Entering Wayne Manor, I turned to go up to my room, but was called into the front parlor. I gave a sigh and opened the door to find my mother sitting on the couch reading a magazine with a gimlet in her hand. She took a sip of it while she turned the page of an article, her gaze not moving to me.

"You called, mother?" I asked.

She held up her free hand and gave me one finger to let me know to wait a minute. I gave another sigh as I crossed my arms and stood in the doorway. I watched as my mom continued to read her article, every few paragraphs, she would take a sip of her drink. She turned the page again, took another sip, and then finally looked up at me. Her eyes were sharp, and her lips were pursed.

"Where have you been all day?"

I shrugged, "In the city."

"By yourself?"

"No."

My mother stood up then, "Bruce was here until noon. Who were you with?"

"I was with a guy I met at the museum yesterday."

My mother's eyes widened. To be completely honest, I was shocked that her head didn't explode. She took a moment to compose herself then said, "You left the safety of this house, to go into town with a guy you met at the museum yesterday?"

"Nothing happened, mom! We had a great day together, we went back to the museum, we went to the park, we weren't threatened by anyone, we weren't attacked by some evil killer clown guy, everything was fine."

"Bethany, just because you had a decent day with some guy you just met, doesn't mean that the city is safe. I don't want you going out there on your own anymore… not without Bruce."

"But I wasn't by myself! And if this city is so dangerous, why were you so desperate to come back to it? Why did you bring me here? To keep me prisoner in this house?"

"No," my mother got closer to me, "I brought you here to rekindle your relationship with Bruce. You two were destined to be with each other. You were supposed to be engaged or married by now!"

"That is why I'm here? To be given away to Bruce?"

My mother scoffed, "Oh, Bethany, don't look at it like that."

"How am I supposed to look at it mother? I'm only here so Bruce can fall desperately in love with me, so we can get married and carry on the precious Wayne bloodline with my fertel eggs and produce heirs to his massive house. Thank you, mom."

I turned to leave but my mother grabbed ahold of me, "Do not talk like that. You love Bruce."

"Not in the way you want."

"Then learn."

I gaped at my mother in shock. I took a step back and nodded, "Okay. Well, now that I know why we're really here, I'm going to go upstairs and change into my swimsuit, and I'll be doing laps."

Turning to leave, I went to the stairs. My mother called from the parlor room, "Bethany, come back here! I didn't mean it like that."

I ignored her and entered my room. I took a moment to breath, then changed into my swimsuit and made my way down to the indoor pool in the basement. I didn't wait, and dove into the pool, turning my attention to performing clean and even strokes. I made it to twenty laps when I caught someone watching me from the corner of my eye. Stopping at the wall, I looked and found Bruce standing in the shadows.

"What do you need," I asked.

"Well I was going to tell you dinner is ready."

I scoffed, "Oh. Yeah, tell Alfred I'll be coming down for leftovers. I'm not hungry."

"Well, surely you'll be hungry after all of these laps."

"Maybe."

"Why don't I join you?"

I thought about it, but then sighed, "No. I swim best when I'm alone. You being here will just throw me off."

"Oh."

Hoisting myself out of the water, I gave him a smile, "Don't worry. It's not you."

He gave me a smile and replied, "Good. I was worried."

"Your sauna still working?"

"Yes."

"Good." Grabbing my towel, I entered the heated room, and proceeded to take off my swimsuit. Hanging it on the hooks near the door, I amped up the heat a bit, and laid out on one of the wooden benches. I felt snug as the room heated up enveloping me in nice dry heat. I let out a contented sigh, when the door opened and closed. I looked over to see Bruce in his underwear staring at me in shock. I sat up and crossed my legs in an attempt to cover myself. Crossing my arms in front of me, I gave him a sly smile, "You find something unexpected?"

A blush formed on his cheeks as he said, "Um… yeah, a bit unexpected."

I smiled, "Well, what are you going to do about it?"

He recovered quickly and bent down, pulling his underwear off as he went. I laid back down with my knees bent and my feet together leaving just enough room for Bruce on the bench. Hanging his underwear on the hook next to my wet suit, he sat down next to me. I left my arm over my chest while he fidgeted on the bench next to me. "So," he said, "Do you always sauna naked?"

"Only when I'm expecting to be a lone, yes."

"Do you want to be alone?"

I smiled, "This is your house, Bruce. If you want to be in here, then I can't really tell you no, now can I?"

"You can tell me anything."

"Mmm." I closed my eyes, "I'll remind you of that if I ever piss you off."

"How was your day?"

I sighed, "Good."

"What did you do?"

"Went into the city. Had some alone time at the art museum."

"Did you have fun?" Bruce placed his hand on my leg and began massaging my calf.

I nodded. "Yeah."

His hands kneaded my calf and began working their way up my leg and I felt my core tighten. His hands slid up and down my inner thighs as his fingers pressed into my skin, "What did you see?"

"I finished the Charles Allan exhibit." My voice was strained and a bit breathy as I felt his fingers continue to inch up my thigh.

"Did you go anywhere else?"

I nodded, "Yes."

Bruce's hand stopped just outside my aching womanhood and my breath hitched. Bruce kept his hand calmly outside, not moving, just resting there. He finally asked, "Where else did you go?"

"P-portraits."

His fingers entered me and I let out the breath I was holding. I moved a bit to give him better access and he thanked me by adding two more fingers. My back arched off of the bench and I let my arms fall to my sides and grip the bench. I writhed over his fingers and opened my eyes to watch him. He was looking at me, watching me react to his movements. I threw my head back as his fingers reached a tender spot. I heard him chuckle in response, and I looked back at him.

Frowning at him, I sat up and pulled his hand out of me. I pushed him against the back of the bench and straddled his waist, rubbing myself on his hard member. He placed his hands on my hips and leaned his head back, his eyes half closed. I watched him enjoy himself for a moment before lifting myself up further and sliding myself down over him. He gasped with me as he entered me, and we sat looking at each other for a moment. Slowly, he pressed his fingers into my hips and guided me in a simple motion. I gripped his shoulders as I moved over him, riding him slowly. His hands ran up my back and moved to my front, running up and over my breasts. His thumbs found my hardened nipples and he slowly rubbed circles over them. My breathing picked up as did my speed.

Bruce broke eye contact with me as he leaned in and took one of my nipples into his mouth. I let my head fall back and a guttural growl escaped my mouth. One of my hands gripped his hair and held him to my chest. One of his hands was splayed on my back supporting me with his strong arm while his other hand moved between us and his thumb found my clit. I cried out again as my senses were overloaded. Gripping his hair, I pulled his head back and crashed my lips against his.

Bruce hugged me close to him as he lifted me up and set me back down on the bench. He drove his hips against me and I moaned loudly into our kiss. Pulling away for air, I said, "Jesus Christ, Bruce. Do that again."

Bruce smiled smugly and drove deep into me again. Our pace had slowed a bit and I felt every agonizing inch of him as he slowly pulled out and pushed forcefully back in. My whole body shook with each thrust he made, and soon he began to speed up. As Bruce's thrusts began to pick up, so did my moaning. When Bruce got up to speed, he pulled away from me and gripped my ankles pulling my legs apart. My hands gripped the bench on either side of my head and I screwed my eyes shut. My moans had moved short of screams as I begged Bruce to go faster. I felt myself build and I could tell Bruce was getting there too.

"Fuck, Bruce," I said, "Fuck. I'm getting close."

"Hold on," he said, his hand sliding down my leg and his fingers rubbing the folds of my vagina. I felt myself calm down a bit, but it wasn't going to last long. He continued stroking me but soon gave up as he went back to his carnal taking of my body. Taking my ankle back up, he continued to thrust into me, and soon enough we were both calling out obscenities. Bruce came down and held himself over me as we both calmed down and caught out breath. I looked into his eyes and he gave me a smile. Leaning down, he gave me a gentle kiss which I returned. Pulling away he ran his hand through my hair and gave me a smile.

A knock came at the door an we heard Alfred's voice say, "Master Wayne, assuming you and Miss Elwood are finished, Mrs Elwood would like to know if you two will be joining her for dessert."

Bruce's head fell to my chest as we both suppressed giggles and he said, "Let her know we'll be up."

"Right, will do, Master Wayne."

Bruce got off of me, and we both sat on the bench for a moment. The heat and exhaustion finally got to us and we took a moment to catch our breath and settle down. Feeling like I was finally ready to move, I stood up and grabbed my towel. Wrapping it around my body, I collected my swim suit and opened the door.

"What just happened," Bruce asked.

Turning to look at him, I replied, "We just had sex."

"What does that mean?"

I shrugged, "Nothing."

Bruce stood up and walked over to me, "Nothing?"

"It was just sex, Bruce."

He tucked a stray hair behind my ear, "Just sex, yeah?"

I pulled his hand away, "Don't make this more than what it was, Bruce."

I left the sauna and was halfway to the door when Bruce came out, "Bethy, come on! You really mean that meant nothing to you?"

"No," I turned to him and said, "I told you, that first kiss was a mistake. A good one, but a mistake. This was just… fueling that mistake. It happened. Let's just let it happen."

Turning away from him, I left the pool area, loving the way the cool air kissed my hot skin. I made it to the stairwell and went up the many steps to my room where I changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt before heading back down to the dining room to have dessert with Bruce and my mother.

Sitting down across from Bruce, he didn't make eye contact with me as he took a fork to his tiramisu. I nodded down into my own piece of cake and took a bite. My mother, always one to pick up on things, set her fork down, "What's wrong?"

We both looked up at her like two kids who have been caught doing something bad. I was the first to recover, "What are you talking about, mom?"

"You two aren't talking to each other."

"We just sat down, mom."

"Well you can at least acknowledge each other."

Turning to Bruce, I smiled at him, "Hi Bruce." Turning back to my mother I asked, "Was that better?"

My mother rolled her eyes. Turning to Bruce she said, "How did you ever stand to be friends with this girl."

He shrugged, "Beats me."

My mother frowned, "Something is wrong with you two! What happened? Why won't you talk?"

I shrugged, "I didn't know it was a requirement to talk during dessert."

My mom sighed, "Not if you're going to act like a child. The least you two could do is talk to each other and get to know each other again."

"I'm sorry mother. What is it you would really like to talk about? Wedding colors? Or would you and Bruce like to talk about engagement rings first? Best make it official before jumping in right?"

"Oh please, are you still on that?"

"Still on what," Bruce asked.

"My mother has brought it to my attention that the only reason she brought me here was so that we could fall madly in love with each other and get married."

"I didn't phrase it like that," my mother said.

"Sure sounded like it." I stood and picked up my fork, "If my owner and potential buyer don't mind, I'll eat this upstairs."

"Bethany," my mother called.

"Bethy!" Bruce stood to follow, but I was already out of the room. I closed my door as he reached the top of the stairs, and with a loud turn of the lock, I let him know I didn't want visitors. He tried anyway. With a gentle three knocks he said, "Bethany… please don't shut me out. Your mother, yes, but not me. Please."

I didn't respond. Instead I grabbed my cell phone and went out to my terrace. Setting the plate down on the table, I sat in the overly plush covered lawn chair and called the last number on my recently called list.

"Doctor Crane."