(Untitled)

[wayne_memoirs]

The sun has hung in the sky for hours before Bruce Wayne finally drags himself from bed. He staggers to the bathroom. Fifteen minutes later, he's standing in front of the mirror with a towel wrapped around his waist. With a free hand, he wipes the condensation from the glass. The bruising on his side has turned a brilliant shade of purple and

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[a__nightingale]

Christine had been in a fit of nerves since Bruce had summoned her. He told her no reason, simply that Alfred would bring her to the Manor, but she knew without a shadow of a doubt that it would be important.

At five sharp Alfred had indeed come and she was a bit disappointed to find he was in the dark as well. Her nerves had not calmed in the least, but she would learn soon enough what this was about. The curious girl had gone silent in the car when they neared the Manor and now she let out a breath as if she had been holding it the whole ride over.

Being an actress, she's no stranger to nerves but she can't manage to shake these as she shakes the nerves that come to her before she steps onstage.

She's brimming with curiosity, and soon enough that curiosity will be satisfied.

[wayne_memoirs]

After dressing for the day, he checks on two special items. Both are tucked away in the confines of the Master Bedroom safe. The first he opens, inspects with the utmost of care, and replaces. The second he slips into a pocket. He closes the safe and retreats.

He spends the remainder of the time in the study. The leather chair however wants for attention. His feet slowly take him to the fireplace, to the clock, to the windows, to the desk. He keeps coming back to the portrait, hopelessly stuck in a self perpetuating cycle.

When they arrive at the Manor, he is unaware of their presence.

[a__nightingale]

And so it will be the study where Christine will find the man she's fallen so helplessly in love with. She's quiet in the doorway a while, and she smooths the fabric of her dress before she raps her knuckles on the door-frame.

"Good aternoon, Mister Wayne. I believe you sent for me?" She muses silently at how much more confident it sounds voiced, as opposed to how she feels.

[wayne_memoirs]

He doesn't miss the presence at the door. He turns just as she begins to rap. The frown that has followed him all day makes way for a smile. It's a smile that reaches all the way to his eyes.

Sent for me. Her words are lighthearted with almost a teasing quality. Nevertheless, they give Bruce's pause for thought. "I hope it didn't sound like I was summoning." His words to her had been rushed, a reflection of his inner state.

"I just wanted to see you." The tone of his voice says something entirely different. I needed to see you.

He closes the distance between them and takes her face gently in his hands. There's a pause, as if he's memorizing her features. Then he leans forward to kiss her.

[wayne_memoirs]

He crouches down in front of her. They're now eye to eye. The curiosity is plain on her face. To her, his expressions must seem strange. Excitement. Fear. Sadness. Wonder. They all collide. He's about to reach out in a way unaccustomed to his nature. To share something of extreme value.

The box is opened. Inside are his mother's pearls.

[a__nightingale]

His expressions are odd indeed. She's never met a man so enigmatic. What is he thinking? The moment she believes she has him figured out, understood he changes. Christine watches him and lowers her eyes to the box in his hands.

It opens slowly, and she covers her mouth with both of her hands upon seeing the string of pearls there. He doesn't need to say a word to tell their value. Those were Martha Wayne's pearls.

She closed her eyes a moment and saw the incident she and Bruce had found themselves in at that very same Alley, remembered his face when her pearls fell to the ground, remembered him as he told her what happened the night his parents died.

This is no small gesture.

"Bruce..." She opens her eyes and shakes her head. "Bruce. No, I can't take these..." She runs a careful finger over the pearls and shakes her head again. "I can't accept something like this from you."

[wayne_memoirs]

His demeanor does not change. He's prepared himself for this reaction. Expected it in fact.

"You know what these mean to me." They are more than just a string a pearls. They carry the weight of a tragedy come and past. A moment that shaped his life. A mother whom he loved and lost. He would not give them easily or without thought.

"I want you to have them," he reiterates. "And I want them to stay in the family."

[a__nightingale]

"Yes. Yes, I know exactly what they mean." Christine answers him. "Which is why I can't take them, Bruce. The sentimental value..."

The brunette brushed a hand across Bruce's cheek, eyes alternating between the pearls, a piece of jewelry that carried so many memories to her consort, uncertainty there in her eyes as if to silently ask: Why? Why are you giving me such a thing?

His words echo and she take a deep breath. She thinks she knows what he means but she's been wrong in the past. "What do you mean, Bruce?"

She has to ask it. She gives his hand a soft squeeze.