Chapter 21

While Diana was not enthusiastic about the Waynes themselves, she had to admit their manor was extravagant. There was so much history in everything from the architecture to furniture to the painting on the wall.

"And in here are the statues of many of the previous owners of the Manor," Alfred the butler informed them before opening the door and allowing the visitors in. "There are also other works of art which were collected by Anthony Wayne and his wife, during their lifetime, due to their love of marble. They also started the tradition of making a statue of each generation of Waynes. They…" Just then loud thumps sounded from the stairs and the group saw a young woman with long blonde hair and a flowy white dress with pink flowers ran into the room.

"Walk! Miss Kent!" Alfred reminded her. The girl stopped and turned to address him.

"Sorry Mr. Alfred," the young woman responded. Diana scrunched her face up in confusion.

"Kent?" Diana questioned.

"OH, how rude of me," the young woman said before walking back to the visitors and curtsying. "I'm Kara Kent. It's a pleasure to meet you." The visitors curtsied in response.

"Pleasure to meet you," Diana responded. "I'm Diana Princeton and these are my aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Howard Gardener." Kara's face lit up with surprise.

"Princeton? Do you know Lois Princeton?" Kara asked.

"Yes, she's my elder sister," Diana answered.

"OH, I'm Clark Kent's youngest sister," Kara said with a smile. "I've been wanting to meet you for so long. And so has Barbara. OH! You MUST meet Barbara." Kara grasped Diana's hands and led her towards another room.

"Miss Kent! That is extremely improper!" Alfred exclaimed but Kara paid no attention as she proceeded to drag Diana towards a nearby room. When Kara released Diana, she found herself in a room full of music instruments but what caught her eyes was the young woman at the piano who possessed light redish-brown long hair and was wearing a flowery white blouse as well as a long black skirt. When the woman noticed Diana, she got up and made her way to Diana with a smile on her face.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," she said with a curtesy. "I'm Barbara Wayne." Diana curtsied in response.

"I'm Diana Princeton," Diana replied. "And the pleasure is all mine." Surprise spread across Barbara's face.

"Princeton?" Barbara questioned. Diana nodded hesitantly.

"Yes?" Diana responded hesitantly.

"OH. It is SO good to finally meet you," Barbara exclaimed. "I've heard so much about you. All good things I assure you."

"You've heard of me?" Diana questioned. Barbara nodded.

"Yes, my brothers have told me about you in their letters," Barbara informed her. "Bruce called you charming and witty. And believe me when I say, he does not hand out compliments easy."

"Br—Mr. Wayne talked about me?" Diana asked. Barbara nodded and smirked.

"Every letter we got when he was in Netherfield there was always a mention of you," Barbara told her. "If I didn't know better, I'd say he liked you." Diana's face flustered in embarrassment. There was no way this was true. Mr. Wayne wrote about her? There was a knock on the door catching the attention of everyone present. The door opened revealing…

"Bruce!" Barbara exclaimed in delight as she ran up to embrace her brother. Diana froze in shock and surprise. Wait, this wasn't real. This wasn't….

"It's good to see you too Barbara," Bruce said before releasing her.

"I've missed you so much," Barbara responded.

"I missed you too…" Bruce started before noticing there was another person present. Bruce and Diana made eye contact causing the former to freeze and the latter to run.

"Excuse me," Bruce said briefly to Barbara before chasing after Diana.

Diana quickly walked away from the music room and through the halls in effort to find the front door. Diana then realized the back door was only a room's length away. With haste Diana walked across the room and headed out the door.

"Miss Diana," Bruce called from the door. Diana halted and turned to face him. Bruce gently jogged up to her. "Miss Diana, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you."

"You didn't. I was just…surprised," Diana responded. "We hear you wouldn't be home for quite some time."

"Yes well, I came home a bit early then excepted," Bruce told her. "I'm sorry for starling you. Though I don't blame you for acting the way you did. Afterall, our last encounter was rather…unpleasant."

"I believe that is putting it mildly," Diana responded with smile. Bruce smirked in response.

"I couldn't agree more," Bruce said.

"I apologize for…well, if we had known that you would be coming then we would certainly not have dreamed of visiting at this time," Diana told him.

"No, I did not tell anyone I was returning so soon so the error is more on me," Bruce responded. "Are you enjoying the manor?" Diana nodded quickly.

"Oh, yes, it's lovely," Diana replied. "It's so full of history and definitely lives up to its reputation. We were in the room full of statues and were about to head into the library before Kara dragged me off to meet Barbara."

"Well she has been wanting to meet you for quite some time," Bruce told her.

"And how had she heard of me?" Diana teasingly questioned.

"Richard and Jason probably," Bruce lied.

"And not you?" Diana teased.

"Maybe a little," Bruce admitted. Diana chuckled a little in response. "I'm sure she would love to become better acquainted with you. Would you care to come over tomorrow so you can become properly acquainted?"

"I would love that," Diana answered with a smile.

"If you want, I could show you the library right now," Bruce suggested.

"OH, I would…" Diana started with anticipation.

"Diana!" The pair turned behind them to see the Gardeners.

"There you are!" Alexa exclaimed. "I've been looking for you everywhere. OH, Mr. Wayne." Alexa curtsied and Mr. Gardener bowed. "I'm sorry." Bruce bowed before responding:

"There's no need to apologize."

"I'm Alexa Gardener and this is my husband Howard Gardener," Alexa informed him. "We're Diana's aunt and uncle. It's an honor to meet you."

"The honor is all mine," Bruce said. "Are you enjoying the manor?"

"Very much so," Mr. Gardener answered.

"I love the grounds. It's absolutely beautiful," Alexa responded.

"Aunt Alexa, why were you looking for me?" Diana asked.

"OH, we were letting you know that we were ready to leave," Alexa explained. "But if you're not ready…"

"No, it's okay," Diana interrupted before turning back to Bruce. "I'm sorry to cut this short…"

"No that is quite alright," Bruce responded. "We can talk more tomorrow." Diana nodded.

"I'll see you then," Diana said.

Hours Later

"How much longer are you going to stay up?" Shayera groaned from underneath her pillow. She and Lois were in the bedroom they shared, and the time was currently about twelve at night.

"Not much longer," Lois said as she finished writing another sentence. "I just want to finish writing this letter to Diana."

"Well hurry up!" Shayera complained. "Some of us want…" She was interrupted by loud bangs on the front door. The two stopped and looked at each other in surprise and confusion. The banging continued.

"Mr. Princeton!" Persephone shrieked from their room.

"We'd better go see who it is," Lois said as she grabbed her candle and made her way out of the room with Shayera following behind. Hades was already halfway down the stairs with a candle in hand and a wife only a few feet behind. Cassie followed Shayera and Lois downstairs as she too was startled by the noise. Hades opened the front door.

"Letter from Colonel Foster," the man stated as he handed the letter to Hades. Hades nodded in response and closed the door behind him.

"What could possible be so important that…" Hades said as he opened the envelope. "They felt the need to…" He stopped once he read the first line of the letter.

"Father, what's wrong?" Lois asked. Hades handed her the letter. Lois held it up so she could read it in the candlelight. "Dear Mr. Princeton, It is with pain that I tell you…"