A/N So I've really never done an author's note because I never really need to, but I wanted to clear the air for people asking :), if you can't already tell, this is incredibly AU, and I kind of manipulate the timeline to help my story fit with what DCCU had going on with the Dark Knight Trilogy, and the way I see it, Bruce and Rachel are about mid thirties in these movie portrayals, and Anslee is nearly eighteen in my story, making Bruce and Rachel around nineteen or twenty when Ans was born. I know that seems young, but I reference Rachel making it through law school while raising a baby, and use these ages and details as an advantage for character build. In the end, the grand scheme is to help define Rachel and Bruce with their personalities and capabilities they have. Hopefully that clears things up a bit, but if you still have any further questions, my inbox for PM's are always open!
THIS CHAPTER WAS UPDATED AND PROOFREAD FOR TYPOS, GRAMMAR, AND PLOT/TIMELINE ISSUES AS OF 7/17/2020
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When Rachel had left Anslee alone in the apartment earlier, she was on a mission. Well, that's how she liked to think of it, it was more so the goal was getting through to Bruce. She arrived with confidence at Bruce's penthouse, finding the smallest bit of appreciation in the fact he moved himself back to the manor for a weekend just for the sake of their daughter's happiness. Oh how Anslee had hated that penthouse after the first night of staying in it.
Rachel had knocked on the door, finding it to be immediately by Alfred, which was't a surprise, "Miss Dawes, a pleasant surprise," the old man smiled, moving out of the way so he could gesture her inside.
"Hello Alfred," the woman smiled in return, walking inside, taking in the penthouse all at once, " I was hoping i could speak to Bruce, do you know where he is?"
"I'm afraid Master Wayne isn't here," Alfred frowned slightly, "he's been out for a few hours, I'm sorry, I could phone him for you to see how much longer he'll be."
Rachel smiled at the old man, approaching him, "It's alright, I just came at a bad time, I should have called first anyways, then again I don't usually expect Bruce to get out much."
"I believe he was at the hospital, the man who had attacked your daughter came out of whatever he was in, he's been out cold since Batman did that number on him," Alfred explained, "wanted to know what was going to happen to the thug."
The news hit Rachel like a ton of bricks, leave it to Batman in Bruce to follow up with these kinds of things. Like Anslee, Rachel wanted to hate him for it, but he cared, and she failed to find the bad in that. "Oh," she spoke, her mind almost blanking for a second, "I see, well, I was able to speak to Jim Gordon on the phone, the guy who attacked Ans has been on a wanted list for awhile now, they plan to put him on trial soon."
"Quite fortunate in the least, unfortunate his apprehension had to come with the price of injuring a loved one, both Master Wayne and I could tell things had shaken up the young miss quite a bit this past weekend." Alfred looked to the floor slightly.
"She's woken up almost every night from nightmares about it, I make her sleep with her door open for now so I can hear her, I feel bad and I just want to get up and cradle her until things were okay like when she was little, but times have changed and she'd scold me if I tried." Rachel sighed.
Alfred took a step forward, placing a hand on Rachel's arm comfortingly, "When the time comes she'll open up about it, you've had your experience with difficult people and their facades," the man gave her a knowing look, implying Bruce, "Growing pains are the worst," he smiled.
Rachel had looked the man in the eyes, a smile forming as he spoke about her experiences, "Thanks Alfred," she spoke, "I should be getting home, Ans is out with a friend and I want to make sure I'm home when she gets back." Rachel headed for the door.
"I see, have a nice night, Miss Dawes," the man smiled to her as she left.
Rachel got back into her car, her mind racing to too many different places. Bruce had really gone to the hospital without telling her. She really could only imagine what Bruce's intention was upon doing so, nor did she really want to know anyways. Putting it all out of her mind, Rachel started the car and began the ten minute trek back to her apartment.
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Rachel got back to her apartment quickly, she had put the key in the lock of the door and turned the handle, pushing the old door open and walking inside. The woman walked down the small hallway from the door to the kitchen. When she turned the corner she'd nearly jumped. There sitting at her kitchen table was Bruce, patiently sitting with a nonchalant look on his face. When he'd noticed Rachel enter, he smiled slightly, "Hope you don't mind, I used the key under the welcome mat, no one answered when I knocked and I wanted to be sure things were okay."
"A call would have been nice at least, nearly gave me a heart attack, Bruce," Rachel groaned, setting her keys and her clutch on the table, turning to the fridge so she could get a drink.
"Alfred called and said you stopped by, I just so happened to be on my way home from the hospital when he told me, so I figured I'd stop by to see what had brought you to my humble abode." the man stood from his chair and looked to Rachel.
Rachel had stopped what she was doing and looked to the man, "Before we even get to what I needed, were you planning on telling me you went to the hospital or why you went?" she raised an eyebrow.
Bruce paused for a second, slightly caught off guard by the question, "I just wanted to check on the status of things, in case you didn't know, that man nearly killed our daughter last Friday." He crossed his arms over his chest.
"Don't pull that with me, Bruce," Rachel snapped, "Why were you at the hospital when you know you could have asked Gordon on one of your nightly crusades?"
"I confronted him," Bruce answered immediately, looking down to the ground as if he were a disciplined child, "I gave him a piece of my mind and let him know he'd rot in jail where he belongs after what he did and everything he's done in the past. This man isn't just another guy I take off the street to keep the city safe, he's the man who messed with the wrong girl."
Rachel stayed silent. There he went again. She was just as confused as Anslee was. Rachel knew Bruce cared, maybe it was just because she'd never seen him work so hard to prove it. Maybe this was him really trying to go above and beyond in proving himself, not only to Anslee, but to Rachel, "The gesture was thoughtful, but we'll let the prosecution determine that, Harvey nor I are allowed to work the case for obvious reasons."
"I think Anslee should be a witness and speak at the trial," Bruce looked up to Rachel, whose face contorted to an angry yet surprised look.
"Speak at the trial?" she repeated, "Bruce don't you think she's been through enough? The last thing she needs to do is to face the man who tried to kill her in a room full of people, just let her get past it and finish out her year."
"It was just a thought, Rachel," Bruce snapped back, already annoyed with how she was quick to dismiss him, "I know she's been through enough, I'm trying my best here Rachel, I want to bring justice for Anslee." he let out the breath he's been holding in the form of a heavy sigh, "What did you need to speak with me about?" he asked, wanting to change the subject before he decided to walk out.
The two shared another silence before Rachel's voice seemed to echo in the apartment, "Bruce," she began, "I don't know how else to really say it, so I'm just going to throw it out there. Harvey asked me to move in with him, well, Ans and I."
"Great," Bruce lied, a pang of hurt bigger than any of the ones he'd felt before hit him in the heart, The thought of his two girls moving in with another man angered him, he tried to hide his clenched fists from view.
Rachel took a few steps forward, reaching down to take one of Bruce's hands in her own, "I sort of wanted your blessing."
Bruce looked up from his gaze at the floor to his hand in hers and then up to her face that held a saddened poker face, "Does he make you happy?" he asked in nearly a whisper. Rachel merely nodded as if saying yes was too hard to do, "Then you don't need my blessing. You have a career, you raised our daughter, you don't need any permission," he jerked his hand away from hers as he got up, turning to leave the apartment, he had more research to do on Gotham's current situation, The Joker.
"That wasn't the only thing I wanted to speak with you about," Rachel snapped, it was evident Bruce had tried to brush her off, "I thought about what you said, about Anslee knowing about Batman, and I still think it's a bad idea."
"You would," Bruce snickered, he was done with Rachel at this point and just wanted to leave.
"Will you let me finish?" she glared, Bruce held out a hand to let her know she had the floor, "Thank you. I think you need to spend more time with her. Harvey's been a good father figure-"
"I'm her father, Rachel," Bruce had raised his voice to a yell, turning to look back at the woman.
"You don't think I know that?" Rachel had raised her voice as well, "Do you know how hard it is to look at her sometimes? She's you, Bruce! Everything she does, her courage, her independence, her inability to let others in! It's all you!" she fought back, throwing her arms out in frustration. She took a few seconds before inhaling calmly so she could continue, "Harvey's been a good stand in father, but she needs you now more than ever. I think you should get her every weekend and then maybe a few times during the week."
Bruce wished he could get more out of the both of them, but he was willing to take what he could get for now, "Alright," he muttered, standing for a few more seconds, determining whether he should say something more or just leave it at that. Ultimately he decided it was best to leave. Bruce began to walk towards the door when three knocks sounded at the door.
Rachel was quick to make her way to the apartment door, wondering who was knocking. Out of natural instinct, Bruce had followed her. Rachel had waited for a second before opening the door, hearing a familiar female giggle.
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"I most definitely think Teddy Roosevelt was the better Roosevelt in office," Anslee laughed.
"No way, FDR trumps Teddy any day," Nico chuckled in return, "This one yours?" the boy had asked, coming across an apartment door.
Anslee stopped and nodded, "Yeah, I forgot to grab my keys though, there should be one under the doormat," the brunette smiled, bending down to move the doormat, finding the key wasn't there. She frowned, standing back up, "that's weird," she commented, "let's hope my mom or Harvey's home," she muttered, knocking on the door three times.
"I wouldn't mind waiting with you if no one's home, you can give me more compelling reasons as to why Teddy is better than FDR other than because he was named Teddy because he shot a bear and got a stuffed animal named after him." Nico teased her.
"Hush," Anslee giggled, nudging Nico before turning to see the door open and Rachel standing in the doorway with...Bruce behind her? Almost immediately, Anslee's smile had faded into a confused yet annoyed look, "What are you doing here?"
Bruce had figured it was Anslee, her keys were sat on the kitchen table and Bruce had left the spare on the kitchen counter, the one thing he wasn't expecting was the boy who was with her, he furrowed his brow, looking at Anslee with narrowed eyes. Rachel didn't even need to look at Bruce to know what he was doing, the look that Anslee returned to Bruce was enough to tell her, "Why don't you two come inside?" she suggested.
"Good idea," Bruce nodded with a slight smile, eyeing the boy Anlsee was with. Bruce had stepped out of the way while Rachel had motioned for Anlsee and Nico to follow her. The father had shut the door and followed the three back into the kitchen where him and Rachel had previously been arguing.
When they were all standing awkwardly in the kitchen, Anlsee spoke to break the silence, "Well since we're doing this now, this is Nico, we went to get pizza so I could tutor him in history, Nico, my mom, Rachel Dawes, and my...dad, Bruce Wayne," she hesitated looking to Bruce with disdain once more.
Nico had halfway known Anslee's family situation, she had opened up a bit to him on the way back to Anlsee's apartment when Nico had insisted he walk her up to her apartment since it was getting dark, so he knew how awkward this must have been for Ans, "Hello, Miss Dawes," Nico gave a nod to Rachel who had smiled in return, "Mister Wayne," Nico outstretched his hand for Bruce to shake, "I am Nico Gargano, and might I say it is an honor to be taking your daughter to prom." Nico smiled, glancing to Anslee giving her a wink.
Anslee's face had immediately dropped and flushed pink. Rachel's eyes however had widened and a smile spread across her face, "Prom? Ans you said he was just a friend."
All eyes were on Anslee and an embarrassed smile had spread across her face, "Yeah he was," she mumbled, "and then he asked me to prom with a literal cheesy line," she laughed.
Bruce could see by the look on Anlsee's face this boy wasn't just any boy, and he didn't have any reason to embarrass her, at least not for now. He had reached out and shook Nico's hand, "A boy finally built up the courage to ask Anslee to prom, huh?" Bruce smirked.
"Dad," Anslee groaned quickly, sending him a look that screamed STOP.
"I'm just giving him a hard time, Ans," Bruce looked to his daughter, a knowing smile on his face, "Quite the grip you got there, Nico, you lift?" Bruce commented.
"A bit," the boy smirked, "I mostly run, see, I'm going to school full ride on an athletic scholarship for soccer, so I've got to keep up what I've got." Nico chuckled slightly.
"Mhm," Bruce nodded, looking at Nico, studying him, one last time before he decided he was done torturing Anlsee for the night, "listen, I would love to stay and chat, but I've really got to run, you know how work can be, you understand Ans?" Bruce looked to her.
"Oh I understand, Mr. Wayne, you really should get going," Anslee nodded, crossing her arms over her chest.
Bruce could sense the attitude rising, but knew exactly how to deal with her, he kept his smile, "Rachel, always a pleasure," he nodded, "Anslee," Bruce walked forward, engulfing Anslee in a hug, reaching down to kiss the top of her head, he could feel the steam coming out of her ears as anger coursed through her from what he was doing, but that wasn't going to stop him, "Love you, babygirl," he spoke, ignoring the look she was receiving from his daughter before he gave one last nod to Nico and then headed towards the apartment door, letting himself out, a satisfied look on his face, although he hated the idea of his little girl with a guy like Nico. Bruce didn't know why, but he had a bad feeling about this boy.
Meanwhile back in the apartment, Anslee tried not to fume in front of Nico.
"I've actually got to go as well, but I had fun, and we'll talk more prom stuff tomorrow, yeah?" Nico looked to Anslee.
The brunette in return looked to the boy with a forced smile, "Yeah, sounds good," she nodded, "I'll see you later, drive safe," she reached to his arm, placing her hand on it in a friendly way.
"Yeah, I'll see you later," Nico smiled, reaching down to kiss Anslee's cheek before looking to Rachel, "Pleasure to meet you Miss Dawes," he waved before turning to leave himself.
The two women waited for the door to close before Rachel looked to Anslee, whose face was flushed by Nico's action, "Just a friend, huh?" Rachel raised an eyebrow with a smile.
"Mom! Hush!" Anslee shouted, immediately heading back to her room, the largest grin on her face.