So fun fact about this chapter, I literally have had this chapter planned since I started writing this book nearly two years ago. I have been waiting so long to finally get to it and I was so fricken hyped to write it. It's a long one and I knew it was going to be when I planned it. But anyways, enjoy this really sweet and sappy chapter because we gettin back into TDK plot after this one and we all know it goes to shit from there haha. Don't forget to Review and Favorite and Follow and all that good stuff. Also excuse my grammar because I'm too lazy to go back and edit this right now.

THIS CHAPTER WAS UPDATED AND PROOFREAD FOR TYPOS, GRAMMAR, AND PLOT/TIMELINE ISSUES AS OF 7/18/2020

XXX

The next week had gone pretty quiet since the situation at Harvey's fundraiser. No one at school really pried into Anslee about what had happened that night to her. Everyone was too focused on prom since it was that upcoming Saturday.

By Friday it was all anyone was talking about. Even Anslee had been able to look past what happened on Monday night and was able to get excited about prom.

"So are you finally going to show me the dress since prom is tomorrow?" Jenni asked Anslee at lunch.

Anslee smirked as she swallowed her bite of her salad, "If I show you the one picture I have, do you promise me you'll stop bothering me about my dress?"

"I make no promises," Jenni laughed back at her best friend.

Anslee pulled out her phone and unlocked it. She scrolled through her gallery and tapped on the picture she took of herself in her dress when she was at Rosmerta's. The brunette slid her phone over to her best friend and leaned back in her seat.

Jenni picked up the phone and looked at the picture.

"Anslee you're going to be the best looking girl at prom, hands down," Jenni looked at her best friends with a smile.

"Hush!" Anslee took her phone back.

"I'm serious!" Jenni persisted, "How does Nico know how to match his tux since you haven't shown him?"

Anslee frowned, "I told him I'd send him a picture of the color when he went to go get it fitted, but he hasn't texted me about it so I'm really not sure how he's planned on matching his tux."

Jenni frowned as well, "You haven't seen him at all this week to ask?"

Ans shook her head, "The only time I see him in my day is in American History and at Lunch. But you know Mr. Bright gives us zero time to talk in class and he's been in Mr. Emmons room getting help with Spanish since the AP Exam is coming up during lunch all week. The only time I've got to talk to him was when he came to visit me on Tuesday."

"You haven't thought to text him?" Jen raised an eyebrow.

"My mind's been in a bunch of different places this week...if people weren't talking about prom so much I promise you I probably would have completely forgotten about prom as a whole," Anslee reminded her best friend.

"Maybe asked someone in the group over there?" she gestured to the lunch table across the room.

Anslee glanced over at the table, "I'll be right back."

Anslee stood up and made her way across the lunch room to get to the table that her prom group was sitting at. Once she approached, Caroline was the first to notice her.

"Hey, Anslee, what's up?" the blonde girl smiled up at Ans.

"Hey," Anslee smiled back, "I was wondering if one of you could ask Nico to come and find me at some point today? I need to talk to him about prom stuff and we haven't had much of a chance to talk at all."

Jessica frowned slightly, "Oh I didn't know if you were still going with us or not after everything that happened.."

"Yeah, I still planned on going," Anslee smiled, "Can you please just tell Nico to find me? It'll probably be more effective than me texting him and him forgetting."

Eric nodded, "We'll let him know."

"Thanks," Ans nodded to them.

Anslee turned and stalked back across the room so she could go back to her lunch table with Jenni. The way that the group acted towards her made Ans feel uneasy. By the time she made it back to the table, she must have had a look on her face because Jenni could tell something was off.

"What's wrong?"

Anslee sat down and shook her head, "They were just acting weird...apparently they're under the impression that I wasn't going because of what happened on Monday night."

"That's really weird..you never said you weren't going.." Jenni frowned.

"I don't know, I said I was still going so I think it's taken care of," Anslee shrugged, "By the way, you aren't going to prom by yourself are you?"

"No, I'd never show up alone to prom," Jenni laughed, "John Blake asked me, I think he's in your American History class."

"I know who you're talking about. He's really quiet, but he's really nice too," Anslee smiled, "I'm glad you aren't going alone, I felt bad when Nico asked me to prom because I didn't want you to go alone."

Jenni smirked, "Don't you worry about me, I promise things will work out."

"I'm probably overthinking things again," Anslee rolled her eyes.

XXX

Anslee sat in the living room of Rachel's apartment hugging a throw pillow to her chest, staring at her phone that sat in front of her. Rachel had noticed that Ans had been acting off ever since she got home from school.

"What's bothering you, sweetheart?" Rachel asked softly from behind the couch as she looked down at her daughter.

Anslee stayed silent as she looked down at her phone. The girl sighed, "Nico hasn't texted or talked to me about prom at all this week...he doesn't even know what to match his tux to and he hasn't asked for a picture of the color at all. It's the day before prom, mom."

Rachel could hear the worry in her daughter's voice. The woman walked around the couch and sat down before pulling the girl into her arms so she could hold her and hopefully take away some of that worry.

"I'm sure things are fine, Ans, maybe he wanted to surprise you," she tried to sound optimistic for the sake of Anslee to feel better.

"So he's going to make what time he's picking me up a surprise? Or the color of his tux accents? And his boutonniere?" Anslee spoke.

Rachel didn't know how to respond to that, "He'll text or call you, stop worrying, Anslee," Rachel spoke softly.

Anslee nodded against Rachel's chest, "I need to go and get my prom stuff together for dad's...are you sure I have to be at his place for prom?"

Rachel sighed as well, "Yes, I'm sure. It's his official weekend according to our agreement. I voluntarily gave up my weekends because he and I both agreed that you need to spend more time with him. I promise Harvey and I will try to be there as much as we can if at all. We're up to our necks in plans for the parade celebrating Commissioner Loeb."

"Fine," Anslee sighed as she pulled out of Rachel's hold and stood up, "Am I driving myself or are you taking me?"

Rachel looked up at her daughter, "That's up to you."

Anslee looked at the ground and then back at Rachel, "Will you take me?"

The mother smirked up at her daughter, "Yes, I'll take you. We'll leave in thirty minutes."

XXX

Even Bruce had been able to tell that Anslee was really off that night when Rachel dropped her off at the manor. When Bruce asked Rachel what was up with her, Rachel shook her head and basically said he needed to find out for himself.

Anslee was even willing to sit and eat dinner with Bruce that night. Although she was incredibly quiet. Not just the quiet she normally was that was her brooding and being annoyed she had to be in the presence of her father. It was more mopey and upsetting. The father was concerned about how his child was feeling.

The only problem was, he couldn't even figure out how to ask what was bothering her so badly. Last time he tried she snapped at him and told him she didn't want to talk about it. Having a teenager proved more difficult than even at that point.

"If you were going to cancel on someone at the last minute...you'd let them know kind of in advance right?" she finally spoke to him from across the dinner table.

Bruce looked at her, wondering where that random question came from, but nonetheless, he was going to answer her.

"Ideally, yes I would let someone know a decent time beforehand," he nodded, "That's an oddly specific question to ask...everything okay?"

Anslee didn't answer, but after a minute, she looked up at him, "Nico hasn't talked to me since Tuesday when he came over…"

Bruce cocked a brow, "At all? Not even at school or anything?"

"No," Ans shook her head, "I feel sick to my stomach because he doesn't even know what to match his tuxedo to or anything. I know dinner's at 7:45, but he hasn't talked to me about picking me up or pictures or anything."

Bruce's heart ached at her answer. He hated to see his little girl upset about something like a boy. While it may have seemed a little dumb and overdramatic to be upset about a boy, he was aware it was a lot different in the eyes of a teenage girl.

"You know you don't need a guy like him to go to prom, right Ans?" Bruce asked her.

"Yeah, I'll show up as the girl who was stood up by the most popular guy in school," she rolled her eyes as she leaned back in her seat and looked down into her lap sadly.

"That shouldn't matter," Bruce shook his head, "You'd show up as the girl who obviously doesn't care that some teenage boy that'll probably end up still living with his parents when he's twenty-three didn't bother to follow through with a commitment."

Bruce saw a small smile form on the girl's lips at his comment.

"I'm serious, Anslee Grace," he spoke, making her look up at him, "You are a beautiful and independent person. And you do not need a boy to be arm candy for at an event like prom. You are so much better than that and you deserve so much better than that."

"You really mean that?" Anslee smiled.

"With my entire heart," Bruce nodded.

"Thanks dad," the girl spoke happily.

XXX

The next morning was the most in the zone that Bruce had ever seen Anslee. She was up at 9 AM on the dot and was down in the kitchen by 9:05 to get breakfast from Alfred. He could tell her whole demeanor was a lot different from how it was the previous night, although she did glance at her phone about every two minutes for a sign of a text.

"No word?" Bruce questioned her.

Ans shook her head, "I messaged him last night and this morning...it doesn't even say that he's read them. I'm not gonna give up hope though. I'm gonna stay optimistic."

"Good...good," Bruce smiled at her, "I had Alfred grab your prom dress out of your room in the penthouse, it's hanging in your closet upstairs now."

"And you didn't peak?" she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Not once," Bruce winked at her.

Ans smirked back at the man and picked up the mug of coffee that Alfred sat down in front of her, "I'm going back upstairs to shower."

"You do what you have to do to get ready," Bruce smiled at her. He liked seeing her excited and bubbly. This was what she did when she was with Rachel. This is what the man had been striving for over the past few weeks. It felt nice.

Bruce never thought he'd see the day he'd be sending his own daughter off to her senior prom. He never thought he'd be able to build up the relationship he has with her. The many eye rolls and the tones of disdain all seemed worth it to him at this point. He truly loved his daughter with everything he had.

Over the course of the next few hours, Anslee was back and forth between being upstairs and downstairs so she could kill time while she was getting ready. First it was to waste time while she waited for her hair to dry. Then it was because she needed to burn time while a peel off face mask she did was drying. After that it was for a light lunch since she was going to dinner in a few hours and she didn't want to be bloated before she put her dress on. It amused Bruce how her appearance changed each time she came down the stairs from her room.

By the time 6 o'clock rolled around, Bruce was sitting on the couch in the main living room when he realized it had been awhile since he'd seen Anslee come downstairs again. From what he remembered, she said dinner was at 7:45 and pictures usually took awhile to do beforehand.

The man trekked his way upstairs towards his daughter's room to check up on her. He found her door was cracked and it was pretty quiet in the room. Bruce frowned and knocked on her door twice with the back of his hand.

"Ans, I'm coming in," he spoke before pushing her door open. When he looked into the room, he saw his daughter sitting at her vanity seemingly silently crying. He saw her phone screen was on, although the device was discarded on her bed.

"Anslee?" he spoke softly as he approached the girl. Once behind her, he saw in the mirror that the girl's face was tear stained and mascara ran down her cheeks.

"Sweetheart what's wrong?" he asked her.

"Nico," Anslee choked out, "He's going to prom with another girl."

Bruce's frown deepened, "What?"

"Jenni saw Nico at the park with my prom group taking pictures. He has a matching tuxedo with another girl's dress, Anna Unison," she sobbed, "She-she asked one of the girls where I was and….and Jessica told her that Nico said I didn't want to go with him anymore when he came over on Tuesday."

Bruce was at a loss for words. How could someone even think to do that to someone as sweet and genuine as Anslee? He couldn't even tell if he was more upset for Anslee or if she was more furious with this Nico kid. That bad feeling he had about the boy turned out to be something real.

"I can't show up now," Anslee cried, "I can't go and all of this was just a huge waste. I was so dumb to think this was going to work out for me. It was too good to be true."

"Hey, no, no, no, don't say that," Bruce spoke as he placed his hands on her shoulders, "Listen to me, you are not dumb to think any of that and there is no way I'm going to let any of this work you've put into yourself go to waste."

Anslee shook her head, "I'm not going to prom, dad...I can't."

Bruce smiled at her through the mirror, "Finish getting ready and meet me downstairs when you're done, I'll be waiting for you."

The man gave her shoulders a squeeze and turned to leave the room. He hated being ominous with her about what he now had planned, but he also didn't see how getting angry about things now was going to help anything. Bruce just needed to distract her from what was currently happening.

XXX

Almost an hour had passed since Bruce had found his daughter upstairs in tears. He hoped that she had heeded his advice to finish getting ready. He now stood at the foot of the main staircase with Alfred as he waited for Anslee. The father was clad in one of his nice black suits with a bow tie. His hair was slicked back in his normal way when he was going to a nice event and his black dress shoes were polished to perfection.

"I hope she comes down, Alfred," Bruce spoke as he looked up at the top of the stairs where there still was no sign of Anslee.

Alfred followed Bruce's gaze, "I'm sure she'll be down here, soon, Master Bruce."

As if Alfred had cued her, Anslee turned the corner from the hallway her room was down and began to make her way down the main staircase.

Bruce looked up at the girl that was coming down the stairs and an immediate sense of nostalgia was hitting him like a ton of bricks. It was like he was seventeen again seeing his senior prom date for the first time. If he didn't know any better, he'd say that was Rachel Dawes walking down those stairs. Her hair was up in a fancy hair-do that probably took her at least an hour to do, not to mention she had perfectly placed rhinestone hair pins in the do to accentuate it. Her makeup wasn't too flashy, but yet it matched her look perfectly as well. It amazed him how much Anslee resembled her mother. She reminded the father of a princess.

Anslee's dress was even perfect for her. It was an emerald green dress made of satin that had a deep v-neck in the front, yet it was still very modest. It hugged her waist with a silver rhinestone hemline and had a flowy skirt. It also had a low cut back as well.

The girl made it to the bottom of the stairs and Bruce stepped forward to meet her.

"Anslee...wow...just wow," the man spoke, he was at such a loss for words at how gorgeous his own flesh and blood looked. He'd never felt so old in his entire life.

Anslee couldn't help but smile as her father gawked at how she looked, "Why did you have me finish getting ready?"

"Well," Bruce began, "I wasn't going to let you have your prom night go down the way it was. You've been through too much and you deserve a better night. So I'm going to take you out tonight instead of a dumb teenage boy."

"Dad...you don't have to take time out of your night to-"

"It's not my night when this is my weekend with you, so I am rightfully choosing to spend my time with my daughter," Bruce knowingly looked down at the girl.

"If you don't mind me interrupting," Alfred stepped forward with Anslee's corsage in his hand.

"Thank you, Alfred," Bruce took the box from the older man and opened it. Inside was a corsage with white mini roses on it. The band had silver rhinestones on it and there were small emerald green ribbons all around the flowers.

He took the object out of the box, handing it back to Alfred, and then turned to Anslee.

"May I?" he smiled to his daughter.

Anslee held out her left arm and Bruce slipped the corsage on her wrist.

"It's so pretty," Anslee smiled.

"You'll have to admire it more in the car, Ans, we gotta head out or we'll miss our dinner reservations," Bruce smiled down at the girl.

"You didn't," Ans looked up at him.

Bruce smirked at her as he offered his arm to her, "I did, now come on, I don't bite. You can even ask your mom."

Anslee chuckled before she took Bruce's arm. Alfred moved forward to open the front door for the two.

Bruce led her down the stone steps of the manor towards a sleek black Mercedes Benz that had been pulled up to the front of the manor. Once to the car, Bruce released Anslee's arm and opened the car door for her. He could tell she was having a good time already from the smile on her face. Once Anslee was in and settled, Bruce shut the door and made his way around to the other side of the backseat while Alfred headed for the driver's seat.

The car ride to the restaurant was pretty silent. All Anslee could do was look out the window and observe the fancy side of Gotham as Alfred drove. Bruce still couldn't take his eyes off his daughter. He just couldn't shake off that awestruck feeling he had when he saw her come down the stairs and how much of a spitting image of Rachel she was.

Not too long later, they pulled up to a restaurant called Mesh. Anslee had only ever heard about this place in food review articles of the Gotham Times. Apparently it was one of those where they didn't even put the prices on the menus; it was so expensive.

"I promise you that this beats Bellarmine's any day of the week," Bruce nudged Anslee before his door was opened by Alfred.

Anslee waited for Bruce to come around and open her door so he could usher her out. Once she was out of the car, she looked up at the bustling establishment.

"How did you manage last minute reservations at a place like this?" she smirked.

Bruce looked up at it as well, "The owners are old family friends, so I called in a favor."

Bruce led the girl inside and they were immediately ushered to a table that was near the middle of the restaurant. It was no secret that all eyes were on the two considering this was Bruce Wayne. People muttered about his "date" looking much too young for the man, but then those around them interjected that it was in fact his own daughter.

Anslee sat in her chair and looked around at the elegant decor of the restaurant. It was almost overwhelming for her.

Bruce smirked at how she looked around at the unfamiliar space, "You know this is where I brought your mom for her senior prom?" he asked her.

Anslee looked back at Bruce and frowned, "No...she never told me that at all."

"Yeah," Bruce nodded, "She was supposed to go with this jerk named Ethan Bodnar, but he cancelled on her two weeks before because apparently his mom wanted him to take his cousin."

"His cousin?" She laughed.

"His cousin," Bruce nodded.

"Wow. She hasn't ever mentioned that happening at all."

"I think she chooses to write me out of her life, which I don't blame her for, it makes it easier to move on I guess," Bruce shrugged.

Anslee looked down at the table, "Did you love my mother?"

Bruce was a bit caught off guard by her question at first, "Of course I did," he smiled, "As long as I'm being honest with you, I still do."

She looked back up at him, "Then what happened?"

The father stared back at the girl across from him for a few seconds. He stood by his opinion that Anslee should know about his double life, yet he wanted to respect what Rachel wanted as well considering she was every bit a parent to Anslee as he was.

"I went away," Bruce admitted, "I left Gotham so I could better understand the world that I was living in and why things were the way they were."

"Where did you go?"

"I went far away from here, out of the country," he spoke, he couldn't exactly say he was with the League of Assassins.

"Before my mom could even tell you about me," she added.

Bruce looked back at her, "Correct…"

"She told me you left after Joe Chill was murdered after his probation hearing...that you had come back to seek revenge on him in the wrong way. That you needed to get help so those you loved wouldn't see you suffer."

"Your mom knows how to put it into words better than I do," Bruce chuckled, "I just want you to know that had I known about you, things would have been so much different than they've been. I would have been there for all of those years I missed. But I also don't blame your mom for not telling me. She wanted me to get better before I took on the responsibility of a child."

Anslee stayed silent. She didn't think she was ever going to bring this up to Bruce ever. She also remembered a few short weeks ago that she completely loathed Bruce and wouldn't even have a conversation like she was now with him. Guilt ate at her knowing she'd spent the last eight years pushing him away and hating him instead of letting him in. Ans couldn't even fathom how her acting differently towards Bruce over the last few years might have even affected her mother and father's relationship now.

"I'm sorry," she spoke, "Wholeheartedly, I'm so sorry about how I've been treating you the past eight years."

"Ans you don't need to be-"

"But I do," she cut him off, "My inability to let people in and hold grudges clouded my judgement, and I shouldn't have let that happen. You never deserved to endure the way I acted towards you."

"You were young," Bruce added, "I probably would've acted the same way when I was nine years old and something like that happened to me. And not because you and I have very similar personality traits, but because I would've been young and confused as to why my father was walking back into my life after nine years."

"I still owe you an apology, though," she smiled slightly.

Bruce smiled back at her, "You are forgiven, Anslee Grace."

XXX

Dinner had gone on with more small talk and less tension. After they'd been able to understand each other, it felt like a cloud of fog had cleared between them. It felt good to Bruce that he'd been able to patch things up with Anslee over the last few weeks, even if it still felt like he was lying to her because of the whole Batman life. He just wanted this good feeling to last.

Alfred had taken the two back to the manor after the dinner. By the time they got home, it had been about 8:30 PM.

When Anslee walked in the door, she kicked off her heels, "Mom was right, I shouldn't have gone with heels for tonight."

"Can't say I've had experience with that, but you were starting to hobble a bit on the way out of the restaurant," Bruce joked with her.

Anslee looked back at him and rolled her eyes, "Thank you for tonight, by the way. It was really thoughtful of you to redeem it."

"Oh you think it's over?" Bruce quirked a brow at her.

"What do you mean it's not over? Please don't tell me you had Alfred call a bunch of people to throw a rave on the roof of the manor," she gave him a knowing look considering Bruce would be the type of person to do something incredibly extra just because he could.

The man couldn't help but laugh at her comment, "A rave? No. But I was hoping I could get at least one dance with my daughter on her senior prom night."

Anslee looked back at Bruce like she didn't believe him, "You're being serious? I mean the night's still young, I'm sure there are plenty of better things you could be doing."

"No, I don't think so," Bruce shook his head thoughtfully, "I would much rather be spending my weekend time with you, Ans. Plus I don't think Alfred would appreciate moving the living room couch for nothing."

The man held out a hand to his daughter who stared at it for a second before sighing.

"I mean I guess it would be pretty rude to have Alfred do that all for nothing," she reached out and took Bruce's hand.

He led her into the main living room, where in fact the couch had been moved out of the way to make a pretty large clear space. The old record player that sat on a tall table had been turned on and the low hum of an empty FM station could be heard. Bruce walked towards the record player along with a few of the vinyls that had been discarded beside it.

"You know your mom used to play this Elton John record every time she came over here?" Bruce smirked as he looked down at the record.

Anslee smiled, "She listens to Elton John at the apartment all the time."

"While that is some great music, I think we'll go with something a little slower," Bruce spoke as he picked up a less tattered looking record. He placed it on the track and switched the record player setting to Vinyl before he moved the needle to gently touch the outermost part of the record.

After a few seconds, slow piano music played to a song that Anslee had heard a few times before.

Bruce led her to the middle of the room and gripped one of her hands gently while he placed the other one on her hip. Anslee did the same, except her hand not gripping Bruce's was placed on his shoulder.

There goes my heart beating 'cause you are the reason I'm losing my sleep please come back now

Bruce looked down at the seventeen year old with a smile. His heart was so full and he felt the best he ever had in the past few years.

"You really do look very beautiful, Anslee Grace," he smiled.

Anslee smiled back up at her father, "Thanks, dad,"

There goes my mind racing and you are the reason that I'm still breathing. I'm hopeless now.

Ans laid her head on Bruce's chest as the music played softly.

She'd never had this feeling in her life. This was the feeling she'd been craving for years. That fatherly love that couldn't even compare to the love of a mother. That feeling of safety. For once she thought to herself that maybe things were going to be okay.

I'd climb every mountain and swim every ocean just to be with you and fix what I've broken oh, 'cause I need you to see that you are the reason.

Bruce held his baby close to him as they swayed gently. He didn't want to let her go to face the cruel world that just couldn't seem to give her a break. It felt like even letting another bad thing happen to her was a criminal offense that deserved only the death penalty.

If I could turn back the clock I'd make sure the light defeated the dark I'd spend every hour of every day keeping you safe.

Anslee felt like nothing could ruin what she'd been able to build up with Bruce since that night she was attacked by that mugger. Things finally felt like they were at ease and she no longer had that internal burden she used to carry around.

I'd climb every mountain and swim every ocean just to be with you and fix what I've broken 'cause I need you to see that you are the reason.

"I love you, dad," Anslee muttered against Bruce's chest.

As much as he hated to admit it, that statement nearly brought tears to the father's eyes. He held her a little tighter.

"I love you too, Ans," he spoke in return.

XXX

Fuckin told ya it was gonna be sappy and sweet. BTW the song in it is You Are The Reason by Callum Scott. I know it's a love song but it fit the context so fight me thank you.