"How about a peach one?" Adriana asked Arsenio.

She was unpacking a delivery that had just come in refrigerated boxes, a bulk order of Arsenio's favorite yogurts.

"Last one," Bruce said after sitting another box on the kitchen table. "You know, I don't think he will be able to eat this much yogurt before it expires. We've got three cases."

"You know very well we eat his yogurts too," Adriana laughed.

"That's true," Bruce said. "If you ever mention it in public that I eat baby yogurt I will deny it."

"We'll never speak of it," Adriana laughed and kept unpacking.

"Piyapooh," Arsenio said.

"You want a pineapple flavor?" Adriana asked.

"Piyapooh!" Arsenio said and pointed to the box in front of him.

Adriana turned the box to see where he was pointing and saw the word 'pineapple' printed on the plain box. There was no picture or illustration of a pineapple.

"Did you just read that?" Adriana asked with shock.

"Ya!" Arsenio said.

"What?" Bruce asked, not paying much attention as he was opening one of the peach flavored yogurts and tasting it with a spoon.

"He just read something!" Adriana said. They had known for weeks that he could identify all of the letters, but now he seemed to be reading.

"No..." Bruce said, not in denial but in disbelief. "He's a year old.."

"Look!" Adriana said and took another box out. "How about this one sweetie?"

"Ah..." Arsenio looked at the letters. "Bayaana!"

"Oh my gosh!" Adriana jumped up and down.

"Oh wow.." Bruce said and looked in the cases for another box. "And how about this one? It's a hard one.."

"Uhhhh..." Arsenio said, looking at the letter. "Coocaya!"

"Coconut!" Bruce said. "Oh, Brilliant!"

"My baby reads!" Adriana laughed and kissed Arsenio. He was gifted in such a beautiful way. She was glad that he had been spared the full brunt of the gift that she was born with but the way his gift was manifesting was making him prodigal. It was amazing.

"How?" Bruce asked. "Did you teach yourself? This is.."

"No!" Arsenio answered Bruce. "Afeee!"

"Alfred?" Bruce asked. "Alfred's been teaching you to read?"

"Ya!" Arsenio said. "Rechoowechacofacoyee!"

"Oh.." Adriana said, not understanding and neither did Bruce. "That's wonderful, sweetie."

"Chowee!" Arsenio said and Bruce picked him up.

"My son reads, it's my anniversary," Bruce said. "This day couldn't get better."

Adriana smiled as Bruce danced around with Arsenio. He was right, the day was perfect.

.

.

.

"First of all," Adriana laughed as she went into her and Bruce's bedroom early that evening. "Where the heck have you been hiding all of this?"

The bed was covered in bags and boxes, dozens of gifts.

"Well we are in a mansion," Bruce said. "Wayne Manor has countless hiding places."

"Aww..." Adriana said and wrapped her arms around him and gave him a kiss. "Thank you."

"Hiding that brownie and scoop of ice cream was the difficult part," Bruce joked and felt her jump.

"Ice cream? Where?" she asked and saw the beautifully decorate place. "Awwww..."

She smiled and turned back to Bruce.

"Let's start with that gift," she laughed.

She and Bruce sat down and she began to eat the dessert. She fed some of it to Bruce as she worked on the sweet treats.

"I know you're not into chocolate type sweets much," she laughed. "But it's a huge brownie, I need help."

"I just realized," he said. "I'm into chocolate sweets when you are feeding them to me."

Adriana laughed as they finished the dessert. Once they were done she started on the gifts. There were luxury bags, a watch, endless jewelry, several pairs of shoes and a new wallet.

"This is so nice," Adriana said and stroked the cover of the calfskin leather wallet. "It's really heavy though."

"It should be, it's full," he laughed and she opened the wallet.

He was right, it was packed with enough bills to give it substantial weight.

"You're too sweet," she said and gave him a kiss. "Oh..there's more.."

Adriana looked over at the boxes of clothes on the bed. There were two beautiful dresses from Dolce & Gabbana, and a blouse from Valentino.

"I love everything," Adriana said.

"I'm happy," Bruce said. "I loved what you got for me too."

"Then I'm happy too," she said.

"Actually," he said to her. "There's one more gift."

"After all this?" she asked with a laugh. "More?"

"Oh yes," he said. "I'm sure this part will be your favorite. Come with me."

Adriana followed Bruce with curiosity, not knowing what he had that could top everything else that he had given her. They ended up in the Wayne Manor gym which was huge and looked more like a ballroom full of gym equipment.

There was man wearing a loose fitting red outfit. His hair was long and black.

"Lee," Bruce said to the man. "My wife, Adriana."

Adriana smiled, she was so curious. "Hi...nice to meet you."

"Likewise, Mrs. Wayne," Lee said.

"Lee is an old friend of mine," Bruce said. "And he's here to deliver your anniversary gift."

"Oh.." Adriana said with excitement, waiting.

"I spoke to Dr. Kapoor," Bruce said. "And although you can't do your usual work out for a few more days..he did approve this. It won't strain you much at all but I think you will enjoy it."

"What are we doing?" Adriana asked with a smile.

Lee pulled out a sword, and Adriana wasn't sure where he was keeping it behind him but it was a beautiful weapon. The way he retrieved it was like a dance, so smooth and effortless.

"Tonight you will learn a few skills of the sword," he said to her.

Adriana gasped and began beaming. She threw her arms around Bruce and began to kiss him.

"Oh my gosh!" she said. "Thank you!"

"I knew you'd enjoy this," Bruce said. "Have fun," he told her. "I'll be back in an 90 minutes."

As Bruce left Adriana felt so excited to learn this new skill, she felt like bursting. Bruce knew her so well, and he was right, this was her favorite part of her anniversary gifts.

.

.

.

"It was so much fun," Adriana told Bruce when they were in bed. "And it got me thinking.."

"Oh?" Bruce asked and stroked her arm.

"Yes," she said. "I was thinking when I go back to...well, work as Shade..I should totally carry a sword. I need to always have one. It was so much fun!"

"I'm glad," Bruce said and kissed her forehead.

Adriana sighed and leaned back onto the pillows. She was a fast learner with the sword. She had never though to use one before but she was sure that it had become her favorite weapon. Her muscle memory almost wanted her to get up again and practice a few more swings and spins with the sword now.

She looked at Bruce, who was looking at her lovingly. He leaned forward and gave her a soft kiss and caressed her chin.

As he looked into her eyes, she felt a momentary confusion. They day had been perfect. She didn't know what was wrong with her. Maybe it was the Joker's words...him telling her she had a 'manta' when she was sure she had no such thing. She was simply a realist. It was the only less than perfect moment in the day.

The rest of the day had been bliss. She got to go out into the city, ride the subway, go shopping, see her son read, open thousands of dollars in gifts, eat ice cream and learn to sword fight. Bruce had made her so happy today. It should have been simple, she told herself. It had been over two weeks since she had been intimate with Bruce. She felt vital, physically sensitive, amorous, and relaxed. Yet, all of these things combined didn't lead to the obvious conclusion...she should want to make love to her husband.

He had done so much to prove that he loved her. He had taken care of her when she was hurt, done everything for her, given her all he could think of and the gifts were perfect, he was gorgeous, and told her how much he loved her. He had promised that he would never stray again. He had sworn his loyalty to her. She didn't know what else he could do. She couldn't think of a single additional thing she needed him to do to put her in the mood, and it frustrated it her. It felt that nothing was like before.

She knew that she needed to get over it. Now, she consciously knew that there was nothing more that Bruce could do to prove his love to her. He had gone above and beyond. She knew that she loved him.

Bruce rubbed her arm and looked at her, and she could see was not pressuring her. He could see that she was thinking about how to proceed, possibly about how to turn him down. But then she began to think about their future. They would have to have sex again eventually and if they didn't..she hated to think about it..but he could stray again. And then her mind circled back around. They had a great sex life and had sex often and regularly, yet he still went to another woman, so did it matter? She had far too many thoughts and she hated it. It should have been a simple decision.

However the thought of sex right now took her back to her past relationships where eventually, she felt like she was just taking one for the team. The end result was that she had entirely lost her interest in sex for most of her adult life. She had closed herself off. Allowing emotions and enjoyment into sex, only made relationships more painful. But then something happened...and she tried not to think about it but it was already on her mind. Her mind was exhausting her as she picked everything apart.

Her and the Joker. Were they ever even in a relationship? Why was it so different? Maybe because she knew when it started, it may a well have been the ending. The situation had no future and she told herself that from the start. It was always madness just by the fact that it happening. If she never had him from the start and it was due to fail at any time, then she could never lose him. You cannot lose what you don't have. There was a freedom there.

She let her eyes close. Freedom. No commitment. Was that all there was? She knew that there was more. There was connection, there was passion, intensity, magnetism. In some ways, she felt like he had saved her long ago. Saved her from being miserable and empty. After she and the Joker began seeing each other, she knew she never wanted to go back to the woman she was before. Cold, walled off, distant. She wanted to forever remain connected, open, warm, passionate and close to whoever she was with. He showed her that she had almost let her entire life go by without realizing how incredible amazing, pleasurable, explosive, powerful and exhilarating it was to be a woman. He had unlocked parts of her that she never knew were there and she was not ready to pack them up again yet. But it seemed they were putting themselves back into hiding.

"Adriana," Bruce said after a while. "I understand if you're not ready."

"I..." Adriana started to say. She didn't know what to say to him.

All she knew was that she was not ready to close herself up again. But at the same time she was not sure she wanted to be intimate with Bruce at this moment. The decision was almost infuriating.

She felt she needed to find a way to make this work, to arouse herself.

"Kiss me," she said to Bruce.

He began to kiss her lips and then proceeded to kiss her deeply. She closed her eyes and reciprocated the kiss, still stuck with feeling of not wanting to go any further. She asked herself what she needed. As she kissed him, she realized.

It was him. The Joker. She felt him kissing her as her imagination took over. The mere idea of it was so exciting she grabbed Bruce's hair and gripped it with her hands tightly. After a few seconds, she realized what she was doing...fantasizing about another man. She needed to stop, but she couldn't. The temptation of the thoughts were too strong and she could not fight them.

She became aware of how, with her mind imaging the Joker, even the way that she was kissing was changing. Relaxed and open, she bit Bruce's bottom lip, she let her tongue trail over his lips. She pulled his tongue into her mouth and sucked on it.

She imagined the waves of the Joker's hair gliding in between her fingers. The fantasy took her away as she continued to kiss Bruce. Bruce's lips moved down to her neck. She caressed his back and felt her legs sliding up and down across the sheets. It felt like she couldn't stop moving, an antsy and chaotic energy began to overtake her.

He sucked gently on the side of her neck as she felt the Joker's lips. She heard herself moan as Bruce's lips roamed her neck. The Joker's shoulder's, she could remember exactly how they felt. As her mind recreated them, she could feel a wave of secretions come out of her. She felt her pulse in between her thighs. She imagined him inside of her, the sensation of swelling and enormous pressure. She imagined the Joker's groan, his voice so deep it felt like a vibration against her neck. It sent her over the edge and she felt her head spinning for a few seconds as a tingling sensation originated on her neck and spread through her entire body. The full bodied orgasm was something she knew very well but had only every experienced with one man. The one she was imagining. The sensation grew as it spread, and as it hit her pelvis, she cried out and felt her body spasming.

Once she had her mind back, she realized how hard she was pulling her husband's hair. She released him and he looked into her eyes, and he unbothered by the fact that she had yanked out a few strands of his hair.

"Well..." he said laughing while he looked into her dazed eyes. "That was a first."

She placed her palm over her forehead, realizing what had just happened. Finally, she saw Bruce. She loved him with all of her heart, but suddenly she was feeling incredibly guilty.

Bruce kissed her lips and started to slide up the chemise she was wearing.

"Wow.." he said and she saw him lift his hand. His fingertips were covered and dripping.

He kissed her lips again and then returned to her neck with his hand in between her legs. She felt shaky and nervous, a strange way to feel in a moment like this. It was as though she wanted sex but she also wanted it to be over with. In swift movements she pulled off Bruce's boxers and pulled him on top of her.

"So straight to it?" he laughed and kissed her.

"Yes.." she said. She willed herself not to think of anything else. She needed to be present and put thoughts of the past aside.

Bruce looked into her eyes as his hand went down to place himself inside of her. She found herself admiring him, he was so handsome, masculine and just overall a stunning man. She kissed him again as he began to thrust slowly. After a few seconds she felt her frustration return as her mind kept wanting to go back to the Joker. She needed distraction and now.

"Go faster," she whispered and he did.

His pace increased and she felt a few seconds of bliss. She tried to cling to it but felt it slipping away and the intrusive thoughts of another man returned.

"More," she urged him. "All.."

He went a bit faster and she lost her speech for a moment, and then it was back.

"I want it all," she told him and pushed his hips down.

He entered her completely and kept moving quickly. She heard him exhale a few quick short puffs of air before swearing under his breath.

"Go faster," she told him again and he looked at her for a second, trying to see if she was sure.

And on he went. After a minute or two he began to slow and she could tell what was about to happen.

"No," she said. "Go harder, don't stop-"

"Heh," he said before groaning again and coming to a complete stop.

"Bruce.." she said.

He took a few breaths and she could see the sheen on his skin as he was beginning to sweat.

"Adriana," Bruce said. "I don't want to hurt you-"

"You're not hurting me," she said. "Please...please.."

She murmured the words over and over and kissed his cheek in between speaking. He looked up and took a breath before looking into her eyes again.

"Okay," he said with a soft laugh. "Just...ease up there a bit..relax it so I can go on."

"Huh?" she asked and then realized what he meant.

"I can't go much longer if you're going to keep holding me in a death grip," he laughed more.

She took a long breath and concentrated on relaxing the muscles in her body. Once he felt her open up more he kept going. His pace was fast, she felt the front of his thighs slapping against the insides of hers, she heard the sound the bed was making as it jerked rapidly. But still she felt she needed more.

She slapped him hard on his backside.

"More," she said and she could tell by the look he gave that he wasn't willing.

She slapped him again harder.

"Please!" she said again and upon hearing the desperation in her voice he went even harder.

She heard herself moaning loudly as he pounded into her and she heard herself urging him on, telling him not to stop. For a few moments, yet again, she loved it, and then the sensation seemed to fade.

It made no sense. She began to feel sore, worn down, and ached but she kept urging him on. The sounds he made mimicked the ones that came from him when he was training until exhaustion. It the midst of her aching inside and feeling like her body was almost swelling shut, she still felt that she was yearning to feel something. Something that wasn't there. She knew she wouldn't climax. It made her want to cry but she held it in. Bruce kept going, and after realizing she wasn't urging him on anymore he finally allowed himself to finish. She felt him shuddering over her, heard his moans, and she envied him.