By the time Jim's shift ended, the night settled its dark clouds and stars over Gotham. The rain had quieted down, leaving wet pavement and dripping storm drains in its wake. As Jim and Holly pulled up to the front of the apartment building, Holly smiled at her dad as they got into the elevator. "I know the whole taking me to work thing went on longer than we thought it would, but I'm still glad I got to spend some time with you," Holly looked up at him. "Me too, Hols. And trust me, we'll spend more quality time together once this case is closed," Jim swore. The elevator dinged as Holly gave her father a quick side-hug before he unlocked the apartment door, greeted by the soft sounds of classical music from the record player.

"You two were out for quite a while," Barbara noted, her heels clicking as she entered the living room, giving them both a kiss on the cheek. Holly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as Barbara adjusted Jim's jacket. "Look at you and your excellent suit," She gushed. "You know, I'm so happy you don't have to wear that silly uniform anymore," "You told me it looked good," Jim replied. "I lied," Barbara whispered into his ear, pressing a kiss to his neck. 

"Please stop... I'm too innocent!" Holly cringed, making both Jim and Barbara laugh. "Holly, I need you to get ready for me, okay? I already picked out a dress for you. It's hanging on your door," Barbara kissed her daughter's head. "Where are we going?" the girl questioned, looking towards her slightly opened bedroom door. "Remember when I mentioned the art gallery? Well, we've got everything set up for opening, and we're holding a private party to celebrate. It'll be fun, I promise!" Barbara explained.

Just as Holly was about to walk to her room, Barbara could see the hesitation in her fiancé's eyes. "What's wrong, Jim?" She asked. "Uh... Barb, I'm beat and I think Holly's pretty tired too. Do we really have to go to this thing?" He sighed. Barbara paused for a moment, a tiny smile on her face as she could see just how working tirelessly such a high-profile case left Jim's eyes droopy with sleep deprivation and dark bags formed under his eyes. "No, of course not," Barbara replied. She looked at her daughter, silently asking if she felt the same as her dad. With a slight nod from Holly, she got her answer.

"Thanks," Jim smiled. "You owe me one," Barbara smirked. The family of three then sat on the sofa together, holding each other close with one of Barbara and Jim's arms resting behind Holly, their heads snuggling two of the thick cushions. Every time they were together like this, it warmed Holly's heart to know both of her parents were there to keep her safe. But as she snuggled into her mom's shoulder, she couldn't stop thinking about Bruce. She couldn't imagine the pain he must've been feeling at that moment. Never to hear his parent's voices wish him goodnight or make time in their busy schedules to be with him or even receive hugs and kisses from them ever again. It was a dark place that Holly's mind feared slipping into. She would never wish such trauma on anybody. The thought alone of going through that made her eyes glossy.

"So... talk to me. How's the case coming?" Barbara queried. "We're getting nowhere. I made a promise to Bruce Wayne that I can't deliver," Jim answered. "But you will, I'm sure of it," Barbara comforted. Jim stared off into the distance, hoping his fiancée's words were true, but doubt still lingered in the back of his mind. "I don't know, maybe I'm out of my depth," He whispered. "Hey, I very much doubt you are out of your depth. Even if you are, you know how to swim, don't you?"

Jim nodded his head, and Holly shifted her gaze back to him. "So swim, Dad," she smiled. "Thanks, girls. I don't know what I'd do without you," Jim started to feel a sense of comfort as both his daughter and fiancée reached over to hug him. "So, are you guys hungry?" Barbara asked, breaking the brief silence between the three of them. "It's okay, mom. We grabbed a few hot dogs on the way back," Holly responded. "When I'm Mrs. Gordon, and you two are living here all the time... I'm gonna put you on a proper healthy diet," Barbara chuckled. Jim raised an eyebrow at that while the look in Holly's eyes said, "Oh no," Junk food was Holly and her father's guilty pleasure, but it didn't mean they couldn't sneak an ice cream in now and then when they were out on the town. They'd just have to make sure Barbara didn't suspect their sugar highs.

~~~~~~~~~

Hours had passed since the Gordon-Kean Family had been reunited, and as the sun first broke the horizon, Jim woke up to the sound of his flip phone ringing. Quietly as he could, he slid off the sofa to answer it. "Hello?" His tired voice spoke into the phone. "I got a lead! Meet me at Fourth and Grundy in an hour," Bullock said over loud and drunken chatter. "On my way," Jim replied before hanging up and looking back to his sleeping family. Pressing a soft kiss on Barbara and Holly's heads, Jim went out to meet up with Bullock. As the sky began to glow with the soft orange and yellow light, Jim could see his partner sitting on concrete steps, sneaking in a few sips from his flask. 

"Hey," Bullock murmured when he noticed Jim and attempted to stand up, but the alcohol in his system made him dizzy and lose his footing. "You all right?" Jim questioned. "Just a couple of drinks, I'll be fine," Bullock assured. Jim looked at him, the look in his tired eyes telling Harvey to get to the point. "Fish Mooney heard from one of her fences. A guy tried to sell him an antique four-strand pearl necklace with gold settings, one strand broken," Harvey explained. "Like the one Martha Wayne was wearing," Jim recalled. Bullock nodded, saying their person of interest was a man named Mario Pepper. And as they entered the apartment building he was living in, Bullock brought his partner up to speed on Mario's record.

"Career street thug, long sheet; robbery, assault, rape, extortion, drug dealing," Bullock detailed. "Sounds like a nice guy," Jim spoke sarcastically before knocking on one of the apartment doors. When it opened, a redhead girl who looked to be around Holly's age looked up at the two men with wide eyes. "Hi, what's your name?" Jim asked, crouching down to the girl's level. "Ivy," she answered. "Is your daddy home, Ivy?" Jim's voice went soft so he wouldn't scare her. "Y-you don't want to talk to daddy," the redhead shook. "Why is that?"

Ivy peered back inside her apartment, almost like she was afraid something or someone was lurking behind the door listening to her every word. "He's mean..." Ivy whispered. "Hey, who is it?!" A loud voice called out. Ivy ran away from the door, leaving it just the tiniest crack open. Heavy footsteps approached the door, and a man opened it the rest of the way, glaring at the two cops. "Mario Pepper, we need to talk," Jim spoke. "I've done nothing," the felon smirked. "So, it'll be a pleasant talk then,"

Jim and Bullock entered the home, sitting at the table with Mario, while Ivy watched their conversation behind the potted plants, and Mario's wife stood off to the side, trembling with fear she was desperately trying to hide. "Where were you last Saturday night around 9:30?" Jim questioned. "I was here at home with my family," Mario answered. "Th-that's right, he was here," His wife nodded. "Pearl necklace sound familiar?" Bullock inquired. A look of confusion spread on their person of interest's face as he claimed he wasn't too familiar with snatching one.

"Then, I guess you don't mind if we take a look around the place," Bullock glanced around the living room, surrounded by more plants. "Don't you need a warrant?" Mario squinted. "You're a felon on parole. All we need is reasonable cause," Jim explained. Just as Mario seemed to nod in understanding, He flipped the table and quickly ran off to the back of the apartment, looking for an escape. The sudden flip made his wife scream and shiver with fear as Jim and Bullock chased him, following him up the fire escape and onto the roof, where Mario continued running.

As Mario continued running, he pulled out a handgun and started firing at the cops, but they both quickly ducked down behind the stacks of bricks and concrete until the bullets stopped firing in their direction. As the felon made his break for an escape, Jim hurdled over the space separating the building from the next. "Stop! Stop, or I'll shoot!" Jim shouted, pulling out his own gun. Mario tried firing his weapon again, but he realized he was out of bullets. Tossing the gun to the side, he fled down the next fire escape, Jim right on his tail. 

And as they reached the ground, the chase continued as they ran through a clothing manufacturer and a soup kitchen, back into another alleyway. But as Jim stepped onto the narrow road, Jim was surprised to find that Mario had disappeared. Pointing his gun in front of him as he walked down the alleyway, Jim kept an eye out for where Mario could be hiding. But as Jim heard a metal clang in the distance, his guard dropped for just a second, and Pepper stepped out of his hiding spot armed with a knife and started swinging at the cop. Jim dodged every attempted strike, grabbing the lid of a metal garbage can to shield himself and possibly knock the knife from Mario's hand.

The two men struggled, attempting to throw the other off. But as Jim pushed Mario against the graffitied wall, the felon used all the strength he had to throw Jim onto the empty road. As he raised his knife to go in for the kill, three gunshots rang out, and Jim looked up to see Bullock had arrived just in the nick of time, shooting Mario dead. "Thanks," Jim panted. Bullock nodded before helping his partner to his feet, the both of them hearing the sounds of sirens driving down the main road.

"I called back up. We'll find out soon enough if Pepper's our man," Bullock explained. Back inside the apartment, a paramedic tended to Jim's minor defense wounds as cops and the crime scene unit searched the apartment. Just as Jim's wounds were bandaged, a gasp came from one of the investigators. He held up a clear bag that was starting to gather dust and pulled out the contents, a four-strand pearl necklace. "We got him!" he announced. Jim and Bullock looked away from their current positions, and sure enough when they checked, it appeared to be Martha Wayne's broken necklace.

The two men looked at each other, grins spread across their faces at finally finding the man behind it all. When they arrived back at the GCPD, everyone who hadn't been at the scene caught wind of what had happened, and the moment Jim and Bullock stepped into the building, everyone started clapping, praise for finding the Wayne killer spread throughout the room. They were treated like heroes, and as Jim took it all in, he couldn't wait to tell Barbara and Holly later that night.

~~~~~~~

"This just in, the man behind the double homicide of billionaire couple Thomas and Martha Wayne has just been identified as Mario Pepper, a convicted felon found to have Martha's Wayne pearl necklace inside his apartment. According to investigators, Pepper robbed the couple before shooting them to death in an alleyway just outside the Monarch Theatre.  Pepper was shot dead by GCPD detectives Harvey Bullock and James Gordon earlier this morning while trying to make his escape," The latest news report played on the TV inside the Gordon-Kean apartment.

"Mom! Are you seeing this?" Holly called out as she took a bite of her lunch. Barbara entered the living room, and after seeing the headline, she turned the volume up. When Jim and Bullock's photo flashed on the screen, Barbara and Holly knew he had done it. Their advice the previous night led him in the right direction. It was all over. "He actually did it!" Holly smiled. "Thomas and Martha Wayne's funerals are scheduled for this Sunday. But thousands of mourners across Gotham have paid their respects outside the gates of Wayne Manor over the past few days. And while we can only pray and hope for the ones grieving this loss, we can all rest easy knowing Justice has been served," 

Holly got up from the kitchen counter, walking over to the windows with a view of Gotham. While she was happy that her father fulfilled their promise to Bruce, she could feel a sudden shift in her stomach, something she only felt when she was guilty or something felt off. Maybe something was off about this whole murder case. Maybe there was a lot more her father and the GCPD missed. For such a high-profile murder, more people had to have been involved. "Hols, what's wrong?" Barbara questioned, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I dunno, something feels strange," her daughter admitted. Barbara rested a hand against Holly's forehead, not feeling any signs of a fever, and questioned her further.

"This whole case, someone's hiding something! Whether it be the other cops or the people the Waynes were associated with. I don't know what it is, but-" "Shh, it's alright. It's over now, the guy's dead. Your father's a hero," Barbara assured. No matter what her mother said, Holly couldn't unshake the feeling. And while she didn't want to bring it up to her father and make him second guess if Mario Pepper truly was the man behind the murders, Holly couldn't keep it bottled up. A knock came from their front door, and Barbara went to answer it. Closing the door a few seconds later, she returned with two black envelopes, one was addressed to Holly, the other to her father.

As Holly opened hers, she pulled out a small piece of parchment, it was an invitation to the funerals. Barbara looked over her shoulder, reading the cursive black handwriting. "I think Dad got one too," Holly sighed. "Are you wanting to go?" Barbara inquired. "Yeah, it's only right. And Bruce needs all the support he can get," Holly nodded.

~~~~~~~~

That Sunday, Holly followed her father into the funeral procession, blending into the crowd of people dressed in black. Some with tears in their eyes, others shaking their heads in disbelief. There weren't dozens of strangers at the funeral, everyone in Gotham's high society was in attendance, members of Wayne Enterprises, Thomas and Martha's closest friends, Mayor James was also there. But out of everyone she saw, Holly's gaze kept returning to Bruce as he tried to hold back his sobs as he stared at his parent's white coffins, flowers resting on top of them as the ceremony began. Alfred patted the young boy's shoulder, reminding him to stay strong.

When it was all over, and people started filing out, including Bruce and Alfred, the father-daughter duo stood up from their seats and walked over to them. Bruce looked over his shoulder, noticing the two coming forward and stopped in his tracks. "You kept your promise, thank you," Bruce spoke softly. "I'm sorry you didn't see a trial," Jim apologized. "That's okay," the young boy nodded, holding his hand out and they both shook it immediately. As the two youngsters briefly locked eyes, Holly offered him a comforting smile in hopes of better days ahead. Bruce's appreciation was evident even through his tears.

Alfred looked at them both, giving a short nod of approval before following Bruce back to their car. "I feel so sorry for him," Holly whispered. "Me too," Jim whispered back as Holly's head rested on her father's side. While their sadness and hope for Bruce lingered, Jim could feel something more was going in on in his daughter's mind. "Hols, you okay?" He asked. The need to tell him her inner thoughts was becoming more and more difficult to suppress, and as Holly took a deep breath, she braced herself for the same denial Barbara had when Holly tried to explain a day prior.

"I don't think the case is closed quite yet. There has to be more going on," Holly admitted. "What are you talking about? We found the pearl necklace in Pepper's apartment. That's enough physical evidence," Jim clarified. "When I read the report, they said the necklace was hidden in a bag of drugs. Maybe it's just my thoughts wandering, but what if Pepper was framed? What if the real killer is still out there?" his daughter questioned. That question made Jim stop in his tracks. He turned back to her, eyes wide as saucers. No... don't tell me we killed an innocent man! Jim knew full well what the consequences would be if that were the case, and the thought of being sent to prison made his body shiver. And as one specific detail echoed in his mind, he needed to know the answer.

As dark gray clouds thundered above them, Jim paced back to the car, ushering Holly into the backseat, trying to win the battle against his inner doubts as he sped through the streets back to the apartment.