Chapter 21-Fashion Night

Jade arrived at Bruce's home a bit after five in the evening. She let herself in through the kitchen door, after using the back entrance, and greeted Alfred first. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know if Bruce has anymore wonderful surprises waiting for me, do you?"

Alfred gave her a smile, "I threw away the ones from this morning."

"Thank you!" She gasped.

Jade went up the stairs and found him in his study, he looked up and smiled, "Hey, have a good day?"

"Yes, actually, everything is done. Tomorrow should be a short day, rehearsing and last minute adjustments." Jade sat on his lap and put her arms around his neck, "Friday is the big day. Store opening, lunch with Dad, the evening show…and then it'll all be over." Bruce sighed, liking that thought, but not the look on her face. "And that evening I have to fly to Paris…"

"Paris?"

She nodded, "Yeah. I would like you to come with."

She knew what his answer would be even before she asked, but still when he shook his head her stomach tightened a bit. "I have too much going on here to leave. I know, it's not much, but…"

"No, it's okay. I understand."

"How long did you plan on being there?"

"Few weeks at least. Klaus talked me into going over there to put on a fashion show. He says he can get one set up quick once I'm there. It's a good opportunity. I never do too well in Paris, but he has high hopes for this one."

"Guess we'll just have to make the best of these next couple of days," Bruce said with a little smile. "So, if I came to spend time with you tomorrow would I still be a distraction?"

Jade gave him a smirk, "I'm not sure if I want you there, with all the models and me working…I'll be too busy to keep an eye on you." Bruce narrowed his eyes at her and laughed a bit, which made her grin. "There we go, I missed this." She kissed him slowly. "You are absolutely no fun when you are worried about me."

He sighed a bit, "Alright, if you can get over what happened this quickly…I'll…I'll deal with it."

"Of course I'm not over it, Bruce, I'm just not going to dwell on it. All that stuff…it doesn't make me who I am. Most of it I couldn't care less about. But this, hanging out with you, this is nice."

Bruce smiled, silently agreeing with her.

Thursday was indeed a short day, things going as well as anyone could have hoped.

Friday, as Jade had dreaded, was busy and full. She went alone to open the store with the manager Risty, greeting some of the first customers to come in personally. After that she picked her father up at the airport and they met Bruce for lunch. Something she had been silently dreading the whole week.

"Mr. Walters, pleasure to finally meet you," Bruce said, shaking her father's hand.

Ruben looked him over, gave him a bit of a smile, "Likewise." They all sat down. "So, Jade, when is this event going to be over?"

"It's only an hour long." Jade said casually.

Bruce nodded, on Thursday he had watched it three times, one more hour of it seemed like it would be a cakewalk…more appropriately a catwalk.

"An hour?" Ruben moaned, sounding positively horrified.

"I said you didn't have to come, Dad. I know how precious your time is," Jade said, not sounding angry or annoyed, just sounding like she was stating a simple fact.

"Joan said this is a big event, so I want to be here for you."

Bruce noticed Jade roll her eyes, but she kept silent.

"So, Mr. Wayne, has my daughter been behaving?"

Bruce raised his eyebrows, "Jade is the perfect lady, Mr. Walters, I'm sure you know that."

Mr. Walters laughed, "Oh, that's rich."

Jade sighed, "Dad, what are you working on now?"

Ruben didn't stop talking about his newest film throughout the rest of the lunch. Afterwards Jade gave her father the keys to her car, where he would go to his hotel room to rest before coming to the fashion show. Jade road with Bruce, both of them trying to keep the conversation going. Knowing that after she left for Paris they would only have phone calls, knowing that these were their last pieces of time together and determined not to waste it.

And then they went to her show. Bruce sat next to Ruben Walters in the front, several people were attending. Celebrities and musicians, many wealthy people and fashion enthusiasts, and of course a few select reporters.

Jade stepped out in the runway, a microphone in her hand. The crowd clapped politely and the sound died away as she brought the microphone up. "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and may I welcome you to the Spider's Parlor. These new designs have been worked on for several months, inspired by so many different influences it's impossible to name them all. What Marie-Clairie has always been about, was sharing what I liked. Comfort, style, and fun. And as always, a quarter of all sales go towards multiple leukemia charities, both for research and patient assistance, in honor of my late sister Marie Claire Walters. And another share of the profits goes towards the Free the Slaves Foundation to help those in third world countries." Jade glanced around the dark auditorium before turning around and disappearing behind the curtain.

Behind the scenes Jade, Joan, and Shirley ushered the models one after another onto the runway.

"Last one." Joan whispered, standing next to Jade as the last model hit the runway.

"Anything I missed?" Jade asked.

"No, I think it went well. The new floor on the runway doesn't look as nice as the original, but no one fell…" Joan winced, and Jade peaked out the curtain to see the model picking herself up. "Never mind."

"Yeah…" Jade laughed. "I was afraid…for a moment, that something might happen here."

"Now I just jinxed us once, don't you do it a second time," Joan said softly.

Jade turned to Joan, giving her friend a hug, "You know what to do?"

Joan nodded, "Yeah, I do."

Jade went back onto the runway, "Thank you, everyone, for coming and I hope you enjoyed the show. I'll leave you with a quote from the poem that has inspired a lot of my designs recently. 'And now, dear little children, who may this story read. To idle, silly, flattering words, I pray you ne'er heed. Unto an evil counselor close heart, and ear, and eye. And take a lesson from this tale of the Spider and the Fly.' Beware of the spiders, dear flies. Good evening."