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I know I've re-written this story a couple times now but please give it a read. Set during The Dark Knight with the added Character of Barbara Gordon. Hoping to do another one set during the Dark Knight Rises as well. Please review, let me know what you think!

Chapter 1 |

The office was in a buzz. 3 pm is what The New York Times called magic hour. An hour before deadline and everyone was in a panic. It was Barbara Gordon's favorite hour. She strode across the office with a grin on her face. Holding the story in her hand.

Manolo Blahnik BB grey sued pointed toe pumps hugged her feet as she strode down the office with purpose. Her blonde wavy hair was blown back she was walking with such confidence. Her grey slacks hugged her legs as she straightened her red blouse. The office admired her, she was driven, gutsy and never backed down from a story. The women in the office envied her, their editors most prized writer, and most men would do anything to win a date with her. She smiled as she past her colleagues holding up her own work of art.

Every week she told herself this was her best work yet, but this week she really did believe it. She walked into the office, the statue of Liberty in her view as the back wall of her office was a window looking out into New York. After graduating top of her class at NYU she landed her dream job working for the New York Times and slowly worked her way up. Now she wrote and investigative column for the paper. She knew who to talk to in order to get a story; she covered mostly the organized crime stories that most of New York thought only to be myth. Her writing caused a lot of stirring in the community. The public felt safer with her writing and her subjects hated her for writing about them. She didn't mind, she wasn't afraid. It was her goal in life to make the world a better place one column at a time by writing truth.

"Barbara!" Her editor called from down the hall and appeared in her doorway "What'd you got for me this week?"

Barbara grinned, "Best work yet I think," she said handing him the article.

Andrew raised an eyebrow "you say that every week" he read the first couple lines. He started to believe her as he nodded

"Maybe…" he continued reading "Mob U, New generation of mobsters leaves crime lords looking for education on family business" he nodded putting down the article pleased

"I have an interesting offer for you Gordon" he took off his glasses and looked at her. "You're from Gotham..." he began. Barbara sat in her chair with her arms crossed frowning at the statement

Andrew didn't mean it as an insult, but Barbara took it as one.

She cut all ties with Gotham and she intended to keep it that way. It had been 10 years since she'd been back; the last time she was in her hometown was to bury her mother. She hated Gotham because all it did was remind her of the pain she suffered while there. Her father was Jim Gordon, who now ran the Major Crimes Unit for the Gotham City police he had an affair with a woman and ended up leaving Barb and her mother for her. He was married to his job, and then later to someone who wasn't Barbara's mother. He tried to get to know Barbara but she didn't want to be the outcast in his new family. Her fathers affair was made a public spectacle as his affair was with one of his colleagues. Barb couldn't reconcile her anger, and wanted nothing to do with her father no matter how hard he tried to make up for what he did, Jim regretted ruining his relationship with his daughter, he loved Both Barbara and Sarah, but he knew he wasn't a good enough husband for Barb's mother. Once Barbara graduated high school she was off to college and ran as far from Gotham as she could.

She tried as hard as she could to leave Gotham in the past. Even when her mother died, it made her angrier to know her family would never be together. Every day she wished her situation was different, that she could have her family back. Part of her felt bad even with Jim having two kids with Sarah, she wanted to get to know them but her anger towards her father made it hard.

She turned back to Andrew and nodded uninterested at his question. "So"

He began "You know anything about this?" He dropped a copy of a newspaper from Gotham and the title read "Gotham city crime rate lowest it's been in 15 years with Caped Crusader protecting the city" Barb stared at the picture of a man dressed in a bat suit

Barbara looked up at Andrew with both eyebrows raised. She wondered who in their right mind want to dress up like a bat? A masked bat was cleaning up the city. The story almost seemed made up.

"Batman saves city from fear inducing toxin?" Barb read the article in awe. "This is made up isn't it?" Barb didn't believe the article "This can't be true"

Andrew smiled nodded, "You better believe it is. Happened last year. Since then this city has relied on a guy wearing a mask. They have no idea who he even is"

Barb was surprised Gotham would depend on such a crazy thing "I want the full story on this guy" Andrew demanded

Barbara was skeptical "What makes you think New York cares about this guy?"

Andrew shook his head "The Gotham Harold wants you to come and do an expose on this guy. He's not making friends with the guys down at MCU"

"Don't they have their own reporters?" She said not wanting to go for more reasons than she was letting on. "Looks like they've done a ton of them on this guy" She went through her papers trying to look busy with other things.

Andrew nodded "And not one of them has been able to uncover who he actually is. They've read your column they want to fly you there and they want you to try and dig for information on this guy. They say you know the guy running MCU along with the new DA's assistant" he said curious

Barbara lowered her head ashamed "Jim Gordon is my father" she said not looking up at him. She sighed knowing Rachel probably went to bat over Barb coming down, "And Rachel Dawes and I grew up together"

Andrew's eyes widened. Barbara never talked about her personal life; he thought work was her only personal life. "Then you need to go. The paper agreed to let us run the story as well, so it's double the coverage. Think about what that would do for your career if you blew the lid off this guy, revealing his identity? Everyone in Gotham wants to know"

Barbara looked up still not impressed or excited about this assignment, she was never one to turn a story down but she wasn't prepared to do it

"And if I don't agree?" she challenged

Andrew looked grim "Then two major papers lose out on a huge story and you will have to try and explain why you turned down an opportunity of a lifetime to more people than just me who are a little less than understanding over a few daddy issues" He called her out. He knew her better then she thought, Barbara was a better journalist than that. She had to put her personal feelings aside and suck it up. Andrew was right about the expose this story would cause; she couldn't pass that opportunity up.

She looked up at him wondering if she would dare call his bluff. Andrew always stuck to his word and never sugar coated anything.

She sighed "On one condition" She thought it would be easier to change her last name to keep her father separate from the story as much as possible. She wasn't stupid, even reporting in New York on crime activity put a target on her back. It seemed Gotham had bigger marks and often left reporters 'mysteriously disappearing'.

"The last name goes. I'm not going there as Jim Gordon's daughter. I haven't talked to him in years and if people find out Jim Gordon's daughter is reporting on the Batman I will get no where" she shrugged thinking that was fair enough.

Andrew tilted his head confused but shrugged it off thinking it was reasonable enough "Alright" he nodded conceding "Barbara what then?"

She thought for a moment "Andrews" she wasn't that creative

Andrew shook his head at the lame attempt "Alright, Barbara Andrews, I've got you booked on the 8 o'clock flight" he announced

Barbara rubbed her eyes sitting back in her chair. She was going to be in for one hell of an assignment. She left Gotham during the depression and wondered how much worse it had gotten for crime.

She sighed dreading the assignment, as she flipped through the newspapers reading up on the city she knew it wasn't going to be easy. It wasn't an easy assignment, and it wasn't going to be easy for her to be there.

Her father had a heavy heart over Gotham's state. Article after article names Jim Gordon leading the charge after the mob, and trying to lower the crime in the city, but she didn't have to read the articles to know he was deep into making the city a safer place for his children. His other children, Barb thought. She was even angrier after her mother died. She felt as if she had no family left, no family she wanted to be a part of at least. Jimmy was born shortly after and Barb never came to see him. Sarah a few years later was the same. Barb couldn't get past the fact her father had a different family.

Letting out a sigh and wondered if she should make the call. 10 years was a long time and she knew she would have to see him in order to get part of her story. She sat hating Andrew for a moment, knowing if she called to tell him she was coming would help the situation, she needed to be on his good side.

She picked up the phone to make the call while packing up a few items to take on the trip. "Jim Gordon Please" She said over the phone.

Jim stood in the empty bank safe looking over the crime scene. It was another robbery by the clown they've nicknamed the Joker. Jim had more on his mind than the clown. The marked bills they were tracking with the mob were in the vault. Leaving this bank the 5th in the city. The mob was using this one as well to deposit their cash.

Jim looked up after looking of the surveillance photos and saw the Batman standing at the door of the vault. He was just in time.

He nodded to his lieutenant, Ramirez, "Can we get a minute people" she walked out giving Gordon and Batman some time to talk.

"Him again" batman said seeing the photo Jim held up, "Who are the others"

"Bunch of small timers" Jim answered keeping watch of the time. He had to be gone quickly if he was going to meet Barbara at her hotel room.

Batman looked down at the stack of bills "Some of the marked bills I gave you" he read them with his device

"Mob's making drug buys with them for weeks this bank was another drop off for the mob. That makes five" Jim said, "We've found the bulk of their dirty cash"

"Time to move in" Batman nodded

"We're going to have to hit all banks simultaneously. Swat teams, back up" Jim thought out loud, "What about this Joker guy" he wondered if they should be worried.

Bruce wasn't interested. He wanted to get the mob. It was their time to finally put them all away. "One man or the entire mob"

"When the new DA hears about this, he's going to want in" Jim said. Harvey Dent was beginning to make a name for himself as the new District Attorney.

Batman agreed, "Do you trust him"

"Be hard to keep him out" Jim was going through his paperwork "I hear he's as stubborn as you" he looked up to find Batman gone.

He wasn't surprised. It was a habit Batman did often. Jim walked out checking the time. It was late and Barb's flight was just getting in. He walked out to the other investigators and nodded "I'll be on my cell" he said leaving

The car headed into the city, it was late and city seemed black. Barbara sighed as the car pulled up to the hotel. She felt uneasy already about being here; so many memories were flooding back to her. Police sirens screamed past, Gotham's finest are always at work here she thought. She wondered what crime they were chasing after this time knowing it would only be a few minutes before she heard them again.

"Miss Andrews" The driver said opening the door for her. She stepped out

The Gotham Herald was spearing no expense at having Barbara here. They put her up in the Ritz Hotel, the most expensive hotel in the city, they were even planning on having a driver for her but she declined as she felt it was better for her to roam the city on her own terms.

The bellmen carried her luggage inside as she made her way to the desk. She stopped short as she stared at her father. She felt like she was staring at a ghost. Jim stood shyly, he was happy to see his daughter but he wondered just how happy she was to see him.

"What are you doing here?" she asked expecting him to be in the police car sirens blazing that she had just heard. "Shouldn't you be working or something"?

Jim tried to smile "Hello to you too"

Barb looked away trying to calm herself. She didn't mean to sound harsh "When you told me you were coming, I called the paper to ask where you were staying. I wanted to see you" Jim said nervous.

Despite her intentions to keep Jim out of her life, he was proud of his daughter. She was a strong woman who made her own way in the world. He never had any worries about her until now, now that she was back in Gotham; he needed to make sure she would be safe.

He let out a sigh, "It was a little harder to track you down seeing as you're name is Barbara Andrews"

Barb looked at her feet with a meek nod, "I didn't want anything pinned back to you and I figured a I could more answers as just some journalist from New York rather than Gordon's daughter" she said

He stood to the side as she checked in accepting her answer, "That's smart" he stood fumbling for a minute. "Could we talk? Id love for us to catch up" he asked

Barbara sighed and nodded "Sure. Common might as well get to work right away" they walked towards the elevator she knew she was still being too harsh. She hoping they could focus on her assignment rather than catching up. Barb wasn't ready to start hashing into the past.

Jim took the suitcase from her hand and carried it as he followed her. She smiled slightly at the kind gesture. "It's nice to see you Jim," she said trying to sound sincere.

Jim smiled, "Same here kiddo"

She was torn. She wasn't unhappy to see Jim, it had been a long time and suddenly she felt seeing him again made her think it was time to move on. She still felt the anger and pain over what happened, even though she was beginning to wonder about letting him in again, it would take time.

"So" Jim sat her suitcase down then took a seat on the couch "The Herald and the Times both want to run the story and want you to try and expose the Batman's identity" Jim said almost sounding tired of hearing it. He must have had dozens of reporters hounding him about the same topic since he first appeared.

"This has been going on a year, still no one has cracked the case," he said shaking his head. He was almost glad. He believed Gotham wasn't ready to find out Batman's true identity. He feared Barbara, being the good reporter that she is would end up finding out.

Barbara nodded taking a sip from her scotch. She wasn't normally a drinker but tonight was a night she needed one. I had been 10 years since she had seen him. He looked tired and worn. His job got the best of him. And barb wasn't ready to have a heart to heart with her father. She was here on business, she wanted to get her story and leave just as quickly.

"So what do you know about him" Barb pulled out her note pad and recorder.

Jim shrugged, "He's a hero," he said simply,

Barb motioned for more.

Jim sighed, "It started about a year ago. Carmine Falcone was the first one we caught with him but found out he was working with Doctor Crane and some band of vigilantes who filled the city's water supply with this hallucinogenic drug" he shook his head, "It completely tore apart the Narrows, Barbara, you should have seen it." Jim said

"He saved the city from this outbreak?" Barb asked

Jim nodded "I can give you the reports, with all the details"

"How did you escape the effects?" Barb asked

"Rachel had been infected, at Arkham earlier and the Batman was able to make a antidote." Jim explained to the best of his knowledge. He still wasn't sure how Batman did most of his work.

Barb nodded taking notes "What happened to Dr. Crane and the vigilantes"

"Most of them arrested. Their leader died in the train crash. And Crane is still on the lose"

"After a year" Barb was surprised

Jim shrugged, "Crane, excuse the expression, got a taste of his own medicine and we still haven't been able to find him. "

Barb sighed, "I guess vigilantes aren't so much folklore anymore" she was almost amused by it all

"Barbara, I want you to be careful" Jim urged, "Asking these kinds of questions will draw the wrong kind attention. Gotham isn't safe yet, we haven't cleaned up the narrows, and the mob is still an active organization that is still running half of the city. We may have put away Carmine Falcone, but it seems the largest crime family in North America is still operating"

Barbara sighed, "Jim, all I wrote about in New York was about Organized Crime" she argued, "New York is just as bad as Gotham and I'm still alive"

Jim ran his hand through his grey hair, "I know. I have every article you've written, I know about the things you write about. But you'll see. Gotham is it's own monster"

Barb sat feeling like she was 16 and getting a lecture from her father. The pangs inside her flared, Jim lost his right to act like a parent when he walked out on Barb's mom. Barb stood up avoiding the awkward moment.

"Rachel, she's been asking about you ever since she heard you were coming" Jim said knowing he was overstepping his boundaries.

Barb nodded, "I'm having lunch with her tomorrow"

Jim nodded; "I guess you'll be meeting Harvey Dent another time seeing as I have a lunch meeting with him" he smiled at the coincidence.

Barb didn't find the humor in the coincidence but she tried to soften her expression. "Well I'll let you be, you're probably tired from the trip" Jim said standing to his feet.

Barbara tried to smile "Thanks for coming. And for filing me in" She looked at him, he meant well. She was grateful that he cared enough to come down "I had a nice time tonight Jim"

Jim smiled as he walked down the hall. Barb shut the door. It wasn't as bad as she thought it would be seeing her father again.

Later that night she sat up looking out on the window, 20 stories high and looking out straight across was Wayne Tower. She remembered the Wayne family. They had a son her age, they helped Gotham become a growing city, but their murder changed all that She remembered it being all over the news.

Across the sky and was the famous "Bat Symbol" Barb couldn't help but smile. Jim didn't mention it but Barb had heard of it. It was there, reminding the people of Gotham he was watching the city.

It was hard being back in Gotham, every minute she was reminded of her childhood, and that her family was torn apart. Yet seeing Jim made her realize that she had to forgive him, the effort he made to see her made her want to forgive him, but there was still a big part of her that was angry, it would take time to get over what happened, but she surprised her self that she actually wanted to move on.

Thanks for reading!