Adriana laughed as Arsenio touched her new, shorter hair.

"Do you like it, mi hijo?"she asked him

"Ya!" he said and touched the hair flowing over her shoulder.

"Thanks, baby," she said and kissed his cheek. "What about another color?"

"Boo!" Arsenio replied.

"Nooo, I can't have blue hair but I know that's your favorite color," she giggled. "How about...blue black?"

"Boo! Bock!" he said clearly. "Ya!"

"Okay," Adriana nodded, smiling and sent a text message to a member of their staff, who was on duty at all times to run errands. Adriana rarely used their service but wanted to stay and spend as much time with Arsenio this evening as possible. She knew the city would need her later.

Arsenio sat quietly on the bed, playing with a few of his toys while Adriana dyed her hair in the bathroom after the box dye had been delivered. When she was done fixing her haircut with real hair scissors and blow drying it she left the bathroom.

Although Arsenio was impossibly intelligent for his age, sometimes in certain precious moments, Adriana was reminded that he was just a baby.

"Mommy?" he said and looked at her confused as though he was trying to recognize her or tell if it really was her.

"It's me, baby," she laughed and walked over and kissed him.

"Mommy," he said again and smiled.

"I wonder what your daddy will think," Adriana said. "He's working late but he'll see us later."

"Preeyeee!" Arsenio said.

"Thank you my love," Adriana said and kissed his cheek and then looked down at her phone. "Aww..baby I have to go out. Hopefully Alfred can watch you since your nanny just went to the movies."

.

.

.

Adriana didn't get back home until nearly 3 a.m. Her body ached and she was sure she had done more running in one night than she had the entire previous night. Vigilantism without her gift was much more trying and difficult but she was still able to do it successfully. She was beyond exhausted.

Once she entered the penthouse, she thought of Bruce and her worries from early that day. Her worries that somehow he had caught wind of the fact that the Joker was Arsenio's biological father. Lucius was right, they had no proof that Bruce had any idea. But Adriana knew Damien to be a pathological liar and it was entirely true that he had mentioned it to Bruce and lied about it. Adriana needed to be sure.

She went into their bedroom and found him awake and on his laptop with a small calculator on the sheet beside him.

"You're up," she said.

"I am," he replied.

She looked into his eyes, suddenly regretting not having her gift. She wanted to know what he knew, and what he was thinking,

"You've been out all evening," Bruce said, sounding somewhat disappointed.

"Yeah," she said and walked over the bed. "There was a lot going on tonight. Gotham is crazy,,as usual."

"That's true," Bruce said and moved his laptop and stand from over his lap and over to the small table beside him.

They looked into each other's eyes quietly for a few moments.

"I missed you," Bruce said.

"You sound sad..." Adriana noticed.

Bruce stood up and walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Is this.." he asked, noticing her hair. "This isn't the wig."

"Nope," she smiled. "I cut my hair. Now I guess I am Shade 24/7. It makes sense actually...I have to run out and take care of things so often now that the wig was kinda of becoming a burden.."

"Right.." Bruce said and touched her hair.

"You don't like it..." Adriana said, noticing his voice sounded even more sad.

"You look beautiful," he told her. "I wish we could have spent more time together today."

"Aw, sweetie," Adriana said sleepily and kissed him. "You sound so sad...it was just one say we were both busy.."

"One day," Bruce said and looked into her eyes. "Every day with you is precious...I want to spend more time with you. I didn't know that things would be this way...that with Gotham detesting the Batman, you would take on all the crime on your own. I didn't want things to be this way."

"You couldn't have controlled that," Adriana shrugged.

"I know," he said. "Maybe you should take a break."

"A break?" Adriana asked. "You mean quit?"

"Or perhaps work less," Bruce said, his voice sounded pleading. "I can't squander time I have with you..I want to savor every second."

"That's very sweet, baby, but..I can't quit..Gotham needs me," Adriana told him.

"I need you," Bruce said. "Arsenio needs you."

"I...I can't make a decision on this right now..I need to think about it," Adriana told him.

"Okay," Bruce told her. "I understand."

"And what if I can't?" she asked. "If I have to keep doing what I'm doing..as Shade?"

"Then...I will support you in what makes you happy," he said.

"And what would make you happy?" Adriana asked.

"Us together, as a family," he said. "We could move to Wayne Manor. Out of the city. We would spend our days together, raise our children."

"You want to leave Gotham?"

"Yes," he said. "I was thinking..we should sell this place."

Adriana frowned. "Why? I mean..we'd still visit the city sometimes right?"

"Sure.." Bruce said.

"What do you mean by sell this place? You mean the penthouse? Couldn't we rent it out when we're not here?"

"I was thinking of selling the hotel," he said.

Adriana pulled back from him a few inches. "You want to sell the whole building?"

"Yes," he said plainly.

Adriana looked over to the small calculator still laying on top of the comforter

"Bruce.." she asked carefully. "Are we having money problems?"

"No," Bruce answered so quickly that Adriana knew for sure that he was lying." Nothing like that."

Bruce could not tell her that he was selling of as much as he could to pay off Madame Twyla. It had proven more difficult than he had realized. He needed to keep Wayne Enterprises in tact as much as possible, because any major drop in stock value or changes in the company could be publicized in the news and she would find out that their net worth was plummeting. Bruce had to resort to selling off his personal assets.

"I don't think we should sell the building," Adriana said. "I like living here."

"So do I," he said.

"We should stay," she said.

Bruce nodded. "Okay."

Adriana kissed his cheek before taking a quick shower and then getting into bed. The room was dark when she crawled under the sheets and Bruce was in the bed beside her.

Even in the dark, with the moonlight casting a shadow over his face, she could see that he was looking a bit healthier than he had the previous day. His eyes were closed and he had one hand resting under the back of his head and the other on his stomach.

"Are you awake?" she whispered.

"Oh yes," he said and opened his eyes and looked over to her without turning his head.

"So am I ," she said.

She needed to know what he knew. She thought about how amazing their sex life had been the past few weeks but then she remembered that she had been the one to initiate every single time. It was as though Bruce as always waiting for her to give him the 'ok'. She began to wonder if he really did know that the Joker had given her a child and that Bruce now saw her as an assault victim. Maybe he was trying to make her feel safe or comfortable or like she was in control. She was starting to hate it.

"So..." Bruce said and looked into her eyes. "Are you exhausted?"

"Mmm..." she murmured. "A little."

"Alright," he said softly.

"You don't look tired," she remarked.

"I'm not too tired."

"Oh.." she said and sat up. She watched Bruce eyes widen.

She crawled from underneath of the covers and pulled off the oversized shirt she was wearing. Bruce gazed at her lovingly and reached out a hand to touch her thigh. She smiled at him, wishing he would ravage her...ease her worries that he knew something about her past with the Joker. He just looked at her expectantly.

"It's hot," she said casually and pulled off her underwear and threw them onto his chest.

"It is.." he said, looking at her body.

She grabbed a pillow and turned around, on all fours with her back to him and leaned forward slowly. With the pillow under her head, she laid down on her stomach with her feet up on the remaining pillows beside his head. She turned her head and looked at Bruce. She could see through the fitted boxers that he was wearing that he was aroused. Then she closed her eyes and laid back down on the pillow, waiting and waiting for him to make move. And then she began to realize just how tired she was. As she waited, imagining his lips kissing her on the back of her calves, hands gliding over her body she fell asleep. He did not touch her.