Words cannot express how happy I was to be back in Bruce's arms. I was surprised at how quickly he accepted my return, but I was not going to complain.

Over the course of my hiatus at home, I had formulated a good story about my absence since I had a feeling "it's really complicated" wasn't going to cut it this time. I explained to Bruce that I escaped from the Joker's men, which wasn't a total lie, but I couldn't get back to Gotham because I believed that that would be the first place they looked for me when they realized I escaped and I had no way of getting back to Gotham at all. Another not-so-total lie. So I wandered around until I was able to find a way back. I told him how I had been training myself to fight and I tried to get more fit so no one would ever take me again.

Apparently, he believed that I was dead for all that time since he could not find me the night he captured the Joker. I guess that explained why he still looked like a hobo with a gross depression beard. I never understood why he decided to become a sweet vigilante after his parents died, but became a recluse for eight whole years after Rachel died when they weren't even in a relationship to begin with. But now he had lost Rachel, a girl he used to have feelings for, and then me, the girl he currently had feelings for. One person can only handle so much loss. And I had seen firsthand how beat up he was after Rachel died. I could only imagine how he reacted when he realized I was gone.

Alfred apologized profusely for not giving Bruce my letter. He told me that because they had both believed I was dead, he didn't want to fill Bruce with the false hope that he would see me again. I guess, in the long run, that made sense. But I still wish he'd seen it. I still needed to explain to him that after a time, I would not be able to come back.

It was safe to assume that I was somewhere in the first thirty minutes of the movie because Bruce still looked awful. Seriously, I waited with anticipation for him to finally remove that horrid facial hair whenever I watched that film. It didn't suit him whatsoever. Luckily for me, he wasn't going to have it for much longer. I figured out where in the movie I was when Officer Blake stopped by.

I didn't listen in on their conversation because I obviously didn't need to.

Honestly, it didn't seem plausible that Blake figured out Bruce's identity from just a look on his face. Eh, it's also not plausible that a fangirl gets thrown into her favorite movies, but here I am.

When Blake came back out, Bruce followed and the two of us plus Alfred watched him leave.

"You check that name? 'Bane'?" Bruce asked.

"He's a mercenary," Alfred answered. "No other known names. Him and his men were behind a coup in West Africa that secured mining operations for our friend John Daggett."

"Now Daggett's brought them here."

"Or so it seems. I'll keep digging." Alfred turned to leave when Bruce called him back.

"Alfred, why did the Wayne Foundation stop funding boys' homes in the city?"

"The Foundation is funded by the profits of Wayne Enterprises. There have to be some."

"Time to talk to Mr. Fox, I think."

"I'll get him on the phone."

"No, no, no. Do we still have any cars around the place?"

"Yes, one or two," Alfred said with a shadow of a smile.

"I need an appointment at the hospital for my leg."

"Which hospital, sir?"

"Whichever one Jim Gordon's in," Bruce called back as he left the room. Alfred looked a little dejected at that comment. I knew very well that he just wanted Bruce to give up the whole Batman act. I certainly didn't! Come on, dating (if you could call what we were doing that) a superhero is the best thing ever!

When Bruce came out, he looked like whole new person. The beard was gone, thank goodness, and he was wearing a pretty nice suit. Now we just needed to get rid of that cane…

"Much better," I smiled. "Which car are you taking?"

"Lamborghini," he answered.

"Okay, let's go."

"Whoa, who said you could come?"

I looked at him with a smirk. "I haven't seen you for years. You think I'm gonna let you go anywhere without me? Besides, I have a right to know what the heck is wrong with you."

He didn't say anything, but he allowed me to tag along.

At the hospital, we passed several people with shocked looks on their faces. I guess it really was a surprise to see Bruce out and about after so long. He ended up taking a few x-rays of his legs and then we both went to wait for the doctor in the examination room.

When he came in, he put Bruce's x-rays on the light so he could see them.

"I have seen worse cartilage in knees," he said.

"That's good."

"No. That's because there is no cartilage in your knee. And not much of any use in your elbows or your shoulders. Between that and the scar tissue on your kidneys, the residual concussive damage to your brain tissue, and general scarred-over quality of your body, I cannot recommend that you go heli-skiing, Mr. Wayne."

The doctor left and I smirked at Bruce. "You've really beaten yourself up, haven't you? How can one person sustain so many injuries and not have to constantly wear a body cast?"

Bruce gave me a small smile. I had forgotten just how much I missed that gorgeous smile of his. "I have some…'business' to take care of, so could you—?"

"Yeah," I answered. "I'll just go sign you out."

As I went out to the reception desk, I couldn't help but smile at the thought of Bruce wearing that gaudy ski mask and flying down the wall to talk to Gordon. I collected Bruce's x-rays and signed the necessary forms for him, then went to wait by his car.

Eventually, he met me there, still hobbling along. We really had to get that knee brace as soon as possible. Well, at least it was better than the broken back he was going to get. I just might try to prevent that if I can. He still might get taken to the pit, but at least he won't be in agony. I could rest a little easier if I knew that.

"I have something else to take care of. If you'd like, I can drop you back off at the Manor."

"Are you joking? I'm not missing anything else! What's up?"

"One of the maids, who ended up actually being a thief named Selina Kyle, stole my mother's pearls. There's a tracker on them so I'm going to get them back."

"Sounds fun," I laughed.

We got back into the car and I told him where to go as I examined his tracking device. We watched Selina get into a taxi, then Bruce turned the car around and followed her. She ended up going to a fancy fundraiser with some old guy. Bruce stopped a couple blocks away and turned to me.

"There's something for you in the back." He opened up the trunk and I pulled out a short black dress. "We're going to a little gala."

"Excuse me?"

"Throw that on. You can't go in there with jeans and a t-shirt."

"Why do you have a woman's dress in the trunk of your car?" He started to answer, but I stopped him. "You know what? I don't want to know. Where am I supposed to change?"

Bruce gave me a coy smile and his eyes went to the seats. I closed my eyes and groaned.

"You can't be serious." He stood outside while I changed. Luckily, the windows were tinted and he couldn't see inside. At least, I certainly hoped he couldn't…

When I climbed out, I refused to meet his eyes, especially since I was blushing terribly. I took the hair tie around my wrist and did a quick little fancy-ish knot in my hair and secured it. Pretty good for a girl getting ready for a party in three minutes!

"How's this?" I asked him.

"Couldn't be more perfect."

The both of us hopped back into the seats and Bruce drove up to the faux "red carpet" thing for the party.

I got out first and went around to Bruce's side. Too bad the whole cripple mode took away a bit of his gentleman behavior. He didn't open the door for me, but he did allow me to take his arm.

"No, that's Bruce Wayne!" one reporter shouted.

Everyone began clamoring around him, trying to get a story on the recluse man. Bruce took out a button and all of their cameras shut off at once.

"You've got a gadget for everything, don't you?" I said playfully. "Not that I mind. I never was red carpet material."

Bruce smiled and the two of us slowly went up to the entrance. A smiling woman came to meet us. For once, a pretty woman didn't give me a dirty look when she saw me with Bruce Wayne.

"I'm not sure if my assistant put us on the, uh…" he said.

"Right through here, Mr. Wayne," she said happily.

"Thank you so much," we both said to her.

When we walked in, I took in my surroundings. A bunch of stuck-up snobs and fakers. And Miranda, the biggest faker of all, running the whole thing, pretending to be all innocent and helpful. But I knew exactly who she was.

"The things I do for you," I mumbled to Bruce.

"The things you do for me?"

"You know very well that I do not do things like this."

"You're the one who said you didn't want to miss anything."

"Touché."

The two of us went up to the second level and leaned against the railing, watching the dancers, specifically Selina, below. Then a person I didn't know I could loathe so much showed her pretty little masked face.

"Bruce Wayne at a charity ball."

Brue turned to her and looked at her for a second, trying to guess who she was. "Miss Tate, isn't it?"

No. It's Talia Al Ghul. But I had a feeling I couldn't exactly just blurt that out here and now. Bruce certainly wouldn't believe me and I'm sure she would make up some kind of story to cover up her true identity.

"Who's this?" she asked, looking at me as she removed her mask.

"I'm Kristina Jacobson," I said, trying not sound as icy as I wanted to.

She gave me a fake smile before turning her gaze back to Bruce. "Even before you became a recluse, you never came to these things."

"The proceeds go to the big fat spread. It's not about charity. It's about feeding the ego of whichever society hag laid this on."

"Actually, this is my party, Mr. Wayne."

"Oh."

I always felt bad for Bruce when that happened. It had to have been awkward for the both of them. Not that I cared about "Miranda", but Bruce finally comes out of hiding and he completely embarrasses himself on the first day. Poor thing.

"And the proceeds will go where they should because I paid for the big fat spread myself," Miranda/Talia continued.

"That's very generous of you."

"You have to invest if you want to restore balance to the world."

HELLO?! "Restore balance"? That's something Ra's said to Bruce before. Clue number one!

"Take our clean-energy project," she continued.

"Sometimes the investment doesn't pay off. I'm sorry."

"You have a practiced apathy, Mr. Wayne. But a man who doesn't care about the world doesn't spend half his fortune on a plan to save it. And isn't so wounded when it fails that he goes into hiding. Have a good evening, Mr. Wayne."

Bruce watched her as she left. I looked after her. "I don't trust her," I remarked.

"Why not?"

"Something's just off. I'm a good judge of character." Psh, that was a complete lie. I hadn't even picked up at all that Miranda was the real villain until she revealed herself at the end of the movie. "And there's something about her that just doesn't seem right."

"I think you're worrying a bit too much."

Wanna bet?

He looked over to where Selina was dancing with the old guy she had come with. "I need to talk with her. You'll be okay by yourself?"

I smirked at him. "Just go."

While he went there, I headed over to the bar to get a better view. I watched him go up to the man dancing with Selina and take his place in the dance. I knew their whole conversation without even thinking about it, so I didn't really have to focus on that.

"You want something, miss?" the bartender asked me.

"No, thanks," I answered politely.

"Are you sure? We've got some fine choices here and you look like you need to loosen up."

"Excuse me?"

"I have a gift. I can tell when a woman is under pressure, and you look like you've got a lot of it. Just one drink? It'll help you to release all that tension on that pretty body."

What a pervert. "Really, I don't need one."

"Nonsense. I'll fix you up with something that'll ease your mind fast."

"What part of 'no' did you not get?"

He ignored me yet again and after a while, presented me with a small glass of liquid. I looked at it and smelled it. There was definitely something there that shouldn't have been. I recognized it immediately. He had spiked the drink. I pretended to take a small sip. Then I leaned onto the bar with a smile. "Nice try." I then threw the contents of the glass onto his face and walked away.

I was just in time to see Selina land a big fat kiss on Bruce (I chose not to feel upset about it), and I knew she had just stolen his valet ticket. I started to go after her, but before I could do so, I felt a gentle hand on my arm.

"Spare a dance for me?" Bruce asked.

I looked after Selina and sighed. His funeral…uh, Lamborghini. Bruce and I went to the middle of the floor, and he put his hand on my waist and took my other hand in his. To be honest, I didn't really dance much. I had participated in cotillion in middle school, but that was a very, very long time ago. I did remember dancing with my dad in our living room. He taught me to always let the man lead. So that's what I did. Even though Bruce used a cane, he could still at least sway in circles and not make me look like an idiot.

"So what was all that over at the bar?" he asked.

"Trust me," I said flatly. "You don't wanna know."

He met my eyes. "I've really missed you, Kris."

"I've missed you too. A lot." There was a pause before I continued. "I was furious at myself for getting taken. I feel like it's my fault that you, if you don't mind my saying, lost yourself. If I had just been stronger or tougher or better, then—"

"Kris," he cut me off. "It was the Joker who did that to you. It's not your fault that you were taken away and couldn't come back, it's not your fault that I holed myself up in the Manor, and it's not your fault that I became…well, what I did."

"Well, I'm back now. And I'm planning on staying for a while this time." A while as in approximately five and a half months. But hey, it was longer than the other movies, right? "Bruce," I said softly. I wanted to tell him that I never wanted to leave his side. I wanted to tell him about Bane and the pit and Miranda/Talia. I wanted to tell him that I loved him.

Instead, I kissed him and let our lips brush over each other. This was a thousand times better than when I had kissed him before since he had all that stupid facial hair.

How much longer would I be able to keep this up?

We danced in silence for the rest of the time, but I didn't mind. It was nice to just feel him holding me close to him.

When we left, I knew exactly what was coming. "Must've lost my ticket," he said to the valet as he felt his pockets.

"Your wife said you were both taking a cab home," the valet replied.

"My wife?" Bruce said in shock.

"You have a wife now?" I said in mock anger. "That would've been nice to know before!"

I'm sorry, but I found this whole scene funny every time. Alfred came and picked us both up, and Bruce may not have seen it, but I knew that Alfred was trying to keep in laughter himself.