So nice to hear from you!

     First off, thank you so much Brian, Deanna and Luke!  I was so happy to see that people are reading my ramblings and willing to help me!  It was feeling a bit lonely out here in Cyberville.  :(
      So ... Rae is going to say she is going to see the Oregon Coast (who doesn't want to go there) which gives her a couple of days travel time before people start to worry.  My brother insists that there should be explosions but that's a teenage boy for ya!  We'll see if that works in.  When she leaves Rae is going to send flowers to each member of the Wayne-Greyson-Pennyworth household with a secret message via the Victorian flower language (something she learned from her maternal grandmother and that only Alfred will be able to fully decipher).  I've already started writing that scene! ->

      Dick sighed wearily as he threw the keys to the Bird Bike across his room, in the general direction of the end table, and slumped onto his bed; it had been a long night of fighting crime and he was looking forward to catching a few hours of sleep. He was surprised when heard his keys impact against ceramics. To his confusion there appeared to be a vase of flowers sitting on the table by his door. How had he missed that? Must have been more tired than he thought.

     There is more but I'm going to wait until I have more written to share.  :)  In her luggage are her various face shape altering devices and a couple of wigs/hair dye that she will use to change her looks in order to slip past any Missing Persons net that Batman or her father throw up.  And she will have liquidated almost all of her assests so she can pay cash for everything she needs, including the purchasing of a burner cell phone.  She will use a combination of buses and hitchhiking to travel to Oklahoma where she can say she 'lost' all her identification and procure new documents.  (Saying she lost her job and home and has lived in the streets might also work as her 'backstory' as the former Guardian works with people and animals in need.)

    Darrel and Alloria Curtis enjoyed the benefits of being semi retired.  Darrel was always a strong, hard working man, loyal to his responsibilities; after years doing back breaking roofing to support his wife and their four children, Darrel now owned his own building company and worked hard to make life better for his workers.  Alloria, still pretty while in her sixties, was once a police dispatcher, a job she was able to keep through the birth of their twins and son, after which she started doing the books for the police department.  Now she works part time, when they need her, the rest of her time is spent in animal and youth advocacy programs.
    Tonight they are spending a quiet evening at home, reading as usual.  Their eldest, twin son and daughter, are off and married; their next, another son, is likely somewhere with his cousins (who are also his housemates); and their youngest, another daughter, lives a few blocks over, closer to the school where she teaches.  They don't expect any friends or family tonight so Darrel is surprised when his wife and their German Shepard suddenly look towards the back door.  His wife has been acting strangely the past few weeks but he hasn't asked why, he figures she'll tell him when she's ready.  He lowers the paper he is reading as she rises and goes to open the back door.  Hans (the dog) waves his tail in a friendly fashion until his mistress shuts the door in his face.  Immediately he goes to the slightly open window near the door and sticks his nose to the screen, watching, smelling, listening.  Darrel listens too.
    "I know you're out there," comes his wife's voice, speaking softly into the darkness.  He can see from under the partially open curtain that she hasn't bothered to turn on the porch light and all that illuminates their backyard is the moon.  "With these extra senses it's hard to miss you."
    "I'll be more than happy to take them back as soon as the Council says so," comes another woman's voice, younger, but weary, with a touch of bitterness and wryness.
    "Since you're here, care to explain how you lost them in the first place?" Alloria began to take the tone she did when she wasn't sure if she should be angry at their children or comfort them.
    "Would you mind if we talked someplace a little more private?" the other woman asked.  "I've learned the night has many ears."
    "Come inside.  Do you have your companion with you?"  Darrel quietly folded his newspaper as he listened for the reply.
    "I actually have three with me, I hope you don't mind."
    "I won't but my husband may.  Would any of them mind staying outside for now?"
    Darrel heard the mewing of two cats, to which Hans pricked his ears, then caught the woman's response as he slipped into the next room.
    "Sable and Leppy will stay out here."
    "Very well, come in."
    Darrel heard the door open and the whisper of unfamiliar footsteps following his wife into the house.  There was a soft thump as something was deposited near the door, then several long moments of slightly awkward silence which Alloria finally broke.
    "Have a seat on the couch while I get you something to drink then we can discuss things.  Any requests?"
    "Water will be fine.  And maybe some Saltines."
    Darrel watched his wife head the other way down the hall to the kitchen, listening to the sound of someone settling on the couch.  As Alloria returned, a glass of water in one hand and a glass of what he suspected was rum and coke in other, he gave her a questioning glance.  Momentarily bypassing the living room Alloria stood on tip toe to give her husband a quick peck on the cheek.  While he was still bent over she whispered into his ear, "It may be a while, go ahead upstairs and I'll explain things later."
    After returning her peck he nodded and did as she suggested.  His wife would often have mysterious visitors from her work as an advocate that didn't tolerate men well so he had learned to be patient and make himself scarce when necessary. 
    Lori handed Rae the glass of water and the packet of crackers that she had tucked under one arm before settling into her chair, Hans curling next to her feet in an echo of the Himalayan perched next to the younger woman.

     As for getting to Germany ... we'll see.  It would be so much easier if Rae either wasn't hiding from Batman and Robin (so she could use his resources or any of her already established identities) or wasn't pregnant (in which case she shift into a cat or mouse and ship herself to the sanctuary in Germany).  But I like making things complicated for myself evidently.