A Philanthropic Appeal

[not_a_wonder]

Vanessa Kapatelis is not a woman to give up easily.

Perhaps that's what the people at the Wayne Foundation were hoping for, when they informed her in no uncertain terms that their donations budget was set and none of them had the authority to increase the amounts. Perhaps that's what the secretaries at Wayne Enterprises were hoping for, as she worked her way up the corporate ladder in an elaborate game of phone tag, looking for someone to speak to regarding the Wayne Foundation and the shortfall that social services would be dealing with this year.

When an Amazon fights, she identifies the best place to strike, and goes for that first. When slaying a monster, you don't hack at its feet -- you aim for the head.

This wasn't a monster or a physical fight, but the principles could still apply. Aim for the head -- that's why Nessie drove out of the city proper on her day off, looking as put together and professional as she could, and headed up to the most exclusive neighborhood still considered part of Gotham. Her destination -- Wayne Manor, ancestral home of the Wayne Family, currently housing (most of) the children of Bruce Wayne. It wasn't very likely that she'd get a chance to speak with the acting head of Wayne Enterprises, but she had a presentation to give, or at least the materials to drop off.



Vanessa spent what remained of her downtime, after all those calls, to put the presentation together. It was a collection of the financial data for her department and information on the ongoing opioid crisis -- she even used the color printer in her own apartment and put it together in a slim, sturdy binder with plastic sleeves for the pages. And if she could make a good impression on whoever she spoke with, it could get passed on to Timothy Drake-Wayne with a good word for the social services department.

(She hadn't forgotten her initial reason for wanting a way into Wayne Manor. But her visit had to look legitimate, and the looming trouble of ongoing fallout from the widespread malpractice of the nineties was definitely real. She had to treat it with all the seriousness it deserved, for its own sake as well as making sure that she appeared to have no ulterior motives for entering the manor.)

Nessie parked her car a short distance from the drive leading up to the manor. It was out of the way enough that she wouldn't block anyone else trying to get in, and shaded by a tree. She picked up her handbag and tucked her presentation binder under one arm, then locked up the car and walked away.

The walk up the drive was pretty long -- the rich enjoy their privacy -- but she'd walked further and in worse conditions while wearing heels before. She was determined. Finally, she made it to the main gate and pushed the button that would alert the house beyond that a visitor had arrived.

The low, grating buzz set her nerves going, and in the silence that followed, Nessie allowed herself a moment to worry about a bad outcome to this visit.

Comments

[soldier_on_undaunted]

Alfred looks down, running a finger over a framed portrait, an expensive frame wrapping a tattered old photo of Jason with his father and step mother.

"He missed his mother acutely," Alfred says, still staring at the picture. "Master Bruce tried to be the best father he could... but it was painfully obvious how much he missed her. Shortly before his death, I would see him when he thought I wasn't looking, staring at this picture and crying."

"When he learned the truth about his birth mother, he was determined to find her. And when he did, Master Bruce was happy for him. After losing his own parents so young, he hoped that Jason would finally have the mother he needed. He left Jason alone with her. He was afraid of intruding. And then..."

"You have no idea how he has second-guessed himself every day ever since. If only he hadn't left Jason alone. If only he had been there."

[not_a_wonder]

Vanessa takes a breath. It would be so easy to point out the mistakes -- even though she knows this story isn't the whole story. Leaving a child with someone who is really no better than a stranger, regardless of blood relation. The fact that Sheila Haywood had walked out of her son's life without a look back, and no effort to keep track of him or reclaim him after his father's death. Sheila's shady past. Bruce and Jason both had been blinded by rose-colored glasses in this case.

"Everything in you wants to rebel against the thought that a child is in danger around their parents. You're told from childhood that your parents will keep you safe, and if you're lucky that's held true for you. And then you have to confront the fact that it's not.

"It's not always the parents themselves, but who they allow into their lives. Who they allow around their children. But it's always the children who end up paying the price, somehow."

[soldier_on_undaunted]

Alfred lowers his head.

"We found out later that the Joker was blackmailing her," he says. "She had been embezzling from the camp. We've never known if..."

He trails off.

[not_a_wonder]

"Never known if...?" Nessie prompts, in her quiet, judgement-free counselor voice.

[soldier_on_undaunted]

"If she betrayed him."

[not_a_wonder]

Nessie steps a little further into the room. She skims a finger along the spine of a magazine on the dresser, looks at another of the framed pictures. She stays quiet for a long moment, both formulating her answer and cataloging the items in the room.

"I'd say she betrayed him a long time ago." Nessie turns away from Alfred, and toward the bookshelf. For some reason, it's hard to get the words out, and that tightness of her throat might come through in her voice. "When she walked out of his life the first time and didn't reach out afterward."

Among the battered paperbacks, resting against a hardcover copy of Great Expectations on its back, is a little black book, with a worn leatherette cover. Her fingers fair itch to grab it for a closer look, but she restrains the impulse for now.

[soldier_on_undaunted]

Alfred shakes his head slightly.

"I don't believe it's a betrayal," he says, "To cede a child you cannot care for to a better home. But to steal from a *charity*..."

[not_a_wonder]

There's a sardonic note in Nessie's voice when she asks, "And when that better home no longer exists, you just leave the child to the streets?" It's a hypothetical question and she sighs heavily.

"It's not something that could have been known at the time," Nessie can concede that much, "but that woman really was an unfit parent. Some of these parents... they're so selfish, so concerned only with themselves... and their children still love them anyway. They don't deserve it, but they're loved anyway."

[soldier_on_undaunted]

Alfred nods.

"For all his troubles, Master Jason was a child with so much love in his heart," Alfred says. "Despite --"

He pauses, then continues "Despite the years passed... we miss him very much."

[not_a_wonder]

Nessie takes a few more steps, closer to the bookshelf, and runs a hand along the row of paperbacks. She rests that hand on the shelf and looks over her shoulder at Alfred. The smile on her face is a little wistful.

"I liked Christopher Pike's book when I was a kid. It's all kind of silly, looking back on it now. But I wonder what Jason would think of the later books..."

The speculation is a cover as, with her body blocking the motion from view, Nessie sweeps the little leatherette-covered book into her handbag. She really hopes it's what she thinks it is.

[soldier_on_undaunted]

If Alfred notices the subterfuge, he doesn't comment on it, glancing up absently from the picture.

"Hm? Oh, yes. I wonder, too. Sometimes now, even still, I'll catch myself thinking that there is something he would have liked and I should pass it along, only to remember..."

He sighs, shoulders slumping.

"I am sorry, Miss Kapatelis," he says. "I misread your intentions. Your words, I believe unintentionally, opened old wounds, and I let my emotions get the better of me. You are a good woman."

[not_a_wonder]

Nessie turns back around to face Alfred. She smiles, a little wryly, and quotes from Julius Caesar, "You are not wood, you are not stones, but men..." She gives a little sigh. "I can't fault you for caring about your family, Mr. Pennyworth. I wish more people cared as much as you do."

And she shrugs at the description of herself. "Good is the goal. I don't know if I'm there yet."

[soldier_on_undaunted]

"Good is what we do, not what we are, Miss Kapatelis," he says. "And you seem to be a woman doing much good."