Yours Truly

ACT VIII

Four months. Thirty days.

Another morning where their joint slumber was interrupted by a phone ringing and a metallic groan arose as Zamirah woke up and stretched to ease the blur of sleep off of her, laying next to Bane while his hand fumbled a moment for the phone before his voice arose, "Yes?" He growled as he rolled onto his back and Zamirah sat up enough to scoot closer and lay her head on his right shoulder and put her hand on his stomach. His arm wrapped around her as he held the receiver in his left hand to the left side of his face, moving the actual receiver to his mouth every so often to speak before he ended the call with, "Take care of it." Then promptly hung up as he put his now free hand over his eyes and pulled Zamirah a little closer to him with a deep exhale. These past few days she had wondered about how he felt about her, romantically and she had found herself finding irregularities in his actions... but she liked sleeping next to him. She vastly enjoyed the feeling of waking up in the morning and seeing him there, even if he snored or if he wasn't facing her. The way he pulled her closer, the way Bane spoke to her quietly in the morning, or the way that everything just felt so... right. As if these few, sacred moments were not only sacred but organic, natural, instinctual, and never forced. Zamirah often thought of Bane sometimes as a crocodile basking in the sun with its mouth open and she just happened to be the little bird that he didn't mind hopping around in his space and occasionally into his mouth. She was unsure if Bane was too lackadaisical to stop her or he just enjoyed the company.

"Good morning." She said sleepily and he chuckled while she smiled and felt the vibrations of his chest as he laughed, listening to his heart beating. "Did you sleep well at least?" He pulled his hand away from his eyes as he vocalized that he hadn't slept well, "At least your mask hides the eye bags." She said and he started laughing at her joke and she smiled wider. She liked lying here with him, hearing his laughing reverberating in this room... she felt right and safe and at... home. Right here, next to him, where her head swam with warm and fuzzy feelings and tingling sensations. They laid there a few more minutes before she moved to let him leave the bed first and she watched him get to his feet then she took a deep breath to summon up her courage, "I'd like to go with you today." Bane had been walking to the bathroom but he stopped in the doorway and turned to look at her when she spoke as he always did. He seemed to always make time to look at her and she quietly told herself that he did so to maybe even appreciate her. "I want to know what a day in, well, your world... I want to know what it's like."

"...Dark and unkind, dear." Bane replied as he turned to her and her gaze flicked downward towards his elastic waistline before he chuckled and said, "My eyes are up here." Her gaze flicked back up to meet his eyes as the heat rose to her face and he nodded, taking a moment before he asked, "Is that truly something that you want?" He asked of her in a tone that suggested she had one last chance to opt-out. But she didn't. "...Zamirah..." The metallic purr thrilled her but the tone was serious and she treated the situation as such, "Allow me a moment to tell you that up until this point, I have tried to be as... discreet and polite as possible. However, I am not entirely kind..." He voiced and she waited patiently for him to compose himself for either of their sakes or just for him to decide on what words to use, "You must know this beforehand-" "I have known it." "...How so?" She took a breath as she collected herself. She was conflicted on whether or not she should pour out what she knew but since he was trying to be open with her and he was... vulnerable... then it was better to leave all the cards on the table. She would be lying if she didn't admit to herself that she was scared and nervous to say what she was about to say... even if the words had run through her mind countless times in countless scenarios.

"When I was... at the airport. I saw you, Bane." She told him, "I saw you snap that man's neck and kill him." Bane straightened but didn't look away from her eyes, "I heard every word down the jetway when I tried to board that plane. Then, when you were on the television again and asking everyone to storm that prison... I saw that too. I also saw on the television that all of the ways out of here- Gotham City- except one had been destroyed or blocked off. I saw the blown-up bridges." She saw him swallow and she followed suit by swallowing herself, "I think that... we are from two different worlds... but somewhere in there, they mesh together and make common ground." Zamirah took a deep breath and exhaled, "I don't think you're stupid, Bane, I think you plan everything down to the second. I think that when you told me your plan and my staying here was just a situation of 'bad timing', you were bluffing... I think everything just fell into place perfectly for you. I also think that you are, in a way, trying to allocate the cultural customs that my homeland has, the ones I have told you about, to the world here to maybe make me feel... less like an outsider. To make me feel better about myself but I could be wrong. Everything is too well-timed to be just a coincidence." Zamirah said and Bane just listened, "I think that the reason you keep me so close is not that you think you should be close... but because you are trying to 'court me' in the way I told you I know of. No escapes, no family... because I think, deep down you are under the impression that at my core, you think it is what I want... I am not asking you to deny or confirm any of this, Bane."