As soon as Lionel finished off six bottles, Cherry eventually came outside.
"So... What's the verdict?" asked Lionel, too sad to be drunk, but not drunk enough to ignore his sadness.
"Um... Well..." Cherry said softly. "It appear to be pregnant again."
Lionel's stubble shot right off his face. "S-Seriously?" he gasped. "That... That's AMAZING!"
"I guess that explains why I haven't felt like myself lately." Cherry said as she put her hands together.
"Considering all the crazy shit we're going through now... That's the best news I've heard all month," Lionel beamed. "C'mon, let's get home. I know someone we can talk to tomorrow."
"All right... I just hope Bruce will be okay..." Cherry replied. "You know how much he means to me."
Lionel nodded. "Hell yeah. Hopefully, he'll be alright just in time to see the little guy be born." he replied, as they headed home.
"I really hope so..." Cherry replied. "I guess I ought to tell Selina anyway... She's family too."
"Sure, why not?" Lionel asked.
The next day, they and Terry stopped by the police station to talk with the new Commissioner Barbara Gordon. Cherry tried to calm herself down as she was going through quite a literal emotional roller-coaster ride. Lionel clasped her hand as they went inside.
"I'm sorry..." Cherry said. "I just have a million things going through my mind right now."
"Not every creep in Gotham wears a purple suit." Terry remarked.
"Nice to see ya too, kid." Cherry managed to say.
"Would make my job a helluva lot easier if they did." Barbara replied.
"Is Bruce okay?" Cherry asked Barbara, feeling on edge. "PLEASE TELL ME!"
"Cherry, calm yourself," Barbara told her. "He's doing fine, but it'll take time for him to recover. At least a week." she added.
"The Joker... He knew about Bruce...and me...and small fry and the goth..." Terry explained. "You think he knew about you, too?"
"Someone knows, I'll give you that... But it's not the Joker," Barbara replied. "Not the real one."
"Bruce said he was dead," Terry explained.
"And?" Barbara asked.
"That's it. I know there's more," Terry replied. "I need the answers he can't give us. We deserve those answers."
Barbara looked over before slinking towards the window. "I thought talking about it would get easier within time, but somehow, it never goes away..." she said with a sigh as she looked out into the city. "Dick Grayson, Nightwing, had left to establish himself in another city. There were five of us then: Bruce, myself, Cherry and Lionel of course, and Robin, Tim Drake."
"Ah, you had to bring that up." Cherry let out a small sigh from the memory.
"Apart from that... Those were the weird days," Lionel replied. "Remember Mary Dahl?"
"You had to bring her up..." Cherry hid a small shudder. "...Though, I felt a little bad for her at the same time."
"I honestly hope that she got better," Lionel sighed. "But still: I was with Tim that night. The both of us were on patrol..."
It flashed back to Gotham City of the past, showing Tim Drake standing atop a building with Bat-Mite, with LG standing behind them casually.
"A quiet, moonlit night in Gotham City," Bat-Mite monologued out loud. "And so far, no sign of any sinister activities."
"HELP! Somebody, please, help!" A voice cried out.
Two goons were shown going up towards a woman like they were going to mug her.
"Ahoy! A crime in progress!" Bat-Mite glared. "Time to dish out a hot serving of justice!"
"Hero Time!" Tim nodded as he soon went off with Bat-Mite.
"I'm getting too old for this..." Lady Gothika muttered before she took out what looked like a tiny bottle of wine before she lifted her head back and began to gulp it down.
Tim tripped up one of the thugs, and Bat-Mite body-slammed the other.
"Primo pummeling, Boy Wonder!" Bat-Mite commended.
"That evens things up a little." Tim replied.
"Not really, Bird Boy!" The woman smirked, taking out a mallet as she revealed her true self as Harley Quinn as she soon whacked at Tim.
"Ah... I thought I heard a high-pitched dog whistle." Lady Gothika muttered before she hiccuped a bit since she just had a drink.
"Wretched clown!" Bat-Mite growled, standing over Tim's body. "I won't letcha take him!"
"A bird in the hand..." Joker chuckled darkly as he soon came out.
"Heeey... It's Mr. Jaaaay..." Lady Gothika slurred out. "Hey, Mr. Jaaaay...?"
"Good Lord, you're already drunk." Joker grimaced to her as even he found it vile of her to be drinking on the job.
"No, you are!" Lady Gothika glared.
Bat-Mite sighed. "Cripes... Couldn't you have waited 'til we got home? This is killing our credibility..."
Lady Gothika muttered like she were imitating him as Batman was coming by to help them out.
"Do NOT take that tone with me, ESPECIALLY not now!" Bat-Mite yelled.
"Waha!" Lady Gothika replied.
"We soon realized the others were missing..." Barbara's voice narrated. "Night-after-night, we scoured the city... Luckily, we found Lady Gothika and Bat-Mite before anything happened."
"You guys okay?" Batgirl asked the two.
Lady Gothika looked to them.
"...LG?" Batgirl asked.
Lady Gothika soon grunted and seemed to throw up right then and there.
"We would've saved Tim... If she wasn't drunk off her ass!" Bat-Mite snapped.
"You and I are going to talk about this in the morning." Batman firmly told Lady Gothika.
"Shut up, Bruce, you're not my dad!" Lady Gothika garbled.
"We don't have time for this bullshit!" Bat-Mite growled, smashing the bottle. "We're gonna go home, and tomorrow we're gonna start searching. We're in no shape to start tonight."
Lady Gothika blew a raspberry to them since she was drunk. Luckily, the other nights came and she was more competent and cooperative. Bat-Mite, however, was more angry and focused, his bravado gone. They seemed to have nothing but bad luck in finding Tim.
One rainy day, they came to a roof top and found what looked like a jack-in-the-box.
"It has to be a trap." Lady Gothika muttered.
"No shit, Sherlock." Bat-Mite snapped angrily.
Lady Gothika gave him a look with a light growl.
"If YOU hadn't been drunk off your ass..." Bat-Mite snapped, tossing a batarang at the box. "Then Tim would still be here!"
"Well, I'm sorry if I felt stressed out!" Lady Gothika replied.
"You got stress? Deal with it on your OWN time!" Bat-Mite replied. "I told you it was a bad idea to DRINK WHILE WE WERE ON PATROL!"
"Argh!" Lady Gothika grumbled.
A bomb soon came out and they all jumped out of the way as it exploded. Batman and Batgirl inspected the straitjacket found in the explosion.
"Arkham..." Batman noted. "Let's all try to stay sober on duty this time."
"I said sorry!" Lady Gothika replied.
"I told you to never drink when on the job," Batman told her. "As long as you act like a little girl, I'm going to treat you like one."
"Well, SORRY isn't gonna get Tim back!" Bat-Mite yelled. "I shoulda just gone after 'im myself."
"Come on, no time to argue." Batman told them both.
Bat-Mite nodded. "Cuz of this, who KNOWS what coulda happened to the little guy? We were supposed to PROTECT HIM!" he sighed.
"I guess it's my fault... A-And the stress of doing this while balancing some schoolwork... I just... I just... I think I overwhelmed myself." Lady Gothika said as she was now almost crying.
"To be fair, I guess I'm also at fault. I could've done something to stop Joker... But I got too caught up in our argument, like a true jackass," Bat-Mite sighed. "Some protector of justice I turned out to be..."
Lady Gothika sniffled from her crying.
Bat-Mite patted her shoulder consolingly. "I'm sorry..."
"I love school... I really do... I just... I just..." Lady Gothika replied. "It's... It's too much! I can't do it!" she then cried out. "I wanna make my parents proud of me for going to college, but I just can't do it! I'm really smart, and I can take care of myself, but I just can't do it anymore!" she then blurted out about her anxiety, not with the Joker, but with her other life.
"I KNOW," Bat-Mite replied, hugging her even more. "But sometimes, you can't live up to everyone's expectations. Sometimes, all you can be is yourself. I do THAT every day... Maybe you oughta start, too."
"What're you saying?" Lady Gothika asked. "I should tell them I don't wanna do it anymore?"
"I'm saying, you gotta do stuff at your OWN pace," Lionel replied as himself. "Know your limits, and don't overwork yourself. The key to failure is trying to please everyone. Ironically, Bill Cosby said that."
"That's true... He did..." Lady Gothika sniffled as she remembered that from early childhood. "I just want them to be proud of me... But... Balancing this work and schoolwork... I just wanna go home and take like a mental health year or something."
"Then DO THAT!" Bat-Mite replied. "I'll even help you with it!"
Lady Gothika stared at the floor, she then wiped her eyes with a small sniffle before feeling better. "Okay..."
"That's the spirit," Bat-Mite smiled. "Now let's go kick some villain ass! Besides, we're here!"
"All right, let's do it." Lady Gothika smirked back once she returned to focus.
They headed into the ruins of Arkham.
"Arkham had been moved to a new building, and the old one had been left hanging open, like a rotting wound." Barbara narrated.
And the four heroes entered the abandoned Asylum, hearing what sounded like faint singing.
"Feels like something out of a horror flick..." Bat-Mite shivered.
"I feel like I'm living in a Stephen King novel." Lady Gothika added.
"Never liked that guy's work. Especially that one about the freaky clown monster..." Bat-Mite shuddered.
Lady Gothika suddenly stopped and her left eye seemed to twitch upon hearing someone not liking Stephen King.
"Honestly, the guy himself is okay, I'm sure, but his work just keeps me up at night," Bat-Mite added. "Saw both IT films AND read the book. Goodbye to a year of sleeping!"
"Okay, that I can respect..." Lady Gothika replied. "Sorry, I know we have our own differences and opinions... Just had a high school flashback right there. Anyway, this is creepier than my bedroom."
"Fair enough." Bat-Mite nodded as they entered the room labelled "OPERATING THEATER" and finally saw...Harley, wearing an apron and singing "Hush Little Baby" while arranging a vase on the table.
"Uh...?" Lady Gothika blinked rapidly.
"Pud'n! Company!" Harley announced.
"Hello, there~" The Joker grinned as he set down his newspaper and soon came down to see them. "Welcome to our happy home."
"Happy home, my hairy nards," Bat-Mite muttered. "Take the formalities and shove 'em up your ass, Napier."
"Where's Robin?" Batman growled.
"Robin?" Joker replied, looking confused with Harley. "There's no Robin here..."
"Maybe he means our little J?" Harley replied.
"Of course! That's it!" Joker grinned, snapping his fingers in realization before pointing to behind a curtain.
Batman stomped towards the curtain, but Harley took out a bazooka and shot at Batman, trapping him in wrapping paper.
"Mommy's little helper~!" Harley beamed.
"We're not asking again. Where. Is. ROBIN?!" Bat-Mite growled the last part, smashing the table under his fist.
Batgirl got ready to help, but Batman had her stay put.
"You know, Bats, we've been doing this runabout for years," Joker replied after kissing Harley on the cheek. "It's been loads of laughs, but the sad fact is, none of us are getting any younger, except for Baby Bat who seems to never age from being a graceful school student into a gorgeous young woman."
"She has aged phenomenally." Bat-Mite commented.
"Though, my clock's a-tickin'!" Harley smiled as she patted her own stomach, referring to her biological clock which was a woman's way of saying she wanted to have children.
"Quite right, poo." Joker replied.
"I don't think the world is ready for a spawn of yours." Lady Gothika said to Harley Quinn and The Joker.
"Well, Harley and I were thinking that it was time to start a family, so we brought little Joker Jr to our little brood." Joker grinned.
"But rather than go through all the 'joy' of childbirth, we decided to adopt." Harley added.
"No person with even a 50th of a brain would let YOU two nutburgers adopt a kid!" Bat-Mite replied.
"Oh, well, we couldn't do it legally, then we remembered Batman always had a few spare kids running around... So we 'borrowed' one..." Joker grinned as he came with Harley to the curtains.
"No..." Lady Gothika's face paled right then.
Batman gasped in shock.
"No...NO!" Bat-Mite howled, angry tears coming to his eyes.
"My God..." Batgirl muttered.
"He needed a little molding of course, what kid doesn't? But in time, we came to love him as our own," The Joker smirked. "Say hello, JJ."
And then, the worst happened. From the shadows, emerged a lookalike of Joker, except short, pale-eyed, and laughing in a creepy, emotionally-dead manner.
"DAMN YOU!" Bat-Mite roared. "I'M...I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"
Batman soon ripped out of the ribbons he was stuck in and tossed his knife at the Joker which just ducked without getting hit. The Joker soon laughed manically himself before taking a remote and pushing the button as he got onto the slab while the mini Joker was with Harley after Batman tried to grab a hold of him.
"I'm going after him." Batman scowled as he took off.
"Looks like it's up to us!" Bat-Mite sighed.
"Not just us, but a special friend of ours." Lady Gothika replied.
"And who would that be?" Harley asked.
"I'd watch out if I were you." Lady Gothika smirked.
Batgirl was soon swinging by and kicked Harley into a pile of blocks.
"Ha-HA! Good shot!" Bat-Mite whooped. "You're also involved, so you're dead too, clown!"
Lady Gothika tried to grab the boy. "Robin, it's LG, can you hear me?"
The only response she got was hyperactive laughter.
"I think he's gone." Lady Gothika frowned.
"He's in there somewhere..." Bat-Mite growled. "But we can figure that out later. I got a clown who needs a serious pummeling...and that's for his little lapdog, too!"
Batgirl tried to help Lady Gothika out with Tim, but it seemed to be nearly hopeless as he didn't seem to know them anymore.
"Wakey wakey, Harley. It's pain-o'clock!" Bat-Mite growled.
"Ah, if it isn't the Baby Bat's boy toy?" Harley scoffed.
"Well, newsflash, Quinzelle: this toy plays ROUGH!" Bat-Mite cackled, making his left fist gigantic.
"Oh, bring it on then!" Harley smirked. "I didn't think Baby Bat even liked boys, she seemed to hate men, especially Mr. J."
"Anybody with a brain would hate him," Bat-Mite snapped. "But hey, I guess that rules YOU out."
"Ah, you're in for it now!" Harley glared as she grabbed her mallet and soon chased after him. "I'm gonna pop me a weasel!"
"This just in: this weasel is gonna pop YOU!" Bat-Mite roared, smashing the mallet.
"MY MALLET!" Harley shrieked. "YOU BROKE MY FAVORITE TOY!"
"You messed up my pal's brain," Bat-Mite replied. "And now you're NEXT!" he roared as he transformed into his monster-mite form.
"Like you'd kill me!" Harley replied. "Ya wouldn't do that, would ya?!"
"Well..." Bat-Monster shrugged. "You crossed the line when you took my friend. I'm just returning the favor!"
"You're sick!" Harley replied.
"Oh, and you're not?!" Lady Gothika glared.
Bat-Monster raised his hand, and razor-sharp claws popped out from his fingers. "Maybe I won't kill Joker yet. Maybe I'll clone myself, and let the little wiseguy have his way with you while I make Napier watch. And then, when his little lapdog is, shall we say, domesticated, then I will finish him off. Besides, he was married before he went crazy from falling into that acid!" he explained devilishly.
Harley's eyes widened to that. "Baby Bat, control your man!"
Lady Gothika blinked once and soon turned her head in a snooty fashion.
"You had this coming for a LONG time, Quinn!" Bat-Monster cackled as Harley scurried for her life. "That's right, RUN! It's going to make hunting you down ALL THE MORE SATISFYING!" he called out.
"Sweetie, get Mommy's bazooka!" Harley called to Tim as she ran off.
"No, you're on our side, remember?!" Lady Gothika told Tim.
Tim soon went to get the bazooka, seeming to ignore her and only listen to Harley.
"Dammit..." Bat-Monster growled. "As if we didn't already have problems big enough. We're going after 'er."
Lady Gothika soon got up and went to go and stop Tim. Tim looked at her as he kept going, running a bit to get Harley her bazooka.
"You best leave him alone, Baby Bat!" Harley mocked with a smirk, holding her back.
"NO!" Bat-Monster shouted, as he turned the bazooka into... A water-balloon launcher.
"How dare you?!" Harley glared.
Lady Gothika then grabbed Harley by her arms and flung her forward against the wall.
"You...are SO lunchmeat, Harley..." Bat-Monster growled as he approached. "Every game comes to an end."
Harley soon leapt from a table, and rushed out the doors, running down one side as the others came to her, but she was running outside now.
"Why'd you do it, Harley?" Batgirl asked as she and the others stepped outside. "You took an innocent child and you MESSED UP HIS BRAIN!"
"Okay, so he roughed the kid up a little, but I'll make it right." Harley replied as she was hiding.
"Yeah," Batgirl scoffed. "You're Mother of the stinkin' Year!"
"Ah, you'll see," Harley replied. "We'll be one big happy family!"
"If you really believe that..." Bat-Mite scoffed, turning back to normal. "Then you're as stupid as you look."
"Is that right?" Harley grinned as she was hiding from them as they looked for her in the rain.
"Better believe it," Bat-Mite snapped. "Joker cares for nobody but himself."
"Tell me more." Harley smirked as she came up right behind them with a huge rock in her arms.
"I'm surprised you haven't stopped listening by this point... Oh, you sly broad, you got me monologuing!" Bat-Mite realized as he zapped the rock, turning it into a cotton ball.
"Wah!" Harley yelped to that.
"Did you really think that would work?" Lady Gothika asked Harley. "I can see your time spent with The Joker downsized your brain a little."
"Dammit!" Harley pouted.
"I can't believe I ever liked you..." Bat-Mite spat coldly.
"You have good taste, I'll give ya that." Harley replied.
"Yeah...cuz I got Lady Gothika with me." Bat-Mite replied as Tim returned with a second bazooka.
"What?!" Lady Gothika glared. "You better have stolen that bazooka from Crash Bandicoot!"
"Good boy." Harley smirked to Tim.
Tim soon tossed the bazooka up to Harley as Batgirl ran to him.
"Dammit, Tim!" Bat-Mite yelled.
Harley soon caught the bazooka and shot at them as Tim ran out of the way. The heroes dodged and leapt away from the shots, until Batgirl knocked the bazooka out of her hand, knocking Harley over, causing it to fire and blow up part of the scaffolding.
"Dang..." Lady Gothika whispered.
Someone soon jumped down with them. "Shadow Wolf is here to-"
"Wrong universe!" Lady Gothika and Bat-Mite told her.
Shadow Wolf blinked and soon disappeared.
"Ugh... I hate my fandoms..." Lady Gothika groaned.
"Who the hell was that?" asked Bat-Mite.
"I... I don't wanna talk about it..." Lady Gothika sighed sharply. "Why did I start writing on the internet? I should've just kept my stories to myself in my old school notebooks."
"Well, if you did THAT, then we would've never met!" Bat-Mite replied.
"...I guess that's true." Lady Gothika commented to that.
Suddenly the floor piece broke, causing Harley and Batgirl to fall.
"BG!" Lady Gothika gasped for Batgirl as she tried to help the girl.
Bat-Mite grew his wings out and soared down to retrieve his friend. "Hang on, Batgirl!" Bat-Mite called out.
Batgirl yelped as she was falling with Harley until she was soon saved by Bat-Mite. Bat-Mite flapped and flapped until he flew Batgirl to safety.
"Thanks, Bat-Mite." Batgirl sighed in relief.
"No problem." Bat-Mite said to her in equal relief.
"And what about Harley Quinn?" Batgirl asked.
Bat-Mite sighed. "Fine..." he flew down to get her.
"She doesn't deserve to die." Batgirl said to Bat-Mite.
"You're right... As usual." Lady Gothika rolled her eyes.
"Alright..." Bat-Mite sighed. "This might sound cliche, but...come with me if you want to live."
"Gosh, I didn't think ya cared." Harley sounded touched.
"Big deal...even I'm not heartless." Bat-Mite replied with a small blush.
"Well... Thank ya," Harley said. "Don't think this means we're friends now though."
"Believe me, I don't." Bat-Mite replied.
"Good..." Harley nodded. "But, uh, thank ya for saving my life anyways."
"Just don't get cute." Lady Gothika warned her.
"Meh, I'll see what I can do, Baby Bat." Harley smirked.
Bat-Mite rolled his eyes. "Better watch yourself, Quinn." he replied.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll see what I can do." Harley replied.
"Alright," Bat-Mite sighed. "That's the most we can hope for. We can probably check in with Annie later..."
"Meh, nobody's perfect." Harley replied.
"True, true." Bat-Mite nodded.
"'Specially your girlfriend who gets drunk." Harley smirked.
"I was stressed from college!" Lady Gothika glared.
"I thought you were a Smarty Pants," Harley smirked. "What're you so scared of from college?"
Lady Gothika sighed as she bowed her head. "Letting my family down..."
"Like you would know..." Bat-Mite snapped. "Get going before I change my mind."
Lady Gothika glanced over to Harley.
"See ya around." Harley giggled before she began to make her exit.
"Hopefully under better circumstances." Bat-Mite replied as Harley left.
Lady Gothika let out a small sigh as failing college really got to her during this visit, and not even a vacation to Gotham City could cheer her up as college wasn't going as well as she had hoped it would. "I don't know what's wrong... I'm a young woman, I should move out and just be happy, but... I don't know if I can still go to my classes after this..." she then sighed to herself. "Maybe I'm not as smart as I think I am."
"Hey... Don't go doubting yourself," Bat-Mite urged. "In the long run, you gotta go with whatever makes you happy. Maybe go on a journey of self-discovery?"
Lady Gothika just looked to him with a soft sigh.
Bat-Mite hugged her. "Tell ya what; afterwards, you can decide what you wanna do." he explained.
"Okay..." Lady Gothika said softly. "I guess the anxiety led to drinking in the student lounge... It was hard to talk with my parents sometimes on the phone at night or whenever I would come home for a break."
"Damn... That's gotta be tough." Bat-Mite replied. "I gotta feeling that after this case, I'll have more time to help."
"I guess so..." Lady Gothika said with a small sigh. "Come on, let's get back to Batman."
With a nod, they headed back inside to help Batman.
The Joker's laughter was heard as he tormented Batman for his own sick, twisted amusement.
"That bastard..." Bat-Mite growled. "We gotta move faster!"
"JOKER?!" Lady Gothika snarled.
"Ah, hello there, Baby Bat." The Joker smirked.
"You're deli meat, clown." Bat-Mite growled.
"Ooh..." Lady Gothika soon noticed something. "They're both bleeding."
"Must've been a serious beating." Bat-Mite remarked.
"You could say that, yes..." The Joker smirked. "And I'm very close to finishing the job."
"You don't have to kill him!" Lady Gothika replied. "He'd never kill you!"
"And that's what kept him at large all these years!" Bat-Mite replied as Tim came in with a gun.
"You've lost, Batman. Robin is mine," Joker smirked. "Go ahead, son; make them one of us."
"Don't!" Lady Gothika begged. "Please!"
"Oh, you are so cute when you're depressed." Joker laughed to her.
Tim laughed as he soon got ready to shoot.
"Damn." Batman muttered.
But then...Tim threw the gun aside.
"YES!" Bat-Mite grinned. "I knew he was still in there somewhere!"
Tim was still laughing, but he seemed to be still with the good guys, despite his new forced lifestyle.
"I guess the shoe is on the other hand." Lady Gothika told the Joker as she picked up the gun.
"Baby Bat... You wouldn't shoot me, would you?" Joker asked. "I thought you hated guns!"
"...I do... But more than anything... I hate you..." Lady Gothika narrowed her eyes and she soon shot right at him in his chest.
And Bat-Mite rushed him, shoving him into a bunch of scientific equipment, shattering it.
"That's not funny!" Joker snapped, as he got tangled in the wires.
"See you in Hell, Jack Napier!" Bat-Mite snapped, as Joker slipped on the liquid and yanked down a lever, electrocuting himself with an ear-splitting scream of pain.
Tim's laughter soon faded out and he ended up breaking down in tears as Batgirl came to see him and comforted him the best that she could. Lady Gothika soon set the gun down and put her face in her hands as she had a lot going on through her mind with school and fighting crime whenever she had time off from college. She just couldn't do it as well anymore as she used to from when she was in high school. Not to mention the many adventures she had in other worlds or universes.
"Whoa... Anybody order the fried clownfish?" Bat-Mite remarked as he helped Batman to his feet.
Lady Gothika was crying herself from her stress.
"Ah... Come here..." Batman said as he put his arm around her as she looked miserable from her anxiety.
"Let's get outta here..." Bat-Mite sighed as they left Arkham.
Batman did his best to hold Lady Gothika as she had a lot on her mind.
"We buried the Joker deep beneath Gotham," Barbara narrated. "The only other people who knew what happened that night were my father, the first Commissioner Gordon, and Cherry's parents. They promised to keep our secret. With his last act of cruelty, the Joker had tainted us all of compromise and deception," she then took off her glasses to rub her eyes wearily. "I suppose he had the last laugh after all."
"After that, the Batfamily disbanded: Bruce became more reclusive, Barbara was forbidden from being Batgirl, and Tim was put in a mental hospital. Annie, a former extension of Clayface, came to visit him whenever she could, and did her best to help him get better," Lionel added. "And I... Well, since I couldn't be Bat-Mite anymore, I dedicated my time to helping Cherry out with her problems."
Cherry was soon home from college for another break and showed her homework to her parents.
"Cherry, your grades seem to be slipping... This isn't like you..." Michelle said. "Aren't you studying?"
"Yes." Cherry said shallowly.
Lionel glanced at Cherry. "Go ahead... Tell them." he whispered.
Cherry looked back and stared at the floor.
"Don't you like your new school?" Bud asked.
"Yeah... It's great..." Cherry said in a shaky voice, though she looked like she was going to break down.
"Then why aren't you doing your best?" Michelle asked.
"BECAUSE I HATE NOT LIVING AT HOME ANYMORE!" Cherry soon wailed.
Lionel sat nearby, listening in. "Go for it, Cherry; better late than never." he smiled.
Cherry soon broke down crying which concerned her parents. "Mama, Daddy, I'm sorry, I tried so hard to stick it out, but it's just my other responsibilities get in the way of my studying, and I just don't know if I'm ready for this!" she then told them. "I know I'll be the first in the family with my own college degree, but I don't think I can do it right now! Can I please stay with you until I get back on my feet? I don't wanna go back to that dorm! I miss you guys on the weekend, and I miss my own room!"
"Oh, Cher Bear... Of course you can stay home," Michelle cooed. "You can stay with us for however long you would like."
Cherry sniffled. "I can...?"
"Of course you can!" Bud replied.
Lionel poked his head inside. "Afternoon, Michelle, Bud. Izzis a bad time?" he asked.
"Oh, Lionel, come on in, we were just talking." Michelle smiled.
"Really? What about?" Lionel asked as he came inside.
"Cherry might not be coming back to school for a while..." Michelle said. "I think she needs some time off to find herself."
"Oh... Sounds like a nice idea," Lionel replied. "Everyone needs time to figure things out sometimes!"
"Is it okay to cry?" Cherry asked.
"Of course, sweetheart," Michelle soothed her daughter. "Don't let your feelings bottle up like that. Here, let me see if we have some creme soda in the fridge."
"Sounds nice!" Lionel smiled.
Cherry soon began to have some hiccups as she let out her emotions to her parents.
"Of course, we're gonna have to go back to your dorm and get your stuff." Bud told Cherry.
Cherry gave a small nod while hiccuping.
"Naturally, one thing led to another." Lionel continued.
"I don't think I've seen that Cherry lady have any other emotion besides aggression or moodiness." Terry commented.
"Hey, she can be nice when she wants to be," Lionel replied. "I know that for certain."
"So, is there anything else?" Terry then asked. "What about the Joker's girlfriend?"
"She dropped out of the crime game shortly after," Lionel replied. "Met a nice guy, had a family."
"That's the last we've heard anyway," Barbara added. "I doubt she'll try anything evil again."
"It was a cold and dark time that night..." Cherry said as she soon came over to see them. "Tim was also asked to never become Robin again after that once he got himself straightened out."
"Yeah...Bruce didn't want to risk a rerun of what happened that night." Lionel added.
"He blamed himself for what had happened and swore he would never endanger another young partner," Barbara nodded. "Tim soon left us after that, determined to make it on his own."
"Did they ever patch things up?" Terry asked.
"Tim tried once or twice, but you know Bruce," Barbara replied. "I check up on Tim now and then, he's a top-level Communications Engineer, married, a couple of kids. Not too bad of things around."
"Good for him," Lionel replied. "Least he managed to put himself back together."
"He deserved a happy ending," Terry added before looking to Cherry and Lionel. "You guys too, huh?"
"A few bumps here and there, but we're mostly happy," Cherry replied. "Especially since my aunt moved in with us to help stay on the path of good and help us look after our own little ones."
"Yeah, and we got another on the way." Lionel smiled.
"Apparently so..." Cherry said as that was recent news. "Also, the occasional visits from my daughter."
"Don't you mean 'our' daughter?" Terry replied.
"No, my daughter," Cherry said. "Lionel isn't Felicity's father."
"Long story," Lionel replied. "Regardless, I still consider her part of the family."
"I see..." Terry replied. "I suppose I should check in with this Tim Drake fellow."
"Alright, good idea." Lionel replied.
"Would you guys like to come too?" Terry offered to Cherry and Lionel.
"I haven't seen him in so long..." Cherry admitted.
"Might be nice catching up!" Lionel replied.
"All right," Terry replied. "Come with me then."