Better in Time

A knock came from Abby's door the next morning. Her eyes shot open once she realized that Abby still wore the messy clothes that she used to go in the Narrows. Abby jumped from her bed and surfed through her closet for a pair of pajamas.

"Hey, Abby it's me. Are you up?"

Bruce's muffled voice alerted her more.

"Yeah!"

She hurried in her paste to change.

"Look I know you're still angry with me about banning you from school. But that's still no reason to stay in your room all day."

Abby slipped into her pajama pants. "What are you talking about? I just got up."

"Really? Because it's noon," he said.

"Yeah, sometimes that happens to me," she replied harshly. "Especially to teenagers."

"I never knew that."

"Well if you stuck around long enough you would. So far the record is five o'clock in the evening."

In her relief, she finished getting dressed in her pajamas. Abby jumped back into bed and pulled the covers over her.

"Anyway, I'm gonna be at work for awhile and Alfred's on his day off. Are you gonna be alright on your own?"

Really? Did Bruce think she was five?

"Yeah," said Abby as if it were obvious.

"Okay then I'll see you at six."

"See ya," she mumbled.

Abby waited until Bruce's footsteps faded to put on a fresh set of clothes.

She took a private tour around the house to see if there were any secret passages she could sneak through. Abby found a few, but she needed one where she could be invisible. Or at least in a way that she couldn't be heard. Her phone suddenly began to vibrate in her pocket.

She flipped it open and said, "Hello?"

"Hey, Abs. It's Heather."

"Hey, Heather, aren't you supposed to be in class?"

"It's lunch."

That reminded her of Abby's empty stomach.

"Oh, right. So how are things at school?"

"Not…as bad as yesterday. Now people are calling you a coward for not showing up."

Heather said that as if it were positive.

"That doesn't help her at all!" said Sasha's voice in the background. "Gimme the phone!"

The next thing that Abby heard was muffled arguments.

"You know you guys can put it on speaker," Abby pointed out.

"Oh, right," they both said.

"Can you hear us now, Abs?" asked Sasha.

"Yeah."

"Good. By the way, ignore Heather. The real bright side of this is that there are no reporters."

"And that's before I get there, Sasha."

"Well, maybe you can come back to school as someone else," suggested Heather.

"That would require a lot of work and I have no time for that kind of work. I still have to prepare for the boxing match."

"They're letting you go?"

"Not exactly."

"You're sneaking out, aren't ya?" said Sasha, incredulously.

"Sneaking out is a very strong phrase. I'd say…escaping my prison hold."

"Look, it sounds like there's nothing I can do to stop ya at the moment. But if you get caught don't come crying to me."

"Will do," she agreed. "So, have you guys talked to Aaron? The last conversation we had was a little fuzzy."

"Oh that, well he seems to be a little…distant today."

"Yeah, he seems to be slumping around over something," said Heather.

"What happened last night?"

"I dunno. I told him about my situation and the plan I have for boxing, and then he tells me what's on his mind. And apparently…it's about us," explained Abby.

"I knew it!" exclaimed Heather, excitedly.

"Heather!" hissed Sasha.

"Oh, right…really?"

"Yeah," Abby sighed.

"What did you say?"

"I didn't get a chance to say anything. He hung up before I could respond."

"Ugh!" groaned Sasha. "What are we going to do with that boy?!"

"I don't know. Just tell him to be a little clearer in his explanations."

"Can do."

"Do you guys know why he's acting this way?"

"We have an idea, but we don't want to freak you out."

Abby thought for a moment. Did she really want to know their opinions on the situation?

"Just keep it to yourselves. I think I'd rather find out myself."

"Alright, well we gotta get to class. I guess I'll see you when I see you."

"Yeah, see you and if Heather's still there tell her I said bye."

She closed her phone and tucked it in her pocket. Abby had no idea what to do. Aaron had been crystal clear when he said he wanted to be "more than friends." Maybe he didn't exactly say it that way, but he implied it. And now he waited for her answer. Abby was in a complete mess that seemed impossible to clean up. Even if she did feel the same way about him…what would it do to their friendship? This is exactly what happened to Rachel. Bruce and Rachel were close friends at first and then they decided to be closer. Look where that got them now.

Only time could make her understand her feelings for Aaron.

Abby apparently had forgotten how big the place actually was. She had almost gotten lost at least three times now. There seemed to be no secret passage way that pleased her. It was either that it was too small to fit into or it made too much noise. She stopped in the parlor to catch a breather. As big as this house was, it didn't have too many books. Abby remembered dreading to come into here because of her mother's tendency to force her to read. But yet she would always enjoy playing horribly on the piano.

She made her way towards one of the book shelves. Some of the books did seem interesting. Abby wasn't an avid reader, but she would at least read once in a while. She took out a pile of books and placed them safely on the ground. She knocked her knuckles against the back of the book shelf. An echo of her knock went farther than the wall would have. There was a secret passage way! She desperately searched for some way to open it. Abby tried looking at the sides for an opening, but it was all sealed.

"Abby?"

Her father's voice made her jump. She quickly gathered all of the books the best she could and pushed them back on the shelf.

"Abby?"

Bruce's voice didn't sound far now. Abby, in desperation, grabbed a book. She began looking at the book as if she were reading it.

"Oh there you are."

She looked up at Bruce standing in the doorway.

"Yeah, here I am…looking at this book," she said. Abby hoped Bruce wouldn't recognize the pinch of guilt in her voice.

He made his way toward her, gently taking the book from her.

"The Tale of Despereaux? You haven't read this book since you were a little kid."

"And you would know that—how?"

Bruce went silent. It was clear that Abby had made her point.

"Anyway, your school just faxed me your homework. It's in your room if you want to do it now."

"Ok."

She walked past him without even one glance at him.

Let's see X equals…two. Abby hated math. There were so many rules for different formulas or something like that. One of the reasons why she didn't want to take over Wayne Enterprises when she got older. But Abby knew someday she would have to. Especially now that her father was around. She remembered lawyers coming to her home discussing about Bruce's will and where his money would go. Abby would always listen to the meetings between the lawyers and her mother. Rachel kept arguing against them about Abby being able to use her money before the age of eighteen. In truth, it didn't really occur to her that Bruce was a very wealthy man until those meetings.

Earle one day did come to her and say, "We'll be waiting for you at Wayne Enterprises when you're ready, kid." Being at age seven at the time, she was very confused at the statement. Now that she understood it, Abby wasn't sure if she wanted to be in charge of a large company. She just wasn't ready for that type of commitment yet.

She sniffed the air. There was something out of place about it. Abby got up from her bed to trace the smell. It was coming from outside her room. A horrible thought came to her mind. Smoke! It must've been smoke! Abby ran down towards the kitchen. It couldn't have been Alfred. He was on his day off. Plus as long as she had known him, he had never burnt anything in his life.

Her eyes immediately watered as she entered the kitchen. The food inside the oven was going ablaze. Bruce in the meantime was trying to wave air at it with a towel. Idiot! Didn't he know not to open the oven when there's food on fire in there? Plus air was going to make it ten times worse.

"What are you doing?!" yelled Abby incredulously.

He took his concentration off of the oven. "I'm trying to put out the fire!"

"Not like that, you're not."

Abby took a fire extinguisher from one of the cabinets. She went up to the fire and aimed the fire extinguisher towards the fire.

"Here let me do it."

Bruce tried to take it from her, but Abby fought.

"No, I can do this."

"But you'll get hurt."

"I'm not a little kid anymore! Now let go!"

"No!"

Without realizing it pressed the pump, squirting foam onto Bruce's face. He tried moving the hose towards the fire, but it wiggled towards Abby instead. She clasped her eyes in time just the foam hit her face. Abby let go of the pump, but it was squirting foam. It must've been jammed!

"Stop squirting it everywhere! You're gonna ruin everything!" she yelled at Bruce.

Both of their hands clasped on the hose. They pointed it towards the fire, letting it squirt its guts out towards it. Luckily it went out in a minute. Heavy breathing was all that was heard after that. Abby slowly sat down on the ground, leaning on the island. Bruce soon joined her.

"What the heck were you thinking?" she finally said.

"I was trying to make dinner," said Bruce.

She looked at him disbelievingly.

"I know. Now I that I think about it…it was a pretty dumb idea."

"Not only that, but it coulda burnt down this house!"

"I was trying to do something nice," he replied harshly.

"Yeah," she snorted. "Burning down the house, Bruce. Nice job!"

"That's not what I meant."

"You have not cooked a day in your life haven't you?!"

"I've cooked before!"

Their voices rose as her irritation rose.

"Really?! Name two things you've cooked. And don't say Lean Cuisine or anything that involves just heating stuff up in the microwave."

"Well…there was Easy Mac—"

"Microwave," she interjected.

"Chicken noodle soup?"

"Microwave."

"Does hot chocolate count?"

"Did you us the stove or the microwave to heat up water?"

"Microwave," he grumbled.

"I rest my case."

She looked away from him and stayed silent. Bruce would never know what hard labor was. Maybe that's why Rachel had always made her work her way into getting to what she wanted.

Bruce suddenly began to chuckle. She faced him with a straight face.

"What in the world, could you possibly be laughing about?"

"Your face."

Abby's face turned red. Was he really making fun of his own daughter?

"No, I meant the foam. Look," he took a pan cap from the island.

He put it in front of her face. She looked at her sloppy reflection and laughed. Abby now knew why he was laughing. Her entire face was nearly covered with foam. Even her hair had a little bit in it. She looked up at Bruce, smiling. In her opinion he had more foam than she did on her face.

"You look like a foam clown."

"Me? Look at you!" She pushed the pan cap towards him.

He looked at it and cracked up as much as she did. They looked at each other and laughed. How long was it since she had last laughed? It felt like years since she had laughed this hard. They soon stopped, but with a few chuckles here and there.

"What are we doing?" Abby sighed.

"Laughing at how stupid we look."

"Yeah, but I haven't laughed like that in a very long time."

"Since when?"

"Since…you left."

"That is a long time," he said quietly.

She decided to change to subject. "Where'd you go for such a long time, Bruce?"

"I can't tell you that."

"It seems like you can't tell me anything these days."

He stayed silent, but Abby continued anyway.

"I mean when I was little, you'd always tell me everything you could. But now you've been a little mysterious lately. Even Aaron and I still share our secrets. Well…except for now anyway."

Bruce gave a puzzled look towards her, "Why?"

"He's been a little distant lately. I mean our last conversation was a little awkward."

He gave a smug smile. "He told you he liked you, didn't he?"

Abby kept her mouth half open in shock.

"No—I mean yes—I mean no—I mean I don't know—don't change the subject!"

She was talking so fast that she couldn't keep up with her own words. Bruce chuckled at her reaction.

"So…why can't you tell me?"

He paused again. "It's not the right time."

"Then when is the right time? Because frankly…I don't know how we can have a relationship if you're keeping secrets from me."

"How about I tell you when the time is right and…until then you can try cleaning up on your attitude."

She snorted. "I do not have an attitude."

Bruce stared at her with a straight face. She gave in.

"Okay maybe I do. But c'mon, I'm a teenager how am I supposed to know?"

"So is that a deal?"

He held out a hand towards her. Maybe this is what her mother wanted. Complete closure. But if she took his hand and said "Deal." That wouldn't mean she forgive him. Not yet anyway. Abby would just give him time to explain himself.

"Deal," she took his hand.

Abby had to admit he had a pretty strong grip.

"Well, let's get this mess cleaned up before Alfred gets back."

She nodded in agreement. The kitchen was a complete mess. Almost everything was dripping in foam.

"Can we order some pizza while we're at it?" she asked. "I haven't eaten anything today."

"Sure. You get the cleaning supplies and I'll order the pizza."

"Cool."

Abby got up and headed towards the storage. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all.