Chapter 7
Well hello there! ;) Fancy seeing you here! I am sorry for the wait! Please don't hate me!
*sigh.* I don't know what it is, but i've been feeling really down lately, and just can't come up with many ideas. I'm sorry.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Batman, or anything in the DC Universe otherwise I would be rich and have no responsibilities. (that sounds nice)
~0~
Bruce POV
I picked up another board, nailing it into place, finally finishing up, making sure that the workers would not poke around down there. That could lead to some serious issues. I put the hammer down, inspecting my handiwork, when a flash of white caught my eye. Charlie, I thought, but upon seeing brown hair and a black skirt, I realized that it was Rachel. I put the hammer down, and turned to face her worried expression.
"Hey," She paused, seeming to search for the right words. "How are you holding up?" I nodded my head slightly, smiling at her concern.
"Fine," I started, "I'm fine. Could be better, of course, since, y'know, my house burnt down, but definitely could be worse." Her face turned sad, and I knew what she was about to say.
"Bruce, I'm sorry." I stopped. What? She didn't look finished, so I let her continue. "The day that Chill died, I… I said terrible things." I nodded my head slightly, seeing her point, but I had one of my own.
"But true things." I paused trying to think of the right thing to say. "I was a coward with a gun… and, justice is about more than revenge. So thank you." She smiled and took a step forward.
"I never stopped thinking about you." she continued walking forwards. "About us." I saw where she was going with this, and I froze. Seven years ago, this was everything I could have wanted, but now, I- I didn't know. "And when I heard you were back I, I started to hope." She was very close now. She saw the uncertainty in my eyes, and her smile turned knowing. "But now I know better." She stepped back, her expression a little sad, but happy, all at once. "I see how you look at her." Unvoluntarily, my eyes flickered over in the direction that Charlie had gone earlier. Rachel caught this, and smiled got wider. "Go get'em tiger." She pressed a quick kiss on my cheek, and backed away. She turned to leave, took a few steps, then paused, as if a thought occurred to her. "You proved me wrong, you know." She commented, almost like an afterthought. I hummed, prompting her to continue. "Your father would be very proud of you. Just like me." She turned to walk away again, and this time, didn't look back. I sighed, pondering on what I should do. Turning, I spotted Charlie, in a pair of Jeans, and a dark green button up blouse, sifting through ruins for something. I thought for a moment, before making my decision.
Charlie POV
As I was sorting through the rubble that was once Bruce's home, I couldn't help but think about everything that had happened, especially Crane. Sweet Little Jonny who had once been my only friend, was now Crane, the Scarecrow. The psychopath who had tried to kill me. 'No,' I thought, trying to stop myself from going down that path. 'No.' I told myself, 'Jonny, as far as you should be concerned, is dead. Replaced by a monster, he is nothing like he used to be.' I focused all of my attention into searching through the remains to find something salvageable.
My diligent searching was interrupted by the crunch of boots heading in my direction. Looking up, my gaze rested on Bruce. I stood, and he opened his mouth to speak.
" I just finished boarding up the entrance to the cave. No one will stumble upon it any time soon." I just nodded in response, relieved.
"Good, once all of this is cleaned up more, then the reconstruction can start." I paused, looking at him before taking a breath. "...Where are you gonna stay?" He looked at me thoughtfully, seeming a little nervous.
"Well," he began, "I've got a penthouse in the city. I'll probably just stay there until all of this is rebuilt." He explained, smiling tightly. I caught his expression, and sighed. I could hardly imagine what he was going through, I had no room for my own doubt and insecurities at the moment.
"Bruce," I sighed, feeling horrible for him, "If you ever need anything, you know you can ask me, right?" He gazed down at me, the tension in his shoulders easing a bit as I caught his hand in comfort. There was an odd sort of gleam in his eyes, that I couldn't quite explain, until he stepped forward slightly, bent down, and before a knew it, his lips met mine.
It was hesitant at first, testing the waters, waiting to see if I would pull away. I didn't. We stepped closer, and my hands let go of his, traveled up to rest at the nape of his neck, whilst his came to settle on my waist.
From my experience, little girls tend to dream about their first kiss, they wonder whether it will be sweet, passionate, magical, breathtaking. This was all of them, and more. The longer we kissed, the weaker my legs became, till it came to the point where the only thing keeping me from collapsing to the ground was Bruce's arms now wrapped around my waist, and mine around his neck.
Eventually, we had to break apart, due to lack of air. I opened my eyes, not able to recall closing them in the first place, and right in front of me, was Bruce's chocolate brown eyes, staring at me. Although our lips had separated, we had not stepped away from each other. In that moment, the world seemed to just… slip away. No house, no rubble, no sky, no ground beneath, just… us. Later on, I would look back on my train of thought and scoff at how cliche it was, but it was the most true thought that had ever crossed my mind. The moment was ruined by my phone ringing.
Groaning internally, I rested my head on his shoulder and swore, using words that, if my mother heard, she'd be shoving bars of soap into my mouth for days. Bruce chuckled, although I could hear a note of annoyance; he felt just as irritated as I was at the interruption. I hesitated, wanting to ignore it, but Bruce obviously knew where my train of thought was headed, and stopped me in my tracks.
"You should probably get that." He breathed. I groaned verbally now, and closed my eyes, before reaching into my pocket, stepped back, and answered it.
"What." I may have sounded more aggressive than normal, but hey, considering what was interrupted, I had every right to be frustrated. I was ready to kill the person on the other side of the phone.
"Where HAVE you been?!" Ellie's voice screeched, jolting me out of my murderous train of thought, and most likely damaging my eardrum. God, she sounded like Mrs. Weasley. I winced, regretting picking up the phone at all. "Bed empty, no note, bag gone. I thought you were dead!" I didn't know what to say, so I just muttered out a small, "sorry." I let her rant until I heard her breathing even out, and her tone soften.
"Alright. Look, I'm sorry I worried you, but in all fairness, it has been a pretty chaotic few days." I paused, long enough for it to sink in, but not long enough for her to start yelling at me again. "I'll be home soon, and explain as much as I can. Okay?" Her sigh was audible over the line.
"Fine. Be here in the next half hour or I'll hunt you down and kill you myself. Clear?"
"Crystal." Psychopaths were nothing. Ellie was the scariest person I have ever come in contact with. When she was happy, it was as if my roommate were an angel. Angry, the devil has risen to feast on the souls of man. It's not an exaggeration, either. I'm dead serious. I removed my phone from my ear, and looked back up at Bruce. He was smiling lightly, obviously very amused. Smiling apologetically, I put my phone back in my pocket, thinking of all the ways I was going to slowly, painfully kill Ellie when I got back.
"My roommate. She...worries. A lot. I'd better head back home, prove to her that I'm not actually dead." Bruce looked disappointed, but nodded understandingly.
"Okay, I'll take you home." I opened my mouth to protest, but he held up his hand, cutting me off with a simple, "I insist."
That phrase is going to be the death of me, I swear. I sighed, giving in, not as frustrated as I tried to portray. His smile grew, and he gestured towards the car, offering me his arm, and smiling, I took it, ready to face anything and everything.
~0~
After arriving back at my apartment, I listened to Ellie rant for about 45 minutes before I was able to actually attempt to begin explaining what had happened (leaving out the whole Bruce Wayne is Batman thing of course). When I finally finished, she sighed, stood up from where she had collapsed on the couch, opened the fridge, grabbed a bottle of wine, 2 glasses, and turned back to me.
"Alright. Tonight, we are going to forget the last few days, watch chick flicks and get drunk off our asses. No excuses, nothin. We're gonna have a girls night." This got my attention, and that night, we watched every rom-com we could find, and got as drunk as we had ever been. I honestly didn't remember most of it the next morning.
~0~
Bruce's POV
When I didn't see Charlie the next day, I honestly thought that her roommate had killed her. Just for a second, but it was long enough for me to jump in my car and drive over to her apartment, and knocked on the door. I heard a very uncivilized snort, like someone jolting awake, (although it was noon) and a moment later, the door opened, revealing a young woman, who was wearing a tank top with wine stains, long plaid pyjama pants, and fuzzy unicorn slippers. She had mascara under her eyes, and her hair looked like a natural disaster. She was squinting at me with a fury that didn't quite seem human, (or maybe she was just really hungover…?)
"Whaddya want?" she grumbled. Yup, Hungover. "If you're sellin' somethin, I don't want it." I chuckled, this must be Charlie's roommate, Ellie. (either that or I'm at the wrong place)
"Hey, Is uh- Charlie here?" Ellie, waves me in, albeit reluctantly, kind of a stupid thing to do, (i mean, what if I was a murderer?) but I let it slide. (this time). I walked in, and the first thing that greeted me is a sleeping Charlie. She didn't look as bad as her roommate, but her hair was all over the place, and she was in a blue tank top, and grey shorts, her mouth slightly open as she snored softly. I shook my head, smiling softly, and turned to her roommate, who had woken up slightly since she opened the door, and upon seeing my face, gasped, and opened and closed her mouth like a fish.
"You- you're Bruce Wayne." She stated, in shock. I shifted my stance, slightly uncomfortable. She stood there in shock, obviously not gonna say anything else.
"Yep. I work with Charlie. If you don't mind me asking, what happened?" I asked gesturing to the pizza boxes and empty wine bottles strewn about the main room, and the tv still had the end credits of 'How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days'. The girl giggled nervously, flattening her hair, and replied,
"Oh- oh, yeah. We- we had a girl's night last- last night." She stuttered out, trying to find the right words. She looked up at him through her eyelashes, trembling like a leaf. "S-sorry?"
"Oh please, don't apologize," I waved her off, not bothered by the mess. "I just came to check up on her, make sure nothing happened." I looked back over at her, noticing her head tilted in a certain way that would most likely make her neck stiff when she woke up. "D'you think we should move her to her bed? It'd probably be much more comfortable there than passed out on the couch." I turned back to the roommate, who was just, standing there, gaping. I just smiled lightly, and moved to pick Charlie up gently.
I lifted her up, and turned to her roommate. "Could you possibly… show me where her room is?" Her roommate was shocked out of her stupor, and timidly showed me her room, where I then placed her down on her bed, tucking her in.
I took a moment to just look around her room, the cream walls with navy blue accents, the dark brown bedside table, the alarm clock, the pencils and paper scattered around the room, the occasional wrench or machine part just sitting around, or some unfinished project. I looked back at her, and saw a piece of her hair in her face, bent down and brushed it behind her ear. Her roommate, Ellie, cleared her throat behind me. I turned around to see her half amused, half suspicious eyes boring into my soul.
"I should probably explain…"
"Yeah. You should."
~0~
Charlie's POV
I woke up to the smell of...bacon, which typically, wouldn't be of much consequence, seeing as Ellie LOVES the stuff. (Me too, if i'm being honest) The thing that really got me was, that she drank almost as much as me, and she HAS GOT to be nursing a massive hangover. On days like this, I am always the first one up. She sleeps till noon, and doesn't eat until dinner time. I sat up slowly, and padded down the hall, my bare feet making no sound on the wooden floor, and peeked into the kitchen.
I was not prepared for the sight I was about to face. Bruce was standing in my kitchen cooking bacon. That wasn't even the most shocking part, either. It was the fact that he was wearing my KISS THE COOK apron. To put it in context, I got that apron from my grandma when I was 13 years old. It's the most bizarre apron on the planet, and Bruce Wayne, aka BATMAN was wearing it whilst cooking.
I don't know how long I stood there, my hungover brain trying to process what I was seeing, but I was shocked out of my stupor when Bruce turned around with a small grin on his face, holding a plate of bacon.
"Good morning. Sleep well?" He asked, amused. I probably looked like a goldfish, trying to collect my thoughts.
"Wha…?" I rapidly tried to flatten my hair, knowing it must look like a mess, but Bruce just put down the bacon, and walked over to me, taking my hands, effectively stopping my borderline frantic attempt to tame my hair. He led me over to the table, and gently pushed me into a seat. I don't know what I looked like at that moment, but I imagine that I was the image of a deer in headlights.
I stared at Bruce, trying to figure out why he was here in the first place. He was sitting down across from me, with a small smile on his face, and I could only think one thing.
"How did you get in my house?" I blurted out, without thinking. I shut my mouth as soon as I realized that I had said that out loud. Bruce's smile got larger, and he chuckled softly and shook his head.
"Your roommate let me in." Upon hearing those words, I snorted. "She was… confused, to say the least."
"That must have been an interesting conversation."
"It was." With those words, he pushed the plate of bacon closer to me, silently gesturing for me to eat. I hesitated. How did he know that was my favorite thing to eat when hungover? He must have seen the look on my face, because he swiftly explained:
"Your roommate told me what you like to eat after a night like the one you had." I smirked upon hearing this. She knows me too well.
"Well, bacon is the perfect hangover cure." I mused, knowing perfectly well that it was the opposite of a hangover cure, but hey, I love bacon. What can I say?
Bruce caught on to my sarcasm, and joined in. "Yes, makes everything right again." I picked up a piece of bacon whilst he said this, smirking, and bit down on it. A little burnt, but not half bad. After a moment of chewing, I felt a sickly churning in my stomach. My expression dropped, and I quickly ran to the bathroom, just barely making it to the toilet before vomiting violently. After a split second of my retching, I felt gentle hands hold my hair up with one, and rub my back gently with the other.
I don't know how long I spent there, hunched over the toilet, but once I was done, Bruce gingerly help me up, put one arm behind my knees, and one behind my back and lifted me up, with the grace of a ballerina. 'In another life Bruce could have gone into ballet,' I thought, 'or maybe that's just the hangover talking..' he carried me to my room, and laid me on my bed, only leaving to get a bucket and a wet rag. When he returned, I opened my mouth to tell him off for babying me, but another wave of nausea washed over me, and I grabbed the bucket, hurling into it with rigor. Bruce held my hair back again, and traced soothing circles into my back, calming me down.
Once I finished, he helped me sit back up, and wordlessly handed me a water bottle.
"How are you so good at this?" I mumbled feeling sick.
"Experience."
"Oh."
~0~
The next few hours were spent with dark rooms and the stench of barf. I could officially say that Bruce had seen me at my worst. When I started to feel better, we started a movie. You may think that He would want the scary movie, and I would want the Rom-Com, but in all honesty? I'm not a huge Rom-Com fan. I only watch them because Ellie has an undying love for them. In the end, we decided on The Giver.
After the movie, we sat together, just, enjoying each other's company. Learning more about each other, our favorite colors (his is brown, i found out), Our favorite thing to do in our spare time, almost everything. Finally, I turned to Bruce, and asked him a question that had been on my mind since the kiss.
"So, uh…. What are we exactly? I mean I really like you and I think you really like me, so, ya know, are we a couple, or…?" I couldn't remember the last time I was so nervous, I normally wasn't like this, ever, with anyone. He was silent for a moment, and unreadable expression on his face, while I worried I had gone to far.
"Well," He began, "I was hoping that we could be a couple, but I think before we get there, we have to go on a few dates first." At his words, my confidence is brought up slightly.
I giggled softly, and Bruce continued. "So, Charlie Price, would you like to go on a date with me?" He was smiling, but I almost saw a hint of insecurity in his eyes.
I put my finger to my chin, and began stroking it, as if I was thinking. "Hmmmm…. I don't know…." His face became more scared, and I laughed, and put my hand on his, still laughing slightly. "I would love to, Bruce." This wasn't Bruce Wayne, partier and playboy I had thought he was, this was Bruce, a kind man with a heart of gold, who just wants to protect whomever he can. Upon my words, his face lit up, like a kid on Christmas. I laughed, and he pulled me into a kiss.
~0~
A week later, Bruce and I had gone out three times, kissed 8 times, and had not been caught by the paparazzi once. Yes, I did get a lecture from Ellie about Bruce, but once they formally met, both sober, awake, and not covered in wine stains (looking at you Ellie), she seemed to like him more.
We both loved the privacy, the excitement, of a secret relationship, (yes, it was official now) but we knew it wouldn't last. We would be spotted by the press eventually.
They caught us when we were on a date at the movies. There was a movie I had really wanted to see, so he took me to the midnight viewing, both of us in disguises of course, but we had to take them off to see the film. We thought maybe no one would notice, but they did, and it went viral in a half an hour.
Later, after the movie, we had decided, that instead of going out for ice cream, like we planned, we would just eat it at his penthouse.
"Ok, ok, I take the blame here, I'm the one who wanted to take them off ." I managed out between giggles, clutching on Bruce's arm, whilst we sat on the couch at his place. We had a tub of ice cream smudged between us, both of us using spoons to eat it straight out of the carton. We had huge grins on our faces, despite having been caught by the press.
"Well, no use pointing fingers now anyways," He chuckled, giving me a meaningful look. "They were gonna find out eventually. While it was fun, sneaking around, I'm even happier that everyone knows that we're officially together." I raised an eyebrow, teasing him.
"Are we now?" I inquired. His small smile turned into a smirk, and he responded.
"I'd like to think so. If you'd like that, Ms. Price."
"I would like that very much, Mr. Wayne." With these words, my brain finally registered how close we were. We both stopped smiling, and with a fiery passion, our lips connected, ice cream forgotten. His arms wound around my waist, and before I knew it, I was on his lap, straddling him, my fingers raking through his hair, his tongue sliding into my mouth. His hands roamed down from my waist, and down under my thighs, and faster than I could register, he was above me, my legs on either side of his waist.
He pulled back suddenly, and looked me in the eyes. "Charlie… If you don't want this… just say so now. I want to, but it's your call. If you don't want to proceed, then I'll respect that." I looked into his eyes, and with a conviction I can hardly describe, I leaned up, and kissed him fiercely. He took that as the yes it was meant to be, and kissed me back, matching the passion.
Bruce's POV
I woke up the next morning, and hearing soft breathing, I looked down. Charlie's face greeted me. Her head was resting on my bare chest, and her blonde hair was spread about like a halo. Last night was...incredible. I started to run my fingers through her long hair, and she stirred, but didn't wake. This woman was… amazing. A chilling thought ran through my head. I had enemies, both as Bruce Wayne and Batman. I couldn't be her bodyguard 24/7, but I couldn't leave her defenseless.
It took me a few minutes, but I finally got it. I could teach her more about self defense, and make sure she could be her own bodyguard while I am not around. Perfect.
~0~
Hey guys! You may have noticed that I haven't posted on this story for a while, and I have a reason. I will be putting this story on temporary hiatus, just until I recharge and get some more creative juice for this story. I just haven't had as much excitement for it. I will work on my other story, and maybe post one or two more. I promise I am not done! Please be patient! Luv you all!
DFTBA! (don't forget to be awesome)
-Katie
