I should have uploaded this weeks ago; it's been sitting in my computer since the last update. I'll try to get the next one out quicker, but no promises. Enjoy, dear readers, and give me feedback, please!

For the next few weeks, I pretty much dropped off of the grid. I stopped doing jobs— not that I needed to since I still had enough money saved up. I hadn't bothered trying to go to James's funeral. I knew I wouldn't be able to handle it. Most of the time was a complete blur: I was always asleep unless I felt like eating, which was rare. Today, however, I was torn from my dreamless sleep by the sound of someone insistently banging on my door. I dragged myself out from under the warm cocoon of my blankets and stomped grumpily to the door, past a trail of empty food cartons, loose papers, and other random trash.

"What?" I snapped, almost wishing it was the Joker so I could give him a piece of my mind.

"Open the door, Alex." A feminine voice said, muffled by the front door.

"Cat?" I blinked, confused. Without undoing the chain, I cracked the door and peeked out. There stood Cat, dressed in normal street clothes: a long sweater jacket with a pair of plain jeans. Her hair was pulled back into a simple, but neat, ponytail.

"No, it's the cookie monster." She droned sarcastically, her arms crossed over her chest.

I snorted halfheartedly and closed the door, slid the chain out of its lock, and held the door open wide enough for her to step inside.

"Geez, what the hell happened to you?" she wrinkled her nose as she stepped past me, "You look a mess and smell like you haven't so much as touched a drop of water in weeks." She turned and looked around at the mess of my apartment.

"How did you know where I live?" I asked, ignoring her question.

"You left your wallet at my place." She said, tossing said item onto the junky coffee table.

"Thanks for respecting my privacy." I said plainly, pushing aside a stack of folders as I dropped down onto the couch and pulled my legs up to hug them.

"No problem." She retorted before her expression shifted into a serious one. "Seriously. What's going on with you?"

My gaze dropped to my knees, unable to hold eye contact with her. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

"Don't worry about it? It sure as hell looks like something to worry about." Her eyes narrowed as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Why do you care?" I narrowed my eyes right back at her. "I barely know you, and you barely know me. There's nothing you could gain from getting to know me." I spat bitterly.

"I knew something was wrong when you left the last time. Whatever it is, it's getting in the way of your training, so spill it."

It was quiet for a moment as I thought it over and Cat stared at me expectantly. "What's your name?" I asked her suddenly. "Your real name?"

I could tell the question caught her by surprise, and it was a moment before she answered, "Selina. Selina Kyle."

I stared at her for a few seconds longer before I nodded, deciding she was telling the truth. I took a deep breath, the words building up on the tip of my tongue yet too terrified to actually leave the safety of my mouth. It felt as if I spoke them, then it would be true. Final.

"I accidentally killed my brother." As I said it, I could feel some of the tension disappear from my shoulders, as if talking about it had helped. At the look on Cat's—Selina's— face, I felt inclined to tell her the whole truth. I told her about how the Joker entered the story, about how James had tried to help me leave, and about how I'd accidentally… shot him. While I talked, I didn't cry. I felt as if there were no more tears left.

When I was done, we both sat in silence. Selina narrowed her eyes in thought. "So what are you going to do?" she asked.

My shoulders slumped in defeat. "What can I do? It's not like I can really do anything to get the Joker back without getting killed in the process."

"Do you want to?" she raised a brow.

"Well yeah, but… I can't." I mumbled, thinking about the letter that sat on my nightstand collecting dust. "If I die, then it would defeat the purpose of James's death, and I can't do that."

Selina sighed and folded her legs under her on the couch. "We'll figure something out. For now though, go take a shower, Alex. We're getting something to eat; you look like you're withering away as we speak."

I snorted at her and stood, going in my room to grab a change of clothes and a towel. I took a long time standing under the hot water, mulling over my options. I knew I would leave the Joker alone for good, but I didn't know how. He obviously knew my address, so I couldn't stay here. He probably still had someone still watching me, so it would be too obvious if I packed all of my things and left.

After I finished and dried off, I pulled on a simple black jogging suit and my favorite boots. Selina was still in the living room when I came out, sitting on the couch as she flipped through channels on the TV. She smirked when she saw me. "Well, you clean up nicely." She joked.

I rolled my eyes and went across the hall to my room. I searched under the ridiculously large piles of clothes, both dirty and clean, to get to my bag. I looked inside to make sure I had what I needed and slung it over my shoulder. When I got back into the living room, I grabbed my wallet off of the coffee table and put it in my bag as well. "I'm ready if you are." I told Cat.

"Finally." She muttered under her breath as she stood from the couch and turned off the TV. I rolled my eyes as I followed her out the door.

We ended up going to some diner just outside of the Narrows. "I'm going to have to move." I told her after we sat down at a booth away from the windows. On the way over here, I'd told her about how I was sure the Joker had someone following me.

"Of course you are." She said as she skimmed the menu.

I rolled my eyes again. "How am I supposed to find a place and move in without being followed?"

She paused and looked at me over the top of the menu, her eyes narrowed. "Is this you way of asking for help?" she asked warily

I gave her a small smile. "Well, I hadn't thought of that, but if you're offering—"

"Oh, shut it." She grumbled, but I could see the humor in her eyes as she rolled them. "I'll help you, but you'll owe me one."

"Of course!" I grinned.

"You know," Selina said after the waiter had come by and taken our orders. "You never told me your name."

Just as I opened my mouth to answer her, my phone rang from inside of my bag. I dug around for it until I found it at the bottom of my bag. "Hello?" I said as I answered it.

Selina gave me a look, and I just grinned in reply. "Alex? Are you alright?" it took me a moment to realize that it was Bruce, and the grin fell off of my face and was replaced by a wince.

"I'm fine, Bruce; I've just been busy. Family emergency, a, um, big one." I winced at the poor excuse and ignored Selina as she raised her eyebrow.

Bruce seemed to either not notice or let it slip. "Is everything alright?" he asked, concerned.

"Yes, it's fine." I said. "Hey, can I call you back in about an hour? I'm kind of in the middle of something."

"Of course." He said politely.

After I hung up, I avoided Selina's sly grin by staring intently into my glass of water. "So…" Selina said in a singsong tone.

"So nothing." I quipped, taking a sip of water.

"Oh come on!" she said, "Was that Bruce Wayne?"

"Bruce Wayne isn't the only Bruce in the city." I mumbled, feeling my ears heat up in a soon to be blush.

"So it is." She said in a tone of certainty.

I opened my mouth to reply, but luckily, the waiter chose just that moment to bring our food. I all too eagerly took a huge bite out of my burger, pretending that my mouth was too full to talk. Selina rolled her eyes in disbelief and changed the subject. "Well, then I suppose it doesn't matter about your secret love life." She said sarcastically. "However, your training does. I still haven't gotten you out on a real job, and you still have to help out." I sighed. "Yeah, I was wondering when you were going to bring that up." I paused to dab at some ketchup on the corner of my mouth with a napkin. "I might need a little bit longer since I haven't done any training whatsoever in almost a month."

"Of course you will." Cat said, smirking in amusement. "You'd probably die if I sent you out there anytime soon."

"Yeah, yeah…" I waved my hand dismissively. "When is my next training session, oh wise teacher?" I asked smartly.

"Within the next few days, I suppose." Cat said thoughtfully, probably mentally going over her schedule for the next week or so.

I nodded and placed my napkin on my empty plate. "Well if you don't mind, I have places to be, things to catch up on." I said as I reached in my bag and tossed a few bills on the table to cover my half of the bill before standing to leave.

Cat snorted and nodded. "We'll be in touch, Alex."

I paused, briefly looking back at Selina. "It's Jade." I said quietly. I could almost hear her silent grin as I left the dinner.

Every now and then, I make dumb choices. If I'm baking, I'll forget (like a ditz) to grab a towel or oven mitt before I try to take the pan out of the oven. If I know it's going to rain, I'll forget to grab my umbrella as I leave home, even if look right at it as I leave. But tonight, I think, I made an especially dumb decision. I decided that I wouldn't take a cab, and that I'd walk because it was only a few blocks away. Well, no longer than a block away from the damn diner, I heard footsteps behind me.

"Hey! Red!"

I grit my teeth at the nickname and pulled my hood up to cover up mentioned red hair, speeding up my pace. A round of laughter rose up behind me as the offender's pals laughed at his failure. With a frustrated growl, one pair of footsteps sped up, and I tensed, ready to turn and strike when a hand grabbed my arm.

"Let go of me, you piece of—" my swearing was cut off by a sharp stinging to my cheek, and I was sent sprawling to the ground.

I turned, having only a split moment to see that there were three of them before the original jerk grabbed my arm again and pulled me up to sneer in my face, "Didn't your mama teach ya any manners? Speak when your spoken to!" my face twisted in disgust and building rage as his hot, smelly breath fanned over my face and specks of spittle hit my cheek. "I'm gonna enjoy teaching you a lesson." He leered, his face showing everything he planned on doing.

Oh hell no. With a snarl, I snapped my knee up into his protruding gut as hard as I could, stunning him enough for him to loosen his grip on me. I shoved him hard on the shoulders and hooked my foot around his ankle so he'd fall when he stumbled back. Once he was on the ground, I brought my leg back and kicked him as hard as I could across the face before bringing the same foot up and stomping on his head, curses streaming out of my mouth. I didn't see his pals turn to run off, nor did I notice when the drunk was out cold.

"You stupid son of a—" a hand landed on my shoulder and pulled me away from the unconscious man.

"That's enough." A deep voice growled behind me.

My chest heaved as I struggled to take deep breaths. "He— he was g-going to—" I couldn't finish my sentence before my words dissolved into tears and my legs gave out beneath me.

Strong arms caught me, and I turned to look at my would-have-been savior, catching a glimpse of a black mask before I was picked up and cradled into a solid chest. "It's fine now; you're safe." Batman said in what I think was supposed to be comforting. "What's your address?"

I sniffed and whipped harshly at my eyes, trying to clear my mind until I was at least alone. "21407 South Hayes Street." I mumbled. I didn't bother trying to protest him carrying me there; I didn't trust my legs to carry me up the few stairs to my apartment.

Surprisingly, the drive over there wasn't all that awkward. It was odd, getting to meet the legendary Batman like this and ride in his fancy black car, but I was shocked it wasn't awkward. It was quiet, but a comfortable silence. As the car slid to a stop in front of my building, I turned to the masked vigilante. "Thanks for the ride." I said, cracking a weak, small smile.

He stared back, nodded, but didn't say anything. Weird. I mentally shrugged it off and got out, sprinting up the few steps to hurry into the building. Once inside, I went straight to my room and changed into a huge old t-shirt that I'd never remembered to give back to James a while back, before he'd—

I took a deep breath and sunk onto my bed, looking at the clock: 8:43pm. I mentally weighed my options: either return Bruce's call or do some much needed catching up on some work…

Oh what the hell, my inner Procrastinator said. I reached for the bag laying on the side of my bed and dug around for my phone. I waited for the beep of the voicemail and left a message saying that I was returning his call before I hit the end button and stared at my abused laptop staring at me from my desk where it had been collecting dust. "Oh, don't give me that look," I told it as I stood to retrieve it. "It's been a rough day. Hell, it's been a rough month."