Harleen Part 6/19
Author: BlueSuede
Title: Harleen
Rating: PG13/T
Genre: Friendship/Romance
Pairings: Chloe/Bruce
Summary: Chloe is on a recruiting mission, trying to pin down Gotham's infamous Dark Knight. In order to learn more about him, she begins interviewing those he's captured. What will she do when the Joker escapes and begins targeting her?
Warning: I understand that this story may not be entirely consistent with Nolan's Batman. Mostly this will be a result of my growing up with Batman the Animated Series.
banner by cheryljluv
First Chapter
Previous (Chapter 5)
Next (Chapter 7)
-6-
Chloe was not necessarily a woman who was easily romanced. With her romantic history, she had grown rather...difficult when it came to men. Sure, Bruce had been nice, nice enough to get a phone number off of her. He was the first in a very long time.
Still, that hadn't meant she was actually expecting the date to go well, nor was she expecting to have any desire to see him again when it was over.
But Bruce was throwing her a definite curve ball. He was...well, truth be told, he was good. For a woman who was convinced she was unsweepable, Chloe had the distinct impression that she was being swept off of her feet.
She had expected dinner at an expensive restaurant, or maybe tickets to an art show or something else sophisticated like that. The usual cliches that Lex and Oliver usually broke out for first dates.
Bruce had surprised her. He had arrived at the front of the hotel in his own car - no limo in sight, although there was a chauffeur - with a picnic basket. Of course, the picnic basket was full, Chloe soon discovered, of gourmet foods: tomato bisque, toast points with a spread made of sun dried tomatoes and roasted garlic, veal marsala, and finally, creme brulee for dessert.
With or without the delicious food prepared by Bruce's chef, though, Chloe would have been impressed.
He had taken her to the Gotham Observatory, a building he apparently had paid for, as Chloe discovered when she read the plaque outside the building, which gave him the right to clear the place for the night for his own personal use. Chloe caught herself wondering if he'd reserved that right when he donated the money, or if he'd simply given the staff the night off, or perhaps he'd had to bribe them all regardless. Either way, she found herself sitting in the midst of the Observatory, eating veal marsala that was better than anything she'd ever tasted before, deep in conversation with Bruce about the upcoming elections in Gotham, when things began to go awry.
It was her cell phone that hammered the first nail in the coffin of her evening.
She was embarrassed that it never occurred to her to turn it off, but knew she wouldn't have if she had remembered because the only people who ever called her were the team...and Lois. In this case, though, it was Oliver, and she knew she couldn't just ignore the call.
"I'm so sorry," she said to Bruce, "it's just...would you mind?"
"Of course not," he smiled. "Take your time." He checked his watch. "We've still got at least an hour and a half."
She frowned, not knowing what he was talking about, but she didn't ask him. "I'm just going to step outside for a moment, if you don't mind." He nodded pleasantly.
As soon as she stepped outside she answered the call.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Chlo, it's Ollie."
"I know. Can you make it quick? I'm in the middle of something."
He paused. "In the middle of what? Is everything all right?"
"Yes. I'm just out to dinner."
Another pause. Then, in a thin, disapproving voice:
"With whom?"
"Ollie!"
"Sorry. Anyway, Emil got back to me on the item you sent him."
"And?"
"He says that Wayne Industries is the most likely manufacturer. There's a man there who practically runs the bu-"
"Bruce?"
This time the pause was still more suspicious.
"What do you mean, 'Bruce?' Have you met Bruce Wayne?"
"Possibly. Anyway, is he the man I should talk to?"
"No. Lucius Fox. That's the man you want to see. What do you mean, 'possibly?'"
"I may have...made his acquaintance the other day. That's all. And I know he owns the company, so I just assumed...whatever. So Lucius Fox, huh? Got it. I'll track down his information and try to set up a meeting with him."
"Already done. Are you on a date with Bruce Wayne?"
"When?"
"Now."
"No, I mean when is the appointment?"
"I'm not telling you until you answer the question."
"Possibly. That's an answer. So when's the meeting?"
"You do realize the reputation he has, don't you?"
Chloe snorted.
"Chloe."
"His reputation, Ollie? You mean the one that's identical to yours? Right. When's the meeting."
"You're supposed to be in Gotham on business. What are you doing out on a date?"
Chloe rolled her eyes. "Oliver, so help me, if you don't tell me when that meeting is set for and hang up the phone, I will go home with Bruce Wayne tonight."
"So you admit you're on a date with him."
"OLIVER!"
"Fine. Next Wednesday at 2:00 in the afternoon at his office at the Wayne Enterprises building. For the love of all things decent, don't go home with him or I will send Bart after you."
"Goodbye, Ollie," Chloe laughed, hanging up on him. She quickly punched the meeting information into her Blackberry before starting to turn inside.
That was when the second nail was hammered in the evening's coffin, though she didn't actually know it yet. Just as she put her hand on the door, the already clear evening suddenly became brighter. She looked up into the sky where she saw the Batsignal carving out an unclear form on the cloudless night sky.
Inspiration dawned, and she could kick herself for never thinking of it before. She needed to find out what the source of that light was. She pulled her phone out again and started rapidly taking photos of the beacon.
She slipped it back in her purse and went back inside, only to bump directly into Bruce on his way out.
"Chloe," he said, and there was a note of guilt in his voice. "I'm so, so sorry to do this. Something came up, and I've got to go."
"Oh," Chloe said blankly, then, comprehending, "oh! Oh, but the food..." she looked pityingly at the meal he'd had prepared for them. "I mean of course it's all right. It's just such a shame...but, of course you should go. That's fine."
He nodded, clearly feeling terrible about it. "I'll have Alfred drive you back. I'm afraid I've got to hail a cab. I don't have the time t - have I mentioned how sorry I am?"
Chloe laughed. "I understand. It's no big deal. One of the downfalls of running a company. Believe me, I understand."
"Do me a favor, though," he asked, "take the dessert with you, and in..." he checked his watch again, "about and hour, make sure you take a look outside."
Chloe frowned, confused by such odd instructions, but she agreed to them. He had already managed to walk her to the car in his hurry, and he had the door open for her. She was about to climb in when something stopped her. She glanced up into those dark eyes for a moment, and aside from guilt, she recognized a terrible burden. She felt her brow cinch slightly at the familiarity of the expression, one she had seen so often on men who were beaten down again and again by circumstance.
She placed her hands on his shoulders and reached up on her toes to kiss his cheek. "Thank you, Bruce. I had a much better time than I was expecting, and before you ask, yes, I was expecting to have a bad time. It's been a while since I went out."
He looked mildly surprised by this revelation, but before she climbed in the car, he managed to stop her a second time, pulling her back around and planting a fire-igniting kiss on her lips. Chloe barely had time to react before he was releasing her and helping her into the car.
"I didn't want you to miss out on that part of the date, too," he said winking at her arrogantly as he backed away, heading in the opposite direction.
"And what makes you think you would have gotten that far?" she called after him.
To which he only glanced back at her, a knowing smile on his face.
Chloe shook her head, closing the car door. "Men," she grumbled.
"No, dear. Bruce," the driver amended her thought, glancing back at her amusedly.
Chloe laughed at this. "Maybe. What was your name again?"
"Alfred Pennyworth, Miss Sullivan. At your service. Shall I take you back to the Four Seasons?"
"Please. And call me Chloe."
"As you wish, Miss Chloe."
An hour later, long after Alfred had taken Chloe home, Chloe sat out on her balcony eating leftover creme brulee in her pajamas.
She had already cast off the cocktail dress and heels, giving her dress a sympathetic look of pity as she hung it back up, as if to say to it, "It's okay, I haven't been taken out for a proper evening in a while either. Maybe he'll give us a second chance later."
She was just beginning to wonder why Bruce had wanted her to look up at the sky right now - all she could see out of the ordinary was the bat signal - when a shooting star bolted across the sky.
She gasped in delight, immediately making a wish.
When she opened her eyes, she was startled to see a second.
And a third.
And still another one.
He'd taken her to the observatory for a meteor shower.
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