"You didn't sleep at all," Adriana said to Bruce in the morning. It was only six in the morning but the early summer sun was beaming.

They were still in bed and he was laying on his back, looking up at the ceiling. His eyes drifted over to her and he gave her a weak smile.

"I'll sleep after this is taken care of," he said.

"Bruce," she whispered and moved over to him, putting one of her legs and both of her arms on his body. "I'm so sorry I didn't tell you. I just...thought I could handle it and that it wasn't a big deal.."

"And now?" he asked.

Now she could see what he saw the previous night. His memories were clear...he could hear the sounds she was making as she writhed in pain. Dreaming of burning alive. Her gift slowly killing her. Gasping for air.

"I...I was wrong," she said.

"How are you feeling now?" he asked and touched her arm.

"I'm okay..I feel normal."

"Okay," Bruce said. "It's alright...this will all be over in two days. Sidi said she's waiting for a shipment..it should be delivered on Saturday. Some herb from Haiti. Has to be fresh."

"Yeah..." Adriana said, seeing Bruce and Sidi's entire conversation from the previous day.

"Are you angry with her?" Bruce asked.

"I am," Adriana said. "But I can understand why she did what she did."

"She loves you. I love you. Arsenio loves you," Bruce said. "We need you alive and well."

"I know," Adriana said.

"It's quite shocking, you've been in my head all this time and I didn't know," Bruce said.

"Since South Africa," she told him.

"Wait.." Bruce said, remembering her behavior and attitude change. "The yacht party."

"Yes," she said.

"Did you see something...unsettling?" he asked. "You seemed disturbed when we left."

"Bruce..." she said, seeing the elephant in the room that he seemed to have forgotten. "I...I saw what you did."

"What?" he asked, genuinely missing the point. She wanted to take the opportunity to change the subject but she found it too difficult to accept that he had put what he had done so far away in the back of his mind that he wasn't even aware of it anymore. "What have I done?"

"The Joker," she said, unable to control herself.

"Right," Bruce said slowly as if recalling a distant memory. "Right."

"Bruce," Adriana said and pushed herself up a bit with her hands on his chest. "How could you...forget something like that?"

"Adriana," Bruce said. "I haven't forgotten. But to be honest..I think it's something we all should forget. It wasn't my proudest moment to have to lock him away, but the city is much safer now because of what I had to do. You made me promise not to kill that monster, and I did what I needed to do."

"What? Are you saying this was my fault?" Adriana asked in disbelief.

"No!" Bruce said. "No one is at fault! There is no fault here...I did what needed to be done."

"Br-.." Adriana started to speak again but she was speechless.

"It was...cruel, harsh, inhumane..." Bruce admitted. "But it was better than some of the things he has done to others. Sweetheart...you are so forgiving and kind...you are perfect. That's why you asked me not to kill him even though he forced you to work for him. Committing crimes. Imagine if you had been caught. You would be in prison right now..your life would have been ruined. But you...asked me to spare his life because you are kind. You are a saint. I spared his life and now he can never hurt anyone else."

Adriana's mind told her, to just shut up. Let it be. Nod and agree. The Joker was safe now and was no longer in the underground prison and that needed to be the end of it. Bruce's mind was at ease believing he was locked away. But she couldn't let it go.

"What if something happened to him down there? What if he's sick?" she asked. "What if he's dying? Or already dead?"

Bruce sighed. "Okay," he said. "Let's see."

"What?" she asked as he began to sit up.

"You can see my thoughts now, you know why," he said. "We're going to check on him."

"No..no wait Bruce-"

"Don't worry, we won't have to see him," Bruce said and began to leave the bed. "You have your gift now. If you're concerned we can check on him."

He was bluffing and he knew such a task was too uncomfortable for her. But she nodded, surprising him.

"Okay," she said. "Let's go."

"You sure?" he asked. Now suddenly he was the one who was uncomfortable. What if she was right? What if something horrible had happened to him?

"Yes."

.

.

.

As Adriana and Bruce walked though the yard of shipping containers, she began to feel like more of a liar. She watched Bruce's back as he walked ahead of her. Finally they were standing by a gate, overrun with weeds. An open, empty, rusted out shipping container beside them. He turned around to face her, a ray of the early morning sun reflecting off of a lock of his dark hair.

"We should be right over him," Bruce said, looking down at the ground.

"Okay," Adriana said.

"So...anything?" Bruce said, concealing his nerves very well.

Adriana looked away from his eyes. "Um..." she said, looking down. "He's...he's fine."

"What?" Bruce asked, visibly surprised. "Is he?"

"Yeah," Adriana said, finding a way to justify her lies. She looked him in the eyes and knew she was telling him the truth. "He's perfectly fine...physically..he's not sick or anything. He has everything he needs."

It was the truth.

"Wow," Bruce said, obviously relived. "Thank you for doing this."

"Yeah...I guess we had to," she said.

"Look," Bruce said, stepping forward and putting both hands on the sides of her shoulders. "I'll...I'll let him out of there one day. One day when...he can't cause any trouble."

"What?" she asked. "And when will that be?"

"Well...obviously when he's very old," Bruce said. "If we're lucky...living on a concrete floor will cripple him eventually."

"Bruce-"

"I'm joking," Bruce said. "He just...needs to learn this lesson. I can't imagine he's happy down there?"

"No..." Adriana said. "He's...he's really not."

"Look..." Bruce said and lowered his hands. "Just...a few more months and I will think about...letting him out."

"You want to let him out?"

"No!" Bruce said. "But you're right. Maybe this is a bit much. I'll have to put something together...more of a normal prison situation. People I can trust to guard him..it won't be easy to set up. Three months minimum."

"Wow.." Adriana said.

"They will go and retrieve him," Bruce said, never wanting to see the Joker again himself. He would have to send people he had confidence in to handle the situation. "Take him to an isolated location. He will at least have limited human interaction and daylight again. But I could not trust Arkham or the prison with him...you understand that?"

"Of course," Adriana said, not knowing how this would play out in three months if Bruce sent someone down there...to find that the Joker was missing. Three months was enough time for her to come up with something...some reason or excuse. Maybe she would tell him that the Joker had died and she had taken care of disposing of the body herself.

"Shall we go?" he asked.

"Yes," she said, wondering why the sunlight in this moment seemed to be touching his skin, hair and eyes in such a perfect way. He was stunning. "I'm glad you reconsidered leaving him down there forever.."

"I suppose I am too," he said. "I just..."

Bruce looked away. She could see his thoughts before he spoke.

"He saw it as...nothing," Bruce said. "No feeling. When he had her killed..."

"Rachel," Adriana said.

Bruce nodded sadly. "I'm sorry that I did this to him, but..." he sighed. "I just.."

"I know," she said. "I know."

"I guess this made me no better than him...doing something like this and then...feeling nothing."

"But you feel now," she said and took his hands. "That means something."

"Right," Bruce said, suddenly appearing strong again, suppressing his emotions about what he had done. "Let's go."

.

.

.

"I'm sure everyone would understand if you were a little late today," Adriana said to Bruce as she held Arsenio with one arm and stirred the baby oatmeal she was making for him with the other hand. "You should take a couple hours and get some sleep."

"It's fine," Bruce said after swallowing espresso. "Have several important meeting today, though I would love to blow them off and stay home with you two."

Arsenio quietly and sleepily reached both arms out to Bruce who immediately took him. As soon as Bruce was holding him, he put his head on Bruce's arm and looked like he was about to go back to sleep.

"Lucky boy," Bruce said. "Can sleep whenever he wants. How I envy you right now, my son."

"Me too," Adriana said and watched the baby drifting off.

"Are you...going to take a nap or anything?" Bruce asked, sounding concerned. All he could see and hear in his mind was her torment during her sleep a few hours earlier. The thought of her taking a nap was terrifying.

"No," she said. "I don't think I'll have time."

"Okay," Bruce said, relaxing. "I should be going..off to the office-"

Bruce paused as Arsenio let out a disapproving noise as if he understood what Bruce was saying. He was comfortable in his arms and wanted Bruce to keep holding him as he slept.

"I know..." Bruce said. "I'm sorry Arsenio."

Adriana laughed gently as she took the baby from him. Bruce kissed her lips and Arsenio's cheek before leaving.

.

.

.

"Heyyy!" Aymara said cheerfully as Adriana arrived at her and Sidi's home. Aymara immediately took Arsenio who was overjoyed every time he saw her. "I got you a present!"

"Hey Aymara," Adriana said. "I just came to talk to Sidi."

"She's upstairs," Aymara said. "Getting ready for a lunch date."

"Okay," Adriana said. "I'll be quick."

"No worries," Aymara said and took Arsenio to the living room where she had an elephant toy on the table. "Look what I got you!"

Adriana went up the stairs and knocked lightly on Sidi's door.

"Yes, girl come in," Sidi said, already knowing who it was.

"Hey...I didn't know you'd be busy...but I wanted to talk to you."

"Mmm," Sidi said and used a tissue to blot her lipstick.

"You look nice," Adriana said.

"Thank you, child," Sidi said. "So, you want to scold me for going to your husband about your troubles?"

"No...no Sidi," Adriana said and looked over Sidi's vanity and thought of Bruce's memories from when she visited his office. "I'm not going to scold you I just...I don't know. I don't know why I'm here actually. I just...i can't believe you did that."

"I did what needed to be done," Sidi said.

"Right..." Adriana said.

"You know, when I went to Bruce's office," Sidi said. "He took my hands, only for a moment."

"I know," Adriana said.

Sidi turned to face Adriana. Sidi's thoughts were always nearly impossible to read. Her gift was strong enough to protect them most of the time.

"Wasn't long enough for me to see much," Sidi said. "But my, my...does that man have some trying times ahead of him."

"What? What's going to happen?" Adriana asked.

"Not your worry," Sidi said. "You have your own issues ahead of you."

"What do you mean, not my worry? He's my husband! Whatever happens to him in the future impacts me too! Both our issues are the same issues."

"Child..." Sidi said. "You just focus on staying alive and now allowing your gift to destroy you."

"You can't just drop something like that on me and not explain! Is he going to be okay?"

"He's will be fine, he is strong," Sidi answered. "As I said, could not see much, other than struggle. Because of your relationship...your gift running through him...it wasn't very clear. He will overcome though. Only that, I could feel that clearly."

"Ugh..." Adriana said. "So Saturday then...you'll...fix this. My gift."

"Yes dear."

.

.

.

Adriana went into the Joker's room with a tray of food. He was sitting in a chair in his room, listening to an old iPod that she had given him for entertainment. He was listening to a song by Amy Winehouse.

"Two burgers," she said. "With bacon..and cheese."

"Thank you," he said and removed the earphones.

"What happened here?" she asked, noticing an enormous puddle of water on the floor by the sink.

The Joker stood up and walked over to see what she looking at. He looked down at the puddle and shrugged as if he didn't know, before sitting in front of the food. But she could see his thoughts...his memories.

He had a dream, watching the Batman's back as he walked away. He could feel the cold shackle on his ankle, the concrete floor under his hips. A nightmare. He had jumped up, as he had thousands of times while underground. Made his way to the sink and splashed his face with water countless times. His clothing was wet. Adriana remembered when she had gone underground to rescue him, he thought she was another hallucination. She remembered watching him going over to the sink and the sounds of the water as he flung it onto his face over and over again.

"Okay then.." Adriana said and walked over to where he was sitting. She now noticed his scars...he had been pulling at the skin so much. It was anxiety. The laser treatment made his skin peel, and it would have been less irritated if he had followed instructions with application of vaseline and leaving the skin alone. She squinted, looking at the skin..it looked inflamed and reddish but..the scars were basically flat. It was confusing how such a change could have happened so quickly. He had been pulling the skin off all night in between waking up from his nightmare, splashing his face...

He had wanted to keep his scars but, they were nearly gone. Rough, red and inflamed skin had replaced them. He hadn't looked at them, but she needed to ask the doctor about it. She left the room and found Dr. Kapoor changing lightbulbs in an infrared therapy machine.

"Good afternoon," Adriana said to him.

"Hello, dear," Dr. Kapoor said.

"Dr. Kapoor," Adriana said. "I was just with..our patient and his skin is.."

"Yes," the doctor said. "He's experiencing dermatillomania. He won't leave the skin alone as instructed."

"But...what does this mean?" Adriana said. "Can you give him something for this anxiety?"

"He's refused medications even though I have seen his anxiety for a while now," Dr. Kapoor said. "I cannot force him to take anything."

"So what do we do?"

"I'm not sure there is much we can do. I have warned him, and so have you. He wanted to maintain the scars but we could not have anticipated peeling skin would lead to this disorder. One laser treatment would not have been enough to remove his scars...but I guess we are making the discovery that one treatment can be enough if the patient pulls their skin off day and night."

"Wow..." Adriana said and sat. "He's having nightmares too."

"Yes," Dr. Kapoor said. "He is very open about them which is a good thing. He dreams he is locked away. He's is very honest in our therapy sessions."

"Do you think he can heal from this?"

"From his isolation and solitary confinement? It is likely..but it may take a while. The change to his face...him, quite literally removing his scars unintentionally through his anxiety..I do not know."