Jason had insisted on moving completely out of Gotham, away from all the crime that plagued Gotham City itself, and into a small subdivision in Star City. The neighborhood was very nice, the people were friendly and the streets were clean. As soon as Kim saw Jason packing his costume and weapons to take to the new house, she knew he would still patrol every night. Figured he wouldn't catch much more than pick pockets and muggers in their very small neighborhood, but whatever made him content. She knew the quiet life wasn't exactly Jason's style, and he was sacrificing a lot.

He claimed it was to keep the baby safe. Kim could believe that, but she knew he wanted her away from the fight, safe at home where he could come back to her in the evenings, sure the worst injury she would have gotten would be a paper cut with the occasional cut from a steak knife.

Jason had a job as a mechanic, and he had convinced her to become a homemaker, thinking the baby would do better with one parent who was always around. Kim didn't like the idea at first, thinking she could do better, have a cooler job, one that people looked at as important, until she realized how much work being a Mom was. Every day Jason went to work and Kim would be at home alone with baby Justine. It was hard, especially since she took care of the house as well as the baby. When Jason came home he was usually to tired to help with house work, not to mention he left the house at midnight for patrolling around their small neighborhood, sometimes even the neighborhoods around theirs.

Kimberly Mathilda loved a challenge, and Justine gave her countless ones. Her dignity grew, she learned to hold her head high where ever she went, especially when she was covered in spit up at Wal-Mart.

They had disappeared from Gotham about three months ago, dropping off the radar. She sent traceless calls to her parents, and letters with no return address. She sent baby pictures of course, and she knew from the camera she had hidden in her old house her parents had fallen in love with the granddaughter they had never met.

Justine had been born last month, and that's when they had moved in here. They didn't know many people around them, but that's what they were trying to find out now. At a neighborhood BBQ.

Jason was a fantastic actor, playing up the American Dad act like he was born to do it. He helped the other guys setting up tables and cooking the steaks, burgers, and fries, laughing at dad jokes. Kim was smiling at him, cradling Justine in her arms while Jason and her were introduced to a man who was thinking about moving into the house across from them. His name was Russell Andrews, little shorter than Jason with light brown crew cut hair and brown eyes. He was polite, and all he really wanted was to make friends and have a good time.

"Yeah," Jason said, smiling at him, "Everyone in the neighborhood loves that house."

David, a pure blood hillbilly man laughed, nudging Jason with his elbow, "Yeah, cause everyone in the neighborhood has that house!"

Kim and Jason laughed, and Justine stirred from the light slumber she had fallen into. She opened her eye, blinking at her mother, and babbled out something, sounding aggravated to be woken up. She kicked her feet violently, demanding to not be ignored. Justine wasn't two full months old yet, and she already had her father's temper. She would be a handful as a teenager.

Kim bounced Justine up and down softly, and the baby just fixed her mother with a look that said 'stop it right now!'. Kim stopped, chuckling at her baby, and Jason carefully took Justine, balancing her in his arms so her head rested on his shoulder, and made funny faces at her.

Justine stared at him, and then grabbed a fist full of his hair, yanking him towards her. Jason grunted, trying to tug away but Justine was having none of that. She gripped harder, and squealed, protesting being woken up in such a way as laughter. "Ow, Justy, cut it out. Pleeaaase?" Her father begged.

Justine contemplated this for a moment, gave one last tug, and let his hair slip away. Jason beamed at his little girl, "That's my girl." He handed her back to Kim, and turned to his snickering new friends, all deeply humored by Jason acting like a whiney little girl.

David smiled as a woman wearing a purple sundress walked up. She had a blonde bob and was wearing light make up, enhancing her features to make her look striking. "Jason and Kim, this is Beth Andrews, she's Russell's wife. She's a commodities broker, she works down at Filer's Investments."

Kim smiled at Beth, "Oh, a commodities broker, that sounds intriguing."

Beth chuckled, "Well it can be quite a challenge. But I gotta be honest, I eat it for breakfast! Ah, what do you do Kim?"

Kim smiled, "I'm a homemaker." Beth's eyes glazed over a bit, a reaction Kim was used to getting by now. "Well, we only have one child," Kim looked down at Justine, who was eyeing Beth's shiny sapphire ear rings with a gleam in her eye. "But she can be quite the hand full."

Justine's face suddenly shifted, and she spit up on Kim's tank top. Beth got a slightly appalled look on her face, and looked around for something.

Kim, desperate for a new friend, tried to rekindle the conversation, "But honestly, motherhood is a lot more-"

"Uh huh, that's nice." Beth said, turning and walking over to another woman and her boyfriend, who were dressed similarly to Beth.

-difficult than I thought." Kim finished, turning back to Jason who had been talking to Russell and had missed the exchange.

Kim left Jason to talk to his new friend, and found herself a few other mothers, some with teenagers, some with little seven year olds, and some with babies like Justine. She struck up a conversation with them, exchanging stories and jokes.

After several moments, she heard laughter floating across the yard, and she looked over her shoulder to see Beth, laughing about something, "Throw away my prime years chasing after a bunch of snotty kids? No thank you!"

Kim glared at the back of the woman's head, not liking her at all. The other mothers turned to see what she was looking at, and quickly picked up on the conversation. They held their children a little closer, offended at the woman's loud conversation.

"Hello, no thanks!" Beth said, making obnoxious hand gestures and facial expressions. "Hello I want to do something with my life!"

"Wait a minute!" Kim said, standing up and facing Beth defensively. Beth and the people she was talking to turned to look at her, eyes curious.

Several other people turned to look, Jason being one of them, along with his new friends.

Kim fixed her eyes on Beth's challenging her and her opinions openly. "You consider raising a family, nothing?"

The mother's behind her also glared at Beth, obviously thinking the same thing.

Beth wasn't fazed. She was used to being challenged, and so comfortable with it Kim could tell she had never lost a battle of wills. Kim was about to change that.

Beth smirked at her. "Well it's fine, if you're not suited for more… substantial things."

Everyone's attention was on the pair now, some with Beth, others with Kim, and the rest wondering what the heck was going on, and when was the cat fight going to break out.

Kim walked towards Beth slowly, "Do you have any idea how much suffering would fail to take root if more people were just good parents?"

"Well I- uh-"

"What's more important than that?" Kim questioned, walking more confidently. "What kind of job?"

"Um-" Beth was a loss for what to say, and Kim wasn't going to let her recover. She had her on thin ice and she intended to hammer her hard now, not wait for her to gain stability.

"What about a job saving lives?"

"Uh-"

"Is that important?"

"Yeah-"

"What about a job risking my life?"

"I-"

"What about confronting evil on a daily basis for years; just so people like you could sleep in safety and security?" Kim asked, now right in front of Beth. Eye to eye with her, she dared Beth with eyes and mouth to defy her, or even attempt to. "Would you consider that kind of job substantial?"

"Well, yes, I would." She said, fear in her eyes. She wasn't used to a stay at home mom biting back.

Kim stood straight, glaring at her, chin nodded in superiority. "Well that's the job I gave up for my new job: raising a family. And nobody is going to tell me that it is any less important. Especially a fresh out of college broker who has yet to experience one true problem in her life. Whether it's going through the fear of becoming a mother or the complete terror of losing the man you loved, and losing him to death of all things, twice!"

Beth's eyes widened, "I am so, so sorry I meant no offence. What on Earth did you used to do?"

If Kim hadn't been a trained vigilante she would have frozen, afraid she might have just given up her secret. Fortunately though, she was. "I was a marine for two years. I enlisted as soon as I was able, wanting to put my life on the line for people I hadn't even met. I got flown out to Iraqi, and let me tell you, you don't know exactly what fear is, or what people are really capable of until you see them coming at your face with a gun or a knife, trying to kill you so you never see anyone you care about ever again! You know why I did all of that?"

"I-"

"Because I love this country and I wanted to make sure my family would be able to live here with no fear of having their rights taken away. That is why I did what I did every day. That's why I quit, to come back here and raise my daughter to not be afraid to stand up for what she believes in, or for people who can't!"

Justine's hand suddenly shot out, and she gripped into Beth's right ear ring for all she was worth, yanking it towards her, pulling it out of the clasp and clutching the shiny object with great glee, squealing. Berth cried, out, gripping her ear in pain. Kim gently wrestled the ear ring out of Justine's grasp, handing it back to Beth. "You should thank her, I was going to rip out your cheap extensions."

Kim calmly turned around, walking away with her head held high, back to the other mothers who were looking at her with pride, and at Beth with disdain.

David whistled low, and slapped Jason on the shoulder, "Jason, you are one lucky man."

Jason smiled at his wife, she had done something far more dangerous then being a Marine. If he squinted his eyes, he could still see the spandex and leather that used to cover her as she had jumped roof tops. "Thanks, I know."

Russell shrugged at Jason, "I'll talk to my wife later, her actions were a bit uncalled for. Hey, you play poker much?"

"Not lately, but I used to play it a lot few years back." Jason said honestly. He used to live off of card game winnings in Crime Alley.

"Wanna come over this week end? We could get a group together." Russell offered.

Jason nodded, "Sounds good."

He wasn't used to the whole 'Small neighborhood Dad' business, but poker was something he could do.