"Titus! Titus! Hey, get back here!"
If someone had told Carrie Kelley a month ago that she'd be playing dog-sitter to a multi billionaire's kid's dog, she'd say that he had a really interesting imagination and where the heck can I sign up?
Besides, it was a rather cushy job after all. Three days a week of paid play with the world's sweetest and most rambunctious Great Dane, not to mention free-flow AlfredTM chocolate chip cookies. Mr Pennyworth's stoic exterior actually betrayed a slight twitch in the mouth when she bit into her first cookie, promptly swooned and said, "I stand in the presence of Zeus himself and take my fill of ambrosia, food of the gods!"
The latter alone made up for having to put up with Mr Grumpy. Honestly, you'd think the richest man in Gotham City and well-known idiot CEO playboy would look a little less surly at home, but every time she entered the manor it was like walking into a funeral home.
The first time Carrie met Bruce Wayne, he had unceremoniously handed her the pile of DVD's she had left for Damian and a ten thousand dollar check - ten times the amount she was owed, leaving without so much as a second glance when she yelled at him, asking about Damian.
The second was two days later when she made her way back to Wayne Manor and refused to leave until the billionaire decided to show his face. She had demanded, once again, to talk to Damian, the boy she had been giving acting classes to for the past three months before disappearing into thin air. Mr Wayne then had the audacity to admit that he had sent his son off to some boarding school half a world away so that his swinging bachelor ways wouldn't be interrupted (okay so she had just assumed that last bit but hey, why else would some rich playboy suddenly send his kid, not to mention an illegitimate one, away for no reason and without warning?)
Anyway, here she was, on the stately Wayne Manor grounds, chasing after a willful black dog who had decided that he'd had enough of playing fetch and wanted to play tag instead. She last saw Titus streaking past and around the hedgerows in the outskirts of the manor grounds. The past three weeks or so of her new job had given her a pretty good idea of the layout of the sprawling estate, and she knew that was where the Wayne family cemetery was located.
The Wayne family burial grounds resembled any other cemetery, but it wasn't difficult to notice the history and wealth of the place. The marble headstones stood still and silent as they had for years and decades, marking the resting places of Waynes long dead. However there was an odd one out - a white obelisk standing at least seven feet tall, without a single engraving on it to show who was buried beneath it. It looked pretty new, too. Carrie gauged it to have been erected just a few weeks ago.
Carrie wondered who it was exactly that had passed away so recently that had warranted such a fancy yet nameless headstone. Propped up against the headstone was a copy of the Swordwalkers video game. Sun and rain exposure had left the cover soggy and faded but nobody seemed to bother removing it.
Titus also did seem pretty attached to the thing, as she watched him snuffle around the structure and lay down beside it, gazing up at her with doleful eyes.
It was fast approaching dusk, and Carrie didn't fancy being stuck wandering around a creepy burial ground looking for a black dog in the dark, in case Titus decide to start another game of tag.
Carrie pivoted on her heel to start the trek back to the manor when she felt a small crunch beneath her feet. She had been absently scuffing her shoes against the ground as she stood there, deep in thought. The hard object she had felt was quickly dismissed as a pebble or something until it broke under the pressure of her foot.
Even in the dim light, there was no mistaking the shape of two flash drives. After over a week exposed to the elements, the pink plastic had faded a little, but there was no mistaking the flash drives she had given to Mr Wayne last week containing Damian's interview and the movie of Titus.
What the… oh the nerve of that...that ugh!
Mr Wayne had promised to send those to Damian and have him contact her. Carrie had received his voice mail but apparently some S.O.B. had just thrown the flash drives out like garbage!
Carrie ran back in the direction of the manor in a fury, Titus loping after her, oblivious to her rage. Alfred raised an eyebrow when she stalked through the back door into the kitchen and demanded to see the Wayne patriarch.
"My apologies, Miss Carrie, but Master Bruce can't see you now."
"Well, make him see me now! I wanna give him a piece of my mind!" she griped, brandishing the two battered flash drives before.
"I'm sorry, miss, but Master Bruce is a very busy man. He must not be disturbed for the rest of the night," replied Alfred, stoic and butlery as always.
Carrie opened her mouth to retort when the door behind her swung open and a voice said, "I'm sure we can pass whatever message it is to Bruce in the morning."
She spun around and came face to face with a grinning, blue-eyed and black-haired young man. "Sorry, couldn't help overhearing," said the man sheepishly. "I'm Richard Grayson by the way, but everyone calls me Dick."
"Carrie Kelley. Are you… umm… like Damian's brother?" she asked.
Like most Gothamites, Carrie had heard of Bruce Wayne's first ward. For someone like Bruce Wayne, it was strange that he surrounded himself with so many kids.
"More like adopted brother, but yes I am. Why do you ask?" Dick replied.
"I don't know if you've heard, but Damian started taking acting classes from me three months ago. Then Daddy Dearest, no offense, decides to send him off to Hogwarts or whatever fancy European school it is without warning. Then he promises to send these," Carrie held up the flash drives, "- to him but then I find them dumped out at a cemetery of all places!"
A pained look had settled on Dick's face. Carrie felt grim satisfaction at the knowledge that there was at least someone in this family didn't approve of the shit that Mr Wayne pulled. The young man cast a nervous glace towards the English butler who chose that moment to come to his rescue.
"I'm sure there must be a perfectly reasonable explanation for this. Master Bruce must have emailed the files to Young Master Damian and accidentally dropped the drives outside when he went for a stroll."
Carrie narrowed her eyes and hissed, "How awfully… convenient." Then she huffed and said, "But I will be contacting Damian to confirm that he did receive the movie. He's a good kid, he doesn't deserve to be shuffled off somewhere and forgotten."
Dick nodded solemnly, his expression wistful. "Yeah… Damian was… is a good kid, my little brother, one of the best."
"And I shall make sure that Master Bruce is notified of his carelessness as soon as possible, my dear. You have my word," added Mr Pennyworth. "Now, I believe it is quite late now, Miss Carrie. Do you require a lift home?"
"No thanks, I have my own ride home," said Carrie. "Well I guess I'll see you the next time I drop by for Titus. Good night, Dick, Mr Pennyworth."
It wasn't till later that night, as she was getting ready for bed, that she suddenly remembered Dick's slip of the tongue.
AN:
yeeeahhhh kinda ran out of juice towards the end.
The idea of Carrie stumbling on Damian's grave struck me the moment Alfred offered her the job of dog-sitting Titus. The bunny just fell asleep for a while until I read the recent Batman and Catwoman #22 in which the flash drive incident happened.
Dick just suddenly jumped in and refused to leave halfway through writing this. For those who aren't aware, he was the one who left the Swordwalkers video game in Nightwing #18. Damian had asked him to get a copy for them to play before the unfortunate incident of his death (okay everyone, let's heave a collective "aaawwwwwww").
I'm not really sure where to go with this fic. This is just a little practice writing. I might write a sequel if I can think of something that spans more than 1 page. Will Carrie find out the truth? What will Bruce do? What the heck is gonna happen?
I'm also procrastinating my assignments. woo!
ps. If anyone can recommend me some fics out there focusing on Damian and Carrie, I'd appreciate it!
pps. Concrit is also welcome. I hope the characters aren't too OOC.