Not gonna lie. I had a fun time writing this chapter. Hope everyone's having a good Wednesday!

(x)

Madeline leaned back into the passenger side of the car as Harvey drove out onto the main road. They rode in silence, save for the soft crackle of the CB and the tires thumping as they hit potholes on the street that tax dollars forgot.

Harvey didn't glance over at her, but he did say, "So that was the guy. The one that gave you nightmares."

She thought on it and said, "Technically, I believe my answer has to be 'I can neither confirm nor deny that statement'. But something tells me we're past that now."

His voice softened just ever so slightly. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Madeline said. "I wouldn't have been if this had happened seven years ago, but I am now."

He quickly reverted back to talking in a rude, stiff tone. "I don't suppose you can clear things up for me as to why you decided to walk back inside a room with that maniac."

She rolled her eyes. She wished she hadn't, but she couldn't stop herself. "That maniac used to be my client."

"Emphasis on 'used to be.'"

She sighed and said, "I thought it might give me closure."

"Yeah, that worked out well."

"Thanks, I can see that."

Harvey glanced over at her momentarily before returning his gaze to the road ahead. "Look, it was a rigged deck seven years ago and it's a rigged deck now. Nothin' you ever said was gonna help that sleazeball."

She didn't disagree with him. "Your captain talked a good line, but it's probably like you said at the precinct. Just a waste of time."

He seemed to be mentally at war within himself before he sighed out and took on a gentler tone. "Listen… you don't know that. It ain't over yet. Time'll tell."

Maddie glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. Anytime Harvey tried to sound like nice guy it always came out a little like someone speaking a foreign language for the first time.

In the next moment they spoke overtop of each other.

"So you know, for the record, you don't have untreated jackassitis-"

"Look, yesterday I had every right to ream you out, but I wasn't-"

The tires hit the road. Bump-bump. Bump-bump. Bump-bump. Static cut in from the CB.

Madeline broke the silence first. "I should have called."

"No, really? You think?" Harvey shot back. "What the hell, Maddie?"

Excuses swirled through her mind. You changed your number. It's not like it would have made any difference anyway. I wasn't even completely sure I was actually coming back, and the like. None of them were worthy of being spoken aloud. She wasn't sure if she could tell the whole truth, but the least she could do was tell part of it. "I could have hunted down your work number. I thought about it, calling you. But… I wasn't ready."

He shook his head, frustrated. "You weren't ready for what?"

"I wasn't ready for my call to ruin your day or worse for you to not answer at all." She said, "And you can't tell me there would have been any other possible outcomes but those."

"What're you doin' back here, Maddie? Really?"

The question diverted from the topic at hand. But it was the second time he'd asked her in the past two days. She decided this time warranted an answer. "It came to my attention that a previous client of mine needed me here. I actually meant to come back earlier this year."

"So why didn't you?"

"Another client I was working with outside of Gotham needed me more." That was the problem with truth-telling. The more you engaged in it, the more truth spilled out. "I, uh, I lost her about a month ago."

He breathed out heavily before saying, "That's the way it shakes out sometimes. I'm sorry."

She said, "She finally left her husband. But she was only out of the house five days before he found her." Maddie kept talking, unwilling to leave that open for response. "After the investigation was over, I realized there wasn't much stopping me from coming back. Also I figured it couldn't hurt to sell a couple books while I was at it."

"Well, you sold at least one," Harvey said. "I didn't know criminals suffering from Jack Gruber's sort of brain damage could read full sentences."

"It's always a pleasure to meet a fan." Maddie found herself half-smiling, thinking back. "When you barged in and shut Gruber's trap, it reminded me of when you took care of that one officer. The one the GCPD actually fired."

"Ha. Fuentes." He smirked loudly before he said, "You talk about it all nostalgic now. You're the one who told me to back the hell off."

She sat up straighter and cleared her throat. "I believe I told you that I appreciated the sentiment, but that I could handle him."

"Oh yeah? Prove it. You got it all on a tape recorder somewhere?" He huffed, "Probably."

She took it in stride. She even found herself smiling. "Sorry I stopped you from beating him with a chair."

He said back, "He called you a piece of ass."

"You called him a shitsack."

Harvey barked a short laugh. "I hated that guy."

Maddie said, "You didn't have to add that he was a slimy, low-lying, lizardy knob jockey, but you do get points for creativity."

Harvey looked at her. Perhaps she'd managed to surprise him. "You got a sharp memory there, doc."

"It comes in handy in my profession from time to time."

After only a few short seconds, their smiles faded. Madeline imagined she felt only a fraction of the feeling that had overcome Bruce Wayne the night before. Except he was a young boy whose parents had just been murdered … and she and Harvey were two grown adults who just …

Madeline said, "We just never could quite get it right, could we?"

Though he must have known what she was talking about, he said, "Get what right?"

"That's a long list, I guess. But the, um… Uh, the uh..." She laughed at herself. "Dammit. I had just had the word, but I lost it."

"S'matter with you?" he popped off at her, a sarcastic smile in place. "It's like you just spent the afternoon with a deranged psychopath or something."

Maddie shook her head. "Well, if it means anything, there's nobody else I would have wanted on the other side of that door but you."

Harvey kept his eyes on the road. "How far would you have let it go, you think, if I hadn't stepped in?"

She frowned a little. "Maybe there's some answers we're better off not knowing." She asked, "Are they all like that? The ones you bring in?"

"They're not all quite that particular breed of crazy. But they must be some kinda crazy to do the things we prove they do."

"Sounds staggering."

Harvey made a face and shook his head. "Nah. Nothin' people in this city do surprises me any more."

It took her a second to ask, and when she did, she asked her next question more directly. "How bad is it for you out here, Harv?"

"It ain't no cake walk. But I get by."

She grinned suddenly, appreciating his answer. "I know that's right."
There was nothing soft in his voice when he said, "You better believe it, sweetheart. I get by and then some." He cracked a sudden smile. "That partner of mine though. Now there's a piece of work."

Maddie made a sharp cutting motion in the air with her flattened hand.

"Pleadin' the fifth, huh?" He made a left turn into the driveway of her office building. "Dr. Madeline Scott, everyone. Ever the professional."

When they reached her steps, she got out of the squad car and looked back once more. She lingered there before she said, "Good luck, Harvey."

"Wouldn't that be nice for a change?" He pulled away, and Maddie turned back to face her office.

She walked up the steps, and at the same moment, a sleek, shiny black town car rolled up to her door. The car parked, and Alfred Pennyworth climbed out of the driver's seat. Keeping his eye on her, he stepped to the right and crisply opened the door of the backseat. He looked a lot like a man who had an invisible gun to his head. In fact, he probably would have rather been doing anything other than delivering Bruce Wayne to a therapy session.

Bruce stepped out of the car, looking calm, collected and rather dapper if Maddie did say so herself.

"You're here," she said.

He blinked, confused. "The card said three 'o clock."

"No, no, you got it right." With a wave of her hand she welcomed him to the front door of her office. "And I must say you have excellent… timing."

Timing. That was the word that escaped her in the car with Harvey. They just never could quite get the timing right.

She smiled to Bruce, dismissing all other thoughts from her mind. "Why don't you follow me inside?"