"Do you need any help?" Bruce asked Adriana.
He found her in the kitchen slicing a mango.
"I've got it," she said to him.
He nodded. She could tell he wanted to talk to her and she wanted to talk to him but there was only thing she wanted to hear from him. That he was going back to rehab. That he was clean and that it was confirmed because he had completed treatment.
"Actually," she said. "Could you take this in there to Arsenio?"
"Daddy!" they heard Arsenio call. He was in another room with Sidi and Aymara.
"Since he can't go more than five whole minutes without you," Adriana said with a smile and handed Bruce the bowl.
It was the first true smile she had given him since he had been home. Bruce took the bowl, using the opportunity to gently hold onto her hand after he had retrieved it. They looked into each others eyes for a moment until they heard Arsenio calling again.
"We need some to take some time," Bruce said to her.
"I know," she replied before he left.
Once he was gone she started to clean.
"I could take care of that if you would like to join your guests," Alfred said as he came into the ktichen.
"Thanks," Adriana said, although she did not mind cleaning.
"And if you have a moment later, there is something I would like to speak to you about," Alfred said to her.
"If it's just a moment," Adriana said to him. "I have one now."
Adriana could see in Alfred's expression that he was deliberating with himself about whether the time was appropriate or not.
"Is it bad news?" Adriana asked him.
"No..no," Alfred said. "I am not sure what to make of it yet, in all honesty."
"What is it? I have time now," Adriana insisted.
"Later, dear," he said.
"Okay," Adriana said but then heard someone coming.
Sidi came into the kitchen carrying the tray of empty glasses. There was an empty pitcher in the center.
"You put brown sugar into your lemonade," Sidi said to Adriana. "And lavender. Delicious."
"Thanks," Adriana said and collected the tray from her but then Alfred quickly collected the tray from Adriana.
"I will bring you the salve for that...unsightly gash tomorrow," Sidi said, looking at the stitches on Adriana's cheek.
"Thanks," Adriana said.
"So, where is your sister?" Sidi asked.
"Oh...she's out to lunch with my friend Lucius," Adriana said.
"Right, then," Sidi said. "Aymara and I should be going."
"But you just got here," Adriana said.
"And we should leave," Sidi said with a smile and kissed Adriana on the unwounded cheek.
She was being very nice. Adriana wondered if she knew that today was the day that Harri would finally listen to someone and believe that Jack was in fact the Joker.
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"He asked the meaning of a word," Alfred said to Adriana once the guests were gone. She had immediately gone to find him to see what he wanted to discuss with her.
"What word?" Adriana asked.
"I believe he was attempting to say, 'terrorist', " Alfred told her.
"What?" Adriana asked, confused. "Why would he ask that? Are you sure?"
"I'm fairly sure," Alfred said.
"Okay..." Adriana said, still lost. "I'll ask him about it. Maybe the news was playing or something and he heard it."
"Yes, that is possible," Alfred said. "He is a very intelligent child."
"I know," Adriana said.
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"I should not be here when she gets back," Jack said to Adriana.
"You think it will be that bad?" Adriana asked about Harri. "I mean..if she is really scared or something I doubt she would come back..or she would call or-"
"And if she calls you can tell her I've left," Jack said. "Bruce is back now. He's amped up the security. The Catwoman and her people will not be able to get close to your son. You don't need me to stay here at Wayne Manor."
"Okay," Adriana said. "But I know you want to stay. You've been loving how much time you've been spending with him."
"As I said, Bruce is back," Jack said to her.
And they both knew what it meant. Since Bruce had returned, Arsenio wanted to spend every moment with him.
"Well...okay," Adriana said. "If you insist on leaving, I can't make you stay. But will you at least consider it? At least until we talk to Harri and see how she feels about it? If she's uncomfortable or something I'll let her know you're willing to leave immediately."
Jack cleared his throat. "Right then. Okay."
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"So he told me the same story you and Bruce and Jack did," Harri said to Adriana when she got home.
"Harri...I hope you can understand now that we are telling you the truth," Adriana said. "About who he was."
Harri sat on her bed and pulled off her shoes.
"Whatever," Harri said.
"That's your response?" Adriana asked. "Whatever?"
"I just...I just can't see it," Harri said. "Jack? The Joker? I mean...it's insane."
"But you believe us, don't you?" Adriana asked.
Harri paused and looked at Adriana.
"I mean...yes," Harri said. "I guess I have no choice but to believe you all. I mean why would you lie about something like this? All of you? I guess it's true."
Adriana walked over and sat next to Harri on the bed.
"Are you going to be okay?" Adriana asked.
"Yeah," Harri said. "I still just can't see it...which makes it easier to accept I guess. I watched news footage and everything online from back the the Joker was...still you know."
Adriana nodded.
"I don't know...they don't look alike or act alike...or even sound alike," Harri said. "But I guess anything can change. I believe you."
"Jack has agreed to leave Wayne Manor if you're uncomfortable," Adriana told Harri.
"What?" Harri asked. "No...he doesn't have to leave. I'm fine. I swear."
"You sure?" Adriana asked.
"Totally," Harri said.
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"Ferdinand," Adriana said to the chef. "I wasn't aware you were going to be here tonight."
"I sent for him," Bruce said to Adriana as he came into the kitchen area.
"Oui," Ferdinand said in French. "Mr. Wayne asked me to prepare dinner."
"Oh...well I was going to cook," Adriana said.
"I know," Bruce said to Adriana. "But I figured you could use the night off."
"Okay," Adriana said. "Thanks, Ferdinand."
Adriana left the kitchen and walked down a hall hearing Bruce behind her.
"If you're going to do laundry, I already have someone on it," Bruce said. "If you're thinking of cleaning the carpets in the den, someone is doing that too."
Adriana turned to him and crossed her arms.
"Well you have everything taken care of," Adriana said.
"And our son has finally decided to take a nap," Bruce said. "So, finally, we have a bit of time to ourselves."
"Right," Adriana said. "Let's go upstairs."
Once they were in their bedroom, they were able to speak freely.
"I miss you terribly, Adriana," Bruce said to her.
"Bruce...I'm right here," she said.
"You are," he said. "But I still miss you. It's been well over a month since we last made love."
Adriana listened to him and realized that he was right. He had been away at rehab and now that he was home, she was distant.
"I know," she said. "I just...I still feel so betrayed. You lied about where you were all those weeks and you've done nothing to make me feel like I can trust you again. I want you to go to rehab. We've fixed things with this whole situation with this league-"
"The 'League'?" Bruce asked. "The ones the Catwoman is working for that we know nothing about? We cannot just trust her words that they will change their mind about coming after our son just because we are falsifying the initiation of a divorce."
"I want a divorce hearing if you don't go to rehab," Adriana said. "It's up to you. I want you to go. Now...before this...whatever it is going on with you gets out of hand."
"I've given you no reason to believe there is something going on with me," Bruce said. "Because there isn't-"
"All you've done is give me reasons not to trust you," Adriana said. "I can't stay married to someone I don't trust."
"You are right," Bruce said. "I have lied. And I have no one to blame but myself. But you are not giving me time-"
"You don't sleep Bruce!" Adriana said. "All you do is try to find out who this league is and do you know what? It doesn't matter who they are because I will protect my son. And Jack will protect him. And you need to get help, now."
"I cannot abandon my family at a time like this," Bruce said. "For an entirely unnecessary treatment. For an entire month. What you are asking is completely unreasonable-"
Adriana started to leave the room but Bruce stopped her.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"Out."
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Another quiet night in Gotham. It wasn't what she needed. She needed action. Distraction. But the city seemed to sleep tonight and it was driving Shade mad. She looked over the city as she stood high up on the largest bridge in Gotham. She could see cars driving, tiny light far down below her.
"Well done," she heard a woman's voice behind her. The Catwoman.
"You're quiet," Shade complemented her on being able to scale the bridge without being heard at all.
"We cats are light on our feet," the Catwoman said.
"What are you congratulating me for?" Shade asked.
"You are quick. It appears you are divorcing and it should only be a matter of days before it's mainstream news," the Catwoman said. "That combined with the birth certificate without your husbands name on it makes your child safe."
"Are you saying they've changed their mind?" Shade asked. "About my son?"
"I changed their minds," the Catwoman said. "They no longer see your son as...worth it."
"Okay...thanks," Shade said. "I guess."
"You guess?" the Catwoman's perfectly and precisely lined red lips smiled to reveal her perfect teeth. "I am risking my life just talking to you right now."
"I mean...thank you," Shade changed her tone. "Seriously. I know this isn't safe for you."
"No, it isn't safe to lie to my superiors," she said to Shade. "Especially when I can see...even if your son isn't Wayne's, he would still be a valuable pawn. Because your husband loves him. Very dearly, I'd say."
The Catwoman turned and looked over the water. As Shade looked at her she wondered if this was how she looked as a vigilante. Dark, mysterious, agile. A shadowy figure without an identifiable face.
"We...need to know who they are," Shade said to the Catwoman. "This...league you're working for."
"And I'm sure you know that I cannot give you that," the Catwoman said.
"We can protect you...I swear...we can," she said to the Catwoman.
"No one can protect me." the Catwoman said.
"But-" Shade started to say but it was too late. The Catwoman left. Again an agile shadow floating away into the night
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"Mommy?" Arsenio asked Adriana as she bathed him. "Where Daddy?"
"Sweetie," Adriana said, telling her son for the second time. "He's in the shower."
"Oh," Arsenio said.
Adriana thought about Bruce leaving for rehab again and imagined how it would impact her son. Arsenio constantly wanted to make sure Bruce was still at home. Bruce had not even had time to even think about returning to work or going anywhere. Arsenio needed him. Adriana wondered if she was truly unreasonable.
Asking Bruce to go to rehab, when his son was so attached to him. She had no proof he was still using painkillers. She began to feel silly. But then she thought of how much he he had lied. For weeks and weeks...
"Sweetie, I want to ask you something," Adriana said.
"Okay," Arsenio said and reached for one of the bubbles floating in the air the came from a small machine on the side of the tub.
"Alfred told me that you asked him about a new word that you heard earlier," Adriana said. "Could you tell me what it was?"
Arsenio looked into Adriana's eyes.
"Um..." he said. Adriana looked at him and his innocence. He was deciding if the word was bad or not. He didn't know. "Um...terracest. No...terra...race? Terror..race. "
"Are you saying terrorist?" Adriana asked. She kept her voice even and neutral.
"Yes, mommy...terra..." Arsenio said and reached for another bubble. "Terrarace. What is terrarace?"
"Sweetie, can I ask where did you hear that word?" Adriana asked. "You're not in trouble. I'd just like to know."
Arsenio looked down.
"I promise sweetie, I just want to know," Adriana said. "Was it TV?"
Arsenio shook his head.
"Ummm...Harri," he said. "Aunt Harri said...terrorace..She said...Jack terrorace."
Adriana felt her skin go cold. She willed herself to stay calm.
"Oh..." Adriana said. "What else did she say?"
"I hear...um..." Arsenio said, trying to remember. "Jack...bilo...bill..."
Adriana could see his frustration while he tried to explain. He understood so much but he was still just a toddler. It was as though his intellect reached further than he could grasp.
"Billo..loje..." Arsenio said. "Father."
Adriana closed her eyes.
"Jack?" Arsenio said, hoping Adriana could piece things together and explain them to him.
Adriana was frozen and didn't know what to say. Arsenio yawned sleepily. He was curious but he wasn't desperate to know. He did not see the urgency or understand the true meaning of what he had heard yet, and for that, Adriana was relieved.
"Mommy, daddy still in shower?" Arsenio asked.
"Yes, baby," Adriana said. "I'll take you to him once I'm done bathing you."
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"Where's Adriana?" Harri asked Jack.
"Pretty sure she's giving her kid a bath," Jack said to Harri, who was pulling a bottle of kombucha out of the refrigerator.
"Her kid..." Harri said. "Yours too."
Jack looked at Harri as he finished his root beer. She had placed a blue bag on the counter before she went to the fridge. Once she was done getting her drink she pushed the bag towards him.
"What's this?" he asked.
"A gift," Harri said.
Jack looked at the bag suspiciously. He could see words printed on the side.
"Party Zone?" he asked.
"Look..I spoke to Lucius today," Harri said. "He told me all about you. But none of you have any proof that what you're saying is true. And..frankly...I just can't see how the Joker could be you. Seriously."
Jack looked at her intently.
"So, what's in the bag?" he asked.
"The closest thing to proof I could get," she asked. "The only way I could ever really...see it? If that makes any sense."
"It does not," he said to her.
"Open it," she said.
He reached into the bag. He felt something hard and wrapped in paper.
"A mirror," he said.
"There's more," she said.
He opened the bag fully and actually looked into it. He found a pack of paint brushes and below it... tubes of colored face paint.
He looked at Harri.
"I mean..just humor me," Harri said.
"So this is what it will take for you to believe us," he said to her.
She nodded with a half smile. She did not believe them at all. Jack could see it. And he could tell she found some humor in what she was asking of him. Maybe he would paint his face and look in the mirror and see that he was nothing like the person he was claiming to be. The person that she knew he was not.
"Yes," Harri said. "I can hold the mirror for you-"
"I never used a mirror," he said.
"Oh," she said and shrugged.
"Or brushes," he said to her.
"So...just fingers then," she said.
He looked away from her and quickly pulled open the tube of white paint. She watched him. She wasn't sure what she was expecting but it wasn't what she was watching. He wrapped his entire hand around the tube, squeezing it with no consideration for how much came out. He smeared it together in between his palms.
"Hands," he said. "It didn't matter how it looked. I just wanted it on. It became a ritual. A very quick and messy ritual."
Harri could hear something change in his voice. She, in an instant believed him. He was the Joker. But she was too stunned to stop him. He shut his eyes and smeared the white paint all over his face.
"It would really bring out my smile. My permanent scarred smile," he said. "They would all stare at it anyway so why not make it more vibrant for them?"
He opened the tube of black paint, putting it onto his fingertips and then rubbing it into his eyelids. It was not neatly applied. It went all the way up to cover his eyebrows and down under his eyes. He scrunched his eyes shut and the black paint seemed to branch out from the creases, merging with the white creating a slightly gray perimeter.
"The paint alone..something so simple...that took seconds to apply would illicit such a powerful reaction," he said as he opened the red. "It's paint. And they would go pale..from looking at paint. But they go to the circus. They go to the theatre. But this...would terrify them. What dictated to them which paint was creative and entertaining and which paint was menacing? Who taught them how to think?"
He used the tips of two fingers to spread the paint across his cheek and when the paint was gone from the tips he rotated his fingers to the side to get the remaining paint onto his face to create the smile.
He looked at Harri , who stood in front of him saying nothing. She staggered back a step and walked away so quickly, she was nearly running.
Jack looked down at his fingers. He remembered so much. So much he wanted to forget. The paint was the equivalent of blood on his hands. He went over to the kitchen sink and began to scrub his face aggressively.