"What are you sighing about this time," Bruce asked tiredly walking into the kitchen to get breakfast. He quickly glanced over his shoulder after a couple of moments of silence from his fifteen-year-old daughter that her eyes glued to the television.

"A band of Joker wannabes robbed another Gotham bank."

"And?"

"And what dad? How can you just sit around and not do anything about this injustice?"

"I'm sixty Darcy that how-"

"That's it dad, I'm going to turn sixteen soon and you're still treating me like a little child! I want to be able to save people in Gotham city from bad guys like the father I looked up to, the father that was Batman, not you who sit at home in the safety of the mansion while people suffer," Darcy retorted as she turned around to see a nasty glare overtake her father's normal grouchy appearance. At this moment she knew that she had stepped on a very sensitive nerve, so she did what every normal teenager would do in this situation, which was go to her room before she received a boring lecture from her dad telling her about how dangerous his double life was and how he would never put another youth through that again. It sickened her that he was treating her like the other children he had ever worked with, after all none of them were ever his real child and somewhere deep down inside Darcy could feel that was the difference separating her from the rest.

Bruce sighed as he cringed at the sound of his daughter's door slam against its hinges. Just a couple of days, he told himself as he sat down to drink his coffee with a headache already creeping up upon him so early in the morning. He solemnly wished that Alfred was still here on the earth to take care of Darcy he was far better at handling her stubborn attitude, after all Alfred has been dealing with the same attitude with Bruce almost all his life. Even though Bruce couldn't handle his daughter he was keeping to his vow that he wasn't going to usher his daughter into his old night job; however, he had made plans to usher her into his day one as an apprentice president so that she can take over the Wayne corporation when he decides to retire or if in the worst case scenario he dies. Bruce only prays that all the paper work and demands of her new job will keep her busy long enough for her to give up the crazy idea that he will ever let her inside a bat costume. The very thought of unveiling his daughter to the rest of the world scared him, he knew that he couldn't contain Darcy any longer after all it would be wrong. Bruce knew the only reason she was always so restless about going out or putting on the bat costume was because of his paranoia. He never wanted to put her in a position of danger so he thought that isolating her from the knowledge of the rest of the world was the best thing he could do, but now that he retired from being batman and all his old foes were either in prison permanently or dead there wasn't really any reason to keep Darcy contained in the mansion anymore. Yes he knew what had to be done, it was letting go that was his problem. He couldn't stand the thought of his daughter hating him and the fact that they have never really had a real conversation before that has not ended in a splitting headache and the sound of her door slamming with aggregation.

In the end when the day of her birthday arrived he walked slowly towards Darcy's room not because it was morally wrong to keep her contained inside the mansion, not because her only friend might have been a 80 year old butler, or because he wanted to simply distract her from her hopes and dreams of one day becoming a black caped hero, but because he knew had failed as a parent figure by leaving Alfred with the duty of raising her while he neglected her because of his two jobs. He was doing this to make up for the countless tears he made her shed and the countless birthdays he either forgot or wasn't there for because of his work. With this intention backing up his decision to make her existence public by introducing her to the Wayne Company gave him confidence that he was doing the right thing. He knocked on her door after taking in a deep breath to give him strength to keep himself from backing out of this and canceling the press conference that he personally set up. When Darcy didn't answer his knock he rolled his eyes with irritation with the thought that she was probably still fuming from their last attempts at a conversation. So after waiting a second time for an answer he ordered her voice activated wooden door to unlock itself to reveal the sight of his daughter curled up in a corner of her room with a blanket wrapped around her while petting Ace, as she stared at the picture of Alfred holding her when she was two.

"What do you want?" she asked not looking away from the picture, which only stabbed Bruce's stone heart with more guilt. Usually her birthday was a day preserved for Alfred to make this day special for her, and he didn't know how his oldest friend entertained the growing child while following the rule that Darcy must stay within the mansion at all times.

"Why didn't you open your door?"

"Why bother since you can override the lock yourself," Darcy answered with the usual cold tone voice Bruce only heard her address him with, never Alfred. Alfred never had to be subject to her cold attitude and sharp tongue, Bruce thought as he sat down on her bed knowing that this was going to take a while to sort out.

"I came in to tell you two things the first is Happy Birthda-"

"So you finally remembered after sixteen years, big deal dad it doesn't win you any points."

"Will you let me finish?" Bruce asked with exasperation heavy in his voice that made Darcy take her eyes from her beloved late caretaker that Bruce took as a sign that he had her attention at least for now, so he continued the speech he had been rehearsing for months. "Well the second thing that I came to say is that I'm sorry. I'm sorry for forcing you to be contained within the limits of this mansion, and I'm sorry for all those years I have negelected you and dumped my responsibilities upon Alfred. I know I will never be able to make it up to you for all the lost time, but as a birthday present to make up for all the ones I forgot I'm taking you out to a press conference."

"Great my first breath of fresh air isn't going to be at an amusement park or restaurant, but at a boring press conference where I get to listen to you talk even more! No thanks, worst first try I ever seen though," Darcy answered dismissively while returning her eyes towards the picture of Alfred hoping that her father would get the picture that she was happy where she was mourning the death of her first and only best friend.

"Yeah, I guess it is a pretty feeble attempt, but for once can you do your old man a favor please come with me I have a surprise I hope you'll like. Before I forget this is a formal event, so-"

"I got it. dress nicely, go with you, smile, and then I can go back today dreaming about an enjoyable birthday," Darcy sighed agreeing to her father's request not because he asked for her to behave and follow his orders, which is what he meant by doing him a favor, but because this might be the only chance he will ever let her go outside and because it touch her slightly that her father came in here to ask for forgiveness, which was a gesture she never thought he would ever do. With a exhaustion and relief flowing through him he left with a slight smile playing across his face, but before he closed the door completely he heard his daughter squeal softly as she told the picture of Alfred that she was finally going outside with a sweet and tender voice that surprised Bruce it was like when it came to Alfred she was a completely different person. Whatever you did old friend you sure raised another good one, Bruce thought as he walk towards the foray to wait for his daughter.

"Okay Ace, dad said he wanted nice, which extremely uncomfortable dress is the nicest?" Darcy asked in desperation not knowing, which of the dresses that she gotten as presents from Wonder-woman during pass birthdays was the nicest after all to a tom-boy like her a dress was a dress and she couldn't see the difference between them. Even though she knew all the dresses would fit her father's idea of nice she wanted to look her best, after all it isn't everyday she gets to go outside. As she flipped through different dresses while Ace stood beside her she came across a dress that made a memory of the good old times reappear in her mind of when her father fought crime and Alfred was still alive. The memory was of her tenth birthday the last one she ever shared with Alfred and was the first time she ever met the Green Lantern, who at the time was part of her father's time in the Justice League, he ended up getting her a dress that was a few dress sizes too big for her at the time expecting that Batman's daughter was a lot taller and older. She could remember wearing it in front of Alfred only because he loved it so much in his words it was 'simply exquisite.' He promised her that one day this dress would fit her and make her beauty really shine, so naturally this was the dress she decided to wear not caring if she could find a dress that could top the beautiful baby blue dress with millions of tiny specks of glitter all over it. As she wore the dress that naturally draped perfectly around her body and flowed all the way to her ankles she wished that Alfred was here to see her to the point that she could almost imagine the words that would come out of his mouth, which in his case would probably be all the complementary adjectives from A to Z. With her dress picked out she decided to go all out by wearing makeup that she never thought she would ever be able to wear, styling her hair in a down style, and to top off her look she wore the things she feared the most the dreaded painful objects of torture ever created: heels. By the time she was done she could barely recognized herself in the mirror, which made a huge smile appear upon her face, she looked nice, even better than nice she might have even been boy drooling gorgeous, she thought as she left her room to meet her father.

"It took you long enough! For your sake you better look ni-" Bruce broke off as he saw what he was guessing was his daughter. By the way her father was speechless by her very present assured Darcy that she accomplished her goal.

"What's the matter dad? Can't recognize your own daughter?" Darcy asked with mischief written all over her face as her father snapped out of his shock and surprise to be left with suspicion.

"Are you sure you want to go out like that?"

"Did I overdo it? You did say that it was a formal event and I do look nice."

"Nice would be an understatement I better make sure to increase security," Bruce complained as he took one more look at the stunning beauty in front of him knowing that he was going to have a tough day ahead protecting Darcy from the wolves of the world called men. It would've been better to ask Darcy to change into something more conservative; however, this was her birthday and there has to be a really good reason that a very boyish girl decided to become more girly, so he let it slide after all it was kind of good to see her in something other than baggy clothes, he thought as both he and Darcy walked outside into his black stretched limo.

Darcy could hardly believe what she was seeing as she stared at the moving landscape through her window. She saw everything from kids happily playing on sidewalks to countless shopping malls. To Bruce, Darcy looked like how she did in a picture he saw of her first Christmas, which of course he left for Alfred to handle.