Rose grabbed a gallon of Dreyer's Cookie Dough Ice Cream out of the freezer and then she snuck it up to her room and opened her closet, pushing up the part of the closet that actually held her clothes and came down from the ceiling, revealing a shrine. There was a small table with candles and rose petals on it, and a black beanbag chair in front of it. On the back wall and the sides were collages of Batman pictures, and one large framed picture of him above the table that read, "Our love will forever burn."
Rose lit the candles, finding a picture of Bruce she had forgotten to replace since Bruce had asked that woman to the gala instead of her, and ripped it in half, tossing it in the garbage before she went into her large closet and turned on the radio to power pop music, and closed the doors behind her, eating her ice cream and sitting on the beanbag chair moving to the music.
She stayed like that until she had eaten half of the ice cream, and then as she was about to grab one more spoonful, her closet doors were pulled open and she looked up both startled and terrified.
"What the fuck?" April asked. "Where the—how the—you need help, Rose."
Rose didn't know what to say as April's eyes rolled over the pictures of Batman on the walls of her closet and then the glob of ice cream on her spoon fell on the floor and Rose looked at it and sighed.
"Fuck, I just lost some ice cream, thanks April." She said, turning down her music.
"Sorry. I just…I came to say that I'm sorry Bruce is going to the gala without you. You've done so much for him, and the least he could do to pay you back is to take you to this science unveiling. I mean you love the stuff that Electronics comes up with." April explained.
Rose sighed and then shoved another spoonful of ice cream into her mouth.
"You know, that ice cream is going to make you fat." April said.
Rose cracked a smile and faked a hurt look all at once.
"I'm already plumper than that stupid supermodel he took." Rose admitted.
April sighed. "You're in great physical shape, Rose. Look, I need to get going, but I wanted to just say 'bye' and to…well see where the music was coming from."
Rose smiled. "You look great, April. Have fun. Really."
"I will. Night, Rose." April said.
She closed the doors to the closet, and so Rose turned the music back up and then she ate a little more ice cream and sang along to the music before the doors were once again ripped open, but this time by Alexis.
"Rose…turn the music down." Alexis said. "Stop wallowing in self pity."
Rose sighed, and put the spoon in the carton of ice cream.
"He took that fat supermodel." Rose told her.
Alexis laughed. "That's quite the oxymoron."
Rose scrunched up her nose. "Is not."
Alexis smiled. "Look, I'm off, but you really need to stop flipping out over nothing."
Rose nodded. "Fine. Fine. Where's Eva?"
"At the hospital." Alexis replied.
****
Alexis parked her car and then went into the office, sitting down at her desk and turning on her computer.
"This is the new stuff we just got in." Her editor told her.
Alexis nodded. "All right. I'll get right on it."
"We've had a couple calls today about people thinking they've sighted Wolverine." Her editor said.
Alexis smiled. "I love when people call about my work."
Her editor smiled too, and then left her to her own devices. As Alexis looked through the news she had received, she began to put an article together, sighing a bit as she read it over.
"There was an attack on the White House today by a mutant being deemed as "Nightcrawler". Nightcrawler is able to teleport at amazing speeds, and he left a knife with the President with the message, "Mutant Freedom Now". The stand you have with mutants is your own affair, really, but it may be beneficial to think about where the mutants are coming from. We are discriminating against them out of fear and judging them harshly. Nevertheless, that doesn't excuse the attack on the White House. Watch yourselves, Gotham." She read out loud.
"I think that sounds good, Alex." Her editor told her.
"Thanks, Jane." Alexis blushed.
"You know, one of these days we're going to have to get you an interview with a mutant." Jane said.
Alexis's eyes lit up. "That would be fabulous!"
Jane smiled. "It would definitely be good publicity too."
"Well let's see what we can do about that." Alexis told her. "I would love to try out these skills actually writing a profile about a mutant."
Jane nodded. "How's your aunt, Alexis?"
Alexis's smile faded. "Aunt Denise is still in the hospital. The doctor's are doing all they can, but she's just deteriorating."
Jane nodded. "You know, if you want the day off, you can take it."
Alexis shook her head. "That's okay. I can do what I came here to do—write articles on mutant sightings."
"You may want to take a look at this then." Jane said.
Alexis took a folder from her that had more information about a secret mutant formula they were trying to develop, but there was nowhere near enough information on it for her to actually write something on it.
"I'll stay on this, though." Alexis told her. "I promise. This could be big."
****
Eva sat flipping through a magazine in the hospital, watching over her mother as she slept. She had thought about wandering about snapping pictures, but then she figured that people would find her to be insensitive because she found beauty in the pain of inevitability. Looking up as a nurse came in, Eva smiled a weak smile.
"She's stable." The nurse told her.
Eva nodded. "Yes, but still not well."
The nurse gave her a smile. "Doctor Smith is close."
Eva nodded. "I know."
The nurse left and Eva looked at her mother again, setting the magazine down and then scooting her chair closer to the bed and taking her mother's hand, kissing her forehead as she slept.
"I'm sorry it's just me again, Mom." Eva told her. "April had work today, and so did Rose and Alex. They came a couple days ago though. April got really high marks in school, and Rose is on top of the business. Alex's articles are causing a bit of controversy, but she's the most popular writer in Gotham."
Smiling, Eva kissed her mother's hand and then she grabbed her camera and she went wandering around, occasionally snapping pictures of the sleeping sick, or of the trauma patients whizzing by, or of the doctors writing up their reports.
"Hello." A man said as she snapped a picture of a nurse helping an old man.
Eva whirled around. "Hi."
The man was very attractive, but Eva didn't think about that. She missed Peter too much to think about cute guys.
"You find pleasure in snapping pictures of the sick and dying?" He asked.
Eva blushed. "I just think that's there's beauty in everything."
"Spoken like a true artist." The man said.
"I'm Eva." Eva said, holding out her hand.
The man smiled and took her hand, shaking it too, and she found that he had a very strong grip.
"Logan." He replied.
"Why are you here?" Eva asked.
"One of my friends is here." Logan said.
Eva nodded. "I'm sorry. You must find me completely insensitive just snapping pictures like this."
Logan shook his head. "Not at all."
"I'm afraid that I'm kind of weird when it comes to the rest of my family." Eva admitted.
Logan smiled. "I bet you're not."
Eva nodded. "But I am. You see, my eldest cousin, Rose, works for Bruce Wayne while my older sister, April, is a field reporter. Then my other cousin, Rose's younger sister, Alex, writes for the local magazine about mutants."
"Your cousin is Alexis Meckenzie?" Logan asked. "I was wondering if I'd ever meet the woman who wrote the article about Wolverine."
It was then that Eva noticed the dog tags around Logan's neck, and she read the words "Wolverine". Before she could say anything though, she saw doctors running through the hospital towards her mother's room, so she took off, stopping as the doctor announced the time of death, and then Eva slumped down on the floor and broke down.
****
April arrived at the gala, and she smiled up at the big doors, walking in with her microphone followed by her cameraman, Arthur. Arthur was following rather closely to her, both of them announcing their presence at the door and showing their press badges, and then going in through the doors.
The gathering was indeed quite the turn out, but April was more interested in finding Clark Kent because she wanted to know what was happening in Metropolis—off the record of course. She looked around a bit, smiling when she found Bruce at least, and the supermodel that Rose was so upset about.
"April!" Bruce said, going over to hug her. "Are you having fun?"
April smiled and nodded. "I am indeed."
"This is Monica." Bruce said, introducing his lady friend.
April smiled and offered her hand. "Hello, Monica. I'm April. How are you liking the get together?"
Monica smiled. "Well I'm not into electronics much, but Wayne Enterprises always comes out with great stuff."
April nodded. "My cousin, Rose, wanted to see what kinds of calibrations the new device would use. She absolutely loves the electronics part of Wayne Enterprises."
"I was really sorry to hear that she was sick and couldn't make it." Bruce said.
April motioned for Arthur to turn off the camera, but he didn't.
"What?" April asked. "I was under the impression that this was an invitation only gathering—as in only selected members were here."
Bruce nodded. "Well yes, but Rose was invited. She's my personal assistant, and an important part of my company."
"That little prune." April breathed.
"What was that?" Bruce asked.
April smiled. "Oh, nothing. I was just hoping Rose had enough Sprite and Saltines."
Bruce nodded. "I hope so. That girl gets a lot done around here. It's sad she isn't here to partake in something she enjoys."
"Real sad." April muttered.
"Bruce!" Came the voice of an unfamiliar man.
"Clark!" Bruce replied, hugging his friend.
"I love the turn out! And the food is excellent as always. I have to admit that I came thinking the paper was ridiculous, but from what I hear, this invention of yours is revolutionary." Clark said.
Bruce smiled. "Clark, I want you to meet a friend of mine. This is April Dulsche. She's Rose's cousin."
"Glad to make your acquaintance." Clark said, shaking April's hand. "Bruce talks about Rose's accomplishments a lot."
April smiled. "Yeah, that girl is an overachiever. So what do you think of the new invention?"
Clark shrugged. "I think it's another fantastic Wayne Enterprises device."
April nodded. "It sounds like it."
"What do you think, Monica?" Clark asked.
Monica shrugged. "I think it's nice and scientific."
April held back a snort, and then the unveiling proceeded, and as April finished up getting to know Clark and went to her car, she realized there was a message from Eva, so she listened to her voice mail.
"April, this is Eva…it's about Mom. Get home soon, okay?" Came the choked voice of her sister.
Hurrying home, she went inside to see her sister crying into Rose who was holding her close, and Alexis who was passing around the Kleenex and they looked up as April's face suddenly became very sad. She knew her mother was dead.