Bruce quietly watched as Adriana trained in their gym. She did a fantastic spinning kick at the head of the mannequin torso training bag. She did several more kicks at the mannequins throat before stopping to catch her breath.
"Hey there," she said to Bruce once she noticed him.
"Good morning, my beloved," he said and Adriana could not help but to notice the sadness in his voice.
"Everything okay?" she asked him.
"Did you sleep okay last night?" he asked as he remembered the little he saw from intruding into her dreams the night before.
" Yes I did," she answered. " Did you?"
"Yes," he lied. He couldn't sleep after seeing her dream of the Joker in her home, in her bed. Bruce had only seen a few seconds, the Joker's hand on her neck, but he knew there was no way such a dream hadn't frightened her or at least reminded her of her past trauma.
"You look so sad dear," Adriana said. "And worried.. Don't worry...We'll stop these people -"
"I'm not at all worried about that," he told her so firmly that she had no choice but to believe his words.
"Okay...What is it then?" Adriana asked.
"It's..." Bruce started speaking, wishing he could be honest. He wanted to tell her that he knew about the Joker, Damien had told him everything in the erased past. He knew about how she had been harmed, and he wanted her to confide in him. He still loved her, he still loved Arsenio. He had to hold back...Telling her might be more upsetting than keeping quiet.
"Bruce?" she asked.
"Nothing," he said, finally.
" Something's wrong, I can tell," she said. " You're... You look thin Bruce...What-"
" I'm just fine," he told her.
"Why are you losing weight?" she asked and tilted her head to get a better look at him. He looked much slimmer than he had the previous day.
"I'm...cutting," he lied, disappointed that the conversation had turned into concern for him.
"Bruce...We had waffles with ice cream yesterday, you're not cutting," she called him out.
"It's a high fat cut," he lied again.
"And high carb?" she crossed her arms. "A high fat and high carb diet for weight loss..who knew?"
"I'm reducing my overall calories," he lied for the third time.
"Why?" she asked.
"Just thought I'd lean out a bit," he told her. "It's a cycle...bulking, cutting, bulking, cutting."
"Well," she said, seeming to finally accept his explanation. "I think you're lean enough now. I think you should go back to your normal caloric intake."
He nodded. "Okay."
"Do you want some French toast for breakfast?" she asked. "I could make you some and maybe some bacon."
"Yes," he told her. "Thank you."
She took off her tactical gloves and walked over to give him a kiss.
"Bruce.." she said after a single kiss on the lips. "What is going on...you're so...sad."
"I'm just," he said, again trying to find a way into the difficult topic. "I want you to be happy."
"What do you mean? I am happy," she told him.
"Last night," he said as delicately as he could. "Did you have a bad dream?"
"Huh?" she asked at the seemingly random question. "No, I didn't have a bad dream."
"Are you sure?" he asked sympathetically.
"Yes," she said. "I'm positive. Why? Was I talking in my sleep?"
"No," he replied.
"Sweetheart," she said, now sounding more sad and sympathetic than he had. "Are you..taking anything? For...you know...the stress of this whole thing with the footage and the cops-"
"You think I'm using drugs," Bruce said, feeling his face go numb. He was worrying her more than he had realized.
"You can tell me...None of this is your fault..." she said, and now Bruce felt she was saying the words he wanted to say to her.
"I'm not using drugs, Adriana," he told her. "I'm not."
"Okay then.." she said and rubbed his arms. "I'll start your breakfast. Your arms feel smaller."
"Alright," he said. "I'll just take a quick run on the machine here."
.
.
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"Much better," Twyla said to Bruce after looking at the check he handed her.
"I have a property on Mortimer Avenue," he told her, unenthusiastically. "Luxury apartments. I can have it placed on the market immediately or I could transfer ownership to you. You would earn about $400,000 per month in income from the rent."
"Hmmm..." Twyla said, thinking about it. "Transfer ownership. We'll consider six months worth as payment on your debt."
"Okay," Bruce said, surprised at her slight generosity. "I'll have the deed delivered tomorrow afternoon."
Twyla nodded. "You're skinny."
"Yes well," Bruce said. "That's not something I can change. I lost weight when my wife died. I got several grey hairs from watching her die in my arms. And these things can't be changed, can they?"
"I'm afraid not," Twyla said. "Not until after-"
"The date I went back," he answered.
"Correct," she said. "And how are your dreams?"
Bruce looked away. He had avoided Adriana's dreams for days since he had seen the glimpse of the Joker. He had vivid dreams of her wake, funeral and burial. Bouquet after bouquet of flowers delivered in sympathy from his coworkers. Flowers dying around him because he never remembered to water them. All he did was take care of his son.
"You're not taking the solution I gave you."
"No," Bruce said. "I can't."
"You wife has worse dreams than you?" Twyla said, her voice serious. She was different today, not laughing and trying to antagonize him. She was focused.
"I'd say so," Bruce said. He had barely seen anything but it was more horrific imagining his wife being tortured. "She has...trauma. Things she won't discuss with me. I can't watch while she's having dreams of what happened to her. Don't worry though, I can cope. You will get your money as promised."
"She has nightmares and doesn't tell you about it," Twyla said.
"She denies them," Bruce said. "I ask if she's slept well and she says she has."
"Hmm..." Twyla said. "Then maybe you are misinterpreting the dream."
"There's no interpretation needed," he told Twyla.
"And you've seen her dream in it's entirety?" she asked.
Bruce blinked and looked away. "No."
"Too painful?" Twyla asked.
"What's painful," Bruce said. "Is that she clearly doesn't feel comfortable enough with me to talk about this. I mean this..what happened to her is impactful..something she will remember because-"
"Because..." Twyla said, knowing Bruce was talking too much. "Perhaps you should talk to her."
"We can't discuss it," Bruce said. "She doesn't even know that I know what happened to her."
"And you aren't telling her what's happening here," Twyla said and waved her check. "Your marriage is full of secrets."
"This is different," Bruce said.
"How?"
"I can't tell her that she died. That's insane. And there's no proof. What happened to her though..there is proof," Bruce said and thought of his son.
"Perhaps she has healed and moved on from her traumas," Twyla suggested. "Time heals."
"A few weeks will heal it all," Bruce said. "Because the one that hurt her will die. Sidi told me."
"Sidi," Twyla finally laughed. "And what did she say."
"She described him...his karmic debt, his connection to my wife...she described a horrible man," Bruce said. "I have every intention of killing him but his exact location has been concealed from me. But Sidi telling me that he will die means that I will find him eventually. And it won't take long."
"Mhm," Twyla said, now sounding a bit bored. "Before you go to prison for murder, you make sure you pay me the rest of my fee."
"Of course," Bruce said and saw something glimmering in the corner of his eye.
"Ahh," Twyla said as he turned and looked at a bottle on the shelf. A thin narrow tube full of turquoise colored liquid. Deep blue and gold specs reflected the light in the room. "Another trip to the past."
"What?" Bruce asked and looked at her.
"That's what that is," Twyla told him. "Nothing like the machine you used though. That fluid lets you see the past, but you cannot change it. You are a fly on the wall. Very rare. This is all I have for now."
Bruce looked at the small label under the bottle. Fly on the wall. The price was not listed.
"How does it work?" Bruce asked, a bit fascinated.
"You swallow the tube," she said. "You must be indoors. You place one hand on the wall and you say a date out loud. You will see what happened until you lift your hand off of the wall. It works for one hour."
Bruce found it hard to believe such a thing was possible.
"Take it," she said. "On the house."
Bruce almost flinched in shock and how nice she was being to him today. He picked up the one and only bottle.
.
.
.
Bruce looked at the bottle of potion every few hours for nearly a week. He knew what he needed to do with it. He needed to drink it, place his hand on the wall in the hall outside of his penthouse, and say aloud the date that he received the envelope with his name written on the front. The envelope with the tape showing Dent's murder.
If his nightly dreams of the past were any indication, and of the timeline was to be the same, the Batman killing Dent would be all over the news by the evening that day. Bruce was in no way nervous, he had been through this before and had survived it. What was curious to him was that his identity was never exposed. Months passed and nothing more happened. He began to wonder if it would even happen.
Sidi had read his palms, had seen his future. She did not mention him spending the rest of his life in prison. The turquoise colored fluid would show him a messenger..someone who had delivered the package, but someone who might not necessarily be his enemy. It could be someone who had no clue what they were delivering, in which case he would be wasting the potion by going back to get a look at them.
Bruce picked up the ringing phone in his office and put the bottle back into his pocket.
"Bruce Wayne," he answered, although obviously his secretary knew it was him. He had been incredibly distracted all day.
"You have a call from your wife," the woman told him.
"Thank you," Bruce said. "Please put her through."
"Right away."
"Adriana?" Bruce asked after hearing a short beep.
"Hey," she said and let out a large exhale. "Your child is getting heavy."
"I know," Bruce smiled as he spoke.
"I just was calling to make sure you had lunch," Adriana said.
"I did," he told her.
"What did you eat?" Adriana asked him immediately.
"Oh..uh..." Bruce tried to remember the hurried lunch he had an hour before. "A roast beef sandwich."
"That's it?" she asked.
"It was a large sandwich dear," Bruce said.
"I made steak fried rice," she told him. "I'll bring you some...I also made a black forest cake...I'll bring that as well."
"Adriana," Bruce sighed. "You don't-"
"Look," she said sharply. "You're still losing weight and I'm concerned...Maybe tonight after work you can visit with Dr. Kapoor-"
"That's entirely unnecessary, my love," Bruce said. "I am fine. I assure you."
Adriana was fuming but she ended the call politely and began packing Bruce's second lunch.
.
.
.
"I need a favor," Adriana said to the Joker.
"You finally want me to go and find this Catwoman?" he asked.
"Actually, no," Adriana said. "My husband needs to see the doctor tonight..so I need you to.."
"Make myself scarce?" he asked. "No problem."
"Only for an hour or so," she said.
"Where to?" he asked.
"I mean..you could probably just hang out in the physical therapy gym since I doubt they will need it," Adriana said. "And it's the furthest from the exam rooms."
He nodded and looked into her eyes. Adriana wondered how he had become even more handsome since the day before.
"Have you spoken to Lucius recently?" he asked.
"Last week," she answered. "Why?"
"Just curious about the timeline of everything," he asked.
"Oh.." Adriana said. "You're ready to leave...your relocation."
"I don't want to be in the way here," he said to her. He was restocking sodas in the no charge vending machine and Adriana was standing beside him. It was a job Dr. Kapoor usually did but the Joker was bored and insisted on completing the task.
"You're not in the way," Adriana told him.
"In case I am," he said and began to open another box of drinks.
"Okay.." Adriana said quietly. "I can ask Lucius about the status of the move tomorrow."
"Thank you," the Joker said and began to unload the cans.
Adriana watched him quietly for a few moments. The way that she was feeling was senseless. She didn't want him to go and she couldn't understand why he was so eager to. All she wanted was to be able to read his thoughts but she couldn't. Did he really feel like he was in the way or a becoming a bother? She realized that at the end of all of this he would have to leave, but it was more difficult to accept than she had anticipated.
"So," the Joker said as he pushed cans back without looking at her. "What's wrong with Bruce Wayne? If you don't mind me asking?"
Adriana raised her eyebrows, a bit surprised that the Joker had taken interest in what was going on with Bruce.
"Oh um," Adriana said and shrugged one shoulder. "He says nothing is wrong but.."
The Joker turned his head and looked at her puzzled look.
"He's losing weight really fast..and acting really weird...he looks depressed all the time, especially in the morning."
"Stress?" the Joker asked.
"Well, yes..I guess.." Adriana said. "But he doesn't seem really stressed about the tapes and the people after him..he doesn't even seem bothered with it. It's just weird. He looks sick. And he's been eating a lot. I just came from force feeding him more at work and he just keeps getting thinner. I mean, even if he's stressed he shouldn't still be losing weight like this."
"Ah, then maybe he is sick," the Joker said in a neutral tone.
"What if.." Adriana said, hearing her voice crack. "What if he has cancer?"
"Oh.." the Joker said and stood up and placed both hands on her shoulders. "If Dr. Kapoor could fix my face he can fix anything."
Adriana looked at him seriously for a second before laughing.
"Thanks," Adriana laughed. "I needed a laugh."
"No problem," the Joker said, although he wasn't trying to be funny.
"I told him that I set an appointment for him at 7 p.m.," Adriana said. "I'll bring your dinner kind of early..5:30 maybe."
"Okay," the Joker nodded.
"So you can finish up and-" Adriana said.
"Get to the gym," he finished her sentence.
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.
.
"Have you seen the news?" Dr. Kapoor asked Adriana. It was 5:15 and she was in the medical facility again, flipping two burgers over in a skillet as she prepared the Joker's dinner.
"What happened?" Adriana asked, fearing that she already knew.
"Gotham is in an uproar...they have seen what the Batman did to Harvey Dent," Dr. Kapoor answered.
"Uproar..." Adriana asked.
"Yes..it is on tv," Dr. Kapoor said as Adriana turned off the burner and they left the facility kitchen.
They quickly went into Dr. Kapoor's office where the Joker was standing in front of the large flat screen TV in the small and barely used waiting area attached to the office. There were enormous protests, hundreds of people had already made signs, and the footage was brief enough to be repeated over and over again. The Batman tackling Dent and knocking him to his death. The angry mob on the screen had the energy of mass fury. The no longer wanted the Batman.
"This is worse than I thought it would be.." Adriana said.
"I always knew this day would come," the Joker said and shrugged, not looking surprised in the least. He looked at Adriana who was so distracted that he was sure she hadn't heard his words.
Adriana was shaking her head looking at the scene. People were setting fires and throwing glass bottles into store windows.
"Why are they doing this? Destroying shops and rioting and..it looks like they're looting as well...I mean it makes no sense.." Adriana asked.
"It's the natural order of things," the Joker said. "Chaos is always the first reaction."
"This is-" Adriana began to say but Dr. Kapoor looked suddenly panicked.
"Hide," the Doctor said to the Joker under his breath.
"What? Is Bruce-" Adriana asked but Dr. Kapoor was already pushing them both into the small coat closet in his waiting area and shutting the door.
"He didn't have time for your questions," the Joker laughed once the door was shut.
"Shhh!" Dr. Kapoor said from the other side of the shut door.
Adriana and the Joker were quiet. The closet was pitch black apart from the light that shone in from by the floor. They began to hear talking and the Joker leaned forward and pressed his ear against the door. Adriana followed and did the same. She couldn't see his face but she could feel his breath at the very top of her head. The feeling was distracting her from listening.
"Bruce," Dr. Kapoor said. "I'm sure your appointment is not for over an hour-"
"You see this?" Bruce spoke about what was happening on the TV. Adriana couldn't see him but she could hear a strange calm in his voice. He was not even remotely shocked at what was happening.
"Yes.." Dr. Kapoor said. "I'm so sorry.."
"It's fine," Adriana heard Bruce say.
"If you would like to have your exam now, we can begin in the exam room-" Dr. Kapoor said and Adriana could hear him trying to usher Bruce out of the room.
"I don't require an exam," Bruce said as if giving an order. "Let Adriana know you saw me and I am fine. Perfect health."
Adriana couldn't believe it. Bruce was refusing to be examined and was asking Dr. Kapoor to lie to her.
"Oh.." Dr. Kapoor said. "Of course."
"Thank you," Bruce said before leaving.
Adriana moved away from the door once there were no more voices to be heard. The Joker did the same. Adriana crossed her arms in the dark closet and was suddenly embarrassed. Both the Joker and Dr. Kapoor now knew that Bruce was lying to her. She didn't know what to think. Perhaps he was really using drugs and had lied to her about it. She felt her eyes watering as they waited for Dr. Kapoor to come back and let them know the coast was clear. The closet was dark enough that she didn't think the Joker would see or even know that she was crying. She felt his fingertips on her cheek, somehow catching the tear in the pitch black.