A/N - Sorry for the delay on this one... We've had the nastiest of nasty stomach flu's in our house over the past week. It started with the youngest last monday night/early tuesday morning, and then the other two kids started on friday during the day and then my husband got it on saturday. I managed to squeeze by with just muscle and back aches, a little nausea and extreme exhaustion. So, this explains the tardiness of this chapter....

Thanks to all for the nice reviews and for those who put this on their alerts. :) Cheers!

Olivia could smell the fresh tea as she walked down the stairs from her bedroom. She had tried to fall back asleep after David and Bruce had left, but sleep never came. So, she decided to stay up until they returned, hopefully with Heather safe and sound. Olivia didn't say a word when she walked into the kitchen. There was Alfred standing by the kettle as it began to wail.

"Care for some tea, Madam?"

Olivia smiled. "You read my mind."

Alfred turned with the steaming kettle and carefully poured it into the small china cups.

"On a night like tonight, I can't possibly see how anyone could sleep."

"First Bruce, and now David," she said, with a sigh. "I never dreamed that David would be going out into the night with him. He was always so quiet and sensitive as a boy and grew up to be a level headed man." She paused for a moment, looking down at the tea as it steamed into her face. "I'm not saying that Bruce isn't level headed. It's just that I had hoped that this desire or passion for justice would end as Bruce got older."

Alfred smiled.

"Perhaps it's a hereditary thing," he suggested. "Master Bruce's father fought crime and violence, but in a different way. He wasn't popular for it and was at the time, the only man putting his money where his mouth was, so to speak. I would assume, had Thomas Wayne lived a longer life, he would've continued to fight exactly what Batman stands up against."

"I don't want David to feel compelled to take up his mantle when Bruce finally decides to give it up, if that ever happens," Olivia said.

"I'm afraid you'll see Master Bruce dressed up in that cowl well into his 80's if you let him."

Olivia laughed at the thought as a loud buzzing sound filled the kitchen. Her smile faded quickly.

"Is that the..."

"...the alarm? Yes," Alfred said, with an urgency as he gently took Olivia by the arm. "Go check on Miss Allison. I'll do a check around the house and turn off that dreadful sound."

Olivia agreed and headed up the stairs while Alfred walked towards the back door. Olivia turned towards Allison's bedroom. The young girl walked out of her room, just as Olivia walked up to her.

"What's going on?" she asked, running a hand through her matted hair.

Just as Olivia was about to answer, a loud voice echoed up towards them. "I've heard that the master of the house isn't at home. In that case, I'll settle for his wife and children."

Olivia didn't need to hear another word. She instantly recognized the voice as her face paled. Allison also seemed to recognize it and was about to say something when Olivia firmly put her hand over her daughter's mouth to keep her quiet. Olivia placed a finger over her lips before she grabbed Allison's hand and pulled her further down the hallway. Olivia could feel her heart race when the sound of multiple footsteps made their way up the marble stairs behind them. She pushed Allison into the master bedroom and glanced over her shoulder, catching the eye of the Joker as he reached the top of the stairs. She saw him smile behind his scars before she slammed the door and locked it. She turned to her daughter who appeared to be having trouble breathing - a result of her panicked run. Olivia grabbed Allison by the shoulders, looking her straight in the eye.

"Breath slowly," she ordered.

"I...I..I..can't," Allison managed to say between breathes.

"Damn it," Olivia cursed under her breath, turning towards the door as she heard the sound of someone attempting to turn the knob.

"This isn't how you should be treating a guest," came the Joker's voice from behind the door.

Olivia raced around the bed and pulled open the nigh table drawer beside Bruce's side of the bed and felt along the underside of the table top until she found the button. She pressed it and a small hidden door built into the wall across the room opened. She took Allison's hand as the girl continued to gasp through each breath she took.

"Go down to the cave and stay down there until your Dad returns," she told her, as she pushed Allison through the door.

"Wha...what a-about you?"

"I'll meet you down there," she replied. "I'm going to find Alfred. I can't leave him alone with that monster in my house."

Tears began to come to Allison's eyes as the girl shook her head. Olivia turned towards the door as it began to splinter from the gunshots on the outside of the door. She was thankful for the extra thick oak doors that Bruce had insisted on when he had the house rebuilt.

"I love you. Now go!"

Again, Allison shook her head, her emotions making it even more difficult to catch her breath. Olivia forced a smile despite the situation.

"I'll be down as soon as possible," she reminded Allison before reaching inside the small room and pressing the button on the wall to close the door and send Allison down into the cave.

Olivia rushed towards the window as soon as the hidden door became invisible against the wall. She pushed the thick curtains aside and opened the window. The cool night air swept into the room as she slipped her leg through the opening and brought the rest of herself out the window and onto the small balcony. She glanced down over the rail towards the grass and bushes below her and shook her head. She hadn't tried to climb out of a two storey window since she was a teenager, trying to sneak out of her parent's house.

"This is stupid," she told herself, before turning back towards the door as it was hit once again with a volley of bullets. She quickly climbed over the balcony until she was only holding on by her hands at which time, she let go. She felt and heard a snap as she landed feet first into the large evergreen, knowing that it wasn't the bush under her that made the sound. Quickly, she slid off the bush and stood up, immidiately feeling the pain in her ankle. Olivia bit her lip as she hobbled towards the shadows of the house and slowly made her way around the building.

The garage was dark and appeared empty as Olivia peered in through the window. There was no sign of anyone and Olivia felt it was probably her easiest way into the house. She carefully keyed in the password into the keypad and saw the light flash green before she attempted to turn the knob. She slowly made her way through the garage, passing a museum of old restored cars alongside a few of Bruce's more favoured vehicles. As she walked past the workbench, her eyes caught light through the windows against the metal of the large wrench. She picked it up before making her way towards the door to the house.

Olivia slipped into the house without a sound. She groaned inwardly with each step she took. The pain in her ankle was excrutiating, but the adrenaline that coursed through her kept her in control.

Just as she was about to come through the kitchen, a man walked in with a mask over his face. Olivia didn't even bother to think twice. She lifted the large wrench and swung it against the man's face, dropping him to the ground with a thud.

"Hey! What's going on over there?"

Olivia sucked in a breath hearing another voice, knowing someone had heard the attack. She quickly stepped over the heap on the floor and raced across the hall as fast as she could.

"Over there!"

Olivia turned a corner, seeing a familiar man sitting on the marble floors at the bottom of the stairs, his arms tied up around the lowest wrung.

Alfred.

That wasn't all that she saw. Joker looked up from where he stood over Alfred and caught Olivia's eye. He pulled out a gun from his pocket and aimed it at Alfred as he glanced up to look at Mrs. Wayne.

"Go ahead," Joker said calmly. "Take another step."

Olivia froze, in fear of what Joker was about to do. She saw him nod his head as a pair of arms wrapped themselves around her torso and pulled her one arm against her back. She squirmed as she was literally carried out towards the Joker.

He sauntered towards her, licking his lips as he brandished his knife in his left hand.

"You're just as beautiful as I remember," he said. "It's been too long. Too long. How's the husband and the brood? Speaking of which, where are the kids?"

Olivia kept silent and glared at him, defiantly. Joker sighed as he lunged towards her running his knife over her cheek.

"Safe."

A small smile crept onto the monsters face. In one swift motion, he plunged his knife into her stomach. For extra emphasis he twisted it slightly, enjoying the look of pain and shock cross Olivia's features. He leaned into her and whispered into her ear.

"One way to kill a bat, is to get it in its heart."

He pulled the knife out as Olivia looked down to see the blood staining her satin pajamas. She looked back up in time to see the Joker walk out of the house with the remaining clowns behind him. She gently touched her stomach and felt the pain as a wave of nausea came over her. She collapsed to her knees and she fell to her side.

"Oh my God," Alfred said, over and over, as he attempted to get out of the tight knot that held him to the staircase. "Oh, Olivia." He watched as she attempted to form words as she looked over at him, feeling the warm blood against her hands as she held them as tight as she could against her stomach. "Don't speak. Help should be coming soon." He looked up and lowered his voice. "I pray that help arrives soon."

The first thing they saw when the Tumbler came into the cave was Allison. Her eyes were wide and her face was pale.

Batman jumped out of the tumbler before it even had a chance to completely power down. He ran towards her, hearing her ragged breathing as he came closer. He quickly pulled off his cowl, dropping it to the ground and took her by the shoulders.

"Allison, calm down," he said, knowing that he had to get her under control. Bruce turned to David as he had now appeared beside him. "Find a puffer. There should be a spare down here somewhere. Alfred keeps extras all over the house. Check with the first aid."

David nodded and ran towards the cupboard where the first aid supplies were kept and quickly pushed things around searching for the puffer. Finally, he found one and ran back, shoving it into Bruce's hand who held it up to Allison's mouth, encouraging her to breath. Finally, she relaxed enough that she could talk.

"Joker is here," she said. "He's upstairs. Mom went after Alfred and I haven't heard from either of them."

Bruce nodded, grabbing the cowl and pulling it over his face. He raced towards the elevator. He didn't have to turn around to know David and Allison were behind him.

"No, I want you two stay here," he said, stepping into the lift.

"I'm coming to help," David said. "If Mom or Alfred are in trouble, I want to help."

After a few seconds, Batman nodded. He turned to Allison. "You stay here. Stay here until one of us come for you. I don't want the Joker to even see you."

Reluctantly, she agreed.

Allison stepped back and watched as the lift swiftly rose higher and higher until she could no longer see it.

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Alfred heard it. It was so subtle that one without a trained ear to recognize the familiar sound that he had heard for decades would miss it. It was the sound of the gears hidden within the walls of Wayne Manor clicking as the pulley's worked to bring the lift from the cave below to the house above.

"Help!" Alfred called out. "We're over here!"

He glanced over at Olivia as she laid on the cold, marble floor, helpless. The door to the study swung open as Batman appeared with another man dressed similarly in black behind him. Alfred was certain that he heard Batman gasp when he saw Olivia on the floor. He was beside her in an instant, pulling his cowl off and feeling the dread rise within him. He wasn't even certain where to touch her as it seemed that there was blood everywhere. Where was it all coming from?

"Olivia? Olivia!"

The woman recognized the voice and slowly opened her eyes and smiled. Bruce turned to Alfred as David quickly untied the ropes before joining his Dad on the floor. David took his Mom's hand as Bruce quickly covered her wound with his hand, hoping to stop the bleeding even further. Alfred quickly rushed towards the phone and dialed 911 as David and Bruce knelt beside Olivia.

"There are my two favourite men," she said softly.

Bruce looked up at David, urging him to grab towels from the kitchen to help stop the bleeding. With another fearful glance down at his Mom, he ran off.

"Did you find Heather?"

Bruce shook his head and whispered. "It was a trap. The Joker counted on me to be away. I'm so sorry. I should never have left you alone."

"Shh," she said softly. "It's not your fault."

Bruce lovingly ran his hand over her face as he heard Alfred clear his throat from behind him.

"Excuse me, sir?"

Bruce turned his head.

"The ambulance is on its way as are the police," Alfred said. "They should be here momentarily."

David ran up beside Bruce, tossing him a towel which he promptly covered Olivia's stomach with. He forced his eyes away from the blood that stuck to his hand.

"I would suggest sir that you should get changed before they arrive. I'll stay with Olivia until you return," Alfred added. Bruce looked at David, noting that his son was still in armour as well. As much as he wanted to stay with his wife, he knew he had to leave for a short time.

Reluctnaly, Bruce nodded and leaned in and kissed Olivia's lips before he quickly stood up and followed David back into the study.

They came back a few minutes later, with Allison beside them. Allison certainly wasn't ready to see what she saw. The poor girl gasped as Alfred called for Bruce to help. The ground around her mother was turning a dark crimson.

"Sir! She passed out and just stopped breathing a few seconds ago!"

Bruce felt his own heart stop as he heard Alfred's panicked words.

"No," he mumbled as he quickly knelt down beside Olivia. He took her head between her hands, calling her name loudly. When he got no response, he covered her mouth with his and breathed for her.

"Come on, Olivia," he begged, as he continued to breathe for her. Bruce could feel tears come to his eyes as it began to cloud his vision, yet he continued. Allison was across from him, looking down at her Mother's face in shock.

David stood back, watching the scene as it appeared nearly surreal. This couldn't be happening. This wasn't supposed to happen.

He continued to stand and stare as the EMT's pushed past him and took over breathing for Bruce. David didn't understand much of what was going on or what they were saying. He watched as his father had to be literally pushed out of the way for the EMT's to do their work. The voice of the police commissioner was enough to pull him away from Olivia.

"Bruce, I'm so sorry. The EMT's are going to do everything they can. What I need to know now, is what happened here?" Jim asked, softly.

Bruce could only shake his head. "I wasn't here."

"It was the Joker, sir," Alfred suddenly said as he approached the two men. "I watched it happen right in front of my eyes."

Bruce glanced past Alfred as the EMT's carefully lifted Olivia onto the gurney, saying that she was stable as they rushed her into the ambulance.

"Hey, commissioner, we found this one in the kitchen," an officer said, as him and another man pushed one of Joker's men down the hallway, his arms shackled firmly behind his back. The man was sporting a horrible bruise over his face. Jim walked over to the officers and the man as Bruce watched the man glance over to where Olivia was being transported out of the house and saw him smirk.

"Is something funny?" Jim spat.

"Poetic justice, tis all. She got what was coming to her."

Bruce clenched his fist and his jaw and before he knew it he was in front of the man, holding him by his forearm against the wall. His arm was threatening to choke him as the man gasped for air and pulled at Bruce's arm. Bruce wasn't even attuned to realize that Jim and David had their hands on his shoulder, calling his name, trying to get him to back away from the guy.

"You want to talk about justice?" Bruce said deeply. "Where's the Joker?"

The man tried to form words.

David raised his voice.

"DAD! Come on!"

"Mr. Wayne! That's enough!" Jim exclaimed, finally breaking through to Bruce. Bruce let out a breath and backed away from the man, allowing him to cough his way into breathing again. Jim sighed, looking from Bruce to the man. "Get that scumbag out of here!"

The officers nodded as they roughly pushed the man out of the house.

Jim sighed and turned to Bruce. "I'll let you know the moment this guy starts singing."

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The empty hallway had become a silent vigil. Bruce looked over from where he stood to see his daughter sitting on a chair against the wall with her legs pulled up into her chest with Alfred sitting beside her, while David paced the hallway just a few feet from her. Worry and fear were on all their faces, as they hadn't heard anything since they had heard that Olivia had been brought into surgery an hour earlier. Every time the door would open, they would all look up in anticpation for news. Instead, a nurse or doctor would walk past and smile sympathetically towards them, knowing that they had shut down the entire hallway just for Mrs. Wayne's family. It hadn't taken long for the city newspapers and television stations to gather word that something had happened to the Wayne family and in that time, a crowd of media had formed just outside the emergency room.

When a familiar doctor appeared at the door, he immidiately had an audience.

"She's stable," he said. "We have her sedated at the moment. You can go in and see her if you'd like."

Bruce nodded silently as the doctor turned and went back the way he came with Bruce, Alfred, David and Allison walking close behind. They walked a short ways down the starch white hallways, hearing only the sound of a beeping monitor as they approached Olivia's room.

"I'll be by to check on her in an hour," the doctor said as he stepped back, allowing the family to enter.

Bruce sucked in a breath, seeing his wife laying pale and motionless in the bed. If it wasn't for the monitor beside her beeping with each heartbeat, he would've thought that she wasn't alive. He sat down beside her in a vacant chair and carefully took her hand.

"Is she going to be all right?"

The words were choked out by Allison. The same words that everyone had on their minds but didn't want to ask in fear of having the answer they didn't want to hear.

Alfred looked to Bruce, who too didn't know what to say. He turned to the girl beside him and put an arm around her.

"Your mother is one of the strongest people I know," he said. "If anyone will make it, she will."

David sighed as he stood at the end of the bed. He stood for a moment longer and then turned and began to walk towards the door.

"Where are you going?"

Bruce's voice caused him to stop with his hand on the door handle. He turned and looked back at the faces staring back at him. Allison's eyes were still red and Alfred looked exhausted.

"I'm going to go find this bastard who came into our house, did this to Mom and who knows what he's done to Heather," David quickly retorted.

"David, I don't think that's a good idea right now," Bruce said, as he stood up before slowly walking towards David. "You're not in the right frame of mind. You're angry..."

"Hell yeah, I'm angry," he spat.

"And for that very reason alone, I don't want you going after the Joker on our own. It's not a good idea."

"It's not a good i...?" David shook his head. He lowered his voice. "My mind has been tormenting me with thoughts and images of Heather. I know what the Joker is capable of. I can't just sit here and do nothing. I can't believe that you're just sitting here!"

"I'm staying here with my wife and your mother who was severely injured," Bruce stated clearly as he now stood in front of David. "This is where I need to be right now."

"Well, in that case, I'll find my fiance on my own," David said as he reached for the door knob. His hand never reached it and instead was quickly twisted around to his back. He could feel Bruce right behind him with his wrist in his grasp and in a moment of reaction, David turned his body and pinned that of Bruce's against the wall, causing a loud thud. David turned around, and grabbed Bruce's forearm as Bruce took ahold of David. He paused when he heard a voice cry out in the room.

"Master Bruce! Master David!" Alfred exclaimed, as the two men froze in a stand-still to a fight. David watched Bruce, almost instantly regretting what he was about to do to his Dad if Alfred hadn't interrupted. He quickly let go of Bruce's arm.

David stepped back and let out a scoff before readjusting his shirt. He glanced over at Alfred's startled expression and turned to Bruce, seeing the darkness in his eyes that mirrored his own.

"I'm out of here," David finally said, grabbing the door knob and swinging it open broadly before leaving the room and the hospital.