Her small feet dangled in the air flopping to and fro in a desperate attempt to get down from the strong hold which held her in place. "Be still, Eleanor." The little girl froze still at the stern tone of her mother, Talia'a voice. "This is where we part ways." Cool lips pressed themselves against the little girls forehead as she began to cry pushed to an upset at her mother's seriousness and the rain soaking into her shirt. She wore little brown boots on her tiny feet, and a loose fitting brown onesie with a small sash at her waist. The little girl had wide beautiful blue eyes, her fathers orbs echoing back into her mother along with a twinge of sadness.

She didn't want to put her down on the cold cement in front of the large wooden door but Talia tenderly placed her there patting the soft brown curls on her head before knocking the door resolutely three times. Setting the bag next to the little one, the woman disappeared into the shadows in which she'd been raised watching in the distance as a familiar butler opened the door and froze at the sight of the small wailing child before him. He glanced from side to side looking for someone else but when he found no one glanced at her closely. Her cheeks were red and puffy as Alfred crouched tentatively in front of the bawling toddler.

"Where are you from, my dear?" His voice was tender as he lifted her up closing the door to keep out the pouring rain while grabbing the bag that had been laid with her setting it down as soon as they were safe inside. She clutched onto his jacket with a vengeance as the crying permeated the manor's front foyer. It echoed around so much it seemed to bring the whole manor alive even in the dead of night when all the life was underground.

"Alfred?" Dick's voice swirled down from the above as he peeked over the landing, "Who's the kid?" The young boy made almost no noise as he came down the stairs. He'd been there for several months now finally beginning to adapt to the dynamic of being the orphan of Bruce Wayne.

"I don't know Master Dick, would you please get Master Bruce for me?" It brought him a warm flood of joy as he watched her quiet down as he rocked her. It had been a long time indeed since Alfred had held a baby, she reminded him so much of Bruce it nearly took his breath away. Their eyes were so similar with that same toothy smile as she reached for the lapel upon his chest grabbing at the chain of the Wayne crest. Sliding her further away the little girl made a noise of disapproval before pulling at his collar.

Bruce rounded the corner still reeling from Dick's quick explanation of Alfred having a baby, but when he saw the girl he froze on the spot. She began to wiggle again letting out another angry wail until Alfred set her down. Holding one sticky saliva cover hand forward she bumbled forward unsteady until she reached her target grabbing onto the crease of Bruce's trousers. It gave Alfred a chance to open up the bag and find the note inside. "Sir." Bruce glanced up seeing the faint shake in Alfred's hand. Whatever was written upon the paper must have upset him greatly. "Her name sir, it's Eleanor Wayne. This note states you are her father. She has your eyes." Alfred's words came out choppy with the shock.

The man looked down at the little girl staring up at him, with her oval cheeks and puffy eyes. Alfred was right, the similarity was uncanny. Then with their first memory together as father and daughter she pointed one chubby finger at him and stated somewhat garbled in baby tone, "Mine."

This little thing couldn't have been more than two years old but she didn't even consider looking frightened as they stared at each other. She pointed again this time at the ceiling demanding, "Up. Up. Father."

He hesitated for so long it made Alfred have to hold one gloved hand to his lip to keep from smiling as Dick stared at her eyes wide in a mix of hesitancy and excitement. It was as if he'd decided the moment he saw the little girl in Alfred's arms that she was a part of their small ragged family. "Nelly, I think we should say that instead."

The head of the house didn't say anything just held her firmly as they walked back through the house, past the clock, and down further into the depths. There were several things that stood out about the young child: the bats did nothing but fascinate her, the dark did not bother her, and when he as gently as he could pricked her finger she did not cry. Each of these were not normal qualities to have so young, while the Batcomputer loaded up the DNA comparison Bruce held out his hand for the note.

Alfred considered for a moment burning it before he could see the script on the page but decided in the end it was better to prepare his friend than keep him in the dark. When Bruce began to skim the flowing script it read as such:

Bruce,

I will not take her back. There is no place for women here, if she had been a boy I would have kept her but two years has past. Her birthday is July seventeenth, her name is Eleanor Wayne. She is your daughter and she is not longer mine. Do with her what you must, I do not wish any further correspondence with the child. Eleanor's fate is yours now.

Talia

The test will be positive.

As if on cue the three men and one small girl glanced up at the sound of the ding to prove Talia's words correctly. She was in fact his daughter.

Alfred made a small noise in the back of his throat as Bruce handed her over to him. The little girl just stared up at him eyes unnaturally wide until the butler realized with some surprise she was staring at the bats far above, cluttered in patches along the ceiling. "Shall I prepare a room for her, Master Bruce?'

"Yes, I think that will do." He turned back to the screen looking at the data again before flipping back over to the surveillance footage he'd been observing before he'd had a daughter. "Go help him, Dick. Don't be late tomorrow."

With a nod Alfred began the walk back up into the lit areas of the manor taking her to one of the spare rooms in the west wing three doors away from Dick's own. It was currently one of the larger rooms in the house, a spare for guests with an attached large bathroom. He figured it would do well for the daughter of Gotham's finest. Glancing behind him at the young child on his heels Al hid back another small smile, thinking that this could really be what this empty house needed. "If you could be so kind, Master Dick to create a ring of pillows near the center of the bed."

It was easy to set up, Dick looking toward Alfred for every pillow placement to make sure it was just so before they laid the yawning little girl in the center. She shuffled slightly for a moment before deciding to sink easily down into the comfortable plush and was out like a light. He gave Dick a small pat on the shoulder before pushing him off to bed with an encouraging smile before settling himself down on the chair beside for a long night.

Once he awoke to her cries in the morning Alfred was relieved to find they had slept through the night, even if she was already up at dawn. "She's awake." Bruce's voice startled the older man for a moment before he relaxed back in the chair. It shouldn't have come as a surprise that he was able to move so quietly in his own home.

"For a few minutes now, I've already made some calls to have the correct things brought in for her." Al held the girl onto his hip with a small smile, having easily done it a thousand times before. "This room will be a nursery by bed time. Eleanor and myself are going out for the morning, Master Bruce. To pick up some of the more essential items on the list. She must be hungry, though it doesn't appear she cries much." He glanced down at her, silently staring back at him three nubby fingers shoved into her mouth.

Alfred proved to be right and by the time that sundown came around the workers were long gone leaving behind a room very different than the way that it was before. The darker settings had been replaced by a barrage of pastel colors despite Bruce's dismay at the completely opposite style compared to the rest of the house, Al wouldn't hear of anything different. The previous guest room was now equipped with a large round fluffy rug over the dark hardwood, a white crib to the side, dresser full of clothes, toys galore.

It truly was a nursery now as he laid her down inside the crib adjusting the baby monitor ever so slightly, he'd already decided to take up residence in one of the other guest bedrooms until he figured out how well she would settle into the new environment. It seemed as the days past there was little reason to stay, she was already out of diapers, talking lightly, and he'd yet to see her cry since the night they had taken her in. Bruce stopped in to see her from time to time, pat her cheek when she was sleeping before heading out for the night.

He didn't hold her often, but then again no one really expected him to. It took Gotham a little over a week for the rumors to begin to spread like wildfire, Bruce was called in to speak to the board and he chose to make a decision. He chose her.

Eleanor Wayne's name was plastered on every street corner, newspaper, and magazine Gotham could find. That little girl became a symbol in seconds, who would she become? Who was her mother? Thousands of questions, all of them about her. Dick became an ever present presence in her life, the eight year old boy was often found laying on the floor in the wee hours of the morning.

It was the start of something, the start of something greater. It was the start of something Bruce never thought he would have since he saw blood red pearls spread across the ground of an ally way, a family.