That Which We Are, We Are
By AngelQueen
Disclaimer: The characters of Batman Beyond are not owned by me. I'm using them purely for the entertainment of the readers here and no money is being made from this. Standard disclaimers also apply.
Summary: Bruce Wayne is dead. The members of the Bat Family gather to say farewell to the one who created the legacy of Batman.

Barbara Gordon-You Were Loved

I always knew this day would come. I've been expecting it for so long and tried to prepare myself for it. Still, a part of me half-expected you to outlive us all. You always seemed to be immortal, no matter how much you aged.

He's standing over there, Bruce. Do you see him? Terry is probably taking this hardest of all of us. God knows you put him through hell, just as you did with all of us, but there was a difference.

He stuck around. Eventually, we couldn't take it anymore and left. But Terry stayed. He put up with you. At first, I thought it was just to avenge his father's murder, but later, I finally saw why.

You were the only one he could see as a father, now that Warren McGinnis was gone. For all of your… unique personality quirks, he still saw you as a father.

He lost one father, now he's lost the other. And he's feeling it. He's been feeling it since you squeezed his hand that final time. Then it was amplified when Dick showed up, too late to say goodbye.

I think that if Tim and I hadn't held him back, Terry would have been all over Dick, pummeling him with all his might. Did you ever figure that you'd have one of the Bat family on your side, Bruce?

You were estranged from Dick, Tim, and I for so long, but we had people on our side. For so long, you stayed alone, determined to keep us all away.

But then this kid showed up. He sometimes reminds me of the way Tim was before what the Joker did to him. Both Tim and Terry have a bit of a mouth on them, but they're no where *near* Dick's level.

Even after I left, a part of me still loved you. But my wounded pride made me forget that. I have Sam now and I love him dearly, but a part of me is still that fiery redhead who got fed up with the tension and finally slammed you against the wall and kissed the life out of you.

Not that I'd admit it happened that way.

You were loved, Bruce Wayne. You may have pushed us all away, you may have driven all of us mad, but we still loved you. You couldn't keep us from doing that, no matter how bad things became.