Eighteen Years Ago…

Rachel walked the halls of Wayne Manor listlessly only wearing her flimsy nightgown and silk robe. The place was shrouded in darkness holding in the chill of an autumn night. She would have donned something sturdier but she figured Alfred would have gone to bed hours before. Now it was only her and the moon strolling the night.

The old place felt empty since Bruce had decided for the third time that week to go missing. As hard as she tried she could no longer hold the thought that he was having an affair at bay. They may have only been married for six months but Rachel knew the signs of infidelity. He had become distracted and made excuses to stay out at all hours of the night. Every time he made the excuse that he had to work late, Rachel felt her heart break a little more.

The doubt that had manifested in her chest, squeezing off her air supply, had finally led her to do the unthinkable. She was going to invade his private office. He had never specifically said she couldn't go in but it had been implied. The door was always locked and she had never been given a key.

Standing outside the door she glanced in either direction hoping that she wouldn't be caught on her little adventure. The only problem was getting in. It would be suspicious if the doorknob had been messed with but there had been no evidence of a break in anywhere else. Rachel grabbed the brushed nickel antique knob and hoped that it would turn on it's own.

Nothing.

Not being deterred from her mission, she reached up over the door feeling the trim for a hidden key. Mostly her fingers registered the dust balls their housekeeper had missed when her hand grazed across something cold. She wrapped her fingers around it and pulled it down.

Bingo!

The door gave way to an average-sized room. It had built-ins on three walls that housed a library's worth of books. In the center was a massive mahogany desk that had carvings all around. It looked as if it had been in the family for years. On top of it stood a newer computer and a desk calendar that had marking all over it. According to the paper he would be out of town for a few days the following week. She wondered why he hadn't told her. Was he meeting this mystery girl?

She wasn't sure where she should start her search or what she was looking for but she believed his desktop would be the perfect place. If he were sending love letters through his email she would find it.

The screen took a whole minute to boot up and like all good CEO's he had it password encrypted. She hesitated for a moment but typed her name in with the computer telling her that it was incorrect. Of course he wouldn't have her name as the password. It would have been too easy to hack by any corporate spy's. She tried a few words that popped right into her head but each came up negative.

"Ok Bruce. What is your password," she spoke aloud to herself. She had used every possible thing she could think of but nothing had worked.

Rachel leaned back heavily in the seat placing her arms on the side of the computer chair. There wasn't much she could do if she couldn't get into his files. She glanced around the room trying to think of anything when she noticed a sign above the door. It said ma petite fleur; which meant my little flower. He had called her that many times and she figured it was worth a try.

This time when she entered it his screen opened up to his desktop. His background was one of the photos from their wedding causing Rachel to swallow down the guilt that had built in her throat. Wasn't she being as sneaky as he was?

"What are you doing in here," a voice boomed from the doorway.

Rachel yelped turning to find her husband standing in the doorway. His arms were crossed over his chest and a scowl was plastered on his face.

"Did you find anything interesting," he asked standing as still as granite. His cheek clenched making the bone stand out. She had never seen him so angry and it shook her to the core.

"I should ask you the same question," she said hearing a slight tremble in her voice. "Been working late again?"

"I had somewhere I had to be. We can talk about it in the morning. Let's go to bed," he turned to leave and she followed behind him reluctantly. She had to know. There was no way she could live in silence any longer.

"Who is she," she said to his retreating back. He paused and spun on his heel a look of confusion played across his face.

"I don't understand."

"You're gone most nights telling me that you have to work late. I'm not stupid so tell me who it is."

Bruce walked back to her placing his hands on her arms. "You think I'm cheating on you?"

"What am I supposed to think? You are sneaking out of bed at night." Rachel took a steadying breath. It hurt to think of her Bruce with anyone else. "If you are done with me tell me now Bruce… We're having a baby."

Bruce's jaw dropped but was quickly replaced by a brilliant smile. "Really?" Rachel nodded just before Bruce swept her up in his arms. "That's great!"

For the time being she decided that she would let his late night absences rest. It was obvious how happy he was about the baby and she wasn't going to take that away from him. Hopefully with time she could coax him into sticking around. Whatever was out there that was stealing his attention would not break her family up.

Bruce pulled up outside the arcade and mini golf building and glanced over at his daughter who was diligently staring out the window. From the angle she looked exactly like Rachel when she was Savannah's age. Her cute upturned nose and pouty lips made Bruce reminisce about days past.

He could remember driving Rachel back to Wayne Manor after Greg Moran had broken up with her. They had parked under the tree where he had pulled her into his lap and let her cry on his shoulder. High school love was always more dramatic than they needed to be. When she had finished sobbing Bruce couldn't help but drop his lips to hers and kiss her till they were both breathing hard. "He doesn't deserve you," he had whispered. Rachel had pushed herself back into her seat and gazed out the window exactly like Savannah.

"Really dad? The arcade stopped being cool when I turned twelve about the time I started noticing boys." Savannah turned to him with an expression on her face that clearly told him how uncool he was. It was funny but he figured laughing at her would not help his cause. This was the first weekend he had her on time that was officially Rachel's. By Savannah's attitude he realized that she wasn't happy with the change. She had spent most of her teen years pretending he didn't exist.

"Yes, really. Humor me. I'm an old man." Bruce stepped out of his BMW glad to hear Savannah's door close right behind his. He knew that if she wanted to cause a scene she could. His daughter was a grade "A" drama queen when she wanted to be. The weird part was that she was only like that with him. Normally she was a good, down to earth, responsible kid. Rachel told him she might even be salutatorian depending on where her grades fell in the last two quarters.

"You're going to make me do this," she asked placing her hands on her hips and leaning forward like she was chastising a child.

"Yup and while we do I will be nonchalantly throwing in questions about the boy I found you sleeping on the couch with this morning." Bruce had walked into his apartment that morning feeling lighter than usual when he had found his daughter cuddled up to a guy she later told him was Jake.

"I told you earlier nothing happened. We left Desiree's party early and fell asleep while we were watching a movie."

Although he had wanted to rough the boy up, Bruce had decided to let it go hinting that Jake should get lost. So Savannah and him had spent the morning having breakfast in uncomfortable silence.

"Is this the new guy in your life," Bruce placed the money for a game of mini golf to the clerk who passed them two clubs and colored balls. One of them was pink and the other blue.

Savannah snatched the pink one tossing it up in the air and catching it again. "No. He is just a friend. Desiree's party was couples only and since I was pretty much the only one in our group of friends who didn't have a date he offered to take me. He didn't want me to feel left out."

"That was nice of him. What did Drew think about you going with Jake?"

They strolled up to hole number one, which was the easiest. It was straight with a little curve at the end but nothing too hard. Savannah dropped her ball on the tee and settled into her swing. With a little push she got the ball rolling till the ball stopped just on the lip of the hole. "Looks like you are going down."

Bruce adopted the swagger he used for his more "playboy" moments dropping the ball on the tee. He took a swing and watched the ball go sailing into the hole. "You spoke up too soon. Now answer the question."

Savannah shrugged," I'm sure he wasn't happy. Jake is Drew's best friend."

By the time they had reached the final hole Bruce had learned more about Jake and Savannah seemed to be relaxed. It wasn't often that she dropped her guard around him.

"You know your mom likes mini golf. I hired a company for her sixteenth birthday to install a course in the backyard at Wayne Manor. The look on her face when I showed it to her was priceless."

Savannah dropped her pink ball on the last tee and set up for her final hit. "Did you ever love my mom?"

Bruce watched her swing knowing right away that she was going to get a hole-in-one. "Of course I did. I still do."

"Then why didn't you ever marry her," Savannah asked looking mighty pleased with herself. That had been the first hole-in-one she had gotten the whole game where Bruce had three.

"I did. We were married for three good years."

Savannah looked shocked by the revelation. "Why didn't she ever tell me?"

"Did you ever ask?" He covered his eyes from the sun beating overheard.

"Well…no. I just assumed that if you had there would be pictures or something to link the two of you together. Do you have any wedding pictures?"

Bruce played through the last hole and turned them both toward the arcade. It was warm out making him feel parched. "Yeah somewhere. I could try and find them for you."

"Yeah. That would be cool. I bet mom looks great in a wedding dress. Maybe I will get to see her in one. I think Harvey wants to ask mom to marry him."

Bruce felt the familiar sinking feeling in his stomach. He had known the day would come when she would be whisked away by another man but the knowledge did little to block the pain. After all the years he still considered her to be his.

"He'll be a lucky man."

"Yeah. Mom is the greatest."

Bruce had to agree.

Hello again readers! Hope you enjoyed this new installment. Please don't forget to leave a review!