The dining hall was too vast to have so few people in it. The chandeliers hung lit above the table, casting small shadows on the table cloth underneath the bowls of food covering its top. Alfred had called in what seemed an army to help him prepare dinner for his guests. Bruce sat at the head of the table, his hands invisible under the table, looking through notes he'd jotted down on his tablet. He grinned slightly at his progress and lifted his head, excited to tell everyone the news he'd been holding on to all day.

Selina sat to his right, picking at her fingernails and hinting loudly in his direction that it had been a while since her last manicure. John Blake sat beside her, a broad smile on his face as he listened to one of Alfred's many butler jokes.

Alfred sat across from John, already loading his plate with anything that was within his reach. He hadn't been able to eat solid foods since his attack, and he was giddy like a small child in a candy store as he piled his plate high. "And you know," he spoke as he picked up a spoon covered in mashed sweet potatoes, "I couldn't sit there and let it happen, so I swung the damned thing around and clocked him square in his noggin!"

Selina chuckled as she took hold of the bowl of green beans being passed to her from John. "I didn't know you were such a fighter. Now, I'm just disappointed."

The laughter died down as she scooped a few pieces of food onto her plate. Bruce breathed deeply; he had spoken to Selina on several occasions on how to address Alfred. She was playful though a bit rough around the edges, but it wasn't appropriate to speak to him that way.

"Well, yes." Spoke Alfred, in a matter-of-fact tone. "I've dealt with many misunderstood people in my life. You remind me of one of them."

Selina placed the bowl on the table and smiled. "And who might that be?"

"I never knew her name, never asked. But she was young, no older than 15. And thin as a rail."

"So I remind you of a 15 year old girl." smiling, Selina cut her eyes at Alfred as Bruce and John choked down their laughs. "Don't make me black your other eye."

"Hey, I didn't see this guy coming," returned Alfred as he motioned to his healing eye. "But you? I'd give you a right spanking."

"Alright," spoke up Bruce as Selina's mouth fell open. "You are not spanking my wife," he said laughing and looking at Alfred. His gaze swung over to Selina whose cheeks had become a light pink as she laughed with him. "Stop provoking him."

"Wine?" questioned a thin server in a black and white suit. He stepped forward, the bottle already in hand.

"Actually, yes; I want to make a toast." said Bruce as he stood up.

"A toast to what?" asked Selina as she pushed her food around her plate. She'd hardly touched her food but for a nibble here and there.

Bruce waited for the glasses to be filled and for the server to step away before he answered.

"To the safety of our fine city," He lifted his glass in the air, and watched the confused looks of his friends as they slowly followed suit. "I signed off on Bane's transfer papers today. He'll be in Arkham by the end of the week." He threw his head back with a smile and took a large gulp of his drink.

No one else moved, but for Alfred placing his full glass back on the table.

"Bruce," he said quietly as he watched Bruce return to his seat, the satisfied grin still plastered on his face. "Are you sure that was a good idea?"

"Of course," Bruce laughed happily and motioned for the server to refill his glass. "The city is safer with Bane locked away some place secure."

"The city or you?"

The smile fell from Bruce's face and he sat his glass back on the table. "The city." He spoke calmly, but there was anger in his tone. Selina opened her mouth to speak but closed it as quickly.

"I think Alfred just meant why'd you move him." Spoke John quietly, placing his glass on the table and side glancing at Selina as she downed her drink.

"Oh, I meant what I said," said Alfred, his eyes never leaving Bruce's. "You have a life now," he said quietly. "A real one-"

"Bane will be exactly where we want him. He'll be under our thumbs."

"Under your thumbs. You're playing with a mad mans freedom!"

"What do you want me to do?" Bruce shot up from his seat, ignoring the sight of his wife flinching as he did so. "You can't expect me to sit around and wait for him to try destroying the city again!"

"Yes, I can," said Alfred also rising, though slowly, from his own seat. He leaned on his cane and stared hard at Bruce. "And I do. What if something happens to you again?" He ignored Bruce scoffing and turning his back to the table as if he were about to walk away. "What would happen to Selina? Or have you forgotten that she exists since you've started on this suicide mission?"

That stopped him. Bruce turned in his spot, the anger running through him for Bane forcing its way out onto the man trying to help him. He'd known he had gone too far as he signed his name on the bottom of the paper that would make Gotham General his establishment. He had become over invested in trying to outsmart his enemy that he'd lost track of reality.

"Is it the truth that bothers you so much; or the fear of it?"

"Alfred-" spoke John, but he was ignored.

"You rile up that beast and we all will have hell to pay. You're so afraid of what happened in the past that-"

"Watch yourself," interrupted Bruce, cutting his eyes up at Alfred.

"Or what, Master Wayne? Will you have me transferred as well?"

Bruce's fists slammed down onto the table, sending a hush through the hall. Selina stood up from her seat and placed a hand on his shoulder. She flinched as he shook it off and turned away from her. "GOD DAMNIT!" he cursed as he stormed from the room.

He slammed his fist into the wall of the next room, leaving behind a dent the size of his hand. He closed his eyes and tried to slow his breathing. His efforts proved inadequate next to the feeling of a slender hand on his shoulder. As he turned to speak, Selina silenced him with a kiss. She looked at him quietly, forever patient, forever waiting for him to return.

"I have to do this." The pain in his voice was audible. He was losing his grasp on what was real and what was a figment of his own paranoia. He hadn't slept a full night since the day he'd seen Bane face to face in the hospital, and hardly at all since he'd bought the place.

"I know you do," spoke Selina softly, her hands gently holding the sides of his face. She waited for him to raise his gaze to look at her, but he wouldn't, so she lifted his face for him. "I'm with you no matter what." She said as his eyes found hers. "If we have to double team that monster than so be it."

Bruce took hold of her hands and shook his head. "No,"

"I don't care what your butler says. I love you. And you are not alone in this."

"Selina, Alfred is right."

"Fuck Alfred." The harsh words pulled Bruce from his troubled train of thought. "And fuck anyone else that thinks like him. Bane is dangerous and needs to be stopped at any cost."

Alfred's words replayed in his head as he stared down into Selina's face. Selina was the most important thing in his life. If he got in too deep, he would lose her; if he did nothing, he would eventually lose her when Bane decided to blow up another prison. His thoughts paused there as his stomach dropped.

It hadn't been some random crazed fool that had destroyed the Lotus Palace. It had been Bane. He didn't have proof, but he could feel it in his gut. Bane had rigged the hotel to explode while he was inside, but he had never gone; he was too hung up over…Alfred.

Bruce stepped away from Selina, his eyes dancing across the floor as he thought. How had Bane even known he'd be in the city? He'd had no plans to ever return until he'd received a phone call from the hospital in the dead of night, someone telling him what had happened to Alfred. Somehow from his hospital room, Bane had orchestrated an attack on Alfred that would lead him back to Gotham, where he would have met his fate if he was the same person he'd been only a few years ago. He'd had to have had help from the outside.

"Tell Alfred I went for a walk."

"Where are you going?" Selina crossed her arms across her chest, prepared to argue him down if he answered incorrectly.

"Underground." He watched her eyes widen. "Selina, someone is feeding him information from the outside. He has help- "He pulled his jacket from the rack by the front door and pulled on one sleeve. "I have to find out who it is."

He was gone before Selina could respond.

The tunnels were dark beneath the city and they smelled of garbage. The sound of dripping water and scurrying rats surrounded him, trying to pull his attention from his task but to no avail. He was determined, the ache in his spine feverishly pushing him to keep going deeper and deeper under the city. Finally he came to a large open space filled with the sound of moving water. The concrete beneath his feet gave way to a rusted metal grate as he stepped out from the darkness of the tunnels behind him and into the artificial light shining down from several lamps bolted to the surrounding walls. A sharp pain rang in his back and he halted in his stride.

Though the once occupied chamber was now empty, his skin began to crawl beneath his suit. Chains that hung from the ceiling clinked together under the downpour of the falling water around them, and a chill ran down his back. No one had been there for years except maybe maintenance to clean up the mess Bane and his men had left behind. The place was spotless, and nothing bothered Bruce down under the city, more than that. It didn't make sense.

A wave of nausea overcame him, and he fell forward onto his knees; he was falling apart. He had to find them, find something before it was too late. A lump swelled in his throat as fear clawed it's way through his bones like winter air. What if he failed again? What if he lost Selina because he couldn't find them? He couldn't picture her face pale with death, and her eyes forever closed. He couldn't picture her dark hair, so similar to Talia's…

He forced himself to stand; he couldn't do this now, not here. He turned and left the way he came, welcoming the darkness of the tunnels once more as he reentered them. He walked on, the thoughts of Selina pushing his feet, the thoughts of Talia always dancing on the perimeters of his mind. The tunnels continued on for what seemed like eternity, and just as the idea crossed his mind for him to turn around and go home, he heard the muffled sounds of footsteps.

Cautiously, he approached, his body tensed and prepared to fight. He slowed his breathing and rounded the corner to see a group of men huddled together beneath tattered blankets and old coats. One of them looked up at him and his mouth fell open in surprise. "B-Batman?"

Four others followed the mans' gaze, all of their eyes landing on Bruce, though they had to squint to see him clearly. Bruce stepped forward and squatted down in front of the group. "How long have you been here?" he asked, his tone dropping into a guttural growl to mask his voice.

"Ever since those pigheaded thugs left a few years back," answered a grime covered man with a white beard and one dead eye.

"Have you seen anyone come and go? Maybe carrying boxes or weapons?" questioned Bruce to the man directly. He shook his head as another spoke up.

"Nope, don't get too much action around here but for the rats." He had no hair, just a large gash on his head that hadn't yet healed.

"Just us down here," spoke the third man, his mouth void of any teeth. "Just the way we like it."

Bruce looked at the forth man and watched him nod his head in agreement. "Less people, less problems." He said quietly. "Few weeks back there were footsteps but we didn't stick around long enough to find out who it was."

Bruce nodded at them before he spoke. "Do you move around a lot down here?"

The man with the gash on his head spoke first. "We do, every few days or so. It's not safe to stay in one place, regardless of if we think its safe or not."

"Unless you think we shouldn't be doing that…" spoke the man with no teeth.

Bruce took a glance at the group as their eyes began to widen, waiting for him to answer. "I want you to be my eyes." He said quietly, taking turns looking each of them men in the eye. "I'm going to come back here soon. If you hear anything, see anything, anything at all.. I want you to tell me."

The men nodded their heads. Bruce turned away from them and disappeared into the darkness as they threw questions at him. Someone else has been down here, thought Bruce as he mulled over the men's words of hearing footsteps. He had hoped one of them had seen something, but he was content with the fact that his assumptions were correct. Someone had come to the tunnels, and somehow Bruce knew it hadn't been another group of homeless. As he walked out of the jagged tunnel end and out into an open alley in the Narrows, his fists clenched in relief. He had come a small step closer to finding Bane and for now that was okay.

His foot had hardly been over the threshold when a slender hand slapped him hard across the face. He gripped the side of his face, flexing his jaw and smiling as Selina stood in front of him and placed her hands on her hips. Her eyes were dark with anger and he knew that if Alfred hadn't been in his current condition, she would've followed him when he left. He had abandoned her, and he deserved the slap she'd given him, so he stayed quiet until she was ready to speak to him.

"What did you find?"

"Nothing," said Bruce quietly, pulling off his jacket and hanging it back on the stand. "There were five homeless men. They said they didn't see anything, but they heard footsteps."

"So you're going back?"

Bruce walked over to his wife and placed his hands on either side of her face. She glared at him, her frustration with him for running out on her still very present. He kissed her gently on the lips and reveled in the feeling of her lips pressing back into his own.

He pulled away from her and watched as her eyes slowly fluttered open. "Not tonight."

She reached up and grabbed hold of the fabric of his shirt, clenching it in her fists. "You will never," she said quietly, her voice beginning to shake and tears welling up in her eyes, "do something like that alone again. Do you understand me?"

Bruce kissed her again and her hands left his shirt and ran through his hair. "I understand" he said as he lifted her up and wrapped her legs around his waist. If he could stay wrapped in her legs, he'd do that. He'd take her to bed and never allow her to leave. But he knew that couldn't happen, not with a threat like Bane so near to home.

Selina's hands tugging at his belt buckle grabbed his attention. He kissed her deeply and forgot about the pit of uncertainty growing in his belly.