Chapter 6-Dinner and Paparazzi

"Have you done it yet?" Alfred asked while making himself busy straightening up the office Bruce was working in.

"Done what?"

"Called the girl, you fool."

"Excuse me?"

"Please, Master Bruce, I've been with you since you were a boy. I can tell when something has your eye."

"I'm researching the man who kidnapped Jade. Trying to break this down and get it figured out…she may be in serious danger."

"What a perfect excuse to check on her." Alfred said softly, and made his way out of the room.

Bruce checked the clock, it was definitely too late to call. He'd give her a call in the morning and see if she wanted to have lunch, or dinner. Dinner would be better, that way he can work in the cave during the day and get some sleep. Perhaps at the Italian place, or Sushi. Don't all LA girls like Sushi? Should it be a casual restaurant or an elegant one? She definitely looked great in her evening gowns, but something more casual may relax her.

He smiled, and pulled out a pen and paper while calling to Alfred.

Jade was comfortable, walking around her condo in her loose flannel pajamas. She had woken up, stretched a bit, stayed under the warm covers a bit longer than normal before pulling herself out of bed. Not long after getting a cup of coffee her phone rang, it was the front desk of the building.

"Hey, Hank." She answered, stifling a yawn as she did so.

"Good morning, Ms. Walters. I just wanted to let you know there is a beautiful bouquet of flowers on my desk with your name on it. Would you like me to bring them up?"

"More flowers?" Jade muttered. "Yeah, come on up, Hank."

Hank tried not to smirk when he saw Jade in her pajamas. She saw his face from behind the flowers, and a grin spread across her face. "They may look ridiculous, but you can't beat them for comfort."

"No, no. They are very cute. I'm just smiling because my little girl has the same ones. She loves the Little Mermaid, too."

"Ah, for sweet. How old is she?"

"Eight. Will be nine in a few months. I better get back downstairs. Enjoy your day, Ms. Walters."

Jade placed the flowers on the counter next to the others that were just starting to wilt. She pulled out the card, identical to the previous one, and read it. 'Hello Jade, I wanted to again thank you for coming to my party last night and I hope that you had a good time. Enjoy the flowers, I'm sure we'll speak again soon. Your friend, Bruce.'

Jade found herself smiling as she inhaled the sweet aroma of the fresh flowers. Her phone rang once more, she checked the ID and found it an unrecognized number. "Hello?"

"Good morning, Jade. Did you get the flowers?"

Her smile had started to fade, but came back up immediately. "Just did. Thank you, they're very nice."

"You're welcome. I hope this isn't short notice, but I am on my way for some lunch and would like some pleasant company. How would you like to join me?" Bruce asked.

Jade checked the time, lunch? She realized she had slept in a bit but not that much. She hadn't even had breakfast yet.

'Wait…billionaire Bruce Wayne is asking me out for lunch?' she thought suddenly, she probably looked mad with the grin on her face. "Alright, when and where?"

Bruce had picked a nice restaurant located near Wayne Towers. It was a quiet place filled with mostly workers from the surrounding businesses with casual clothes, and this Saturday afternoon it had a good crowd. Jade felt underdressed with jeans and a sweater. But Bruce looked comfortable with khakis and buttoned-shirt. The talk was comfortable and light, a few jokes thrown in.

"A Mercedes? Jade mused as she saw Bruce's car. "I would have pinned you as a Bentley type, or a Rolls."

Bruce smiled, "This is just the weekend car."

"I can imagine the type of toys you have in your garage." Jade nodded.

"Oh can you?"

"I think I could make a few successful guesses."

"Be my guest."

"I'll say you have at least one Roadster, if not two or three. Probably a classic that never touches the road. And maybe a Z3 that does." Bruce nodded and grinned. "I'll say you probably have either a Rolls or a Bentley, too, if not both. And a big car, I want to say Hummer but…maybe just an SUV. A Porsche or two." Jade looked him over, thinking about it. "I bet you don't have a Lamborghini."

Bruce smirked, "Okay this can be interesting, you are making it a game. What are you betting?"

"Just if you have a Lamborghini or not? I'll buy you dinner if I'm right."

Bruce cocked an eyebrow, "You buy me dinner if you win? Shouldn't that be the other way around?"

"A millionaire buying a billionaire dinner sounds fun to me. And I get to drive, too. So am I right?"

Bruce waited a few moments, then nodded. "Yeah, how did you know?"

She gave him a thoughtful look and then finally answered, "You'd look funny in a Lamb." She climbed into her corvette. "So when should I pick you up?"

"Eight sounds good to me."

"See you tonight," she winked.

The next three days Jade had to have her calls screened. Hank had done well and slipped the tabloid under her door so she saw it when she woke up on Monday morning. 'Jade Walters, daughter of Ruben Walters, is no stranger to the spotlight. With previous relationships with A-list celebrities, love triangles, and wild nights she has seen more than her fair share of news coverage. Just recently she had publicly broken up with her fiancé David Xander, CEO of Tempest Incorporated, and with this new information we may see why. Since arriving in Gotham Jade Walters has been seen accompanying Bruce Wayne, owner of Wayne Enterprises, on a number of occasions and even spent an evening at his mansion. Most recently we have received photos of a quiet and romantic dinner the two spent just last night. Now that their romance is out many are wondering just how long had Jade been seeing the young billionaire?"

"Reading that stuff will rot your brain." Bruce said as Alfred read it out loud to him, Bruce glanced at the photo. "At least they got my good side."

Alfred glanced over the paper once more before folding it and putting it under his arm, "Looked like it was a nice evening. So how did it really go?"

Bruce shrugged, "It went well, she's pretty interesting." A smile began to spread across his face, "I think I want to show her my cars."

Jade glanced out her window. On the top floor it was hard to determine exactly how many reporters were still grouped outside, but even one was one too many. She threw down her folder, "How am I supposed to get any work done if I can't leave my…" She growled in frustration. She picked up her phone and called Joan.

"Oh, you have a lot of nerve calling me right now," Joan said the moment she picked up. "Do you want to know how many messages, calls, e-mails, letters, faxes…"

Jade felt a smile come to her lips as Joan vented her frustration. Joan worked for Jade, and was the only person who did that would stand up to her…that was why Joan was her go-to girl. "I'm stressing over the numbers you sent me, Joan." Jade said as soon as Joan took a breath. "What happened at the store?"

"The store in Paris lost a lot of inventory, someone broke in and destroyed most of it last night. We've been able to keep the press out of it, but it was pretty bad. Enrique has it taken care of, but we've taken a loss."

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?"

"Oh? Why haven't I told you this? Oh, honey, you better be careful or I may accidentally release your cell phone number on the internet. I just spent five minutes telling you why I haven't gotten ANY work done."

"Joan, you are a genius. Surely you know how to delete spam and old messages and how accidentally some things get lost…ignore it. They have their story, I went on a dinner with a friend I recently made. They are going to make assumptions no matter what we say."

"Yeah. I say I 'accidentally' lost five-hundred requests for confirmation on you dating a billionaire playboy and I'll accidentally lose something that actually deserves my attention."

"Getting back on track." Jade sighed, "Paris, Enrique…"

"Police are looking into it. I'll ask him to contact you directly if anything comes up. Until then I moved some money to help cover-up the loss."

"Good." Jade breathed. "I was thinking, Joan, that you should receive a nice large bonus in your next paycheck…"

"Mmmhmm, but I bet it's not for what I think it is."

"I need a favor. Can you just dig up some of the information on Bruce Wayne?"

"Oh, hell, it is serious, isn't it?" Joan muttered.

"No, Joan, I just want to know a bit more about him. Delegate, do you still have Rosa on staff?"

"Are you kidding? She bailed after you stopped dating Xander, couldn't handle the stress of keeping up with you." Joan laughed. "She should have been there when you were twenty. I got a friend who is good at this, I'll have it faxed to you by the end of the day. Now, princess, think I can get back to doing some real work?"

"Don't forget to give yourself that nice bonus, Joan."

"Oh you'll be lucky if I don't bankrupt you for this one, Jade, you're lucky I like you."

"I'm lucky to have you. Thanks, Joan."