Fan Fiction ❯ Passion ❯ The Hours After ( Chapter 3 )

A/N: I do not own Batman Beyond, nor any of its characters. I am not profiting from this story. Original characters are all mine.

Do not read this story if you are not at least 18 years of age, please.

Lora watched Terry's jet take to the sky and then disappear into the night. She could just barely see the outline of the vehicle as it took off, and she thought it might have been shaped like a bat. Evidently, her new lover had a thing for flying rodents. Her body was tingling from the after effects of their lovemaking, and she was also slightly sore. But it had been years since she'd had sex, so that wasn't really surprising. She leisurely stretched and then made her way to the kitchen for a late snack. Or an early breakfast, she mused, realizing it had to be close to five in the morning.

As she was pulling a container of leftovers out of the fridge, a deep male voice echoed out of the darkness. "Well, I hope it was worth it."

Lora paused, not surprised by the new man's presence. She looked up as he moved into the light, his enormous body casting a long shadow before him. Dane was built like a bear, and had the temper of one as well. He was her shadow, with her at all times, and he had been since she was just a little girl. Her father had hired the man to be her bodyguard when she was barely ten years old, to protect her from kidnap attempts. It was his job to look out for her welfare, and Dane took his duties very seriously.

Lora sighed, sensing his irritation with her. She didn't really want to discuss the matter with him, but she understood his current state of annoyance. "It was, Dane. He was wonderful."

The big man looked at her sharply, his gaze intent. "You said was. I take it that means there won't be any more, er, meetings with him?"

Lora frowned, chewing thoughtfully on a piece of cheese. Dane waited with patience, but there was a tension in him that warned it'd be best if she told him the truth. And she knew she should, anyway, because then he'd be able to decide on the best course of action for protecting her if it became necessary.

"No, it means he was wonderful tonight," she reluctantly admitted. Somehow, discussing Terry with him seemed wrong, when she'd never before hesitated to share anything with Dane.

Dane snorted at that, his suspicions confirmed. He had been sleeping when Lora went out for her late swim, but the sound of the jet crashing had woken him up. When he'd looked outside and seen the costumed stranger, his first thought was the man was an assassin. He'd been aiming at the man with his assault rifle when Lora had suddenly started fondling the stranger. Realizing things were not what they seemed, he'd moved away from the window and turned on his t.v. As soon as he heard the stranger's jet take off, he'd gone to find Lora. They had lived together for so long, he'd known where she'd be. In the kitchen. She always ate after she did her laps in the pool, a form of reward for doing her exercise, he supposed. He'd been pretty certain she'd end up having sex with the guy, from the way she'd thrown herself at him. It was something he hadn't seen her do in years. But it was only a hunch. She'd just confirmed it as fact.

"That was fast," he grumbled, his voice tinged with disbelief and amusement.

Lora smiled at him wryly. She knew perfectly well he wasn't referring to the length of time she'd spent making love to Terry, but rather to how quickly she'd gone to bed with him. Mere minutes after meeting him. It was completely out of character for her. Lora prided herself on her physical control. But there was just something about that masked man that was irresistible. Or perhaps she was just lonelier then she'd realized, and had been starved for physical intimacy. With anyone. At the moment, she really couldn't say. She'd have a better idea after Thursday.

She gave a slight shrug and replied, "Well, it just felt right, Dane. I couldn't help myself."

He sighed for an answer. The two sat in companionable silence for a minute before the big man ran a hand through his hair and said, "You know he could be killed."

Lora considered his words, and knew them to be true. Terry was exposing himself to grave danger by becoming her lover, and she supposed she'd have to tell him about the drawbacks to engaging in a relationship of any kind with her. She'd been overwhelmed with passion tonight, unable to think clearly. The only thing she'd warned him about was that they'd be committing adultery. She hadn't wanted to waste time going into a lengthy description of her husband's violent rages and jealous tendencies. They were separated, and had been for about five years. They were never going to reconcile. Hell, they'd never even been in love to begin with! At least not the kind of love that was real, or sane, at the very least. It had been a long time since she'd moved out, and she wasn't going to remain celibate for the rest of her life so that she wouldn't be participating in adultery. Maximus was just going to have to accept that once and for all, since he was too stubborn to give her a divorce.

Dane took her silence as a denial of the truth, and he gently went on. "You know Max won't like this. And I'm sure he's having the place watched. He may already know about the guy even as we speak. You might want to reconsider seeing this guy again. I know Max has always been pretty lenient with you, but it seems to me he's grown less patient over the years. Remember what he did to Jason?" Dane asked, his voice dark with memory.

Of course Lora remembered what had happened to Jason Whiting. It had been three years ago. Lora had been separated from Maximus for two years, and the loneliness of her solitary existence had started getting to her. At first, her husband had refused to even let her leave Savannah, where he lived. She'd gotten her own house, but it was always under surveillance, either by Maximus' own men, or the various enemies of her husband. She'd met Jason while she was at a bookstore, and the two had immediately hit it off. Jason was intelligent, an ambitious law student, and gorgeous. He had a sense of humor and a gentle soul, and Lora was drawn to him.

It hadn't taken long for the two to become involved in a heated affair. Lora had been married to Maximus when she was thirteen, illegal in most countries, but possible because Maximus Carlton owned one of the most powerful companies in the world. She'd never known what love was. Her husband hadn't had much time for her. In fact, he was rarely home, always away on one business trip or another. When he did take time to stop home, he was incredibly kind to her, often giving her exotic gifts, but her affections could not be bought. Ironically, he was capable of great kindness and possessed a ready sense of humor, though he displayed it to no one besides Lora, he was the perfect gentleman with his little wife. Over time, she had grown fond of him, but he was still a virtual stranger to her. If they had had more time to develop a relationship, things might have been different, but everything changed when she was 18.

Maximus took a sexual interest in her then, and proceeded to rape her every night. She considered it rape because she'd never once been willing, and he'd never once made the effort to win her affections. He assumed it was his right as her husband, but because he had never really won her heart, she resented his attentions. She knew he loved her, and he tried to be gentle with her. He was, in fact, a consummate lover who went to any length to please her, but Lora's feelings for him were ambivalent at the very best of times, and often he had to use force to get her in his bed. So even though he was considerate and ardent in bed, it mattered little to her since she was being forced. She'd endured his disgusting touch for four years, before she'd decided she'd rather die then remain with him. She'd filed for a divorce, which had been denied, but she'd won a grant of separation.

The first two years after the separation was obtained, Lora lived in solitude. She'd been ill used by her husband, and had disgust for men in general, except for Dane, of course. Her loyal bodyguard had proven himself and earned her trust, taking dozens of beatings over the years when he came between Maximus and Lora. Max never did it personally, of course. He always hired thugs to beat Dane within an inch of his life. But it was because of Dane's steadfast loyalty that Lora didn't lose faith in men completely. She knew a few good ones existed, but didn't want to waste the time searching for one. Especially when the idea of being touched by a man filled her with shame and nausea.

Jason had changed all that. He'd shown her how wonderful the act of sex could be. He was her first love, her only love. And Maximus had been insanely jealous of him. Her husband had never once approached Lora on the matter. Instead, he'd simply hired a hit man and had Jason captured. Lora had been dragged to Maximus' house, and when she'd arrived, it was to see her lover on his knees before her husband. Maximus had beaten Jason until the younger men fell unconscious from the pain and blood loss. And then he'd had a man shake Jason awake, while another man grabbed Lora and dragged her to her lover's side. He had placed the barrel of a gun to Jason's temple. Then the man had placed her hand onto the hilt of his gun and, holding his hand over hers, had forced her to pull the trigger. She'd shot her own lover in the head, and Jason had been awake to see her do it.

Lora was taken home after that, and there she found Dane, once more beaten to within an inch of his life. After his injuries were treated, Lora had retreated into a state of isolation. She'd vowed to never love another man again. She was forever scarred by what she'd been forced to do to Jason. The memory of it haunted her to the present day. She'd moved out of Savannah without her husband's consent, to a nice little town in California called Rosalla. She'd lived there in relative peace until a few weeks ago, when her husband had managed to track her down. So now here she was in Gotham City. It was completely different from her previous homes, far darker. But she had decided that she was making a stand in the strange city. Her own father had died recently, and since Lora was the sole heir to his advertising empire, she'd become independently wealthy. Plus, with the power and contacts she'd gained, she was now almost equal to her pathetic excuse of a husband. She'd bought the largest house she could find, Donovan Hall, and moved in immediately. She wasn't going to hide from Maximus anymore. She was tired of hiding. He was getting increasingly reckless where she was concerned, paying more attention to pursuing her rather then running his companies, and his power was beginning to lessen as the younger sharks of his industry started tearing away at his authority, hungry for power of their own.

"I remember," Lora whispered, her eyes stark. "But somehow I think Terry is a lot more capable of protecting himself then Jason was. And I refuse to let Maximus control my life anymore, Dane. I'm sick of it. Frankly, I don't care what the bastard finds out. I'm not a helpless little girl anymore. I have as much power as he does now, if not more. And he knows it."

"Yes," Dane agreed, but his eyes were worried. "And he'll be even less likely to let you get away from him, now that your value has increased."

Lora frowned at him and then sighed. She hadn't thought of that. "I think I've had enough of this for tonight," she murmured, suddenly wanting nothing more then to escape to the peaceful refuge of sleep.

Dane nodded once, and Lora put away her leftovers before returning to her room. The smell of sex lingered in the air, and Terry's scent was scattered across her bed sheets. It was oddly comforting to have a reminder of him there. Lora smiled to herself as she casually tossed her robe aside and slid into bed. She was asleep within moments.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~

Terry landed the jet in the interior of the Bat Cave. To his immense relief, Bruce was nowhere in sight. He was glad there would be no lectures, he was in a good mood and he didn't want it ruined. He changed out of his suit, a lopsided grin on his face as he noted a faint stain on the front. Hopefully Bruce wouldn't figure out what it was. He put on his street clothes and then got into his Mercedes. On the drive home, he took the scenic route which, incidentally, happened to go right past the gated driveway to Donovan Hall. He glanced at the house as he drove by, wondering what Lora was doing right now. She was most likely sleeping. His sharp gaze instinctively searched the area, but no new cars had arrived. She'd evidently been telling the truth. No one else had shown up to take his place. His mood lightened even more.

The drive to his apartment was uneventful. As he undressed for bed, he looked down and saw the faint outline of bite marks around his nipple. He smiled to himself, remembering the feel of her body against his, and almost instantly his body reacted, a truly impressive erection springing forth. He sighed, bemused by his body's response to just the memory of her. There was no way in hell he could wait until Thursday to see her. He dropped onto his bed and sprawled out, his hands behind his head as he stared at the ceiling in silent contemplation.

He hardly knew Lora, but she seemed to be pretty independent, from what he'd seen so far. He instinctively knew she wouldn't like it if he showed up unannounced, after making arrangements to see her on Thursday. But then again, she'd also seen him as Batman. He drove by her house everyday as plain old Terry. He could always stop by and introduce himself…

He paused, wondering if perhaps he was flirting with the edge of obsession. It hadn't even been half a day, and he was already thinking of ways to run into her again. But if he was honest with himself, he knew it wasn't that surprising. The sex they'd shared had been phenomenal, and not because it had been awhile since he'd indulged in it. He'd had sex in the past, on numerous occasions and it had never been half as good as tonight. He'd dance like a monkey and bark like a dog if that would get him into her pants again. Besides, her affair with Batman couldn't last. She might be new to Gotham, but she'd eventually know who Batman was. And his enemies would eventually figure out she was connected to Batman, and therefore a useful hostage for their mad schemes. No, he needed to end his affair with her as Batman as quickly as possible. But that didn't mean he couldn't continue to be with her as Terry.

He went over a few ideas in his head, discarded them all, and then decided to just go see her in the morning. He couldn't plan something like this out, because things with women were never easy. He could plan for every eventuality, and she'd still somehow do something he hadn't counted on. It looked like his only choice was to wing it.