BRUCE POV
It all went perfectly, Dick of course wanted to train her after meeting her. I knew he would. Despite his best efforts, I still know him better than anyone, including himself. He approached me after the party to let me know he would train the girl and I told him she would be ready by tomorrow night, which means I better tell her that I'm Batman ASAP. I walk down the hallway in the left wing where her room is and pause a few seconds before knocking on her door. We're not only still getting used to one another, but I am still getting used to having a daughter where knocking is absolutely essential. A few split seconds pass before she responds and tells me to come in. She is on her bed playing with a slinky with music playing lightly in the background from the radio.
"Do you have a minute, I have something sort of big to show you." She seems skeptical and sad.
""I don't want anything big or new dropped on me… Can we go without it?" I understand where she is coming from, the last she needs is anymore surprises sprung on her. But hopefully this is a good surprise.
"Well, it isn't going to change that you're a part of this family now, and it is a good surprise, not a bad one." Well sort of.
"Okay." She slips on the slippers Alfred bought her a few days ago and follows me out of her room and down the hallway into my father's old study.
"Well, Jackie, as you know, not everyone is as they seem. Well, the same goes for the Wayne's. You actually know more than most on this matter, but…" She looks at me like 'spit it out I don't really want to hear this' so I just walk over the desk and open the top of Shakespeare's bust where a panel of flashing buttons lie. I press them in the correct order and a distinct scraping sound of two metal sheets rubbing together comes from behind a painting of Nepoleon on the wall. I walk to the painting and swing the canvas outward like a door and a narrow set of grey steps descend from there. She has a look of horror on her face.
"You aren't murderers to are you?" She seems legitimately worried but I still have to stifle a laugh.
"Quite the opposite, actually. I know this is going to feel strange to hear, and I hope you aren't upset. We're actually crime fighters. All of us, Babs, Dick, Tim, me, and many others. We're what Gotham news reporters call, The Bat Family." Her eyes go from frightened to hopeful, which isn't exactly what I was expecting, but is certainly not the worst reaction even I have had with explaining this to people.
"You're Batman? Really? No kidding at all?" I shake my head and see a light in her eyes that is really reminiscent of the look Richard gave me when I first told him. It's a look that is half revenge and half redemption, and I know from experience it is something we can work with.
"No kidding at all. And, Richard would like to train you to be his new partner. He needs a partner, and if you're willing, I think you'd fit the part nicely." She gets a thoughtful expression for a bit then smiles very wide and nods.
"I would like that very much."
JACKIE POV
Batman, Batman and his family. I mean, I have always sort of liked watching them on the news and have always been on their side, even when Gotham made them out to be bad guys. I could show everyone that I'm not my father, even if no one knows that it's me. I can save people, maybe atone for the crimes my dad has committed, I can be a hero… That is why I said yes to Bruce, I want to show everyone that I am better than my Dad, and I want to show it to myself to. I know I can do this, I will keep up with my homework, I will go to college, and at night, I will be a Crusader! I can hardly handle my excitement.
I've been to the Batcave before under different circumstances, but now I'm here as a future hero of Gotham. Bruce is yammering about the inner workings of the bat computer and explaining different gadgets and how to hide identities, but I'm not listening at all. I figure Dick will explain it all to me all over again tomorrow when I start my training, and right now I am to busy in my own thoughts to care about anything he is saying. The little kid in me just wants to start pressing buttons and giving the computer commands and throwing Batrangs until I figure out how it all works. The "mature" 15 year old knows it is a dumb thought, and that I would probably blow something to the moon, but it is barely suppressing the button-mashing child inside.
I think Bruce figured out that his speech about justice and peace and what it really means to be a hero was lost on me right now because I wandered off and he stopped talking. Now I am just wondering the cave and thinking about what I will be able to accomplish and how I will fix everything my father ever broke. If I get good enough, I could even take down my dad, and maybe he could get well again and we could be a family… I just know this is the right thing to do.