They sat in the waiting room of the Wayne Foundation's office.
It was on the twenty eighth floor of the Wayne Enterprises building in downtown Gotham.
They were the only two in the large room, besides the receptionist, who was filing her nails, and flipping through the Gotham Gazette.
Anya's leg bounced nervously, Bruce eyed it, an eyebrow raised.
"I can't get it to stop." She whispered.
Bruce stretched his hand out, placing it on the woman's knee.
It stopped.
Anya looked down at the man's hand, but otherwise, did not try to move out from under it, which Bruce took as a personal win.
Since their encounter a week and a half before, Bruce had made it his personal mission to display his interest without having to outright say it.
Granted, she had been kissing the Batman, not really him, but the spark: it couldn't be faked.
The feeling, deep in his stomach, he knew she had to have felt it too.
And she'd stopped the kiss.
Not because she didn't like it, but because she felt it was betraying someone else.
He was sure he was that person. He had to be.
Even if he wasn't, this was the end of a long road.
They were finally going to present their idea, and when it got approval, he was sure Anya would return to her usual work, and Dr. Shorts would help head the program.
Who knew if he'd ever see her again in this capacity?
He had to tell her.
He opened his mouth, then closed it.
Just not now.
The phone at the receptionists' table rang, and Anya startled.
Bruce moved his hand from its position.
The receptionist answered, listened, then looked up at the two.
"They're ready to see you now."
***
It was a boardroom much like the ones in the movies.
A large rectangular table with men and women impeccably dressed sitting in large black, leather chairs. The wall furthest from the door was made of a series of windowpanes.
The head of the table was empty. Anya made her way over, but Bruce did not follow.
He was being bombarded by handshakes.
"Mr. Wayne, we were hoping you'd attend one of these meeting eventually."
"Mr. Wayne, my god, do you look like your mother."
"Mr. Wayne. I'm Carl Adler, owner of the Gazette, my daughter, a prima ballerina for the Gotham Ballet Company would love to meet you."
Bruce nodded, mumbling his thanks.
Finally, he sped over to Anya.
They'd given the receptionist their PowerPoint ahead of time. Anya reached into her tote bag and pulled out several copies of the reports they'd drawn up.
Bruce distributed them to half the table receiving many "Thank you's" while Anya, who distributed to the other half, received silence.
The attitude was to be expected.
Bruce Wayne was Gotham's shining star, their prince, and Anya was, well, Anya.
"Shall we begin?" Bruce asked.
"Of course," one of the men, Mr. Adler said. "We'd love to know what project finally caught Mr. Wayne's interest."
Anya didn't miss the man's once over. It was clear by project he meant woman.
She had chosen to wear what she considered her best "professional" outfit: a burgundy button up top with sleeves tucked into a black skirt ending just centimeters above the knee.
It was something you could pull off of any department store in Gotham, and Mr. Adler seemed well aware of this. She nearly expected his nose to wrinkle in disgust.
"Mr. Wayne and I are very thankful-" Anya began.
"Who are you again?" Mr. Adler asked, interrupting.
Anya blinked. "I'm Dr. Anya Flores, a surgery resident at Gotham General."
"And you're a part of this how?" There was a smile on the man's face, but his words were meant to insult, to call into question whether she was fit to even be presenting in front of the board.
Anya opened her mouth to speak, but Bruce beat her to it.
"Dr. Flores is the person who made this idea possible. She was the top of her class at Gotham University's School of Medicine, and she's now one of the brightest surgery residences Gotham has ever seen."
"Impressive." Mr. Adler responded flatly. "Go on, Ms. Flores."
"Doctor," Anya corrected before continuing with her part of the presentation.
***
"Any questions?"
Their faces had been unreadable. Anya wasn't sure who liked the idea and who didn't.
"Where would these mobile clinics even go?" one woman asked.
"Excellent question. We've talked to several schools in the areas, and they have agreed that the clinics can be on their property. It'll be excellent as bus pickups are quite plentiful around the schools, so parents can pick up their children, and get a checkup at the same time. On days when they're not needed, Gotham General has an area they're willing to designate for them." Anya replied.
"Mr. Wayne," Mr. Adler sighed. He took off his glasses, looked down at them, then put them back on. "Are you aware that I am the owner of Gotham Family Clinic?"
"I was not." Bruce responded.
"Joe over there, he's the owner of Gotham Indigo Insurance and Gotham Medical Associates. Loretta, she's got her hand in an insurance company or two." He shrugged. "You do see how free clinics are damaging to us. Don't you, Mr. Wayne?"
"It's not like we'd be doing surgery in the clinics," Anya replied, incredulous. "These clinics would offer free mammograms, free health screenings, x-rays, for those in Gotham who can't afford it."
Mr. Adler shrugged. "My clinics offer the same, and so does Joe's. If money's an issue, I think Loretta's insurance rates are pretty decent."
"With all due respect, medical debt in Gotham is the highest it has ever been following the tragedy of last year's floods. So many people have refused treatment for their long-term injuries because of cost. To expect people to pay for medical issues they sustained from a terroristic attack on this city, is ludicrous. And frankly, your opinion on rates doesn't apply to a hard-working Gotham citizen."
Mr. Adler didn't reply. He looked at Bruce. "Thank you, Mr. Wayne. That was a very insightful presentation. Let us deliberate for a moment, and then we'll call you back in."
***
"Mr. Wayne, they'll see you again." They stood. "Not you, Ms. Flores. Just Mr. Wayne."
Anya slumped back in her chair. There was a lump in her throat.
Bruce was gone for what seemed like ages.
When he came out his face was grim.
Anya stood, face questioning, and Bruce shook his head.
***
"It's all my fault." Anya said quietly when the elevators shut. "I insulted him."
"It's not your fault," Bruce sighed. He looked towards Anya beside him. "We had 8 no's and 6 yes's. Wouldn't have mattered if he voted yes anyway."
"I should have been nicer. It probably threw them off."
"You don't owe those people niceness, Anya. You spoke completely fine," Bruce assured her. "It has nothing to do with you. You were great."
They both looked ahead.
"What do we do now?" Anya asked, her voice was heavy with emotion and probably unshed tears.
Bruce shrugged. "Forget the foundation, I'll fund it."
Anya turned to look at him. "You can do that?"
It seemed like such an obvious solution.
Bruce shrugged. "I don't see why not. It's my money, right? Going through the foundation would just be more official, but I've donated to tons of stuff, why not this?"
"You would do that-?" She trailed off. She hoped the man wouldn't notice the open-endedness of her question.
For me, she'd almost asked.
He answered the unspoken part of the question:
"Anything."
A moment passed, and he was sure if anyone else had been in the elevator with them, they could have heard a pin drop or perhaps his too fast heartbeat.
It was sudden, much as their other kiss.
One moment they were looking at each other, the next, Anya moved forward, grabbing the collar of his suit jacket. He wrapped his hands around her back, and lowered his head, meeting her lips with his own.
Somehow, not having the mask on made the kiss all the sweeter.
They complemented each other greatly. Every move was countered.
Bruce attempted to bring their bodies closer, as if that were even humanly possible.
It didn't stop him from trying.
When the elevator dinged, signaling they'd reached the lobby, they jumped apart.
Bruce attempted to straighten his jacket, and Anya straightened her blouse as the elevator doors opened.
Anya cleared her throat, and they exited the elevator as if nothing had happened, but an obvious pep in their steps suggested something had.
____________________________________________
Author's Note: Sorry I haven't uploaded in a week. I was having finals. I do have to warn y'all that SMUT is coming. I'm not sure if y'all are comfortable with that topic, so what I've decided to do is make one chapter purely smut, and then if you don't want to read it, you can obviously skip to the next. I'll put a warning before the chapter, so those of you not interested know not to read it, and I'll include any important plot elements in the next chapter, so you're not lost. Comment thoughts, heart this chapter, and all that. Also: Thanks for 10k reads! That's super cool. - C