Riddle Me This

Waking up, I found the room dark. Rolling over, I meant to grab onto the body that was once there before, but found only a cold space. A small feeling of fear came over me, but he returned in that moment, carrying a glass of milk. Handing it to me, I smiled and took a sip, the calcium laced drink covering my throat. Handing the now half glass of milk back to him, I watched as he finished the rest and set it down on his bedside table.

"You don't have to keep doing that, you know," I said, "I'll understand."

He moved to me and pulled me into his arms, bringing us down into the covers. Looking me in the eyes he said, "I know... but I feel bad not being here when you wake up."

I smiled, "What can I say? You're out saving the city."

He smiled and placed a kiss on my lips. "I love you Bethany."

Smiling I looked up at him and said, "I love you too, Bruce."

He smiled and pulled me into a deeper kiss, rolling us so he was on top of me. I moaned into the kiss and he ran his hands down my body. I ran mine up his arms, and he winced.

"Oh! Sorry." I pulled away to look at the spot I was touching, "Jesus! What happened?"

"I was thrown into a brick wall."

Looking at him I let to worry show in my face, "You were thrown into a brick wall?"

He cupped my face, "It's okay. Nothing I can't handle."

"What can't you handle, Bruce?"

He shook his head, "I don't know."

I frowned, "Please be careful."

"I will."

I snuggled into him and let his arms wrap around me. I felt safest in Bruce's arms. Not in his giant house, not in his overly secure bedroom, or in his evenly more secure/totally secret cave under the foundations. Knowing that he's here and will do anything to protect me from evil is all that I need.

I've been living in Wayne Manor for a year now. I was slowly recovering from a trying event that nearly stole me away from my best friend forever. I've been going to therapy sessions once a week since then, also taking medicine to make from Lucian Fox to make sure that my system was completely immune to any similar kind of attacks. I haven't stepped foot in Arkham Asylum, afraid of what I would run into there.

Or maybe of whom I'd run into there.

A year ago, I was forced here by my mother against all of my wishes, and I met a man named... Jonathan Crane. He was nice, charming, sweet, I gave my heart to him right away, thinking that he was the best thing that ever happened to me. Little did I know, he would turn out to be the exact opposite. He poisoned me, made me believe I was someone I wasn't, and used me to almost destroy the one good thing that's ever happened to Gotham other than Bruce's parents. I was messed up for weeks after Bruce managed to get me to come back to myself. Even now, I have feel a small amount of fear whenever I entered a dark room.

Even now, I can't look at a scarecrow anymore....

Falling back asleep, I looked forward to what was going to happen tomorrow. Bruce was taking me to a circus. I told him that I would be terrified of the clowns, but he said that we were going as private guests. He apparently had a friend whom he has known for a long time who was able to persuade everyone to let us in for a show. Bruce offered to make sure that every seat in the house was paid for in return, but the friend told him that it wasn't nesessary. Bruce also told the friend of what happened last year, and the friend kindly asked that no clowns be present at the private performance. I told Bruce that it wasn't needed, that I would suffer through their performance and enjoy as much as I could without thinking of what happened. But Bruce wouldn't budge.

~

In the morning, Bruce and I awoke to find a tray of food outside his door. He shook his head and grumbled, "Alfred knows he can come in here."

"Maybe he didn't want to chance it again.... After what happened last time." I smiled sweetly at him, defending the methods of the caretaker.

"I should start leaving socks on my door handle."

I laughed, "I think you would have to explain that one to him."

Bruce smiled and handed me a plate of pancakes that bore smiles on them made out of bacon coupled with two eggs as eyes. Alfred's signature breakfast. I ate the food, which was followed by a cup of coffee. We dressed for a comfortable day under a hot tent, a.k.a. jeans and tee shirts, and we took the tray and dishes down stairs and set everything in the kitchen, rinsing them in the water and placing them in the dishwasher. We hurried out of the room before Alfred caught us, and made our way out of the house and into the car.

Bruce drove down the winding path that lead from his beautiful home to the islands that held up the city of Gotham. He turned and went around the edges, heading to a field just on the outskirts, and thankfully for me on the opposite side of the city from Arkham. The awful shadow didn't get to plague me as I stepped out of the car and beheld the giant tent in front of me. Taking Bruce's hand we made our way to the opening and entered a giant area with bleachers and and three rings. We could hear the sound of someone, a man, grunting and rope snapping, but we couldn't see anyone.

Looking up, I saw a man swinging by himself from swings, a trapesse artist. We watched him flip in the air, always managing to grab onto the bar of the swing before it was too late. He wrapped his feet around the rope and hung from it, curling up to grab a hold of the bar, but his fingers slipped as he went to repeat the action, and he started to fall. I gasped, and Bruce held onto me as the man was caught by the netting set under him. Crawling off of it, he approached us, smiling.

"You two weren't supposed to see me fall," he said, breathing heavily, "It's good to see you again, Bruce."

"Dick, it's always a pleasure." Bruce smiled, "I want you to meet my girlfriend, Bethany Elwood."

I stepped forward and held out my hand, "Hi."

"You're Bethany? I've herd a ton of stories about you," Dick smiled, "Over the years of me knowing Bruce, no girl ever had as many stories than you. I'm Dick Grayson."

"It's nice to meet you. You're very good."

He smiled, "Thanks. It's not that hard after you get used to the momentom."

I nodded, "I'll trust you."

"Do you want a go?"

"Me? Oh no, I like my feet firmly set on the ground." I smiled shyly, "Thanks for the offer though."

"Fear of heights?"

"Something like that."

"Falling."

I nodded, "Yeah."

"That's understandable," He smiled and clapped his hand together, "So are you two ready for the show?"

"You bet we are," said Bruce, "It better be good Dick, or I want my money back."

"What money?"

Bruce smiled and escorted me to a spot in the stands where we could see everything that was going to happen. When Dick wasn't needed, he sat with us, and told us everyone's name from Rosie the elephant rider, to Bronx the strong man.

"I'm sorry that you don't like clowns, Bethany," he said, "They have a hilarious sketch."

"Well I told Bruce that I would try my best to enjoy them, but he wouldn't listen to me."

He smiled, "Bruce here is hard to sway sometimes you'll find."

"Trust me, Dick, I've known this ever since I was born."

He smiled and the Ring Master, Charles, came over, "You're on in two, kid."

Dick nodded and left, promising to not fall this time. Bruce wrapped his arm around me and I asked, "How do you know Dick?"

"We... used to work together."

I turned to look at him, "At Wayne Tower?"

"Um... no." He fidgited for a moment, then I got it.

"Oh!"

"Yeah, he was my sidekick."

I giggled, "It sounds so funny when you say it like that."

"It was his idea, not mine."

"How did you two meet?"

"A mod boss killed his parents and Batman was the one to save his life. He lived with me for a while, then decided that he wanted to go to college, did that, and now he's back with the circus, trying to revive the circuit again."

I nodded, "What was his name?"

"Robin."

"Batman and Robin?" I paused for a moment, "Sounds catchy."

Bruce smiled, "Yeah."

"You should write a comic book," I smiled, "The Adventures of Batman and Robin. You could but the people you two faced in it."

Bruce chuckled, "I'm sure it wouldn't get anywhere."

I smiled, and turned to listen as Charles was lit up in the center ring.