So... nothing much to say, haha. Thank you to the one review! You know, That really motivated me.

So, I realized that I wasn't really helping with the whole time line thing… yeah… so, I'm going to start the chapters from now on with what day it is since The Joker's first attack/ escape. That's day one obviously.

So, reviews? Those are nice, haha.

Tenth Day

"Alyss… Aaalyss…" Someone was nudging her gently, and Alyss turned her head to the other side, her body scooting away. It was then to her groggy surprise that she felt herself falling and her eyes popped open in pain as she hit the cold tile of the kitchen floor. There was the sound of metal grating against rock, and someone was grabbing her arm, their voice concerned but obviously amused as they asked, "Are you alright?"

"I think so…" Alyss warbled, her voice thick with fatigue. She looked to her side to see a very suave looking Bruce Wayne holding her arm as he looked at her face, his brow furrowed.

"You think so?" He asked, skeptical. He raised an eyebrow as she nodded, so to prove him wrong, Alyss stood up, her face set in stone. Her butt ached something fierce, and her head throbbed, causing her to begin to fall back against her will. Bruce caught her by the shoulder, and held her up, laughing smugly.

"What were you doing asleep in my kitchen?" He asked as he settled her on her chair. Turning around, he went over to the counter to show her a box of snickers. "Late night eating?"

"You force me to stay in your house; I can sleep in whichever room I want to." Alyss retorted tiredly, half forgetting to be polite. She ran a hand through her hair, tugging at the dark blond tangles. Bruce looked back at her with a smirk, something glinting in his eyes.

"Oh, every room? And out of all the rooms to sleep in, you choose the one with cold stone floors and a hard fall when you wake up?" Bruce grabbed a cup of coffee, courtesy of Alfred, and surveyed her as he leaned against the counter behind him.

"Well, the bed is too nice. I'm used to cheap, hard beds." Alyss leaned foreword, her face close to the island top. "This is comfy to me."

"The living room has that kind of floor. Why not sleep there? Or the garage… that is certainly hard floored enough. The bathroom has a marble tub… much more comfortable." Bruce leaned forward, a smirk playing across his face. Truth be told, he didn't usually banter with people he was trying to protect, but she wasn't exactly the normal damsel in distress. He found himself feeling an attraction to her, despite the rumpled hair and tired eyes.

"If you're going to offer all of these suggestions, than pray tell me where you would want me to sleep?" Alyss locked eyes with him, her face unreadable. Bruce had to laugh. Either she didn't know the innuendo she was making, or she was offering that sort of thing.

"Do you really want to know?" He breathed, his eyes scorching. Alyss didn't know why she was still talking, she needed to stop. He wasn't the type of guy you just flirted with; that named you one of his trashy girls.

"You seem to have the best advice, or so you claim." She stopped playing with her hair to mess sub-consciously with her necklace. Bruce grinned inwardly at the way that she couldn't stay still.

"Well, I find I can be very… persuasive." Bruce felt himself becoming the man he was used to being; the mysterious, flirtatious man of every girl's dreams.

"I would love to see you try." She replied, half glaring, half smug.

"You're in my penthouse, aren't you?" Alyss wanted to smack something; he was right!

"Against my will!"

"No one is asking you to stay."

"No one is telling me to leave."

"Then why are you here?"

"…" Alyss didn't exactly know why she stayed. She racked her brains for something that kept her lodged in the nice house, but the only thing she felt there was safety. It was high tech enough that there would be surveillance and the people were on constant watch. She would put up with a spoiled rich boy for protection.

"No answer?" Bruce gave a slightly lopsided smirk that seemed to be the most natural of all of his smiles. "I guess I win then."

"Am I interrupting something?" Alyss looked to see Drake standing in the kitchen, his face polite but his eyes narrowed. Alyss turned back to see that in the middle of their bantering, they had moved towards each other and their faces were merely inches apart, the only thing separating them being the island in the kitchen. Alyss blushed a furious red and moved away, her face scorching. Bruce moved back slowly, a smirk dominating his face. He raised an eyebrow to the cop before taking a drink of his coffee and walking towards the door to leave for work. Alyss was clutching her necklace again, the metal her safety float amongst the feeling of drowning in embarrassment.

"Oh, and Alyss," Bruce called, stopping her rampant train of thought. Glancing back behind her, Alyss could still see his cocky grin. "I was thinking more along the lines of my room."

Alyss buried her head in her arms in mortification.

"I'm telling you, it was mortifying!" Alyss smacked the steering wheel of her car in frustration, her face still slightly red. To her left sat her best friend, Sariah, and behind her sat her friend's sister, Bekka. With the permission of a very hesitant Alfred, Alyss had left the penthouse, needing room to breathe. For some reason, the house that could fit twelve of her apartments, easily, wasn't enough space to breathe.

"Girl… you're in the house of a billionaire playboy, you have a kind of cute policeman playing guardian, both seem interested, and you're complaining?" Sariah smiled and tilted her sunglasses down to stare at her friend. "I think you're on something. Do the rich also enjoy petty drugs?" Sariah was a dark haired, half Asian, half American girl with tan skin, long black hair, and dark eyes. She was tall, flirty, and fun, and had many boys wrapped around her finger. She was also too slow with logic to realize it.

"That's why I'm complaining! Drake is cool, and now he thinks I'm messing around with Mr. Wayne! Mr. Wayne now thinks I'm interested, and is going to treat me like every other bimbo that he's ever been interested in. Apparently, The Joker guy is after me, and I'm on the top of his list!" Alyss felt her friend shaking with laughter, and she elbowed her in the ribs, trying to reel in her hysteria. She couldn't lose it now.

"Well… Mrs. Bond… isn't your life quite the adventure. Want to trade?" Sariah joked, her eyes sparkling with a kind humor. Alyss groaned as they pulled into the mall parking lot, and as she laid her head down, she almost hit a truck as the car ran through the stop sign.

"WHOA! Alyss… maybe you should keep your eyes on the road. This calls for drastic measure. You have to get this off of your mind. What were they thinking, locking you up?" Sariah laughed as they parked and began the long walk through the parking lot to the mall entrance. "Bekka, make a list of things we need to do to help Alyss get her mind off of this." Bekka smiled shyly and instantly began writing down some things on a notepad she always had. Bekka was the quieter of the two, and her looks were more subtle. She dressed for a stylish comfort, whereas Sariah dressed for style. Bekka liked classical music, Sariah liked bars and partying. They were still crazily close though.

"I'm just running on drive and instinct." Alyss mumbled as she allowed herself to be drug into the air conditioned building. Sariah nodded understandably, her face set in a determined line.

"Don't worry chica. I've got you covered." Sariah hugged her friend, suddenly feeling a lot of pity for Alyss. "You have been through too much for me to quit on you now."

"So… what do you think?" Alyss laughed as they three walked out of the mall, their faces alight with mirth.

"He was cute. But he was more interested in Bekka! Honestly, we're going to hook you up with him, Bekka." Sariah gushed, looking over at her sister, a plan already forming.

"What about Drake? He was there all the time. You should try for him, Sariah." Alyss pressed the thought, smiling at the comical look of horror.

"Me? Please. He was staring at you the whole time."

"Because it's his job to guard me." Alyss felt suddenly a little awkward, but she suppressed it. They had done too much for her to simply succumb to the dread deep down.

"Well… he was still staring." Sariah waved a hand impatiently away, but as she did so, she dropped her bags, the clothes and shoes spilling out. As Alyss and her stopped to pick everything up, Bekka took Alyss's things and continued to the car, her kindness touching. Bekka never had much to say, but she was always there to help.

"I'm such a klutz!" Sariah joked, her laughter echoing throughout the parking lot. It was fairly empty; most people were in the busier part of town, working. Bekka was already in the car as they stood up, laughing.

"Your sister could be a track runner!" Alyss exclaimed. The car was pretty far out from where they stood.

"Yeah, she's a fast walker. I love her to death." Sariah gushed.

"She's sweet. Hey, what's-" Alyss's question was interrupted as they were blown backwards with a rush of heat as Alyss's car exploded in a rush of flame and hot metal. Alyss landed in a heap on the pavement, pain lancing up her back as she looked up to a sky of heat waves. There was a loud roaring noise, and the scream of metal burning hurt her ears. It hurt to breathe, let alone move, but adrenaline caused her to lurch to her knees, her eyes watering as the fire from the car soaked up all of the moisture in the air.

Alyss looked around, panic clear on her face as looked for her friends. She saw Sariah had landed on a car, her arm bent funny as she struggled to her feet. Her face was twisted in horror as she stared at the burning heap.

"BEKKA!" Sariah screamed, and almost in synch, the two took off running towards the flames. The heat intensified, but shock and worry made it seem a petty thought to Alyss as she rushed to her friend. Sariah seemed to not notice her arm dangling uselessly at her side as she picked up speed. As they drew closer though, Alyss felt herself being jerked back by someone. She struggled against the person, and she looked to see Sariah fighting and shrieking as she tried to get to her sister. Neither girl could calm down enough to see Drake pulling them away from the growing flame, his yells drowned out by the roar of the flame.

With a grunt of effort, Drake managed to drag them away from the danger, their attempts seemingly nothing to him. He pulled them against his chest, his arms wrapped around them to prevent them from escaping. As they reached the sidewalk, he managed to get a call in to the fire department and the police department, still holding onto the both of them. Alyss had stopped struggling, her face twisted in shock as she stared at the flames. Sariah was fighting with all of her strength though, her eyes wide with fear and desperation. She was yelling and crying, her face streaked with tears, and Alyss started crying too, pain both emotional and physical.

Drake pulled them to the curb and they both crumpled, Alyss clinging to her friend as Sariah sobbed. Drake was talking into his phone, his yells indistinct to the roaring in Alyss's ears.

"IT'S… YES… I-I… THE FIRE… SIR… OK" His voice came in and out, and Alyss had to focus on holding her friend, tears falling from her face in a rush.

The medic van arrived in no time, and Sariah was quickly taken away to have her obviously broken arm splinted. She was barely manageable, from what Alyss could see, it took four people to get her into the van; all the while she struggled as she screamed her sister's name. Alyss was still on the curb, her face red from crying, her body shaking from shock. No one but Drake and Gordan paid any attention to her, both of them unsure of what to say. Alyss stood up suddenly, her eyes watering as she looked at the firemen taking care of her car, the smoke rushing up, the remnants of the vehicle telling her that there was no chance Bekka survived. She took a step towards the vehicle, tears falling again, but Drake had his arms instantly around her, holding her as she broke down in more sobs as the weight of everything from the past two weeks raining down on her.

"Alyss… it'll be ok. It'll be ok, I promise." Drake whispered, consoling her desperately. Alyss let him hold onto her as she shook, needing someone to hold her as she cried. It seemed like forever until she was lead away into the medic van to be checked out. Gordan and Drake rode in the back with her, guns drawn as they wheeled away. Someone had done a bomb check before they had left.

"Alyss…" Commissioner Gordan began to talk, but he stopped, unsure of how to proceed.

"I shouldn't have left the penthouse." Alyss whispered softly, her voice clogged from crying. As the medics dealt with the cuts and open wounds, they worked silently and quickly, wary of another person who they would have to restrain.

"Alyss, that wasn't your fault." Gordan said loudly, making her jump. He leaned foreword, his eyes earnest as he stared into hers. "You did nothing wrong."

"If I had just stayed where I was supposed to-"

"Then who knows? Maybe he would have found you there too."

"We're lucky it was just one of you." One of the medics unthinkingly muttered. Alyss snapped, springing from her seat so fast no one had time to pin her down.

"DON'T YOU DARE!" She yelled, her eyes blazing. "Don't you DARE say that! I'm leaving a trail of death behind me, and all you can think of is that only one died this time!?" She raised an arm to slap the other woman in question, but Gordan grabbed her hand in the nick of time.

"Alyss, slapping her won't help. True, she needs to hold her tongue." Gordan silenced the suddenly sheepish medic with a look. "But violence only causes more violence. Don't let yourself play his game. We don't know why he's after you, but we'll stop this before it gets too big. I promise you, her death will not be in vain."

Alyss sunk back onto the chair, guilt gnawing on her very being.

Yay action! I had to add a bit, I felt like it was getting boring. We all know how The Joker loves his explosives!! Anywho, I know I said that I would reveal Drake's past in this chapter, but I didn't. :( I'm sorry, but I've already got chapter 12 ready, and I know that's the one that reveals it!!

MUAH!

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