A new story! And an update! It's taken me a while to actually post something, but I think you'll like this story. It's something a very good friend, Brenda, and I have started. The characters will switch back and forth; you will know when the POV's change, but we'll be keeping who's character is who's. For now ;D rated M for language Hope you like :]

Chaper one:

The scent of sugar and baked goods swirled around me, probably because it was embedded deep into my skin. Forever I will smell like cake, people will meet me and their mouths will water. Children will instantly become hyper and unbearable within my presence. But, this was the life I wanted to live. The life that I had dreamed about for years…

Although, now that I had it, I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it. Looking around my empty little shop, I felt my heart start to plunge into my feet. The pastel colored walls, a pink that looked like cotton candy, made my stomach turn. The tiny little French café styled tables made me want to scream. All of the hours decorating this place were enough to make me break down in tears. It wasn't fair; I spent all the money I had just to get my parents to tell me I told you so. I made damn good cakes, I had customers but I wasn't booming with business. The place was slow enough for just me to run it.

So, from nine in the morning to seven at night I was here. I spent the day all by myself, nothing but the sounds of a baking pie or the whirring of the mixer, a phone call or a handful of customers were my only company.

"I should have become a fucking doctor." I muttered to myself, sipping the coffee I had made myself. I looked up at the wall clock; it was the retro black cat clock. It had been a gag gift from a friend of mine, but in all honesty, I was very attached to it. It was only a little after noon.

Seriously?

I turned my back to the door, staring into the sterile and still bakery. If I had a staff the place would be cramped and almost impossible to work in. But for just little ole me, it was perfect. An oversized kitchen for me to create in.

I heard the little bell on my door ring, I spun around like an over excited puppy, wagging its tail like a whip. I saw a tall, elderly man who was dressed in a causal suit. He gave me a pleasant smile, reminding me of a grandfather that always gave you hard candy.

"Hello, welcome to Cake Paradise." I cheered, "how can I help you today sir?"

"Well I want a cake made for a friend of mine, it's his birthday." The older man gave me another smile, "I also like to help out new businesses."

I smiled back, "well I make a pretty damn good cake," it was a cocky statement but it was never a truer one. "Can I have a name for this order?" I pulled out a small order from and a pen.

"Wayne, or would you want my name?" He asked, still smiling at me. By now I was wondering if he was paid to be so nice.

"Either or is fine," I replied, in the back of my mind I recognized the last name. But from what, standing there I blankly filled out the order. A three tiered cake, each layer a different flavor of cake but covered in butter cream frosting. Nothing too difficult.

Just about as I was going to give the sweet elderly man an estimate on the cake, I remembered what was so intriguing about the name. I started to laugh, it was a soft noise but loud enough for the man to hear me.

"For some reason, I thought this cake was for Bruce Wayne, how silly of me." I said, rolling my blue grey eyes. "As if right?"

Instead of the man laughing with me, he looked a little surprised, "either my master is very well known or you must be able to read minds."

I stared at him for a very long time, I felt as if my mind was a scratched CD and it was skipping. If I was making a cake for the Bruce Wayne, this might kick my business into high gear. I could actually make a living; no longer will I have to live in my rundown apartment and eat nothing but top ramen. I wanted to jump up and down, maybe even throw my arms around this man.

"I have one more request ma'am," the man said, "if you could please deliver it to the Wayne Enterprises in person? I will be unable to pick it up."

I slowly nodded my head; my red hair fell into my face. "Y-y-yeah I can do that." I muttered, still in shock about this turn of events.

The man turned to leave, but he paused at the door. "I forgot to get your name Miss, so I can give the front desk a heads up before you drop off the cake."

I cleared my throat, "Autumn Davis," I replied in a whisper.

Once more he smiled at me, opening the door and letting the sweet sound of the chiming bell to fill the room. When I was all alone in my tiny little shop, that was my dreams come true, I laid my head down on the white counter top. My heart was racing nervously; I had to bake this perfect cake. If this was a party there was bound to be press, I was going to get some coverage of some sort. Like a high school girl that just got asked out on her first date, I ran to the wall phone in my creative kitchen and dialed my best friend.

It rang once, twice, a third time. I waited it out before the voice mail picked up. Sighing I mouthed the entire little message; I hated how these things hadn't changed since they were first made.

"I know you're probably super busy with all of those people who hear voices or whatever but I want you to take a lunch break because I have something I need to tell you. I don't want to tell you on the phone. I refuse to." I was babbling, by now my best friend Alice knew that this meant I was excited.

"Call me back, as soon as possible. Or I will keep on calling you." I ended my message with a playful threat, just to make sure that she got the hint that I needed her. I placed the phone back into its holder. Hands on my hips I walked around the small room. A smile couldn't stay away from my face. I looked over at the phone; it was as silent as a corpse. I wasn't kidding when I said I was going to call her nonstop…

ALICE POV

Goddamn, Autumn.

I pressed the red buttone and ignored her fifth call. I was currently stuck in a meeting with several doctors including Jeremiah Arkham, the owner and resident egg-head of Arkham Aylum. We had been reporting on our clients and how we were treating them. Many doctors argued with each other that their treatment was the right one or instructed others how to do their job. This hadn't been part of medical school.

I had already discussed my patients and treatments and was patiently waiting for the other doctors to wrap up their spiels. Across the table from me was Jonathan Crane, a psychiatrist at the asylum. Recently, he had been getting several of Carmine Falcone's thugs into the asylum by claiming that they were insane. A lot of people disagreed with him, but there was one case I agreed on; Victor Zsasz. I mean, the guy cut people up for the mob and hobby. And then he tallied the kills on his own body.

Jonathan's ice blue eyes locked onto my foresty green ones and a sly grin grew on his face. There was no point in denying that he and I had been seeing each other for a while. He was actually the one who convinced me to intern at Arkham in my last year at Gotham University. I could tell the look on his face was asking for a lunch time delight. With a snort, I looked back at my boss, hoping this stupid meeting was ending soon.

"Alright doctors," Jeremiah called, breaking up a rather heated argument between a male doctor and a female intern. "Let's discuss this another time. Seeing that it's 12:30, and we're all hungry, we'll reconvine at two. Is that alright with everyone?"

Everyone nodded and closed their notebooks and gathered their things. We shuffled out of the meeting room, stomachs growling everywhere. Knowing Jonathan was following me, I tried to appear busy while walking to my office. Retrieving my cell phone, I noticed I had several voice mails. I put the phone to my ear to hear Autumn bitch about me never answering blah blah blah. Once the voice mails ended, I sent her a text and put my key in the lock to enter my office.

There was suddenly a pair of hands on my hips and a set of lips at my neck. A small smile came to my face as I threw the door open and pulled away from him. Like a puppy, Jonathan followed me and shut the door behind him. He sat on my desk while I put my jacket on and retrieved my car keys.

"Where are you going?" Jonathan asked, crossing his arms.

"Autumn's bakery. She left me like ten voice mails. Apparently she has something important to tell me." I gave him a smile and a light kiss on his lips. Jonathan rolled his eyes. "What?"

"Can't she wait until you're done with work?"

"You know she can't. Besides, you and I have lunch together everyday and dinner most of the time, too. I'll be back before two anyway." I turned on my heel and left him in my office.

After manuvering through the multiple security checkpoints, I arrived at my car that had once belonged to my father, a '98 BMW 750iL. The only reason I had it was because my mother couldn't stand selling it after my dad died so she gave it to me knowing I'd actually take care of it. I dropped by a Chinese restaruant before arriving at Cake Paradise at 12:57.

"Allie, you won't believe who just walked in!" Autumn squealed, running to a cafe table with two cups of coffee.

"Nice to see you too, Tummy," Personally, I loved the nickname I had given her in sixth grade. Autumn just thought it ment I was calling her fat. "Got some eats. It's Chinese."

After pulling out two styrofaom cartons, one for her, the other for me, I gave Autumn a fork and we both dug into our asian lunch.

"So what's going on now? An old boyfriend or something? Don't tell me it was Cole."

"Psh, Cole's old news compared to this. Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne's butler, ordered a cake!"

I almost choked on my sesame chicken. "Alfred Pennyworth? That's pretty much like Bruce Wayne walked in here himself-"

"I know!"

"-I heard that if Alfred goes some where, like a restaruant or clothing store, if he gives it even an okay review, that place gets an amazing amount of business." I spoke quickly and excitedly, as if we were in grade school again.

"That's why I HAVE to make the perfect cake. The fate of my business relies on this one cake. If Wayne and Pennyworth give it two thumbs up, I can move into a bigger space, hire qualified people, and rake in some serious dough." Autumn had a strong look of determination in her eye. I knew it well; it ment that she was on the path to get what she wanted. And no one could stop her. Not even her annoyingly strict parents.

"Maybe you can finally get a boyfriend too," I mused, playing with my stirfried veggies and udon noodles. An amuzed smile came to her.

"Yeah, one of those would be nice. Speaking of, what's going on with Jonathan?"

I played with my noodles some more then finally put a clump of the Chinese pasta in my mouth. Autumn waited patiently as I pushed around my chicken, chewing my noodles and veggies. Soon, I swallowed the noodle-vegetable mush and quickly replaced it with a piece of chicken. My best friend's patience was wearing thin as she began to tap her foot on the floor. Knowing I was going to tell her sooner or later, I finished my chicken and took a deep breath.

"I think he's cheating on me." I avoided the gaze of my best friend. It was embarrassing to me; I hadn't ever had a guy cheat on me...that I knew of.

"Really?" Autumn leaned on the table, waiting to hear more. "And how did you come to that conclusion?"

"He's always out late and he makes up these really piss-poor excuses of 'oh, I was at the asylum doing some work,' or 'I went out for dinner with the guys.' And he'll call me at work and ask me to tell Jeremiah that he's taking a sick day." I sat back in my chair and crossed my arms.

"Dump him," Autumn said, digging into her fried rice. "I said this in the beginning and I'll say it now: Jonathan Crane is a loser and he always will be. After four years of dating he won't even ask you to move in. What kind of douche does that?"

I wanted to defend him, but there was nothing to defend. Except probably the great sex. "You know my mom's going to be heartbroken when I tell her Jon and I have split. I think she loves him more than I do."

"Well, it's not her relationship, is it? If you're going to dump him, don't wait too long. Let's not get stuck in a relationship you can't get out of, yeah? So, the doctors at the asylum still buzzing about the Batman?"

I loved how well Autumn knew me and how often we were on the same page. We should have been born as sisters. But instead she got stuck with parents who were as strict as the Nazi SS, and I got the dirt poor parents who had four kids too many too soon. Sometimes I wish I had been born into Autumn's family where the house was quiet and I didn't have to babysit a brother who was two years younger and twin sisters who were ten years younger than I. I knew Autumn would have rather been born into my family, where going to the principle wasn't a matter to call a psychologist on. Mr. and Mrs. Davis had been rather shocked that it was their daughter who decided to be a baker and that the Burnett's daughter had chosen to be a psychologist.

After Autumn and I finished our lunch, we threw the styrofoam containers away and said goodbye. I didn't want to go back to work and see Jonathan. Not after what Autumn and I had talked about. I had to break up with him. Or at least confront him about the subject. I wasn't very good about breaking up with guys. Especially those who worked with me.

I hope you guys really like this :D We both have lots of fun writting it together c: Please review it and tell friends about it...if you like it, haha. Constructive criticism is welcomed. Chapter two should be up soon :]