Later that night

Half-asleep with her eyes still closed, she rolled over. Rachel encountered a cold and empty portion of where she thought James would be. A pang went through her heart.    "James?” She called out, rubbing her eyes.

“Yes.” She detected a stillness in his voice, that she had only heard when he was around others, especially at the precinct. Clarity flooded through her, she looked and saw him sitting at her desk.

“What’s the matter?” She asked sitting up, holding a blanket to her.

 
~*~*~*~

He watched her sleep for a while. What had he done, taking advantage of her after all that she had been through, she was attacked a few hours before, he asked himself angrily. He felt sick to his stomach over his actions.  As if it was bad enough he was still technically married to Barbara, sure they were separated and it had been her idea. He could never tell her about any of this, even if they end up getting a divorce. How did the prospect of that even make him feel, he wasn’t even sure.

But one thing he did know, he had never felt like this. She did something to him. He was pushing forty and she made him feel like he was twenty again.

He watched as Rachel rolled to one side. “James?” He heard her call out, the sound of her voice calling his name pulled on his heart strings or when she kissed him. He couldn’t deny that feeling. 

“Yes?” He had not meant for that to sound so cold, so detached. But it hurt him deeply to think that he could have taken advantage of her.

“What’s the matter?” He heard her ask.

He watched her sit up her long brown hair tumbling in a wild wavy mane around her shoulders. He didn’t know what to say to her.  

 “I, I’m sorry.” He mumbled not looking at her.

Taking a deep breath he got up and sat beside her on the bed, he finally looked her in the eye. “I didn’t mean to take advantage of you.”

“Oh, James you didn’t.” She threw her arms around him. “You didn’t,” She murmured into his shoulder, he hesitantly wrapped his arms around her. He felt her tighten her grip around him. Then he felt her pull back, her eyes looked misty. He hadn’t meant to hurt her. “I wanted us,” Her voice grew shaky, he saw her bottom lip tremble.

He pulled her close.

“Didn’t you want to?”

He rubbed her back. “More than you could ever know.” Then he kissed her shoulder.

 Slowly the tension seemed to ease from her. Pulling back, he cupped her face in his hands, “You are so beautiful.” He showered her face with kisses. He felt her warm breath on his face as she sighed.

“Oh James,” She mumbled, her arms tightening around him once again.

 “That would be a good idea,” she said followed closely by a yawn and a kiss on his chest. He gave her a squeeze.

Shortly afterward sleep claimed the two of them.

From Behind The Screen

She slowly made her way past him, she wished he would encircle her in his arms and kiss her. She missed already the uninhibited kisses they shared in his office. But instead, she walked behind her screen without incident. Rachel’s heart still beat wildly against her chest thinking about, how she had stripped down to her underwear so that he could clean her off. However, gentle he had been with her, it did not ease the shivers of joy being with him created in her. She had to think of some way, to get her mind off of how much she wanted to be in his arms. Then it dawned on her.   

 “I was thinking since I know the two of us didn’t have anything to eat, I could whip us up something.” She suggest to him from behind the screen.

“That sounds great.”

She couldn’t help but wonder if, he felt the same way. Maybe now because of those, animals attacking her, he was going to be a gentleman and treat her with kid gloves. She looked through her drawer on something she could wear. Something that would let him know, that was the last thing she wanted but nothing tacky. She shook her head, as if I owned anything tacky, she mused. Then on the bottom of the drawer, she spotted the perfect garment. She took out a cream-colored baby-doll with soft pink and violet flowers it had a lacy hem. Rachel allowed the towel to fall to the floor at her feet.  Rested on her thigh half way to her knees, she gave a tiny twirl behind the screen with delight she watched as it billowed out slightly.

“Is everything alright, Rachel?” He asked.

“Yes.” Rachel could hear her voice shake. “One moment.”

Then she slid in a complimentary pair of underwear. She took a deep breath, came out from behind it. She watched as she detected surprise register over his face. She smiled inwardly at that. Was he biting his lip, she asked herself, did that mean he was just as affected by her presence as she was of his.

She put her hands on her hip, “Well, let’s see what I have in the kitchen,” She began to make her way over to it. When distantly she felt her one ankle give out, and she was beginning to fall forward. Next thing she knew, she was in his warm solid arms.

“I got you.” He breathed huskily. She had not realized she had closed her eyes. She opened them and stared into his blue ones. There was an expression, she had not seen in them before.

“Oh James.” She placed a hand on his cheek.

He righted her but then he leaned in and kissed her full on the mouth, she could feel a incredible intensity behind it. As the passion of their kissed built, the more weak in the knees she grew.

She broke off the kiss to gain some sense of composure but after looking into his deep blue eyes, she was reeling. “Take me to my bed.” She whispered.

Soon she was in his arms, it felt so right so perfect. She sneaked in kisses, she especially loved kissing the smoothness of his throat.

He laid her lightly down; she could see a spark of hesitation in his eyes. “Come here, I want you to be with me. I” Her voice began to falter. She knew what she wanted to say but the words stayed in her throat. Slowly, gracefully he came to lie beside her. For a moment, the two of them just looked laid there looking at each other. Gathering her courage, she leaned in and kissed him.

He pulled her close, pulling her into his arms. The passion the two had been holding back flooded forth. They soon became one allowing their emotions to fuel them. Then in exhausted glow of pleasure, the two holding onto each other fell asleep.

 Across Town….

What was going on? Why was Rachel acting it like this? In the pit of his stomach, he knew something was wrong. He could hear some slurred, murmured words, a smack of some kind and the jingle a bell that would jingle from a door when it opened or closed.

He was already taking the steps, two three at a time listening to the garbled voice, that belonged to Rachel.

“Hi, ah sir, Ms. Dawes is in really bad shape. She looks like she fell down or something. She wanted me to tell you she’s going home.” The boy sounded desperate. Dread filled him; she’s hurt what could have possibly happened he thought putting his keys into the ignition. He pulled out, making u-turn; he made a sharp screeching left in the direction of the Gothman’s Newsstand, and her dormitory.

“What direction did it look like she was going in?” He demanded, switching the wipers onto full capacity.

“Umm, she seemed to be continuing to go straight up the street sir.”

“Thank you.” He said, and clicked end on the phone.

 He stuffed the phone in his pocket. It didn’t take long getting to the neighborhood. He watched the sidewalk; he didn’t see anyone walking much less stumbling. Then he saw something dark in the middle of it, fear gripped him. Double-parking near by, he ran over to the dark shape, the closer he got to it, he saw her smudged face, kneeling down; he gently brushed wet strands out of her. A purplish bruise was forming on one cheek.

“Rachel, Rachel,” He yelled, his heart was racing. He watched her chest rise and fall, evenly, relief filled him.” Rachel answer me.” A small moan came from her. “Rachel, it’s going to be ok.” Without another thought he scooped her up and carried her to the car, he placed her carefully into the front seat. He saw that her purse was slung around her, if there were anything was still in there it would be a miracle. But he would deal with that later.

He gunned the engine and drove the short distance over to the dormitory. He parked in the lot, as he had done earlier in the morning. Had it been just the morning? It felt so far away. Her head lulled to her right side.

Opening the passengers’ side, he realized he didn’t have a key to get into her suite. I could bring her back to my place, maybe her keys are still in her purse. Leaning over, he over he and unzipped it. Surprise hit him that when he saw it still held what he guessed were her belongings he even spotted her cell phone. Maybe all of her stuff was still in there, then fingers felt keys, taking them out, in the dome light he determined that he saw one that must be the suite key. He stuffed the keys in his pocket, taking a deep breath, he put his arms under her and picked her up once again, he kicked the door shut behind him.

“Huh what is,” Her voice cracked, she cleared her voice. His eyes got moist with relief when he heard her voice, however gravely it was. “What’s going on?” Asked Rachel in a hoarse voice, it echoed since they were between the first and second landing. She struggled a bit, in his arms.

“Rachel, just hang on we’re almost at your suite.” He said huffing, trying to hold tightly onto her, climbing the steps.

“Alright.” Her voice trembled, a cough was close on it’s heals. “What are you doing here? You’re all wet.” Her voice was beginning to regain, it’s smooth resonance. He felt as her arms, came to hold onto him. They were silent as he made it up the second flight and down her corridor. He was relieved there was no one in the hall.

He stopped outside her door, “Rachel, I’m going to have to put you down. Do you think you will be able to stand?”

“I think so.” Bending at the knees, he eased her feet down on the floor. Her legs shook but he held her tightly around the waist, as he fished her keys out. Looking at them, again he found the one. He had determined was the one to her suite. Turning it in the door, it popped open. He was grateful for that. Opening the door enough to stick his head in he noticed it was empty, but the lights were on.

“Lean against the wall, I’m just going to look around in there.” He unhollstered his gun.

All she did was nod.

Holding the gun in front of him, he pushed open the door. In quick, silent strides he looked into all corners of the room, under the beds and closets. It was clear. He holstered his gun before going on to Rachel. Gordon, could his anxiousness finally started to ease in his body, though anger bubbling forth.

“It’s clear, no one’s in there.” He came over and put his arm around her waist. “Put your weight on me, we’re going to go over to the sofa.”

“Ok.”

They shuffled over to it. He placed her where he had been sitting earlier. She looked daze. He kneeled down in front of her, he examined the contours of her face. The bruise was getting darker, now that he could see her in the light her bottom lip looked swollen.

“Rachel, I know this is going to be hard.” He gently caressed her soiled her cold hands with his. “But can you tell me what happened?”

He continued to look at her. Her cheeks were scarlet most likely from slaps. Anger surged through him replacing the anxiousness in its wake.

“I, I was in a taxi,” She swallowed hard; tears blossomed in her eyes and feel down her cheeks.

Impulsively, he got up and hugged her. He could feel her hugging him back. “Oh Rachel, Oh Rachel.” He murmured into her still wet hair, on his lips he felt fine pieces of stone and dirt. He did not care; he placed soft kisses wherever he could. Sobs racked her body but it didn’t lessen the grip she had on him. She felt small and frail in his arms. He couldn’t hold them back any longer and a few of his own tears fell into her hair.

 “Maybe, we should get you cleaned up.” He said, after she seemed to calm down and her breathing was even. She nodded. He looked around the suite. He sat a small table in the kitchen nook chairs. I’ll have her sit there and we could clean her up, he determined. “I don’t think you should be in a shower right now. You may still be too shaky on your feet. Let’s first take off your coat.”

He saw her soiled hands tremble while attempting to undo the buttons with little success. He grabbed both of the, and turning them over, he saw tiny scraps, he gave each palm a soft kiss.

“Let me do it.” He said looking her in the eye, and mustered the most reassuring smile he could.

He undid each button, and then carefully they eased her arms out of the coat. Wincing, they managed to get her arms out of her sleeves, but he could not determine yet what may be the cause, though he was able to rule out broken bones. He got up and hung her coat up on the hook he had seen it on; he placed his own over it.

“I don’t think I could stand in the shower right now, even if I wanted to.” She said finally. She sounded almost like her normal self. “I just don’t understand why this happened.” She continued.

“Let’s not think about that just now,” As much as the cop side of him wanted to hear about it and start tracking down the scumbags that did this to her, he wanted to, he had to make sure she was alright. “We have to make sure you are not badly hurt.” He was grateful that he had renewed his first aid and trauma training early, instead of waiting for next year to do it. He placed his suit jacket over his coat, he pulled off his gun holster, he placed that on a small table near her desk, then yanking he undid the knot in his tie.

“I’m just so glad,” She fell silent; he could hear a sniffle coming from her. He tossed his tie on her desk before rushing back to her side. She looked at him with those breathtaking warm brown pools that were her eyes. He sat gently down beside her. “I got a hold of you.”

“I promise you, Rachel, no matter I promise to always keep you safe.” This time, ignoring any pain she could be, she hugged him. He held her tightly; he rested his cheek against her hair. 

He felt her pull back gently she looked up at him, seriousness darkened her eyes. “James for the first time living in Gotham, I feel safe. Because of you.” She then leaned in and gave him a soft tender kiss.

He couldn’t stop himself from He felt her pull back gently she looked up at him, seriousness darkened her eyes. “James for the first time living in Gotham, I feel safe. Because of you.” She then leaned in and gave him a soft tender kiss.

, since the guilt in him raged because of what just happened to her. “But Rachel, I wasn’t able to protect you from what just happened.”

“Yes, but you are here now. You’ve saved me now.” She said firmly. “I know you will never let anything else ever happen to me.” She kissed him with such urgency that anything he could have said to reply vanished, she had kissed them away. Very gently, he kissed her back.

She was the one to break off the kiss. He could have stay like that longer. “I think, we better get me cleaned up.” She made a disgruntled sigh, “I really smell.” She giggled then. It warmed his heart to hear that sound come from her.

“That would be a good idea.” Not letting her have a chance to react, he picked her up, she easily wrapped her arms around his throat.

“You know, I may get used to you carrying me around.” She grimaced at him, before sneaking in a kiss on his throat. “I think I like it too much.”

Her kiss on his throat shook him to his core again, and couldn’t help but groan softly. “I think I may be beginning to like that too much.” He gave her finally smile with all of him behind.

“What this?” She asked coyly, her breath lightly caressing him before he felt her warm lips, press against his throat again.

“Yes, that.” He said hoarsely, it pleased him that she was able to bounce back so fast, he mused before he felt her plant another kiss on his throat.

Making the short strides to the kitchen nook, he determined it would probably be best for her to sit against the wall for support. “Now, no distractions.” He felt her kiss him again, followed closely by a tiny giggle. “I’m being serious.”
               “Anything you say, Sergeant Gordon.” She said, her voice artificially deep and playful.

He could only shake his head. “I’m going keep on holding onto you while I position a chair so you can sit down with the minimal fuss.”

“Ok.” She replied simply.

            “Alright,” he said shortly after he placed her in the chair. “You’re going to have to tell me where you keep a bowl, some wash clothes, and your first aid kit.” He told her.

She told him, while he was letting the hot water heat up, he went got the wash clothes, he grabbed a fresh bar of soap that was on the counter as well. On the way to them, he grabbed the first aid kit. Putting it down, he unbuttoned his shirt, and put it over the chair that was beside her desk, before grabbing some wash clothes from her towel drawers. He went back to the nook with the stuff in hand.

When he came turned the tiny turn that brought him into the area fully, he felt the wind go out of him completely, when he took in fully what he was seeing. While he had been getting the washcloths and first aid kit, Rachel had managed to strip out of her sweater, slacks, socks, and shoes. They were in a dark wet heap in front of her. She was clad on in a purple and black lacey bra and panties to match. He had thought she was going to be incredibly beautiful under her clothes but nothing prepared for just how much. He let his eyes travel over her curves, noticed bruises on her upper arms, and her knees looked red but otherwise her body remained flawless.   

“I figured it would be easier to clean up with those, off of me.” She pointed to her discarded clothes, with her mouth twisted in disgust; he looked back up at her face and swallowed.

“Yes, I would have to agree with you.” He said carefully placing the stuff near her on the table.

Going over to the sink, he filled the huge bowl with the hot water. “James, you look very nice in a white T-shirt.” She commented from behind him, looking over his shoulder at her he was surprised again at how beautiful she looked. “Why thank you, and you look quite beautiful yourself.” He winked at her and swallowed hard once again.

His head was swimming. He was only a man, not that man that Metropolis claimed to have. Turning off the water, he placed the bowl beside the other stuff. Grabbing the soap, one of the wash clothes he immersed them in the hot water, which felt cool compared to how much hotter he felt looking at her. He felt her hand on his, he looked down at it and then at her.

“James, come over here.” She said softly.

He went over and kneeled beside her. “Yes, Rachel.” Was all he could say looking at her.

“Hug me.” She told him.

Sometime Later…

He pulled up in the parking garage near the elevator, after they had both grabbed a coffee to go at the quickie mart near where she lived.

“Maybe we can grab dinner, a late dinner, tonight if you would like?” He asked.

“That would be nice. I know tonight Finch and I will be working well past any normal dinner time.”

He nodded. “I’ll call you.”

“Great, that would be a good reason to get out of there,” She paused raising an eyebrow. “if I’m still stuck there.”

She smiled and gave him her cell phone number, since all he had was the number to her suite. “Well I better be off.” She leaned in towards him as he reached out and touched her cheek. They shared a soft but brief kiss.

“Ok.” He finally said, almost dreading having to go back to deal with the criminal element that filled his city, being with her, made him forget. “Try not to work too hard.” He joked.

“You too.” He watched, her full lips curl into a smile. “Have a good day, James.” She breathed his name. He loved how she said it.

“I’ll try.”

Then she got out of the car, their eyes met when she looked back at him before going into the elevator. Then he drove his car over to the precinct. As he walked up the steps, he couldn’t help but think how he relieved he was that the two of them had gotten that discussion out of the way. It still amazed him how someone as beautiful as she was would want to be with him. Seeing her with her hair down was amazing. He really hoped the two of them could spend some time together later in the evening.

Walking, into the precinct, he eyed his office as an oasis. Sighing he sat down at his desk. Finishing his coffee, he tossed the cup into the bin. He tried to focus on the various perp files he had pulled earlier to see if they matched up with any of the evidence they had gathered at the muggings but nothing was matching up. Going over his papers, he found a memo from the DA’s office. They wanted all the information Flass and him had gathered during a stakeout on one of Maroni’s cohorts known as The Chechen. He was on his way up the food chain of the underworld with Maroni; they had to try to stop the two of them. They had already tried to pick him up but nothing would stick. Sadly, at least one people took pity on him since he's known to be such a lover of animals, dogs mostly. Damn it, he wished that they could have gotten to the area that he maintained and gotten evidence to prove to people that the dogs were used as a crucial and cruel tool in intimidation.

Wandering over to the fax machine, he sent all of the information. Shortly afterward, he picked up the phone and called the office; hopping Rachel would pick up the phone.

            She picked up after two rings. “Good Morning, assistant DA Charles Finch’s office how may I help you?” Her melodious voice filled his ear he smiled.

            “Hello, Rachel.”

He could hear her take in a breath. “Hello, Sergeant Gordon.” He guessed that Finch was probably nearby he wished he were.

“I’m just calling to let you know that I sent all of our information on The Chechen.”

“Thank you, sergeant.” She paused; he could envision her biting her bottom lip, looking adorable. “That will be very helpful.”

“You’re welcome.

            Knowing he had to be professional. “Well, have a good afternoon. Alright, you too. Let us know if there is anything else we can do to help you out.”

            “Thank you very much, Sergeant.” Good bye.”

            “Goodbye, Rachel.” The two hung up.

            The rest of the morning dragged on, not much was going on since Maroni was behind bars and ever since Falcone was a suspect in Bruce Wayne’s disappearance, they assumed he was doing things under the radar. His mind kept on drifting back to kissing her, feeling earlier. His head spun, just thinking about how she sneaked in that kiss on his throat.

            A few hours later, when he was tempted to go down to grab a hot dog from the stand, his intercom buzzed to life.

            “Jimbo, Rachel Dawes is here from the DA’s office to see you.” Relief washed over him that it wasn’t Loeb at the other end. He couldn’t stop his heart from picking up speed when he heard that Rachel was out there. His happiness uncoiled from with in his stomach.

            He pressed the button to reply. “Send her to my office.” He tried to say evenly.

            “Alright, Sergeant.”

            Gordon got up running a hand through his hair. He smoothed his tied, he could still feel how traced it with her finger as he opened his door.

            They shared a smile, as she made her way over to him. He also had an opportunity to watch as everyone obvious or subtle looked in her direction as she walked by.

            “Hello, Ms. Dawes how nice to see you again.” He said as she walked past him and into her office. He watched as she put her briefcase down. “I’ll close my door, so we can discuss the particulars,” He continued, closing the door.