Ace up the Sleeve
Resolution (back in third person POV):
Just as batman was hit with the brick the Joker threw against his head, he leaned forward to stop any more blows to his head. Ace had backed up a little too much and slipped off the building. As Batman gained his sense of direction back, he was too late. The misguided 16 year old girl had fallen off the building and cracked her skull open. Batman swooped down to examine the body. He checked her pulse: nothing. Her skin was now as white as her makeup. Harley, Joker, and Robin came running over to the victim of the fall followed by Nightwing and Batgirl. The joker's eyes grew wide with fear. Harley and Robin had started to tear up.
"Is she…?" Joker tried to ask.
Batman did not answer but only took off. Harley grabbed the hand of her only child and got down on her knees and curled up in a ball. Joker did not say a word and had no expression of happiness, sadness or anger, but just walked away. Robin stroked the cheek of the girl who had given him light to the world as she kissed him. He got down next to her ear and whispered, "I'll never forget the day we met in Crime Alley with Mr. Wayne." He got up with his head hung low. He walked over to his older brother, Nightwing and looked up at his masked face. Tears stated to flow down The Boy Wonder's face. He held Barbara and Dick into a hug as his tears had flowed down his face. When Tim had let go, he did not know of what else to do other than run. He had no idea where, but he ran. Nightwing and Batgirl had watched how Harley had shown her sorrow as she knelt down next to the dead body of her little girl.
Nightwing and Batgirl had let Harley and Joker say their last good byes to the child and sent them back to Arkham Asylum. Not a word was said to or from by anyone.
Batman had finally found Robin. He was sitting on top of the theater looking down at Crime Alley.
"I finally know what it feels like to lose someone you love..." Robin said, not looking at Batman. "I mean, I guess I DID feel a little something for my father, but not like this."
"She was a confused girl. She had no idea of what she was getting herself into." Batman said. He was lifeless-still trying to put on his Batman façade when he knew he felt terrible for the girl. He felt as if it was his fault.
"But it didn't mean she had to die." Robin looked at Batman with eyes that could only say, 'I loved her.'
"It didn't mean my parents had to die either. People are confused these days," The masked billionaire sat next to his second son. Tim rested his head on Batman's cowl. "I felt the same way you did many years ago. "Losing something that you had feelings for is never part of your plan, but it is on Life's plan. I will be feeling the same thing you feel for her. I had felt a bond with her too. She knows she's a nice girl, but her mind was confused by the same person her mother's was confused by." Tim got up with no expression and headed to the manor followed by Bruce.
The next morning in Wayne Manor…
Tim had woken up with dried tears on his face and with the same messed up hair he had any other night of crime fighting. He glumly went down to the dining room where Alfred was setting up the table for breakfast.
"Morning, master Tim." The faithful butler said in his thick British accent. "How was your rest?"
"It could have been better…" Tim said. He sat down in a chair and his food was placed in front of him. He rested his head on his hand and played with the scrambled eggs and bacon on his plate. Bruce came down and sat right across from Tim.
"Bad night?" Bruce asked trying to lift the mood. He probably was not good at it, since it was him who was mostly in a bad mood half the time. Alfred hurried in with Bruce's food and the morning paper.
"I think you will be very interested to see the headline today, sir." Alfred said.
"Clown Princess in a Coma?" Bruce read. Tim's eyes lit up. He took the paper out of Bruce hands and skimmed the paper quietly.
"So, she's not dead?"
"Well…half…" Dick said as he walked in. Dick sat right next to Bruce. "Barbara had gotten her to the hospital as I took Quinn and Joker to Arkham. Ace was barely alive when she took her in." Tim got out of his chair.
"Can we go see her?"
"If you finish your breakfast, first…" Bruce answered. Tim's face sagged back down as he plopped back down on his chair. He shoveled the pieces of bacon and eggs in his mouth.
"Whoa! Slow down there, tiger!" Dick tried to joke around.
"You know if it was Barbara, you'd be in the same amount of hurry…" Tim said with his mouth full. Standing right there, Alfred tried to lecture Tim about talking with his mouth full again, but by the time Tim was done, he was out of his chair and pulling on Bruce's hand like a child would do if they wanted to go on an amusement park ride. Bruce nearly fell on top of Dick while he was being pulled to the car. Tim then ran down the front steps of the mansion.
"C'mon, old man!" Time said excitedly.
"Get your jacket on, first! It's chilly." Bruce called. Tim huffed, ran back up the steps, grabbed his jacket and ran back down the steps to where Alfred was waiting with the Lamborghini. Tim hopped into the passenger's side and put the seat belt on.
"C'mon, Pops! You're not this slow when you got to go catch a villain!" Tim said playfully.
"Shush…not so loud." Bruce said.
"We're on a top of a cliff with no neighbors around whatsoever…" Tim explained. Bruce rolled his eyes and got into the driver's side. He drove off with Tim hopping up and down on his seat.
When they had gotten into the hospital, Bruce and Tim were directed towards the ICU where they were caring for Ace.
"Here she is room 6" said the nurse.
"Thank you." Bruce said. Tim walked into the room and pulled up a chair at Ace's bedside. Bruce looked up at the heart monitor.
"Her breathing and heart rate looks normal." He said. Tim took hold of Ace's hand. Still, she slept.
"Ace?" Tim called quietly. Still, she slept.
A few minutes later, two white faced characters came walking into the room. Bruce and Tim looked up to find Joker and Harley standing there.
"You!" Bruce said baffled.
"Yes? What about us?" Joker said impatiently.
"B-batman told me that Nightwing had taken you two back to Arkham." Bruce managed to get out.
"Well, looks like the boy blunder's reached his all-time low: two-timing to the boss…tsk tsk tsk." The Joker teased. "Well, anyway, we came to say a few words to our daughter."
"Mr. Joker, if you could just wait a second? My boy, Tim would like to say a few words before we leave." Bruce tried to say as sweetly as possible. The joker looked irritated and Harley backed away from Joker's arm. He started to take deep breaths before he spoke.
"Well, since I am not armed and ready to blow your brains right through that side of the wall, I think a minute would be okay…" he pushed Harley out of the way and closed the door. Bruce then walked out of the room to give Tim and Ace a little time together.
"Ace…" Tim started. "I know we have only known each other for a short period of time, but, whenever I'm near you, I…I feel happy. I wish you were actually here with me right now…I think it would be a little easier to tell you. But, every time I think about you, I just want to tell you that…I love you."
Just as Tim had finished up his little speech towards the girl he had feelings for, a single tear drop had rolled down her sweet face. Tim gave her a light kiss on the forehead and left the room. The joker looked at him and grimaced.
"What took you so long?" he said. Tim waved his hands towards the door, smiled and said, "She's all yours." Just as the criminal couple entered the room, the heart monitor started sounding. Tim didn't look back, but looked forward at Bruce who was just getting off a phone call.
"Everything okay?" Bruce asked. Tim nodded at the ground. Bruce then got up out of the waiting room chair and put his hand on Tim's shoulder. They walked out together to the Lamborghini parked outside.
"I have a surprise for you at home…" Bruce said. Tim ignored him. Bruce tried his best to cheer his son up, but at the same time, he knew what it was like to go through pain as a mere child.
When they got home, Bruce opened the door and out from the main living room came a small black puppy. Tim's eyes had brightened.
"You…You got me a puppy?" he asked baffled. Bruce smiled and nodded. Tim gave Bruce a giant bear hug and started to pet it. Then Dick came walking in.
"Whatchya gonna name it?" he asked. Tim thought for a second.
"Well, no one has ever given me as much happiness besides my new family, and the girl of my dreams. But you guys mean so much to me; I can't ever replace you with a puppy!" Tim started thinking. Bruce and Dick chuckled.
"So….I'll call it…Ace!"
Author's note: well, guys i hope you liked this story! i know...it's sad! i loved writing this and having the ideas flow in my head to what was going to happen...and what was cool was everything was able to fit together when i wasn't even trying to do that in the first place! i think this is an awesome story and everytime i continued with another chapter, i could see this turning into an actual graphic novel. more will be coming in the near future and i hope you guys have a great day! 3