Hello Everybody!

Who out there is stressed because it's the second day of finals week and you really shout be studying, but while you were digging through your documents searching for some notes you stumble across a little plot bunny half finished, change all the (He's to She's and His to Her and Boy to Girl because you want it to fit in your only fanfiction) Then proceedto waste an hour trying to learn a song on your guitar and finally get the guts to post your story?

If not welcome to my life!

Anyway a little background...

Rachel Grayson's parents were killed when she was five, she was taken by her Great Grandfather and trained to be a Talon, somehow she was rescued by everyones favorite hero Daddy!Bats and Dami/Nightwing and is now living in Wayne Manor. Also this is not connected to the other two chapters I posted. Thanks for reading!

Damian studied the small girl that his father had brought home. Rachel Grayson was dangerous, he decided. The girl had short but shaggy black hair and sapphire blue eyes, and she was small. To small. And she moved to efficiently. The small girl, who, Bruce insisted was now nine years old but looked closer to seven was deadly. Even Damian who had lived with the league of assassins for the majority of his childhood maintained his humanity. This thing Bruce had brought home was no child.

Damian had heard of the Court of Owls, they took children and turned them into animals, reducing them to instinct. The Court then established themselves as the Alpha's and ordered their talons to kill whomever displeased them. Rachel was well known in the criminal underworld as Gheară the Gray son of Gotham.

The girl was currently watching Bruce as if confused by the man's behavior. Damian wasn't surprised, when he first arrived at age ten to live with his father he had not understood why the man had sat down in the morning with a cup of coffee and did nothing. Later when he had confronted his Father about the useless activity he had explained to him that he used this time to criticize his actions and to meditate upon them so that he might learn from his mistakes. It was a skill that Damien now used as well.

Bruce was of course aware of his eldest son's views, in fact it was what he was pondering on this morning. As he sipped his black coffee (He wasn't called the Dark Knight for nothing) he wondered how on earth he could Get Damian to accept Rachel and begin to help the child become a little girl again. Or as Damien had put it, "human".

Bruce was also aware that Rachel was fascinated by him, a normal man who went out every night to fight crime. Which, honestly, was probably why she hadn't killed him when the Elders demanded it. Respect. Right now that probably was all that drove Rachel to not give into her killing tendencies. Bruce hoped he'd be able to help Rachel become Ella again, unfortunately that meant reopening wounds. Specifically the death of the Graysons.

Rachel couldn't understand it. it being the man sitting in front of her drinking something as he read foreign words off a paper. He and his son had been a source of wonderment for her, a light in the darkness of the nest. She knew that Nightwing or rather Damian didn't trust her, but who would? Despite what Bruce thought she knew that killing people was wrong and that what she was made to do while living with her Great Grandfather was terrible. It didn't change the fact she had done them.

Rachel was quite aware of all that was going around, and she was tempted to ask Bruce what he was doing and to try and understand how the Batman and his partner Nightwing worked but she knew her words would come out in a tangled mash of English, and Romanian with some French, and she wouldn't be understood. So she instead she began to study the food the old man who Bruce had called Alfred had placed on the table.

There was some yellow substance that resembled rubber, meat, and round bread that was warm and sweet smelling. Nothing looked familiar. Rachel huffed and hopped down from her chair intent on finding something edible to eat, but froze when she felt eyes feeling drilling into the back of her head..

"Where are you going?" Damian asked. Rachel just stared at him daring the man to try and stop her from leaving. She exited the room and headed to where she had seen the kitchen when she had explored the night before in order to familiarize herself with the layout.

Alfred was washing dishes when Rachel entered the room. And Because he had lived with masters of stealth ever since Bruce had returned and become Batman he knew the newest addition to the Wayne household had entered. He pretended to ignore the tiny figure as she silently and nimbly jumped up on the counter and began looking in the cupboards. After a few moments Alfred decided to announce his awareness to Rachel's presence.

"Can I help you Miss Rachel?" he asked looking over at the girl. Rachel barely seemed surprised she shook her head and continued looking through the cupboards. A moment later a grin covered the girl's face as she pulled a box of cereal from the cupboard triumphantly. Giving a short nod to Alfred she left the room to, Alfred assumed go back to the dining room. Sighing at the strange child's antics Alfred returned to his task.

Rachel returned to the dining room proud of her success in discovering edible food. He ignored to looks that Damian and Bruce gave her as she sat back down and began to eat the dry pieces of breakfast food. She looked up in surprise when a large hand took away the box. She didn't understand, she had scavenged the food. Like she was supposed to. Maybe Bruce wanted her to fight him for it? Looking up at the man who had saved her from her grandfather, confusion painted her face.

"Rachel." Bruce explained. "You can't only eat cereal, you have to have other nutrients as well." Rachel didn't bother to wonder what nutrients meant, half the words the people said to her here made no sense at all. All she knew was that Bruce was pushing the yellow rubber in front of her again. She nearly leapt out of his chair when Bruce gently took hold of his chin and turned her face so she was looking Bruce in the eye.

"Rachel do you understand what I'm saying?" The question was met with silence, Rachel wasn't paying attention though, she was looking over Bruce's shoulder out the large windows that flanked the dining room. A robin was sitting on a tree branch.

Damian sighed and followed the girl's gaze, some of the robins were chirping outside the window. "I don't think she does Father." He announced. "Seeing as John and Mary Grayson spoke Romanian and the Court of Owls spoke primarily French, I would be surprised if she understood any of what you just said." After he had said his piece he exited the room, headed for the training gym.

Bruce looked back at Rachel, the girl seemed fascinated by the spring birds. "Rachel, look at me." He said in French. It was transformative, Rachel snapped to attention, her body went stiff as a board and she looked directly at Bruce. Her blue eyes were clouded as a small film of water made them blurry, her face was a picture of hopeless acceptance as if she had expected some terrible thing all along.

"I'm sorry." Bruce said switching back to English a bit panicked at the reaction. He placed a hand on Rachel's shoulder. The girl was tense, coiled tightly like she was prepared to attack. Her eyes still drilling into Bruce's. Blue met Grey.

"Rachel," he said switching to Romanian "I'm sorry."

Rachel wasn't listening anymore her mind whirled, he spoke like the nest did. He spoke NEST! How? She had never heard it before nest and it was always followed by orders: kill, blood, sleep, cold, train. That was Nest and it was not like that here, here he was kind and the air was warm and the sun shined and she could almost remember the music and her mother's voice and, and and…

She was hyperventilating now, she thought she was going to wake up, she was going to be back with her Great Grandfather Bufniţă Stăpân Owl Master. She forgot she wasn't breathing, the world got blurry and slowly turned black. As it faded she could have sworn she heard Grandfather laugh.

Well, what'd'a think? Please post a review.

Disclaimer: I do not own batman, or anything affiliated with DC

Also send me some prompts and I'll try to write something. Just no slash, and keep it teen please.

Have a blessed Day!