Yawning, Mary rubbed her eyes, picking up the spoon and dropping it into her chocolate cereal. Dick grinned at her pouring some coffee into his green mug. "Where you going?" Mary asked, sitting up straighter.
Instead of his usual jeans and t-shirt, he was wearing his police uniform, minus the jacket.
"Back to work, remember?" he said, sipping his coffee. Mary looked up at him blankly. "You know, Bruce and I heading back to work, Damian to school. I told you, yesterday?" Dick said trying to jog her memory.
Mary nodded, biting her lower lip. "Right, I thought that was next week…"
Dick set down his mug lightly. "Hey, don't worry. You're gonna have a lot of fun. You can watch TV, read-And we'll be back before you know it."
Mary nodded, giving him a smile. "Yeah, I know."
Dick gave her a small smile slowly reaching out, gently squeezing her shoulder. A light beep chimed from his watch. Glancing at it, Dick grabbed his mug. "Ah, I gotta go."
"Have fun." Mary said, glancing at him over her shoulder. Dick chuckled, downing the coffee bending down lightly kissing Mary's forehead. "See you later!" he called back, pulling on his jacket running out the door.
Pursing her lip, a light smile playing on her face. Mary sighed, picking up her spoon, munching on her chocolaty disks.
It was a nice day, unnaturally sunny and bright, with butterfly's flying here and there, birds chirping with- "Father! I don't want to go!"
Well it was.
"This is not up for discussion, Damian. You're going to school." "There is no reason for me-"
"Damian you're going that's final." Bruce said adjusting his tie, as he made his way to the kitchen. Damian trailing behind him still in his pyjamas. Alfred rolling his eyes from behind the two of them. "Good morning Miss Mary."
"Morning Mary." Bruce greeted shooting her a smile, as he pulled out a mug from the cupboard.
"Good morning Bruce, Alfred, Cranky." Mary greeted, smiling at Damian's face. Damian rolled his eyes, putting in some toast. "I'm going to school today." he said, sliding into a chair next to her.
"Really, I had no idea." Mary said, setting down her spoon. "Your sarcasm needs work." Damian said leaning against the chair, ruffling his hair.
"Damian, I barely know what sarcasm is." Mary replied, taking her bowl to the sink. Damian jumping up and making them tea.
"You know I could convince father to let me stay if you asked." Damian said, watching her closely. Mary raised an eyebrow. "Worried about me?"
"Last time, you almost died. It would be foolish of me not to worry." Damian replied sliding her, her mug.
Mary paused, clasping the mug between her hands allowing the heat to burn them. Before Damian lightly poked her. "Stop it. You're going to hurt yourself."
Mary released the mug, rubbing her hands on her black jeans. "I'll be fine."
"Are you sure?" he asked. Mary sighed, nodding her head slowly. "Yes, Damian."
The toaster let out a pop as Damian's golden toast flew out. Setting it onto his plate, he continued glancing at Mary. "I am going to be fine. Don't know about you though." she said, sipping her tea.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Damian asked, spraying crumbs of toast everywhere. Brushing some off her shoulder, Mary tucked some hair behind her ear. "Well, it must be hard being away from me for so long. I mean-"
"That's not it."
"I think it is."
"Na ah."
"Ah ha."
"Na Ah!"
"Ah ha!"
"Master Damian," Alfred interrupted, pausing the argument. "Time for school."
"Ugh." Damian grumbled, shoving in the last bit of toast. Running upstairs to change.
Mary, shut her eyes, breathing in the hot steam coming from the tea. Looking up at, she saw Bruce pacing up and down, phone pressed to his ear. "Did Bruce eat breakfast yet?" Mary asked Alfred. "I'm afraid not." Alfred whispered.
Mary frowned. "Who's he talking to?" she asked.
"Someone from the Wayne Enterprise Board, I believe."
"Oh." Mary mumbled, watching Bruce pinch his forehead.
'Obviously talking to someone extremely stupid.' Mary thought, Bruce had a lot of patience. "Alfred," Bruce called, walking up next to them. "I've got to go to the office."
"Without breakfast?" Mary blurted out, looking down instantly. Bruce chuckled. "Unfortunately, yes," he said, scratching her ear. "Umm, Mary would you be fine with being alone for a little while?"
"Yes." Mary said instantly, looking back up. "Yes. I'll be fine."
"Ready to go, Pennyworth." Damian said, jumping down the stairs, tying his tie.
"Damian, an Oriental Knot. Have you been raised by wolves? What would Talia think?" Mary said cheekily.
"Oh, you're hilarious." Damian said drying, pulling on his coat. "Come along Pennyworth, let's get this over and done with."
"According to new reports, the crime rate has had an unusual decrease, with the expectation of the somewhat hurried escape of the Royal Flush gang from prison. Detective Gordon-"
"Hmm." Mary hummed, switching off the TV looking up at the clock.
7:45.
She had manged a total of five minutes since they left and she couldn't even handle the News Channel. It was strange. The manor so silent.
Even with Tim and Jason gone, the manor was constantly noisy. With Bruce's snores, the dinging of the oven when Alfred baked cookies, the TV, her father's odd, but infectiously happy laugh.
Now there was nothing, even the birds seemed to stop chirping. It was peaceful and Mary liked quiet, but not this kind.
Shifting uncomfortably she leaned over the couch, she spotting Bruce's lukewarm, quarter drunk coffee, sitting on the counter.
'Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, Mary.' Dick had told her; in one of their morning 'Big-bird and Baby Blue Talks' as he had labelled them.
'Bruce never had breakfast...So…' Mary thought, before shaking her head, lying back down attempting to take the idea out of her head. 'But Bruce didn't have breakfast!'
"No one's here, I guess it wouldn't hurt." she mumbled. "No, no. I am not doing this." The clock ticked, one minute. "That's it." Mary said, jumping up, racing upstairs.
Throwing her room door open, she ran to her closet still holding the bare minimum of clothing. Grabbing her jacket and a backpack, she ran back down into the kitchen.
Sliding the chair, climbing on top of it, she swung open the first cupboard. Bruce eating was a rarity to witness, he ate at odd times, and not food-food as according to what she observed.
The manor was always fully stocked, and with her and all the 'Batboys' (another Dick Grayson nickname) they went through food pretty quickly especially with their 'night life'.
And with her, Dick and Tim munching on cereal quite often the cereal cupboard had amassed quite a variety.
Biting her lower lip, Mary swept all the cereal boxes from the cupboard stuffing them in to the bag.
Jumping down from the chair, she picked up the half-filled coffee pot. 'Bruce would want fresh coffee.' she thought, looking around she opened a few more cupboards, finally finding one for containers.
Fishing out a deep green lunchbox, Mary poured the coffee inside it, snapping it shut and stuffing it into the bag too. Grabbing two smaller lunchboxes, she threw in sugar and milk, before stuffing those in too.
Zipping up the bag, Mary pulled open a final cupboard, where a small extra phone was kept. Unlocking it, she typed in the directions for Wayne Tower.
Smiling to herself, walking out of the kitchen. Pulling open the front door, the sun streaming in, she stepped out.
Chaotic. That was on word that she would use to describe Gotham City. People walking everywhere: in no order, this way and that, talking, shouting, phones ringing, screaming, and laughter.
She hadn't been outside in the world, at least not like this. Not so…open.
It was bright, but not like Wayne Manor where it had the natural sun and the bright grass and trees. The city was clouded, grey but bright with its different coloured lights, and shiny cars.
The building were tall, huge things seeming like they could touch the sky. Gargoyles and statues, weeping angels and laughing men. They were everywhere, standing tall and strong, stone and not.
It was like she had stepped into a new world, seeming so much bigger than she ever dreamed it could be. Odd new smells touched her nose, and if she was quite honestly; they were absolutely disgusting.
But she loved it. Every single bit of it.
And there standing there, right slap bam in the middle, strong, tall, bright, was Wayne Tower. And it was glorious.
Walking up the stone steps, she pushed open the thick glass doors. Wayne Tower, it was like entering a palace of work. It had moving stairs and normal stairs and boxes that moved with people inside. It had desks and some many people in suits and important looking shoes. It was magnificent, and beautiful and-
"Hey! Kid! What the hell are you doing here!?" came a shout from behind her. Looking around, she was met with the man.
He had serious big eyebrows and a large frown to match, and quite frankly seemed rather unpleasant. But she didn't mind. This was her first.
Her first normal person. Someone who had no clue about how she could kill him with a paperclip. No idea, how many important people and celebrities she had assassinated. No clue that his Boss was Batman of all people.
"Well? Ya just gonna stare?" he said, his voice was ruff and harsh, making her wonder if it was a requirement for security guards to attempted to be intimidating. "I asked ya, what you doing here?" he said, hands on his belt that held a Taser and gun.
As if he could stop her.
"Ummmm…" Mary hummed, looking around, no one went over social interactions and protocols with her. "Errrr…" she said, looking around for some way to could avoid this, or run to Bruce. The guard raised his thick eyebrows.
"Ummm...errrr." Mary said, flying straight into panic mode. The guard snorted, rising a hand probably to slap her or to drag her out. How did these things even work?
Desperately trying to rein in her fight or flight senses, both were telling her to get out. Mary looked up, spotting Bruce, walking on a higher floor talking to some people who were scuttling behind him like baby ducks. "Bruce." she blurted out, running forwards.
"Bruce! BRUCE!" she yelled, waving her arms, jumping up and down. Skidding to a halt, Bruce walked to the rail, looking down. Mary stopped jumping, waving shyly.
"Hi Bruce." she mumbled.
"How did you get here?" Bruce asked, closing the door to his office, leaving his scuttling people outside. "I walked." Mary answered, swinging her legs, the chair far too big for her.
"Here? Through Gotham?" Bruce said staring at her like she was mad. "Where else?" Mary asked, furrowing her eyebrows.
Bruce sighed, walking to his desk, sitting down. Mary glanced at the floor. "Are you angry? Did I do something wrong again?"
"No, no," Bruce said quickly. "I'm not angry…But, Gotham's dangerous, and even though you can protect yourself, you still shouldn't be walking around by yourself. This city isn't safe, okay?"
Mary nodded. "Okay…I'm sorry."
Bruce smiled. "So, what did you need?" he asked leaning forwards. "You must have come here for something."
Mary nodded, brightening up. "This." she said, unzipping the bag and emptying out the cereal and lunchboxes onto his desk.
"Breakfast!" she said excitedly, smiling brightly at Bruce. Bruce blinked, a smile tugging on his lips once more, picking up the coffee filled lunchbox.
"You never had breakfast, and Dick said it's the most important meal of the day. So I thought I could bring you some. I wasn't really sure what breakfast you liked, so I brought cereal, but then I didn't know what flavour you liked. So I brought them all." Mary said, neatly placing the boxes on his desk. "Are you-
Bruce chuckled. "Thank you, Mary. This is wonderful." Bruce said, cutting her off, walking around and giving her a light pat on the shoulder. Mary blushed shyly, looking down at her carpet, smiling to herself.
Walking back to his desk, Bruce pressed a button on his intercom.
"Janet, could you please bring some bowls and mugs in here?"
"Really?! How-He didn't?!" Mary giggled, as Bruce told her about how Dick had once got himself stuck on the chandelier. "He did, I had to get a ladder to help get him down." Bruce laughed, eating another spoonful of Sugar Oaties.
"Wow," Mary said, munching some more of her Chocomania, disk cereal. "You all seemed to have some much fun." Mary said, munching thoughtfully. Bruce nodded. "We had some good times. Once Jason-
Before he could finish Bruce was cut off by his phone ringing. "Hello? Alfred. No, no, no. She's here with me. No, no need to come get her." Bruce said, glancing at Mary sending her a smirk.
"We're having breakfast."
Hiya! I'm back!
A Huge Welcome Back! To old readers and hello new readers!
Disclaimer: I only own my own characters, my plot and story line. Anything else, goes to their respective owners. PS. This is the second book, so I suggest any new readers read: 'What Hides in the Shadows' first.
I'm soo excited!
Till next time...