Almost immediately, Eva threw her hands up to her head to instinctively protect it. She looked over to the door and saw it being blocked off by a group of masked men. In the center of the floor stood a burly looking man with ragged brown hair and a scarred face. He aimed the gun he was holding up to the ceiling and unloaded a few shots, purportedly to get everyone's attention. What the hell was going on?

"Generous citizens of Gotham, don't be afraid!" the man said as he surveyed his crowd. He had everyone's full attention. "I'm here only to receive the very generous donations you all are about to make. If you cooperate, you will live to finish your dinner. If you don't, well, I'm sure you can imagine what will happen, without dramatic examples. But just to liven the mood," the man aimed his gun directly at a group of servers that had huddled in the corner. He let loose his gunfire. Three of them fell to the ground. There was shrieks and screams all around the room, but no one dared move to help. Wonderful, Eva thought, I'm smack in the middle of a high profile stick up and I have absolutely no money or jewelry to give these people. Why didn't I wear that stupid bracelet?

"My friends are walking around, if you will take off your jewelry and stick it in the bags. I'm not interested in cash or cards, just your jewels."

Now I really should have worn that bracelet.

Three men were circling the room with black velvet bags ushering in the jewelry that was worn by the patrons in the room. The thieves were taking everything from anklets to wallet chains. One of the thugs made his way to Eva and Aaron's table, and observing that she only wore a thin "Y" necklace around her neck, held the bag out to her expectantly. She began to take the necklace off. It had been a birthday present from her parents when she turned seventeen. Her heart was reluctant to release it, but her hands moved ardently to remove the necklace. Eva glared at the masked man as she placed it in the black bag.

"You too, pretty boy," the thug said to Aaron. Aaron removed his watch and placed it in the bag. "Those too." The two men glared at each other for a few seconds before Aaron began to unhinge the cufflinks. He tossed them into the bag and the thug moved on.

Eva and Aaron looked at each other. She had absolutely no idea what to do. Her pulse was racing and she could feel the heat in her cheeks. She was too scared to cry; she didn't want to move for fear of something bad happening if she did. Aaron stood there casting glances around the room, rubbing his wrist where his watch used to rest. In a matter of minutes, the whole ordeal was over. Aaron walked over to Eva and stroked the side of her arm. "Are you OK?"

Eva blinked at him and nodded her head in affirmation. She took a step back and rubbed her face in a rather ungraceful manner. "It's over, right?"

"Yes, it's over. I believe they've all gone."

"Good," she said. "I need to call my father."

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James Gordon was out at the docks, canvasing over the grisly murder scene once more. He refused to believe that this poor woman was brutalized and murdered in such a way, only to have no justice to be served.

"Sometimes it's difficult to believe that humans can be as cruel as they are." Gordon looked up after saying this. He knew Batman had arrived.

"We will catch the person responsible for this."

Gordon ignored his comment. "Hard to believe that anything like this could happen. The coroner estimates the woman's age to be around twenty-four. Almost the same age as my daughter. I have to wonder if there is a father out there somewhere, worried to death over his daughter and when we do finally ID her, we have to confirm his worst fears. At the end of the day, after dealing with this depravity over and over, when I go home and see my family, they keep me grounded. I can't imagine what I'd be like if that was taken away."

Batman remained silent for a few minutes. The detective inside him struggled to stay together. The angry man, the scared boy that stayed locked away threatened to tell Gordon just what it was like to have your whole family stolen from you in an instant. He charged those emotions back and instead cleared his throat. "The cufflink you gave me, I analyzed it. It didn't return much, but I was able to isolate it's location of manufacture and sale." The dark knight handed the artifact to Gordon. He continued: "There is a small, but respected jewelry designer located in Montpellier, where the cufflink is from. His name is Francois Petrau. If I can locate this man, I can find out who purchased it."

"That's great, but that's out of Gotham's-" Gordon was interrupted by the ring of his cell phone. "Gordon."

"Dad?" A shaky voice asked.

"Eva?" Gordon turned around to face the wall. "Are you alright? You sound upset."

Her voice was audibly wobbly. It was a feat for her to get the words out. "I'm OK, but I was just held up. A couple of people were shot."

"Held up? Where are you? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine. The thieves are gone, I think. I'm at the Hotel Riviera."

"Hotel Riviera, OK, I'll be there as fast as I can." Gordon hung up and turned back to face his mysterious partner, but he has already left.

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Hotel Riviera. With that god-awful prick, Bruce thought. He rushed as fast as he could to change out of Batman's uniform and into Bruce Wayne's. Alfred had met him in a dark alley and now he was on his way to the restaurant. If anything happened to her, if he had anything to do with this, I will make him pay. Bruce had thought better of running into the Hotel decked out with proverbial guns blazing as Batman. Eva had seemed stand offish the first encounter he had with her. He didn't want to cause more stress than was necessary. When he arrived at the hotel, he acted sheepish and shocked that police were all over the premises. He approached what appeared to be a manager. "What happened here?"

"A huge mess!" the employee said shakily. "All these masked men came rushing in before anyone knew what to do. They killed three of my employees and stole everyone's jewelry. 'No cash' they said. 'No cards'. Just jewels is all they wanted. So strange. I just don't understand."

Bruce nodded in agreement. "That is strange," he said. "I don't suppose the kitchen is still open though?"

The man only gave Bruce a grieved look. Those crooks had to know that most of those jewels that they stole would be more traceable than the credit cards they didn't want to take. He decided to move on. He walked into the round room that served as the Hotel's main dining room. Eva, Eva, Eva, where are you? He thought. After much glancing around he finally found her hidden behind a pillar, surrounded by a group of men, including her father and Adams. When Eva spotted Bruce, he was on the outskirts of the group. She silently walked over to him and cast her arms around him in one of the oddest displays of affection. She wasn't quite sure what possessed her bear hug her boss, but at that moment, when she felt his arms go around her and his cheek rest on her head, the stress and fear of the night melted away. It felt good to have a friend on her side. Immediately, she felt better.

Eva held on to him for a few long seconds before reluctantly regaining her composure. "I'm sorry," she said. "I don't know what came over me."

Bruce gave her a sympathetic smile and gently stroked her shoulder. "It's OK. You've had a rough night. Are you OK, though?" She nodded that she was then reached up and squeezed his hand that now rested on her shoulder.

"Will you do me a favor?"

He gave her a playful smile. "Possibly."

"Please get me out of here."

Bruce laughed and patted her on her shoulder. He walked over the men Eva had been nearest to. She followed behind him. He nodded in Aaron's direction to acknowledge his presence, then turned to Eva's father and extended his hand out. "Detective Gordon. It's been a long time." Gordon took his hand and shook it.

"Indeed it has, Mr. Wayne."

"Please, call me Bruce." Bruce mockingly surveyed the room. "I came to have some dinner, but I suppose that's out of the question." A few men laughed. He turned to Eva. "I don't suppose you would care to join me for a late supper?"

She breathed a sigh of relief. He was making an escape plan. "I'd love to. I didn't really get to finish my first one."

Aaron cut in, angrily. "Eva, I can take you home. There is no need for Bruce to get involved." She opened her mouth to retort, but Bruce beat her to the punch. "I insist, Aaron. She is my employee, after all. She should probably get checked out at the hospital, just to be safe." Aaron gave Bruce the kill look, but quickly recovered. "OK. I'll be calling you later Eva, to be sure you are home. Safe." Aaron's eyes locked on Bruce's. James Gordon stood back and watched the exchange.

"Can I speak with you for a moment, Eva."

"Sure Dad," she said. "Excuse me a moment." They walked to a table a few yards away.

"Are you OK, sweetheart?"

She laughed, "Of course, Dad. I'm still slightly shaken up, but I'll be OK. Bruce will take care of me, I have no doubt. I just need to get out of here."

"Will you call me when you get to your apartment?"

"Of course Dad." He grabbed his daughter and gave her a hug.

"And will you have him walk you to your apartment? Let him check everything out?"

"Of course Dad."

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

Eva gave her father one last hug then turned and headed back to the group.

"Everything OK?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah, everything is fine." She answered with a smile. "Are you ready?"

"When you are."

She walked over to Aaron and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you."

"I'll be calling you later!" he yelled out to her as she and Bruce walked out the door.

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Thanks to those that reviewed! I'm really glad that someone is enjoying this story! On a side note, if someone can help me figure out how to put those dividing lines in the story, instead of "xxxxx", I'd be grateful. I can't seem to figure out how to do it since I started writing this story again! Anyway, review, review, review. Just don't spam... Unless you are going to put it with eggs... haha ;)