Disclaimer:I do not own any characters that belong to DC Comics. However, I do own all the original characters.

Warning: This story contains sexual contents, some explicit language and violence.


Breathe Slow

Chapter 4.

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As soon as Alfred heard the kettle boil, he rushed to the kitchen and poured the sizzling water cautiously into a beige mug. He dropped an Earl Grey teabag and placed it on a black bamboo tray with a piece of coffeecake on the side. When he went to the living room, he spotted Bruce reading his daily newspaper.

"I thought you were staying at the penthouse today, Master Wayne. You weren't here this morning." Alfred placed the tray on the coffee table and stood still right beside him. Bruce folded the paper in half and tried to gulp down the torrid tea as if it was cold beer.

"Ah, this is hot-" He stuck out his tongue like a puppy and frowned.

"Of course it is, sir. May I ask where you were this morning sir?"

"I was at my office this morning." Alfred definitely thought it was ironic to hear that he went to his office, especially early in the morning, knowing Bruce Wayne damn well. He barely went up to the enterprises unless he was told to attend a meeting or some sort.

"Let me take a guess. Did you leave early this morning to see Miss Owen? The new secretary who you've told me about?" Bruce restrained himself from smiling, but he couldn't lie to Alfred.

"I just wanted to know my employee better. Oh, I showed her my secret chocolate factory, and-" Alfred lowered his head to hear the story. "I don't think it really worked on her." Bruce definitely seemed emphatically disappointed, and continued. "I thought all the girls love chocolates. And chocolate bath."

"I'm pretty sure Miss Owen isn't a girl. She's a fine lady, Master Wayne. Besides, even to me, chocolate bath sounds quite bizarre." Alfred said and handed him a yellow folder.

"What is this?" Bruce opened the folder and skimmed through the first page. 'Victoria Owen…28 years old…Gotham native…single...'

"If you'd like to get to know her better, I think you should know more about her before taking her to some wacky places. I've prepared her profile and maybe you should take a look at it." Alfred made his way back to his room, and turned around. "Perhaps, you should take her out on a ferryboat or send her some flowers. It says that she likes roses."

Victoria threw her purse on her couch and took off her ragging heels. She took off her navy blue blouse, which was still drenched in sweat and smelt like cheap perfume. After throwing away all her clothes onto the beige carpet, she opened her freezer, took out a pepperoni pizza pocket and put it in the microwave. After preparing her dinner, she pressed the button on her phone to check if she had any messages. A robotic, female voice said, 'You have one message from Kayla.'

"Victoria, it's me, Kayla. How was work? How does it feel like to work for Prince of Gotham? Call me back as soon as possible and tell me everything before I go insane!'

'Right. Kayla.' She dialed her number and waited until Kayla answered.

"Hello? Victoria?" Kayla said.

"Yeah, it's me-"

"Oh my gosh, why haven't you called me all day? I was worried." Victoria grabbed her pizza pocket from the microwave and took a small bite of it.

"I was at work. I don't have time to call my best friend because I'm so occupied with other stuff,"

"Bullshit. I bet that you were getting busy with Bruce Wayne."

"Ew, Kayla. I don't 'get busy' with my employer no matter how attractive he is." She opened her fridge and let out a small sigh. She only had a couple bottles of vodka, a bottle of water and a carton of soymilk.

"How is that 'ew' anyways? Well, you're boring. Can't you just forget the fact that he's your boss for once and have some fun? Just flirt a bit or something-"

"Kayla, he's not even my type. He's just filthy rich, excessively bored, loves any creature with long legs and enormous breasts and-"

"And very sexy. Come on, you got to admit that."

"Is this the reason why you called me? To make me admit that he's damn sexy?" Kayla's blasting voice began ached Victoria's ear.

"Oh for fuck's sake Victoria. Don't deny it. By the way, Harvey called me a thousand times this morning asking about you."

"Shit, I forgot to give him my new number. What did he say?"

"He just wanted to say hi I guess. And he mentioned that…the fanatic clown is out on the streets. Apparently, he has been hiring people to join his gang and it's getting bigger everyday. He wanted me to tell you to be careful since you're living so close to the narrows. You could even be kidnapped." Victoria's voice shivered and her heart accelerated faster than a racing car.

"The fanatic clown? Who is he?"

"Oh you haven't seen the news yet? That crazy clown I'm talking about calls himself the Joker. Ostensibly, he has this guy named Paul Morgan who lives near the narrows as hostage and I think he's planning to kill Paul Morgan. But, don't worry too much about it. It's just a rumor going around. Even if it's true, Lt. Gordon and his cops are working very hard on this case."

"Thanks a lot for the information. Now I should bring my pepper spray everywhere I go." Victoria reached out for her purse and took out the empty pepper spray bottle.

"Don't thank me, I'm just the deliverer. Maybe you should stay with me for a while. Or even with Harvey. Victoria, we're truly concerned. I'm sure Harvey doesn't want to lose you to that clown."

"I'm sorry, but I don't want to be so dependent on Harvey or you. I can take care of myself. But,-" Before she could finish the sentence, she heard the doorbell ring.

"What's wrong Victoria?" Kayla asked.

"Someone's at the door for me. Just hold on."

A/N: This chapter took me a very, very long time to write…I don't know why but I hope it was good.

Please review; it will make my day much better since the exams are coming up very soon.

Again, thanks to the reviewers and subscribers!!

P.S. Check out my profile if you want to see how I picture Victoria.

Hugs,

Jaime