A/N This chapter deals with a real life situation and contains a small scene, that deals with such. Having said that it should be read by mature audience's only. Also thanks for all the great reviews.

To Terry Morrison Thanks for that honest review and I didn't want Batman to seem to dark because I am mixing it over with another show all together. I want other characters to shine in the spotlight to, not just him. If it were a stand alone Batman fic then he would have been more darker. But you can see that in a few chapters, I wanted to make him a little darker but I held back because of that. As for the hush storyline, I haven't read any comics in over seven to ten years, so I had nothing to really base Batman on except the movies, what I remembered from the comics, and the cartoons ( you know the watered down stuff.)

As for using the Batman Begins stories, when people found out I was doing this fic some of them challenged me to do some scenes from the movie. Well needless to say I excepted it. And finally about the characters being the same as on the show. I've talked to alot of other authours and readers and they all told me the same thing. If you change a character to much, then it's only that character by name only. And that's coming from most of the people who read my fics so I'm basically writing for them. And what they say does make sense. Thanks for the review anyway.

To Anthony1 Kendra, and Wesley will be in the story soon. And I have a special way of bringing Buffy back. To Dilvish I'm not sure how long I want Buffy to be out of commission and I'm still debating on how long Kendra and Wesley will be in this fic. Either way I have special plans for Kendra. As far as Faith goes, just wait and see what I do with her. I'm sure you're gonna like it. Thanks to everyone else that reviewed.

Chapter 16

Faith Wayne

Boston Mass.

Night

1989

Bruce let out a heavy sigh as he walked out of his meeting with the Jones Pharmaceutical company. He would have much rather had spent time with his son, instead of coming to another boring meeting. Then that thought came to him again and he smiled to himself.

'I have a son.'

He was surprised, happy, and a little saddened however that no one in his family came to claim him, once they found out that his parents were murdered. But it did make it all the more easier for Bruce to adopt Alex or Xander as he liked to call himself.

The first few weeks were the hardest though. Just like Bruce did when he was young, Xander would wake up in the middle of the night screaming. He was screaming because of the nightmares he was having. The same nightmares that threatened to take Bruce's mind as he got older.

And that's why he or Alfred would keep Xander occupied. Take him out to do father and son activities. To do things like karate to keep his mind off of things. Anything that would help Xander steer clear of the destiny that unfolded for Bruce. It was because he wanted better for his son. Something other then the darkness.

Suddenly a scream penetrated the night air, that snapped Bruce out of his musings. Coming out of his daze, Bruce looked around and saw that he was so deep in thought that he had walked all the way to the bad, seedier part of town. As the scream sounded off again, he recognized the little murmur to be that of a little girls. Seeing that her screams were coming from an apartment building, he took off like a shot towards it.

"Hold still babe, this want take long." a big burly, biker type was saying to a little raven haired girl.

"NO!" she yelled at the top of her lungs as she kicked him in the shins and curled in a ball in the corner.

"OW!" he yelled in outrage, as he hopped on his good leg. "You stupid bitch." he said as he walked over to her, slapped her hard across the back with a leather belt, and threw her on top of a bed. "Your stupid whore of a mom, gave you to me as payment." he said as he made her look over at a corner, to see her mom shooting up on drugs.

"And I'm gonna collect on that payment." he informed her, as he sat on the bed and started to undo his pants. Suddenly, after another scream from the little girl, the door exploded off of it's hinges.

Looking up, the drug dealer, saw a man wearing a business suit, with blazing brown eyes standing at the door way.

As Bruce heard the little girl scream once again, he saw that it was coming from apartment number 227. Calling on his strength, because of the days work grind, he lifted up his foot and kicked the door in. As he peered inside, he literally wanted to vomit as he saw a behemoth of a man, unzipping his pants trying to get on a little girl.

"Who the fuck are you?" the man asked as he stood to his feet. "Get the hell out of here!"

But, Bruce didn't say a word, as he walked into the room and delivered an upper cut to the man's rib cage. A couple ribs go. A left hook to his face and his nose shattered. With an elbow to his head his jaw broke, making the drug dealer stumble back to the wall and fall to his knees. Not caring about his pain, Bruce decided that he wasn't finished yet and as he moved in...a dark haired beautiful woman got in his way.

"Get the hell out of here this is none of your buisness!" the woman yelled at him.

"None of my business?" Bruce asked as he looked at the woman hard. "That man was about to..." he then stopped as he looked over the woman's shoulder and saw the needles and drugs laying on the floor.

Then his mind processed what was going on. When he went on a self destructive path and traveled the world, he saw how the poor and drug abused people lived. He learned that people would do anything for more drugs, like killing people or what this woman was about to let happen to her daughter.

"How the hell could you do this?" Bruce asked in outrage, as he felt someone tugging at his legs. Looking down, he saw that it was the little girl holding onto his legs, looking up at him with frightened eyes.

"This is my fucking house. Not yours." the woman informed him as she jabbed a finger in his chest. "Now get the fuck OUT!" she said as Bruce stood his ground and stared at her hard. "GET THE FUCK OUT AND TAKE THAT LITTLE BITCH WITH YOU!" she screeched as she looked down and saw her daughter holding onto him.

With a final glare towards the woman, Bruce picked the little girl up in his arms, watched as the woman ran over to her drug dealer, and walked out of the apartment building.

"Hey, it's going to be okay." Bruce soothed the now crying little girl, as he held on to her tightly. It was very cold outside and all she was wearing was an oversized T-shirt. "You're safe now." Lifting up her tear streaked face from his shoulder, she looked deeply into Bruce's eyes.

Not being able to say anything, she lowered her head back on his chest and gently started to shake. Sitting her down, he took off his jacket wrapped it around her, and picked her up again.

"Thank you." came her little voice after another moment of walking.

"She talks." Bruce commented as he smiled down at her. "What's your name sweetheart?"

"Faith."

"Well my name is, Bruce." he said as he made a turn down another street. "Do you have any family, I can take you too?"

"I...I...had an aunt but mom told me she died about a week ago." Faith informed him.

"Is she the only family you had?" Bruce asked worriedly. There was no way in hell, he was taking her back to her so called mom.

"Yes."

"Well you don't have to worry, Faith." Bruce said making up his mind. "Because you're gonna come live with me and my son."

"I wouldn't count on that if, I were you." a voice said from behind him. Turning he saw that it was about six thugs, all with some form of weapons. "Because my boss called me and said that he wants that little bitch back." he said as he pointed at Faith.

"Over my dead body." Bruce said as he sat Faith down and made her stay behind him.

"Whatever you say man." the lead thug replied, as all six of them charged at Bruce.

Gotham

Wayne Manor

Two Days Later

Bruce opened the door to his home and smiled as he saw Alfred and Xander on the floor trying to assemble a train set.

"What on earth happened to you, Master Bruce?" Alfred asked as he stood to his feet and saw the bruises on his face.

"Ouch." Xander said as he looked at him. "Just looking at you makes me hurt."

"I ran into a little trouble in, Boston." he replied as he closed the door. "And I brought home a guest."

"I hope your mind isn't playing tricks on you, Master Bruce." Alfred said giving him a look. "But I don't see anyone but you." he said making Bruce turn around and smile.

"It's okay, Faith." he said to the scared little girl wearing the new clothes he bought her, holding onto the back of his leg. "Nobody here is gonna hurt you." and after another minute, Faith peeked her head out from behind him and looked over at Alfred and then Xander.

"Hi." Xander said as he walked over to her.

"Hi." Faith replied shyly, as she let go of Bruce's leg.

"Xander you stay here with, Faith." Bruce said as he walked off from them. "I have to talk to Alfred alone." he said as he walked out of the room with Alfred, leaving the two children alone.

"May, I ask why you brought a little girl here?" Alfred started the conversation, as they walked into the living room.

"Two days ago when I finished my business meeting I walked outside and I heard her screaming." Bruce said as he closed the door. "When I went to her home, her mom was going to let a drug dealer rape her to get her fix. I couldn't just leave her there."

"I understand that. But why did you bring her here and not to the police?"

"I was going to but, she already told me she doesn't have any other family left." Bruce explained. "And I used a contact in Boston, who is going to draw some papers up for me to legally adopt Faith in the morning."

"But what about her mother?" Alfred asked, making Bruce growl. "What if she later wants to get, Miss Faith back?"

"As far as me and my contact are concerned, she gave up all parental rights to Faith when she told her to get the hell out." Bruce said as he opened the door. "Now let's tell the kids that Faith will be the new..." he was cut off as he heard Faith screaming. Throwing the door all the way open, he and Alfred quickly ran out of the room.

"Hey. Hey!" Bruce shouted as he pulled Faith off of Xander. "What's going on in here?"

"She started it." Xander said as he pointed at Faith.

"Only, because he called me dumb." she whined, as Bruce picked her up and squeezed her tightly.

"Xander, we do not call people names in this household." Bruce growled. "Now how did this get started?"

"Because she broke my train." he said as he pointed at it. "The box said not to push a certain button and she pushed it anyway."

"Faith, didn't you read what the box said?" Bruce asked her calmly.

"I...I... can't read." Faith told him sadly.

"See." Xander said in a huff. "I told you she was dumb."

"Alex!" Alfred reprimanded as he fixed Xander with a hard glare.

"No." Bruce said as he gave Alfred a look. "There's no need to get mad at all." he said as he led all of them to the library. Sitting Xander down on his leather chair, he walked over and picked up an old book that his mother used to read to him as a child.

"Xander, if you think Faith is so dumb then I want you to teach her how to read." Bruce said as he shoved the book in his hand and put Faith on the floor. "And you're not coming out of this room until you can do it." with that he spun on his heel and he and Alfred walked out of the room.

With a sigh, Xander cracked open the book and was shocked when Faith sat on his lap.

"A long time ago my mom used to let me sit on her lap and she would read to me." Faith explained, thinking of a time when her mom was clean and not abusing drugs. "I'm sorry for getting you into trouble. Are we five by five?"

As he looked into her eyes, he saw a deep pain in them. Almost the same kind of pain he saw in himself, whenever he would look at his reflection in the mirror. Not saying a word, Xander pulled his little sister until her head rested on his shoulder, as he started to read to her.

"This happened a long time ago..."

Batcave

Sametime

"Don't you think you were a little to hard on Alex, sir?" Alfred asked as he and Bruce watched the children from a surveilance monitor by the batcomputer.

"No." Bruce answered with a smile as he watched and heard his children getting engrossed in the story. "I don't think I was hard enough."

1993

Wayne Manor

Dojo Room

Bruce sat on a bench, wiping the sweat off his brow, as he watched the now twelve year old Xander and the eleven year old Faith square off against one another. Even though he had them for over five years now, it still amazed him to actually say 'his children.' Everything started off rocky at first and...oh who was he kidding, they were still rocky.

Xander and Faith claimed they hated each other with a passion, but Bruce knew it was just a cover and that they loved each other. Every since that day in the library the two called each other brother and sister. And that was before Bruce announced that he was going to adopt Faith.

What he was most happy with was how far the two had come along. The both of them were doing excellant in school and it seemed that Faith would turn out to be an english master. But there was something that unnerved him about his daughter. He had started to teach both of the children what he had learned as far as fighting and for some reason, she seemed unnaturally gifted in that aspect.

And that was what was unsettling about her. Everytime he would look at her fighting, it would be like he was watching himself. And he didn't want that for her. He didn't want her to follow in his footsteps. As he closed his eyes at night, that's what he saw in his nightmares that she would become like him and get herself killed.

Bruce often thought to give up being the bat for his children, but to do that would be to give up Gotham to the criminals. And he just couldn't do that, because he would also be damning the other people of Gotham to death at the hands of said criminals. As he looked up at his girl, who smiled at him, his decision was made at what he had to do.

"Miss Faith and Master Alexander are coming along quite nicely." Alfred commented as he walked over and handed Bruce a glass of water.

"Yeah." Bruce muttered as he took a sip of water. "Perhaps to good."

Watching her brother's movements Faith flipped backwards, and went on the defensive against a high kick followed by three spin-kicks, and fought back with a spin-kick of her own, sending Xander into a roll on the mat.

Having him right where she wanted him, she opened with a flying kick at Xander, who quickly rolled out of the way. As he got to his feet and he back-flipped over Faith's next kick, dodged a third kick, ducked a fourth, and finally retaliated with a spinning attack of his own to Faith's gut, taking her down.

"With just a little more practice sis you might be as good as me one day." Xander commented and then winked.

With a laugh at Faith's growl, Xander ducked another spinning kick from her. Hesitating for a moment, to try to anticipate his sister's next move, he finally decided the hell with it and bore down on his younger sibling with a kick and a couple of punches. Not being able to dodge fast enough Faith was sent to the mat, and to add insult to injury Xander struck her again. Doing a fancy spinning move to get to her feet and to keep her brother back, Faith charged at Xander, throwing a powerful high-kick. But Xander ducked it and retaliated with an onslaught of spinning kicks and punches; forcing Faith onto the defensive. Blocking the punches and kicks Faith spin-kicked towards Xander and took him down with a side-kick.

Hitting his fist angrily on the floor, Xander stood to his feet and rushed Faith, throwing a kick and two punches. Faith blocked the first, dodged the second, and knocked Xander to the mat with the aid of a couple of kicks. Before he could get to his feet, Faith firmly planted her foot on his chest to hold him down.

"Looks like I had enough practice, bro." Faith said as she looked down at him and blew a kiss.

"That's enough." Bruce said softly, as he walked over to them. "Faith can I talk to you alone for a minute?" he asked as he walked out of the room.

"Do you think dad is mad at me?" Faith asked Xander as she helped him to his feet.

"Don't worry about it." Xander replied as he brushed off his white sparring suit. "I'm sure it's nothing."

Later that day

As Xander walked past his little sister's room, he heard her silently crying to herself. Opening up her door, he saw her lying on her bed, with her face down in her pillow.

"Faith are you okay?" Xander asked as he came fully into her room.

"Go away." she managed to get out as she looked up at him.

"What happened?" he asked as he sat down on the edge of her bed. "Did dad hit you?"

"No...he's...he's sending me away." she said as she sat up. "He's sending me away to boarding school."

"What!" Xander yelled as his eyes went wide. "Why is he..."

"He said it's because it's the best for me right now." she interrupted his question. "Was it something that I did wrong? Doesn't Bruce love me anymore?"

Pulling his sister into a hug, all he could think about at the time is how she said her father's name. She had never called him Bruce before, it was alway's Pa or dad. As his sister held onto him tighter, he wondered if a rift was going to form between the two.

A week later

Wayne Manor

Front Gate

With a tear in her eye as Faith looked back at her brother and father, Alfred opened the back passenger seat of the family car. As she was about to step in, she heard her brother yelling out her name.

"I...I wanted to give you something before you left." Xander said as he handed her a book. Looking down at it she saw that it was the first book that he had taught her to read. It was The Cat and the Hat. "Goodbye, Faith."

"Goodbye, Alex." she said as she gave him a quick hug. Not caring to say or even acknowlege her father, she stepped into the car and drove off with Alfred.

"Things are going to be okay, son." Bruce promised as he put a hand on Xander's shoulder. "You'll see."

Four Years Later

A Day Before The Events of Chapter Four

A curvy, beautiful brunette strutted her way up to a place she once called home. Looking at the finely built victorian home brought back alot of memories for her. Some were good and others were bad, but nevertheless she had to get a few things off of her chest with her father, before she skipped town. Walking up to the entrance, she rung the door bell.

"Miss Faith, what a pleasant surprise." Alfred said as he opened the door and gave her a hug.

"Hey, Al." Faith said warmly as she returned the hug. "Is Bruce in?"

"Yes, he's in his study."

"Sir, there's someone here to see you." Alfred said as he peeked into the study and saw Bruce doing mountains of paperwork.

"Send them in." he replied not looking up from the papers he was reading.

"Same old, Bruce." the voice said making him stop reading. "All work and no play."

"Faith." Bruce said with a big grin as he stood to his feet. "What are you doing here?" he asked as he pulled her into a hug, she didn't return.

"We need to talk." she said as she pushed her father off of her. "I can't take private school anymore. Just give me my inheritance, so I can get the hell out of here."

"What?" he asked in shock.

"You heard what I said, Bruce." she said as she held her hand out. "Just give me the money so..."

"No. Faith I don't know what's going on but..."

"You don't care about me is what's going on." Faith muttered to herself.

"You think, I don't care about you?" Bruce asked increduously. "Faith you're my little girl, I love..."

"That's a fucking joke." Faith said as she threw her hands up in the air. "I'm so out of here."

"Not until you explain yourself." Bruce said as he spun her back around to face him. "What's your problem?"

"My problem is you, Bruce." Faith said as she jabbed him in the chest with her finger. "I'm tired of trying to be what you want me to be. I'm tired of going to that uppity private school and I'm tired of this rich girl bullshit, it just ain't me."

"Firstly, I sent you away to that private school because I want the best for..."

"No you sent me away because you wanted to get rid of me." Faith cut him off as a tear fell from her eye. "You're no better then my mom."

And when she said that, Bruce finally understood what his little girls problem was. He knew that she had always had abandonment issues, but he was the cause of making that worse. All those times he had to go off on business meetings, all the times he wasn't there for her on her important days, and all the nights he had to leave her and her brother when he had to be Batman. And then to top it all off, he had sent her away to private school in Metropolis.

"I didn't send you away to get rid of you." Bruce said as he tried to grab her hand. "I sent you away because I wanted a better life and education for you. A better life then I could provide."

"You know when my mom told me that she didn't want me, I said to myself that it was okay." she said looking up into his eyes. "And you wanna know why, Bruce? It's because you said you would protect me. You said that you would be my new daddy and that you would always be there for me."

"I know baby."

"But you were never there for me, Bruce." she continued. "You always went to your damn business meetings and let's not forget all those nights you would leave and come back with bruises. I was so scared when I saw you like that. I thought it was my ma beating you and that she was gonna come back for me. All I wanted as a little girl was for you to hold me and tell me that I was pretty. Hell Alfred was a better father then you were." she said causing him to flinch.

"All you could find time in your cold heart to do was teach me and Xander how to fight." Faith continued. "Do you know how lonely we were? How scared we were that something was gonna happen to you? Well I'm an adult now, Bruce so I'm gonna say it to your face. The hell with you and your damn money." she said as she turned to leave. As soon as her hand touched the door knob, her hand started to shake and she turned to Bruce with her body wracking with tears.

"Dad, why don't you love me?" she asked with her tears falling uncontrolably as Bruce walked up to her and pulled her into a hug.

"Faith, I do love you?" Bruce whispered into her ear as he stroked her hair. "I know I didn't always show it, but you and your brother have always been in my heart. That's why I stayed away at all those business meetings. It was because I wanted to make sure that you two stayed happy and had lots of things."

"Dad, I'm sorry about the things I said..."

"Hey, don't ever be sorry, because this is all my fault. If I had been there for the both of you, when you needed me, you would have never felt this way."

Sitting down at his desk, Faith sat on his lap and softly cried out years of frustration out on his chest. All the times her mom abused her and called her worthless, came to mind, and made her cry even harder. All Bruce could do for his daughter was to stroke her hair and hold her as she started to let it all go. As he held his daughter in his arms, he suddenly thought about another little girl from their past. It made him wonder if she was well taken care of, because she was supposed to be his little girl too. But as fate would have it, she was taken away from him, from all of them in the blink of an eye. As he thought about that he and Faith sat that way for hours, until Faith looked up at him when her tears subsided.

"I don't want to go back to, Metropolis."

"It's to late to take you out." Bruce informed her. "But you can come back to Gotham, after..."

"I hate, Gotham." she cut him off. "Why can't we just go some place else?"

"You know I can't leave, Faith. This company is gonna be the legacy, I leave behind for you and Xander." he said as he thought about her earlier words. "That is of course, if you care about my damn money?" he asked as they both chuckled.

"I just don't wanna be here."

"I don't want you to think that, I'm trying to send you away." Bruce said thinking. "But what if I send you to California after you finish the rest of the year in Metropolis."

"Cali?" she perked up a little at that. "What's there."

"Your brother."

"I don't wanna hang out with..." then she thought about, how she could tease and torment her older brother and a wicked gleam filled her eyes.

Now

Xander's Mansion

"Nice digs, bro." Faith said as she walked past him and looked around. "I think I might actually like living here."

'This is a new low for dad.' Xander thought to himself. 'What I did wasn't that...'

"Xander we have a problem." Diana said urgently as she ran into the room.

"What's going on?"

"That was Dawn on the phone, she said something's happened."

"What?" Xander asked with raised eyebrows.

"It's Buffy." Diana said sadly. "She's been shot."

A/N This was basically a bonus chapter before I'm gonna have a chapter about Buffy's fate. Faith is basically gonna be herself (like she was in the show) in the rest of the chapters. In this one, I just felt that a lot of the feelings she had bottled up inside had to come out. My reasoning for her character being the same from the show (even though I know people will find it flawed.) is that her mom's abuse, coupled with Bruce's negligence caused her to harden her heart some and be distant with people.

The girl is still fifteen years old and in her mind since Bruce broke his promises to her, then he's no better then her mom was. All she wanted was someone to love and take care of her, but seeing as she didn't feel that from Bruce a part of her started to hate him.

TBC...

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