The surveillance room was a hub of activity.

Bane kept a watchful eye over his followers. Only League members were allowed inside.

Even the newly initiated.

Patrick made good use of his talents, albeit, under constant watch.

As much as Bane was wary of Patrick, one couldn't deny the man had talents.

Barsad swallowed another painkiller as he stood behind Patricks computer.

"Be careful, those can be addictive." Patrick warned.

"He knows." Bane answered for Barsad.

Barsad caught his eye for a moment before looking back at the screen.

"How's your rib?" Patrick asked.

"Still bruised." Barsad stretched his neck, cracking it loudly. "But it feels much better."

"Grace will be happy to hear that." Patrick mused.

"Your sister is still in isolation." Bane called across.

"You're really still keeping her locked up because you forgot to lock the door?" Patrick scoffed.

"Watch your tone. If you wish to return to your old room, I will be more than happy to accommodate you."

"Nope, that room smells worse than an actual sewer." Patrick went right back to wiping millions from Wayne Enterprises database. Now that Bruce Wayne was broke, Talia could move on to the next part of the plan to give them access to all the Wayne Tech they needed.

All they were waiting for was Miss Kyle to make good on their deal.

Bring the Bat so he would spare the Cat.

"I need a shower, Jacques will supervise you." Barsad announced before passing over his com to Jacques.

"I don't need a babysitter." Patrick muttered.

Bane watched Barsad make his way from the tech hub.

They haven't spoken properly since he bruised his ribs.

He watched on the security monitors. Barsad made his way to his room, entered and left with his towel and made his way to the showers.

Bane watched him pull back the curtain, appearing to order everyone out.

Once the last of the men exited, Barsad looked up and down the corridor to see if anyone was there.

Then he entered.

Bane found himself frowning at the screen.

He had never had cause to doubt Barsad before.

Then, somewhere in the back of his mind, he remembered Bartov's warning.

"They are very close."

Bane's room was near the showers.

With no words exchanged between him and his IT team, he stormed out of the hub.

He heard the showers running.

All of them.

It was just Barsad in there.

Bane stood outside, just like he did with Grace before.

"...don't worry, we'll be out soon." He heard Barsad call.

"When?" An echoey Grace called back through the pipes.

"I can't tell you. You know that."

"At least we can talk." She replied wistfully.

"Yeah. At least." Barsad sounded almost melancholic. "What book are you reading today?"

"The one about the ranch hand and the countess."

"Sounds awful." Barsad laughed.

"It's terrible, but funny. The way the author writes the sex scenes shows that the man has never had sex. Or at least sex he hasn't pre-paid for." She laughed.

"I thought only women wrote those books?"

"Not always. Some men use women's names to sell more books."

"And women know how to write about sex."

"Women tend to know how to please women." She laughed.

"And what makes you think that the writer doesn't?"

"Several reasons, but listen to this, 'her breath hitched as he roughly palmed her heaving bosom. Her toes curled and her back arched like a cat in heat. Her scream echoed around the pavilion. He knew she had come.' No woman would ever write that, nor ever want to experience that."

Barsad heaved a great laugh as Grace joined in.

"You sound happier."

"You sound surprised."

"Bane has inferred that you are depressed."

"...I am." He could hear the sigh in her voice.

"Just try to keep your head above water."

"Sometimes I don't think I'm able."

"You're stronger than you think."

Bane listened to the silence that followed.

Just water falling and the occasional sigh from Barsad.

"Can you…?"

"Can I what?"

"Can you tell me if he's going to kill me?"

"He won't."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because he hasn't killed you yet."

"It's not for lack of trying." She snorted.

Barsad chuckled lightly.

"Just try to be patient. It will be time to leave soon."

The water splashed against the tiles, echoing around the hall.

"I miss you, Barsad."

Barsad didn't reply. Before he could exit and see Bane, he made his way down to his room.

He didn't bother knocking before opening the door.

"Jesus fucking Christ!" Grace was in the process of getting dressed when Bane barged in. "Why does no one know how to knock in this place?"

She held the shirt to her chest.

Bane met her glare and allowed his eyes to travel the length of her bare legs.

She gave him a look to turn around.

When he didn't, she verbalised her frustration.

"Turn around you-" She seemed to stop herself from saying something uncouth. "Please turn around so I can get dressed."

"You have nothing to hide from me."

Her freckles darkened.

"I don't have anything to show you either."

When he remained facing forward, she sighed in exasperation and turned, giving him her back.

The smooth expanse of her back reminded him of the time he ripped the back of her top open.

His eyes also travelled down to her knickers.

Another memory of the burning lace in the fire when Barsad found out Bartov was selling her clothes. His stomach felt uncomfortable back then.

He felt the same sensation now.

Once her shirt was over her head, she made sure it was righted before grabbing her tracksuit bottoms and pulling them up her legs.

She wasn't wearing a bra again.

"Do you require more… under-things?" He inquired.

"If you're curious why I'm not wearing a bra, it's because the wire has gone in one and the other is now too big because I've lost weight." She sounded bitter.

He never noticed before, but her figure had changed slightly over the last number of weeks.

Her cheekbones were more prominent.

"I used to eat pizza every week. Sometimes more than once." She muttered the last part. "Now it's all porridge, nuts, granola and chicken and rice."

Bane moved towards her.

There were tears shining in her eyes.

"Not that I would ever order a pizza again after what Bartov did to me." She laughed, but there was no joy in it.

Bane did something he hadn't done in a long time, he moved the hair away from her face. He used to do it with Talia when she was upset as a child.

Almost immediately her hand went to bat away his. He stopped it and expected her to throw another swing, but was surprised when she released a loud sob and let the tears flow.

He wasn't used to hysterical women.

Especially in his room.

"I want to go home." She cried.

He still held her wrist in his grip.

Comfort wasn't his forte.

Bane brought Grace closer and held her to his chest as she cried.

xxx

She was too weak to fight him.

Grace felt like giving up.

Why else would she accept his embrace?

"I know this may be of little comfort, but you are stronger than you think."

Barsad said that exact same thing. She didn't believe him either.

"I don't think I am."

"I know it doesn't seem like it, but I see it, your brother sees it and Barsad sees it."

"Can I see him?"

"Barsad?" She could hear the annoyance in his voice.

"My brother."

Bane gave her a suspicious look, she found it hard to meet his eye.

It was obvious he found her friendship with Barsad odd. She found it odd too.

"I will let you visit him."

She let out a sigh of relief. Almost relaxing into his chest.

She felt him push her back.

It took her eyes a few seconds to see through the tears.

She watched him leave through the door.

"Wait!" She called, but he was already gone.

With a sigh she began to plait her hair.

Her wet hair meant that she couldn't take her normal nap.

She found one of Bane's shirts to use as a hair wrap.

The man only owned nondescript black shirts, he wouldn't miss one.

It felt like hours passed before there was another creek in the door.

She really wished Bane would knock.

Well, this was technically his room.

"Grace?"

"Patrick!" She ran into his arms.

"Are you okay? Please tell me you're alright?" He shifted into Irish.

"I'm still alive." She tried to joke.

"Grace," Patrick swallowed. "about what happened with Jack Ryder I-"

"I don't want to talk about it." She felt her hands shake at the memory.

"But Grace, I had no choice."

"That's not true and you know it."

"They were asking me to choose between joining the League or allowing you to keep spreading your legs like a-" Patrick didn't get the chance to finish his sentence before she shoved him back away from her.

"Don't be so disgusting. I'm your sister for god's sake. And please tell me you're not saying that you did that for me? You wanted to kill Jack. I didn't."

"Bane would have killed him anyway."

"So you're trying to justify killing him? You never killed anyone before. You stole secrets from people for the mob. But now you're just another murderer."

"It was kill or be killed."

"I saved your life."

"I know. And what Bane made you do to save me is worse than anything I ever did for the mob."

Grace wanted to tell Patrick that it was all a lie. Bane's eyes told her to keep quiet.

"Look at me." Patrick looked over at her. "I'm okay. He's not the monster you imagine he is."

"Are you seriously trying to say that your rapist isn't a monster?"

Grace drew her lips in a thin line.

"I'm saying that he isn't making me do anything I haven't agreed to do."

"Just because you agreed to fuck him doesn't make it consensual."

"Patrick, can we just drop this? This is making me really uncomfortable."

"No, I won't be dropping this any time soon."

"Then I won't drop my feelings about my own brother being a murderer."

"Grace, you can't hold this over my head. I had no choice. I know you think I did, but I didn't."

"I was in the exact same position when I asked him to save you."

Both siblings stared at each other with tears in their eyes.

"Thank you for saving me, I know I didn't say it, but that was an incredibly brave thing to do." Patrick whispered.

"Thank you for not killing me when he told you to."

"I would never hurt you, let alone kill you."

"Look, let's just agree not to talk about what we both did to save each other. I think it'll save us a lot of arguments in the future."

"I'm still not happy about the situation, but… I guess it's for the best." He pulled her in for a quick hug. She stiffly returned it. "I just hate seeing you like this."

"You have work waiting for you." Bane chimed in. Grace almost forgot he was still here.

"I'll talk to you soon." Grace gave him another hug before he was ushered out of the room.

She expected Bane to follow behind Patrick. He just stood there in the threshold waiting for something.

"Yes?"

"We will talk about what you and your brother discussed another time."

"I know you can understand us, but that was meant to be private."

"Nothing is private to me."

And with that he closed the door.

xxx

Bane followed Patrick to his work station. He noticed the tense line in his shoulders. Bane understood almost all their conversation back in his room. They had agreed to not discuss both their actions to save the other.

"Are you going to just keep stalking me or do you have something to say?" Patrick turned to face him.

Bane ignored him and kept walking.

"Just tell me if you're going to make Grace continue your arrangement?"

Bane continued to ignore him.

Patrick sighed and followed after Bane. "You have to understand that she's my sister and you're-" Bane gave him a warning look "you're my boss. I'd be just as worried if you were Alberto Falcone. There's a reason why I never let Grace near any of my mob coworkers. And trust me, some of them asked to meet her."

"Be that as it may, watch your tone."

"I still don't understand why she's still visiting your room?"

"What happens behind closed doors is between myself and your sister."

"I don't want the details. But when will you let her go?"

"Your sister cannot be released, she knows too much."

"Why can't I just put her on a plane to Ireland? Dad has some friends that know a thing or two about hiding from the law. They could help her."

Bane raised a brow at that.

"Your sister will play a part in the revolution, just like you and everyone else."

"I'm fully prepared to die when that bomb goes off, but I don't want Grace to die."

"No one is to be spared."

"I know I'm on borrowed time, but Grace still has a chance to live."

"This topic will be dropped or I will void your membership and remove your spine."

Patrick swallowed audibly.

"You know, deep down, you're not a bad guy Bane. I know it, Barsad knows it and she knows it."

"Grace has no idea who I really am."

"I wasn't talking about Grace."

As Patrick walked away, it took Bane a moment to realise who he was referring to.