Chloe

Chloe for the life of her could not get Clark out of her head. She was desperately trying to listen to Bruce but her mind kept flashing through her childhood. She kept replaying moments in their past were she had known for certain that he was meant for greatness and here he was fully embracing his powers. Superman! What an absolutely perfect name for him, way better than boy-scout.

"Anne? Are you alright?" Bruce interrupted her thoughts, they had made their way to Wayne Enterprises and after he had had a security tag made for her they had found an empty office near his own and labeled it their work space, for the time being anyway. They'd parked themselves onto the small sofa in the room and distractedly Chloe had attempted to listen to him as he let her know how he wanted to go about the book.

"I'm fine, sorry."

"Would you prefer to continue this some other time?" He asked and if she had been as involved in her wonderings as she'd been previously she would have missed the disappointment in his voice.

"No, I'm sorry it's just been awhile since I've been in such a big city I feel a little out of sorts." She lied and she found herself feeling guilty. Bruce Wayne was nothing like what they printed. Even his looks were vastly underrated. He was probably the most beautiful man she had ever looked at. Clark was handsome but even as he had matured he'd always had somewhat of a boyish face. And Oliver was so good looking you was almost afraid to touch him, Jimmy had been cute.

Bruce Wayne was an entirely different type of beautiful he was almost rugged in his looks like he'd spent many years sleeping on a hard ground and living in the wilderness. Sure he dressed beautifully now but she was willing to bet that the man had had a few rough years. His hands were rough like Ollie's had been but were Ollie's hands were rough and calloused from the bow he was tender in his ministrations and you almost didn't notice. Chloe was willing to bet that Bruce Wayne would make you feel every inch of his calloused hands; he would be hard and strong. He was a man that would always be in control.

"Have you ever been to Gotham City?" he asked and Chloe flying back to that one trip she had taken with Oliver 6 years ago, she'd been to Gotham but she hadn't seen more than the inside of Ollie's hotel room, did that count?

"Technically yes, but we didn't do much site seeing" she knew she was blushing but she couldn't stop. Bruce smiled at her and she wondered if it was obvious that her thoughts had drifted to the naughty.

"Would you like to?" he asked

"Huh?"

"Would you like to do some site seeing? I've grown up in this city and though it may not have the best reputation I would love to show you its more attractive side." The question was up in the air and as much as she wanted to say yes, to spend the day in the company of anyone other than herself was a nice treat these days but she was pretty sure spending it with Bruce Wayne would be even better. But this was strictly against her rules, no getting attached to anyone or any place that caused problems and she was desperately trying to avoid problems in her new life.

"Come on Anne you look like you need a little fun and it's a beautiful day out"

"Alright, I'm in but tomorrow we need to start working." She gave him her serious eye and instead of heading the warning like people usually did, he laughed and handed helped her into her jacket.

It was surprisingly easy for her to talk to Bruce. She found him incredibly open considering everything about him she'd read in the local papers. They had driven down to Gotham's City Park and she was surprised to see how much it had to offer, if Batman could really clean up some of the crime the place could be stunning.

"I've always loved this park, when I was a kid my parents used to take me down here and my mom would set up a big picnic blanket she'd have all these fresh fruits and cheeses and wine for her and my dad then my dad and I would go explore the caves by the river." Bruce smiled at the memory, and Chloe's heart kicked up a beat again.

"It sounds like they were great,"

"What about your family? Do you have any brothers and sisters?"He looked down at her and she only questioned whether to answer him truthfully for a second before she was spilling about her childhood.

"No brothers or sisters, my mom got sick when I was a kid and my dad had to have her placed in a hospital. It was just me and him most of the time. To be honest I was kind of a Nancy Drew growing up, I spent more time with a notepad and pencil than I did with friends, other than Pete and …" she stopped herself before mentioning his name. It didn't matter that she doubted he knew Clark Kent but she had already overacted to Superman and she didn't need any more dots in place to be connected.

"And…"

"Lana," she finished, her and Lana had been good friends she wasn't technically lying to him just omitting one key person. He nodded and she knew that he had figured out she wasn't being completely honest.

"Come with me," he grabbed her hand and she jumped a little at the warmth but she didn't pull back. He tugged her forward and she followed him.

Bruce

She was trying not to but she was lying to him and for some reason it just didn't bother him.

"Where are we going?"

"Just trust me," he was beginning to love the way this woman made him feel. It had been a very long time since he had been with a woman and not felt the pressure to live up to some kind of idea she had of him. He felt refreshed and happy and for once it wasn't because of Rachel.

"I find it hard to trust people I hardly know." She had just barely whispered it but it was the first thing she'd said that made him stop and question the woman beside him, it was the first really real thing he had heard her say.

"So do I but you can trust me." What the hell was a woman like Anne doing wondering the planet alone, as a ghost writer? He was so unbelievably curious about her.

***

He'd been tracking her for longer than she had been missing; but the missing part had made him a bit more frantic even though he would never have admitted it.

Chloe Sullivan; the girl had been disrupting his plans and ruining everything longer than she had been playing watchtower. He knew the girl had quit her job as mother goose to the world's superheroes and yet he still wanted her. He wanted her more than anything else in this world. He wanted to take everything she loved every person she had ever held any kind feeling for and watch as they turned on her.

Finally, after six years of watching her walk around as someone other than who she was, of watching her live a life that he could never claim as her own. There was nothing he could do to make her world any worse than it already was.

Watching until finally he had seen what he needed...

He had watched Bruce Wayne grab hold of her hand, he'd watched like he had done for so many years now as her cheeks turned pink at the touch, and he knew finally he would get his chance.

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