As the footsteps of the henchman died away, Rachel assumed that it would be safe to remove the blindfold. Hesitantly, she pulled it away to find that she was in an ally somewhere in the center of town. She approached the sidewalk carefully, afraid that this was one of his tricks, or worse yet, the beginning of his scheme. Deciding that it would be best to not be recognized, she pulled the hood of her sweatshirt up and merged into the mild crowd. As quickly as she could, without be suspicious, she made her way to the courthouse. No doubt Harvey was there working harder than he needed. At the thought of him, a smile forced itself onto her lips. She had missed him so much.

A warm bubble swelled up inside her chest with the knowledge that she would be able to see him again. Rachel stopped and leaned up against the building deep in thought. At their last meeting, Harvey had asked her to marry him; she had not given him an answer. After everything that had happened, she realized that it was time to be a one man woman. Her life had been crazy and unexpected enough, and now she was going to make the right decision for it. While some might have found her life to be exciting, Rachel just wanted a normal, stable life, and Harvey could give her that. And she loved, an extra little bonus. She might have made a promise to Bruce, but it was never going to happen, and she needed to start thinking about herself. With a new found bounce in her step, she pushed off the wall and continued on her way.

She reached the courthouse, got through security easily, and made her way up to the top floor where his office was. During the elevator ride up, she nibbled on her pinkie nail, a sense of unease about her. The Joker had warned her not to tell anyone, but Harvey's life was in danger. Besides, he was not the kind of guy to just trust people to keep their word. Somehow he was spying on her, listening to her conversations, something. No, now was not the time to tell him, if ever there was. If she told, she had just signed his death certificate. If she did not tell, or at least waited, then it gave him some chance of survival. As she approached the floor, she shook her head of such thoughts. This would be a happy moment. Lord knew she needed one.

The door slide open with a beep and Rachel quickly walked to the office, ignoring the receptionists comments that he was in a meeting. She did not care. She just needed to see him and know that he was okay. The door flew open and Harvey and Lt. Gordon froze in the middle of what looked to be a very heated argument. A million emotions poured over Rachel, rendering her unable to speak. Instead, she just pulled her hood back and watched as both men's jaws dropped. "Hi Harvey," she finally whispered.

Rachel had always believed that those expressions of "I don't know how it happened, but-" were total nonsense and it was just the inability to remember minor details, but now she knew that sometimes they could be true. She did not know how she got there, but sometime between her uttered words and her next heartbeat she was tangled in Harvey's tight embrace, tears that may or may not have been hers streaming down her face and his kiss pressed to her temple. They stood like that for a minute or so before anyone could speak.

"Rachel," Harvey breathed. He repeated her name a few more times, a hand stroking the back of her head gently. "You're okay, thank god."

"I'm fine Harvey," she assured him. He finally loosened his grip and met her gaze.

"I thought I lost you." Well, that was certainly happy.

"But you didn't." They smiled with relief and he kissed her, simply reaffirming Rachel's decision.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Gordon began awkwardly, "but I need to talk to you, Miss Dawes." Rachel gently and reluctantly pushed Harvey away and moved closer to Gordon.

"We understand. Would it be alright if Harvey was there? I'd rather not have to explain everything twice," she requested. Gordon assured her that would be fine and the three headed off to the police station.

XXXXXXXXX

By the time Rachel had finished her vague story, Gordon and Harvey looked as if she had just announced that she had a set of eyes on the back of her head. She sunk into her chair a bit, embarrassed by their reactions. Gordon's pen fell from his frozen hand.

"He just let you go?" the officer asked, struggling to comprehend that fact.

"Yeah. He felt it would be most opportune to his plans," she answered.

"And were there terms for you leaving?" Gordon pressed. He found this to be an unusual situation. Rachel herself was still coming to terms with it.

"Just stay in town," she partly told him. The other details could not be known. At least, not yet.

"And you weren't hurt?" Harvey asked, finding that to be the difficult thing to comprehend. Rachel shrugged and mumbled 'yeah.'

"Miss Dawes, how many times did you interact with the Joker?" he questioned. She knew this would be needed in case of a trial.

"Four scattered times," she cooperated.

"Could you please describe those events to the best of your knowledge?" Rachel paused to gather what information she had and edit what she could not tell.

"The first time was after I woke up and he came in with a knife probably for intimidation, and he just talked to me. A lot of it was nonsense, comments about my manners and such, but he did tell me that I was there as bait. How or for what purpose I do not know.

"The second time was a brief run in. I had tried to escape after being untied. The door was open; I broke the assistant's nose and he grabbed me about ten feet out. He threatened me, offering to do a number on my face, and once I was returned to my room, he killed the assistant by shoving a pencil through his head. He said it was a magic trick.

"The forth time," she continued, hoping they would not notice this until later, "was just this morning when he came and told me that his grand scheme was to be pushed back later and I could go home until he needed me again. I just had to stay in town." Gordon finished taking notes, and reread them. Rachel felt the pit of her stomach fall away.

"And the third time, Miss Dawes?" She squirmed uncomfortably and felt Harvey's hand tight on hers.

"Do you want me to leave?" he asked softly, probably jumping to terrible conclusions.

'No, it was just confusing is all. Here he is, this horrid mass murderer, asking me to play cards with him. That's what we did for five hours, play Truth B.S. like two friends, not like captor and captive. He was almost pleasent to be around," she confessed. This last comment earned her some strange looks, but Harvey, ever the opprotunist, caught the possible significance behind the game.

"Did you learn anything about him? Anything useful?" Rachel laughed.

"I have a possible first name and know that he could probably use with a facial. Other than that, he probably lied about everything. Said his name was Joe by the way," she answered Gordon's next question.

"And did you tell him anything that he could use against you?" Gordon asked.

"No. It was all favorite this, favorite that, height, weight, vague questions. He didn't even ask about my family," she assured him. Besides, if he had, she would have been smart enough to lie about it.

"You mentioned he was plotting something. Would you happen to know what?"

"No," she answered truthfully. She really did not know what. Gordon sighed, disappointed with the answer, and thanked her for the trouble. He also offered her protection considering that her purpose had not been completed in the Joker's mind. Despite Harvey's protest, she refused, knowing it would take more than a police officer or two to keep the Joker from getting her and enough officers had been killed already. With that, Harvey and Rachel left the station.

"So, will you allow me to escort you home, or is that too much security for you?" he asked a bit playfully once they were outside.

"I think I can suffer that," she teased back with a small laugh. They walked a ways before she finally worked up the courage to speak again. "You know, I never gave you an answer."

"Well, you were kind of... preoccupied," he pointed out, as if he was not curious about what she was getting at.

"I thought about it. I had a lot of time on my hands, and I realized that my concerns were silly. So I accept," she told him. A huge smile split his face, but being the smooth guy he was, he kept walking with her. His spare hand reached into his inner jacket pocket and pulled out an elegant diamond ring which he slipped onto her finger once he had finally untangled their fingers.

"I think that's a pretty good fit, don't you, Mrs. Dent?" he asked happily, and just a bit giddily. Rachel smiled even more at the sound of her soon to be name.

"Yes, I think so." Finally, he stopped and spun her around to face him.

"I love you, Rachel; I always will." The tender kiss that followed made all worries melt away. Yes, she had made the right choice. Nothing could break them apart.

A/N: Well, it's a bit later than I thought I would get this out, but plans got in the way. So, this chapter, loved and hated it at the same time. I like the sweetness of it, and wanted to re-enforce that Rachel and Harvey are defiantly together and why Rachel chose him, because that will be important later. Also, it was necessary to show her return to civilization. On the same note, there is a lack of Joker and it's not the most exciting scene in the world. So love it or hate it, let me know.

Alex: This will be the last time I thank you personally. Turns out I'm not supposed to do this, but do know that I appreciate your reviews. Of course I could not let the story get sappy that soon; we still have Mr. White Knight here to deal with! And rememeber, Rachel is a person of morals, it will take a lot for her to start seeing on the same page as Mr. J. We still have a looong way to go with this.