AUTHOR'S NOTE:
And the venting continues.
=D
****
"Miss Tara Porter, what in the world are you doing?" Bruce asked her that morning with a chuckle as he entered the kitchen. "And in your pajamas no less?"
It had been four months since they had buried Alan and Elizabeth Porter in Gotham Cemetery, and Tara had finally been giving pushing on with her life some serious effort. She had finally decided that she was done moping, which had made her great uncle and her godfather incredibly happy, and in the spirit of moving on, Bruce had gotten Tara a job at Wayne Enterprises. He figured it was as good a place as any to keep an eye on her, and seeing as how she inspired him with both his day and night job anyway, it seemed the perfect place for her. Bruce wanted Tara to feel as comfortable as possible with all the new and sudden changes in her life, and so this seemed the best way to do just that…give her semi-familiar things to occupy her time with as she adjusted.
Tara turned to Bruce and heaved a heavy sigh. "I was making pancakes until Uncle Alfred told me that you had decided to skip breakfast so you could go test out one of Lucius' models for a new and improved Batmobile and then go spelunking to try and make the Batcave larger. So I am now cleaning up after myself—did you bust your lip?!"
"Tara, I'm fine, I swear." Bruce said, holding up his hands in surrender, but the persistent brunette came over to him and sighed, heading to the cupboard to grab herself something to fix his lip with.
"Tara, really—Alfred fixed me up last night." Bruce protested, watching her as she rummaged through the medicine cabinet.
"Honestly, is it so hard to wake a person up to help when you go and get yourself beaten up?" Tara asked him, pulling out the witch hazel and a cotton ball and turning to him. "One of these days you're going to get back from gallivanting off trying to save Gotham and Alfred isn't going to be here and you'll need me. Hell, you need me now."
Bruce chuckled a bit and decided not to fight her as she pointed to a chair, and he sat down and let her go about fixing his lip. He knew it really just made her feel like she was needed when she helped him, but it was a work day for her and she was still in her tank top and pajama pants, instead of in her business attire. Even though he had the day off that day, Tara had a job to do and she was more than happy to do it, she just wanted to make sure that Bruce was going to be all right. In fact she did know he'd be fine…Alfred would be here just in case, but Tara was getting more and more used to thinking as if anyone could drop dead any second—side effect of the car accident.
"Hey, Tara…how's your bruise?" Bruce asked her, wincing a little at the witch hazel, thankful when she took it away and went to put it back.
She shrugged. "It's fine. I, uh…I'm fine."
Bruce just nodded because he knew how much she hated talking about the car accident—especially since she had survived it. He knew she would never forgive Joker for what he'd done to her parents, and he knew that no matter what she did, she couldn't push their memories away. Sadly Bruce knew better than anyone what it was like to have your parents taken from you right in front of you, and though he had hoped that no one else would ever have to go through that…it was a bitter part of life Tara had to accept. She plastered a bright smile on her face and it warmed Bruce's heart and tore him out of his head for just a moment—she had such a beautiful smile.
"I need to go get ready for work." Tara told Bruce, reaching out to stroke his hair softly. "Try not to get killed today, please?"
Bruce smiled at her reassuringly and then placed a soft kiss on her forehead and headed towards the Batcave, Tara settling the butterflies in her stomach and heading directly for her room to get ready to go to work. Staying with Bruce had been both a blessing and a curse for Tara, and she was desperate to make this experience as good as possible. The only thing she couldn't convince herself of? Telling Bruce exactly how she felt about him, even though she knew the idea of it would freak him out given their 15 year age difference, and his hidden morality.
****
During her lunch break Tara found herself reading the Gotham Chronicle and she wasn't quite sure why. She used to read it daily just because her best friends, Jessica London and Marie Ferris had their own columns in it, but since the accident her parents faces—and her own—still had yet to leave the newspaper for good…and it had been four months. They were no longer on the front page, but people were still digging up things about the accident, and about where Joker might be, and the picture never changed…it was still the three of them…like it used to be when they were a family.
"Mom? Dad? I'm home!" Tara exclaimed bags in hand. "Uncle Alfred fed me before I got on the plane, but I'm ready for home cooking!"
She laughed as her parents both appeared and came to smother her in hugs, her father holding her out at arms length while her mother explained what dinner would be like. Tara rolled her eyes as they paid all of the attention to her, but secretly she was glad they were so excited to have her home. She spent most of her time at Wayne Manor going to school, and she loved getting to go back to spend the time with her mother and father—even it meant leaving Bruce and Alfred behind.
"Are you really my little girl? You're so tall now!" Her father exclaimed.
Tara nodded and did a spin just for him. "I really am! Alfred's actually been measuring me while I was there—I've got lots of pictures."
Her mother smiled and hugged her again. "It's nice to have you home—while you're here I'm going to put some more meat on your bones."
"That would be splendid, I'd love that." Tara told her genuinely.
"Tara!" A male voice said, snapping his fingers and pulling her out of her memories.
Tara looked at him and blushed as she smiled embarrassedly. "Sorry, Mike. What is it that you need from me?"
"Mr. Pennyworth is on line one for you, Tara." Mike replied, and then he was off just like that as Tara reached out for the phone on her desk and pressed the button to connect the call.
She took a deep breath and then plastered a smile on her face. "Good afternoon, Uncle Alfred. I hope this is just a friendly social call."
Alfred nodded slowly and then closed his eyes. "Bruce took a tumble in the Batcave today, and I think he needs you so I can go out and get the doctor. I'm really sorry about this, Tara."
"Don't be silly, Uncle Alfred! I'm on my way!" Tara promised, and hurriedly went to take the rest of the day off.
Honestly, Tara practically had her run of Wayne Enterprises given her situation with Bruce, and though she would have rather gotten to where she was on her own, she knew with Bruce being Batman, she'd have to take advantage of it all. After all, Bruce was only human, and though in top physical condition, he was still liable to hurt or even kill himself, which is why Tara was so protective of him…that and she was in love with him. She was in love with him, and she wasn't really sure why it had to Bruce, but deep down she knew it just had to be.
"Alfred, I'm fine!" Bruce exclaimed as Alfred told him to lie back down and Tara entered the room. "You called Tara? Alfred!"
"Don't scold him!" Tara said, smacking Bruce in the shoulder and pointing to the bed as she sat on it, Bruce sighing and lying down. "You have a gash in your side and you're not going back into that cave until the doctor comes and takes a look at you! Do you have a death wish?!"
Bruce swallowed and reached out to stroke Tara's hair, instantly calming her down. He was completely and utterly attached to his goddaughter, and all he wanted was for her to know that he was going to be fine. He was Batman after all…he was going to make it through this minor flesh wound with no trouble at all, and Alfred and Tara would just have to accept that.
Note: I think I should warn you guys that I will be adding comic book stuff in here and not keeping up ENTIRELY with Batman Begins and Dark Knight…there will be some elements of the other Batman movies as well. This is pretty much Batman in his entirety, in a balance that I prefer him in. Also…not every theme in here is pretty, so be warned now.