A/N: I forgot to say in the last chapter, HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I am eternally thankful for all of you as my fans. Seriously, you guys make me smile something awesome. Thank you so much!


Chapter 12

Max arrived at Terry's in record time, attributing that due to the late hour but it was her own haste that made her drive faster. After getting to his apartment, she knocked on Terry's door, getting really anxious when he didn't answer. She wasn't even sure if he was home yet or if he'd been home at all. He did sometimes sleep at Wayne Manor after a long night. She knocked again.

"Easy, easy," Terry's voice came from the other side. "I heard ya the first time." He opened the door and his eyes widened with surprise when he saw her standing there. "Max…" he whispered.

She wanted to respond but all she could focus on was the fact that he was wearing a plain black pair of trousers and no shirt.

He looked down and noticed, as well. "Oh, umm… sorry. I just got home and, uh…"

"No, it's… uh… alright, just…" She stopped, having completely lost her train of thought as several other inappropriate but completely delicious ideas had taken over. Had she not have kissed him a few hours ago, she wouldn't be having this many thoughts or this hard of a time focusing. It certainly wasn't easy right now.

It wasn't any easier for him but he forced himself to focus. "I'll, uh, throw a shirt on. Come on in."

She walked in and stood by the door, closing it behind her, while he went to his bedroom. He came back a second later wearing a plain white shirt, to her chagrin.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"I want to talk," she answered.

He figured this was coming. "About the kiss?"

"About everything, including that."

"Well, you kissed me."

"I know that but… lately, it seems like that's the road we've been heading down."

"Tell me about it."

"Look, maybe this is a mistake but I gotta know. I have to understand everything before it gets too out of hand, ya know?"

"Yeah, I get it."

"So… what's going on with us?"

He sighed. "Do you really wanna talk this out?"

"Yes. I'm tired of living in this limbo of friends or…" She didn't know what to call it. "Or what. I don't want to be unsure anymore."

He shrugged. "I guess we should talk about this." He paused. "Should've done it long before now."

She shrugged. "Maybe. So, let's just… deal with it now."

He exhaled. "Alright. Have a seat."

She did so, sitting on one end of the couch.

He sat down on the other end of the couch, leaving the space between them, for now. He sat, staring straight ahead, as he completely gathered his thoughts. "I've been… dealing with some feelings toward you. Some very strong ones, very definite ones. When I realized what they were… I did to my damnedest trying to keep myself from feeling this way about you."

She swallowed. "Feeling… what way?" Part of her knew but had to hear it.

He bowed his head for a second then looked back up. "When I said… 'I love you, too' the day after the party, I meant it."

"You meant it?"

He closed his eyes then opened them to look at her.

She slowly started to understand. "Oh." Then, she fully understood, letting a slow, "Ohhhh." She kept telling herself that she didn't this coming, that she had no idea that Terry felt that way. But she was only lying to herself. So badly, in fact, that she couldn't form on her lips to tell that lie to Terry.

"I know we've been friends forever but…" he paused. "Max, I've always found you amazing." He stopped for a second when he realized that he was about to admit all this. "Everything about you. You've always been amazing. Without even realizing it, I just…" He exhaled. "I've been thinking about so much. All the time. And it's been like…" He let out another breath. He stared at her and finally gathered all of his courage, "I love you and want to be with you, Max."

His bluntness took her breath away. She wasn't angry. She was grateful. She just didn't know how to show it yet.

He bowed his head, "Harder to say to you than I thought."

"Why?" she asked.

He looked back at her, "Because we're best friends. Because I don't want… I can't lose that, Max. I can't ever lose you. You have no idea how much I need you. That's why I tried to push these feelings down or ignore them. I mean… if you didn't even remotely feel the same way, I'd lose you or, maybe, you think that you couldn't trust me or that I was playing or, even worse, you'd think it was just me being lonely. It's none of that but telling all this… I just worried about how wrong it could go. I got scared."

She was surprised to hear that come from him, even more so than when Mel admitted she was afraid to get married.

"So, all this time, I've been trying to keep myself from saying or doing anything that would ruin our friendship. Just kept it to myself."

"So… that's why you never said anything?"

"Yeah. I'd rather have you as my friend and you never know than tell you and have you not comfortable around me anymore."

She could understand that. Who couldn't? "Terry… I wouldn't ditch you. Even if you telling me would make me feel… awkward, I wouldn't just leave you. We've been through too much." She smiled. "Besides, turns out I still need you to be my hero. In and out of uniform."

He smirked. "I'd be there for you, no matter what."

"I know." She considered everything she just heard. It was quite a lot to absorb. She took a deep breath and exhaled. "Love me?"

He took a deep breath. "Yeah."

"I just… why me?"

He chuckled, "Are you serious?"

"Yeah. I mean… you're Batman!"

"And?"

"And…" She stopped. "And I'm… just… me."

He was shocked by that. If he didn't know better, he could swear he heard a lack of self-confidence. "What do you mean 'just' you?"

She sighed. "Look, Terry… I know that…" She shrugged, "Well, let's face it: I'm hot. I mean… I'm pretty damn sexy."

"No argument from me."

"But, I know you live a life where you meet way sexier girls than me. On a pretty much nightly basis. Heck, you do work with Aquawoman and Barda and Wonder Woman, who doesn't look a day over a 30. And I mean a super-hot 30. Hell, even that Melanie chick was hot."

"Big deal."

"Very big deal." She smirked. "Especially in Barda's case."

He laughed. "She's happily married. Besides, she'd probably break me in half." He shrugged, "Though, there are worse ways to go."

She laughed. "But see? There you go. There are much sexier women than me out there."

"I don't think that's true."

She blushed.

"And, if this was just a strictly physical thing, you'd might have a point. But it's not. So, what else you got?"

She shook her head. "What if we drive each other crazy?"

"We already do."

"What if you ever hate me?"

"I couldn't if I tried."

She sighed. "What if it doesn't work out… and we… stop being friends?"

He moved closer to her. "What if it does work out… and we get as close to a happily ever after as Batman can get?"

She wanted that. She wanted to believe that. "Terry…" She stopped and shook her head.

"What is it, Max? Tell me what's really bothering you."

She kept this reasoning buried because she was afraid that if she let herself fully know it she wouldn't be able to hide it from anyone. However, this is why she came here. If any of this had even the slightest hope of being real, she had to tell him the truth. She was shocked that was hard to do: she always told him the truth before. "What if you realize you don't love me?" She had to fight back a tear. "What if you leave me… like everyone else does?"

He was shocked to hear that. "Max!"

"Let me explain." She paused for a while, coming to terms with herself before she did it with him. She finally found the courage to be honest to him and admitted, "I love you, Terry. In that way. I'm in love with you. I kept telling myself that I didn't and, even if I did, to not love you."

"Why?"

"Well, like you said, I didn't know how you felt." She looked away. "For another… look at my track record of people mattering to me up and ditching me when someone else comes along."

He knew one event in recent memory that could put her on that line of thinking: her sister's engagement. "Mel's not doing that. She wouldn't do that. Not ever. Especially, not to you."

"Okay, yeah, she wouldn't. She's just getting married, not kicking me to the curb. You're right." She shook her head. "My parents did, though."

He sighed. That was a hard point to argue most days.

"I hate saying this out loud and you know that but… yeah, Terry…" She looked at him. "I'm scared."

He understood.

"I'm scared that this won't work or you'll find out that I'm not as awesome as I know I am."

He scoffed and smirked at her joke.

But her own attempt at wit didn't lighten her mood like she hoped it would. She still had her fear. "I'm scared… you'll spend more time around me and get sick of me. That you won't like me. You won't love me. And, that, one of the best things that has ever happened to me, probably the best thing… will go away like everything else."

He stared at her in silence for a long time. "You'd have to do a lot for me to ever not like you." He put his hand on hers. "And for me to not love you… you'd have to become a completely different person. In every way."

She smiled. "What about get sick of me?"

"We already said we got on each other's nerves."

They both laughed.

"I don't know what's in the future for us, Max," he explained. "I never do. I never have. I always thought my parents would stay married and, when they didn't, that threw my entire view of what the future would hold into a really weird limbo. I could never figure what could possibly happen tomorrow. I didn't know before the suit and I sure as heck didn't know after it." He looked her over. "The best example of that? I had no idea when I met you that I'd end up feeling this way about you. When I first met you, I saw you as just a cool, smarty pants."

She laughed.

"Then, you became my best friend. One of the few things I could always hold on to in my crazy life. Do you know how much you've anchored me down?" He scoffed, "I would've been in so much more trouble without you." He scratched the back of his head. "Because of that, because of who you are, I couldn't stop myself. More and more, Max, I just fell for you. And I don't regret it."

She was stunned. "Really?"

"No. Because the fact that I got to know you well enough to fall for you… it's something I'm grateful for." He smirked. "Thanks for letting me be in your life that long."

She shrugged, "You put up with me that long."

He shook his head, "Wasn't hard."

"Says you. Besides, you weren't the only one who had the other as a rock through their crazy life. I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't been there for me."

"You would've made it through. Somehow."

"I don't know if that's true or not."

He took her hand and squeezed it. "I do. It's just one more reason why I feel this way. You are so damn strong, Max. You never needed me. But me? I've needed you."

Her heart skipped a beat.

"So… if this doesn't work out, which I think it will, never think that I would leave you in any way."

This was all so surreal for her. "Am I really worth all of this to you?"

"You have no idea. You really don't." He shrugged, "It may take a long time for you to find out."

"I'd like to find out."

He smiled at her, "Me, too." He shrugged. "Sooooo?"

She shook her head, wanting to be frustrated, but she couldn't be. Instead, she smiled and growled, "Oh, my God, I can't believe I fell in love with Batman! That is so cliché!"

"Oh, you always loved Batman!"

"Fine! I fell in love… with…" Her eyes widened. "…you."

He smiled.

"Whoa," she whispered. "I fell in love with you." She shook her head. "God, Terry. I can't believe this is the way our lives turned out."

"I know, right? Who could've seen this coming?"

"I heard jokes for two years that we were already couple."

"Yeah, Basem teases me about it when he can."

"Sally does it all the time. You have no idea."

"Oh, I think I have a good idea."

They laughed, lightly, then silence took over. Things had just changed. It was a good change but a change nonetheless.

"So… what happens now?" she asked.

He shrugged, "I was… really hoping I could kiss you."

"I never said you couldn't."

"Yeah but you started it last time. Wasn't sure that you still felt that vibe?"

She stared at him, a sultry look in her eyes. "Oh, really? You're not getting that vibe now? Check your radar, McGinnis."

He moved closer, seeing the gap he left between them no longer necessary. "Didn't notice it was going off. How stupid of me."

She helped close the gap, "You better fix that."

Their lips met and it was far more intentional than last time. It was very strong. The passion took over the town of them. She moved closer to him and wrapped her arms around his neck and he placed an arm around his waist. They made out a little longer then stopped, getting their breath back.

She gazed into his eyes, feeling all of the love that she had been suppressing. She traced his jaw line with her finger, "Terry… if we do this… you know that I'm all in, right?"

He smiled. "I want that, too."

"Good." She stared at him, loving the beauty of his blue eyes. "Because I don't want to be afraid, anymore. I don't want to lose you."

"I already told you that you aren't…"

"What I mean is… I don't want to lose the chance to be with someone who really loves me because I'm afraid of being in love."

He was taken aback. "Max…"

"I love you, Terry. I really do. So damn much, Terry." She sighed. "God, I am so sorry that I've been trying to keep you at a distance."

"Max. I get it."

"I've just… with Mom and Dad… how they used to argue and… I never wanted to lose you like that. I never wanted you to hate me or-or regret being with me or…"

"Max."

She stopped her rant.

"You know I've been there, too, with my parents, if only a little."

She nodded.

"And I love you, too. I'm all in."

She smiled. "Good." She shrugged, moving awkwardly. "Then… you're gonna have to forgive me for this."

"And that is?"

"Something I've kinda wanted to… not for a long time but for a little while."

"Alright and what's that…"

In a quick movement, she climbed in his lap and kissed him with all she had, letting go of all of the inhibitions she'd been holding on to.

He stopped momentarily and, hurriedly, breathed out, "Oh, that!"

"Uh-huh!" She pressed her lips against his again. She stopped for another second and, asked, breathlessly, "I did say sorry for this right?"

"Trying to figure out why you're apologizing?" he asked, also out of breath.

"Oh, good! So, I can keep going?"

"Max, will you please shut up?"

"Done." She kissed him again.

They made out for several more minutes, completely lost in this passion. After another series of kisses, Max pulled away and stared at him.

"Terry, I want to do something else," she declared, "but it's something I will only do if you mean it. You really mean that you're all in with me."

"Max," he replied. "I am all in. You know I mean it. I wouldn't mess your emotions that way."

She smiled, realizing something very important. "I do know that. I always have." She climbed off of his lap and, after standing up, she took hold of his hand, and began heading toward his bedroom.

It took a second for him to register what was happening but, when he realized it, his eyes went wide and pulled her back, "Whoa, whoa, Max!" he stopped her, causing her to look at him. "Max…" He fought every male urge that was raging inside of him to be rational and considerate. It wasn't easy. "I want to. Believe me, I want to! Like… so damn much, I want to! But…" He shook his head, "not if you think this is just what you have to do to… make sure I'm all in or that I'm gonna stick around or anything."

She stared at him in surprise.

"I love you, Max. I'm with you, no matter what. We don't have to do this unless you want to and you're ready."

She couldn't stop smiling. This was just one reason out of so many that made her happy she did this. "You love me, Terry. I love you. I trust you." She walked backed up to him and kissed him. "I know you're not playing with me and I know I'm not some cheap thrill for you. For you to even say all that, right now, I know that I matter to you. You're not taking advantage of me. I know you and I know your heart."

He smiled.

"I want this. I do."

He heard her, loud and clear. He took her hand this time and led her into the room, closing the door behind them.


A/N: Forgive me for this completely juvenile movement but... bow chicka wow wow! I'm sorry. I couldn't help myself.

So, finally, am I right? Right?!

Unfortunately, this also means we are quite close to end of this particular tale. However, remember, this story is just the beginning.

By the way, all of the reviews, I love them and you guys so much. Thank you!