A/N: Thank you everyone for reading my story and for those of you for reviewing. I love getting reviews. I mean, who doesn't? I'm sorry if any of the characters seem a little - or a lot- OOC. I'm sorry it took soo long to write this chapter. Hopefully future chapters will be up, quicker. And enter the Batfam.
OC P.O.V.
Bruce and I glide over the edge into the night. When we land on the ground the Bat mobile is in front of us. We both hop in and make our way to the Bat Cave. I lean my head on the back of the headrest, feeling sleep trying to overtake me. I stare at the road, imagining never running out of road. I glance at the moon, it's full. Which I've always admired. I'm completely spacing out - ignoring Bruce interrogating me, and the world around. I don't know how much time passed, but sooner or later we ended up inside the Bat Cave. I shake my head a bit in order to come back to reality. Through the tinted glass of the car, I can see the familiar parking bay with the rest of the vehicles. Dick's bike, Tim's bike, the Batwing, other Bat mobile models etc.
I hop out and see Bruce standing there, waiting expectantly. I look up towards the staircase and see Alfred walking down towards us. I can feel my mouth turn up into a grin at the familiar old friend. He's quite shocked to see another person - someone not from the Batfam in his mind, anyway.
"Alfred!' I say happily, my face harbouring a full out grin. Bruce's eyes go wide once again. And it makes me roll my eyes in return, of his repetition. I decide to go for a snappy and straightforward approach, cutting right to the chase.
"I told you that I know you guys, okay. I know all of you. Dick, Barbara, Tim… " I say his name quietly, and cast my eyes to the floor. I stay like that for a couple of seconds before I have the courage to continue. "Even Alfred. Heck, I know the secret identities of the Justice League. What would be really helpful is if you didn't soo seem surprised every time you find out something I know, which I shouldn't. Seriously Bruce, the shocked charade is getting pretty old, already." I stop talking, letting the words sink in, when the sound of a motorbike fills the cave, echoing off the walls. When the bike stops I can see the young adult clad in black with his recognizable blue symbol on his chest.
I turn around to look at Alfred and Bruce's reactions, when I notice Bruce is gone. Frick sake. He can't stick around for five minutes to ease Dick into the situation. Really. I honestly don't know why I'm soo surprised. Dick hops off his bike, taking off his helmet and walks over to us. He seems calm, considering there's a strange girl in the cave. That girl being me, of course. I almost hope that he'd pull me into a brotherly hug, like the good old days. But I realized as soon as I woke up this morning, that the good old days aren't coming back. I want to cry and run away to a place where the love of my life knows me. Where we can spend the rest of our lives together. I can feel tears prick my eyes, but I will them away, knowing that Dick hates seeing me cry - and that now's not the time to let my emotions show.
"Look….. I'm getting tired of repeating myself. So when Bruce comes back and Tim arrives, I'll explain everything. Okay, Dick." I can hear my voice wavering at the start. But I push myself on. Willing myself to continue, to try and figure everything out. And that's when Tim pulls into the cave on his motorbike. I pretend not to notice and look towards the change room, instead, seeing Bruce emerge.
When Tim hops off his bike, and advances towards us, I stand there, frozen. Frozen in time, in space. In every fibre of my being. I wish that I could just run over to him and hug him. Touch him. Entwine our hearts once again. Kiss him with all of my love for him. But him with his confused and sceptic look, makes me know that I can't. As much as I want to.
I stare at him, taking in all his gorgeous features - that I didn't bother to notice properly during our run-in at school, earlier. His black hair falls slightly over his eyes. His dazzling blue eyes can just take you all in at a glance, consume you, making you come back for more. His cute, boyish face that somehow makes him look older and still young at the same time. He looks like he's had something on his mind all day. A flutter in my chest, makes me hope that I was the subject on his rambling mind.
I open my mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. Not even a squeak. So I just stand there for a minute or two, opening and closing my mouth - most likely looking like a fish. Great. Just, great. I'm acting like a freakin' fish in front of the guy of my dreams. Luckily for me, Bruce takes control of the situation; "This is May Redmond. She doesn't know how she got here or why. She knows us. She knows our identities. She's promised that she won't do anything with this information. So, for now we can trust her." He speaks with such confidence and finality I'm almost tempted to cower away in a corner, somewhere. Then he motions to me, so I can tell my story. Things from my perspective. How everything went crazy and turned upside down. But the thing is…I don't know how it happened.
I clear my throat, stalling for time. They all look at me expectantly. All of a sudden I feel nervous, anxious, scared. I've never felt scared in front of them- except the day I first met each of them, excluding Tim. I've never been afraid around him, if anything I've felt safe. I decide to just go for it. To tell them as much of the truth as I can. As much as I want to share with them about my life.
Well, here goes nothing… "As Bruce said; my name is May. I don't how I got here. I know you guys." My eyes dart to each of their faces, lingering on Tim's. He catches my eyes and I look away quickly, willing myself to continue. "In 'my world', I'm a hero just like you guys. I… saw my family die right in front of my eyes, when I was six years old. A masked man stabbed them. Then, when he got to me, the police were on the way. So he lit the house on fire, and ran. Then I passed out from the smoke. But, when I woke up this morning… they were alive. All of them. I have no idea how that's possible. Well, I can think of how people can come back from being dead. But this. This is very different." I can feel tears start to well up in my eyes. I turn away from them all, trying to compose myself. To keep myself together. I have to, if I want to go back to the way things were. If I want to fix everything. I just need to get through this.
I swipe my fingers under my eyes and wipe my nose with my sleeve. I sniffle a couple of times before I feel like I can face them. I turn around and go on with my story. They all look at me with sympathetic gazes. Even Tim. I swallow hard; "Then I awoke in the hospital. Soon after that I lived in the orphanage for six months. No one wanted me, so they put me in foster care. I bounced around foster homes for a year and a half until Bruce adopted me. I guess he saw something in me, that he also saw in himself. The pain, anger, sadness, of losing someone. So he took me in and did the same thing that he did with Dick." I gesture towards Dick as this bit. "He trained me. Made me focus all of my emotions to saving other people. To do the one thing for other people that no one did for me; same their family. I know that this probably seems crazy to you guys. But I can prove myself, if need be. And then other people joined our little 'family'. Jason, Barbara… Tim." My eyes dart to Tim's for a brief second. And it's long enough for him to see my past in my eyes. His soften a little at this.
"Dick, I know about the team that your leading. Because I'm a part of it. Along with Tim and Barbara. I know the original team. I know the extended team. Tim," I look at Tim, now. Wondering if I should give him the whole story of the two of us. "You and me, we're… best friends. We look out for each other. We have each other's back's. Like Dick and Barbara. Even the…." I avert my eyes. Not sure whether I should tell him the truth about us. Our relationship. I gulp, swallowing really hard. "Getting together part. " His eyes widen beneath his mask, and I can feel my cheeks flush hot. So I move onto my relationships with the others; I turn towards Dick,
"Dick, you are a brother to me. Even at times a father-figure, much to my annoyance. You're always there when I need you. We've always been honest with each other from the very start. Same goes for me and Tim. Barbara's always been like a sister to me. We always tease you, make jokes about you. But I guess that's just how the girlfriend and the sister bond." A smile tugs at the corner of my lips, at the memories of our endless mocking. I turn to Bruce next, a somewhat serious/formal expression on my face "Bruce, you are like a mentor to us. To me. You took me in and gave me a place to stay. But more importantly, you gave me a home and a family. Thank you." I use present tense because this is my world. For me it's the present. Somehow I know that my world is still going on. Is still moving forward. My world hasn't stopped, just because I not in it.
It's Tim who speaks next. I can see the cogs turning around in his head, trying to make sense of it all. Trying to understand what I'm attempting to get across. "I haven't see you or met you until today. This doesn't make sense. We're not together. I don't even know you. I'm with someone else. Your world is clearly different from mine. I'm with Stephanie Brown. We're… good together. But that's beside the point." He shakes his head at the last part. His words send a knife through my heart. Twisting and turning and inflicting more pain than ever before. It's too much to deal with. I can't keep the tears in anymore. They stream down my face. I don't know what else to do. So I run. It's the only way I know how. I run to the girls change rooms, not letting them see my tears.
I can't do this anymore. I can't pretend that everything's okay when it's tearing me apart inside. When I get inside, I sink down against the wall, onto the floor. I sit on the floor, hugging my knees to my chest, letting the tears fall freely. I don't care anymore. I don't care if they can hear me, or if they saw me crying. I just want to go back to my own world, even my biological family isn't in it. This "bat" family of sorts, has always been enough for me. And they always will be. I just can't live in a world where Tim doesn't love me, let alone know me.
A/N: Thanks for reading and please review, it means soo much to me. If you review, I might just share Tim with you guys. Might.
It might take me awhile to write the next chapter. Since I'm on holidays now - yay!- I'm forced to go to Adelaide for three days next week (it's a long story). I don't think I'll have any time to write, so I'm leaving my precious life line (my laptop) at home. And taking a bunch of books to read instead. I won't forget about you guys, though.
~Animals