Chapter One

Breakfast was always a table affair. One of the main rules of the Wayne household was if you're in the house for a meal, you eat together. It wasn't always possible with their cape crusading, but Bruce had a knack for getting Dick to eat at the table.

It was Friday morning, and Bruce and Dick were sitting in the kitchen at a small table eating a protein filled breakfast. Dick was reviewing his history notes for his quiz, and Bruce was reading the paper. The commissioner had released a statement on the latest drop in crime since Batman has risen in Gotham.

"Dick," it wasn't odd for them to talk at the table, but the eighth grader was normally the one who spoke first. Dick raised his head in question, looking at his pseudo father in curiosity.

"I won't be coming home until late tonight."

It was now normal for Bruce to announce his arrival time especially since multiple incidents during Dick's first year home where his fear that Bruce would disappear led to multiple crying panics.

Bruce didn't specify his outing for the night, so Dick being the teenage boy he is decided to poke fun.

"What's going on tonight? Got a hot date?" He made a face hinting at the fact Bruce might have a little fun tonight, but the answering smirk told Dick that his joking was being taken seriously.

"Yes, in fact, I do."

That threw him for a loop. Bruce never really took interest in anyone for more than a single event, but, by the smirk on his lips, Dick could tell that this wouldn't be the first time his father would be going out with this person. This was very interesting to the fifteen year old, especially since he had the curiosity of a cat. "No way," his fork hit the plate as it slid from his grip.

"No way!" His hands came down on the table as he rose to his feet, a smile as bright as the sun as he interrogated his father for details.

"Who is it? Why didn't you tell me? How long has this been going on? Alfred!" The boy whined to the older butler. "Did you know about this?" His tone was offended at the fact the butler probably knew and didn't say a word.

Alfred's face was feigning ignorance as he avoided eye contact with the young man pestering him- staring straight ahead. His tone of voice was a dead giveaway. "I may have suspected something was occurring when the amount of dinners for a party of two were suddenly quite popular." Alfred refilled Dick's glass with orange juice. "I also happened to see her silhouette a few times when receiving Master Bruce from these outings."

"What?!"

"Alfred." Bruce's tone was full of warning for the butler.

"I'm afraid that's all from me, Master Dick."

The boy glared at his father with annoyance that he was being left out of the information. Bruce simply held his gaze and took a long sip of his coffee, unaffected by his protege's feelings on the matter. Their staring match lasted for a solid minute of pure silence before the teen gave up knowing that his father wouldn't reveal anything at this time.

Good thing he knew how to get it himself.

Dick shrugged his shoulders and sunk back into his seat, slightly pouting to keep the illusion up. He nibbled on his toast and remembered his appetite. He glanced at the time and quickly shoved his eggs and sausage into his mouth. Bruce took this cue to drain his coffee and rise from the table, straightening his tie and slipping on his coat jacket.

It was about a twenty minute ride before the car pulled in front of Gotham Private Academy. Dick closed the car door and turned to walk up the stairs. He was halted by the sound of the window rolling down. He stopped and looked back to the car door.

The window was rolled down to half way, so that only Bruce's eyes were visible. He approached the car and stood there, waiting for his father to make the first move. Their eyes were quiet and serious in their silent conversation. The air was thick with the tension that remained from this morning's breakfast.

Bruce eyed his son over the window with serious eyes and then he smirked, knowing for the second time today he had won. Bruce said one thing before rolling up the window and disappearing into the city traffic.

"Leave it alone Dick."

School was boring as usual for the unusually intelligent kid that Dick was. He arrived home around 3:30, like usual with Alfred's impeccable timing. He tackled his schoolwork and got ahead for his classes, so patrolling would be his only focus. With a glance at his watch, the teen figured that he should get started on his side project since it was six o'clock. The teen descended into the Cave and hit the main station. The supercomputer in the underground would give Dick access to the public and most private CCTV available around the city, and the trackers present on Bruce's person would make finding him and his secret partner a nonissue.

Dick took pause when activating the tracker. He thought back to the warning from that morning. Bruce only set hard boundaries when the situation was a threatening to Dick or the safety of others, but this wasn't a hard boundary. This was different; his eyes said don't, but the smirk on his face implied that the mentor was already three steps ahead of the teen. What's the harm in seeing if that's true?

Not one to enjoy being one-upped, Dick activated the tracker and used Alfred's login to the computer. I don't need to be obvious about spying on him.

The screen flashed to life and immediately, Dick began searching for the location. It happened to be an upper scale chinese restaurant that the duo had eaten at before; Dick enjoyed their specialty dumplings. A quick search on the restaurant's online database for reservations confirmed that the "Wayne; party of two" was indeed in attendance. The raven began cataloging what security camera would give the best results for the interior of the building, but Bruce, being ever prepared, picked an area where the woman's face he was with was conceled to the camera.

From what he could see, she had short-cropped hair with it longer on the top, molded into a graceful wave that probably framed her face. Her long neck and pale back was on display with her backless dress. Her arm was propped on the table, holding her chin in her hand.

The two of them were talking at a linen covered table with a bottle of wine and some glasses between them. Bruce looked different. Dick had seen him on plenty of dates and at functions, but this was different. He looked genuinely interested and happy. Bruce always had a way of pretending to be interested, but Dick knew his tell- a slight twitch in his pinky and maybe a tight smile. With her, his shoulders were loose, face held a relaxed and amused smile, his arms above the table gesturing with one hand in whatever story he was telling.

The teen was stumped at the situation. This had never happened since he had been with Bruce. This woman must have been something else if she was able to catch the eye of the elusive Bruce Wayne.

Dick activated a motion tracker that would alert his phone if they started to move from camera to camera. He moved from the computer to the training area and began to go through his stretches. He hadn't gone through his gymnastics routine the night before, so he needed to stretch extra today to make sure he was loose enough.

It wasn't until nine o'clock that the pair decided to move from their table. Dick set down his staff and rushed to the computer to catch their movements. He found them on the camera attached to the restaurant entrance. The woman's face still wasn't pointed to the camera and the second one in the lobby didn't have it either.

Bruce helped her slide her black coat on and offered his arm. As he looked at her with a smile, he glanced toward the camera Dick was currently using and smirked with a raised brow. Suddenly, the screen went dark and the keypad wasn't responding.

"What the hell?" He typed some code to try and get a response from the computer, but nothing was happening; there was only a completely dead screen staring back at him. Dick went to look at the motherboard behind the machine, and halted in his steps as he saw Alfred standing there with one arm holding the unplugged power cord and the other pointing straight for the door back to the house. Dick sighed and began making his journey inside the manor.

"Busted."

She knew no one would be waiting for her when she arrived home from school, so she wasted no time in changing into some old loose jeans and a short sleeve shirt. She made sure to grab her wide brim hat and tool box before closing the door and making her way to the elevator. She pressed the up button and waited for the doors to open.

"Hey Clementine, heading to the roof?" She was greeted by a kind and familiar face. The man was in his late forties, but his eyes were youthful and kind. His smile was infectious, and she couldn't help but respond in kind when she nodded in confirmation.

"Hey Martin, how are the kids?" Clementine stood next to the man and leaned back against the wall of the elevator cart. She looked to the man as she spoke; they spoke everyday, multiple times a day. In fact, every time she used the elevator, really.

"They're doing just fine. Delia made an A on her math test. We really would like your help again if you could?" His eyes were full of pride when speaking of his youngest. She was a surprise child for the family, but they loved her so much it was almost sickeningly sweet. The nine year-old was a bright kid, but she was having trouble in math this year, so Clementine offered her help to the family.

"Absolutely, I would love to. Just tell me when I should come over." The girl was always so engaging and joyful, so it was no problem to tutor the child twice a week. It was a good deal since Clementine needed the service hours, anyway.

"Thank you Ms. Clemintine. Enjoy your gardening." The elevator arrived at the top floor and opened to the ornate hallway. She exited the cart and turned to wave goodbye to her companion.

"Thank you, Martin." She smiled and once the doors closed, Clementine turned to walk to the other end of the hall. The door at the other side of the hall opened to the staircase that connected to the roof.

The rooftop door opened to an unexpected site for a tall city building. The ground was covered in green space. Flowers filled the spaces between walkways, and streams ran all throughout the garden, even with a little pond in the corner. There was a patch in another portion of the lot that was designated the herb and vegetable lot by a sign the complex's kids made. The sign hung up on the wall of the lot and had written on it in bright orange letters "Veg Out!"

Clemintine made her way towards the middle of the lot, where her newest blooms laid. The patch of anemones stared up at her with their eyeball-esque centers, watching her as she watched them. Their flower heads seem to sway in the high winds that floated along the roof. She blinked at them and they blinked right back. That image seemed to startle her out of her trance like state, and she knelt down on the dirt and mumbled to herself.

"Let's get started."

"Mail for room 753, please." It was a nightly routine to go down to the first floor front desk to ask for the mail after her workout session in the communal gym. She wasn't expecting anything big, maybe a letter from a contest she entered or her work check for the week, but it was in good practice to check once a day.

"Right away ma'am." The desk clerk replied; he was a short stubby man named Carl whom she used to annoy when she first came to live with Selina. She had early memories of being curious about everything, from the glass chandeliers to the staff mopping the decorative tiles late at night. There were plenty of times Carl and his coworkers- a man named Viet and a woman called Lina- had to shoo her out of the lobby for being too noisy.

She walked to one of the smaller seating areas in a corner of the lobby's grand room and took a seat in a corner chair, so her back was facing the main entrance. She shuffled through the envelopes and postcards, stopping on one labeled for herself with the picture of a pink carnation on the front. The back had a message in familiar, simple and neat cursive.

Missing you in every moment. Can't wait for the 21st. Love you -Mom

Clementine had a small and genuine smile on her face, remembering her appointment. It would be her next monthly visit; she had already planned out things to talk about and hoped this one didn't have to be cut short like the last two had.

Abruptly, her ears strained for a moment, causing some pain, before settling on a distinct chatter behind her. It was always a disorienting feeling when her hearing reached beyond normal, but she adjusted quickly and soon noticed why it happened.

"I had a lovely evening." Selina's voice rang in her ears as if she was right next to the woman. The older woman's tone spoke of soft affection and flirty hinting. She could almost see the woman's face in her mind as she spoke.

"Does that mean you're open for another one?" The man's voice was familiar, but in a distant, forgotten sort of way. She couldn't put a name to the voice, but she knew the feeling it gave her. It was intimidating but oddly, she felt protected.

"Why, Mr. Wayne, are you asking for my company again?" Wayne? Clementine couldn't recall Selina ever talking about a "Wayne" before. Who the hell names their kid Wayne ? The thought left a sour look on her face.

"Ms. Kyle, I certainly am." She could feel the smirk on his face in her ears and couldn't help but roll her eyes. This man was confident, just like her caregiver. This was a good thing because Selina didn't go well with pushovers, and Clementine would only accept the best for her aunt.

Silence stretched between the couple in the lobby. Clementine decided to risk a glance at the pair from behind the chair. She slowly leaned to the right and ever so slightly turned her head to find the familiar figure of the woman she knew.

She saw them standing underneath the main chandelier. Selina's black coat recognizable to her trained eyes. The woman stood with a slight lean on her male partner. The man in question was dressed in a full suit, pure black like midnight. His wide and strong shoulders were on display and his left arm was wrapped around the woman's waist, but his face wasn't visible to her position. Their bodies tensed with the silence stretching between the two of them. Clemintine turned back and refocused on their voices.

"We need to schedule a meeting for them." Selina's voice began to travel in the direction of the elevators. Signaling to the hidden girl that she needed to sink into her chair to avoid being caught. Her slouched shoulders helped decrease her height, but her ears remained trained on the couple's conversation.

"I know." Wayne acknowledged. They took a pause at the lift's base. From this angle, Clementine had a shot of making it to the stairway from her position in the lobby. She would have to be fast, but it was doable; although, she wasn't leaving before the conversation ended.

"They're only going to keep getting closer to the truth, and it'll be worse if we don't tell them ourselves." They had to be Clementine, but the other part or parts of "they" made her curious. She was the only one that was predominant in Selina's life, considering she was the woman's ward, but who could Wayne need to inform about the pairs escapades?

"How about Friday evening?" Clementine hoped that they didn't mean this Friday; Selina knew she had her weekly meet up at the coffee house this Friday. Dakota would kill her if she missed the group hangout for some stupid dinner with Wayne .

"Dinner at my place?" Wayne's house? Oh hell no; Clemintine and Selina had enough trust issues between the two of them to last for several decades. If Selina said yes to dinner at Wayne's place, that must mean that she must be pretty serious about this guy.

"7 o'clock." Are you kidding me? This is ridiculous. Selina is going to have a lot of questions to answer before Clementine steps foot into the cab to get to Wayne's on Friday. This is never how things have gone before when Selina had a boy toy around. It was always playful flirting and plentiful but short lasting dates that satisfied the woman's need for attention. This was a whole new ballpark.

"Goodnight, Selina." Wayne crooned as the woman stepped into the elevator shaft. Gross. She must look ridiculous slumped in a chair making faces of disgust to herself.

The elevator dinged as the cart arrived to deliver Selina to their floor. She heard the sound of lips meeting and parting and silently gagged to herself, but made her way to the stairway.

Almost invisible to the normal human eye, a blur of grey and black rushed across the lobby into the stairwell.

"Hi kitten, how was your day?" Clemintine was lounging on the living room couch, skimming her latest book, attempting to look casual in her van gogh t shirt and school issued sweatpants as Selina walked into the apartment and delivered a sweet kiss on the teen's forehead. She had made it up just in time to settle herself before the woman entered the space.

"It was good. How was your date?" Clementine's voice projected as Selina walked into her bedroom to strip off her dress from the evening. She tried to sound innocently interested, practice and experience seeing her role model lie countless times aiding in her fib. Selina walked back into the room to wink at her charge with her reply.

"Wonderful. Can't wait for the next one." She turned to go back into her bed room, but stopped when she noticed a stain on the girls shirt collar. She scratched the dried food spot and tsked at her charge. "You're so messy sometimes, kitten. How did you manage to stain black?"

Notes: Blue Roses mean mystery, Pink Carnations mean a mother's love, Anemones mean anticipation for the future