Here is a tiny, little excerpt from Bat-Wolf. It would have been tucked into chapter 6, but despite Bruce's budding fatherly instincts, I chose to go a different route that led to excitement and a climactic breakdown of Dick's emotional wall as well as witnessing more cracks in the wall around Bruce's heart.

Bat-Wolf - "Sleeping On The Floor"

No Warnings - Rating "K+"


He moved back to the corner. He didn't think he could sleep in the bed after being so bad. This could be part of his punishment, Dick decided as he curled up in the corner and let sleep come. He would leave early; before breakfast, before anyone else was up.


Bruce tapped lightly on the door. He didn't want to just barge right in if the boy was still awake. When there was no answer, Bruce opened the door and looked in. It was like déjà vu . . .

The bed was empty. The chair and the window seat was as well. The window was closed, however, thank God! No alarms had alerted him to a breach in the manor's defenses. His eyes swept the room and that's when he discovered the boy; curled up in a miserable ball in the corner.

"Ah, Dickie," he whispered. "What's going through that head of yours?"

Bruce went to pick the boy up, but paused when he noticed the child's backpack lying next to him. Dick was clutching his elephant to his chest and the picture of his family sat beside him on the floor.

Curious, Bruce picked up the pack and unzipped it. It was packed with clothes, and it didn't take a detective to realize that everything in it was the things that Dick had brought with him. Nothing that he or Alfred had bought for him had been packed. He was planning to run away.

"Come on, Dick," Bruce shook the boy awake. "Let's get you to bed. The floor is too cold and uncomfortable for you to sleep on all night."