Note: I do not own any of the characters in this story. DC owns them.

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"Father?" Talia asked the next day, "I need to go down to Gotham soon… For business." She smiled nervously, waiting for his response. He raised an eyebrow at her, trying to hide his suspicion.

"What kind of business?" He questioned. She thought about it for a second. Talia had been just hoping he wouldn't question it, and let her go without a problem. She bit her lip, thinking of what to say.

"I… just have to keep up with my undercover identity. Talia Head, remember?" She lied. Talia would have to use that identity to go to the dance, anyway. She wouldn't want anyone realizing who she was.

"I see…." Ra's paused in his sentence, evaluation whether or not this made sense. "We wouldn't want anyone to think you just disappeared. You can go. When do you wish to leave?"

"Maybe in a week or two?" She answered, thankful that he wasn't coming up with any excuses to keep her from going.

"I'd rather you had time to plan. You'll go in two weeks. But why do you need to leave so soon, anyway? Why can't you wait until next month?" Ra's wondered aloud. Talia thought about this question.

"I believe people are already wondering why I don't seem to do anything in person. I wouldn't want to give them enough time to question my very existence…" She replied.

"Fine, but then you can probably still wait two weeks and a half, if not three weeks. I doubt anyone will be that suspicious in just a few more weeks." Ra's argued. He didn't even think this trip was worth her taking at all, much less so immediately.

"You're right…." Talia admitted, worried she wouldn't manage to convince him it was important enough that she had to go in less than three weeks. "I'll go in two weeks and a half."

"Fine, then. But how long do you need to stay there for? Don't you really just need to be seen a couple times and then go? This entire trip is worthless as it is. There's no reason for you to stay more than a couple days…" Ra's expressed his distaste to the whole idea.

"I'll be staying for a week." She stated, slightly nervous that he would reject. She at least had to stay for 3 days, as otherwise she wouldn't even be there for the gala. If she wasn't going to be at the gala, why would she go at all? That was the true reason for the visit, after all.

"Very well. You can go for a week. But you better just do your business, okay?" Ra's looked her right in the eyes, "You're there to prove you exist, not to socialize."

Talia shook her head, breaking the intense eye contact. "I'm not a small child. I understand what I'm supposed to do, and I'll do it." She turned around, ready to go back to her room, tired of talking about and making excuses for her little lie.

Talia felt her father spin her back to face him."Daughter, you don't seem to understand what I'm saying. I know you'll do that... The real question is whether or not some other business will get involved."

"I…" Talia stuttered, "Of course not. I promise." She turned around again, half expecting him to turn her back around with more suspicions, but lucky for her, he didn't. She continued off to her room, shaking off any worries of her father figuring out.

A FEW WEEKS LATER

Bruce sat in the limo, uncomfortably repositioning his collar over and over again. Another gala. More small talk. More dancing with people he just met. More wasted time.

At first, galas could be pretty fun. Dancing, a fancy dinner, and all sorts of other entertainment. But after attending nearly a thousand of them, Bruce had gotten tired of them. Sure, they were okay, but still quite boring.

For his reputation, though, he just kind of had to pretend he was having fun. To pretend that these parties were his life. That he didn't ever think about all the other, more productive things he could be doing. Or even just something else that he'd have more fun doing. No, for billionaire Bruce Wayne, partying was everything.

He sighed. It wasn't really that the activities were boring. It was more that the people he was doing it with were boring. Well, maybe not boring…. But he didn't know any of them very well. Because of this, they weren't very fun to hang out with.

He wanted to spend time with people he actually cared about, not these strangers. He wanted to spend time with his kids. He wanted to spend time with Alfred. He wanted to spend time with Talia, who he hadn't seen in far too long.

But here he was, wasting his time chatting with strangers for the millionth time. He could be with his family. His friends. People who were actually his loved ones. But no, he was going there. To the gala of wasted time.

He kept thinking about how he could have just donated a chunk of money to the charity directly, instead of deciding to co-host this gala. Of course, his reputation as a party-boy needed to be kept up so no one thought he could be Batman, and this wouldn't have helped. The public thought he loved nothing more than social events with dozens of strangers. The truth was, he was quite a bit more introverted than that. But then again, few people knew the real Bruce Wayne, and this was just one thing they didn't know about him.

Fairly soon, Bruce arrived at the gala. He made his way inside, flashing a smile to the paparazzi. But under all that, he wasn't feeling all that happy to be there at all. Little did he know, a pleasant surprise awaited him.

Once inside, he surveyed the room, looking for someone to make small talk with. He went up to a man who seemed to be looking for someone to talk with. The man wore a light gray suit with a dark blue tie.

"Hello. My name's Bruce Wayne." He began, putting on a smile as he shook the guy's hand.

"Nice to meet you, Wayne. I think I've seen you in photographs... Oh, and I'm Jake Anderson." The man replied.

"Nice to meet you, as well."

Their conversation went fairly flat after this. Just remarks about the weather and complimenting each other's outfits and such. Bruce was just about ready to move on to another person, when he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Beloved?"

I guess this chapter wasn't all that exciting, was it? Well, I hope you still enjoyed reading it. At least some sweet Brutalia moments await in the next chapter!

Also, the name "Jake Anderson" was completely random. He's not a real character. Just a guy used for plot convenience.

I know I said this before, but PLEASE read and review. It just means so, so, much to me. The more reviews I get, the quicker I'm going to update the next chapter, so if you'd like to see what happens next, I strongly suggest you write a quick review. I understand that it can be hard to find time for these things, but if you do have the time, I'd really appreciate it. And also, a thank you to everyone who reviewed my last chapter.

Thank you for reading!