This episode always bugged me. When Bruce is so excited that his parents were never killed and says "The nightmare is over," yeah what about your son Bruce? You never would have adopted Dick if your parents hadn't been killed since you knew exactly what he was going through and didn't want him to end up like you did. So this is my version of what would happen if he did remember that he had a son. Dick's going to be the same age he was when Bruce first adopted him in Robin's Reckoning with his little cute voice.

I still don't own Batman.

Batman had spent a majority of the night chasing criminals throughout the streets of Gotham. "So… (Yawn)…when are you coming home?"

"I'll be home soon Dick. Why don't you go get some sleep?"

"I don't wanna go to sleep till you come home. Then you can tell me all about the bad guys you busted."

"How about we do that tomorrow at breakfast? You might fall asleep during the best part if I tell you tonight."

"I guess you're right. Night Bruce."

"Goodnight Dick. Good dreams tonight alright?"

"I'll try." Dick said and Batman hung up the phone. Now he could focus his energy on the criminals trying to get away. Not that he'd rather do that then talking to Dick for a bit. The criminals pulled up to an oil storage warehouse and ran inside. Batman stopped the car and ran inside after them. Suddenly something landed in his eyes and was hit in the head knocking him unconscious.

Break*Break*Break

Bruce suddenly shot up and realized he was back at the manor in his bed. He then took a few minutes to catch his breath and calm down. That's when the lights turned on and in walked Alfred carrying his rope.

"Good morning sir."

"I'm lucky to be alive. I can't believe I fell for that trap like an amateur."

"Trap sir?" Alfred asked laying Bruce's robe down.

"How did I get back here? Did Dick come after me?"

"Dick sir? I'm afraid I don't understand."

"What are you talking about Alfred? It's Dick, my son." Bruce said.

"Son? But I didn't know you and Miss Selena…pardon me sir. It's none of my business."

"If this is some kind of joke Alfred it's not funny."

"If it's a joke sir I assure you it's on me…I've just prepared breakfast. Perhaps that and morning coffee will clear up the cobwebs." Alfred said and left the room. Bruce quickly got in and out of the shower and went to where Dick's room was.

"Good morning sleepy head. It's time to get up n…" Bruce was shocked to see Dick's bedroom was completely empty. It wasn't the bed that was empty but the entire room was bare. There was no Haly's Circus or The Flying Graysons poster hanging up, no toys on the floor, or even the picture of him and Dick that was always on the nightstand. It looked like no one had slept in here in years. Bruce then walked downstairs rather quickly to ask Dick what had happened. His first stop was the Batcave. He walked to the clock and tried to pull the "Clock" but nothing happened.

"What?!"

"A problem sir?" Alfred asked who was dusting the knick knacks on the shelf.

"It's not here!"

"What's not here?"

"You know what I'm talking about! The entrance to the Batcave, why is it sealed up?"

"Batcave sir?"

"Yes Alfred. The Batcave. It's a big hole in the ground with a big car that's black. Remember?" Bruce asked mysteriously.

"Son is everything alright? You sound upset." A voice was heard. Bruce's eyes went wide, turned around and saw the two people he thought he never would see again; Thomas and Martha Wayne. Bruce couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"No. It's impossible." Bruce said allowed while taking a few steps backwards. "It can't be you. It can't!" Bruce said and ran out of the room leaving everyone confused.

Break*Break*Break

Meanwhile Bruce had run into to the kitchen and starting splashing water on his face. There was no way his parents could be alive. He was there when they were killed and pronounced dead to the world. How could they possibly be alive now? After drying his face off, his father came in carrying a flashlight and tested Bruce's eyes.

"Are you sure you're okay son?" He asked.

"I…I'm fine; Just partied too hard last night."

"You will be able to get to the office right?"

"Sure. I'm fine. Really."

"Well good. I'm so glad you'll be there. Your mother and I have an appointment too this morning." Thomas Wayne explained imitating a golfer. This caused the two to chuckle. "You better hurry son. You don't want to be late."

"Alright, bye dad." Bruce said and went upstairs to change into his business suit. Alfred then came in to give him one last inspection. "Alfred, can I ask you an odd question? Would you tell me…about my life? Humor me please."

"Very well sir. Since your father retired you've been head of Wayne Enterprises and…well Lucius Fox practically runs the business not that you aren't capable of course!"

"That's alright Alfred. Please go on." Bruce said.

"Well unless plans have changed you are to marry Miss Selena Kyle. You had proposed to her last week." Bruce then turned around and looked at himself in the mirror again.

"No it's wrong. It's all wrong!"

"Well sir it could always be worse. You could have not had your mother and father your whole life."

"Yeah, my life would have been much worse." He said and sat down on the chair covering his hands with his face.

A few hours later he was sitting in his office at Wayne Enterprises deep in thought. It was then that he noticed a picture of his parents and himself when he was about the same age as when his parents were killed. Taking it in his hands, he noticed that this was the same photo frame that he had in his office in his other world. Except instead of him and his parents, it was a picture of him and Dick.

Flashback

"There, now you'll be with me all day while I'm working." Bruce had told Dick one day when he had brought him to work one day.

"Yeah, and you won't get lonely while you're working.

"Wouldn't have it any other way kiddo." He said and picked Dick up while spinning him in a circle.

End Flashback

Suddenly a knock was heard and in walked in a woman with blonde hair wearing a pick blouse, white gloves, and a purple shirt with matching hat.

"Selina?" Bruce asked in disbelief.

"Your mother called darling. She said you could use some cheering up. I see no woman more qualified for the job more than the woman you're going to marry next week." Selina said slowly taking her gloves off. "Bruce you really seem upset, what's wrong?"

"I just feel like, I'm living in someone else's life. It's crazy but I just feel like there's something in my life that's missing. A special reason for why I'm living right now.

"Don't worry about that my love. As soon as we're married you'll have that feeling."

"I know, but I'm…"

"Batman." Selina said. Bruce couldn't believe his ears. How did Selina know that he was Batman? He quickly looked at her and saw that she wasn't looking at him at all; she was looking outside. Bruce turned around in his chair and saw the caped crusader himself grappling off a building. He then jumped out of his seat out of his office, past all his employees and took the elevator down with Selina following him. The two made it out just in time to see a robbery in progress happening across the street. Batman swooped down just in time and threw one criminal at a building knocking him unconscious, while the other tried to drive away. Batman jumped on top of the car and took the criminal out of the driver's seat jumping off before the car hit a water-hydrant. As soon as the criminals were tied up and the police arrived, Batman just left.

"Isn't he just fantastic?" Selina asked Bruce.

"Actually…yes he is. Who exactly is he?"

"They call him Batman."

"No, who really is he?"

"No one knows. He just showed up in town a few weeks ago. Bruce are you sure you're okay?"

" Selina does the name Catwoman mean anything to you?"

"Catwoman? Bruce you're starting to scare me. What's all this about?"

"I'm losing my mind that's what." Bruce said.

"How about we take the rest of the day off? We can go to that little diner that just opened."

"Well…alright. This will give me a chance to catch up on things." Bruce said and the two got in Bruce's car and drove off into downtown Gotham where Macy's Diner was.

Break*Break*Break*

Later that night, Bruce had gone to see his close personal friend Leslie Thomkins who knew more about the mind then he did. "I couldn't go to a psychiatrist. You're the only one I really trust. I just feel like I'm living another life. I don't know anything about me anymore. Please help me Leslie."

"Even though I'm not a psychiatrist Bruce you're problem seems clear. You've lived a life where everything has been handed to you; even Wayne Enterprises. You don't feel like you've accomplished anything. That's where the child you told me about comes in. Having a child is a big responsibility and is what most people think of when accomplishing something. You have that feeling of love and hope because if that child dies or something bad happens, most parents just want to give up on life. So with you, your unconscious mind has created a sort of life that's satisfying to you. It's called dissociation Bruce. Once you find pride and happiness in your life then the delusions will go away."

"Then all these years of training and discipline have all been…"

"Just a delusion."

"Then…the nightmare is over!"

Break*Break*Break

After the session with Leslie, Bruce went home and for the first time in his life was cheerful and happy. He then saw his father going through the drawers in the living room. He then went over and gave him a long awaited hug.

"Dad, will you and mom like to join me and Selina at the opera tonight?"

"Glad to see your old self again Bruce."

"I've never felt better sir."

"I'll check with your mother." Bruce said and then went to his office where Alfred was dusting away.

"Had any luck finding the entrance to the Batcave yet Alfred?"

"I'm afraid not sir."

"Good! Cause if you had then we'd both be nuts." Bruce said giving him a shove.

"It's nice to see you in good humor again master Bruce."

"Why shouldn't I be happy? My life is a dream Alfred. The best dream I could ever have." Bruce said and Alfred left saying he was going to prepare his suit.

"You do that Alfred." He said and turned to read the paper. He was confused by all the jumbled up words on the paper. None of them made any sense. He quickly turned the paper and saw the exact same thing only this time there was a picture. It was a photograph of two people lying on the ground of some kind of ring with sheets wrapped over them. Bruce now looking confused tuned the page one more time of the one person that gave him meaning to his life. It was a picture of Dick being pushed into a car by someone in a business suit who was also Dick's social worker. Bruce suddenly realized that his parent's death caused him to understand what Dick was going through when his died which led to the adoption.

'I never adopted Dick.' He thought and shot up faster than a bullet. Throwing the paper down, he sprinted out past his parents and practically dove into his car speeding to the juvenile detention center where he was. Once he got there, he ran inside up to the receptionist who was painting her nails on the desk.

"Excuse me miss. Is there a Richard Grayson here?"

"Yes sir but he currently is missing."

"Missing? What do you mean he's missing!?"

"I mean he's missing! He's not here." She said giving him a look and immediately went back to painting her nails. "Good riddance too."

"What's that suppose to mean? He was sent here to get adopted correct?"

"Yeah but he's such a pain. Always crying saying he had to find the guy that killed his parents. Plus he screams at night and wakes the other inmates." Bruce immediately felt so guilty about loving the way his life was right now. He was so focused on his happiness that he forgot about his son's and what he meant to him.

"When was the last time you saw him?"

"Probably a week ago. At this point he's gotta be dead all alone out there."

"He's out there by himself in Gotham?!" Bruce shouted and immediately ran out the door in a panic to his car. He then went around checking the places that he and Dick had always liked to go to with no success. Suddenly he hit the steering wheel in frustration. 'Come on Dick, where did you go?' All of a sudden he had a pretty good feeling of where he was. Without so much as thinking, Bruce ran to the store across the street and bought a flare gun, along with some rope, and boomerangs and headed all the way to the docs where he had found Tony Zucco in the other dimension.

"Alright you little punk. Looks like I'm not going to run away after all now that I have you." He heard someone say.

"Let … (cough)…go of me." Dick said who did not look good at all. His hair was tangled up and was wearing his orange detention center jumpsuit that had been burned the minute Dick had walked into Wayne Manor before. He looked like he hadn't had a good night sleep or bath in at least a week.

"Awww is the little circus boy not feeling good? Should I call mommy and daddy to come pick you up and make it better? Oh right, you don't have a family anymore. Who would want to adopt a gypsy like you?" This made Dick go silent and start to shake.

"No one would."

"That's right. So now it makes my job of killing you more easier." He said pulling out his gun out of his pocket.

"No." Bruce whispered and all of a sudden kicked down the door throwing a boomerang at Zucco's hand causing the gun to fly out of his hand.

"What the hell is Wayne doing here?" One asked only to be kicked in the chest knocking him down.

"Don't just stand there you idiots get him!" Zucco shouted walking towards Dick who was getting weaker by the minute. Bruce wasted no time used his boomerang to hit Zucco and knocking him down. Then the two goons holding Dick dropped him harshly and ran to the aide of their boss. Bruce used this to his advantage and made the two butt heads knocking them out unconscious. He then took the time to beat up Zucco without mercy.

"How do you like it you scum?!" He shouted and continued to beat him until he heard Dick start wheezing. Realizing this made him go for the final punch knocking out Zucco. He then ran towards Dick who was on all fours breathing heavy.

"Dick! Are you alright?!" 'Of course he's not genius. And you're supposed to be the world's greatest detective.' Bruce seeing how miserable he looked felt his forehead but pulled it back suddenly after realizing how hot he was. "Hang on Dick. I'll get you to Leslie and she'll make you all better."

"No…don't wanna go back." Dick moaned.

"Dick you're not going back there. You're coming home with me." He said running his hand through his hair and then proceeded to pick him up. Just as he was about to exit the warehouse, the police arrived.

"Mister Wayne! There you are, we've been looking everywhere for you. You're parents are terribly worried about you. We're here to take you home. A cop said.

"Hey that's Richard Grayson, the runaway from the detention center. Lucky you found him and took care of him Mister Wayne before he caused anymore trouble." Said the cop's partner.

"Causing trouble?! He's the one that's in trouble. His parent's murderer just tried to kill him and he's being abused at the detention center!"

"But he's a gypsy."

"That doesn't mean anything!" Bruce shouted holding Dick closer.

"Alright sir. Just hand over the boy and we'll take you home."

"Never!" Bruce shouted and started to run. He didn't care if he was being selfish but this was his child and no one was going to take him away from him. He ran through downtown Gotham knocking over trashcans to slow them down. "Hold on Dick. I'm getting us out of here." Bruce said after jumping over a brick wall. He then arrived at the Wayne Cemetery and looked up at his goal which was the very top to the church. Still holding Dick, he threw his "grapple" up a building and climbed up holding Dick in a fireman's carry. "Hold on to me as tight as you can. We're almost there." He said while climbing up at the same as a storm was starting. Dick meanwhile did as he was told but was on the brick of being unconscious. "Stay awake Dick; just until we get up here." At last they made it up to the top and Dick finally went into the world of unconsciousness. Bruce got him off his shoulder and gently lowered him to the ground. Getting back up, he started screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Here I am! I've been waiting for you! You did this to me!" He said and waited. After a few seconds he was rewarded with the person who would solve everything; Batman. He landed in front of Bruce and the two had a standoff. Then Bruce ran after him attacking with Batman doing the same.

"You're not well Mister Wayne. You need professional help." Batman said.

"Liar! You know what's going on! This is a dream. And you're the one responsible for it!"

"A dream? Why do you think that?"

"I suspected it from the start. I knew it was right when I couldn't read the newspaper. The print didn't make sense."

"Yes?" Batman said moving forward and Bruce moving backwards.

"That's because reading is a function of the right side of the brain while dreams are a function of the left. It's impossible to read something in a dream."

"Granted that's true. But how is it my fault?"

"I can't explain it. But you're the key to this. I knew you would be here. This tower is part of my nightly patrol. Bruce said and stopped right in front of where Dick was. Bruce then grabbed Batman and demanded an explanation. He suddenly was blinded by a searchlight.

"We know you're up there Mister Wayne. We don't want to hurt you, we just want to talk." The police said. The two then started fighting again until Bruce landed on top of him and managed to pull his mask off to reveal…

"The Mad Hatter?"

"Congratulations are in order I suppose." He said getting up. "And you're right, this is a dream. A very special kind of dream."

"Then…you know everything about me."

"I do, but I'm only part of your dream. The mind apparatus is designed to create an ideal world for you. Nothing is revealed to the real world though.

"Then…you're not the real Mad Hatter."

"No! Just a figment of your imagination. But that doesn't mean I'm not real." He said and Bruce grabbed him again.

"Make it stop. Bring me back." He yelled and threw him down again.

"I'm crushed. You don't like the fantasy world I've created for you?"

"It's not real!"

"Ahh…are you the dreamer or merely apart of someone else's dream. That's exactly what Tweedle Dee asked Alice in Through the Looking…"

"THIS ISN'T SOME SILLY STORYBOOK!"

"Oh but it is; A beautiful story. You have love, wealth, a family, and all you could ever want." Bruce then started to clutch his forehead.

"No! I won't live a lie. And you missed one important detail, the only reason why I haven't gone down that dark path yet." Bruce said and walked over to check on Dick.

"Why do you want to waste your time with a child? Children are such burdens and extremely expensive; especially those college days."

"No! It's the special moments that matter. Like when I always get a morning hug every day and when I come home from work. Like when I get scared to death when he screams at night from a nightmare and then we stay up all night drinking hot chocolate and watching movies. Every time I hear that laugh of his and when he smiles, it's the greatest gift I could ask for and all I ever want in life."

"But why? You have your parents and your lover to do that."

"No one could replace Dick. NO ONE!"

"Well that can't happen here. You don't understand what he's going through anymore." Hatter said and banging was heard coming from the door.

"Open up Mister Wayne!"

"See? There's no way out of this. You can't hurt a dream anyway so stop fighting it. Do you want to spend the rest of your dream life in Arkham?" Bruce then looked down at Dick and had a crazy idea.

"You're wrong, there is a way out." He said and hugged Dick one last time followed by a kiss to his forehead. "No matter what happens, always know that I love you." He said and set Dick down again going towards the edge.

"Now wait just a minute. You don't want to do anything foolish. What if you're wrong?"

"Then I'll see you in your nightmares!" Bruce said and ran to jump off the tower.

"Mister Wayne! No!" The officer screamed and Bruce started falling into limbo. He suddenly woke up with a start and was hooked up to some sort of machine with a helmet on. He quickly pulled off the equipment and started beating up the real goons.

"No! You can't! No one's will is strong enough to escape my dream machine. It's impossible."Yelled the real Mad Hatter.

"Why?! Why did you do it?!"

"You of all people have the gull to ask me that?!" Mad Hatter said and started crying as well as surrendering. A few minutes later the police showed up and arrested Mad Hatter and his goons. As soon as he was finished, he got in the car and raced home. When he got there, he wasted no time jumping out of it.

"There you are sir. I was starting to get worried."

"Where's Dick?! Is he alright?!"

"What…Of course he's alright sir. He's tucked away in bed." Alfred said and without changing ran upstairs to Dick room hoping that he was there. He got to Dick's room and gently opened the door and walked in. Inside sleeping on the bed was a cute little angle. He had black hair and his little eyelashes brushed against his cheeks. He also had on dark blue pajamas and snuggling against the stuffed elephant that was personally made by the boy's deceased mother. Bruce gave a huge sigh of relief. He knew that the pain of their parent's death was still there but as long as they had each other then they could get through the pain together. Bruce grabbed the Batman comforter and pulled it over the boy and tucked him in. Feeling the new warmth, the boy snuggled further into his Superman pillow and gave a little smile.

"Night Dickie, love you." Bruce said and walked out of the room leaving the door almost closed.

Yeah I really don't have too much to say about this one besides it took me forever to finish this. Hope you enjoy and next chapter I think will be Never Fear or another episode with Tim.

Thanks,

LaurenHardy13