Homecoming (Complete)

Chapter Twenty-Five

Babs was watching Alex flit from person to person, group to group, and laughing, joking, and smiling—for all intent and purposes, looking and behaving completely normal—when Bruce joined her.

"She fakes it pretty well, doesn't she," Bruce said quietly. "If I hadn't seen her last night, and again this morning, I would never know there was anything wrong." He looked at Babs. "Who are all these people?"

"These are some of the people she helped out, and made friends with, before she disappeared." She nodded her head at a small group to one side. "That's Junior. He was the gang leader that helped clean up and stabilize the area around the Center in Old Gotham. Alex gave him and his crew jobs as security in the area—protecting the small mom and pop businesses, and sort of patrolling the streets at night to keep an eye on things. The woman he's talking to is Mrs. Orin. Alex paid for her husband's funeral, and all the repairs to her shop when the insurance company refused. Just to their right is Therese and Jennifer Adams."

"Ah, yes," Bruce said. "I recognize them now."

"Over there," Babs nodded her head toward the other side of the room, "Alex is talking to the Chavez family. She hired Mr. Chavez and put him on benefits so that they could get the medical coverage they needed for their daughter. She was very sick when Alex disappeared but is now in remission." She looked back at Bruce. "These are all people Alex helped and befriended." She spread her hands to indicate her rather crowded living room. "I had a hard time whittling it down. She impacted a lot of lives here, and a lot of people really wanted to see her." Babs sighed. "She hasn't made it easy for any of them to reach out and welcome her home. She did so much for so many of them, and all they want to do is express their happiness at her return," she paused to watch Alex again. "She's doing that thing," she grimaced. "She's being what people want, adapting to the situation." She looked at Bruce. "I don't even know if she's fully aware of them and how much they care."

"It says something that she didn't do this with us," Bruce said. "She let us see her, and that she's not okay."

"I never thought of that," Babs chewed on the inside of her lip then looked at Bruce. "Her way of asking for help maybe?"

"More likely her version of trust, or at least the version of trust she's capable of right now," Bruce watched Alex laugh at someone's joke. "It couldn't have been easy to let us see." They stood in silence for a bit and watched the ebb and flow of people around Alex. They all seemed truly delighted to see her, and Alex deftly reflected that delight back on them. No one seemed even remotely aware that she was being anything other than genuine. "When is Kate supposed to arrive?" Bruce finally asked. "Is Maggie coming?"

"She should be here any minute," Babs said. "And yes, Maggie is coming."

"How do you feel about that?" Bruce looked at her.

"I don't know," Babs said after a moment. "I don't think Kate shouldn't bring Maggie but..."

"But at the same time it's kind of awkward," Bruce finished.

"Yeah. That," Babs frowned.

"How did you finally get a hold of her? I know you tried like crazy when we first found Alex but you couldn't track her down."

"They were on vacation, somewhere remote, and had left all their electronic devices behind so no one could bug them," Babs pulled a face. "When they got home Kate listened to about fifty of my frantic messages, booked the first flight she could get, and then called me."

"Any luck trying to track down Dinah?" He asked quietly. He wasn't sure if mentioning Dinah was okay or not.

"No," Babs said in a tight voice. "My only way to contact her has been through Diana, and she's gone off grid for the past few weeks. They're on some sort of delicate mission somewhere. I've left messages everywhere I could think of." She looked at Bruce and he could see intense emotion roiling behind her eyes. She was trying to swallow it, but he could see she was struggling. He wished, not for the first time, that Babs and Dinah's relationship had survived Alex's disappearance. He knew both of them were suffering, but he was at a loss on how to help. "That's all I could do. They'll find out when they find out." The doorbell rang. "Excuse me," she said.