A/N: This chapter sort of took a lot out of me emotionally. I broke up with my ex in April, and I suppose the muses have been allowing me to write better. I fully believe that every experience in your life leads you to become better, and I'm sticking to that belief. Enjoy!

Chapter 9: His Crooked Way

I couldn't love a man so purely

Even darkness forgave his crooked way

I've learned love is like a brick you can

Build a house or sink a dead body

I'll bring him down, down, down

"Judas", Lady Gaga

"Bruce is here…?" I asked, dazed, "When did he arrive?"

"20 minutes ago," Bane sighed, "God, I have a headache. I don't think you should come in the office with me. It might make him too upset."

"You can't tell me I can't see him. That's bullshit." I snapped, "Bruce is…"

Then I realized I had no idea what to call him. He wasn't my boyfriend, he wasn't my fiancé; he wasn't even exactly my friend right now. Clearly he cared enough to show up and fight for me, but so did the Joker. He sent his best guy on it and now he was…well, dead. Shit, I'm going to have a hard time explaining that to him later.

I digress.

"Bruce is…?" Bane waved in front of my face, "You blanked out there for a minute, Harley."

"I'm sorry. I have moments where I do that." I said sheepishly.

"Good to know," he said, raising his eyebrow skeptically.

"Shut up," I said irritably.

The elevator dinged as the doors opened, and Bane moved aside to let me through. Before he could say anything, I sprinted down the hall and started shouting, "Bruce? Bruce, where are you?"

"Harley?"I heard a faint voice to my right. I ran toward it, still repeating his name. Finally, he appeared out of a door a few feet away from me and embraced me tightly, "Harley, my God."

"I need a fucking meal and soon." I groaned into his shoulder.

"We'll get you a meal, don't worry, babe." He said, stroking my back.

"Oh, Bruce…" I sighed in complete relief.

The touching moment was then broken by Bane barking, "Wayne, get your hands off of her!"

Bruce gripped me tighter, "Like I'd listen to a fucking psychopath. I didn't come here to negotiate with you, Bane. I came here to blow your brains out." He looked down at me, "Would that be alright with you?"

"I think you should hear him out first, Bruce," I said softly, "He's got something very important to tell you."

"He made you privy to that information?" Bruce merely looked curious, but didn't question me further, and turned to Bane, who was seething and looking even more exhausted than ever, "Fine, Mr. Bane – or whatever your name is – I'll hear you out for Harley's sake because she seems to have taken pity on you."

"I appreciate that, Mr. Wayne." Bane looked as if he was trying to hold back pure fury and the urge to strangle Bruce Wayne, "I appreciate that very much. Harley, would you care to join us?"

"I don't think I have much choice in that matter, do I?" I rolled my eyes, following the men into the office.

As we settled into the comfortable desk chairs, I noticed that Bane's office window overlooked the entire business district of Gotham, including Wayne Enterprises, whose shining 'W' symbol glinted in the afternoon sun. I felt uncomfortable sitting between these two powerful businessmen, who both were like panthers ready to strike each other at any moment.

Bruce calmly folded his hands in his lap, brushing some lint off of his expensive suit pants, "Well, Bane? What is this very important information I should be aware of? Is someone trying to blackmail me or my company?" He then leaned forward, asking with a slight smirk, "Or, more significantly, are you trying to blackmail me or my company?"

"You're a rather direct man, Mr. Wayne." Bane said matter-of-factly, "I think you should be able to figure it out."

"So, what is it you want?" Bruce said smoothly, "Money? Women? Drugs? I have them all at my disposal, anything you could ever dream of."

I shot Bruce a dirty look, but he ignored me and continued, "I'm a very busy man, Bane. I need to know what I have to do to get you out of me and Harley's life, and now. I do not appreciate being told that the woman I love the most in the world is being starved and beaten. It doesn't exactly sit well with me. I'm sure you understand."

"I understand perfectly." Bane said coolly, "I don't have any need of prostitutes or cocaine. I'm not that kind of man. What we have here is purely a matter of blood."

"Blood?" Bruce asked, "I'm afraid I don't have any idea what you mean by that."

"Blood that runs in our veins, Mr. Wayne," Bane grinned, "Both yours and mine."

"Get to the point."

"It has recently come to my attention that your father, Dr. Thomas Wayne, spent a great deal of time in South America doing his intern work. Am I correct?"

"Yes." Bruce said curtly.

"Also, it has come to my attention that your father was quite the ladies man. Is this also correct?"

"I don't have a clue where you're going with this, but you are not allowed to go accusing my father of adultery. He never once cheated on my mother, if that's what you're asking." Bruce's eyes narrowed venomously, "So watch what you start accusing my father of in my presence."

Bane was hitting Bruce's weak spot, and he knew it, "Well, your father is allowed some vices."

"No one is without flaws, including my father. I want to know what you're getting at with this conversation – and soon – because you're really starting to piss me off."

"Alright, alright, I'll cut to the chase." Bane leaned back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest as if to block any incoming blows once this was revealed, "It is very possible that you and I might be brothers, Mr. Wayne."

I cast a surreptitious glance at Bruce, trying to gauge his reaction. He just sat there, staring at Bane, searching his eyes for any trace of a lie. When Bane continued to just watch him, I saw Bruce completely implode. His face went scarlet in rage, and he leaped out of the chair. He grabbed Bane, pinning him to the floor as he landed punch after punch on his face, "How – dare – you – call – yourself – my – brother!" he grunted with the effort in each blow.

Bane was pretty much powerless in that circumstance. After watching for a minute and having no idea what to do, I jumped up and pulled on Bruce's shoulder, "Get off of him! This isn't doing any good!"

"It's doing me good!" Bruce snapped, and lifted his arm to land another blow, but hesitated. I could tell Bane's nose was already and his cheekbones bruised. Blood ran down his nose and chin, and his eyes were squeezed shut, trying not to watch Bruce beat the shit out of him.

Bruce looked up at me, and exhaled deeply, "Fine. If my girl is telling me to stop, I have to oblige – lucky for you, Bane."

"Thanks, Harley," Bane choked out.

"No problem," I said awkwardly, helping Bruce up, "Let's get the hell out of here. I really don't want another person dead today."

Bruce raised an eyebrow, "Harleen Maria Quinzel, what did you do?"

"I'll explain once you get me out of this hell-hole."

…

Bruce and I were curled up on his leather couch in the main living room, me with a cup of hot chocolate with little marshmallows in it (my favorite for a cold day) and Bruce with a large cup of steaming black coffee. He was immune to caffeine at this point; he mostly drank it for the taste, which was utterly disgusting in my girly, must have cream, sugar and caramel in it to make it worthwhile, mind. Bruce massaged the bottom of my foot gently, saying softly, "I was so worried about you."

"You and me both," I snorted derisively. I shifted uncomfortably, picking compulsively at his oversized t-shirt that I was in, considering my clothes were thrown out from how disgusting they had become over the past few days.

"Don't put up your walls again." He said tiredly, "I need to know what happened today."

I sat up a little straighter, putting my hot chocolate down on the side table, "Ok, so here's the deal. There was this guy who used to sit in front of my door and make sure I got food and water and went to the bathroom and all that stuff, ok? So then I wake up this morning and I'm like 'oh wait, where is Gerard?' and I open the door and boom! There he is, just freaking lying on the floor, bleeding from the head. I'm like 'holy shit' and suddenly Antoine comes around the corner looking all bad-ass and whatever like he usually does and I was like 'what?' and he was like 'just follow me, Miss Quinzel' –"

I'd like to point out that I attempted a gruff man voice at this juncture and Bruce almost spilled his coffee from laughing so hard; I glared at him and continued, "And then we got in the elevator and went down to the basement floor and there Bane was, waiting to get on the elevator. I was like 'oh no' because he tried to shoot Antoine and I jumped in front of him and then I kind of accidentally shot Antoine in the head." I finished all in one breath.

Bruce blinked hard a couple of times, trying to process all of this, "Wow, that's quite a day you've had."

I buried my face in my hands, "I feel awful, Bruce. I killed a man today and all I could think about was my fucking hot chocolate. I'm a sadistic bitch."

"You are not a sadistic bitch." He said soothingly, holding me as I sobbed into his chest, "Harley, you are one of the most beautiful, intelligent, and compassionate people I know. I would be very concerned if it didn't affect you this much. Plus, it was truly an accident; I guarantee that you would never hurt someone unless you absolutely had to. Sure, the Joker is going to be pretty pissed, but who the hell cares about him? You're safe with me now. Let's just focus on that for the time being, alright?"

I nodded, sniffling hard, "Alright."

He cupped his hand under my chin and lifted it up to face him, "I still care very deeply about you. You know that, right?"

"And I still do for you." I said, giving him a weary smile.

He kissed me then; not a passionate one, but rather a quiet, gentle one that let me know he was there for me. It was the affection I sorely needed right now. I kissed him back, pulling him into me and remembering all the happiness and joy I had felt when we were together. I remembered the endless possibilities we could have had together, the places we could go and the adventures that could be waiting on the horizon. Kissing him felt like pure freedom, not having a care in the world. I needed him now, more than ever.

Bruce's arms wrapped around me, stroking my back, hands crawling under my t-shirt and warming my chilled skin. He pulled me on top of him, running his hands all over me, kissing me like it was going to go on forever. He reached up and massaged my scalp, his fingers ensnared in my curls, and I moaned softly to let him know how much I loved when he did that. It was one of those things that he knew about me that no one else did. He knew where to touch me, the forgotten corners of me that I never thought someone would find.

"I have to have you." Bruce whispered in my ear.

"Please do," I replied urgently.

After some maneuvering and undressing on both of our parts, Bruce and I made love right there on his couch. For a moment, I forgot about how long the past few days had been, how hopeless I had felt. All that mattered was that Bruce was there with me, loving me.

"God, you're beautiful, Harley, so beautiful," he said breathlessly, kissing my neck as he moved on top of me.

"I love you, Bruce, I love you." I held onto him, lost in everything.

He paused for a second, "You do? You love me?"

I was beginning to regret those words, "You know I always have."

"I love you too," he couldn't keep himself from smiling. I hadn't seen him look this happy since the day he proposed to me. It broke my heart.

We lay together then, shiny with sweat and listening to nothing but the sounds of our own hearts racing. Bruce intertwined his fingers with mine, and kissed them, "Harley, I promise I'm going to keep you safe from these bad people who just want to hurt you. I've never been as angry as when they told me you were kidnapped outside my front door. I felt so helpless, and you know how well feeling helpless goes over with me."

I nodded, chuckling a little, "My manly man."

He gave me a crooked smile, "Yeah, that's me. You can ask Alfred; I didn't sleep or eat for days. I didn't know what to do with myself. I was trying to grapple with the fact that they might have tortured you, raped you, or worse. I was going out of my mind until Bane finally called and requested a meeting with me. He said he had some leverage that would help things along. I knew then that it had to be you."

"Leverage? He called me leverage? That fucker," I muttered.

Bruce laughed, and then grew serious, "He didn't, did he?"

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Did he rape you?"

I shook my head vehemently, "Oh no, no, no. He's not that type of guy at all. He pushed me around a little, but nothing I couldn't handle."

"He hit you?"

I could see Bruce's fury building up, and I immediately tried to alleviate the tension, "Well, he slapped me once, and one time he got pissed off because I called him a pussy and he tried to strangle me, but…"

"He did WHAT?" Bruce jumped up, "That's it! I'm going to kill that motherfucker!"

"Bruce, stop!" I cried, "Please don't!"

"Are you defending him?" Bruce asked in complete disbelief, "Are you fucking serious?"

"I'm not defending him!" I retorted indignantly, "I just think that you should calm down and think about this. This man could be your brother! How would you feel if you over-reacted and did something you could really regret? Think about it. Please."

Bruce put his hand against the wall, panting heavily, "Jesus Christ."

"I know that this came as a complete shock to you, Bruce, but you need to deal with the consequences. You over-reacted today, and you know it. Bane didn't even say that he was actually your brother; he just said that there was a possibility and you freaked out. Why? Is he like the most horrible person in the world to be your brother? Yeah, he's got issues and everything but if he actually is your brother, then you're going to have to treat him that way." I drew my knees up to my chest, resting my chin on them, "I know I'm not exactly the right person to be talking about this considering my penchant for being attracted to men who are horribly wrong for me."

Bruce smiled slightly, "You think I'm horribly wrong for you?"

"You know who I mean." I said with a dead-pan expression.

Bruce sat on the edge of the sofa, kissing my forehead, "I know, Harley, and I've forgiven you for all of that. I just don't know why you keep going back to him, no matter what he does to you."

"I wish I knew why." I rolled my eyes skyward, "Believe me, I wish I knew."

"I'm scared to take you back." Bruce admitted, "I've let my guard down twice before with you and then you rejected me."

"I'm not saying you had to take me back." I said, a little bothered by the statement, "I think we're both true masochists. We don't know what's good for us."

"I know what's good for me, and that's you." He shrugged, "Whether you choose to reciprocate my feelings is up to you. I don't have any control over you; that much is obvious."

A smirk played across my lips, "I thought you liked that about me."

"It's a generally endearing trait." He kissed me, "Come on, let's go to bed. We've had a long day."

I stood up, and let him take my hand.