AN: Ooookay, so the story starts to pick up a little here.

Warnings: Child abuse.


You Gotta Do What You Gotta Do

It didn't take long for Brooke to realize that being out on the streets of Gotham at night, probably wasn't a good idea, but she didn't care. It was better that being in that hell hole, where the bastard might wake up again and do had knows what to her. And definitely wasn't a good idea being on the streets of Gotham alone- especially in Crime Ally-after dark with a clouded mind, and not paying attention to your surroundings or where you're going.

Thinking about her mother, made tears come to Brooke's eyes. She's really gone. She's really gone... and I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye. No! No, stop feeling sorry for yourself! It's not going to bring her back. Nothing's going to bring her back... Brooke thought as more tears streamed down her face. It wasn't until her stomach growled that she realized that she hadn't eaten since lunch at school that was at 11:45 and that it was now nearing 8 PM. So, yes, she was really hungry. But Brooke had to but her bookbag down somewhere because it was getting heavy. An abandoned apartment building should suffice, the girl thought as she was nearing her destination.

She didn't walk long until a thought came to her. Why hasn't someone tried to kidnap or rob me by now? When walking past a dark ally, Brooke received her answer. She saw BATMAN! And he was beating the crap out of those thugs. The sounds of bones breaking, moans and wails that were full of agony and pain, and the sight of blood was too much for Brooke. And it didn't help that she could make out Batman's silhouette either. So she did the only thing logical thing-the only thing really- that she could think of. She ran. She ran from her father. She ran from facing the fact that her mother was dead. She ran from the pain that she felt inside. She ran from Batman. She ran from everything bad that happened in her life.

Soon enough, she reached the abandoned building, climbed the fire escape to the first floor and let her bookbag drop to the floor. Brooke stopped to look and around her new home, letting it all sink in. Wow, I'm actually on my own now. This is good... I think. I'm on my way to becoming an adult, she thought proudly. But should a 9 year old really be on their way to adulthood like this? I thought kids should live at home with their parents. Brooke shook her head and tried to clear her head of that dreadful thought- Living with daddy until I'm an adult... Shuddering at the thought she tried to fill it with a new instead. Well, I'm on my way to adulthood. And adults get their own food, right? And as if on cue, her stomach growled again and could only think one thought: I should really get something to eat.


Tonight wasn't going so well. Brooke needed needed money so that she could buy food. But she didn't bring any with her because 1. She didn't have any and 2. There wasn't any around the house because daddy always went to the bar and bought a lot of booze and mom always spent it on drugs. So Brooke had to earn her own and decided to walk to the East End where she heard that it was a good place to earn money. She tried to steal a couple of times, but she always got caught. She tried to con people, but no one believed her. It truly was proving to be a rough night. Eventually, Brooke went to an ally, slid down the wall beside the trash can, and cried. She pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, hugging herself tightly- like she had so many times before. She didn't know how long she had stayed there until she heard someone approach and speak to her.

"What's going on?" the stranger asked and Brooke looked up at the man standing before her. "What's got a pretty girl like you crying- in a back ally in the East End?" Brooke continued staring at the man, his silhouette illuminated by the neon signs that were a distinguishing feature of the East End. Finally, though, she gathered enough courage to answer the man's question.

"I need money, but I need help earning it." No need in telling him why I need to earn money, the girl thought after she spoke.

After a moment he said "Get up". Brooke did as she was told and waited for the man to say something. "Hmm, " he put a hand over his mouth and looked at her earnestly, obviously thinking about something. "He might be able to do something with you. How old are you?"

"Uh, nine." she replied.

"Nine? Are you sure?" the man gave her a meaningful look, from head to toe. "You sure don't look nine. Come with me." he said while walking out of the ally with Brooke following. But it was true what he said, about Brooke not looking like nine years old. She had... matured a lot earlier than most girls normally do. She had a small developing chest (enough to that she needed to wear a bra), her hips were starting to widen, and so on and so forth. And it didn't help that Brooke was a little tall for her age as well. In short, nine year old Brooke Parker looked like an eleven or twelve year old. That caused men to give her certain looks. It was very unnerving for Brooke. And so was this; being lead through the East End, by a perfect stranger to only god knows where, assuming that this stranger could help her earn money so that she wouldn't starve.

Luckily, it was a short walk to the unspecified destination. It was another apartment building, four stories, that looked lived in. But there were several women standing around outside. And judging from the way that they were dressed and how much make up they had on, Brooke had a pretty good idea of what this place was. And it only made the anxiety and fear that she was feeling even worse. They walk through the front door, up two flights of stairs, and down a hallway before they finally reached their destination.

'Mr. Total Stranger' -as Brooke had decided to call him for the time being- knocked on the door and waited for a response.

A gruff "Come in, " came from the other side of the door. 'Mr. Total Stranger opened it and walked in. The room was a living area equipped with a couch, a couple of chairs, a coffee table, and a TV. Nothing out of the ordinary. Yet.

"Hey boss, I found a girl here that says she wants to earn some money."

"Is that right? What would a pretty girl like you want to earn money for?" He asked in a very calm and relaxed manner. Asking the same question that Brooke was trying to avoid. Well, that was just thrown right out the window.

"Well, um" Brooke started "I ran away from home and I don't have any money and I'm really hungry. So I wanted to buy something to eat for dinner tonight, and if I have enough money, breakfast for tomorrow morning." she said, trying to sound confident sure of herself. Because, right now, in this situation, Brooke wasn't really sure of anything.

"Wow. Thinking of the future and not just the here and now, huh kid?" He said sounding some what... amused?

"Well, I always tend to think about the future and never the present. Unless I'm hungry." Brooke replied truthfully and honestly. And at that moment, the two men in the room laughed. What did I say? I wasn't trying to be funny, I was just answering the question.

"You know what kid? I like you. You can work for me."

"Really?" Brooke said, obvious joy with a hint of relief in her voice.

"Hell yeah. How old are you?"

"Nine."

"Wow. You don't look like you're nine." Here we go again. "Thanks for bringing her in Al" Hmm, so 'Mr. Total Stranger's' name is Al. "I'll take it from here."

"Alright. See you later boss." the man now named 'Al' said before leaving and closing the door behind him.

"Name's Nick Brown." her new boss said while standing from the chair he was in. "You work for me now. And as long as you do as I say, how I say it and when I say it, you won't have any problems. Got it, kid?"

"Y-yes, sir." Brooke managed to say.

"Call me Nick." She nodded her head. "What's your name kid?" Nick asked.

"Uh, Brooke. Brooke Parker."

"Okay, now I'm curious. What would a pretty girl like you run away from home for?" The man asked, sounding genuinely curious, but also like he's done this before.

"Well, um, uh, " she started, struggling to find words to say. "My mom died. And I didn't want to live alone with daddy. He drinks a lot, and does bad things." Think of her father, and the 'bad things' that he does to Brooke made her shutter, her shoulders roll forward, and bring her arms up to hug herself.

"Hmm, I see." Nick said more to himself than to the girl standing in the room. "Well, you are working for me now. So rule number 1; if some man from these parts comes up and starts talking or asking you questions, always say that you work for Nick and walk away. You belong to me, and I don't want any of these bastards messing over something pretty like you."

"Yes, sir." Brooke repeated, good manners that she had been taught kicking in again.

"I told you to call me Nick." He growled. "Dammit kid, don't you listen?" The only response he received from a little girl was a terrified look and trembling, from what he assumed was fear. "Stop being a scared little bitch, and come here. I got a job for you." He said leaving the room.

"What am I going to do?" She asked, innocence lacing her voice.

"Nothing you haven't done before." Nick replied. 'Nothing I haven't done before?' I haven't done that many things; I'm only nine. And how would he that I've done what I'm about to do before? She thought, forgetting about the people she saw standing around the building outside. Nick opened a door to a bedroom, revealing an old beat up mattress, an old nightstand, and a lamp on said nightstand. The man walked inside, with Brooke following. Looking around the room, she remembered the women that she saw prior to coming in the building. It all came flooding back to her, so much so that it gave her a headache. And know what Nick was more than likely going to do didn't make it any better. Nick turned and walked towards her, and started to pull down her pants.

But she staggered back a couple feet and pulled the waistband of her pants up as high as they would. "W-what are you doing?" Brooke asked, even though she knew all too well what he was doing.

"No, what the hell are you doing?" He said while unbuckling his own pants. And right at that moment, Brooke had the most disturbing, spine chilling sense of deja vu. No. I wanted to get away from this. That's why I ran away. "You signed up for this."

"But I don't want to. Can I do something else or..." Brooke said, but was cut off by the older man.

"Look, you either do this and get money do that you can eat. Or you don't do it and starve." Nick said in a point blank manner.

But I don't want to do that. What's the point of running away if that is still going to happen. Well, Nick probably won't hit me and call me names like daddy does. So that's something, right? And I'll earn money so I'll be able to eat. So there Brooke stood, weighing the pros and, she finally made a decision.

"Okay... I'll do it." Brooke said, barely above a whisper.

"Speak up. I can't hear you." Nick said starting to get agitated.

"I said that I'll do it." She said again, barely loud enough for him to hear.

"Alright then. Let's get to work." Nick said, moving towards the girl.


It definitely was a long day. School sucked beyond belief. But, at least it was my last day. When she went to Andy's house to play after school, his older brother, Matthew, had been bothering them so they couldn't play in peace. But he is nice, though, you know when he's not messing with us. And then she came home to find her mom dead. No. Don't go there. Not now. Then she got one of the worst beatings she's gotten from daddy in a long, long time.

And now here she was, walking the streets of Crime Ally- which again, probably wasn't a very bright idea- with the nine dollars- one dollar for every year old that she was- that she just earned. Brooke was pulled from her thoughts when her stomach growled, reminding her of her hunger. She looked around and found a hot dog stand. And that made Brooke's face beam with happiness, because hotdog stands sold chili dogs. And Brooke loved chili dogs. But the guy seemed to be closing up. So she ran across the street, careful that there weren't any cars- especially Batman's car- coming and made her way to the stand.

"Hi, can I get a chili dog with onions, cheese, and relish and a small grape soda please?" She said without even asking if he was still open.

The man turned and blinked at her a couple of times before reacting. "Uh, sure. Will that be all for you?" He said, while getting her order.

"Yes, sir." She replied with a smile.

"Okay, that will be $2.33." He said, handing the girl her food.

Brooke didn't have change, so she gave him the four ones and kept the five dollar bill. The man took the money and gave her 67 cents back, as she expected.

"Have a nice night." The man called after her, as she took her leave.

"Thank you. You too." She said over her shoulder, and began eating her beloved chili dog. But as she walked, the excitement of having a chili dog started to diminish and she started to think of what happened the last couple of hours. As she neared her new home, she disposed of paper tray in a nearby wastebasket and continued to the fire escape, climbed the stairs to the first floor, found her book bag, and looked for a room to sleep in. She was still deep in thought when tears began to stream down her cheeks.

The girl found a room that looked like whoever lived here just packed up and left. There was a mattress on the floor, a few hangers still hanging in the closet, and a nightstand, not much but Brooke could make use of it. Walking slowly towards the bed, she pulled Sparkle out of her bag, let it drop to the floor, and fell onto the mattress crying. She cried about her mom. She cried about what she had to do for two hours to earn nine bucks. She cried about every possible thing that was wrong in her life.

When the tears began to slow and eventually stop, Brooke looked out the nearby window. Lamp posts outside let some light through the window and into the room, for which Brooke was grateful. On nights like this, she hated to sleep in the dark and having a small amount of light always made her feel relatively safe. So, there she lay thinking of what her new life was going to be like without her mom, her dad, and her best friend Andy when one last thought came to her. Tomorrow was her birthday.


AN: Okay, so there is the second chapter. For those who didn't catch it, the line "No. Don't go there. Not now", is from All Star Batman and Robin (written by Frank Miller, so if you like his work you might want to check it out) is what Dick says after his parents died. And for all you Jason Todd fans out there, you might have seen the similarities (born and raised in Crime Ally, mom drug addict, love of chili dogs, etc.) between him and is there for a reason and will be seen in later chapters. ;)

Please review and let me know what you think of the story thus far. Constructive criticism is always welcome. Thank you for reading!