Hello everyone! Sorry (once again) for such a long time between updates. I have to be honest, I was trying to get the story down right before I continued on with another chapter. I knew what I wanted to do, but there were several plot points that I was getting hung up on. Hopefully now, things will go smoother. And I apologize again for the long wait. You guys are great with the reviews. I really appreciate them. :-)

Bruce Wayne sauntered down the main stairwell of Wayne Mansion feeling a little more than groggy, but trying fervently to fight back the weariness. Though he hadn't gone out as his dark-cloven alter ego the night before, he had reluctantly gone out to eat and drink at a cocktail party held by a person whose name he had long since forgotten and was escorted by a vaporous brunette whose name he never really caught. It made no difference, his mind was elsewhere. The pictures of that dead girl's body which he had glanced upon only two nights before with great surreptitiousness, were now as vivid as if she were right before him. He had found little information out, despite much time spent on research. Whoever was behind this had done well to cover their tracks. Apparently none of the thugs apprehended had offered any information, either, making this case feel treacherously lost.

Bruce made his way into the kitchen and was greeted by his rather old, but loyal companion.

"Good morning, Master Bruce."

"Morning, Alfred." Bruce aggressively rubbed his face with his hand in a vain attempt to rub out the fatigue. Alfred only half-smiled. His admiration and respect deep down gave him much pride for "his" boy. Bruce was not only one of the most disciplined and well-trained men he knew, but also the most intelligent and dedicated.

Bruce walked around the island that was in the middle of the kitchen and opened a cabinet door to reach in and get a coffee mug. Pouring himself a cup of coffee, he took a long look out the window over the sink. "Looks like rain again today." He didn't particularly mind the rain, he just hoped it stopped before tonight, seeing as how it made his nightly activities that much more difficult. Alfred turned around to look out the window as well, already aware of the weather.

"Yes, sir. I took the liberty of placing an umbrella in one of your cars."

Bruce laughed at that. "Batman doesn't walk around with an umbrella."

"Indeed not, sir, but Bruce Wayne does, especially when he is escorting a very pretty young woman around Gotham City."

The younger man's eyes widened at remembering the plans he had made for this afternoon. "Apartment hunting." He couldn't believe he had forgotten. Then a sullen thought crossed his mind. What if Eva had forgotten? The dreamy-eyed complexion she had doused upon her face after Aaron Adams had left her on her doorstep hadn't escaped his attention, nor had the kiss they had shared. Adams was such a weasel. Bruce had never really liked the guy, but now he had more than enough reason to totally despise him. He turned to face Alfred who was staring at him in return.

"Shall I call Miss Gordon and remind her of the plans, Master Bruce?"

Bruce shook his head before draining the remaining contents of his cup down his throat.

"That won't be necessary, Alfred," he said before he left the kitchen and walked back up the main stairwell.

Jim Gordon was sitting at his kitchen table looking over the contents that a certain large envelope contained, while talking with his daughter.

"And that's all that he said?"

Eva Gordon had run the "conversation" she had with the Batman over in her head a million times that weekend. "Pretty much," she said while drying her hands on a dish towel. "He stared at me for a while, handed me the envelope, then made sure that I understood that it was for you." She smirked at that. Like I'm some grade school child about to disobey the teacher, she thought sardonically. Her father sat back in his chair, silently trying to fit the pieces of what was given him together. None of it made sense and he was wondering why the Super Detective gave it to him. Perhaps he didn't know what the key to the puzzle was, either. When searching to identify the victim, it didn't help to search through the missing persons cases. There were so many, she could have been any one of them. Detective Gordon looked over all the evidence one more time before placing it all back inside the envelope. He would submit it to the lab for analysis, but he was sure that it would come back with nothing significant. Something told him that Batman had run his own tests, and if anything had shown up, he would have specified. Gordon decided to give the issue a rest for now. Besides, there was an issue that he had meant to talk with his daughter about earlier on in the weekend.

"This Aaron Adams guy, whats the thing with him?"

Eva was washing the dishes and turned slightly to look at her father. "What do you mean?" She was a little amused by his question; he crossed his arms.

"Was he a good guy or a bad guy? Did he treat you with respect?" He took a pause while watching his daughter scrub at a pot that had contained roast the night before. He continued, "Did he touch you?"

Eva dropped the pot she was washing and turned to face her father. Then she started laughing. She couldn't help it. When she was younger, that kind of question would have driven her insane, but now she found it to be rather endearing. She leaned up against the counter and folded her arms across her chest, a broad smile across her face. "Nothing inappropriate, I assure you. We danced, but made sure to keep at least twelve inches of space between us."

"Eva..." He gave her a menacing look, but she just laughed.

"Well, would you rather me have said that we jumped each other inside his vehicle?"

"Eva!"

"Well..."

"I just want you to be careful," her father smiled up at her. "Sometimes these guys with money think they own the world and that it holds no boundaries for them. No one knows much about this Adams character. The guy has a pretty mysterious past."

Eva wasn't sure what to say to that and so was thankful when the phone rang.

"Hello? Yeah, just a minute." She put the phone down and walked back over to the sink. "It's for you."

Her father stood up, looking years older already, and grabbed the phone. "Gordon...Oh no...When?...No, no...I'm on my way." Gordon hung up the phone and turned to his daughter. She had been watching him the entire time.

"Bad news?" She asked.

"I've got to get up to the station." His eyes searched his daughters, but she only nodded. Eva had been more than used to this, though she did find that his work was much more demanding since his promotion. James Gordon walked into the living room and bent over to hug his two boys and then stood up to turn back into the kitchen. "Tell your mother, when she gets back, to give me a call."

Eva nodded while she watched her father walk out the door.

James Gordon stepped through the doors of the Gotham City Police Crime Lab, anxious to speak with the person that called him. He stopped at the front of a large room filled with different gadgets used for analysis. His eyes began to inspect the room with their quiet professionalism and caught sight of a tiny woman in a white lab coat walking over to him. She greeted him with a smile and extended her hand out towards Gordon which he shook.

"Detective Gordon. It's nice to see you again."

"Hello Lisa. Your timing is impeccable. I thought that I might escape with a day of not having to come into work."

The tiny brunette laughed while leading Gordon over to a table that had several official looking papers and a folder strewn across the top of it. "The autopsy report came back. I thought you might want to have a look at it personally." Lisa handed over a paper, which Gordon took and skimmed through before resting his eyes on a certain section.

"My God," he said, almost inaudibly. "Are they sure?"

This caused the woman to smirk with a mirthless chuckle. "Positive. Something like that isn't easily mistaken."

Gordon sighed and ran a hand through his graying hair. "That changes things up a bit. I'll have the case reclassified...to a double homicide."

Bruce Wayne stepped up to the front door of the Gordon residence. He was a little nervous, which was something that he couldn't quite figure out. He was never nervous. Instead, he had trained himself to remain a steady cool in most situations. However, he found that all his training and practice was useless in midst of a certain young woman, of which even he was baffled.

Bruce rang the doorbell and hoped that Eva hadn't forgotten. A few moments later, he was greeted at the door by a short golden haired boy that stared up at him with insatiable curiosity. Bruce looked down at him for a moment before realizing this was one of Eva's brothers, Gordon's son.

"Hi. Is your sister-"

"Connor!" Bruce looked up at the hearing the young boy's name being yelled out from somewhere deep in the house. "Get away from the door! You know better than that. If mom was here she would have-" Eva opened the front door wider to see who was standing at it and stopped mid sentence when she came face to face with her boss and newly acquainted friend. "Bruce. Hi," she smiled up at him. "Come in, please." He stepped through the door and took in the scene before him. There were toys and clothes everywhere. Eva herself looked unkempt, which was pleasantly unusual for her. She looked quite relaxed and comfortable in her knit shorts and tee shirt. Judging from her appearance, Bruce knew she had forgotten about apartment hunting. "I'm so sorry about the mess. We were just playing and things got a little out of hand." She led Bruce over to the couch, where her two brothers were both playing with each other and staring at Bruce in awe. "You two, say hi to Bruce Wayne. This is my boss." They both continued to stare at him in awe and gave a little word of hello. "You've already met Connor. This little brat is Justin. He is absolutely obsessed with Batman. In fact that's what we were playing. I was robbing the 'bank', Connor was the Police Officer, and Justin was Batman." Eva smiled over at Bruce who returned the gesture. "But you two need to start cleaning up. Mom will freak out if she comes home and sees this mess." Both of the little boys gave groans of annoyance, but reluctantly began to grab toys and move them into another room of which Bruce couldn't see.

"If this is a bad time, I can come back." He was unsure of whether or not to remind her of the reason behind his visit.

"No. No. It's fine. What brings you to my neck of the woods?" She said with a smile. Bruce was looking intently at her with an emotion Eva wasn't able to decipher. Immediately, she felt self-conscious at her disheveled appearance.

"I set up the appointment with the real estate agent, but if today is a bad day, we can always reschedule." He hid his disappointment quite well. Eva quickly threw a hand up to her forehead and smacked it hard, causing Bruce to chuckle. Of course! She thought. Her thoughts had been so intertwined with her brief rendezvous with Batman that she had completely forgot about her plans with Bruce.

"I am so sorry. This weekend has been...weird to say the least. My mom should be back from shopping any moment now. Let me just run upstairs and get ready. It won't take me long." She stood up and started towards the stairwell before stopping. "You don't mind keeping an eye on the boys for a few moments do you?" He gave her a slight smile in response and she smiled in return before dashing up the stairs.

Bruce felt a slight tug on his left arm and turned to see Justin standing by his side, eyes wide and questioning. "You want to play Batman with us?"