Chapter 12

A day later, Clark wakes with a headache. Looking around he sees he is in a hospital bed. Not far away Chloe is lying in another bed. She is sleeping. "She is so going to give it to me when she wakes up. Perhaps I've been unfair. I didn't fare any better against Joker than she did, even with my powers. I guess she really is able to make her own choices." he realizes.

Chloe wakes to find Clark staring at her in a new way. The intensity of the stare makes her a bit uncomfortable, and also oddly comforted. "It's like he is looking at me for the first time or something." she thinks. To him she says "Hi Clark."

"Hey. I don't suppose a great big "I'm sorry" will be enough for you to forgive me?" Clark asks with all his boyish charm, which only works because he is totally clueless he has it.

"Clark what are you talking about?" Chloe asks wondering what she missed.

"Well, I just sort of realized that maybe I'm a bit too overprotective of you, and that I shouldn't give you such grief." Clark confesses.

"Nurse! Help! Something's wrong with Clark!" she teasingly calls out, then laughs to ease her remark.

"Ok, I deserved that. Seriously though, I'm sorry. I don't know why it took so long for me to figure it out, but I'm sorry." Clark sincerely says.

"Enough with the apologies. I owe you more than a few myself. Let's just call it even." Chloe banters.

"Done." Clark replies then settles back into his bed. A weight between them lifted, each sleeps a little better.

Chloe grits her teeth, pulls herself up again, and once more tries to force her legs forward. Her shaking arms threaten to let her fall again, but the look she gives the men in the room watching ensures they stay put. With enormous effort she gets one foot and then the other moving. The next step her legs fail. Her arms keep her from falling, but she has to let go and sinks to the floor. On the verge of tears she just wants to stay on the floor. "It's too hard." she pants

She feels arms under hers lifting her back up. "Again." is Bruce's simple command.

Right now she hates him more than she thought she could hate anyone, but she obeys. A few more steps then she is back on the floor. This time she drags herself back up.

An eternity later her half hour therapy session is over. Next is even harder, getting back in the chair. It looks innocent enough, but she hates that chair even more than she hates Bruce.

"You're making excellent progress. Frankly with the number of breaks in your legs I thought it would be months, not weeks before you could try walking again." Dr. Hamilton offers.

Weary Chloe just glares at him. Catching the look Bruce is giving her she schools her face into a faint grin and replies "Thanks."

On the ride back to the mansion, she looks out the window refusing to even look at Bruce. She knows she is being childish, but she is so frustrated and angry with how long her recovery is taking she has to do something with it all. Bruce doesn't seem to mind or even notice. Clark or Ollie would be in hiding if she treated them the way she has Bruce lately. Bruce just keeps supporting her, helping her. As he holds the wheelchair for her to climb into she sighs. "Thanks Bruce. You don't have to put up with me, much less take such good care of me. I appreciate it, but it still." She trails off searching for the words to finish.

"You can't stand being dependant. You hate asking for help and hate needing it even more. I understand, so don't worry about it." Bruce cuts her off as he wheels her up the ramp and into the mansion.

In the cave Bruce starts the next phase of her therapy. Chloe spends the next several hours grunting with effort as she lifts various weights through exercises designed to build her core muscles. Bruce designed this routine to help repair her upper body so as to ease the burdened placed on her lower back and leg muscles. Out of sight of witnesses he brutally pushes her through the series. Even when she collapses crying begging him to let her stop, he doesn't. He lifts her chin to tell her "You have more than this in you. Find it! Get back to work."

Searching her soul she finds he is right. "Hell I was facing alien invasions before I was 21. I can do this. This chair won't hold me." she thinks as she grimly pulls herself back onto the weight bench. She does get annoyed when Bruce strides away seemly not to care.

Little does she know what he does just out of sight. Leaning against the far wall Bruce wonders if he pushed her too hard this time. She looked like she was going to break. Relief floods him when he sees her drag herself back onto the machine and getting back to work. He hates having to push her so hard, but he knows from his own past injuries he has no other choice. "It's all about will." he reminds himself.

A few months later, Chloe wakes to the sun shining on her face. This Alfred's not to subtle way of telling someone it's time to get up. She envies the easy way he reads and maneuvers everyone he encounters. He never has to directly confront anyone on anything, but instead gives innocent looking clues as to what he expects of you. Even more amazing is everyone including Bruce follows them. Well Bruce doesn't do everything, but Alfred has more influence than she realized.

Stretching out the kinks she hauls herself out of bed. Her legs are still weak, but she can manage to get around a bit. For awhile she was worried she wouldn't walk again. "I really need to do something for Bruce to thank him for all his help." Unlike her other friends whose alter egos have consumed their lives, he always makes time for her. She hasn't a clue when or if he sleeps, but he does manage. "Clark doesn't even call to check on me anymore. Oliver only calls when he needs Watchtower. It's nice someone wants to spend time with me." she muses.

After showering she is standing in a towel before her closet trying to find a particular outfit she swears she brought with her from Metropolis when Bruce knocks at the door. Without thinking she replies "Come in." It is only when Bruce stops to look at her oddly that she remembers she is in a towel. "Why is he looking at me like that? He's seen me naked so what's the big deal about me in a towel? Oh crap my hair must really be a wreck." Chloe thinks. It takes all her will not to smooth her hair right then. The fact that she cares what he thinks of her hair is completely lost on her.

Bruce completely forgets what he wanted to ask Chloe about when he sees her bent at the waist digging through her closet. The towel she is wearing has slipped just enough to hint at the breasts it hides. "Get a grip Bruce." he chides himself forcing his brain back into gear. "I need your help for a special mission if you're up for it?" he states professional.

"Ok. What's the mission?" she asks.

"The kind you hate the most." he replies handing her the invite.

"A ball! Oh, not a ball. Can't I let The Joker drop another building on me instead?" she snarks. She really hates getting dressed up for these things. She feels so self conscious around all those supermodels on every other guy's arm.

Tensing for a second when she mentions Joker, Bruce quickly covers. He hopes she didn't notice his slip. He never wants her anywhere near The Joker again, but he won't stop her if that's what she chooses. "Face it Bruce you like her." his subconscious whispers. "I respect her. I value her. Nothing more." he assures himself even as part of him wonders what her lips taste like. "Then why are you wondering what her lips taste like." his subconscious teases.

Chloe is very nervous as she steps out of the Limo "Please don't let me fall." goes through her mind over and over. By the time of the ball she can walk normally, but walking in these heels pushes her recovery. Luckily she makes it down the carpet without falling on her face. Bruce left out the fact she would have to show up alone. "He'll pay for leaving out that little detail." she mutters. Fortunately she spots Lucius as she walks in feeling like a fool as the doorman announces her. "Lucius so good to see." she says as she slips into his little group.

"Ms. Sullivan the pleasure is all mine I assure you. You look simply incredible this evening." he gallantly says. "Allow me to introduce you to Prince Akmed of" he continues.

Several long hours later she finds her chance to slip away as Bruce is giving his drunken speech to the amusement of the crowd. Having all these people laughing at Bruce behind their hands bothers her. She consoles herself it is a necessary part of his act. Still it hurts her more people don't know the man she does. Using her modified master keycard she swipes herself into the secure server room of Tamiku Industries and settles herself behind a terminal. Their security is very good it takes her a whole five minutes to hack in. Ten minutes later she is slipping back into the party when a security guard catches her.

"You! What were you doing in there? That area is off limits." he says towering over her.

Suggestively adjusting her dress she forces herself to blush as she stammers "Well, I was waiting for Mr. Wayne. He had promised to show me something special. I came back when he didn't show."

The guard knowing all too well Bruce Wayne's reputation takes pity on her and lies "I think he got held up talking to Mr. Tamiku." He doesn't know Bruce leaving with two supermodels is all part of their plan and gives Chloe the perfect reason to leave suddenly.

"He's with someone else isn't he." she comments putting on her best disappointed face to help sell it.

Squirming a minute the guard fesses up "Yes I'm sorry, but he left with two women a few minutes ago."

"Well that's his loss, it takes at least three girls to equal me."she snarks.

Smirking the guard replies "Frankly I think you're too classy a lady for the likes of him."

Noticing the guard has a wedding ring she feels safe to flirt a bit "Why thank you. You do know how to turn a girl's head." she says as she leans forward giving him a good look at her cleavage.

She is a bit surprised and flattered when he gulps and mutters "Honey, if you ever doubted I love you, you should see me know." For Chloe to hear he says "My wife trained me well Miss."

"All the good ones are taken." Chloe flirts back, then glides away.

Bruce is impressed with the amount of data Chloe managed to get. Her computer skills are exceptional. Also, she handled the guard situation beautifully. "A remarkable woman." Bruce says unconsciously out loud as he watches her on the video from last night he hacked.

"She is." Alfred dryly remarks.

Exchanging a look with his butler Bruce then tells Alfred "It can't happen."

"If you say so, Sir." Alfred replies.

Chloe is half way up the cavern wall when she hears Bruce coming down the stairs. Forcing her curiosity down, she focuses on climbing the wall. Bruce has come down for one thing or another several times over the last hour. Each time he looked up at her, but said nothing. Confused Chloe didn't say anything either. She doubts he's coming down to the cave just to check up on her as she knows he has cameras everywhere. He can watch her progress from any room in the mansion. She thinks he has something on his mind, but can't for the life of her guess what it might be.

"Chloe." Bruce calls up to her.

"Ya." she calls back while trying to find her next hand hold. The key to free climbing is always knowing where you hands and feet are, were and need to go. Finding a good handhold she says looks down and says again. "Ya?"

"Chloe, would you like to get some diner?" Bruce asks oddly without his usual confidence.

"Uh little busy at the moment. Beside it's only 10 in the morning." Chloe jokes back trying to figure out what's going. "If it's another mission why doesn't he just ask me?" she can't figure out.

"No, that's not what I meant. I just meant do you want to have diner sometime." Bruce tries again. "Why is this so hard? I ask women out all the time." he wonders. "But with those women you don't care about their answer." he reminds himself.

"Huh?" Chloe replies confused. "Did he just ask me out? No, no way he did." passes through her head. "What's the mission this time?" she adds.

"No, I just want to have diner with you. A date." Bruce replies nervous as a school boy.

"What?" Chloe answers stunned. "He did just ask me out!" her stunned mind realizes. Unfortunately, she is so shocked she misses her next handhold and slips. As she falls, she flips around so she can catch the wall again. She never gets the chance as a strong arm grabs her and swings her back to the ground.

Before she can even catch her breath Bruce says "Sorry. I understand. It's better to leave things professional." He starts to walk away after letting go of her.

Not wanting to miss this chance, Chloe runs after Bruce. Planting herself in front of him, she says "Bruce, I'd love to have diner with you." His smile at her answer makes her weak in the knees.

"Great. How about Saturday?" he says while the little boy in his head jumps around saying "She likes me, she likes me."

"Sounds good." Chloe replies.

"Good." Bruce says. They stand there like idiots for a moment then Bruce walks back upstairs.

"He really did ask me out, right?" Chloe still wonders. She finds herself suddenly nervous and excited. She hasn't felt this way in a long time, maybe ever.