By My Side *DISCONTINUED*

Chapter Twelve

We drove around for a little while before the limo came to a halt, but it wasn't in front of Wayne Manor.

We were parked in front of a row of townhouses, all of them painted white. Alfred leg Bruce out of the limo and Bruce walked up to the door, knocking rather roughly. My eyes went wide when I saw Tommy answering the door.

"Brucey, what're you doing here?" He smirked, obviously ready to fight.

"Don't ever disrespect my mother," Bruce hissed in a tone I'd never heard before. Then, in the blink of an eye, Bruce was punching Tommy's lights out. When he was on the ground, blood trickling from his mouth and nose, Bruce backed off.

"So, Master Bruce, what do you fancy for dinner tonight?" Alfred asked, following Bruce back to the limo.

"Pizza sounds good, Alfred. What do you think, Rose?" Bruce was clutching his knuckles. It must've hurt, but I knew it had to happen eventually. Bruce had to stand up for himself.

"It sounds really good. Just as long as it has bacon." I chuckled. I loved bacon. Bruce had seen that from the time when Alfred cooked us breakfast.

"Yeah... This time, leave me some to eat." Bruce said, causing us all to laugh.

Throughout the drive back to Wayne Manor, Bruce was grinning, obviously proud of what he had done. He was still talking about it when we got back and I was trying to nurse his wound.

"It felt good..." He said quietly. "Does that make me a bad person?"

I shook my head, holding an ice pack to his right hand knuckles. "No. Tommy deserved what he got. No one should talk that way about anyone."

I looked up at him and our eyes met. His eyes were sparkling with pride. I had never seen him look like this.

"Thank you for taking care of me, Rose. I could've done it myself. Or I could've asked Alfred to do it,"
Bruce said, placing his hand over mine.

I felt my cheeks heat up. I wanted to hold his hand so badly, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.

"Alfred deserves a little rest, even if he gets paid to do this sort of thing. I want to be a doctor, so it's good practice for me," I said nervously. I couldn't stop thinking about our hands touching like they were.

"Thank you, Rose," Alfred said from one of the chairs. He was reading some article in the newspaper. "He does get to be a bit of a handful."

I chuckled. "He's a cute one though." My heart started pounding against my chest.

Alfred smirked and Bruce's face turned a bright red. Bruce looked down at his shoes, obviously unsure of what to say.

"Did you hear that, Master Bruce? Rose thinks you're cute," Alfred said with a chuckle. "Aren't you going to say something back to her?"

I heard Bruce gulp, then he shifted awkwardly on the couch. "Y-you're really pretty..." He practically whispered.

"Now, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Alfred said, getting up and patting Bruce on the back. "Now if you two will excuse me." With that, he walked out of the room, leaving Bruce and I alone.

There was an awkward silence for a while, but I decided to break it. "Let's dance, Bruce. You have that charity ball coming up. I think you need a little bit of practice."

I stood up and picked his phone up off of the table.
"R-Rose... you really shouldn't do that..." Bruce said, turning red with what I assumed to be embarrassment.

"Come on Brucey, it's okay. It's just a little fun," I said and plugged his phone into the speakers, making sure the volume wasn't up too loud. I pressed 'shuffle' on his phone and Fergalicious by Fergie started playing. I couldn't help but start laughing at the song. Who would've thought that billionaire Bruce Wayne listens to a song like this?

My attention snapped right back to Bruce, who looked like he wanted to crawl under the floorboards.

"You actually listen to this?" I asked, still laughing about the song.

He shrugged, looking down at the floor. "I-I like it. It's catchy..."

I walked back over to him and held my hand out. "Brucey, let's see what kind of moves you have."

He stood up and we walked to the center of the room. He started to place his hands on my shoulders, but I guided them to my hips.

"A-are you sure, Rose? I-I mean..." he swallowed hard, his face turning even redder than before.

"I'm sure, Bruce. Now, like this." I put my arms around Bruce's neck, laying my head on his chest. I could hear his heart pounding.

"Bruce, it's okay. You can relax. You're doing fine," I said as we stepped and swayed to the music.

"I-I am? B-because I almost stepped on your foot... a-and I don't want to hold you too tight," he rambled. Gosh, he was so cute when he rambled.

"Bruce," I giggled. "It's okay. Gee, I've never seen you this nervous before."

When the music stopped, we remained in each other's arms, gazing into each other's eyes. It felt like we were the only two people in the universe. I wanted to kiss him so badly, but my body just wouldn't move.

"Master Bruce, dinner is ready," Alfred called, appearing in the doorway. "I'm sorry, was I interrupting something between you and Rose?"

Bruce's face was flushed. I couldn't tell if it was because of what just happened, or because Alfred had appeared just as we were about to have a moment.

"Thank you, Alfred. You're welcome to dine with us." Bruce walked into the kitchen.

"He really does like you, Rose. Even if he is too shy to admit it," Alfred said, then followed Bruce into the kitchen.