Offering his elbow again, Velma had taken him up on it. Still with her hood pull around to hide her face. He wanted her to take her time to relax from what had happened in the subway car. He hadn't tried to flirt with her on purpose, but couldn't help him with how splendid she looked. As a small part of him enjoying being the one to be caught for once. Her being the more gallant one and saving him, which he wouldn't mind happening more often. Her strong arms keeping him from falling, pressing her into him was a shock he wasn't against happening again. Now he sort of understood why woman threw themselves at him. It was not bad to be caught but such a reassuring grip that made sure he wouldn't fall.

And well, she started it first! Taking him by surprise as her hand had coped a feel on him while it was there. A bit hard to miss her strong grip on his chest. Catching him off guard for sure, but he wasn't against her doing that if she really wanted too. A bit of a sudden expression of appreciation, but for her he would let her.

'Only her...'

He thought to himself. He had other ladies get a bit overly possessively clingy, but he knew that Velma wasn't like that. And others had been far more physically affectionate to him in the past. But he always drew the line if they got too handsy. But with Velma's appraisal, his mind only thought to show off. Reminding him of all those birds who would display their plumage to their potential mates. Hoping they would pick them. So, here he was hoping that his 'plumage' was suitable for her. And that she liked what she saw and well, felt. As well as he knew that she wasn't normally that forward, and this was more of an accident. But he did like the feeling of hugging her back. She had a sturdiness behind the light softness. Like she wouldn't break under his grip, and might be able to handle a bit more then other girlfriends he had in the past. Well, 'girlfriend' in title only, as he didn't care about them as much as he does for the woman at his side right now.

But they had arrived to their destination and had to get back to plan.

Leading her through the turnstile, they had made it to the street level and looked out on the sprawling market that was part of Downtown Gotham. It looked similar to the other larger markets that he knew of in places like New York, LA and Chicago. Millions of vendors on the side of the road, as well as lots of shops that were packed shoulder to shoulder in the busy streets. All trying to attract local and tourist alike to take a look at their wares.

"So, I figure it might be easier to smooth things over with Daphne... If you grease the wheels a bit. And well for the guys too, but I worry about you best friend the most." Bruce said looking down at Velma who looked back up a him with a light nod. "And well, most people like presents!"

"Well, I know that the gang do like gifts. I just haven't gotten them much from my trips here, since it's been mainly for business. Never really did the tourist thing here, till now. But I don't think it's a bad thing to have something to bring home for them. Though Daph might be suspicious if I gave her a gift out of no where. You're right. She is the most troublesome of them all with your well... you-ness." Velma just gestured at what he was looking like, and he had to laugh.

"Understandable. My fault anyway. I'm not who she would want your to bring home... yet. So, presents might soften her up with the rest of your news. As long as you are upfront about it. I would have bought them something, but I fear I don't know the gang very well on this end. And don't want to use my night job to think of present options." Bruce said with a bit of a chuckle. As Batman he has lots of ideas of what the gang might like, but he can't exactly go about presenting them with those until they know. They are also detectives, less clues for them the better. Right now this was bribery for revealing that she was dating the Wayne side of things. Before they had to cross that reveal.

Part of his heart wasn't ready for the gang to find out everything... Baby steps.

"So, I need to go with your expertise for this."

"Well, we have a while to walk around, right?" Lowering her head to look out, she chewed on the bottom of her lip lightly as she gave it some thought.

"Right. I really only have one thing in mind after this, but nothing big. Just a park I thought might be nice to wrap things up with. And a way to sit down after all the walking we did today."

"Ah, that sounds nice. I haven't been to any parks here yet." She commented eagerly, sounding like that idea wasn't a problem. He was eager to show off his favorite park. he was glad that she was ok with his suggestion for the park. Surprising that she had liked most of the day so far, into their second date. Something he would love to do more often! And willing to plan again, or with her next time. But they had the market first. Watching her mill things over in her head as she pondered about the gang and what they might like.

"Ok, thinking about it... We are set if we just make sure pick up something nice and travelable food wise for Shaggy and Scooby. They tend to like anything tasty. Any recommendations would be great, if you know anything local. Just got to make sure the box will fit in my bag. And presents otherwise I might just see if something catches my eye from one of the vendors. Fred, hm... I might have to think about that. Daphne is both, easy and hard."

"Hm, how so?"

He watched her sigh, and pull out her phone. With his taller vantage point, he watched her flip through pages of widgets on her phone and centered on a folder that seemed to have a Mystery Machine Icon. Opening it up, he wasn't able to read all the apps or link names, but he did notice the one she clicked on. As it looked like a mini Daphne head for the app icon. Though all it did was open a window up to take pictures. Showing off the shaky sidewalk as her phone was pointed in that direction. With a few buttons at the top of the app, and the bottom had the classic button to snap off a photo. So far, seemed mostly like a normal photography program. Though he was curious what it was for regarding to Daphne, and how it would help them find a gift for her.

"I might not look like much, but this is a program for Daphne." She turned the screen to show him more clearly, obviously noticing him glancing over her at the phone screen. But letting him look on purpose and showing him how the screen was set up.

"This somehow helps you find Daphne things?" Bruce wasn't sure what that meant, but was curious on how it would help them shop for the woman. How a photo program would assist them find a present for the Red Head?

"Yeah. So, all I need to do is use this photo capture to match with the database for Daphne's favorite colors. When she gets to know you better, you might be force to attend the color wheel lecture. But then again, you seem to be more clothing savvy compared to me and the guys. For all I know, you'll be fine and it will never come up. But I haven't been so lucky. In order to avoid another one, I made a program off of her powerpoint presentation-"

"Daphne has a powerpoint about preferred colors?"

Bruce was a little scared to think of Daphne in the context of a business format. He had some dealings with her father, who was a screwed businessman. So, if Daphne was as skilled as her father... He was thankful he didn't have to worry going up against that. Velma was hard enough to deal with, but well, his interactions have gotten much better now that he got to stop lying to her. Less ulcers and more spending time enjoying her company and showing it, then having to hide all the time.

"Yes, she has a powerpoint file. Uses it when ever one of us mislabels lavender for lilac or violet too much... or things like that. Finicky about getting her colors right. She has a projector and everything. Sometimes even a quiz! The rest of us have been through it more times then we would like. So, I coded it into a color checker. It worked really well, at first..."

Bruce was amused. For all Velma's grumbling, it really showed just how close the gang was. And how close she was to Daphne. That she possibly put up with that lecture more then once, just because it was something Daphne put effort into. No doubt the guys probably did the same thing.

"I feel there is a but, coming? Did she catch you using the program?" Watching her sigh and continue to tell her story.

"Yes, but she was actually surprised at the coding and amount of work I had put into it to properly identify how much she would love the color on the clothing in the image. Kidnapping me, she got with me to add in also swatches of approved patterns and to add in a way to judge what the material consists of. Textures and blends for textile identification. It's not perfect, but Daphne took it on a few sprees for beta testing. And it passed her tests well enough. So, Daphne Blake approved software."

'Wow, that isn't simple coding, and sounds like a lot of work for her to have done this just on a whim. Though, well I have yet to attend a Daphne lecture. I wonder how bad that really is?' Bruce thought, surprised at the scale the small program contained. And all just to make sure she could find something that her best friend liked.

Walking over to a nearby store with a row of shirts on a display rack outside. She showed off an example to Bruce. Bringing up her phone, she took a picture of a small corner of the shirt on the sleeve. The color taking up the whole image. She then pressed a few prompt buttons that addressed what type of lighting was available to account for that. Before providing a range of information as well as a emoji of Daphne's face with a disinterested look and a metered bar that the red shirt she clicked on, wasn't high on Daphne's list for likes. Making sure to show him the results of the check. Tilting up the phone, allowing him to see final results on the phone better.

"See, this marks that this shirt seems to be a mix cotton poly blend, with a rough texture, and was under the t-shirt category. With a 96% certainty. And that she isn't a fan of that color. I could also technically add in not only a swatch color, but the whole shirt with a front and back to add in more data for the program to calculate her tastes. She even has asked me to add in sport teams she likes and their color combinations in case this happened to be a t-shirt supporting one of her favorite teams that might not be a generic Daphne color. As well as logo identification."

Bruce was impressed! Not at only how well Velma had set up the Ai for it's predictive purposes, but the coding that would need to make a functional piece of software to use for this very specific set of circumstances. But it had a lot of potential!

"That's pretty amazing. How long did it take you to get it up and running?" Curious on her coding skills and how long it would take her to set up something like this. Not really surprised that this was in her skill set, but also impressed she found time to learn the ability to program the app for her phone. As that technology was always evolving and she would need to make sure the programing was updated to work on the ever changing cellphones operating systems.

"I would say on and off among other projects for maybe a year or three. I forgot how long, honestly. But many many long nights and rubber ducking. I tried to make the code as elegant as I could, but man looking at it too long makes me dizzy. As well as some of the more fiddley functions can be a pain." Velma huffed, but so was the life of a coder. He has worked on his own system enough to know what she was talking about. Figuring that it drove her as crazy as much as she was happy it was finally working.

Why he liked leaving some of that to Barbara. Less coders headache.

"And the little annoyed Daphne face? Did you make that as well?" Bruce wondered, loving the expression on it. Really helped to sell the dislike of the image at a glance. Just in case Velma was scanning multiple material options. It was coded for the results in such a way that even he who was unfamiliar with it, could tell at a glance that it wasn't a good Daphne option. The result page was color coded and everything!

"Nah, I could possibly spend ages trying to alter a normal emoji face to look like her, with my current skills. But no. That is Fred's contribution to it. He said it needed Daphne faces and was inspired. It has a range of several faces that he came up with. The expressions help to judge the clothing's preference. He worked out some ideas with Shaggy to finalize the design though."

"Ok, so once this is all settled, I can bug Fred for cute Velma Emojis... got it."

He watched her groan and put a hand to her head. "Ugh, it is possible that he might have an Emoji pack of the gang, for all I know. I wouldn't put it past them to not have just settled with just her."

"Well, we can find that out later. Right now is shopping for Daphne. Does your little do-hicky there also tell you what types of clothing she likes as a gift? Besides the color preference?"

Curious on just how far she had programed the little app. Groaning again, Velma pushed a few buttons to reach a plethora of images designed like a clothing rack. That with a swipe of her finger, moved across a display of options.

"This as well as a gallery option, to see them in more side by side, scrolling icon view. And a drop down menu for some filter options to narrow down the search."

Giving a whistle, Bruce was really impressed. "I think that rubber ducky, needs a raise."

"So, now you understand how it's both easy, and hard at the same time." Velma said with a sigh. Lightly looking at the shirt rack in front of her. Fiddling with the edge of the one shirt she took a picture of.

'As much as she is complaining, that smile hasn't left her face. Even though she was griping. Heh.' Bruce was sure to notice that, no matter how it seemed that she was complaining, she cared enough to make the program and put in the work for her friend.

"Well, I guess then we should get on it. Can you sort for how many she owns of something as well?" Bruce was blown away at how much she had coded into the simple looking app for her best friend. Curious just what other options was added for the program. Hoping that she would let him take a peak at the source code some time. Wondering how sexy her programing language looked like.

"Yeah, she actually has access to alter her collection and makes sure the closet is updated. She was more then willing to not only go shopping with the app for testing, but also have a blast going through her own closet to see what she had owned and numbers on how many of the different options. It lets anyone using the app to know which articles of clothing she would like more of... Mainly options that might end up getting wrecked on a mystery is high up on the list for being replacements. And the preferred color range for each."

He was semi-used to Daphne's usual mystery wear. As that was what he more likely saw her in, as Batman. Compared to the other times he ran across her at some type of function. Though her preferences did seem to bleed over color scheme wise between her two sides he knew. Unsure if that was really what she actually wore all the time, or just when he could run into her. But well, if she was anything like his Velma, then it might just be all the time wear.

"Ok, so I guess lead on! Let's look about and see what is around. There are many shops available, might as well start to mosey around! And maybe we can find things along the way that might work for the guys... or even yourself!" He wanted to make sure she didn't pass up anything she liked either. Gesturing a hand towards ahead of them. To indicate all of the shops before them.

"Well, I'm not the best when it comes to fashion-"

"But you have your program to do all the heavy lifting right now, And I'm here to help! I can add my two cents as well. Let's focus on having fun and wandering around looking! And don't worry about the money. Just consider me your walking ATM and let's go find some nice bribes!"

Pursing her lips, she struggled against what he said. Making her nose scrunch up cutely. Watching her snort once but using the app to check what Daphne might be looking for. Sorting through her highest askes clothing wise, before they really got going.

Shifting his view to the shops ahead, he tried to use his taller height to see if something jumped out at him right away. Knowing a little about the woman. Or if they would have to walk a ways before a store looked right for Daphne shopping. Not that he minded if it took a while. More time he got to spend with Velma, was time well spent.

But as he was distracted, he felt her hand brush against his knuckles. It was light graze, almost seeming like it was just an accidental bump until a few seconds later. Without looking, he just waited as she took her time to ease her hand into his. Sliding her palm into his larger grip, wrapping her fingers to try to grab his hand as well as she could with her smaller one. Her pinky slid in between his pointer and middle fingers. Looking down, he found her still looking on her phone. So, if she didn't want to bring attention to it, he wouldn't bring it up. But he gave the daintiest of her digits a light squeeze. Being the only way he acknowledged her action to seek out his hand.

She gripped his hand back, before tugging him forward to start their shopping. Her pace was not too fast, letting them wander from one store to another. He was entranced by all the colorful merchandise. He really had only seen these in pictures, or in passing as he was driven by. So, it was interesting to finally walk along the streets and take in the scenery without having to worry about property damage as he was fighting some local thug, or night time when most of these shops were closed. Or well if his Wayne side had been here, it was a bit hard to see the scenery past all the crowds he gathered. Or cameras. So, just walking along this was another new experience that he was able to have, because the woman that was connected to his hand.

"You look like such a tourist." Snarked from his side, but he could only chuckle.

"Well, it far more captivating compared to seeing it on TV in the background of some news report, or in a clipping in the local paper. Or from the back seat of the car, in stuck in midday traffic."

"Well, at least you are not as embarrassing as Fred's dad would be. If he was here."

"Oh yeah, you mentioned that Fred's mom likes scrapbooking. And that both his parents are bad for that. Does that mean that his father takes photos that his wife then puts into collections?" He recalled that she mentioned that during their lunch. But not how the father contributed to her Scrapbooking. He just put two and two together, and hoped that he had reached the right conclusion.

"Yeah. Sadly. Bane of any get together for me. Makes going to any BBQ, Thanksgiving, or the like somewhat of a hassle to try to avoid him when he get's going."

"Aw, but all the Lydia pictures!"

"I would rather not have to dodge my God Father ever time we run into one another."

" Aw, so you guys do that? That's nice... Wait, he has one of those rather large camera's with a flash big enough to blind a crowd, doesn't he?"

"... Sigh. Yes. Why he is terrible to take anywhere new. He has to take all the photos."

Velma deeply sighed, but Bruce was kinda jealous that she had to deal with that. Appreciating that she had extended family in the gang's parents that cared about her enough to drive her nuts. But a thought crossed his mind. He wasn't sure how the gang would take them dating, and hadn't even thought about how her parents might react. A slightly worrying thought to cross his mind. He might need to come up with more bribes later, as time would tell how things would work out.

'Great, more things to keep me up at night. I'll take fighting a goon, mook, thug or gang member over having to worry about approving parents. Let alone four sets of them... Though, gang as in street gang not 'the gang' gang. Well, at least I think I have a good relationship with the Blakes. So, one down... unless courting Velma might be a issue for contention.'

"What do you think of this?"

Breaking him out of his thoughts, he looked down at Velma holding up a scarf option. As well as her program that showed it to be a high rating with a happy Daphne face and nice cool green shades to denote positive reaction for the selection. And well, he had seen the woman steal her own scarf for various uses in a mystery. And something she might go through more often. So, it was also functional as well as fashionable for a bribe choice. She was more likely to see her use her own clothing, than Fred to give up his beloved neckwear. Giving Bruce a second to wonder just where Fred might buy all of his collection. Mentally noting that as a possible future present idea. In case Fred might appreciate a monogrammed ascot for his collection.

"Does the weave also pass inspection?" Bruce wondered, reaching over to tug on a corner.

"Yeah, unless I programed this wrong. It seems to match the material preference with a high rating. As well in a nice uh..." Dropping her glasses down her nose, Bruce watched Velma squint over them at her own font size. Looking quizzically at what the program spit out for her. Needing to look closer to double check she read it right, no doubt.

"Huh, this calls it a Cocktail Green. HEX #8EB826 and an RGB numbers of 142, 184, 38. Hm. Well, ok. Cocktail Green it is." She said with a shrug, glancing up at him. Catching his breath as the over the glasses looked on her was amazing. But he had to hold in an 'aw' as she nudged a knuckle at the edge of her glasses and set them back in place.

'Curses..'

"Well, if your program says that it works, how many do you want to buy her? I mean, would thirty work... No, might be too few. So, maybe an even fifty?" Bruce joked as he reached for his wallet from his back pocket.

"Har har mister Smarty Pants. But no, three will be enough for now. And that is easier to pack in my bag you got me." Pursing her lips and giving him a roll of her eyes. He was found out quickly at his ruse. Though well, he could easily call Alfred over, but yeah. Three was easier to store and walk around with, then fifty.

"Later bribe, then." Bruce added with a dashing smile at her. Though being preoccupied with joking with her, she had snuck in and managed to pay for it. Leaving him in the middle of grabbing for his wallet. Tossing a raspberry his way.

"Too slow."

"Next time th-" Just as Bruce was leaning in to taunt to pay for the next one, something cut him off from finishing his sentence. A shrill voice cut out in the crowd! Drawing the pair's attention.

"Stop! HELP! He stole my bag! Someone stop him!"