until i found you

CHAPTER ONE: "just stay"

warnings: kissing, cussing, guns, arguing?

addie put a stray hair behind her ear as she walked through the halls of her empty home. when her father told her that her former boyfriend would be coming home for a bit she decided to come home from work early to see him. bruce wayne, her childhood best friend and the love of her life. they grew up under the same roof, her father being alfred the wayne's longtime assistant. they started dating at the age of 16 but they broke up when bruce left for princeton two years later.

"hey dad, do you know when bruce will be here?" addie asked as she saw her father at the end of the long hallway.

"soon dear, within the hour." he responded as he wiped dust off of an empty counter. addie's anxiety and insecurity rose as she looked at herself in the cracked mirror at the end of the hall. she ran her hands through her freshly curled hair and ran her hands over her new dress.

"do i look dumb? like i'm putting in too much effort?" she questioned as she fixed her dress.

"of course not, you look lovely. he'll be glad to see you." alfred responded as he placed a kiss to his daughters cheek. she smiled in response. the doorbell rung causing addies breath to catch in the back of her throat. alfred quickly walked down the hall to get bruce who'd just arrived. out of pure fear addie ran into her bedroom practically slamming the door behind her.

she cursed to herself as she cringed at the loud sound her door made. she could hear the sounds of bruce and alfred's voices as they made their way up the stairs and into the hall.

"hey adds, you in there?" bruce questioned as he knocked on her bedroom door. she opened the door in response, he was wearing a sweater with a blue collar shirt beneath it. he didn't look too different since the last time she saw him, just shy of a year before. his hair was shorter than she remembered, he must've gotten it cut while he was away. she smiled at him and pulled him into the hug. he held her tight as they embraced eachother.

"how've you been? how's school?" addie asked as she pulled away.

"good, but i'm not going back," he responded as he sat his luggage on the ground beside him.

"why?"

"they don't want me there anymore, but i'm glad that i decided to visit,"

"so am i. is there anything i could do to stop you from going to the hearing?" she asked as she looked at him with concern.

"someone at this proceeding should stand for my parents," he said as he fidgeted with his fingers.

"brucie it's just going to be more stress for yourself, you-"

"you shouldn't be worrying about me, i'm fine, enough about me. how are you?" bruce asked, annunciating the word "you".

"i'm fine, officer gordon offered me a job at the office as an assistant. where i basically follow cops around and get them whatever they need. it's been going good so far, i really like gordon,"

"he's great, i'm glad you've found something here addie i really am,"

"you could find something here too. just stay," addie pleaded as she inched closer to bruce, gently placing her arms around his hips. he slowly moved his head closer to hers, their foreheads resting on one another.

"we're gonna be late to the hearing," bruce announced as he pulled away. addie just nodded, a feeling a little bit embarrassed at her attempts to rekindle things with her former boyfriend.

addie watched as the killer of bruce's parents stood up, she felt bruce tense from beside her. she placed her hand on his thigh to soothe him, he placed his hand on top of hers. she didn't pay any attention to the words that came out of Chill's mouth, the only thing that she felt was anger.

"I gather there is a member of the Wayne family here today. Has he got anything to say?" The judge announced as he looked at Bruce. He cleared his throat and stood up. Addie watched as everyone in the room stared holes into Bruce's head. He just simply walked away, Addie was quick to follow behind him. He ran out of the main area of the building and around the corner.

"hey! wait a sec-"

"addie just go, please i need you to go!" he pleaded, she could hear the emotion that he was trying to hide in his voice.

"i'll be in the-" she was interrupted by hundreds of voices, questions being asked. she watched as reporters and policemen flood the room. bruce slowly walked toward the killer, several of the reporters calling our names. a blonde woman ran up to the man,

"joe! hey joe! falcon says hi." the gunshot rang throughout the room as all of the policemen pushed her onto the ground. addie looked away, unable to watch the scene. she placed her hand on bruce's shoulder.

"we should leave, we don't need to see this,"

"i do." bruce said coldly as he didn't take his eyes off of the dying man on the floor less than 20 feet away from him. tears flooded addie's eyes as she watched the man twitch and scream on the ground, the bullet didn't kill him yet.

"Falcone paid the judge off, just to get Chill out in the open," addie scoffed as she drove down the busy streets of Gotham.

"maybe i should be thanking them, my parents deserved justice,"

"but that's not justice, that's revenge and that's not the same. that's why we have an impartial system," addie responded, trying to state her point without coming off as argumentative.

"your systems broken," bruce responded. that set off something inside of addie, causing her to swerve off of the main road and down into an alley.

"falcone is making more joe chills, someone else's parents are getting shot everyday. thanking falcone would be stupid, because he's destroying everything that your parents stood for, now you wanna thank him for that? here you go," she announced as she stopped at an old bar. that's the bar where falcone has been staying, she went on to explain that no one will ever touch him. because he keeps the bad people rich and the good people scared.

"i'm not one of your good people addie,"

"what're you talking about?" addie asked as she looked at bruce, worry etched in her features.

"all these years i wanted to kill him. now i cant," he said as he pulled a gun out from his sleeve. addie's breath caught in the back of her throat, she felt sick. she looked at the gun, she noticed the sweat that was dripping down it from bruce's anxiety. she was furious, how could he become this person? without thinking she grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and punched him square in the nose. he groaned as he grabbed his nose, blood slowly pouring out from it.

"get the hell out of my car," addie cursed as she shoved him into the car door. he looked at her with no emotion whatsoever. he got out of the car and slammed the door behind him. addie watched as he walked away from the car and out of sight. she held her face in her hands as she sobbed, cursing herself for hitting him, for not understanding, for not being more patient.