"What time is it?" Adriana whispered to Alfred who was brining Arsenio into her and Bruce's bedroom.
"Five fifteen," Alfred whispered back apologetically. "He insisted."
Sorry! Adriana mouthed quietly to Alfred who smiled at her before leaving.
As soon as he was on the bed Arsenio crawled over Adriana's stomach and over to Bruce who was still asleep. Adriana laid back onto the pillows as Alfred shut the door behind him and closed her eyes.
The alarm woke Bruce one hour later. He opened his eyes and so did Adriana. She sat up and reached over him to turn the alarm off. He couldn't move because Arsenio was asleep on his chest. Adriana kissed Bruce before laying back down. Bruce rested both his hands on Arsenio's back and smiled at Adriana.
"Good morning," he said quietly.
"G'morning," Adriana whispered back.
Arsenio began to rub his face before opening his eyes, waking up upon hearing Bruce's voice.
"Good morning, mister," Bruce said to the baby.
"Da-" Arsenio started to say but then yawned.
Bruce laughed softly and kissed Arsenio's forehead. Adriana felt herself drifting off to sleep again.
"Mommy," Arsenio said. "Hungee!"
"Okay," Adriana said and pulled him over to her.
Once she had him Bruce sat up and picked up his phone from the nightstand. He looked through a few emails tiredly.
"Nothing there," Adriana said to Arsenio after he tried to nurse and moved him from her left to right breast. She knew that soon her milk would be gone and he would have to be entirely on solid foods. He wasn't nursing enough for her to continue producing reliable amounts. She breathed a sigh of relief as he nursed on the right side.
"Great.." Bruce said, sounding a bit angry as he looked at his phone.
"What is it?" Adriana asked and Bruce turned to her.
"Looks like I'm going to have to go to Russia in a couple days," Bruce said.
"A business trip," Adriana said sadly.
"Unfortunately," Bruce told her.
Adriana sighed and held Arsenio.
"I am looking forward to retirement very much," Bruce told her.
"I know you are," Adriana said.
"Rusee," Arsenio said.
"Yes," Bruce told Arsenio. "Russia."
"Samepetowber!" Arsenio said, pronouncing the capital as best he could.
"Saint Petersburg," Bruce laughed. "My prodigal son. This time I will be going to Moscow."
"I go too!" Arsenio said, pronouncing each word perfectly.
"Oh..sweetheart," Adriana said. "Russia is really cold this time of year. Your miniature little toes will freeze and then what will I do?"
Arsenio laughed and Adriana ticked his stomach.
"What will your Daddy do when is his baby has popsicle feet?" Adriana laughed back.
"I won't be gone too long, Arsenio," Bruce assured him. "Two days max."
Arsenio pushed himself onto his knees and went over to Bruce again. Adriana covered her chest and watched Bruce hug Arsenio.
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"The rendezvous point is here," Bruce pointed on a map and both Adriana and the Joker looked at it. "We'll wait no longer than 90 seconds. If one of us doesn't show up, we will need to leave to avoid being caught."
"So...leave each other behind?" Adriana asked.
"Well, it won't be necessary if we're all quick and on time," Bruce said. "Which I'm sure we all will be. This is just a precaution."
"Right then," the Joker said. "90 seconds."
"Correct," Bruce said and looked at Adriana.
"90 seconds..." she agreed hesitantly.
"I have a business trip in a couple days," Bruce said. "Out timeline will be the same fortunately. It won't affect this operation. I won't be able to assist with this.."
"Drudgery," the Joker said and looked over at the computers.
"Yes.." Bruce said. "But hopefully we should be nearly done..if not completely."
Adriana, Bruce and the Joker went to work on the computers. The work with editing all footage evidence of the Joker's existence seemed never-ending but the end was in sight. They were nearing completion.
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"This will get you beyond fucked up," the dealer said to Edward Redmond.
"How much?" Edward asked and looked at the pearly white powder in the bag. The color was white but it shone in various colors like crushed opal. Flecks of pin, blue and green could be seen as the bad dangled from the dealer's fingertips.
"Four hundred," the answer came from the dealer.
"What?" Edward said. "That fuckin' insane-"
"Trust me," the dealer said. "It is worth it."
Edward looked at the intriguing powered and handed over the money. It looked like enough for one use, maybe two.
"Use it like coke?" Edward asked.
"Cut a hole in the pointed part," the dealer said. "Make the lines."
"This better be worth in," Edward said.
"Trust me it will be."
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"He's asleep," the Joker said to Adriana when she came to pick up Arsenio.
"Really?" Adriana asked and looked at her watch. "How long's he been down?"
"Fifteen minutes," the Joker said as Adriana walked past him and into the living room. "I'll go wake him."
"Actually," Adriana stopped him. "I wanted to talk to you about something."
"Mhm," the Joker responded.
Adriana looked into his eyes for a moment. She had to look away to talk.
"Look," she said glancing at the floor. "The other day...the things you said...making it sound like I ruined your life-"
"Is that what I said?" he asked in such a way that he knew her answer would be no.
"No," she said. "But what you said was equivalent."
"I disagree with that," the Joker said. "But if that's how you perceive it, I will retract everything that I said."
"Oh...well that sure fixes everything," Adriana said sarcastically.
"Adriana," the Joker said firmly. "You told me that I am ruining your marriage."
Adriana swallowed. Her words were clear. That was exactly what she had said.
"Okay," Adriana said. "Well, maybe I shouldn't have said it like that-"
"Is it true?" he asked.
"I..." Adriana said. "Well...in a way-"
"Right," he said. "Let's redo this. You're telling me that I am ruining your marriage. Maybe I should reply with something along the the lines of...I am so sorry for doing that to you."
Adriana was feeling guilty.
"Better?" he asked.
"No," she said and finally looked into his eyes again. "I'm...I'm the one who should be sorry. I came to you to blame you for my own...I don't know..stupid issues. I told you more than you probably ever wanted to know. It's my fault. I guess I didn't want to take responsibility for the fact that I...am having trouble controlling my mind and.., I keep thinking about you when I shouldn't. I was just making excuses...looking for someone to blame and the obvious one would be you. I love Bruce..so much. I need to focus on that, instead of focusing on blaming you for my lack of...focus on my husband."
The Joker's eyes went up to the ceiling and then around in a circle.
"I apologize," he said to her. "I cannot blame you for what is my fault either. I don't have any memories of the bulk of my life. I remember my life as the Joker. A life in which I was entirely alone and entirely fine with it. And then you come a long and change that. If I could go back into time and redo everything.."
Adriana waited and held her breath.
"I would change nothing," he said. "It is true I do feel lonely at times. But at least I feel. Before I felt nothing. Being able to feel is...eh, well...largely painful but I would say the memories alone are worth it. I never valued human life before. That is not something I would like to return to. Pain created that value."
Adriana nodded understanding. They both understood.
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"Edward Redmond," Commissioner Gordon read the name on the file. "Twenty one years old."
"The autopsy should be in tomorrow," Officer Cleary said to Gordon. "I'm telling you Gordon..this kid wasn't human. He lept on top of the car..broke the glass with his fist. When he jumped down, Parks and I though a baton or taser would be enough but-"
Officer Cleary was still shocked by what he had seen.
"He jumped onto his back and snapped his neck," Clearly went on. "I shot him at least six times while he charged at me. He didn't go down until the head shot."
Gordon though of the dead officer's wife. Gotham seemed to be getting worse.
"You should have seen his eyes," Cleary said. "Pupils were enormous..eyes were red...worst bloodshot eyes I've ever seen.."