A/N This is a little shorter than what I'm used to doing. I had the hardest trouble getting through the Heather/David parts...I don't know why. That is why this is so late. This wasn't my best chapter but it got the characters to the point where I wanted it to be. Things are starting to get a little more action-y and will be for the foreseeable future....

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The rain continued to come down from the dark skies and the gentle pelting against the large penthouse windows along with the ticking of the large clock created a soothing and calm atmosphere compared to the chaos of the city outside. David had been in and out of his room to check on Heather. He would occasionally hear her voice and he'd go across the hall to check on her, only to find her in a fitful sleep. With a sigh, David walked down the hallway towards the kitchen. It was nearly dawn and he had yet to fall asleep. The previous conversation with Heather kept replaying in his mind as had tried to fall asleep.

As he walked into the living area, he turned towards the terrace door as he felt a slightly cooler breeze drift along the floor. The door was closed and Dawn's light was just beginning to brighten the horizon. He sighed as he continued to make his way to the kitchen.

"You're getting sloppy in your old age," David quipped softly with a smile as he opened the fridge door.

"Watch it," that familiar voice warned, which elicited a chuckle from David. He turned, seeing Batman standing in the shadows. David wasn't surprised to get a visit from him after the phone call he made earlier in the night.

"Seriously though," David began. "I knew you were there long before I came into the kitchen."

David reached for the coffee pot that had long gone cold and poured himself a cup before quickly warming it up in the microwave. He offered a cup to Batman who quietly refused.

"I got your message," Batman began, ignoring David's last comment. "How is she?"

"She's asleep. I gave her something to help with whatever hangover she'll have when she wakes. Hopefully it'll work," David replied, rubbing the back of his neck. "I wish I could be sleeping too."

"You're certain about what she told you?"

David shrugged. "The only problem is that she was half-drunk when she told me about that night. She seemed completely out of in one moment and then sober the next. I gave her the benefit of the doubt considering she hadn't spoken much about what happened that night."

Batman nodded. "Heather didn't seem herself when I saw her at the store with Gordon either. She may have been telling you the truth."

"I called you because of what she said about the threat against our family," David stated.

Batman turned to look out the large window at the cityscape around them. The large clock beside the fireplace in the penthouse echoed the ticking of time. He shook his head.

"She should have never been pulled into this," he said, bitterly.

"It wasn't her fault," David argued. "Whoever is threatening us had no reason to go after her."

"Heather has been at our house many times over the years, here at the penthouse and you both have practically grown up together," he stated. "It wouldn't take a genius to figure out that she's more than an acquaintance of the family." He paused for a moment. "I may need her help, especially if she has heard his voice. I have the recording that you heard and she may be able to verify that the one who burned down the store and blew up your car are the same people and she may even be able to recognize a face, even if she saw it for a brief moment."

"You're still going on the whole Joker-back-from-the-dead angle?"

"I'm finding it hard to believe but I don't know who else it could be. Whoever it is, I need to catch this guy before he does something else."

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Her feet were cold. She pulled them up, hoping that the blanket that covered her would eventually cover her chilly toes.

Heather laid flat on her stomach with her head resting partly on the pillow and partly on the sheets. She reached down below her for more of the blankets, not willing to open her eyes as her head was beginning to pound. She pulled down on the pillow and tucked it under her head. The pillow was so soft and smelled familiar, but not familiar in the sense of it belonging to her. David. She raised her head slightly from the pillow, her hair hanging around her face and slowly peeked her eyes open. She turned her head to the side, seeing the bedside table with a cup of water. She looked past it and recognized the various pieces of elegant furniture in the room and recognized where she was. She suddenly remembered the drinking she did at her house. Slowly she sat up. How did she get to the penthouse and why was she in David's bed? She strained her memory to pull up details.

With a sigh, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed, feeling the ache of her foggy mind pound in her head. She rubbed the back of her neck before she stood up and walked towards the door.

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"If you're going to talk to her about this, I want to be nearby," David stated.

"She's more likely to tell me what I need to know if you aren't around."

At the same moment, they both heard a sound. David turned his head to glance behind himself just as Batman looked past David towards the dark hallway. David quickly turned towards Batman to tell him to leave only to find that he was once again alone in the room. He smirked as he turned.

"I hope that I didn't wake you," David said, smiling at Heather as she appeared in the room.

She shook her head.

"How did you know that I was there?"

David shrugged as he walked towards her. "It's a gift. How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been hit by a Mack truck," she replied, rubbing her hand across the back of her neck.

David winced. "You're probably dehydrated. Get comfortable on the couch and I'll get you something to drink."

Heather watched him disappear into the kitchen. She turned and sat down on the couch, pulling the beautiful blanket that rested on the arm of the chair over her legs. She was still having trouble remembering much of the night. Heather ran her hands over her face just as David appeared next to her. He passed her a clear glass of water and sat down on the couch beside her. With a smile, she thanked him as she took it from his hand. She took a sip and looked back at David, noticing for the first time since she had woken that he was still in the same Armani suit that he had on last night, minus the jacket. The top few buttons were undone on his white dress shirt and his hair was completely a mess. If he looked this bad, Heather could only assume how horrible she looked. He sat two feet away from her and stared towards the empty fireplace in front of them, his knee bouncing as his hands played with his fingers; a nervous twitch that Heather had learned years ago that was uniquely David's. She sighed, knowing that he was currently uncomfortable with their situation.

"What are you doing up?"

He shrugged. "Doing some thinking. Besides, I couldn't sleep very much."

"A lot on your mind?"

He smiled and nodded. A few more seconds of silence passed between them.

"What are we going to do?!"

She turned and watched as David quickly stood up and paced towards the window.

"This is obviously not working for us. We're barely speaking to each other. If I had known that this would happen when I kissed you, I would've never even tried."

Heather shrugged, considering what he was saying.

"Then, if you hadn't, the whole 'what-if' factor would continue on for the rest of our lives and we'd pretend to be best friends when in secret we wished to be more and we'd never know if anything could have happened between us. I think we should be thanking you." Heather began to chuckle

David turned, hearing her laugh after she spoke.

"I don't know what you find so funny about this."

"I'm sorry," she said, attempting to stop giggling. "But you've always been too serious about things."

"This is serious though."

Finally, she nodded. "You're right. You don't know how many times I had dreamed about kissing you and wondered what it would've been like."

"And?"

Heather chuckled again. "It was better than I thought it would be."

She watched David cross his arms, trying his best to hide the smug smile that was forcing its way onto his face.

"Really?"

Heather saw right through it and laughed as he sat back down beside her.

"Now, don't let that get to your head, Mr. Wayne! I bet that nearly most of the women my age in Gotham dream about kissing you, not to mention other things that I don't even want to think about."

"Yeah, but they aren't you. I only care about what you think of me."

Heather smiled, feeling a light blush come to her cheeks as he spoke the words.

"What I think?"

He nodded.

Heather let out a sigh and a shrug.

"Well, the obvious; you're handsome, smart, supportive, kind...except for when you're playing a mean game of euchre."

David leaned back and let out a chuckle. He looked towards Heather as she turned towards him, continuing to talk.

"And I can tell you off and know that you'll still speak to me later. I know that I can trust you to be honest with me about things and not just sugar coat it to make me happy. You tell it like it is. You're frank."

"I'm frank!? You're so straightforward about things that if I didn't have you around I'm sure that the media would get to my head. I need you around just to pop it with your blatant statements."

He watched her smile fall, and he shook his head. David smiled and took her hands in his.

"That's a good thing. That's one of the things I love about you."

She didn't let go of his hands nor did a smile come to her face. Heather looked into his eyes.

"I love you too," she whispered. She paused for a moment. "And I'd kiss you right now if I hadn't been throwing up just a few hours ago."

David chuckled as Heather leaned back into him. He put an arm around her when he felt her head rest against his shoulder.

"I'd like to take you out tomorrow night," David suddenly said.

"David, I'm working tomorrow night."

"Yeah, I know. I can pick you up afterwards. It wont be anything fancy or extravagant. I'd like to spend some time with you."

"I'm afraid that after a shift of working at the hospital, I wouldn't be great for socializing," she said.

"Who said anythign about socializing?"

Heather scoffed and laughed before she mockingly punched David in the shoulder. He laughed right along with her just as a shadow caught the corner of his eye by the window. David turned and smirked before looking back down at the auburn head resting against him.

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"You weren't spying on them were you?"

Bruce turned his head as he walked into his study, seeing his wife sitting casually on one of the leather arm chairs. She appeared to have just woken up and was wrapped in a housecoat.

"On whom?" he asked, innocently.

Olivia stood up and smirked as Bruce walked towards her. "You know exactly who I'm talking about. David called about a half hour ago wondering if you were home yet. He said that he had just dropped Heather back off at her place and thought that he had seen you on the balcony just a few minutes before they left."

Bruce shrugged as they walked side by side out of the study and towards the bedrooms. "I wouldn't call it spying."

"Really?"

"I was just taking a short rest before going back out."

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The beeping of the hospital monitors barely echoed the sound of Heather's heels clicking against the clean floors of Dent Memorial. Once again, she knew she was late as she slid her hospital ID tag through one of the last doors before she'd walk out of the ER department where she was currently assigned.

"Have fun, Heather!" one of her fellow interns called out as the woman disappeared into one of the examination rooms. Heather smiled and waved as she passed by. She pushed her way through the large steel double doors and into the crowded ER waiting room. Thankfully it wasn't chaotic as everyone had already been through the triage and were simply waiting their turn to be seen by the doctors. Heather looked around the large room, hoping to catch David's eye somewhere.

"Dr. Tamarack," a young nurse said from the triage desk. "Uh, David Wayne was here. He was waiting for you."

"He was? Where is he now?"

"He said he'd wait for you outside on the park bench."

With a smile, Heather thanked the nurse before walking through the automatic doors. She looked around, seeing that the benches were empty. She began walking forward, towards the parking lot when she heard a voice directly behind her.

"You're late."

Heather sprang up nearly a foot in the air before swiftly turning around.

"David!" she exclaimed. "You nearly gave me a heart attack."

He smiled proudly at her. He looked better than he did the last time she saw him. He looked rested and was cleaned up. The blue jean pants and sweater over top of the dress shirt suited him perfectly. Heather was glad to see him with jeans on as she wasn't sure if dinner was going to be as casual as David had originally said it would be. She didn't have anything else with her to change into.

He smiled. "Well, it's a good thing we're still at the hospital."

A second later he pulled out a small bundle of flowers and handed them to her. "I hope this will smooth things over."

Heather gently held the flowers and smiled. She took his offered hand as he led her towards the car.

Heather hadn't eaten so much in one sitting for a long time. She was beginning to regret wearing a pair of jeans to dinner as her stomach space was limited. She sighed before taking another sip of water.

"This has been wonderful," she said. Both of them had enjoyed the conversation and Heather was quite surprised with how alert she was at that time of night.

"I know that it is late, but I was wondering if you'd like to come back to my place after for dessert," David said, gently taking her hand.

Heather nodded and smiled. "I'd like that."

Just as the words came out of her mouth, Heather could hear David's ring tone of his cell phone coming from his pocket. With a quick apology, he pulled it out of his pocket and excused himself for a moment to answer it. Heather watched as he walked towards the front of the restaurant and stood still as he listened to the caller. Casually, she took a sip of water as she continued to watch him. Less than twenty seconds into the call and he hung up. He walked back to the table, his face withdrawn. When he didn't sit back down in his chair, Heather knew for certain that something wasn't right.

"I'm sorry to do this Heather, but I have to go."

"You have to go?"

"Yeah," he said, as he inwardly kicked himself. "Something has come up and I need to go right now."

She wasn't sure if she should be confused, hurt or angry. Heather watched in stunned silence as he opened his wallet and pulled out bills to pay for the supper and then handed her a fifty dollar bill along with a business card.

"Call this number," he said. "It's a limo firm that Wayne Enterprises works with and they'll be able to bring you home."

"David, what's going on?"

He paused, before shoving his wallet back into his back pocket.

"Nothing," he said after a brief moment. "I just need to go."

And with that, she watched him walk out of the restaurant.

David quickly called home the moment he sat back down behind the wheel of the Camero. It only rang twice before he heard Allison's voice on the phone once again.

"What do you mean, Dad's been shot?!" he exclaimed, trying to drive as quickly as he could through the city towards Wayne Manor without getting caught. "And for your sake, you had better not be playing a game with me right now."

"Damn it, David! I'm not!"

He could hear that Allison herself had been crying and was on the verge of hysterics.

"Just listen to me," she said, trying to calm herself down. "Mom said to call you to say that Dad had been shot. That's all I know."

"Where is Mom?"

"She's down in the cave right now and Alfred is there as well."

David unconsciously pressed his foot firmer on the gas, not even bothering to check his speed as he veered around traffic. Every possible image of his Dad laying on the cold damp floor of the cave while a pool of blood seeped from his body flooded his mind.

He couldn't have been shot. He's Batman.

David played that over in his mind like a mantra. The man who he had grown to believe to be invincible was instantly brought down to the level of mere mortals with one gunshot.

David skidded the car as he flew onto the property and slammed on the brakes as he approached the house. The moment the car stopped, he was out and running towards the front door. He burst through the front doors and rushed towards the study, only to nearly collide into his Mom, Allison and Alfred.

"Where is he?!"

David's eyes were wild with adrenaline but behind them, he was afraid. Seeing both Olivia and Alfred in the house could only mean one thing. He braced himself for whatever news they were going to tell him.

"He's not here," Alfred finally said.

David shook his head, confused. "What?" He looked to Allison, instantly feeling anger at being misled. "I was told that he had been shot."

Olivia nodded. "He was. Batman called in twenty minutes ago reporting that he had gotten a flesh wound due to a gun shot and was on his way home. Ten minutes later the detonation sequence for the Batpod came up on the computer screen in the cave followed by loosing all verbal contact with him."

"Do you know where he is?"

Alfred nodded as he walked past David. "I'm going to go and get him."

David tried not to let out a mock laugh. "You!?"

Alfred could hear it in David's voice.

"Need I remind you, Master David, that when Master Bruce is away from this house, he has put me in charge of keeping this family safe," Alfred said sternly. "Master Bruce would not want either yourself, your sister or your Mother to risk your lives to go after him."

David crossed his arms, looking over at his Mom before back at Alfred. "You can't be serious!?"

"I most certainly am."

David watched as Alfred pulled out a set of keys and began to put on his coat.

"This is bullshit!" David exclaimed, as he walked over to Alfred. "There is no way in hell that I'm going to sit back and let you go out after him on your own. Tell me where he is and I'll get him."

Alfred stared into the eyes of the man standing in front of him and felt those of Bruce's looking right back at him. "No."

David sighed.

"Then let me help," David said, deciding to tap into his business experience on negotiating. "Two heads are better than one. I can do the physical work and you can do the mental stuff. I'm about the same size as my Dad. I can put on one of his extra suits and no one would ever know it's me. You can tell me over a headset from here on where to go. No one gets hurt with overdoing it and no identities are revealed."

Alfred paused, thinking over the proposal that David had thrown at him. Finally, he nodded.

"We had better hurry."