Chapter 3
Rachel
Rachel was shocked. Now she realized where she recognized Robin's voice from; Richard Grayson went to her school, Gotham Academy, (and of course he was on TV every now and again). She'd seen him around a few times, but she never actually talked to him. She quickly realized that he was both a gentleman and a mischievous little so and so. He gave her a tour of Wayne Manor; it took about 20 minutes because of how massive it was but it was fun and they chatted throughout it and she had a good time. Then she met the ever so sweet Alfred, who Dick described as the butler and his surrogate grandfather, as he took and raised Bruce from a young age. And Bruce. He was nothing like Rachel expected, seeing as he was The Batman. He was kind and fatherly, something her own father never was, though Dick told her that between being a CEO of his own business and a vigilante, he wasn't around much, and she was quickly adopted into this small family of vigilante superhero billionaires.
Alfred made dinner, chicken in breadcrumbs with chips, peas and carrots. It was delicious and Rachel enjoyed it a lot. After dinner, Dick showed Rachel her new room, while she recovered. It had light grey walls and a carpet with varying shades of blue. On the wall opposite to the door, there was a four-poster bed with light blue sheets and matching pillows. There were also three extremely fluffy looking cushions piled on top and some fresh pyjamas lying folded neatly on the mattress (courtesy of Alfred). On the left-hand side of the room, there was a door leading to an en-suite bathroom and on the opposite side there was a dresser and a wardrobe and on the side they came in on, there was a TV.
"Woah…" was all Rachel could say. Dick smirked and pulled her into the room, gently as to not hurt her. "Woah indeed. When I first came here, I was overwhelmed by all of this too, but don't worry, you'll get used to all this in time, like I did." She smiled at him and he smiled back, blue eyes meeting purple. Dick only just seemed to notice her… unusual eye colour and he cocked his head questioningly at her.
"I... I never realised that your eyes are… purple…" he said, trailing off as he got lost in her violet pools. She blushed and looked away before answering, "My father didn't want to draw attention to us, so he made me wear blue contacts at school, I guess they came out when I was crying earlier." She said, stifling a yawn. "Why did he not want to draw attention to the two of you?" Dick asked. Rachel suddenly became very interested in the floor and didn't speak so he took her hand in one of his and with his other hand, he tilted her chin upwards gently.
Rachel suddenly found her voice and replied, "He was… he was a gambling addict, and he got drunk… a lot. When I was young, he started beating me. Nothing that bad, but if I resisted, it got worse. He made me put concealer on the scars and wear contacts so that he wouldn't get found out and go to jail for repetitive child abuse. Then he took it a step too far with his gambling and… from what I know, he got into trouble with the mob… he owed them a lot of money that we didn't have so they tried to kill him… someone took him to hospital and I was going to visit him, to see if he was still in danger when… well... you know the rest."
Rachel looked up at Dick with tears forming in the corner of her eye to see his shocked face and before she knew it, he had enveloped her in a hug. She didn't resist and melted into his arms, sobbing silently into his shoulder. After a few minutes, the tears stopped coming and she pulled away, a sad smile on her face, "Thank you." she mumbled and he tucked a loose strand of her black and dyed red hair behind her ear and told her it was no problem. He told her that he wouldn't be going out on patrol tonight, in case she needed anything and she nodded.
He then suggested settling down and wished her a good night before leaving her to get changed. She sighed and changed, a bit slower and stiffer than usual, because of her stitched up side. She examined her side properly now to see that it was already healing nicely and from her many experiences with wounds (thanks Dad) she could tell it wouldn't be more than a scar in a couple of weeks. That was good. For now though, she should sleep and see what tomorrow would bring.