Thirty-Six

Alfred and Madeline occupied themselves with board games the rest of the day. When Bruce came home, he found Maddie besting his butler at Monopoly in the study. He leaned against the doorframe silently, smirking to himself at the scene. It was refreshing to see Alfred relaxing for once. It reminded him slightly of the upbringing he'd had with the old family servant.

"Bankrupt," Alfred declared despondently, throwing the last of his bills in Madeline's direction. Bruce chuckled and the other two turned to look at him, having finally noticed his presence.

"It's a good thing we don't have you in charge of the family fortune," Bruce teased.

"Oh, sod off," Alfred scoffed, standing. "I take it you have some news for Miss Madeline?"

"Yes, in fact, I do," he replied, clearing his throat and turning to the girl. "Do you happen to know an Andy and Tommy?"

Madeline grinned widely in excitement, standing up out of her seat. "Andy and Tommy?! Are they here?"

"Not quite," Bruce corrected. "But they will be adopting you once they accept their job offers at Wayne Enterprises and move into their new house."

Maddie's jaw dropped practically to the floor, leaving what felt like a mile tall hole for flies to hop into if they so chose. "Really?!"

"Yes, my dear, really," Alfred confirmed for his boss. She squealed loudly in pure joy and hopped up and down around the room while the two older men watched in amusement.

"Oh, I've missed them so much," she sighed as she finally stopped spinning. "I was so worried about them after Batman came."

When Bruce and Alfred furrowed their eyebrows she explained. "They're not fighters. They've only ever taken care of me when my daddy was busy. He sent them on a spa day the day of the attack. I never heard anything from or about them since."

Bruce nodded, glad to see that Madeline had confirmed the couple's story. That at least assured him that they were trustworthy.

"Can I join the next game?" Bruce asked the pair. Maddie and Alfred exchanged exasperated glances.

"Maybe tomorrow. We were at it for hours before I finally beat Alfred," she groaned.

"She's right, sir. And it's high time we all had supper, and then off to bed with this young scamp," Alfred agreed.

"Hey! I'm no scamp!" Maddie protested.

"Oh yes you most certainly are," Alfred disagreed. "Speaking of scamps, I think I'll be serving some shrimp scampi tonight."

With that, the sassy old butler left the room, leaving behind an amused billionaire and a chuffed little girl.

"Let him go, honey. Besides, I think it's high time you had a bath. Did Selina not bathe you?" Bruce asked, chuckling.

Maddie just narrowed her eyes at the billionaire. All he knows is that I got into Joker's cell somehow and left there. How does he know I got brought by Catwoman, let alone that she's actually Auntie Selina?

"Selina?" Maddie repeated. "How would you know who I stayed with before I got to Arkham?"

Bruce stiffened, realizing that he'd slipped up and said too much.

"Um, well, the police told me that Batman told them that Catwoman was the one who kidnapped you," he said slowly.

"But then why did you say Selina? Why not Catwoman?" She demanded to know.

"I've, uh... well, you see I've sort of... been on dates with her before," Bruce explained. "Somewhere along the lines she told me that she was Catwoman. I promised not to say anything."

"Why would you do that? Isn't she a criminal?" Maddie interrogated.

"Well, I'm no policeman, and um... I didn't, uh, want anything bad to happen to her," he mumbled, scratching the back of his neck.

"Why? She could rob you blind," she pointed out. "Why would you trust a criminal like that? Unless..."

Maddie trailed off as she put the pieces together in her head. Bruce could practically see her wheels spinning. He cringed internally, waiting for her inevitable outburst and tantrum when she figured out the truth. She'd already guessed it once before, so it shouldn't take her long to get back to that conclusion.

"You love her," Maddie suddenly shouted, triumphantly. Bruce had to hold in a large sigh of relief.

"Yes," he said, clinging onto her guess to keep her from guessing the real truth.

"That's why your windows were unlocked in the first place. You want her to come sneaking in so that you can see her again," she realized.

"What? No, that's not—" Bruce denied before stopping. Actually, maybe subconsciously that is what I'm doing. How is this child psychoanalyzing me better than I do myself? "Whatever. You still smell. Let's go run that bath for you. Are you big enough to bathe yourself or do you want me to help you?"

The pair walked upstairs together as they talked, Maddie glancing up at him shyly before she replied. "Um, I may need some help with my hair..."

"That's fine," he assured her with a friendly smile.

At this point they were in one of the large guest bathrooms and Bruce began running the water before looking for some bubble bath liquid. When he finally found one buried in the back of one of the cabinets he grunted in triumph. This probably hasn't been used since I was a boy. Maybe even back when my parents were still alive.

Bruce shook off the sad thought and poured a generous amount of the bath soap into the rapidly filling tub. Soon bubbles began to rise up as the running water hit the liquid, and bubble mountains started to form. Maddie squeaked happily in anticipation and looked at Bruce worriedly. Realizing what frightened her, he turned his back to her and let her strip down on her own and carefully climb into the tub.

When she had climbed in and fully submerged herself in bubbles, she called out to Bruce and let him know that he could turn back. Maddie giggled mischievously as he searched for her in the bubbles.

"Now where could that girl have gone to?" Bruce asked the room. He ignored the eruption of giggles from the pile of bubbles and searched around the bathroom for Maddie. Finally he turned back to the tub. "She couldn't be in here, could she?"

With that, Bruce whacked off the top of the bubble tower, knocking it to the surface of the water. From the hole he made he could see Maddie's silly face peering from out of the bubbles. She laughed hysterically at him and nearly fell over from it.

"Found you!" Bruce proclaimed. "Now let's wash this hair."

Then Bruce proceeded to lather up her hair with some women's shampoo he had there for potential guests. He carefully scrubbed her head and then rinsed out the suds with a cup of water. He went a step further and conditioned her hair as well. While they waited for it to set in, Maddie washed herself with a rag and some body wash he gave her. After that, Bruce rinsed out the conditioner and had the girl stand up in the tub.

He drained all the gross bathwater and ran some more into the cup quickly to rinse the soap and dirt from Madeline's body. Once she was all clean, he grabbed a towel from the rack and picked her up in it, standing her up on a rug on the bathroom floor.

While she dried herself, Bruce confiscated her old and gross clothes and went off to look for something for her to wear temporarily. He finally settled on some of his old clothes from when he was a child and brought them back to the bathroom.

"I'll have Alfred wash your clothes for you," he explained as he handed her the clothes.

Maddie nodded and he left the bathroom and went downstairs to the dining room. She got dressed into the old clothes on her own and made her way back downstairs.

The three of them had a lovely dinner together. Madeline found that she really enjoyed Alfred's cooking. She sampled a little of everything and soon got stuffed. After a little more idle chit chat, they suggested that Madeline go to bed. The girl nodded and left the dining room, assuming that Alfred would be handling the dishes. However, she really didn't know what Bruce would be getting up to. What do lonely rich billionaires do at night?

Maybe he's going to a party.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Maddie woke up screaming at two in the morning. Almost instantly she knew why. The rain pounding on her window and the lightning crackling overhead made it quite evident.

All she could think to do was scream. She hadn't had this issue back at Joker's mansion, as she had Smiles to keep her safe. But it hadn't stormed since the raid, so she hadn't worried about it. But now it was storming terribly, and Madeline was all alone, with no stuffed cat or daddy to protect her. So she continued to scream and cry until eventually Alfred busted down the door, looking terrified out of his wits for her.

When he saw that no one was attacking or threatening her, he calmed slightly, but still urgently ran to the bed, taking her hand and trying to calm her down, but she couldn't breathe, and fear continued to plow through her like a battering ram.

"Madeline, miss, calm down, please. Breathe!" Alfred pleaded. "Listen, I want you to look at me, and breathe when I do, okay? Now breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. That's better, dear. Now what's the matter?"

"Storm... Nightmares... Need, Smiles," Maddie managed to pant out.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean, miss," the old butler confessed.

"Daddy gave me Smiles when the storms came. He said that she would protect me from them," Maddie explained as her breathing evened out some.

"And I'm guessing this token didn't make it out of Joker's hideout," Alfred sighed.

Maddie shook her head and pulled her knees up to her chest. She flinched at every sound from outside as she fruitlessly rocked herself to try and calm down.

"Is there anything at all that I can do, miss?" Alfred asked despairingly.

"Just—hold me," she cried, reaching out for the kind man.

Alfred gladly took her into his sturdy arms and carried her tiny body about the room, shushing and rocking her until she calmed down enough to fall asleep again. He hoped that the storms wouldn't disturb her any longer and laid her down in the bed again.

With a piteous sigh on her behalf, Alfred left the bedroom, closing the door behind him with a soft click.

Maddie did in fact sleep peacefully the rest of the night. But it had almost nothing to do with Alfred.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Madeline woke up the next morning with a pleasant smile on her face. She felt safe and well rested. Miraculously, the storm hadn't disturbed her the remainder of the night.

Suddenly, she heard raindrops hitting the hardwood floors and turned to the window in confusion. It was slightly cracked open, allowing stray raindrops to fall through and onto the floor.

Her movement caused her to notice something else. There was something fuzzy underneath her arm. Maddie whipped her head down to look and saw something that filled her with both joy and confusion.

It was Smiles. Her beloved toy kitty was magically here with her. Or maybe not so magically, Maddie thought as she looked at the slightly open window.

She wasn't one to question miracles, but she simply couldn't let this go. Who could have snuck in here to bring me this? Selina, Ivy, and Eddy wouldn't have her, and Andy, Tommy, Bruce, and Alfred wouldn't need to sneak in through the window. It would have to be—

The door to the bedroom opened, letting both Bruce and Alfred in.

"I heard you had a rough night," Bruce said by way of greeting. How late was he out?

Suddenly the businessman narrowed his eyes as he spotted the fluffy cat. "Where'd you get that?"

Maddie unintentionally glanced at the open window, drawing the men's attention to it. Bruce stalked over to the window and slammed it shut. "Who brought you that?"

"I don't know who brought Smiles here," Maddie replied. "I just woke up and she was here all of a sudden."

Alfred paled at this news. "Is this the same Smiles you were begging for last night? The one you said your—erm—father gave you?"

"Yes," she confirmed. "Daddy gave her to me when I first got there so I wouldn't need to be afraid of storms."

Bruce's face darkened as he realized the implications of this statement. Joker was here. Or at least one of his men was.

"I need to speak with Alfred outside a moment, sweetie. That alright?" Bruce asked as he and his butler locked eyes.

"Okay," Maddie allowed, watching the two men leave the room.

Once they were a sufficient way down the hall, Bruce stepped into a random guest bedroom and Alfred followed, closing the door.

"Now, let's not be too hasty, Master Wayne. He didn't leave a calling card. Whenever he's up to something, he always let's us know it's him. It's part of his little game. If he were up to something with Madeline, he would want us to know so we would look that much more incapable when he does it anyway," Alfred pointed out.

"While that may be true, I don't like that he or one of his cronies was able to slip in here so easily. All the more reason to get Maddie somewhere far away from here as soon as possible. Until then, we're upping security," Bruce ordered.

"You know he'll find her wherever she goes if he really wants to," Alfred said grimly.

"Like you said, he didn't want her or maybe us to know it was him. So maybe he doesn't want anyone to know he's still involved with her. We have to hope that he still doesn't give a flying fuck what happens to her," Bruce growled.

"Language, Master Bruce. I didn't raise any heathen," Alfred scowled.

"Apologies, Alfred. But that's just the way I turned out."