Cold-Blooded: A DC Universe Fanfiction (#Wattys2015)

Chapter 61: David, Bruce: Home

Was this really their house? It didn't look—wait, his new father raised a remote, and the garage doors slid up. But if this was the garage, where was the house itself?

"What are all the packages by the front door?" Slade asked as he pulled the rental into the garage.

"Dishes and things I bought in Cherishing Girls Village," Yukie replied. "Remember, it was the home of several traditional artisans. It was simpler to have them shipped directly here rather than deal with them as luggage."

"So that's the surprise? Souvenirs we'll use regularly."

"No. That is the surprise." She pointed to a truck which was driving up. There was another truck right behind it.

"Living Concepts," his father read aloud. "You ordered furniture?"

"Ordered and paid for," she said. "I was prepared to buy a house on my own and furnish it. Since you already own the house, this is my contribution to the household. Don't worry, I chose pieces that will live up to, but not detract from, the thirty million dollar view."

"Here I was thinking there would be weeks of 'Which swatch do you like?' and 'I like the arms on this one but not the legs.' ahead of us," he commented, parking the car and getting out.

"I hope I would never be so boring. At the end of the day, it's how comfortable the chair is, not how it looks," she replied, getting out on her side. "And I doubt we will lose sleep over buying the sofa with the rounded arms rather than the square."

Rose was already out of the rental, and he wriggled out of his seatbelt to catch up.

The furniture trucks were parking in the driveway, and out of the first emerged a young woman with aggressively red hair and a great many freckles. She was carrying a large orchid plant with white and yellow flowers. "Ms. Kuwano? I'm Jenny Gallagher. It's so exciting to meet you in person! This is our assembly and installation team. That's Hugh, next to him is Mike, and there's Barb."

"It is very nice to meet you all," his new mother smiled at them. "This is my husband Slade, our daughter Rose and our son David."

"Let me get the house opened up for you," his father said. As he passed her, he asked under his voice, "You didn't bankrupt yourself for this, did you? I never expected you to cover the expenses on your own. Or at all."

"Of course not," she replied. "Remember how I told you about brokering Dr. Fries' deal with Itachi? I took my share in shares of stock."

"Ah," he said. To the furniture movers, he said, "Mind the boxes, we just got back from two months' vacation."

"If the boxes are coming inside, we can handle them too," Jenny said. "This is for you, as a housewarming gift. It's a dendrobium."

"Thank you so much! All right. David? I have a task for you. On the first floor, which is four levels down, there are two bedrooms. Please go and choose which one you want. Rose, can you put this on the kitchen counter for now? Thank you." She handed the flower off to his new sister and turned to the job of helping move boxes.

David went into the entryway and stopped. There weren't walls, only windows. There was an elevator, but it was glass. The stairs were glass too, frosted glass. They could have been made of ice. It wasn't that he was afraid to walk on them, or to go in the elevator. Not afraid, exactly, just...

"David?" Rose interrupted his thoughts. "Can I tell you something? I know these stairs must be perfectly safe and very strong, but I've never walked on them before, and I'm a little nervous. Could you hold my hand when we go down them? It'll make me feel better, and after this first time, I know I'll be okay."