Confession

Part One

"You're not even part of this department, you know. You're only here because Captain Grayson worked with your father for so long - feeding Bruce Wayne whatever information he asked for." Raven could be such a damn hard ass sometimes, and was always trying to keep him out of Grayson's office. She took a long drag of her coffee and snapped the file out of his hands, her stare steely.

Damian watched her throat work as she drank her coffee, and found the muscles in her jaw utterly fascinating. A lock of hair fell out of her ponytail and curled at the corner of her eye, and he had the strongest urge to brush it away. He found himself wanting to run his fingertips along her jaw, his thumb sliding along her full lower lip. She was beautiful, and he hated that she practically despised him like this. He winced and glanced away, pretending to be interested in the raucous sounds coming from the police scanner in the corner. Three years of working with her and he was still a damned mess when it came to her.

She finished her lukewarm coffee and stood up, setting her hands on her hips. "You can't just go wandering into the GCPD because you feel like you're some kind of detective too. You're not supposed to be privy to the information here, and I'm not going to let you walk all over me and my cases just because your name is on every damn building in Gotham."

Damian glared at her, his nostrils flaring in annoyance, his patience wearing thin. "I've known you long enough that you should know that you can at least trust me with this information."

"Known me?"

Ah, perhaps that wasn't exactly what he should have said. True he knew her, but she definitely didn't know him. Or, at least, she didn't know Damian Wayne as well as she knew his other self. He bit the side of his tongue to keep himself from reacting, and wondered how his father managed to keep dual lives so easily. Then again, father had warned him that being Batman wasn't easy. Maybe this was more what he was talking about than the actual detective work and ridiculous no-kill policy.

"Mister Wayne." Her voice was cold and edged with poison. "You barely know me. You waltz in here with donuts for Grayson and ooze information out of him like water from a sponge. If you want more information than what we give the media, and the media gives you, then bring in your stupid donuts and take it up with Grayson."

Raven leveled a heavy stare at him, enough that Damian had to take a step back. She nearly slammed her coffee cup on her desk and sat back down. "I have work to do, and I suggest that you find another detective to annoy so I can actually do it."

His lips twitched and he thought about spilling all of the truth there, about who he was and what their relationship actually was, but somehow he managed to keep his cool. He straightened his back and took a step back. "Fine. Where is Grayson?"

"Out." Raven didn't look up from the file in front of her. "I'm not his babysitter."

Damian glared at her, and without another word, he turned on his heel and stepped out of the precinct. She could be damned infuriating when she wanted to. He was so close to yelling at her and letting her know that she already gave him all the information he wanted, but he wore a different suit. But that would have definitely damaged whatever working relationship they might have had. He had to tread carefully, and tell her when he was ready. Which might not be anytime soon.

Shoving his hands in his pockets, he walked down the stairs to his car out front and slid behind the wheel. He felt hopeless when it came to Raven when he wasn't in the cowl, and realizing that made him angry. He was a grown man, an ex-assassin with the league, was on the board at Wayne Industries, was the goddamn Batman, and yet he couldn't even talk to a damn girl - and one he liked no less. He was absolutely useless.