When you update after a year. Sorry for the delay my friends! I've been busy with Far From Home. I know it seems like I abandoned ship for that story, but FFH really helps me map out what I want to happen between Justice League Unlimited and this rendition of Batman Beyond. Check it out if you have the time. Also, fair warning, some things may be rectified. Anyway, I hope you like it and please review!

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Neal Elementary School: September 1, 2025

Lily was exhausted.

She hadn't felt this tired in half a decade. Between Wayne Enterprises, the formation of the Justice League Unlimited, patrolling Gotham as Nightingale, and looking after Terry, she felt like she would keel over any minute. And it must have shown on her face because her ward was peering up at her with concern.

"You look tired," he commented innocently.

She hummed, taking a sip of her hot chocolate. Coffee would have been better in this situation, but she hated it. Nothing would ever change that, not even exhaustion. "Late night," she told him cryptically.

Terry seemed to accept this answer as he walked beside her up to the school's gate. "You should get Mr. Fox to take over for you," he told her. "For, like, a week or something. Then you could take a vacation."

Lily snorted. "Think so?" Ugh, if only. If she could, she would leave the League in Lucius' hands without a second thought. He was so much more put together than she was.

Unfortunately, this was her burden to bear alone. And she would gladly carry it on her shoulders, even if it dragged her down.

Lily absentmindedly adjusted Terry's coat for him. It was chilly for early September, even by Gotham's standards. She was glad she had ordered their fall clothes ahead of time. "Are you sure you don't want me to come in with you?" she asked for the tenth time.

In all honesty, she was probably more nervous than Terry himself. Lily couldn't help it; kids could be cruel and thoughtless. There was bound to be at least one comment about his parents.

Terry huffed. "Yes," he insisted, annoyed.

She put her hands up in defense. "Okay, okay," she relented. "Just... call me if you need me, okay?" Eight years old might have been young for a phone, but she knew Terry would need one. Being connected to the Wayne family was dangerous; he needed to be able to get into contact with her at all times.

He nodded, his little nose red against the cold. "I will," he promised. He seemed to ponder something before wrapping his arms around her in a tentative hug, surprising her. Neither one of them was too comfortable with initiating physical contact yet. "If you promise me you'll go to sleep."

Lily laughed. "Sure thing, kid," she readily agreed, running a hand through his soft hair. She did have some time between now and her meeting on the newly constructed Watchtower. Getting some sleep didn't sound like a bad idea. "Have a good day."

Terry smiled up at her. "You too," he replied as he pulled away. And then he was gone, rushing into the school building. Lily watched his retreating figure until he was gone, a bit forlorn.

She would miss having him around the house all day.

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Terry easily found his classroom. In the doorway was a kind-looking woman with soft brown eyes and a warm smile. "Hello, there," she greeted, holding out her hand. The classroom behind her was decorated brightly. "You must be Terry. My name is Miss Kyle."

He took her hand. "Hi," he said quietly. This woman seemed nice, but he wasn't really in the mood for talking; his stomach was churning with anxiety. He almost wished he had let Lily walk him in, then at least he could have held her hand.

Miss Kyle waved him inside. "The desk with your name on it is yours," she told him. "You can go ahead and hang your coat up in the closet. Then take a seat and talk to your classmates."

Terry nodded and did as she said. His desk was in the middle of the third row, which kinda sucked because it wasn't close to the window or the door. He supposed he had no other choice than to pay attention. He kept his backpack by his feet, resting his elbows on the desk.

"Terry!"

His attention was taken by a familiar voice. "Dana?" he questioned as the girl sat next to him.

It was, in fact, Dana Tan, his best friend, who had plopped down next to him. "Hiya!" she greeted with a smile, setting one of her sparkly notebooks on her desk.

Terry hadn't expected them to be in the same class this year. They were separated last year and he had been so miserable because of it. "How was your summer?" he asked, genuinely curious. He hadn't gotten to see her after what had happened in May.

He'd missed her.

But Dana's smile ebbed away some of that distress. "So cool," she gushed. "Daddy took me and Mommy to Disney! I wanted to send you pictures but-" She stopped herself, her big dark eyes suddenly sad. "I'm sorry about your parents, Ter."

Terry winced, his dad's patient smile and his mom's sweet laughed flashing through his mind. But he quickly shook that off, grinning through the sudden pain in his heart. "S'okay," he said. No, of course it wasn't okay. But he never liked to see Dana upset. He guessed pretending everything was fine would have to do if it meant she didn't look at him with big sad eyes.

"You got adopted, right?" asked Dana, curious. "I saw you on the news with... Lila?"

He surprised himself with a laugh. "Lily," he corrected her. "And yeah, she took me in a few months ago." And Terry still had no idea why- out of every other kid in the orphanage- she chose him. What could she have possibly wanted with him, a scrawny no one?

"Do you like living with her?"

Terry shrugged. "S'okay," he said again. The Manor was cold and much too big, and Lily's presence only made up for it sometimes. "How was-?"

"Well, if it isn't McGinnis. Or should I say Wayne now?"

'Kill me,' thought Terry morbidly as Nelson Nash took a seat on his other side. Of all the rotten luck! He took a deep breath and counted to ten; it was going to be a long year.

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The Watchtower: September 1, 2025

It was around one o'clock that Lily got the call.

Unfortunately, it happened to be in the middle of her first Justice League meeting. Her cheeks warmed as Barry, M'gann, Rex, Jess, and Henry turned to look at her with critical eyes. "Oh, fuck off," she huffed at them, standing up. "It's Terry's first day of school, I couldn't have it on silent."

"Still playing Mommy?" commented Henry snidely, not for the first time. Out of everyone, he'd had the most to say about her decision. She graciously flipped him off before stepping out of the meeting room into the hallway.

Lily cursed once she saw it wasn't Terry's cell, but the school. She answered it, pleasantly masking her voice. "Lily Wayne speaking," she chirped.

"Miss Wayne, we need you to collect Terrance from school." The secretary detailed how Terry had gotten into a physical altercation and needed to be picked up after a conference with the principal.

'Oh, fuck me.'

Sighing, Lily thanked her and hung up, drudging back into the meeting room. "I have to go," she announced. "We'll continue this later."

"Skipping out already?" teased Barry. "Tsk, tsk, doll."

She childishly stuck her tongue out before taking the teleporters back to Earth. The original Justice League had seemingly moved their base of operations to the Metro Tower to appease the public, secretly constructing a new Watchtower for specific tasks such as tracking alien invasions.

Both had been destroyed five years ago.

As far as Lily was concerned, the government could cry all they wanted to. They had ripped away Earth's greatest defense. Now they could live with the consequences.

She materialized in the Cave, sighing as she slipped her uniform off. Hera, she had no idea how her mother had done it; the stupid thing had been riding up her thighs the whole day. She wondered if there was a way to fix that.

Lily also wondered if she would have to scold Terry or go off on the school for incompetence. She wasn't looking forward to either.

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Neal Elementary School: September 1, 2025

Well, he was going back to the orphanage.

Terry couldn't help but assume that was the case. He had punched Nash, more than once. And now he himself was sporting a black eye. Why would Lily want a brat that got himself into fights all the time? She wouldn't, Terry knew that. He also knew that his own mother would be very disappointed in him.

He had promised her weeks before her death that he wouldn't let Nash's words get to him anymore.

The principal sat at his desk, glaring down at Terry disapprovingly. Nash's mother was sitting with him just next to Terry, wailing about her 'poor baby boy.'

Oh, spare him. This was why Nash felt like he could say and do what he wanted. Because his doting mommy spoiled him rotten and his wealthy, busy father couldn't care less what he did.

(Living with Lily, Terry was sure that Nelson's dad just didn't like him. If Lily could run a company on her own and still have time for him, then there was no reason for Nelson's dad not to spend time with him. Though, if Terry had a son like Nelson, he probably wouldn't like him much either.)

The principal sighed. "We've contacted your mo-" Terry glared at him. As much as he liked Lily, she wasn't his mother. He had a mother. "Excuse me, we've contacted your guardian. She should be here shortly."

Terry expected as much. He just hoped she wouldn't send him back.

Speaking of Lily, the door swung open and there she was. She looked considerably less tired and her hair was tied up in the way it always was when she had a meeting. Her outfit was different, which Terry found odd.

"Excuse my tardiness," she said politely. It always boggled his mind how she could switch from swearing left and right to completely proper. "I was in a meeting."

"Take a seat, Miss Wayne," instructed the principal. "We were just about to discuss-"

"How your hooligan attacked my baby boy!" screeched Mrs. Nash.

Terry winced at the sound, and Lily's eyes turned just a bit colder. Uh-oh. "Excuse me?" she replied coolly.

"Miss Wayne," cut in the principal nervously. Oh, so he must have seen it too. "According to their teacher, Terry punched Mr. Nash during recess and a fight broke out. She didn't see everything, so she sent them both here."

Lily nodded in approval. "Fair," she remarked before turning to him. "T, you wanna explain?"

Terry was almost surprised she was asking for his side of the story. He hung his head, letting his messy dark hair curtain his face. "He said it was a good thing my parents died," he admitted to her. "Because now I get to have whatever I want because you have so much money."

And that was why he had punched him. He liked Lily, he was happy she had decided to take him in, but she wasn't Mom and Dad. He would gladly give up her entire fortune if it meant things returning to the way they were. He missed them every time he closed his eyes and that awful, horrible night replayed itself in his head constantly.

He just wished it would all stop.

The room was quiet for a few moments. Through his hair, Terry took a peek at Lily's face. It was completely expressionless; he had no clue what she was thinking.

Then, "So let me get this straight." He flinched at her tone. He had never heard her use that tone before, not even when the stuffy old board members were giving her trouble. She was looking at Nelson's mom. "You had the audacity to call Terry a hooligan when your delinquent of a son told him it was a good thing his parents were gone?"

Mrs. Nash looked terrified, but tried to defend herself. "I-"

But Lily stood, her imposing height causing her to loom over the room. "As someone whose parents also passed away, I wouldn't take too kindly to a comment like that either. It's no wonder Terry acted the way he did." She faced the principal. "Mr. Hank, Terry shouldn't have hit, Nick, was it?"

"Nelson!" squawked Nash. "And McGinnis is a liar. Mom, I never said-!"

The door flung open again, making Terry jump. "Please don't punish Terry!" begged Dana, her pigtails slipping out of her hold. "Nelson was saying awful things about his parents-!"

Lily's cool demeanor shifted, a feral smile curling on her face while Mrs. Nash paled. "Well, what do you know," she said triumphantly. "A witness."

"They're best friends!" Nelson argued. "She's just sticking up for him!"

If possible, Lily's smirk grew. "Ah, but this young lady here couldn't have known what Terry would have 'made up,' now could she?"

The principal, Mr. Hank, adjusted his glasses again. "In light of the evidence, I will have to punish both boys," he decided. And Terry was alright with that. He had hit Nelson, after all. "Terrance, you will have two days of detention. Nelson, you will have three."

"What?" demanded Mrs. Nash. "Why does my son have a harsher punishment?"

"Because while we don't tolerate violence here, Mrs. Nash," said Mr. Hank sternly. "We also don't tolerate bullying. Miss Wayne, you're free to take Terry home if you'd like."

Lily's face softened. "I think that's a good idea," she agreed. She held out her hand to him. "T?"

Terry stared at her hand for a moment, then took it. "Can we get ice-cream?"

"If you want," allowed Lily. She stopped in front of Dana who was looking at her with wide eyes. "Hey, thanks for all your help, kid. What was your name?"

"D-Dana," said Dana nervously. Weird, Dana was never nervous.

Lily held out her other hand. "Well, thank you for your help, Dana. You're welcome to come over and play with Terry any time."

Terry huffed. "We don't play, Lily; that's for little kids! We hang out."

She laughed, ruffling his hair. "Of course, of course!"

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Finally done. A little extra long to make up for my absence. No flashback, though. Anyway, I hope you liked it and please review!