Bruce started walking down the stairs toward the car with Dick following behind him. He knew his adoptive son was skeptical about Maisie, but he wasn't ready to reveal everything to him yet. That he now knew just exactly who the girl was. He reached the car just as Maisie stopped laughing at something Alfred must have said. Her mouth settled into a soft smile and she stared at the butler with fondness.
"Dick, why don't you help Alfred and Maisie get her bags to her room? I need to talk to Oliver for a minute." Dick scowled but picked up the two purple duffel bags on the ground and started walking toward the manor without a word. Alfred looked at Bruce and gave a small, barely perceptible nod before grabbing the purple suitcase and following Dick up the stairs. Maisie gave a farewell to Oliver with a quick hug and ran up the stairs after Alfred.
Bruce and Oliver watched the two enter the house. Bruce began calculating how long it would take for them to reach her room and stared at a window overlooking the front of the property
.
"Did you look at the case files I sent you?" Oliver asked.
Bruce nodded. He paused before asking, "What's going on, Oliver?" Before the other billionaire could offer an objection, he continued on. "Your story has too many holes in it. Tell me the truth."
Oliver sighed and started digging a hole with the tip of his shoe in the soft dirt. "She's Ellen's kid, Bruce. Your kid." He confirmed Bruce's suspicions. "Those guys that attacked earlier were after her. Had a picture and everything. I promised Ellen I would keep her safe. And for now, that means out of Star City where she's a target."
Bruce's eyes didn't leave the window as he answered. "She's not too happy about that, is she?"
Oliver snorted. "What do you think? How would you feel if you were uprooted from home and dragged to stay at your father's place? Someone you don't even know."
Bruce ignored the home jab. The curtains in front of the window should be opening about…now. And sure enough, the curtains were pushed aside and Maisie filled the empty space. She looked down and waved. Oliver waved back, but Bruce just stared at his daughter. "Doesn't she have a choice?"
"She hasn't turned eighteen yet, Bruce." Even though he wasn't looking at Oliver, Bruce could practically hear the eye roll Oliver did and the silent "don't you know how old your kid is?". "She's still a kid. Besides, don't you want to get to know the daughter whose life you've been absent in for basically all her life?"
Bruce ignored his question with one of his own. "Does she know?"
Oliver caught the double meaning of his question. "Yeah. She knows you're her father and that you, uh, partake in certain nighttime activities."
"I doubt she wants anything to do with me. She's only here because you forced her to."
Oliver took his hand out of his pocket and clapped him on the shoulder, drawing the dark knight's attention away from the window. Oliver stared directly into his eyes. "She only knows Ellen's side, Bruce. Give her a chance to know you, the real you." He patted his shoulder a couple times. "I have to get going. Felicity will have my head if I'm late for dinner again. Good luck, Bruce." And with that, the Star City billionaire got in the car and drove down the driveway and out the gate.
Bruce watched the car disappear from sight before turning back to Maisie's window. She had disappeared from his vision, no doubt starting to unpack or something. He walked around the corner of the manor to the garden, or what was left of the garden his wife had planted so long ago. He sat on a bench in front of the small pond in the center of the garden and started at the weeds that had overgrown over the years. With all the chores of the house, Alfred had never been able to tend the garden after Ellen had left.
What was he supposed to do with a teenage daughter? One who, based off the earlier encounters, obviously did not want anything to do with him. How was he supposed to help find her mother if the whole purpose of her being in Gotham was to be safe? Bruce stared into the small dirty pond. Something above fell into the water, disturbing the calm water. He looked up. He hadn't even noticed the dark clouds move across the sky. Within a couple minutes, more raindrops began to fall and soak his blazer, but he didn't care. Everything he had grown used to—built—over the last sixteen years was now a mess just like the garden.