Homecoming (Complete)

Chapter One

Alex stuck her head in the cockpit of the small plane on her way by to thank the pilot before heading down the steps to the tarmac and the waiting limo. She could have flown herself in—she already had a few times over the past several years—but for her first official visit to Gotham, and her meeting with Bruce Wayne, propriety, and a bit of pomp and circumstance, was called for. She needed him to think she'd never been here before.

"Ms. Read?" the driver asked as she approached the car.

"Yes," she nodded as he opened the door for her and she slipped into the back.

"Any luggage, ma'am?" he asked.

"No," Alex said, smiling brilliantly at him. "It's just me and my briefcase. I sent everything ahead to my hotel a couple days ago. We can head straight to Wayne Tower please."

"Yes, ma'am," he closed the door and climbed into the front.

It would be about a forty-five minute drive from the airport to Wayne Tower so Alex pulled out a folder and some papers from her briefcase to go over the real estate documents and the building plans one more time. She didn't really need to—she already knew the contents inside out—but the act of flipping through the pages allowed her to keep her head down, and her thoughts to herself, effectively discouraging discussion on the part of the driver who appeared to be inclined to play tour-guide. After a few attempts to point out some landmarks and engage her in conversation he finally decided she was truly preoccupied and turned his attention back to navigating the heavy city traffic.

She used the time to mentally review everything she knew about Wayne. Not the public information that was readily available, but the tiny bits of other information she'd been able glean over the years. His precise portrayal of a careless, and carefree, playboy was an obvious cover for something else—at least to anyone who paid attention, and paying attention was something she was very good at.

He was a frustrating enigma. She didn't know how he'd done it but the only profile he had was extremely public, and too blatantly obvious, to be the entire truth. No one was that transparent—everyone had skeletons. Everyone except Bruce Wayne it seemed. He did have some public skeletons—some not-so-secret secrets that felt strategically discovered rather than poorly hidden—but nothing truly damaging to his character. At worst his issues fell into the 'slightly embarrassing' category rather than full on humiliating, making him just a touch less than squeaky clean. Whatever his secrets really were she was going to figure them out once and for all.

Today's meeting was to ostensibly finalize the purchase of an old warehouse, it's out-buildings, and the surrounding property in Old Gotham so she could renovate everything and turn the area into a new community center where the locals would have access to gyms, education assistance, sports training... It was a massive philanthropic undertaking that would employ a vast number of people during the building and renovation process, as well as countless others once it was complete. Add in that the services provided to the community, once the center was ready for operation, would be available on a sliding price scale—right down to free—for any citizen wishing to utilize the facilities, made it a project that Wayne shouldn't be able to refuse to be a part of. It was going to be an expensive ruse, but this project would give her a valid excuse to remain in Gotham for as long as it took to unravel the riddle of the Waynes and their convoluted familial ties and history. There was no way she'd be able to stay in Gotham once she was done with this—no matter the outcome she wasn't likely to be welcome here once the truth came out—but she had some hope that this project might survive once she was gone. Ruse or not, the benefits to the community would be real—they had to be or this wouldn't work.