A/N: Okay, after some extensive negotiations with my muse, we have mutually agreed to a rewrite of this chapter, merely because a little voice in the back of my head kept screaming 'COP OUT!' So, without further ado, the rewrite!


Isabella moved around the open floor of Bruce's gym with a fluid grace, practicing her aikido skills. Ever since college, mediation and martial arts had helped to keep her calm. She had asked Bruce to look into her past, and her parents history to find out what her uncle was trying to hide from her. Bruce had reluctantly agreed, and had been gone for a few hours. A subtle wash of sandalwood made her pause, and she turned to face Bruce.

"What did you find?" she asked, breathing heavily. She heard Bruce's sigh of frustration, and took a step towards him.

"Not a whole lot. Your parents were killed in a car accident when you were four, and Jim was given guardianship of you. When you were a child, he took you to see several doctors to try and repair whatever damage was done to your eyes, but nothing came of it. After a while, it appears that he chose to accept that you were not going to magically regain your sight, and let you believe you were born blind." he said. Isabella sighed and sat down on the ground, resting her head in her hands.

"That doesn't explain why he is trying so hard to lie to me. So I wasn't born blind. Who cares? It's not like I'm going to cut my family out of my life if I find out I could see at one point." she said. She felt gloved hands pull her forward, and she found herself pressed up against Batman's armor.

"Batman and the commissioner are going to have a little chat, and maybe we'll have some answers." he said. Isabella stood on her tip toes and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips.

"Be careful." she whispered. The arms around her tightened, and she felt his lips ghost over hers.

"Always." he breathed, and then he was gone. Isabella slowly made her way to the door of the gym, and nearly ran into Alfred.

"Oh my, Miss Gordon. Finished with your exercise?" he asked pleasantly, pressing his arm into her hand. She smiled warmly at him.

"Yes Alfred. Now I would be eternally grateful if you could lead me to a shower and a bed. I feel like the day is finally catching up to me." she replied, allowing Alfred to lead her down the hall.

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Jim Gordon stood on the roof of City Hall, staring out over the city. His shoulders sagged with exhaustion, and guilt twisted his gut.

"Something on your mind, Commissioner?" a familiar gravelly voice spoke from the darkness. Gordon didn't even turn around.

"Quite a few things, not the least of which is trying to track down the Joker before he gets his hands on my niece again." the older man said.

"I've got a few leads on the Joker. I'll find him, I promise." Batman replied. Gordon nodded.

"Guess that just leaves me with the rotten feeling in my gut." he sighed.

"Hiding secrets from your family?" Batman guessed. Gordon's shoulder's tensed, and a dry chuckle escaped from his lips.

"Am I that transparent?" he whispered.

"Isabella Gordon's records are muddled. She says she has always been blind, but when she came to live with you, you took her to several doctors to try and fix her sight. The fact that you didn't tell her the truth makes me think she saw something she shouldn't have, and you have been trying to protect her all these years." Batman said, looming in the shadows. Gordon's shoulders stiffened, and he whirled around to face the Dark Knight.

"Let me tell you something. My brother got involved in something he shouldn't have. He and Sophia paid the price, and it wasn't right that Isabella was punished too. I swore to keep her far away from that bastard, and if that meant twisting the truth just a bit, then so be it." he bellowed. Batman went very still, watching for any sign from the man before him. Gordon sighed and turned around facing the city.

"Alexander Gordon was a decent man, but he was a bit naïve. Very trusting of people." he started, his mind taking him back to that night.

Jim raced through the house, intent on getting to his niece before the men holding his brother did. He burst through the door, and was immediately seized by a pair of men dressed in black. A tall man with blue eyes and a goatee held a sleeping Isabella in his arms, a syringe in one hand.

"Let her go!" Jim roared, struggling against the men who held her. The man looked up at Jim, his face impassive. Isabella didn't so much as stir, and cold fear clutched at Jim's heart. The man seemed to sense Jim's fear and shook his head.

"Do you really think me such a monster? She is alive, and she will live beyond this night, but at a price. She will never see your face, nor will she see ours. I cannot take her with me, my home is unsuitable for children. Care for your niece, and learn to accept her dark life." he said, setting the child into her bed. As he stood up, he placed a small blue flower on her side table, and walked out of the room, his men following him. Once Jim was released, he rushed to his niece's side, feeling for a pulse. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found it, slow and steady. Dimly, he was aware of the men leaving the house, and he heard his brother and sister-in-law arguing with their captors. Car doors slammed, and the vehicles drove off into the distance. Jim pulled the small child into his arms, warily eyeing the blue flower the man had left.

"It's okay, Izzy. I swear I will keep you safe from those bastards." he whispered into the little girl's ear.

Gordon sighed, feeling the tension flow out of his body. Behind him, Batman stood unmoving, his mind racing.

"I am sure that the man who caused her blindness intended to take her for some other purpose. Maybe to further torment my brother's family. I decided that if she accepted that she was blind, and didn't grow up with any desire to regain her sight, the man would leave her alone." Gordon said.

"Did you keep the flower?" Batman asked quietly. Gordon blinked in surprise.

"The flower? No. I threw it away when we were cleaning out my brother's house. The strange thing is, that the men from that night, they wore outfits similar to the men that attacked the Narrows when you first started showing up." Gordon said. Batman straightened up, and seemed to relax minutely.

"Then she is safe. If it's the same man, he's dead." he said, before leaping off the roof. Gordon sagged against the side of the roof, feeling relief flood through him.

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Isabella sat upright in the large bed, her senses on overdrive. She had been dreaming, strange, distorted images that she had no hope of interpreting, when she suddenly had the sense that someone was in the room with her. She forced her breathing to slow, willed her heart to stop racing, as she strained her other senses to detect the presence. She slowly turned her head as she caught the trace of sandalwood, and her muscles relaxed.

"Bruce, you startled me. Is everything alright?" she asked. She heard the rustle of fabric as he moved closer, and sat on the bed next to her, but still he did not say a word. One of his hands came up and cupped her cheek, turning her face slightly to the right and holding it there. Isabella reached up and laid one hand on his bare chest, feeling her hair slide to cover one unseeing eye.

"Isabella, were you adopted?" he whispered. Isabella sat upright quickly at the tone in his voice. He sounded almost scared to ask the question, as if he secretly knew, but had to be sure. She nodded slowly.

"Yes, my birth mother was a friend of Daddy's. He promised to take care of me if anything happened to her. She died in childbirth. We never knew my birth father's identity." she replied. The hand on her cheek slid down, and she felt Bruce lay his forehead on hers.

"I'm so sorry. I know who your biological father was. He is the reason you're blind. He murdered your parents and took your sight. About a year and a half ago, he tried to destroy Gotham. I stopped him." he whispered. Isabella's hand s began to shake.

"Bruce, what are you talking about?" she asked, her voice a frightened whisper. His hands came forward and grasped hers warmly.

"Your real father's name was Ra's Al Ghul. He trained me to be his second in command when they took down Gotham, but I refused to be a killer. I became Batman to save this city, but he still intended to raze it. I stopped him, but in the fight, I left him on the train as it crashed. I let him die." he whispered. Isabella was frozen for a moment while her brain processed everything that had just been revealed to her. Her father had killed the only parents she had ever known, taken her sight, then tried to destroy the city she loved. Bruce began to pull away from her, sensing that her tenseness came from anger at his revelation. She launched herself at him, sending them both toppling off the bed and into the floor. She ended up sitting on his stomach, kissing him furiously.

"Don't you dare blame yourself for that bastard's death! I don't care if I share the same genes, he deserved what happened to him! The man obviously didn't care about me, or he wouldn't have attacked the city while I was in it. I do not give a damn about what history you have with him, what matters is he's gone, and we are here. All I can say is he is lucky that he's not alive, because I would hunt him down myself for what he's done." she snarled. Bruce's arms tightened around her waist and he sat upright, burying his face in her hair. The pair sat like that for several minutes, before Bruce got up and carried Isabella back to the bed, curling his body around hers protectively.

"I can't tell you how happy I am that you are nothing like Ra's. I love you so much." he whispered into her ear. She smiled softly and wiggled closer to him, reveling in the warmth of his skin.

"I love you too, Bruce." she replied sleepily. She drifted off to sleep to the sound of his steady heartbeat, and the soothing motion of his hand stroking her hair.


A/N: Okay, I did it. I had to get into a knock down drag out with my muse, but we finally agreed on this. It just seems to flow a little better. I'm sorry to say that I am running out of steam on this story, so there will only be one or two more chapters. Stay tuned!