Disclaimer: Batman is mine so back off! Okay. Maybe only in my world. I never liked this reality anyway. No superpowers.

.:.

I was not born in Gotham City, I did not grow up, and I do not know anyone there except my aunt, uncle, and cousins. Most would not call me a Gothamite. In fact, they would probably call me a redneck, a hick, a native of Missouri. And unfortunately they would be right. Up until now that is.

I was born in Tennessee and raised in southern Missouri. My parents and little sister have moved to Texas and I was fully planning on moving with them until I started college next fall but then my Aunt Gina invited me to come with her and her family to Gotham. Aunt

Gina and Uncle Morgan have three kids (12, 9, and 6 years old) and each year when they go to Gotham they have difficulty finding someone to take care of them while there or someone to take them for the summer (I didn’t question this until later). Aunt Gina wanted to know if I would be willing to come as a half guest, half nanny. They promised to pay my expenses as well as a small wage (very small) and Aunt Gina whispered she and I might even go on a couple shopping sprees. What could I say? I needed a summer job (my winter job was crap) and the chance to go to Gotham was too good to give up. I said yes in a heart beat and only spent a week at home after graduation before I was ready to hit the big city in style (more or less).

Clearly my aunt and uncle were not hurting for money. My uncle came from money and he knew how to invest what he had. (My aunt liked to invest in shoes but that is another story.) Now my family has never really been hurting for money, like really hurting, but we could never throw it around either. Dad worked hard to make sure we never needed for anything but he still let us want for plenty. We were not spoiled. Not so with my cousins. These kids were the biggest brats I had ever met (possibly with exception to some of the kids I had known at my tiny Christian school) and they were going to make me work for my summer trip to Gotham. But of course I didn’t know that. I was naïve and had seen that branch of the family tree mostly only at holidays.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

My name is Merrie Lyn Gatton and I love Gotham City.

.:.

Tell me what you think. This is just an idea to build on. Hopefully this fire will burn long enough to get this story finished but it helps when I have fans. -N-