**Warning: this chapter contains references to drug use. If you're not cool with that, then please don't read.**

The 1975 - "Sex"

And this is how it starts

Take your shoes off in the back of my van

Yeah my shirt looks so good,

When it's just hanging off your back

She's got a boyfriend anyway

There's only minutes before I drop you off

All we seem to do is talk about sex

She's got a boyfriend anyway

She's got a boyfriend anyway

Chapter 7

For a while Casey could not stop crying. It impeded her driving a bit but no cops stopped her.

She drove until she found familiar road and dumped the car. She armed herself and set out down back alleys and underneath bridges to find what she needed.

On a street corner a man bumped into her.

"Oh sorry darlin', didn't see you there!"

She glared at him and started to walk on.

He caught up with her, walking by her side. "Hey, you alright?"

Casey still didn't say anything.

"You want me to hook you up with something?" He lowered his voice a little.

That made her stop and turn to face him. She gave a small nod.

He took her by the arm and led her down a nearby alley.

"What are you lookin' for?"

Casey looked up at him, at his surprisingly bright blue eyes. His hair was kind of long, reaching his collar. He was wearing a denim jacket and she could see tattoos peeking out of the neck of his shirt.

"Dope? White Lady?"

That name sent horrible jolts of recognition through her. She nodded again, silently.

"You don't talk much, do ya?" He chuckled. He was weirdly cute for a dealer. "How much cash you got?"

"Enough." She pulled out a wad of notes.

"Man, that's a lot of Franklins. What did you do, rob a bank?"

"Yeah."

She said it so seriously that he did a double take.

"Okay... Now, before we go anywhere, what's your name?"

"Jane." She stammered.

"Nice to meet you Jane, I'm Kris. Let's go get fucked up, huh?"

Everything became a bit hazy after that. Literally.

Her skin felt so warm and her mouth so dry, so she tried to quench it with whatever alcohol she could find. The hits kept coming and they felt so good, she'd been craving them for so long.

"Cold turkey almost killed me!" She yelled, laughing.

Kris grinned and threw an arm around her shoulders. "I know the feelin'."

But Casey had forgotten that with every high, there has to come a low.

She was staggering along the street in the pitch black, rain beating down on her head. She had no idea where Kris or any other of her new friends were. The street lamp in front of her warped and distorted itself, it freaked her out so she ran away from it. She stumbled across the road, and pushed through a gate.

Casey felt grass beneath her bare feet, soft and damp. It felt so nice, and she was so tired. Then the whole world swam and spun around her and she blacked out.

A car pulled into the drive near her at almost the exact moment she fell to the ground.

"Alfred, did you see that?"

"See what, Master Wayne?"

"It was a girl..."

He opened the car door and looked out. The rain was coming down so hard and fast he could barely see. He could just about make out a dark figure lying face down on the grass.

He got out of the car and ran over, his jacket over his head to shield him from the rain.

"Oh my god..."

He picked Casey up and carried her through the rain into the house.

She slept for four days straight. On the second day, Alfred came into the bedroom with a silver tray to find Bruce leaning against the door frame, looking at the girl.

"Have you seen her face, Alfred?" He said quietly.

"Yes, Master Wayne."

"Who could've done that to her?"

"Perhaps we'll be able to ask her when she wakes up, sir."

"And her arms..."

"I suspect, Master Wayne, that she may have done *that* to herself."

She woke up slowly, the light blinding her for a few seconds. She was lying on comfortable, clean sheets. Casey blinked and looked around.

"Jack?" She croaked in a feeble voice.

"Jack's not here."

Bruce walked in, holding something in his hands.

Casey looked startled and flinched away against the pillows.

"It's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you." He said gently, and walked over to the side of the bed. He sat down in a chair which was placed beside it.

"Who is Jack?"

"He's... he's a friend."

"Did Jack give this to you?" Bruce showed her the gun he was holding.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"For protection."

"Against who-"

"Are you a cop?"

He smiled a little. "No, I'm not a cop."

"Who are you then?"

"Bruce Wayne."

Casey sat up a little in interest, ignoring how much it hurt. "I recognise that name..."

"You've probably heard of my parents."

"Oh yeah... that train thing." She stretched one hand behind her head and groaned a little. "Jesus, I'm starving."

"I'll go get you something."

"Thanks." She smiled.

When he walked back in, looking uncomfortably like Alfred carrying a silver tray, he found Casey lying on the floor beside the bed.

She tried to push herself up on her elbows but her arms were too weak and shaky.

"I was gonna jump out the window but..." She gestured to her fallen form, dressed in a torn white t shirt and denim shorts, the soles of her feet were bruised and bloody from the road.

Bruce sighed and picked her up, struggling slightly. He placed her back on the bed, and couldn't help but notice a hickey on her collar bone.

She saw where his eyes were and put her hand over it self-consciously.

He decided not to ask about it. She'd say if and when she was ready.

Over the hours that followed, the nausea was the worst. Then the dehydration that followed caused a couple of seizures. A doctor was called and she was hooked up to an IV.

Then the cravings came hard. She couldn't stay in the house, so she stayed somewhere with bright fluorescent lights everywhere with doctors and a kind lady who came to talk to her every day, even when she could barely speak with the shaking.

Sometime later, back at Wayne Manor, when Bruce walked in, Casey was sitting up and reading a book.

He sat tentatively at the edge of the bed. She put down the book and smiled. "Do you know what I just realised?"

"What?"

"I haven't washed properly in ages. And that's kind of gross."

"Didn't-"

"Yeah, they washed me there, but it's not the same."

"Sure, I'll get Alfred to draw you a bath."

"No." Casey said quickly, "I... I want you to do it."

Bruce turned away as she slipped into the warm water, not facing her until she was completely under the bubbles. She sighed happily, the smell of lavender and heat of the water easing her shakes a little.

Before she knew it, Bruce was kneeling beside her, his face close to her shoulder.

"Is the water okay?"

"Yeah... yeah thanks, it's lovely."

"That's good." He smiled.

Then he leaned in, and kissed her.

Casey responded at first, more out of gratitude than anything else, he'd done so much for her, and she couldn't think of any other way to repay him.

Bruce deepened the kiss, one hand holding her face gently. When his other hand started to move into the water, Casey pulled away.

"I'm not gonna have sex with you, Bruce." She said quietly.

He sighed deeply, hanging his head. "It's Jack, isn't it?"

"Yeah. I just- I wanna be with him."

"Then why aren't you?" He sounded a little annoyed, but also empathetic.

"He won't take me back now... after I just left like that. He's better off without me anyway."

"Now, that can't be true-"

The doorbell rang, and it echoed through the house.

"I should go get that."

"But, wouldn't Alfred-?"

"He's way out in the garden, he wouldn't hear it."

"Okay."

Casey didn't see Bruce again for about an hour, so she went looking for him.

"Bruce?"

She walked into the kitchen. Bruce was standing talking to a girl with straight brown hair.

"Oh, I didn't know you had company." She said when she saw Casey.

Bruce spun around and saw her standing there, a white towel around her.

"I'm just gonna go."

"Rachel, wait!"

"Goodbye, Bruce."

The door closed behind her. Bruce sighed, again, running a hand through his hair.

After a few moments, Casey walked over to him.

"So..." She said, folding her arms in front of her chest and looking him straight in the eye. "How long have you been in love with Rachel?"