"Ms. Rogers," Carly's secretary, Clyde, knocked on her office door before letting himself in. "Sorry, but I just…are you okay?"

"Hmmm?" Carly looked up from her laptop screen. "Sorry, Clyde what's up?"

"I don't mean to interrupt. It's just that, well I saw on the news that you and Mr. Wayne were at the circus Saturday night. That must have been awful seeing all of that…"

"It's been a long three days that's for sure." Carly buried her face in her hands. She was exhausted having spent all Sunday night and Monday morning looking up anything she could find out about family court, foster and adoption laws and whatever else might help her and Bruce get Dick home.

"Don't take this the wrong way but you don't exactly look yourself Ms. Rogers. There's circles under your eyes, you came in wearing a sweatshirt and jeans today, I didn't even know you owned a sweatshirt, and you usually do something cool and fancy with your hair, but you're wearing it in a messy bun like you're a sophomore in college. The only time I've ever seen you look like this was three years ago when you had the flu."

"This is so much bigger than that." Carly closed the lid of the laptop and began packing up her things. "What I'm about to tell you stays strictly within the walls of this office…"

"Oooh, is this about the weekend you spent with our favorite multimillionario?" Clyde leaned in on his boss' desk excitedly.

"I wouldn't say it quitethat way, but yes, I'm talking about Bruce. The boy from the circus, the one whose parents died?" Clyde nodded. "We love him, he was so sweet. He's not from around here and there's no one to take care of him. So, Bruce and I we want to become his foster parents."

"How would that even work? Weekdays with you and weekends with him?" Clyde scrambled excitedly into one of the leather chairs in front of the desk. He folded his hands in his lap and waited patiently for an explanation.

"Not exactly. We're going to get married."

"No!" Clyde gripped the sides of his chair. "You, Carly "Lone Wolf" Rogers and Bruce "Billionaire Boy-Toy" Wayne are getting married? How is that possible? You're both famous for that faux flirtation thing you do! If you finally get together, Gotham City, nay the world, might explode!"

"Are you sure you're not over reacting?" Carly squinted at her secretary.

"Oh, no, the whole city is gonna go nuts. But I'm super excited for you. Have you thought about a wedding theme, decorations, venues…"

"I'm going to stop you right there." Carly shouldered her laptop bag and purse. "No wedding planning." She pointed at Clyde very seriously. "As far as you're concerned, there is no wedding. You will plan nothing and you will tell no one. Understood?" Clyde frowned, but nodded slowly in agreement. "Okay, I'm cutting out early, I haven't gotten any actual work done today anyway. If anyone comes looking for me, tell them I've got the flu. I'll call Bruce from the car."

"No one is going to believe you have the flu…you don't care, you've already walked away." Clyde sighed to the now empty office.


Carly didn't call Bruce when she got to the car. Instead she drove all the way to her apartment, parked her car in its designated space, and climbed the stairs to her fifth-floor apartment. Inside the apartment, she made herself a cup of coffee. Even then she didn't call Bruce. With her warm mug held between her hands, Carly walked her apartment.

It was small, but it had been her apartment for six years. The main door opened to her combination living room-kitchen. A small Balcony off the living room was just large enough to stand outside with a nice view of the city. The only others rooms were a tiny bedroom and an even tinier bathroom. The walls weren't professionally decorated like the ones at Bruce's mansion. Her photos were taped the drywall rather than matted and framed. Most of her furniture was cheap and rickety. Still it was hers.

Her home was her home. She had worked for every scratched kitchen chair, and chipped mug that filled the space. It had been her sanctuary. Her place to go at the end of an exhausting work day. Her place to hide when she was mad at her billionaire best friend. But it was all going to have to go. Although ample in square footage, the mansion had no place for her bowls made of melted records or mugs with cartoon characters on them. Her cellphone rang. It was Bruce.

"Car, I'm just coming out of your office. Why didn't you tell me you were leaving? I would have…"

"Because I knew you would have wanted to leave with me." She interrupted him. "I'm sorry B. I just wanted to…"

"Be alone and think?" He interrupted back.

"I'm sorry." She breathed out into the phone.

"Don't apologize. Listen I'm not getting any work done down here either, how about I give you an hour, then I'll head over to your place. Together we can see if they'll let us visit with Dick." Bruce suggested.

"That sounds good." Carly told the phone quietly. "I see you soon B."

When their conversation ended, she left her cellphone on the kitchen table. In her closet, she found two plastic bins that she used to start packing. She started in her drawers. Any clothing she hadn't worn in the last three years was tossed on the floor to be left behind. Once she was finished sorting through her bureau she moved on to her closet. Just her clothing and alone filled an entire bin. After that it was handbags and shoes, which alone filled half of the second bin.

"Car?" Bruce had let himself into the apartment. He wandered through the small residence until he found his best friend sitting on her bed, holding a pair of red shoes. "Carly, what are you doing?"

"I was packing." She looked up. "I tried to fit as much as I could into these two bins." She gestured with her head to where the two totes were stacked. "But all of my clothes and shoes don't even fit. So, I started going through that again. And I found these. Do you know what they are?" She held the pair up to Bruce so that he could inspect them. He held them in his hands.

"They're from the Winter Formal Dance. You were fifteen and you asked me to go with you. It was a girl's choice dance and every one in your class had asked. You turned them all down." She recounted.

"I told you I would owe you a thousand favors and you said…"

"I said Bruce Wayne, I don't need a thousand favors. I need a new pair of shoes." Carly nodded. "Those were the first, and possibly the only, pair of shoes you ever bought for me on your own."

"I can't believe you still have these. But Car, your stuff doesn't all have to fit into these two bins." Bruce settled the pair of shoes down in top of the bin town. "We can buy bins or boxes. And we'll hire movers. You won't have to move any of this."

"Bruce, I know that most of my stiff isn't exactly the style of the mansion…"

"Do you remember what the Wayne family moto is?" Bruce asked, joining her on the bed.

"Something latin…Tempus et…something, something." She replied.

"Tempus et casus accidit omnibus. It means time and chance happens to all. It's a reminder for us to stay humble. Having money doesn't make us any better than the rest of the world. I'm as susceptible to change and tragedy as anyone else." Bruce said. "But, it also means you are entitled to as much happiness as anyone else. If only taking two bins worth of stuff with make you happy then we can take them now. But if you want to take everything, your silly cups with the cartoon characters, those weird bowls you did in college made from vinyl, your fifty pairs of shoes…we'll hire some movers and we'll pack it all up and we'll find new homes for it all in the mansion."

"I just, I don't want to feel like I'm in the way. Ever." She explained. "I don't want my stuff to be in the way. And I want a pre-nump!"

"For your cartoon mugs and record bowls?" Bruce arched an eyebrow.

"No!" She gave him a playful shove. "I want it in writing saying that if we get divorced for whatever reason, I don't get any of your money."

"Carly that's ridiculous. I'm not going to do that. But I'll promise you, you will never be in my way. It would be impossible. I love you too much." He smirked but then seemed to realize what he had just said. "I mean, I care deeply about you."

"I also care deeply for you, Mr. Wayne." Carly kissed Bruce on the cheek. "Let's go see our boy."


A/N: It's been awhile since I've update. Not as long as it could have been, but it feels nice to be back at it again! Mostly boring fill this time around, but Dick will be back in the next one.

Thank you toDJpaigeDJ, wolfmus prime, MapleSparks and the Guest for your reviews of Chapter 21! I hope you all enjoyed Chapter 22. Cant wait to see what you all think!