Chpt.5

Livy wouldn't ever say that she hated Bruce. However, she also wouldn't say that she loved him, either. She had a healthy respect for the man. He was generous, relatively kind, intelligent, brave, and strong willed.

This didn't mean that she cared much for him, no. Her relationship with Bruce was that of a grateful hitch hiker.

He did something kind for her, and she would help him if he desperately needed it, but that was about it.

Needless to say, having dinner with the man made Livy feel a bit awkward. It didn't help that Bruce was Damian's father.

Earlier, Livy had received a typed up letter from Damian saying that he wanted to have dinner at the manor. It would just be the two of them, and he promised that he would use a large room. It gave the time he wanted her to be there, and Livy was quickly off.

She wore a simple blue sundress with some comfortable sandals and her hair was in a single braid down her back.

"I'm going out with Damian! I'll be back later tonight!" Livy announced as she ran to the door.

"Take the Camaro! I don't want you riding a motorcycle in sandals!" Jason exclaimed from his room. It was a bit scary how Jason knew what his daughter was wearing without even seeing her. He knew her too well.

"Alright, I will!"

"And don't let that demon touch you! I'll know if he does!" Jason added. "And be safe!"

"Don't worry, I'll be fine!" Livy giggled. "Love you!" and with that, she was gone.

Livy was happy that the Camaro had yet to be taken away or destroyed. She extremely enjoyed the car. The little dare devil in her loved revving the engines and speeding through the streets she knew the police didn't patrol.

Thanks to the Camaro and some back roads, Livy reached the manor in no time.

Alfred greeted her at the door, which always brought a smile to her face. She loved Alfred. It was an impossibility to have malice towards the man.

"Good evening, Miss Livy." He smiled, but looked a bit perplexed. "What brings you here?"

"Damian left a note inviting me to dinner." Livy informed, but felt unsettled. When Alfred didn't know about what was going on, something was up.

"But Master Damian is-" Alfred didn't finish his sentence as a tall man with broad shoulders swiftly accompanied the butler in the doorway.

"Hello Livy." Bruce gave the girl a small smile. "Come inside."

Livy's eyes darted to Alfred, who didn't finish his sentence, then to Bruce. Letting out a sigh, Livy followed Bruce inside, letting him lead her to a room.

Something is up. This… this just doesn't feel right at all. Where's Damian? He usually meets me right away. She thought with worry.

Bruce led her to a large room with a smaller table set for two.

"Where's Damian?" Livy questioned, looking at Bruce with worry. Is he hurt? Did something happen to him? Livy felt her heart thudding with panic.

Bruce noticed her concern and quickly stated,

"He's out on a mission right now. He's fine. I just wanted to talk to you."

"So you wrote a letter impersonating Damian?" I questioned, irritated.

"Take a seat, Livy." He didn't answer her question, but he statement was more of a command.

Livy quickly plopped herself down on a chair, with her arms folded over her chest as she glared at Bruce, who sat in front of her, completely calm and collective.

"Is this room large enough for you?" he questioned.

"It's fine." Livy grumbled.

"Are you sure? We do have larger rooms. If you're not comfortable-"

"It's fine, Bruce." Livy snapped. "Honestly, if you worried about my comfort then you wouldn't've called me here."

Bruce's face was unreadable and Livy absolutely hated that about him. He removed the cloth over a small basket in the middle of the table to reveal bread rolls.

"Would you like some bread?" he questioned.

Dammit! He knows my weakness. Livy loved bread. Why, she had no idea, but she always did and it was something that wasn't going to change any time soon.

"Sure." Livy mumbled as she reached for the warm bread roll and started nibbling on it.

"Now, I am sure you are wondering why I brought you here-"

"Thank you, captain obvious." Livy snarked. She was really pushing Bruce, but she was pissed. Livy felt that if she was angry, she wasn't going to put on a fake smile and act like she didn't mind that she got set up.

"I wanted to talk to you about Damian." He informed.

"You want to know about your son? You should really try talking to him. I'm sure that tip's in every parenting book." Bruce let out a long sigh, trying to contain the frustration that was building due to being talked to with disrespect.

"I want to know if you and Damian have done anything personal." Bruce informed, and Livy raised an eyebrow.

"Is this your really awkward way of asking if Damian and I had sex?" Bruce was silent, answering her questioned.

Livy couldn't contain her laughter and she shook her head.

"God, Bruce. You actually sound worried about whether or not your son had sex! Don't father's usually high-five their sons when they lose their virginity or something?"

"Damian is seventeen. I don't want anything… unexpected to happen." Bruce explained and Livy glared at the man once again.

"You think teenaged pregnancies are part of the family or something?" Livy growled.

"I didn't mean any disrespect to you or your biological mother, I was only-"

"No." Livy cut off.

"Excuse me?"

"No. Damian and I haven't had sex. We're not far enough into the relationship. We agreed that we need to take something like this slow, especially since I'm not always in Gotham." Livy informed.

"Thank you for telling me." Bruce nodded.

"Is that it? Can I leave now?" Livy inquired, but Bruce quickly looked at her kindly like he had earlier.

"Why don't you stay? Alfred should have some meals coming out for us shortly."

"I don't-" however, Livy let the words die on her lips when she smelt the food Alfred was bringing into the room. Her stomach gurgled and she realized how much she missed Alfred's cooking.

"Alright. I'll stay."

Alfred placed two dishes of filet mignon in front of the two, and though Livy appreciated it, she looked up at the man and questioned,

"You knew about this all along? Et tu, Alfred?"

"I apologize, Miss. I assumed that Master Bruce would be entertaining a hopeful bachelorette." He informed, then bowed. "Please enjoy your meal."

"I'm taking it that you want to talk more?" Livy questioned and Bruce nodded.

"You are the daughter of someone I cared for like a son. I consider you family."

"You consider me family? Then why don't you act like it? Jason, Selina, Colin, Ramon, Dick, Kor'i, Roy, Damian, they are my family. They speak to me like a person. What do you do? Trick me into coming her. Everything you do when I'm around is out of suspicion."

"I care for you. I am trying to make amends now, can you accept that?" Livy and Bruce stared at each other until Livy let out a heavy sigh.

"Alright."

Bruce grinned and Livy took a bite of her steak.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" Livy questioned.

"How has your father been doing?" Bruce inquired.

"He's okay. He's looking at taking us to Bangladesh for something, so that'll be exciting." Livy shrugged.

"How have you been doing with moving around?"

"I love it." Livy said with a small smile.

"What about the small spaces?" the smile on Livy's face disappeared.

"They're bearable if Jason's there." She whispered.

"Only Jason?"

"Yes. As long as Jason is with me, I can bear it. I've also started to get better in cars, but only if I'm at the front seat."

"Interesting." Bruce hummed. He then questioned, "Livy, do you have any pictures of your mother?"

"Which one?" Livy whispered.

"Both. Do you have any pictures of them?" Livy shook her head sadly.

"No. Ramon might have some pictures of my biological mother, but I haven't looked through them if he does. And everything belonging to my adopted mother was burned in the fire." She explained.

Bruce dug his hand into his breast pocket and handed Livy two photos.

One was of a Puerto Rican girl with long brown hair and vibrant brown eyes. Next to her was a young man with black hair, who was smirking at her.

"That is a picture of Indira and Jason." He informed. Livy then looked at the next picture and her heart felt like it stopped. The last time she saw her adopted mother's face was right before the woman died.

"Mom." Livy whispered.

"I figured that you might want them." Bruce stated and Livy looked at the man with a small smile.

"Thank you so much."

"What the hell is going on?" Livy and Bruce looked over to see Damian in the doorway to the room. "I get back from a mission to find my father eating dinner with my girlfriend?"

"Calm down Damian. He just wanted to know if we had sex or not." Livy smirked as she excused herself from the table.

"I gotta get home." She kissed Damian on the cheek. "Bye Damian." Her eyes then settled on Bruce. "And thanks for everything, Bruce."