Element of Surprise
Part 12: The Discovery
Samantha and Tim entered the restaurant. Customers of all ages turned their way and wondered who they were. Maybe it was because of Samantha's exceptional beauty or maybe it was because it was Tim. Mr. Wayne and his sons had not been seen very often in public. Usually, they attended charity events or galas, but rarely going to a public restaurant just for their own pleasure. Or maybe it was both. People were taking pictures around them and whispering.
Tim and Samantha tried to ignore them as best they could while they ordered and ate their meal. Even so, Tim could hear the remarks about how Mr. Wayne had allowed his son to marry a girl at a young age when the law stated the marrying age was 18. Other rumors flew around the room. One of them being that the young couple were now parents as well.
Jealous eyes fell on them both, making Tim feel uncomfortable. Someone was watching them and kept watching them as Tim and Samantha left the restaurant. Once outside they could talk freely.
"What was that all about?" Samantha asked. "Did you feel it?"
"Yeah," Tim replied. "I didn't expect that kind of reaction."
"I think if we're going to eat out, we need to be careful what restaurant we choose."
"I agree," Tim said. "But that might be a little harder than we expect. After tonight, the rumors and photos are probably going to fly."
"Don't you have a program on the computer that will scrub that information?"
"I do," Tim stated. "But it's designed to scrub the rumors about my night life," Tim pointed out.
Tim and Samantha kept their conversation at a minimum to keep people from overhearing what they were saying. They didn't want anyone suspecting that Tim might be Red Robin. They took a brief walk down the street to a local night club where there was dancing, but both were refused entry because of their age.
"They probably serve alcohol. Oh well, let's go home," Samantha stated. "I just wanted to spend a little time away, just the two of us."
Tim replied. "That's not unreasonable, and probably not as hard as we think. Maybe we should make a date night at least once every coupe of weeks. We have a huge family who can take care of the boys."
"Yes, that's very true." Even so, there were some serious things that Samantha would have to tell Tim about as well. She didn't know how he would react. There hadn't been a moment of peace for her to broach the subject with what she learned about herself. 'Would he be appalled and regret marrying me?' she questioned, keeping her thoughts to herself. It was a little late for that.
They returned to Tim's car and drove home. Samantha leaned in close despite the seatbelt preventing her from sitting next to him. As they drew closer, a bad feeling entered her gut. The house was totally dark. Alfred always kept a few lights on in the front. It made it more warm and inviting. Now, the house looked dark and foreboding. She looked at Tim and he seemed to be thinking the same thing as she was.
Tim parked the car in the garage and entered the house.
"Alfred?" Tim called out, but there was no answer.
Only silence filled the empty spaces.
"I'll go check in the kitchen," Samantha suggested.
"I'll go upstairs," Tim replied. "I think Bruce and Jason are still on patrol."
Samantha headed to the kitchen, but Alfred wasn't there. Maybe he was in his private quarters near the laundry room. She headed that way and saw the laundry room door open. Her foot kicked something, and it clattered across the floor. It wasn't a toy; the children were too small to come back here. Her heightened senses got a slight whiff of something out of place. It was coming from the laundry room. Samantha went over to the door and turned on the light.
"ALFRED!"
The old butler was lying on the floor in a heap. She bent down to help him and saw his face had been badly bruised from something that may have struck him and one of his eyes now had a dark bruise around it, known as a black eye. As she helped the butler to sit up, he came to.
"Uh," Alfred groaned.
"Alfred what happened?"
"Someone struck me as I was exiting the laundry room."
"Did you see who it was?"
"No, it happened so fast," Alfred replied.
"Let me help you up," Samantha said as she lent him a hand.
At the same time, Tim was investigating what happened upstairs. He turned toward the right and headed to the east wing first. He knew Dick was asleep, but before he got too far, a person bowled into him, knocking him off his feet. He looked to see it was a familiar face, but his eyes were more golden in color than their usual blue.
"Dick, it's me!" Tim cried out.
"Tim. I thought you were an intruder."
"Intruder!? Is that why the house was dark? What happened?"
As Dick's eyes changed back to their more usual blue color, he replied, "Talon woke me, just a few moments ago. He insisted something was wrong. I found myself in Talon's room. I guess Talon wanted me to sleep there so I wouldn't be disturbed rather than in my usual space. I found this on the floor."
Dick held up a canister that was familiar to both.
"A gas canister? What's it doing here?" A revelation hit Tim. "We better go check the rest of the house. I'm surprised the alarms never went off."
Tim and Dick rushed toward the stairs when across the way into the west wing, both spotted a figure lying on the floor partially lying in the hallway.
"Sasha," Dick exclaimed.
Both rushed to her side. Dick was helping her up when Tim spotted another gas canister.
"Dick."
"Another one? They must have been watching the house. Where's Jason and Dad?"
"On patrol. Sammie and I went out to dinner."
"Uh," Sasha was coming to finally.
"Sasha," Samantha said as she found Tim and Dick together. "Is she alright?"
"She will be," Dick said.
"I found Alfred in the laundry room. Someone hit him and left one of these." She held up a canister. Then her eyes went wide when she realized there was something missing. The voices that were so dear to her and Tim weren't there. Usually, she had an awareness of them, even when they slept. He heart began to race.
"Tim, the children."
All four headed to the nursery and rushed through the door. The window was open, and a breeze fluttered the curtains. They rushed to the cribs and looked inside. The children were gone.
Continues with Part 13
