DISCLAIMER: I own nothing, I gain nothing, in fact, I'm giving you my time - be happy.

FOR CampionSayn - Because this is soooooo over due and who knew that painting a room could take so long? Has one of her most darling of angels in it and one of my badest of devils...XD. Was going to be longer... but I ran out of steam and time and it end alright.

Shopping Trip

Nana was going to be so mad they weren't going to be sitting down for a week.

That was what Deidre was convinced was going to happen where Delia had dragged her away to look at something. Delia never listened to her Nana, and so didn't care that their grandmother had severely warned them to not wonder off. After all, the shops were always busy and within minutes the six year old twins had lost them Nana.

Then Delia had disappeared and Deidre was left on her own.

The first few tears she had hastily wiped away as she looked around her in horrified confusion. She didn't know where she was and she didn't see anyone she knew. She was so scared. She all but crawled through the crowd, the tall adults doing little more than glancing down at her in surprise before forgetting her and moving on. That was just how things were done in Gotham. She finally broke free of the crowd and stumbled over to the wall. She faced the crowd but they were moving too quickly and thickly for her to catch individual faces and a hopelessness rose over her. What could a small six years old do?

Looking along the wall she noted a metal bench, with a rather strange man sitting on it. While the idea of talking to strangers made her want to throw up and run away, there wasn't much Deidre could do except walk over, clumsily climb onto the bench and push up onto her tiptoes. From here, she could see over the heads of the adults and down to the bobbling hair of their children. No Delia, not one bunched up blonde hair devil-child in sight and no hobbling grandmother either. She sniffed.

She sat down, fists white as she clutched her flowered summer dress. She sniffed again as her eyes started to burn. The man next to her shifted uncomfortably and actually leant away as if scared to be seen next to her. That didn't help, it only made her throat hurt more and the tears start to leak down her face.

BbBbBbBbBb

Damian's day hadn't started off good and only continued to get worse.

Colin wanted to go shopping. Damian hating shopping. Colin wanted to go shopping in Gotham. Damian hated Gotham. Colin had pouted. Damian hated shopping in Gotham. Then Colin had kissed him, in one of those breath and thoughts stealing kisses and ...Damian found himself in Gotham, shopping. Damn it.

So three hours into their 'shopping' trip, Colin had left his boyfriend sulking outside one of the shops with the promise that if he was good, and didn't emotionally scar anyone, there would be a reward. While Damian didn't enjoy being treated like a badly behaved child, Colin's 'rewards' were...well, generally worth want ever patronising chores he was force to perform, like having dinner with Tim and Stephanie or not scarring the children that made up the JLU nowadays. Life was never kind to him and enjoyed challenging his patience, or lack thereof.

Not even five minutes after Colin had disappeared; Damian found something to challenge him. A little blond pigtailed girl, of no more than five or six, had wondered up to his bench. Quite apparently, she was lost given the fact she was unsupervised, near in tears and on her tiptoes looking for something.

She didn't find it, slumping back on to the seat, her tiny shoulders shacking with suppressed tears. Damian moved away as quick as he could without it actually looking like he was moving away from her. Already the odd passerby was throwing him suspicious look and that was all he needed. If Colin didn't come back and blame him for this, then someone was most likely going to call security. He didn't want to have to explain to his 'family' why he was arrested, nor did he want to media to let their imaginations run wild as to why the Wayne heir was caught in public with a crying pretty, china doll-like six year old girl.

He was still trying to forget what the press had printed about his father back before he lived with him and was raising Grayson - he didn't want that kind of attention. That would put him on the couch for at least a month, damn it.

A few pearly white tears escaped the girl's eyes and a small sob was badly muffled behind her hands. The fabric of her dress was all bunched up in her small fist. Damian shifted even more uncomfortable – what should he do? He didn't want to get involved in this little girl, he didn't know her! But the more distressed she became, the more uncomfortable he was becoming and she didn't look like she was going to be wondering off anytime soon.

Oh great, mournfully Damian mentally kissed goodbye to whatever glorious surprise his boyfriend might have been cooking up and turned to the little girl. "A...are you okay? Where are your parents?" The way he figured it, the quicker he found them, the quicker the girl would become their problem and not his.

The girl burst into hysterical tears. "H-hey, it's...okay. Look there's no need to cry, no reason. Umm...please stop! Please!" Damian panicked more and more as the tears got worse and louder. People actually stopped in surprise and turned to watch as he furiously tried to get the girl to calm down without actually touching her or getting any closer. "It's okay, relax. Everything is going to be okay." COLIN! Where was that man when Damian needed him? This was all his fault! He just had to drag Damian into a public place and then abandon him.

"Shhh, please, stop crying..." he begged, throwing aside his dignify if only she'd shut up. The girl tried and failed to muffle her sobs with her fists, her little cheeks a flaming red. Damian reluctantly moved closer, his hand hovering over her shoulders. He didn't want to touch her in case someone thought he was trying to hurt her or something (it would be just his luck) or if it only made the girl worse. How could children cry that hard? Surly no one had that many tears...or could hold their breath so long.

The girl seemed to misunderstand Damian's intentions because she threw herself into him, clinging on tightly. She burrowed her face into his shoulder and cried. Damian froze, too shocked and scared to even breathe, never mind move – what was she doing! Awkwardly, he quickly thought about what Grayson or Colin would do and pat her gently on the back. It seemed to do the trick because after a few minute the hysteria started to pass and the sobs faded. The girl pulled her red, wet face from his jacket.

The jacket had been Armani...had been... Damian tried to smile, or at least, he fought to keep a sneer off his face. He didn't want her to start crying after she had just stopped.

"Better?" he asked through gritted teeth. Colin had once asked him if being nice to someone would kill him, he'd told him he just wasn't going to risk it. And he was bloody right.

The little girl nodded and Damian awkwardly patted her on the head.

"DEIDRE! DE-THERE YOU ARE!"

And down swopped the most terrifying woman Damian had ever had the displeasure to meet. Trailing behind her, looking both scolded and sulking was the almost identical duplicate to the girl next to him.

"NANA!" The girl cried, throwing her arms around the old woman and started to sob again. The woman however wasn't having any of it and lectured the girl softly as she rubbed her back. Then she glanced up at Damian and pale.

Literally, all the colour seemed to drain from her face, leaving her a stark white before his eyes. Then she was gone, quickly pulling the two girls behind her without so much as a 'thank you'. Damian growled, honestly some people – and Collin wondered why Damian didn't think people were worth anything.

But the old woman had look awfully familiar...

Hehehehhe