"Sidee ilmahaygu yahay?" Adriana's mother asked over the phone, in Somali language. How's my baby?

"Waan fiicanahay," Adriana answered as she stood in front of her bathroom mirror, her hair full of red suds. I'm fine.

Adriana shook as she considered what her mother would think if she knew what a mess her daughter had gotten herself into. After day dreaming for a moment about how horribly things had gone, she noticed her mother whispering in Spanish to her father. Telling him something sounded wrong.

"I'm fine, mom," Adriana said but it seemed her parents were ignoring her.

"Hija mía, hay un gran terapeuta en Madrid del que me habló mi secretaria," her father had taken the phone. He was telling her about a therapist in Madrid. They always assumed she needed more therapy.

"Papa..Estoy bien, te lo juro," she said firmly. I'm fine, I swear.

She heard more talking between her parents. Her mother said that she thought it would be best if Adriana came and visited them while they were in the Netherlands. Her father agreed. Adriana knew she could go nowhere.

"I'm fine," she said in English. "I'm seeing my regular therapist tomorrow, in fact. Dr. Andrews. I'm perfectly fine. I'm just tired..I've been busy."

"Just come to Amsterdam for a few days, mi hija," her father said. "We will pay for your ticket."

"I can't go anywhere right now," she said to him, struggling to hide the pain in her voice. "I have..work."

"Con la policia?" her father asked. With the police?

"Um..yeah," she lied. "We have a few..major cases to work through right now and I guess it's just stressing me out."

"Vale..vale..." her father said, not sounding entirely convinced. Okay, Okay.

"I'll come and see you guys as soon as this is all over, I promise," Adriana told him.

"Maybe we will come to visit you, honey," she heard her mother say. "For a couple days-"

"No," Adriana said somewhat forcefully. When she heard how it came out, she felt on the verge of tears. "Sorry mom...now is just..not a good time. I have to go..I have some workout training stuff to do."

"Oh, that's good," her mother said. "Good for stress-"

"Exactly," Adriana said. "I have to get ready to go..love you both."

"We love you too."

Once the call was ended, Adriana flipped her hair down into the sink and watched the red dye that she had slept in swirling down the drain.

.

.

.

"If your hands really hurt, you don't have to keep trying," Bruce said to Adriana as he looked up at her hanging from his pull-up pole. "Or we can switch to chin ups"

"Why can't-" she grunted as her hands slipped and he caught her. She immediately grabbed his shoulders and wriggled until he released her. "Why can't I do this? Why am I so fucking weak?"

"You're not weak," he said, curious about why she seemed so angry. "You are getting stronger."

"But I can't pull myself up," she said. "That's fucking weakness." She peeled off the fingerless gloves she was wearing and threw them on the floor before walking over to the weight rack.

"Adriana," he said carefully as he walked over behind her. "Is everything okay?"

"No!" she shouted, so loud she surprised herself. "Sorry...sorry..I shouldn't have yelled."

"It's okay.." he said to her back. She still was facing away. "Obviously something is bothering you. You can talk to me about it, you know that. Whatever it is."

"I can't," she sighed still looking down at the weights, staying out of his thoughts entirely. She didn't want to hear what he thought of her outburst. "Can't talk to anyone. Especially not you."

"Is this..." Bruce said, gently touching her arm. "About Shade?"

"What?" Adriana said and turned quickly, facing him. "What do you mean?"

"You must know by now that.." he inhaled and she could see his thoughts before he spoke. "I kissed her. And avoided telling you before I left for the Cayman's."

"Bruce no," she said. "It's okay-"

"You're angry," he said. "And that's my fault."

"Bruce," Adriana closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "This isn't about that at all. I'm not angry at you."

"Really," he said, a bit surprised. "Are you sure? Because-"

"I'm sure, I don't care that you kissed her," she said and turned around again. She almost immediately regretted her words. She didn't care because she was Shade, but he didn't know that. He thought she didn't care because she had already lost interest in him or had never taken him seriously to begin with. "That came out wrong-"

"No," he said. "It's okay. I understand."

"You do?" she asked.

"You walked in on me having sex in my office," he said. "You and I were going to have sex but another woman came by in the middle of it. I still haven't recovered from the mortification and I'm pretty sure you don't have the best impression of me right now. I can understand you wanting to keep your distance...keep your expectations low and-"

She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a soft kiss.

"Shh," she said.

He held her hips and kissed her deeply. She didn't want to think about anything but how protected and safe she felt in this moment. His tongue moved slowly against hers as his hands moved up to her waist and he wrapped his arms around her felt like nothing could hurt her..No one would touch her. He would protect her.

"Tell me something," he said softly.

"Mhm," she said and placed the side of her cheek against his chest.

"Tell me what's wrong," he said even softer.

She closed her eyes, letting a tear get absorbed into his black t-shirt. "I can't."

"You can," he said. "Just tell me what you're thinking of."

She opened her eyes and closed them again, listening to his heart beat.

"Gotham," she said. "The dangers...the absolute...horror that goes on here."

"Oh," Bruce said and kissed the top of her head. "You don't need to worry about that. I will protect you, always. I promise you that."

"Thank you," she exhaled. "Thank you."

"You could stay here if you're that worried," he offered. "Stay as long as you want."

"Really?" she smiled and reached to wipe a tear from her eyes.

"Of course," he said and reached for her cheek to tilt her face upwards so that he could look at her. "You're crying."

"I wish I could stay. I wish I went to the Cayman Islands with you," she said. "Everything would be different now."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

She blinked. If she had gone perhaps she wouldn't have been blackmailed into working for the Joker.

"Nothing," she said and pressed her cheek against his chest again. "Do me a favor..."

"Anything," he said.

"The Joker," she heard the sadness coming back into her voice. "I need you to stop him."

"Well that..." he spoke slowly. "Wasn't expecting that to be the favor at all."

"Can you do it?" she looked back into his eyes, and he noticed she was gripping the front of his shirt.

"He will be off the streets of Gotham very soon," Bruce said. "Behind bars for good. I'm working on it."

"Did you know.." she started to ask. "He forces people to work for him?"

"Yes," Bruce said. "Usually by threats. He's threatened me before. Not to work for him..but to reveal my identity. Threatened to kill innocent civilians every day that I didn't reveal myself. He ended up killing five people."

"You didn't reveal yourself," she said. "And they died."

"Well, Adriana, I am not proud of that," Bruce started to explain. "But I couldn't just give in to his demands. He would kill whether I revealed who I was or not. I wouldn't have been able to move as freely, quietly..if everyone knew who my identity, and he knew that. That would ultimately lead to many, many more deaths...Much more than five."

"So you're saying...It's best to sacrifice a few for the good of the majority," she said, knowing she would never be able to do the same.

"It's not an easy decision to make. Not at all," Bruce said.

"What if it was children?" Adriana asked.

"Children?" Bruce asked.

"What if he said he would kill children if you didn't cooperate?" she pulled back and crossed her arms and turned away to gaze out through the large glass widows at the city of Gotham by night.

"I suppose.." Bruce spoke thoughtfully. "I would have revealed myself."

"Huh?" Adriana turned back to him quickly. "You'd just go along with whatever he wanted? But you just said that-"

"If it was children," Bruce said. "But he's never made that threat. He doesn't really want me to reveal myself. He wants to send a message to Gotham. He wanted to taunt me and have deaths blamed on me."

"What if he told you that you have to work for him and do everything he asks, or he will kill children?" Adriana made her question more specific.

"He'd never ask me such a thing," Bruce said. "He knows that I would sooner kill him. What a terribly hypothetical situation. Any particular reason why you're thinking of the worst possible scenarios?"

"Worst possible scenario," Adriana repeated.

"Some men who have worked for him have expressed that he forced them to work for him," he said. "Threatened to kill them otherwise. But threatening to kill others, random citizens, as far as I know he's only reserved that threat for me. He knew I would not comply and he wanted me to let people die. Threatening to kill random citizens that are children, well, he would kill them as he did the others he killed when he threatened me. Innocent children being killed...yes I would say that is the worst possible scenario. Perhaps he didn't threaten me with that because he knew that I would sooner just kill him."

Adriana blinked and looked away.

"What is this all about?" Bruce asked.

"I just..." Adriana needed to lie. "When I was with him in the mental institution I sort of saw that as...something he had tucked away in his mind...I don't know who he was going to use the threat on but it was horrifying to hear."

"I am sorry," Bruce apologized. "For putting you in that predicament."

"It's okay," she said.

"That your phone?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah.." Adriana went over to her bag and took out her phone. She recognized the number. It was the Joker. She glanced behind her at Bruce and gave a nervous smile before answering.

"Armor Park. Third bench on South Spruce Street. Now," the Joker said before she could say hello.

He hung up. Adriana's hands were shaking.

"You alright?" Bruce said, noticing she said nothing on the phone call.

"Yeah..just some telemarketing recording. I have to go."