Olivia paced back and forth, trying her hardest not to focus on the television in front of Alfred. She knew something like this was eventually going to happen, she'd seen him slipping more and more into the monster than controlling it. The guests were arriving and she knew they were all waiting for the birthday boy, but the champagne was circulating and that would hold them off for awhile.
"I can't believe this," she hissed as she glanced down the hall as more of Gotham's elite filtered in. She was about to leave when she heard him step into the room, and upon seeing that she realized she had nothing to say to him.
Her heels clicked the floor heavily as she made her way to her party, barely hearing the words that began to flow from Alfred's mouth. She hoped he could get through to Bruce because she knew she wouldn't be able to. He'd left for Rachel, and she couldn't be too angry at him for saving her friend, even if he was still in love with her.
"Olivia, have you seen Fox?" Bruce asked, running down the hall to meet her. Stopping at the top of the stairs, she watched the people mingling in her home and wasn't calm enough yet to join them.
"Not yet," she turned to face him, watching as he fumbled with his tie.
"We need to get rid of these people…" Olivia rolled her eyes and began down the staircase.
"No, these people are here for you. It's your birthday party, Bruce. I spent days putting this together and you will give me at least one hour to enjoy it."
"Olivia, please help me with this." He said reaching out and stopping her.
"I knew this wouldn't last long." She told him straightening his tie. "You have been trying to be two separate men, and finally the monster's taken over. Look at yourself, Bruce." He tightened his grip on her arm and pulled her down the stairs to a dark corner out of view.
"Liv, I'm helping people. You didn't have to be a part of this, but now that you are, I need you to help me." She pulled her arm out of his grasp and risked a glance across the hall.
"How exactly do I help you? We're the couple that everyone envies, money and parties, we have it all. That's what I do, Bruce. I throw parties like this so no one suspects anything. Rachel could do the same thing, I'm sure of it. I bet you didn't even expect me to still be here, leaving me the company and everything was just to give me something to start another life. Did it ever occur to you that I was actually in love with you?"
"Olivia, we can do this later." He said beginning to walk away.
"This was going to be a good thing, and all it's done is destroy everything your family's built." She called after his retreating form. "These days it seems everyone but you can see how out of control you've let this get. How many cops do you suppose are either in the hospital or dead after what you just did?"
"This isn't your family, Olivia." He said in a low voice, one that reminded her more of the bat than the man in front of her.
"Yet I seem to care more about their legacy than you do." His hand connected with the side of her face, probably not as hard as he wanted to do, but enough to hurt her. Olivia's hand flew up to cover the spot, keeping her head down to stop the tears before they started.
"Liv, I'm sorry…" he moved closer to her, trying to look at what he'd done.
"Don't, you just proved my point." Olivia walked away, running up the stairs to quickly fix her makeup. She could hear the music beginning, and wiped away the tears before they could do any further damage.
Her cheek was still red, but letting her hair down and sweeping it to one side made it look less noticeable. Her lipstick was a darker shade of red to hide the small cut in the corner, but other than that she looked no different. Staring at her reflection, she adjusted the pearl necklace she wore nearly every day and readied herself for the party below.
Olivia stood in front of the long mirror, turning from side to side, checking every angle of the dress. Rachel had insisted this had to be the one to get. A deep blue color with off the shoulder straps, it was simple and straight cut, flowing only subtly at her feet. Her blonde hair was swept up loosely at the nape of her neck.
"I suggest wearing these." Alfred said as she came up behind her, a long flat box in his hands. "They belonged to the late Mrs. Wayne, and I'm sure she would have wanted you to have them." He gently clasped a string of small brilliantly white pearls around her neck.
"Oh, Alfred I don't know." She reached up to touch them, but couldn't make herself. Overwhelmed by everything that had occurred, from shopping in the expensive stores, to wearing jewelry that didn't belong to her, it was like a dream she was afraid to wake up from.
"You'll need them to face the crowd, trust me, Ms. Scott." He escorted her downstairs, before leaving her with Rachel once again. Through all the introductions, Olivia tried to find Bruce, but to no avail.
They were friendly, almost too friendly in her opinion, but she supposed that was the appropriate behavior to have with Bruce Wayne's girlfriend. He was the most powerful man in the city, therefore she was at his right hand.
"That's a beautiful necklace, darling. A gift from Bruce, I assume?" A charming older woman asked as she admired Alfred's gift, which had in fact turned heads all night, proof she belonged in their circle. Smiling self consciously, she placed her hand over the front pearls as the conversation drew in more women.
"Everyone," She turned quickly to the sound of his voice. Bruce stood in the doorway, looking more handsome than she'd ever seen him in a crisp tux. "Everyone I'd like to thank all of you for coming tonight, keeping this tradition alive after all these years. Liv, where are you?" She was ushered through the crowd to the front of the circle surrounding her boyfriend. She bit her lower lip to stop the enormous smile threatening to spread across her face. "There she is, my beautiful girlfriend, I'm sure all of you have met."
He walked into the room, taking her hand and pulling her away from the crowd. Walking the few steps up into the entrance of the room, she nervously glanced around as the whispering began. Bruce smiled at her before looking away to fish something out of his pocket.
"Bruce, what are you doing?" She asked barely a whisper. She only received a smile as an answer.
"Olivia Scott, I've got a present for you and I wanted everyone to see it." He said loudly, making sure everyone could hear. Olivia raised an eyebrow as he gave her hand a little squeeze before kneeling in front of her. Her free hand flew to her mouth to conceal her gasp.
"Bruce," she managed through clenched teeth, as she glanced around the room again.
"You are the most amazing woman I could have met in a laundry room." There was a collective laugh, bringing the smile back to her face. "I fell in love with you in a matter of minutes and being with you makes me happier than I ever thought possible. We make each other happy, but it's not enough." She rolled her eyes, biting her lip again to prevent any comment from flying out of her mouth. He winked at her, before continuing. "Marry me, Liv, and we won't have to worry about losing what we have together."
There was a silence that filled the room as he pulled out a simple three carat princess cut diamond ring on a white gold band, and slipped it onto her finger. Olivia stared at it for a few seconds, before smiling down at the man she loved, nodding her answer subtly to him before announcing it to the room.
"Yes," she said embracing him as he returned to his full height.
"Olivia, wonderful party as always." She was stopped by a group of younger trust fund girls, all in their late twenties, most knowing Bruce from when he was in high school and younger. She'd been forced to mingle with them in the recent years and had reached the point where they closely resembled friends.
"Thank you," she said reaching for a glass of champagne as the tray passed. She took small sips, glancing around the room for Bruce. She smiled when she saw Paige enter the group, receiving fake smiles from the other girls.
"I love what you've done with your hair. Usually you keep it tight and pulled back, this is so much more flattering." Veronica, the only girl Olivia met with outside of these social gatherings said, brushing the curls out of her face. A collective gasp rushed over the girls, as Olivia began to fix her hair.
"Olivia, what the hell happened to you?" Paige asked moving in around her.
"I fell asleep at my desk. It was flat as a pancake earlier, imagine how embarrassing." Olivia explained.
"Right," Paige nodded taking the silence as a perfect time to finish off their drinks.
"I should find Bruce, we need to bring out the cake soon." Olivia moved away from them quickly, avoiding any further questioning.
She moved through the crowd, stopping to talk to some people on her way to the bar for something with a little more kick than champagne, seeing as she'd already emptied five glasses and hardly felt an effect. Just as the bartender passed her a glass of scotch, she heard Bruce announce the crowd. She took a breath and threw her head back gulping down the burning liquid quickly.
"I want to thank you all for coming here tonight, and drinking all of my booze. No really. There's a thing about being a Wayne that you're never short of a few freeloaders, like yourselves, to fill up your mansion with. So here's to you people. Thank you." Olivia made her way through the crowd, tossing apologetic looks to those she passes.
"Bruce, what are you doing?" She hissed, stepping in next to him.
"I'm not finished. To all of you phonies, all of you two-faced friends you sycophantic suck-ups who smile through your teeth at me please, leave me in peace. Please go. Stop smiling, it's not a joke. Please leave. The party's over, get out."
Olivia watched as the room began to clear out. She turned to Bruce, but was stopped from saying anything as Paige walked up to her. "Maybe you should stay with me tonight?" She offered, taking her friend's wrist.
"Paige, please." Olivia said, staring at Bruce. But he wasn't going to stop her, staring down at his glass instead.
"Go," he spoke barely audible. Olivia turned and exited with the others, noticing the men that didn't seem to move.
"I don't know what you still see in him." Paige said as they climbed into her car.
"Paige, we've talked about this. I love him, maybe he's a different man now, but it's hard to abandon those feelings just because of one bad night." Olivia pulled her hair back placing it in a loose pony-tail. She pulled down the visor to check her bruising cheek. "But he does make it easy to hate him."
Okay, so there's only one more chapter after this. Let me know what you think.