Lana Lang looked over her shoulder and stopped walking for a second. She took in the sight behind her, which was that of a very deserted looking street, dark with only the dimmest shade of light from some sparse street lights illuminating it. She looked in front of her and saw the pretty much the same thing. There were no cars going by, everything was pretty much still, but then she was in one of the more deserted parts of town. It wasn't her idea to be in this particular spot either, but once the subway broke down one stop too soon, she decided instead of waiting on it to get her home she would just come up and look for a cab. The search was proving fruitless. She was really thinking about turning around and heading back to the subway to wait it out there.

Lana sighed and pulled out her cellphone. She started to dial, but then remembered she was new in town and didn't really know anyone that could come pick her up as of yet. She reluctantly put her cell phone back into her purse, and continued walking. It actually seemed like she might be walking into a more deserted part of town. She stopped and considered turning and going back. She had heard the horror stories about this side of the city. She turned and started to go back when she ran into a burly man who had somehow came up behind her without her hearing him.

Lana fell backwards on the ground from the impact. She looked up to see a very big and very unfriendly looking man standing over her. She looked to his right to see two more very similar looking men next to him. She glanced to the left to see three more on that side. She started to get up but one of the men put his foot on her leg.

"Don't get up on our account," the man said, eliciting some chuckles from the rest of the group.

"You look a little lost," the one she had bumped into, chimed in.

"Uh...yeah.. the uh... subway broke down, so I thought..that...I would come up and look for a cab," Lana said, really wishing the man would get his foot off her leg, it was starting to hurt.

"I see," the guy took his foot and nudged the other guy's foot off of Lana's leg, much to her relief. She started to get up immediately. Once she got up it was then she realized that the men had made their way around her, and she was encircled completely by them. "Well, I'm afraid we don't get too many cabs in this part of town.. for some reason they seem to be afraid to come our way."

"Oh..well, that's not good," Lana said, trying to keep an eye on all the men, which was proving to be difficult.

"Yeah, not good at all," the guy responded. Lana had figured by now, he was obviously the ringleader of the group, or at least the spokesperson. "Well, I suppose we could give you a ride."

"Well, actually I was thinking of just going back and waiting it out at the subway," Lana replied, she tried to move past the men, but they only moved closer to each other, not giving her room to pass.

"Now, why would you go and turn down an offer of kindness like that?" the ringleader asked.

"Uh, I appreciate the offer, really, but I just want to go back to the subway and go that route... I uh...it's a pretty good distance away to my apartment and I wouldn't want you to have to go that far out of your way and..."Lana said.

"Yeah..yeah.." the man said. "Why don't you shut that pretty mouth of yours?"

"Yeah, you should definitely be seen but not heard," one of the other men chimed in. Lana was really terrified at this point. She had really gotten herself in a pickle this time, and while no stranger to being in situations where she needed help getting out, this time, she didn't have her backup to rely on.

"Yeah, it's been awhile since we saw someone this pretty on this side of town, Brock," another of the men addressed the ringleader.

"Yep, I think our place could use a woman's touch..." Brock said. "What you think, pretty lady?"

"Please.. just let me go," Lana said.

"You mean, you wouldn't want to come live with us?" Brock asked, fake pouting.

"Please..." Lana said, her voice breaking a little. She was trying not to show fear, but there really wasn't anyway out of this.

"You will be begging for different reasons, later," Brock said as he motioned to two guys behind her. They nodded and then wasted no time in grabbing Lana from behind. One of them grabbed her legs and the other grabbed her upper body and put his hand over her mouth. Lana struggled for all she was worth, and almost slipped out of their grasp a couple of times, but they eventually got a good grip on her and she found herself unable to move. "Let's go."

The men moved toward the alley in front of them, but stopped when one of them caught a glimpse of something moving in the alley.

"Hey..what's the holdup?" Brock asked from behind the men who were carrying Lana.

"Uh..I thought..." the man shook his head and started to move again. No sooner had he took a step he saw some movement again. "Something is in that alley."

"What?" Brock asked.

"Something... I see something moving," the man said.

"You two.. check it out," Brock commanded, point to two men to his right. They nodded and made their way past the group and into the alley. They disappeared into the darkness and the remaining group waited patiently for a response from them. After several moments, there was nothing, not even a sound coming from the alley.

"Hey, you two!" Brock called out into the alley. "What's going on in there!?"

Suddenly one of the men came flying out of the alley and landed in front of the group. Brock kicked him over with his foot to see he was breathing but unconscious. He pulled a gun out of his coat and cocked it. He nodded to the group to do the same.

"Here.." Brock took Lana from the men and made his way to the back of the group. Once he had gotten a good distance behind them, he motioned for the men to enter the alley. He watched as they disappeared much as the earlier guys had. He then whispered in Lana's ear. "Don't you worry, we'll take care of this, and be home in no time."

"I wouldn't count on it," a voice from behind Brock whispered. Brock turned around to see something he was sure was just a myth.

"You..." Brock said in disbelief, before he raised his gun to fire. Before he could pull the trigger, the gun was snatched out of his hands by something he didn't even see. He looked down at his hands in disbelief, and then quickly pulled out a knife and put it to Lana's throat. "Out here, guys!"

Brock glanced over his shoulder to see his men filing out of the alley, to stand behind him. He smiled triumphantly and turned back to the figure standing not moving in his path. As much as he wanted to get home with the girl and have some fun, being the person who took out the figure standing in front of him meant even more to him.

"Shoot him," Brock said, as he backed up and watched his men open fire on the black clad figure standing in the street in front of them. He watched as the bullets hit him, one after the other. The sound of the guns firing all at once was deafening, but still nothing stirred. Finally the shots died down and Brock

watched as the once unmovable figure in front of them, began to stagger before falling backwards on the cold and wet blacktop with an audible thud. The men began to hoot and holler and laugh.

"Seems he wasn't so invincible after all," one of the men commented.

"Yeah, he went down like any average wanna-be hero," another added.

"So what do you say we see how bad we blew him up," Brock said as he started moving towards the lifeless body in the street in front of him. He maneuvered easily even while holding Lana, because of their great size difference. He had gotten about halfway when he thought saw some movement, but brushed it off after a moment of scanning the body. Lana however didn't brush it off, and watched as the so called lifeless body moved his hand ever so slowly to something on his side. She jumped when he all of the sudden kipped up in front of them. To her surprise her sudden jump had actually freed her from Brock's grasp, and she fell away from him.

"My turn," the figure in black said. The men through down their empty guns, and pulled out various weapons, such as knives and clubs, and waited for it to make a move. To their surprise, he held very still and began to look past them, rather than at them. There was a strange sound coming from the dark alley behind them, but before any of them could react suddenly hundreds of bats began to fly out of it and circle them. It gave the figure the perfect opportunity and cover to move in and start taking the men out one at a time.

Lana watched from the ground as the guy who had seemingly came to rescue her disappeared into the bats and after a few moments she began to see man after man fall to the ground unconscious. Finally the wall of bats lifted and flew off into the night sky, and Lana saw that her rescuer was nowhere to be seen. All that was left to be seen was a group of unconscious thugs. Lana looked around to see that all of the commotion had not stirred the streets a bit, and it was then that she realized just how deserted a place she had really wandered into. Lana turned and began to head back to the subway when she ran into yet another large chest, this one much harder than the previous one, and this time when she felt herself falling she also felt two hands take hold of her arms and steady her. Lana looked up at the person who was now holding her in place in front of him. And although he had just saved her life, his appearance wasn't all that comforting.

"Uh...tha..thank you," Lana stammered out, trying to regain her composure, and trying to not be intimidated by the appearance of the person in front of her. He was clad in some kind of solid black body armor from head to toe, with black gloves and boots. He had a long flowing black cape, and a mask that held a scowl on it, and resembled very much that of a bat. The mysterious stranger gently let go of her and stepped back a couple steps. Lana looked into his eyes to see that he himself appeared to be a little shaken for some reason as he gazed at her.

"You shouldn't be in this neighborhood alone," He replied.

"The subway.. it..uh broke down," Lana stated.

"I know," he responded, before pulling a little device out of his belt and pressing a button on it. Lana watched him intently as he turned put the device back into his belt and looked past her. She was almost afraid to know what was coming since last time it wasn't so nice. She heard a low rumble approaching and cautiously turned her head to see a black... uh...something coming her way. It was some sort of automobile she supposed, just nothing like she had ever seen before. The vehicle stopped just in front of them, and the top slid forward revealing the inside of it. Lana peeked over into it and marveled at all of the buttons and levers in it. She was startled when her mysterious hero sunk down into the seat on the driver's side and then turned to look at her. "Coming, or would you rather try the subway again?"

"No..I'm coming," Lana said, as she pulled herself into the vehicle while trying to keep a shred of dignity as she did. The vehicle definitely wasn't made for a 5'4" woman to get in and out of on a regular basis. She finally settled into the passenger seat, and watched as the top slid back over them.

"Hold on," was the last thing Lana heard, before they were speeding off down the road.

(***)

Lana walked into her apartment and closed the door. She shook her head in disbelief a couple times. The experience she had was a little surreal to say the least. Almost being kidnapped by a group of thugs, being saved by a man dressed as a bat, riding in an unbelievable car, going speeds she had never been in her life...yeah, surreal seemed to fit. She put her purse down on the counter next to her and flipped on the lights in her apartment. She then walked over to the doors that led to the balcony. She opened them up and walked out into the brisk night air, that she had just came in from. Lana walked up to railing that separated her from the substantial drop to below. She rested her hands on it and looked out over the city.

"Seems like Gotham has some things in common with Metropolis," Lana said to herself. "They both have a mysterious hero running around."

Lana's mind then went to the superhero that took up residence in Metropolis. Actually it went to the real identity of the superhero. The man she had been in love with since she truly knew what love was, Clark Kent. Lana's eyes went to the ring on her finger. He had refused to take it back, he said he bought it for her, and her only. They had cried together that day, not the first time they had either. They had also cried when he got the news about his father's passing, they were just getting settled in their apartment when he got the call. She had never seen him look as vulnerable as he did that day, but by the same token, he had never looked stronger as well. She knew that Jonathan Kent would have been very proud of how he took care of his mother during that time. She was proud of him too, and she told him this. Lana realized her mind was just wandering now.. as it usually did when she thought of Clark. So many emotions came out of her at the thought of him, and she never knew exactly what she would get when she thought about him.

They shared many sad and happy memories together, and the day that they gave that up was the saddest of them all. It had to be that way though, or so Lana felt at the time. Yes it was her decision to end their lifelong bond. Why? Well, if you asked her at this very moment, she probably wouldn't have an answer. At the time her answer would have been that she just felt she needed to live out from under Clark's protective wing. She was having trouble differentiating Clark Kent from the man he transformed into to be Metropolis' protector, Superman. She just couldn't take that she was seemingly in love with two men, and the whole thing seemed to much for her. Her choice to leave was made even clearer, when she received the call about a new job offer with Wayne Enterprises. She interpreted it as a sign. He didn't. That was the last time she saw him, when she gave him the news of her accepting the job offer. He had offered to help her move, but she refused, because she knew it would just add to the hurt of leaving him behind.

So now, here she was. Clark Kent still very much a presence in her heart, but she could feel his influence on it leaving a little more with everyday she was away from him. This both scared and excited her. For so long she was sure she would always be in love with Clark, and for the longest time, that was fine. Now her person had moved on, and she sincerely hoped her heart could follow as well.

Just then something caught Lana's eyes in the sky. It was some sort of spotlight shining bright into the sky. It was a symbol of a bat. The exact same symbol she had seen on her mysterious hero's chest.

"Weird," Lana commented, before turning to go back inside, to finish the last of her unpacking, and to maybe do some research on a certain man in black.

(***)

Bruce Wayne opened his eyes and looked up at a familiar face at his bedside. The face of an aging, and distinguished man, who was smiling down at Bruce as he often did. Bruce knew he probably smiled like that just to tease him, knowing that Bruce was not a morning person, and that he was. But he loved the man almost like a father and couldn't get angry at him if he tried.

"Master Wayne, I know you were out late last night, and while you know very well I am a big fan of your overtime work, so to speak, I must ask that you do get up now," Alfred Pennyworth explained.

"Why so bossy this morning, Alfred?" Bruce asked as he pulled the covers back and sat up.

"Because sir, you have a very important meeting this morning, and I do not wish to get another call from that rather annoying secretary of yours asking why you are late again," Alfred answered.

"Oh man, how much time do I have?" Bruce asked, bolting out of bed and over to his closet.

"About a half an hour sir," Alfred responded.

"Why did you not wake me sooner?" Bruce questioned.

"Well sir.. you do have an alarm clock, and I do have things to do around the house you know, plus knowing you if I had bothered to wake you up earlier you would have just found a way to be late anyway," Alfred teased. Bruce just smiled and shook his head, before heading into the rather luxurious bathroom for a quick shower.

"Alfred could you pull the Ferrari around front, I'm going to need to have plenty of horsepower to make it to my meeting with Ms. Lang," Bruce called out into the adjacent room as he prepared his shower.

"Very well sir," Alfred responded as he walked out. "Too bad you can't use the other car for this one."

"Yeah, too bad," Bruce said before climbing in the shower.

(***)

Lana got off of the elevator and looked directly in front of her at a twenty-something blond woman sitting behind a desk and talking on the phone. Lana approached her and sat at a chair in front of the desk. She waited patiently for the woman to get off of the phone.

"Are you Ms. Lang?" the secretary asked as she looked at a computer screen in front of her?

"Yes," Lana answered, sitting up a little straighter once she was spoken to.

"Mr. Wayne is running a little late this morning, but he told me to tell you to just go on back to his office and make yourself comfortable and he would be in soon," the secretary said.

"Thank you..." Lana replied, before standing up.

"Just go down the big hall over there to the doors at the end," the secretary explained, gesturing behind her to the hall.

"Ok," Lana said, as she walked around the desk and walked over to the hall that went slightly to the left. Lana walked down the hall and stopped at the double doors at the end with "Bruce Wayne" written on them. Lana slowly opened the doors and walked into the very spacious office. It was at least half the size of her whole apartment and her apartment wasn't small by any means. Lana walked in and looked around taking the room in. There wasn't a whole lot decorating the walls. And the walls themselves were a little odd, being black and all. She couldn't ever remember being in an office with black walls before. Maybe she just hadn't noticed. Lana walked over to the large desk sitting towards the end of the room. She took a seat in a chair in front of it, much like she had done outside earlier. This chair was much more comfy though, Lana thought as she squished around on it a little, she laughed a little at herself for doing so.

"I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who did that the first time they sat in one of those chairs," a voice from behind Lana said. Lana was startled right out of her comfy chair and up to her feet. She turned to see a very handsome and very well dressed man standing in the doorway. Lana laughed nervously a little and knew she had probably turned bright red. In fact she thought she could almost see the glow of her face reflecting off of the black walls. Bruce chuckled slightly at her flustered state. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's ok.. " Lana said gaining a little of her composure. She extended her hand to Bruce. Bruce gladly took it and shook it.

"Ms. Lang, it's very nice to officially meet you," Bruce said.

"Likewise," Lana said noticing how nice of a smile Bruce had.

"Shall we get down to business?" Bruce said as he found himself reluctantly breaking the minimal physical contact of the handshake.

"Of course," Lana said, as she watched Bruce go around to the other side of the desk and place his briefcase on it. Bruce sat down in his chair and looked up at Lana and grinned as he waited for her to sit down. Lana sat down and this time with a little more dignity than last.

"So, I was very pleased to hear you had accepted the job offer," Bruce said. "I'm sorry I couldn't actually call and make the offer in person."

"It's ok," Lana said. "And I was very happy to accept the job offer, it's an amazing opportunity."

"Yes, I think branching out Wayne Enterprises is going to help out the economy of Gotham quite a bit," Bruce said. "And I am most excited about our new fashion division."

"It sounds great," Lana responded.

"When we came up with the idea, you were the first person who came into my mind to head it up," Bruce stated.

"Oh, well that's very flattering," Lana responded.

"Don't be modest Ms. Lang, the work you done in Metropolis was superb," Bruce said. "Metropolis Style's profits nearly doubled when you took over as head of their fashion division, and that definitely didn't go unnoticed."

"I had a great team working with me as well," Lana explained, still not accustomed to having people praise her for her work.

"I'm sure you did, and I promise to provide you with the best help Gotham has to offer, when you begin here," Bruce replied. Lana smiled in response, which in turn prompted Bruce to smile as well. He kinda got lost in Lana's eyes and lost his train of thought, and didn't realize it until there was a moment of awkward silence.

"Uh.. sorry, I didn't get much sleep last night, and.." Bruce said trying to explain away his moment of spazziness.

"Neither did I actually, so it's all good," Lana replied, grinning at him a bit.

"Oh..well I hate to hear that, not used to your new surroundings yet?" Bruce asked.

"Not really," Lana replied.

"Gotham can seem a little rough at times, but I believe that beneath the hard exterior the city has a heart of gold," Bruce said.

"I think there are definitely some great people here," Lana replied.

"Well if you don't mind me saying, the city got a whole lot nicer when you moved here," Bruce said genuinely smiling. Something he wasn't so used to. "I think having you here, will do great things for our city."

"Thank you, Mr. Wayne," Lana said.

"You can call me Bruce," Bruce responded.

(***)

Lana walked out of her shower and grabbed a towel to dry her hair off. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and grinned inside when she saw that she was already grinning outwardly. Today had been a wonderful day. The meeting with her new boss went great. He was very charming, funny, and well she had to admit, he wasn't hard to look at either. He seemed to be a very hands-on and caring boss as well. He personally escorted to down to floor of Wayne Enterprises that was going to be handling the new fashion department. He had introduced her to all the people she would be working with, and they really seemed like a bunch of friendly but focused people. She had very high hopes for the success of her new career and also had some hopes for other things as well. Lana walked into the bedroom of her apartment and over to her closet, she began to rummage through them looking for the perfect dress for the evening. She was startled when her cell phone rang.

"Hello?" Lana asked as she picked up the cell phone.

"Lana, hey.. how is Gotham treating you?" Lois Lane asked from the other end of the line.

"Hey, Lois, it's great to hear a familiar voice," Lana said. "And Gotham is..well it's different than Metropolis."

"Well, I just thought I'd call you and see how you were doing, you met any interesting people yet?" Lois asked.

"Yeah, you could say that," Lana said, thinking first of "The Batman", and then Bruce Wayne as well.

"So, you found any of the good "hot spots" yet?" Lois questioned.

"Hot spots?" Lana asked in return.

"You know, good restaurants, clubs, stores..etc," Lois answered.

"Oh.. no not really, been kinda sticking to my apartment," Lana said. "Can give you the number to a good Chinese and pizza place though."

"What's wrong with you, girl?" Lois asked. "You have been there for what.. five days and you still haven't gotten out and had some fun?"

"You know, there's been unpacking, and uh, you know..." Lana replied.

"Yeah... don't worry when I get there we will rectify the "staying in" problem," Lois stated.

"When you get here?" Lana asked confused.

"Oh, I guess I forgot to tell you first, I'm coming down to do a story on "Wayne Fashion"," Lois responded.

"Oh..well.. that's great," Lana replied.

"Yeah, there are some rumblings about him branching it out to Metropolis and Perry wanted us to get to the bottom of it," Lois continued. "Of course it's not my ideal kind of story, no real human drama or anything, but still I couldn't pass up an opportunity to visit you."

"Us?" Lana asked.

"Yeah, me and... oh.. I didn't even think about that," Lois said.

"So Clark's coming?" Lana questioned.

"Yeah, now it makes sense why he was trying so hard to get out of it, jeez sometimes I can be dense," Lois said. "I mean I sat there when Perry gave us the assignment thinking, "Why would he have a problem with this?" and your big break-up didn't even cross my mind."

"He doesn't want to come?" Lana asked, feeling sorta hurt, although she didn't know why she should.

"Well, you know, your break-up hit him hard, he isn't the same ol' upbeat Clark," Lois said.

"Oh..." Lana was beginning to feel bad.

"Oh, Lana, I'm sorry, I don't mean to make you feel..." Lois started to apologize.

"No it's OK, I suspected anyway," Lana interrupted.

"Hey, maybe it won't be so bad seeing him again, or maybe we can work it, so you don't or something," Lois said.

"Yeah..., actually I kinda have a date tonight," Lana said.

"A date, really?" Lois asked, surprised.

"Well, it's not really a date-date, I don't think, just a getting to know you dinner," Lana explained.

"That sounds like a date-date to me," Lois replied.

"It's business related though," Lana said.

"Ooh, this "non-date" wouldn't happen to be with the very gorgeous bachelor by the name of Bruce Wayne, would it?" Lois asked.

"Yeah.. "Lana replied, finding herself grinning again.

"Girl, you certainly have a way with tall, handsome brunettes, don't you?" Lois teased.

"Again, it's just business, he said he thought it would be good if we got to know one another better," Lana explained. "He is putting a lot of faith in me, to run "Wayne Fashion" and so it's only right he get to know in whom he is putting his faith, I think."

"Mmmhmm," Lois replied, before laughing a little. "Well, I won't keep you then, you go and have a fun "non-date" with the delicious Mr. Wayne, and tell him that I look forward to meeting him."

"Ok, and thanks for calling," Lana said.

"Line goes both ways you know," Lois responded. "Night."

"Night," Lana replied, before turning off her cell phone, and continuing her dress search with thoughts of two men now running through her head. She had no idea what it would be like to see Clark again. However she was determined to not focus on it, and enjoy herself tonight.

(***)

Lana rang the doorbell on the huge structure in front of her. "The word mansion had to have been made with this house in mind", Lana thought to herself. She took a look at her surroundings one more time, before the door opened and she was greeted.

"Do come in, Ms. Lang, Master Wayne is waiting for you in the lounge," Alfred said.

"Thank you," Lana said as she stepped into the mansion. She smiled politely at the friendly looking elder gentleman as he took her coat. He smiled in response and the gestured for her to enter a large room to her left. Lana nodded and then made her way to the room. She tried not to stare to much, but the house was very large, and very beautifully decorated. She had been in mansions before, like the Lex Luthor mansion for example, but it was not nearly as beautiful on the inside as this one.

"Hey, you look very nice," Bruce said as he watched Lana enter the room looking around at her surroundings more so than actually watching where she was going. He found that to be very charming.

"Thank you," Lana replied, looking at him and then down a little sheepishly when she realized she had just kinda wandered into the room without really looking where she was going. She took in Bruce's appearance as well and smiled, he was dressed very nicely. She was afraid maybe she would be overdressed in her fancy blue dress, and look silly, but nope it looked like the dress matched the evening perfectly so far.

"So, uh, dinner is ready if you want to..." Bruce said gesturing towards the dining room

"Oh, of course, I'm actually starved," Lana replied.

"You like Lobster?" Bruce asked as he approached her.

"Yes, very much so," Lana answered. Her stomach was about to answer for her, but luckily it contained herself. It had just been awhile since she had eaten anything really good. While she enjoyed pizza as much as the typical American, the thought of a lobster dinner, sounded miles better.

"Good.. shall we?" Bruce asked as he held out his arm for her to take. Lana smiled and took it, and he led them into the dining room.

(***)

Lana took the last sip of her wine, and placed the glass gently back onto the table. She looked down at Bruce who was just finishing up his as well.

"That was the best meal I have eaten, in a long time," Lana stated.

"Yes, that was very good," Bruce agreed. "I must compliment Alfred on this one."

"He is an excellent chef," Lana commented.

"Alfred is the best," Bruce responded. "And I must say, Lana, that I really am excited for you to officially start work tomorrow."

"I am very much looking forward to it as well," Lana replied.

"Did you find your new office satisfactory?" Bruce asked.

"Oh, yes, it was very nice," Lana answered.

"Good, I was hoping you would like it," Bruce responded, smiling. "So what do you say we take a walk on the grounds and talk some more, it's a lovely night out tonight."

"That sounds nice," Lana replied, as she and Bruce stood up from the dining table and began to make their way out of the room.

"So, tell me a little about your life in Metropolis," Bruce said, as they made their way down the hall and out a side door and onto the grounds behind the house. Lana smiled as she saw the beautiful lawn and and flowers located behind the house.

"Well, uh, you know it was your typical "starting a life in the big city" kinda thing," Lana replied.

"Did you like your job at Metropolis Style?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah, it was a great experience," Lana answered.

"Any boyfriends?" Bruce asked. Lana's hand immediately went to the hand with her ring from Clark on it. Bruce noticed. "I see there was one, very special to you it would seem as well."

"Yes, he was very special," Lana replied somewhat sadly.

"Well, I won't pry into your life," Bruce said, smiling at her.

"No it's ok," Lana responded turning to Bruce and returning the smile. Bruce was just about to reach out to take her hand when something in the sky caught his eye. He pulled back his hand, and began to fidget a little nervously. Lana noticed what he was about to do, and also noticed him stop, and began to feel a little disappointed.

"Listen, Lana, this is going to sound so lame, but I just remembered something I need to do, and it's really important," Bruce said.

"Oh," Lana responded.

"I hate to just end our date like this," Bruce said.

"Date?" Lana questioned.

"I'm sorry, did you not.. I mean...wasn't..." Bruce stammered.

"Yeah, I just wasn't sure," Lana replied.

"Oh..ok," Bruce said. "I like you a lot Lana, and this was a very nice evening for me, thanks for accepting my invitation."

"I had a great night too," Lana stated. Bruce smiled and then stepped closer to her. He leaned down and gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Bruce said as he pulled away and smiled at her.

"I look forward to it," Lana replied smiling back at him. Bruce then led her back to the house and once they got inside he stopped and gently untangled their intertwined arms before heading off down the hall in the opposite direction.

"Your coat Ms. Lang," Alfred said from next to the doorway. Lana grinned and then came over to accept his help with putting on her coat.

"You have a lovely house here, and my compliments to the chef as well," Lana said.

"Thank you, Ms. Lang," Alfred replied.

"Please, call me Lana," Lana responded. Alfred nodded and smiled in response, before opening the door for her. Lana then walked out the door and watched and down the many stairs in front of the property, down to her car. It wasn't till she got into the car that she actually noticed the "bat symbol" in the night sky again. She wrinkled her brow in curiosity for a moment, before starting her car. She drove off towards home, happy but also intrigued by her date with Bruce Wayne. Something about his actions at the end of the date seemed very familiar, but she would reserve any more judgments for the second date. For now she had to get herself mentally prepared for the possibility of seeing Clark again.