Chapter 4-An unexpected guest!

Chapter 4

Rachel Dawes

Rachel Dawes walked into her office and couldn't help but lament the sheer amount of work waiting for her. And at that time, she regretted not having taken Thomas's offer of working for Wayne Enterprises.

Yet what could she do? She was the assistant DA for Gotham city, and for a city with as much crime as Gotham, there was no chance of her work lessening any time soon. And she didn't mind the work, especially these days. Things in Gotham were looking hopeful for once after a deface of near hopelessness, a darkness that had begun enveloping their city after that fateful night.

The death of Thomas and Martha Wayne had shaken Gotham to the core, for they weren't just the richest people in the city. No, they were a symbol of hope in a bleak time. The people, despite everything, held respect for them, for the whole city knew how the Waynes had nearly bankrupted themselves during the depression just to make their lives livable.

But after their death, Gotham had come crashing down. Crime had run rampant, and the situation continued to deteriorate until a couple of years ago.

And it was all because of him. The man whose picture was on the front page of Gotham Daily, for he was the young Prince of Gotham. The newest rising star in the world of business, Thomas Wayne.

He carried his father's name, and his actions showed that he carried his legacy as well. With his return to the Board of Wayne Enterprises, all the philanthropic projects that the company had shelved had been restarted, and though she was not certain she had a guess that he had also been working to keep the more corrupt elements out of the city's power circles.

Several judges, judges who were famous for being connected to the mob bosses, had suddenly resigned, and a similar trend had followed in the Police department. She was not aware how, yet she knew in her heart that it was his doing.

Even in the underworld, things had been tumultuous, and the gangs had been shrinking as more and more people got opportunities to make an honest living. The number of people under the mob's influence declined, lowering their manpower.

It was not much, mind you, yet it was a start. It was a start, and she was determined to do her part.

And so she sat down, reviewing briefs and doing research for their various cases. And as she was lost in her work, she failed to notice the setting of the Sun until a hard knock on the door to her office broke her out of her trance.

"Dawes," she looked up and found one of their colleagues at her door.

"Boss is calling you!" Bethany said. And Rachel finally looked at the time and saw that it was way past the break time, so she moved out of her room and walked to the office of the DA, her boss Micheal Finch, one of the more honest people in Gotham. He had worked tirelessly to get to his position and was amongst the few who had the courage to do the right thing.

And now with the judges not in Falcone's pocket, he was getting work done. She gave a small knock on his door and after a small affirmation from the inside entered his room.

Much like her own office, his was filled with files as well, and the man gave her a smile as she walked in.

"You called for me," she said as he smiled and raised a brow.

"Well, it seems today is our lucky day because I just received a call from Thomas Wayne," and as soon as she heard those words, she groaned, for she had a very good idea what had happened.

"Not again," she muttered as she sat down, and Finch had the audacity to laugh at her.

"You, Miss Rachel Dawes, are now free for the rest of the day," and that had become somewhat of a tradition.

Once in their weekly meetings, she had complained to him about her sheer workload and how she might not have time to come to their meetups anymore; a new tradition had started in the DA office.

Whenever he needed her, or it was the day of their meet up. A small group of associates from his own law firm would show up and take over her work so that she could leave early or have some rest.

She had complained to him, yet somehow, he had even gotten her boss to sign off on this. The associates were young graduates looking to make a name for themselves and a quick couple of thousand bucks as well, and they were happy to do it.

The DA had the audacity to chuckle at her dilemma and added.

"You should go now. Your boyfriend has sent a car already," and she glared at the man.

"He is not my boyfriend!" she corrected sharply, and the man just shook his head.

"Yeah, yeah, and I am not the DA of Gotham," he refused to listen to her, and that was the biggest side effect of this idiotic tradition.

All the DA office thought her to be his girlfriend. And that was not true. She had literally watched him grow up. He was like a brother to her. A younger, troublemaking piece of shit of a brother. But a brother nonetheless.

"I am telling the truth. He is like an obnoxious little brother to me. I have literally watched him grow up infront of me," she added as she made a disgusted face, yet Finch wasn't convinced, as she continued to give her that accusatory stare.

So, she dropped the big guns.

"And he already has a girlfriend," at this, Finch's eyes narrowed.

"You are lying," he said, and she shook her head as she leaned back.

"I am not, I have even met her a couple of times," and she had thought the truth was she wasn't actually sure if they were in a relationship yet, something both of them should have done ages ago. She had seen how he looked at her, and how she would steal glances at him when he wasn't looking.

Either both of them were idiots, which they were not, or there was something else going on.

"Then why does he do this for you? Those associates he sends every other week here must cost him quite a bit," Finch ventured, and they did.

"Problems that can be solved with money are not problems," she tried to imitate his voice as best as she could and saw Finch chuckle a bit.

"That is what he said to me. Thomas is philanthropic and likes to help the poor, but he is also a first-rate rich asshole," she said, "in his words."

She added quickly, and her boss just shrugged.

"Well, he has been quite a lot of help to our department, and so that's why I let him do this. So, be on your way. That car has been waiting for you for some time now," said Finch, and she got up and walked to her office. The associates had already settled in and had begun working.

She collected her belongings and walked out of the office, and as per tradition, a black car stood there waiting for her. A very familiar person opened the door for her.

"Alfred, this is a bit out of schedule," she said as she entered the car, and the elderly butler of the Waynes closed the car doors.

"Indeed it is, though not without cause. Today is a very special occasion, and Master Thomas insisted that you be there," Alfred remarked, and she frowned.

"Why? What happened?" she questioned.

Her guess was right. This was a rather irregular meeting.

She saw Alfred smile.

"Well, that is supposed to be a surprise," the man answered, refusing to answer, and the car raced to Wayne Manor. She sat in the car, trying to wriggle the answer out of Thomas, but he didn't reply for some reason.

The car entered the manor and circled to the garden side, and Alfred stopped and opened the car door for her.

She frowned, for this was not their usual spot. Usually, they would have a rather small family-esque meal inside the manor.

Yet she got out regardless and walked into the garden. A table was set further in, with some chairs around it, and she saw a person sitting there. A person who, upon seeing her, began to walk towards her.

"Thom…." She was about to call out but stopped when she realized that it wasn't him. There were no glasses, and this person was older, much older, about her age, and she recognized him. His face had changed quite a bit since the last time she had seen him, but even that was about ten years ago.

"Bruce!" she gasped as he slowly walked towards her Their last meeting had been less than ideal and she had ended up slapping him, and only later had realized just what she had done.

She had returned the next day to apologies to him, but by then he was long gone.

Only now did she realize, that expecting Bruce to be rational in the case of Joe Hill wasn't unreasonable, it was cruel. The man had murdered both his parents and had orphaned him and his brother.

And when she had realized that she had been livid with herself, and as she saw him, standing infront of her after all these years she was tongue tied.

"Rachel," he called her name, none of the anguish and anger apparent as he gave her a smile, a smile which she had not seen on his face since the days of the long past when his parents still lived in this manor.

"You came back," she said, and he nodded.

"I did. Thomas told me someone would be coming to meet me, but I never expected it would be you," Bruce spoke. His voice had lost all of the immaturity of the teenage years and was brisque and serious.

"Gods, it has been years!" she uttered as she rushed towards him, hugged him, and felt his hesitant arms wrap themselves around her in return.

"That it has been, but now I am here maybe permanently," he uttered, and she felt her body ease slightly at his words as they separated, and she spoke up after a bit of a think.

"I must apologize about what I said last time…" she began, and he quickly cut her off.

"You were right," he replied, much to her surprise, and he wasn't lying either.

"I was angry at the time, and bra…."

"No. No, I only later realized just how rotten this city is, and what I said was so self-righteous and crue…"

"Ohh, it seems you people started this without me!" the very obnoxious voice of the boy she thought of as a younger brother interrupted her mid-sentence as she glanced back.

And there he was, Thomas Wayne. She remembered it like yesterday when he was just a little boy, very small, very cute and very quiet. Yet the years had transformed him; his frequent visits to the hospital had ended, and now he looked just like his moniker.

The Prince of Gotham.

She smiled and ran to him, and as he opened his arms for a hug, she instead twisted his ear, making him squirm.

"When were you going to tell me that he was back? Why weren't you replying to my messages earlier?" she questioned him, and he squared and shrieked in pain animatedly.

"Ouch! Ouch. I couldn't. I was driving back from the Board meeting," he said, and she remembered what day it was.

"How did it go?" though a part of her already knew the answer to that, and the massive grin on his face confirmed it.

"Earle has been removed as CEO. Fox takes over tomorrow," he said as they all sat down. And she saw him reach into the bag he had brought, and he gave her and Bruce two wrapped packages.

"These are for you," he said, and she recognized the logo on the box and what appeared to be an invitation card.

"What is that?" Bruce questioned as she opened the invite.

"That is the exclusive invite for the Wayne expo next week and the first product I plan to present there."

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