OKAY SO. Here I am again, apologizing after an impressively long hiatus. But I've read through the entire story once more, taken notes, drawn up a timeline, and jotted down some ideas and plot twists that I want to include. I've also read through a lot of the reviews to remind myself that people actually like this story! And you know what guys, I really like Anastasia. It wasn't until I reread the story that I realized she kind of grew into this awesome character that always has a witty response. It's almost as if I didn't write it and was reading it for the first time. Some of her comebacks I actually laughed out loud at, which surprised me a lot. Anyways, enough about my epiphany. Here is the next chapter, with hopefully many more to come.

Disclaimer: I only own Anastasia.

The snow crunched under my sneakers satisfyingly as Bane and I walked back to our makeshift sewer home. I wasn't sure how to feel at the moment. Part of me (mostly my ovaries) was over the moon regarding how Bane has just acted towards me and the way we'd just had sex. I'd missed his touch. That much was certain. Plus, now that I'd dipped my toes in the pool that was sex with Bane, I wasn't entirely sure I'd be able to resist diving back in. But my brain was screaming at me. Bane was a drug I couldn't quite kick the habit of doing. Quite literally. I knew that although I kept trying to tell myself the sex wouldn't influence my ability to escape when the time came, that I was lying to myself. Of course it was hinder my escape. I'd gotten much more attached to Bane than I meant to.

At first, it wasn't hard to keep him at arm's length, emotionally. He'd be cold for the most part, and strictly business. But how could I resist him when he went around telling me he's fond of me and that he will always want me? I turned my head slightly to look at him as we walked. He was staring straight ahead, and although his eyes didn't shift towards me, he was definitely aware of my eyes on him. From what I could see, he had a handsome face. Though of course, he could have some really fucked up teeth under his mask. Suddenly, I pictured him with those really gross, rotten fake teeth that kids sometimes wore for Halloween. With that image in mind, an obscenely wide smile slapped itself on my face as I tried my very hardest not to explode with laughter.

*Third person POV*

"Is something amusing to you?" Bane asked, obviously noticing Anastasia's struggle to contain herself.

"Nothing, nothing." She replied, biting her cheek to keep from giggling. Bane turned to look at her then, and though he would never say so out loud, the smile that she wore at the moment was the most beautiful he'd seen from her. It held no sarcasm, no wicked intent, nor any cruelty. It was purely the joy of whatever happened to be going through her head at the moment. It almost make him want to smile along with her, but the sobering realization that she wouldn't be able to see it anyways kept him from doing so.

"I have a question." Anastasia exclaimed, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"I have an answer." He replied.

"Why are you so big?" The question has popped up in Anastasia's mind several times since she'd met him. Surely, his size wasn't simply a genetic gift. She was sure there was a reason for it, and she'd be willing to bet it'd be somehow connected to his mask.

"I did not hear you complaining 10 minutes ago." He replied, a deep crease at the corner of his eye letting Anastasia know he was smirking or grinning under his mask.

"Bane!" She exclaimed, giving his shoulder a playful shove and giving him an incredulous look. "I don't think I will ever get used to sex jokes from you. Please stop before I start to think you've been replaced by a fake Bane." A giggle escaped her lips, letting Bane know she didn't really wish for him to stop with his jokes. It was so rare to see Bane this lighthearted about anything. Of course, she hadn't missed the fact that his joke was used to distract from the fact that he didn't want to answer that question. But she didn't push farther, like he'd done so many times with her. If he wanted to talk about it, he knew she would be there to listen.

"Bane, how long do we have?" Anastasia asked, suddenly very serious. Bane looked at her, debating whether to tell her or keep it a secret.

"Approximately 2 months." He answered her honestly. The reply made her breath catch in her throat. That was all? "Does that scare you?" She considered the question for several seconds before she looked ahead of her instead of at Bane, while grabbing his oversized hands and intertwining her fingers with his.

"No." There was no emotion on her face when she gave Bane her answer. She was once again the stoic, fearless woman he'd broken out of Arkham, rather than the beautifully innocent one she'd been while laughing just minutes ago. Bane found himself missing that smile as he tried to dissipate the unpleasant churning in the pit of his stomach.

They're only held hands for about 5 minutes before Anastasia pulled her hand from his, clenching and unclenching her fingers. His hands were too wide for hers to comfortably fit. She didn't mind though, she'd never been one for any kind of PDA. She'd grabbed his hands mostly for dramatic effect when she told him she wasn't afraid of the fact that she'd be dying in less than 2 months. All lies. Not only was she afraid of his plan for Gotham, but she had no intention of dying here, or anywhere for that matter, for a long time.

They got back to their cozy little cave just before sunset, and were both thoroughly soaked from the snow that has started to fall half way through their walk back.

"Walking home instead of taking the tank. Bright idea, Bane." Anastasia half whispered before he turned and gave her a pointed glare. His glare softened when he noticed her slipping off his coat and trying to peel off her half wet shirt. He walked over to the bathroom and grabbed a dry towel before returning and walking over to her. What he did next made Anastasia freeze every muscle in her body.

"Uhhh, Bane? What are you doing?" He'd placed the towel flat on top of her head, placed his hands on both sides and started rubbing her hair dry. For the second time that day, Anastasia felt laughter bubbling up out of her. "Bane, stoooop!" She half yelled through her chuckling, as she tried to pull her head from the towel. When she finally managed to pull away, it was Bane's turn to laugh. Her black hear vaguely resembled a rat's nest on top of her head.

"Not funny! This is going to take me forever to brush through!" Though she tried to sound angry, she couldn't help the corners of her mouth pulling upwards into a smile. She rolled her eyes are the obviously very amused bane before he through the towel at her face.

"Dry yourself because you become ill."

"Easy to say when you're a human space heater…" Anastasia whispered to herself.

"What was that?" Of course Bane had heard her, but he didn't want to miss a chance to mess with her.

"Nothing." She replied with an exaggerated innocent smile because continuing to dry her wet hair.

The next hour found them lying in bed facing each other. Bane had decided it was time for another Q&A session, now that they were all dry once more. Anastasia had sighed and reluctantly agreed, though she had no idea what kind of questions he could still have for her. She'd shed a light on every part of her life that would be important to him; the cutting, the killing, the ex-fiancé, Arkham, her anticipated revenge, everthing.

"Why did you leave you fiancé?" Bane broke the silence, and once she heard his first question, she groaned.

"This, again? Really? We've been over this before."

"Not in depth. My curiosity runs deep."

"Lucky me…" She groaned before continuing. "I met him when I was 18, right after I'd gotten back from my League of Shadows adventure. He was a good guy, but unfortunately for him, he fell for me hard and fast. Things were nice for a while. But I realized really quickly that I was just pretending to be a normal. I can't have relationships like others can. My emotions don't work like his did. I always put myself first, I was a selfish partner. I don't even know why he asked me to marry him, but on the spot, I'd been truly happy at the prospect of a normal life with a husband. Once the initial excitement wore off, I realized that wasn't something I could have, and it wasn't fair to drag him into all my shit. So I broke things off."

"You keep contradicting yourself." Bane pointed out.

"How so?" She asked, brows furrowed.

"You keep saying that you're selfish and always put yourself before anyone else, but then you say you couldn't tie the boy down to a life with someone like you. That isn't selfish. In fact, it's quite a selfless thing to do."

"I'm selfish, but I'm not a monster. There's a difference. I wouldn't ruin his life."

"I don't think life with you would be a ruin." Bane admitted before he had time to really realize the impact his words would have on her.

"Well, now no one will get to find out." Anastasia replied with a sad smile on her lips. At this, Bane heart skipped a beat. That phrase made him feel quite uncomfortable with himself, for reasons he didn't quite understand yet.

"What's the worst thing that happened to you in Arkham?" Bane asked next. That question caught Anastasia off. It seemed very…intimate. It made her squirm. Not because he didn't want him asking it, but because she had a lot of mental material to sift through in order to answer that question. She took a deep breath.

"Well, the electroshock therapy wasn't too great." She started, giving him a pointed look, since he'd known about it and still hadn't broken her out right away. "But pain I can handle. Even that level of it. No, that wasn't the worst. The worst thing that happened to me was getting Dr. Traneth as my doctor. He was seriously sick in the head. Of course, the electroshock was his idea. Surprise, surprise! He was downright cruel, liked to run experiments on his patients and shit like that. I didn't even get the worst of those. I did get the worst of him as a person though." At that, Bane frowned in confusion. Anastasia hesitated before going on. "He raped me." At that, Bane clenched his fists together and an enraged expression graced what little of his face showed through his mask. "Don't get all worked up Bane. I mean, don't get me wrong, it sucked, but I got over it. I know I probably should have been more emotionally damaged cause of it, but it somehow isn't that big of a deal. It just, it happened, you know? There was nothing I could do about it, so I got over it. It was just the feeling of being completely used that way that sucked. I was angry for a long time about it though. Especially when I learned he was the one that insisted female patients get on birth control upon admission into Arkham. Makes sense doesn't it? The rapist, ensuring none of the women can get pregnant. What a fucking pig." Bane wasn't sure how to react to this information. He still had anger coursing through his veins from her confession. And just because she was okay for this, doesn't mean he was too.

"Here, feel." Anastasia extended her arm towards him and pointed at the middle of the inside of her bicep. He frowned but reached for her skin. As soon as he placed his fingers on her skin, he felt a small bar like structure under her skin. "I'm surprised you never noticed it before. Though I'm sure you read about it in my chart."

"I did. I was not aware of the details of the birth control method however." At that, Anastasia laughed. Of course Bane had known she was on birth control when they'd started having sex, otherwise he would have been much more careful. But it made sense that he hadn't known exactly what type of birth control the brand on the chart was.

"Well, since I got it put in when I first for there and you broke me out after just about 3 years, I got it changed right before you came along. So at least I'm good for the next three…." Before Anastasia finished her sentence, she realized how stupid it actually was. "…years." It wasn't like she'd be alive for that long, at least not as far as Bane was concerned. And awkward silence surrounded them. "What I mean is we don't have anything to worry about it."

Bane's hand on her cheek shocked Anastasia, as did his eyes staring straight into hers. She wondered what he was thinking of right at that moment. Though she'd never ask him, and he'd never tell her, he couldn't help but think how much she'd surprised him just now. She was admitted to being raped with barely any anger present. She should have been angry. W

"Why do you seek revenge on those that sent you to Arkham but not the man who raped you once you were there?" Bane asked her. At that, she scoffed with an evil smirk.

"Well, because I already killed him." She replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "He pulled me out of my room for one of our private 'sessions' and I stabbed him in the throat with a plastic knife I stole from the cafeteria. He bled out, no one ever found out what happened." She looked so pleased with herself at that moment, and Bane couldn't help but be proud of her. He was proud that she hadn't just taken the assault without fighting back, that she hadn't just rolled over and labeled herself a victim. Bane stroked her lower lip with his thumb, something he found himself doing more and more often recently. He found that when he did that, it made Anastasia take on this really intense facial expression, like she was staring at him in an attempt to look straight to his soul. Though he wasn't sure if she did that out of arousal or something more. He preferred not to think about it.

"Have you asked enough questions for the night?" She asked him, sounding slightly out of breath. He knew what that meant and smirked when he noticed her legs being squeeze tighter together.

"For now." He replied and gave her a gaze so heated, she couldn't resist what she did next.

Before Bane even knew what she was doing, he found her straddling his hips, both her hands on his chest, and her lower lip between her teeth. This woman was truly insatiable, he thought. He'd had her not even 3 hours ago and here she was, ready to go again.

Anastasia ground herself harder against his crotch until his hands came up to grab her hips firmly, flipping her over until she was pinned against the mattress and he towered over her.

"No." She suddenly said. That stopped Bane right in his tracks. She'd never said no to him before, and she seemed more than willing mere second ago. What had changed? "I don't mean no to sex, Bane." She continued after seeing his expression. "I want to be on top."

Bane paused. She'd never been on top before. If had only been him on top of the bed, her against a wall, or bent over a table or stage. Part of him wanted him to stay on top as a way to control her. But he was curious. He always wanted to see how she would react to different situations, and sex was no different. After several seconds, he pushed himself off her and sat back on the mattress, awaiting her next move. If she wanted to be in control, she would have all the control and would need to tell him exactly how she wanted this.

"Back up against the wall." She instructed him with not a hint of shyness.
He did as she told him and scooted back until he was sitting back against the wall. If ever he wished he had a headboard, this would be that moment. Next, she crawled over to him and sat on his lap. Though this was a new position, Bane didn't mind in the slightest. This gave him a perfect view of her body. At least, it would once she was naked.

Her lips found the spot on his neck she knew he enjoyed so much and nipped. Since she couldn't kiss him, this was how she initiated any intimacy with him. Bane didn't mind. In fact, it only took a minute or two of the sucking and biting before he started straining against his pants, which Anastasia noticed quickly. She stripped off her shirt and bra before reaching down to unbutton and unzip him. Just as she managed to free him from his constraints, Bane snapped and reached down to rip her panties off. He wrapped his arms firmly around her waist as she place one hand on his shoulder and the other on his knee, half leaning back.

In the next instant, Bane was buried deep inside her.

"Oh fuck, Bane." Anastasia moaned when he entered her. Having him inside her was more pleasure than she ever thought she'd experience from sex, and they'd barely just started. He elicited a sharp gasp from her parted lips as he pulled back and thrust in again. This time though, this wasn't how Anastasia wanted things to go. She moved her hand from his shoulder to his hips, in an attempt to keep him still.

"Don't move." At first, Bane was confused, but when she moved her hand from his hip to his other knee, he understood quite well what she wanted. Slowly, she rose herself up off him, and slowly sunk back down. That type of pleasure, he hadn't experienced with her before, and it pulled a deep groan from the pit of his stomach. Instinctively, both his hands tightly wrapped themselves around her waist, but he was careful not to use them to move her body up or down. She wanted to control, and he would let her have it for now.

"Bane." She moaned again. Oh yes, he was definitely okay with her being in charge.

After round 2 of that day, they'd both been on their backs, sweating and breathing heavily.

"Wow. That was…" Anastasia let a deep breath out. "…That was good." Which was an understatement and they both knew it.

"I quite agree with you." Bane admitted.

Not 10 minutes later, Bane was fast asleep, while Anastasia was only pretending to be. She hoped he wasn't pretending too, though he had no reason to. Her on the other hand, she had an errand to run. With less than 2 months till Bane blew them all sky high, she had to start her plan. She'd decided that her neighbor's scuba equipment was so far her best chance of escaping. Unfortunately, nowadays it seemed every time she left the cave during the day, Bane would somehow find her and bring her home. Now granted, it was usually necessary, but still. So, she would try at night. Hopefully, he'd be asleep long enough for her to leave and come back. Tonight, she would just be attempting to find the equipment. If everything she needed was there, she'd come straight back here. She'd go back periodically and test it out, make sure it all worked properly and she knew how to use it all over the next month or so. After that, she'd find a good secluded part of the town where she could drill a hole in the ice without anyone stumbling upon her. It wouldn't be easy, and she'd need to do it in short intervals if she wanted to make Bane never caught onto her.

Slowly, she rose from the mattress, grateful for the lack of springs to make noise. Before getting up, she looked back at Bane, whose eyes were peacefully sleeping. She quickly kissed the mouthpart of his mask before standing up, grabbing her shoes, and sneaking out.

Alright guys! That's chapter 25! I hope you liked it. I know it's not the longest chapter ever, but I think it had a lot of information in it, and it kind of got the ball rolling on the next stage of the story. Please review to tell me what you think. It's really reviews that ensure I don't have practically year long pauses between chapter!

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