Chapter 2: The Divorce

Married couple Billy Travers and Alice Pleasance were currently in a heated argument after Alice found out that Billy was cheating on her with another woman from his workplace. "Admit it, you son of a bitch! You slept with Amy from the office!", Alice screamed at her husband. "So what if I did? I promise you it didn't mean anything. It was just a one-time fling.", Billy tried to convince her. "You promise? And how many promises have you broken ever since we got married, Billy?", Alice angrily asked. "I'm really sorry that this happened, Alice. It'll never happen again. You know I love you more than anything, right?", he asked trying to get out of the situation he created. "Honestly, I don't anymore. I thought you did, but it sure doesn't seem like it anymore.", Alice said with tears welling up in her eyes. "I want you to go! Now!", she demanded. "But, baby...", he started, but was cut off. "I said get the hell out of here! It's over, Billy! I'm not going to spend my life with someone who sneaks around betraying me behind my back!", Alice yelled. "Are you saying you want a divorce?", Billy asked. "Damn right I am! I'll have papers mailed to you in whatever scumbag hole you'll be in. Other than that, I don't want to see you ever again!", Alice angrily said with tears streaming down her cheeks. Billy was gathering his things when he said, "And to think you do this after all that we've been through together. Especially, after your crazy boss kidnapped and hypnotized the both of us.", Billy said. Alice stayed silent for a moment after he brought that up which caught her off guard. He hadn't thought about what happened with Jervis in how long, mainly because she tried to block it out of her mind. Not because she didn't want to think about him specifically, but because it was the one bad memory of Jervis she ever had while all the others were great as far as the sweet man he once was. While she had many more bad memories of her relationship with Billy. She didn't know how she never knew how Jervis felt about her, but it did all make sense. And she even knew that he never meant any harm at all and she knew he would never hurt her, even when she was brainwashed. "Yeah, well at least he never actually hurt me like you have.", Alice shot back at her. "Whatever!", Billy said as he walked out of the apartment. Alice waited until he saw his car drive away before she let out some tears. She gave her love and life to this man who ended up betraying her. After about a half hour of recovering from what just happened, Alice decided to try to snap out of it and go make herself some tea. After she got done with making the tea, she decided to listen to some music. She went over to her CD rack and looked through them all to see which one she would be in the mood for listening to. She then stopped when she saw her Celine Dion Falling Into You album. She'll never forget that she got that as a birthday present and she'll also never forget that it was Jervis who gave that to her. She decided to pop that into her CD player and it started playing. It got to the song It's All Coming Back To Me Now and this ironically brought a bunch of memories about her old boss and former best friend back to her, such as when he gave her that disc. It was a slow day at Wayne Enterprises, so Alice used the time to talk to Billy on the phone when they were still in love. Billy wanted to wish his girlfriend a happy birthday and that he would take her out to a nice dinner later on that night. "That's very sweet of you to take me out tonight, Billy. I'll meet you at the Rose Café at 7 and I'll be sure to put on that dress you like. Okay, love you too. Bye.", Alice said as she hung up the phone. Unknown to her, Jervis was behind the wall eavesdropping on the conversation. He at first left his office to give Alice her present but paused when he heard her talking on the phone as he didn't want to interrupt, but also because he didn't want to show his jealousy. Once he heard her saying goodbye, he took a deep breath as he was nervous in doing this and went over to her. "Hello, Alice.", Jervis said with a smile. Alice looked up from her typewriter and said, "Hey, Jervis. What's up? Is there something more you need me to do for you. I've almost got these papers done.". "No, it's not that or anything work related. I know it's your birthday today and I hope you don't mind if I give you a little gift.", Jervis said while slightly blushing. "Awww, Jervis. That's so sweet of you, but you didn't have to that.", Alice said. "But I wanted to. As a token of appreciation for being such a good secretary and a good friend.", Jervis said as he pulled out her gift. "I know you said you liked Celine Dion, and I wasn't sure if you had this album of hers or not.", Jervis said as he handed her the CD. Alice felt so heartwarmed as she held the CD in her hands. She couldn't believe she could have this great of a boss and friend. "No, I'm actually only missing this one and now my collection's complete.", Alice said happily. Alice got up from her desk and gave Jervis a big hug. Jervis returned the hug with content. "Thank you so much for this. This really means a lot.", Alice said. They unhugged and he said, "Happy birthday, Alice!". "Now, it definitely is!", she said. Jervis then did what he normally does by referencing the Wonderland stories and said, "Although, you only have one birthday, but 364 unbirthdays.". Alice slightly giggled and said, "That's so true. Which means today's your unbirthday and I actually also have something for you.", Alice said as she went to grab something from her desk. Jervis was really caught off guard by this and asked, "Something for me?". "Yes. As my token of appreciation to you for being such a great boss and friend.", she said as she handed him something. He saw that it was a keychain with the Cheshire Cat on it, grinning with its painted smile. "I know you love your Wonderland stuff which is coincidental with my name and all, so I thought I'd get you something like that.", Alice said. Jervis felt like he fell even more in love with her just then. "Alice, I don't know what to say.", Jervis said. "Don't mention it and I see that you often look sad, so just look at the cat's grin and hopefully you'll follow.", Alice said. He then went over and hugged her again. She returned the hug with content. "Thank you so much for this, Alice.", he said softly. "You're welcome.", she responded softly. Alice snapped back to reality once the song was over and realized her tea got cold. It was a coincidence that she was thinking about her old boss now with the fact that she wanted a divorce from her douchebag husband, but also she did hear that Jervis was recently released from Arkham. She hopes every time he gets out, he reforms as she hated to think the reason he kept doing bad things was because of her breaking his heart. She then quietly said to herself, "I'm sorry it had to be like this, Jervis. If I could go back and change things, I would.". Meanwhile, in another part of Gotham, Jervis was in his new apartment and was currently looking at the Cheshire Cat keychain that she gave him all those years ago and felt sadness. He quietly said to himself, "I'm sorry it had to be like this, Alice. If I could go back and change things, I would.". But no matter, he made a vow to turn his life around and he intended to do so. He then turned in for the night and was excited to see what his reformed life had in store for him.