#siblings!au

Martha rushed in circles around the kitchen with flour on her overalls and in her hair. Despite the dewy forehead and wide-eyed look of distress written all over her face, the kitchen was cleaner than when Alfred cooked in it. Bruce grabbed an apron off a wall hook and tied it around his waist. “What do you need?” Bruce asked. Martha wiped her forehead with her wrist and took a deep breath before dipping a spatula into the mixer and tasting baby blue frosting. 

“Can you check on the stew while I put the finishing touches on the cake?” Martha asked. Bruce walked over to the stovetop and lifted the top off of the pot. “How many bags of chocolate bears do you think this’ll need?” Martha asked. 

“Two and a half,” Bruce answered without looking back. “Mom, what do you think he’s like? I mean, he was born in a prison.” 

Martha opened three small bags of cookies and dumped them into a bowl. She hadn’t entirely heard what he said, but she tried to imagine the new addition to their family hundreds of times since Thomas wrote about him. “A child born into a lifelong prison sentence,” Martha thought. “How awful.” She frosted the cake, quietly contemplating what their new life would be like once her new son arrived. 

“Mom?” Bruce questioned to get her attention. “Are you alright?” 

Martha turned toward him and took a deep breath. “I’m sure this will all be frightening to him. He’s never been outside the prison. The world is such a big place. He’s never even been to school. All I know about him is that the inmates said he collected books. He’s been reading there,” Martha explained. “So, to answer your question, I think he’s going to be very curious about the world we live in…” She chewed her top lip, and Bruce nudged her. 

She took a breath and looked around the kitchen before hearing a timer ding. “That’s the bread. Bruce, can you get—”

“Mom, are you gonna read my thesis?” Bruce questioned. 

“I will get to it, Bruce… At some point,” Martha answered with an alarming amount of hesitation. 

Bruce sighed. “Why don’t you want me to talk about my sabbatical?” Bruce questioned. 

“Because I heard your father read two and a half letters about your travels, and it made my stomach turn flips. I don’t like the idea of you running around other countries getting beaten up by strangers,” Martha replied. “And pictures of your injuries, Bruce? Really? That was too much. How can you expect me to be comfortable with that?” 

“I can take care of myself. I’m twenty-five. I’m not a little boy anymore,” Bruce reasoned. 

The kitchen went silent, and Martha took an angled spatula to smooth out the edges. Then, the phone rang in the kitchen, and Bruce answered. “Hello? Hi, Harv, old sport,” Bruce chuckled. Martha widened her eyes and furrowed her brow as she tapped her wrist. “I’ve got to keep it short with you… I guess I’ll have to ask Mom. Tonight’s a little different. I’m sure you’ve heard why…” 

Bruce turned to Martha and covered the receiver with his palm. “Can Harvey stay for dinner tonight?” Bruce whispered. Martha sighed and nodded. 

“Sure. Tell Harvey that dinner is at seven tonight because of our special circumstances and to bring ice cream. I’m making a marble cake,” Martha instructed. 

Bruce twirled the phone cord while he faced his mother. “I’m helping out in the kitchen… Mom said you could come. You just have to bring ice cream for her marble cake… Yes, it’s frosted. See you at seven. Okay. Yeah… Okay, bye,” Bruce stated before hanging up. 

Martha took tweezers and stuck bears onto the cake. “I should be happy that your father won’t be here just yet, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I missed him. I like it when we’re all at home,” Martha confessed. “And I’ll try to read some of your thesis tonight if I can stomach it… Why would you want to do that, anyway?” 

“I wanted to study things you can’t learn on a college campus. I wanted to live and learn with people for a year. I even kept my promise of finishing school, Mom. I’ll attend all the galas, I’ll do the country club thing, and I’ll even get a normal job. Mom, I just needed to live. I needed to know what it’s like to be around all kinds of people. You’ve seen the world with Dad. It’s not that different,” Bruce reasoned. 

“I just worry because you have the tendency to get yourself into trouble. And now, because you’re an adult, it terrifies me that you still don’t see how dangerous all of this was. At least when you were a child, you were apprehensive about dangerous things. It just seems like you’re doing all this for the adrenaline,” Martha sighed. 

Bruce turned the fire off and kissed Martha’s cheek. “I blame Dad for my adventurous streak,” Bruce half-joked. 

“I know. Remind me to give him an earful about it when I’m reading your thesis tonight,” Martha replied. 

“Don’t be too hard on him. I had to put my adventuring skills to good use. Just like I told you before, I’m going to be so productive. I pinky promised you, Mom. And I feel more productive,” Bruce replied. 

“Such a charmer, this one,” Martha teased. “You’re so much like your father. Oh, the trouble you two boys can get into sometimes… It astounds me.” 

“But you love us,” Bruce reminded her. 

“We all go a little mad sometimes, sweetheart,” Martha joked. 

He took some tweezers of his own and started working with Martha on putting the bears on the cake. “It’s nice to see you baking again,” Bruce stated. 

“Come home more often,” Martha replied. 

Bruce chuckled. “I appreciate your subtlety, Mom. That was well done,” Bruce joked. “I’m staying the night. Aren’t I?” 

“Yes, but that’s one night unless you change your inevitable weekend plans,” Martha stated. “Or, you can tell us about this mystery girl…” 

“There is no mystery girl,” Bruce replied. 

“Not that serious?” Martha questioned. 

“Mom. What about you? What have you been up to? Any luncheons or debutante balls?” Bruce asked. 

“No. I’ll have you know that I went to the Gators game with a very interesting young woman I met at the gym,” Martha smiled. 

“Really?” Bruce asked. “I didn’t see that game. Who were you with?” 

“Julie Madison,” Martha replied. 

“Mom—”

“Very cute girl. She seemed to know a lot about you and your general lack of direction,” Martha interrupted. 

“There is a girl. She’s just not a mystery. You’ve met her,” Bruce replied as he avoided eye contact. “You know, Dad doesn’t pry like this when I’m with him.”

“I’m not prying. I’m just curious. It’s a healthy curiosity about my son’s social life before our family dynamics change drastically. I don’t want you to be upset if you start wanting to talk about these things while I’m getting your brother acclimated to life here at the manor,” Martha explained. 

“Okay. Abridged version of my current social life: Julie wants me to be more serious and ambitious. I really like her. Harvey and I have been hanging out every weekend, double dating with his girlfriend, and it's extremely serious. I actually do have weekend plans with Harvey to go shopping for a locket,” Bruce confessed. 

“What?” Martha asked. 

“Yeah, I think he’s really serious about her. I’ve never seen him get this mushy about any other girl,” Bruce replied as he peeked at Martha’s half of the cake. “Think Alfred’s gonna be late getting Dad home?”