A/N: Thanks again for all the reviews and highlander348- I started writing and this happened a bit sooner than I'd originally thought but it seems to fit. Hope you all enjoy.
I spent the weekend arguing with myself, waiting to see which side of me would win out- the logical side with its staunch insistence that Bruce couldn't be Batman or the irrational side that was convinced that the billionaire playboy was indeed the caped crusader who lingered on the roofs at night.
Sunday evening arrived and I was still no closer to a conclusion than I had been when Josh dropped me off on Friday night. I had been doggedly avoiding my rooftop terrace all weekend but with a glass of wine as a buffer, I made my way to my rooftop and settled myself into a chair.
I sat and watched as the sun set over Gotham thinking that city sunsets were often overlooked in their own kind of beauty.
I felt him watching me before he appeared, gliding out of the shadows as if he'd been there all along.
Taking a large gulp of wine, I steadied myself as he approached and prepared myself for what he might say.
"I need a favor."
"Oh do you?" Incredulity dripped from my words. "What on earth could I possibly do for you?"
"There were more people involved than the ones you saw last week. I need to know what their words were." His voice was rough but I detected a note of urgency underlying his words.
"And just how do you expect me to find those out?" I had crossed my arms and was watching him closely. He seemed more on edge than before.
"Go back to the police station. Ask to see the photos again. Say you thought you remembered something else." Batman had been standing near the chimney in the center of the roof but now he took a step forward, hand clenching as if in frustration.
"And what exactly is in this for me?" I sighed, somehow knowing that I would do as he asked regardless of the reason.
"Knowing that you'll be saving a life." I froze and looked up into his eyes. Because I was looking for it, I could see the brilliant blue darken into midnight.
"What's happened? Who's in trouble?" My question was softly asked but my mind was already turning over the possibilities.
"The family of someone who has aided me in the past. I need that information by noon tomorrow." I looked down at my now empty wine glass.
"How will I get in touch with you tomorrow? I thought you only came out at night." I couldn't keep the tartness from my voice at the last comment and I glanced up to see Batman's stern mouth quirk up slightly in the corner.
"I'll find you." The rumble that accompanied this sent a shiver rolling over my body and I found my mind again wandering to places it probably shouldn't.
Noticing the time on my watch, I rose and moved toward the stairs. "I'll go first thing in the morning. I hope my boss will forgive me if I end up late because of this."
"I'm sure he'll understand." I watched as he turned and fired a grappling hook to the taller building across the way.
"Somehow I think you're right." I murmured to myself as I watched Batman soar away into the night, convinced completely that I had been right. Batman was really Bruce Wayne.
The next morning, I called Josh and told him that I had to make a stop at the MCU to visit with the detective who had interviewed me in the hospital. He wasn't exactly thrilled at hearing that but he knew me well enough to know that arguing was a moot point.
I was going.
After arriving and stating my purpose to the young officer behind the desk, I was shown into a tiny conference room and I sat down to wait. The person who eventually came and joined me was a different detective but seemed friendly enough. He fanned the photos out in front of me and I began looking at them again.
There were several more photos. Twenty eight people had been assaulted besides me. Twenty eight. I separated the photos that I'd already looked at and concentrated on the ones that were completely new to me.
I tried to not focus on the actual people, instead centering on the words. Ones, flying, have, your, you, before, am, you, to, find, might, I, by, you, the.
I was so focused that I didn't hear the question I was being asked until I realized there had been a pause for my response.
"Huh? I'm sorry I didn't hear the question." I tried to look abashed but I was really very anxious to get out of there.
"Do you see anyone that you recognize? Anything familiar?" The detective was growing impatient and I shook my head.
"No, I'm sorry, I must have been mistaken. I apologize for wasting your time." Gathering my things, I left as fast as was polite and immediately hopped on a train to work.
The minute I arrived in Archives, I knew I wasn't alone. Though the lights were out and everything was dark, I could feel someone else in my space. Knowing who it was gave me a bit of relief but still, after being knocked unconscious, I preferred to have the lights on.
I set my things down on my desk and turned the lamp beside my computer on, leaving the main ones off.
"Well, what did you find out?"
Hearing his deep, gravelly voice behind me, I turned to see him hovering just beyond the light between two of the filing cabinet aisles.
"I have all the words, I've been trying to string them together since I read them all and given whom it's obviously directed to… you… I think I may have solved half of it." I pulled a piece of scribbled on paper out of my pocket and handed it to him.
"Sleeping by day, flying by night, you have no feathers to aid your flight." Batman read aloud what I had figured out on the train ride there.
"Well it's obvious the answer is a bat. If it is meant for you, which I'm sure it is, the second half of the riddle is what is going to be important. I haven't been able to figure that part out yet though." I leaned against the edge of my desk, fidgeting with my fingers.
"Out, might, you, care, lose, you, about, who, find, the, before, ones, am, you, I. Any idea at all what that's supposed to say?" I turned questioning eyes to the man who stood awash in shadows.
"No, but I will." The fierce determination in his voice took me back to another time when I'd heard such determination from a young Bruce Wayne who had decided that Rachel Dawes was going to break up with her current louse of a football jock boyfriend. Of course, that she had decided all on her own to do it, had no effect on Bruce. He had taken all the credit once he learned that Rachel was again single.
"Bru-"I stopped myself as he was turning to walk away, knowing that no good would come of what I'd been about to say. I turned around and swallowed hard, hoping like hell he hadn't heard me.
Apparently, I didn't pray to the right God because I could feel his gaze penetrating the back of my skull with such intensity as to rival that of the sun on the equator.
"What. Did. You. Say." I'd never heard his voice go lower or more menacing before.
I froze, not moving an inch, internally berating myself for letting my tongue slip. I had planned to not let him know that I knew, or at the very least that I suspected. There was no going back.
I could feel my skin flushing hot and cold as adrenaline surged through my body when I felt him move to stand directly behind me. I shut my eyes and concentrated on breathing evenly, normally.
A hand on my shoulder turned me around to stand toe to toe with Batman. I kept my eyes shut, head down, struggling to maintain my semblance of calm.
A gloved hand had my chin coming up but I refused to open my eyes, clinging to the belief that if I just kept my eyes closed, everything would be as it had been.
Feeling him move even closer, my breathing became a bit ragged as a cold sweat broke out over my brow.
"Don't ever, ever-say that again." The words growled softly directly into my left ear had my eyes flying open of their own accord.
My heart was galloping around my chest as if it was running the Preakness and I stared at him as he pulled back and swiftly strode away.
I went about the rest of my day in a fog. Not quite hearing things, not quite seeing things. Josh knew something was up when he came to fetch me at 5 to go home and I didn't even acknowledge his presence.
"G, what's wrong? Something happen at the police station this morning?" He sounded concerned, but as preoccupied as I was - going over and over the scene that had happened later that morning, I just shook my head.
"Georgie, I know something's up. Something has been up for the past week. I've let it slide cause I thought you just needed space but really, this is enough. Tell me." I felt his hands on my shoulders as he looked me in the eyes.
"Josh, I can't. I just… can't. Please believe me, I would if I could." I turned pleading eyes to him, begging him not to push any more. He had no idea how desperately I wanted to confide in someone what I knew, what had happened but I knew that I couldn't.
Josh was a good man but he also believed unequivocally that Batman was responsible for the murder of Harvey Dent. I knew that if I told him what I knew, he would insist on going to the police and Bruce would be arrested.
I couldn't let that happen.
"Alright G, but if you can tell me, you promise you will, right?" I ached at the concern in his voice but knew that nothing could change my mind.
"Yeah, J. If something changes, you'll be the first to know." I gave a half smile and let him take me home.
The next day, Bruce Wayne didn't show up for his board meetings. I heard it going around the lobby as I was grabbing lunch from the sandwich cart.
This fact in and of itself was not unusual as Bruce was notorious for staying out late and partying with supermodels until the wee hours of the morning but it suddenly took on a whole new meaning as I now knew about his real nocturnal activities.
I returned to the Archives with my sandwich and worried for most of the afternoon. In between filing large batches of documents on WE's servers, I searched online for any recent news activity regarding Batman or criminal activity.
Finding nothing, I departed from my routine and began filing actual documents again, needing to do something with all my fretful energy.
As I walked, I asked myself why I was so worried about Bruce. He was a big boy and had been taking care of himself for a long time before I showed up. I didn't even know if he was really not here because of Batman's activities or if he really had been out until 4AM with 7 models. I mean, really, he was probably fine, sleeping in his penthouse suite or something else that billionaires do when they play hooky.
Who was I kidding? I was worried that whatever he had tried to stop had in fact stopped him.
Realizing I was on my fourth trip down the wrong aisle to file paperwork for the Biochemistry department, I gave up and decided to go home early. No one would notice I was gone early besides Josh and I wasn't doing a lick of good doing the same thing over and over.
After letting Josh know I was going home and promising to call the minute I got into my apartment, I left.
Walking up to my apartment, it looked like rain. The sky had turned an ugly shade of grey and clouds were starting to build. I sent Josh a text as I let myself into my apartment and threw my things on the couch.
Hearing a crash of thunder, I remembered that my radio was still on the roof. Racing up my spiral stairs, I opened the door to the roof and gasped.
Batman—Bruce was lying face down between two of my beach chairs. His cape had an ugly green question mark spray painted on the back. Heaven only knows how long he'd been there and I glanced around, the only building taller than mine was across the street and it was vacant, having been just bought to be turned into semi-expensive condos.
Rushing over to him, I shook his shoulder to see if he would wake up. No response. I tried desperately to get a pulse from his neck but his cowl was too thick. Not wanting to risk his ire if I unmasked him, I yanked his glove off of his left hand and gave a sigh of relief as I found his pulse. Strong and steady, thank God. He couldn't be seriously injured then.
Now the only dilemma was getting him off of my roof and into my apartment. I reached under his arms and tried to hoist him up. I could only bring him about a foot off the ground but no farther. I steadied my grip and pulled. He slid toward me and I used that little momentum to get him to my stairs.
Realizing the tricky part was upon me, I turned around and put my shoulder in between one of his arms and his body. Using his arm as leverage I was able to put most of his weight on my back and I began the painstaking process of getting him down the stairs as carefully as I could.
It seemed like it took forever but I finally got him onto my couch.
I dithered for a moment about removing his cowl to see if he had further injuries but I was saved from making a decision as he groaned.
"Are you alright? Did you hit your head?" I knelt next to him and felt a small shock as he opened his eyes and smiled slightly at me.
"I'm fine Georgiana." His low voiced growl was still there but barely. He levered himself upright and put a hand to his head. "I could do with some ice though."
I hesitated. "Um… so you're okay? How long were you on my roof?"
"Yes, I'm fine except for the knock I took on the head. And what time is it?" He looked down at his hand and I realized I'd left his glove on the roof.
"Oh I'll get you some ice and hang on a second." I dashed up to the roof, retrieved the glove and came back down.
Getting the ice from the freezer, I watched as he peeled his other glove off and flex his fingers. Both hands had an extensive array of bruises, some fading some new.
"It's a quarter after 2. I left work early." I handed him the ice and his glove back.
Accepting both without a word, he seemed to be conducting a self-inventory.
Sitting across from him, I voiced the thought that had been running through my mind since our last encounter the previous morning.
"Are you angry that I know?" I waited, on pins and needles as he slowly looked up at me.
"No. But you aren't the first to figure it out. It goes without saying but you can't tell anyone." His voice sounded more like Bruce's and I watched as his hand reached back and pulled off his cowl.
I gulped. I really had been right. I mean, I had known but knowing and actually seeing the proof that you're right are two completely different things.
Running a hand through his hair, Bruce stopped as he saw my face.
I don't know who moved first but suddenly I was being kissed within an inch of my life. As the heavens opened up above to drench the city in rain, I lost myself in his kiss.
I completely forgot about the radio.