I do not own Batman; it all belongs to some other people. Except Molly. But you know, if someone wanted to use her as a kick ass female counterpart in the film franchise, I wouldn't deny them. (AhemChrisNolanAhem) :D


Bruce was still holding vigil in her room when her eyes opened. He was speaking softly into his Bluetooth and he'd turned away in the hopes of not disturbing her, but that didn't fool her. He had his eyes on her every few seconds, his sight flickering from her face to the machines monitoring her vitals. Her eyes fluttered some while she adjusted to the new sensations: oxygen running under her nose, IV in her hand, crisp bed sheets against her arms and back. Dim lighting filtered into her open eyes and she winced against the sensation and the sounds of the softly beeping machines. Drew a shuddering breath. Her side no longer felt like it was on fire and the aches in her legs and shoulders had disappeared. She was probably heavily drugged, she registered and turned her head slightly. Bruce was off his earpiece and next to her in a flash. It would have been touching, if she wasn't suspicious of his motives. Then again, she doubted she was very sexy, chained to a hospital bed that way. He was probably there out of the kindness of his heart- or because he felt guilty for her kidnapping.

"How are you feeling?" he asked. "Do you need anything?"

She would have pulled her hand out of his if she'd had the strength. "No," she croaked. Then she heard what she sounded like and tried to shrug. "Water."

Bruce held a small cup to her lips and she sipped carefully. "I'll call the nurse."

"I'm fine," she managed to say that time. "I don't want her- him." She swallowed hard. "Tell me what's happened."

He debated for a moment, then pulled a chair over and sat down next to her. "There were a few leads. Some anonymous tips." When her shrewd grey eyes continued to see right through him he finally looked away. "I might know a few people."

"Batman rescued me," she said. "Do you know him? We were still talking and you said you had resources and then he was there." She stopped talking abruptly and took several more deep breaths. Bruce narrowed his eyes.

"Does it matter if I know him? Everyone in the city knows him."

"It matters," she replied, eyes still closed, still taking those deep, shuddering breaths. "He thinks I know him."

"Who?"

"That monster," she whispered. "He thinks I know him. I'm a target because of it- now they'll know he's singled me out twice. They'll be coming for me again. Looking for him. It doesn't matter if you know him or not, I guess- but your being near me makes you a target, too. I won't allow you to put yourself in that kind of danger, Bruce."

It was the most she'd said so far and Bruce could hear the strain in her voice because of it. If only she knew. It was touching though, that she was so concerned for him. Probably no more concerned than she would be for any of her students, but it counted for something.

"Don't be ridiculous," he soothed. "I'm not going anywhere. Once you're more awake and the doctor's checked you out, I'm taking you back to the penthouse. You'll be safe there. You're off work for at least a week. That should be enough time for them to take out this Russian character."

Molly actually began to struggle at his words. "No- you can't take me back there, not if I don't want to go- Bruce, you have no idea what this man is like! I won't let you put yourself in danger-"

"Molly," he said, shushing her with soothing words and motions, brushing her short, feathery locks back from her forehead. "Molly, I'm fine. I'll be okay, trust me. I'm not as easy to take out as you imagine."

Molly stopped her struggles and turned her eyes on him. "And this man isn't as harmless as he appears to be. If I escaped there's a reason for it. He's probably having me followed."

"Impossible," Bruce said. "The security we have on you and this hospital is insurmountable. If someone were following you, we'd know."

"Waiting for the Batman to show up again, likely," she went on in a softer voice, then rolled her eyes to him again. "But I suppose you don't care. I suppose you think the Batman can take care of himself as well."

Bruce didn't respond, just returned her hard stare and she finally looked away.

"Fine. I can see you're not going to let me out of this…wait, what about my students? What about the schools? He knows he can get to me through my kids. Knows I would do anything for them-" She stopped abruptly as she remembered the reason she'd been kidnapped in the first place. "Oh, Bruce, Tony- his mother must be worried sick; he wasn't anywhere in the warehouse- do you know…" her voice trailed off as her eyes searched his face. "He didn't make it," she said in a flat voice.

Bruce took her hand again and she didn't pull away this time. "I'm sorry, Molly. Maybe I should wait to tell you-"

She gripped his hand in return. "I need to know," she said. "Please, just..."

Bruce sighed and looked away briefly. "The other members who perpetrated the kidnapping…shot him with his own weapon. He didn't live through that night. I'm so sorry."

Molly turned her face away as the tears started. She didn't say another word and Bruce finally released her hand to call the doctor in. She was silent through her check up, giving only mute nods or shakes of her head; and when the nurse helped bundle her into the wheelchair to have her taken back to the penthouse, she didn't protest.


"Alfred," Bruce murmured a few hours later, after looking in on Molly again. "I have to go out again tonight."

"Sir, don't you think you ought to stay here for a day or two, until she's feeling better? What do I say if she wakes up and asks for you?"

"She won't ask for me. She hasn't said a word since the hospital, since she found out…since I told her about Tony."

Alfred gave Bruce a long, level look. "Master Bruce," he said gently, "I doubt Miss Molly blames you for his death in any way. The recent events are tragic and no one's fault but those who perpetrated them. I suspect," he continued, "that if you are not here when she wakes up that your absence would only serve to alarm her."

Bruce sighed. "How am I going to track down that bastard if I'm here all night?"

Alfred patted him gently on the back. "I believe, Master Bruce, that there are some things more important than catching the bad guy just at this moment."

Bruce turned his head and gazed at his old friend with slightly damp brown eyes. "I almost lost her, Alfred. If she hadn't escaped when she did- and I know that's probably a ploy, that she's right. Vodyanoy wouldn't have let her go if he didn't have a reason- but thank God he did. His reasons don't matter right now, not when she-" he stopped talking abruptly and a strange look came over him. "I'm sorry, Alfred. You're right. I…I'll stay."

Alfred wisely didn't say another word. He'd already won one battle and it would do for now. He went to put on a pot of coffee. They would both be keeping vigil the next few days, he suspected.


Alfred was right; when Molly woke up in pain during the night, the first name she called was Bruce's. Well. That's what Alfred told him, anyway, after he'd already given her the medication. What she'd really said was, "Alfred? Where am I- where's my grandmother? Where's Bruce- has that man…" Then she'd ended with a groan and tried to pull the oxygen away from her face. But Bruce didn't need to know any of that.

Besides, seeing the tender look on his employer's face as he'd taken a seat next to the bed was more reward than he'd had in a long time. Bruce hadn't left the chair since then, dozing lightly, keeping one hand on hers at all times. He'd called Alfred in around six in the morning to tell the man to call his office and cancel all his appointments for the next two days. Lucius Fox could run things better than him, anyway.

Finally, after a fitful night and morning, Molly awoke fully around noon. She blinked slowly, taking in the sun streaming through her blinds and the feel of Egyptian cotton sheets. Thread count 800. Nothing less for Bruce Wayne. Nothing less for the faux girlfriend who'd been kidnapped, shot and interrogated under his watch. She stretched carefully, not moving position, really…just casually extending her arms and legs further. Then she took a deep breath and closed her eyes again before looking to Bruce once more.

Nope, still there. So it hadn't been a dream, waking up in the middle of the night, asking for him, needing to know he was safe. Taking pain meds. She would have rolled her eyes, but she didn't trust the drugs to protect her entirely from the aching she'd had to endure only a day ago.

What was wrong with her? Well, she was probably dealing with post-traumatic stress, or something along those lines. And Bruce was a rich, powerful, good looking man. And they shared chemistry, even if she did want to wipe the floor with his smug face most of the time. That was part of his charm, she supposed. But he did seem to care about her, even if things were moving quickly. Times of high stress often hurried along any underlying feelings. And the things she'd felt only a week ago, at the charity ball, had been real. She hadn't imagined the tingling along her skin everywhere his fingers had brushed her. Or the intoxicating way he'd held her as they'd danced.

Of course, he was magnetic to nearly every woman he met, so that attraction was nothing new. The real question was, when he'd kissed her and she'd returned the kisses, had he been playing her? Evidence pointed to the contrary. The way he was sitting at her bedside now, the way he'd been at her bedside all night at the hospital- how he'd called in a personal favor with the Batman for her sake. Because it must have been a personal favor. The man had gotten to her so quickly, just after she'd been talking to Bruce. He had to know the Batman. There was no other way, short of them being the same person- which was ridiculous. She knew Bruce was hiding some major baggage from her, but some things were too ludicrous to even consider.

She squeezed the hand that held hers gently and was rewarded by Bruce jerking awake and looking over at her with a sleepy smile.

"Hey there," he murmured. "You awake now?"

"Yeah. You're not, though. Were you here all night? You should go lie down."

"I'm used to being up all night," he replied, then stood. "What can I get you? Do you need some water? Medicine?"

"Food," she admitted. "And I'd like to talk to my grandmother. Is she okay?"

"She's still in her home, fighting. I just saw her the day before- I could bring her here, if you're worried-"

"No, she wouldn't come. But if I could talk to her, on the phone, at least-"

"That I can do," he said. "I'll bring an extension in here. Alfred will bring in a tray for you, too. I'll be right back." He leaned down and kissed her forehead, then left.

He looked tired, haggard, to her eyes, but she didn't say anything. The time for jibes and sarcasm between them had passed. They were on the same team and all he wanted to do was help her. He'd proven that. Whether it was for ulterior motives or not no longer mattered. She'd seen the monster who'd ruined her childhood and her mother's life and he was now ruining the lives of children under her care. Whatever Bruce was offering her to save the schools and her kids, she would take it. She had a price after all, and it was doing whatever it took to get that man out of the equation; and put him behind bars for a long, long time. Until he was dead.

Or he could just die first. She wasn't really feeling very picky or magnanimous at the moment…all she knew was that a boy, the little man of his family, protector of his mother and sister, was dead for no reason at all. Because he'd believed the promises of a killer and child molester, who was making money off of fear and vice. The monster had to be fought and stopped, whatever the cost to her own soul. She'd take the bastard down herself, given the chance. And she wasn't afraid to realize that she meant it.

She took a few deep breaths and tried to smile as Bruce walked back in, phone in hand, and hooked it up for her. He sat on the edge of her bed and placed it beside her.

"Need anything else? Alfred has some food whenever you're finished."

She met his brown eyes and glanced away after only a second of contact. He caught the flicker and uncertainty and placed a hand on her blanketed legs.

"Hey- don't be afraid to talk to me. About anything."

She caught the tone of his voice and looked at him more closely. "You know. You talked to Gran." Her lips pressed together and he smiled tightly.

"I'm sorry for breaking into your personal life that way, but we needed to find out everything we could about this mob. If we hadn't spoken with her we might not have made the connection as soon."

"And what does knowing all that actually do for you?" she asked. "He wasn't after me because of that. It's all about the Batman for him."

"Not anymore, it's not. And that is important. Commissioner Gordon has everyone he can spare working this case. It's going to be the biggest bust they've had in years- the biggest crime ring. The infiltration of the schools via the gangs is going to end with this man, Molly. When he's taken down-"

"And if he isn't? It'll only make things worse for the schools. He's probably retaliating against the kids in his gangs already. Bruce, I can't sit here and listen to-"

"Nothing is happening, Molly, I promise. I can bring you a television if you don't believe me- a radio, your laptop- whatever. He's laying low, after losing you. Listen, call your grandmother. Talk to her. She's been worried sick. Your sister is safe, your kids are safe. The trustees for the foundation are actually meeting today to decide how to address the immediate issue of these mob-related gangs. They think swift, deciding action now will not only get us off to a good start publicly, but may also help us bring in these lowlifes."

"Are you going?" Molly suddenly asked. "Will you have your phone-" she broke off as soon as she'd begun and felt her face flushing. Her heart was racing and she tried desperately to slow her breathing.

Bruce's face changed and he took her by the shoulders gently before he slowly leaned forward and hugged her to him. He didn't want to hurt her, but the woman clearly needed comforting. Comforting was good. It was something he was capable of, even when he probably needed it more.

"I'm not going anywhere, Molly. It's a teleconference. I'm staying right here for the next few days. Christ, look at what happened the last time I left. You think I'm going to leave you here by yourself?"

"I wouldn't be by myself," she mumbled into his shoulder, though her heart rate slowed considerably the longer he held her. "I'd have Alfred and Lars."

Bruce smiled into her hair. "Lars?"

"Oh, alright. Ashley."

"Look, I'll just be with Alfred, down the hall in the kitchen. Call if you need something. Now call Madge. She needs to hear from you." He kissed her cheek softly this time, patted her leg and stood up. Then he left again.

Molly watched the doorway thoughtfully for a moment or two, then picked up the phone and dialed. She was going to have to be in on that board meeting. And she was also going to have to figure out how to get back into his arms. Incredibly, it was the first place she'd felt safe in three days. Not unlike having the Batman hold her, in fact.


AN: Cookie? How was this chapter? We'll move on to more action soon, promise.