A/N: This is an excerpt on a teenage Hailey that lives on her own in Gotham and works with Batman on occasion. We find her on a rooftop with Batman, Nightwing, and Batgirl. Batman is short on time and asks Hailey to lip read a meeting that he knows will have the information he needs. Even though Batman can lip read, he knows that Hailey has special skills that will come in handy.

Hailey was watching a couple of men who were talking through binoculars from a rooftop. Batman was crouched on her left and to her right was Nightwing crouched right beside Batgirl.

"What are they saying?" Batman asked after a moment since Hailey wasn't telling them what the men were talking about.

"I don't know."

"What? I thought you said she could lip read. Isn't that the only reason she's here?" Batgirl said in annoyance.

"I can."

"Then why don't you know what they're saying?" Nightwing said softly. He was confused.

Batman wanted to know the answer as well. But he figured there must be more going on or she'd have told him she wasn't going to be able to relay the information he needed.

"They're speaking Turkish."

"Oh. You know Turkish?" Nightwing said surprised.

"No."

Batgirl scoffed. "Then how do you know they're speaking Turkish? She's just fucking with us."

"How do you know someone's speaking Spanish or English for that matter?"

"You recognize it," Batman said.

Hailey's eyes were still following the men's lips.

"And how does this even help—?"

"Quiet," Hailey said, suddenly sounding annoyed.

"Why? You don't—"

"Batgirl," Batman chastised, cutting her off.

"You're defending her! She can't—"

Without taking her eyes off the men, Hailey's hand shot back in a fist and punched Batgirl in the throat. Before pulling her hand back, she opened it just as Batgirl gasped for breath and then slapped her hand on Nightwing's mouth.

"Shh!"

"Hailey," Batman said tiredly and sighed.

Nightwing, understanding what had just happened, moved Hailey's hand away and tended to Batgirl who was still struggling to breathe. It wasn't the time to get angry, they were still trying to gather information on a missing person. And both Nightwing and Batman had seen Hailey in action before but what she did to Batgirl was not only uncalled for but a shock. The girl wasn't known to hit people. She usually shied away from that sort of thing. The only time Batman was aware she'd done so, was years back and it brought her to tears. So then why this now? It didn't make sense to Nightwing and Batgirl was not only angry but embarrassed. She kept pushing Nightwing away until he just gave up. Girls were always difficult to deal with when they were angry. Especially this one. He tightened his lips and backed away. It was for the best.

Hailey put the binoculars down.

"They moved out of sight but I'm certain I have the information you need," she said looking at Batman. "There's a boy in the alley. I thought I heard him speak Turkish. Get me down there and stay out of sight."

"Which side?"

"East."

Batman nodded and walked towards the edge. Hailey following.

"B-bitch," Batgirl said through a cough.

"Next time someone tells you to shut up, listen to them, Barbara," she said, barely loud enough to be heard.

Batman's head whipped around to look at her in shock. And Nightwing and Batgirl stared at her mouth agape.

"He's about to leave," Hailey said impatiently.

"Then let's hurry," Batman said and wrapped a hand around Hailey's waist before he shot his grappling hook and lowered her down to the alley floor from the shadows.

Hailey made her way towards the group of boys who were joking around. The oldest one saw her first.

"Hey there, you here for fun?" he said with a thick accent.

"Yeah," Hailey said in a flirty tone. "But I was looking for him."

Hailey pointed at a young boy who looked like he was probably fifteen. He opened his eyes wide and swallowed. He was further from the group since he had decided to leave. But when he heard the older boy he paused to see what was happening out of curiosity.

"You should be with one who has experience," the older boy purred.

"Oh, honey, I have plenty of that," she said, walking up to the boy and caressing his face. "Maybe that's why I prefer the ones with less experience."

The older boy laughed as Hailey began to kiss the younger boy. She could feel him shaking under her hands so she pulled away a little and only made it look like they were making out. The older boy said something in Turkish to the others then they began to shuffle away laughing.

"I'm sorry," Hailey said softly, pulling back giving the boy his space once she was certain they were alone.

"It's okay," the boy said nervously.

"No, it's not," she said with a slight frown. "But I need your help."

"Uh, with what?"

"I overheard a conversation and I need you to translate it."

"Sure, I guess," he said and rubbed his head. He was still shaking a little. "You helped me just now too, sort of."

"Are you okay?" Hailey said, stepping closer.

"Uh, yeah," he said, then said something in Turkish.

"What does that mean?"

"It's just the guys we're teasing me," the boy said.

"About what?"

"They were saying that I was...that I…" he said and sighed. "That I was gay."

Hailey shrugged. Then she looked at him. He was nervous. "I'm guessing you really are."

He nodded and looked away awkwardly.

"Look, you shouldn't care what they think. I know it's not easy not to care. But so long as you feel good about yourself, nothing else should matter," she said and looked away. "I really need your help translating something. And you can't repeat anything I say to you to anybody."

"Yeah, I can keep a secret," he told her and smiled awkwardly.

"That's what I was counting on," she said and leaned in to whisper in his ear so that nobody could overhear. If anyone happened upon them, they would look like two teenagers fooling around.

Everything she told him in Turkish, as broken as it sounded, he repeated in English in a whisper. When she finished talking, she kissed him on the cheek and slipped a piece of paper into his back pocket. As she was walking away he pulled it out and looked at it.

"What is this?" he asked in confusion as he looked at the phone number.

"My number," she told him. "Name's Hailey by the way. You can call me whenever for whatever."

"Oh. I'm Nilsson," he said quickly before she ducked away into the shadows.

She was up on the rooftop again a moment later. Batman heard everything Nilsson had translated through the mic Hailey was wearing. She handed it back to him. He nodded to her and made his leave. It was Nightwing that led her to the other side of the roof where he wrapped a hand around her waist to get her home. Batgirl was long gone.

"You didn't have to hit her," Nightwing said to her in a stern voice.

"I needed to concentrate and she wasn't going to listen to reason," she said unapologetically.

"You know who she is," Nightwing said just as he landed on her rooftop. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at her.

"Yup," Hailey told him and gestured to her own hair letting him guess that she could tell from her hair color. "The shrill voice also gives it away."

Nightwing sighed.

"She's worried you'll say something."

"Good. She should."

"If you give her up, you'll put us all in jeopardy."

"I don't trust her. I don't like her. And I am aware the feeling is mutual. I don't have anything against you. But if she attacks me again, verbally or otherwise…" Hailey said and began to walk away without finishing her sentence.

Nightwing grabbed her by the arm with a little too much force. "That sounded like a threat."

"It was supposed to."

Nightwing tightened his hold on her.

"Don't you get it?" she said, looking right at him. He raised an eyebrow at her. "You're here defending her. But, where is she?"

Nightwing released his hold on her not understanding what she meant.

"She was jealous of me," Hailey said matter-of-fact. "I don't care to know why but you're under the impression that whatever you feel for her is reciprocated. Open your eyes, idiot, she was jealous of me not because of you. It was because of Batman."

"What?"

"She wants to be his girl," she said and shook her head. "The thought of another girl that he can rely on made her act the way she did. I don't know how long she's been obsessed over him but she should already know that Batman isn't going out at night dressed the way he is and doing what he's doing to find someone he can spend the rest of his life with. I don't know about you, but I'd rather meet someone the conventional way. Like in the grocery aisle or something." Nightwing snorted. "And I'd prefer someone who doesn't dress like a bat every night. No matter how much good he does while doing so. Not to mention he's probably like forty or something. Maybe she likes old men."

"I just need to know if you'll say something about who she is," Nightwing said, not trying to make sense of everything she was saying.

"Shouldn't she be the one asking me this? She's that jealous that she can't even talk to me civilly?"

Nightwing sighed.

"Between me and you," she said gesturing with her hand at them both, "I won't say anything. I don't get anything out of outing her. But you'd do her a favor, or me maybe, I don't know, if you didn't tell her I said that. I really couldn't give a fuck whether she trusts me or not. I'm also aware she's stalking me right now." Hailey pointed towards her right where Batgirl was standing a few buildings away.

Nightwing's eyes widened.

"You can see her?"

"No, but I can feel her eyes boring into me," Hailey said. "You know, if I was anyone else, I'd glance in that direction and if I didn't see anything I'd dismiss the thought of being watched altogether. But I've learned to listen to my gut. And from your expression, my gut is right."

"The lip reading thing," Nightwing said to change the subject and then scratched his head. He wasn't sure how to ask. He was truly curious though.

"I don't know," she said. "I have a better memory than most. I might have watched a movie or heard someone speaking in that language. I don't have an explanation of how I can do what I do. I memorized their lip movements and replicated them. I know I didn't speak it correctly when I repeated the conversation for Nilsson but it was good enough for him to understand."

"How did you know about the boy?"

"I heard him," she said and at his head cocking to the side she sighed. "His voice carried, echoed or something, to where we were. I just needed to make certain. It was why I told you guys to be quiet. I was trying to memorize a conversation and eavesdrop on the guys in the alley at the same time. I wasn't sure if it was the same voice speaking in Turkish and English. It turned out to be two separate people who were doing so."

"Well, it was impressive," he said.

"Uh, sure," she deadpanned.

"Seriously, it was really cool that you were able to do what you did. I don't know anyone else who could."

"I don't know what I'm supposed to say." She shrugged and he smiled at her. "But I'm tired. And I want to go to bed."

"Right," he said and gestured to the rooftop entrance into the building. "I won't keep you. Just out of curiosity, though, do you know who I am?"

"You mean behind the mask?"

He nodded.

She squinted her eyes at him. "Seriously? You want me to try to figure that out? Right now?"

"No, that's not what I meant."

"I've never tried to figure out who anyone is and I don't plan on doing so. I think it's for the best, don't you?"

"Yeah," he said and chuckled nervously. "Hailey, thanks for tonight. And for saying you'll keep Batgirl's identity to yourself. Also, for not trying to figure out who I am."

Hailey yawned while covering her mouth. She walked up to the door and walked in without saying a word.

Nightwing pressed his comm link.

"I guess I can see why you like her. She's just as rude as you are," he said with a chuckle to Batman over his comm. "It's kind of funny that I never noticed that before."

"Hnh."

"And you were right, she won't say anything."

"I know," Batman replied while he was beating someone to a pulp. "The information panned out."

"Do you need my help?"

"No."

Nightwing sighed when he realized that Batman turned off his comm.

"I don't even know why it still surprises me that you cut out so abruptly every time."

He looked over to where Batgirl was. He wasn't sure if he wanted to talk to her just yet. So he ran in the opposite direction and flew past a few buildings.

"Dick," Batgirl said when she saw him leave.

"Not now, Babs," he said tersely. "I have a lot on my mind."

"What do you mean? What did she tell you?"

"Ask Batman," he said and pulled his earpiece out. He pocketed it and kept going. He was heading back to the cave without realizing it. He had a lot to think about.