"What are your writing?" Bruce asked Adriana.
She was sitting alone at the table in their kitchen with a notebook in front of her.
"Well.." she said. "Nothing yet."
Bruce kissed her on the forehead.
"You're home early," she said. "Arsenio's asleep."
"Yes," Bruce said. "I just checked on him."
Adriana looked down at the blank paper in front of her and tapped her pen against it. After the first therapy session over a week ago with Dr. Foster, both Bruce and Adriana had already gone for two individual sessions with him. They had their second couple's session with him scheduled for the following day.
"I'm supposed to write a letter," Adriana said. "Dr. Foster said I should try to write it before our next session. He doesn't want to read it or anything, but he wants me to write it."
"A letter to who?" Bruce asked.
Adriana looked down.
"To Damien," Adriana said.
"I see..." Bruce said. "Well, he's dead."
"I know," Adriana said. "The doctor knows. He just wants me to write it to...I don't know...he thinks I don't have closure but I do. I don't need to write anything to Damien."
"So you talked to Dr. Foster about your abduction," Bruce said.
"It came up, obviously," Adriana said. "And when I've talked to Dr. Kapoor about it he's alluded to something similar. But I think they're wrong."
"If two professionals have the same opinion.." Bruce said and sat beside her. He took her hand. "I know it's not an easy thing to address...but I'm sure Dr. Foster just wants you to write a few sentences. I think it could help."
"I..." Adriana said. "What do I even say? Fuck you for what you did? I hate you? You're the reason me and my husband lost a baby?"
Bruce could see she was asking a question that was meant to be rhetorical. But the answer was in her question.
"If that's what you need to say to him," Bruce said. "Then you should write it down."
"I can't write that," Adriana said.
"You can," Bruce said to her.
"No," Adriana said. "But I could say it to his face."
"Well that is not possible," Bruce said as he saw Adriana standing up. "Where are you going?"
"The cemetery," she replied.
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.
"Do you think I'm weird for this?" Adriana said as she and Bruce walked through the muddy grass at the cemetery. "To spit on his grave?"
"No," Bruce said as she held onto his arm. "Not at all. Here it is."
Bruce pointed to the headstone a few feet away and he and Adriana approached.
"Thanks for coming with me," she said as they walked a few more feet.
Bruce smiled at her and they kissed under the light rain.
"Wow...so here it is," Adriana said and looked down.
She read Damien's name. Saw his date of birth. His date of death. She stood over where he was buried. She had so much anger to spew at him, she had planned to spit. Bruce looked at her and watched her looking at the engravings on the headstone.
He watched her confidence and determination fade. She held his arm tightly and slowly he could see her eyes glaze over, filling with tears. He turned her to face him and pulled her into his arms. A few seconds later he felt her sobbing into his jacket. He held her for a few minutes until she gathered herself. She wiped her eyes and smiled at him weakly.
"I'm not sure why I'm crying," she said.
Bruce touched her face. The warmth of his fingertips calmed her completely.
"I guess I should...say something," Adriana said.
"If you want to," Bruce said.
Adriana nodded and looked down at the headstone again.
"Damien," she said, her voice timid.
She didn't know what to say. She couldn't think of a single word. Then she felt Bruce's hand on her back.
"I'm here with Bruce..." she said. "You remember...my husband. He never liked you very much...and you have to admit...for good reason."
Adriana and Bruce looked at each other for a second before she went on.
"Anyway...my therapist thought I should say something to you," Adriana said.
Bruce could see she was thinking quietly to herself before proceeding.
"I forgive you," she said, surprising Bruce. "For everything. I never wanted this to happen to you...I..felt such hatred for you so many times but...I never wanted you to end your life. I just hope that wherever you are you know that I'm not angry. I...planned to come her and remind you of all the horrible things you've done. Things that still haunt me. I was angry but.."
Adriana looked at Bruce.
"I can't be," she said. "I'm too happy...I have to much love in my life. I wish you could have known such love."
Bruce leaned forward and kissed her on the temple.
"Well..." she said. "We have to go now, Damien. You were definitely...impactful in my life. I wish you all the best."
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Adriana and Bruce were at their second session with Dr. Foster. Everything had been going great and both Adriana and Bruce were sure that the therapy was working. They felt closer than ever, and their relationship was full of love and acceptance.
"I would like to talk about your son's biological father," the doctor said.
Adriana and Bruce looked at each other for a moment.
"What about him?" Bruce asked.
"Well, based on your individual sessions with me," the doctor said. "I believe this may be the final wedge between the two of you."
"Wedge?" Adriana asked. "We don't have any..wedges."
"You have both disclosed to me that you are still not sexually intimate," the doctor said.
Adriana and Bruce looked at each other again.
"What does that have to do with him?" Bruce asked.
"Bruce," the doctor said. "You have an enormous resentment for him."
"I do," Bruce said. "As I told you...he harmed someone that was close to me." Bruce spoke of Rachel and he wasn't sure he could disclose the man was a killer.
"Yes," the doctor said. "Yet...you have married and have decided to remain married to the mother of his child."
"Because I love her," Bruce said and looked at Adriana. "I hate him, however I love her and I love my son."
"I think," the doctor said. "Working towards resolving your hatred for this man, and developing some acceptance for him...will improve your connection to your Adriana."
Bruce looked at Adriana.
"What do you think?" Bruce asked Adriana.
"I'm...just having a hard time imagining that," she said. "But...I would like that. If you could...overcome your hatred for him. I mean..it's caused us so much trouble."
"You know...I would do anything for you," Bruce said.
"Even this?" she asked, unable to believe it fully.
She saw Bruce's lips tense and then relax before speaking.
"I will do my best," he said. "Although I'm not sure how."
"A kind gesture," the doctor suggested. "Nothing grand. And if you cannot do that, perhaps writing a letter, as Adriana did. You don't need to give it to him. But just express how you feel and I believe it can be a first step in moving forward. Perhaps changing your manner of thinking about him. As we discussed...he's never harmed your wife or son. Perhaps you could focus on that as well."
Bruce nodded.
Adriana was almost certainly sure that Bruce would not be able to do this. The doctor saw it as a reason for why she still was not interested in intimacy with Bruce and Adriana truthfully could not see the connection between the two.
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.
Adriana sat in Sidi's kitchen and heard Arsenio in the other room speaking cheerfully to Aymara.
"The doctor said I'm well enough to go back," Adriana said about vigilantism.
"And have you?" Sidi asked and put a cup of tea in front of Adriana.
"Not yet...but soon," Adriana said. "I'm excited but nervous. I think I should train in the gym for a few more days until I feel a bit stronger."
"Mmhm," Sidi said.
Adriana pulled out her phone after it buzzed once. A text from Bruce.
"Something good?" Sidi asked as she saw the smile cross Adriana's lips.
"Oh...um..." Adriana couldn't believe the message she was reading. "Amazing actually."
Adriana, the penthouse walk in closet safe code is 5ALI8P311. The painting is inside. Please take it and deliver it to Lucius. He can return it to it's owner.
Adriana was stunned. She had only ever mentioned the painting to Bruce once. Bruce had no idea that the Joker wanted the painting. But she could see he was taking the therapy seriously. This was his gesture and it was so simple...but beautiful. He saw that the Joker loved Arsenio. He saw the love that went into the painting. He finally accepted it.
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.
"There are no tracking devices," Lucius said as Adriana delivered the painting to him. "It is clean."
"So...this is it," Adriana said, still unable to believe it. "Bruce...really wants us to give him his painting back."
"I'm as shocked as you are," Lucius said.
"So you'll give this to him?" Adriana asked.
"I will let you do the honors," Lucius told her.
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.
"You said he wanted to keep this," the Joker said as Adriana came into his apartment and took the cover off of the painting, which Lucius had framed.
"I though so too," Adriana said. "But...he wants you to have it."
"Meaning what?" the Joker asked. "You stole it?"
"No," Adriana laughed. "He...wanted Lucius to return it to you."
"Makes no sense," the Joker said, looking around the rim of the painting suspiciously.
"We've checked it for bugs," Adriana said.
The Joker sighed and stood back, looking at his masterpiece.
"Did you tell him I wanted it back?" the Joker asked her and pushed his wavy hair back from his forehead with one hand.
"No..." Adriana said. "I never mentioned you wanted it...I just asked him what happened to it. Then I never mentioned it again."
"Hmm," the Joker said and looked at her. "He sure loves you."
Adriana smiled. The therapist was correct. This gesture melted her heart and Bruce had no idea how much it meant.
"I talked to Lucius about you staying," Adriana said.
"Ah...and?" he asked.
"Well..." Adriana said. "If you do...you'll have to wear the facial prosthetics whenever you go in our around any federal buildings, you'll have to avoid getting fingerprinted or DNA tested for the rest of your life...you'll have to walk on eggshells.."
"As I have been," the Joker said. "Holed up indoors."
"I..wish I could do something," Adriana said.
"There's not," the Joker said. "And...let's be honest. This was much easier when you lived in your penthouse and me a floor beneath you. You could bring Arsenio easily. He's getting bigger. He's a smart kid. You couldn't bring him here. He'd mention it to his father at some point."
The Joker looked at the painting, knowing it was all he would have of his child. His fondest memory.
"I'll...think of something," Adriana said. "I will..I-"
"This has no solution," the Joker said. "We all need to accept that. I cannot stay in this city...this state...this country."