Evil Shadow

24.

Millie

Bruce and Selina walked away, leaving Dick and Millie on their own. They were still stood by the door, staring at the back of Bruce as he disappeared into the crowd.

"He just left us…" whispered Millie, tightening her hold on Dick's arm. "Left us here with all the rich stuck up people…"

"Shit…" whispered Dick. "I don't wanna talk to them."

"We gotta make it look like we're busy doing something else. Quick, pretend to be walking to someone."

And the two began to walk, still holding a tight grip on each other's arms as they waltzed through the crowd of the charity event. They smiled at rich people they did not know who greeted them, and each time someone tried to start a conversation with either of them, they excused themselves immediately, pretending they had just been called over by someone else.

Though they couldn't continue doing that the entire night, and soon, the two got stuck talking to the mayor and his friends, whom they obviously had not been able to ditch. A couple of old women grabbed Dick from Millie. She had wanted to come with him, but the Mayor kept talking to her and she had not been able to politely walk away from him, and so, the two got separated.

"Well, miss Wayne, enough about me and my boring politics." Millie laughed along with the mayor, trying her best to let out a real laugh. "What about you, huh? Any plans to follow your father's footsteps?"

Someone tapped the mayor's shoulder before Millie had to muster up an answer. The man turned his back towards Millie, and she saw her escape, not hesitating to take it. In one go she jumped away from the mayor and entered the crowd, dodging a few butlers she almost walked into as they balanced their trays filled with drinks dangerously on the tips of their fingers. She searched for anyone who could her anchor; Dick or Bruce. Even Selina would be a nice change from all the rich people pretending to know her. The amount of times someone had asked her whether or not she was going to start working for her father was beginning to annoy her. And it especially annoyed her when those very people seemed to think her idea of starting a musical career was a bad idea.

She finally bumped into someone she knew about an hour or two later. It had been Selina Kyle in her gorgeous golden dress, and she had smirked down at her.

"Enjoying this shit?" she asked, taking a sip from her glass of champagne. "'Cause I don't. I could be doing so much more interesting stuff right now. I mean, look at all these rich people who aren't home? I could be… well, I could be having a lot of fun."

Millie just stared at her, wondering if she actually meant what Millie thought she meant.

"You know, if you're tired of these people, you can always slip away."

"How?" she asked, her eyes wide with hope.

"There's a back-room that leads to the rest of this building. The butlers don't use it. It even has a balcony, so you can get some fresh air," smiled Selina.

"Where?"

"Over there," replied Selina, pointing over to a door on the other side of the room.

With a knowing smirk, Selina watched Millie as she began to plough through the crowd of rich people, before the cat turned her head around to search for the other young one.

For at least five minutes, Millie had complete peace. She was on her own, on the balcony, breathing fresh air (as fresh as it got in a city like Gotham). Each breeze that blew her hair away from her face felt like a breath of freedom, and she did not want to go back to the party 'till it was over.

The door behind her opened then, and she thought her freedom was over. Though when she turned around and saw Dick walk over to the balcony, she just smiled. With Dick nearby, Millie was never trapped.

"My God…" he breathed, joining her by the railing. "They're vultures."

"What happened to you?" she giggled.

"Those ladies, it's like they've never seen a man before."

"I think you mean, they've never seen a handsome man before," she corrected before blushing and looking away, hoping Dick didn't take it the way she had actually meant it.

He laughed, leaning his elbows on the railing. Her heart lightened, thinking she had gotten away with it.

"What, you think me handsome?"

Damn it.

"Oh, please," she joked, trying to lighten the mood again. "Who doesn't? Have you not noticed that whenever there's a social gathering, or whenever you enter a classroom, every woman's head turns? And then some of the men's?"

"Of course I have," he joked. "I have eyes."

"Hilarious."

"But I don't really care what other people think. I, uh, just care what you think."

Millie quickly cleared her throat, "And Barbara."

Dick pouted, staring down at the ground a few floors down. A gush of wind blew past them, seeming to also blow away the nice atmosphere around them. Millie cursed herself for opening her mouth in the first place.

"Yeah, I don't – I don't think she cares much anymore. Well, she cares, but she, uh, isn't that happy with me."

"I'm sorry," whispered Millie carefully.

He only nodded his head, "Sometimes I wonder if there's something wrong with me."

Millie raised her eyebrows, giving him an incredulous look, "You're joking, right?"

"Look at me," he said, turning fully towards her. "Bruce's never told me he's proud of me, and you would be surprised of the things I've done for him. And whatever girl I do find, she never stays with me for that long – "

"Don't you dare hate yourself." Millie's firm voice caused him to shut up, staring at her. "Out of all the people in Gotham, you don't get to hate yourself. You're the kindest person I know. You're charismatic enough to have friends, you're electric enough to make girls and boys want you, and you don't have a fucked up life like I do.

"Literally everyone you meet instantly likes you. And you're funny… Yeah, maybe you're a bit cocky and maybe you sometimes use humour to not have to talk about whatever darkness there is, but… God dammit, Dick, you're more perfect than anyone out there."

"Gosh…" he breathed, turning back to the railing to lean on it again. A silence fell over them, though it did not feel heavy or awkward. Instead, it was a silence Millie knew would end. After her little speech, Dick had to say something more, after all. So, she let the silence be, knowing he was thinking of what to reply. "If that's the way you see me, then I don't deserve you in my life. Everything I do every day is just to please Bruce."

"What?"

"It's weird, and stupid, I know. He's not even my father. But he took me in. I feel this stupid responsibility to be what son he might never have, and it's a big burden."

"One you don't need to have resting on you," replied Millie softly. Dick looked over at her, and their eyes locked. For the first time, Millie noticed that this happy go lucky charm he always seemed to have was not there, that it perhaps was a way for him to cope or a way for him to not face reality. It tugged at her heart to know that he was currently feeling so bad about something. "Bruce is just Bruce. If anyone, I should be the one with that burden. I'm the one he wants to take over his life when he dies."

"Yeah…" Dick sighed, combing his fingers through his hair. "But there's more. And that more is what he wants me to take over when he dies. But honestly, I don't see how I can if all I ever do is stand in his shadow while he does his thing and keeps things from me… I don't even know if I want that more…"

Millie stared at him, "What, his secret criminal-life?" She tried to joke, but really she was rather worried about what he meant.

Suddenly, his fingers grasped her chin, gently turning her face to look him in the eyes once more. Without having noticed it, Dick had moved in closer, his face inches away from hers. She felt that electricity now, that magnetism that Dick had around him. His features softened when she looked at him, almost making his face light up, everything else around him disappearing. He was perfection to her, and nothing else, nobody else, would ever be able to measure with him.

He was about to open his mouth to speak, when something disturbed the moment.

A loud crash.

It came from the party and only seconds later, screams could be heard coming from inside. Dick and Millie moved away from the balcony and towards the small storage room. Though when they tried the doorknob, they realized the door was locked.

"What!?" exclaimed Millie as Dick kept trying to push the door open, putting his shoulder into it.

"Maybe it's one of those doors that locks itself when you enter or something…"

"It didn't lock when I entered 'cause you could get in here after me," countered Millie, her cheeks flushing as her heart sped up with worry and fear. Another crash was heard. It sounded like glass shattering into a million pieces. "What is going on!?"

"Okay, okay…" breathed Dick, stepping away from the door. "We gotta figure this out."

"Do we even want to get in there?" asked Millie quietly. "We don't know what's happening there."

The thick, ticking sound of gunshots was heard then, and Dick pushed Millie down to the floor, the two sitting there, crouched, right in front of each other. Their faces were once more inches away from each other and a few seconds passed as they just stared at each other. But this time it was not cute, warm and loving. This time, they were both thinking separately, wondering what to do now.

"There's people in there who need help…" Dick worded what he was thinking out loud.

"But what can we do?" Millie's thoughts were so different from his… she could not help but admire him even more for keeping his cool and thinking only of other people while in such a situation.

"Even the most ordinary of people can do great things, Millie," he whispered, placing a soft hand against her cheek. "You don't need a cape and a mask to be a hero."