Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations all characters end up in. Everything else belongs to someone else and that's the way of it.

Epilogue

Six years Later

"All right, class, that's it for today. I expect chapters ten and eleven read and ready to be discussed on Friday. And that does include you, Mr. Court." The professor sent a very pointed look in the direction of the back of the row where the biggest slacker in the class tended to seat himself. And then the teacher was looking in Bane's direction, surprising him. "Mr. Blake, if you would remain after class for a moment that would be appreciated. It won't take but a minute."

Nodding his head automatically, Bane wracked his brain trying to think about what his professor might want to talk to him about. He was at the top of his class after all, and he didn't have anything overdo or coming up assignment wise since he'd handed in his last major essay for the class last week.

But there was no point in useless speculation, so Bane simply waited until the majority of the room had cleared out of his fellow students before shouldering his satchel and walking down the short steps leading to the main floor and his teacher, who was leaning against his desk with some stapled together pages in his hand.

"Sir?"

"This is yours."

Taking the paper from him, Bane immediately recognized it as his essay, the nearly perfect mark he'd been given making a quick smile light up his face before it fell into his usual cool lines. He'd known he'd killed the assignment, but Professor Daniels could be…eccentric sometimes with both his teaching and his marking. For that matter he was only law professor Bane had that actually still required paper copies rather than just digital.

"You are perhaps one of the toughest, most draconian thinking student I've ever had, Mr. Blake. Our way of arguing and looking at the justice system bear few similarities to each other, and yet I find your logic unarguable and myself all the more disturbed for it. I haven't stopped thinking about some of your arguments since I read them. Excellent job."

"Thank you, Sir."

"You're going to make a hell of a lawyer, young man. I sincerely pity anyone who ever goes up against you. I thought I should tell you since the term is almost over."

Reading between the lines, and aware of this particular professor's political views, Bane found himself reassuring the old man since it was obvious Daniels was trying to hide how horrified he was at the idea of the corporate world getting their hands on someone like Bane to fight their battles for them. "Sir, I'm going to start my own firm, which will specialize in representing low income clients."

Blinking in surprise, and his jaw actually dropping a little, it was vividly apparent that the professor hadn't seen that curveball coming. "I had assumed, since you double majored in political science and history, along with a minor in psychology, that you were more interested in a political career, Mr. Blake, and that the law degree was a stepping stone to that."

"Possible, but unlikely. My husband is of the mind that the world isn't ready to be run by me. However much good I could do while forcing them to change."

The look on his teacher's face made it clear that Daniels agreed with his Robin one hundred percent there.

Amused rather than insulted, Bane asked the professor if there was anything else. He didn't want to rush the man, but he had to get home ASAP as he had a meeting to host there in less than an hour.

"No, no. That's everything. I hope the rest of your day goes well."

"Thank you. Yours as well."

)

Ten minutes later Bane was behind the wheel of his car, done for the day with classes and looking forward to the coming summer which would be spent working with Barsad in the gym instead of being cooped up in a classroom. Not that he wasn't learning, and didn't find most of his classes at least somewhat interesting, but the last five years had been jammed pack full of schoolwork that had seriously cut into his workout routine. Not that he had anyone to blame but himself for that, since he'd taken extra classes and piled on his workload, but now that he was in law school Bane was determined to slow down a little, and wasn't taking any summer classes.

And having neglected to pick music to accompany him, Bane easily heard the sound of a familiar ringtone going off in the silence of the vehicle.

"Speak of the devil." Putting in his Bluetooth Bane accepted the call, a smile on his face as he greeted Barsad.

"Hello to you too. Good time, or are you busy?"

"On my way home, so now works for the next twenty minutes. What do you need?"

"Just wanted to confirm what time I'm picking you up on Saturday."

Since no one could see him do it, Bane rolled his eyes behind the sunglasses he wore. "You do realize that it's been years now, right? I don't need you or Robin to babysit me. Neither of you wants to be there and I'm capable of driving myself." Which was why he hadn't called Barsad to confirm a time earlier.

He had needed them the first couple of years, Bane wouldn't deny that when he looked back. The investigation, trial, and Talia's eventual sentencing of life in a mental facility had wounded him in ways Bane had never been able to put into words to anyone. The one saving grace of it all was that her captivity, and the realization that she would never be free again, had broken Talia's mind to the point where she didn't suffer the way she had been up until that point. His sister had retreated into her mind, and now lived in a world where she was Queen and the facility her kingdom. She let him visit her now and didn't remember Robin, tolerating his and Barsad's presence with absent distain when before she'd tried to attack them ever time she'd seen either of them.

These days Bane visited her every two weeks, and neither Robin nor his best friend allowed him to go without one of them with him.

"What's your hubby think of you going alone?"

Even knowing that Barsad meant the term 'hubby' teasingly, Bane couldn't help but feel the familiar rush of happiness and glee at hearing Robin referred to as his husband. They'd gotten married that fall, Robin having insisted that they wait until he'd at least gotten his bachelor degrees and had time to 'spread his wings' before committing himself to him for life. Mostly because his cop had made it clear that once they were married his Robin would dedicate his life to punishing Bane if he ever got it into his head to leave him.

As if he ever would.

And well aware of what his husband thought when it came to the idea of him visiting Talia without backup, Bane didn't bother to argue. "Ten work for you?"

The sound of amusement was a little grating, but Barsad was apparently not in the mood to needle him. Too much, anyway. "Ten it is. We can talk over the expansion ideas on the way."

Now that he was in school full time Bane had turned over management of the gym and the neighborhood over to Barsad, who had been happy enough to take on the responsibility no matter how much he might occasionally grip and groan about it. His friend hadn't enjoyed stepping out of his habitual shadows at first, but in Bane's opinion Barsad had grown to like taking a more leadership role.

And the brilliant and fiery redhead Robin had introduced Barsad to at their wedding was making his friend quite happy these days, last time he checked.

"How is Barbara? Looking forward to classes being done soon?"

"We both are. Especially since I don't speak computer geek the way she does. And she's going to start coming to the gym fairly regularly. She still reminds me of Blake when he started."

Understanding what his friend meant, Robin had been trained as a cop and not as a warrior, Bane supposed that the commissioner's niece had been trained to protect herself, but not ruthlessly or with a warrior's mindset. Barsad would see to that that changed, especially since Robin's friend was as competitive and driven as Robin himself.

His little bird was a fierce warrior now, Bane thought with pride, Robin putting in more gym time than Bane himself lately.

Which was definitely going to change this summer, Bane informed Barsad when his friend pointed out that he'd know how Barbara was doing if he stopped in more often. The comment that he was going to become one of those soft businessmen who sat behind a desk all day was not appreciated.

He needed to get some of his bulk back, maybe, but it wouldn't take much effort at all on his part to reach peak efficiency and power again. Not that he'd let himself go, Bane reassured himself as Barsad continued to poke at him, hating any suggestion that he'd let himself go soft in the past six years.

He might be law abiding, but he had not lost his teeth or his strength. And he never would if he had anything to say about it.

The rest of the drive to the house was spent talking about nothing of real consequence, Bane saying his goodbyes as he pulled into the driveway, both of them having things to do elsewhere.

Once Barsad had hung up Bane pulled the Bluetooth from his ear and stored the device away before turning his attention to the front of the house, the sight making him pause as it sometimes did. The idea that it belonged to him and Robin shocking him all over again, as he'd never expected to have a real home, much less with a husband and a dog.

It was small, and had been rough around the edges when they'd bought it, but they'd fixed it up nicely and it was theirs, which was the main thing. They could have never afforded it and his education on Robin's detective salary of course, and as a full time student Bane hadn't been able to work elsewhere. But as co-owner of the gym, plus the money he'd 'inherited' from Talia's father to make the man's dream a reality, they'd been able to swing it. Robin hadn't liked the idea of an uneven split, since technically Bane had far more money than his husband, but he'd agreed to let Robin take care of the other bills until they were more even in their spending, which satisfied his bird's pride and sense of fairness.

Sometimes Bane felt guilt about spending the money in a way its original owner wouldn't approve of, but when that happened he remembered, or Robin reminded him, that the money had been intended to be used to make the world a better place. That was what Bane would be doing with the education he was getting, using his law degree to stand up for those who didn't have the power or resources to do it themselves. It would just be improving things on a smaller scale than his former mentor had intended.

Or at least that was the plan.

)

And aware that he had things to do, and that sitting around in his car served no real purpose and was only wasting valuable time, Bane gave his head a hard shake to clear his mind and then opening the door stepped out and stretched for a moment before retrieving his schoolbag from the back. Closing that door and then locking it all up, Bane paused to exchange nods with a neighbor before heading for the front door and letting himself in to find, much to his surprise, that Tucker was waiting for him.

The Golden Labradoodle's tail wagged back and forth madly in greeting, though they'd trained him too well for Tucker to bark or do anything else as he offered up his paw to be shaken, Bane hunkering down to do so. A firm shake hello, and then Bane gave the dog's ears a thorough rub and some petting before asking him to go find Robin, Tucker immediately whirling around and heading for the stairs leading to the second floor.

Well that answered the question of why Tucker was inside the house rather than in the backyard where he'd left him that morning. Robin wasn't scheduled to be off shift for another twenty minutes, but obviously he'd come home early for some reason.

Following after the dog, who arrowed down the short hallway to the bedroom, Bane watched Tucker push the door open wider as he passed through it, the sound of Robin's voice reaching Bane's ears then, making him smile.

Pushing the door open that much further, Bane took one look at his lover's face and cursed. "Dammit, Robin."

"Hey, don't give me that. It was a little old lady."

"An elderly woman gave you that large bruise on your cheek?" Crossing his arms in front of him, Bane did his best to appear stern while struggling not to notice the fact that his husband was only wearing a towel after a shower that had left him all flushed and wet.

"Yup." The way Robin rolled his eyes made it clear he was dead serious. "There I was, on 35th street, minding my own business, when I see a little old lady looking lost and scared, because yeah, this is Gotham. Not a vacation hot spot for anyone with a working brain. But she's old and I'm a cop, so what do I do, I go over to offer my help. And what does she do? She fucking tosses what's left of her iced tea in my face, and then she bitch slaps me with her fucking handbag while screaming that I'm mugging her, for Christ sakes. Then, to shut her up, I move my jacket so she can see my badge, only she sees my sidearm, and fucking faints dead away on top of me. My ass is already turning colors too."

Okay, he had to laugh at the picture being painted for him no matter how fond he was of Robin's ass. This was definitely going into the Top Ten Best Police Stories Robin had ever come home to tell him about.

"Yeah, yeah, hilarious." The small smirk on his face ruined the offended look Robin was pretending to sport. "Anyway, by the time I had her taken care of the Sergeant told me I could clock out early to make up for last week's overtime, so here I am. Our shower's better than the ones at the shop."

"Too true." And moving in Bane placed a kiss against the colorful bruise before drawing his man into his arms for a quick cuddle, just standing there holding him for a couple minutes before pulling away with considerable reluctance. "I'm heading downstairs. The others should be getting here in about fifteen minutes."

The Innocence Project had a chapter in his law school, and Bane had been eager to join it when he'd started his law classes. Today he was hosting a meeting with four other members for the first time, trying to find a way to exonerate a man who'd been in prison for eleven years for a series of murders they were increasingly sure he hadn't commit.

"And I brought you a little surprise for that."

"Oh?"

"I told you I'd look into and talk to the cops involved in the case, didn't I? Asked around? Well it turns out there was a few other murders during that time, four to be exact, that bore enough similarities with the Wilson case that they originally considered that they might be connected, only Wilson couldn't have committed two of them, and the others weren't likely either, so they were put down to a copycat or coincidence. Never solved. One of the rookies on the taskforce, he didn't think it was someone else, but he was just an officer, no clot. But I got you the case files."

"I love you." That called for another long, drawn out kiss.

"Love you too. Now go downstairs and put out all that disgustingly healthy food you threw together so that there will be more room in the fridge for the good stuff."

That called for a hard pinch to his little bird's butt, Bane enjoying the yelp he got in return.

"Annoying, Brat."

"Old Man."

Grinning at each other, the two shared another kiss and then Bane headed out with Tucker at his side, knowing that as soon as he was dressed Robin would come down and help him set up and then stay with him to help them work on the case because that was the sort of marriage they had.

That was who they were now.

And it was right, straight down the line.

The End