A.N. Ugh, as the saying goes, "the shit hit the fan" a little bit ago. I've been having some family issues that have been getting in the way of everything. But I'm happy to say that I got this chapter out. Woot! But you guys might not be so happy…

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Batman and I never will, except for maybe a t-shirt or poster…Jillian and Loki are mine to do as I wish.

It was the next day, and Gordon was thinking about accepting the Butler's earlier invitation. He had scrounged up some information on Jillian and her family; her parents had no living siblings and only a grandmother remained, residing in a nursing home with Alzheimer's disease. He also got some of the papers needed for Wayne to start the adoption process. He wondered whether Wayne would actually adopt the little girl or not. It was a slow day at the GPD and he decided to call before heading over.

Before the doorbell rang and security systems announced the Commissioner's arrival, Alfred had unsuccessfully searched for Master Wayne. It had started to rain earlier, and he was positive that he was still somewhere on the property, though he did not have the time to check in the Bat Cave. There was still no sign of Bruce when he lead the Commissioner to a kitchen where little Jillian was enjoying some of Alfred's homemade chocolate chip cookies. As the Commissioner looked around the surprisingly cozy kitchen, he noticed that there was a distinct lack of another person, Wayne.

Gordon looked at Alfred, who confessed, "I have no idea where he is," and added dryly, "it seems that I have misplaced him."

Gordon went over the paper work with Alfred while Jillian settled down to play with Loki. She would roll a little ball with a bell in it towards Loki, who would then bat it around until it rolled back over to Jillian. And it would start again, each time Jillian clapping in delight. As they were finishing up, Loki abandoned Jillian's little game and disappeared into the hallway, loudly meowing the whole time.

Bruce was in the hallway, trying to shush Loki up, for he had heard Alfred talking to someone in the other room, and didn't want to be caught soaking wet from the outside. When he heard someone coming, he took off his shoes and snuck up a hidden stairwell, one of many that had been added during the rebuilding to the manor's design. The stairwell was one of many that passed through all of the levels of the manor, including the one where his bedroom was located. Gordon had noticed the muddy prints first and was pretty sure that he knew where Bruce had been all this time when he pointed it out to Alfred, "I think someone is here."

Alfred excused himself, muttering something about a certain someone always leaving a mess. Bruce had just finished pulling on a dry shirt when Alfred entered, silently questioning him as a drop of water slid down his forehead and onto his nose.

While Alfred was with Bruce, Gordon directed his attention to Jillian, who had turned her attention to him. Alfred had mentioned that she starting talking, so Gordon decided to ask her how things where, "I see you're getting along with the cat."

Jillian said happily, "The kitty licked me, and that means that he likes me."

"I heard that you started preschool, are you enjoying it?"

"It's fun and Miss Carol is teaching us how to read and paint with our fingers."

Gordon smiled, "Are you liking it here?"

"Yes, Alfred makes yummy cookies and ––"

Alfred stepped back into the room and with mock hurt, said, "Only for the cookies?"

The little girl started to giggle. It was then that Gordon noticed that Alfred came back with...no one. Apparently Mr. Wayne wasn't going to bless him with his presence.

Alfred noticed the frown on the Commissioner's face and looked around, Bruce was missing again. With a sigh, Alfred left the room again in search of Bruce, and not giving Gordon a chance to excuse himself and leave. When he got to the kitchen, he saw Bruce sneaking Loki some treats.

Bruce followed Alfred and they were finally going over the paperwork, an hour later than as planned. It went by rather quickly after that, with Bruce casually commenting on how much paperwork Jillian seemed to bring.

His wife Barbara didn't make a big deal out of it. She knew that Gotham rarely had any "happy endings," and so she let him talk on about his visit to Wayne Manor and how things were progressing. The silent girl they had left with Bruce Wayne was doing surprisingly well. She was speaking again, and interacting with other children her age. They had no idea how the parenting was going, but it seemed to be doing well.

Days melded into weeks, and soon two months had passed since the arrival of Jillian. Things were going well, Jillian had made some friends at the preschool, and seemed happy. The press caught on quick after she started preschool, and it was only a few days after that Bruce made the announcement: Jillian was going to be a member of the Wayne family.

And that was all the press focused on for the next week. There must have been hundreds of snapshots taken of Bruce and Jillian together, whether he was dropping her or picking her up from preschool, or even the one time he got her ice cream. Jillian was a little shy around the media, staying close as close to Bruce as possible in those situations. Alfred encouraged the invasion of the outings though, saying that it allow him to "miss even more of the social gatherings that he hated" and would make Bruce Wayne look "like the least possible candidate for Batman." But Bruce thought it was like he was showing her off as a new haircut, and not a child.

It didn't help that the adoption rate for Gotham's orphanage had increased and there were rumors that other elite citizens of Gotham were going to adopt as well. Apparently Bruce Wayne had made adoption the most fashionable thing. Jillian didn't care though, once the flashing cameras were gone, she was back to her talkative, happy self.

Bruce had refrained from any social events, he had been bombarded enough with inquiries from the elite about the adoption and requests to schedule play dates between their children. The phone was constantly ringing with every talk show host and news reporter begging for a quick interview from the two. The Waynes they were called, even though the adoption process was not finished.

Gordon didn't fare well either. Information was leaked out that Gordon had personally asked Wayne to take her in, and the press went so far as to that he got down on his knees and begged. The GPD was overloaded with demands for information about Jillian and requests for an interview.

A second week passed with no end in sight of the crazy news. It's as if they didn't care about inflation or crime on the rise. Gordon had enough of it for sure. Reporters were hounding him day and night for a story, because it seemed that Wayne had not come out with one himself. He had no idea how to deal with it, even his wife and kids were harassed at work and at school. Soon the third week came and still no end in sight.

Once again he found himself calling Wayne Manor, and again Alfred answered, "Wayne Manor, Alfred Pennyworth speaking."

"This is Commissioner Gordon,"

"Ah, how are you doing Commissioner?"

"I've been harassed by the media for weeks now."

"I'm sorry to hear that. They don't give up, do they?" It sounded like the Wayne household was faring just the same. Gordon asked gently, "Has an interview or a press conference been set up?"

"No, there has not."

"Well, is one going to be set up?"

"No."

"Why not?" Gordon was getting impatient now.

"There is no need for one."

"Yes there is! My wife is bothered at work. My children are questioned at school. My entire department is constantly pestered. I think there needs to be one!" Gordon exclaimed, getting frustrated.

"How about I put Master Wayne on the phone?" Then there was silence, the call was getting nowhere. If was a few minutes before a voice appeared on the other end, "Hello?"

"The reporters have been harassing my––"

Bruce cut him off, "Don't bother, they'll find something else soon enough, like the block party and fireworks this weekend."

Gordon thought for a moment, he had completely forgotten that as the Commissioner, he was working on security for it. There was a little section in the paper talking about it. "Aren't you on the planning committee?"

"Yes..."

"About security, there's something––"

Bruce cut him off again, "Whoa, I'm not in charge of that. You'll have to speak to Cindy Wells about that. We divided everything up among the committee members. I can answer questions about the entertainment like music or fireworks though." As much as Bruce would have preferred to be planning the security, it would have looked pretty suspicious if he or Lucius Fox had. Cindy Wells had jumped at the opportunity though, and seemed to know what she was doing.

"Oh," Gordon remembering what he had called for, "About the press, what should I do?"

"Just ignore it for now, and tomorrow the committee is going to be making an announcement. You'll soon be forgotten." And Bruce was right, the next morning a press conference was held and soon the media overflowed with news about the new event.

It was Saturday, and the place had been hopping since nine that morning, and since Bruce had arrived with Alfred and Jillian in tow. It had started out as a night of fireworks in the late fall. But as the city council and Wayne Enterprises planned it, more businesses joined in and it soon grew. One member wondered what all those people would do while waiting for the fireworks, so they decided on having some live music. But then what if people were hungry? Some phone calls later, they teamed up with travelling vendors and local businesses to provide cheap food.

While Alfred brought Jillian to the amusements for children, Bruce spent that time overlooking the entertainment, and arguing with one of the bands. The sun was starting to set when the Commissioner and his family and spotted Alfred with Jillian near one of the makeshift stages. But the billionaire was nowhere in sight. Gordon overheard what looked like one of the band members talking to the butler, "Sorry about that, Jet's being a drama queen again, always trying to mess with things."

"It's alright Miss, I'm sure everything will be fine," Alfred responded, and was about to greet the Gordon when there was a short yelling match, followed by a hulk of a man and Bruce Wayne walking into sight.

"Don't worry about Jet, he's just stressed out, we've never played for this big of a crowd before," the hulk said.

"You guys will do fine," Bruce said, smiling reassuringly. The hulk had a shy smile as he said, "Really, you think so?"

Bruce barely finished saying "Absolutely," before he was enveloped in a bone-crushing hug. Gordon could help but stare at the friendly gesture made by a man who could snap them all in half. Bruce however, merely laughed and said, "Okay big guy." He was even more surprised when Jillian excitedly ran into her adoptive father's arms.

"Are you done yet?" Jillian asked sweetly.

"For now, though I have to check in with the technicians before the fireworks can start."

"Can I go?"

"Absolutely not," the little girl's face fell, and in response, Bruce said, "It's too dangerous, especially when fireworks are nothing more than mini explosions in the sky."

Barbara Gordon found herself rather curious. Here was a child who radiated happiness, but the last time she saw her, only sadness was in the air. Holding her was the least likely person to have fixed that. Bruce Wayne stood by, casually chatting to his butler, at least until he spotted an older man nearby and cried out, "Hey Lucius! How's it going?"

Lucius Fox walked over, laughing at the image of Bruce with a child on his hip. When he got there he replied, "Just finished making the last adjustments to the set-up. How's it with the entertainment?"

"Had a fight with one of the bands, but everything is all set. Just got to check in with the pyrotechnics and we'll be good to go," Bruce said while putting Jillian down. It was Lucius who pointed out Gordon and his family, calling out warmly, "Commissioner, how are you this fine evening?"

Gordon smiled and replied, "Good," and looked at his family. His daughter Babs was arguing with her brother Jimmy about whether cotton candy was better than ice cream.

Soon Lucius Fox had engaged all of the Gordon's in pleasant conversation and was trying to engage the others as well. The Butler left for a time to go explore on his own, though he soon returned with a Styrofoam cup of tea and a small bottle of chocolate milk for Jillian. Jillian spent most of the time hiding behind her father, occasionally smiling shyly at whoever looked.

By the time they finished talking, the sun had completely disappeared from the sky. Bruce excused himself from the group to go check in with the technicians.

Everything had checked out great and Bruce was on his way back to the group when the test firework sounded. He turned around and expected to see it go off in the sky, but instead of exploding color, there was a fiery cloud, and he immediately ran back from where he had just come.

Meanwhile, Gordon looked up in alarm at the cloud. He saw the worried look on the Butler as he got a hold of Jillian, and Lucius followed him towards the fire. More fireworks exploded on the ground as they moved. But after a few minutes passed, the cloud disappeared and fireworks illuminated the sky. They slowed down a bit, but continued on their way to make sure everything was okay.

The pyrotechnics and the firemen had gotten the fire under control and deemed the test firework as a dud, saying that moisture had gotten in. There was no real damage and for the sake of the people, they would continue with the show. Bruce waited until a few had safely gone off before once again making his way back towards Alfred and Jillian. He had planned to watch the fireworks with her, but now he was going to be late. Amidst the flashing lights and thundering booms of the fireworks, he didn't notice the figure nearby until it was too late. There was a strange ripping sensation, followed by pain, intense pain.

He had fallen to the ground when it registered that he had been shot and there was no one to be seen. Up above, the fireworks neared their finale, and the pain subsided as he slipped into the nothingness.

A.N. The chapters might not come as fast, I'm coming near the end of the school year and things are getting hectic. There have been a lot of family problems coming up and such that have been interfering with everything, not just my writing. So please, read and review and I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I can. Oh, by the way, please don't kill me!