Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with the Dark Knight Trilogy, nor do I claim to hold any ownership over anything but my own characters.


I leaned my hands against the window of the squad car, smiling at the officer inside. "Looking to have some fun, Officer…" I squinted at his name plate, "Blake?"

The officer in question rolled his dark brown eyes at me. He was an attractive man, with a young face. His hair was dark brown and cut short like most on the beat. He looked back toward his paperwork. "Why do you always do this?"

"Oh, John. When are you going to learn that my favorite past time is bothering you?" I smiled at my friend. The first time I had ever done this he had freaked out for a full three minutes before realizing I was teasing him and not moonlighting as a prostitute.

He sighed and shook his head. "Oh, I learned that years ago. Now, can I give you a ride home?"

"You know you do not have to pick me up from the bar every Thursday. I am more than capable of getting home. Though I how could I turn down a free ride?" I laughed and walked to the passenger side, sliding in. "Where's Ross tonight?"

John turned the engine back on, pulling away from the bar. "I dropped him off already. I figured that you might break someone's fingers tonight and he didn't think he could keep a straight face if we had to detain you again."

I slunk into the seat. "To be fair that only happened once and he was threatening his ex-girlfriend. From what I remember it was the most you and Ross had done in weeks. You should thank me for keeping you on your toes. What fun would you have without me?"

John's eyes flicked to me and just shook his head without responding. Smart man.

Gotham was a city of drastic seasons. We had seen immense depression, a boom of productivity, fear from the mob, fear from the Joker, and then a crime exodus. The streets had been quiet since the Dent Act had gone into place. Some thought too quiet and I tended to agree. When things grew too quiet there was always something brewing. I tended not to share this thought all that often. Most thought I was just looking for problems. John thought I may have been a bit paranoid, but he did say I had a point. He wasn't as interested as I was, but that was just John. The past was my area, and John was somewhat indifferent about the future. As long as he stayed in the present things would be okay.

John Blake was one of my best friends from childhood. He also happened to be the only one who stayed with me in Gotham. I was proud to have watched and stood beside him rise above his troubles. His mother died when he was just a kid in a horrible car accident. Thankfully he didn't remember it well, but he remembered his father being killed. His father was in deep with a gambling debt and got himself shot. The worst part was that he'd been shot in front of his son. John had to watch as his father bled out in their apartment, leaving him an orphan. I met him once he had gone into foster care and came to my school. He was angry, most kids would have been. Despite his anger, we became fast friends. Maybe because I didn't like the other kids anymore than he did. Funny how a friendship could start based on disliking people.

My father, Donovan Sterling, had been one of the cops called to the scene when John's father had been killed. He had become a kind of hero for John and he came over whenever he could. After a while it got to be quite often because his foster parents were losing an interest in him. I remember the night John learned that they were bringing him to St. Swithin's, the boys home. He was very calm when he called me to say goodbye. Calmer than I had been.

I cried to my father asking if we could take John in. One thing about my father was that he did not like saying no to me. I think it was had for him to say no. It had just been the two of us since my mother had run off when I was four. I never asked him for expensive toys or really for much. Honestly, the only things I ever remembered begging for were movies. So when I had asked him to help John, I hoped he would say yes. I could see it in his eyes that he wanted to help, but we just couldn't. I found out later that my father had seriously looked into it, but had been turned down. Apparently, a single parent household was not suitable for foster children. Apparently, the rules overlooked the fact that there was someone that actually wanted to take a kid in. Go figure.

John moved into St. Swithin's, but thankfully we stayed close. My father volunteered there whenever he could and I went along. He coached the football and would go to help out Father Reilly in whatever way he could. I was always happy to go because we no longer went to school together. My father was there on his days off helping Reilly chaperone, while I tagged along and made friends with the boys of St. Swithin's. It was in that move to the boys' home where I saw a change in John. The anger was still there, I did not expect it to disappear, but it changed. He channeled the anger into productivity. He excelled in school and was rewarded with a scholarship to the all boys' high school.

This thrilled me. This meant I was able to completely make fun of him for being dressed up on a daily basis. For another, it meant we saw each other more. I was enrolled in his sister school and we took the train to school together every day. Being the only boy in St. Swithin's to go to the private school meant that he spent more time outside of the home with Father Reilly's blessings. Which meant when he wasn't with his baskeball team, he was at the apartment with my father and me. John would help me in math and I would help him with history. It was during one of our train rides that he informed me that of his intentions to go into the police academy. I was quite surprised because I had always thought he would go on to be a lawyer. I think it was because he seemed so disgusted with the system that I thought he wanted to be higher up to change it. He told me that it was my father that had inspired him. My father was one of the few left on the force that wasn't crooked. John wanted to work the beat and be a bit more hands on with the change. Aside from that he said he did not have the drive to continue his education, which had earned him a very confused look.

"Yeah, yeah, I know that look. I'm smart enough and I was their pity candidate for the Wayne scholarship. I would have been an idiot not to take it. It's a good school and I can grab a few college credits since I played with my schedule. The academy lets you sign up at eighteen, but they like it if you've got some criminal justice classes behind you. This is my way of speeding up the process." He smiled. "Now close your mouth, Stella, people are starting to stare."

He made good on it. He went through the academy in no time. We had celebrated his year on the force a few months ago with his partner and a few others from his class. Drinking with cops was a wonderful pastime, until you had to get them out of the bar. Ross' wife came to get him and I waved John off into a cab with some girl he had picked up. I threatened two of his friends that attempted to grab my ass and had called it a night. I woke up in the middle of the night to several text messages from a very drunk John, thanking me for helping him score. The next day I got my pleasure from checking on him in the worst hangover state in the world. I offered to make him breakfast and found pure joy in banging around the kitchen as loud as possible. There was a reason we were best friends.

John pulled the car in front of my apartment building, frowning. I lived on the outskirts of Midtown, something he had never been thrilled with. I was apparently too close to the Narrows for his liking. My father had died shortly after John graduated the academy leaving me to figure out my next step. I sold off the apartment and found a small studio with much cheaper rent. It meant my bank account was a bit larger and I had the opportunity to do a bit more. To John the daughter of a detective and only "family" of a rookie cop should no better than to live in this area.

John got out of the car and walked with me up the front steps. "How's work?"

I walked through the doors, toward the elevator and turned to him. "You are aiming for a beer right now as payment for the free ride. I'll tell you about work only if you can can promise me you aren't using that question to see if I am thinking about moving further into Midtown."

John hit the button for the sixth floor and crossed his arms. "I know that things have been quiet, but it doesn't mean you need to stay here. Come on, Stella. You said you weren't going to stay out here for long. You told me a year ago that you needed something cheaper while you figured something out."

I tied my hair up, fishing for my keys in my purse. "I did, but things change. I'm quite happy here. It's cheap and I don't even have to walk a full block to grab train." The doors dings and I stepped out. "John, I appreciate that you care. It's sweet, really. But I am perfectly fine."

He took my keys, unlocking my door. "Stella."

I tilted my head mimicking his tone. "John."

He sighed and pushed the door open. "You need to move on. Stop picking fights at the dive bar and wearing dresses that I'm still curious how they cover your ass." He tilted his head motioning toward my hemline.

"Nice change of topic." I leaned against the counter with a smile. "Checking me out John?"

"I…no. I mean you have a big ass. A small ass. I mean a nice ass." He started muttering, neck turning red.

I opened the fridge and pushed a beer into his hands, grinning. "Man, I have not been able to break your speaking ability in so long. I did not know I still could."

He glared at me and shrugged out of his coat. "One beer. One movie. No teasing or lecturing each other for the rest of the night."

I laughed. "I agree. Now let me just grab sweatpants. Honestly, I cannot sit like a lady in this dress."


I sighed and slouched in my chair. I had left for a long lunch and came back to a thick pile of folders on my desk. I had already finished a list of request this morning. I still was not sure what was going on this week that everyone had been flooding the office with work of an archivist just never ended, it seemed. Especially a newly promoted archivist. I had kept that from John during his short lecture last night because I knew it would have emphasized his push for me to move. This morning I realized it may not have been such a bad idea as I saw another poster for a missing teenager at the train stop. Kids ran off all the time. Some were tired of their home life, some just ran off to find work, and others just wanted to get the hell out of Gotham. That was normal, but the growing trend was starting to worry me.

I stared at the files when there was a knock at my door. "Miss Sterling?"

I looked up to see Yvette, one of the interns, standing in the doorway. "Hey Yvette, what can I do for you?"

"There's a man here to see you."

I rose an eyebrow. "Did he give you a name?"

"Will Commissioner Gordon do?" The voice held a good amount of humor in it.

I rose to see Jim Gordon standing behind Yvette and smiled. "By all means Commissioner, come in. Yvette can you bring us some coffee?"

She smiled and nodded as Gordon took the seat across from me. "Sweet girl."

"She is. Though she's absolutely scared of disturbing me. I'm never quite sure if that's a good thing or not. What can I do for you?"

"I am in the need of some files."

"I'm always glad to have a real visit, but you know that a phone call would suffice." I gave him a look. "There is something else you're leaving out here."

"This is unofficial business and I would like to keep this a bit quiet. There have been some rumors going around that I do not like that much. Can you get me some city blue prints?"

I paused and leaned forward. I liked Gordon, he was a good man and my father had trusted him. They had worked together during the Joker fiasco and were goof enough friends that I use to watch his kids growing up. I was glad to see how far Gordon had risen and knew my father would have been pleased to see him climb up the ranks properly. "How big of an area are we talking?"

"I need some maps of the city with more detail than those I can buy at the gas station. Specifically one with the sewer ways."

I paused. My fingers had been poised over my keyboard until he mentioned the sewers. "The sewers."

"You've heard something too." He was watching me closely. He was about to say something else when Yvette came back in with the coffee.

"Do you need anything else Miss Sterling?"

"No, thank you very much Yvette. If you could just close the door on your way out that would be great. The Commissioner and I have some catching up to do."

Yvette nodded to us both and shut the door quietly as she left.

Once the door was shut, I turned from the computer. "Little whisperings, but I hadn't looked into anything closely. There are posters around my area of kids that went "missing", but they never last too long. You can never be too sure if they ran off or...something else. Gordon, what's going on?"

"I just got a call in from two of my officers. A body was found outside of the sewers, but it wasn't one of the regular homeless. It was a teenage boy."

"One of the missing?"

Gordon sighed and took off his glasses. He rubbed the bridge of his nose looking tired. "No. Well, at least not officially on record. One of my officers recognized him as a boy from St. Swithin's."

"Blake…"

Gordon looked up. "You know him?"

"Oh crap." My phone started ringing. "I'm sorry, I have a feeling I'm going to need to take this." I recognized the number and picked up. "Hello?"

"Stella? This is Father Reilly."

"Hello Father. I had a feeling this was coming. John just left didn't he?"

The pastor sounded surprised. "He called you?"

"No, I got the news from another source. How bad is he?"

"He's bad Stella. Jimmy was one of our older ones. Just past sixteen. John hasn't been here as much and I don't think he realized how much things have changed."

"What do you mean?"

"We're running out of resources. We cannot keep boys after sixteen anymore. We try to least to give them a place to sleep at night now and then. We usually help them find small jobs, but our funding just isn't what it once was. Once they age out…they have to leave. John took it hard. Harder when he went to see Jimmy's brother Mark. The kid just turned eight. John didn't look good. Just…go check on him tonight, Stella. Please."

"I will. Thank you for calling." I hung up the phone and looked at Gordon, back to business. "I can see what we have, but large plans like that are most likely locked up at Wayne Enterprises. I know part of the system runs close to the building so when it comes to being near the foundation of our city's center…well, I think they prefer to keep it close to the vest. Now, why the sewers? Why now?"

Gordon looked at me carefully. "Something isn't right Stella. I can feel it in my gut. Something is going on in the sewers." He stood up and headed toward the door. With one hand on the knob he turned back to me. "Put in a request and send it to Lucius Fox. Add my name on it. Send it directly to his office. It may speed things up."

"You want me to send a message straight to the President of Wayne Enterprises. A message asking him for blueprints of a system that runs through this city and possibly under the main towers that if in the wrong hands could bring down our city."

Gordon looked at me with a small smile. "You're moving up in the world Stella. Your name and title will come in handy for a while. Use them well."


I heard keys in the door and lifted my head from the couch. There was a pause as the door opened and then the soft swearing could be heard. I smiled and put my head back down. He always knew when I was here.

"How long have you been waiting?"

I rubbed my eyes and watched as John sat in his armchair watching me. "Apparently long enough for me to feel like I've gotten a full night's sleep. What time is it?"

He handed me a beer as he took a long swig of his own. "Thank you for what looks to be a full case in my refrigerator."

I sat up. "Here I was running to break into your apartment before you got home and you kept me waiting. What was once a six pack needed some restocking." I looked at my watch and my eyes widened. "Witching hour? Hells bells, John. Where have you been?"

He took a breath and relaxed his body, sinking properly into his armchair. "Father Reilly called you."

"He did which is one of the reasons I'm surprised you came home so late. What else happened tonight?"

John closed his eyes and gave a wry smile. "Do you ever watch the news?"

"Not if I can help it. Stop trying to change the subject. Spill it. I feel abandoned here. I come over with beer and you left me here for hours."

"If I knew you were coming I would have told you not to bother."

"And leave you to sit and stew? I think not. I was told by a pastor to check up on you. Can't ignore that."

"Aren't you Atheist?"

"Agnostic. Still doesn't matter. Father Reilly still scares me a bit. Now tell me what happened or I'm going to start using your full name again."

John glowered. That threat always worked. He didn't like using his full name for some odd reason. I once asked him about it, but he just glared at me. "Fine. They found the missing congressman tonight. He was drunk in a bar and had gotten shot in the leg. We started going after the men who fled the bar when we went in and they went into the sewers. Then we had a little problem."

I sat up quickly looking John over. No cuts or bruises I could see. He was still dressed in his uniform, which was dirty as hell. His thumb was rubbing the label of his beer, wearing it down slowly. This was going to be a long story. "You're okay."

He tilted his beer toward me. "If I was in any other way you would have been the first call. Being my emergency contact and all."

"Glad you didn't end up in the hospital. If I ever have to respond to one of those calls you had better hope you're dead before I get to you."

"Well, that's comforting. A firebomb went off with Gordon and the rest of SWAT down there. Foley was being as helpful as ever saying we couldn't go in because there was a gas explosion."

"Gas explosion? In a sewer?"

John clinked his beer with mine. "My thoughts exactly. Foley called me a hothead and told me to leave, so I did. I ran down a few streets right toward one of the outlets of the sewer. I found Gordon tangled up in the grate and in pretty poor shape. As soon as I got a hold of him I rushed him to the hospital. They got him stable and the nurses shooed me off to go home. Now, here I am. I figured I'd grab a bit of sleep before heading back out. You want to take the bed?"

I shook my head, leaning back into the couch. "I think dealing with explosions, sewers, and hospitals entitles you to your own bed. It's your apartment, John. All I ask for is a blanket."

"Don't feel like going through my closets"

I closed my eyes with a smile. "Too scared of what I would find."

I heard him laugh. "Such as?"

"I don't know. A dart board with the face of someone we known on it, namely me. An elaborate knife collection. Lube. Something that keeps you occupied and happy." I opened my eyes and looked at him upside-down. "Seriously though. What is your secret to handling your angst ridden times when I am not around to funnel you with beer and charming company?"

John smiled, a dark shine in his eyes, and threw a blanket at my face. "Sex. Good old fashion, mind clearing sex."

I hid my smile behind my blanket and tried to sound disgusted. "I should have known."


(John's POV)

I woke up quickly dressing in clean clothing. There was nothing left to do about my jacket so I would just have to show up at the mansion in a dirty jacket. Not that it should matter. I was in uniform and if a bit of dirt would bother the man I was seeking out, perhaps all really was lost.

I walked into the living room with a small smile on my face. Stella was still asleep on the couch, face peeking out from beneath the blanket. Her deep brown hair was fanned out over the pillow, her face tilted to the side. Her mouth was slightly open, tempting him to throw a piece of popcorn in it like he had done many times before. He used M&M's once, but she had started choking. Killing off his best friend was not at the top of his list of priorities.

Stella really was lovely with one of the most dangerous minds he had ever come across. He chalking it up to all of her reading and seeing the dark side of life. She was all the family I had left outside my brothers on the force. It was the reason I wanted her out of that shithole she was living in. If everything I had found out about the sewers was true, she was too close to the chaos that would emerge any day. If it came to it, I would take her out of there kicking and screaming. Unfortunately, knowing her, it probably would. I smiled just a little wider. That actually might be worth it.

Dozens of homeless teens and runaways were going into the sewers for work according to Mark, the kid from St. Swithin's. Mark was a smart kid and generally caught on to the things that were really going on. It was a mark of kids like them. The masses of orphans. We just knew things better. We could read people better than most and understood things better than the rest of the world thought we could.

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Stella stirring. Damn, I really hadn't meant to wake her up. She always knew when people around her were awake. A very creepy superpower I had come to severely dislike over the years. I slowly walked backwards and grabbed my keys from the counter, hoping to make it out before she completely awoke.

"John?"

I mentally swore and turned around to see a pair of bleary emerald eyes watching me. "Go back to sleep Stella. I didn't mean to wake you."

"Where are you going? What time is it? Are you kicking me out?" Even half asleep she could shoot a series of questions at me.

I laughed softly opening the door behind me. "It's early and a Saturday. You don't have work to get to. Just go back to sleep. I need to see someone important."

At "Saturday", Stella had closed her eyes and hugged the pillow a little tighter. "Who is so important that you need to see on a Saturday morning?"

"I'm going to see the Batman."


A/N: I like the idea I have going here, so having some feedback before I upload anything else would be really helpful. Thanks.