Confession

Part Three

Three weeks.

It had been over three whole weeks since they started this investigation, and Raven was no closer to cracking the case than she had been in the beginning. There had been two more break-ins and one more dead dock worker, and she was starting to lose her mind. She didn't doubt that Damian knew nothing about what was happening inside Wayne Industries, and he was more than angry about being left in the dark. He had searched high and low for who was behind what was going on in his own company, but nothing had turned up yet. He was losing patience, and Raven felt close behind.

The bare bulb above her head flickered, and Raven sighed as she took another box off the shelf. Her head was splitting and it felt like the words and pictures and diagrams were somehow swimming off the page. She pulled at a loose lock of hair, falling out of her ponytail as it fluttered across her face. Taking a deep breath, she leaned back into the hard plastic chair she was sitting in and stared up at the dark ceiling above her. She was going to need to get another detective in here just to keep up with all the data. It felt like the whole investigation was disintegrating around her, like she was breaking apart with every new clue.

"You know if you need a more comfortable reading place..."

Raven jerked, and looked over at Damian, dressed in an expensive, neatly pressed suit. He looked like something ripped out of a magazine. A flush darkened her cheeks as she stared at him. He stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame as his eyes darted around the stacks of files. "I should really speak to the CEO about updating our archives. I thought these had all been uploaded digitally."

Raven's eyes swept down the length of him, feeling heat start to gather in the pit of her stomach, just below her navel. It had also been three weeks since... the incident. That's what she called it to keep from naming it something important - like a beginning. She hadn't slept with him since that time in her kitchen. They had both become busy, each caught up in different forms of the same investigation. Raven had to admit to herself that she had thought about reaching out to him since then, but she wasn't sure if she was... allowed to. Their relationship was complicated.

"Are you suggesting somewhere else?" Raven pushed her hair out of her eyes again. "Because this is fine."

"You're welcome into my office, detective. If you need better light."

Raven snorted and turned back to the file in front of her. "I distinctly remember what happened last time we were in your office, Mister Wayne."

"Damian." His voice was a low growl, and he leveled a dark stare at her. "And I am remembering what happened after the incident in my office more, Raven. I'm also distinctly remembering what happened in your apartment." There was a long pause, and Raven could feel the air around them shift, as if he was reliving a fond memory. "And, I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. It haunts my dreams on a regular basis."

It haunted hers too. She closed the file in front of her and looked over at him again. "Are you asking for a repeat performance? Because I was under the impression that was a one-time thing."

Damian lifted his eyebrows. "Was it? Because I was under the impression it wasn't."

Raven reached for another file in the box next to her and shook her head. "Look, Damian... we clearly have chemistry, and I trust you and... your other you, but you know that this isn't going to work, right? You know that is going to be a disaster if we keep this up. It will burn us, and it will burn you. I don't want you to get hurt, and I rather like my position at the precinct. So, I think it would be in both of our best interests if we didn't keep this up."