Chapter Two

Wayne Manor

Alfred had caught his niece in the nick of time. She had gone down fast, with hardly any warning and he caught her with one arm, almost toppling over himself in the process. He had no choice but to ease her to the ground, she was far too heavy to keep holding up and he very well couldn't lift the poor girl and carry her down the muddy landscape.

"Kate, wake up. Come on now, you need to open your eyes dear." Alfred had started shaking her shoulders. In response, her eye lids began to flutter, instantly comforting her ever frantic and worried uncle.

"Good lord Katherine, are you alright?"

"What happened?"

"I believe that you just blacked out. Do you think that you're ok to stand?" It was then that Kate realized she was looking up at her uncle, noting also that they were both getting soaked to the bone from the massive amounts of rain falling down on them.

"I had to lower you back to the ground," Alfred explained, interrupting her train of thought with a smile stretching at the corners of his mouth. "I believe I am too old to have young women falling at my feet."

"Well, I will try to remember that in the future."

"Yes, please do."

They both looked at each other and chuckled.

"Ok there oldie, do you think you could lend me a hand and help me out of the mud then?"

Why was she bantering with her uncle right now? She was at her sister's funeral for god's sake. She wasn't sure why, but it felt really good and comforting to make witty, mocking comments with her uncle. Besides, she wanted to feel better at any cost right now. There was nothing that she could do to change the reality of this anyway.

It killed her to think that though.

Pushing those traitorous thoughts out of her mind, she tried to concentrate on not slipping and falling once more into the muddy mess of a landscape beneath her feet as she was pulled up into a standing position.

"I must look horrible." Looking down to inspect the damage to her tea length black dress, she quickly determined she was correct. "Meh," she shrugged "there's no one left to meet anyway."

Thank god for that.

They had begun walking down the steep hillside, Alfred providing his coat as shelter for the both of them from the now pelting rain, going past clusters of mourners still lurking about. As Kate walked past many prominent members of Gotham's society, she noticed the disapproving looks from there stone like faces. What was wrong with these people? Could they feel nothing anymore?

Instead of letting loose her wild array of emotions on them though; she decided to take a tighter grip on her uncle's arm, and move at a quicker pace down the hill, not really having a clue as to where she was going.

"Here you go, in ya get." The door to a black BMW swung open towards her.

When did they reach the road? My god, this whole day was becoming a blur. Turning back to her thoughts she asked, "Do you think that they will ever stop gossiping about me?" Taking a look back over her shoulder at the remaining Gothamites, she began to shudder just thinking about the mean things they were saying.

"Probably not for a long time yet I'd assume."

"Great."

Life just couldn't get any better.

"Where are we going? You just passed the exit for Morrison St."

"I thought it might be best for you to stay the night with someone, not be alone and such." Alfred strategically kept his eyes on the road.

"That's very thoughtful, but I think should go back to the hotel. My luggage is there, and I don't really feel comfortable staying at Wayne Manor. To be honest, it very well might depress me more." She kept her gaze away focusing on the blur of trees as they whizzed by them, leaning her head against the glass of the window.

"Why is that?"

"The Wayne's were good people. They were good people who were killed, just like Olivia. Being there, seeing the absence of that good…..it reminds me of how fractured I feel inside, and of how cruel everything seems."

"Oh, you'll feel that anywhere you go. For a while yet, even things that don't relate to this tragedy will make you saddened, but the trick is not to feel defeated, because it will get better. If it didn't most of us wouldn't still be here."

"Well, maybe one night would be alright." She turned and smiled at her uncle, accepting his heartfelt words. She did want to stay and talk with him for a while anyway before she went home, to Scotland.

All he did was smile back.

"I used to love the rain, but now…after today I might be changing my mind. I don't remember it raining this much in September here."

"Today was strangely wet and dreary."

"Oh, I thought it was just me."

"Nope, it really is depressing out there… Ah, here we go."

Kate lifted her eyes up from the floor, as they passed through a large, ornate iron rod gate. It was somewhat reminisant of an industrial revolution style, she noted as they passed through.

"Granted, it's been along time, but I would hazard the guess that's not the same old gate."

"Right you are. After the fire last year Master Bruce started rebuilding the manor from the ground up. Thank goodness we're almost through. Just some small touches are left on the third floor. It's a difficult task to try and make it like a photo copy of how it once was, but we have been fairly successful."

"There was a fire? Was anyone hurt? What an awful thing to…..wait, Bruce has been rebuilding? Didn't he disappear, or was declared dead or something?

"For a time, yes."

"For a time? When in the world did he decide to rise from the dead?"

"Around July of last year. It was quite a surprise."

"Oh, it truly sounds like it." Sarcasm dripped from her words, making Alfred laugh.

"Let's just say I knew that he wasn't dead."

"So you knew he would come back?"

"Realistically, no. I didn't know for certain that Master Bruce would ever come home, but I knew that he was out there somewhere, doing what he needed to do."

"You were all alone that whole time, just waiting? I remember right before I left, I read in the paper that you had inherited a large amount of money as a result of his death. If that was true why didn't you go away?"

"Master Bruce is my family." He said simply "Seeing as I felt that he was still alive, I never gave up hope that he was eventually going to come back and face his demons, I did the same with you as well, and as you can see….here you are."

"So do the tortured always find their way to you then?"

"So it would seem."

They pulled into an airplane hanger sized garage, parking behind a emerald green Aston Martin Vanquish, her mother's favorite car. She remembered the one her mother had when she was younger. When her parents would fight, she and her mom would speed away for a fast thrill ride. It had been the best way for her mother to calm her nerves during fights. A habit that killed her and almost killed Kate hen she was only fourteen years old. Briefly she thought, will everything I see pull up a painful memory?

They both stepped out of the haven of warmth the car had provided and into the chilly garage.

"Are you hungry? We don't want you falling over again."

Trying her best to think back, Kate tried to recall the last time she ate anything. Yesterday? Wait, no that couldn't be right. If today was Sunday, and she found out Thursday night about Liv…..

"Yes, that would be fantastic." Her reply was quick, as she had just realized it had been almost three days since she had eaten anything.

"Don't make it too fancy though, I would hate for you to make anything elaborate and hardly eat a bite."

"Don't worry, simple is about all we do around here."

Pulling her uncles coat closer around her body for warmth, she followed as he made his way to a door on the right of the expansive garage. Upon walking through the doorway she found herself feeling a bit like Alice from Alice in Wonderland. As they walked further into the manor, her surroundings began making Kate feel as though she were in another world. The Manor was vast, but lacked the stuffy air of the upper class she had expected. It had the ability to make you feel regal and important, without intimidating you.

It wasn't a stretch to say she felt right at home here.

"Alfred, how was the funeral?" Bruce Wayne's voice echoed through the foyer as he descended the stairs towards them, his feet moving fast down the marble staircase.

As he moved toward them, his eyes rested on what he supposed was a women, standing behind Alfred, looking as if she were trying to blend into her surroundings. His only real thought though was, why was this woman completely covered in mud?

"Ah, Master Bruce, I would like you to meet my niece Katherine Morton. She came in for the funeral today and I thought she could stay with us for the night."

Kate stepped out from behind her uncle feeling all the blood rush to her cheeks.

"I hope I am not inconveniencing you Mr. Wayne, if so I will be more than happy to go to my hotel." Her words were brief; she didn't feel like beating around the bush with this man or anyone else for that matter. She had seen the shocked look on his face when he had seen her. It wasn't a lie to say she was irritated at herself for worrying about her looks, and that did filter into her tone of voice a little as well.

"First of all call me Bruce. Second, any family of Alfred's is welcome here anytime. It's not as if we don't have the space."

Bruce smirked at her as she began to look a bit disgruntled by his response. Changing his expression though he continued, "I am deeply sorry about the loss of your sister, she will be missed by many."

Just the mention of her sister made her feel queasy and unsteady."Uncle Alfred I feel a little light headed again, is there somewhere I could lie down?"

Bruce raised his eyebrows; his piercing muddy, bark colored eyes bore into her giving Kate a look of complete tenderness and compassion.

Why did he look at her as if he knew exactly what she was feeling?

"Here, grab my arm then and I will take you upstairs to your room. I assume you will want to shower before you eat?"

"That's a fair assumption."

Alfred offered his arm to Kate and they started up the stairs, passing Bruce on the way.

Kate stopped and looked at Bruce, "Thank you Mr. Wayne, I am sorry for my horrible manners at the moment. I am not feeling like myself."

"You have nothing to be sorry for... and, for what its worth right now…. I know exactly how you feel."

Kate smiled meekly, feeling touched by the sincerity in his voice. Bruce couldn't help but notice as he looked at her that even her meekest smile was captivating.

Bruce began walking down the stairs as they continued upward, a thought struck him as he reached the bottom causing him to turn, looking up at Kate as Alfred slowly helped her up the stairs to the guest room.

"And call me Bruce!" he shouted

"Goodnight Mr. Wayne." She turned off the stairs and into the hall and laughed.

"She's definitely related to Alfred." Muttered Bruce as he walked toward the library, looking back down at the papers in his hands as he walked.

He had a sneaking suspicion that he was going to be seeing a lot more of Katherine Morton from now on.

A/N: I have been doing some rewrites to this story, so I took way longer than expected. Chapter Three will take a while to type and edit, but I will work my fastest. A huge thank you to those that reviewed! I love feed back and I'm glad some of you like the start to the story. It's a bit slow in the beginning I know, but bear with me! There is a plot, and many revelations into the past for a lot of characters I promise! So I hope you enjoyed Chapter Two! Please review!!