Don't worry I will finish my Harry Potter story I just need to watch the movie again when I have free time. While I was cleaning my room the idea for this story came along, probably because I have been reading a bunch of Batman comics. I love writing Batman stories and this one will be a Bruce/OC story. Hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: The only things Batman related I own are my two t shirts and comic books other than that the rest belongs to Warner bros. I own Emma and Todd and some of Emma's friends who appear in later chapters.
For Emma Carpenter life was finally falling into place. Sure it would increase the things she had to do before May 15th, giving her six months to complete two rather daunting tasks, she felt capable of achieving it. The reason she had 6 months to do everything was because on May 15th she would be marring her finance Todd Gellerman, and the day after there wedding they were flying to South America to spend two months trekking though the rain forest. Although Emma had never been hiking, having lived in the city her whole life she was willing to try new things.
Emma was a self made woman, she had built her interior design business with next to nothing, and now if any member of Gotham's elite needed to redesign there house they called Emma Carpenter. This was precisely why Alfred Pennyworth had given her a call. Sure decorating Wayne Manor would be quite difficult while planning a wedding but as Emma say it from a business stand point she would be crazy to say no to an offer like this.
She now stood outside the towering manor. She was in awe by the grand structure of the manor. So many rooms and so little time to decorate them all, she thought to herself. She knew Wayne Manor had been burnt down in a fire about a year or so ago now it was rebuilt on the outside but still needed décor on the inside. She walked up the stairs to the front door and rang the bell.
The butler answered the door with a kind smile. "Ms. Carpenter right on time." He took in her appearance. She was younger than he expected her to be, she wore a white blouse, black pencil skirt, and a pair of rather expensive looking heels. He blonde hair was pulled back in a bun where she had tucked what looked to be a black pen.
"Of course, that would be very unprofessional of me not to be." She said not waiting to be invited in but instead just stepping into the house. It was very empty, little or not furniture seemed to be in all the rooms and the walls were all white just waiting to be painted. Despite the white walls there still seemed to be a sort of dark feeling about the house.
"As you can see, nothing in this house is completed decoration wise." Said Alfred. He said watching as the woman pulled out note book and began jotting down notes. He noticed her brown eyes sparkle as she survived the entryway.
"Yes, but this is fantastic, designers dream really. I blank canvas." She said still writing.
"I assume this means you will be taking the job then Ms. Carpenter."
"I would be crazy not to." She said putting her notebook away.
"I wish more people would respond like that." Said the voice of someone who had just entered the foyer.
Emma turned to see Bruce Wayne, dressed in a suit and tie coming over to shake her hand with a charming smile. Emma had learned in life that it was all about keeping up appearances, putting on a mask to protect who you really where. Having been a member of the club for sometime it was very easy to recognize another member. Although Bruce Wayne was all smiles on the outside, she could tell from his eyes he was in fact hurting on the inside. She could only wonder what he saw in hers.
"Really? I doubt there are many people in this city who would say no to Bruce Wayne." She said with a smile, but her expression quickly turned to a serious one when she reached into her bag and pulled out a lot of paper work. "Now we don't have to go over all the details now but this in my contract, saying you won't hire anyone else, and that if I while working on you house happen to unearth any skeletons in your closet will not inform anyone of what I find unless well, you actually did kill someone then I'm afraid I must tell the police, Basically your secrets are safe with me."
"While we are on the subject of secrets, Master Wayne perhaps you should tell Ms Carpenter about the southeast corner of the house?" Said Alfred.
"Right, I've already had someone come a take care of that area of the house, and if for some reason you do find yourself over there I would prefer if you didn't touch the piano, it's very old."
"Of course, the only business I have with your life Mr. Wayne is the house you live in. Now I usually let my clients look over the paperwork and then I have then give me a tour of the house, but I have six months to complete this house so I wonder if I might trouble you for a tour now?"
"Right, I suppose you have a lot of work with a wedding to plan to." Said Bruce with a smile. When he had been talking to her earlier he had noticed the ring on her finger, she seemed like a nice girl he wasn't surprised she was already taken.
"Alfred can give you a tour and I will look over the paperwork." Said Bruce.
"Yes, right this way Ms. Carpenter." Said Alfred leading her down the hall.
To be quite honest Bruce didn't really care about what the house would look like. Sure he owned the house he lived in it but what did it really matter. All he needed was the southeast corner and his bedroom, other than that the rest of the house was really just so people wouldn't question Bruce Wayne and his wealth. No one apart who was still alive apart from Alfred knew who the real Bruce Wayne was and it would probably remain that way.
888 A few hours later Emma's Apartment 888
"My feet are killing me." She said with a wince as she plopped down on the couch and removed the shoes from her blistering feet. "I think that house needs a map with the little you are here dot, it's so huge."
"Sweetheart, what have I told you about wearing shoes like that. The first rule of hiking is take care of your feet." Said Todd giving her a kiss on the cheek before sitting down next to her.
"These are Jimmy Chu's there worth a lot I thought they would be comfortable, I wasn't expecting to walk a mile. God this place is a mess." She said looking around the apartment. Her apartment was what happened when two completely different lives occupied the same space. There were solar panels on their balcony next to a rather expensive vase. Fabric samples, paint swatches, and backpacking equipment scattered around the room.
"It's not so bad." Said Todd with a shrug. Todd was used to organized chaos. He two was self made man, he had invented a company that went around to businesses in the city and tried to convince them to use 'green' products and help the environment. He was kind of a fish out of water in the city and would much rather be somewhere with more space, but cities were the best place to do business. Todd was magnanimous, charming and basically perfect, and this wasn't a mask it was simply just the way he was. Emma knew she would be crazy not to have said yes when he asked her to marry him. She did love him of course. It wasn't that head over heels, butterflies in your stomach fairy tale kind of love, but the practical kind. After all real life isn't a fairytale, she of all people knew that.
"Easy for you to say, you love living in a mess." She said massaging her own feet. He put his arm around her.
"Sweetheart, I need to talk to you about something." He said in a tone that worried her slightly.
"What?" She said not really sure where this was going.
"Well the company wants to do this charity event, where we go down to Africa and give out a malaria vaccine the only problem is…" Todd started to say before Emma strung up from her seat.
"Oh my god charity event, I have to go to that charity event for the Gotham City Police Department." She said hurrying into the bedroom. Todd followed her watching her scramble around pulling various items out of the closet.
"Why do you have to go to these things anyway?" He asked leaning against the doorframe.
"Because it's good networking." She said changing into a nice red dress. "You should come, it says on the invite I can have plus one, you could be my plus one."
"Sweetheart, you know I hate going to these things. In fact you hate going to these things they always make you so stressed out and that's bad for your chi."
"Todd, I'm always stressed my "chi" as you put it probably hates me." She said moving over to the dresser to look for a pair of earrings. "What were you saying earlier? Oh but can you make it quick I have to leave in like five minutes or I will be late, and I'm never late."
"It can wait." Said Todd sulking slightly.
"Thank you baby, for reminding me about this." She said grabbing a purse and throwing some money into it.
"Yeah alright, I love you." He said giving her a quick kiss.
"You know I feel the same." She said with a smile before heading out the door.
There you go just a taste of what the story will be like and a little introduction to what the characters will be like. You will get more back story on Emma as the story progresses. Don't forget to review I would love to hear your feedback.