Big thanks to everyone reading and reviewing this story. The next chapter is loosely based on events that happened in DK

Hope you like it

"That is quite a story." Peter said after I told him about the Xang connection.

"You don't believe me."

"Look, I bet he is a corrupt bastard. Most of them are. But do I think he has the mob's life savings? No."

"I thought you might say that." I pulled the folder Wayne gave me out of my Coach bag.

"What is this?" He asked while starting to read.

"Proof. Gotham PD is about to bust him so we can't run the story before they catch him."

"Cat, he's in freaking China. Gotham PD can't do anything."

"No they can't which is why the Batman has to do it."

"Give me a break. Now you think the Batman is going after Xang in China."

"I don't think anything. I know."

"How?"

"Can't say."

"Who is your source."

"I can't tell you."

"So you expect me to run the story on good faith?"

"No, I gave you proof." I pointed at the folder. "Now do you want the story or not?"


He had to go to China to get Xang soon. Everything was in order, Lucious had all his new toys lined up. The hard part was going to be the cover. He needed a believable cover for both the public and her. The public one would have been easy, but now he could not take ballerinas on a yacht... At least not without losing any chance with her. So what would be a good alibi?

"A business meeting sir." Alfred suggested.

"Must be quite the offer that I would fly half away around the globe to talk to someone."

"How about an energy project. Something you have to see for yourself like solar."

"That's not a bad idea. I get photographed checking out solar panels in say...Japan, and then at night I fly to China and take out Xang."

"Happy to ablige sir."


Two weeks had passed and Bruce and I were seeing each other on a regular basis. It always seemed a little bit like a covert operation because we didn't want the press to know. Especially since we hadn't defined what we even were - if anything.

He had opened up a lot more but I couldn't help but feel like there was still a wall of protection around him.

"I have to go to a business meeting next week." He said as we were laying in bed, my head on his chest. "It's in Tokyo."

"What are you doing in Japan?"

"Solar panels."

I looked at him puzzled.

"There is a solar company in Japan that I'm thinking about investing in."

"How long will you be gone for."

"Only a couple of days."

I nodded. Something was off but I couldn't tell what it was.

Bruce had left in the morning for Tokyo.

"Bring me something from Japan," I had said before he left. "I have never been. Maybe one of those silly waving cats?"

He laughed and nodded.

He had only left a day ago and I was already missing him which was ridiculous. I still didn't know what we even were and whether or not I even wanted anything serious with him.

He sent me texts and pictures from Tokyo. Wish you were here. His last text read and took me by surprise.

"A letter for you Ms Hunter," the secretary said as I walked in.

As I sat down at my desk I opened it. There was nothing in there but a USB stick. I plugged it in and couldn't believe my eyes. It was footage from Batman capturing Xang. It seemed Batman was wearing a camera on his body because all you could see was him fighting, capturing Xang and flying away. It was like I had hit gold. Who sent me this and why?

I called Gordon to see if they can give me an interview on Xang. I had to act quickly if I wanted to be the one breaking the story.


For the day, I was Peter's favorite employee. The footage and the story brought us incredible ratings. Exhausted after an 16 hour day I went home. I fell on my bed when my phone rang. It was Bruce.

"I saw the story. Good job."

"Thanks. Do you know how I got that footage?"

"I might have put in a good word for you with the Gotham PD."

"What do you mean?"

"I told them you were holding the story until after the bust so I suggested that if they were working with the Batman, they should give you something exclusively in exchange. I had no idea they would put a bodycam on Batman but I guess it worked."

"It sure did. Thanks. When are you coming back?"

"I'm at the airport right now."

"You're flying commercial?"

"You seem surprised. I'm more humble than you think."

"Huh... So you're not flying first class?"

I heard a long pause on the other end.

"I may have booked the entire first class to myself, but that's neither here nor there."

I laughed. "Right. Very humble."


It only had been three days that we hadn't seen one another but I was giddy with excitement for our dinner together. As always, I would sneak in the back door so photographers wouldn't catch a glimpse of me. I really didn't want to become the next Wayne girl in the papers. I chose a tight, white dress with cutouts and silver heels, heading to his apartment.

Bruce greeted me with a passionate kiss, pulling me close into his arms. By the urgency of his kiss it seemed that he had missed me equally.

"You look stunning." He said when he slowly let go off me.

"Thanks. You don't look too shabby yourself."

He was wearing his usual crisp white shirt, no tie.

"How many white shirts and black pants do you own?"

He laughed. "Quite a few."

"Do you have a giant walk in closet filled with suits and shirts that almost look identical?"

"I'll show you." He took my hand and lead me to the closet. It was exactly what I had imagined only even bigger.

"Holy cow! This is bigger than my bedroom." I said while slowly walking through the rows and rows of suits, shirts and neatly folded cashmere sweaters.

"Is anything you wear not Armani?"

"Um... I don't think so. It's easiest that way. I hate shopping so I pretty much have an order with them once a year for a new wardrobe."

"Wow! How much does that cost?"

He started to open his mouth.

"Don't answer that." I interrupted. "Probably more than my apartment in an entire year."

He smiled at me, his hands in his pocket, leaning against the wall with one shoulder.

I looked at one of the suit jackets, the material seemed incredibly expensive. The label read "Giorgio Armani for Bruce Wayne"

"Are you kidding me? You get your own label?"

He shrugged innocently. "I didn't ask them to."

"Tough life Mr Wayne, tough life."

All of a sudden he pulled me towards him and kissed me. His strong arms holding me tightly against his body. I instinctively wrapped my arms around his neck. The kiss was getting more intense as he was pushing me against the wall.

"Master Wayne," Alfred walked in. Bruce let go of me immediately and we looked like teenagers being caught in the act by a parent, awkwardly straightening our clothes. "Oh. So sorry sir." Alfred said, quickly turning around.

We looked at each other and started laughing.

"Well," Bruce said. "I've never seen Alfred blush so I guess that's a first. I think dinner is ready." He took my hand as we walked back to the kitchen.

"This is fantastic, Alfred." I said while indulging on the incredible food he had made.

"Thank you Ms Hunter, glad you enjoy it." He said while taking our empty plates.

"I still feel awkward not helping with dishes." I whispered to Bruce.

He smiled at me. "I think Alfred would feel really weird if you did."

"I brought you something from Japan," he said while sliding a blue velvet box towards me.

"Is it a waving cat?"

But as I looked at the box, it looked a lot more like jewelry than a waving cat.

"You better didn't spend more than 20 bucks on this."

"Money doesn't matter."

I sighed and opened the box. Jade-colored drop down earrings sparkled at me.

"They match the dress you wore when I first saw you." He said, as I was staring speechlessly at the gems.

"When I said bring me something from Japan I meant a silly tourist item, not what looks like very expensive jewelry."

"Do you like them?"

"I love them but that's besides the point. They're too expensive. I can't accept them."

"You have to because they would look ridiculous on Alfred."

I laughed. "Still, Jade earrings..."

"They're not Jade."

"Oh thank God. I thought they were incredibly expensive."

He chuckled. "They're Jadeites, different than Jade. They're mostly sourced in Myanmar and my jeweler in Japan gets the best shipments of Jadeites in."

"Your jeweler in Japan? Who are you?"

He laughed. "Try them on."

"So they're not Jade, so they weren't crazy expensive?"

"They're not Jade."

I nodded and took off my earrings and put them in.

"They look perfect on you."

"Thank you. You shouldn't have."

"Master Wayne? Sorry to interrupt, a call for you sir." Alfred said

"Excuse me." Bruce said while getting up.

The second he left I pulled out my phone, googeling Jadeites. What I found did not make me happy.

Jadeite - $3 million per carat. Winning the title of rarest precious stone. While not to be confused with Jade, only Jadeite retains value as a rare gem, with the best quality found in Myanmar. Jadeite is more rare and more expensive than diamonds.

I shouldn't be surprised but it made me extremely uncomfortable, knowing he must have spent...millions! Oh my God! Just the thought made me uncomfortable. And I said I was glad they were not Jade. Silly me, Jade would have been cheaper.

He came back from his phone call.

"I'm sorry, I have to go. Wayne Enterprise needs me."

"Sure. I understand." I said while getting up.

"I'm so sorry. Really wish I didn't have to cut this short."

"No worries."

He kissed me. "I had other intentions for the rest of the evening." He said while smirking at me.

I laughed. "Maybe next time."

"Maybe?"

I laughed while leaning against him, my hands in his hair. "We'll see."

I placed a kiss on his lips before i let go of him. "Good night Mr Wayne."

As I took a step away from him towards the elevator, he grabbed me by my arm and pulled me towards him again, his lips covering mine.

"Good night Ms Hunter." He said as he let me go.

Breath- and speechless from the kiss, I made my way back home.

As the elevator doors closed he rushed to get changed. There was no call. Alfred used that as code that something needed his attention. And it did. Two people were shot in an apartment - both named Greenwood. It's obviously a threat against the mayor-hopeful, who had said many times that Gotham's streets would get cleaned up under his watch.

I just walked into the door when I got a call from the station. Two people shot and killed, both named Greenwood. Coincidence? Unlikely. I quickly changed and ran out the door again. When I got there Gordon was standing outside, talking to some of his men. His facial expression soured once he spotted me.

"Not today Ms Hunter." He simply said while waving me off.

"Come on Gordon... You gotta give me something. Even if it's off the record."

"Sorry, not today." With that he jumped into his car.

It was fair to say Gordon wasn't my biggest fan. Fine! Guess I have to find another way to the story. I looked up at the building. Fire escape - my dear friend. I waited until all cops were gone and climbed up the stairs. I was definitely better dressed than last time when I did this. Just when I thought that, it started to rain. Great! I continued until I reached the right place - police caution tape everywhere. I was praying to the journalism Gods that the window wasn't locked. It was an old window but it slowly opened up. Suddenly the window opened up all the way, a hand grabbed me by my coat, pulled me in and pushed me against a wall. It was pitch black, I couldn't see anything.

"What are you doing here?"

I recognized that gravely voice. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness I could finally make out his eyes and teeth.

"What are you doing here?" He asked again, his voice getting louder and angrier.

"I'm... Can you let go off me first?"

His grip loosened and he let me slowly down.

"I'm here for the same reason you are. To find out who did this. I'm guessing someone is making a threat against Greenwood."

"You can't be here. It's too dangerous."

"Well...I hear that a lot. Kinda comes with the job description."

"I wasn't asking you. I'm telling you to leave."

"Geez what is it with you and protecting me? I'm fine."

I could hardly see him but I saw his dark eyes piercing through me. I looked on the table besides him looking at a paper with doodles on it.

"He put an obituary for the mayor in tomorrow's paper?"

"You really need to leave. Now!"

His voice rose to a scary growl. All of a sudden I wasn't so sure this creature in front of me wouldn't harm me. After all, he was a crazy guy in a bat suit who went out fighting at night.

"Fine." I said with a little less steady voice than before as I walked towards the door, his gaze on my every move.

I opened the door, turned around to scan the room one last time, which was hard because he was making even the darkness more black than normal. How did he do that? His head was lowered but his eyes were still staring at me in a threatening way. I closed the door on my way out.

Next stop - Wayne Enterprise. A pen on the desk said Wayne Enterprise which led me to believe that one of the Greenwoods was working for Wayne. I called Bruce but no answer.


When I walked into the building there was only one security guard.

"Can I help you ma'am?"

"Yes, I'm here to see Mr Wayne."

"I'm sorry but Mr Wayne isn't here. He should be back tomorrow morning. Can I leave him a message?"

"You can drop the act, I know he's here and he is expecting me. Just call him."

"Ma'am I'm very sorry but he is not in. I swear."

This was getting frustrating.

"Can you just call him please."

"I can call his phone but I already know that nobody is going to answer."

"Please."

He sighed, shaking his head while dialing the number. He put it on speaker as it rang and rang and rang. What if he wasn't here

I noticed the security guard's key card at the desk. All I needed was a diversion.

"Ma'am I'm more than happy to leave him a message."

It was showtime. "Oh my God I'm so stupid. I'm such an idiot." I started crying. The security officer looked visibly uncomfortable.

"Ma'am I'm sorry...can I help you in any way?"

"I thought I was special. He's cheating on me..."

Given Wayne's reputation it didn't take much to convince the guard who stared at me helplessly.

"All these long hours at the office... He's probably sleeping with some skank. Why am I such an idiot?"

"It's...it's gonna be alright. Let me get you some tissues."

Once he left, I quickly ran behind the counter and slipped the key card into my jacket before returning to my previous position.

"There you go." He handed me a box of tissues.

"Thank you. I'm so sorry about this. You must think I'm pathetic."

"You must think I'm pathetic."

"That's quite alright Miss. Believe me, you're not the first."

Lovely!

"Well, thank you so much again for understanding. Have a good night."

"Same to you."

As I walked out, I knew I had to act quickly before he would realize his card was gone. I went to the back entrance, scanned the card and the door opened. I was nervous what I was going to find. I climbed up the stairs quickly to the third floor. The hallway was dimly lit.

"Bruce?" I asked, hoping he would peek out of one of the doors. But nothing. I quickly walked down the hallway and saw his office - his name on the door. It was empty and dark. I opened the door. I had never been in his office. It was big and fancy, nothing less than I'd expect from him. A big expensive-looking leather chair. Glass desk. Giant iMac. It looked completely unused though. Did he really ever work in here? It certainly didn't look like it. Or was he just a clean-freak on the side. I sat down on his chair.. This is what it must feel like to be Bruce Wayne. The world at your finger tips. Which brought me to my point - if he wasn't here - where was he? Was I at his finger tips too? Did I fall for some stupid act. In that moment I realized the security camera pointed at me. That's right - he is going to be able to see me sitting in his chair later. I smiled and waved at the camera.

I guess knowing he wasn't here was what I came here for. Mission accomplished. As I was walking down the hallway again I saw the HR department. Would they have a file on one of the dead Greenwoods? I went inside and found file cabinets but they were all locked. I found one cabinet labeled "G". This was it. I grabbed scissors from the desk and jammed them in the lock, slowly decompressing the combination.

Click-click-click I was almost there.

"Miss? I know you're up here." I hard the security guard yell down the hallway.

In that moment the lock opened. I quickly searched through the files. "Tom Greenwood" - there it was. I grabbed the file and quickly read it.

He was 35 years old, graduated from Princeton with a business degree... Nothing really stood out at me. At least I knew who he was and that the connection to Wayne was real. Grabbing my phone, I took a picture of the page. I put the file back, closed the cabinet. It looked like nothing had happened.

Now I had to face the consequences... I walked out of the room.

"I'm sorry." I said still in character close to tears. "I hate him!"

"Ma'am, please calm down."

In that moment police officers walked up to me, putting me in handcuffs, reading me my miranda rights. This turned out to be a lovely evening.


He had just come back from the Greenwood murder scene, still furious at her for putting herself in danger like that, when Alfred had more bad news.

"Master Wayne? You might want to invest in a new security system at Wayne Enterprise."

"Why did someone break in?" He asked while getting changed into street clothes again.

Alfred just grinned at him, pressing play on the security footage.

She was sitting at his desk, smiling and waving at him.

"You gotta be kidding me!"

"I'm most certainly not sir. She's in the county jail right now, sir. You might want to drop charges against her and get her out."

"I'm not sure I want to." He replied in a sarcastic tone. "She knows I was lying about working. What's next? She follows me here and figures it all out?"

"You could avoid all of that sir and simply tell her yourself."

"That's out of the question."

"Why? Because you don't trust her? Or because you're afraid?"

He was getting more and more annoyed with Alfred being a matchmaker, particularly because he was able to read Bruce too well. Sometimes he felt Alfred understood what was going on in his own head better than he did himself.

"Enough Alfred. I am not going to tell her. End of discussion."

"Very well sir. I would still suggest you get her out of jail."

He sighed. "Yeah."


"Looks like it's your lucky day Miss Hunter," the police officer said while opening the cell. "Charges were dropped."

"That's good."

I took my belongings from the front desk and walked outside. Bruce was standing in front of his Lamborghini, arms crossed. He did not look happy.

Silently he opened the car door.

"Bruce..." I started to say.

"Get in the car."

Wow, he was even more mad than I had expected.

He sat in the car, slamming the car door a little louder than necessary. Without saying a word he started driving. I swallowed hard, feeling all sorts of uncomfortable. I needed to apologize - surely - but I had no idea how to do it. How do you apologize for breaking into someone's office and stealing documents? Especially when you're romantically involved with them. I was pretty sure I was breaking every trust code there was. But so was he - he told me he was at work but he wasn't. He was still silent, staring angrily at the road ahead. His lips in a tight line, his jaw hard.

"So..." I started. "I'm not really sure where to begin... I'm sorry..."

"What the fuck Cat?" He asked in a raised voice gazing at me in frustration.

"You have all the right to be mad at me. I did a very stupid thing. But let me at least explain..."

"There's no explanation needed. I know exactly what you did and why you did it."

"Oh?"

"You found out Tom Greenwood worked for me and wanted to ask me about it, when I wasn't there you decided to break into my office again because who gives a fuck about my office right? We're sleeping together so you can just walk in there whenever you want to."

His anger took me by surprise.

"Ok, the first part is accurate. But you got the second one all wrong."

"Enlighten me!"

"I...I... It's a difficult thing to explain... When I have a hunch on a story, I throw all reason out the door."

"Clearly."

"I'm so sorry. I don't know it felt weird that you told me you were at Enterprise and then you weren't and I knew Greenwood worked for you..."

"So now you're not trusting me?"

"It's not like that..."

"It's exactly like that. I told you I was working and I was. You assume - because I am not sitting at my desk in my office - that I am lying about working."

"When you say it like that it sounds a lot worse."

"You do realize this was more than just trespassing. This is a big deal. You're stealing documents from Wayne Enterprise."

"I may have stepped over the line."

"Over the line? Cat, you're so far past the line..." He shook his head vehemently. "I just don't get it."

"I don't either." I said embarrassed looking at my hands. "Where were you though?"

He stared at me in complete bewilderment. "Are you kidding me? Now you're interrogating me?"

"No, I'm just asking. That's different. I was at the scene...where the two Greenwoods were killed and ran into the Batman, who was clearly having a bad day... Anyway..."

"You did what?"

"Not important - point is I saw a WE pen on his desk so I wanted to talk to you about it."

He sighed in frustration. "Even if I could look past all the insane things you just told me...why break into my office. Just wait until I call you back like a normal person."

"Well big surprise I'm not normal."

He just stared ahead. Just now I realized we had arrived at my apartment. He got out of the car and before I was able to assemble all my belongings, he opened my door.

"Thanks." I said in a weak voice.

He simply nodded, still avoiding eye contact. My stomach was in knots. I looked at him, hoping he would meet my gaze - in vain. He felt colder than ice.

"Stay out of trouble." He finally said in a distant voice, placing a brief kiss on my cheek.

"Thanks for getting me out of jail." I said as he was walking back to his car, nodding absently at my words. He revved up the engine and sped into Gotham's night.

I felt more stupid than I ever had before in my life. Bruce and I had a good thing going. Did I just ruin it because I had to have my nose everywhere?

I dragged myself upstairs, feeling really stupid. As I walked into my apartment I saw the Jadite earrings sparkle at me and cringed. He was perfect and I acted like an idiot. I closed the box - I couldn't handle the earrings staring at me any longer. I needed a shower maybe it would put some sense into me.