Now a multi-chapter fic. This has more background to Carrie's character. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing from Nolan's Dark Knight universe.


Two Years Ago

"Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, damm-"

"Shh, Carrie! Do you want to wake up the kids?"

"Brenda, I honestly don't care right now. I need some paperwork from a file and I can't because the damn door won't unlock!"

Brenda, a shorter and older co-worker of Carrie's, stared up at her with a look that said 'Are you really that dumb?' And she said, "Maybe if you turn the key the right way the door would unlock." It sounded as if she was speaking to a child.

Carrie looked down at the key in her hand and turned it the other way. Much to her embarrassment, the door gave a satisfying click as it opened. She looked at Brenda and sighed, "Okay, fine, I'm sorry. But you know how frazzled-"

Brenda held up a hand, stopping her, "Yeah, yeah, I know. Don't worry about it."

Crossing the threshold, Carrie explained, "Thanks. This family is driving me crazy and, and I can't mess this one up, I can't make any mistakes. If even the tiniest thing is wrong with the documents the parents will throw a fit and then everything will go to hell."

"When are they coming?"

"Next Thursday. So I have to get all the paperwork done today and then on Monday I'll start to get Amy ready."

The older woman patted her back, "It's all going to be fine. You're gonna be fine."

Carrie grabbed the file she needed and began to head back into their office, "I appreciate you're belief in me, but it does nothing for my stress."

Brenda sat down in the desk across from hers. Kicking her legs up and grabbing her laptop, she said, "Loosen up, sweetie. Life isn't meant to be taken this seriously."

Not looking up from the paper in front of her, Carrie responded with, "Yeah? Well, if I didn't take things seriously I wouldn't be where I'm at today." The tone of her voice was hard, threatening.

"Okay, okay, I get it. I'll let you work."

"Thank you, Brenda."

"But if you have panic attack, don't expect me to help you."

"Love you too."

With that, both of the women began to start on their days work. Brenda had bills to pay and errands to run for the home and Carrie had her paperwork for the litte girl that was being adopted. There were more people that worked for The Boys and Girls of Gotham, a small but very important orphanage, but they were always the earliest to show up. 6am was apparently too early for some people...

Carrie had been working for the orphanage for about a year. Fresh out of Gotham University with a degree in psychology, she tried, unsuccessfully, looking for a notable job. After 4 months of endless searching, she gave up and lived the next 6 months of her life partying and living off her parents. It was fun, at the time, but she received a reality check when the car she was in decided that it would park itself into a tree. No one was killed, but they all came out with scars. That sobered her up just fine.

She spent a month recovering from the accident and lessening her dependence on alcohol. It wasn't that she was addicted to it, but she felt like she had to clean up her act if she ever wanted to get anywhere. And that month she got the chance to. There was an orphanage looking to hire an aid and social worker. Needless to say, she didn't let the opportunity go to waste.

And here she was, one year later, still loving every minute of her job. Even when the kids screamed at her, cried in the corner, and gave her the silent treatment, this is what she wanted to do, this is where she wanted to be.

Brenda and Carrie worked silently for an hour before the others started to show up. First was Natalie, a plump woman with bleach blonde hair, next Kate, the sweetest southern bell in all of Gotham, Dave, the man in charge of the orphanage, and finally Dominic, a quiet but persistent young man. There were others, but they either worked in fancy buildings or were too important to be seen in such an...unimportant place, according to them.

"Ladies," Dave greeted the two women in their desks.

Carrie nodded, but didn't look up from her work. Brenda said, "Don't bother her, if you try to pry her away from the desk she'll scratch your eyes out."

Dominic laughed from his desk, as did Kate. Natalie had left the room to wake up some of the children. Dave squeezed her shoulder, "That may be true, but she's the only one who gets any work done around here."

"Not true," Brenda defended.

The boss let out a strained laugh, but then left the office where the others all worked to go to his private one. When she heard his door click shut, Kate quietly said, "Did you see his face?"

Dominic told her, "We're not all sleeping with him, Kate. We don't know how to 'read' him as you do."

She turned bright red at his comment, but chose to continue with her original statement, "He's worried."

"About what?" Brenda asked.

"On the news last night there was somethin' about a body bein' found in the subway tunnel. It was a young man, around 17 years old."

Carrie looked up from her paper, wanting to hear more, "Did they identify him?"

"No...but he looked awfully familiar."

Dominic asked, "Does Dave think that he stayed here?"

Kate looked at the floor, "Yeah. He's almost positive that is was Ken Franklin. He was adopted by a family a couple of years ago."

"Wait," Carrie interrupted, "Ken Franklin...Marissa and Tommy's older brother?"

"That's the one."

"Why didn't they take all three kids?"

"The family already had four foster kids and only wanted one more. They didn't want to break up the twins."

"How about not wanting to break up the family?" Carrie spit out with disgust in her voice.

Brenda asked something new, "Do the twins know?"

Kate shook her head, "Dave doesn't want them to until the police contact us."

Marissa and Tommy Franklin were already at the orphanage when Carrie started to work. Brenda had told her that they, along with an older brother, lost both their parents to a car crash when they were 6 years old, the brother was 13. Now they had to be told that they lost their brother, too.

"Did he ever visit?" Carrie asked.

Brenda said, "Four times the first two years he was gone. After that...he just disappeared."

They stayed silent after that. When Natalie returned saying that all of the 17 children were up she, along with Kate and Dominic, went to assist them with breakfast. It was 7:45 when Dave exited his office, his face now clearly marked with sadness.

"I just saw the police car from the window...and I'm assuming you both know by now."

Both of the women nodded. He said, "Carrie, you're gonna come with me to speak with the officers. You're the best with the legal-"

Carrie cut him off, "I know." All of the workers did. Out of all the employees, she was the most advanced and comfortable with the legal work. The others were more fit to be caring for the children, something that Carrie was still getting used to.

She stood up from her desk and followed Dave down the hall and stairs. Her work for Amy was important, but the priority right now was Ken Franklin.

The doorbell rang when the two had reached the end of the stairs. Dave quickened his pace, and once at the door he took a deep breath, masking much of his pained expression. He opened the door.

There were two officers. One was aged; receding hairline, glasses, and wrinkles on his face. The other was young; thick, dark hair with matching eyes. This officer also had lines on his face, aging him well past his years, but his were obviously caused by years of stress and worry. Carrie wondered briefly for a moment if she also looked aged by the stress she put herself under. Probably not...she wasn't that uptight.

"Can I help you, officers?" Dave asked politely.

"Yes," the older one spoke, "I'm Officer Collins and this is Officer Blake. May we step inside?"

Dave nodded and opened the door wider to let the two men in. Collins spoke again, "Is there someplace we can speak more privately in? I'm afraid we have some bad news."


Thoughts? More of Blake to come.