"Good morning," Adriana heard Bruce say softly.
She opened her eyes and saw him sitting on the edge of the bed next to her hips, fully dressed for work.
"Mmm.." she moaned before sitting up. "What time is it?"
"7:45," Bruce said and rubbed her leg. "Sorry to wake you."
"Is everything okay?" she asked.
"Everything is perfect," he said. "I have good news about Wyatt."
"You do?" she asked quickly.
"He's going in to surgery this afternoon," Bruce said. "He got his kidney."
"Wha.." Adriana was shocked at how quickly Bruce had handled everything. She had told him before they went to sleep about Wyatt's predicament and already he had resolved it.
"If all goes well, he will be fine," Bruce said.
"Oh, Bruce," Adriana beamed and threw her arms around him. "Thank you...thank you-"
"Anything for you," he told her. "I mean that."
"I'm so relieved," she told him before giving him a kiss.
"I can tell," he told her with a smile. "I have to head out now-"
"No, wait," Adriana said and moved to stand up. "I'm not done thanking you."
"You've thanked me," Bruce laughed and wrapped his arms around her.
"I know but not enough," Adriana said and squeezed him. "I want to ride with you."
"I don't think I have enough time to spare for your to get dressed," Bruce said apologetically. "I actually waited until the last possible moment to wake you."
"I'll just put on shoes and a jacket," she said, bouncing up and down on her toes in glee.
"Okay," Bruce said. "The lace chemise is enough to give some of the old board members a heart attack though."
"They'll be fine," Adriana laughed as they left.
.
.
.
"Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Wayne," Adriana heard the greeting countless times as they walked through Wayne Enterprises. She felt everyone staring at her.
"Maybe this was a bad idea," Adriana whispered to Bruce as they got into the elevator with a security escort. "I hadn't really thought this through..being half sleep and all..I could have at least grabbed a longer jacket.."
Bruce laughed and Adriana heard the security guard chuckle.
"Are you embarrassed?" Adriana asked. "I really don't want to give a bad impression to your colleagues.."
"Oh no, not at all," Bruce assured her. "You can come in every day in lingerie if you like. I'm all for it."
Adriana shook her head as the elevator door opened. The short denim jacket wasn't doing much to cover what she was wearing, and Bruce was right, all of his male colleagues couldn't look away.
"Good morning, Alicia," Bruce greeted the secretary.
"Good morning, Mr. Wayne," she said and then looked at Adriana and raised her eyebrows and smiled as though impressed. "Mrs. Wayne."
"Hi," Adriana said and then Alicia gave Bruce his messages.
They went into Bruce's office and shut the door and Bruce sat his coffee on his desk.
"I feel like I haven't been here in ages," Adriana said.
"Same as always," Bruce said and sat as his desk. "I have meetings all day long. Back to back. One after the other."
"Oh...you don't sound thrilled," Adriana said and walked over to where he was sitting.
"Mhm..." Bruce said, looking down at her legs. "Fortunately, the visual of your thighs right now gives me the courage to make it though."
"Awww," Adriana laughed and placed a hand on his shoulder before sitting on his lap. "Doesn't seem fair.."
"What doesn't?" he asked.
"I'm so happy, I feel like celebrating," she told him. "And you have to go through a long boring day here."
"C'est la vie," Bruce told her.
Adriana stood up and began to loosen Bruce's belt.
"Well," Bruce said and leaned back. "Day is looking even brighter."
"Glad to be of service," she said and got down onto her knees in front of him.
Bruce let his body relax as she took him into her mouth. For the first several seconds he couldn't think at all, and he was relieved. A moment of mental relaxation amid all the work he had to do. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. The headache that started to build up as soon as he walked through the front door of Wayne Enterprises had entirely disappeared. He wondered if it was the stiff and stale business environment around him that made the climax so strong.
"You have no idea how much I needed that," Bruce said when they were done and Adriana was following up with a few swallows of his coffee.
"Well, if the volume of that load that just came out of you was any indication," Adriana laughed and continued to drink. "I do."
"Thank you," Bruce said and closed his pants and leaned back again. "The day is looking bright and full of possibilities."
"Good," Adriana smiled. "I'm taking the rest of this coffee."
"All yours," he said. "I'll just take a drink from here.."
Bruce began to lift her skirt while still sitting and leaning forward to kiss her lower stomach while she stood in front of him. As his lips went down the phone on his desk began to beep.
He sighed loudly and pressed a button to mute the sound.
"Could be important," Adriana said and sat the coffee cup down.
"That's very likely," he said.
"We'll pick up where we left off when you get home later," she said and kissed his forehead.
"I'll try to finish up here early, if at all possible," he told her.
"Okay," Adriana said. "Should you call a car?"
"Or you could take my car and I'll use one of the company cars later," he said. "Something tells me I won't feel like driving myself."
"Got it," Adriana smiled and took Bruce's keys. "I love you."
"Love you too," Bruce said and gave her a long kiss before she left.
.
.
.
Adriana drove back to the hotel to their penthouse and looked at the beauty of Gotham. The city was typically calm and crime free at this hour in the morning. She had agreed to take a break for a few days from her vigilantism, but driving along the streets, which she hadn't done in ages, made her want to return. She felt responsible for the city.
She glanced at the clock. Arsenio would be waking up soon. She looked at fuel gage. A quarter of a tank left in Bruce's lambo. She was sure that some people thought it was ostentatious for him to show up to work in it everyday. It was his favorite car.
She decided to fill up the tank and drove to a nearby gas station. As she stepped out, she knew for a fact that paparazzi would have pictures of her online in an hour wearing a short lavender colored chemise and filling up the tank of lambo. She didn't care.
She found the credit card that was kept in the card and went to the pump. Looking around, she didn't see anyone taking pictures, but she knew they were there. They almost always were, and were good at making themselves practically invisible.
The smell of the gasoline hit her. It was so odd, because she felt that she hadn't smelled gasoline in so long. She hadn't been responsible for putting gas into a car since she got married. But the smell was overwhelmingly cathartic. The smell was strongly associated with memories. The smell would not let her suppress them.
As she inhaled, she thought of him. The Joker. He would often reek of gasoline, so strong that Adriana wondered if his suit was flammable at all times. At the time, she didn't like it, or at least she thought she didn't. But smelling gasoline now was making her smile to herself involuntarily. With her eyes still closed, her hand moved up to the side of her neck and she began to caress it.
She took a deep breath in. She remembered laying in the bed, twisting the sheets with her fist, unable to sleep. Burning anticipation. Waiting for him. Then she would smell it. The gasoline. The vivid memory seemed to come out of nowhere and she was shocked that she could still remember everything so clearly. She could almost hear his footsteps coming down the hall. She was clinging to the memory.
The thin scar in his bottom lip, she could still feel it against hers. Her fingertips could still remember exactly the irregular pattern of the scars on his cheeks. She had always hated the paint, she preferred the feel of his skin.
Her heart was racing as she inhaled deeper. The smell was like a drug. She felt the palm of her hand against the back of her neck and her fingernails digging into her flesh. She could feel him behind her, underneath of her, on top of her, beside her, inside her.
She shook her head, feeling shame in the memory she couldn't stop. She paid for the gas and went home.
.
.
.
"You should not be interfering with these things," Sidi said firmly to Bruce over the phone.
"I've saved his life," Bruce said.
"Messing with a vital organ transplant list!" Sidi huffed. "You know someone else must die because you saved her life."
"You described the man that would die but unfortunately, it wasn't the correct one," Bruce said. "It wasn't him. It was someone who worked for him that has a similar description."
"Why couldn't you leave it be?" Sidi asked.
"Because," Bruce said. "That man doesn't deserve this. It's my doing. I'm the reason he's near death and needed a transplant. His well being-"
"Oh please!" Sidi shouted and Bruce moved the a couple inches phone away from his ear. "You care for that man's well being as much as I do! You are not concerned with it at all. You just want to have control! I'm telling you, this is a bad thing you have done-"
"Sidi," Bruce said, not enjoying being yelled at. "I will fix this-"
"The man you want to die," Sidi said. "You do not even know where he is! And chances are you will not find him in time! Someone else will die and it is on you."
"I will find him," Bruce said.
"How?" Sidi asked.
"You'll read my palms again and we'll figure this out-" Bruce said.
"Nope!" Sidi said. "I'm hanging up now-"
"Wait-" Bruce interrupted.
"I want no part of this!" Sidi said. "You could not have been luckier! Got your wife back and a man, who I sensed what not good at all to say the least, was going to pay the price! A man who has killed before! I sensed that too! And now you are playing with fire. I want no part!"
"Can you at least tell me who-" Bruce said.
"No! Goodbye Bruce!" Sidi said and hung up.