A/N: I know I said I wouldn't answer reviews here, but I made the startling discovery that not everyone has their e-mail listed so here is just a general group response. I don't think there will be any major BtVS/Batman pairings, there is a serious age gap, there will be some Xander/Rachel crusheyness in the future. And there will be pairings in the future but I don't know who yet. There will be some traveling back and forth by various characters, and I hope to have Xander back in SunnyD by Christmas but you'll have to ask my muse to be sure. As to the other questions, you'll just have to wait and see.

Thanks for the kind words all who reviewed and please keep it coming.

Chapter 3

Xander could never be called an early riser but since he got a lot of rest yesterday, and his ribs made it impossible to get comfortable, much less breathe, he found himself awake several times after batman woke him last night. Now he found himself awake and half dressed at 8:00 am slowly pacing while tethered to his IV. He was feeling a good bit better and his headache and the pain from his ribs was to a more manageable level thanks to the painkillers. He figured he'd be able to get back to work in a week. 'Damn, I need to call work and tell them what happened. Great, I hope I don't loose my job over this.'

When the door to his room opened he spun so quickly that he cringed at the pain in his ribs and had to steady himself on the bed.

The nurse that had walked in to check on him looked surprised and a little.. disappointed?.. when she noticed that he was already half dressed and walking.

"Mr. Harris, you should really be in bed. I'm surprised you can even move with the damage you've taken."

Xander just smiled through the slight grimace that was still on his face and straightened up a bit.

"It's really not as bad as it looks. Besides I heal pretty quick."

"Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised with your medical record, it seems you've had your fair share of hospital visits. Why don't you just sit down and let me check your bandages."

The nurse guided him to the bed and had him half remove the hospital gown and removed the tape on his ribs to check the bandages beneath. He noticed that she had a small smirk on her face and her hands seemed to linger on his chest a bit more than necessary. When she saw that he noticed, she ducked her head a bit and a slight blush rose to her cheeks. She was a cute girl with coca colored skin that reminded him a little of Kendra, but thinking of her brought back bad memories so he tried to lighten the mood.

"So, what happened to Helga the Hun? I thought she was my usual nurse, not that I'm complaining, I appreciate the upgrade." He said with a wink, hiding the bad feelings under his mask of humor.

The nurse had to stifle a giggle at his name for the previous nurse. "Nurse Brimstaff doesn't work on Sundays, so today you get me. I'm Crystal." She said with a smile and offered a hand.

Xander shook her hand and replied, "Xander, please don't call me Mr. Harris it makes me feel really old."

"Xander? That's an interesting name."

"Well it's short for Alexander. My best friend since preschool couldn't pronounce Alexander, so I've been Xander ever since."

"That's sweet… alright you can put the gown back on now." She had just finished checking the bandages and put new tape on his ribs.

"Thanks, do you think you can take the IV out? It's really starting to get on my nerves, and I am supposed to be getting out of here today."

The nurse got an embarrassed look on her face and shook her head. "Sorry, ADA Dawes said your not to be released till she gets here. And with the number of times you checked out of hospitals early, I think we need to make sure you stick around. Besides, I think I'd like to keep you around for a bit."

"Well pretty lady, in that case consider me your willing prisoner." Xander said with a horrible cowboy drawl.

"Well, in that case let me finish my rounds and we'll see how I can make your stay more pleasant." Crystal said with a giggle and a wink.

Xander immediately started to blush, 'Yep, I'm really liking this town. The women don't think I'm stupid or try to kill me.'

"I.. uh.. Sure, I'll be waiting right here."

Candy giggled at his reaction and waived as she left to finish her work. Xander decided to watch TV while he was waiting, and found a station that was playing reruns of old 80's cartoons. 'Sweet, Voltron™'.

An hour later Rachel came in to see Xander sitting on his bed with a confused expression on his face as he was watching 'Sailor Moon™' and fingering the remote as if he was about to change the channel.

"Hey hero, your looking kind of confused."

"Oh.. Heh, Hey, It's just I can't change the channel. It's like watching a train wreck. The part of me that likes cartoons is telling me to watch, but the part of me that's male is telling me to change the channel." With that he shook his head and turned off the TV. Then he gave her one of his lopsided smiles, "So, you here to break me out of here? I gotta say, that whole making them keep me here till you got here was a dirty trick."

She smiled right back at him, "I had to make sure you'd stick around somehow, I can't have you disappearing on me in the middle of the night. By the way, you made the papers hero." With that she tossed a news paper on the bed open to a page in the middle. The headline was 'Gotham ADA Nearly Murdered in Narrows'. As he scanned the article he saw his name printed here and there, but mostly the article was about the horrible conditions in the Narrows.

"Wow, never seen my name in print before. Well at least if my boss tries to hassle me about missing the next week of work I'll have a good excuse."

"I'm sure that you won't get in any trouble for having to take off. By the way, I hope you don't mind, but I got your hotel key from the hospital last night and got your things and turned in your key. Your stuff is in the car and the guy behind the counter said you were paid up for the week anyways."

"That's cool, I only lost out on a day so no big."

Just then they heard giggling and looked towards the door. Crystal soon entered with a guy about Rachel's age dressed in a really expensive looking suit. When they looked up and noticed they were the center of attention the guy straightened up, and Crystal looked down and blushed a bit.

"Xander, let me introduce you to an old friend of mine. Xander, this is Bruce Wayne, Bruce, this is Xander. You'll have to forgive Bruce, he's easily distracted." She had an interesting smile on her face, but Xander saw something he couldn't quite define in her eyes as she looked at Bruce.

After that moment of thought his eyebrows shot to his hairline. "Wait, are you THE Bruce Wayne? The multi Billionaire that just got back like a month ago after disappearing for like years? THAT Bruce Wayne!" 'Great, I finally meet a beautiful woman that notices I'm here and not only is she a little older and out of my league, she's friends with like the worlds richest guy.'

Bruce stepped away from Crystal, which she was obviously disappointed about, and walked over to Xander. 'And he even blows away any shot I have with Crystal too.'

"Hi, I hear you're the reason Rachel is still around." He said as he held out his hand.

Xander just shrugged and took his hand, "It was nothing, anyone else would have done the same thing." Xander downplayed himself as usual and didn't think any more of it till he felt Bruce's grip tighten just a little on his hand.

"No, anyone else wouldn't have. You risked your life to save a friend of mine that you didn't even know. I can't tell you how much that means to me. If you need anything at all, let me know."

When Xander looked into his eyes there was an intensity and sincerity there that he had never seen before. But then he felt a nagging sensation that he should recognize Bruce. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he almost knew him form somewhere. Suddenly just like that Bruce smiled and turned a bit to look at Rachel as well and the moment was broken.

"So I hear Rachel is taking you in while your recovering. I wish I could have invited you both to stay at the manor, but we're kind of remodeling" Bruce said with a smirk, and winked at Rachel.

Xander shook off the intense moment from before and took in everything. It seemed like there was an inside joke that he was missing from the smirks on both Bruce and Rachel's faces.

"Wait.. Manor, Wayne Manor? Hey I'm working with the crew that is rebuilding the place after some drunk billionaire burned it… uh… down… Uh, can we just pretend I didn't just open my mouth there? I think it would make me feel a lot better." Xander said as he started to shift awkwardly as he got to his feet.

Crystal just looked shocked that he would mention it, and Bruce and Rachel were trying to stifle their laughter. Bruce coughing into his hand to cover it.

" Don't worry about it." Bruce said with a smile. "Lets just say I was having a really bad night." After he made that statement his eyes got a stormy look to them, but the smile came back immediately and Xander almost had to wonder if he had seen it at all, but for that second that feeling of recognition came back with a vengeance.

"Hey, everyone has a bad night sometimes. Of course I would recommend working out or bowling over drinking and such, but that's just me." His eyes became somewhat shadowed as he mentioned drinking, and thought of his parents, but he was almost as good as Bruce when it came to hiding what he was really feeling. Unfortunately, both Bruce and Rachel are a great deal more perceptive than his friends back home.

That piqued Bruce's curiosity though he didn't say anything. Though for Rachel, it confirmed her fears about his home life after seeing his medical records, but for now she would let it go. She'd have plenty of time later to talk to him about it while he was staying in her spare room.

"That's right, you said you had a part time job. I was wondering about that since you said you were just stopping in Gotham at the end of a road trip. How long were you planning on staying in the city?"

Xander was relieved that they didn't seem to catch on to his uncomfortable statement about drinking.

"Well, I was planning to be traveling for the whole summer, but I was held up in a few spots and rushed through most others cause I was worried my car wouldn't make it. I figured I would stick around a while and see if I could build up some job skills. When I go home I want to be able to move out and get my own place so I need the work experience."

"Well if your working on the manor then I assume your working for enterprise construction." At Xander's nod he continued, "Well that's a subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises so I guess I'm kind of your boss." He said with a smile. "I think I could pull some strings and see about getting you into a career track and getting you in one of our affiliates in California when you head back."

Xander was stunned. "Really, you'd do that for me? Thanks, but you barely know me." Xander was really excited at the idea of having a career but he was naturally suspicious of free gifts from strangers, even if they were well known rich strangers.

"Hey don't worry about it. Besides this is just a recommendation, once you get the job your going to have to work hard to keep it and try to advance beyond entry level. But after talking to you and the fact that you saved Rachel, I have no doubts that you'll do well."

Bruce was glad he could help Xander out without making it come off as charity. He really was confident that Xander would do well with a job, but he was worried that Xander would get himself hurt with working and his 'night job'. Bruce didn't even have a day job and it was still hard living through both of his identities. More than all that though, he really did like Xander. He was a genuine nice guy and even had a good knight in shining armor complex. There was just something about him that screamed 'You can trust me'.

As he was thinking all this Rachel spoke up. "So how about we get you out of here. I already filled out the paperwork, you just need to sign a few forms and we can go. Bruce has a car waiting downstairs, he really wanted to meet you and insisted that he pick me up and give us a ride."

When Rachel finished talking Crystal jumped up form her place at the door and waved to someone outside the room. Then she came over and took the iv out of Xander's arm, all the time making doe eyes at Bruce. Xander lost the fight to not roll his eyes, and looked back as Bruce smirked at him and winked at Crystal. As she stepped back to let him finish getting dressed, an orderly came in with a wheel chair for Xander.

"Is that really necessary?" Xander asked as he took off the hospital gown and put on the jacket he was wearing when he came in, noticing that his shirt was a lost cause.

As he pulled off the gown, Bruce and Rachel winced at the amount of bruising on his torso.

Crystal just smiled at him and looked on in appreciation at his build for possibly the last time. "Sorry hospital regulations. We have to push you out when you're discharged." As he sat down, she pulled a clipboard off the back of the chair and handed it to him. "As Ms. Dawes said, the forms are just waiting for your signature."

Noticing the way she was looking at him as he got a shirt on he smiled to himself, 'Well at least she didn't completely forget about me with Mr. Moneybags in the room.' He took the clipboard, and saw that his normal info was already filled in, and the billing information was sent to city hall judicial branch. As he signed the papers, he was starting to think that things were going really well considering, but he stopped there cause he didn't want to jinx anything.

The trip to the car was made in comfortable silence as he finished looking through the paperwork making sure everything was in order, and the drive to Rachel's was also fairly silent with a few moments of small talk about the sites in Gotham. Mostly everyone was lost in their own thoughts.

Rachel was worried about Xander's future and wellbeing. She could tell that he was a fairly intelligent and independent person, and frankly she was surprised that it wasn't harder to convince him to let her help him. Of course she knew that his condition probably helped a lot with that. What bothered her most was what would happen to him when he went back home. She was hopeful that the job situation would work out well for him but she was already thinking about how to pressure his parents to let him alone. 'Hopefully he'll be around long enough for me to build up his confidence a bit so he can stand up to his parents.' Even with his parents taken care of, he's still going to be fighting monsters and vampires. 'Maybe I can get Bruce/Batman to do something to try and make his life safer while he's at it.'

Bruce's thoughts were following similar lines. He only had suspicions about his home life, but he had already made up his mind to train him after Xander talked with batman the night before. The only issue now was the logistical concerns. 'How am I going to train him without tipping him off that I am batman. Maybe I can train him as Batman?' It wasn't that he didn't trust Xander, but Batman had to be thought of as a mythical symbol, a being of legend that criminals feared. The more people knew about him, the harder it would be to maintain that image. At least that was what he thought. 'Well I have some time to figure it out. Maybe I'll ask Alfred and Rachel about it later.'

Xander's thoughts were more mundane. 'What am I going to do now. I don't want to be too much of a burden, but for now I really do need the help. I just hope I don't over stay my welcome. Plus, I need to figure out how to repay both of these people who decided they should help a complete stranger that's a borderline loser. At least with Rachel I can try to help out around her house to try and earn my keep, but what could I possibly do to repay Bruce. Well, maybe I'll think of something after I start feeling a bit better. Plus I think hospital food has made my brain weak. I really need some sugarey goodness…' It was just then that Xander spotted something on the street. "Oh, ooh, can you stop the car? Please? I need to make a stop."

Both Bruce and Rachel looked up worried. Bruce had the driver stop while worried that Xander had spotted something evil or demonic that he had missed.

As soon as the car stopped Xander opened the door and jumped out.

"Thanks, I'll be right back." He yelled back amid protests of, 'Wait, what is it?' and 'Stop. What's going on?'

It only took half a second for them to decide to follow him as he limped into a convenience store that they had just passed. As they quickly followed him in, they were brought up short by the sight of him knelt down near a display of Twinkies practically drooling on them. He suddenly jumps up either ignoring the pain in his ribs or not noticing as he grabs 5 boxes and heads to the checkout counter.

They walk up behind him with curious expressions on their faces as Rachel gently taps him on the shoulder.

"What's going on? Is there something the matter? And what's with the Twinkies?" She quickly asked him as he turned while keeping her voice low.

Xander saw the bewildered looks on both their faces as he sheepishly cradled the boxes of spongy cake heaven to his chest completely oblivious of the pain he should be in.

"Sorry did I forget to mention that I'm an addict? Besides, the gods have given us too few things to truly cherish in life and Twinkies are one of them. I intend to make the most of it." Xander replied, and as he was talking he stood up straighter as if to stand proud in defense of his favorite snack cakes.

Rachel just looked at him completely bewildered. After a moment she just shook her head and went back to the car fighting off a smile and mumbling about insane cripples and their snack cakes.

Bruce didn't even fight it, he just broke out laughing like a loon holding onto the counter to keep himself upright.

Xander just stood there indignant, "Well it's not like I yelled fire in a movie theater to get to them. I just spotted them and decided I had to get some." By now he was chuckling a bit too. "Oh come on it's not that funny." He said with a smirk.

"No, it's not just that, gasp>… it's just," Bruce had to stop and catch his breath and wipe tears form his eyes. "I haven't been able to freak out Rachel like that since we were like 7 years old." He finally got out with a big grin.

At that Xander's smirk turned into a full blown smile. "Well next time you want to see that again let me know. I've been told that I am the king of frustrating even the most-calm mind."

"I'll do that." Bruce replied still smiling. "What's say we pay for that and get back on our way. I think we've had plenty of excitement for the day seeing as how you're an invalid and Rachel may be in a threatening mood once we get back."

Xander just kept smiling and paid for the snacks, "Don't worry, I've been immune to the death Glare since I met Buffy. She's a friend of mine back home. That girl has a glare that could peel the paint off a wall."

"I don't know, Rachel has been glaring down criminals for years now. It could be tough."

"I wouldn't worry too much, I have the puppy dog eyes down to a science. Perfected it when I was 3. Trust me, it has the power to stop any death glare before it can even start."

Bruce just smiled at him for a moment, "You know, I believe that." As they walked back to the car to a smiling Rachel, who was still shaking her head, Xander had the good grace to at least look chagrined. As they all climbed back in the car and the short ride that was left to Rachel's, he thought to himself, 'Well if nothing else this is going to be an interesting few weeks.'

Bruce and Rachel sat back in stunned silence as they watched Xander inhale a pack of Twinkies. The silence lasted till they got to Rachel's apartment building, punctuated by the occasional light chuckle by Bruce, or Rachel's pained grunt and head shaking as Xander continued sucking down Twinkies like they were nothing. By the time they got to the building one box ws already gone.

The building was very nice. Apparently ADA's get paid pretty well. The building was decorated in beige and red with lots of polished wood and brass, and looked like someplace Cordelia would have lived… Well before her dad turned out to be a crook. She lived on the 12th floor about half way up the building. The floors where the apartments were located were a little better, but still a lot nicer that Xander was used to. When they got to her apartment he almost sighed in relief. It was nicely decorated in soft blues and greens, but it didn't look like everything in the place was worth more than his life. It definitely had a homey feel to it.

Rachel led the way in, "Welcome to my humble abode, don't let the looks fool you, it's usually a sty. I cleaned up yesterday after I got home."

"It's very nice Rachel. I just realized I've never been in here before, we usually meet downstairs. Did you decorate yourself?"

"Yea, Its really nice. Actually it's a lot nicer than I am used to. Thanks for taking me in." Xander was just amazed yet again that a beautiful and successful woman was willing to let him stay there.

Rachel just smiled in appreciation, "Well I did most of the decorating, but mom added a few touches here and there." She moved over to grab Xander's bag from Bruce. "Let me put this in your room and I'll give you the nickel tour."

She proceeded to do just that and led them from room to room. The master bedroom was really nice and spacious with a king size four poster bed and all mahogany furniture. The master bath had a oversized tub with whirlpool jets, and a separate shower stall. The guestroom was almost as big with nice rosewood furniture, a sleigh bed, and walk in closet. The last bedroom was setup as a study and the second bathroom connected the two rooms. From here they went back into the main living room that they entered from and the kitchen was visible and fairly spacious with an eating area off to the side. There were a set of double doors off the eating area behind the dining table and she paused as she led them to the door.

"And now for the 'piece d'resistance' this is my favorite room in the house." She opened both doors wide and they entered into an absolutely breathtaking room designed as a library/formal living room. There were bookshelves lining the left wall filled with books, and the back wall was completely made of glass that wrapped around taking up about 1/3 of the right wall. There was an incredible view of downtown and a door that opened to a wide patio that went the entire length of the apartment.

"All the rooms have access to the patio but I wanted to show you this last so I had all the curtains drawn. So what do you think?"

Bruce had a smile on his face and Xander was just standing there slack-jawed at the incredible view.

"It's a wonderful view Rachel and you have an absolutely lovely home." Bruce said sincerely.

"Uh… yea… this is incredible." That was all Xander could get out while still admiring the view.

Rachel's smile was soon competing with the view of the city. "I'm glad you two like it, it's not quite Wayne Manor but it's home, and it definitely has it's perks."

Xander gave her a big grin and shook himself out of his stupor. "Really, thanks again for letting me stay here, it's an incredible home." He took one last look at the view and stepped back. "Well, I'm feeling kinda sore from all this moving around, so I'm just going to get settled in my room and get a little rest."

"Please, make yourself at home, it's the least I can do to repay you."

Xander just smiled and went back to his room to unpack and lie down for a bit.

Once they were sure he was gone Rachel turned to Bruce. "I want you to help him." She said abruptly.

"What do you mean?" He responded quirking up an eyebrow.

Rachel just looked at him exasperated, "You know what I mean. He has been fighting these things for years and you can help. Teach him to be a better fighter. You didn't seem to have too much trouble with that thing Friday night, and you can help him get as good as you." She just stared at him doing a good impression of the legendary 'Willow Resolve Face' (patent pending).

Xander got to his room and put on some sweat pants and a tank top, and was about to ease himself down to bed when he decided he should get something to drink cause he could tell he would want one soon. He wandered back into the kitchen and checked the fridge. Grabbing a soda he closed the door and was about to turn around when he heard his name.

"Well, for your information, I had already decided to help train Xander last night when Batman visited him in his room."

"You did what!" Rachel lowered her voice at the last minute so it came out as a yelled whisper.

"I talked to him in the hospital last night as Batman. I needed more information about these monsters that he fights and I didn't know where he would go after he got out. It's not like Bruce Wayne could have just come up and talked to him for no reason."

Rachel only seemed slightly mollified by that but didn't tense up again. "So you are going to train him then?"

"Well yes, but it's a complicated situation at the moment. I can't let him find out that I'm Batman because I don't want to put him in danger from the criminal element that is still far too prominent. But how can I train him as myself with out giving myself away?"

This was a revelation that Xander needed to think on, so he turned around and went wtraight back to his room. 'Huh, my boss is a billionaire playboy that runs around catching bad guys in a bat-suit by night. And I thought Sunnyhell was weird. Well at least I know he's a good guy, not that Rachel would trust him if he wasn't.' Xander gently lied down on the bed and began to think about the identity of batman when something occurred to him. 'Wait one minute here… These people know me for 2 days and wants to train me so I have a better chance at survival, but Giles and Buffy that I've known for years still haven't decided to train me to be a better fighter... I think I am going to be in this city a while, and by the time I get back to SunnyD maybe I'll be able to show them a thing or two. I'll prove to them once and for all that I can cut it in this fight.' With those thoughts in mind Xander fell asleep for a short nap.

(Meanwhile)

"Who cares if he knows your Batman! He is a good person and he can keep a secret. I saw his medical records, and I would bet my life that he was verbally and physically abused most of his life. And from what I can tell about the type of person he is, I doubt that even his closest friends know. He helps other people, but doesn't want to bother them with his problems."

Bruce just stood there in shock for a moment at her quiet outburst, "I suspected he had a rough home life from some of the things he said but if it was that bad wouldn't someone have done something?"

Rachel looked a bit chagrined, "Well, you once said that my system doesn't work, well it mostly does but sometimes people slip through the cracks. Add to that the fact that it can't work on it's own... If both of his parents are abusive then no one would ever know."

They both stood in silence and contemplated the situation they found themselves in and what they suspected. Neither of them liked what it meant.

"Alright, I need to go... We have the few weeks it will take for him to recover. Until then I will talk it over with Alfred, and we'll figure something out." Bruce gave Rachel a hug and smiled as he pulled away. "We'll figure something out, besides, he's a lot tougher than he looks at the moment."

Rachel walked him to the door and they said their good byes. She sighed as she turned around, 'It's going to be a long few weeks.'