"Anne?" The woman in questioned smiled and jumped forward to hug Elizabeth. Bruce stepped back and watched the happy reunion with a grin. Elizabeth held Anne at arms length and looked at her. Anne hadn't changed in the five years since she'd last seen her. Her hair was still dark and wavy. Her eyes still crinkled up when she smiled. Her freckles still shone against her pale skin. Her smile was still kind and comforting.

"You look amazing, Liz! Gotham has certainly treated you well," said Anne.

"What are you doing here? Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" Elizabeth asked rapidly. "If I had known you were coming I would have set up my room for you guys to stay in!"

"Whoa, calm down speed racer. I wanted this to be a surprise and so did Bruce, apparently. He swore me to secrecy," she said, gesturing to Bruce.

"Bruce? You set this up?" Elizabeth asked, turning to him.

"Guilty," he said, stepping towards her with a sheepish grin on his face. "A couple weeks ago you were saying how long it had been since you saw your sister and so I called her up and got reservations at a hotel started. I knew this would make you happy." Elizabeth's smile was huge. She grabbed his hand and tried to convey all the emotion she felt to him in the two words she uttered,

"Thank you." The elevator dinged from down the hall and Anne turned to look at the source of the noise.

"Ah, there's Peter with the luggage and Amelia," said Anne. A little mass of brown curls came bounding into Elizabeth's apartment and right into her mother's arms. Amelia brushed away her hair and looked at Bruce and Elizabeth with interest. "Mia, sweetie, this is your Aunt Liz and her friend Bruce. Can you say 'hi'?"

"Hi," said Mia, shyly. Elizabeth smiled and waved.

"Hey, Mia. You've gotten so big!" Mia buried her face in her mother's neck and giggled quietly.

"Anne, this is everything," said Peter, rolling in two suitcases, looking windswept. His salt and pepper hair was neatly groomed and his cheeks were red from the cold December air.

"Peter," Elizabeth greeted, hugging her brother-in-law. Peter hugged her back and squeezed her tightly.

"It's been too long. The last time I saw you, this one," he said, poking Mia and making her laugh, "was wrapped up in a blanket, sleeping. I think that's the last time she ever did, too," he joked.

"This is true," Anne said. "She gets up around six in the morning and runs around the house, terrorizing the cat, and doesn't stop until after dinner. She's our ball of endless energy, but we still love her," she said, kissing Mia's head.

"Who's this little guy?" Peter asked, kneeling down next to Hazelnut, who was for once, not in the limelight.

"His name's Hazelnut," Elizabeth said, smiling fondly at the pup. He began to lick Peter's fingers enthusiastically. Anne put Mia down next to him and she squealed in delight when he began chasing his tail. Elizabeth knew the two of them would become fast friends. The others in the room laughed. Anne smiled and grasped Elizabeth's hand.

"It's good to see you, sis."

"I couldn't agree more," Elizabeth said.

"Momma, can we play?" Mia asked, looking up at Anne hopefully. Anne nodded.

"Of course, where do you want to play?"

"Outside!" cried Mia, pointing to the window.

"Ok, baby, but we need to get your snow clothes from the suitcase first," said Peter.

"Daddy, hurry!" Mia exclaimed, jumping around. Peter chuckled and dug through one of the suitcases and pulled out a light blue snowsuit. He began helping Mia get dressed.

"I guess this is where I take my leave," Bruce said, buttoning up his coat. Elizabeth frowned and stepped away from the struggling parents who were trying to get their dancing daughter dressed.

"Why don't you stay with us? We're just going to the park and then we'll probably go have an early dinner," Elizabeth said. Bruce shook his head and stepped out in the hall. Elizabeth followed.

"This is your family and I don't want to intrude," he said quietly, his hands in his coat pockets.

"Bruce, I'm sure they don't mind. After all, you brought them here. You made all this possible. I'm about to have the best Christmas I've ever had because of you. Please stay," she begged.

"I would love to, Liz, trust me, but I have a prior engagement to honor. Some last minute details need to be taken care of before the New Year." Elizabeth's face fell. "Let me make it up to you," Bruce said quickly. "Why don't you and everyone stay with me on Christmas Eve and we'll spend Christmas together."

"Bruce you do too much, as usual, but I accept," said Elizabeth. Bruce hugged her and kissed the top of her head.

"I'll call you Tuesday and we'll get all the details straightened out," he said as he walked away. Elizabeth waved and went back inside her apartment, where Mia was ready to go play.

"Bring puppy, too!" she said, pointing at Hazelnut.

The four of them went across the street to Grant Park with Hazelnut leading the way. Peter took the dog and Mia and they went off, playing by a grove of snow-covered trees, leaving Anne and Elizabeth to talk.

"How is she?" Elizabeth asked, looking off at Mia as she threw snow up in the air and watched it fall around her.

"She's doing better," Anne said, putting her hands in her pockets. "It was scary. The surgery worked, as you know, I mean you were there," she said, babbling. "But it doesn't erase the fear. I try not to treat her like she's a piece of glass but it's hard not to," Anne explained. Elizabeth nodded in agreement. After all, if her daughter were diagnosed with a heart condition, it would be very hard to not worry.

"Mia will grow up to be healthy and strong and she'll have kids of her own one day. You'll look at her and be so proud," Elizabeth said, taking Anne's hand in her own. Anne looked at Elizabeth with glistening eyes.

"I just don't want to lose her," she said in a broken whisper. Elizabeth could see that Anne was choking back sobs.

"Hey, it's all right!" Elizabeth hugged her sister fiercely, holding her as she shook. Anne quickly stopped and pulled away, wiping the tears from her face. She took deep breaths and tried to put a smile on her face.

"She's just like you, you know," Anne said. "She's so independent and she's the second-most stubborn person I've ever met."

"I wonder who the first is," Elizabeth said, even though she knew who it was. Anne laughed.

"I just wish dad was here to see her. They would be thick as thieves, I just know it." The two of them walked in silence for a bit, thinking about the father they both lost.

"How's Linda?" Elizabeth asked after a while, barely getting the words out.

"Still in Texas. She's been arrested a few times and in and out of rehab. The private investigator I hired checks in every few weeks or whenever she's moving around. I just don't want her to show up at the house one day while Peter and I are at work and Mia's at home with the babysitter. I can't even bring myself to think about that. It scares me so bad that I just want to lock her in the house all the time, under constant watch.

"But I know I can't do that. I tried to do that with you and look how that worked out. You ran away to Metropolis and got a job," she said, laughing. Elizabeth grinned. Despite the fact that their mother was a horrible person, Elizabeth and Anne turned out all right.

"Now look at us," Elizabeth said. "You're doing well and you've got a husband and a beautiful, healthy daughter."

"And look at you! You've got a great job at one of the biggest and most successful companies in the world and you've got a smokin' boyfriend!" Elizabeth froze.

"He's not my boyfriend, Anne. He's my boss."

"Liz, I saw the way he looks at you. It's the same look I see on Peter's face when I see him look at me when he thinks I'm not looking. He's head over heels for you."

"We're only friends," Elizabeth insisted. Anne cocked an eyebrow.

"His hands were on your waist when you opened the door."

"We were just messing around and he caught me before I fell," Elizabeth said, trying to convince her otherwise.

"That's bullshit and you know it. Do you know what he asked me when he called me a few weeks ago?"

"No," Elizabeth responded.

"Well, first of all," Anne started, "Never in my life did I expect Bruce Wayne to call me up while cooking dinner. And secondly, he repeatedly asked me if bringing us to see you would make you happy." Elizabeth stopped walking. Did he really ask that? "He was so concerned with your happiness that he every time we talked, he'd ask how you would feel about it. Now, I don't know about you, but that sounds like more than a friend, hon."

Elizabeth didn't know what to think about that. For so long, she tried not to think of Bruce that way, even though every time she thought about or saw him, she'd end up getting mad at herself for thinking about him that way. It was an endless circle of confusing feelings and anger at herself for not being able to control said feelings.

"Liz!" Anne said, breaking Elizabeth away from her inner turmoil.

"Sorry, what?"

Anne shook her head and smiled.

"No matter how much you try to deny it, you've got it bad."

"That's the problem! I think that I know that, but he's my boss. I can't like him like that. Do you know how bad that looks?" Elizabeth asked in exasperation. "If people think for even one second that I slept with him to get in my position, I think I would die! I've worked so hard for so long to get where I am and I can't let people think that I'm just a dumb slut who's screwing the guy who owns the company that practically runs this city!" she cried.

"Liz, you need to stop worrying about what people think. You've tried to please everybody else for so long. Stop that. Think of yourself. Be selfish, for once in your life! You have a chance at the happiness I've been wishing you would have since dad died," Anne said quietly. Elizabeth looked at her brown eyes.

"Do this for yourself. Let go of your insecurities and be happy. Bruce is seriously into you and I know you're into him. Just let the chips fall where they may. You'd be surprised where they land," said Anne. Elizabeth nodded.

"Maybe you're right, as usual. I've had a shitty life and this is my chance to make it better," Elizabeth said.

"I'm right?" Anne scoffed. "I always knew I was, but I never thought I'd see the day where you admitted it." Elizabeth laughed.

"Shut up!" she said, picking up snow and throwing it at Anne. Anne screamed at the sudden attack and responded with throwing snow back. The two of them continued with their snow fight for only a few moments until their fingers were numb. They walked arm in arm to Peter, who was being fitted with a mermaid tail made of snow.

"Lookit Daddy!" Mia cried. "He's a fishy now!"

"Wow, Daddy's so pretty," said Anne. She picked Mia up and kissed her rosy cheeks. "I think it's time we go eat some food. What do you say, princess?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" came Mia's response. Peter picked himself up and grabbed Hazelnut, who looked slightly frozen. The group walked across the street to a restaurant and ordered large mugs of hot chocolate. Mia warmed up to Elizabeth right away and the two of them spent the entire time at the restaurant making silly faces at each other. Mia even demanded that Elizabeth carry her back to the apartment, much to the amusement of Peter and Anne.

"We need to say goodbye to Aunt Liz now, sweetie," Anne said, grabbing her purse and Mia's backpack.

"No! I wanna stay!" cried the five year old who was hugging Elizabeth's leg.

"Anne, she can stay the night here. You and Peter can go back to the hotel and take a night off. I'm sure flying with her wasn't the easiest thing. You guys get some sleep and come get her sometime tomorrow," said Elizabeth. Mia jumped around in response.

"Are you sure?" asked Peter. Elizabeth nodded.

"It'll be easy-peasy, I promise. Get some sleep, really. You guys look like you need it."

"Ouch, Liz, that hurts," Anne said, grinning. "Ok, Mia, we'll come get you tomorrow. You have some clothes in your backpack for tonight and Mr. Bear is in there too. Be a good girl, ok? Do anything Aunt Liz tells you to," she said, crouching down to Mia. She kissed the top of her head and stood next to Peter.

"Have a goodnight, pumpkin," he said, hugging her.

"Goodnight," said Mia, waving at them as they left. Elizabeth closed the door and turned to Mia.

"So, what do you want to do tonight?" she asked, a big smile on her face.

"Build a fort!" said Mia, excitedly.

"Ok, lets get you changed first then we can go get some blankets and pillows." Elizabeth helped Mia get out of her snowsuit and boots then the two of them went to the linen closet to get what they needed. Elizabeth carried the sheets and blankets and Mia carried a couple pillows.

The two of them got the barstools situated and decided the fort needed to be bigger, so Elizabeth pushed the couch back to make more room. They draped the blankets and sheets over the stools and on the couch, then put pillows and blankets inside. Mia created a nest in the middle and brought her teddy bear and Hazelnut inside. Elizabeth brought her camera and took some pictures of them.

"Can you paint my nails?" asked Mia. Elizabeth nodded.

"Sure, what color?"

"Pink, with sparkles," she said after thinking for a bit. Elizabeth got the nail polish and did her nails. Mia's face lit up when she saw the finished product. "So pretty. Do yours so we can be twins!" Elizabeth proceeded to paint her nails exactly like Mia's, which made her very happy.

"It's getting pretty late, you should probably take a bath, Mia," said Elizabeth, looking at the clock. It was almost 7:30 and Mia would want to go to bed soon. She looked pretty tired. Mia nodded and followed Elizabeth into the bathroom. While Mia undressed, Elizabeth started a bubble bath and helped her in.

"Do you have any toys?" Mia asked, while playing with the bubbles.

"I don't, I'm sorry," Elizabeth said.

"That's ok! We have bubbles," she said excitedly. Elizabeth helped her make a beard that would rival Santa. Mia giggled when she saw herself in the mirror. "I look so silly!"

"You do, Mia," Elizabeth said, laughing. She then helped Mia wash her hair and rinse off. While kneeling on the floor, Elizabeth dried Mia off as the bathwater drained. Wrapped in a towel, Mia snuggled up to Elizabeth.

"I like you," she said quietly. Elizabeth was shocked and extremely pleased.

"I like you too, Mia," she said, swallowing the lump that formed in her throat. Elizabeth finished drying Mia off and got her dressed in her pjs. They went back out to the fort where Hazelnut was waiting.

"Can you do my hair?" Mia asked. Elizabeth combed out Mia's unruly curls and braided them back with some ribbons. Mia ran to the bathroom and looked in the mirror, then came sprinting back. "I look like Rapunzel. You're the best Auntie ever!" she said, attacking Elizabeth with a hug. "Can we watch a movie?"

Elizabeth turned on How the Grinch Stole Christmas. After settling down, Mia soon fell asleep in Elizabeth's arms. Elizabeth carefully brought Mia to her bed, where she tucked her in. Hazelnut jumped up and slept next to her, looking like some sort of guard dog. The scene made Elizabeth smile.

After cleaning up the living room and turning off the TV, Elizabeth quickly got ready for bed. Her phone lit up from across the room on her dresser just before she climbed in bed. It was a text from Bruce.

How was today?

It was great. Thank you so much!

It was my pleasure. Did everyone make it to the hotel ok?

Anne and Peter did. Mia's sleeping here for the night. Bruce, today was amazing. I haven't seen Mia since she was born. She's grown so much.

I'm glad you had fun today. It was nice to see you so happy.

This made Elizabeth pause. She remembered what Anne said at the park earlier. Butterflies began building in her stomach and she could keep her smile at bay.

Thank you, for everything, Bruce. I don't know how to repay you.

There's no need. I'll pick everyone up Wednesday afternoon. Bring all your presents and anything you'll need for a few days.

Why so cryptic? What are we doing?

You'll see.

Ok, Bruce, whatever you say. I better get to sleep. Mia will probably be up early.

All right, I'll talk to you later. Goodnight, Liz. I'm glad this all worked out.

Me too. Goodnight, Bruce.

Elizabeth smiled at her phone. Suddenly, a floodgate of feelings opened inside her. She felt like dancing around her room like a teenage girl fantasizing about her first crush. Feeling happier than she had in a long time, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.