"Do you think he'd find us weird if we're still watching him sleep when he's older?" Adriana asked Bruce in a whisper as Arsenio slept in his crib.
"How much older?" Bruce asked.
"Hm...forever...so I guess until he's 90 if we're even still around," Adriana asked and they laughed softly before leaving his room.
Once they were in their bedroom Bruce released a loud yawn. Adriana did the same, catching the urge to get a deep breath of air.
Adriana said and wrapped her arms around Bruce's shoulders. He placed his hands on her waist.
"The painting has been returned," Adriana said to Bruce who hadn't mentioned it all all since he came home from work.
"Mmm.." Bruce hummed tiredly. "And I'm sure Lucius scanned it for tracking devices."
"Sure did," Adriana laughed. "And it was clean."
"Mhm," Bruce said.
"You look so tired," she said. She knew he had a long day at work. He had flown out to Montreal early that morning before flying back to Gotham for a full day of work.
"I am," he said.
"Oh," she said.
She felt rested. The previous night was the first night in a long time that she hadn't had a nightmare about her abduction. Bruce having the painting returned to it's rightful owner had made this the best day that she had in a long time.
It had been nearly a month since her abduction, and she and Bruce had only been intimate once since. She knew that he needed intimacy but he did not ask her for it at all. She had expected him to after asking her to get the painting from the penthouse. But it seemed like he hadn't realized how lovely what he had done was. She wanted him.
"Do you want me to make you a drink?" she asked.
"Hmm, no," he said and blinked slowly, looking half asleep. She could tell he wasn't getting the signals she was sending. He wasn't expecting them. "I think I'll just turn in."
"Okay," Adriana said and kissed him.
.
.
.
"Are you asleep yet?" Adriana asked Bruce.
It took him a few seconds to answer and she felt bad for waking him.
"Hmm..." he said and then opened his eyes. "No..not yet."
"The painting," Adriana said, unable to stop thinking about it. "Why did you give it back?"
Bruce looked at her, and she could see it in his expression that he saw the question as random and insignificant. But it meant a lot to her.
"Because it wasn't mine," he said. "In hindsight...maybe I should have had a replica made."
"And that's it?" Adriana asked. "Just returning property?"
"No..." Bruce said. "Dr. Foster said I should...make some kind of gesture. That last thing I wanted to do was give him that painting. However..."
Adriana saw Bruce thinking about why he had done what he did.
"I trust you," Bruce said. "You brought Arsenio around him because you knew he was safe. I hated to admit it...but part of the reason why I became so angry when I saw that painting was because...it showed me a different side of him. He is human. I saw it in the art...he loved Arsenio. Now he's...locked up somewhere likely eating all his food through a straw because he's toothless. It was the least I could do. To give him some comfort after what I did to him."
Bruce took another breath.
"Hating him was standing in the way of us," Bruce said. "I don't want anything in between me and you. Even him. I have let it go...and I mean that. I no longer hate him."
"You really mean that?" Adriana asked, even though she could see Bruce wanted to go back to sleep.
"Yes," he replied.
"So...if he was right here in front of you, you wouldn't kill him?" Adriana asked. "You'd do nothing?"
"I wouldn't kill him," Bruce said. "Unless of course he was trying to kill me."
"So you really mean that?" Adriana asked again, not caring if she was being annoying. She couldn't believe it and needed to keep asking him.
"Yes," Bruce said. "Because that is how much I love you and I mean that. I want nothing in between us, especially not hate or anger."
"Okay..." Adriana said. "I agree.."
Adriana didn't know what to think. Part of her wanted to see what he was saying as just words, but it sounded like he actually meant them.
"Actually," Bruce said, sounding a bit more awake. "I don't want us to have any secrets. None...I want everything in the open."
Adriana looked at him as he sat up. He had something to say.
"I no longer hate that man but I still feel there's...something..." Bruce said. "Something in between us and I think it is secrets."
"I..." Adriana said, thinking about his words. "I...actually agree with that."
They gazed into each other's eyes trying to determine how to proceed. It was so late and Bruce was clearly exhausted but this was important to him.
"Let's just..." Adriana said. "Tell each other...i think we're both hiding things and...we should just.."
"Lay everything out," Bruce said.
"Yes," Adriana said. She was terrified...but she knew their marriage would end if they didn't completely resolve their issues.
"I'll go first," Bruce said.
Adriana nodded. She couldn't go first. She was too nervous.
"Okay..." he said. "It's going to sound...absolutely crazy and I'm not entirely sure that you'll believe me. But...Sidi can confirm, if you need to ask her, that what I'm about to tell you is true."
"Wow..." Adriana said laughing. "Okay then...just tell me."
"You..." Bruce said. "You died."
Adriana frowned. "So...what are we in heaven now?"
"No," Bruce said. "I'll try to explain."
"Right," Adriana said, relaxing back onto the pillow and laughing. "Tell me."
"The day Sidi removed your gift...was the day you were to die," Bruce said. "I had her come...that's why it was on such short notice. Your gift was going to kill you."
Adriana sat up quickly.
"What?" Adriana said.
"You were going to have a fever," Bruce said. "Like..the night sweats you were having but worse. High enough for you to have swelling of the brain."
"Sidi...she..." Adriana said, trying to understand what Bruce was saying. "She told you that would happen? She predicted it? Is that why you sent her to remove my gift with no notice? Randomly in the middle of the day?"
"Not exactly," Bruce said. "You actually died. Twyla...she helped me to bring you back. I got to go back into time in a machine that she gave me access to. You can use it once...to go back into time. I went back and, instead of you dying...I sent Sidi to remove the gift. She saved your life. Sidi knows everything...you can ask her if you can't believe this coming from me."
"This..." Adriana said. "I don't remember dying."
"You wouldn't.." Bruce said. "I changed your fate."
Adriana was speechless.
"Did I...I mean how did I die? Did I just faint or something? Did it happen in my sleep or-" Adriana said.
"No," Bruce said.
"Tell me everything," Adriana said.
Bruce looked into her eyes and took a deep breath.
"That evening we had a fight. I accused you of being the one who was sending the footage of me killing Harvey Dent to the news," Bruce said.
"What?!" Adriana exclaimed. "Bruce-"
"I know you would never do anything like that and I knew it as soon as the words left my mouth," Bruce said. "It was the worst moment of my life. You hit me. You spit in my face."
"It sounds like something I would do," Adriana said. "If you accused me of something like that."
"I did," Bruce said. "I..behaved as though I didn't trust you."
"This is crazy..." Adriana said.
"After we fought you went into the bathroom and locked yourself in.." Bruce said. "You fainted in the bath. The fever...it must have happened quickly. I went in. I had to break through the door but I found you there in the tub-"
Adriana could see he was telling the truth. She could see the horror in his eyes as he remembered.
"I pulled you out but you were gone..I tried to save you Adriana I swear I tried-" Bruce said and she wrapped her arms around him.
After he calmed down they pulled out of the hug.
"Anyway.." Bruce went on. "Alfred said he came in and found me giving you CPR. He called an ambulance...he came back...he said some of my hair had gone grey. Grey in minutes.."
"Wait," Adriana said, shaking. "The day Sidi removed my gift. That was...the day you...the next day you changed...your hair and you started losing weight-"
Adriana touched Bruce's rich dark hair. He had no greys before that day. Now he had a few dozen and a streak of a few silver strands concentrated behind one of his ears.
"Yes," Bruce said. "I was told that I could go back but I couldn't change anything that had happened to my body."
"So it wasn't some experimental steroid drug that made you lose so much weight," Adriana said.
"Correct," Bruce said. "Twyla demanded essentially half of my net worth. I paid her."
"Billions?!" Adriana exclaimed.
"For you, yes," he said. "Fortunately business has been going well and I should have earned it all back within a few years if all continues as planned."
"Gosh.." Adriana said. "So..I was dead. I mean..did you go to Twyla that day or?"
"No I didn't know she could help me until Aymara told me about her," Bruce said. "You were gone a few months."
"Arsenio-" Adriana gasped at the thought of leaving her son for months.
"That...was the hardest part...he would ask for you all the time and there was nothing I could do," Bruce told her. "My heart still aches."
"This is...this is a lot," Adriana said.
"There's more," Bruce said. "I don't want to leave anything out."
"Okay," Adriana said and began to bite one of her nails.
"Twyla told me that if I saved you that someone else would have to die," Bruce said. "Which is why I became so focused on finding the Joker. It had to be him..but it ended up being...our unborn child. And then Damien. And then the other man who was with him that abducted you.."
Adriana had no words.
"It's also part of the reason why I was so upset about him being around Arsenio. When I found out...al I could think was that my son could have been killed and it would have been all my fault," Bruce said.
He wiped his face with one of his hands before continuing.
"After you died I ran into Damien," he said. "After a business dinner. He said something about me having monster's kid and ended up telling me that Arsenio was the Joker's son. I knew that the second you were back I would have to kill him. I assumed he had assaulted you. Someone needed to die..it was obvious."
Adriana was shaking her head.
"So...Twyla sent you to a time machine?" she asked.
"Out in the middle of the ocean," Bruce said. "Harri went with me. She won't remember any of it though."
"How come you remember?" Adriana asked.
"Before we went through the machine..I wished to bring you back and she wished to forget your death," Bruce said.
Adriana though of the grief Harri would feel if she lost her and was glad that it was forgotten.
"We went out on one of the yachts," Bruce said. "I brought you back. I needed to find him so I used Twyla again. She gave me potions and I went to the abandoned batcave and..I saw everything. Everything I did to him. He lost his mind...his heath...he lived in agonizing pain for months unable to eat. No human interaction. No sunlight. No sense of time. I did that to him. And I...I regret that as well. No one deserves that."
Adriana sighed. It was all too much.
"And that's everything?" Adriana asked.
"Well..." Bruce said thinking. "Harri...sort of flashed me."
"What?" Adriana asked.
"Actually is wasn't flashing as much as...changing right in front of me," Bruce said. "We had to swim. We were drunk and high and...it happened."
"So you saw her naked?" Adriana almost laughed.
"Just..the upped half," Bruce said.
"Gosh," Adriana laughed.
"She told me when you two were young she acquired some marijuana for you," Bruce said. "Believing it would help you. But it made you very unwell, did not blend well with your gift."
"I...I remember that," Adriana said.
"She said your mother beat her," he said.
"No...she didn't really beat her," Adriana said. "She just popped her on the arm a few time and hit her on the butt with her shoe."
Adriana and Bruce then went quiet.
"I believe you," Adriana said. She knew that if Harri had told Bruce this story she would have told Adriana as well. She told Adriana everything.
"I'm surprised," Bruce said. "I'm not even sure I'd believe me."
Adriana could tell that Bruce was sincere.
"So...did i have a funeral and stuff?" Adriana asked.
He nodded. "Yes."
"And...I guess an autopsy as well?" she asked.
"Yes," Bruce said, remembering something else. "For a while the police thought I killed you. Gotham never stopped believing that even after the autopsy came back."
"Oh Bruce..." Adriana said.
This secret was monumental. She felt like she understood everything. His behavior, his recent obsession with finding the Joker, his anger about Arsenio being around him. She could see the immense relief in Bruce after telling her. he was now hiding nothing from her.
"I guess...I should tell you mine now?" Adriana said.
"Can't top resurrection," Bruce laughed. "But please...tell me."
"It's...actually about the Joker," Adriana said.
As she thought of what to say, she became a bit afraid. Maybe all of it wasn't her secret to tell? She didn't know. She would tell him where she as involved. Her secrets.
"He's here," Adriana said.
Bruce squinted, exhaustion overtaking him.
"Who is where?" he asked.
"The Joker," she said. "He's...here...in Gotham. I took the painting to him in person. He's here and I've gone to visit him a few times."
Bruce looked like he was waiting for me.
"So..." Bruce said. "He's here..."
"Yes," Adriana said.
"And you've been seeing him," Bruce said.
"No..not like that.." Adriana said. "Just visiting."
She wondered if she had made a mistake. She expected Bruce to become angry, suspicious, jealous, or worse...vengeful.
"Okay," he said calmly.
He began to look contemplative for a second before speaking again,
"Lucius is clever," Bruce said. "I had assumed the Joker was thousands of miles away, but he's hidden in the last place I would look. Gotham."
"Yeah..." Adriana said.
Bruce was quiet and Adriana became nervous again.
"Say something," she said.
"I don't think I have anything to say," he told her.
"Really?" she asked.
"Adriana," Bruce said. "It doesn't matter where he is. He could be under this bed. I do not care. All I care about it you and keeping our marriage together."
"So...you're not going to look for him?" she asked.
"No," he said. "I'm focused on you, Arsenio, our life. Nothing is going to distract me from that. I won't allow that to ever happen again."
"So..." Adriana said, knowing she needed to test him. "I told you've I've visited him...what do you think about that?"
Adriana knew that Bruce could have her movements tracked and followed. He had the capability. He could follow her to the Joker. If he said that he trusted her and her judgement and that she should continue to visit the Joker as she saw fit, she would become very suspicious. It was a final test. The last secret between them.
"I don't want you to do that anymore," Bruce said. "I love you and I trust you but...I don't want you around him. Please..."
Adriana didn't know whether to be upset or happy. Bruce didn't want the Joker visited, but he also meant what he said about having no interest in finding him.
"I'll..." Adriana said. "I'll give it some thought.."
"That's all I ask," Bruce said and kissed her. "Please consider my request...stay away from him."
Bruce retired against the pillows and looked up at her.
"I love you," Bruce said before closing his eyes. "And I mean that."
.
.
.
The next morning Adriana visited the Joker simply to tell him that she couldn't visit for a while. It was a huge gamble but she decided to trust Bruce and his words.
Three more days went by...a week...and then two. She had returned to vigilantism and it took up a lot of her time but it made her so happy.
Adriana and Bruce's relationship had settled into a beautiful place. They were happy, honest, and closer than ever. But still there was no intimacy.
As the days and weeks went by and Adriana could see the truth, Bruce had absolutely no interest in the Joker, he feelings for Bruce grew beyond anything she thought possible.
He was patient with her. He never pressured, bothered, or even asked her for sex as the weeks passed without it. He seemed blissed out and grateful just to call her his wife and to have her in his presence. He never complained, never displayed any anticipation or discontentment.
She woke up one morning to find him getting ready for work. As she stretched on the bed, she gazed at his back as he checked the calendar in his phone. He didn't know that she was watching him.
"Hey," she said.
"Good morning, beautiful," he said and walked back over to the bed to kiss her.
"That schedule looks full," she said as she got a glimpse of the his itinerary for the day.
"Tomorrow will be easy," he said. "Might even make it home early. But today will be a long one."
"Oh," Adriana said as Bruce sat his phone on the bedside table and started to tie the tie hanging around his neck.
She gazed at his fingers as he adjusted his tie. Her thoughts were fascinating her. He appeared so cute, so precious, so innocent in this moment, but her thoughts were shameless and unblushing. It was like she was seeing him for the first time. She had butterflies and wanted him so badly right now but he had no idea of the desire growing within her.
"Well," Bruce said once his tie was fixed. "I must head out into the trenches."
"Aww..." she said and got up onto her knees on the mattress and kissed him. "Can't you stay home for today?"
"I don't think I can," he said. "The meeting I have after lunch is...pretty important and my business partner will need me there. I would blow it off if I could. I mean..I could but there could possible be a great loss to the company of I don't show up to try to impress this Chinese corporation to get them to work with us."
"I understand," she said, even though she needed him desperately. It had been so long. "I'll see you when you get home."
.
.
.
"I'm so sorry, Mrs. Wayne," Bruce's secretary said to Adriana when she arrived at his office that afternoon. "Mr. Wayne is in a very important meeting and they just got started...it could be a while."
Adriana noticed the champagne glasses being cleared away in the waiting room. The meeting was with people important enough for Wayne Enterprises to pull out all the stops.
"I'll just...go wait in his office," Adriana said.
"No problem," the secretary said. "Do you need anything? We have plenty of champagne and-"
"Sure," Adriana said walking over to a rolling cart and taking an entire bottle of champagne and the bottle opener. "Thanks."
Adriana went into Bruce's office and found chilled glasses in the refrigerator there. She had two and a half glasses of champagne before she realized she couldn't wait any longer. She couldn't stop thinking about him.
The meeting had started at 1, and it was only 1:12. She didn't care.
.
.
.
"We've experienced an average return of over 1200% on-" Bruce said in the meeting but stopped when he felt his phone vibrate.
No calls came or messages came through while he was in a meeting. The only exception was for his wife. He glance down and saw that he had one message. If was an emergency she would call him, he would check shortly.
The translator for the client was waiting for Bruce to continue.
"Pardon me," Bruce said. "1200% on products like the one you are offering so-"
Another text. This time he could see the text summary, which was one word. "Ahora."
It seemed urgent enough for Bruce to open the previous message. Bruce's business partner who also owned part of Wayne Enterprises could see Bruce was distracted and continued Bruce's statement to the client.
Bruce opened the text after apologizing. The first text message was a picture. The image that showed up on his screen was so unexpected that Bruce almost dropped his phone.
"Is everything alright Mr. Wayne?" Bruce heard someone ask him as his phone almost slipped between his fingers.
"Yes," Bruce said. "Excuse me."
Bruce's business partner looked at him confused as Bruce stood and left the board room. Everyone watched him leave, unsure of how he could walk out of such an important meeting that had been planned for for months. And had taken almost a year of negotiations to even get.
Bruce left the room and walked through the halls to his office, the meeting completely forgotten. He opened his office door carefully.
He saw Adriana at his desk wearing the long raincoat that he kept in the closet there in case he needed it. She had her feet up on his desk, legs crossed at the ankles.
"That..." Bruce said to her, the nude image still in his mind. He knew she was in his office because he recognized the background and the couch. "Was a lovely photo you sent me."
"Hope I didn't...ruin your meeting," she said innocently.
"What meeting?" he asked, not caring.
Adriana smiled at him and he smiled back. Slowly, she took her feet off of the desk and stood up. She opened the jacket and let it fall of her shoulders and down the floor, she was wearing nothing underneath. She looked down at Bruce's pants and could see that he stiffened almost immediately.
"You look amazing," he said and she smiled as he continued looking at her body. "Ah...champagne.."
Bruce lifted the bottle and took two swallows before sitting it back down on the desk. He watched Adriana stare at the bottle after he sat it down. She placed her hands on the end of his desk and slowly climbed onto it on all fours. He watched her crawl over to the bottle, her movements slow and snake-like. She looked at the top of the bottle and once she crawled to it turned it a few degrees. Bruce watched her lean down and slowly lick the spot on the bottle rim where his lips had touched it.
She closed her eyes, savoring the taste. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and looked at Bruce sideways as she lowered her head down, taking the bottle neck into her mouth. She then faced down and took it in. He watched her pulling it in and out between her lips before licking the rim again.
"Aren't these.." she said and dragged her tongue along the side of the bottle's neck. "Walls soundproof?"
"Yes..." Bruce said, hypnotized by what she was doing with her tongue.
She smiled and moved the bottle aside, sitting on her knees on the desk and wrapped her arms around Bruce's shoulders.
"But you know..." Bruce said against her lips. "I've never give them a true...through sound capacity test.."
"It's about time," Adriana said deviously.
"Oh yes," Bruce said before pulling her into a kiss.
Adriana laughed as he held her and picked her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he took her over the couch. Bruce tore off his clothes in record time and Adriana reached for him while sitting but he grabbed her by both wrists and pushed he back. The then grabbed her hips yanking her forward so that her back was flat against the seat of the couch and her hips were over the edge. He then pushed her legs back so that her knees where on both sides of he head, essentially folding her in half.
His aggression excited her beyond belief. She bit her lip and looked down as he leaned over her and entered her. Only the tip entered and he didn't even begin to thrust but it had already begun to happen. She felt the opening to her body light up like a ring of fire at the circus as the orgasm moved through her.
Halfway through the waves of pleasure she began to laugh at herself, almost embarrassed at how quickly it had happened. She felt her body twitching and Bruce looked down at her. Watching her pleasure was enough to take him very rapidly to the brink of release so he pulled himself out of her.
She looked down and took him with her hand. His body flinched as soon as she held him and stroked him rapidly. Seconds later he released on her. They both laughed at how sensitive they were. Bruce watched her as she looked down at the white fluid on her abdomen. She used her index finger to wipe it off, cleaning her finger off by sticking in into her mouth several times.
Bruce didn't see the semen on the side of her cheek but she felt it land here. She used to her finger to clean it off, sucking it off afterwards.
.
.
.
"Is it really six o-clock?" Adriana asked.
She was laying on the couch in front of Bruce. His body felt warm on her back. She was holding onto his wrist and looking at his watch.
"Yes," he replied.
Adriana let her arm drop down as she released his wrist.
"My arms feel like noodles," she said and stretched on of her feet. "My legs too."
Bruce laughed into her ear.
"Well...you just used them a lot," he said.
"True.." she said. "Who knew riding could be such a workout?"
He laughed again and she turned to kiss him.
"Your tongue must feel like a noodle too," she joked. "You certainly used the hell out of it."
"It's feeling just fine," he assured her and they laughed again.
"I'm surprised no one knocked on the door," Bruce said. "Quite a relief."
"The cleaning staff is going to wonder what the hell happened up in here," Adriana said.
"Someone's going to have to reupholster this couch," Bruce said. "Definitely not waterproof material."
"Mmm," Adriana said.
"I am..." Bruce said. "Very happy right now."
"Mmmmm..." Adriana hummed.
Bruce kissed the back of her neck.
"I'm happy too...I was just thinking.." she said. "About last night..when we told each other everything."
"I'm glad we did that," Bruce said.
"Me too.." Adriana said.
She felt warm and open. Her heart and mind and body felt like putty. Her lips moved before her mind could control it.
"He's...not eating food through a straw," Adriana said and turned her head to Bruce. "We gave him dental implants."
"What a...lovely subject to discuss in the afterglow," Bruce joked.
Adriana looked at him, her expression not changing. She touched his cheek.
"Okay.." he said. "Go on."
"We took good care of him..Dr. Kapoor and I," Adriana said. "Dr. Kapoor offered him laser treatment for his scars..he did one treatment and stopped. He wanted to keep them but due to anxiety and...his mental state at the time he kept bothering his skin and.."
Bruce waited quietly.
"His scars are gone," Adriana said. "He..looks normal now. In fact...if he were to walk down the street right now, no one would recognize him."
Bruce swallowed.
"Good thing Lucius has him detained," Bruce said. "Who knows what he'd do with such an opportunity. I don't even see why Kapoor would give him that treatment."
Adriana wasn't sure what to say in response.
"I would recognize him," Bruce said.
"No...you wouldn't," Adriana said. "He's not detained or monitored. He's..free to go out whenever he wants. But as far as I can tell, he barely leaves the house."
"House?" Bruce asked.
"Yes...Lucius got him an apartment," Adriana suddenly felt like she had rocks in her stomach. She was sharing too much. But she could not lie here with her husband who she loved so much and not tell him the whole truth.
"This is not safe, Adriana," Bruce said and started to sit up. "This is a threat to public safety-"
"No," Adriana said. "Trust me. He's not hurting anyone. He doesn't want to. All he cares about it...I don't know...Arsenio. That's all he's passionate about. Please..trust me."
"It's him I do not trust," Bruce said. "He's a threat-"
"He's a hero," Adriana said.
"Hero?" Bruce asked.
"He...helped me," Adriana said.
"With what?" Bruce asked.
Adriana looked down.
"He rescued me," Adriana said.
"Rescued you?" Bruce asked. "When? Back when you were working for him? He probably put you in harm's way in the first place-"
"No," Adriana said. "Not then."
"Then tell me," Bruce said. "Why should I see him as a hero?"
"You've already called him a hero," Adriana told him.
Bruce was confused and she could see it.
"He saved me a few weeks ago," Adriana said. "When I was abducted."
Bruce frowned.
"Jack Hayden found you," Bruce said, in a voice that sounded like he was reminding her of something obvious. "Sweetheart."
Adriana nodded.
"So where does the Joker come in to the story? What haven't you told me?" Bruce asked.
"It's him.." Adriana said, wondering if she was making a huge mistake. "Jack Hayden...is the Joker."