7.

~ Women brought more pain than a man could bare. Loving a woman weakened any man. At least Jim Gordon thought so. Years of heartbreak, of loving the wrong kind of women and letting go of the right ones, had made him bitter to the very idea of romantic love.

He knew these relationships were doomed before they even started. After he watched Barbra spiraled out of control, he had run head first into a white hot affair with Leigh. When tragedy took her away from him, he was quick to rebound with another girl. Soon he had become the thing he feared most, a self loathing old man no woman wanted.

He had no one to blame but himself for being alone now. So, he married himself to the job, ate his TV dinners alone in his pitiful apartment and tried not to think about the life he willingly gave up to stay loyal to the GCPD.

The separation from Leigh was the most painful. She made him feel like more of a man than anyone else in his life. She not only encouraged him in his career, she actually took part in it. Leigh was the one, and she slipped away. One moment she was there, willing to battle dragons with him, next, she was gone like she had never been by his side at all.

She never knew, probably never knew, all the little things Jim Gordon kept. They were small and were likely never to be missed. Hair pins, used lipstick, forgotten movie ticket stubs. Things that reminded him of Leigh in some way. A memory he had wanted to hold onto; back when things were good and they were in love.

He kept these trinkets in a shoe box in his closet. He never kept such items with other women. He didn't know why he kept these. He didn't look at them any more, but he still had them hidden in the back of his closet.

As soon as he ended his call with Bruce Wayne, Gordon was flooded with memories of Leigh. Maybe it was some last ditch attempt at empathy. A feeling that he knew how Bruce felt just now.

It wasn't the first time Jim Gordon would have to comfort Bruce Wayne after a horrible loss. The night they first met, Bruce, just a child then, had seen his parents brutally murdered. Gordon had to try and relate to a terrified and forever traumatized kid. Over the years, Gordon had watched Bruce grow into an elegant young man. Without a trace of the boy he once knew. But now… how would he handle this?

Selina Kyle was no good. Gordon knew that from the very beginning. He thought she could be saved, that the streets of Gotham hadn't sunk in their teeth too deeply, but he had been wrong. It was a mistake to think she could ever be trusted. A bigger mistake to introduce her to Wayne.

Gordon flexed the hand she had so ruthlessly stabbed a few months back. He had never told anyone, not even Dent or Bullock what had happened. He was too embarrassed he had once again let Selina Kyle get the upper hand.

He had followed the tabloid reports on Bruce and Selina closely. No one seemed to have any idea that she came from Gotham. That she was nothing more than a forgotten street kid. Her movie star good looks and Bruce Wayne on her arm gave her a mystique that had all of Gotham trying to copy her. It wasn't hard to understand why Bruce loved her, and Gordon could tell Bruce loved her. Ever since they were kids, Bruce seemed enchanted by the vixen. Like Leigh with Gordon, Selina had made Bruce more confident and happy. But she could never change who she really was.

Gordon spotted Bruce enter the station from his desk. A high vantage point that let him observe all who came and went in the GCPD building. He waved at the young man, and closed the file on Penguin's bar burning down. The photo's within were too awful.

"Bruce." Gordon said and tried to smile. "I'm glad you came. It's good to see you again."

"I brought the card." Bruce said curtly. "Mr. Cobbelpot has Miss Kyle. We must do everything we can to get her back. If he wants money, that's fine. I'm willing to pay." He handed Gordon the video greeting card with it's ghastly message.

"Bruce."
"I drove by the club where Mr. Cobbelpot has his… well his business, and there were fire trucks. I've had no news since." Bruce went on. He was worried and scared, Gordon could tell. "The card said not to involve the GCPD, but I've always been able to trust you, Detective."

Gordon felt uncomfortable. He never liked giving bad news, and with Bruce, a young man who had lost so much, it hurt even more.

"Bruce, sit down." Jim said. Bruce nodded and took the seat next to his desk.

"The fire?" Bruce asked anxiously.

"Yes." Gordon nodded. "First, how did Penguin… umm… Mr. Cobelpot get Selina to his club?"

Bruce shook his head. How wonderful it must be to be so innocent to the world.

"I don't know. She has been staying with us at the manor since the Arkham incident." Bruce said.

"She stays with you often?" Gordon asked.

Bruce nodded.

"We've always been close. I'm sure the media has over hyped our relationship." the young man explained.

"Right." Gordon said and tried to smile again. Leigh often told him his 'fake smile' looked more like he was gritting his teeth. He was sure he looked that way now. "I remember introducing the two of you."

Bruce nodded but was quite.

"Bruce, I'm sure there were a lot of things about Selina she never told you. Things about her past. Things she kept hidden."
"We all have secrets, Detective." Bruce said. He voice colder with the accusation Gordon was about to make. "I didn't ask questions about things she wasn't ready to talk about."

Gordon nodded.

"Bruce, not too long after the two of you met, Selina started running with a bad crowd. A mob boss named Fish Moony. I'm sure she stayed with her for survival. If there's one thing Selina can do, it's survive. After Fish was thought to be killed, Selina ran with the new boss. A man known in the underworld as Penguin. You know him as Oswald Cobbelpot."

"Mr. Cobbelpot is a mob boss?" Bruce asked in confusion.
"Yes, and Selina must have known his habits and secrets very well." Gordon explained.

"That life is behind her, Detective." Bruce said stubbornly. "I need to know that she wasn't caught in that fire."

"Bruce." Gordon breathed. This was going to be hard. "The fire was arson. Fire chief says it started in the garage. So far… several bodies have turned up in the rubble. One of them is defiantly female and with a gun shot wound. We'll have to wait for forensics, so we can't say for sure if it's Selina-"

Bruce stood up. His face red, but his composure never faltering.
"I'll have Alfred bring over her tooth brush. That's the best way to make a DNA match isn't it?" the young man asked.

Gordon was surprised Bruce wasn't more emotional just now. He didn't seem sad or even hurt. He seemed as if his rage was barely containable.
"Yes, that's how it's done." Gordon said sadly.
"What about Mr. Cobbelpot? Was his body found?" Bruce asked.
"Several bodies were recovered." Gordon explained. He stood to meet Bruce in the eye. "But we're going to identify the unknown female first. It might not be Selina."

"But it's likely." Bruce said. His voice faltered slightly. The sadness creeping in. For a moment, he was that scared little boy again. Gordon wanted to promise it wasn't Selina. He wanted to promise the world and knew he couldn't make those promises.

"Thank you for your time, Detective. I would rather hear it from you that she's dead." Bruce said and extended his hand to shake. Gordon, never really surprised by the young man's perfect manners, shook it.
"I'll be sure to call you as soon as I know. This is a priority, Bruce." he said.

~ Harvey Dent could care less about Penguin's little hovel burning down. He had no sympathies to any of the Gotham scum. He avoided the traffic around downtown and drove his luxury car to the trendy part of Gotham. His office had to field calls about the fire all day and he was glad when five o'clock rolled around at last.

He loved his job, but hated it at the same time. Everyday, he dealt with horrible teenagers, too late to try and save. Criminals without souls to save, and just lately, the nightmare of escapee's from Arkham. What a life. Gotham was beating him down, as it did most of the ambitious people. He wasn't getting anywhere in his career, the rent on his trendy apartment was going up again and his love life was non existent.

His love life had always been difficult. He had no problem getting dates, his good looks helped a lot. But his temper always drove women away. Women could sense the violence stirring just below the surface and were quick to leave him. It had always been that way and Harvey Dent certainly wasn't going to blame himself.

He parked his car in the private garage and walked to his place. He would have to move soon enough, but for now, he enjoyed the prestigious address. The walk up was a killer but it had a nice view of the park. He lived alone and liked it that way. His apartment was neatly furnished in an ultra modern style and very expensive. He had a maid come in twice a week and he himself took care to keep his home "photo shoot ready" as Gordon called it.

To his surprise when he turned on the lights, there was a woman in his apartment. He almost hadn't noticed her at first. He was too busy setting down his briefcase and hanging up his coat. He had court documents to read before going to bed and he would microwave some dinner after a shower.

His thoughts were not at all on the figure standing by the window. In fact, he had looked over most of his mail by the time he realized something wasn't right. He turned to see her standing there. Indifferent to the fact she had just broken into his home.

"Selina?" he asked his surprise. "Selina Kyle?"

"Hello, Harvey." she said with a pleasant, self satisfied grin.

"What… What are you doing here?" he asked in disbelief. The door was locked. No one else had a key except the manager. How did she even get inside?

"I thought I might stop by and say hi. I was in the neighborhood." she said lazily and made herself comfortable on his couch.

She looked at him with bright green eyes and Dent felt that wonderful pull of attraction he had first felt when he saw her at Bruce Wayne's dinner party.

"Um… where's Wayne?" Dent asked suspiciously.

"I don't know." Selina teased. "I'm not here for him."

Harvey was quick to catch her meaning and hurriedly joined her on the couch. She wanted him, he could tell. This was a dream come true, but it was real. His mind had to tell his body to calm down. To avoid getting too excited and embarrassing himself.

"So it's just the two of us tonight?" Dent asked with a grin.
Selina leaned in to kiss him, Harvey could feel her lips…

She pulled away.

"You're out of your league, Dent." she snapped coldly.

She stood up and stepped away from him.

"What?" Dent asked in disbelief. "I thought-"

"That I was here for you? Keep dreaming." she scoffed.

Harvey Dent felt that familiar rage flush over him.
"Then why are you here?" he barked.

Selina seemed to enjoy toying with him.
"To help you." she said sweetly.

"With what?"

"Get revenge on Ivy Pepper." she told him.

Suddenly, all the anger he was feeling toward Selina passed and was replaced with new anger towards the Pepper girl who had used some kind of mind game to gain her freedom. Pepper had embarrassed him in front of the entire city.

"Interested?" Selina asked with a cat like grin.