Chapter 7: Mentor

"Hey get off me!" was heard yelled throughout the Bat-cave causing Bruce to stop his research on the recently escaped Calendar Girl that single-handedly managed to escape him last night after robbing a store of all its designer clothing. The sight that Bruce came upon was Joe pinning Abby down in the mini ring that Damian often taught them new fighting moves in.

"I think Abby has had enough Joe," Bruce stated causing Joe to instantly get off her without her having to utter the word uncle to make him stop. When Abby was free she couldn't help but run to her dad in tears, which surprised Bruce a great deal not only because he wasn't expecting her to be so upset about losing but because ever since she was small her crying always rendered the mighty dark knight completely useless to get her to stop.

"Geez Abby, why are so distraught?" Joe wondered as he tried to convince himself that it wasn't his fault that Abby was upset, but like all the males in the bat family he couldn't stand the sight of her crying; causing him to feel guilty just from teasing her after winning against her for the fifth time during their practice session.

"It's because you're cheating!" Abby wailed causing Bruce to sigh as he left with Abby in his arms in order for Joe to continue his training for today. As Bruce walked up the stairs with his sobbing daughter held tightly in his arms he couldn't blame her from being upset, after all, with her competitive spirit like all Waynes she hated losing and unfortunately for the way things were going her losing strike was bound to continue. Lately Bruce has noticed Joe growing as a skilled fighter faster than Abby not because he was training harder than her since his father had more time to train him when he spent time over with his parents, but because Abby's training time was dwindling. Ever since the crime in both Gotham and the crime the Justice League handled had been increasing and the fact that Damian was busy getting ready to go off and become the new leader of the Teen Titans neither of them had time to train her.

When Bruce came upstairs he handed the sobbing girl to Alfred to calm down since the old butler had a way of soothing even the most troubled children that Bruce attributed to his vast experience of taming the emotional drama of five other children that came before her. Bruce was about to head back into the cave to figure out an answer to his problem when he saw Damian glaring at him from the staircase as if Bruce was the reason his precious little sister was crying.

"Must you always jump to conclusions when it involves Abby?"

"Why is she upset?" Damian asked ignoring his father's earlier question as he made his way downstairs to face his father.

"She's frustrated that Joe has surpassed her in training, which makes sense since none of us has had enough time this pass few months to take the time to train her."

"Well I could always-"

"Always do what Damian? Ditch the whole Teen Titian thing?" Bruce questioned with a raised eyebrow knowing quiet well no matter how much Damian was devoted to Abby, Bruce wasn't going to let Damian pass up this opportunity to grow as a hero that has become some sort of Robin tradition ever since Tim created the team back when he was Robin after Young Justice Program was disbanded, to try to branch out of being merely just a sidekick to him or the Justice League.

"Then what do you suppose we do?"

"Well we could always get a mentor for her one that will make sure Abby at least gets some training done every day," Bruce suggested as he ran through the possible candidates that could take on such a task. The idea didn't exactly thrill Damian, after all, there wasn't many people in the Bat family he trusted could do this important job properly. But with the notion that Tim couldn't possibly be one Bruce choices since Tim decided to go solo in New Carthage where he was currently going to university, made Damian agree with Bruce's plan. Even though Bruce didn't need Damian's opinion in this matter it did help things go a lot smoother as he found himself dialing the number of the only candidate he could think off.

"Bruce, it's been awhile since you called this number."

"I have a job for you that will require you to find a place in Gotham City."

"It's so you to skip the formalities and get right to the reason why you would ever call me. Anyways what does this job entail that you can't handle yourself."

"Mentoring."

"Really Bruce mentoring? It's not the little demon is it?"

"Do you want the job or not? I'm willing to even take care of your accommodation and pay for the amount of hours you spend doing your job."

"You must be desperate, I'll take you up on it."

"I'll see you about the job this afternoon," Bruce stated as he hung up the phone before the person on the other line could speak, and knowing her Bruce knew if he had stayed on the phone any longer he would've definitely gotten an ears full of complaints.

At noon Bruce found himself walking upstairs to his daughter's room to awake her from the cry induced sleep she fell into moments after he made arrangements with her new mentor.

"So daddy what's the big surprise?" Abby inquired as her father led her down into the Bat-cave. Bruce couldn't help but sigh as he wondered if all children had a problem with the definition of a surprise as he remembered Dick telling him one time about how he caught Joe trying to sneak a peek at his Christmas presents after hiding it in cabinets in their kitchen that hung just below their ceiling, how that child managed to get into such high altitude places while barely being four feet will remain a mystery Batman couldn't solve.

"Just a little more patience," Bruce assured the young girl as he made her wait at the bottom of the staircase that hid her from being made seen by the dimly lit cave. "Stephanie," Bruce greeted in his business man tone as he walked up to her standing impatiently in the middle of the Bat-cave still fully dressed in her Bat-girl suit.

"Really Bruce I can't believe I'm doing this for you first of all you call me after what a year with not even a decent greeting or goodbye, second you hang up on me, and third you make an outrageous request to get down to Gotham from Bluhaven by noon, so this better be worth my time!" Stephanie ranted with only a few deep breaths to recover from the anger that has been building up in her since she had gotten Bruce's call this morning. Bruce brushed off the rant as if it was nothing and considering who he was it probably was but that didn't put a damper on Stephanie's mood after all she was just lucky that Bruce was desperate for her expertise or he would never have taken that tongue lashing seating down.

"If you're done belly aching are you still willing to do the job?"

"Well you can't expect me to fly over here for nothing," Stephanie stated with an annoyed mumble that no matter what she does Bruce will always have an upper hand over her after all he did manage to get her interested enough to fly three hours over to Gotham and plus she was so strapped for cash these days that if Bruce hadn't called she may have had to seriously considered making a living in a very undignified way. The very thought made her shiver inwardly.

"Abigail your surprise is here," Bruce called over causing a little girl barely tall enough to reach Stephanie's kneecaps with long black hair wrapped into a ballerina bun and bright blue eyes bouncing towards them. The very sight made Stephanie cock an eyebrow questioning Bruce's sanity with the thought that she couldn't believe how young Bruce was stooping to get sidekicks not that he was low in that department, which puzzled her all the more.

"You know if I didn't know you I would think that you're trying to make a bat daycare with the amount of strays you bring home or an army of sword welding brats," Stephanie chided with emphasizes on the end as she saw Damian stroll into the Bat-cave with an amused smile playing at the corners of his lips as he saw who his father got to train his little sister.

"Father you couldn't do better than Fatgirl," Damian stated rather questioned as he walked towards the glass casing where he kept his Robin costume.

With a clearing of his voice Bruce was able to snap Stephanie's attention from glaring daggers that barely fazed his son as he ignored the blond haired cowled woman as if she wasn't their boiling with anger. "Anyway this is my daughter Abigail Wayne and she will be your student from now on."

"Your actual biological daughter like the sister of the demon…who did you knock up…" Stephanie didn't dare finish her last sentence as Bruce's bat glare threaten to choke her with fear, so she diverted her attention to look at the tiny girl who Bruce claimed was his own to have her eyebrows knit in confusion as she saw the girl staring awe dazed at her as if she was some kind of celebrity or something. Bruce soon noticed this as well and with a warm smile nudged her to greet her new mentor knowing quiet well how much of a big fan Abby was probably because this was what the young girl pictured herself wearing in ten years.

"Now that all the introductions are done I have made a training schedule that goes into effect tomorrow, but today will be used for you two to get to know each other," Bruce stated as he made his way towards the stairs leading back into the Manor in order to give the girls space to bound.

"But Bruce said you nothing about-" Stephanie begun before she heard the shutting of the exit to the Bat-cave. With this she instinctively looked to Damian to see him fully dressed in his Robin attire. "You've gotta-"

"I've got to do nothing, but you on the other hand? Have fun with Abby," Damian snickered as he disappeared from the cave via zeta tube leaving to Stephanie's misfortune her all alone with the toddler that Bruce expected her to babysit for the whole day. To think that I would learn my lesson after Damian, but no I just had to fall into Bruce's trap all because he waved a few bucks in my face…money I need, she sighed in thought not pleased with her situation at all.

"Excuse me Ms. Bat-girl, do you have anything planned for today?" Abby asked as she pulled on Batgirl's cape in order to capture Stephanie's attention that was thinking up ways in order to wiggle out of this situation.

"No we're just going to wait here until your father gets back."

"Are you sure? Because my friend Iris always tells me that when her and her mom want to get closer they go shopping together and buy matching outfits, we could do that to get to know each other."

"I said we're staying here, plus if you're so hung up on that idea why don't you just ask your mother to take you shopping?"

"I don't have one," Abby replied down casted as she began to execute her greatest weapon her puppy-dog face that she's begun to realize somehow makes everyone bend to her will. But Stephanie went back into her thoughts before she could catch sight of Abby's pouting face as she mentally kicked herself for her last comment, after all, this was Bruce Wayne she was talking about. There was no way he would ever settle down with a woman, which means Abby was probably a product of a one night stand her multimillionaire father forgot to use protection on.

"Ok fine I guess I could take you to the store you're in need of a serious wardrobe makeover anyway," was all Stephanie could say while she took the young girl's small hand to guide her towards her motorcycle, all the while the little girl pulled at the light blue frilly dress she was wearing trying to figure what was wrong with the new dress her father had bought for her this week.

"Is this your first time on one of these?" Stephanie asked as she strapped a helmet on Abby's head before lifting the light weight onto the back of her bike. Abby nodded still trying to figure out how to balance the new weight on her head, with a giggle at how funny the smaller girl looked as her head bobbed under the weight of her helmet she instructed her to hold tight onto her waist before they were sent zooming out of the cave. It wasn't long before Stephanie found herself almost being dragged a long through the Gotham Shopping Center as Abby wandered around in awe at her new surroundings.

"Kid it's not that great, haven't you ever been to a mall before?" Stephanie inquired as she looked around to see if she could find any stores that both sold her size and whatever size the little midget wore that was practically awe-struck at the prospect that so many stores were packed into one giant one.

"Not really, usually either dad comes home with clothes for me or he gets Alfred to buy them," Abby answered absent mindedly until a store in particular grasped her attention. The store had the same name that all her clothes had on their tags: 'Miss Cute & Preppy'. Stephanie couldn't help but raise an eyebrow questioning the little girl's sanity as they stepped into the store, she clearly disapproved in Bruce's choice of clothing style for the young girl mainly because she wasn't going to be caught dead in plaid no matter how much Bruce was paying her for this gig.

"Wow hold on little Miss. Daddy's Princess put down and step away from the plaited jumper dress."

"But this is where I always get my clothes," Abby whined with cute puppy dog eyes that Stephanie brushed off after all she was once a little girl herself and she remembers distinctively using the same face on adult when she was Abby's age to get whatever she wanted so the face barely fazed her as she took the jumper out of the little girl's hands.

"Listen Abby, I'm not Bruce or Alfred, and if I'm going to be sharing an outfit with you it's not going to be from this store," Stephanie explained as she pulled the young sulking girl out of the store and into the one store Stephanie believed was crafted by the gods to be heaven on Earth, which was a store with a huge sign that read 'Target' in red lettering. When Abby saw the content of this store she soon forgot about the store that her father has been buying her clothes from for years as she ran towards the clothing section with Stephanie right behind her donning a sly smirk at the child's enthusiasm. Maybe there was still hope for her yet, she thought as the girls grabbed many clothes of their hangers in both the adult and the junior section to start a series of mixing and matching said clothes as they revealed themselves to each other in the changing room. This lasted hours with giggling and laughing when either one of them put together a funny outfit.

Somehow Abby couldn't remember ever having so much fun with either her father, Alfred, her brother or Joe as her and Stephanie walked out with huge smiles when they were finished paying for their matching outfits. Although Abby knew that this sense of enjoyment was different than what Iris probably felt with her mom, she never considered fitting Stephanie into her life as a mother, after all, she was way too young and didn't quiet look the part. No in her eyes Stephanie was more like a big sister with the way that she brought herself down to her level to argue with her like how sisters on television were portrayed to her.

"Hey, Stephanie I was thinking…" Abby broke off to take a lick of the cookie dough flavored ice cream that Stephanie had just handed to her after buying plain chocolate ice cream for herself.

"What is it kid?"

"Would it be okay to call you-" right before Abby had a chance to ask her question the mall went into total chaos as explosions boomed through the whole mall making the very foundation shake. The sudden event caused Stephanie to direct her attention towards the source of all the panic and explosions to see a woman rolling a cart full of designer clothes wearing a green sleeved mini dress, green tights and shoes, and a white mask that blackened out her eyes and revealed her green painted lips.

"Listen kid I have to change so will you be alright until-" Stephanie stopped when she looked down to see the spot where Abby once was standing empty leaving only her ice cream laying on the floor as evidence she was ever there. This caused her heart beat to rise in panic as she looked around her to see nothing put once peaceful shoppers running around in terror looking for the closest exist. Great how could I lose her she was just here a second ago?! When she heard a yell of anger from where she had been looking at the notorious fashion villain moments ago. Her jaw nearly dropped in shock as she saw Bruce's little princess on the criminal's back pounding her fists into the Calendar Girl. "Did I mention I hate kids?" Stephanie mumbled as she ran up towards the upper level where the villainess was struggling to get the little girl off her.

"Kid!" Stephanie yelled when she came face to face with the ex-show girl who was grinning evilly holding up a beaten little girl wrapped tightly with green ribbon.

"Oh is this little brat yours? Sorry I may have roughened her up a little, but then again it can't be worse than what she's wearing," the black haired woman giggled as she kicked the girl towards Stephanie. Bruce was so going to have her hid for this, first for letting his daughter get hurt and secondly for not taking the time to change into her Bat costume in her purse, but all that didn't matter anymore as she saw the smaller girl twitching in pain as she struggled to gain her consciousness back. The sight made anger burn inside of her that drove her to attack the villain with brute force while keeping in the back of her mind that she wasn't Batgirl right now, right now she was an overly protective big sister beating the crap out of the person who dared to lay a finger on a girl that she was considering as the little sister she has secretly always wanted.

"My face, my face what have you done?!" the fashionista panicked as she hit the ground from a kick to the face that managed to crack her mask as blood ran down her nose.

"That's what you get for not only stealing designer brands but also picking on kids with your hideous outfit," Stephanie stated with each and every word mocking the villain's clothing hitting her like a punch of its own until she was curled up into a feeble position as the cops arrived on the scene to arrest her. Before the police could get their donut filled guts up to the crime scene Stephanie grabbed the still neatly wrapped little girl and booked it to the nearest exit.

"Ow, ow, ow, it hurts!" Abby whined as she squirmed in Stephanie's lap as she tried to remove the ribbons that seemed to be plastered to the young girl.

"Geez stop moving around it's your fault for taking on a villain like Calendar Girl all by yourself. I mean what were you thinking? How do you think Bruce and Alfred would feel if you've gotten hurt?" Stephanie scolded as she continued to pick away at the ribbon with a pocket knife.

"Sorry, everyone always treats me like I'm fragile…I guess I wanted to be just like you."

"Just like me? Why?"

"Because I bet no one's ever telling you, you can't do this or you can't do that all because you're not strong enough. I mean you took down that villain even without your suit," Abby answered as tears glistened in her eyes with the notion that she may never be as great as Joe and the other kids in her class or even Batgirl herself since she couldn't beat a simple thief.

"Cheer up kid, you still a ways to go before you're ready to take on real bad guys. Just be happy you have me to make you into the next awesome Batgirl," Stephanie reassured as she took a hold of the girls hand to guide her towards where she parked her bike as the sun set became their background as they head back towards the mall parking lot.

"You really think so Big Sis?" Abby boomed but she simmered down when she realized she had accidentally had called the older woman sister without her permission.

"Big Sis? That has nice a ring to it," Stephanie remarked with a warm smile at the little girl, which brought her out of her shyness and made them all the more closer as they zoomed back towards Wayne Manor.

"Dinner is served!" Alfred called out as he finished placing the last dish filled with his award-winning pasta. Bruce, Damian, and Joe were the first to enter the dining room and take their usual seats around the table in front of the mouth-watering food Alfred was known for.

"Where's Abby?" Damian asked before Joe could grab his fork and start chowing down on his food, knowing if Alfred caught him eating before everyone had made it to the table would result in having to rub his butt for the rest of the night.

"Dunno, but I did see her going into her room ten minutes ago with a woman with really big bo-"

"Watch it kid, you do not want to finish that sentence," was all the boys heard as they turned around towards the door of the dining room only to be shocked as they looked upon the girls leaning coolly on the sides of the door way. What they saw was Stephanie in a white crop top t-shirt that had the letters B.A. written across the chest in hot pink letters while wearing low waist jean short-shorts while she blew a pink bubble with the gum in her mouth. The boys weren't necessarily shocked about what Stephanie was wearing it more Abby because she was wearing the same thing while imitating her new big sister in blowing a bubble with her gum.

"TT, told you Fatgirl wouldn't make a good mentor," Damian chided still looking in horror at what Stephanie had done to his poor innocent sister.

"Stephanie what's the meaning of this?" Bruce demanded as he gave the blond hair teen the coldest bat glare he could muster while still being stunned to see his sweet little Abigail in an outfit that was way too mature for her.

"Oh Bruce don't tell me you don't like the outfit after all it was Abs who suggested we get matching outfits," a smirk made its way across her face as Bruce was about to voice his complaints about his daughter's clothing chose but all that got in his throat when he saw Abby's most powerful weapon as she flashed her puppy dog face leaving Alfred, Bruce, and Damian powerless. Wow this girl is more powerful than she gives herself credit for, Stephanie thought as she sat down happily for dinner confident despite the fact that her employer probably wanted to kill right about now that she was going to be seeing a lot more of the Bat family she thought she had left behind.