Her Dark Knight

Chapter 8: Why we Fall

"Can you do that?" She asked, and he answered with a shrug, "Why can't I?"

"You're Bruce Wayne." She pointed out. "You have an image to uphold."

"The city is more important." Bruce answered, and Rebecca remembered what she had seen in Arkham.

"Crane was putting something in the city water supply." She murmured, and Bruce nodded.

"It's the fear hallucinogen, I'm sure of it. I just have to figure out how he's going to do whatever he's doing." Bruce admitted.

"I thought you said he was caught?" Rebecca frowned, and Bruce explained, "Crane was just a pawn; there's someone else. Someone worse."

Rebecca's eyes were steely, going into her police detective mode as she said, "And that also means Gordon's going to need me there right now."

Bruce nodded, though he wasn't exactly happy. But he also needed her to take something to Gordon, so as Rebecca moved to get off the table, he informed her, "I need you to take this to Gordon."

He showed her the extra two vials Fox had given him, and she took them along with the injection he offered carefully as he ordered, "One is for Gordon to inoculate himself, and the other is for mass production."

"What about you?" Rebecca asked, glancing up at him, and Bruce admitted, "I already took one – I was poisoned the other day."

"And that's why Alfred didn't let me see you this morning." Rebecca realized, and Bruce nodded.

He moved across the cave to get out of the rest of his suit as the time pressure slowly started to hit him, and Rebecca watched him with worried eyes – though she adverted her gaze when he removed his pants.

"You will be careful, won't you? When you come back out as Batman?" Rebecca asked as Bruce stripped off the Batman suit and started getting dressed in a smart black suit for his 'party'.

"I'll be as careful as a certain police detective in Gotham City will be." Bruce answered dryly as he quickly finished pulling on his suit pants.

"Touché." Rebecca admitted, looking over again when she heard him zip up his trousers. "But listen to this as a request from an old friend."

She wandered over to his side and said, just as he pulled on his shirt, "Be careful."

She looked at him worriedly as she stood in front of him, and Bruce smiled a little.

"For Becky Dawes?" He asked, and she nodded.

"Then always." Bruce promised, and Rebecca smiled widely.

Bruce answered it faintly, and Rebecca started buttoning up his shirt for him while he tackled the mission that was buttoning up his cuffs. Standing so close, she could smell the distinct scent of aftershave and pine, which was unusual but nice and even calming. Rebecca sighed to herself - Rachel was right. She'd been deluding herself when she said she no longer loved Bruce as more than a friend. But even knowing Bruce's secret didn't seem to bring him closer to her; in some ways, he felt even further away than he had before.

"I'll send Alfred down to drive you home first." Bruce went on, unaware of her thoughts as he looked down at Rebecca while she finished buttoning his top collar. "Rachel probably has your car there and you can take it to get to Gordon."

He nodded his thanks as Rebecca finished smoothing his collar, and she nodded back before she leant up and kissed Bruce's cheek.

"I never got to say - happy birthday, Bruce." She murmured, before leaning back.