Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations all characters get in.

Afraid I've Been Thinking

Sitting in the library hours later with his feet propped up on an ottoman and one of his assigned books in his hands, Blake tried and failed to pay attention to what he was trying to read. As he'd been trying and failing to think of something other than Bane for hours now Blake gave up on the reading just as he'd given up on the bird feeding, snowman building, re-checking for the third time that he had everything for his planned Christmas feast, and making a few new ornaments to hang on his sad tree.

"The man is ruining and fucking up my life even when he's not around."

Groaning at the thought Blake slumped further in the deep chair he was sitting on, moving his feet from on top of the ottoman to underneath it as he tipped it back and forth while he mulled over, for at least the hundredth time, what Barsad had said to him before. And because he didn't want to think about the fact that the jerk had actually encouraged him to have sex with Bane, so long as it was for the right reasons, Blake focused on the other, actually important info he'd gotten.

To his knowledge Bruce Wayne was straight. There had been a few rumors to the contrary over the years but he'd shrugged those off as typical tabloid crap, and having met the man a handful of times he was willing to bet a decent amount of cash that his hero was heterosexual. That didn't mean the man hadn't experimented back in the day, it happened, but assuming it hadn't odds were Barsad had been talking about a woman when he'd said that Wayne had slept with someone worse than Bane.

In all honesty his first thought had been that Barsad was referring to the cat burglar he'd arrested just before Gotham had been taken over, Selina Kyle, but once he'd got his head on a little straighter he'd discarded that idea fairly quickly. He'd looked over her file, knew her priors and M.O.s, and while she'd shown a willingness to be very bad when the job called for it she was nowhere in Bane's league. And he'd bet every last dollar he'd had in the bank before Gotham had been taken that she'd been honest when she'd told him how scared she was of Bane. Ergo she couldn't be the woman Barsad meant, though he still had a feeling there'd been something between Wayne and the sassy Selina. But barring that the only really, really evil woman he knew existed within Bane's world was whoever Bane was working for. Since Barsad also worked for her he would certainly know just which of the two was worse, and since this woman was likely al Ghul's daughter, she and Wayne would have met up during the latter's training with the League of Shadows.

Which meant ouch. Wayne had really bad luck when it came to women, it had to be said.

But on the A side, if he and Wayne ever got out of their respective prisons he'd be able to tell the other man who had the remote, which would hopefully make up for the fact that he was apparently incapable of not wanting to get Bane naked and inside his ass.

Cursing under his breath as he realized where his thoughts were going, again, Blake kicked out at the ottoman, causing it to skid across the floor before it tipped over with an audible thud.

Glaring at it for a few minutes, he really wanted to break it and a number of things in the room to express just how frustrated and angry he was at the world, Blake finally got out of the chair and went over to pick the piece of furniture up. This was Bane's favorite room in the house after all and he did not want to deal with the fallout if he wrecked anything right now. They'd start fighting and he'd be tearing the man's clothes off in seconds.

Coming to a stop in front of the ottoman Blake crouched down and then frowned, his head cocking to the side as he took in the fact that there was a black box attached to the underside of the footrest, an off and on switch visible, as well as what appeared to be…settings?

Too annoyed to worry about the possibility that he was about to blow himself up or something Blake switched it on, jumping back a little when the ottoman began to move a little, a humming noise filling the air.

"What the…" Inspiration dawning Blake set it on its legs again, the hand he pressed to the top finally cluing him in to the fact that the piece of furniture had a built in foot massager. Pleased to have figured it out Blake reached underneath and tested the various settings, laughing when the highest setting had the footrest moving around without feet to hold it in place, the placement of the tassels and the weird noises it was making it sorta reminding him of a dog for some reason.

Shaking his head in amusement Blake turned it off and decided, for shits and giggles, that he'd spend the rest of the afternoon trying to figure out how to turn the thing on while Bane was using it and try and scare the hell out of the man.

If it didn't get him killed it would be fucking hilarious.

Leaving it for now though, he felt like he had to keep moving to keep his thoughts going, Blake decided to head for the gym. Surprisingly his body had only been a little sore when he'd woken up, but then he kept forgetting the fringe benefits exposure to Venom offered. The way it had fixed his bullet wound, the gash on his arm that didn't even require painkillers, yeah, he was handling pain after the fact very well these days.

That made perfect sense to him, since Blake couldn't imagine a pain much worse than Venom.

Except maybe childbirth, the detective corrected as he left the room with a smile still on his face. To hear women talk that might just be worse.

)

It was late when Bane returned to the house, strain showing around his eyes as he relayed the day's news to Barsad before asking about Blake, forcing himself to put work first. Unfortunately Barsad had very little to tell him, other than the fact that their captive had seemed unable to settle into any one task the entire day. Currently the man was in his room, and had asked Barsad to communicate to Bane that he'd already had his work out, thank you very much, and had no interest in being dragged out of his bed for a sparring lesson.

Bane expected Barsad to show at least a little surprise over the fact that he wished to train the detective, but then he realized that of course the news wouldn't surprise his right hand man. Very little got by Barsad, and aside from Talia no one knew him better.

Reports given Bane excused himself to go check on their charge himself, feeling Barsad's eyes on his back for longer than was necessary before the other mercenary left the main hallway, perhaps to eat more of the baked goods the man couldn't seem to stay away from.

The amusement of that eased some of the strain, Bane's mood slightly lighter as he finished climbing the stairs and walking down the hallway that led to Blake's room. When he knocked at the detective's door there was no answer, but his keen hearing picked up the sound of feet hitting the floor and coming towards him, the door opening moments later.

"Hey-." The greeting dying off Bane watched as color drained from Blake's face, the man making gagging noises as he stumbled back with one hand over his mouth and nose and the other held up in a gesture that made it clear Bane wasn't to come any closer.

Confusion and blinding hurt, a pain unlike any he'd felt before speared through Bane, gutting him as he stumbled back a little too, the man's rejection of him so absolute and physical. He'd known that Blake was angry, upset, hated the reactions they inspired in each other…but for his presence alone to make Blake physically ill…

"Not you."

It took several moments for Bane to realize that Blake had said something, moments more before he cautiously asked Blake if he'd repeat that.

"Not you. Smell." Was apparently the best Blake could get out as he continued to put distance between them, practically on the other side of the room before he moved his hand away from his face to call out a comprehensible reply. "The perfume on you. It makes me nauseated."

Heart-stopping relief was followed quickly by confusion, especially since he was most certainly not wearing-oh. Hands going up to the scarf that Talia had given him a couple hours ago, unwrapping it from her own neck to give to him to keep him warm, Bane acknowledged that her perfume had clung to the garment. He was so used to her scent that he'd thought nothing of it, finding it comforting in its familiarity.

As scent was the sense most tied to memory Bane assumed that Blake had a bad one associated with the scent, it occurring to him that perhaps Blake had had a run in with Talia previously that he didn't know about. But no, she would have mentioned it. Either way it was a simple matter for him to unwind the scarf from around his neck, Bane setting it down outside the door before cautiously entering the room, his eyes on Blake as he waited for some sign that he wasn't to get closer.

"It was from the scarf?" Blake asked, still standing on the other side of the room.

Bane nodded, hoping that the scent hadn't clung noticeably to his own clothes or skin.

Apparently thinking along the same lines Blake asked him to give him a moment and then the detective was disappearing into the bathroom, returning a minute later with an amber colored bottle in his hand. While Bane watched the other man approached him cautiously, stopping when he was in arm's length of him. Then Blake was telling him to hold still, Bane blinking in surprise when he realized Blake intended to squirt something on him. But he allowed his throat and the back of his neck to be given a quick dose, eyes widening slightly as he recognized the scent as one Blake's skin carried at times.

And then Blake was moving in close to get a whiff, the detective making a satisfied, appreciative sound. "The little prick might have been a waste of air and police time, but he had damn good taste in cologne. Sorry about that." He tacked on, Blake's ears going that attractive red before their owner took a step back to put more space between them.

It took Bane actual effort to distract himself from the pleasure of smelling Blake on his own skin, the scent seductive and spicy, but Bane finally got his head on straight enough that he could ask why Blake had such a strong reaction to the perfume on the scarf.

The face Blake made spoke volumes. "It's called 'Rosa', with the catch phrase 'Omni rosae spina'. I'm guessing you know what that means?"

"To every rose, a thorn."

"Yeah. It comes in this fancy bottle that's topper is like an open rose, the base green with these engraved thorns all around it. The idea being some crap about the perfume smelling like roses with the bite of thorns. Didn't get the appeal, but anyway…one of the worst homicides I ever worked involved that crap. A double homicide when I was a uniform."

"It pains you to speak of it?"

"Pains me? No. Not really. What I learned about the vics didn't make me inclined to feel any sorrier for them than the woman who killed them. What happened was that this woman, Mrs. Travis, figured out that her husband was cheating on her. They had three kids, she was a stay at home PTA mom, thought everything was perfect…until she found a pair of women's panties that weren't hers in his suitcase. Now that would be bad enough, but see she recognized this pair because she was with her sister when she bought them. Just before going on a trip at the same time as Travis's husband, the one she'd been unpacking his suitcase from."

"She killed her husband and sister for having an affair."

"Yup. Was smart about it too, making sure of things, hires someone to checking out his purchases and 'late meetings', not wanting to jump the gun or more likely not wanting to believe what she knew in her gut. So then she gets the PI's report and it's there in black and white, including the fact that her hubby's been buying her sister 'Rosa', which goes for seven hundred and twenty five dollars an ounce. And it's a little over three ounces in each bottle. And here she's been clipping coupons and doing without because he'd said he'd started putting more money away for the kids. Fuck that, he was spending it on the sister. And then-well, to make a long story short she found out their next planned rendezvous at the sister's place, went there and shot them both dead in the sister's bedroom. Doused their bodies with nearly a full bottle of that Rosa stuff and then turned off the air conditioning in the place. It was August and the bodies weren't found for four days. Not a smell I'll forget until my dying day."

Bane could do nothing but stare. Blake had pretty much lost him after he'd done the mental math. Approximately two thousand, one hundred and sixty-eight American dollars per bottle. Talia had spent a little over that on perfume for at least the past ten years or so. That added up to over twenty thousand dollars she'd spent on something you squirted on your skin to make you smell like flowers. How many mouths could that feed? Lives could that change? Good it could do…

)

Having dealt with countless criminals and serious bad guys since he'd joined the force, not to mention all the ones he'd come across on the streets before that, Blake knew that all of them usually had shades of grey, weaknesses, and…quirks for lack of a better word. Pedophiles were usually meat in prison, there was occasionally honor among thieves, and a man capable of murdering in cold blooded could be a better parent or husband than some 'good' men. Like the Batman he recognized that criminals were people, and more, individuals.

So the fact that the story he'd just told Bane appeared to have left the man stunned speechless confused the hell out of him, but Blake figured there had to be an element of the story that had touched a nerve.

If he could only figure out what nerve, since it was driving him crazy not to know.

Not being an idiot Blake was aware that his curiosity had gotten him into plenty of trouble in the past, he'd shed the blood and iced the bruises to prove it, so he managed to rein in his impulse to in any way touch Bane as he waited for the other man to come back to him.

And when he did Blake's mouth dropped open in shock as he saw the hint of color rise above the leather of Bane's mask when the mercenary realized that he'd been standing there, staring off into space for a while.

"You could have attacked me."

Since mentioning the fact that Bane was blushing was probably a good way to get dead, plus he figured he owed the man for not making fun of him when his own ears got red, Blake didn't comment on that and instead answered Bane's question honestly. "I would have lost."

This was true, but Bane was still surprised that Blake hadn't attempted it.

"Where did you go, just now?"

That was a tough question to answer, especially since it involved things he couldn't and wouldn't talk about. And if he could speak of Talia he could have said that the money she'd spent had been necessary, that she'd had to look and act the part of a rich woman to function in Wayne's world. He'd never asked about the money, where it had all come from and what she'd spent it on…but now he was wondering. And even though it was stupid, and he knew it was, Bane couldn't help but think of that perfume bottle Blake had described to him. And how Talia was just like it.

But since he couldn't say that, or explain himself properly, Bane answered instead that he'd been thinking about the waste of money that perfume was.

"Oh." Surprised, Blake blinked in surprise and then mentally kicked himself for not thinking of that sooner. "Yeah, I've never got why women blow so much money on stuff just because the label's designer or some actress wears it. And you, I bet you've never worn cologne before, right?" And that thought led to another. "I...uhm…should have asked you before I put that cologne on you. Some people don't like that stuff or how it smells."

"I smell like you. I don't mind that."

Rubbing the back of his neck Blake really wished Bane hadn't pointed that out to him. "So why did you come by, anyway?" A change in subject was needed.

"I won't be here tomorrow."

In the logical part of his brain Blake knew that news shouldn't bother him, he should be glad he was going to have a Bane free Christmas Eve. But he wasn't happy. And it was in his voice as he asked why Bane wouldn't be around.

Talia had asked him to spend it with her, but Bane said, with genuine regret, that he had to be somewhere else."

A long silence.

"Then Merry Christmas."

Another pause. "Merry Christmas, Blake."

)

Don't worry, there will be Christmas stuff between them, promise.

)

So a recap of references again for those few who actually care. Chapter fourteen was the name of the French restaurant, Lumiere's, that Blake's friend's name was Jerry, and Jerry Orbach voiced that character, and the mention that Jerry's girlfriend dressed as a French maid, as she was in the movie. The end scene was also supposed to represent the scene where Belle's father goes to Gaston's bar asking for help to save Belle. Chapter fifteen was Blake's thought that Bane might punish him by locking him in his room without supper, and the Disney princess crack, Chapter sixteen Bane's hand being referred to as a 'paw' and him being seen as a monster. Yeah, those were weak, I know. Chapter seventeen was Bane's bathing scene followed by Blake's ballroom scene just like in the movie, followed by the feeding the birds scene. Good luck with this chapter's!