White Rabbit

[Harvey Dent/Two-Face]

It was the desperation with which Olivia said his name that brought Harvey back. He wrenched back control from Two-Face and stood trembling, his entire body swaying as he gazed at her. The whip fell from his numb fingers as he collapsed forwards, unable to hold himself upright. His head span.

"Ollie..." he whispered. "Oh God, Ollie. I'm so sorry..."

He looked up at her, eyes anguished, hating himself. "I .. I said I'd never hurt you again, darling. But I can't stop him. Oh, God help me." He reached out blindly for her.

[Olivia Hale]

Olivia jerked away from Harvey, hot tears streaming down her face. "Don't." She whispered, pressing herself against the head of the bed. "Just...just don't touch me, Harvey."

She clutched her knees to her chest as she tried to stop the violent shaking that had overtaken her body. It took several long moments for her to calm herself down after what she had thought was about to be a rather nasty end to her life.

"My fault." She finally whispered, knuckles white as she gripped the fabric of her jeans. "I shouldn't...shouldn't have said anything. 'm so stupid."

She looked up at him, a hint of betrayal in her eyes. Her voice took on a hard edge. "But you promised this wouldn't happen again, Harvey. I...my stupidity shouldn't make me fear for my life. It's unhealthy and I'm...I'm so tired of it. So tired."

[Harvey Dent/Two-Face]

It broke his heart to do it, but Harvey withdrew his hand clenching his fist to stop himself reaching out for her again. The fear in her eyes was torture to him. He bowed his head.

He finally looked up at her, anguish in every line of his face. "No, sweethert, no, Don't say that. It's nothing you did. You've been an angel to put up with everything that he does and says. He pushes and jabs and cuts until anyone would break... don't blame yourself."

Harvey could not stop himself from reaching out a desperate hand. He felt as though he was drowning, sinking down beneath black water away from the surface where there were others who lived and loved and laughed together. Down into the black depths of madness and sin where there would be only the scarred face and vicious, ardent whisper of his other self for companionship.

"I know. I promised... and it's the first promise I have ever broken." He looked at her again and swallowed hard. "Ollie, I would rather die than hurt you. Please believe that."

[Olivia Hale]

It felt as though someone was squeezing Olivia's lungs. She knew what needed to be done and it hurt. Harvey Dent broke her heart like no one else could.

She took his hand with both of hers and pressed her forehead against his knuckles. She sat like that for a long moment as she steeled herself for what would come next. Finally, she lowered his hand to rest against her chest, her heart pounding against his palm.

"Harvey, I...I love you. Don't you ever doubt that. You mean more to me than anyone and this...this kills me to say but..." Olivia closed her eyes and swallowed hard. When she spoke next her voice trembled with emotion. "I just can't do this anymore."

[Harvey Dent/Two-Face]

Harvey searched her face, but he knew what she was about to say. His heart was cold and leaden with dread.

"Olivia..." he could not form a response. He tried again. "Don't do this." He moved closer to her "I need you. You are goodness to me... without you, I don't know how I can keep going."

[Olivia Hale]

"Harvey, you don't need me." Olivia said quietly, face twisted with pain. "I'm not as good as you think. I..."

She hated herself more in that moment than she ever had. She was already breaking his heart and this may just send him over the edge. It had to be done, though. It wasn't fair to either of them to keep it hanging over their heads.

Her hands tightened around his and she stared at that, unable to look him in the eyes at her confession. "Harvey...I slept with Bruce."

[Harvey Dent/Two-Face]

All the colour drained from Harvey's face. His mouth worked soundlessly for a moment, utter disbelief in his eyes.

"You... with Bruce? My Bruce?" He shook his head. "It's not true. It can't be."

His hand trembled as he yanked it out of her grip and fumbled for the coin in his pocket. He gripped it so hard his knuckles turned white, welcoming the pain as it pressed into his palm.

Harvey pulled away from her, standing upright, his eyes panicked and lost. In an instant, his hand stopped trembling as he moved the coin onto its accustomed, comforting position on his curled fingers and his thumb flicked it into the air in a flash of silver.

He could barely bring himself to open his fingers, but when he did, the scarred and scratched surface was uppermost.



Despair overtook him and is entire body sagged forwards for an instant before he looked at Olivia and his gaze hardened into pure, cold rage.

"Then it's true. You and Bruce... just like Suzume said. She tried to tell me and I wouldn't listen. I trusted you. Loved you. Both of you."

He lunged forwards sudednly, grabbing Olivia's shoulders and clutching at her slim arms. There was a mixture of fear and fury in his voice as he felt Two-Face eagerly struggle to break free, called by the dark side of the coin like a demon dragged up from Hell. "Tell me everything. Do it now, or I won't be able to keep him from killing you. You know he'll do it."

[Olivia Hale]

Olivia watched Harvey wordlessly as he struggled with what she had told him. Every inch of her ached with guilt as the information processed in Harvey's brain. A fresh wave of fear washed over her as he flipped the coin. This really wasn't her day.

"Harvey, just-" She was cut off as he grabbed her. Olivia began to panic; Harvey had never been this rough with her. She saw the madness just below the surface, fighting to gain control of him.

Olivia swallowed hard and tried to push her fear aside. After a moment of tense silence, she spoke. "What do you want me to say, Harvey? I won't apologize because I'm not sorry I did it. I mean, it's not like we're monogamous. I don't even get 100% of your love and attention because of your stupid alter ego and his boyfriend. It isn't fair!"

She weakly hit his chest as fresh tears streamed down her face, anger and grief mixing into something much more painful. "I love you, you stupid bastard. I love you and I get shoved aside in return. You listen more to that fucking coin than you do to me. What do you expect me to do? Bruce...he would never hurt me. You say that you wouldn't either but then look at you! You allow yourself to be ruled by your fear of just letting go instead of facing it and fixing it. You are sick, Harvey. You're like a goddamed disease that spreads like wildfire and sucks the life out of everything it touches. I..."

She trailed off and looked away, breathing heavily. "Whatever. Bruce and I got ice cream and fucked. That part is pretty self explanatory."

[Harvey Dent/Two-Face]

Harvey caught her wrists as she struck at him, holding them tightly for a moment before letting her go. Still reeling at her confession, he held the coin up. "And do you wonder why? This coin is he only thing important to me that has never deserted me, never turned on me or betrayed me."

His voice was heavy, shaking with anger and grief. "Not like you. You and Bruce... my God, Olivia, why did it have to be Bruce? You and him are the two most important people in the world to me. Still, I suppose it's almost fitting for me to lose two people rather than just one."

At her next words, Harvey turned even paler before the blood ran back to his face, flushing his good cheek as anger rose in him. "You don't know what sickness is, Olivia. You'll never know what it's like. All those years spent poring over your textbooks, but I don't think you understand madness any more than Crane does. If you could ever know what it's like to feel madness clawing at you every day of your life, to fight it - to fight him until you hardly know what's him and what's you any more, you'd go as insane as Quinzel has."

He swallowed, and his hands clenched into fists again. "How long has it been going on? How long have you both been lying to me?"

[Olivia Hale]

Olivia wrapped her arms tightly around her midsection after he released her. "I didn't mean for it to happen." she said miserably. "It just...did."

Her face flushed with anger and her voice raised an octave as she spoke. "I don't know what sickness is, Harvey? Really? I live with you. I know what it is. You have destroyed my fucking life, you know that? I was happily stumbling through life before I met you and now everything just leads to misery."

She reached out to shove him away, eyes burning with anger and grief. "I should never have forgiven you in the first place. I should have known that you would bring me nothing but more pain. The White Knight of Gotham is dead. You're just a shell of the man you once were and you are so caught up in your own misery that you can't accept that. Grow up, Harvey. Stop your fucking pity parties and take a good, hard look at yourself. You say you want a family and want to love someone but you can't. You just fucking can't. Everything you touch burns."

She buried her face in her hands for several long moments as she tried to control the anger that he had sparked in her as months of frustration bubbled out at once. She finally took a shaky breath and looked up at him, anguish clear across her face. Olivia reached out and gripped the fabric of his jeans tightly, a part of her still desperate for his comfort. "Since your father's funeral." she whispered, staring at the scars across his chest and stomach. "We...got a little drunk and kissed...it sort of spiraled from there."

Biting back a sob, Olivia looked up and locked eyes with him. "I don't...God, Harvey, I don't want to hurt you. I love you so much and it is absolutely killing me. Please, you...I don't know. I just don't know, Harvey."

[Harvey Dent/Two-Face]

Harvey stood up, pacing as Olivia's voice rose. "Destroyed your life? I have given you everything I could, Olivia. You'd still be a lowly intern in the most fucked-up institution in America if you'd never met me. Do you think you would have survived Joker's takeover? If I didn't love you he would have sliced your throat open by now."

Her tone cut him and his throat tightened as she pushed him away. Finally, his mouth twisted in bitterness. He knew there was truth in her words, but they cut him with more pain than any knife or bullet, "You're right. He is dead. The moment the doctors first let me look in a mirror after they took off my bandages. And sometimes I wonder why I bother trying to keep his remains alive.. but you're wrong about one thing. I can love. I love you."

Disbelief and despair showed plain in his eyes. "Since my father's funeral? All this time... how could you do that to me, either of you? Lie to me, all that time. God, I'm such an idiot. Every time he came here and all you'd be thinking was about was each other." He turned away, voice shaking slightly.

He clutched tight onto his coin again as Olivia said she loved him, "No. You don't. How could you, if you've been betraying me with Bruce all this time. Perhaps you never really did. So what ws it about me, Ollie? It damn sure wasn't my looks. Two-Face is right, isn't he - you thought you could save me. "

[Olivia Hale]

"Joker wouldn't have killed me." Olivia replied, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "He only killed a few orderlies. Honestly he never had any problems with me until he and Two-Face started...well, when they got close."

Olivia didn't reply for a long time. She sat hunched over on the bed, tears flowing freely down her face. His reaction had taken the fight out of her and now she felt as if her entire world was collapsing. A weight had settled on her chest and every breath was an effort.

Finally Olivia rose shakily to her feet with her stomach in knots. "Harv....I'm so sorry. Please, you have to believe me. I...I made a mistake. I made such a big mistake. I shouldn't have even said anything and I'm sorry I lashed out at you but I've just been so frustrated. You have to understand...I...I hate being afraid of you."

Swallowing heavily, she stepped closer and reached out to place one hand over his heart. "I love you for you, Harvey. I have never loved anyone the way that I do you. The night we met...it changed me. I grew up."

She reached up with her other hand to touch the scarred half of his face. "I'm so sorry. I just...I didn't think. I was selfish and wanted something that was safe and was solely for me. Bruce was that. It was stupid...I was stupid. But Harvey...I gave you a second chance. We...Harvey, we can work through this. I want to. I want to be with you because nobody makes me feel the way that you do."

A fresh wave of emotion washed over her and she fought the very strong urge to fall to the floor and sob. "Please, just...please don't think I don't love you. I shouldn't have said what I did. All I want is for you to be happy and to not have to fight so hard every single day. Please...work with me. We can fix this. I want to fix it. I want to get to a point where I'm not afraid that by saying the wrong thing you'll snap and try to kill me. I want to not be so goddam stupid and selfish. I want...I want you. Harv, I love you."

[Harvey Dent/Two-Face]

Harvey shook his head, eyes fixed on her. "No," he said quietly. "Joker would have killed you eventually. Because you're not like him, and you believe in something. Because you would have stood up to him. And because until now I thought you were the only truly good person left in this city."

He wanted to go to her, to hold her and wipe away her tears and cradle her against his chest until the pain left her voice and her eyes shone with their old life and light. But Olivia was right. He burned everything he touched... and he was watching their love fall to ashes.

Finally he stepped forwards. He looked down at the sheer misery in her face, and could not help himself. He reached out gently to stroke her soft brown hair, then cupped her face. He bent, and with infinite tenderness, kissed her forehead. His lips lingered on the warm, soft skin, and he knew it might be for the last time.

When he straightened up, his eyes were decisive. "Can we work through this? Can we be fixed? I don't know, Olivia." He held up the coin. "But this does.

He looked at her for a long, silent moment, then sent the coin soaring into the air.

He opened his palm and looked down. The expression in his eyes was unreadable.



When he finally looked up, they were desolate.

"No," he said softly. "I love you... but we can't."

He turned away from her, head bowed.

[Olivia Hale]

As Harvey's lips pressed against her forehead, Olivia felt a glimmer of hope. If he could work to forgive her then perhaps they could fix things. She had never wanted anything more in that moment than to fix things.

Her stomach dropped as he held up the coin. "Harvey, no. God, please, you can't...you can't leave this up to chance. Please, just...don't flip it."

But he did.

Olivia did not recognize her own voice as she cried out in anguish at the verdict. "No! No, that's..." She stepped forward and grabbed his arm in desperation. She was trembling violently. "Harvey don't...we can't give up this easily. Not like this."

The weight of what she had done pressed down on her and her breath came in short gasps. She moved so that he faced her once more and gazed up at him, shaky hands resting on his chest. "I'm so sorry, Harvey. Let me fix this. Please, please let me fix this. We...we could go away somewhere. Just go away and work through it. I know we can. We've faced adversity before."

She reached up to take his jaw in her hands. "I didn't mean what I said." she whispered. "I didn't. Harvey, I will never give up on you. I love you. Please, please give this another chance. Give me another chance."

[Harvey Dent/Two-Face]

Harvey gazed at her in anguish as she grabbed his arm. "Don't think this is easy, Ollie. I love you. I don't want this, but it's not about what I want." He looked down at the coin. "It's never about what I want."

When she took his face in her hands, he gently reached up and removed her fingers. "You meant it," he said quietly, but without rancour. "So you don't love Bruce? Even with his handsome face and his unblemished criminal record and his mind that's all in one piece?"

His hands remained closed around hers."I wish we could. I love you. I wanted to marry you, Olivia. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you - to watch our children grow up and to grow old with you. But it's too late."

He slowly turned away and stood by the open window, gazing dully out over the city below.