Six months later. There was always a Christmas fund-raiser for the research hospital at Hudson U. All the patients and their families were invited. Cissie heard that a bunch of philanthropist type people would be there too, including THE Bruce Wayne. That was the last thing on Cissie's mind, though. Since Bonnie couldn't leave the hospital for the holidays, the rest of Cissie's family had come to spend the holidays there. It was mainly for Cissie that they did it. Bonnie and Ollie never got along. They tried to be civil for Cissie's sake, but it never worked. Then there was Roy. She loved him like a brother but my god if she didn't just want to throttle him. He didn't get along with Bonnie either. Thank god for Connor. He and Cissie had clicked right away and he had this way of calming people.
Lian was fussing with her dress. "Why did I have to wear a dress?" It was one of Cissie's dresses. Cissie rolled her eyes. She and Lian were so different. At sixteen, Lian had hardly worn skirts her entire life save maybe one or two occassions.
Cissie straightened her own dress, a dark blue cocktail dress she'd found on sale. Looking at all the faces in the room, Cissie wasn't sure if she should talk to anyone. She, Connor and Lian stuck close to Bonnie. Roy and her dad seemed to know a lot of people here though. Cissie guessed that was from back when Ollie was a millionaire. Right now Ollie was talking to, jesus, Bruce Wayne!
"Cissie?" Her mother touched her arm. "I'm getting tired. I think I should go take a nap."
"Okay, Mom, I'll just go tell Dad we're leaving."
"No, no I can manage. You stay and have fun."
"Um, okay, you sure?"
"Positive."
Bonnie turned to go.
"Hope you feel better, Bonnie," Connor said to her.
"Thank you, Connor," she squeezed his hand. "Now you kids have fun."
And with that, Bonnie was gone. Connor, Lian and Cissie stayed in their clump.
Finally bored, Cissie announced that she was going to get some punch and headed over to the food table.
"There she is," she heard Roy say behind her. She rolled her eyes and turned to see Roy approaching her with a dark haired man and two young children, a red headed boy and a dark-haired girl. They had to be about seven years old was Cissie's guess.
"Couldn't resist embarrassing me in public, Roy?" Cissie glared at her "big brother."
"Me? Embarrass you? Never!" Roy quipped with the worst innocent act Cissie had ever seen. "I wanted you to meet an old friend of mine, Dick Grayson. Dick, this is my sister, Cissie King-Jones."
Cissie was somewhat shocked at Roy referring to her as his sister. But it was true enough. She shook hands with the dark-haired man. "Hi, Cissie, pleasure to meet you. Roy's told me so much about you."
"Oh has he," Cissie eyed Roy suspiciously. Roy started whistling, staring at the ceiling.
Dick laughed. "Only good things I can assure you." He then gently nudged the kids out from behind his legs and introduced them. "And these are my kids, Jimmy and Mary."
Cissie bent down to eye level with the kids and extended her hand. "Nice to meet you, Jimmy. Mary."
Mary vigorously shook Cissie's hand and proceeded to speak rapidly, her green eyes sparkling. "Hi! My name is Mary Katherine Gordon-Grayson. I'm seven years old and I'm in the second grade."
Cissie giggled. "Very nice to meet you Mary."
On the other hand, Jimmy's blue eyes were wide. He cautiously extended his hand for a handshake, then once that was done quickly hid behind his father again, tugging at his leg. Dick taking the cue, picked his son up. Jimmy whispered in Dick's ear. Dick began to chuckle.
"He says you're a very pretty lady," Dick told Cissie, giving her his trademark Grayson grin.
"Oh," Cissie blushed.
Roy quipped, "Watch out for this one, Cissie. If he's anything like his father, he'll be chasing skirts before he's ten."
"You're one to talk, Harper," Dick protested.
Cissie rolled her eyes. "If you gentlemen will excuse me."
"Of course," Dick said, then continued to squabble with Roy.
Cissie made her way over to her dad with two cups of punch.
"Hey, Dad," she said as she approached, "Thought you might like some punch."
The man Ollie was talking to lighted up. He was ruggedly handsome, even in his fifties. His salt-and-pepper hair suited him just fine. There was no mistaking that this man was Bruce Wayne. "Ollie!" the man bellowed. "You never told me you had a daughter!" He then turned his attention to Cissie and kissed her hand. "And such a lovely daughter too." Cissie blushed. He may have been old enough to be her father, but Bruce Wayne had aged gracefully and retained all of his characteristic charm.
Ollie practically growled, "Back off, Wayne."
Bruce laughed, and continued, "Ollie, I'm a happily married man." Ollie grunted. "Besides, Miss King-Jones can't be any older than my own daughter." He turned his attention to Cissie again. "Unfortunately Martha couldn't make it. I think you two could be friends."
"Uh, yes, Mr. Wayne," Cissie was completely flabbergasted.
"Please," Bruce continued. "Call me Bruce."
Cissie smiled, "Bruce."
Tim hated these things. But his dad had asked him to represent Drake Industries since he and his new wife were in the Bahamas for the holidays. Again. Besides, Tim hoped he might run into Cissie here. He'd spent most of the party in idle small talk with the socialites, although he had managed to squeeze in a chat with Dick. Then Harper showed up and Tim diverted his attention to the other guests. Finally he ran into Jon. Tim looked around, confused. "I didn't think the press was here. Where are your parents?"
Jon rolled his eyes. "I'm a doctor, Tim. You do the math." He continued, "I should be asking why you are here. Since when were computer engineering students involved in this fund-raiser?"
"They aren't. I'm representing Drake Industries."
"Ah."
"Yeah."
"So..."
Then he saw Cissie and lost whatever Jon was saying. The way her dress hugged the curves of her body, the way her hair fell over her shoulders, Tim was absolutely mesmerized. Her smile when she talked to Jimmy and Mary. He felt a lump form in his throat.
Jon obviously noticed. Next thing Tim noticed was Jon's fingers snapping in front of his eyes. "Hey, Timmy, you in there?" Jon teased. Tim nodded toward Cissie. Jon looked. "Damn! I swear Tim, if I didn't know you were madly in love with her-" Tim glared at him sharply. "But you are, so I won't." Jon grinned. Tim rolled his eyes.
He watched as Cissie moved across the room to Bruce and...Oliver Queen. "Funny," Tim thought. "I know Cissie doesn't know Bruce. Huh. She must know Ollie through the arrow gig." Then he saw Bruce kiss Cissie's hand and his blood began to boil. He handed his drink to Jon. "I have to get out of here," he said.
Tim rushed out the door into the cold, wintery weather. He crossed his arms across his chest and sulked on a bench. After awhile he felt a hand on his shoulder. "What's the matter, Timmy?" Selina Kyle-Wayne's voice purred.
"Hey, Selina," Tim replied. "Just my heart breaking that's all."
Selina sat on the bench next to the young man. "Well your heart's going to freeze if you stay out here any longer, and what's the use in that. Come inside with me."
Tim sighed. "Yeah...okay," he finally resigned. He never could argue with a pretty lady.
Cissie was actually enjoying the conversation with Bruce and her father. If nothing else, Bruce's airheadedness made Cissie feel really smart. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a tall, dark-haired woman making her way over with...omigod it was Tim. Cissie froze. The dark haired woman said hello to Ollie and introduced herself to Cissie as Selina Kyle-Wayne. Cissie vaguely recalled being polite to the woman. Bruce then introduced Ollie to Tim, saying something about Tim representing Drake Industries! So, Tim was rich. Another detail he'd failed to mention. Bruce was then introducing Tim to Cissie. The entire time, their eyes were locked, except briefly when Tim was greeting Ollie. Cissie didn't offer her hand to Tim. Tim seemed to pick up on that and didn't extend his hand either. Cissie merely said, very icily, "We've met." Selina, Bruce and Ollie exchanged glances.
"Hey, Ciss," Tim said softly, his eyes apologetic. Cissie knew that if she looked into those eyes long enough she'd cave. So she stormed off. Looking after her, Tim nodded to the others. "Excuse us."
Ollie glared after Tim. He'd obviously hurt his little girl and Ollie was going to have none of that. Selina rolled her eyes at her husband's dumb playboy act when he said blankly, "Gee, I wonder what that was all about."
Tim followed Cissie out into the icy New Jersey winter. His sports jacket and long-sleeve shirt was warm enough but Cissie just had that little dress on. Which she looked incredibly gorgeous and beautiful and hot in and he just wanted to touch her and...In any case she would freeze out here. More than that, Tim would regret it if he didn't at least try to get her back.
"Cissie! Wait!" Tim caught up to Cissie and touched her arm. She spun around and nearly slapped him again, but he caught the offending hand. "Cissie, please! Can we talk?"
"More secrets, Tim?" Cissie hissed.
At that moment Tim made a mental note that Selina was not the only woman who hissed when she was angry. Pushing that aside, he replied, "No, not anymore. It's all out in the open now."
"You never intended it to be!"
"I did!...Eventually."
"Eventually." Cissie glared at him. That glare actually made Tim wince. "So everything works around your schedule. You call the shots, string me along, making a complete fool of me..."
"Cissie I didn't want to do that, trust me."
She eyed him suspiciously as Tim gave her his best puppy-dog eye look.
Inside, Dick and Roy were watching the argument from afar.
"Fifty bucks says Cissie tells him to get lost," Roy challenged.
"A hundred says Tim gets the girl," Dick quipped.
"You're on."
Cissie looked into Tim's puppy dog eyes. A voice inside of her told her not to fall for it. But then his eyes spoke volumes in sincerity. Before she could say anything, Tim removed his jacket and put it around her shoulders, saying, "Here, you must be freezing." Cissie instinctively hugged the jacket to her, even though she hadn't noticed the cold around her.
Cissie looked up at Tim, her expression hurt. "You really hurt me, Tim."
Tim looked like she'd stabbed him in the heart. With a spoon no less. "Ciss, I swear if I could do it all over again, it wouldn't have happened like this."
"How could it have happened differently, Tim?"
He took her both her hands into his and proceeded to say. "I would have told you that I was madly in love with you and that there should be no secrets between us." He touched her face. "I would have asked you to forgive me for not telling you sooner that I was...Robin. I would have told you that I always had a crush on you when we were younger and that I never could have imagined that one day you might...well," Tim blushed, "I guess it's too late for that now, huh."
Inside, Dick and Roy still watched through the glass.
"Smooth, going in for the 'here take my jacket' angle," Dick commented.
"That'll never work on, Cissie," Roy quipped, "We've desensitized her to those wooing ways."
Bruce Wayne walked up behind the younger men. "Hello, fellas," he mused. "What's so interesting out there?"
"Roy doesn't seem to have faith in Tim's wooing abilities," Dick answered.
"That hundred bucks is in my pocket, Grayson," Roy argued.
"Hmm..." Bruce pondered. "Put me in for a hundred."
"Which side?" Dick asked.
Bruce smiled, "Tim's side. He has learned from the best after all."
"Oh shit," Roy said suddenly.
They all looked out the windows to see Cissie practically tackle Tim and kiss him, sending them both tumbling down into the snow.
Bruce and Dick smirked. "Pay up, Harper," Dick demanded, to which Roy responded with a groan.
Tim felt Cissie's weight on top of him. Her lips were kissing his, passionately, her arms pegged on either side of him in the snow. Shocked at first, Tim finally relaxed into the kiss, kissing her back passionately. He rested his hands on her waist. He loved feeling her again, the firmness of her muscles, but not without a touch of feminine softness. He moaned as he felt her tongue slip between his lips. Too soon, she pulled away.
Tim was mesmerized by her beauty, but still managed to hear her say, "That I might love you too?"
Tim was speechless. He managed to sputter out, "D-do you?"
Cissie nodded, blushing. "I think that's why I took this all so hard. I'd fallen in love with you Tim and then suddenly you weren't who I thought you were."
Tim felt guilty again, brushed a stand of hair out of her face. "I'm sorry, Ciss, I really am."
"Shh," she said. "Don't worry about that. Just...kiss me."
"Gladly", Tim smiled as he pulled his love back down for a deep kiss.