Hi loves! It's your girl Missing In Action. I know I said I was gonna try to get on a consistent schedule and upload on Fridays but I have had a very stressful three weeks that have not allowed for me to get a consistent writing/posting schedule. I promise I have not abandoned this story and I have mapped out where I want it to go and everything, so do not fret. But here is a long chapter for you guys to hold you off until hopefully I can get on a consistent posting schedule. As always, thank you so much for sticking around and reading. You guys are awesome!

XXX

Anslee sat down on her bed. Today just seemed to be emotional rollercoaster after emotional rollercoaster. She didn't think that everything would come crashing down once she landed back in Gotham, but it seemed like everything that could go wrong waited to go wrong until she got back. She didn't even expect Wayne Enterprises to go under, but she shouldn't have been surprised considering Bruce's emotions proved to be destructive in the past.

She sighed as she collapsed on her back, but as soon as her head hit the mattress, her phone began to buzz. Without looking at the screen for the caller ID, Ans blindly hit the answer button and put the device to her ear.

"This is Anslee," she muttered into the phone.

"It's John, I know I just dropped you back off at the precinct not that long ago, but I got to thinking and I could really use your help," John spoke through the phone, by the sound of the background he was driving again.

"What's going on?" Anslee sat up once more.

"I have about five hundred pages worth of tunnel records and getting through them has proven to be a challenge. I could really use another trained eye in helping me if you're willing. I'll even pay for something for dinner."

Anslee thought about it for a few seconds. There really weren't any cons to helping him, John made it evident they were on the same side and were working towards the same goal. That, and she didn't have anything to do but sit in the manor and go over the same files she'd been scanning

"Yeah I can help you out, do you want me to meet you at the precinct?" Anslee stood up and walked to where she had discarded her shoes by the door.

"Meet me at my apartment, I'll meet you there with pizza if that works for you."

She began to slip on her shoes and grabbed her purse that was hanging on the doorknob of her door, "I'll see you there, I like pepperoni."

John could almost see the smirk on her face, "I'll see you there."

Anslee hung up the phone and she smiled to herself. It was weird to think that just a few days ago Anslee was ready to rip this guy's head off and now she was heading over to his apartment to help him in his detective work. But in all honesty, this peaked her interest from the beginning and she wasn't one to pursue something unless she really had her heart set on something.

XXX

A three intervalled knock sounded against the metal door of John Blake's apartment. Anslee stood outside of the home in a pair of comfy clothes knowing that going through tunnel records would take the two of them a few hours, and sitting there in jeans and a nice top probably wasn't the best option.

She could hear from the opposite side of the door a few footsteps and then the clicking of a deadbolt being unlocked before the front door stood open. Before her was John still in his uniform he'd been in when they were together previously in the day. He probably had just gotten home himself a few minutes before she arrived.

"Just in the knick of time, I walked in the door about five minutes ago," John smiled down at the woman, moving out of the way of the walkway so she could enter.

Anslee maneuvered into the familiar place, "I figured, you still have your uniform and your shoes on," she commented as she entered the living room.

Already, there were papers, files, and maps scattered all over the man's coffee table and even a few on the floor here and there. John's eyes followed the woman as she walked in. The smile still played on his lips as he chuckled.

"Quite observant, huh?" He asked her, shutting the front door and locking it.

"Force of habit," she shrugged, glancing back at him.

John smirked, walking towards the kitchen table positioned behind his couch. A large pizza sat on the table, the smell wafting from the box the delicacy was encased in.

"I got Aurelio's, I hope you're a fan. I know the school back in the days was always divided on which pizza joint was better, Georgiano's or-"

"Or Aurelio's," Anslee chuckled, "Yeah, I remember. I liked Aurelio's way better. My mom used to order from that place all through my childhood. It's even the place that Nico Gargano asked me to prom senior year," she sighed.

John pursed his lips, "Still a sour subject?"

She shrugged, "I looked him up recently and apparently he's GM at a car dealership in Central City. Kinda funny considering he always talked about how he was gonna be the most unbeatable lawyer the world has ever seen."

"Guess Law School didn't work in his favor. He was always more brawn over brains," John chuckled in return.

Anslee turned her head from the coffee table in the living room to John, flashing him a playful smile, "What do you say we start to dig into these records?"

"Sure," he nodded, "I'm gonna go change out of the uniform really quick. Feel free to go ahead and start eating, make yourself comfortable in the living room. I've got paper plates in the cabinet above the sink," he gestured into the kitchen.

As John began to walk back towards what she assumed was his bedroom, Anslee retrieved a paper plate as well as a slice of pizza before she settled at a spot on the floor in front of the coffee table. She took a bite of her slice of pepperoni pizza, her mouth watering at the stimulation of her taste buds. Anslee's eyes scanned over what was visible in front of her. John seemed to start some pretty good work so far and looked like he had some things marked on the maps with circles and X's. She chewed her bite slowly while she decoded the patterns he marked.

Footsteps entered the kitchen, then the closing of a cabinet door and shuffling of a pizza box from the dining room table signified John had gotten his own slice of pizza. He'd joined her in the living room, taking a seat perpendicular to her at the coffee table.

"So, I've managed to get a hold of records from John Daggett's company on jobs they've been carrying out over the past few months. His people have been working endlessly in different locations, mostly in the tunnels underneath Gotham, a few here and there on the different bridge entrances over the bay," he explained to her.

"So what you're trying to put together is?" Anslee glanced at him.

John looked back at her, locking his eyes into her own green ones for a split second, "A connection of projects. Linking those projects with certain dates in a time frame to determine if they fit the criteria of what we're looking for."

"And how did you know I'd be a good fit as someone to help you?" Anslee raised an eyebrow at the man.

"Gordon may or may not have accidentally let it slip the last time I went to see him that you studied for this line of work at Met U," John smiled at her.

Anslee snickered, "That was no accident, believe me. Jim has intention with everything he does."

John laughed at her statement. Of course he did, honestly that man was brilliant in almost everything he did. He probably saw the glimmer in the young detective's eyes when Jim talked about Anslee being back in town and coming to visit him. It was that glimmer that gave Jim the confidence to trust Anslee's life in John's hands. It was clear that Jim saw something in her that was important enough for her to be protected. However, John chose not to question it and followed through with Gordon's request. But he wouldn't tell her that.

XXX

A good three hours had passed before Anslee sat down another file and leaned against an armchair in John's living room out of exhaustion. Her brain was fried from all the ends she tied together concerning dates and locations of projects that had taken place. An exasperated sigh escaped her lips as she ran a hand through her hair.

John looked up from the file he was currently examining, a chuckle emanating from his throat at the girl's actions. "Yeah, I feel you on that, what do you say we take a little break?"

Anslee sat back up straight, looking at John with a lazy smile, "Much obliged," she chuckled back, "I think we've got a few good leads going, managed to get through a good chunk of those files."

"Thank you again, by the way, I can't even imagine how long that would have taken without you here to help me," He smiled back at her, "I've had a lot on my plate with all of this. Gordon promoting me, Foley hasn't been much help, plus Saint Swithens."

Anslee's smile slowly faded at the mention of the boy's home, she knew it was probably touchy for him. "I'm sorry about that...I asked my dad about it earlier. If he hadn't neglected his company then they wouldn't be in the place they are…"

John shook his head, "It's not his fault. They've struggled with funding for years. They had to start aging out boys at sixteen instead of eighteen because of the budgets. The tunnels have taken all the aged out ones. I coach ball there sometimes, and I had to pull a boy I knew well out of those sewer drains. Breaking it to his little brother was hard."

"Oh my gosh…" Anslee frowned sympathetically, "That must have been incredibly difficult for the both of you. I imagine you see those boys like little brothers."

He shrugged, "I've watched a lot of those boys grow up...his name was Jimmy, only eighteen years old."

"Eighteen?" Anslee sat up a little straighter, "He was fresh out of the home then I assume?"

John shook his head, "No..they started aging the boys out at sixteen since funding has been running low. I just don't want to see what happened to him happen to any of the other boys there. Although loss now just makes me feel more numb than anything."

"You mentioned your parents...I used to wonder what happened that orphaned you but obviously we were never close enough for me to feel comfortable asking. But earlier you just completely let loose and told me what happened. I want to say it's something that never gets easier to talk about, but you don't seem that way," Anslee tilted her head slightly.

"I've told that story countless times at this point. I just had to learn to accept it even if it hurt me. It's the way it is, you know?" He looked over to her.

"The drip finally stops," Anslee muttered, "But I know the feeling. For a while it shattered me to talk about what happened senior year. But coming to terms with it was something I had to do in order to finally move on."

"I'm still sorry about what happened to your mom and Harvey Dent. I truly felt for you and I wish there was something I could've done to help you, I just never knew how to approach and talk to you. There were so many times I wanted to, but I just couldn't. I wanted to let you know that you weren't alone and that I understood what you were going through. I wanted to be there as a shoulder for you to cry on if you needed it. Hell I can't believe I'm actually going to tell you this, but I was head over heels for you."

Anslee eyed the man, her face blank but her hands and feet were growing tingly. Her cheeks felt hot for she already knew she must have been blushing like an idiot in front of him.

"And I want you to know that you still aren't alone. I'm fighting for the same thing you are and I want to be by your side as you do it."

The silence in the room was eerily loud as they stared at each other. It felt like an eternity that their eyes gazed into the other, trying to read what the other was feeling or how they took in the information.

"John…" Anslee muttered.

He scooted closer to her, his gaze never leaving hers as he did so. His hand, though worn from years at the academy and in the field, placed itself onto her cheek gently as he leaned in closer to her.

"Please let me help you," John whispered back to her.

Anslee was frozen for a split second, but nodded in response. John let go of the breath he had been holding in anticipation for Anslee's response to the information she now knew. But her reaction and her actions themselves had proven he didn't need to be scared and run from his feelings anymore. He could be real and upfront with her, that's all the closure he needed in that specific moment.

"Can I-"

"Yeah," Anslee smiled, chuckling a bit at the gesture, but deep down she appreciated it.

John leaned in, tilting his head at a slight angle as Anslee did the same the opposite way. It only took a second for their lips to connect to the others in a sweet kiss. One that John had been yearning for since they were teenagers. It was short lived, but after a few seconds they pulled away from each other and stared into each other's eyes again.

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting to do that," John laughed.

"Yeah?" Anslee smiled.

"Yeah," John nodded.