Better Together

three.

Charlotte woke up before her alarm and gently untangled herself from Bruce’s grip. She had already been in bed and asleep by the time he had gotten out of the tub. The brunette tucked her hair behind her ears and tip toed into the large closet she and Bruce shared. She threw on one of her favorite cream sweater dresses and grabbed a leather jacket and boots before dipping out of the room. Charlotte sat at the base of the grand staircase, struggling to get her boots on, when she heard Alfred enter the room.

“You’re headed out awfully early, Miss Charlotte.” Alfred placed a go-cup of freshly brewed coffee beside Charlotte’s purse and knelt before her to help with her tall boots, “It’s usually Master Bruce that’s sneaking out of here at odd times.”

Charlotte thanked Alfred as he gracefully pulled the boots up her legs, ignoring his mention of Bruce’s late night activities “I’ve got a lot of stuff to get done before my meeting with a new client this afternoon.”

Alfred nodded and took note of the large weekend bag Charlotte had brought downstairs with her. “I’ll make a call to the Hilton and inform them of your arrival.”

“How did you know?” Charlotte stood from the steps and collected her belongings.

“It’s my job to know these things, Miss Charlotte.” He walked her to the door and handed her the keys to her Jeep, “The Rubicon is already outside, warmed up and waiting.”

Charlotte sighed and pulled Alfred into hug, “I don’t know what I would do without you.”

Alfred merely hugged her back before opening the front door. He watched as Charlotte unlocked her car, tossed her bag into the passenger seat, and drove off. The butler shut the door and turned to return to the kitchen when something shiny caught his eye. He grabbed the silver key to the Manor that Charlotte had managed to remove from her key ring and stuffed it in his pocket.

As Charlotte drove off the Manor’s grounds, she turned on the radio in the hopes of finding something to keep her mind off Bruce as she made the drive into the city center. Having made the drive in an out of the city so frequently over the past three years, Charlotte didn’t have to put much thought into where she was going. The openness of the city limits soon turned to the concrete jungle. Before she knew it, Charlotte was getting out of her car and pulling her bag out. She tossed her keys to the valet and headed inside.

“Miss Murphy! We’re excited to have you stay with us this evening. Will you be needing one or two room keys?” The concierge asked as Charlotte stood at the counter.

“Just one please.”

Charlotte dropped her bag to the floor and made a beeline right for the plush king size bed as soon as she got into her room. She set an alarm on her phone and quickly drifted off to sleep. Unsurprising to the artist, sleeping alone left her far better rested than sleeping beside someone with secrets. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and turned off her alarm before turning her head to look at her bag sitting on the floor. Was it worth it to unpack? How long was she really planning on staying in the hotel?

Her phone began buzzing in her hand; the unpacking could wait, “Hello?”

“Charlie, it’s Grace.” Of course Bruce’s assistant would be calling her, “Kevin hasn’t shown up yet, but I just wanted to pass along the message that your morning meeting has been pushed back a half hour.”

Charlotte sighed, “Alright… thanks, Grace. I’m actually already in the city so I’ll be in the office soon. Can you do me a favor and start pulling some new resumes for personal assistants?”

“Aww, come on Charlie! Kevin is so nice to look at though.” Grace groaned into the phone as she stared off at the empty desk across from hers.

The brunette cradled her phone between her ear and her shoulder as she stood from the bed and began collecting her things to leave, “If you want to keep Kevin, you’ll have to also be responsible for him.”

Grace shook her head, “On second thought, it might do us some good to get a new face in the office.”

“Goodbye Grace.”

Charlotte laughed and ended the call, tossing her cell phone into her purse. She walked into the bathroom to fix her bedhead and throw on some mascara before grabbing her purse and heading out. The brunette checked her phone for messages as she walked the two blocks to Wayne Enterprises half expecting to see something Bruce. She couldn’t help but frown slightly when all she saw was a message from her personal assistant giving her some stupid excuse for why he was late.

Arriving at the office by 8:30, Charlotte still had a good hour to prepare herself for her client meeting. She walked past the assistant desks, taking a mental note of the bag of art supplies sitting on his desk which Kevin claimed he was out returning thus making him come in later this morning. The brunette shrugged off her leather jacket and hung up in her closet before dropping her purse on the desk and taking a seat. She took a half hour to respond to e-mails her assistant had ignored and flagged the e-mail of resumes Grace sent over, reminding herself to pour a glass of wine and scroll through them at some point over the weekend.

Kevin finally fumbled into Charlotte’s office around 9 with her usual coffee. He opened his mouth to speak only to find his boss staring back with her hand up to silence him. “I’m not in the mood, Kev. I need you to go into conference room seven and set up for a new client meeting. Just bring the coffee with you and leave it with my stuff in there. Once you finish that, I need you to actually return the bag of supplies sitting on your desk; I know how much it cost to the penny so don’t try and pull anything.”

The young man tightened his jaw before turning on his heel and leaving the room without so much as a word. Charlotte could practically hear nosey Grace’s jaw drop as Kevin walked past her desk. It was rare for Charlotte to use such a stern tone with someone. This day in particular, however, it felt necessary. Charlotte simply was not in the mood after the evening she had to put up with anyone giving her a problem.

By 9:15, Charlotte left her office and made her way down to her favorite conference room. The large windows had the best view in the city- the Gotham Botanical Garden. She leaned against the table, enjoying the view with her coffee when she heard a soft knock on the door. Charlotte sighed, most people who worked near conference room seven knew she liked to be alone until her clients arrived.

She heard Bruce’s baritone laugh as he walked up beside her, “Somehow I always know where to find you, even in a 40 story building.”

Charlotte looked over to Bruce. The large bags under his eyes proved that he had slept just as little as she did, “What do you need, Bruce?” She paused for a moment to take a sip of coffee, “I have a new client showing up about a total corporate rebranding project. You know I-”

“I’m ready to talk, just tell me when and where. I’ll be there.” Bruce cut Charlotte off and stood before her, searching her face for a reaction.

Charlotte’s heart soared but kept up her poker face and refused to react, “Tonight,” was all she said.

Bruce sighed, knowing his response was going to cause a large rift, “Expect for tonight.”

Before Charlotte had a chance to even show an ounce of anger or disappointment, there was a knock on the conference room door. “Charlotte, your 9:30 appointment is here for you.”