Just Eat - August 14th
Twisted Shorts August Fic-a-Day Challenge - Day 14
Title: Just Eat
Author: hermione2be
Rating: PG/FR13/K+
Crossover: BtVS/DCAU
Disclaimer: I do not own any of BtVS/Angel or DCAU people, places, or ideas. This fiction is done simply for pleasure and I receive no profit.
Summary: Summer is beckoned from her room.
Notes: Part 4 of “ Not So Orphaned Summer” series - Thanks to mmooch for the series name
Seasons: Post-“Gift”/DC Universe
Word Count: 1600
“So she has been recovered?” Wonder Woman verified.
“Yes,” Superman said. “She is with her biological father.”
“Does he understand the magnitude of what happened to her?”
“All he knows is that she does not have any reliable memories.”
“Could he identify any of her past?”
“No,” Superman explained. “He was not aware he had children. As far as he is concerned, there are possibilities but no way to know unless Summer can remember more details.”
“Did she run because of the confrontation with the Joker?” J’onn J’onzz asked.
“Unclear.”
“What about the injury she suffered?”
“No evidence of any injury or scars.” Superman sighed. “Hopefully we’ll have new details in a few weeks.”
88888888
Bruce looked at the DNA profile again. There was no getting around it. Summer was genetically his daughter. The Batcomputer had run its own analysis after Summer had arrived.
In some ways, she reminded him of Dick. In others, there was a reflection of himself. It wasn’t just the dark hair and the shape of her chin. It was in the shrewd tactics she had used. But mostly he saw it in the wall she had built around herself. It had seemed when Superman had set her down that she was very outgoing and quite open. The wall had gone up after she stepped away from him to great Bruce and Alfred.
Summer had spent the last several months living on the streets. It showed in some of the things she did. She was not going to completely relax until she felt like she was here to stay. But he wondered how long until she cracked under the pressure. From the footage at the hospital, it didn’t seem likely to happen at all, but the girl who had looked around the living room and questioned her place in the lavishness…seemed fragile.
Connecting to an angry boy had been easy. But he had no idea what to do about the…resigned girl.
He brought up the footage from the few angles the hospital had. Mostly it showed her crawling into the elevator shaft. Then she appeared from the ceiling behind Harley Quinn. She took Harley out with her own mallet. Then when she had seen Batman, she kept Joker talking. Her entire posture suggested she had been ready to attack if the need arose. She left the adversaries to fight and effortlessly pulled Harley towards the exit. Then SWAT got to them and she left the hospital, disappearing for four months.
“Might I suggest a few hours of sleep?” Alfred said. “The answers will not appear just because you stay up all night staring at it.”
“I know, Alfred.”
88888888
Summer enjoyed the hot shower. The water did nothing for her nerves, or the headache that had started somewhere behind her right eye. It did not fix the strange events of her life. Nor did she feel like any of what she was experiencing was real.
She went through the portal to save her sister and now she was genetically the daughter of one of the richest men in the world. It sounded too good to be true. Nobody actually got Annie’d. Yet, she stood in a room that was much too…much.
They had even gotten her a few outfits that fit, probably based on the clothing size the hospital had used. She dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved red top. For the better part of the last week, they had not actively sought her out. She got the feeling they had no idea what to do with her. She was glad for the reprieve from the busy life she had led in Metropolis, she slept and she picked at the food Alfred left for her.
She kept to her suite, waiting for the next crazy thing to happen. Though the longer it went without happening, the tighter the ball of anxiety wound in the pit of her stomach - stealing what existed of her appetite.
A knock at the door distracted her from her eighty-billionth time cataloging how much she did not belong here.
When she opened the door, Bruce stood in the hall. He was dressed much as he had been when she arrived.
“Alfred made brunch,” he said.
“Oh.”
“There are some things that need to be discussed. I figured over food might be best.”
Summer nodded. He led her from the guest wing area to the family side.
Bruce gestured to a large double door down the hall. “That’s my room.” He pointed to the room across the hall. “This is Dick’s room.”
“Who?”
“I adopted him when he was about your age. He’s twenty-three, comes back some long weekends.”
“Is he in college?”
“No, he’s taking time off.” He led her down the stairs and to the smaller dining room. The round table was glass with four chairs. Stacked in the center were containers of eggs, toast, cinnamon rolls, fruit, pancakes, and oatmeal.
“That’s a lot of food.”
Bruce chuckled. “Alfred has been used to cooking for Dick and his enormous appetite. He hasn’t learned to scale back. He also didn’t know what you’d like, so he wanted options.”
Summer shook her head. She did not know what was worse, that she was hungry enough to eat more than half of what was on the table or that her appetite were comparable to a teenage boy.
They sat down. Bruce served himself some eggs, a cinnamon roll, fruit, and a cup of black coffee.
Summer tentatively took a cinnamon roll. She picked at it without really paying attention as she looked out the window into the backyard. When she looked back at her plate the cinnamon roll was gone. She frowned, not realizing she had eaten it so quickly.
She moved to take another one but quickly stayed her hand.
Bruce ran out of patience and plopped another cinnamon roll on her plate. “Eat,” he told her. “Anything you like, just eat.”
“I don’t need-”
“It’s not about needing,” he said softly, looking in her eyes. “Nothing you could ever want is off-limits. Eat as often as you like and until you are full.”
Summer felt her throat clench. She did not know how to do that.
“I can’t imagine what you did for the last few months to survive,” he said, his voice strained slightly. “But there is no danger here. While I don’t condone complete frivolity, there is little you could want that you couldn’t have.”
I want my memories back, she thought dejectedly. But from somewhere in the back of her mind a voice whispered, The hardest thing in this world… is to live in it. Be brave, live. For me.
Summer did not know who had said the words, but their deep feelings reached into the center of her chest and made it hard to breathe. She had survived a fall and the hospital being attacked, she had survived the trip to Metropolis and several months on her own. But surviving was not living, it was clinging to the edge where no one would notice.
“Summer,” Bruce said in distress.
Great, shaking sobs escaped her. She did not know if they were for her or her previous life. She did not know how to catch her breath. All she knew was that she had lost something significant and for the first time, she was safe enough to accept that loss, to mourn it.
88888888
Alfred remained out of the breakfast room, he could see and hear but was not technically in the room. It was a servant’s place, just close enough to help, but far enough away as to let their employer handle the situation.
Master Dick had been angry and destructive, and Master Bruce had known how to channel that energy. But Miss Summer was not angry, she was scared and based on the sobs she had lost more than just pieces of her memory.
It was a struggle not to intercede. But he knew that Master Bruce needed to accept his role. This girl, she needed him, not Batman, but Bruce Wayne, her father.
And he…he needed her too, someone who was not the League or a vigilante. Someone who could remind him that there was more to Wayne Manor than the Batcave below. And there was more to Bruce Wayne than just a photo opportunity between his life in the cowl.
So Alfred was relieved when Bruce finally took some action. He pulled the young girl into his lap and hugged her close as she sobbed into his chest. He was whispering something softly into her hair.
Sometime later, as Summer’s sobs ebbed, she seemed to take notice of Bruce’s words. She raised an eyebrow and looked up at Bruce.
“That’s the best you’ve got?” she asked going from distraught to incredulous in a second.
Bruce looked down at her in surprise. “I didn’t know what had set you off.”
“It wasn’t you. It was…everything. The memory loss and the stress of worrying about where my next meal was or that something would change with the condos.”
“You’re a kid, you shouldn’t have to worry about those kinds of things.”
“I don’t remember being a kid,” she said softly as she looked down at her hands. “I remember being a big sister and I remember being responsible…”
“I’m sorry that we don’t know what happened to your sister.”
She nodded but did not truly acknowledge his words.
“Are you still hungry?” he asked.
She hesitated but finally nodded. “Yes.”
Bruce deposited her back in her own chair.
Breakfast continued quietly between them.
Title: Just Eat
Author: hermione2be
Rating: PG/FR13/K+
Crossover: BtVS/DCAU
Disclaimer: I do not own any of BtVS/Angel or DCAU people, places, or ideas. This fiction is done simply for pleasure and I receive no profit.
Summary: Summer is beckoned from her room.
Notes: Part 4 of “ Not So Orphaned Summer” series - Thanks to mmooch for the series name
Seasons: Post-“Gift”/DC Universe
Word Count: 1600
“So she has been recovered?” Wonder Woman verified.
“Yes,” Superman said. “She is with her biological father.”
“Does he understand the magnitude of what happened to her?”
“All he knows is that she does not have any reliable memories.”
“Could he identify any of her past?”
“No,” Superman explained. “He was not aware he had children. As far as he is concerned, there are possibilities but no way to know unless Summer can remember more details.”
“Did she run because of the confrontation with the Joker?” J’onn J’onzz asked.
“Unclear.”
“What about the injury she suffered?”
“No evidence of any injury or scars.” Superman sighed. “Hopefully we’ll have new details in a few weeks.”
88888888
Bruce looked at the DNA profile again. There was no getting around it. Summer was genetically his daughter. The Batcomputer had run its own analysis after Summer had arrived.
In some ways, she reminded him of Dick. In others, there was a reflection of himself. It wasn’t just the dark hair and the shape of her chin. It was in the shrewd tactics she had used. But mostly he saw it in the wall she had built around herself. It had seemed when Superman had set her down that she was very outgoing and quite open. The wall had gone up after she stepped away from him to great Bruce and Alfred.
Summer had spent the last several months living on the streets. It showed in some of the things she did. She was not going to completely relax until she felt like she was here to stay. But he wondered how long until she cracked under the pressure. From the footage at the hospital, it didn’t seem likely to happen at all, but the girl who had looked around the living room and questioned her place in the lavishness…seemed fragile.
Connecting to an angry boy had been easy. But he had no idea what to do about the…resigned girl.
He brought up the footage from the few angles the hospital had. Mostly it showed her crawling into the elevator shaft. Then she appeared from the ceiling behind Harley Quinn. She took Harley out with her own mallet. Then when she had seen Batman, she kept Joker talking. Her entire posture suggested she had been ready to attack if the need arose. She left the adversaries to fight and effortlessly pulled Harley towards the exit. Then SWAT got to them and she left the hospital, disappearing for four months.
“Might I suggest a few hours of sleep?” Alfred said. “The answers will not appear just because you stay up all night staring at it.”
“I know, Alfred.”
88888888
Summer enjoyed the hot shower. The water did nothing for her nerves, or the headache that had started somewhere behind her right eye. It did not fix the strange events of her life. Nor did she feel like any of what she was experiencing was real.
She went through the portal to save her sister and now she was genetically the daughter of one of the richest men in the world. It sounded too good to be true. Nobody actually got Annie’d. Yet, she stood in a room that was much too…much.
They had even gotten her a few outfits that fit, probably based on the clothing size the hospital had used. She dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved red top. For the better part of the last week, they had not actively sought her out. She got the feeling they had no idea what to do with her. She was glad for the reprieve from the busy life she had led in Metropolis, she slept and she picked at the food Alfred left for her.
She kept to her suite, waiting for the next crazy thing to happen. Though the longer it went without happening, the tighter the ball of anxiety wound in the pit of her stomach - stealing what existed of her appetite.
A knock at the door distracted her from her eighty-billionth time cataloging how much she did not belong here.
When she opened the door, Bruce stood in the hall. He was dressed much as he had been when she arrived.
“Alfred made brunch,” he said.
“Oh.”
“There are some things that need to be discussed. I figured over food might be best.”
Summer nodded. He led her from the guest wing area to the family side.
Bruce gestured to a large double door down the hall. “That’s my room.” He pointed to the room across the hall. “This is Dick’s room.”
“Who?”
“I adopted him when he was about your age. He’s twenty-three, comes back some long weekends.”
“Is he in college?”
“No, he’s taking time off.” He led her down the stairs and to the smaller dining room. The round table was glass with four chairs. Stacked in the center were containers of eggs, toast, cinnamon rolls, fruit, pancakes, and oatmeal.
“That’s a lot of food.”
Bruce chuckled. “Alfred has been used to cooking for Dick and his enormous appetite. He hasn’t learned to scale back. He also didn’t know what you’d like, so he wanted options.”
Summer shook her head. She did not know what was worse, that she was hungry enough to eat more than half of what was on the table or that her appetite were comparable to a teenage boy.
They sat down. Bruce served himself some eggs, a cinnamon roll, fruit, and a cup of black coffee.
Summer tentatively took a cinnamon roll. She picked at it without really paying attention as she looked out the window into the backyard. When she looked back at her plate the cinnamon roll was gone. She frowned, not realizing she had eaten it so quickly.
She moved to take another one but quickly stayed her hand.
Bruce ran out of patience and plopped another cinnamon roll on her plate. “Eat,” he told her. “Anything you like, just eat.”
“I don’t need-”
“It’s not about needing,” he said softly, looking in her eyes. “Nothing you could ever want is off-limits. Eat as often as you like and until you are full.”
Summer felt her throat clench. She did not know how to do that.
“I can’t imagine what you did for the last few months to survive,” he said, his voice strained slightly. “But there is no danger here. While I don’t condone complete frivolity, there is little you could want that you couldn’t have.”
I want my memories back, she thought dejectedly. But from somewhere in the back of her mind a voice whispered, The hardest thing in this world… is to live in it. Be brave, live. For me.
Summer did not know who had said the words, but their deep feelings reached into the center of her chest and made it hard to breathe. She had survived a fall and the hospital being attacked, she had survived the trip to Metropolis and several months on her own. But surviving was not living, it was clinging to the edge where no one would notice.
“Summer,” Bruce said in distress.
Great, shaking sobs escaped her. She did not know if they were for her or her previous life. She did not know how to catch her breath. All she knew was that she had lost something significant and for the first time, she was safe enough to accept that loss, to mourn it.
88888888
Alfred remained out of the breakfast room, he could see and hear but was not technically in the room. It was a servant’s place, just close enough to help, but far enough away as to let their employer handle the situation.
Master Dick had been angry and destructive, and Master Bruce had known how to channel that energy. But Miss Summer was not angry, she was scared and based on the sobs she had lost more than just pieces of her memory.
It was a struggle not to intercede. But he knew that Master Bruce needed to accept his role. This girl, she needed him, not Batman, but Bruce Wayne, her father.
And he…he needed her too, someone who was not the League or a vigilante. Someone who could remind him that there was more to Wayne Manor than the Batcave below. And there was more to Bruce Wayne than just a photo opportunity between his life in the cowl.
So Alfred was relieved when Bruce finally took some action. He pulled the young girl into his lap and hugged her close as she sobbed into his chest. He was whispering something softly into her hair.
Sometime later, as Summer’s sobs ebbed, she seemed to take notice of Bruce’s words. She raised an eyebrow and looked up at Bruce.
“That’s the best you’ve got?” she asked going from distraught to incredulous in a second.
Bruce looked down at her in surprise. “I didn’t know what had set you off.”
“It wasn’t you. It was…everything. The memory loss and the stress of worrying about where my next meal was or that something would change with the condos.”
“You’re a kid, you shouldn’t have to worry about those kinds of things.”
“I don’t remember being a kid,” she said softly as she looked down at her hands. “I remember being a big sister and I remember being responsible…”
“I’m sorry that we don’t know what happened to your sister.”
She nodded but did not truly acknowledge his words.
“Are you still hungry?” he asked.
She hesitated but finally nodded. “Yes.”
Bruce deposited her back in her own chair.
Breakfast continued quietly between them.