This chapter starts with his perspective of events. Hope you like it. Please keep reviewing! Thanks everyone!

This was all so he could see her again. All he wanted was to see her again, talk to her, sit next to her, be close to her. He knew she would have to cover an event like this. Greenwood was also a good man, worthy of his support. But this was all so he could see her again.

And yet, as he was sitting next to her, studying her every move, it wasn't enough. He wanted to feel her lips on his. He wanted to taste her.

When he saw her walking through the empty hallway, the nagging voice in his head gave in. He couldn't control himself any longer. He quickened his step to catch up with her and grabbed her, pushing her against the wall and kissing her. Her lips were soft, her breath fresh, she tasted sweet, her skin was silk like. She drove him mad and he wanted more. He pushed his hand up her leg and touched her silky panties.

"Stop!"

He looked at her, her eyes piercing through his.

"I'm not some cheap fling Mr Wayne."

Fling?

Her words tore right through him. He wanted her to believe he was disgusting and apparently he had succeeded.

She walked towards the door,grabbing the door handle.

She can't leave. Not yet.

All he needed was one night. If she left now, he had to go back to being Batman and being alone. But right now, right here he could pretend like he had a future beyond the cape. At least he needed for her to acknowledge that they could be something.

He pressed his hand against the door, holding it closed while standing directly behind her, smelling her hair.

She didn't move. He moved closer to her body, placing his face next to hers. Her eyes were fixed on the door.

"Tell me I'm wrong."

All she had to do was say it and he would be out of her life. Maybe she bought his playboy image fully and hated him.

In that moment she turned around.

It felt even more incredible than in his imagination, her delicate body collapsing underneath his movements. He wished this moment could last forever but reality caught up with him. This was it. He can't see her anymore. And after what he's about to do to her she won't want to see him anymore. This was the last time he could kiss her.

He let slowly go off her, trying to put on his Bruce Wayne fake persona. He needed to seem distant. Like he doesn't care. And it worked. He saw the hurt and disappointment in her eyes. He felt awful. But he couldn't say anything to her. He needed her to hate him.

She left the room and he felt empty. He placed his hands on the door, leaning his head against it. Agony was tearing through his body. She was the first person that meant something to him since Rachel. But look what happened to her - he thought. And all because of him.

He couldn't put Catherine in danger. He took a deep breath and opened the door. She was walking down the hallway. It hit him again how incredible she looked. He wished this was a different universe. One where they could be together. One where he could walk up to her and kiss her and walk down the hallway together hand in hand. He noticed Bill staring at him. He needed to put on his fake persona again. It seemed even harder to do with her around now.


A week without any Wayne news was a much needed relief. Cutting that video of the PR event was painful enough. Each time I saw him on the screen, images of us in that storage room flickered through my mind. Creating both, butterflies and agony at the same time.

Samantha Miller, my best friend from childhood days lived unfortunately all the way across the country. It made it hard to talk to one another as often as we wanted to but we tried to stay in touch as much as we could.

If there was ever a time I really needed to talk to her it was now.

"Hi gorgeous!" She smiled at me on my laptop through skype. "What's new in Gotham?"

"Ah… You know… Trying to stay out of trouble."

"I sense boy trouble. Spill it."

I sighed.

"I may have been an idiot."

Sam raised her eyebrows.

"I had a one-night-stand." I continued.

"Welcome to the 21-century Cat. That's your big dilemma?"

"No, that's not it."

"What then?"
"I had sex with Bruce Wayne." Even saying it felt ridiculous.

Sam almost spit out the wine she had just drunken.

"What?" She asked, her eyes wide open.

"I know…"

"This is amazing! What? When? How?"

"Amazing? How is this amazing?" I questioned.

"Ms I-hate-arrogant-Wall-Street guys has a one-night stand with THE arrogant Wall Street guy himself."

I rolled my eyes.

"But I need more details. When? How?"

"At a PR event…in a…storage room."

"Go Cat!"

"Not really."

"Why? Was it bad?"

"No. It wasn't bad. It was…amazing. But that's besides the point."

"What is the point?"

"This is just so not me."

"What is? Having hot sex with cute guys? Yeah, sounds terrible."

"I'm not a cheap fling!"
"Who said anything about cheap. Look, if you were a guy everyone would high-five you. Sex isn't that different for men and women. Society just wants us to believe it is."

"Are you a feminist now?"

She chuckled.

"Hell, if Beyonce is one…so can I! All I'm saying is, really, the worst-case scenario here is that you had a hot one-night stand with a hot guy. In my books, that's nothing to be ashamed of."

She had a point.

"Ok, but I still need a lot more details here. You can't tell me you had sex with Bruce - the prince of Gotham - Wayne and then not give me all the juicy details."

I laughed.

"Fine." I said while I took a big sip of wine before telling her the story.


Alfred shook his head as he saw Bruce stitching himself up again.

"How often do I tell you to let me do this?"

Bruce looked up at the old butler.

"I don't know what you're making such a fuss about. I do an ok-job."
Alfred sighed, putting down the tray with food while grabbing the needle and continuing where Bruce had left off. Ever since Bruce had met Catherine, he wasn't the same anymore and Alfred could tell. He liked her, but told himself he couldn't see her.
"I think it's time to invite her for dinner." The old man said while stitching the gaping wound.

"Who?" Bruce asked absently.

"You know who. Ever since she came in your life you're making yourself miserable."

"I'm fine."
The butler studied the face of the young man closely. The young man had dark circles underneath his eyes, looking even more exhausted than normal.
"You like her and now you're going out fighting even harder than you have before to punish yourself for it. As if by fighting off Gotham's underbelly, you can fight off your feeling for her. But love doesn't work like that Master Wayne. We don't choose who we fall in love with."

"I can't Alfred. If anything happened to her…"
"You have to start living your life. There is not another one. You're waiting for years beyond the cape that might never come if you're not doing something with the time you have right now."


The weekend couldn't come soon enough. My conversation with Sam had made me feel a little better but I realized it wasn't so much the fact that we had a one-night stand that upset me. I had developed a full on crush on the guy, which was just down-right foolish and I was getting frustrated with myself over it.

I walked towards the steps of my apartment on what turned out to be a beautiful fall evening in Gotham. I was looking towards the top of the trees and changing leaves as I was walking closer. When I looked back to the steps of my apartment, I almost let go of my keys. Wayne was sitting on my steps.

"Hi." He said, smiling in his $2,000 suit.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, not coming any closer.

"I'm here to apologize."

"Nothing to apologize for. We're all adults here Mr Wayne." I said while grabbing my keys and heading past him towards the door.

"Let me at least explain." He said while getting up.

"I don't know what exactly needs explaining Mr Wayne. We had sex. End of story."

"Give me 10 minutes and then I'm out of your hair."

I sighed.

"I can be persistent." He said grinning at me.
It was like nothing ever happened. It seemed like had been on a date and he forgot to call me on time. It seemed like he didn't remember we had a one night stand in a closet.
"If we wait outside your door any longer, photographers might get a glimpse of me outside your apartment…"

"Fine come in."

"I like your place." He said while walking in and looking around.
"Ok, let's get this out of the way. You're here to apologize for…what? Treating me un-lady like? That is usually not at all what you do?" I said while standing at the opposite end of the room with my arms crossed.

"Are you hungry?" He asked.

"What?"

"Have you eaten yet."
"Mr Wayne…"

"Please call me Bruce… I feel like we're definitely on a first name basis."

Nothing he did made any sense. He was hot and cold and I could never tell which one I was going to get.

I sighed in frustration.

"You said you wanted to apologize…"

"I am, with good wine and good food." He said as he pulled out a bottle. I hadn't even seen the grocery bag.
"Mr Wayne…"

"Bruce"

"Bruce!" I was getting frustrated but he still had a smile on his face. "Can we cut to the chase of whatever this is? Why are you here."
"To apologize. Do you have wine glasses?" He asked while opening the bottle.
"Do you honestly think you can just show up here with a bottle of wine and I'm going to have sex with you again?"
"Seems your experience with men was rather negative."
"No, my experience with you was."

His eyes shot up to me again. "Touche. Which is why I'm here to apologize." He said while finding the wine glasses and starting to pour wine in them. "I noticed you like white."
I was shaking my head in disbelief as he handed me the glass.
"Cheers to my first sip of alcohol in years." He said.
"Good one."
"I'm serious."

"I see you drinking at every event."

"You see me drinking… What am I drinking though?"

"Whiskey. Champagne… The list goes on."

"Or is it cider and apple juice?"

I looked at him confused.
"I'm not here to apologize for having sex with you." He said while smiling at me. "In fact, I'm not one bit sorry for pulling you into that room."
"Why are you here then?"
"I'm here to apologize for lying to you." He said while handing me the glass of wine. Speechless, I took it.

"Cheers." He said while taking a sip. "That's a really good year I heard."

"Lying about what?" I said still not sure what was happening.

"About who I am. I'm not the Bruce Wayne you see in public. That's not me."
I remembered the night when I ran into him and he said "All this. This isn't me."

"I'm not sure I understand."

"I'm playing a role. A role to keep the media occupied and far away from who I really am."

"Why? What do you have to hide?"
"Nothing. Only my privacy, which I value very much. So if I pretend I'm this playboy, arrogant, over-the top billionaire…then the public won't be interested in the rest."

"And what is the rest?" I asked while looking directly into his eyes.
He smiled softly at me. "That was the appetizer… For more of my boring life story I need some food in me. You like sushi?" He asked while going back to the bag he brought.