Adriana smiled as her sister placed a forkful of wedding cake into her mouth. She looked over to where Harri's now husband, Antonio, was dancing with his eight year old cousin. He lifted her and spun her in circles.
"I'm so happy for you," Adriana whispered into Harri's ear while she hugged her.
Harri was wearing floor length white and gold Somali wedding dress, and had her hair wrapped in a long white scarf.
"I saw you crying at the ceremony," Harri laughed a bit.
"It's these pregnancy hormones," Adriana said and laughed. "I cry at everything."
"So you're next...you and Bruce," Harri beamed and looked at Bruce. He was talking to their mother and father, and Adriana could tell that they both already loved him.
"Yes," Adriana nodded and looked at her family. "We're next to tie the knot. I love him."
"I can tell," Harri said. "I'm glad you were able to make it, you're so far along."
"Yeah, I'm due in six days so we couldn't fly," Adriana said. "Bruce said he hadn't been on a train since he was eleven years old."
"No private jet for you, huh," Harri chuckled.
"Nope, not this time," Adriana told her.
"I love you, sis," Harri said.
"I love you more," Adriana responded.
"Are you excited to finally give birth?" Harri asked.
"Well...I'm excited to get back to normal," Adriana said. "I miss doing what I love."
"Which is what?" Harri asked.
Adriana thought of the city, fighting crime, saving the day and changing people's lives. She missed being Shade.
"Everything."
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.
Adriana sat on the hotel room bed, her back against the pillows, and looked at the movie playing on TV. She watched a woman walking through a casino on the screen for a few seconds and then closed her eyes.
"Sleeping already?" Bruce asked her and towel dried his hair.
"Not quite," she answered. "You're so cute."
"If you insist," he said.
"I do," she said and looked down at the towel around his hips.
"Love you," he said and leaned over the bed, kissing her gently.
"I love you too," she told him. "Whew...I think he just woke up."
"Aww," Bruce said and looked down at her stomach.
"Look," she said and pointed and where the movement was visible.
Bruce gently touched where he could see the movement through the fabric of her nightgown.
"If he giving me a high five?" Bruce asked.
"Actually, I think that's his foot," she laughed.
"I can't wait to meet him," Bruce said.
"Less than a week," she said and placed her hand over Bruce's. "Then there will be three of us."
"Indeed," he said and sat on the bed beside her. He placed both hands onto the mattress of either side of her his and began to whisper while kissing her again.
"I've been thinking..." he said.
"Thinking about what?" she whispered back and rubbed his back, still damp from the shower.
"Us...getting married," he said. "Your parents will be here, in the country, for a few more weeks."
"I know," she said. "
So...maybe we should have our wedding before they leave," he said to her.
"What?" she asked and sat up.
"I know.." he said, almost apologetically. "I know, it's fast. No pressure, we can do it next year-"
Adriana thought about it. She was sure she wanted to marry him, so it didn't really matter when it happened. She though she could marry him at this exact moment and be perfectly happy.
"You know what..." her words soft and loving. "Let's do it."
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.
"I have your results here," the doctor said to Adriana, Bruce and Damien as he entered the room with a folder. They had gone to do the paternity test that Damien had requested. It was such an inconvenience and Adriana hated having to be there. But somehow, even though she knew it was completely ridiculous, she worried. What if it turned out that Damien was the father? No...she told herself. That was completely impossible.
"Alright, Doctor," Damien said. "What have you got for us?"
"Mr. Damien Ricard," the doctor said. "You have been excluded as the biological father in the tested mother here, Ms. Adriana Navarro-"
"Are you sure?" Damien asked.
"The conclusion here was drawn based on non-matching alleles. We've determined the probability of you being the father as 0%," the doctor said. "This test has over 99% accuracy. So yes, we are quite sure."
"Thank you, doctor," Bruce said.
"Thanks," Adriana said and stood up.
"Not a problem," the doctor said.
"So these tests are always accurate?" Damien asked, still checking.
Adriana let out an annoyed sigh.
"That's what he just said," Adriana said.
"Can I get a copy?" Damien said, to the doctor. "Of the tests and the...alleles or whatever is was you said you looked at?"
"Of course I can print out a copy for you," the doctor said. "But if you take the DNA for a second opinion comparison, I'm sure you will get the same results."
"Yeah..thanks," Damien said as the doctor left the room to get his print out.
"Enjoy the rest of your day, Mr. Ricard," Bruce said as he held the door open for Adriana. Adriana left the room without speaking to or looking at Damien at all. This meant it was finally over, she would never have to speak to him or look at him again. Ever.
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.
.
"Def Leppard records," DeMarco said to Damien as they searched one of that last abandoned storage units of the Joker's. "Vintage...might be worth something."
"Yeah, throw them in the box," Damien said. So far he had found over $4 million in cash, jewels, and other valuable items. He was wealthy now, but still was not satisfied. He knew that he was missing something.
"Get started over there," Damien told DeMarco and pointed to a dusty area in the corner full of shelves and boxes. "I'll go through these here."
Damien began to dig through a box, pulling out what looked like a dark colored suit. A few Joker cards fell out as he lifted the suit and fell onto the floor. Damien was too determined to give up hope. He would search everything and search again and again until he foind what he was looking for.
And then he saw something..a sparkle. It looked like gold. He reached into the box and pulled out something, hearing the soft sound of jingling bells. It was a mask. Damien rotated the mask so that it was facing his. A court jester's mask, gold with hanging bells.
Immediately, Damien stood up and left the storage unit with the mask very quickly, sure that DeMarco didn't see it. He looked at it a bit longer before placing it into the trunk of his car. Then, he went back into the storage unit and saw DeMarco flipping over a box that was full of scraps of green fabric.
."DeMarco, let me ask you something," Damien asked.
"Yeah?" DeMarco said.
"Well," Damien said, not wanting to allude to anything. "I went to get that paternity test."
"You and Navarro," DeMarco nodded. "Is the kid yours?"
"No," Damien said.
"Damn...sorry," DeMarco said, even though he wasn't sure if he was supposed to be apologetic.
"I was just thinking...I knew she was seeing someone..." Damien said. His words coming out of his mouth seemed to move faster than his thoughts.
"Do you remember that masquerade ball..you told me you saw her leaving with someone-" Damien asked. "We were both there are she disappeared. I went looking for her and tried calling her and she wasn't answering. Then I bumped into you and you said you thought you saw her leaving with someone."
"Yeah...didn't see him though," DeMarco shrugged. "Had on a mask. Did you ever ask her about it?"
"Well I assumed you were mistaken," Damien said. "Then when we were doing follow up investigation, I found her name on the guest ledger at the hotel. She had rented out the penthouse. She told me she was there with some...guy. Never said who."
"Yeah well," DeMarco said. "I'm sorry you're not the kid's father and that she-"
"This is not about that," Damien said sternly to DeMarco.
"Then what-" DeMarco said.
"What did it look like," Damien asked quickly.
"What did what look like?" DeMarco asked.
"The mask," Damien asked. "The mask the man she left with was wearing."
"I don't know, man that was a while ago," DeMarco said.
"Think! Try to remember. What did it look like?" Damien asked him again.
Damiens tone went from conversational and friendly to impatient and sharp .
"Well...I guess it was dark, kinda gold face if I remember right...had some black things hanging down..little gold dangling bells," DeMarco said. "Maybe I'm remembering it wrong-"
"Sounds like a court jester's mask," Damien said, feeling the blood draining to the bottom of his body.
"Yeah! Yeah that's what it was.." DeMarco said. "Something like that."
"Are you sure?" Damien asked him.
"Well, yeah," DeMarco answered.
"I gotta go," Damien said and didn't wait for a response from DeMarco. Damien was in his car, speeding down the highway. It was raining hard and he felt the car swerving a bit. His thoughts weren't making any sense. The conclusion made no sense.
There was no way that Adriana was with the Joker. It made zero sense. Maybe he was jumping the gun, and it was entirely possible that both of Joker and someone else had the same or at least a similar mask. The flashing lights on the highway and the windshield wipers were making him dizzy as he tried to put the pieces together. Maybe it was just a coincidence that the mask matched and that one of the Joker's men was identified and arrested that night.
Damien had wondered who Adriana had left the party with, ever since that night, and she had refused to tell him anything. And then finding a mask that seemed to fit the description...
But then he remembered something... She was arrested. Arrested for destroying Madame Twyla's shop...her lawyer made a deal with the woman..Madame Twyla. She accepted a cash settlement. He went to Adriana's home the next day to give her the good news, she wouldn't be serving any prison time. There was something on her face and he remembered trying to swipe it off with his finger. White paint. She said it was a skincare face mask.
It could been...
He needed concrete evidence. And then he remembered he could have it.
The DNA test.