The sleek, black car slowly pulled into the parking lot of the child care center and, a short time later, the driver's side door opened to reveal a middle-aged, impeccably dressed gentleman in a tuxedo. The man straightened his suit, softly closed the door, then walked around the vehicle to the opposite side and opened the rear passenger door. The younger brunette that emerged from the vehicle took a moment to smooth out any wrinkles, real or imagined, from her dress and led the way for herself and her companion to the daycare.

"May I take your coat and purse, madam," the manservant inquired as he held the door for the woman.

"I'm perfectly able to hold them myself, Alfred," Martha Wayne replied, a small smile on her face. "I'm going to go find the administrator. I'd like to speak to him about how Bruce is doing around the other children."

Alfred Pennyworth, former medic and intelligence officer to Britain's Royal Air Force and current butler to the prestigious Wayne family of Gotham, nodded. "Very well, madam. Would you like me to remain here and keep an eye open for the young master?"

Martha checked the watch on her wrist. "That should be fine. He should be out soon enough." Martha left the main room and followed the signs pointing her to the office of the administrator of the facility. Arriving there, she found the door closed and two chairs placed against the wall, next to the door, one of which was currently occupied by a woman close to Martha's age. "Do you mind if I sit down," Martha asked the woman.

"Not at all," the woman smiled in response. "You might be waiting a short while, though. He just went into his office about five minutes ago. Maria Kyle," she offered, her hand outstretched in greeting.

Martha took it as she sat in the empty chair. "Martha Wayne, pleased to meet you." She tilted her head in thought for a moment. That name sounded familiar. "Would you perhaps be of any relation to the Kyles of Kyle Jewelry?"

Maria nodded in affirmation. "My husband Brian and I. In fact, I believe we may have provided your husband with that ring," she said, pointing at Martha's wedding band.

"As well as a few other pieces," Martha added with a laugh. "I'm embarrassed to say my husband spoils me."

"Mr. Wayne has purchased some very beautiful items from our store. I'm glad to know they have been going to someone who wears them as lovely as you, Mrs. Wayne."

"Thank you for saying so, but please, call me Martha," she said with a wave.

"So does your son attend this daycare," Maria asked, continuing the small talk.

Martha nodded. "He's been coming here during the day for the past few months. I have the time during the day to look after him and allow him to stay at home but Thomas thinks it might be good for him to be around other children as much as possible. What about you? Do you have any children?"

"Just one and her name is Selina. Brian and I have been rather busy lately with trying to expand our business and we think it's the perfect time for her to start to socialize with others her age. I've been looking at many of the child care services around Gotham but none have really stuck out. Would you recommend this particular place?"

"Absolutely. I've heard very good things from others about how they care for the children while they are here and Alfred has told me that Bruce seems to have had fun most days when he picks him up."

"I'm sorry, but who is Alfred?"

Martha was about to explain that Alfred was the family butler when the women were interrupted by the sound of running feet and a loud yell. "Mommy!" Bruce ran into the room and jumped straight into his mother's lap. He was closely followed by the aforementioned butler.

"I'm sorry for the interruption, madam" Alfred directed to Martha, "but Master Bruce insisted on finding you as soon as he was released."

"That's quite all right, Alfred." She placed a kiss on her son's forehead. "Alfred, this is Maria Kyle. She and her husband own Kyle Jewelry."

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mrs. Kyle," the butler intoned, followed by a short bow. He turned back to Martha. "Would you like me to take Master Bruce to the car to wait, madam?"

Martha shook her head. "That's not necessary, Alfred. I don't think that he is going to have time to see me today. We may as well take Bruce home and I can call and schedule a meeting later." Martha stood up. "It was very nice to meet you today, Maria. I hope everything works out with finding a place for Selina during the day. Maybe we could set up a play date for her and Bruce in the near future?"

After exchanging phone numbers and agreeing to meet for lunch the next week, Martha said good bye and she, Bruce, and Alfred left for the car. As the vehicle pulled out onto the road, Martha made a mental note to say something to the administrator when she talked to him later. Maria seemed so nice and it would be good for Bruce to have a female friend.

"Did it hurt," Bruce asked as he looked at Selina's elevated leg.

"A little," the girl admitted. "I shouldn't have fallen off of the beam."

"You were doing good until then," Bruce offered as a consolation.

Selina shrugged. "I wish it didn't happen. Now I have to have a stupid cast on all summer."

"Maybe I can fix it," Bruce said. He'd seen his dad do it before. He grabbed a stethoscope from the counter and brought it over to Selina's bed. All his dad ever did was hold this thing up to someone's chest, ask them to breathe a few times and scribble something on a piece of paper. Bruce slipped the stethoscope into his ears, placed the diaphragm against his friend's chest and listened intently.

"Do you hear anything," Selina asked softly.

"Your heart," Bruce replied. "It's going really fast."

Selina nodded. She already knew that. "What about my leg?"

Bruce shrugged. If this wasn't working, he wasn't sure really what to do. Just then, he spied a pad of paper on the counter. Maybe it wasn't what he heard in her chest. Maybe it was what he wrote on the paper. He grabbed the pad and looked at it for a second before he started writing. Just as he finished, Brian and Maria Kyle and Thomas and Martha Wayne walked into the room. Martha was the first to approach the girl laying in the bed.

"How are you doing, sweetie? Is your ankle feeling okay?"

"It hurts a little," Selina said timidly.

"That's to be expected for a little while," a female voice offered from the door. "I don't know if you remember me Selina, but I'm Dr. Leslie Thompkins." Selina gave her a questioning look. "Trust me, I've been taking care of you since before you were even born. As far as your leg goes, you're going to be just fine in a few months. You'll have the cast off before the summer is over, I promise."

"And that means that it's time for us to go, Bruce," Thomas said as he ruffled his son's hair. "Why don't you tell Selina good-bye?"

Bruce gave his friend a hug. "Feel better," he said as he slipped a piece of paper into her hand.

Later, after Dr. Leslie had wrapped her leg up and given her a sucker and told her how good she was and after her parents had taken her back home, Selina found the note again, tucked away in her pocket, and opened it up.

Selina-

I hope you feel better soon.

Your best friend,

Bruce

Selina woke to the sounds of loud conversation coming from the front of her parent's store. Alfred had picked her and Bruce up from school and the two had played around the grounds of Wayne Manor for the better part of the day. However, night had come sooner than expected and Alfred had driven her to the jewelry store to meet with her parents. They were supposed to close up and they would all go home together. Selina yawned and stretched and wondered what was taking them so long. She crept into her favorite hiding spot, a little ventilation duct that looked over the lobby of the store and began to hear voices. As she finally got to the vent, she saw only three people: her mother, her father and a policeman. She was close enough that she could begin to understand the conversation.

"Mr. Falcone isn't happy that you two have decided to quit doing business with him," the man in uniform said as he patrolled the jewelry cases. "He doesn't like being the last to know things, especially things having to do with his money."

"We can't do this anymore, Officer..." Brian Kyle trailed off, looking for a name.

"Just 'Officer' is fine, Mr. Kyle," the cop responded, a smirk on his face as he stared down the two others. Up in the duct, Selina shivered. That look bothered her. A lot.

"Well, we can't take care of Mr. Falcone's money anymore," Brian continued. "We're expanding and our business can't afford to be... involved in his affairs."

"Our daughter is getting older," Maria added. "We can't be doing things like this while she is growing up."

"Oh yes, your little daughter Selina." The man looked up and Selina could see the evil gleam in his eyes. Even she could tell that, while he was dressed in the uniform of a police officer, that man was no cop. "Where is she at tonight?"

"She's with the Waynes," Maria said, thinking quickly. "She's staying with them tonight."

The man nodded his head. "I'm going to need an answer before I leave tonight. Are you going to continue to do business with Mr. Falcone?"

"No," Brian said, standing firm in his position. "We're done doing work for Carmine Falcone."

The man didn't seem surprised. "Mr. Falcone thought you might say that. He wanted me to give you something. A good bye gift, if you will." With that, the man drew his pistol and fired two shots, both of which struck Brian Kyle in the chest. He pivoted and, with his third and fourth bullets, shot Maria Kyle as well. Before Selina could comprehend what was happening, both of her parents lay dead on the floor of the jewelry store. The cop impersonator took his handkerchief from his pocket, wiped down every surface he had touched while he was in the store and vanished. After he had been gone for about 30 seconds, Selina finally found her voice. She screamed.

Alfred woke to the sound of a distant ringing. The sound itself was miniscule to his ears but Alfred was a trained butler, not to mention his former life in the intelligence community, so any unnatural noise would wake him. The telephone this early in the morning? That was unnatural. "Wayne Residence," he answered as if it were three in the afternoon.

Can I speak to Thomas or Martha Wayne, please?

Alfred could hear the exhaustion in the man's voice but it was too early to be bothering the two. "It is extremely early, sir, and both Mr. and Mrs. Wayne are asleep. May I ask that you call back later in the morning, please?"

I'm sorry to bother you so early but this is Lieutenant James Gordon of the Gotham City Police Department. It's very important that I speak to either Mister or Missus Wayne immediately.

"Very well. I shall fetch Master Wayne at once. Please hold for a moment." If it was the police department, Alfred imagined that it must be important. He quickly hurried up to the master bedroom and woke Thomas Wayne with a sharp shake to the shoulder. "Master Wayne." The sleeping man awoke with a start. "Master Wayne, there is an issue that requires your immediate attention."

"What is it, Alfred," he asked, yawning.

"The police department is on the phone, sir."

That grabbed Thomas' attention immediately. "Did they say what it was about?"

Alfred shook his head. "No, sir. They simply asked for either yourself or Mrs. Wayne and said that it was important."

Thomas rubbed the sleep from his eyes and stood. "Very well. To the study then." Alfred followed him down the stairs to his office, where Thomas removed the phone from the hook. "This is Thomas Wayne."

Mr. Wayne, this is Lieutenant James Gordon from the Gotham City Police Department. I'm sorry to bother you this early but we've had an... incident this evening.

"An incident? What kind of incident? With who?"

Brian and Maria Kyle. They were murdered tonight.

Thomas sat down hard in his office chair. He had counted the Kyles as friends ever since Bruce was little. Speaking of... "And their daughter, Selina? What of her?"

She's safe. Thomas sighed in relief. Poor girl saw the whole thing though.

"What will happen to her now? The Kyles had no living family or relatives."

The girl didn't know any one either. She gave us your name when we asked who we could call to come get her. She will probably be sent to a group home until relatives can be located or she can be placed into foster care.

"That won't be necessary, Lt. Gordon. I will come down to the precinct and sign whatever I need to sign to take temporary custody of Selina. She needs somewhere to stay for now and the Kyles were friends of ours."

After confirming with the officer that he would be arriving shortly, Thomas hung up and turned to Alfred. "I need you to get the car ready while I wake Martha and explain what's going on. She will get the room ready for Selina while you and I go downtown to take care of things there."

Alfred nodded, but turned back as he thought of something. "And Master Bruce, sir?"

Thomas shook his head. "Not tonight. We'll explain it to him in the morning."

A/N: This story started as a little idea about what it might have been like if Bruce and Selina grew up together. To make my idea come to life, I had to take a few liberties with Batman canon. Having said that, unless it's explicitly contradicted in my story, you can consider it to be true in my universe as well. I hope you all enjoy this first chapter. I have the first three of about six or so written up already and the others should be done within the week. If you enjoy, or even if you don't, please leave a review! I love hearing what people think of my work. Thanks!

AZ