Alice had watched him for a few moments as the idea that he was dead settled in her mind. Then his breath stain the night air and she forced herself behind him, settling his head on her lap as she scrunched up the bottom of her jumper and use her good hand to cover the large gash that resided on the side of his head. The snow around her knees had turned to dark red slush and her hands and forearms were covered in his blood. Alice had sat in the alley for almost half an hour when she heard the roar of the ambulance siren. When she looked up and saw it parked at the bottom of the alley and heard the slam of the doors she scrambled off the floor and ran.
She kept running, only stopping to catch her breath when necessary. Even the stich that developed in her side wasn't going to stop her until she reached the front door and she was hitting it so hard with her good hand that it hurt. "GRAN! GRAN! OPEN UP! PLEASE!" The house was in total darkness and for a moment Alice was terrified that she wasn't there. When hall light turned on she let out the breath she was holding, and when she saw her grandmothers shocked face through the glass she started to cry.
Her grandmother hurried towards the door as soon as she saw who it was and opened it wide. "Alice! Are you hurt? The blood!"
Alice shook her head. "It's not my blood." She bawled, almost leaping on the old woman, sobbing as she grabbed her grandmother tight and started repeating how sorry she was. She felt her grandmothers hands sooth her hair and back and soon she realised the elderly woman was crying too. "Oh, my sweetheart. Oh, I thought I would never see you again."
Alice just sobbed. She clung to her grandmother, not even letting go when she was pulled inside and the door was shut behind her. She wasn't sure how long they remained standing there just holding each other but it didn't seem like long enough.
Eventually her grandmother forced Alice to sit at the kitchen table as she scurried about making tea. The girl remained seated as she stared at the blood on her hands.
"Sweetheart, do you want to shower?"
Alice shook her head but she couldn't tear her eyes away. She was certain if she had a shower now she would attempt to drown herself in it.
"What happened? What is it him? That…man….Bane." His name rolled out like poison from her grandmother's mouth.
"He didn't do this. I did this."
"Tell me, did you….did you hurt him?"
The image of the man lying in the alley flashed in her mind. "How did you know I was with him?" Alice suddenly asked, confused. Her grandmother frowned as she set the mugs of tea down on the table and then took a seat herself. "That boy, Brian, who you went out with that day, he told me. After he left I went to your room and some of your things had gone, but I knew you would never leave without saying goodbye. I knew it was that man."
"Brian told you?"
"He was reluctant too. But I had to know. Has he hurt you? Did he – did he do anything….to you?"
Even though the old woman didn't show in it her face Alice could see it in her eyes, the fear that was slowly started to wrap around her heart. For the first time she noticed that her grandmother looked thinner, paler. Over the passing weeks Alice had wondered about her grandmother being safe in this new Gotham, but she had never really thought how her disappearance would have affected her grandmother's life.
This was all too much. She just wishes she had never left that stupid apartment. Bane was right, she was stupid.
She spots her grandmother looking at her and Alice realises she's been quiet for too long. "You mean rape me?"
Her grandmother grabbed the hand that Alice had rested on the table and squeezed it tightly. "Oh, sweetheart." She looks at her poor granddaughters face. Her puffy eyes and swollen lips. All she wants to do is take care of her and make this entire thing stop. The poor girls been through too much already and she wasn't sure how much more her granddaughter could take before – before it happened again.
"Gran, he never raped me. He…hit me a couple of times, he's messed up my wrist but, no, he never did that. I don't think he would have."
"He hit you? Why? Why would he hurt you? You've never harmed anyone in your life! You even helped him, though goodness knows why."
Alice stared into her mug. If she looked back at her grandmother she was certain she would start crying again. "I have to go back."
Her grandmother slammed her hands down on the table causing tea to spill and even Alice jumped back. "NO! You are not going back to…to that monster!"
"Gran, I have to. He'll come here, he'll hurt you!"
"I'd like to see him try!"
"Gran, no offense, but you're 5'3, seventy six years old and weigh a hundred and twenty five pounds. Whereas he's built like the terminator and he will not overlook hurting you because he knows it will hurt me. If anything happened to you because of me…" Alice sucked in a deep breath as she felt her eyes sting again. "I should never have come here. But I was so scared after what I did and I just, I just wanted to see you so badly."
"What did you do? Alice, I need you to tell me everything."
It was two A.M and Alice was sat on the couch in the living room. She had yet to wash and dress, instead she had been sitting there for the last hour staring at the blank television screen. Her grandmother hadn't spoken to her after Alice had gone into great detail about the incident that night. She had even told her grandmother everything she had gone through, but the old woman hadn't said anything back.
She now shuffled in and took a seat next to Alice on the sofa, handing her a small bag. "I found my wrist splint from that time I fell over. It's best you use it."
"Thank you, but I can't. When I go back, if I have it he'll know I left the apartment. I won't be able to come up with a good lie to cover it."
"You're not going back." Her grandmother sternly said.
"I have to."
"No! No, he's already taking you once; you won't go away with him again. I should have listened to you when you asked to leave. I knew something was wrong, I could feel it in my gut!"
"Gran, this isn't your fault, it's mine!"
"No, it isn't. It's not your fault, you're kind hearted and he's trying to destroy that. Take advantage of that. That man is evil."
Alice wasn't sure of that anymore. She didn't know if evil was the correct word to use for him even though she had called him that herself. "I don't know what he is, Nan."
"He's a sociopath."
"They tend to be drawn to our family."
"That's not funny."
Alice smiled sadly. "I wasn't trying to be. Who knows? Maybe I'll even get to see my birthday in a few months."
It was now her grandmothers turn to shoot her a sad look. "Please don't do this, Alice. What kind of grandmother would I be if I allowed you to go back to that man?"
"And what kind of granddaughter would I be if I allowed you to get hurt? I can go back and he won't even know I was here. If I get back before him I'll wash, change, he'll never know I left. And if he is there….well he'll just think I left, got scared after what happened to that guy, then came back from sheer terror."
"You have to stay strong around him Alice. You can't let him get to you. If he manages to break you, you may – "
"What?" Alice suddenly shot in.
Her grandmother lowered her eyes. She hadn't meant to mention. "We don't need to talk about that. But what about the man? The one you hurt."
There were too many emotions flowing through Alice in that moment, but the one that lay heavy upon her was the quilt. "You can pray for me that he isn't dead."
Bane had walked back into the apartment and was met by the soft scratching coming from the record player as the disc continue to turn but no music escaped it. The bedroom door was ajar and the bed was empty. When he heard the soft whistle of wind come from the back room he stormed to the open door and his eyes set on the open window. Too small for him to fit through, but perfect for her. His papers had been thrown about but he put that down to the wind and not her actions.
He smirked. So she was trying, good.
"Sir."
Bane turned to face his solider. The boy seemed scared in his presence but he held his ground well. "There were reports of an attack, a few streets from here."
Sudden anger flared inside him. "A woman?" Of course she would get herself hurt within mere minutes of trying to escape. Now she was probably dead.
Stupid little girl…
"No sir. A man. He sustained a head injury. We checked out where it happened but there wasn't anything there, just a lot of blood."
Bane raised an eyebrow. "Where is he now?"
"Dead. He sustained a head injury, they think someone hit him, but he died in surgery at the hospital."
Was this her doing? Surely not. "I need you to go out and find the girl, undoubtedly she would have gone – "
Bane paused when he heard the sound of rattling metal and sure enough, when he looked outside the fire escape was shaking slightly. Why on earth would she possibly come back? As soon as he saw the open window he had assumed that she would have run back home, back to her grandmother. He had never expected her to actually come back.
"Never mind. Leave."
Bane waiting in the living room. He could hear her as she climbed through the window and fumbled about, even falling to the floor with a small oof. He heard the window slide shut and then more fumbling about. He was starting to become increasingly annoyed.
When she stepped out into the hall and saw him standing there she hovered back in the shadows for a moment, then with a finally deep breath stepped out.
Alice brushed her damp hair out of her face as she stared at him, chewing on her bottom lip. She was trembling but it wasn't from nerves or from terror. She was cold. He could see the light blue in her skin and how are arms and legs seemed to move with certain stiffness. What did she expect going out in such flimsy clothing?
Her thighs, knees, and the bottom of her jumper were covered in blood; it was also dried onto her hands. So she was the one to attack that man, but a simple hit to the head wouldn't have caused her to be covered with so much blood. The anger burned inside him at the sight of it. That could have easily been her blood spread across that alley; she could have been the one lying dead on a hospital gurney. He pictures it, the blood and skull matted in her hair, her eyes wide and pale as she lays there dead. He's seen it may times before with many different people, but for some reason because it's her it causes his fists to tighten to stop them trembling.
"That was very foolish." He found himself saying. "Coming back, was very foolish. You do realise that I am going to punish you, do you not?"
She nodded and looked down to her bloodied hands. "I'm sorry." She said quietly and sniffed. "I knew you would come after me anyway."
"So you decided to harm a man then run back here?"
Her head snapped up and her lip trembled as she spoke. "How did you know that?"
"The blood was a slight clue" He almost chuckled as he studied her jumper. "That, and the fact I was just informed of an incident a few streets from here. That was you."
She nodded.
"Why? I do not believe you to be the type of person to attack another for no reason. Did he – attempt to hurt you?" The thought of another man laying their hands on her, hurting her, made the anger flare up even more.
"He was attacking this woman and…I had to do something."
He glanced back to the bottom of her jumper. Scrunched up and heavy with blood. "Then you tried to save him."
"I didn't mean to hit him so hard. I was so angry and, I don't know what happened."
Bane moved forward. His hand came up to gently caress her cheek, and feel exactly how cold she was. Alice didn't flinch or move away. Her eyes met his and she still didn't falter. The green in her eyes seemed darker than ever.
"You are probably expecting me to hit you now, aren't you?"
She nodded and he saw her jaw lock at his words.
"But I think, perhaps, this time I will have to punish you differently. Physical violence doesn't seem to teach you, and this was not merely talking back. You left, even though I gave you specific instruction not to." His hand slid round to the back of neck, his skin shockingly warm against her freezing flesh. "You think you can search through my things, little one? Break into my room and rummage about?"
His free hand forced itself into her jeans pocket and he felt her stiffing as his fingers touched the necklace. "Take things that are no longer yours."
Alice just stared blankly up at him as he pulled it from her pocket and shoved it into his.
"Go and change. Clean yourself."
Alice quickly hurried past him and into the bedroom. She pulled her boots off and undressed. Everything she did was slow and laboured, causing her to wince with each movement. It didn't help that she was cold and shivering but the removal of the damp clothes seemed to help slightly.
Next was the shower. She unwrapped the blood stained bandage from her hand and wrist as she let the hot water pour over her. The swing from before had caused her wrist to swell and turn an ever darker purple. She was starting to worry that she may have seriously damaged it. She washed blood from her arms and hands; there were even patches of it on her legs and stomach from where it had managed to seep through.
Bane's reaction had been more than surprising. She had expected him to beat her within an inch of her life. Hit her and choke her until she couldn't take it. But she was sure that whatever he came up with instead was probably ten times worse.
Drying herself and changing was agonizing. Despite standing under the boiling water for almost half an hour she could still feel the chill that had set in her bones and couldn't seem to shake it off. It took a while but she managed to dry her hair until it was only damp, and then she managed to pull fresh underwear and pyjama bottoms on. Now was the tricky part of getting her top on.
The sound of the door opening caused her to turn her back to it and cover herself with the arm it didn't hurt to move.
"There is no need to cover yourself when you are around me." She heard him say.
"Yes, there is." She replied softly. She so badly wanted to dress but that would mean having to uncover herself.
Bane looked Alice over, her skin now red and flushed from the hot shower. She had obviously scrubbed herself raw, trying to remove the lingering feel of blood from her skin. He allowed his eyes to work over the curve in her back, her waist. He had never found his thoughts drifting to what she would look like nude, that hadn't been why he brought her here, but he found himself fighting back the desire he had to reach out and touch her, feel her smooth skin against his calloused fingers.
His forced his thoughts back to the matter at hand. "Are you embarrassed of your body, little one?"
"No." She shot back coldly even if it was true. "It's just, embarrassing to have someone look at you when – "
"When you're not with someone you plan on being….intimate…with?
She could sense him standing behind her now. He then placed a firm hand on her shoulder allowing it to linger before forcing her to turn to him. He took the t-shirt from her. "If I am to help you, you will need to uncover yourself."
"I don't need help." She automatically answered.
"Oh, but you do."
He waited. Finally with a small embarrassed groan Alice dropped her arm but she couldn't force herself to look at him. Bane was surprised she had dropped her arm with such little complaint. If she had insisted that she didn't need his help he wouldn't have bothered. Yet here she was, half nude before him, her cheeks flushed red. He watched her as she stood stiff, arms locked at her sides as the embarrassment spread throughout her core. His eyes skimmed over the swell of her breasts, her arms. He may call her girl but she was anything but, and it had been so long since he had set his eyes on a woman's naked flesh. He brought his hand up and skimmed his fingers across her collar bone, the skin soft under his fingers. That's when she stated to shake in fright. He found his fists tighten on the cloth when he finally placed it over her head and helped her to guide her sore arm with gently ease through the sleeve.
Of course men had seen her naked before but this was completely different. She was weak, tired, and vulnerable. Then again she was always vulnerable around him. She didn't like the way he lingered. She could feel his eyes wonder over her body and she hoped that he found her disgusting. When his finger brushed against her skin she could feel the warmth radiate off him, but she just started to feel ill. When she finally did force her eyes to open, she could see his eyes fixed on her body, but there wasn't disgust like she had wanted, there wasn't even lust, just plain curiosity. She was rather glad for it.
"Thank you."
She hated thanking him but knew if she didn't he would say something about it. Bane now sat on the end of the bed, watching her as she picked up the bloodied clothes off the floor.
"I don't suppose if I washed them now I could get the blood out?"
"In my experience blood is not an easy fluid to wash out."
She frowned at the clothes and threw then back into a corner.
"You will need to come here so I can re-wrap your hand, little one."
Alice stood in front of him and held her arm out. This time he was harsher, wrapping her wrist even tighter and not loosening his grip when she hissed in pain.
"You were right." She blurted out.
He didn't speak for a moment, only continued to wrap the bandage as tightly as he could. "I usually am. But perhaps you would like to tell me exactly what I was right about."
"That I wouldn't last five minutes out there."
"You seemed to protect yourself tonight."
She laughed slightly and shook her head. "Because I caught him off guard. But while I was sitting there, trying to stop him from bleeding to death, I started to think….why? His death would mean one less scumbag out there, that's all."
"But you continued to help him even after you thought that." He finally said.
"Yes."
"Always the rescuer." He replied coldly and sharply. "When will you learn?"
"I don't know."
He raised an eyebrow and she looked up at him with watery eyes. "What will you do? To me?"
Bane looked at her for a long time, but said nothing. Alice could only feel stupid for thinking he would actually tell her. He finally released her hand and she studied the clean bandage on her arm. Alice noticed she was still shivering slightly. The goosebumps were apparent on her skin and she could feel her muscles tighten and shake of their own accord. Bane stood and his hand touched her forehead, his fingers still too warm against her skin. "You will need to get into bed little one. You were out in the cold for far too long. You didn't dress appropriately."
She could sense the anger in his tone, but she wasn't sure if it was directed at her for leaving or just not dressing fittingly for the cold conditions. "I wasn't exactly planning on it."
With another angry look from him she climbed into bed, burying herself deep under the cool covers. He switches the light off for her but he doesn't leave, instead she feels the bed dip at the bottom as he sits back down and she can hear his soft breathing as it comes out low from his mask.
As soon as her head hit the mattress she found her eyes slowly closing and everything becoming heavier. Her mind wouldn't allow her to fall into an easy sleep, scenarios played through her mind of what he could do, what he would probably do, but the exhaustion she feels is too great and soon it forces her to fall into a deep sleep.
Bane doesn't move, surveying her as her breathing starts to come out in deep and even strokes.
Not even the blood that she had spilled tonight could penetrate that innocence, that soft side she had for humanity. She had saved that man not because she felt guilty but because she thought it was the right thing to do. She had saved Bane, a monster in her eyes; because she thought it was the right thing to do. Even after the hits, the violence, she still tended to him when need be with her gently touches and small caresses.
He should have killed her. He wanted to. When he saw the open window he had wanted to hunt her down, snap her pretty little neck in two and watch the light leave her eyes. He had wanted to punish her for leaving, for going out there and getting herself into trouble. But she had come back. She stood in that hall covered in blood and shaking from the cold, even daring to meet his gaze, and as angry as he was, he was also impressed.
She was affecting him; he hadn't expected that at all.
He heard the knock on the front door. With a glance back to her he stood and left, making sure the bedroom door was closed behind him. Basard stood outside the front door, file in hand, and smirk on his face. "I have the files
from Arkham you wanted. I also found a little extra." His eyes shot to the bedroom door. "Her files."
Bane took the files and closed the door before setting down on the couch, discarding her file and opening the other. He ignored the front pages, skipping straight to the list of slayings, his eyes scanned over the list of woman until it landed on the one he was searching for.
Amanda Kendrew.
