Office Interlude

by Chicago and Darklady

Disclaimers: Characters belong to DC Comics and were taken for a spin without permission, but only because they needed a break. No profit motive, just fun.

Continuity notes: Follows "Well Met on Moonrise" in year 2 of the J'onnverse. "Elena Kostas" made her first appearance in "30/30: Building" by Hotspur (also in year 2 of the JV). References events in "Oversung Hero." Lucius Fox suffered a stroke in GK #23 and canon took so long to decide what happened that we decided he had died, and now we're stuck with the decision.

Canon notes: The "prank" that Beetle and Booster pulled is documented in MM #24.

Rating: PG-13 to R (implied sexual content)

Office Interlude
by Chicago and Darklady

Bruce massaged his forehead with one hand as he studied the spreadsheet that had just come over from the cosmetics division. Diversification had been a good plan, but Bruce did not have Lucius' patience for the fickle fashion markets. He could see their winter line was tanking, and divesting seemed like the best option.

He scowled at the figures. Could the industry support that many jobseekers if a new investor could not be found?

A buzz came from the phone on his desk, and he swung his chair around to depress the intercom button. "Yeah."

"Mr. Wayne," Maggie's voice sounded vaguely put upon, "I have an Elena Kostas here, from Urban Homebuilders. She is insisting that you will want to see her."

"Isn't that that not-for-profit the Wayne Foundation put some dollars into a couple months back?" Bruce asked unnecessarily, his mind already flitting back to the bed of the new pick up truck he and Elena had 'christened.'

"Yes it is," Maggie confirmed. "Shall I ask her to speak to Angela Fitzmeyer?"

"No, no, go ahead and send her in," Bruce decided. "I'll talk to her."

"Yes, Mr Wayne." If Maggie felt disapproval, her tone gave no sign.

A moment later, the office door swung open to admit the slender, jean-clad form of Elena Kostas. She was carrying a brown paper grocery bag on her hip and her short hair was disheveled. "Hello again, Mr. Wayne," she greeted, her green eyes dancing.

"Ms. Kostas," Bruce replied, stretching out his hand to accept her firm handshake. "What brings you here?"

Elena set down her grocery bag on a corner of Bruce's desk and rummaged in it. "I heard about your incident 'bout a week ago, with the mugger? Lucky that kid was around, eh?"

Bruce nodded, watching as Elena pulled two packages of Chocos from her bag. "Yes. Stephanie's quite a hero."

Elena raised her eyebrow as she produced a quart of milk and a couple of plastic cups. "Stephanie. Sounds more like the cheerleader type. Guess it takes all kinds."

"Indeed. Even construction foremen who run not-for-profits and bring cookies and milk to
billionaires."

"We're the best type," Elena threw back saucily. "Besides, who says this is for you?" She produced a plate from her bag and opened one of the packages of Chocos.

Bruce reached out to catch her wrist. "You just want to eat cookies in my office?"

Elena slipped free of his grasp and reached back into her grocery bag, producing a paperback. "And read. At least until you get that report done that's nagging in the back of your mind."

Bruce sighed and took one of the cookies Elena was arranging on her plate. "You're right," he allowed. "No fair snooping though."

Elena gave him a little smile and slipped around his desk to settle for a moment in his lap. She kissed the tip of his nose and took the cookie from his hand. "It's not snooping when you're blaring your annoyance at it." She twisted the halves of the cookie, opening it to reveal the white cream in the middle. She trailed her tongue over one cookie half, collecting the cream and grinning at Bruce.

Bruce caught at her hand and winced a little as the motion pulled at his injured shoulder. Elena's impish expression shifted to one of concern.

"Tsk. Bruce, don't aggravate it." She lifted her hand to feed him half the Choco, and he accepted the chocolate cookie into his mouth. As he chewed, Elena's hand traced over his brow, soothing away the threatening headache. He felt her cup his neck and send trailing tendrils down to massage the cut across his back, suffusing the injury with warmth and loosening the tightness that had developed in his muscles.

"You've come to babysit me?" he asked with a hint of accusation.

Elena pulled back with a scowl on her face. "Not hardly. Hit you up for money, maybe. Crash out on that super comfy chair you've got over by the media bank, maybe. Spend a rare afternoon hour of our 'break' with my lover, maybe."

Bruce winced again, this time at Elena's tone. "I'm sorry," he said softly, dropping his gaze.

He felt Elena's fingers curl under his chin, and he raised his eyes. Elena was looking at him tenderly, her green eyes studying his contrite expression. "Bruce, I never know what to do with you," she despaired. She leaned in to kiss him, and he could not help but deepen the kiss, capturing her mouth and tongue.

When she finally pulled free he lifted a finger to his lips. "That works," he remarked.

Elena chuckled and jumped off his lap. "Finish your report." She plucked one cookie off her plate and set it in the middle of the blotter on his desk. "You can have this when you're done."

"Gee, thanks," Bruce replied as Elena picked up the plate of cookies and her paperback and headed toward the chair she had mentioned earlier.

"Don't mention it," she shot back, and Bruce could only shake his head.

**************

Bruce leaned back at his desk, looking thoughtfully at the cookie sandwiched between his fingers. "You know," he began, turning the cookie on edge to appreciate it from a new angle, "we've always figured it was the chocolate, but maybe it's the trans-fats."

Elena looked up from her lazy sprawl across the arms and seat of the office's overstuffed chair, her mouth full of chocolate cookie and cream filling. She turned her book over and sat up, barely finishing her mouthful before speaking. "What?"

Bruce glanced at her, then returned his attention to the cookie, a hint of a smile quirking one corner of his mouth. "Why you crave Chocos specifically. You saw that crazy lawsuit out in California, right?"

Elena grimaced. "Stupid, mother-f-" she caught herself at a look from Bruce. "Um, yeah," she agreed.

Bruce chuckled and rose to his feet, crossing to the plate on the end table beside Elena's chair. He added his cookie back to the diminished stack, then leaned down to kiss Elena's forehead. "You do realize part of the charm of this form is a certain lack of refinement," he pointed out.

Quicker than thought, Bruce found himself pulled down awkwardly on top of Elena by his tie. His lips were forced apart by a chocolate-tasting tongue that roughly claimed the interior of Bruce's mouth before the hold on his tie loosened and Bruce was given an opportunity to shift to a more comfortable position. He wiped at the corners of his mouth. "Yeah," he said. "Like that."

A hand at his zipper prompted an anxious look toward the office door, but a fast groping hand prevented him from his impulse to go and lock it. "Like this?" Elena asked mischievously.

Bruce could only moan in agreement.

********

"Seriously, about this... Choco dependence..."

Elena looked up, her pink tongue licking a suspicious whiteness from the corner of her mouth. "Are you sure it's not just the ... creamy filling?"

"J...Elena!"

"Well, *you're* just as tasty... and I don't think *you* were bubbled though hydrogen." One raised
eyebrow suggested that J'onn was reviewing their extensive history of more-then-exotic adventures. "At any rate - not recently."

"J'onn." Bruce made the extra effort to keep the amused spark out of the Batman glare. "I *do* remember what happened when Blue Beetle and Booster Gold pulled their little... prank."

"Oh." Elena's complexion tinged green - and it wasn't because J'onn's form was slipping. "That was..."

"Caught on tape."

"But I'm... better now." Elena shifted back in her chair. "I have a handle on it. I mean - *sure* I like Chocos, but that doesn't mean that... Well, you know that..."

"J'onn." Bruce leaned forward, taking one feminine hand. "What I know is that, if I was hearing that from once of my executives? They'd be headed for rehab."

"I can't..."

"I know that too." Bruce's smile was kind, but serious. "This things with Chocos isn't some
addiction. Not in the Terran sense. It's a real need - like I need water or air." Standing, he walked over to rest his hands on Elena's shoulders. "But I also know that - whatever we call it - if that Choco supply was to be... threatened? Or made ineffective?"

J'onn slumped. "It wouldn't be good."

"It would be a disaster. Not only for you." Bruce leaned down, kissing the tangled curls to soften his words. "I had that down as one of my protocols until I calculated what..." Bruce slid his hands over her shoulders, trying to use physical comfort to balance the harsh words. "You're a very powerful and potentially dangerous creature, my love."

"So you...?"

"So I... so *we*... will counter this problem before it even occurs."

Wide eyes looked up. "By?"

"To start with? Lets find out exactly what our friends at Na-Choc-Co are planning."

End???