4
Both me and Bruce are sitting on his bed. 'You didn't have to do that,' I say, cleaning his wound. Mark's punch was so hard that it slightly opened Bruce's left eye corner. 'Yes I did, that man is a pig. I don't even know why you started going out with him the first place; he doesn't deserve you.' He says. My mind starts to wander off to when we met. Bruce had held a party for all of the doctors at Gotham General Hospital as a thank-you for their services. It was an idea that was brought forward by the mayor after his sister-in-law's daughter had suffered from leukaemia and the chief of surgery at GGH had offered her a pro bono surgery. Every doctor got invited and it was a black tie event. Bruce was socializing with all the doctors and making jokes. I know that he was very interested in talking with the attending surgeons because he said that they were the ones who had the best experiences as doctors; Bruce always said that he wished he had been a doctor, something he may have inherited from his father. Anyhow, he'd joined a small group of surgeons at the party which included Derek, chief Webber, Miranda Bailey and Mark. I distinctly remember that night because the night before me and Bruce had a discussion about the way he was and his string of sexual encounters with multiple women. Back then I was deeply in love with him (well, haven't I always?), and running into random, semi-dressed women whenever I paid him a visit made me think of how little he cared about me that right after we'd seen each other the night before he had felt the need to have sex with a woman at the bar. I was looking to get back at him but I never thought of a way until the party. I was walking around in circles throughout the room when I finally decided to join Bruce. I walked towards him and found them laughing at a joke that Mark had said. 'Rachel! How lovely to see you! Let me present to you Miss Miranda Bailey, Mr Richard Webber and Mark Sloan. Mark here cracks up very good jokes.' I looked at Mark and noticed that he wasn't wearing a tie. A little bit too casual for a black tie event, don't you think... 'Nice to meet you all.' I said, 'My pleasure.' Mark replied. Right after I saw the look in his eyes, I knew that he was interested in me.
'I'm sorry, your name is…'
'Rachel Dawes,'
'Rachel, what a beautiful name. Say Rachel, may I buy you a drink?' I glanced at Bruce to see how he would react but he was too caught up in a conversation with Webber. I was furious at the fact that he didn't care, so I turned to Mark and responded with 'Sure' out of spite.
He held his arm out and I looped mine in his while walking towards the bar. I thought that I'd finally found a way to get back at Bruce for all of those humiliating confrontations with his one-night stands.
It now occurred to me; I met Mark at that party. He had asked me out on a date at that party and we started going out not long after. Bruce held that party. Bruce had invited Mark to that party and Bruce had introduced me to Mark at that party. If it weren't for Bruce I may never have met Mark. I hear my name being called and I snap back into reality when I notice a concerned Bruce looking at me. 'Rachel, are you okay?' He asks. 'Yeah, I'm fine. I just got to thinking… Remember that party that you held for Gotham General?' He looks at me with confusion, as if wondering why I would bring this up now. 'Yeah, I remember'. He says. 'That's where I met Mark. You were talking to him and a few other doctors and you introduced us.' I say. I can see a surprised look in his face while he starts to recollect what happened that night. 'Wow. I hadn't thought about that night in a long time. I gotta tell you, if I had known the kind of man he was at that time I would have given him the little surprise I gave him today.' We laugh together and after a few seconds only our smiles remain.
'Rachel, about the night before the party -' He utters,
'Bruce, you don't have to say anything, we already talked about that then.'
'No, I do have to say something. You deserve to be treated better. I may not have said it then but I have thought about it and I do know it and that is that everything I have done to you before was a slap in the face. I am so sorry.'
I can really see an apologetic look in his face and I know that he means what he says.
'It really is okay, Bruce. I was too sensitive. I really don't care if the cheerleading squad of the Gotham Rogues come out of that door as long as we remain friends.' I say. 'Well, there's not much I'm sure of but I can assure you that.' We stay quiet for a few minutes while I hold an ice pack below his eye when he starts looking at me with the same look that he had yesterday before we kissed. I knew where this was going and I knew that it wasn't a good idea but I didn't care. I return his look and we stare at each other for what felt like a minute when we slowly start to reach into each other. When our lips start to touch my phone starts to ring. I freeze for a second and ask myself if I really want to pick it up. If I pick it up, the moment is gone but if I don't, there's no going back. He looks at me as if asking what I want to do. 'I'm sorry but I have to grab this.' I say. 'Of course, go ahead.' I take my phone and walk to the guest room to find a text message from Emily, a fellow co-worker, telling me that I had to be at the office by eleven in the morning. I realized that I'd confused my ringtone from my text tone, which are two different sounds. That just makes me see how distraught I was. I sit at the foot of the bed for a minute and wonder what I should do; then I get an idea. I turn off my phone and place it at the bottom of my cluttered bag. I take my heels off, take the elastic band out of my hair and leave it out. I walk out of the room and walk into Bruce's bedroom. I find him sitting on the centre of the bed, 'What was that about?' He asks, 'It's not important.' I answer. I start walking toward the bed, climb on it and plant my lips on his. I kiss him with as much, if not more desire as I had the night before; an arduous, sensual kiss that neither of us could stop. It went on for some time until I leaned back with him. I now understood why all of the girls that walked out of his penthouse appeared to have a wide smile on their faces. The rest of the night was incredible, and worth the nineteen years I've known him. It was a night I looked forward to sharing with Bruce in more than fifteen years. I gave myself to him tonight, and he gave himself to me.
A/N: Don't forget to check out Rachel's outfit for this chapter on Polyvore at hard_days_night/set?id=57145953 =)