Jo knocked on the door and waited for an answer.
A butler came to the door right then. "Ah, Mary Josephine Elliot, long time no see."
"Just 'Jo', Alfred, easy with that 'Mary Josephine' stuff." Jo warned the butler.
"Of course..." Alfred nodded. "And this must be your escort?"
"Yeah, this is Justine," Jo introduced. "Also, I hope it's okay, but I brought my little sister and Justine brought her little brothers."
"That will be fine, but please make sure they don't cause a ruckus." Alfred warned.
"Yes, Mr. Pennyworth, no need to worry," Justine promised. "I assure you the boys will be on their best behavior tonight."
"See that they do." Alfred nodded and allowed the next guests to come inside the mansion.
Jo, Justine, Autumn, Brick, Butch, and Boomer then walked in together. The kids and Justine were amazed at the sights and surprised to see so many people. They were looking around for Bruce now, just as he was surrounded by gorgeous women who clung to him like he was the sexiest man alive and he enjoyed it very much.
"Oh, come on, Bruce," a woman with long blonde hair in a long-sleeved blue dress swooned. "All alone in this big mansion. Haven't you ever thought of marriage... Even once?"
"Oh, never say the M word around Bruce," the woman with short black hair in a pink dress cooed as she put her hand around the man's chest. "It makes him nervous."
"What about the I word?" a woman in a darker blue dress with short black hair prompted.
Bruce glanced at her. "The I word?"
"'Ingagement'." the woman replied incorrectly.
Bruce gave her a look in disbelief that she just said that as he continued to cuddle the women who were by his sides.
"I'd watch out for Bruce if I were you girls," an auburn woman with prominent sapphire eyes in a yellow dress with matching gloves and a fur cloak around her shoulders came by with a glass. "First, he wines you, and then he dines you, makes you think you're the only woman he's ever been interested in. And just when you're wondering where to register the china, he forgets your phone number."
Bruce merely smirked to this woman until she splashed her drink all over his face which made the other women gasp in alarm.
"That's Bruce Wayne's style." the woman then continued before storming off.
"Bruce...?" the blonde woman asked.
Bruce was dripping and decided to clean it up and he excused himself from the lovely ladies.
"You always did have a way with women." Jo's voice was heard.
Bruce looked around. "Excuse me?" He then spotted the jockette and then smirked. "Ah, Jo, you've made it..."
"Of course I have," Jo said as she stayed by Justine's side. "This is Justine I told you about."
"Hello there, Justine," Bruce smiled to her. "It's great to finally meet you. You're even more beautiful and graceful in person than Jo made you sound."
"Oh~..." Justine giggled, blushing slightly and put her hand to her mouth.
Bruce then looked down to the kids. "Your little sister, I presume?"
"Yeah, that's Autumn, and those are Brick, Butch, and Boomer," Jo introduced. "I hope it's okay I brought them, Sue was going out-of-town to visit her mother, so I decided to bring Autumn with me and Justine thought it would be fun for her if she brought the boys to entertain her in case it got boring for her."
"Kind of you," Bruce said. "Pardon me a moment, I really must clean myself up..."
"A friend in need?" a man offered a hanky to the billionaire owner of the mansion.
"Councilman..." Bruce greeted the man as he took the hanky to clean himself up. "So, how goes the Bat bashing?"
"Better than your love life," the man smirked as Bruce cleaned himself up from the spiteful splash. "It's almost as if you pick 'em... Because... You know... There's no chance for a relationship. At least since that one girl. What was her name? Anne? Andi? Andrea?"
Bruce slightly scowled behind the hanky once that name was brought up.
"Yes! Andrea Beaumont," the man then continued once he cracked the code. "Now, there was a sweet number. How did you get her loose?"
"Thanks for the handkerchief, Arthur," Bruce mumbled as he folded up the hanky and shoved it in the other man's pocket with a dark smirk. "You know where you can stick it." he then walked off.
"What was that all about?" Justine asked.
"You stay here and mingle, call me if anyone tries anything smart with you," Jo said to her date. "I better go check on him."
"Okay... Be careful."
"I always am."
"Yes, yes, you are..."
The two shared a quick kiss and went their separate ways. Justine smiled as the kids were behaving themselves so far. Bruce went to his private room to be alone, but he saw Jo was coming and he thought about the one called Andrea as he looked to the portrait of the late Thomas and Martha Wayne.
"Jo?" Bruce spotted the jockette.
"Hey..." Jo came to his side. "Sorry, I know you like to be alone with your parents, but... Who's Andrea? I never heard you talk about her before."
Bruce heaved a painfully sharp sigh, not only because of his parents, but they also had to do with this mystery woman. "It's a long story, Jo..." he said softly as he was about to tell her the story. "I still remember it very well."
"You wanna tell me?" Jo offered.
"Gladly..." Bruce sighed. "It was a normal autumn day, ten years ago, and I was off campus from Gotham University... The wind was gently blowing leaves and I was visiting my parents, leaving them two roses on their shared grave. I overheard and spotted a young woman talking to herself."
"Andrea." Jo highly assumed.
"Yes," Bruce nodded as he told her the story with no hesitation, she deserved a right to know since they thought of each other as family. "I thought maybe she was saying something to me, so I got her attention... I then walked away and was on my way out, until she revealed who I was and I had to know who she was talking to, so I asked her..."
"Who was she talking to?" Jo asked.
"Her mother," Bruce replied. "Turns out her mother had passed sometime ago and she was talking to a grave. I felt a little guilty for interrupting, but she said her mother didn't have much to say anyway."
"Well then..." Jo slightly rolled her eyes to that.
"We just started talking as she was leaving..." Bruce continued. "Jo, you know I've talked to my parents."
"Yeah," Jo smiled softly in memory of that. "You let me come with you once... I was really sad for you, I was really jealous. I didn't know I was adopted back then, but I wanted to be close with my parents like you were with yours."
Bruce smiled to that. "Laurie and Blake are very lucky to have you."
"I always thought so," Jo smiled back. "So, what happened while you were leaving with her?"
"Well, Angela told me that when she would talk out loud to her mother's grave, she often imagines what she would say or how she would reply if she were there right then," Bruce explained. "I told her I've talked with my parents and I made a secret vow, but of course, I didn't want to tell her, but she was really interested. She called me a Man of Mystery though and asked me if I kept my vow."
"And you have..." Jo said. "Except, of course maybe to my parents and me."
"Yeah," Bruce lightly chuckled. "We then introduced ourselves, but she already knew who I was, calling me 'The Boy Billionaire'. She then asked me with all my money and power, why do I always look like I wanna jump off a cliff?"
Jo chuckled to that. "And what did you say?"
"I asked her why she should care and she said 'I don't, Mother was asking', and then she drove away in her car." Bruce replied.
"Fascinating..." Jo felt blown away.
"This was before I became the Dark Knight you see before you today," Bruce continued. "I was just a mysterious hero and was in the paper after I stopped crooks from the night before. Also, a while later after that mysterious escapade, Andrea stopped by for a surprise visit."
"Whoa." Jo blinked.
"Yeah, I didn't expect it either," Bruce said as he reminisced with her. "I've thought about calling her, I was trying to hide my affections for her so I wouldn't seem too forward."
Jo folded her arms with a smirk. "Well, well, 'Uncle Brucey' has feelings, eh?"
Bruce scoffed and shook his head at her. "Of course I do, I'm not as cold as 'Batman' ya know... Anyway, she came by just as I was practicing my jujitsu... She then surprised me by showing me some of her own moves, kinda makes me think of you when I look back on it today."
"She flip you?" Jo guessed.
"Like a geek..." Bruce sighed. "Turns out she had a few moves of her own. She told me of 'Miss Hovey's self-defense class for girls. I laughed at first, then decided to get a little even with her, and she then asked me if I could dance."
Jo laughed a little. "Then what?"
"Well, I..." Bruce looked bashful for a moment. "We kissed on the lawn..."
"Whatever happened to her?" Jo then asked.
Bruce was about to tell her, but then suddenly, both of them turned their heads as the doors opened and let the light inside as the butler of Wayne Manor came to them all of the sudden.
"Pardon me, sir, but Miss Bambi is dancing on the piano." Alfred informed the heir of the mansion.
"Brucey, where are you?!" a woman's voice yelled out.
"Pardon me, Jo." Bruce told her.
"I better go with you just to make sure no one makes a goof out of themselves in front of Justine." Jo suggested as she walked by his side.
Bruce nodded and with that, they walked out to get back to the party.
