Title: Renewal

Parings: Fem!Bruce Wayne/Dick Grayson (eventual), Fem!Bruce Wayne/Male!Talia al Ghul (Past, Onesided), Tim Drake/Kon-El, Jason Todd/Stephanie Brown (eventual), Damian Wayne/Colin Wilkes (eventual).

Warnings: AU (and I mean serious AU) - several characters are genderbent, violence, cursing, lemon (down the line), age differences, same-sex relationships. Also, there could possibly be a slight OOC problem with some of you, simply for the fact that Bruce is a female in this story, please now if this will be a problem for you now.

Full Summary: Catherine Wayne is the fabulous, society queen of Gotham – on the cover of every magazine, patron to every charity, museum and cause that she could put her name to and serial man eater. Except, she isn't ant of that, only for show, and on the inside, she is a broken, barely-holding on woman, whose double life as a costume-wearing vigilante is taking a toll on her. But with the miraculous return of her lost son, it sets off a chain of events that will forever change her life, the future of Gotham and the future of this strange but close family. AU – Genderbent – FemaleBruce/Dick.

Notes: I also suppose that in several of the parings that this story will eventual have you could have a case of pseudo-incest, that is, if you're a purest in the Batman-Universe. For my purposes, it's not the case and if you're reading this, I expect this isn't a problem for you. Also, this is raw, unedited and presented as is, so any grammatical or spelling errors are solely mine. I've just had this damned plot bunny for months now and today it jumped right out of my skull and into word form. I'm screwing with canon to such a degree that I'm not going to even bother trying to place this is at a particular time or in any form of continuity. I hope you like it, and I hope that I can continue to write this, and eh... FYI, this is my first Batman fic, so please, be nice.

Prologue

No matter what mask or costume I wore, I still found these parties overly tedious and overly taxing on my patience.

The chore of playing the role of the infamous man-eater Cathie Wayne was one that could not be avoided tonight. My special guests would expect nothing less and they would love nothing more than to play when I was under the guise of the pea brained socialite the entire world expected me to be. Short of Alfred and Commissioner Gordon, every single person in this room believed me to be the result of the unfortunate scenario that played out when one had no parents to give guidance, and having all of the money in the world on top of that. I was expected to the glamorous, yet shallow Queen of Gotham Society – invited to every party, patron to every charity, school and museum and serial man eater, sleeping with every eligible and non-eligible, rich man in the city. What escaped vision of these people was the fact that inside Boardroom and inside this manor, I was none of those things and it provided me endless amusement that even after all this time, they hadn't noticed. No matter how much the people who worked for me, or the men I allegedly slept with, attested otherwise, these vapid imbeciles thought the worst of me and it was unlikely to change – if the only knew what I did when the sun went down.

In reality, the list of the men that I slept with was much shorter.

In reality, the places that I patronized were calculated and much more selective.

In reality, I possessed a genius level intellect – while all of the women in the room had single digit IQ scores and most of the men were still inferior to me.

The fact that I was, very likely, the smartest, most cunning and richest person in the room spoke volumes about the rich and privileged of this city.

Hiding a masterfully concealed sneer behind my champagne glass, I took a sip and turned my sight sharply to the door of the ballroom. Where Ra's and Aahil al Ghul went, trouble came quickly, or it wasn't far behind them and if I could ever change one mistake if my dealings with my alter-ego, it would be the positive associations that I had taken part in with them, because of that, they knew my name, my family, where I lived and how to get to me very quickly. They were one of the larger reasons that I kept Tim close and always kept an eye on Dick – in a lot of ways, they were more dangerous than even the most psychotic villain and unlike those villains – the al Ghul's knew exactly who they were. It wasn't that I feared them, I feared what they could do – and that's why I bent to their unspoken will whenever I interacted with them on this particular stage. This perilous détente was degrading at worst, tolerable at best, and maybe even perhaps enjoyable at it's very best.

The two men were perhaps one of my very few weaknesses – and they were the only ones who could get me to roll over and play dead at the prospect of them harming the people of Gotham, or one of my Robins.

I wished that they didn't have that power over me – but ever since Jason died, I couldn't stop that block, the feeling, that detached, aloofness that I had served me well in all other aspects of my life. I knew that at the very bottom of my soul, I would circle the wagons around Dick, Tim, Alfred and all of Gotham and let them have what they want if they ever threatened them and the shame of such a fact was something that I could barely suppress. For all I knew, they didn't know about that and maybe that's why they hadn't done it yet, because I refused to accept the fact that Aahil still loved me and ever since I turned down Ra's and his offer to become his servant, he did not bare the feelings that would cause him to care about me.

"Presenting Mister Raymond Head and Mister Henri Head," The Chief Usher announced to the ballroom and some of the people turned and caught a glimpse of the two powerful businessmen.

Turning to Alfred and offering him a wry look, I sat my champagne glass down on the table behind me, smoothed out the wrinkles in my gown and proceeded to cut through the crowd to meet them. To see Catherine Wayne and the al Ghul's in the same room was not uncommon to the people in this room, but if they knew what was really occurring and who, not to mention what, we really were to each other, they might have had another opinion. Maybe it was also change if they aware that Aahil was technically my ex-husband, and that he and my former "father in-law" were the leaders of a centuries old organization bent on taking over the world, and I frequently stopped their attempts. Some things were never meant to be known.

Glaring at some blond-headed trophy wife who stepped on the train of my black evening gown in passing, I turned my attention to the two men waiting by the door and quickened my stride, the heels of my pumps clicking against the marble floor.

Who would not be attracted to Aahil al Ghul? Gloriously tanned skin, spread out across large muscles and a full head of thick black hair? Charming hair? Disarming wit? The man could easily conquer the world if the people in this ballroom populated it. As they approached me to meet me half way, I could see the amusement written plainly on Aahil's face and the begrudging acceptance of even having to be here on his father's face. Plastering a small, fake smile on my face as I offered my hand to them, I cursed the fact that I had to do this in public and that I had to live a double life. The fact that I had to suffer the presence of these two men was testament to my never ending patience and my mastery of hiding in very, very plain sight.

"Beloved," Aahil whispered huskily at me as he kissed my hand, "It is always a pleasure to see you, you look beautiful as always."

Nodding indulgently at him, I gave him another fake smile, "Henri, I trust that you're well?"

"Well enough," He replied and then turned to Ra's off to the side, watching us, like he always had, "I believe you remember my father?"

Offering my hand to Ra's – I made a silent note to dunk my hand in bleach when the party was over, and maybe I would amputate it all together, because when Ra's kissed it, I knew I would always hate the appendage, "Ms. Wayne."

"Raymond, Henri," I pulled my hand back, maybe a little too quickly – but it did not matter now, "I was distressed to learn that we did not accommodate your meals – if I had received more of a warning that you were coming…"

In other words, I was simply asking them what the hell they were doing here and what they wanted – and they knew it too.

I had not seen or heard anything that had to do with Ra's for quite some time, and for that I was immensely thankful – but as far as Aahil went, it still pained me to even look at him. Aahil was the only man that I had ever, for lack of a better term, loved in my entire life. I was foolish, I was young, I was idealistic and for a long time, I truly felt that I wanted to have a family with him, and spend the rest of my life with him – but it wasn't meant to be, for two reasons in particular. The first of which was the first time I ever saw Aahil execute someone, and if that was bad enough – during the first, and so far the only, time that I had ever become pregnant, by him, I lost the baby when he attacked me and I never, ever forgave him for it.

I had to admit that while he had taken quite a lot from me, namely my sense of trust in men – and perhaps a little innocence, he also gave me quite a bit.

It was because of him that I had learned, in order to protect myself, to compartmentalize everything, build walls and only let those walls down to certain people and sparingly at that.

And, I never told any of the boys, or girls this, it because of his idiocy around me when I was pregnant – that I was so open to bringing first Dick, then Jason, then Tim and then all of the girls into my life.

Sure, I did it for other reasons too, with the exception of Barbara, but I suppose that was the underlying reason.

So, I really do suppose I owed him a great debt.

But as if I'd ever tell him that.

"Imagine my surprise when Father and I were in Moscow last month, and we happen to see something on the street," Aahil began airily and I raised a single eyebrow, I was not in the mood for stories, "Would you like to know what it was darling?"

He had no right to call me that, or beloved, after what he did to me! It was all I could do just to restrain the urge to strangle him.

"No," I told him and my voice brokered no argument.

Aahil had the look on his face – the smirk, that smirk that he always had when he knew he was about to one up me and win, "We found a lost bird, a Robin really – very odd time a year for a Robin to appear there."

My eyes sharped deadly and I had to admit that entertained the idea of killing them both and hiding the bodies from the League, just so I had the satisfaction of knowing that neither of them could bother me again. It had only been a eleven months to be precise, but unlike Tim, and even Dick, I considered Jason my son, and I was convinced that even seeing my parents killed could not even compare to having to drag my son's body out of rubble. The first three months saw me because a complete and total wreck, and when I wasn't brooding in a dark room, or out taking my frustrations and my anger out on the poor, unsuspecting muggers and criminals who got in my way, I was hunting the Joker. The Joker, whom I knew had killed Jason, the Joker, who, to this day, deserved to be killed for what he did to Jason Todd. I turned over every stone on the planet to find him and when I finally did get a fix on his general location, here in Gotham none the less, I ran the son of a bitch down. I had become, by that point, unhinged with my anger and I came to within an inch of killing him, brutally, I wanted to make him suffer, not his victims, not at all, but something far worse entirely, I wanted to break him and then finally kill him.

These villains, psychopaths and general bad people could screw with me all the liked – I was used to it and I could take all of them.

But when they came after the boys or girls – I would tear them apart.

It took Superman himself to pull me off of the Joker and make sure I didn't kill him.

But by that point, I was so tired that I didn't even resist him.

I knew that next time, and there would probably be another attempt to kill one of the Robins, or Batgirl, it would take the entire Justice League to pull me off of whoever was bold enough to try.

Growling warningly at him, I stepped forward and put my hands on my hips, "Watch your language – or I'll cut your tongue out."

It wasn't the thing Batwoman would say to a criminal, or even someone she just general didn't like.

It was, however, something Catherine Wayne would say to Aahil al Ghul for opening up just now closed wounds.

Aahil smirked at me, "But beloved, I think you'll want to see this."

"What is it?" These two had the power of quasi-immortality and the ability to bring the dea-…

My jaw dropped as it dawned at me and when I looked up at Aahil, and the affirming twinkle in his eye, I felt rage twist my stomach, "You didn't! You bastard! You BASTARD!"

I didn't care if half of the ballroom could hear me, Aahil al Ghul and his accursed father were basically telling me that my dead child was alive and if they disturbed Jason's grave, they would pay – I would make sure of that.

"We didn't do it beloved, he was alive when we found him, we simply healed him, sunk him in the pit-…"

I faded out his explanation and as I thought about Jason for the umpteenth time in the past eleven months, I repressed the urge to cry. He and I had gotten to a place that not even Dick had gone in our relationship and that was the fact that he, in the last few months of his life, had taken to calling me 'Mom' and the fact that I'd never hear that from him again, only twisted the knife in the wound. I had tried to be a mentor to Jason, but when he died, I found that the biggest thing that I regretted was not being the mother that he so obviously wanted from me. I would bargain with him God himself to bring Jason back to me, just so I could show him how much I loved him and how much I'd love to be his mother first and mentor second.

But this… this miracle, if they were telling the truth, didn't come from God, it came from the other direction.

And it because of that, assuming that it was true, that I didn't even trust them then.

"What did you do to him," I hissed at him and turned to his father, "If you brainwashed him, conditioned him, or turned him into something that I can't fix – I'll kill you."

Snapping my face back to Aahil, I stepped closer and narrowed my eyes, "Not only that, I'll take my time and enjoy it too!"

"What delightful speech you make when you're angry beloved," Henri praised.

I narrowed my eyes, "Don't mock me! It was because of you and your damned father that Jason was killed anyway!"

And from the look of shook on their faces, I knew that they weren't expecting that little detail to come into play and it made me snort in unrestrained anger. I might not have had the reach of Ra's al Ghul, but there was very little that happened in the world that I did now about, and after fourteen hours of beating the hell out of the Joker, he had let it slip as to who paid him to kill Jason. Perhaps he wanted me to turn my fury on them, doubtful, but still a possibility. Perhaps the Joker knew that these two men were the only two people, or villains, if you preferred, on the entire planet who were my equals. They were the only people who could match me in a game that involved mystery, intrigue, psychology, and money, the only ones.

Aahil's eyes softened ever so slightly around the edges, as subtle reminder to me that somewhere under his father's teachings, he had a heart and he was trying to show me, "I-…"

"You've taken a lot from me dearest," I spat back my former endearment to him, "You took my first child, and your father took another – so where is Jason? If he's alive, like you're obviously implying, I want to know where you've put him…"

I let the rest of the sentence hang off and we all got why, I didn't need to elaborate on the consequences if they were hiding Jason from me.

I had twenty two billion dollars, connections that rivaled even Ra's and I had the Justice League, I would tear the planet apart to find Jason if he was alive and if by some change he wasn't, I would not be so forgiving towards the al Ghul's and their little joke on me. Turning back to his father as if to consult with him silently, I turned my head back to Alfred, who was watching the scene from my previous post by the table, and gave him the smallest of nods. That nod meant several things – it meant that Alfred was to have alerted Superman and the members of the League who could be spared to be on alert for any signs of trouble near, or around the Manor, it was also intended for Alfred to alert both Tim and Dick to remain on guard.

Looking back at them, I raised an eyebrow again, "Beloved, he is here, we brought him with us – but before you rush to him, you must know something…"

"…he knows about Timothy Drake," Ra's finished for him and I felt my heart stop for a moment.

'Oh no…'

It wasn't that I loved Tim, and it was not that I was ashamed of him.

The boy was unrelentingly smart, brave, strong and all of the qualities that both Dick and Jason showed when they wore the mantle of Robin.

However I knew Jason, I knew where the insecurities in him were and I knew exactly what would happen if he managed to see photographs of myself and Tim in the guise of Batwoman and Robin. He would feel abandoned, betrayed and replaced and it would be directed right at me – and when he was done with me, he'd turn his sights on Tim and that was something that I couldn't allow to happen. Even as I rushed up the stairs, with both of the al Ghul's following me, which was a surreal thought in itself, I was frantically coming up with something, anything to say to him, to make him understand. However, even as I neared my study, the room that Ra's and Aahil had deposited Jason in, I knew that this wouldn't be settled smoothly.

"It was because of my actions that Jason died," Ra's explained in his typical sage like voice, "It was not meant to happen and for that, I felt I should return him to you."

"And my reasoning is obvious," Aahil tacked on and I felt the obligatory stomach twist at even the hint of that.

I stopped suddenly and turned around to both of them, "I must do this alone."

"You don't understand – he'll be-…" I cut Aahil off.

"He'll be aggressive and hateful towards me, yes, I know," I waved my hand dismissively – it was by no means something to dismiss, but I wasn't completely ignorant of what his reaction to me would be. "I'm prepared for that."

And without another word to them, I turned my heels and proceeded down the hallway, and that, in itself, was a non-verbal command for both of them to leave the property, leave Gotham and not return. I wasn't under false ideal of what they knew and didn't know, I was fairly confident that they knew that a lot of the Justice League was in town for their arrival. But we both knew that I would allow them to leave without a problem, if they left quietly, in gratitude for bringing Jason back to me.

I hoped that they didn't abuse it.