Disclaimer: I don't own anything here.
"Bruce are you ok? You look a little pale." Chloe was worried about him. He didn't seem quite like himself tonight.
"No, I'm fine, just tired." That was half true. He had been shot at the most horrible time possible. Lex Luthor was making a move to try and buy a majority of shares in Wayne Industries. It had taken all his business savvy to keep that from happening. He'd asked Chloe over tonight to break it off completely, but found himself reluctant to do so. He loved her and he knew that was a dangerous thing for a man like him. He had many enemies. In the past, some of those enemies had discovered his real identity and gone after the people he cared about. That wasn't something that he wanted to happen. Still, that didn't make this any easier. Chloe brought him peace. But at her heart she was a reporter and that would always be impossible in their relationship. There were very few times in his life when he was indecisive and he hated how helpless it made him feel. He wanted to be able to trust her, but he wasn't sure he could yet. Trust wasn't something that came to him easily.
"This is ridiculous. You should be resting," Chloe clucked at him; she couldn't help it, she felt protective of him. Bruce smiled and reached out to grab her hand.
"Thanks for caring, but I really am fine." Chloe looked down at the table and studied their hands. His were so strong, so masculine and hers small and feminine. She smiled a little. Who would have thought she'd be here? And with two men pursuing her. It was ridiculous. That brought her thoughts back to Oliver. She didn't know how she felt about the situation with him anymore.
"You know how I feel about you, Bruce, and it's more than simply caring." Chloe confessed quietly. She didn't know why she'd said it, but something about the situation with Oliver had unsettled her and she wanted Bruce to know how she felt about him. It probably had to do with the fact that she didn't know how she felt entirely. She just knew that Bruce made her happy.
His silence caused Chloe to look up at him. He was studying her seriously. His brown eyes wandered over her face and they were full of emotion. It seemed like he was battling with himself about something. Chloe bit her lip nervously. Bruce stood up and placed himself next to her. He put both hands on her shoulders and then pulled her into a hug. She closed her eyes savoring the contact.
"Chloe…" Bruce said her name sadly and she knew what was coming next, she'd been here before, the rejection…
"Bruce, don't. I can't take the rejection right now, so I'm just going to get up and leave." Chloe pushed herself away from him, "We can do the whole 'let's be friends thing' later. Please." She made it a few steps when she felt his hand grab hers, stopping her exit.
"I care about you too, Chloe," he looked at her sadly. "But I have my—
"Secrets. I know." Chloe cut him off. "Do you have any idea how sick I am of hearing that? It's just an excuse, Bruce. It's your way of not being with me. I thought you would be different, but clearly, I have once again made a horrible character judgment. That's me, Chloe Sullivan: wunderkind reporter who always chooses completely unavailable men. " She pulled her hand away and just stared at him trying not to cry. Before she could even react, she found herself crushed against him again. His arms wound around her tightly.
"Chloe, I love you," Bruce pressed his mouth against her ear to make his confession. The tears she'd fought all day began to fall. They leaked out and traveled slowly down her cheek. She reached her arms around him and held him tightly. He pulled away a little and looked at her. He reached up and traced the line of her tears, then kissed her gently. He didn't want to hold back with her anymore. He deepened the kiss and Chloe kissed him back with all she had. This had been building with them for a long time. She groaned softly and ran her hands down his back and untucked his shirt.
Bruce picked her up easily and carried her to his bedroom.
"Isn't it a little presumptuous to just carry a woman off to your room?" Chloe asked and nipped at his lower lip as he deposited her on his bed.
"You seem to be pretty interested. If you wanted me to, I can just leave." Bruce grinned and turned away from Chloe. She stood up and reached out to grab the back of his shirt and tugged him back toward her.
"Uh huh. Not so fast," She gave a harder yank than she meant to and caused him to actually fall back toward her a bit. She laughed loudly. Bruce spun around to look at her.
"There's no need to be so aggressive, Chloe. I'm all yours." Bruce spread his arms out widely. He was happy right now. Chloe managed to push all the thoughts of responsibility and darkness from his mind. It was a amazing feeling.
"All mine, huh? Well, I'm not sure that you can handle this." She pointed to herself. Bruce grinned at her and gave her body an appraisal that had her heart racing.
"I think I'm up for more than you know," He stood there waiting for Chloe to make a move. She walked over to him and placed her hand in his. She nodded at him and pulled him toward the bed.
"C'mon," Bruce eagerly complied with her command. When Chloe pushed him down on the bed, he had to fight to stop from pulling her down on top of him. Chloe smiled. She could tell that he was struggling with letting her have all the control.
"You seem tense, Bruce," She teased as she slowly pulled her shirt over her head.
"Expectant, not tense." He corrected her.
"Oh, that's ok, then." Chloe moved up his body to straddle him. Her hands moved to his chest and began to unbutton his shirt. Inch by inch his delicious body was revealed to her. Unlike Oliver who was lanky and muscular, Bruce was thick with muscles. His body was solid and all muscle. She bent down and kissed her way up his chest and pushed his shirt up and off his arms. He readily complied with her undressing him. She finally got him out of his shirt and moved in to kiss his lips. Her hair hung over them, secreting them away from the world. Chloe moved her hand down Bruce's arm and was surprised to find a bandage covering his bicep. She pulled away from him and looked at the white band contrasting against his tawny skin.
"What happened, Bruce?" Chloe asked shocked.
"Nothing, really. Just an accident. I scraped it when I was helping Alfred change a tire on the car." Bruce could have smacked himself for that totally lame lie, but he was a little distracted. There had to have been something more convincing he could have said. Chloe frowned and bent down to lay a kiss on the wounded arm.
"Be more careful, buster. I would hate to see this perfect body marred," Chloe turned her attention back to his face and cupped it with her hands.
"Any other injuries I should know about?" Chloe joked. He smiled at her.
"None that I know of," Bruce reached up and looped his arm across her naked back.
"I guess I'll just have to do a thorough search myself. Do you have anything?" Chloe asked, not wanting a repeat of her last sexual experience. Although, she was on the pill now so it was pretty safe, she still wanted to be sure. Bruce pushed up off the bed, sitting up. Chloe tried to move off him, but he held her tightly to him. With his other hand he reached into his nightstand and pulled out a foil packet.
Chloe leaned forward and kissed him again. He tasted so amazing. Just as Bruce pulled them back to lie on the bed, his cell phone rang. He wanted to ignore it, but knew that was impossible. It could be Gordon calling to ask for his alter ego's help. He sighed and reached over to get the phone.
"Bruce Wayne," he answered the phone and Chloe began to gently kiss his neck. She could hear a deep voice on the line, but couldn't hear the actual words. From the sudden tensing of Bruce's body, she could tell it wasn't necessarily a good thing. He shut the phone then placed his hands on her cheeks.
"There is something I have to take care of," He sounded apologetic and Chloe smiled at him gently.
"Ok. I can go, then and we'll continue this another time." Chloe rubbed her hands up his back.
"Or, you can stay and we can continue when I get back."
"I like your idea better," Chloe got off of him and lay back on the bed. She watched him get up and reach down for his shirt. Her gaze once again traveled down to his bandaged arm. Bruce was a gentleman, but she couldn't picture him changing a tire…Stop!! She commanded herself. She didn't want to ruin this with Bruce because her reporter instinct came up yet again. She wasn't sure why he'd gotten injured, but she wouldn't start doubting him now. After all, she was in love with him.
Batman heard a whimper coming from with the alley. He moved slowly along the rooftop. His favorite vantage point was from above and he was in a perfect position to see the robbery going on below. He put himself in position to attack. Before he could make his move an arrow struck the wall next to the robber and shot out some kind of gas. The robber was quickly immobilized and hit the ground with a thud. Bruce crouched unmoving, watching the scene below.
A man ran down the alley. He was dressed in green leather. It was an odd sight. Bruce didn't know what to make of the man, but he didn't like an intruder in Gotham. It was his city and he was its protector. The man in green spoke to the women in a deep voice. To Bruce's expert ears, he had some kind of voice distorter. The man took the women out into the safety of the street. Then the man hopped on a motorcycle. Bruce watched him go. He wasn't sure what to think of this new development.
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a/n: Wow. Most of you guys voted for Bruce to be the man Chloe ends up with. We shall see what happens. And I watched Batman Begins this weekend. Oh, how I love Christian Bale.