Bruce tightened his grip on the Batcar's steering wheel. It was well past three in the morning now, he was on his way home. He was exhausted and disappointed. His investigation had hit a dead end. While he'd been able to learn that the Circus had been paying someone off for protection, he had yet to determine who or why. It was frustrating. He steered the car into the secret rocky entrance that led to the Batcave.
Inside the cave, he could barely muster the energy required to strip off his suit and pull on a dark grey tshirt, pajama pants and tuck his toes into a warn warm set of moccasins. Upstairs in the main house, he heard a television. Quietly making his way over to the living room, he found Dick fast asleep on the couch. He watched for a few minutes as the boy slept. Elinore the elephant was nestled under his chin and someone had covered them up with a light-weight, knitted blanket. Curled in a loose crescent shape near Dick's feet was Carly's cat Leo, who lifted his head when he saw Bruce, but didn't bother moving after that.
For a moment, Bruce worried if volunteering to care for the boy, even temporarily, had been a mistake. His house was not the place a child would want to live. Everything was ancient, fragile or irreplaceable. There weren't any video games to be found and the rec room only sported a few board games and a deck of cards. Most of Bruce's old toys had either been donated away or pack in the attic along with any other relics from his childhood. But Carly was good with kids. Great even.
She seemed to have a way of talking with Dick. She explained things at his level without being condescending. She had this way of making even the most mundane things enjoyable. Bruce suspected, perhaps, that she just had a way with people that he could only envy. She was warm and relatable, but sarcastic and honest. She was perfect. He wondered if maybe he could ask for her help. Then he remembered earlier that morning when he had suggested they move in together. She'd been so shocked she had broken a plate.
Bruce shook his head and left the living room. He needed to come up with a plan. He only had one day. After that the weekend would be over. The social worker would call and she would want to know what his plan was. Of course, he was expected at work bright and early Monday morning for an onslaught of meetings and appointments. Meetings which he would not be able to focus on, because his mind would be too busy thinking of the circus and the plot that had led to the Greyson's murder.
Five floors up, Bruce poked his head into Carly's room. He wanted to say good night, just in case she was still awake. When he cracked open the door she wasn't in her room at all. Aside from the soft glow of the TV, there had been no other lights on downstairs. She wasn't in the Batcave, she certainly would have made herself known. She couldn't have been in the kitchen. A slight panic began to rise through him as he racked his brain, trying to think of anywhere she might have gone.
Bruce's bedroom door was cracked open, a pink tie hung lazily on its knob. Bruce smiled. Carly had always been told to treat the mansion as if it were her own house. One day she had intended to do just this, after an unusually nasty disagreement with her adopted mother. She'd come to the mansion to seek refuge, as she had done so many times before. Without even giving it a second thought, Carly had come right through the front door, up to the fifth floor a whipped open her best friend's door. Normally she would do this, flop down on his bed, and recount whatever it was that was trouble her.
In this particular instance, Bruce Wayne was not alone. Twisted up in the bedsheets with one of the cheerleaders from school was the young billionaire. Carly immediately covered her eyes and tried to graciously back out of the room, but the damage had already been done. Sometime later, the incident still not far from either of their minds, Carly and Bruce had been watching a movie in which the male lead placed a tie on his bedroom whenever he had a girl in his bedroom so that his female best friend didn't come barging in.
Once the movie was finished, they went upstairs to Bruce's closet and picked out the ugliest tie they could find. (A pink one with lime green spots that Alfred had purchased for Easter one year.) This tie was unofficially dubbed the "Sexy Time Tie" and it was to be used whenever he had a girl in his room, or if on the rare occasion, Carly had a boy over herself. They continued using this system throughout High School, both their college careers and well into adulthood. Bruce never in a million years dared to dream Carly Rogers herself would be the reason that hideous pink tie rocked back and forth in his doorway. Still, there she was sleeping in what was usually an empty place on his mattress.
Bruce toed off his shoes and slid into the bed, under the covers, next to Carly. He considered wrapping his arms around her, but thought it might be inappropriate since she was still sleeping. Carly, it seemed, hadn't been sleeping that long. As soon as the Billionair's head hit the pillow she was sliding over to him in the darkness. Without waiting for permission, she nestled her head on his shoulder and put a hand on his chest.
"Couldn't sleep," She yawned, "with you gone."
"Well, I'm here now." He said, now wrapping both his arms around her. It took a slight strain on his neck, but he managed to kiss her softly on the forehead before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep.
A/N: To answer the Guest, I would LOVE to eventually get to do a Young Justice/crossover sequel with this story! That show was one of my favorites. I was so sad when they canceled it.
Maple Sparks, I do occasionally get some sleep, but mostly I eat, go to work and write! LOL
Thank you so much to both of you for your reviews of Chapter 16! Thank you to anyone who had Favorited, followed, enjoyed and reviewed in the past. I always look forward to reading reviews and knowing what everyone is thinking. :D Hopefully I'll be back with a new chapter soon.
