The Struggle {ON PERMANENT HIATUS}

Chapter Four, "Kiss Me."

Monday morning, I walked into the courthouse, looking for an old friend. I craned my neck around to look for the familiar blond, and soon my keen eyes spotted him.

I walked towards Harvey, with a slight limp because of my foot, noticing him talking animatedly to one Rachel Dawes. And then it hit me.

I grinned as I came to a stop at his side.

“How’s my favourite District Attorney?” I asked as a greeting, giving them both a warm smile.

“You and Harvey know each other?”

I let Harvey answer that question, as I wasn’t sure if it was my place, looking at him with an expectant face, to which he responds with a pleading look, as if he wanted me to say it. He’s usually so confident…she really must be under his skin.

“We both went to Stanford, and dated a little while, until we realised that we were better off as friends. I was too much crazy for him to handle,” I laughed, which made Rachel relax a little more, after her body had tensed after the ‘dating’ bit was mentioned. “Plus, we argued the whole time, we were a mess, I swear, we were ready to tear each other‘s hair out, but he seems very happy, and I assume its down to you, Rachel.”

“He makes me pretty happy too.” Rachel says, smiling dreamily up at him, and he beamed down at her.

“So…who are we locking up today?” I asked.

“We?” Rachel asked.

“I’ve become a freelance lawyer. Harvey’s hired me for my help with the cleaning up the city streets. I need something to occupy my time while I’m not in meetings at Wayne Enterprises.”

“I can see you being a positive influence on Bruce.” Rachel smiled at me.

“I try,” I smile back at her, grinning inwardly. If only she knew what I got up to at night, maybe she’d take her statement back. “So who is the criminal?”

“I gave you the briefs last night!” Harvey said, looking at me in exasperation. 

“I had a spot of trouble Saturday night, and ended up in the emergency room.” 

And then they seemed to notice the slightly bruising on my face, and the already healed cut on my lip.

“What happened?”

I hesitated for a moment, before answering honestly.

“I was attacked by some thugs wearing clown masks, cut my foot on some glass trying to run away, got it lodged in there, got slapped about a bit, and then punched a couple of times, but Batman saved me, and took me to Jim Gordon.” 

“One of the reasons I’m thankful this city has Batman.” Harvey said, launching into a quiet story on how Batman is necessary in Gotham, but I was scrutinising Rachel’s face. Her face seemed purposefully impassive, like she was hiding something. I wonder what that would be. Maybe she didn’t agree with Harvey’s rant, maybe she thought Gotham would be better off without its Dark Knight. Yet I wasn’t sure that was the entire issue. Maybe Rachel had an idea as to who the Batman is, or maybe she just hated him for some reason.