"So..." Adriana said after a while since Bruce was saying nothing. He was just looking at her strangely. "I know it's hard to believe..but it's him. He's been living in the city for a little while now.."
"He was in Wayne Manor," Bruce said. "I invited him to...my home."
"Right..." Adriana said, feeling the need to remind him why. "For saving me when I was kidnapped..Remember?'
"This," Bruce breathed. "This doesn't make any sense. What did Dr. Kapoor do to his face?"
"Nothing just the laser for the scars and he needed dental implants," Adriana said.
"And that's..." Bruce waved his hand. "That's just what he looks like? Without all the..."
"Paint and scars and terrible teeth?' Adriana asked. "Yes."
Bruce sat and leaned forward on his knees. He stared ahead at his desk.
"Arsenio looks like him," he said finally. "How didn't I see that? How did this get by me? He has such a strange personality...I should have seen this.."
"He changed a lot, Bruce," Adriana said. "No one would recognize him now.."
Bruce sighed. "This is not good."
He finally turned to her and looked into her eyes.
"Why is he still here? Why is he in the country?" Bruce asked.
"It's not his fault," Adriana said. "I've sort of been asking Lucius to push back the flight..he's supposed to be sent to the Dominican Republic."
"You want him to stay," Bruce said. "Why doesn't that surprise me?"
"What?" Adriana asked.
"Look at him," Bruce said. "And you even said it yourself during our very unsuccessful session with Dr. Kappor that you were still in love with him."
"It's not like that Bruce and I didn't say I was in love with him," Adriana said. "I said I didn't know but now I know...I'm not , I'm in love with you. Besides...he's not interested in me at all. He's never once done anything...or crossed any lines like that.."
"Then why are you keeping him here?" Bruce asked. "You can tell me the truth."
"You're really calm about all this.." Adriana said. "I'm kind of surprised."
"Maybe I'm just spent," he said. "From the past few hours."
Adriana blinked and looked down.
"It's because he wants to see Arsenio," Adriana said. "And he's struggling with the idea of leaving him...and so am I. He loves him. I think...he has a right to see him."
"Do you not see how foolish this is?" Bruce asked. "The moment he even walks by a federal building or any building for that matter with facial recognition, it's over. Not only will be be over but we will become a spectacle for associating with him. The scars and teeth change won't fool such technology."
"I know," Adriana said sadly. "But..he barely goes out. He's always in the house as far as I know.."
"Unless you live with him 24/7, you don't know that," Bruce said. "This is the craziest thing I've heard."
"As crazy as you telling me I died and you went through a time machine?" she asked.
Bruce started shaking his head. "Again, ask Sidi if you don't believe me."
"Bruce," Adriana said and reached for his hand. "What am I supposed to do? Just...have him sent away? Where he can never see Arsenio again?"
"You don't have a choice," Bruce said and saw how sad she appeared. He hated seeing her sad. He softened his words and wrapped an arm around her. "It isn't safe. If there was anything that could be done..."
Adriana looked at him hopefully. "Is there?"
Bruce was almost regretting his words already. There was a way out of every situation but he had no intentions to help the Joker. The only thing that made consider it for a second was how much he loved Adriana.
"I mean.." Adriana said, seeming to read his mind although her gift was inaccessible to her. "I know you have no reason to ever want to help him...especially not to have him around our son.."
"Did he kill Damien?" Bruce asked.
"What?" Adriana asked. "No..no Damien was alive when we left."
Bruce raised his eyebrows, dubiously.
"I mean it," Adriana said. "He shot him but just in the arm...he was alive."
"Right..." Bruce said. "There were two gunshots from two weapons. Second wasn't found. Police assumed it was from altercations with the man he killed and buried."
"Yup," Adriana said to him.
Adriana and Bruce sat quietly in his office for a few minutes. Bruce looked over at his wife, again seeing her sadness. He cleared his throat. For some reason, this moment felt like it would change everything and he wasn't even sure what he wanted to do.
"I love you," he said.
Adriana gave him a small smile. "I know," she said. "I love you too."
"I want you to be happy," he said. "You know that."
Adriana nodded and wrapped her forearms around his bicep and rested her cheek on his shoulder.
"So.." Bruce said and turned to kiss the top of her head.
"So..." she said.
"I need you to trust me," Bruce said. "And tell me where he is."
He felt Adriana's body tense for a second. He knew she wouldn't tell him. He wouldn't ask again, he told himself, he would not beg for this information. If she didn't tell him now, he was not meant to know.
"412...Cree Pike...Apartment 3C," Adriana said.
Bruce reached down and placed his fingers under her chin, tilting her head up to look at her. He kissed her lips softly.
"What are you going to do?" she asked.
"I'm assuming it wouldn't make you very happy if I killed him," Bruce said.
"No..." she said. "It wouldn't."
"Rest assured, that I only want you to be happy," Bruce said.
.
.
.
"Yes?" Bruce heard the voice over the speaker say.
He was at the Joker's apartment at a little after 10 p.m. Bruce was again floored by how he had not recognized the man. His voice was undeniable.
"It's Bruce Wayne," Bruce introduced himself.
The line went quiet and a few long seconds later, Bruce heard the front door of the apartment unlock. He stepped into the building and walked over the elevator. The entryway was empty as he passed the mailboxes. Bruce didn't know what he intended to do here. He went without a weapon, without a plan. He was facing his worst enemy but was unafraid.
He knocked twice on the door before it opened. The man standing before him was the Joker...and somehow, Bruce still couldn't see it. He had just heard it in the man's voice, but visually, it just didn't match. The height was correct, his build was the same...but everything else..
"Good evening, Jack," Bruce said.
"Bruce Wayne," the man that Bruce knew as Jack said. The visual and voice combined...at last, Bruce could see it. It was unnerving and almost horrifying how much such a person could visually change, but it was also fascinating and a bit mesmerizing. He looked exactly like Arsenio. "What can I do for you?"
"May I come in?" Bruce asked.
Jack opened the door several more inches and stepped aside, allowing Bruce to come in. Bruce went in to the apartment. He wasn't sure what he was expecting but it was very minimal and extremely clean. Bruce turned around as the Joker was closing the door. He saw the check that he had given the Joker as a reward sitting on a small table.
"You haven't cashed the check yet," Bruce said.
"Right..." the Joker said. "Eh...haven't had time."
"No rush," Bruce said.
"That why you're here?" the Joker said. "The check?"
"Not exactly," Bruce said.
The Joker looked at Bruce waiting for the explanation.
"Adriana has...alerted me to some information about you," Bruce said. "Some very compromising information."
"I see," the Joker said. "What exactly has she told you?"
"Your previous...identity," Bruce said. "As well as some information that I have known for a while. That..the person you were previously known as...was someone she was involved with. Which makes you my son's biological father."
Bruce looked at the Joker who was saying nothing, he seemed to be waiting for Bruce to do something. He didn't look defensive or afraid. He was stoic and unmoving. In the still moment, Bruce used his imagination. He lengthened Jack's hair, added green dye, imagined black paint around his eyes, scars jutting from his cheeks, red paint smeared across. The visual almost took Bruce's breath away and he had to turn around. He couldn't look at him.
"I should be out of the way soon," the Joker said to Bruce's back. "I am supposed to leave the country any day now."
The Joker could see Bruce was nodding based on the movement of the back of his head. Bruce had turned his back to him which mean that he knew the Joker was not going to attack or try to hurt him. He heard Bruce clearing his throat before he turned around.
"That is a good idea," Bruce said. "Cash the check and you will want for nothing for the rest of your life. You need to be gone. I'll have Lucius arrange everything as soon as possible. I'm aware of the fact that you know very well who he is."
The Joker nodded once. Bruce wanted to leave, he was suddenly feeling nauseated.
"Well," Bruce said, plainly. "Goodbye."
Before Bruce could reach the door the Joker's voice stopped him.
"Before you head out," the Joker said and ran a hand through his hair almost nervously. "Eh...I should apologize to you."
"For..." Bruce said.
The Joker was hesitant before speaking very carefully.
"Rachel Dawes," the Joker said.
Bruce blinked hard. Hearing the Joker's voice saying her full name was something he wasn't prepared for.
"So.." Bruce said. "Adriana told you that Rachel and I were friends."
"Very close friends," the Joker said. "I am sorry for what I did to her...and Dent."
"Dent?" Bruce asked, his voice a bit firmer.
"Yes," the Joker said to Bruce.
Bruce blinked a few times and tilted his head a millionth of a degree.
"Why would you need to apologize to me for Dent?" Bruce asked. "What does that have to do with me? He was engaged to Rachel but I didn't know him. You didn't even kill him."
Bruce watched the Joker's Adam's apple move as he swallowed.
"You're...eh..you're right..." the Joker said. "Nothing to do with you. Anyways...my sincerest apologies."
Bruce felt his brows furrow slightly as he turned to the door. But before he could touch the handle, he knew he could not leave with this elephant in the room.
"She told you," Bruce asked and turned back to the Joker.
"Told me what?" the Joker asked.
Bruce was almost immediately frustrated.
"Tell me why you have just apologized to me for Dent," Bruce demanded.
Neither one of them wanted to say it. They were each waiting for the other to say it first.
"She didn't tell me," the Joker said. "Adriana would not do that. I...may have broken into Dr. Kapoor's office a few times after hours. Looked through some medical records...nothing explicitly said anything but I just put the pieces together. Adriana didn't deny it. It was...too obvious..to me at least."
"How long have you known?" Bruce asked, his voice coming through clenched teeth.
"Eh...a while," the Joker said to him. "Few months."
"Months?!" Bruce asked.
"Yeah-" the Joker replied but Bruce cut him off.
"And who have you told? Who?!" Bruce demanded again.
"Who am I going to tell?" the Joker replied calmly. "You're not exactly the only one with secrets in this room."
Bruce was fuming but felt he needed to stay calm. Adriana did not tell him that the Joker knew that he was the Batman. He felt blindsided.
"So...yes, I am sorry about what I did to Dent," the Joker said. "Turning him..to the point where you had no other choice but to kill him. I wanted to see you break your one rule and intentionally commit premeditated murder so badly. And now...the city has turned against you...and has cast you out...like I said they would-"
"Stop talking," Bruce said, unsure of what he would do. He felt he was seconds away from hitting the man in front of him.
The Joker was quiet. Bruce didn't know what to do. he had come here with no intentions of killing this man but now...the fact that he knew his identity as the Batman on top of everything else..it was a difficult moment. Bruce looked around the room and was also searching for a reason in his mind, some excuse not to eliminate this man.
As he looked around he saw it. The painting. He could see the corner of it peeking out from the dining room. Without thinking, Bruce felt himself magnetized towards it and began to walk in to the other room. The painting of Arsenio was on the wall beside the large table. Bruce was sure it was his favorite art piece of all time. He stared at it and it seemed to tranquilize him. His anger vanished and his tension subsided.
After he was calm he turned and saw the Joker standing nearby. The Joker glanced up at the painting and Bruce took a deep breath.
"What's stopping you from reporting me to the police?" Bruce asked. "I'd be in prison for Dent's death. I'm the only thing in the way. Between you and my son."
"I would not do that to Adriana," the Joker said. "Also, as I said, I'd be in prison right along with you."
"Adriana," Bruce said. "Believes that you have no interest in her anymore."
The Joker felt the conversation had turned into a different direction that he had not been prepared for.
"Tell me the truth," Bruce said. "Do you?"
Bruce expected him to immediately deny any interest in Adriana, which Bruce would find impossible to believe. He was looking for any reason to mistrust the man in front of him.
"Yes," the Joker said with little to no hesitation.
"That's it?" Bruce asked. "No denying it. Just directly telling me that you're interested in my wife?"
"You asked a question," the Joker said. "I have no reason to lie to you. Should I lie then?"
"No," Bruce said. "But all the more reason for you to go."
"I would not act on it," the Joker said to Bruce. "Not that it matters now."
"I'm supposed to trust your restraint? The Joker now has self control?" Bruce asked.
"I've always had self control," the Joker said.
Bruce held in a laugh.
"Anyway," the Joker said, very clearly knowing that he was almost laughed at. "I'd say my self control is better than most people's. As hard as that may be for you to believe."
The Joker watched Bruce's facial expression return to a more serious state.
"What people?" Bruce asked. "You're talking about Adriana?"
The Joker shrugged briefly.
"Out with it," Bruce said. "You want me to trust you in any capacity, tell me what you are talking about."
"So...just...blunt honesty eh?" the Joker said.
"Yes," Bruce said.
"Fine," the Joker said. "I would say that she is not as...controlled. Bottom line is...things could have happened. She is not strong in that way."
"Care to elaborate?" Bruce asked.
"She's been here...I've been around her for months," the Joker said. "Don't get me wrong, she's done nothing wrong..at least explicitly. But she...well...let's just say, after her abduction she seemed very upset with you. It's changed recently, so clearly you have worked on your problems but before.."
Bruce knew she was hurt after their argument before she was abducted. It was a miracle that their relationship had somehow survived such a horrible moment and such hurtful words.
"On more than one occasion when she has been around me and we have been alone," the Joker went on. "I have had to be very brief and yes, even cold or borderline cruel with her."
Bruce was glad when the Joker stopped talking. He actually appreciated the way that the Joker had explained it without saying it in a more abrasive or blunt way. He could have had her. It was what he could have said in less words. And it sounded like he could have had her very easily. A beautiful woman that he clearly still had feelings for, he had resisted.
He also made it clear that in very recent times, she no longer seemed as weak. She wanted Bruce and her focus and commitment was to him. They had repaired their issues.
"And why didn't you act?" Bruce asked. "Since you clearly still find her desirable?"
The Joker laughed for a moment. Bruce remembered the heinous laugh the man had released after being thrown from a building before Bruce caught him preventing him from falling to his death.
"Desirable," the Joker said. "Of course she is desirable. She is...heh...you wanted honesty. She is the only woman that I will ever want. The only one I will ever find desirable. Because she is the only one that ever found me desirable...me in my worst state. Not only that...of course..it's obvious she is very beautiful, giving, warm and a loving and forgiving person. A rare diamond."
The Joker took a breath and looked Bruce in the eyes.
"But she is a married woman," the Joker said. "I squandered my chance, just like the cop. Hopefully you will realize what you have, cherish and appreciate her. But if you don't...just know as I said...she is the only woman I can see myself interested in."
"You're saying you'd make your move if we weren't together," Bruce deduced.
"Oh most certainly, and very gladly," the Joker said.
Bruce was sure he had never met such an honest person. It was refreshing. It made him want to be the best husband he could be. In fact...it almost made him want to keep the Joker around. Because it was what Adriana wanted. For Arsenio.
"Adriana tells me," Bruce said, his voice much calmer. "You've become attached to Arsenio...which is also obvious by this painting you've done of him."
"Yes," the Joker said. "He's...very important to me."
"Do you love him?" Bruce asked.
"Yes," the Joker said. "And I would never hurt him. I do love him and wish my past was different. I wish I could stay...see him and spend time with him. But I have ruined that as well."
"Okay," Bruce said conclusively.
The Joker took a breath and watched Bruce as he walked by him and over to the door. The conversation had ended very abruptly and neither one of them minded.
Before leaving, Bruce turned to the Joker again.
"I...should apologize to you too," Bruce said.
"You..have nothing to apologize to me for," the Joker said.
"I do, actually," Bruce said.
The Joker waited.
"It was...inhumane and cruel," Bruce said. "What I did not you. Leaving you alone, in the dark, underground...with no human communication for over a year. I know how much you suffered and I do regret what I did."
The Joker looked down and away... and for the first time, Bruce saw a trace of vulnerability in him. It was a touchy subject and was clearly something that he was still traumatized and haunted by. The Joker nodded a couple of times. He hated to remember that horror but the apology was unexpected.
"I appreciate that," the Joker said in response to the apology.
Bruce and the Joker made eye contact for a few seconds before Bruce left.
.
.
.
Adriana was in bed, sitting and holding both her knees with one arm and biting her nails. When Bruce walked in she stopped.
"How...how did it go?" she asked nervously.
"He's still alive if that's what you're asking," Bruce said.
"Ok.." Adriana said, still not sounding completely relieved.
"You failed to mention that he knew about my...vigilantism," Bruce said as he pulled off his shoes.
"He...told you about that?" Adriana asked.
"Yes," Bruce said.
"What...what are you going to do to him?" Adriana said, knowing Bruce would see this as a threat that needed to be neutralized.
"Nothing," Bruce said.
"Nothing?" Adriana asked.
"He's not going to tell anyone," Bruce said. "He said he won't and I believe him. He knows I have even worse dirt on him."
"Oh.." Adriana said.
Bruce looked at his wife. It was unexpected, but his visit with the Joker made him love and appreciate her even more. He never wanted to let her go.
"So...you're cool with him knowing and...being in the city until Lucius sends him away.." Adriana said.
"Well," Bruce said and sat on the bed by her. "Perhaps he can stay."
"Huh?" Adriana said confused.
"I can see that he loves Arsenio," Bruce said. "But more than that, I can see that it would upset you to see him separated from Arsenio."
"So you'll let him see Arsenio?" Adriana asked. Bruce nodded.
Adriana gasped and threw her arms around him.
"Oh, Bruce..I'm so happy," she said. "I can't believe this.."
"I'm doing this for you," Bruce said. "Not him."
Adriana nodded, understanding.
"We'll...have to fix a few issues though," Bruce said. "It will take a lot of work..time..energy."
"Issues," she asked.
"His past," Bruce said. "We will have to erase it."
Adriana sat up straighter.
"What? That's possible?" Adriana asked.
"It's not reasonable because of the amount of effort it will take, but yes it can be done," Bruce said.
"And...you're just going to help him?" Adriana asked.
"For you I will," Bruce said. "We will all have to work on it. You..me...the Joker. Lucius will provide technology."
"How did I get such a wonderful husband?" she asked.
Bruce smiled.
"I know we basically had sex all day earlier but-" Adriana started to say with a smile.
"Say no more," Bruce said with a laugh and pulled her into his arms.