"Mr. Wayne?" Bruce heard a voice rouse him from his sleep.
He opened his eyes. He was in his office at Wayne Tower and he had fallen asleep at his desk. As soon as he opened his eyes he looked around, looking for Harri.
"Mr. Wayne?" the secretary said again.
"Yes?" he said and sat up straight.
"Paige Martin and Louis Craig are here from Elderwood Enterprises for your last meeting," she said.
Bruce was in a daze as he looked at the clock on his desk which also showed the date. It was the day before Adriana died. If he was to believe it, she would die at five a.m. the next morning. He was floored.
"Mr. Wayne?" she said for the third time and Bruce looked at her. "They are waiting for you."
"Cancel..." he struggled to speak. He vaguely remembered this meeting which felt like ages ago. It was a productive meeting, and both parties had ended up making a lot of money from their agreements and arrangements but Bruce did not care. "I need to cancel."
"Oh..should I tell them you can't make it?" the secretary asked.
"Yes," he told her.
"Are you ill? Can I get you anything?" she asked with concern.
Bruce looked her in the eye, contemplating what he was about to ask her next. Thinking she would look at him like he was crazy.
"I'm not ill," he said. "Would you do me a favor and put me through to my wife?"
Dialing the number through his cell phone was not something Bruce was sure he could do. He was sweating in his suit, which felt tighter than any suit he had worn in months. Was this real?
"Of course, Mr. Wayne," she said plainly. "Anything else?"
Bruce felt himself hyperventilating and began to loosen his tie.
"Are you sure you aren't ill Mr. Wayne? Can I bring you some water?" she asked with concern. "You don't look well-"
"I'm fine," he said. "You can go, please just put my wife through."
She nodded before leaving. "Right away."
Bruce leaned back in the chair after the door shut and looked up at the ceiling. His secretary didn't correct him and tell him that his wife was dead. Had it worked? Where was Harri? At home? She was likely on the phone with Adriana right now if that was the case.
His office phone rang and he picked it up, his hand so sweaty it almost slipped out of his hand.
"Mr. Wayne I have your wife on the other line," the secretary said to him.
"Huuu..." Bruce felt a wave of air leave his lungs.
The secretary was quiet for a moment. "May I put her through?"
"Pl..." Bruce felt his body and mind disassembling. "Please..please put her through."
The line went quiet and Bruce heard his own breathing loud in both ears. The wait seemed eternal. He felt an ache in his biceps, his muscle sore from exercise. A feeling he was no longer accustomed to. He gripped the phone, not knowing what to do.
"Hello?" he finally heard her.
His entire body froze and he held the phone receiver in a tight grip with both hands as his eyes shut immediately. He felt the teardrops hit the back of his hand above his cuff links.
"Hello? Bruce?" she asked again.
Bruce tried to speak but his air didn't seem to want to come in or out of his lungs. It was stuck in limbo in his throat. Her voice had captured him.
"A-" he managed before trying to breathe again.
"Are you there?" she asked.
"Yes," he finally was able to speak a word.
"Sweetheart," she said. "I'm done for the day, okay? I'm back in the penthouse, I just got here...I'm sorry I didn't discover anything today I just..I'm really tired, but we can try it again tomorrow morning."
"Oh...God..." Bruce felt himself begin to cry, in his mind begging for forgiveness. She had been out all morning and afternoon searching thoughts in the hotel. Trying to find out who had exposed him as Dent's intentional killer. It all seemed trivial and unimportant now.
Adriana was quiet. "Bruce.." she said sounding concerned. "Okay..maybe I can go out another hour to the washrooms again-"
"No! No!" he began to shout. "Don't go anywhere! Don't move!"
"Ohhh..kayyy.." she said slowly.
"I'm on my way home, and I'm going to contact Sidi in a moment and she will be over shortly," Bruce said.
"Sidi?" Adriana asked.
"To take care of your gift," Bruce said. "To remove it right away."
"Bruce," Adriana spoke again, the sound so sweet that Bruce felt himself sliding out of his chair. "What's going on? Don't you need to find these people first? The ones who are-"
"No," Bruce said. "I don't need anything but you."
"Oh.." Adriana said. "Well..that's very sweet..but you sound weird honey-"
"I'm fine," Bruce said, doing all that he could to conceal the fact that was crying. "I'm fine..just stay put okay? I'm on my way home."
"Okay," Adriana said. "I'll be here."
"Oh my love..." Bruce said, not wanting to hang up but knowing that he needed to call Sidi. "I love you so much. You don't know how much I love you."
"Hmhmhm," Adriana laughed softly. "I love you more."
"Not possible," he said, his voice finally betraying him, a small croak.
"Are you crying?" she asked him. "Bruce?"
"No..no.." he said. "Just...had a really hot coffee, must've messed with my throat. Just..stay put Adriana. Don't go anywhere."
"You already told me that," she said.
"I know I just..I don't want to lose you," he said.
"Was your coffee spiked?" she asked and laughed.
"I'm serious," he said. "Stay in the house."
"I swear I will," she said. "Cálmate...tranquila.."
"Okay," he finally sounded relieved. "I'm going to hang up now."
"Okay love, see you soon," she said and made several kissing sounds before hanging up first.
Bruce picked up his cell phone immediately to call Sidi but as soon as it was in his hand it was ringing. A number he didn't recognize.
"Yes?" he asked impatiently after answering.
"I see things have worked out," he heard Madame Twyla say.
Bruce was quiet and leaned forward in his seat.
"Yes.." Bruce said after composing himself.
"I'm calling to remind you of our deal," she said. "Also, that I will need you to wire me the initial deposit again."
"What?" he asked.
"You see, all the millions you paid me are back in your account now, like it never happened," she said. "Now. You will forward it back to me immediately."
"I'll contact my accountant tonight," Bruce said. "I have to make sure my wife is alright-"
"Now," Twyla said. "Or all of this can be undone."
Bruce couldn't tell if she was bluffing. He didn't see how she could change things now. Everything was real, and he had gone back in time. But he couldn't take chances.
"Fine," Bruce said firmly. "I'm emailing him as we speak."
Bruce opened his inbox and began to write a quick e-mail to his accountant.
"And you'll need my account number," Twyla said and began to rattle off the routing and account numbers.
"It's done," he said when he was done.
"Thank you," Twyla said. "I will be expecting more payments soon. I'll give you 72 hours and you should have liquidated some assets and more money should be coming my way."
Bruce felt himself clenching his teeth. "Of course," he said, the fury coming through in his tone. "As agreed."
Without saying anything else, Twyla hung up. Bruce was so annoyed with her he almost threw his phone, but he needed it. He called Sidi.
"Sidi," Bruce said before should even say anything.
"Hm?" she said in a disinterested tone.
"I need you to go to Adriana immediately," Bruce said. "She's at home and she needs the..procedure or whatever you need to do to remove her gift right away. Stat. If you need transport I can have a car sent-"
"We are already on our way," Sidi said. "Two blocks away."
"Oh..." Bruce said, not knowing how she had known to go now. "Okay..thank you.."
Sidi hung up without saying anything more. Bruce stood up and realized he needed to make one more call. He looked through his phone for Harri's number.
"Hello?" he heard Harri say after picking up.
"Harri!" Bruce exclaimed.
"Bruce," she said. "Is something wrong? Is Adriana okay?"
"Oh, Harri," Bruce said. "She's fine..she's here..and she's alive and she's fine. I can't believe it."
Harri was quiet.
"Oh," she said. "So...why are you calling me?"
Bruce paused. "Harri.." Bruce said. "Have you called her?"
"Adriana?" Harri asked. "Not yet today. Oh my gosh! Is she pregnant! Is that what this is about?"
Bruce felt himself fall back into his chair.
"Harri...do you remember what happened?" Bruce asked.
"Remember what?" she asked.
"We had to go out to the Atlantic! And come back here," Bruce said, but the actual trip details were slipping his mind the more he tried to remember them. "We smoked and we were out on my yacht...I vaguely remember you flashing me."
"Do me a favor," Harri began to laugh. "Don't tell Adriana you had a sex dream about me."
"It wasn't a dream Harri," he said. "You were there! You brought ganja!"
Bruce realized the more that he talked the crazier he sounded.
"While that does sound pleasant and it does sound like something I would do," she was still laughing. "Sounds like a good dream."