Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing related to Batman. Any and all one-shots in this collection of one-shots were inspired by Charlotte A. Cavatica's lovely ideas from her Waiting on the Shingle, chapter seven, unless otherwise stated. Anyway, thanks to Ms. Cavatica for making it possible for plot bunnies to attack me. Please enjoy.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed. –Ches.

#4

Lightning, Thunder, & Rain

The flash of light caught his attention first, causing him to look up from the circuit he was working on.

He was instantly on guard when he heard a whimper before the thunder. He stuck his head out of his office when he heard the whimper again before the next crash of thunder.

Alice was the only one he could see.

He shrugged and tried to go back to work.

The next crash of thunder was very loud and almost shook the building.

He heard a shriek and exited his office. He found Alice sitting at her desk, trembling, eyes wide as she waited for the next crack of thunder –he knew that only a little privacy couldn't help this, so he came out of the hall and tried to distract her. "It sounds as if the Tweedles are running away from the crow." he stated as he walked over to her desk.

Alice jumped and looked at him. "Oh! H…hi Jervis. Is there anything I can get you?"

He shook his head, noticing how she flinched when thunder was heard. "Are you all right, my dear?"

She sighed. "I…I'm not very fond of thunder. It scares me."

He patted her hand. "It's understandable, my dear. At some point in their life, everyone is afraid of thunder."

"What were you saying when you came out? Something about a crow?"

Jervis smiled and began to recite. "'Tweedledum and Tweedledee agreed to have a battle; for Tweedledum said Tweedledee had spoiled his nice new rattle. Just then flew down a monstrous crow as black as a tar-barrel; which frightened both the heroes so, they quite forgot their quarrel.'"

Alice giggled. "But why would they make the sound of thunder?"

Jervis half perched himself on the desk. "In Through the Looking Glass, Alice dresses the two in household items, many of them pots and pans. When the crow scared them, they kept running into each other and trees as they ran away. The result of the collisions would sound much like thunder. Do you know what thunder really is, Alice?"

"I think it's a sound wave." she replied.

He nodded. "Exactly. It's nothing more than heated air rushing out from the area of the lightning strike into the cooler air faster than sound can travel."

Alice smiled at him. "That's interesting, Jervis. I don't know why, but I've always been a little scared of thunder. I'm not a big fan of loud noises."

He grinned. "Which explains why you always jump up and check on me if something happens when I'm working."

Alice rolled her eyes.

He stood up. "How about you come join me in a cup of tea and I'll show you what I've finished so far?"

She stood up. "Tea sounds lovely." She walked with him to his lab.

Two days later found Jervis at Alice's desk once more during a thunderstorm.

This one was much worse than the one before it, having knocked half the building's power out, including the power to Jervis's department.

Jervis was unable to get any work done without the electricity and was sitting on a chair next to Alice, doodling on a piece of paper.

Luckily Alice's typewriter didn't need electricity, but it was sort of hard to read Jervis's handwriting in candlelight. Thus was the reason Jervis sat by her, or so their excuse to Dr. Cates was to be.

In all actuality, he was there should she need him to help with her fear of thunder.

He was minding her during this storm –he knew how they troubled her –and when she clung to him during a rough clap of thunder, he found that he hadn't the will in the slightest to let her go…he didn't know, however, that she felt exactly the same way about him.

Alice couldn't help but deeply breathe in his unique smell: something Earthy and woodsy with just a hint of vanilla.

Jervis felt his face heat up slightly as Alice clung to him even after the last echo of the thunder faded. He said nothing though.

If Alice was happy to stay in his arms, he wasn't about to have her leave them.

Down at the other end of the dark hallway, Arianna grinned widely.

She could see just fine in the dark and was very happy with how things were progressing. She was going to make sure she thanked Zeek for obtaining a bottled thunderstorm from the Flowing Store…LOUDLY.

It was always funny to see Zeek running away from someone he'd taken something from.

She hummed softly as she turned around to walk back to her own desk.