I didn't want to do the lack of reviews rant, but I only got three reviews! C'mon guys! That's weak! Please review guys! It means the world to me when I read what you guys have to say.

Sabre—Well, making sense is a debatable term. Things will sorta come together as the story goes on. Thank you for reviewing!!!!

Hannah—Here's more! Thanks for reviewing BTW! Well, your question shall be answered in this chapter.

Johanna—That's sorta what I thought you meant, but I didn't want to be wrong. Yeah, Martin was pretty cool! I liked him too. Thanks for reviewing and complimenting.

Okay, first off, I'm really, really, really, reall,y sorry that it has taken so long to post. We've gotten slammed at school with homework, so I haven't had the time to write. Plus, this chapter is gonna be hard to write because there's a lot of stuff that happens since I've promised that the next chapter will be in The Dark Knight. I think that this will be the longest chapter yet. Here goes.

We pulled up to MCU to be greeted by a swarm of people. There were ten video cameras accompanied by the towering microphones with their puffy coverings. There were random people gathering around all of the reporters and journalists, making it one of the biggest scenes that had gone on at MCU so far.

Dad parked the car and turned off the ignition. I unclicked my seatbelt and jumped out of the car. I was still a little shaky on me feet, unfortunately. I felt a little light headed and there was a little bit of darkness in my eyes as I clutched Dad's jacket closer to me. I walked towards the crowd with my head held, but Dad refused to let me face it alone. He wrapped me protectively in his arm as we headed into the crowd of people.

"Just keep your head down," Dad advised in my ear.

The crowd was on us.

"Sergeant Gordon, what was it like being that up close and personal with the Joker?"

Terrifying, I answered in my head, but I kept moving.

"Sergeant, is he really as horrible as he acts?" Honestly! Did they really have to ask that question? Shouldn't it be obvious?! The questions were directed to Dad.

"Lieutenant, how did you feel knowing that your daughter was in the clutches of the Joker?"

Dad didn't answer, and I couldn't tell what he was thinking as we finally made it inside. "Excuse me," Dad politely ordered the rest of the reporters and journalists to move as we squeezed our way into the elevator.

The doors hissed shut and we were enveloped in silence. Dad stood stiffly at the front of the elevator. His shoulders, which were normally somewhat lowered because of the job or exhaustion, were stick straight or possibly even slightly pointed upward. His glasses were perched very high on his straight nose. The lines on his face seemed to be chiseled deeper in, and his eyes were heavy. I sighed and walked over to the side of the elevator with Dad's jacket still clutched tightly to me. Now, that I wasn't focusing on anything, I could faintly smell the cologne that he hadn't worn for a while. I smiled as I leaned my head against the wall.

I heard Dad sigh. "Alex, I'm sorry." He obviously wasn't expecting the camera crews, and he felt as if it was his fault; that explained why he was so tense. I could tell that he thought that it was whoever our leak was. We needed to get rid of whoever it was, and with Dent's little IA investigation, everyone knew about it. The rest of the elevator ride was taken in silence. Neither of us was very talkative, apparently.

The doors slid open, and people just stared at us. I lowered my eyes. I had no idea that this would really happen. Couldn't they understand that I was trying to forget what happened? Well, apparently not, and they weren't helping me. Dad smiled at me as he walked to his office, leaving me alone to face all of them. I clutched the ends of the sleeves of Dad's jacket as I attempted to make my way to my office, where I could close the door and forget everything that had just happened.

I was stopped by our rookie, Ramirez. "Alex, I'm so sorry, and if you need anything, I mean anything, just ask."

Another detective stopped me. "Alex, do you need anything? A glass of water?"

By about the fifth person asking, I snapped. "Stop! Just everyone stop!" I yelled with hands in the air. Everyone did stop, and I saw Dad poke his head from his paper work. "I know what just happened to me, and apparently you all do too! I appreciate the offers of help, but I can take perfectly good care of myself!" I scanned across the astonished faces. Most of them looked like they didn't believe me because of what happened, but that was their problem. I spun around and walked into my office, slamming the door behind me. I sunk down into my rolling chair and pulled Dad's jacket close around me. I hugged myself as I felt things start to fall apart. It was the first time that I had the chance to just sit there and not put on an act that I was fine. Everybody thought that it was the Joker that had killed Martin.

I was rudely jerked out of my thoughts by a knock on the door. I got up to open the door, but first, I took off the jacket. I didn't want people to think that it was security blanket, even thought it was. I opened the door to reveal Harry standing there with an envelope in his hand. I opened the door wider so he could come in. I closed the door behind him and sat on the desk.

He glanced at the hand print that Martin had left on my cheek. "You haven't really had a chance to look at yourself in the mirror, have you?"

I tried to pull out a small laugh. "No, not really," I answered. "I honestly don't think could." I ran my hand over the hand that I had tried hopelessly to wipe the blood off of Martin's face.

Harry saw the sad expression on my face. "He meant a lot, didn't he?"

I silently nodded.

He placed his hand on mine. "He really liked you," he mentioned as he placed the envelope on my desk. "I think that he would've wanted you to have this." He smiled and walked out.

I closed my eyes allowing one tear to fall down my face. I walked around the desk and sat down in my chair. I pulled the envelope closer to me across the desk. I flipped open the flap and emptied out the contents of the envelope. There wasn't much in there, but I still handled the contents with care. I gently flipped over the smaller piece of paper over in my hand. It felt silky in my hand, which meant it was probably a picture. The picture was of me. It was relatively flattering. I remembered the day that it was taken with a smile.

"C'mon, Gordie," he taunted with the camera in his hand, "just one picture. For my mom." He looked at me innocently as he dangled the camera in my face.

I shook my head. "I don't care who it's for. I'm not doing it," I laughed playfully in the sunlight. It really was a gorgeous summer day. The sky was blue, and there wasn't a cloud around. Martin had invited me to the park just to hang out. It was a nice break from work. The grass was trimmed nicely and the trees chirped with birds. There were gardens filled with flowers of pink, red, purple, yellow, blue, and white. It was gorgeous.

"What if I'm in it with you?" he suggested.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, but you only get one shot at this," I agreed.

He pulled the camera around as he pressed his face next to mine. "Smile big, Gordie!"

"Don't call me that!" I growled through my smile.

He clicked the camera, and the moment was captured both in my mind and on film.

I felt my eyes get misty. Apparently, the picture had never made it to his mom; I smiled. I should have guessed, but it was still a good picture of us. I remembered being so mad at him for calling me Gordie. He was the only one that gave me grief for being related to Dad for more than a year. I laid the picture by my computer and held my head in my hands. Damn, I missed him. I never thought that he'd be gone, and I never thought that it would be my fault. Damn! I slammed my fists on the desk. I was pulled out of my thoughts by my phone ringing.

I flipped it open slowly, cursing whoever was calling me. "Gordon," I answered as normally as possible.

"Alex," the other person breathed. It was a male voice; that was all I could figure out. "It's me, Bruce. I just heard about what happened." How did he get my number? He probably had some high-tech way to get it at Wayne Enterprises.

I sighed. I didn't want to talk to him. I didn't even know what to say so I stayed silent.

"Alex, I'm sorry." I could picture him smiling sadly.

"Thank you, Bruce," I whispered. I didn't know why, but I just wanted to fall into his strong arms and let him hold me. It was the oddest feeling, but it was there. I couldn't deny it.

"I really am sorry," he said before I heard a click.

I didn't know why he had called me as I snapped my phone shut. I held it in my hand as pondered over the events of the day. I looked out my window and saw the sun sinking below the horizon, leaving the windows on the buildings an orangish-gold. It was beautiful and blinding at the same time. I leaned back in my chair. I wasn't going home tonight. I didn't, and couldn't, be alone tonight. Just the thought of being alone sent shivers down my spine. I needed the support of people, no matter how few there were.

There was a knock on my door, and Dad poked his head in. "Al, I'm heading home. Do you want me to take you to your apartment?"

I shook my head. "Nah, I think I'm gonna stay here tonight."

He raised an eyebrow in question.

"I don't wanna be alone."

He scowled at me. "I don't want you spending the night here; at least, not tonight. You can stay at my place." There was no room for argument there; I was going to be staying at Dad and Barbara's place tonight.

I nodded as I shut off the monitor of my computer. I handed Dad's trench coat back to him, but he held his hand out. I assumed I was going to keep it until I got to their apartment. I put it on and we headed out the door. I again slid into the passenger seat of Dad's car once we got into the garage. Dad started the engine and pulled out onto the streets of Gotham. It was now that I noticed how blank my dad's eyes got when he was off work. It was like he was trying to ignore the sirens, the things that were going on around him. It made sense; we were constantly working, and when we were off, we wanted to just ignore our job. I sighed and turned the radio on. I couldn't handle silence anymore.

Finally, we made it to the outskirts of town, to where Dad's apartment was. He shut off the engine and went to the door. I, however, just stood by the side of the car, staring off into the darkness. I didn't know what I was expecting, but I just stared into the gaping abyss.

Dad cleared his throat to get my attention. "There's nothing there, Alex. You're safe."

I nodded and followed him inside to be greeted by Jimmy.

"Hey, Alex!" he greeted from in front of the TV. "Wanna play?" The screen showed some video game; it looked like a racing game of some sort. Jimmy was controlling a red Corvette as he tore through the streets of some unknown and probably made up town. He was pretty good at it.

"You know? I think I'm gonna have to take a rain check on that, buddy," I answered. It did look fun, but a quiet night was one that I was looking forward to.

He looked at me with puppy-dog eyes. "Please…," he pleaded. "I wanna play with someone."

I gave in at the puppy eyes. They were so innocent. "All right," I complied. "Just for a few minutes."

He smiled at me as I sat down on the floor next to him and picked up the second controller. He obviously hadn't taken a very good look at what I was wearing or my face. It was a comfort actually that he assumed that I looked the same. I chose my car: a blue Nascar Race Car. I could hear Dad talking to Barbara about something. It was quietly so I assumed it was either about Jimmy or me. I tried listening, but once I started dying on the game, I devoted my attention to the TV screen. I eventually heard the mumbling stop and the chair being pulled away from the table as Dad sat down to eat reheated dinner.

"Alex, dear," Barbara spoke up, "would you like anything for dinner? There's a little bit left here if you want."

Jimmy paused the game as I got up and headed into the kitchen. I peered into the pan that still sat on the stove. Spaghetti peered back up at me, and while it looked tempting, I thought better of trying something that had lots of flavor. "Could I just have like… oatmeal?" I asked.

Barbara nodded. "Yes, of course! Jim told me that you're stomach wasn't feeling very well tonight." She reached into the cupboard and pulled out a bowl as I shot Dad a death glance.

He shrugged innocently. "I didn't tell her anything of what happened," he whispered earnestly.

I nodded as I sat down at the table. I heard the water run and the microwave begin to cook my very bland meal. I sighed and placed my head in my hands. Today was such a long day! I heard a clunk next to me and I could feel a warm hand on my back. It was smaller and softer than Dad's so I assumed that it was Barbara's. "Thank you," I muttered.

I heard Barb bustling around the room. "Jimmy, enough of that game! Go and do your homework!"

"But, Mom…!"

"No buts! Go!"

I heard Jimmy muttering to himself as the TV shut off and he went into his room. I shook my head in laughter. I could remember never wanting to do my homework, but it paid off in the end. Barb switched the TV back on and the news filled up the room. Dad got up and sat next to his wife. He wrapped his arm around her, and it was immediately apparent that they hadn't really gotten a chance to just sit down and relax together. Behind me, the microwave rang. I got up and grabbed the bowl of bland, mushy nutrients; that's about all it was. I grabbed a spoon and sat down with the bowl.

"There's brown sugar in the cupboard if you want some," Barb commented as her eyes stayed glued to the TV. She laid her head on Dad's shoulder.

I shook my head as I sunk my spoon into the mush. I slowly ate it, trying to make up some taste to make up for the nothingness. I occasionally took a sip of water as I poked through the bowl of oatmeal. Eventually something on the TV caught my attention.

"Today, in Gotham PD's Major Crimes Unit, the Lieutenant's daughter was rescued from near death in a warehouse from the Joker," the reporter said as they began to roll footage of Dad and I in front of MCU. "Sergeant Gordon disappeared from her apartment late last night. She had apparently contacted SWAT officer Martin Fitzgerald saying where she was and what had happened." There was a picture of Martin and one of me projected on the screen. "In Officer Fitzgerald's bravery, he was killed by the Joker. A few minutes later, Lieutenant Gordon and other officers arrived to save his daughter." There was more footage of Dad and I in front of the building.

Damn them!! How the Hell did they know about everything? Nobody knew that! Damn leak! I took a long drink of water, finishing off the glass. I put the bowl and glass in the sink as Barbara came to Jimmy's cries for help in homework. I sat on the couch next to Dad. "How did they know?" I asked pathetically as I looked up at my dad.

He smiled sympathetically. "I don't know, but I'm sure that it was the leak." He got up to grab a bottle of beer for himself.

"Wanna grab me one of those?" I was feeling a lot better since I had been able to keep the oatmeal down for now, and maybe a beer would help calm me down a little bit.

"You drink?" Dad asked incredulously.

I stared at him. "Dad, I'm 30, and I work for the police force in Gotham."

"Good point." He grabbed me a bottle and headed back to the couch. He handed me a bottle before sitting down.

The top was all ready popped off for me and I savored my first swallow. The memories didn't go away, but they didn't come flooding back, which was a good thing. Another good thing, I wasn't feeling sick.

Dad took a swallow from the bottle and switched the channel to some random game show. It was completely pointless. The contestants were being asked the simplest questions. I could've sworn it was Family Feud, but it wasn't. It was more like Family Feud and Wheel of Fortune were squished together. Suddenly, I felt something rising in my stomach. Apparently, the beer was a bad idea. I got up and walked swiftly to the bathroom. I nearly knocked Jimmy over as I stumbled into the bathroom to throw up.

"Dad, what's wrong with Alex? She's been actin' weird all night."

I bent over the toilet and threw up my mushy dinner. Looks the same coming out as it did going in, I mused to myself. Ew! I shook my head as I threw up a little bit more. I flushed the toilet and washed my face off before going back to the main room. I slumped down on the couch and felt my eyelids grow heavy. I didn't even realize that Dad had left until he came back with a small stack in his hand.

He laid the blanket and pillow on the edge of the couch. "Hope ya don't mind the couch," he said as he handed me the rest of his stack. "I got you a pair of Barbara's sweatpants and a T-shirt of mine."

I clutched the clothes to me. "Thanks." I headed back to the bathroom to get changed. I looked at my watch. It was all ready 9:55! The day had gone by relatively fast considering it felt so slow. Once I had gotten changed, I headed back out to the room to find that the couch was made up and the lights were all turned off, except for the lamp next to the couch. I crawled underneath the covers, flipped off the light, and faded into slumber.

I was back in the warehouse with Martin. He was still alive! He was bleeding just as he had before in real life. The knife was in my hand and it was poised over Martin's neck. I tried to convince myself not to do it, and with everything that dreams were made of, I tried to not pull the blade across his neck. Never the less, I still did it. Everything faded to black and the Joker's laugh filled my mind! The high-pitched cackling wouldn't shut up.

My eyes shot open. I glanced at my watch: 1:15. Well, I had managed to get a decent night sleep until my nightmare woke me. I felt like I should get up and get water, but a weight sunk down on the couch next to me. The blanket was pulled up over my shoulder and the hair was brushed away from my face. I felt a warm hand on my cheek.

"Sweetie," Dad's voice whispered into the dark, "this was never supposed to happen to you. I was supposed to protect you…always. This whole mess is my fault for not protecting you." His voice sounded weak, and trembling. He ran his hand down my arm, even though it was underneath the blanket. "I'm so sorry. How come I can't seem to protect you?" I could've sworn that I felt a tear land gently on my cheek. He leaned down and kissed the spot where the tear landed and left to go back to bed.

My eyes closed and woke up every hour with nightmares until 4:30, when I finally decided to go to MCU and let off some steam. I needed to just shoot my gun at something because I hoped that it would help. Maybe it would, maybe it wouldn't, but I needed to go to work anyway. I was quite frankly tired of waking up every hour. I got up and changed into my work clothes, hoping that I would have an extra shirt in my desk. I grabbed a bottle of water and left Dad a note so that he wouldn't freak out.

Hey Dad,

I decided to head into work early. You'll probably be able to find me at the firing range.

Love ya,

Alex

I hailed at taxi and made it to work by 5. I was rather impressed with myself. I checked in and headed straight to my office to get a shirt, maybe. I unlocked my door and was greeted by the picture of Martin and me. I closed my eyes as I began scouring through drawers hoping that I would find something; I did! I pulled the polo shirt over my tank top and headed down to the firing range. I had fired about ten magazines before Dad finally came into the firing range.

"Alex, I think I'm gonna pull you off the Joker case," he greeted.

I stopped firing for a second. "What?! That's my case! I've been with it since the beginning!" I fired off another shot. "Besides, I owe it to Martin," I muttered.

"The Joker took you!" he explained. "I don't want you to have to deal with him anymore."

"I'm not going to be taken off!" I protested.

"The Joker hurt you," he said in a gentler tone. "As you senior officer, I'm pulling you off."

I fired a shot. "It's not what he did!" Another shot. "It's what I did!"

"Alex," Dad soothed, "what happened?"

I fired off another shot, ignoring my dad.

"Alexandra! What the Hell happened in there?"

I let the gun fall to the counter with a clatter. "Dad, the Joker didn't kill him," I breathed. "I did." I felt tears begin to fall down my face. Now that I had said it, I was falling apart.

Dad stared at me. "Why the Hell did you do that?"

I fell into his chest as more and more tears came streaming down my face. "I didn't want to, Daddy! I didn't want to!" I sobbed.

He wrapped his arms around me and rubbed my back. "It's okay. I know. Shhh." He ran his hands on my back as I just sobbed into his shirt for about ten minutes. "Let it out, Sweetie. You're okay."

Okay that was extremely long! The longest yet! Please, please review. The button is just down there. The next chapter will be The Dark Knight! Yay!!! Again I apologize for it taking so long! Hopefully, it won't take as long for the next one. Okay, please review. See that button down there? Yeah, click that please.