Two Months Later…

I stretched my arms above my head as I woke up for another day. I relaxed into the bed after the stretch. I turned my head to the side and frowned seeing an empty space. Bruce was normally fast asleep when I woke up. I sat up and threw my legs over the bed.

I unplugged my phone from the charger and shuffled into the conjoining bathroom. I turned on the light and stopped at one of the sinks. I scrolled through my phone looking at news articles. I didn't see anything interesting and grabbed my electric toothbrush.

I had officially moved into the penthouse with Bruce some weeks ago. Gotham was pretty uneventful after the whole Penguin ordeal. Bruce stuck with his routine of being Batman at night. I'd still work at Wayne Enterprises and occasionally go out as Voltess during the day.

As for what happened to Penguin, he's currently behind bars. His court date was fast approaching since he had a cop killed. Gotham PD does not care for cop killers, not one bit. Thanks to Gordon, he was able to convince a judge that Penguin was a flight risk, ironically enough, and he had no bail set. Penguin's money wasn't going to help him get out of prison.

I saw my phone's lock screen light up. It was set to a selfie I had taken with Bruce weeks ago. I saw it was a text message. I finished brushing my teeth and rinsed out my mouth with water. I dried off my mouth with the nearby hand towel and picked up my phone. It was a message from Mr. Fox.

'Happy Birthday, Miss Moser. Enjoy your extended weekend.'

My eyes flickered to the date on my phone. April 26, 2018 is what showed. I took a deep breath and sighed. I'm officially 30 years old now. Another decade older, man, my 20's went by way too fast. I had taken my birthday and tomorrow, being Friday, off mainly because Bruce told me to. I normally would have gone into work today regardless of what day it was but Bruce insisted that I request it off.

'Thank you, Mr. Fox. I will.'

I sent back a quick reply. I turned off the bathroom light and headed for the bedroom door. I stopped just before it and stared at the empty bed. Where was Bruce anyway?

I opened the door and a mouth watering aroma immediately hit my nose. I made my way to the kitchen to see Alfred wearing his apron and standing over the stove.

"Morning Alfred." I greeted.

Alfred looked over his shoulder with a smile, "Good morning, Miss Moser. Happy birthday, you're officially one year older." I took a seat at the barstool.

"Thank you. I'm a bit miffed that my 20's are officially behind me. It feels just like yesterday I was sitting in my dorm room at MIT. I was eating a cup of instant noodles and watching the latest episode of Lost for my 20th birthday." I said with a chuckle and grin on my face. God, to go back to 2008 again. Simpler times back then.

Alfred smiled, "Well I don't have instant noodles but I do have pancakes." He leaned back enough for me to see the batter cooking on the stove.

"What kind?" I asked and raised a brow.

"Blueberry of course. It is your birthday and I do recall you telling me this is your favorite for breakfast." He flipped over the pancake to let the other side cook.

"Did Bruce come home last night?" I asked changing the subject.

Alfred nodded and kept his focus on the pancake on the skillet, "He did. Master Wayne said he had to run an errand before you woke up. He should be back relatively soon."

I shook my head, "I don't know how he can run off virtually no sleep. I'd cease to function." I joked.

Alfred chuckled, "As would I, Miss Moser. I believe people would call Master Wayne a special breed of human." My ears picked up the sound of the front door opening and closing.

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear." Alfred mused and sent me a wink. He took the pancake off the skillet and placed it on a plate with two other pancakes on it.

I chuckled, "Nice to know you were talking about me, Alfred." Bruce commented from the entryway.

Alfred set the plate of pancakes in front of me while I heard Bruce drop his keys on the server. I grabbed the syrup that was sitting on the bar counter. I turned my head slightly hearing Bruce's heavy footsteps getting closer.

He smiled seeing me awake. He walked over and we both leaned forward for a brief kiss.

"Good morning, birthday girl." He greeted after separating the kiss.

"Morning. Where did you run off to this morning?" I asked as he took a seat at the barstool next to me.

He gave a playful smirk, "You'll find out." My shoulders dropped as I gave a look to Bruce.

"Really? Come on." I begged. Bruce's smirk widened and he shook his head.

"It's a surprise, Mel. You're not supposed to know." I said nothing but gave him the stink eye as I popped open the cap to the syrup. Bruce's smirk turned into a grin as he chuckled from my actions.

I spread the syrup on my pancakes and closed the cap. I noticed the raised brow on Bruce's face.

"What?"

"I don't think you have enough syrup." He said sarcastically. I rolled my eyes and grabbed the knife and fork Alfred set down earlier.

"Would you like any, Master Wayne?" Alfred asked.

Bruce shook his head, "No, I'm fine." Alfred nodded, "Coffee then?" Bruce nodded his head.

"I'll take one too." Alfred smiled and nodded once more. I took my first bite of the pancakes.

"Anything happen last night?" I asked after swallowing.

Bruce leaned back in the barstool, "It was surprisingly quiet. I stopped one attempted robbery and scared off some kids vandalizing the capitol building." I raised an eyebrow.

"By kids I hope you mean teenagers?" Bruce gave a brief nod.

Alfred walked over with two mugs filled with coffee. He set mine that had creamer in it and set the black coffee next to Bruce.

"According to the media, Gotham's crime rate is at the lowest it's ever been in decades. With Penguin now behind bars, the mob activity has gone to a stand-still." Alfred mentioned.

Bruce smiled slightly and looked at me, "I think there's another reason why the crime rate has gone down." Alfred nodded his head in agreement. Both of them were now staring at me. I looked between them both slightly wide eyed and stopped chewing my next bite.

I swallowed, "Me?" I pointed at myself. Bruce nodded and Alfred picked up a newspaper that he had on the kitchen counter.

"See for yourself." Alfred handed me the newspaper. I set down my knife and fork and took it from him.

On one of the pages the title of the newspaper read "Lowest Crime Rate Gotham has seen in Decades". I began to read the article below.

"In the past two months, Gotham has seen a dramatic lowering of its crime rate. Police Commissioner Gordon reported the statistics earlier this week. Gotham has not seen this low of a crime rate since the days of Thomas Wayne during the 1990's. Our reporters asked several random people in the street why they think the crime rate has taken a dramatic turn. They all mentioned the same name. Voltess. Ever since this heroine showed up and began to work with Gotham's very own Batman, crime rate slowly began to drop. Criminals could no longer turn to the day time in hopes of getting away with whatever crime they tried to commit. Voltess was there to stop them. Most recently Batman and Voltess worked together to bring the true head of the mob, Oswald Cobblepot or known as Penguin. Mob activity has come down to a crawl with their boss behind bars. Voltess, if you happen to come across this article. Then, on behalf of all of Gotham we thank you for making our city feel safer."

"Huh, okay. Wow." That was all I could manage to say. I was completely taken back by the article.

"Gotham is starting to change and for the better. That was my goal when I first became Batman. It took years but it's finally getting back to how it was before the death of my father." Bruce gave me a look filled with admiration and pride. Leroy wasn't kidding. Like father, like son.

"I'm glad I could help make a difference." Bruce smiled and grabbed his coffee mug. He took a sip as Alfred started to clean up the kitchen.

"After you're done eating you need to get dressed and packed." I furrowed my brows at that.

"Pack? Pack what?" I could see the smirk on his face even as he took another sip from the mug.

"Extra clothes and essentials. You'll find out." Now I really want to know what he has planned.

I stared at the private plane sitting on the runway in shock. "We're traveling on my birthday? This is your big surprise?" I turned to Bruce in disbelief.

He chuckled, "No, it's taking us there. It would be faster to fly than drive." He placed a hand on the small of my back and ushered me to walk forward.

"You're not going to tell me where we're going?" Bruce smirked and shook his head.

"You're killing me here, Wayne." I heard him laugh as I walked up the steps to the aircraft.

"I promise you, it'll be worth the wait." I looked over my shoulder at him.

"You're confident." I stated. I walked onboard the private plane. It had been a while since I've been on board one of these.

I took a seat that faced towards the pilot's cockpit. Bruce took his spot in front of me.

"Can you at least tell me if we're staying at this place for the weekend?" Bruce gave me an amused smile.

"Yes. This is why I had you request days off and why I had you pack." Bruce confirmed.

"What about Gotham not having either of us while we're gone?" I asked.

"I think Gordon and Martin can handle watching the city for a weekend without Voltess or Batman." I hope so. A lot can happen over the span of a few days.

I took a sip of my mimosa before placing it back in the cup holder. I had one foot on the seat and my other on the floor. I had my tablet out and mindlessly scrolled through my social media page. I stopped seeing a tabloid already out with the title reading, "Bruce Wayne and Girlfriend, Melody Moser, Leave on Private Jet". That was quick. It was weird seeing my name on a tabloid with it saying Voltess right next to it. All the tabloids back home would start out with "Melody Moser's Voltess" or something along those lines.

I glanced up from the tablet to look at Bruce. He currently had the seat reclined back slightly. He had his head back and his eyes were closed. He's normally still asleep at this time after being up all night patrolling Gotham.

I locked the tablet and set it down on the table between us. I adjusted on the seat to lean against the arm rest. I stared outside the window. I couldn't see much with the plane flying through a cloud. We had been in the air for about two hours now. Where exactly were we flying to?

The plan finally flew out from the cloud and I froze seeing familiar skyscrapers. My eyes first landed on the Chrysler Building then Empire State. New York City. This world's version of my home.

"I told you it would be worth the wait." I turned my head to see Bruce was now awake. He leaned his cheek on his fist and a warm smile on his lips.

"What made you think of taking me here?" I asked just above a whisper.

Bruce sat up straight, "I know it's not exactly the New York that you know but it's close. I thought you might have wanted to see something familiar for a weekend. I've never actually stayed in New York City for long. I thought it'd be good to have a New Yorker be the tour guide." I smiled.

"I don't know exactly how different this version of New York City is but I'm sure I could still show you around." Bruce returned my smile.

"You know, I should have expected you to go all out. The Four Seasons Hotel's presidential suite." I said as I walked into the room.

We finally made it to the hotel after touring around New York City. I was pleasantly surprised by how much stayed the same. There are some big differences. Stark Industries building wasn't here, no Avengers advertisements anywhere, and something that Tony would be heartbroken to know…the shawarma place didn't exist here.

"Fox said it had the best view of the city." I turned to Bruce.

"Fox knew about this trip?" Everybody apparently knew about this trip but me.

"How do you think you got this time off on such short notice?" He sauntered over to me with his hands in his pockets.

"What else did Fox tell you?" I walked over to him.

I placed my palms flat on his abdomen and moved them up his chest. I could feel the outlines of his muscles as my hands finally stopped around his neck. Bruce took his hands out of his pockets and placed them on top of my hips. His eyes held a longing in them as he stared at me.

"He recommended a restaurant. We have dinner reservations there at nine." He stated.

"What restaurant?" Bruce gave a playful smile.

"You'll see." I let out a groan and rested my head on his chest. I felt and heard him chuckle as he wrapped his arms around my waist.

"You know, this is making me feel like I need to step it up when your next birthday comes up."

His birthday was just a week prior to mine. There was a pretty big party that got thrown at the penthouse, but that wasn't set up by me. That was all Alfred's doing. Compared to what Bruce is doing for my birthday, what I did was kind of lackluster to put it nicely.

Flashback

I shifted my way through the large crowd of people. The penthouse was completely filled with guests for Bruce's party. It was a formal party as well. Men wore tuxedos and the women wore dresses. I was currently wearing a midnight blue form fitting dress that stopped just below my knees. The sleeves hugged around my shoulders and exposed the top of them.

My eyes scanned around the crowd trying to find Bruce. It was difficult since he was wearing a tuxedo like the rest of the men currently here. I took a step back and I felt myself bump into someone behind me.

"I am so sorry." I said as I turned around.

A man in his mid thirties with dirty blonde hair and brown eyes in a tux smiled, "Don't worry about it. It's a bit crowded here. I don't think I've seen you at these types of events before." The man held his hand out to me.

"Name's Sullivan but my friends call me Sul." I smiled politely and took his hand in a hand shake.

"Melody but my friends call me Mel." I mimicked his introduction. Sul smiled and let go of my hand.

"That is a name you don't hear often. Were your parents musicians?" I let out a light laugh and shook my head.

"No, but you're not the first person to ask me that." Sul grinned.

"Darn, and here I thought I was being original." I suddenly felt an arm snake behind my waist and rest on my hip.

"Sul, nice to see you." Bruce's voice came from next to me. I felt Bruce pull me into his side slightly.

Sul noticed and he cleared his throat. He was clearly uncomfortable now, "Nice to see you too, Bruce. Happy birthday by the way. I'll huh…leave you guys to talk." Sul turned around and walked away.

I lightly hit Bruce's chest with the back of my hand, "That was rude. We were just talking." Bruce looked down to me.

"You were talking, he was flirting. I don't need some other guy flirting with my girlfriend on my own birthday." I could hear the jealousy in his tone of voice.

I rolled my eyes, "Nothing was going to happen and you know that." Bruce grabbed my hand and placed a kiss on my knuckles.

"I know you wouldn't have but Sul would have tried something. He's a notorious flirt and can't keep his hands to himself." I didn't get that impression from him at all.

My eyes glanced at the clock behind Bruce and saw it was getting close to 10pm. Crap, I almost forgot the reason why I was looking for him in the first place.

"I know you're the birthday boy here but you think we can sneak out?" Bruce's serious look was instantly replaced with a wide smirk.

"I thought you'd never ask. I can only stand these parties for so long." I took Bruce's hand in mine and headed for the closest exit.

We made it out to the side exit of the penthouse. Bruce was about to stop but I kept a tight grip on his hand and gently tugged at his arm. He looked at me confused.

"Come on. I want to show you something." Bruce complied and let me drag him out to the trees that surrounded the property.

"Where are we going?" Bruce asked curiously.

"You'll see, we're almost there." I said as we went through the dense trees.

We eventually came up to a clearing. There were two oak trees in the clearing and a hammock I had hung earlier in the day was tied to the trees.

"What is this?" Bruce asked. I let go of his hand and backed up. He was giving me a look saying he was wanting an answer.

"What time is it on your watch?" Bruce looked stumped at my question. He pulled back his sleeve.

"10:05 why? What's going on, Mel?" I grinned and pointed up.

"Look up." Bruce furrowed his brows but did as I told him. I looked up as well and you could see a meteor shower happening in the night sky.

"I had this planned since I found out there was a meteor shower happening on the night of your birthday." I walked over to the hammock and kicked off my shoes before sitting down.

Bruce lowered his head and saw what I was doing. He smiled and took long strides to get over to me. "We're watching the meteor shower together then?" He assumed.

I nodded, "I know you told me you didn't want a birthday gift but I wanted to do something. I know it's not much." Bruce shook his head.

"No, it's perfect. This is perfect, Mel." He took my face in his hands and kissed me fully on the lips.

He pulled back and took off his tux's jacket and bow tie. He unbuttoned the collar and took his shoes off. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"You going to let me join you?" He questioned.

I smiled and moved over. Bruce laid down flat on the hammock and I laid at an angle on my side. Bruce placed one arm under his head and the other went around me and rested his hand on my waist.

"Is this better than the party?" I asked and titled my head up.

He tilted his head down and a loving smile formed on his face, "Hands down. This makes this birthday the best one yet." I raised my brows in surprise.

"Really?" Bruce nodded, "Really." I leaned up and caught him in a brief kiss. I felt his hand move to my shoulder.

"Happy birthday, Bruce." I whispered after the kiss ended. He smiled and kissed me gingerly on my forehead. I laid my head on his chest and the two of us watched the meteor shower happening above for the remainder of the party.

End of Flashback

Bruce gently grabbed my chin and made me look up at him, "Don't think like that. What you did was perfect. I've always had these extravagant parties on my birthday every year. This was the first year that I felt like I was doing something a normal person would do for their birthday. I loved the simplicity of it." I stood on the balls of my feet and pulled him down for a kiss.

Bruce pulled back from the kiss and cupped my cheek in his palm. "You know, we have a couple of hours before we need to get ready." He said suggestively.

"Hm, you have any idea how to spend that time?" I played coy. Bruce smirked and leaned down next to my ear.

"Oh I have a couple of ideas." I suddenly felt myself get lifted off the ground. I let out a laugh as I gripped on Bruce's shoulder to keep myself from falling over.

I leaned against the railing of the balcony of the presidential suite. A fond smile on my face as I looked over New York City at night. The city noise practically music to my ears. The memories of flying over the streets at night over the years came flooding back.

I felt two strong arms wrap around my waist, "Easy on the stomach. We just ate." I reminded him. Bruce lifted his arms in response and rested them just below my chest. We had just gotten back from eating at STATE Grill and Bar, the restaurant located inside the Empire State Building.

I felt a shudder go down my back as he planted a soft kiss on the crook of my neck.

"What are you doing out here?" He whispered as he rested his head on my shoulder.

"I miss this view. I've flown over this city countless times but I'll never get tired of seeing it. Especially at night." I felt his grip around me tighten.

"We'll have to make more frequent trips out here then. Maybe opening up a branch out here will make it an excuse to visit more often." Bruce suggested.

"That could work." I felt Bruce back away. "Mel," I turned to him and I froze seeing him holding out a black rectangular velvet case with a ribbon, "Happy birthday." I took the box from him.

"Is this why you disappeared this morning?" He nodded. "It was ready to pick up in the morning. Open it."

I undid the ribbon and opened the case. My mouth was left ajar seeing a necklace. It looked to be sterling silver with a diamond encrusted infinity symbol. Knowing Bruce, these diamond were real and most likely very expensive.

"Bruce, I can't accept this." Bruce rolled his eyes.

"You need to get use to me spoiling you with gifts. Nothing you say will stop me." He grabbed the necklace from the case, "Turn around." I did as he said and I felt the cool metal placed on my neck. I looked down at it and fiddled with it. I turned back to Bruce and he smiled.

"It matches you perfectly." He complimented.

"Thank you. It's beautiful, Bruce." He leaned his head down and captured me in a loving kiss. We broke the kiss and leaned against the railing once more. Bruce grabbed the railing from either side of me and joined me.

We continued to look over the city as inside the news was playing on the tv. Both of us paid it no attention but something popped up on the screen. A picture of the Joker and Cyclone were on the television screen with the words "Escaped" under them.

If only Bruce and I knew exactly what was planned that night…we might not have ever left for New York to begin with. Those two months were just the quiet times before the storm. Joker had already turned Gotham on its head once and he'd do it again but this time with Cyclone at his side.