Whatever Happened to Mary Dahl?

Please Read and Review.
I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I'm I doing wrong (to correct it).

I´m taking a lot of liberties with the system here, but I think the DCAU would be lenient enough to allow it. Especially after seeing a very similar thing done with Harley Quinn.

Gotham City Police Department
02:30 A.M.

Mary Dahl, the notorious actress stuck at an apparent age of five years, sat sadly on a too big chair, in the interrogatory room. Her hands had been bound with a zip-tie, as the police department handcuffs were too big for her tiny arms. The tie had been cut by the police woman who had accompanied her into the room. It had been a while since she had been caught, and her lawyer had not arrived yet.

She shook her head, realizing just how easily Killer Croc had played with her feelings. For a moment she had dared to hope the deformed gangster would see beyond her childish frame, and realize she was actually a person. An adult person with adult feelings, even if there was no hope for any really adult relationship. All she had wanted was a friend with whom talk.

An adult talk.

She sighed, unshed tears pooling at the corners of her eyes.

She had not much hope for later.

Her first stint in the Gotham Penitentiary had been awful. Except for a couple of inmates who unexpectedly had developed motherly instincts and protected her, in exchange of Mary treating them as big sisters.

However, one had been transferred to another prison, and the other had been released, going back to her family at the other side of the country.

Mary was not really sure if her good luck would come back for a second jailing.

She was brooding about this when the door opened, and a grim figure entered the stark room.

The Batman.

He seemed tired to the bones. He put a cup of coffee on her hands. "I´m not here to harm you. I only want to talk to you." He said, she realized she had flinched away from him.

The cloaked man signaled to somebody outside the room, the lights dimmed, and a TV screen could be seen at the other side of a two-way mirror. The image showed a boy of about four or five years old, sitting immobile on a chair. His eyes were almost vacant, but held a certain fear in them. It was that lost stare some prisoners had when they broke.

The image seemed to be a still, for the boy didn´t move at all. However, the date stamp in the corner of the screen counted the seconds.

The cloaked man continued, tilting his head towards the screen. "The doctors can´t get him to even acknowledge them. He is lost in his own world."

Mary sipped slowly at the slop contained in the cup. "Why are you telling me this?"

Batman exhaled slowly. "You might be his only hope."

"What?"

"I have spoken to the DA. He has no wish to jail you again. He said it would be like sentencing you to a slow death. I argued in your favor. Killer Croc is, despite his rough demeanor, a very good manipulator. He once set a few carnies against me. I almost didn´t make it."

Mary looked at him with big round eyes. "What happened?"

"He pretended I was an evil, cruel master, who abused a poor defenseless freak." Batman shrugged. "I spent a few hours in a cage before capturing him again, with the help of the same carnies he had deceived. And he not only almost got them to lynch me, he also stole their money."

Mary lowered her eyes. "So… I´m not the only one he has played like a violin…"

"Not for a long shot. As I said, he is very good at manipulating people."

A silence set upon them.

It was Mary who broke it. "I don´t know what to do with my life, Batman… You know…" she shrugged impotently. "There´s not much demand for a child actress who can get a driving license. And my last…" she sighed, "temper tantrum cost me all my credibility."

"I think we can help each other, Miss Dahl."

She snorted "You know, people always treat me like a child. Yes, I know. I look like a child. I´m tired of the sad looks, the amused gestures. I am not a monkey, trained to do trick for peanuts…"

"I know. But back to that child," he raised his own cup, "He has been seen by each and every therapist we could find. He closes into himself. No one has managed to reach him."

"Poor kid…"

"We don´t know what happened to him, but it must have been terrible. The search for a match in the missing persons files has been useless so far. We don´t have a single clue about who he is and what happened to him. I cannot ask him either, for obvious reasons."

"I still don´t know what you want from me, Batman."

"The child closes up immediately whenever an adult is close. However, if left alone with another child, he follows them with his eyes, and his fingers twitch, as if he wants to do something. We are at the end of the rope."

The Batman lowered his head. Almost defeated. He straightened up a moment later. If she had not seen that moment of vulnerability with her own eyes, she wouldn´t have believed the big bad Batman could be able of such an emotion.

She pursed her lips together, and her blond ringlets shook around as she nodded. "And you can´t ask a child to help him, because they are, well, children."

Batman nodded back. "You could act as a companion of sorts, two therapists would coach you in real time, with an earpiece."

Mary Dahl took a moment to decide, she looked at the boy in the screen for a long time; then, her blue eyes stared into the blank slits of the dark blue cowl that hid the Batman´s identity. "What do I need to do?"

A year and a half later

Mary Dahl walked down the stairs, laughing all the way down. At the ground floor, the grim avenger of the night waited for her, "Thank you, Miss Dahl." She wore a simple child dress, not at all like the one she used to wear when she was a real child actress. This one was quite simpler. Just a pink sundress with a daisy on the chest. She had also changed her hair, instead of the old-style ringlets, now she wore a shorter hairdo, a simple pixie cut that really went well with her blue eyes.

"No, Batman. Thank you." She looked over her shoulder, smiling satisfied at the image of the happy family, reunited at last. It had taken a lot of time and effort, plus emotional fortitude, but she had managed to pull the boy back into the larger world. Turns out the reason there were no matching photos of him in the Missing Persons files was that he had been kidnapped in some other country. He had been mistaken for the son of a very rich family, and dumped on Gotham when his kidnappers realized there would be no ransom paid for him.

The therapist were now working with the family to help him overcome the trauma of his kidnapping, isolation, and abandonment in a country with an unknown language.

"He doesn´t need me anymore…" Mary sighed, and wiped a tear from her eye. To her surprise, the boy ran down the stairs and almost tackled her down.

"You my friend, Mary." He said in broken English. "I friends ever!"

Mary ruffled his hair despite the boy now was a good couple of inches taller than her. "Always, Rico. You´ll always be my friend. Remember to write."

"I do! I do!" He hugged her, "Mary write too! Rico learns more English to write!"

"Count on it, Kid!" She smiled back at him. Her eyes shining wet.

Rico then realized the Batman stood there, he waved at him shyly, and then ran back to his mother, while his father reached the unlikely pair. He spoke quickly to the man the Embassy had sent to translate for them, the man nodded, and repeated back his message. "Miss Dahl, Mister Batman… My family is poor, I don´t know how can I pay back the debt my family owes you two." The man shrugged sadly, "but know if you ever need something that´s in my hand to give, it is yours, no questions asked." He shook the Batman´s hand, and knelt to do the same with Mary´s, "Especially you, Miss Dahl, you brought our Rico back to us." He wiped his own tears, and stood back up. "Please convey my thanks to Mr. Wayne, without his Foundation, I don´t know how we could have managed to pay for Rico´s therapy."

The Batman nodded gravely, "I will do so." Rico´s father picked his son up, and returned upstairs. The mother of the boy, a plump woman with dark hair and eyes, babbled in her language, smiling and crying at the same time. She put a big paper bag in Batman´s hands, knelt to hug Mary warmly, and then managed to pull a surprised Batman into the hug too.

"She says she brought you a small gift for you to share." The woman stood up, and after shaking their hands vigorously, ran to her family.

Once the three were gone, Mary pulled at the cloak of a still surprised Batman. "Hey, what´s in the bag?" she really looked like a small girl, playing the puppy-dog eyes card. Batman smirked at her, and peeked into the bag.

"Would you like some coffee? To accompany these hand-made cookies."

After the cookies had been divided, some eaten, and some for later, Mary finally asked. "Now what? I accepted the deal on the condition of not knowing the terms of my sentence, so tell me, how much time I have left?"

"None. Commuted on good behavior and extenuating circumstances. You are free, Miss Dahl."

"Oh, boy…" She leaned back on her seat, "I have no idea of what to do with my life now…"

"You could continue at this role. You are a natural at this. Rico isn´t the only child who needs help."

Mary shook her head sadly, "Who would trust me?"

"You´d be surprised. Rico´s case has been a matter of interest for a great many people. If you´re really interested in continuing, I could help you get a scholarship. It wouldn´t be easy, but I think you could do a lot of good."

Mary stayed silent for a long time.

"I´m afraid, Batman…" she looked down at her cup of coffee. "School was no fun when I had to be with teenagers. I barely managed to finish High School… The rest of my education was self-taught."

"Private tutors would be probably a part of the deal. Doctors Dini and Romano will help, they are very impressed with your performance. But the internship period would be an unavoidable requisite."

"You never take a No for an answer, do you?"

"Never if there´s a chance to help people."

Mary stared at him. "Let me think on it for a few days, Okay?"

The Batman stood up, "Of course. When you have decided, call this number, tell whoever answer what you have decided." He put a card on the table. "If you´d prefer some other kind of work, they will help you with that too. If you need training, they will arrange it."

Mary tapped the card against his hand, "Very well." She sighed again. "You know, you´re not a that big a meanie as I thought."

"Only if necessary." The Batman admitted, grabbing the bag of cookies from the table. There were still some left on the plate. "I´ll be following your progress."

Mary took another cookie, and tilted the coffee cup towards Batman. "Somehow, that didn´t sound scary at all."

"It wasn´t meant to be, Miss Dahl."

Author Notes:

With everything that have been happening lately, I needed a fluffy story.

Stay safe, everybody.