Disclaimer: I do not own Batman Beyond; it belongs to its creators. I gain nothing but a writing outlet and writing/editing experience.

Summary: Terry could have just as easily received Bruce's spliced X instead of Y; if so, would it have all started with Matt instead? But the world, particularly Gotham, needed a Batman again. The Jokerz overran the streets, businesses were ruining the world. Pride and avarice were destroying Gotham, and Gotham needed its symbol of hope and justice again.

A/N: Here's an update, the next one might be a while. Hope you enjoy ~ love, depressedchildren


Chapter 7: Moving on pt 1


When Terri got back to Clearwater's place she was practically tackled by Matt, "About time you came home!" he immediately began yanking on her hand and pulling her toward the coffee table—Terri made sure to keep up so as to not irritate her ribs further. "You've gotta help me, I followed all the instructions but it's not working!" the boy gestured to his mechanics project and the manual beside it.

Terri dropped her bag by the couch and picked up the contraption. She remembered making a model similar to this when she was Matt's age. From the looks of it, he assembled it correctly. "Did you make sure to tighten all the screws an extra turn?"

"Uh…why would I need to do that?" he looked at her like she was crazy and Terri handed the contraption back to him.

"Just try tightening all the screws, especially the ones inside of it," she then got up to grab her own homework. The boy grumbled but he began to dutifully take off the shell of the contraption and work on tightening all the screws. Terri recalled that if the pieces were flush together, or tightly together, the gears wouldn't turn when Matt applied energy to it.

After the funeral, they had been given a few days off of school to figure things out, and now with…with Mom in the hospital they would be given a few more days off, at least until they found a semi-permanent home. However, time away from school did not mean they were free of homework. Terri apparently had a book report, mechanics project, and several different menial math and science problems to complete if she hoped to stay caught up with school—and something told her being Batman, and possibly Matt's guardian, would suck up her homework time.

Sighing, she pulled out her mini-portable computer and fired it up. She'd get the science and math homework done first. She then inserted the disc with their math book into the computer.

"So what'd you have to do?" Matt asked as he worked on his project. He had his tongue stuck out of the corner of his mouth as he tried to get one of the screws to twist a little bit more.

"He explained what meds I'd have to get for him and when, gave me a bunch of books on business stuff, and lectured me on his company."

"Sounds boring."

"Hmm…" Terri scanned through the calculus problems and quickly derived the first few problems, but then there was a section on x sequence = y sequence problems…Slag she hated those.

It was silent as they worked. Terri could hear Clearwater in the other room, likely making dinner for them. Terri should help her; they were imposing on her, after all.

"Ah-ha! Got it!" Matt held up his contraption which he then plugged into a power source. It whirled around a few times and Terri could hear the gears click together.

"And what helped you get it?"

"Umm…you?"

Terri rolled her eyes and ruffled his hair. "I meant, what'd you do to get it to work?"

The boy's eyes widened in understanding, "Oh, tightened the screws more. How'd you know that'd work?"

"Well why do you think it worked?" she asked as patiently as she could, she wasn't just going to give Matt the answers, though she was tempted to.

"I dunno, you're the mechanics person!" he had his arms folded of her chest in a petulant manner. Terri gave him a deadpan look and the kid relented, "I dunno, were there gears not tight enough together?"

"Exactly," Terri smiled encouragingly and Matt ducked his head at the compliment. "When you've assembled it correctly there are steps you do if it's not working. You make sure all the gears are connected to each other properly and tightly enough, then you look at the wires you're using, and lastly the chip if they give you one. When machinery is more complicated, things change but regardless, these are things to consider."

"Okay," Matt nodded his head and then set his project off to the side and looked at her laptop. "What's that?"

"Calculus."

Matt made a disgusted noise and face before turning away from it, "D'you know mom never had to take calculus in high school?"

"Yeah, the education system has sure changed over the decades," Terri pulled out some scratch paper to work on her figures. Matt sighed and fished out his own math homework. He was starting on basic algebra which apparently their mother had only started in high school.

Not long after they both started working on their math, they were called for dinner.

"So…" Clearwater began awkwardly "How was your meeting with Mr. Wayne?"

"It was fine," Terri replied as she picked at her food. She wasn't terribly hungry. "He lectured me on his company and gave me an advance so I can get a phone and stuff."

"And stuff?" Clearwater asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, like suits." She took a few bites of the food and the silence returned. Clearwater was one of their mom's closets friends, but she really wasn't all the comfortable around kids, since she had never been married or wanted kids.

Terri then turned to Matt, "Hey, why don't we go to the mall tomorrow afternoon? I have to get those things for work and we can hit up the arcade."

"You don't go clothes shopping unless you have Dana or Mo…" Matt trailed off and looked down at his plate as he moved his food around on it.

"Yeah I know, but we'll hit the arcade before Dana comes to help me pick out business suits. Besides, I might be able to wrangle Max in as well, and I know how much you like hanging out with her," Terri directed a playful smile at her brother as she said this.

Matt flushed slightly, "It's not like that! Max is just fun and plays video games."

"And I'm not fun? I play video games too!" she teased and Matt spluttered for a few moments before pouting and looking away.

She chuckled slightly, "Well? Sound like a plan?" Matt looked at her sidelong but nodded eventually. They continued eating in a less tense silence for a few more minutes.

"Terri…" Matt began, breaking the silence.

"Yeah?" she asked just as quietly as Matt had spoken.

"Can we watch Space Ninja after dinner?"

"It's getting to be pretty late to watch a movie."

"But we don't have to go to school until we have place to stay, right?"

Terri nodded her head; that was true but… "Only if you go to bed right after and catch up with all your homework tomorrow. Trust me; you don't want to fall behind in schoolwork. It takes forever, and summer school to catch up."

Matt frowned for a moment but then nodded his head, "Okay," he sighed.

Once they were finished with dinner, Terri helped clean up despite Clearwater's protests, while Matt set up the movie.

When they settled down in front of the TV—after first asking if Clearwater wanted to join them—Matt bit his lip in deliberation, "Terri…could you sleep with me tonight?"

"Of course, Matt," she ruffled his hair with her free hand and he tried to squirm away from the assault on his hair.

The movie was a typical child's action movie with a pathetic plot and even worse dialogue, but Terri put up with it for Matt. When the credits played Terri shooed Matt off to get ready for bed while she organized their clutter on the coffee table.

Clearwater was coming out of her office as Terri was straightening up, "Its fine Terri," she stated and nearly caused Terri to jump in alarm.

Terri turned around and sighed slightly in relief, "Oh," she laughed wryly, "It's okay. I mean, we're imposing on you."

Clearwater leaned against the wall and smiled slightly, though it was a sad smile. "Mary's a good friend of mine, Terri. I'm glad to take you two in, even if just until you figure out your living situation."

Clearwater sighed and pushed herself off of the wall and moved to sit in a chair adjacent to the couch Terri and Matt had occupied most of the day. "I can't tell you how often your mother was there for me when I needed someone the most. And even though we are very different, she is still my best friend, so I am happy you two are staying with me."

Terri licked her lips and looked down at the carpet. Terri looked up after a moment and gave her own slight smile, "Thank you, really."

Clearwater smiled slightly in return, "You're a good kid, Terri, even if it was a little shaky there for a while," Terri ducked her head in shame, but Clearwater continued speaking, "I'd be happy to speak on your behalf if you take the route for emancipation and adoption. I can testify to your character, and just seeing you two tonight, I know you'd look after him like your mother would."

Terri took a deep breath and looked over at Clearwater to give her a shaky smile, "Thanks." Clearwater got up then and moved into the kitchen as Terri sat there for a moment longer and thought.

Perhaps it was Mr. Wayne's interrogation earlier or Clearwater saying Terri could raise Matt right, but she found herself thinking back to when she was fourteen.

It had been a summer night and she had snuck out after her parents had started yelling. "Unfaithful bitch," "Paranoid bastard," "Cheating whore," were just some of the things her parents had yelled at each other after Matty had gone to sleep. How the twip didn't wake up, Terri had never known, but even now she was happy he never did. Terri for her part, had left as quickly as she could from her room before she had to hear her father storm out of the house.

Terri had wandered the streets in their neighborhood before she was accosted by some Jokerz. Looking back on it, it was a miracle she hadn't been raped or killed, but then…Charlie had intervened before things could get that far. He had been like a knight in shining armor, and to her naïve self, he was perfect and charming and sexy. He had taught her how to fight and clean up after scuffles. He had helped her vent all her anger and he had made her feel that her awkwardly changing body was beautiful. He had been the first boy to show interest in her, and the thought that he was legally an adult had never crossed her mind, she was just his "Tiny."

And as the weeks passed, they had begun to make out. Hell, they had made out plenty of times in some broken down building ready to be condemned, but it had been their secret place. … Then the magic had started to fade from their clandestine meetings after a few months, and Charlie was becoming pushier and pushier—he hadn't wanted to just make out anymore; he had wanted to touch her in places she wasn't comfortable with, and he had wanted to remove her clothes. Terri recalled that as Charlie got more and more desperate to get in her pants, he was becoming more and more desperate to make it big—to become the big fish in the crime network.

Their juvenile pranks began to turn more serious, and they were having more and more run-ins with Jokerz and other gangs claiming "their" turf. Charlie had started guilt tripping her into more intense make-out sessions, and when she would protest that things were getting too much for her, he'd make her feel responsible for his condition, so she'd jack him off but then he'd want more from her. She wasn't ready and it hadn't felt right, but eventually they went all the way and he had made her feel like a fool and a tease for not wanting to.

Terri pulled out of her thoughts when she heard footsteps padding behind her, "Terri?" Matt asked.

Terri took a deep breath and discretely checked to see if she had been crying while she had been checked out. When it seemed she was fine, she turned around and smiled at her brother, "Yeah Matt?" he was dressed for bed but he was staring at her in confusion.

"How long have you been sitting out here?" there was concern in his voice, not accusation.

"Not long, I was just thinking about everything I need to do yet," she smiled again but she could tell Matt wasn't buying her lie. Internally shaking her head, Terri got up and padded over to her brother, "Why don't you hop into to bed, I'll be there soon, okay?"

Matt nodded slowly, and Terri moved toward the bathroom. She stared at her mottled looking face in the bathroom mirror. No wonder so many people were staring at her like she had a second head. Maybe she should wear some concealer tomorrow before people started to think she was being abused or something.

Terri sighed and turned the faucet on. She couldn't hold the thoughts back now; she couldn't stop thinking about her stupid fourteen-year-old self. Terri splashed some cold water on her face before she looked back up at her reflection.

Her fourteen-year-old self was staring back at her with wide-eyes and her long black hair framing her face. She was asking what happened? Why did all of this happen? Why did she let Charlie push her into things she wasn't ready for, why didn't she ever tell anyone that they had had sex and she had become pregnant?

Terri grasped the basin of the sink tightly to steady herself. She was holding on so tightly that her knuckles were turning white as she responded to her younger self, why indeed?

What good had it brought her? None! She was a rumored slut, an emotional wreck, and she might not be able to ever have children again because she killed it…Charlie's baby inside of her… She gasped in breath at the sudden suffocating feeling.

The twins had kept her condition safe from the nurses and guards, and they been the ones to tell her about the plant she should take to kill it. They were a few years older than her, but they weren't adults. They were busted for some Jokerz-like activity, though it was comparatively minor to what they could have done. They were teasing, but they helped Terri through it, helped her understand why her breasts were always sore and growing, why she couldn't keep her lunch down, why she was always sleepy… For three months they explained what was happening to her and they kept it secret from the guards.

Terri took a deep breath and pushed aside her thoughts of juvie and the girls she had been roomed with. But she couldn't stop thinking of her visits to Dr. Shira after school got out because Dr. Shira was her counselor at the free clinic that didn't ask questions but didn't do abortions.

Terri remembered that hellish long night after she had taken that plant to kill it. She couldn't stop bleeding and the pain… the blood was everywhere and she had seen it in the middle of the mess. She could barely move out of her curled position until the next day. She kept her sheets up when her father came in after she hadn't shown up for breakfast. Just saying menstrual cramps and he was out of the door and calling the school to let her rest half the day. Once she had been able to muster up enough strength to throw away all of the bloody evidence, she bathed and discovered she just could not stop bleeding. She had been so terrified and didn't know what was happening.

So she did her best to hide everything and called her father at work. When her father came home, she was curled up back on her bed, and tearfully said something was wrong with her menstruation. In a panic, he got her to the clinic Dr. Shira ran because it was a youth center (though her father didn't know Dr. Shira was also a gynecologist as well as a counselor).

When Dr. Shira saw the damage she had done to herself, Terri knew the woman wanted to ask what the hell she had taken and what the hell she had been thinking. But she didn't because they didn't ask questions to the pregnant girls coming into their clinic. They covered it up all nicely, but Terri would likely never have children again.

Terri couldn't stand the itchiness of the drying water on her face any more; she wiped it off with a towel, and looked at herself again. She made a lot of mistakes, but she had to push them aside. She'd e-mail Charlie for the last time. She'd imply she was moving on, that he would no longer be in her life because she had a job as Mr. Wayne's assistant.

Quickly leaving the bathroom, she grabbed some pajamas out of her bags and quickly changed, though she winced through the whole process. When she entered the guest room, Matt was sitting up in bed reading a comic book. He looked up at, clearly worried, and his eyes widened. "You okay Terri?"

"Yeah, squirt, I'm fine," Terri forced a smile and got under the covers, mindful of her mending ribs. He looked at her suspiciously but then nodded and put his comic away before turning off the light.

It didn't take long for Matt to begin snoring, and then he was wrapped around her like a baby monkey. Terri smiled sadly and wrapped her arm that was facing the ceiling around him, while her other arm curled under the pillow and acted as prop.

She didn't want to think about when she was a scared, naïve girl. She was going to be Batman, she was going to essentially be an heir to one of the most powerful industries in the nation. She was not young and stupid anymore. She'd be strong, and she wouldn't let the past affect her anymore. She'd move on, just like she'd tell Charlie tomorrow.