A 4 year old girl stood on her tippy toes in an attempt to look over the sea of adults that were attending one of Bruce Wayne's charity balls. Her curly brown hair that she'd inherited from her father was down past her shoulders and parted down the middle, the two strands in the front were braided and tied back with a white ribbon. She was wearing a baby blue dress that went to her knees with a white sash around her waist that had a little white flower attached to it. She also had on white tights and shiny white flats, her mother had even wrestled some light pink lip gloss on her. She looked adorable, to say the least. Her baby blue eyes searched the room in search for her parents. They had somehow gotten separated only minutes before in the large crowd.

She whimpered, as much as she loved meeting new people, she still didn't like being in an unfamiliar place without her parents. She decided to ask someone if they'd seen them. She looked around and spotted a man with black hair who was facing away from her. She ran over to him and tugged the back of his suit jacket gently to gain his attention. He paused in his socializing and turned around. He looked around behind him then looked down to see the little girl. She smiled brightly up at him and he couldn't help but smile back. "Hi, mister! Have you seen my mommy and daddy anywhere?" The man squatted down to her level and said, "That depends, what's your name?"

"Lily Snow." The man reached his hand out to her and said, "I'm Bruce Wayne." She shook his hand, maintaining the contagious smile on her face, Nice to meet you Mister Bruce!" He released her hand with a smile and said, "Are your parents Cole and Haley Snow?" Lily nodded eagerly and said, "Yep!" Bruce stood back up and held his arms out saying, "I think I saw your parents by the refreshment table. I'll be happy to take you to them." Lily walked closer to Bruce, allowing him to pick her up. "Thank you, Mister Bruce!" He quickly excused himself from the people he was talking to, whom seemed to be busy cooing to themselves over little Lily.

With Lily in his arms, he weaved around people in the crowd until the refreshment table was in sight. He saw a couple holding hands, craning their necks towards the crowd with worried expressions like they were looking for something. Bruce recognized them as Cole and Haley Snow. The Snows were the owners of Gotham's most successful weapons manufacturing plants, they were also some of the few business owners that didn't involve themselves with Gotham's criminals and mobs, no matter how much they were bribed. They also had a few slightly smaller businesses on the side. Musical instruments, children's toys, clothing, to name a few. They also donated large amounts of money to orphanages, hospitals, and rehabilitation centers around the city. They were good people, which, to Bruce, was a rare thing to find in his city nowadays.

He walked up to them and they seemed surprised to see him, especially holding their little girl in his arms. Lily grinned and hopped down from Bruce's arms. She grabbed one of his hands and pulled him closer to her parents, "Mister Bruce! This is my mommy and daddy! Mommy and daddy, this is Mister Bruce!" Cole picked Lily up and held her in his arms. He kissed her forehead and said, "Lily, me and your mother were so worried." Then he looked to Bruce and said, "Thank you so much for bringing her to us, ." Haley also looked at Bruce after she gently ran her hand over Lily's hair, "Yes, thank you so much." Bruce chuckled as his way of brushing it off. "It was no problem, she is quite cute, after all." He playfully tugged at Lily's cheek, making her giggle. After that, he had a pleasant conversation with the Snows, even offering them a business deal before he excused himself to socialize with the other guests.

Minutes later, the large windows in the ball room shattered and people with clown masks came in. Gun shots rang out as people tried their best to escape. The Joker appeared in one of the windows and laughed maniacally at the fear he was causing. Random people fell the floor with fatal gunshot wounds. This went on for a while before The Joker yelled, "Come on, boys! I think we're done here!" The men ran out the way they came, The Joker's haunting laugh filling the room until he finally disappeared. Bruce was furious, and he knew he would have to find out why The Joker did this and make him pay. But first, he had to survey the damage and the casualties.

The police arrived quickly after the bloodbath ended, questioning people and putting people into ambulances and body bags. Bruce was talking with Gordon when his eyes fell to the back corner of the ballroom, more importantly, to a little girl in a blue dress. He ran over there, Gordon hot on his trail. He saw Lily sobbing, holding each of her parents' hands as they lie dead on the floor. She was desperately telling them to wake up. The two men looked at the scene in pity. Bruce carefully walked to Lily and squatted down. He rested his hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him. Bruce's heart could've broken right then. Her face, the same face that had been glowing with innocence and laughter only minutes before, now looked sad and confused.

"Mister Bruce, why won't they wake up?" She said through her tears. Bruce didn't know what to say. She was only 4, she didn't understand death, or that her parents were never going to wake up like she wished for them to. Gordon decided to jump in. He put his hand on her other shoulder. He smile kindly at her, though it did nothing to make her feel better like it was intended, "Hey, sweetie. Why don't you come with me for a little while, huh?" He picked her up and gently made her her head rest against his collarbone so that her parents were out of her sight. She started sobbing louder, making both Gordon and Bruce close their eyes for a moment. Bruce rose up and watched Gordon carry little Lily away from the bodies of her mother and father.

Bruce didn't know why, but he knew he was going to do everything in his power to help little Lily Snow. He remembered from the Snow file that they had no remaining family, so he was going to bring her into his home, just like he did with Dick only months before. He wasn't going to make her into his "sidekick" yet, he'd give her the choice when he thought that she was ready. Lily only deserves to have a smile on her face. And Bruce was going to try his hardest to make it happen.

Cole and Haley Snow's funeral took place the next morning. Bruce attended, but he hadn't approached Lily yet. He wanted to wait until after the funeral, then he was going to visit her at her home. At the funeral, instead of the pretty and cheerful colors she usually wore, Lily was wearing a a short sleeved black dress with a white peter pan collar, black tights, black shoes, and a black ribbon in her hair. Her bright blue eyes that shone with happiness now seemed to darken with sadness and confusion. She still didn't understand what was happening. All she knew was that her parents were never coming back, as Gordon had tried to explain to her in a way that she would understand the night before. She sat in the front row, with Gordon sitting on one side of her and her personal butler, Sebastian, on her other side.

After her parents were buried and after everyone gave the girl their condolences, Lily could be seen standing over her parents' grave with the hands of Gordon and Sebastian on her shoulders. Gordon plopped his hand on top of the girl's head, causing her to look up at him. He gave her a kind smile and jerked his head in the opposite direction, telling her that it was time to go. She used the back of her hand to wipe her cheeks then took the two men's hands as they led her towards the car. Gordon escorted her home, gave his condolences and his goodbye, then left the mansion in his own car that he'd left there. Lily watched him drive off and looked up at Sebastian, he gave her a sad smile and said, "I'm afraid I must attend to the chores, my lady. But, I will be finished very soon." Lily nodded and said quietly, "I'm gonna do sit in the garden for a little while..." Then she turned and walked through the mansion until she reached to door that led to the large garden. She walked to a bench that had an arch decorated in vines and flowers and sat down. She brought her knees up to her chest and rested her head on her chest as she sat silently.

A few minutes later, she heard footsteps behind her. She didn't look up until she noticed a woman in her peripheral vision. She had short blonde hair and she had a tape recorder in hand. Lily recognized her from the news that her parents would watch every morning, but she couldn't remember her name. The woman introduced herself as "Vicki Vale" then began pelting her with heartless questions about her parents' personal lives and their deaths. Questions that no one in their right mind would ask a 4 year old especially the day after her parents' deaths. There were questions like, "Which one of the Snows was shot first?" "Was Haley Snow having an affair?" "Can you tell me what it was like to see you parents be killed?" "Do you know who the Joker is?" "Was the Snow business involved with the mob?" She didn't understand the questions being asked. The parts of questions that she could somewhat understand had tears running down her face, but she remained silent. The reporter was relentless, continuing to pelt her with inappropriate and incompassionate questions.

Meanwhile, Bruce walked up the front steps to the Snow Mansion. He rang the doorbell and patiently waited for someone to come answer the door. Only a few moments later, the door opened and Sebastian stood there looking wary. Despite his mood, he still gave Bruce a polite smile. Sebastian was a young man, maybe around 26 or 27. He had black hair that fell in front of his face and dark brown eyes that almost looked red if you looked at them a certain way. He was tall, tall enough that Bruce had to look up at him slightly. He wore a black tail coat, a white dress shirt, a black vest and tie, black dress pants, white gloves, and shiny black dress shoes. "Ah, , what can I do for you?" he spoke, with a slight British accent. Bruce cleared his throat and said, "I would like to see Lily." Sebastian stepped aside and gestured inside. "Right this way. My lady is currently in the garden." After Bruce walked through the door, Sebastian closed it behind him and began to walk Bruce through the house.

Bruce looked around at the quiet, empty house as they walked. He wondered if Sebastian was the only servant that the Snows had in the house. "Where's everyone else?" Bruce asked curiously. Sebastian sighed, "Unfortunately, Master Cole's and Miss Haley's personal butlers, the cook, the gardener, and the household servants all resigned from their duties between last night and early this morning." Bruce's eyes widened in shock, "All of them?"

"All of them except for myself."

"What do you do?"

"I am Lady Lily's personal butler. My duties include keeping her entertained, and making sure she is fed, bathed, and educated. I also act as her tutor because her parents were against her going to a public school and she wanted her education to begin as soon as possible. If I had spare time, I assisted around the house."

"Aren't you a little young to be a butler?"

"Not in my personal opinion."

"Why didn't you quit with everyone else?"

Bruce realized that this could count as a minor interrogation. But, he was curious about many things. He simply couldn't stop the questions flying out of his mouth. And since Sebastian didn't seem to mind answering the questions, he didn't attempt to.

"I was hired to take care of Lady Lily shortly before she was born, and I vowed to always care for her no matter the circumstances. And I have since her birth. So, I have no intention of stopping now, or anytime soon."

"Why is it that you call her 'lady'?"

"For Halloween last year she dressed as a princess. I called her "Lady Lily" as a sort of joke. She told me that it made her feel like an actual princess when I called her that, so I suppose it just stuck."

Bruce smiled slightly, picturing a young Lily in a frilly princess costume. He could see Lily becoming ecstatic from something so simple as being called "Lady Lily". He wanted to know more about Lily. Which was understandable, he did want her to live with him, after all.

"Is 'Lily' short for something?"

"Her full name is Liliana Summer Snow. Her parents nicknamed her 'Lily'."

Bruce chuckled fondly, "A lot of things related to nature in one little girl's name, huh?" Sebastian didn't laugh, but Bruce could hear Sebastian exhale slightly more air out of his nose, and he saw a smile. So, he assumed that he thought his statement was funny. Sebastian rested his gloved hand on the silver doorknob of an entirely glass door. He opened it and they walked towards the bench where Lily was being ruthlessly questioned by Vicki Vale. Bruce was already angry that Vicki was there in the first place. She had no right to be there interrogating a little girl. Due to the surprise that appeared on Sebastian's face when Vicki appeared in sight, it seemed she was there without permission as well. He became angrier when he saw the distressed look on Lily's face and the constant tears dripping down her pale cheeks.

Bruce marched up to the bench and sat down next to Lily. He wiped her tears with his hand and gave her a comforting smile before looking as Vicki in disgust. "What are you doing here, Miss Vale?" He said angrily, causing Vicki to flinch, but send an equally angry glare back at him. "The owner's of Gotham's most successful businesses were murdered by the Joker and his men last night. Liliana Snow is the last remaining member of the Snow family. So, obviously, I came to interview her about her family's business and their deaths."

"You mean you broke into someone's home to interrogate a 4 year old girl about things she doesn't understand yet the day after her parents are murdered."

"I needed the information."

"You wanted to get your scoop so badly that you don't even realize that your questions are bringing a little girl to tears?" Bruce yelled. Vicki finally decided to pay attention to Lily, and felt guilty when she saw the tears on her face and in her eyes. But, because she hated to be wrong, decided to continue the argument, "She hasn't asked me to leave."

"Because despite what's happened, she is still to sweet to tell you to not let the door hit you on your way out." Bruce looked down at Lily fondly, "Do you want Miss Vale to leave, Lily?" Lily sniffled and looked at Bruce, then at Vicki, then back at Bruce. She nodded as she closed her eyes tightly, more tears spilling out of her eyes as she leaned into Bruce. Bruce looked up at Vicki with a smirk after putting an arm around Lily and said, "I think that solves that problem," he paused to look at Sebastian. When Sebastian made eye contact with him he jerked his head slightly in the direction of Vicki's tape recorder. Sebastian seemed to understand what Bruce was getting at, and he had no problem in complying. He gently picked the tape recorder out of Vicki's hand.

And he smashed it pieces.

Vicki watched in horror as Sebastian opened his gloved hand back up and tilted it slowly to the side, letting the broken pieces of metal and plastic fall to the grass in quiet thumps. Sebastian then gave Vicki a painfully obvious fake smile that made Vicki cringe. "If you'd like to report to the police of your tape recorder, then I'm sure you would have no problem telling them of how you entered my Lady's home without consent, then proceeded to traumatize her further." He stepped out of the way of the door and gestured toward it, still keeping the smile on his face. "Now, Miss Vale, it would be my pleasure to escort you out of the residence." Vicki huffed and stomped passed Sebastian and toward the door.

Bruce watched her until she was out of sight just in case she decided to make any threats. Then hugged Lily close to him. He noticed that she had calmed down considerably. Her sobbing now just quiet sniffling. He stroked her hair for a few minutes until she sat up. She wiped the leftover tears from her cheeks, saying a quiet, "Thank you, Mister Bruce." After wiping her cheeks, she sent a small smile Bruce's way, "So, whatcha doing here, Mister Bruce?" Bruce cleared his throat awkwardly, "I actually have something I'd like to ask you."

"Ok."

"I was wondering if you'd like to come live with me."

Lily's expression looked like a mixture of surprise, confusion, and slight happiness. She was quite fond of Bruce. Even if they'd only met the night before, he seemed to give off a vibe that made Lily like him. And the fact that he's basically asking a stranger to come live with him, only made her like him more. To her, the vibe he gave off reminded her of her daddy, which was comforting. And, after all, children are the best judges of character.

Neither noticed that Sebastian had returned from escorting Vicki Vale out. Bruce was awaiting Lily's response somewhat nervously, and Lily was just thinking. "You want me to live with you?" Bruce nodded, "I'd also like to adopt you if you'd like me to." Lily's eyes widened slightly, "Why would you do that, Mister Bruce?" Bruce gave her a kind smile, "Because I care about you, Lily. And, if I'm being honest, you remind me of myself." Bruce could see curiosity and in Lily's blue eyes. "Did your Mommy and Daddy go away, too?" Bruce nodded again sadly. Lily looked away from him for a moment to glance at Sebastian, "Can Sebby come, too?"

"Of course he can."

"Then I think I wanna live with you, Mister Bruce."

She smiled brightly and jumped toward Bruce, throwing her arms around his neck. Both Sebastian and Bruce smiled, enjoying seeing a smile on Lily's young face. They didn't think they'd see it for a while. Bruce hugged her back. Only a few seconds later, Lily pulled away from the hug, still keeping her arms around Bruce's neck. She smiled brightly and said, "Thank you, Mister Bruce!" and kissed him on the cheek. Bruce just chuckled in response. The moment was interrupted by Sebastian clearing his throat. The two looked up at him. He had a small smile remaining on his face from watching the moment as he said, "If I may interrupt, I'm afraid I must take Lady Lily to have her parent's will read to her." Both Bruce and Lily's smiles dropped slightly and Lily turned back to Bruce hopefully, "Will you come with us, Mister Bruce?" Bruce nodded and said, "Of course I will. We can even fill out those adoption papers while we're there." Lily hopped down from the bench and took the hand that Sebastian offered her.

"Lily," Bruce said, making her turn around, "you can just call me Bruce." Lily grinned and reached her other hand out to him, "Okay, Bruce!" The three walked back through the manor and to a black car in the driveway. Sebastian opened the door for Bruce and Lily before getting into the driver's seat.

To our precious little Lily,

As much as we wished that we could be with you forever, if you are reading this, then it means that the circumstances were against us. You probably don't understand what's happening, but we hope that someone is there to be there for you for when you do understand. If you witnessed our ends, then we pray you are young enough to forget, so as to not carry that pain on your shoulders. We're so sorry for leaving you so soon. And we hope that you can find it in yourself to forgive us someday. And we hope that your beautiful smile remains, despite what's happened. It would be a shame for the world to lose that smile. Oh how we loved seeing it everyday. We will always be watching over you, so we hope to see that smile from our places in Heaven. In the event of our deaths, we give you everything. The mansion, our companies, the cars, our belongings. Everything. We love you, Lily. More than anything that we could've imagined.

Love always,

Cole and Haley Snow (Daddy and Mommy)

A cranky looking man read out these words to Lily and her two male companions in a bored tone of voice. By the end of the letter, Lily's eyes were downcast and she was twiddling her thumbs in an attempt to distract herself. "Miss Snow, it seems your parents left you everything they have in their possession. Is there anything else I can do for you today?"

"Actually," Bruce started, causing the man to jump lightly in surprise, the man had hardly looked up at them the whole time, so he didn't even notice that Bruce Wayne was in the room with him, "If you'd bring us adoption papers, it would be greatly appreciated." The man quickly but shakily rose from his seat, "O-of course, Mr. Wayne." He scurried out of the room, letting the door shut quietly behind him. Bruce let his eyes wander to Lily, her eyes still fixated on her twiddling thumbs. His eyes softened and and he reached one hand out to rest on top of hers. She looked up at him and he gave her a reassuring smile. She gave him a small smile in return.

The man returned with a stack of papers. He set them on the desk and flipped them towards Bruce. Bruce leaned forward, pen in hand as the man gestured where various signatures and initials were needed. The same with Lily and Sebastian, as technically he was her guardian. Sebastian slid the papers and pen back toward the man, who then skimmed them to make sure nothing was missed. He clicked the pen and said, "Everything seems to be in order, it should be in the system within the next 24 hours. Please call me if you need anything else." Bruce, Sebastian, and Lily stood up, the two older men shaking hands with the man before leading Lily out of the building and back to the car.

Bruce sat next to her and took her hand. She looked at him as he smiled, "We'll get a few of your things today, and then get the rest tomorrow. Ok?" Lily gave him a small smile and nodded. Bruce patted her hand, then the two of them looked out of the windows. A comfortable silence settled over them.

Lily was still heartbroken about her parents. But, maybe living with Bruce would change things for the better. Lily's thoughts became hopeful at the idea. Her eyes flicked to Bruce for a moment, then at Sebastian, who was driving. She knew that at the very least she had two people that cared about her, and she was happy to have them around.

A/N: Hey guys! I hope you like this story! I have another fanfic about Sebastian from Black Butler, whom I made Lily's butler because, honestly I couldn't have come up with a better butler character. So yeah, Sebastian is Lily's butler, I didn't come up with him, unfortunately. But, if you would check out my other fanfic I'd really appreciate it! I think this story could be interesting and I have high hopes for it which I hope I can achieve. So, thanks for checking it out! Have a good day/ evening! 3