"Boss, the new recruits are here. You wanna see them now?" Queasy poked his head in. The Joker sighed and spun to face the clown. He had mixed feelings about this. He did want to see them and weed out anyone incompetent right away, but that also meant leaving the radio and what if he missed something important? He tapped his foot impatiently as he pondered the situation. Oh what the heck, she was just visiting Bruce Wayne, her old friend, and it's not like there would be anything worth hearing. Probably just a bunch of "Good to see you, how's your mom?" stuff. Besides, he needed to let the newbies know who was in charge. Ego was not a good thing to have when one worked for him.

"Sure, round 'em up," he answered, hopping to his feet. Little did he know, this was the one conversation he did not want to miss.

XXXXXXXXX

"Good afternoon, Rachel. It's wonderful to see you again," Alfred greeted her at the door. She smiled warmly at the elderly butler who had always been so kind to her. She saw him as a sort of uncle figure nowadays.

"It's good to see you too. How are things going?" she inquired as they walked to the private living room.

"Not terrible, but busier than normal. Mr. Wayne has been so worried with this Joker on the loose. It will be a miracle when he's safely behind bars. I might finally take a day off then," he joked. She laughed a bit. It was hard to imagine Alfred taking a vacation. He was always here.

"Do that and you might give the poor man a heart attack!" she joked back.

"Yes, that would be bad. I rather like my job now. I don't suppose you and Mr. Dent would need a butler should such an occasion occur? Congratulations by the way," he remembered. She blushed and looked down at her feet. No matter how many times this happened, she did not like the attention.

"Thank you. I would not recommend us. You'd be terribly bored," she answered his question. There was silence as Rachel wondered whether or not to ask the question that plagued her mind. "How has Bruce been with this news? I'm sure it was not easy for him to hear. He seemed fine at our meeting, but I could tell it was awkward for him," she recalled nervously. Alfred's expression turned a bit grimmer at the question.

"It was a mixed reaction. He was upset about it, but happy that you were happy. It was not unexpected, especially given what you had said at the fundraiser. And don't you go feeling guilty on me. It's your life and clearly Bruce was not the one for you. Give him time, and he'll get over it," he assured her. She smiled and hugged him; it did make her feel better to hear that.

"I'm not interrupting anything am I?" Bruce asked as he bounded into the room. Alfred let her go and stood.

"Of course not Mr. Wayne. I was just leaving," the butler answered and left. Bruce smiled at Rachel and sat down across from her.

"Thanks for coming," he finally said for lack of a better opener.

"No problem, I like seeing you. Besides, it would be rather rude to not return the favor. You came when I called last week, I should do the same," she explained more than she really had to.

"Yeah about that, uh, that's why I called you here in the first place. I wanted to apologize if I made you feel... uncomfortable. That wasn't my intention and I am really happy for you," he admitted. Rachel smiled sadly and moved to sit next to him, taking his hand in hers.

"No, you didn't and it's fine. I should actually be the one apologizing. I shouldn't have put you two together like that, not this soon anyways. I basically flaunted our relationship in front of you. That was cruel," she confessed. She felt tears prick her eyes. "Bruce, I should not have lead you on like that. I knew for a long time that we would never be together again, but I still kept you waiting. I am so sorry. That probably made this so much worse for you."

"Rachel, no, it's my fault," he corrected her, gently tipping her chin up to look at him. "I should have let you go. You were... are happy with Harvey, and he's a good man. You were right, I was using you as hope for a normal life, something I'm not meant to lead. And look, I might have just placed you in an even more dangerous situation," he worried.

"No," she asserted, "don't you think that. Even if you had let me go, I would still be in this position. You're not the only one he's trying to get. If anything, you've saved someone else from getting wrapped up in this. Don't you dare feel guilty about this Bruce Wayne." He smiled crookedly.

"You're a wonderful friend Rachel. You always manage to see the good side of a situation." She smiled lightly back at him, appreciative of the compliments. "So tell me, how did Harvey take to knowing that he was competing with Batman for your affections," he tried to make light of the situation.

"He was appropriately shocked and admitted that he had not expected this when Alfred mentioned my psychotic ex-boyfriends," she informed him humorously. Bruce developed a look of hurt.

"He called my psycotic? That's not very nice. Wait, does Harvey know who I am now?" he asked worried. Rachel shook her head. He might have some idea, but there was no evidence to support it.

"Would it matter if he did though? We're all on the same side, and I'm sure he wouldn't give you away to the Joker. Also doubt he's about to go crazy and try and off you. But yeah, I doubt he knows," she assured him. Bruce nodded, pleased with her answer. They sat in silence when something occurred to Rachel.

"Bruce, if you had to chose between saving me and saving Harvey, who would you pick?" she asked knowing that this would not be an unlikely situation for him to face.

"You of course!" he answered without a seconds thought. She sighed. He had promised to think logically. "Was I not suppose to say that?" he inquired seeing the fall of her expression.

"You said you would think before acting. Harvey would be the reasonable choice to make. The city needs him more than me," she argued. Besides, she did not want to face a lifetime without him now. Bruce sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I don't know if I could do that Rachel. I couldn't live knowing I'd let you die," he confessed.

"Then don't think of it as that. Think of it as my last wish. I want to you promise me that if you are ever in such a situation that you'll pick Harvey," she told him seriously. he looked away, but promised her reluctantly. She smiled and hugged him. It would be hard for him, but it was what she thought was best. Just then, her watch beeped, signalling she had to leave.

"Sorry, but I have to get back to work. Lunch breaks over," she explained. Bruce nodded and walked her to the door. "Sorry this ended on such a depressing note," she apologized.

"Don't worry about it. Just come over sometime and we'll make sure it's happier then," he told her. She told him she would and walked to her car.

XXXXXXXXX

Joker came back in and wiped his knife on an old towel. Overall his minions had done a good job, but there were a few that just did not reach the IQ requirement. They were taken care of though. He was pleased. All they needed now was a few trucks, some more explosives, and he would be good to go! Things were working out quite nicely.

"...we'll make sure it's happier then," Bruce's voice came on.

"Of course. See you then," Rachel answered and began humming. Aw, he'd missed a depressing conversation. That might have been interesting to hear. Oh well, it was probably nothing. He imagined it might have had something to do with the little love triangle they had been involved in. That might have actually been painful to listen to. No, he was glad he had missed it.

A/N: Hehe, a bit of situational irony for you. Poor Joker, karma is a pain isn't it? So, I was planning on making this our turning point scene, but someone requested a bit more RachelxBruce interation and decided that jumping ahead two weeks was a bit of a stretch. Plus, this allowed some foreshadowing. Alright, so if anyone was hoping for an action packed chapter, I'm sorry to say that you will not be getting one. I do not write action, it's something I just cannot do. Also as a warning, you will notice next chapter that some details will be off. I only saw the movie once, so bear with me.