'Twas the night before departure, and all through the night, not a creature was stirring, not even the mice. The camp had held one last get together that had "run wild", but all the girls were in bed by 11:30, tired out and resting to catch their early morning rides. The twins were still housed in the isolation chamber, but with them now getting along well, they were allowed to party with the general population. Their two separate beds had long been put together as the girls cuddled up next to each other and shared life stories.

"Tell me, what's papá like, really?"

"For one, it's dad. But to answer your question: well obviously he is who he is at night. But in the daytime, he's a total cinnamon roll. He'll hug you for days if you let him. And God forbid if you ever get hurt or sick, he won't let you go out of his sight."

"l wonder why." Elena sighed and rolled on to her back, staring at the old ceiling.

''What's mom like, anyway?" Emma asked.

"Mamá is the most beautiful woman you ever saw. She's smart-in both definitions-corny, charming, independent. She's a designer and a curator: dresses in the day, relics at night."

"That sounds amazing! Has she ever made a dress for herself?"

"She never needed one. She hasn't ever had a long relationship."

"Dad hasn't had a real girlfriend in forever. Well, he goes on all these publicity dates, but nothing's really ever meant something to him. I guess he's still stuck on mom. I can tell whenever he talks about her, like he's still head over heels.''

The sisters giggled at the image of their manliest of man dad tripping in love.

"Did you two talk about mom a lot?"

"Not really a lot. Only on special moments like on my birthday or whenever we're sad about mom being gone. Has mamá ever talked about dad?"

"She's never mentioned him, like he never even existed. Wonder what broke them up?'

"I suppose dad's the perfect guy to ask how they got together in the first place."

"So, I'll ask dad, and you ask mama."

"Well I won't be doing it right away. I wanna spend some time with her before I break the spell."

"That's fair, I suppose I'll be doing the same. What time does the car come tomorrow?"

"9 am."

"Bedtime then, goodnight."

The girls snuggled up in bed, holding hands tightly for the last time.

It was an 8 hour flight for Ms. Emma with nothing but a sea of white clouds. The first class lounge had been pretty fancy with a high maintenance room that offered a mini buffet. Then, she was allowed priority boarding into an amazing first class cabin, to a window seat thankfully. The wide leg space and futon seats quickly became a comfortable setting. During lift off, Elena pulled out her drawing book from her carry on, imagining a happy family reunited at the airport.

The real event, after a long eight hour flight, was considerably disappointing. Upon landing, a nice stewardess lead her past the crowd to the baggage claim, where another airport agent was waiting with her luggage already on a trolley. They made quick chat as they headed for the exit, but found no family waiting for her. Instead, it took Elena a long minute to find the chauffeur holding up the sign for Emmaline Wayne; Elena had to remember that she wasn't in Spain anymore. With a tip and a thanks, Emma took the trolley and went to the chauffeur, who smiled upon recognizing her.

"Welcome home, Ms. Wayne." The man said as he took the trolley from her and led her to the limo.

"Thank you, Wesley." Emma replied, reading his name tag. Fingers crossed everybody else was waiting by the car, the Wayne family was celebrity in Gotham city after all.

Wrong again.

"Where's everyone else?" Emma asked Wesley as he opened the door for her.

"Oh well you know," he began before climbing into the driver's seat. "Your father was at work, busy being CEO and all. Your brothers were out at work or with friends. And Master P. was out of the house at the moment."

The limo went off and Elena looked disappointing out the window, "so that's how much I mean to them."

Wesley on the other hand peaked at her through the mirror, smirking as he knew more than she did.

They rounded the corner up the hill and Elena got her first real view at the Manor, her real home. The majesty of the sight wasn't the first thing that brought her to tears. It was so beautiful! Her drawings didn't do it justice. The car had barely crossed the awning that Elena jumped out, running tirelessly up the stairs. But there was no family to greet her when she burst through the doors.

The loud noise of the doors made a small old woman come running out, being delighted upon the girl's return.

"My princess, you're back!" Carrie, the house keeper ran to her, engulfing her in a hug which Elena returned. "The manor's hardly been a home with you gone. You must be so spent from the flight! Why don't you go freshen up and I'll whip something up for us."

"Th...they're not home yet?!" Emma asked, looking mournfully about the humongous entrance.

"'fraid not!" Carrie casually replied, also knowing more than the girl did.

Elena hobbled to the stairs, heartbroken.

"Which one's my room again?"

"Up two flights, love. On your right to the east wing."

Elena finally broke down as she made for the room, not caring for the happy looks the staff gave her as she ran past them. Upon finding her room, Elena pushed open the door and spotted the big bed in the darkness. Not bothered with the light switch, she made for the bed and lunged on it.

Emma wasn't the only one to cry.

"Who's big idea was it for me to hide under the bed again?" Came an agitated voice from well, under the bed.

Confused, Elena sat up, wiping at her eyes as the light turned on.

"Surprise!" Her family shouted around her.

Jason and Tim hopped on the bed on either side of her and Dick came forth holding a gift bag as Damian wiggled out from under the bed.

"Welcome home, baby girl."

Elena finally registered what had just happened and dug her face into a brother's shoulder to hide her embarrassment.

"Aww, she missed you guys." A new voice joined them and Elena turned to see, for the first time in her 9 years of life, her father standing before her.

"Daddy!" Emma squeaked as she ran to him. Bruce bent to pick her up, steeling against the force of her hug. He held his baby girl tight with a hand behind her head as she wrapped hers around his neck, never letting go.

"Aw princess, it was your idea to leave us in the first place!" Bruce reminded her.

"Well, I think I'm quite done for the summer, thank you very much. Oh dad! I missed you so much!"

Dad pressed a firm kiss on his daughter's head and pried her off, finally taking a look at her as he wiped her tears.

"Is this my daughter?!" The world's greatest detective asked as he noticed her changes.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Elena asked in shock.

"Your hair's purple."

"Well, I thought it was time for a change."

"I see. It looks ni..." he stopped mid sentence and turned her head side to side.

"Y...you had your ears done?!"

"Tim signed the papers!" Emma responded in defense.

"He did now, did he?" Bruce glared at the mentioned brother.

"Wha...? Dick knew about it first!" The brothers playfully jabbed elbows.

"You're mad, aren't you?" Elena whimpered.

Bruce saw the terror in his daughter's eyes and his expression softened.

"No baby, I'm not mad! I just would have liked to be there."

"I told her!" Dick said proudly crossing his arms.

Bruce glared at his oldest son, who was easily intimidated.

"If it's any help, my friend recorded it."

"Now this I just have to see." Another voice came from the door and all eyes went to Alfred.

"Grandfather!"
____________

The real Emma had a much shorter time to travel from London to Seville. Elena had taken the train to sight see on the two days it would take to get to camp, but Emma didn't have the patience of 2 minutes! On her 3 hour flight, Emma ran all the ways she would greet her mother. All the things they would do together, all the things they would talk about. She was so busy imagining her life that it didn't matter to her that she wasn't riding first class.

Business class wasn't too horrible, but she was so used to getting royal benefits. Especially having someone have her luggage all ready to go. Still, Emma managed to haul her bags off the carousel and an agent gave her a trolley for her things. With things all set, the girl made for the pick up area, looking for name cards, before she remembered this wasn't Gotham City any more. She looked about for her mother, without any luck.

Suddenly it cam to her that someone was calling Elena's name. It was supposed to be her. Emma wove through the crowd and smiled as she found the old lady who Ella had told her was her nanny. The elderly woman was ecstatic to see her girl come back home.

"Chacha!" Elena yelled out as she ran to her.

"Niñita!" Chacha came running to greet her and they stumbled into a hug.

"Aye mi bebé. I miss you so much! No more long trips anymore."

"I promise, chacha. I'm not going anywhere. Did mamá come?" Elena frantically looked about for her mother as they walked to the car.

"No, she's at the dress shop. We're gonna meet her there."

"Awesome!" Emma couldn't hide her excitement as she got into the European car.

Emma gazed star struck out the window, and Louise didn't think much of it. The Alcázar was so beautiful and so majestic, it left the Manor in the shadows. Of course it did, it was an actual palace. She didn't know when they had happened upon the district and Louise tapped her shoulder, drawing her attention.

"Vamonos. Let's go see your mamá." The nanny got out the car first and held the door for the girl to get out.

Elena would burst out of her skin if they didn't hurry this along. She ran out ahead of her nanny, not knowing which way to go. But then she saw it: Kitty Kouture. As excited as she was, Emma couldn't take one more step. Once inside, and her whole life would change. Chacha pushed her from behind, starting her.

"Okay, okay! Jeesh."

Elena took a big long breath, readying herself to meet her mom. Okay, you got this. You're Elena, she loves you. Breathing out, Emma finally pushed past the front door.

The boutique was humming with some tinkling instrumental music coming from the speakers when she entered. It was serene and beautiful, lined with dresses and accessories from wall to wall. No mom, though.

"Chacha, is that you?" A dismembered voice came from somewhere.

"Sí ma'am!" Louise replied, smiling at Emma.

"Oh great, I'm downstairs in the gallery."

"Come along then, love." Louise lead Emma to the lower floor as the girl got tear eyed upon hearing her mom's voice.

Downstairs was a whole another business; it was the Cat's Eyes gallery. The place was littered with paintings and artifacts big and small. The room was a maze, all these walls displaying different collections. It was after the 4th or 5th wall when for the first time in her 9 years, Emmaline Wayne saw her mother.