The next morning, Bruce frowned slightly in focus as he read the front page of the morning paper while Alfred drove him down the streets of Gotham City.
Thankfully, no-one had even begun to guess who Batman really was – not for lack of trying – and more importantly, there had been fewer casualties thanks to his efforts. Arkham's inmates had all been rounded up and people were being cured of Crane's toxin and treated as fast as possible thanks to the 'miraculous' cure that Gordon had delivered.
It was an all-around success, made all the better as Bruce read the report that Rebecca and Gordon were both up for promotion after the night's events.
"Batman may have made the front page," Alfred spoke up lightly, "and Miss Dawes made page two; but Bruce Wayne got pushed to page eight."
Bruce chuckled a little as he took the newspaper Alfred passed him, already opened onto said page. Bruce stared down at the article title 'Drunken Billionaire Burns Down Home', his expression turning thoughtful as he skimmed over the details.
It had been printed exactly as he and Alfred had wanted to spin the story; and no-one had to know the truth. Well, almost no-one.
His cell rang, and Bruce answered on speaker, "Bruce Wayne"
"What makes you think," the irritated voice of one William Earle, former CEO of Wayne Enterprises demanded, "you can decide who's running Wayne Enterprises?"
Bruce smirked, not at all ruffled and indeed enjoying the other man's barely suppressed anger.
However, he kept his tone even as he answered calmly, "Well, the fact that I'm the owner."
"What are you talking about?" Earle growled, though with a hint of genuine confusion. "The company went public a week ago."
"And I bought most of the shares." Bruce answered casually while Alfred grinned as he drove, enjoying Bruce's triumph as much as the young man was. "Through various charitable foundations, and trusts, and so forth."
Bruce couldn't quite keep the amusement from his voice as he added, throwing Earle's words right back at him, "Look, it's all a bit technical. But," his smirk widened as Alfred suppressed a chuckle, "the important thing is that my company's future is secure."
He then raised his voice as he added loudly, "Right, Mr. Fox?"
"Right you are, Mr. Wayne." Lucius Fox, the new CEO of Wayne Enterprises, answered and Bruce smiled as he cut the call.
"I think a celebratory dinner tonight is in order, Master Wayne." Alfred chuckled, and Bruce laughed, "Right you are, Alfred."
"Perhaps you would like to invite Miss Dawes." Alfred added slyly, making Bruce's smile dim slightly.
"I haven't spoken to her since last night." Bruce admitted with a sigh.
"You are not afraid to fight Gotham's criminals, but you are frightened to call Miss Dawes, sir?" Alfred inquired, with more than a hint of teasing in his voice.
"Becky can be a lot scarier than any of my enemies – even Ra's al Ghul in some ways." Bruce answered dryly.
Bruce's cell rang again before Alfred could answer, and Bruce answered it again on speaker.
"Bruce Wayne."
"When were you planning on telling me?!" Rebecca's voice yelled through the phone, making both Bruce and Alfred wince.
"What?" Bruce asked, bewildered, and Rebecca snapped, "Don't 'what?' me, Bruce Wayne! Is Alfred okay?"
"Becky, hang on, what are you-?" Bruce began, when she said sharply, "I saw in the paper that your house burnt down last night!"
Bruce blinked, before he realized what was going on.
"Oh, yeah, um…" He said sheepishly while Alfred chuckled quietly. "Look, are you alone right now?"
"Yeah, I'm at home – Gordon gave me the day off." Rebecca dismissed. "And Rachel's already gone to work, the workaholic."
"That's rich coming from you." Bruce muttered, and Rebecca warned, "Don't make me do something I'll regret, Wayne."
"Right, sorry." Bruce said quickly. "About the Manor – Ra's burnt it down after he crashed my birthday party."
"You were okay though?" Rebecca asked worriedly.
Bruce answered as he met Alfred's eyes in the rearview mirror, "I was thanks to Alfred."
"I'll have to thank him, then." Rebecca sighed, before adding sternly, "And you still haven't answered my question – when were you going to tell me?"
"I forgot you didn't know." Bruce admitted. "I didn't mean to not tell you but it wasn't exactly high on my list of priorities at the time."
"I suppose." Rebecca sighed. "Are you going to the Manor now?"
"Yeah, I'm just going to see what's left." Bruce answered, leaning back in the backseat of the Wayne Rolls. "And check on a few things."
"A few bat things?" Rebecca asked dryly, and Bruce grinned as he agreed, "A few bat things. And I wanted to check if there was anything we could salvage."
Rebecca went quiet for a moment before she said softly, "I'm sorry it was burnt down, Bruce."
Bruce's smile dropped and he let out a sigh as he murmured, "Yeah."
He still felt guilty about letting Ra's burn his family's home, but Bruce was glad Alfred and Rebecca were sticking beside him through it.
And another soft smile tugged on his lips as he listened to Rebecca's gentle voice as she added, "And I'm sorry I yelled at you about it, I was just so surprised when I saw it in the paper."
"Well," Bruce replied with a glance down at the open papers in front of him, "I was surprised too, Sergeant Dawes."
Rebecca instantly snorted, and Bruce's grin widened as he could picture her rolling her eyes and shaking her red curls about her face in amused exasperation.
"Shut up." She replied.
But Bruce was enjoying himself and he continued, "It says here you're to be the youngest female Sergeant in the history of Gotham City - and one of the youngest Sergeants in history period. To think little Becky grew up so fast."
"Whatever." Rebecca dismissed with a laugh. "At least now I can officially order the other officers into action – hopefully, with Gordon as Lieutenant now as well, that means we'll actually get somewhere when we chase down leads."
Bruce chuckled, before the line went quiet for a moment.
"Can I come by and see you while you're at the Manor?" Rebecca asked suddenly, and Bruce blinked in surprise.
Suddenly feeling a little nervous as he remembered how he'd left her the night before, Bruce swallowed before he answered as casually as he could, "Sure, stop by whenever you want. Alfred and I will be there until late this afternoon."
Alfred shot him a look in the rearview mirror that told Bruce the butler hadn't been fooled by the nonchalance. The old gentleman even seemed to be enjoying Bruce's nervousness.
Bruce scowled slightly in return, while Rebecca replied, "Good. I'll be by just after lunch – I promised Rachel I'd sit down and talk with her during her lunch break."
"She must've been worried about you last night." Bruce noted, and Rebecca admitted sheepishly, "Yeah. She wanted to talk about it when I got in, but since the police only got off near dawn after last night's fiasco, I wasn't really in the mood to chat."
Bruce chuckled as Rebecca added cheekily, "I don't know how you do it every night – oh wait, I do. Billionaire playboys get to sleep in until however late they want the next day."
"Not with Alfred looking after them." Bruce answered as he gave Alfred a pointed look in the mirror. "He's a strict alarm clock."
"Good for him." Rebecca answered sassily, making Bruce laugh again. "Okay, I'll see you later then, Bruce."
"Later, Becky." Bruce confirmed before Rebecca hung up and he leaned back with a groan.
"What am I going to do, Alfred?" Bruce asked, and Alfred suggested, "Invite her to dinner, sir."
"No, I mean," Bruce sighed as he looked out the window at Gotham passing by around him. "I kissed her last night."
"Oh?"
"Don't start." Bruce warned at Alfred's far too casual tone. "But what do I say now?"
"Well, sir," Alfred answered bluntly. "You could start by being honest and just telling her how you feel."
"You make it sound so simple." Bruce muttered, but Alfred pointed out, "It is simple, sir. She already knows who you are, both as Batman and Bruce Wayne. All you can do is show her exactly how much of that you are offering - it will be up to her to decide if she can accept that."
Bruce sat silently, his face pensive, as Alfred drove them the rest of the way to what was left of Wayne Manor in silence.
Bruce was fixing the planks on the old dried-up well when Rebecca arrived.
Rebecca paused in the charred doorway as she watched Bruce while he hammered another nail into the new plank he was placing over the well. He was so focused on not hitting his finger by accident that he didn't even notice her until she spoke up.
"Making sure no-one else takes an accidental fall?"
Bruce looked up in surprise, before he smiled as he put the hammer down.
"Becky." He greeted, and Rebecca grinned as she commented cheekily while walking towards him, "It should be a privilege to the rest of us that you personally took our safety into consideration."
"You mean Bruce Wayne?" Bruce asked, raising a brow, and Rebecca corrected with a laugh, "Batman."
Bruce chuckled at that while Rebecca came to a stop before him.
"Oh, and before I forget…"
Bruce tilted his head curiously as Rebecca rummaged in her handbag, before he blinked in surprise as Rebecca pulled out a small, carefully hand-wrapped box.
"Happy belated birthday." She announced with a sheepish smile. "I never got the chance to give this to you between getting kidnapped, poisoned, and saving the city."
Bruce chuckled, taking the present from her as he teased, "So you're saying I'm not more important than your life and the fate of the city?"
"My life – maybe. More than Gotham? Never." Rebecca answered jokingly while Bruce opened the present.
A surprised look crossed his face before he smiled as he carefully removed the note Rebecca had placed on top of the gift, which had given away what lay underneath, 'Finders Keepers – Becky.'
Bruce picked up the arrowhead that lay snuggled inside the box, before lifting his eyes to stare right into Rebecca's blue ones.
22 years ago
After Thomas Wayne had set Bruce's bone, the man left to inform Rebecca's mother and Bruce's mother that both children were quite all right.
Rebecca sat beside Bruce, still shaking from fear, while Bruce cradled his arm with a pale face. However, deciding he needed to be the braver one as the older child, Bruce forced his own trembling back as he held out his uninjured hand.
"Becky."
Rebecca looked over, her wide blue eyes calming down as they met Bruce's warm brown ones. She looked down as Bruce gestured with his outstretched hand, and she blinked as he offered her the arrowhead he'd snatched from her sister earlier.
"It's okay, Bruce." Rebecca said as she shook her head, her red curls fluttering with the motion.
But Bruce said firmly, "You were the one who found it. And I couldn't protect you against the b-bats."
His voice waved slightly as he mentioned the creatures both of them would probably fear for life, but Bruce's gaze remained steady as the eight-year-old boy pressed the arrowhead into Rebecca's small hands.
"So you take it." Bruce insisted, as the six-year-old girl stared at him with bright blue eyes.
"Finders Keepers." Rebecca murmured softly as she closed her hands over the arrowhead, and Bruce nodded.
"Then I'll keep it until you find it." Rebecca told Bruce, and he asked, confused, "Find what?"
"A way to protect you from ba… them." Rebecca explained, still too afraid to even say the word 'bats'. "Then you'll be a finder, too."
Bruce paused, before he promised, "If I find a way to protect me, I'll protect you, too, Becky. Promise."
"Pinky promise?" Rebecca asked, and Bruce held out his pinky.
"Pinky promise." He answered, and Rebecca took it with a smile.
"You'll have to keep your word now, Master Bruce."
The two children looked over to see Alfred smiling as he walked in, carrying a tray with two mugs of hot chocolate for the shock.
"A man never breaks his word to a lady." Alfred continued as he set the tray down on the side table.
And Bruce answered as seriously as an eight-year-old boy could be – which was quite serious - "I'll keep my promise, because we pinky swore."
"Very good, sir." Alfred smiled, while Rebecca piped up, "And then he'll be a keeper, too. Right, Mr. Alfred?"
"Right you are, Miss Rebecca." Alfred answered kindly, and Rebecca beamed at Bruce, starting to feel better already.
Bruce smiled back at her, feeling a strange warmth inside as he looked down at the little girl's bright smile beside him.
Present
"Finders Keepers." Bruce chuckled as he closed his hand around the arrowhead.
"You're a keeper of your word, Bruce." Rebecca agreed. "And you're a 'finder' – so, it's only right I kept my word."
Bruce grinned as he looked down at the arrowhead.
"You know, I had a crush on you as a kid back then." Bruce commented, not looking at Rebecca. "After you and I fell into this old well together."
He patted said well, while Rebecca smiled.
"I had a crush on you, too." Rebecca answered. "Until you left for college."
Bruce looked up at her, searching her eyes as she appeared to be doing the same to him.
"The feelings came back when I… fell in love with you again in college, before I left." Bruce continued softly as he leant in closer towards Rebecca.
Her eyes darted down to his lips briefly before meeting his gaze once more as she whispered back, "I was in love with you then, too."
"And now?" Bruce asked tentatively as they came ever closer, so close that he could feel her breath ghosting over his cheek.
"What about you?" Rebecca asked softly, her lips brushing his slightly.
"I still am." Bruce answered, and Rebecca whispered, "So am I."
They closed the small gap left between them, Bruce reaching down to pull Rebecca closer as he wrapped his arms around her waist while Rebecca placed her arms around his neck as she tugged him closer as they kissed each other deeply.