Disclaimer: I don't own Batman or anything associated with it. Just my original characters.
AN: Just FYI, the M rating will kick into effect on later chapters. I wanted to give Nicole and Bruce a chance to get to know each other so that's why everything's a little slower to start. But, trust me, it will get very interesting soon. This chapter has descriptions of a few items in it, but if you'd like to see the objects, I'm posting links on my profile for them. I hope you enjoy and remember that reviews are always welcome and encouraged (unless you intend to make me cry, then I won't be so happy with them).
"I just jumped out in the open
without knowing if my
parachute would save me
it's quiet and peaceful
in this emotional nirvana
blue"
Nirvana Blue - Hooverphonic
Nicole sat at her mahogany desk, eagerly watching the clock. It had been a slow week and an even slower Friday morning. After her trip to the gym Monday, Nicole had decided to do something about the monotony of her life. She was the kind of person that needed excitement and change. When she was younger and still in high school, she had achieved the thrill of change by sporting new, wacky hairstyles and colors. In college, she had done so by taking random road trips on weekends. However, now that she had a steady job, she couldn't randomly leave for long periods of time or dye her hair odd shades.
In addition to craving excitement, she was goal oriented, and had a list of things she wanted to accomplish. Some were simple, such as getting a piercing she had always wanted or learning to dance. Others, like travelling through Europe and experiencing it, would take time and money—both of which she lacked at the moment. After she had returned home Monday, she had procrastinated on her assignments by surfing the internet. While researching general aviation airports in the area, she had found something—one airport offered an aerobatic flight course. Having always wanted to learn how to do the various maneuvers, she immediately contacted the school. Luckily, they had an opening for the initial ground school and the first lesson for Friday of that week at 3 p.m. The next day, she had talked to Crystal, Mr. Fox's assistant, and asked her to cover the second half of Friday for her—after all, she had covered for Crystal on Monday morning. After confirming it with Crystal, she told Mr. Fox that she needed the second half of Friday off, considering Mr. Wayne wasn't there and hadn't been in the days following. Mr. Fox smiled and agreed easily enough—Nicole had only asked for time off once and that was when she had been sick with the Flu.
Nicole didn't feel quite as bad leaving Crystal to deal with her duties as she normally would have. Mr. Wayne had breezed into work a few hours prior for a meeting and she had quickly handed off the prepared material to him before he had disappeared. After the meeting ended and she was gone, Crystal would only need to take the calls that were forwarded to her as well as take care of any urgent matter that Mr. Wayne needed, although with it being Friday, there probably wouldn't be much that needed to be done. Checking the clock again, Nicole smiled as she realized it was two minutes until time for her to leave. She didn't think that it could hurt to pack up early and started loading her messenger bag when she heard the voices of Bruce Wayne and Lucius Fox as they rounded the corner.
"Miss Miller, taking a late lunch?" a confused Bruce asked the young assistant upon seeing her packing her bag.
"Not exactly," she chuckled as she looked at Lucuis Fox's amused face. It was clear he hadn't informed Mr. Wayne that she was taking off the second half of the day.
"It seems that Miss Miller is leaving us for the day, Mr. Wayne," Lucius explained.
"And why is my lovely assistant doing that?" Bruce flirted, smiling his most dashing smile and sitting on the edge of her desk.
Nicole rolled her eyes at her boss's blatant flirting. Feeling bold, she leaned toward him and purred, "Because I have more pressing matters to attend to than getting your coffee or calling the random flavor of the week about your dinner plans, Mr. Wayne."
Lucius Fox grinned as Bruce clearly tried to recover from the comeback he wasn't expecting, although he probably should have been given his assistant's sarcastic nature.
"But what could be more pressing?"
Nicole couldn't tell if this was just friendly banter or if he seriously thought he was that important. If it was the latter, then this man clearly had problems with his ego. "Because I have a date with a plane," she replied with ease, placing her messenger bag's strap over her head and securely on her shoulder.
Bruce, for his part, looked confused. He had never asked the woman about her personal life beyond what she wanted to study and clearly did not realize what her hobby was.
Seeing that the clock read 1:31 p.m. Nicole smiled as she walked toward the elevator and pressed the button.
"Are you travelling somewhere for weekend Miss Miller?" Bruce asked as the brunette waited on the elevator.
"Not exactly, Mr. Wayne," she stated while smiling slyly and backing into the elevator. "Do be kind to Crystal won't you?" she said as the metal doors slid shut, blocking her from view.
"Mr. Wayne, perhaps you should get to know your employees better," Lucius suggested.
"Perhaps. I assume that means you know where she's off to," Bruce stated rather than asked.
"Of course, Mr. Wayne. Nicole Miller is a pilot. I assume she has a date with a plane, just like she said." With that, Lucius smiled and turned, leaving Bruce staring at the closed elevator doors.
Gotham City, being the sprawling urban center that it was, was home to a multitude of airports. Of course, there were the two large ones; Gotham International to the North West of the city and Archie Goodwin International situated in the West between Robinson Park and the coast, where Gotham Rock was located. In addition to the larger airports, smaller airports, used by the general aviation crowd as well as many smaller businesses, surrounded the city. One such airport, Bristol-Crest Hill, was located near the Palisades. The Palisades was an area North of Gotham City that housed the wealthiest members of Gotham's high society. The area consisted of a number of neighborhoods that included Gotham Heights, Bristol, and Crest Hill. In all her time in Gotham, Nicole had never driven out to the affluent area herself. Typically, she flew small planes from a small flying club that was based at Archie Goodwin International considering she lived only a few miles from the airport. However, her lesson today would be at the upscale airport.
The drive took quite a bit of time, at least forty minutes, not that Nicole minded. She rather liked the almost pastoral scenery that was littered with obscenely isolated mansions. It was quite a change from the never-ending urban sprawl she had come to call home. She soon located the airport and drove through the gates, parking at the FBO that looked almost foreboding with its expensive décor—and that was only on the outside. She slowly got out of her car, flight bag in tow, and took in the scene. The ramp was littered with private jets such as King Airs, Lear Jets, and a few Cessna Citations, which were larger, and in her opinion, classier. There were a few small planes, such as Cessna 172's and Piper Warriors, tied down outside and she figured most planes were probably kept in the rows upon rows of expensive hangars. Turning, she opened the door to the massive FBO and looked for the man that would be instructing her.
A man in his fifties dressed in casual khaki pants and black polo stood at the front desk, gossiping, as pilots do, with the clerk. He wore a tan hat with the familiar bear cub logo that proclaimed he was a fan of the Piper Cub airplane. As he caught her eye he smiled and approached her.
"You must be Nicole. I'm Jason," he announced holding out his hand.
Nicole took the outstretched hand firmly and greeted the man, "I'm Nicole, but, please, feel free to call me Nikki"
"Alright, Nikki. Let's get started, we can use the conference room that's down the hall."
With that, the young brunette eagerly followed the man until he gestured for her to sit in an expensive leather office chair. The next hour and a half consisted of her signing forms and instruction on how to do the maneuvers. She had to admit, ground school was not her favorite part of flying. Often times it was hard to remember exactly what to do unless you were being guided through it. She highly doubted that she could remember the expanse of instructions for the various maneuvers she was going to perform. When Jason finished instructing he excused himself and told her to meet him at his hangar and gave her specific directions on how to get there so she wouldn't get lost in the maze of beige structures.
Before leaving the conference room, Nicole looked through her flight bag; getting the few items that she would need ready. She pulled out a pink and white ball cap with a yellow chick on it proclaiming "Chicks Fly" and pulled it on her head, looping her pony tail through the back. It was a well known fact that wearing a ball cap with the headset over it helped to keep the headset in place instead of having it slide off in the middle of flight. She gathered her things and walked out of the tinted black door, sliding her black sunglasses on as she did so.
Upon reaching row E of the hangars, she immediate saw the red and white Super Decathlon that she would be flying. The Super Decathlon was a small, tandem seat tail-wheel plane that was capable of all the basic aerobatic maneuvers. Sure, it wasn't what the pros in aerobatic competitions used, but it was a great starter. As she drew closer to the plane, she felt the pit of excited nervousness expand in her stomach.
"You can set your stuff in the hanger, just grab your headset. You don't need the rest of the stuff for this," Jason stated as he cleaned his sunglasses.
Nicole complied, grabbing her Telex headset out of its case before she carried it to the plane. She inserted the contact into the appropriate areas and sat her headset on the floor next to the first seat, the one that she would be occupying.
"Nikki, have you ever been skydiving or worn a parachute before?" Jason inquired as he held up the blue contraption.
"No, I can't say I have"
"Well, since we're doing aerobatics, you have to wear one. It goes on like this," he said as he demonstrated by putting his pack on. "When you're finished, go ahead and get in and get settled."
Nicole picked her parachute up and inserted her arms through the top straps, as if she were putting on a jacket. She leaned down, grabbing the strap and buckle for the right leg, looped the strap around the leg and into the buckle, and pulled it tight. She did the same for the left leg and finished by looping the strap around her waist and pulling it tight. Finished with the chute, Nicole walked over to the door. She placed a foot on the step and used the bars inside to pull herself into the small cockpit, placing her left leg to the left of the stick and her right in the appropriate location. She eased herself down into the seat and brought the seat all the way forward. She still couldn't reach the rudder pedals with the best of ease. Some days, being short really sucked.
"Jason, I can't reach the pedals"
Jason peered inside and chuckled. "Try sitting on the very edge of the seat and leaning back."
Nicole did as she was told. "Thanks," she stated simply as she felt the pedals beneath her feet. She briefly thought what she might look like in the plane with her head barely coming up past the top of the panel in front of her. Laughing it off, she strapped herself in with the safety harness while Jason swung into the plane with ease and closed the door.
Nicole placed the headset over her hat and glanced over the checklist that was posted before starting the engine. She enriched the mixture and inserted the throttle half way before flipping on the master switch and turning the key. The engine roared to life causing the plane to vibrate as she eased the throttle back. She switched on the radios waiting on more instructions from Jason.
"Nikki, you're going to want to taxi to runway 7."
Nicole did as told, easing out of the hangar area and following the taxiway to runway 7. Once getting there, she performed her engine run-up to make sure everything was good to go for takeoff.
"Now, when you take off, give it 50% power ease the stick over until you're horizontal with the runway. When it breaks over and the tail is no longer on the ground, give it full power and take off as you normally would," Jason instructed.
She confirmed and swung the plane out onto the runway. She moved her feet from the brakes at the top of the rudders to the bottom where they would remain during flight and added half the power on the throttle. Then plane lurched forward. She slowly eased the stick forward until she felt the tail come off the ground and realized that they were rolling down the runway on the main wheels only. She added full power and slowly brought the stick towards her. The light plane lifted quickly off the ground with ease.
She felt whole again. In the tandem seat cockpit, she felt like she was alone since she was surrounded by glass. She could see Gotham and the ocean and rivers that surrounded it. The crime-ridden city looked beautiful and at peace, just as it had when she had landed here six months ago. Everything suddenly seemed perfect in life and she couldn't keep from grinning.
"Alright Nikki, let's do some clearing turns and then we'll get into the first maneuver."
Nicole turned the plane slowly to the left and then to the right, making sure there was no traffic or birds in the area. It wouldn't do to hit another object that could bring the plane down. She was sure that would dampen her mood tremendously.
"The first maneuver is the wingover. Now I want you to climb straight up until you feel the plane stop. Then I want you to throw in full left rudder and left aileron at the same time. Go for it," Jason ordered.
Nicole gave the plane full power and pulled the stick towards her and it seemed as if she were climbing toward space. She felt the plane slow down and it seemed almost as if they were suspended in air.
"Now," Jason instructed.
Nicole complied, pressing the rudder in and moving the stick as far left as it would go. Suddenly the plane flipped nose over wing and she was staring and hurtling straight for the ground. She could feel her stomach leap to her throat as she leveled the plane out straight as she had been ordered to do.
"Good Job," Jason praised as Nicole grinned ear to ear. "For your next maneuver, we're going to do a loop. I want you to angle the plane down, when the speed hits 145 knots, pull the stick all the way back and hold it. Look up through the skylight and make sure you're inverted above the ground. Go to straight and level flight when you exit the loop. Do it whenever you're ready."
Nicole pointed the nose toward the ground as the plane sped faster. When it reached the required speed, she pulled the stick back, and immediately felt as if she were being pressed even farther in her seat. She managed to look up to the skylight halfway through the maneuver and was amazed to see the ground above her. The world outside moved in a blur as she finished the loop. Her stomach and definitely flipped on that one.
"How are you feeling, Nikki? You're not too overheated or queasy are you," Jason asked her, making sure his pilot wasn't going vomit as many have done while performing the maneuvers.
Nicole felt elated and her adrenaline was pumping. "I'm great! Absolutely fantastic!"
"Good. Ok, one more new maneuver and then we'll practice them again. The rest that we learned in ground school will be saved for our next lesson. This one is the aileron roll. It's simple. Just give the plane power and press the left rudder and give it left aileron at the same time and we'll roll to the left," Jason instructed.
Nicole built up speed to the plane and did as was instructed. The plane rolled horizontally to the left giving her a feeling of excitement. She did a few more rolls, loops, and wingovers before it was time to head back to the airport. As Nicole flew the plane through the afternoon sky, she was filled full of adrenaline and on a natural high. For the first time in a long time, Nicole was praising her decision to move to Gotham.
Bruce Wayne's week had not gone according to plan. After his escapades Monday night, the rest of his outings as Batman had been chaotic. It seemed every mugger, gang member, and thief knew the Batman was some-what pressed for time and had all flooded the streets of Gotham to keep him busy. To make matters worse, Bruce Wayne was expected to attend many pressing social engagements, the most important of which was to occur this weekend—the upcoming nuptials of Senator Patrick Leahy's son, Michael. Bruce Wayne wasn't exactly looking forward to the social obligation, or his decision to take amateur actress Angelique Reyes as his date. She had initially approached him and he had accepted her request at the last minute. Since then, the woman had called incessantly and had even taken to randomly showing up at Wayne Manor, only to be thwarted away by Alfred. She was becoming annoying, to say the least.
As Bruce finished shoving the last bit of clothing into his suitcase, his thoughts turned to a familiar brunette assistant. Her treatment of him was someone unusual compared to other women, which is what had intrigued him in the first place. The more he was around her; the more she rebuffed his playful gestures. He would be lying to himself if he said he wasn't interested in her. In fact, if he were completely honest, he wanted to get to know her, probably more than he should have.
Shaking the thoughts from his head, he zipped the suitcase closed and proceeded to carry it downstairs to the waiting black car.
"Is there anything else that you require, Master Wayne?" Alfred inquired as he seemingly appeared out of nowhere. The butler had a habit of doing that and it amazed Bruce to no end.
"No Alfred, I've got it."
"Very well. Miss Reyes will be meeting us at the airport, so you will not have to endure her company for the duration of the ride," Alfred told his employer, smiling knowingly as he did so.
Bruce returned the smile. His guardian could read him like an open book, probably due to the tactics he'd learned while he was employed in the intelligence service during the man's younger days. Alfred was smarter than most people gave him credit for. He lifted the suitcase into the trunk of the black Mercedes, swatting his butler away as he did so.
"You will be staying the full three days then?"
Bruce cringed as he slammed the trunk shut. Three days with the state's high society. Three days in close proximity to Angelique. "Yes, Alfred. You were able to get us separate rooms?"
"Of course, Master Wayne."
With that Bruce nodded and took his seat in the back of the car. Alfred slid in and started the car with ease. For a portion of the drive both men were left to their thoughts, Bruce dreading the weekend where he would have to pose as the air headed playboy that was the opposite of his true persona.
"Master Wayne, forgive me for asking, but why are you taking Miss Angelique?"
"She asked me and I needed a date."
Alfred nodded before he continued. "It seems to me that this weekend would be more enjoyable if you took someone you actually tolerated, or I dare say, even liked."
Bruce sighed. "It's too dangerous for me to get involved with someone Alfred."
"Might I say sir, that no one is complete without experiencing true love and having that returned. Even you deserve that, more so than you think," Alfred said, meeting his charges eyes in the mirror. Bruce nodded but stayed quiet. His thoughts turned to his past. It was true that he loved Rachel. Lately, he had been questioning whether she had truly loved him as her one true love or if he had just been the friend in her life. He had heard her talking to Dent in the warehouse but had tried to ignore the nagging feeling it produced. She had said yes to his marriage proposal. While some would have thought she said that only to ease his mind at his time of death, Bruce knew better—even if he didn't want to admit it. She had never been the type to lie about her feelings.
Bruce continued thinking about Rachel as he leaned his head against the cool, black leather seats, watching but not seeing the green landscape pass by on the way to the airport.
Nicole was on final approach when she saw the massive sea plane on the ramp, the sun glinting off of its blue wings. Obviously someone had enough money to buy the nearly $1 million dollar vintage sea plane and instantly envied them. She glided the red and white plane down with ease and felt contact with the runway before she began slowing the plane with the brakes at the top of the rudder pedals. She took the first taxi way and slowly taxied the plane to the hangar before cutting the engines off and switching the radios and master switch off. She removed her headset and unhooked the harness. Pulling herself up and stepping out of the plane, she questioned Jason.
"Did you see that plane on the ramp?"
Jason, having already extracted himself from the plane replied, "Sure did. It's nice, especially on the inside."
Nicole nodded and started undoing her parachute pack. "Is it a Grumman Albatross?"
"It is. It's been modified on the inside though. Now it can carry passengers around in style. Once we're done here, go take a look at it."
"Alright, I think I will," she said smiling as the two pushed the plane into the hangar.
"So, Friday is the next lesson. You said you get off work at 5:00 so let's plan on meeting at the hangar at 6. You did great today Nikki. Go check out that plane before you leave, you don't want to miss that," Jason said smiling.
"I will," she laughed. And with that she began walking to the ramp.
The Grumman Albatross was a large sea plane used by the Navy and the Coast Guard during the 1950's. This particular Albatross had a rather unique paint scheme. The two floats, rudder, and front of the engines were yellow; the wings and underbelly of the plane were a royal blue; and the rest was white. The plane looked brand new and completely spotless. Some days, she thought it would be nice to be rich.
As she approached the plane, she was quickly dwarfed by its size. It was absolutely amazing to her. She walked underneath the wing, staring up in wonder at the engines, never even noticing the black Mercedes that was parked nearby.
"Can I help you Miss?" a kind voice with a British accent inquired.
Somewhat startled out of her reverie, Nicole turned, and took in the appearance of the man. He wore the garb of a manservant and bore a head full of white hair and an aged, but kind, face. Smiling she replied, "Oh I'm sorry. I was just looking at this wonderful plane. I've never seen an Albatross before."
Alfred smiled at the young woman, whose eyes were wide with child like amazement. She was clearly excited. "No to worry, Miss, you can look as long as you like."
"Thank you," she beamed as she turned and continued to examine the engine.
Bruce stared at his tired reflection as he washed his hands. Although he wasn't looking forward to pretending to be a vapid and boorish playboy this weekend, he was looking forward to getting a bit of extra rest. To sweeten the deal, Angelique had just texted him, explaining she was running late. That was less time that he'd have to spend with the whiney actress. Wiping his hands on a paper napkin, Bruce thought back to his Batman duties. He needed to investigate more on the streets, however, a weekend away wouldn't hurt that much and he could always go back over the case files looking for something new. After all, the city had survived six years without him right?
Leaving the restroom, the 28 year old man wearing beige chinos and light blue polo shirt strode with ease across the lobby. He needed to confirm that Alfred has stowed his Batsuit in the secret compartment of the cargo plane, just in case he needed it. Walking out the door, Bruce slipped on a pair of designer aviators and began to approach the massive sea plane. The plane had barely looked safe to fly in when he had first seen it from his sailboat. After the trip to Hong Kong, he was assured of its safety. Sure, he still had a private jet at his calling, but there was something about the vintage plane that he liked. Bruce had spent a copious amount of money updating the plane. It now sported top of the line avionics, a new paint job, and the interior had been refitted to carry more passengers. But most of all, the cargo hold was full of secret compartments able to hide his equipment if he so desired to bring it. He still wasn't licensed by the FAA to fly the plane, or any other plane for that matter, so he had specific pilots on his payroll that would pilot the plane for him.
With his designer aviators firmly in place, he opened the door to the ramp and was greeted by the sight of a stranger that standing beneath the wing of the Albatross. As he drew closer, he noticed that the stranger clad in blue jeans and a black tank top was clearly feminine by the woman's shapeliness. He approached the unassuming woman with ease, for she had her back turned to him.
"Hi there, I see you're interested in my plane," Bruce confidently offered, not wanting to startle the woman. The woman froze in place for a moment before turning. Recognition crossed his features. He had never seen his assistant outside of the office and she looked somewhat foreign in her simple attire and pink and white hat. Lucius had told him that she flew, but he never thought that she would be flying out of this airport since it seemed a bit out of the way from where she lived.
"I have to admit, it's a nice plane you have Mr. Wayne," she replied simply.
"Bruce. Call me Bruce. We're not in the office so there's no need to be formal," he replied smiling genuinely. He suddenly felt like he was 13 again with a crush on Bianca Williams.
Nicole paused for a moment. "Well then I suppose it's only right that you call me Nicole."
"Well, Nicole, Mr. Fox informed me that you were a pilot, though I didn't expect you to be so far out of the city."
"Normally I wouldn't be. I'm taking aerobatic lessons, which is why I'm here. Normally I fly out of Archie Goodwin International."
This managed to perk Bruce's interest once more. It was impressive enough that she flew; it wasn't a common hobby among most people, let alone the women he knew. It was even more impressive that she had the skill and courage to perform aerobatic maneuvers. Bruce nodded.
"I'm sorry Mr. Wayne—Bruce, I didn't want to hold you up. You have a lovely plane," she stated as she moved to walk away. Bruce found that he didn't want her to leave just yet.
"Nicole, would you like to see inside?"
She hesitated until curiosity obviously got the best of her. "Sure"
Bruce led the short brunette inside, and watched as her face lit up in awe. What had once served as an air ambulance and transport area now sported white leather seating against the side of the plane and a durable carpet underneath. Everything was pristine in this area and looked as if it belonged on the inside of a private jet rather than the Albatross.
"This is the main seating area; I updated it to accommodate my guests. Over here to the right is the door leading to the cargo area, which is small. And to the left, through that door, is the cockpit," he stated, pointing to the rounded entryway. "You can see it if you like."
Nicole nodded eagerly and followed behind Bruce. He opened the door and two seats with old-fashioned yokes in front of them came into view. The panel was decorated with gauges, switches, and leavers that made the plane look overly complex. Grinning, Nicole eyed the white leather pilot's seat on the left. "Can I?"
"Of course"
Nicole carefully stepped over the instruments and slipped into the seat. Bruce chuckled at the site of the brunette who couldn't quite reach the rudder pedals and who was a little too short to see over the top of the panel.
"Hey! Don't laugh at me! I can't help if I'm vertically challenged," Nicole chastised with humor in her eyes.
Bruce suddenly pictured the scene from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom where Short and Round used pedals on his feet to drive the car. "Well I'm confident you could fly this. We'll just get you a booster chair and pedals for your feet," he teased, smiling
Before Nicole had a chance to retort, the silent butler appeared behind Bruce. "Ah, I see you finally made it inside the plane Miss."
"Yes, Bruce here was just giving me a tour."
Bruce smiled at her. "That's right. Alfred, this is Nicole Miller, my assistant at Wayne Enterprises. Nicole, this is Alfred Pennyworth, my trusted butler."
"A pleasure to meet you, Miss Miller. Master Wayne, I came to tell you that all the equipment you asked for has been loaded into the cargo area."
"Thank you, Alfred."
"If you need me, I'll be outside Mr. Wayne," Alfred said giving his charge a knowing and sly smile. Sometimes, it seemed the man had ESP.
"He seems nice," Nicole stated from the pilot's seat that she was clearly not relinquishing yet.
"He is. Stealthy, but wonderful," Bruce joked.
Nicole laughed and the two continued conversing. He was finding that he rather liked her outside of the office. She seemed livelier as the two discussed aviation and the different vintage war birds that they liked. She was just about to comment on why the Supermarine Spitfire was one of the greatest fighter planes of World War II when she was suddenly cut off in mid sentence.
"Brucie! I'm here my love! Where are you? Oh, there you are!" Bruce inwardly groaned at Angelique's shrill interruption.
Wrapping her arms around his midsection and planting a kiss on his cheek, the tanned, dark haired actress made her presence known. "Oh, are you the pilot? Did you forget your uniform?" Angelique questioned Nicole condescendingly.
"Angelique, Miss Miller is my assistant."
Angelique took in the woman's casual appearance. "Well surely she's not coming with us! This is a romantic getaway Bruce," Angelique whined. Bruce mentally prayed for more patience to get through this weekend. If she kept whining, he would be sorely tempted to throw her out of the plane while they were flying over the water.
"No, I'm not going. I ran into Mr. Wayne and he was kind enough to show me his plane," Nicole stated defensively. Nicole rose from her position as Bruce tried to give her an apologetic look. "Actually, I need to get going." With that Nicole brushed passed the couple and left the plane.
"Well, you certainly have a very ugly assistant. I can't believe she would dress like that. Was that grease on her hand? ," whined Angelique.
Maybe jettisoning the actress out of the plane over the ocean wouldn't be such a bad idea after all.
Nicole darted out of the plane so fast she tripped over the last step and went sprawling with arms outstretched onto the tarmac below. Feeling the sting of the scrape on her palms and the pain in her knee as she made from contact with the hard surface, Nicole felt like melting into the pavement. It was one thing to be embarrassed by Bruce Wayne and that infuriating woman, but to have a bout of clumsiness right after just downright sucked. Before she could rise to her feet, she heard a kindly voice in her ears.
"Miss Miller, are you alright? That was quite a nasty spill."
Nicole looked up into the kind face of Bruce's butler, Alfred.
"I'm fine, just a bit of a klutz it seems," she answered as she gave a half smile.
"Here, let me," Alfred said as he offered a hand to the lady to help her up from her ungraceful spill.
Nicole, not one to typically accept help, took the butler's hand, not wanting to offend him. "Thank you Alfred," she said as she rose and began brushing loose gravel herself off.
"It's not a problem Miss Miller."
"I'm sorry, I really need to go. Thank you again, Alfred," with that, Nicole turned and briskly walked across the hot tarmac, feeling annoyance and humiliation bubble up inside of her.
For once, Bruce Wayne hadn't seemed like he had walked straight out of a tabloid. She had wanted to leave instinctively but he had offered her something she couldn't refuse, a chance to tour the plane. She had accepted and was impressed with his taste and was surprised to feel at ease in his company. Being somewhat of a history buff, she was surprised the Bruce had known so much about aviation and World War II. She had wondered if this man was the same man she had seen at least weekly for the past six months. This man was intelligent, charming, and witty. He was nothing like the tabloid version of himself and she had actually found herself attracted to him.
Then that woman—Angelique—had shown up. It wasn't her place to question Bruce's choice of women, though the woman was clearly spoiled and annoying. It had angered her that she was spoken to in such a condescending way, not to mention the barb aimed at her retreating back. But what really angered her was how Bruce acted. He hadn't said anything to stop the woman and had switched to using formal terms as if the last hour hadn't even occurred. She didn't understand how he could switch personalities like that.
Reaching her car, Nicole threw her bag inside and grabbed checked her cell phone. Becky and left a text messaging asking if she wanted to go out for drinks. Quickly replying yes, Nicole pulled out of the parking lot, glancing at the Albatross in the rearview mirror. She didn't understand why Bruce's actions annoyed her so much but she was tired of thinking about it.