Chapter 10: Revealing Secrets

Bruce watched out the tall windows as he saw tourists walk around taking pictures of all the glorious high tech buildings in Hong Kong. He covered his watchful eyes with designer sunglasses and began to take pictures, it was best to avoid suspicion and get this done so he can surprise Violet in Paris. He couldn't concentrate at all, how can someone so cold be her father, someone who tried to destroy her home? But then again Heri Ducard wasn't all bad, he was lured into it. How was Bruce going to tell Violet that he saw her father die, much the less fight him that night.

He was lost in thought until a vibration came from his pocket. Bruce took out the phone and was not surprised it was Alfred.

"The man in Arizona agreed to speed up getting the plane ready for tonight...of course for a more generous compensation."

"They all have a price. Fox is already here in Hong Kong, so Gordon can expect Lau late tomorrow morning." Bruce was happy to know that he wouldn't have to stay here for long. "Is Vi okay?" Bruce had managed to have Alfred put in a track chip on her purse strap to know her exact location in Paris. He just wanted to keep her safe.

"You know she wouldn't be too happy to know that you are watching her closely and I mean very closely." Alfred chuckled, thinking of Violet's reaction. "She is well, getting lost in the streets of designer couture."

"It's the only way I can keep her safe while I am here." Bruce remarked.

"Another way to keep her safe is to tell her the truth about Ducard, she will get her hopes up that he might still be alive." Alfred was worried about Violet finding out that her father is actually dead.

"That is why I will get this done tonight. I don't know how I am going to tell her but I will. I don't want her to get hurt anymore." Along with Alfred, Bruce was worried to. He wanted to be with her also. But the reaction to the truth might not be very loving.

"Well, at least she is safe from the danger here in Gotham. Tell her I said hello."

"I will." Bruce smirked and hung up the phone. He kept walking and stopped half way up a crowded commuter escalator. He took his camera and lined up the shot like any tourist. But his mind was not on the task at hand. He only thought of one thing...Violet.


I sat on a settee in the middle of my french apartment living room and stared at the piece of paper that had the address of my parent's home. I ran my fingers across the smooth hand writing of Audrina. Shopping certainly didn't take my mind off what I had come to do. I just cannot bring myself to that place, but I wanted answers. What if I didn't like the answers? Well, I would just have to live with it. I can't go back and change history, I can only focus on the future and make sure I don't go insane if I ever lose Bruce, but I doubt it. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I needed to go to that place, even if I wouldn't like the answers. I needed to know the secrets of that home. A home that I would have been raised in.

Finally, I gathered the courage to get up and go.

I drove for about two hours, I didn't want to get there but I did. I practically dragged myself to it. I turned off the engine and stepped out of the car. The house was exactly how I had pictured it. A small but moderate white house. The fence was still intact but was covered with vines and all kinds of blooming flowers. The shutters on the windows were a dark blue, along with the front door. It was so empty and dark that I was afraid to go in. I decided to take the next step and go into the house. I pushed the small iron gate open and walked up the dirt pathway leading up to the front door. I turned the knob but it was locked. I remembered that I had rummaged through a few things I kept of my mother and I had come a across a bronze key. I always wondered what it was for. I took out the key from my purse and slipped it into the whole. Perfect fit.

The door creaked a bit, but it wasn't too loud. I covered my mouth as I began to cough from all the dust in this place. Aside from all the dust and spider webs, it was beautiful. I was amazed to see a small chandelier hang above me, there were golden mirrors, paintings of all kinds of landscapes, crystal vases with dead brittle red roses around the living room and salon. The dining room held a large table with ten wooden silk chairs, the beige on the chairs were hard to see because of how old it was. I went into the living room to see a grand piano by the large window. I quickly went over to it and ran my slender fingers across the keys. The piano needed some serious tuning.

I decided to go up the small staircase and see the rooms upstairs. The rooms were just as elegant as downstairs. I only imagined what it would be like living here, it would have been lovely. I would have lived in a home where there would have been so much warmth and love. But no, instead I lived in a two story mansion that was cold and clamy and that was filled with so much hate and agony. I stepped into the master bedroom, which of course was my parents room. The canopy bed was huge, covered in silk red and cream sheets that were covered in dust. The dressers were filled with all kinds of antique knik knacks, the vanity by the window had a silver jewelry box, a music box, a gold brush and perfume bottles that were still filled with gold liquid. I spotted the double doors near the vanity and thought it would be the closet but I was wrong.

It was a nursery.

Tears welled up in my eyes as I saw a bassinet by the small square window that was embellished with soft pink curtains. Little paintings of the gardens of Versailles were hung on the wall. A beige dresser had blankets folded neatly along with baby clothes and small silk slippers. Dolls were placed neatly on a shelf along with all kinds of fairy tale books. Along with the other knick knacks there were baby sea shells scattered on the other shelves. In the center of the room was a small table with a china tea set. They were neatly placed and in the order they should be. In the middle of the table was a beige envelope, that read, To my little angel.

I took the envelope into my hands and sat down on the rocking chair. I opened it with haste as my breathing was becoming gasps.

My dear angel,

If you are reading this letter is because you have found out the truth. And to add more to that truth...I love you. I can already imagine how beautiful you must be, just like her, my Viviana. You must be wondering how I know about you. To add more to my pain I found out the hard way, by an old friend I had in Gotham, he said he saw your mother in the park cradling a small little girl about the age of three. He described you to me, a small girl with a chisled pale face that had rosy cheeks, with plump pink lips and long black curled hair, with eyes as blue as the sea, just like your mamma. I want you to know that you and your mamma are my everything, my two angels that I would never forget. I imagine you must be a young woman already, in love and possibly married. I want you to know that love is a strong bond and that no one, no matter how great the enemy, it can never destroy that bond. Love is a powerful thing that can unite two people and keep them in unity. That is why after all this time I am still in love with your mamma, it would be blasphemy if I ever stopped. I hope that your life is full of happiness and not agony like ours, I hope that whoever the man is that you love fills you with great joy and passion. And if the time ever comes that you must fight for your love then do it, do it with all the strength you can muster and never give up. Because that was my mistake, I gave up and now I lost you and your mamma. Don't repeat my mistakes, that is my fatherly advice to you.

With love,

papa


I have read my father's letter about a million times over the next few days. It only gave me two answers, that he knew about me and loved me. That was a relief to know. I ran my hand across my neckline to feel the silver chain on me, I picked up the small dangling sterling silver heart. It was also enclosed in the envelope, it belonged to my mother apparently. The night they separated her from him she gave it to him. And now he passed it along to me. I turned the heart around to see an engraving on it. It was written in french...Mon Ange. My Angel.

A knock on the door made me drop the heart and it fell back into place on my neck. I wiped my eyes, which were already red. I smoothed out my dress and wrapped my cashmere sweater tightly around me. A wave of relief flowed through out my body when I saw Bruce standing there. I threw myself at him and hugged him tightly as a fresh set of tears ran down my cheeks.

"Shh, its alright, I'm here." He kissed the top of my head. We stayed in each other's arms for about ten minutes until I was willing to let him go. I was limp in his arms so he picked me up and carried me over to the chair.

"I'm sorry for breaking down like that." I wiped my tears clean with a tissue.

"No, its alright. I had a feeling you were going to need me, that's why I was in hurry to finish what I had to do." Bruce took my hand and kissed it.

"Did everything turn out ok? Did you take Lau back to Gotham and then came all the way over here." I was touched that he did this for me.

"Yea, is that a problem?" He looked at me as if he did something wrong.

I smiled for the first time in days. "No, no of course. On the contrary I am so glad to see you and to know that everything went okay." I ran my hand along his handsome face.

"Did you find the house?"

"I did, and I got a few answers. My father left me this letter." I showed Bruce the letter, he took it out of my hands and examined it. "And this." I took off the necklace and placed it in his hand. "It was my mother's." He examined both things and was in deep thought, as if he was debating something. Did he know something I didn't know? "Bruce, are you alright? Something is bothering you, babe, tell me."

He stood and looked out the windows into the glittering city of Paris. "I have something to tell you, but I need you to hear me out first."

"Of course." I was frightened at the way he looked at me. His eyes grew dark and were filled with sorrow.

"Do you remember that I never quite exactly told you where I went after I left Gotham after the hearing?" I nodded and he took a deep breath. "I wanted to feel the adrenaline of being a criminal, to for once be completely different from what people see me as. So I decided to throw myself in the criminal world and explore it, and unfortunately I was caught along with a few others. The day before I was released from prison, your father met up with me, well, came to me with a proposition to join the league of shadows. He left me to think about it but the next day I decided to go to him and see what it was all about and to my surprise your father helped me cope with my fear and to embrace it. In a way he inspired me. The day I was going to officially join the league they were going to make me execute a common criminal, to prove myself to them. I refused. I managed to cause a fire in order to get away, and your father was in my plan. I caused a fire, the rest died but the only man that mattered to save was Henri. After that I left him in a near by village to be taken care of. That's when I went back to Gotham after seven years." Bruce did not make eye contact with me through out his story. I was sort of jealous that he knew my father and I didn't.

"Did you ever see him again before we met up again?" I was curious to know more about my father, well from another person's perspective.

"Yea, he showed up at Wayne manor with intentions to destroy Gotham with a toxin. He almost achieved it but I stopped him. He also knew I was Batman. He was planning to disperse the toxin using the water supply and the train. The train was headed for Wayne tower but I fought him. When I had him, he thought I was going to kill him; I remember what he said to me...'you finally learned to do what is necessary.' But I couldn't kill him. So instead I didn't save him."

Those words hit me hard against the chest. My father was dead and I never got the chance to see him, much less speak to him. I felt like the walls in the room were closing in on me. I wanted to scream! No, I wanted to hit something. I felt my knees buckle and I fell to the floor sobbing into my hands. Bruce quickly rushed to my side and took me into his arms. I looked up at him.

"Bruce, I can't be angry at you because you did what you had to do, to save the lives of innocent people. Second, you had no idea Henri Ducard was my father, if I would have been with you back then I probably wouldn't have known. Batman did what was necessary. My father made his choices and he faced the consequences. I know my father loved me even though he didn't even know me." Bruce wiped away my tears and kissed me with passion that came out of no where. And like always I fell into him.

He suddenly pushed away. "Thank you. I am sure if he and your mother were never separated he would have been the man he used to be, that man who wrote that letter and not the cold blooded man he was turned into."

"I know, which makes it so hard to believe that he was ever that cold blooded man."

For the rest of the night we remained in each other's arms. I needed someone to comfort me and I was glad that it was Bruce. I really could not imagine my life without him. And in a way I understood my parent's love for each other and how they both decided to deal with their separation. My mother with her drinking and my father becoming a cold blooded man and punishing the innocent. Somehow I knew history was repeating itself, but we both were going to make sure that we were not going to be destroyed.


Once back in Gotham I was in a flutter with Alfred supervising party arrangements. I had decided to push back everything about my parents into the back of my mind. Even though I really wasn't happy with the results, I had answers. Whatever my parents became after they were separated I still loved them and I knew they loved me. I was content at least to know that.

I was sitting in the living room going over the guest list and making sure the champagne and other things would arrive on time tonight. I had two asistenents behind me figuring out where the lights and cocktail tables will go. I turned as I heard Bruce coming down the stairs.

"How's it going?" He asked me.

I smirked. "I think it will be a great success, and we owe it all to you because you came up with the idea." Bruce winked at me and started talking to Alfred. I resumed my planning. The television was on but I wasn't paying attention. There was just so much to do, until...

I look up at the television and see a Batman hanging as from a news camera, framed by a graphic that read "Batman Dead?" The image cut to the news anchor man, Mike Engel.

"...Police released video footage found concealed on the body. Sensitive viewers be ware: it is disturbing."

The image suddenly cuts to a blindfolded man, wearing a makeshift Batman costume, his face was severely bruised and bloody. Poor man. He seemed to be in a bright fluorescent -lit room.

There was a creepy voice in the background. "Tell them your name."

The man was so weak he could barely speak. "Brian Douglas."

"Are you the real Batman?"

"No."

I cringed as I heard that creepy voice snicker. "Why do you dress up like him?"

Suddenly Brian's voice turned defensive. "He's a symbol...that we don't have to be afraid of scum like you."

"But you do, Brian. You really do. You think the Batman's helped Gotham?"

Brian nodded uncertainly.

"Look at me." Brian looked down. "Look at me !!" I dropped my cup of tea on the floor. Bruce and Alfred came to my side but there eyes were still glued to the screen.

Finally Brian looked up, but in one quick move the camera swung into the face of the Joker, that grotesque face that was covered in chalk white make up, there was res smears of lipstick on his scars. "This is how crazy Batman's made Gotham. You want order in Gotham? Batman has to go. So..." Joker leaned in closer to the camera. "Batman must take off his mask, and turn himself in. Every day he doesn't... people will die. Starting tonight. I'm a man of my word."

The tape cut into static. My hands were trembling, my whole body was trembling. Bruce took my hand and held it. Alfred placed his hand on my shoulder to reassure me but at this point nothing could. Now the question was will he strike here tonight?


A/N: Hey everyone!! Well since my Internet is not working yet, don't worry we are in the process of fixing it. Hopefully by next week it will be working. So I hope you like that I put two chapters up!! And you all know what is coming up...muahahahaha!! Anywho thanks to all who reviewed, I luv you all!! Keep doing it. I rewarded you with two chappies. Glad you all love this!! :)) Michelle

Oh btw you guys can thank my best friend, Karina for these two updates, she let me use her comp for this. :))