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

Wow! You guys gave me a ton of reviews for last chapter! Thank you so much! It definitely got me to start this chapter earlier than usual. But then, like a half way through, I kinda got into some writer's block, so that's why this wasn't much earlier than last time. Sorry about that.

Anyhow, if you guys could review this chapter, too, that would be great!

Also, this chapter might look slightly different from the last time you saw it, because a review from "GrayLadyOfTheSea" helped me realize Bruce was a little OOC and I edited this to at least make him a little more in character. I basically just tried to make him a bit more weary of Talia, like the overly suspicious guy he is. Oh, and then I actually edited this again after that, because I wanted to try to make the edit flow with the rest of the chapter better and stuff.

Bruce turned around, half thinking he had just imagined it. Why would Talia be here? Isn't she somewhere with the League of Assassins? And even if she's in Gotham, why'd she be at this gala? He found the whole thing to be too good to be true. But sure enough, he found Talia to be standing behind him, a smile on her face.

"Talia… you look lovely tonight." He looked up and down at her, taking in her elegant appearance. Talia wore a long, silky green dress, one that almost perfectly matched her eyes. Her hair was down, occasionally lifting up in the wind that soared through the balcony they were standing on. Her cheeks were painted rose-colored, and her eyes sparkling like stars. Looking like a princess from a fairytale, she gave Bruce a quick peck on the lips.

"Thank you. It's been so long…" Talia replied, thinking again about how long it'd been since they had last seen each other. She stepped closer to him, putting her arms loosely around the back of his neck like she was going to kiss him. He, in response, put his arms around her waist to hold her. They both smiled softly.

"You're right….." Bruce agreed, "But why are you even here? I just… wasn't expecting to see you." He looked down, wishing they could have nights like this more often. Bruce wanted so badly for seeing her to not be such a rare occurrence, as if things really got out of control, sometimes they would even go almost a year (Or even more) between visits.

"Can't a lady just go to a fundraising gala?" She laughed, "Okay, fine, I saw you were co-hosting this. So can't a lady just want to see her boy after so long with hardly any contact?" Bruce chuckled in response, and Talia nudged him even closer to her.

"I missed you, too." Bruce smiled. Talia leaned her head against his shoulder, cuddling into his arms. "But Talia.. This is really just about seeing me?" He asked.

"Yes. What else would it be about?" Talia picked her head up from his shoulder to answer the question. Her smile started to fade, "Is there a problem with me coming over to see you?"

"No, no, of course not! It's just…" Bruce stuttered, trying to find a way to say what he wanted to without anyone becoming suspicious. Saying "Ra's Al Ghul" inside a perfectly normal gala is a little weird.

Talia started to smile once again, "Good. But then what is it? Is it about 'you know who'?"

Bruce nodded, "He just… doesn't like me very much."

"Ah, Beloved, you think this visit has something to do with him? You always have to be so suspicious of everything, don't you?" She joked, tracing her hand over his chest nonchalantly.

"But then how'd you…?" Bruce asked, still confused by how she'd made her way here. He knew her father wasn't about to let her just have a nice evening with him, no matter how much she would enjoy it. But he had no idea how she'd managed to get here, and it could be a long story. One that wouldn't be able to be explained without making people suspicious in a public place like this. "Nevermind, we'll talk about it later."

"Good. But we can't waste our evening with just saying 'hello'. Beloved, would you care to dance with me?" She asked, taking a step back from him. Talia put her hand out for him to take. She grinned warmly, tilting her head towards the dance floor.

"Of course. I'd love to," Bruce instantly took her hand, and they made their way over to the dancing area.

Talia wrapped her arms around him, and he did the same to her. They both smiled at each other as they spun around the dance floor happily. The music was slow, flowing smoothly along with the pace of their feet.

LATER THAT EVENING

"Well, looks like the party's over…." Bruce commented as all the guests began to make their way to the door. The butlers and servants at the gala began to clean up the tables and sweep up the floors.

"Yes, but our fun doesn't have to be." Talia took his hand and led him over to her car, "We can't just leave this special visit to the party, can we? I believe Alfred can bring your limo back to the manor himself."

"That's true…" He smiled, "Sure, we can go over to your hotel. We still have a lot to catch up on," He followed Talia over to her car, where they began to drive back to her hotel room.

Once they were there, they both began to sputter out questions at each other. It had been quite a long time, and catching up at the party just wouldn't work with their secretive lives.

"Is Damian doing okay? How's my little boy?" Talia began.

"He's doing fine. Even made friends with Superman's kid, Jon, and this other superhero kid his age named Collin. But he misses you a lot." Bruce informed her.

"I miss him, too. I'm just glad he's having fun, though." Talia smiled, sitting down next to Bruce.

"But how did you really get to Gotham? None of the information we talk about tonight will be going back to your father, right?" Bruce came back with his questions.

"No! I… I had to lie to him. He thinks I'm just here to simply prove 'Talia Head' is alive." She stuttered. She didn't like thinking about it at all. Lying to her father ached her, as necessary as it was. Well, not exactly necessary, but at least needed if she wanted to be able to live her life and have even the tiniest bit of freedom.

"Okay…" Bruce responded. He knew that as long as she stayed with her father, she would need to continue to do things like this for them to be able to see each other at all. They both had to put in so much effort just for the tiniest visit. Their relationship was so complex, so dysfunctional, and it was all thanks to her terrible father. But as much as he wanted to believe her that she was willing to do this sort of thing to see him, he just couldn't be sure. He could feel his inner detective coming out. She was an assassin. A criminal. Criminals lie. "There's no way he'd even agree to that… There's gotta be a different reason." He muttered to himself.

"Beloved, please. I'm really not here because of him. Can't we just have fun?" Talia crossed her arms frustratedly. "I thought you were happy to see me."

"I am… but you're still with him and just because I love you doesn't mean I don't also have duties as a superhero to- "

"Please," Talia's voice softened as she looked into his eyes, "Just let us have this one night."

"Just this one night..." He repeated her words, letting the idea slip through his mind. The party had already seemed risky, but he wanted to give in to her so badly. "I suppose I've already talked to you long enough that letting our night go a little longer couldn't hurt too much. Really,I probably should've been more careful at the party in the first place but-"

"But I thought you were gonna let us have fun tonight?" Talia interrupted him yet again. She smiled, chuckling a little to herself. "Don't spend the entire time saying you're making a mistake."

Bruce smiled again back at her. "I suppose if I'm going to do this, I better make the most out of it."

They both leaned in for a kiss, closing their eyes and holding that kiss, that one night, that they could be with one another. This one chance for love.

"I…." Bruce stuttered to get their conversation going again.

Talia decided to continue asking her questions now that they had begun talking again,"I want to know more about how my dear little boy has been doing, Is Damian keeping up in school okay? He's a bright child, but the league never really saw academics as the most important of things. When it comes to knowledge, he was mostly just taught in war strategy. If he hadn't reformed, that's most of all the knowledge he'd need." Talia explained.

"He's doing fine. Not really that much of a star student, but his tutoring with the League of Assassins got him to slightly above average for his age." Bruce assured her.

Talia held Bruce's hand in hers, holding on to the precious moments that she knew would soon be gone. Back to the league, she would go. Just like she always did. Just like she always never really wanted to.

"That's good. Has he done well transitioning? I know you and his Grandfather's morals are quite different." She asked, smiling at the thought of Damian. Her beloved little son, who she couldn't have been prouder of. Him reforming was honestly for the best, even if it did mean she couldn't see him as often. He was becoming a better person, doing something that she wished she could do, too. But she just couldn't seem to bring up the courage to betray her father like that. To betray the place she grew up, the place that taught her almost everything she knew. Everything she knew except that reforming was the right thing to do.

"He's actually done fairly well. Hasn't killed anyone for a long time." Bruce answered her. He kissed Talia's cheek, making her smile that had already gradually faded magically come back.

"That's wonderful." Silence filled the air. Not an awkward one, but a peaceful one. A knowledge that they didn't need to speak to understand each other. That they could just sit there, hand in hand, and be able to grasp all every broken heartbeat in the other's soul. Not only that, but be able to feel the love and support they were trying to give each other for these aches, these bits of darkness. It was all they needed. They were content just knowing they were safe here, with their beloved.

Safer than she'd ever feel with her father. "He doesn't even care." Talia muttered. "That with his plan, all those people would die. Children. Families. Everyone." Her whisper became so light that even she could hardly hear it.

"He?" Bruce asked, making it obvious he had heard her silent cry.

"Yes. Father. He has so many awful plans." Talia complained. She got up from her seat, sighing as she talked. "Now he's saying that if he can't kill nine-tenths of humanity, perhaps it would be better to kill even more. Even, if he has to, everyone. Everyone but himself. How can he be so egotistical? That would mean killing me. Killing Damian. Killing Every. Single. Person."

She looked down, her voice saddening even more.

A small, soft, but hopeful smile took over Bruce's face. "It's not like he's going to get away with that. Besides, he can't really be planning to do that, can he? I have a hard time believing even he'd go that low."

"Well, no, not exactly. It's an absolute last resort if things really get out of his control. He believes in the very last seconds he has, it could very well be easier than specifically choosing out nine-tenths. That's the only scenarios in which he'd do that sort of thing… But it's still awful that he'd even consider it. Killing most of the population is bad enough." She sat back down, slouching over the opposite way of Bruce sadly.

"If you believe his views on the world are so terrible…. Then why do you stay with him? Why do you help him with his crimes?" Bruce questioned her. She sat up straighter upon hearing him ask her this.

"I don't even know anymore." She closed her eyes, daydreaming for just a moment that she was just living with Bruce and Damian, her father being completely gone from the picture. As much as she hated to admit it, it was beautiful. But didn't she love her father? Why was this so great? He was her loved one, not an enemy. "I just.. I can't betray him like that."

"Okay. Just know that if you ever change your mind about that, I'd be happy to have you stay with me and Damian instead. I know you can be a better person. You just need to leave him." Bruce assured her, leaning in for a kiss.

Talia smiled once again, continuing to talk with her Beloved, laughing the night away.

Okay, so I know some people will be upset about me not going with the idea that Damian is college-level in academics. I understand that it can be upsetting when people portray a favorite character of yours as not as powerful as you take them to be, so I'm sorry. It always seemed a little like DC was over-powering Damian with that stuff. Don't get me wrong, Damian is amazing for his age! It just seems like academics wouldn't be one of the things he's amazing at. War strategy and assassin training seems like it would be much more important to the league of assassins. That being said, I still am sorry, and I promise you this won't be mentioned again in the story, so please don't stop reading it.

Also, I know I skipped a lot of the party. I just don't think I could keep going for much longer without it getting boring. I hope you understand that I just started writing fan fiction, and I haven't learned how to keep a scene going like that. I'm sorry, yet again.

I hope that despite those two things that some of you may have been bothered by, that you still enjoyed this chapter! Tell me what you think the reviews, please!