-1Does somebody want to explain to me how this document thing works? It says that it will only keep some of my documents for thirty more days. What does that mean?
Also, for this story, I have an excellent sad ending in mind and I have a happy ending. Do you guys want a happy or sad one, or do you care? Tell me.
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Bruce asked her to another ball the next week. At the end of the night they walked slowly up the stairs not saying much for the first time that night. She was acutely aware of the nearness of his body, of the way he smelled, of the way his hair fell. She was conscious of her own body too. This was the first time she had wanted so badly for a guy to think she was pretty. She wanted him to want her. Obviously he was attracted to her but she didn't know just how much. They reached her door and she stood there looking at him for a few seconds. She was about to get her keys out of her handbag and go inside when he took her hand and studied it and then looked up at her. Without saying a single word he leaned in closer and touched his lips to hers, in what would not even qualify as a kiss. Her heart stopped. Why was his mouth so ridiculously sexy? He pressed harder and one hand moved around to her back. They sunk into a time warp in which the seconds seemed like minutes. After the kiss, he wrapped his arms around her fully and held her for a long time. She loved the feeling of his body in the expensive tuxedo. His shoulders seemed huge, she could feel the massive strength of his arms through the fabric and the solidness of his torso. She wondered briefly what he did to stay so in shape but then he moved his head so his cheek was pressed against her temple and lost that train of thought. They let go of each other and he said softly and earnestly
"I'm glad you didn't listen to your mom when she said to not come here."
She was totally unaware that Bruce was keeping an eye on her while wearing a black body suit and cape. Bruce Wayne was growing very fond of this young reporter and as a result, Batman was pulling long hours watching her to make sure she was safe. Gotham was often cruel to the innocent.
The next few weeks went too fast for Meara. Bruce asked her to dinner and to society balls frequently. She usually could coerce some poor unsuspecting young man into giving her all she needed to write the society column and she spent the rest of the evening with Bruce. They danced, they took strolls through massive gardens, they stood off to the side and simply talked. It was heavenly.
Never before had she had somebody that was there. Somebody to talk to about all the meaningless things that happen at parties. Somebody to stand with. It was lovely to be separated, talking to different people on the opposite side of the room, and to look up and catch his eye from yards away. There was something terribly intimate about the whole thing. She avoided the whole messy sex issue for a very long time and he did not bring it up. He admitted to himself that he wanted to be with her in every way possible and everything about her turned him on, but he was also content to just be close to her for the time being, and look at her from across the room and realize that she was with him. She was able to hold his attention effortlessly without climbing into bed with him. When he walked her up to her door at night, he kissed her perfectly and then walked away without waiting to be invited in.
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James Grey was not pleased. Bruce Wayne had been in his private study and not taken or moved anything. Why? What did Wayne have to do with any of his private dealings? Did he have connections with the prosecution in this messy court case?
Grey sighed and leaned back in his chair. It would make him less nervous if he knew where Wayne stood. It was terribly disconcerting to not know what he was about. And then there was his stupid nephew Alex. Those newspaper clippings must be got back as soon as possible. Maybe tonight. Yes, probably tonight would be best. Then he could focus on Wayne. He picked up his cell phone, dialed, and heard his sister's son's irritatingly thick voice answer.
"Uncle?"
The stupid boy never called him Uncle James, just Uncle.
"Alex. We're going to your old apartment tonight."
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Eileen was in a good mood. She was living vicariously through Meara, it was the closest she had ever been to high society and she gobbled up every detail that Meara divulged. Meara, realizing this, kept nothing back. She told everything, everything except her complicated feelings involving Bruce's body and her bed.
The two women were sitting on the couch in Meara's apartment eating popcorn and watching Conan hop around on the TV. At the moment though, the volume was turned down and Meara was relating (with sweeping hand motions) the grandeur of the manor she had been in a few nights ago. The height of ceilings, how everything was inlaid and gilded to within an inch of it's life, the attitudes of the party attendees. Eileen gasped when she heard about the fountain in the garden that was as big as this apartment and twice as high, and laughed at Meara's exaggerated impression of the snooty old ladies who constantly looked down their noses and were always looking for trophy wives for their precious sons. They did not hear the window in the bedroom open. They did not hear silent creeping over the sill and onto the floor. They did however hear the old lamp that was under the window topple over and the muffled swear that followed. Both stopped talking immediately and stopped breathing. Somebody was in the house. Meara soundlessly rose from the couch and then, ghostlike, moved into the kitchen and returned with a can of pepper spray. Eileen looked panicked and shook her head wildly indicating that going back there and confronting the noise was a very bad idea. Meara held a finger to her lips and disappeared down the hall. Eileen, very pale, looked around frantically for something dangerous and ended up grabbing her purse. It was very heavy indeed. She followed after.
Meara stood just outside the room for a moment, took a breath then jumped in with the pepper spray held at the ready. She nearly dropped at what she saw. The host of a ball she had attended not long ago, James Grey, stood in her bedroom scowling at a tall chubby guy who looked to be about Meara's age. The chubby person was bleeding copiously from the ankle and foot region. He appeared to have stepped directly into the dusty lamp that Meara hadn't gotten around to moving yet. The second she walked in, several things happened at the same time. Chubby person made a jerky leap for her bureau, Meara freaked and pressed the button on the can, and Grey's hand flew into his jacket, presumably in search of a gun. But he never pulled it out. Because right then another figure entered the scene. Batman glided through the window and landed on the carpet between Meara and Alex who was yelling and wiping his eyes and Grey, now frozen with his hand still in his jacket. And that was when Eileen, lurking outside the door decided to leap into the fray. She walked in swinging her bag at the nearest unfamiliar figure, which happened to be Batman. Eileen landed a hefty thump on his arm which, catching him by surprise, knocked him off balance. He turned in confusion to see what who had hit him with something heavy and glittery. The instant he looked away, Grey grabbed the still howling Alex and made his escape out the window. Batman started toward the window, then stopped short and turned to look at Meara. Eileen was babbling apologies but Meara was wide eyed looking at him, her shaking hand still gripping the pepper spray.
Bruce was in still in Batman mode. In his husky alter-ego voice he soothed Eileen to shut her up and taking Meara's shoulders he steered her out of her bedroom (which was really only a mattress waiting for a bed frame) toward the couch. He helped her lay down and that was when she snapped out of the daze she was in.
"You're Batman." she declared with a pleased expression on her face.
He couldn't help but smile tenderly. Trust her to ignore the fact that her home had just been invaded and revel in the fact that she was meeting a superhero.
"Your pepper spray was excellent. That stuff comes in handy."
"How did you just…How did you know…?"
"I happened to be passing by."
"Yeah right." she said laughing.
He was reminded of the coffee shop and Whatever dude, you're not a spelunker.
She let it go though and moved to the next item of business.
"Why was James Grey in my house?"
"I was going to ask you that."
"And who was that other guy?"
"The one you annihilated with pepper spray? I've seen him before, at Grey's parties. I don't know who he is though."
She thought of how the man had jumped when she walked in the room but not at her. He had moved towards her chest of drawers.
Without saying anything to Batman, she got off the couch ignoring his protests that she was in shock and went to go take a closer look at those drawers. She hadn't even looked in all of them, she didn't have nearly enough clothes to fill them. She methodically looked through every one and found something in the bottom right drawer. A stack of newspaper clippings. She flipped through them. They were all about a break ins.
"What?" asked Batman standing behind her, reacting to the surprised look on her face.
He took the newspaper clippings from her hand, flipped through them as she had, and put two and two together.
"I think we just accidentally unmasked James Grey."
