Okay hey y'all this is my first Batman fic so be gentle with me. I'm not exactly in the PJO mood rn so I'm trying something different, with an OC bc you know me ;)

Anyway this is an OC/Bruce Wayne (aka Batman)

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Batman universe (obvi)


Alice was not okay.

She was surrounded by strangers, no, somehow worse than strangers. She was surrounded by the Gotham elite: the best of the best, the cream of the crop.

Glasses clinked around her, piercing right through her eardrums, and her dress clung to her thighs with each step she took, eyes searching frantically over the crowd for a flash of strawberry hair.

Was it hot in here, or was it just her. The precipitation of the glass she was holding seemed to evaporate off of her skin, her hair was sticky at the nape of her neck, and she couldn't find Lydia anywhere. Her lifeline back to reality was gone yet again.

Oxygen seemed too thin as she started to breath faster, shallower. It was definitely time to get out of here, but to where?

Alice set her drink on the closest surface and made a beeline for the nearest exit she could find, weaving her way through the sequined and feathered crowd. Various arms brushed against her own sweaty flesh and the women's perfumes blended together into a sickly sweet aroma that settled deep within her nose. Out, out, out.

Finally she stumbled into the empty hall, the door closing softly behind her with a click. Alice walked a few paces down and fell against the wall, sliding down with less grace than she would like to admit.

Air was coming easier now, and goosebumps erupted on her bare arms from the sudden change in temperature. Her pulse started to feel less like a jackhammer and more like the soft ticking of the old grandfather clock echoing down the hall. This was much better.

She always swears she will never forgive Lydia for dragging her into these social mess, but somehow she always does. Beautiful, sociable Lydia begging her to attend yet another gala with her, always saying,

"This is it, Alice. This will be the moment we're waiting for."

The eagerness in her slightly raspy voice sinking into Alice's head, into every cell in her body. Alice never went for the people, she actually hated these events herself, but to spend time with Lydia, she would do anything.

Alice's eyes fell closed. How long has she been here? Long enough, she hopes, long enough for Lydia to hang off of enough scrawny millionaires arms, long enough for Alice to loose more of her sanity from those damned hairpins digging into her scalp. It had to have been midnight by now, maybe she passed into the new year catching her breath against the marble floors.

"Hey, you alright there, doll?"

Alice snapped up, slammed the back of her head against the wall,

"Oh!"

"You alright?" the man's voice called again, "That looks like it hurt like-

"Like a bitch," she finished, "And I'm fine."

The man walked into view and to her relief she didn't recognize him. To be fair, she didn't really keep up with the tabloids, but he didn't match any pictures she saw while waiting in the checkout lines at the grocery store. Tall, dark hair with a single white streak hanging in his face, and wearing a leather jacket and pants covered in… wait.

"Please don't hurt me."

"Seems like you already beat me to the point, sweetheart."

Alice sighed into her hands, the sky-blue silk of her gown sliding down her legs and pooling like water onto the marble. God, her head was pounding. The man drew closer,

"Need a hand up."

Without speaking, Alice raised a slender hand and the man's gloved hand caught it, pulling her up quickly. Perhaps a little too quickly.

Her vision tunneled rapidly and she only had the time to mutter a soft,

"Oh no," before she was falling, falling, falling. Her last thought was how sucky of a new year this was turning out to be.

She awoke in a push bed, blue silk clinging to her body like a second skin. How hammered was she last night to not even change out of her dress? Her eyes slid open for a fraction of a second before slamming shut again. She groaned, and then paused.

Thinking through her pounding headache, she tried to remember the details of the brightly lit room she briefly viewed. No crappy bookshelf, no stained walls, and not an ugly square window to be seen. She listened intently for a moment and… yep, no screaming neighbors either. In fact, it was eerily silent. Where the hell was she?

She heard the door click open and shifted a bit in the bed. An accented voice greeted her,

"I see you're up, Miss."

"Hello?" she groaned, trying to maneuver herself into a sitting position without opening her eyes or rocking her head too much, "Who is it? Where am I? W-what happened?"

"You may call me Alfred, Miss, and you are in a guest bedroom in the Wayne Manor. As for what happened, that would be a fine question to ask to Master Jason, but it seems like you have quite a nasty concussion."

Alice sank back into the cloud-soft pillows,

"Oh."

Alfred just clicked his tongue as he presumably walked around the room. Alice heard curtains open and smelled strong tea to her left. If that was for her, Alfred was an angel. She heard the door click shut again and then open once more,

"Alfred?" she called softly, "Is that you?"

"Not quite." a familiar voice answered,"How's the head?"

The gears turned painstakingly slowly in Alice's head and finally she made the connection,

"You are the guy from last night."

"Bingo."

"Are you Jason?"

"Right again, doll. You really are on a roll."

"Can you do me a favor?"

"Depends," he replied, and she could hear the leer in his voice, "What are you gonna give me?"

"How about a nice pat on the shoulder," she groaned, "And can. you please close the blinds?"

"Well, that's a terrible reward." he grumbled, but she heard the blinds slide closed all the same. Her eyes slowly slid open and adjusted with less pain than before,

"Thank-you." she sighed, "That is so much better."

Jason was but a shadow in the room, briefly illuminated by gently rays of sunlight that slipped past the blinds. The bed dipped as he sat on the end, smirking as Alice struggled to shift up into a sitting position,

"What happened last night?" she asked once she was somewhat satisfied with her positioning. Jason chuckled lowly for a brief second,

"You slammed you head into the wall, and then passed out in my arms like some damsel in a fairytale."

Heat rushed to Alice's face as her memory came rushing back. What a way to start the new year. This was totally Lydia's fault, and actually, speaking of Lydia,

"Where is my phone?" Alice asked, patting herself down, and then shuffling through the sheets frantically. Jason seemed unconcerned,

"It's not in there, so you can stop looking. You're just upsetting your head."

She scowled at him, but he only smirked in reply and patted his jacket pocket,

"It's right here, it fell out of your purse last night and I grabbed it for you."

Alice made grabby-hands for it but he tutted,

"Ah-ah-ah, you have to give me something for it in return."

"It's my phone!"

"Oh really?" he said, clicking the on button, "I bet it could be my phone in a bit."

"Fine." she scowled, "What do you want."

"Your name."

The pair was silent for a minute while Alice thought about it. What was the harm in giving away her name? But then, this guy was covered in guns last night, so there could be plenty of harm in exposing a small part of her identity. Well, she supposed he could have gotten it through hacking her phone like he claimed he could do, so did it really matter?

"Alice."

"Hmmm?"

"My name is Alice."

He tossed her cellphone at her and she snatched it out of the air, narrowly interception the collision course it would have made with her head,

"Watch it."

He just got up off the bed, the corner rising up again. Alice paused in her inspection of her phone to look up just in time to see him leave almost silently, quiet except the soft murmur of "Alice".


We have met Jason, and the rest of the bat kids will show up soon enough ;) Also Bruce isn't in yet but he will be