Normally I would say something right now to imply happiness at the number of reviews, or my experience with writing this chapter, but I cant think of anything right now, which is probably also because I just woke up.

So after that tangent, on with the update!

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Chapter Seven – A bad dream unfolding

It was like a bad dream; but one she was merely the observer of. The television refused to let up. It was like a Pandora's Box had been opened on the city, and yet she wasn't a part of it.

She would occasionally stare at Alfred, wondering how he wasn't being affected by the reports the news channel continued to show. She found it a little disconcerting that he never once appeared to prick his ears to the stories. But then again, he was the personal butler to Batman.

But the observations of terror no matter how dreadful could not compare in any way to the dread she had been feeling in her stomach since one newly installed police commissioner stopped by to visit her that afternoon.

Flashback

She didn't know why he bothered. Since they had returned from the bunker he had been endless in his attempts to feed her something. Once again, he was leaving the room with a still full tray, muttering something incoherent under his breath as he did.

Feeling for the first time, a smile form on her face, it quickly fell when she looked back out to the city, thinking how everything must be going.

"Alfred, I'm not hungry! Stop attempting to force feed me!" She said in jest, hearing footsteps approach her.

"I'm sorry, Rachel, it's not Alfred." Hearing the always surprising soft voice of Jim Gordon behind her, made Rachel whip around at such a rate she was surprised she didn't get whip-lash.

"What are you doing here?" She couldn't help stare at him.

He had a usual bleak expression on his face; he looked like he hadn't slept in weeks; he was averting eye-contact and looking around the room, and to make matters worse, the way he was ringing his hands together implied that the news he was going to tell her was bad.

"I have two things to tell you, although the first you probably already know." He finally spoke, but when he looked at her, he wasn't looking at her face.

Rachel swallowed, feeling herself sit down.

"Bruce Wayne was in a car accident. He's alright, possibly a little shaken, but he's ok." Rachel felt a small spark of anger flare. What was the use of Jim Gordon coming here to tell her something that the news had been covering almost non-stop?

"Whether he will admit to it or not, I am certain that the only reason he was in an accident was to protect the police van myself and Coleman Reese were in, from a truck driver intent on joining the Joker's world of fear and craziness." He went on.

Rachel looked away; given she knew about Reese's certain threat on Bruce's safety she knew that his participation in this accident was for one purpose only.

"It made me see that you coming here was the right thing to do." Rachel looked up at Gordon quickly. "It's funny how some things remind you that people who are born good, rarely change."

"You said there were two things you needed to tell me." Rachel responded. She couldn't allow herself to dwell on Gordon's statements for too long; they would driver her mad, and she would much rather go mad in private.

Gordon looked a little taken aback at her abrupt and swift change in topic, but being reminded of something that she could feel was worse, he dropped his head and looked away.

"Harvey's missing." He spoke after a silence that seemed endless.

"What?" Rachel was surprised a sound came from her lips.

Gordon looked up at her before he continued speaking. "When the Joker made his threat, I knew he would target Gotham General; it's the biggest and possibly the best hospital in the city, and also, there was one patient he had already targeted."

"Harvey." Rachel stood up and walked to the windows, finding a new meaning in her searching of the streets below.

"Yes." Gordon sighed in response. "When the evacuation notice came, busses from every major company across the city came, possibly hundreds of them. Except one of them is now missing. And to make matter's worse, we don't have any way of knowing whether or not we got Harvey out alive, and onto that missing bus, or if he got out of the hospital himself, or if…." He trailed off and Rachel felt tears spring to her eyes.

"You don't know if he died in the explosion, or if he survived it." She finished his sentence, swallowing the sobs but breaking down silently.

"I'm sorry Rachel; I know how distressing this must be for you. But I wanted to keep you informed." Through her tears she nodded her head, glad but horror struck at Gordon's conscience.

"If anything comes up, I'll let you know." She couldn't muster the courage to nod; instead she felt her hands grab at her face stronger, as the tears became more pronounced.

Through the echo of her sobs, she heard Gordon leave; knew he would be raked with guilt for leaving her in such a situation.

End Flashback

Though the tears had ended, the fear hadn't let up. She didn't know what to believe. She found it difficult to believe that Harvey could have survived, with no-one to see him leave the hospital, but at the same time, she refused to believe he was dead. And with that thought, she couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't contacted anyone to tell them he was alright.

"…and we've just been informed that the body of Salvatore Maroni, the accused but acquitted leader of Gotham's Crime family has just been identified." Rachel stared at the TV, and noticed Alfred – finally – perk up.

"We've been informed that he was killed when the car he was traveling in rolled alongside the bay freight line, a short distance from the Gotham Business district." Rachel stared at the television, wondering how in the world this man had finally been stopped, despite it being against society's norms.

She flicked channels when the reporter went on to the next story, looking to see if any others were running the death of Sal Maroni.

"…what is most concerning about this news, is reports from passers by that someone matching Harvey Dent's description, was seen leaving the vehicle shortly after the accident." Another channel was; but hearing the newsreader say Harvey's name in relation to this accident made her sick.

She could not believe – she refused to believe – that Harvey would go out and kill someone like Maroni. She knew how he valued justice and could not, not for one second, believe that he would drop all of his beliefs, values and morals and kill someone.

"It's not true." She whispered seeing the TV go black before her. "There is no way he would do such a thing."

Alfred stepped into her line of vision and watched her. "Trust me, Miss Dawes; I'm as shocked as you are."

He continued to stare at her whilst her mind reeled, flashing moments before her eyes that did everything to prove the news report wrong. Harvey Dent was a good man, no, a great man. Even as a penalty he resented death, knowing that a criminal didn't learn anything from it.

As the memories continued to flash, proof of his innocence, her stomach lurched in disgust that anyone could slander Harvey's name in such a way. Rushing to the bathroom, she found herself despising the world over 100 floors below; how they could possibly imply that one of the best people in Gotham was no longer a character to be trusted.

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Author's Note: Does anyone even read these little notes I put in, both before and after? Ah well, whether you read them or not, I'll still continue to include them. Possibly an indication of my personality – have I mentioned I just woke up?