"Hello again." Bruce smiled, leaning against the doorframe of Millie's office. She looked up from the piece that she was editing after hearing his voice. "Mildred?" He grinned, reading the etched nameplate on her door.
"You can see why I prefer Millie. My parents had a sick sense of humor." Bruce laughed, taking a seat in front of her desk.
"Well you've got an interesting name if nothing else."
"I guess so, yes. So, what can I help you with Mr. Wayne?"
"I wanted to ask you to dinner."
"Really?"
"Yes really, why do you seem so surprised?"
"Well, I'm not a model, I have a real job, I'm only 5'8"…"
"I thought perhaps I should try dating a non-model, woman with a real job who isn't taller then me. Looking up all the time is starting to hurt my neck."
Now it was Millie who laughed. She was happy to have a small distraction from answering right away. The question threw her for a loop, there had been plenty of flirtations in her life but rarely did the guy follow through and ask her out. Making the situation even more bizarre the man asking her out also happened to be the richest man in Gotham and also one that her uncle had warned against.
"So, dinner?" He asked again.
"I'll think about it."
"I guess that's all I can hope for." He reached into the pocket of his suit coat and pulled out a card. "Give me a call."
"I'll do that." She smiled taking the card as he stood up to leave.
"Hopefully I'll see you later."
"We'll see." He nodded then left. Millie sighed and leaned back in her chair before glancing down at the card he handed her. It was unclear in her head how she felt about the situation. Flattered, to be sure, but there was still hesitance. She would broach the topic with her uncle after work, maybe get input from Selina at lunch. Although something told her that Selina wouldn't have much to contribute to the topic of men. The older woman gave off an air of inexperience. Granted, Millie didn't have much to boast about either… probably more then Selina though.
"Millie." She looked up from her desk; apparently she wasn't going to get any work done this morning.
"Yes Mr. Penton… Chuck." She corrected herself before he could.
"I was hoping to have a word with you."
"All right."
"You and Wayne, you know each other?"
"We're acquaintances at this point."
"It's obvious you could have his ear… should you choose to…" Millie leaned back in her chair.
"If I choose to?"
"We're trying to convince Mr. Wayne into doing an interview with our paper. You wouldn't mind taking one for the team would you?"
"What exactly is it you want me to do with Bruce Wayne?"
"Just casually drop a comment that he should seriously considering doing an interview with our paper. I'm not saying you have to make it pillow talk, although given Wayne's reputation…"
"Okay, I'm going to stop you right there. Otherwise I may say something that'll jeopardize any future career at this paper. I'll think about it, okay? Will that suffice for right now?"
"That's great. Thanks."
---------------------------------------Later that Day-------------------------------------------------
"He asked you to sleep with Bruce Wayne to get the interview!"
"Not in so many words, but I think that was the gist of it, yes." Selina and Millie sat at their table, both working rather slowly on their meal.
"And… you don't want to sleep with him?" Selina's tone was hopeful.
"I didn't say that… those aren't exactly the best reasons to bed someone. Were I to sleep with him…" Millie fell silent, her thoughts drifted briefly to Bruce and what he probably looked like without a shirt.
"Millie?"
"Hm?"
"You were saying something then just drifted off."
"Oh… sorry, just thinking… he asked me out."
"Bruce Wayne?"
"Yeah… what do you think I should say?"
"I've never really been asked out before, you wouldn't date him just for the paper would you?"
"Of course not."
"Good, because if he found out that you had tricked him in addition to the exposé…"
"Exposé?"
"Oh darn it." Selina mentally kicked herself; she wasn't supposed to say anything. "Please don't tell Mr. Penton that I said anything… I wasn't supposed to say anything." Selina was desperately close to a panic attack.
"Selina, breath." Millie said in a very firm tone, one that had obviously been used on her before. "I won't say anything to Penton, but I think that one of us needs to tell Mr. Wayne."
Selina nodded quickly, she was trying to get air back into her lungs. After few moments and a sip at water she seemed ready to speak again.
"You should do it." She said in a very hesitant, almost sad, tone. "He asked you out, so go to dinner with him, give him a heads up."
"You sure? You're the one who found out."
"I'm sure… I don't think I could form the right words… I swear my brain short circuits sometimes… you do it."
"Okay."
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"You're quiet." Jim observed as he drove thru the dark streets of Gotham.
"I know."
"Something wrong?"
"Bruce Wayne was at the office today."
"Mildred…"
"I didn't do anything… really… I may have flirted, a little. We chatted and then he asked me out."
"Mill, you're an adult, it's your choice." He said in a detached tone.
"You don't approve?"
"It's not so much that I disapprove of him… there's just something strange about him."
"I need to see him one way or another, under the guise of a date might be useful." She said more to herself then to her uncle.
"Why do you need to see him?"
"He was at the office today because Mr. Penton is trying to get him to do an interview for the paper. But later at lunch with Selina, Penton's secretary, the quiet one I told you about." He nodded in recognition. "She let it slip that it's an exposé, they're trying to trick him." Millie skipped the part where her boss suggested she throw herself at Bruce in order to convince him to agree. Her uncle punching Penton probably wouldn't bode well for a future at the paper.
"You feel compelled to warn him."
"Yes."
"And it gives you an excuse to go out with him."
"… yes. He seems nice to me. Maybe a little weird, but who isn't? I'm far from normal."
"Well that's true." Her uncle teased. "Millie if you want to go out with him it's fine with me. Just be careful… he seems to have bad luck and even worse timing." He thought back to the part at Wayne's penthouse, which was stormed by the Joker and resulted in Rachel Dawes being thrown from the roof. Then Wayne crashing his car to protect the police SUV… there was still something about that situation that didn't rub him the right way.
"Don't worry. Just dinner, a quick 'oh by the way my boss is out to screw you over' and maybe dessert, we'll see how that second bit goes."
"Sounds like a plan."
------------------------------------------The Next Morning-----------------------------------------
"Bruce Wayne." Millie was momentarily shocked into silence. He had given her a direct number to him. "Hello?"
"Hi." She finally managed. "It's Millie… Gordon… don't know why I felt the need to specify that, how many Millie's could you possibly know…"
"Just you." Bruce cut her off, recognizing her nervous rambling, much like the night before when he saved her. "So, to what do I owe the pleasure?"
"When would you like to have dinner? Assuming that your offer still stands."
"The offer still stands, when are you free?"
"Well, what are you doing tonight?"
"Having dinner with you." Millie laughed softly.
"All right then."
"I'll pick you up after work?"
"Great, I'm done at 5.30."
"I'll see you then."
"Okay. Bye."
"Bye Millie." Bruce hung up his phone and quickly dialed another number.
"Wayne residence."
"Alfred, I'll be having company for dinner."
"Miss Gordon?"
"Yes."
"Very good sir, when should I expect you?"
"A little before six."
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That's all for now, more to come soon. I appreciate the reviews.