A/N: I apologize profusely for the very tardy delivery. Holidays and then a nasty illness but I'm better now and we should be back on track for Sunday updates again. Hope you enjoy!
There were many times when I was younger that I had dreamt of Bruce Wayne kissing me. They were mostly just your typical wistful high school dreams. Bruce had been the popular boy in school and even now he was still Gotham's most eligible bachelor. But I knew the unlikelihood of that ever happening and had resigned myself to wistful daydreams. This made the fact that I had just made out with him for most of the afternoon surreal.
I was in the kitchen making tea while I waited for Bruce to come out of my bathroom. He hadn't seemed in any hurry to leave after we'd come up for air. Feeling awkward and shy at the sudden intimacy that had sprung from our kissing, I'd protested that I was hungry and retreated to the kitchen to have a little time to gather myself.
Bruce had watched me for a long minute and then locked himself in my bathroom. I had no idea what he was doing and I started when I heard the shower turn on. What was he doing?
I knocked on the door, tea in hand. "Bruce, you coming out anytime soon? The tea and sandwiches are ready if you want some."
"I'll be out in a bit." His voice was muffled through the wood and sound of pounding water.
"Alright…" I went and sat down on my loveseat which faced towards the bathroom door.
I was just taking a sip of my tea when a cursory knock sounded on my front door and Penny stepped inside, taking her key from my lock.
"Penny, what- what are you doing here? Why didn't you call first?" I tried to hide my dismay at her appearance but I knew I was in for it when she realized that the shower was running and I wasn't the one in it.
"Oh I was just in the neighborhood… The real question is who's in your bathroom? A guy?" Speculation turned to pointed interest as my face flushed. "Ooo, is it Josh? Did you guys finally hook up like I've been saying for I don't know how long? I've been telling you for years that he's in love with you; I don't know why you just now realized it."
Penny's voice held a barely disguised patronizing tone and I snapped at her. "No, for your information it isn't Josh. We are just friends like I've been telling you for years. Now what did you want?"
She realized she'd made me mad and back tracked a bit but kept an eye on the bathroom door. "Well I went out with Janice, Becky, and Trisha last night and Trisha has a place to crash over this way when we want to avoid the tabs hanging around Le Grand Hotel waiting for Mr. Golden Boy himself to descend from on high."
"Wait, why were you crashing over here? Why didn't you just go back home?" I was confused. My sister thought the area I lived in was far below her in class and found it 'cute' that I lived there.
"Oh well, we had a room at Le Grand but Trisha tried some funky new drug at the club last night and she was tripping out. Couldn't let the tabs get a picture of that or she'd be plastered all over the news." Penny neatly side stepped my second question.
"Why couldn't you go back home Pen? Did you try that 'funky drug' too? Is that why?" She knew how I felt about that sort of thing but didn't let it stop her in her pursuit for a good time.
Penny refused to meet my eyes and I knew I'd stumbled onto the real reason she hadn't wanted to go home. My parents would have flipped out if they knew she was doing drugs again. My mother had sent her to rehab once over the summer when she was a senior in high school and had since stipulated that if she was living under their roof, no drugs. Period.
"God, Pen. How long this time?" I could hear the disappointment in my voice and so could she.
"Georgie, I swear it was just this one hit but we seriously tripped out! I hadn't done anything in 3 years, honest! Please believe me!" Her voice rang with sincerity as she begged me to understand.
"Why now, why last night if you'd been clean for 3 years? Why screw everything up?" I was struggling to contain my anger that she might have fooled me and lied to me.
"I don't know. It was just like I had to. I don't remember deciding to- I just was and then I wasn't. God- please don't tell me that you're going to kick me out now Georgie!"
I sighed, studying her face carefully. "I'm not. I believe you."
I patted the love seat next to me. "Come sit and explain further."
She sat and told me what had happened. Her girlfriends had heard of a new club in town that was apparently the 'it' place to be. They had gone and had a good time until a tray had come around. On it had been this drug, all of them picked it up and took one hit off of it. Janice had passed out immediately, while the other three had begun hallucinating weird things.
"So we got Trisha's bodyguard to pick Jan up and we left for her apartment down here and crashed."
I had been so intent on hearing Penny's story that I hadn't noticed the water in the bathroom shut off. I heard the bathroom door open and I leapt to my feet, spilling my tea.
"Wait- my sister-" The words died on my lips as I took in the sight of Bruce, dripping wet with one of my towels slung around his waist and using another to dry his hair.
"Sorry, didn't realize we had company, babe." I blinked and stared as Bruce crossed to me and put a still moist arm around my shoulders. Babe? Turning me back around to face my sister, Bruce laid the towel he'd been using on his hair around his neck and extended his hand to Penny.
"Hello. I'm Bruce and you are?" Penny had had a look of shock and astonishment on her face since Bruce had stepped into the hallway. Now, she grinned and winked at me, taking Bruce's hand and shaking it.
"I'm Penny, Georgiana's younger sister. Nice to meet you. Bruce… you wouldn't be Bruce Wayne by any chance would you?" A wicked grin had spread across my sister's face, her earlier problems forgotten, and she turned to me, a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"Yes, I am." Bruce said casually, not realizing the world of hurt he'd just brought down on the two of us.
I pushed away from Bruce's embrace and moved toward Penny, hands up in a placating manner.
"Now Penny, this isn't what you think- "
"Oh I think this is exactly what I think! Mom's gonna die!" Penny crowed.
I blanched and felt the blood draining from my face. I hadn't thought quite that far ahead. Penny apparently had.
"Penny, you can't tell her! This isn't what you think. Bruce and I aren't dating!" My voice rose in panic.
If my mother were to find out that I was 'dating' Bruce Wayne, she would make it her mission to be back in my life in the most invasive way possible and I had just gotten off her radar. All my hard work would be undone and she would be back trying to make me fit into her mold of a perfect daughter. Not to mention the fact that we weren't dating.
I looked at Bruce for help and the man, damn him, just smirked and shrugged one shoulder as if to say 'what's the big deal? '.
I fought the panic down and turned my attention back to Penny who I could tell was already plotting how to best nettle our mother with the news I was dating the richest playboy in Gotham.
"No. No. NO. You will NOT tell Mom or anyone what you think this is. Because it's not. We. Are. Not. Dating." I tried to make my voice as firm and rational as possible but I could hear the quaver in it.
Bruce could too. He took my shoulder and pushed me into sitting back down on the loveseat.
Penny, finally looking at me with something other than glee in her eyes, realized that I was serious.
She pouted at me. "Aw, Georgie, really? Can't I tell Mom that you're dating someone, even if I don't say who?"
"No, because the result would be the same. " I was beginning to calm down now that Penny was considering an alternative.
She sighed. "Okay fine. I won't say anything to Mom. Besides, she's mad enough at you as it is. You didn't tell her about your mugging last week. She's been fuming that she had to find out at one of her cocktail shindigs from some lady that she hates."
"She what? Oh great… What did you tell her?" I covered my eyes with my hands.
"You were mugged?" The note of surprise in Bruce's voice had me jerking my head up to look at him. I stared at him for a minute, confused and then realized- Bruce Wayne wouldn't normally know something like that- Batman, on the other hand, would and did.
"Oh yeah, she was whacked on the head a block away from here! Didn't Georgie tell you about or were you two too busy for that to come up?" Penny's eyebrows waggled with her insinuation.
I flushed a little, remembering the afternoon and Penny, who was still eyeing Bruce's well muscled torso, let out a shriek as she saw the time over his shoulder.
"It's almost 5:30! Crap, I've got to get downtown or Dad's gonna kill me! He's taking me to some big ball that Mom didn't want to go to but I have to be ready at 6:30! Love you sis but I gotta fly!" With a kiss on my cheek, she was out the door as fast as she'd come in.
I sighed. "And that ladies and gentlemen, is Penelope."
Bruce grinned. "She's not so bad. I'm going to go put my suit back on."
He turned to leave and I couldn't help myself.
"You really don't need to…" I grinned up at him and bit my bottom lip as he turned around with the cockiest grin I'd ever seen.
"What?! So I think you look great all freshly clean and dipping wet with only my favorite towel to cover yourself. It's not a crime to look!" Or touch, my mind added.
"Much I might be tempted, I actually have to be at that gala your sister is going to. " His smile was rueful but he made good on his word and reentered the bathroom.
"Oh well, a girl can dream." I murmured to myself.
Realizing that my pants were still wet from spilling my tea, I took advantage of Bruce's absence to slip into my room and pull a soft, mid-calf skirt on. When I emerged, Bruce was standing at the foot of my spiral staircase in most of the Batsuit. He hadn't put his cowl on yet but the sight was still a bit breathtaking.
"You know, I typically have a plus one for these events, if you'd like to go?" The question was mildly asked but I felt a strange tension underneath his words.
I shook my head and laughed. "Oh no. Not you too. It's one thing that Penny saw us. If I went with you, I'd be opening up a whole can of worms that, trust me, you don't want opened. Besides, we're not dating. And that would be the only reason I would stomach those people again. I learned a long time ago, I don't have the constitution to deal with them alone. Too much conniving and drama."
I smiled. "I get enough of that from my family alone."
"Enjoy the party Bruce. Please don't let Penny make you feel uncomfortable. I'll call her later and make sure she understands how far off she was-is." I placed a light hand on his forearm and leaned upward to kiss his cheek.
Bruce gave me a half smile before putting his cowl on and starting up the stairs.
"Hey." My voice stopped him halfway up.
"Yes?" The growled one word question sent shivers straight down my spine and I felt heat settle in my center. Maybe I should rethink that invite…
"Next time you decide to crash land on my roof, try and give me a heads up, mmk?"
A small grin tugged at the corner of his mouth and then it was gone.
"If I have my way, there won't be any more crash landings."
And with a whirl of his cape, he was gone.
Hearing a rumble outside in the alleyway, I sprinted to my kitchen window and looked down.
The Batmobile was sitting at attention, half hidden behind dumpsters. I wondered if it had been there the entire afternoon and if so, why would he have parked so close to my building… surely there were others… I brushed that thought away as another quickly formed in my head.
I was at odds with my current impulsivity but I couldn't help but go with it. I grabbed my phone.
"Hey Pen, think Dad would just die if I asked to come along as well?"
Hearing an ecstatic affirmative from Penny, I raced to the bedroom to find something suitable to wear.
I had a Bat to catch.