to stand next to him. "What are you doing?" he asked, his curiosity finally getting the better of him and forcing him to put the topic aside for now.

Seizing the moment, Bruce started explaining parts of his surveillance equipment and the channels of information he used. Not all of them of course – even the Commissioner would have a hard time ignoring the bugs planted in his office building – but the ones he thought Jim would be interested in and would file away for further use, in case he ever needed an unusual – or rather, unofficial – way of getting information.

A few hours later, Jim's head swam from looking at all the futuristic technology and listening to Bruce's long-winded explanations. He could tell that his friend was trying to simplify the most complicated facts, but Jim had stopped listening a while ago because his mind simply couldn't handle the massive amount of data anymore. Noticing this, Bruce broke off his explanation about the new tumbler mid-sentence and shot him an inquiring look.

"We should continue this another day, don't you think?" Bruce asked.

"Huh?" Jim replied, ashamed of getting caught. "Uh… right," he finally said and turned away from the worktable and the complicated plans laid out there. "I think I could use some fresh air. The stuff you showed to me is really fascinating, but a lot to take in at once."

Bruce chuckled. "I know. It took me months to gather all this equipment and learn how to use it properly." He suddenly grew serious again. "I can't afford to make mistakes."

Jim nodded grimly. They both knew what a single mistake would mean for Bruce…and Batman: imprisonment, a life sentence for something he hadn't done – or worse, death, if one of Batman's old foes managed to get his hands on him.

Jim didn't doubt that Bruce's lawyers could get him out the accusations of damaging state property and violating a dozen smaller laws – but killing a DA and the assistant DA, among others… those charges couldn't be ignored. And Jim's own testimony would surely be dismissed as lies because no one trusted a Police Commissioner who had been working with a wanted vigilante for years and had even known his true identity.

Their eyes met, and Jim could see that Bruce's thoughts had gone along the same line as his, but none of them spoke. Suddenly, Bruce turned away, hit a few last keys, obviously entering the command that would shut down the computers and let the equipment vanish back to where it had come from. Jim watched in awe as the workstations and Batman's vast collection of tools and technology sank gracefully into the floor and out of sight once more. Bruce grinned, a hint of smugness – or maybe pride? – on his face, and motioned for Jim to follow him to the elevator platform.

"You hungry?" Bruce asked.

Jim nodded, suddenly realizing that he hadn't eaten anything since the donuts Bruce had brought along this morning. His stomach growled in protest at the thought, and Jim looked up in time to see his friend smirk at him.

"I thought so," Bruce said. "Let's go annoy Alfred," he added cheekily, and the elevator started rising to the surface.