Hey everybody! Wow, I really wanna thank everyone who reviewed, I was really shocked when I saw how many I got for only one chapter. Thanks! So, this is chapter two. It's kind of a set-up for the next chapter. Kinda sorta. Haha. I hope you guys like this one as much as you did the first. Keep reading and reviewing.—B.E

Chapter Two
Artwork

"I heard you met Bruce Wayne last night."

Ridley set down her glass of water and looked across the table at the blonde who sitting with her. Jayden Avery was one of the few models she used for her paintings or sketches. Unlike the other two girls and the one young man she normally had pose for her, Jay had become one of her few close friends in the few years the two had known each other. Where Ridley was dark haired, dark eyed and somewhat private, Jay was blonde, blue eyed and very much involved in every aspect of the world she could get her hands on. She actually reminded Ridley a lot of her younger sister Natasha.

"Yeah." Ridley said simply, but knew that her answer wasn't good enough for Jay. A light brown eye brow was arched in her direction. "Who told you?"

"Arielle." Jay told her, looking back at her with those blue eyes of hers as she took a sip of the drink she had ordered from the bar. "When is she getting here, by the way?"

"She said she'd be here soon and if we want to, order without her." Arielle was down at the gallery still, going over the orders and the paintings that had been sold the night before at the auction. Ridley hadn't stayed down at the gallery as long as Arielle had the night before, after her conversation with Bruce she pretty much slipped in on one side of the crowd and disappeared through the other. She hated being around those kind of people; the kind that were only there because her father had forced them to. The kind that only smiled because they had to, laughed when told to and then whispered harsh and thoughtless rumors behind your back the moment you left them. Ridley had grown up around them; one didn't have much choice when their father was the owner of the second largest company in Gotham City and then elected mayor in their teenage years.

"I'm not that hungry, I can wait. And while we wait, you can tell me about Wayne." Ridley rolled her eyes at Jay and leaned back against her chair. She hated her sometimes; she pried and pried until she got what she wanted out of her.

"We just talked, hell we wound up talking about Rachel." Jay's upper lip curled and she tossed her long hair over her shoulder. Jayden and Rachel had never been 'girl friends', they had only tolerated one another because of Ridley. Rachel didn't like Jay's over the top personality and Jay…well she just didn't like Rachel overall. "Are you happy now?"

"I guess. If you talked about Rachel, it probably wasn't that interesting. Weren't those two a…thing…once?" Jay asked, looking at her with an arching brow.

"Yeah, but not for long."

"She's not here anymore, you know? You could easily replace her. Make our fair Prince forget all about her."

"Jayden! You're as bad as Natasha. And me and Bruce Wayne? I don't think so. It sounds like some five dollar trashy romance novel." Jay's eyes lit up with an unseen laugh. Oh God, that meant trouble.

"I could see it now; the beautiful and talented painter who just happens to be the Mayor's daughter falling for the bad-boy, angst-ridden, rich playboy. It would sell millions. I'd buy it. We could put a picture of the two of you together on the cover, naked in your studio." Ridley choked on her water and coughed. "What? Don't like it?"

"No, Jayden! Jesus, you want to get us kicked outta here?"

"You two don't have to be naked. Does covered in paint sound better?"

"Oh my God!"

"Oh my God what? What did I miss?" Arielle's voice startled the both of them and two pairs of eyes glanced up at the other woman standing behind Jayden.

"We were just thinking about the cover of Riddie's trashy romance novel."

"She has a romance trashy enough for a novel? When was her last date?" Arielle asked, sitting down in one of the vacant seats at the table and then flagged down a waiter, ordering a martini.

"Umh…almost a year ago. That guy…what was his name? Remember him, the one who came in to fix the computers for you guys?" Jayden said absently, picking at her acrylic nails.

"Oh right! What the hell was his name? Kirk? Chris? Karl?"

"Kyle." Ridley deadpanned, looking at her two best friends. "And could you two stop talking about me like I'm not here? And about my relationships."

"Honey, you and Kyle so weren't a relationship." Arielle told her, laughing as she brought her glass to her lips. "It was two bad dates and one long weekend in Florida." Shaking her head, Ridley knew better than to fight with them. And besides, they were right. "So what brought this on? The whole trashy romance thing."

"Our little Riddie-Kins and Bruce Wayne."

"Oh! You two were out there for a long time."

"Wait! You were alone with him? Ridley Elise, you never told me that!" Jayden all but screamed. A few women sitting a table away turned back to look at who caused the noise and Ridley felt her face heat up; one of the women just happened to be Claudia Jefferies, her husband was good friends with her father. Mrs. Jefferies glared at Ridley, not at Jayden, before turning back around and leaning in, probably to hiss some new rumor about her. Old cow.

"I didn't tell you that because it wasn't important. But if you must know, I was out on the deck, alone, and then he came out there. He wasn't looking for me, so don't think that, it looked like he was trying to get away too. We were on the deck for like twenty minutes."

"And then you disappeared and so did he." Arielle said, looking at Ridley. Bruce had left? Why? Seeing her brows knotted together, Arielle realized they hadn't left together. They had just left. "You didn't know. He left right after you did. I saw you sneak out through the side door and then when I went to get another drink, he walked right past me. Seemed like he was in a rush."

"Don't ask me. I didn't even expect him to show up." Ridley said, shrugging.

"Must be horrible on him, you know? Just awful; so much money you could roll in it and probably make a suit out of it. Having most of the female population-and probably a good sized handful of the male-wanting to have your children and if they don't want that, they just fantasize about your body and enormous bank account. Any car in the world, reservations and probably a table at the best restaurants." Jayden said clucking her tongue, after their waiter had come by and taken their order.

"Jayden." Arielle scolded.

"What? Don't look at me that way. I'm just saying, the life of a playboy must be rough." Ridley and Arielle both rolled their eyes at the blonde.

Slowly, their conversation came to an end and Ridley sat back in her chair, thankful. If they kept talking about her and Bruce at the auction, there was a good chance that in the morning, splashed across the gossip column and tabloids would be pictures of the two of them. The two never spoke or were seen in the same circle, but the photographers and reporters would find the perfect picture and make her and Wayne into the hottest new couple in Gotham. Rolling her eyes, she ordered a stronger drink.

"So, how'd we do last night Ari?" Ridley asked a few minutes later, just before their lunches arrived.

"Good, really good. Fifteen paintings sold and sometime in the night, your dad started taking donations for the gallery. We made almost three thousand dollars right there alone."

"Do we need donations?" Ridley asked, sitting up a little straighter in her chair.

"No, but are you going to turn down money?" Ridley shook her head 'no'. "That's what I thought. And besides, weren't you talking about expanding the studio the other day? We could use that money."

"That's true. Guess you're right."

"I'm always right. Oh! I forgot to tell you, someone bought one of your paintings last night." Arielle said smiling. Jayden clapped, rarely was one of Ridley's paintings bought at those stupid auctions and besides, most of her paintings were given to friends or family.

"Who bought it?"

"Bruce Wayne."

Taking a step back, Bruce Wayne stared up at the painting the movers had mounted on the wall and squinted. It was up there straight, right? Yes. It looked straight. As promised, he bought the three pieces he had looked at with Miss Bishop and had them hung in different places throughout the manor. But this one, the fourth one, he had seen at the auction and had to have it. So, it was placed in his study. Only when he bought it did he find out that Miss Bishop had painted it; her business partner Miss McBride told him herself.

"Why did you decide to hang that one in here, Master Bruce?" Alfred asked.

"Because it's my favorite." Bruce said, with just a shrug of his shoulders.

"I should hope so sir. But what is it? If I may be so blunt, what am I looking at?" The older man asked, coming up alongside him. Both men stood there, both staring at the painting for a few more minutes. "Master Bruce?"

"It's Gotham, Alfred." Bruce told him, his lips twitching slightly.

"Gotham? Sir, I still don't see it."

"Just look."

And Alfred did. The large canvas had been completely covered with very dark colors: blues, purples, grays and of course, black. And through the dark paint, there were tiny squares of brownish gold. They were spread out; more here, less there and sometimes none at all. They kind of looked like…were they windows? Yes. Yes, they were windows. Windows in what looked like buildings. Stepping closer, Alfred realized that there was something in the foreground and the dark background was just that; a background. Barely highlighted, barely noticeable, were pale angular lines jutting upward and squaring off at the tops; sky scrapers shooting out of the black.

It took another few minutes for Alfred to realize that he was staring at downtown Gotham, at the business district. Bruce had been right.

"Very good choice Master Bruce."

"I thought you'd agree."

"Who's the artist, sir?"

"Ridley Bishop." Bruce said flatly. Alfred looked over to the younger man and furrowed his brows. The same woman who ran that gallery had time to paint such a piece? She was very talented, obviously.

"Bishop? As in one of the Mayor's daughters?"

"Yes, his middle daughter."

"The quiet one." Alfred mused, as he made his way over to Bruce's desk and started collecting the remains of his rather quick lunch that had been interrupted by the delivery men from the gallery and showed no sign of being finished. "Don't you work with her sister? Temperance?"

"Temperance occasionally does some work for us down at the office. She actually came by last week; she brought over some forms her father had drawn up. Something about Bishop Industries wanting to 'team-up' with Wayne Enterprises on a project." Bruce said, slipped past Alfred and over to his file cabinet. "Where did I put those papers?"

"I thought you and Mr. Fox decided not to work with Joe Bishop until the election was over?" It was true; Bruce and Lucius had decided to wait until the results of the election were in. Bruce didn't want anyone to think that by working with Bishop that he was endorsing him, supporting him in his campaign to elected for a third term in office. Pausing, with the file Temperance had given him in hand, Bruce looked over his shoulder at Alfred. "Master Bruce, why the sudden interest in Bishop Industries? You've mentioned before that you didn't like working with them."

"I can change my mind, can't I Alfred?"

"Yes you can sir." Alfred said as he picked up the tray he brought Bruce's lunch in on. "It strikes me as odd, that's all. First you buy that painting and now you're thinking about this proposal, does this have anything to do with Miss Bishop?"

Bruce stiffened. Standing up straight, almost unnaturally straight, he looked over his shoulder at Alfred and glared. This had nothing to do with Miss Bishop. He had only met her the night…no day before. But she was an interesting young woman, more like intriguing, striking. Smart. Passionate. Beautiful too. But no. No. No, it was just business. It was a business plan. That was all.

"It has nothing to do with Miss Bishop." Nodding, Alfred turned toward the door and headed out into the hall. Pausing in the doorway, he turned on his heel and looked back toward Bruce, who was now sitting in his desk chair, looking over his day planner. "Yes Alfred?" Bruce asked without even looking up.

"Shall I RSVP to Mayor Bishop's banquet next week?" Bruce just nodded and asked Alfred to close the door on his way out.

Ridley eyed the clock on the bottom right hand corner of her computer screen and sighed. She had been staring at the damn list of names for nearly twenty minutes. The list of names that Arielle had given her. The list was made up of all the people who had bought paintings at the auction and like always, she called and thanked them for choosing something for their gallery, asked how the delivery men had been, said she hoped that they liked what they bought and told them to come back and buy something again. Normal stuff, just trying to keep her customers happy. But of course, at the bottom of this list was Bruce Wayne. And of course there were no other 'W' last names that she could call first and just keep putting him off until she had no other choice. Apparently, she was already at 'no other choice'.

"Still working on that?" Looking up at Arielle, Ridley nodded. Coming into the office spaced that they shared, Arielle dropped down into the empty seat in front of her desk and grabbed the list—two sheets of printer paper—from her. Every name but Wayne had a check by it. "Just call him Riddie."

"He bought one of my pieces, isn't me calling him a little…I dunno…biased or something?"

"No, 'biased or something' would be if you sold him the painting and since you didn't…"

"You can call him then."

"No can do. I do paperwork and all that other stuff you refuse to do, you do the selling and the calling. That was our deal. So hop to it." Rolling her eyes, Ridley grabbed the sheet back from her and glanced at it as she punched in the numbers. Bringing the phone to her ear, she listened to it ring and ring and ring. It rang a grand total of six times before a machine picked up. Clearing her throat, Ridley slid into her polite voice, what she called her 'business woman' voice.

"Good evening Mr. Wayne, this is Ridley Bishop down at Bishop and Bride Galleries. I'm glad that you came out last night to our auction and heard this morning from my business partner that you purchased those paintings we looked at. And I also heard that you bought one of mine. I was very shocked when I heard that, but I hope that you like it. I do hope that our delivery men weren't any trouble and brought you your purchases without any incident. If you'd like to come by and have another look around the gallery, maybe make an appointment for a private tour, I'm sure Arielle gave you our card, so just give us a call if you're interested. Thank you again Mr. Wayne. Have a good night." Putting the phone down, Ridley looked over at Arielle and gave her a tight smile.

"See, that wasn't hard."

"I hate you."

"I know." She said, pushing herself up out of the chair. "And he's going to call you."

"Oh? How do you know?" Turning around in the doorway, Arielle looked back at her and smirked. "What? Did you do something? Did Jay? I swear…why do I keep you two around?"

"Because without us, Bruce Wayne wouldn't have your cell phone number." So that was what it felt like to have her jaw hit the top of her desk. This was why she didn't date anymore, too many people got involved. Arielle smirked again, gave her a tinkling little wave before disappearing.

"Oh my God." Ridley moaned, burying her face in her hands.