Note: I know it's been a very long while on this. Thought I'd send a few chapters your way to those who like this one. This and the next two will be each focused on a different member of the triangle I've started. This one belongs to Bruce. Hope you enjoy!! Would love to hear your thoughts! Thanks again for all your support!!!

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Chapter 5

"Thank you, Alfred."

Bruce Wayne's robotic gratitude was not lost on his faithful butler. Alfred did not budge from his spot. It was a full minute before Bruce realized he was standing directly in front of him.

Still.

Waiting.

Bruce blinked Alfred into focus. "Was there something else?"

"Might I make an observation, sir?"

A wry tilt of Bruce's lips proceeded his flippant answer. "Do I have the power to stop you?"

Ignoring Bruce's question, Alfred hesitantly offered what turned out to be a rather obvious observation. "Miss Lois makes you happy."

"Agreed." Bruce answered with an impatient wave of his hand. "Your point?"

"Was it wise? To give her the file."

Bruce shifted uncomfortably in the leather chair firmly planted by the fire. "Wise, it would appear, is a relative term. Especially when it comes to Lois Lane." Gauging Alfred's patient and inscrutable expression, Bruce decoded his cryptic answer. "Lois is an intelligent woman. One day she'll figure it out and go to him. Where, then, will that leave me?"

"With the woman you love, and all the days in between."

"And you think that will make a difference?"

"I think each day she knows you, you mean more to her." The conviction in the older man's blue eyes made its way to his voice. "I think, given time, she will love you as she now believes she loves him."

"Believes?" Bruce smirked. "Alfred, I wouldn't want to bet against her belief. For then, I would certainly lose."

"And by giving her the file? Are you not conceding defeat?"

"No. I am conceding I'm not the only man with claims on her heart." His shrug was nonchalant. The uncertainty in his eyes was not. "If she doesn't choose me, then we'll know who has more."

"But…"

"I am not a consolation prize, Alfred. I want her, but not at all costs. For perhaps the first time in my life, someone else's happiness means more to me than my own. If I'm lucky enough to be the man she gives herself to, then I want it to be on her own terms, with full disclosure."

Alfred knew his employer well enough to know when a final word had been spoken.

"As you wish." Bowing slightly, Alfred moved with studied ease toward the door. Then paused. "I only hope this gamble doesn't cost you more than you have to give."

"Me too, Alfred." The click of the closed door muffled Bruce Wayne's whispered reply. "Me too."

It had been an intriguing month for Bruce Wayne.

And that was saying a lot.

From the moment Lois Lane crashed into the front gate of Wayne Manor, he felt as if his emotions had been in a constant state of flux. After rescuing her from the crumpled metal and procuring the doctor's prescription for a quick recovery, Bruce stayed by his unexpected guest's side for three hours straight.

He didn't know why.

Something in her striking, yet often disturbed, expression held him there. Immovable. Fascinated. Captivated.

Then Alfred silently slipped the file into his hands. To the sound of her steady breathing, Bruce read Lois Lane's profile, from the date of her birth to the details of the last story she worked on for the Daily Planet, with increasing alarm.

It was then he decided to leave.

This woman was clearly a danger to Bruce Wayne.

And Batman.

With an extended travel itinerary in one hand and a suitcase in the other, he paused at the front door as an irrational hesitation settled over him. Pushing through the urge to stay, Bruce boarded his private jet, leaving Gotham City behind in the space of an hour.

He returned the next morning.

For some inexplicable reason, he couldn't walk away. Despite the risks. Despite the dangers. Despite the growing sense that this woman had the power to turn his world on its head.

Upon his return to the mansion, Bruce did not go near her room. For a full thirty minutes. Even that had been a struggle. The wry twitch of Alfred's lips made an already chagrined Bruce feel as if he'd been caught on a mission stark naked without his Batsuit.

From that moment on, he became her self-appointed guardian. Watching over her as she slept. Nursing her back to health. Granting her ever wish, no matter how small or how common.

It was comical the way the store clerks looked at him when he personally sauntered into a local store and asked for a pair of bunny slippers. In pink.

After a week by her side, Bruce knew he wanted more. Maybe that conscious realization produced unconscious actions. Perhaps he was just tired of hiding who he was. Maybe he hoped that she would follow his example and reveal her true self to one revealed.

Maybe it was a combination of these or none at all, but three things happened in rapid succession.

His guard was lowered.

Lois Lane discovered the truth of his deepest secret.

And she accepted the whole of him without question.

It seemed Alfred was the only one not surprised by Bruce Wayne's proposal a few short weeks later.

Bruce certainly spent a fair amount of time analyzing the swift and unexpected progression of their relationship in the following days while Lois quietly and carefully contemplated his proposition.

Those two days had been pure torture for him. Vacillating between revoking the offer and pressuring her to commit, Bruce lost all interest in his work, both legitimate and secret. His work outs became more intense. His brooding, more pronounced.

Never had he felt relief so great as the day she came to him with only one question: "Will I have to share you with the world?"

"The world? No. Gotham City, on the other hand, might require a bit of attention from time to time," had been his reply. It was an answer that seemed to satisfy her. She smiled a slow, knowing smile and reached out her left hand in silent acceptance.

How she had become so important to him in such a short period of time was inexplicable. That she had, was irrefutable.

And now, he had just handed her the means to destroy him.

Or make him a king among men.

It was the most irrational thing he had ever done. And yet, he wouldn't hesitate to do it again. He knew Lois Lane. Perhaps better than she knew herself.

There were clearly unresolved issues between Lois and this partner of hers, this…Clark Kent. Even if they were only one sided, the emotions she had displayed in unguarded moments had been powerful and unnerving.

To both of them.

Bruce was perceptive enough to know the score. She was in love with Clark Kent. So in love she'd run to the farthest corner of the earth just to avoid watching his heart break. Not to mention her own if the brood-inducing Lana Lang still had a hold on him.

Which produced further evidence.

Whether conscious or not, she'd been trying to transform herself into a woman Clark Kent would notice. Would love. By mirroring the only woman she knew he did, she'd stepped into someone else's skin and tried to bury her true self. It was foolish and misguided. Uncharacteristic and wrong. And only the strongest of emotions could have driven her to it.

Love. After all, hadn't someone once said it was the most powerful thing on earth?

Bruce was also rational. He understood there was more to marriage than passion. There was communication and compatibility. Friendship and understanding. Lois and he had those in abundance. Passion would come in its own time.

And then there was trust. Trust, which, admittedly, was only now fully being explored.

Alfred thought he was giving up. In truth, he was fighting. For by handing her the folder, placing the informed choice in her capable hands, he was cementing the foundation of trust Lois Lane so desperately needed. Securing her loyalty. Proving the depth of his belief in her. And placing her firmly in his corner of the struggle.

For he knew the contents of that folder.

And just how explosive they would be.

Yes, passion would come.

And Bruce Wayne was a patient man.

But only if he knew she was truly choosing him. That she wasn't his by default.

That's why he'd handed her the truth.

Now, he just had to wait.

Again.

And see what the real Lois Lane would do with it.

Tbc…