"Grace!" his voice came out as a yell from inside the apartment, and Lian squealed, shrugging my hands off and racing forward.

Damn, what was with that kid doing that?

"Lian!" I yelled, going after her and grabbing her just as we cleared the doorway.

"Aunty Grace!" she squealed again, and as soon as I saw Roy holstering his gun I let her go, looking up to study the woman that was now throwing Lian into the air with ease.

She was…large. Not in a fat way, but in the way that she was just huge. Her presence in the room was almost suffocating. Her short, red cropped hair suited her well, and her belly top showed off a flat stomach I was envious of. The woman next to her was slightly less out there, but not by much. A yellow and black leather suit adorned her, and her short black hair was messy.

"What are you two doing here?" Roy asked, looking annoyed.

"Nightwing mentioned your girlfriend was going to be here today." Grace said, smirking as she looked me over. "Looks like he was right."

I glared at her, not liking the way she was looking me up and down.

"We wanted to meet her." The unknown lady said, smiling at me a lot nicer then Grace was.

"I would have introduced her when I wanted." Roy said. "You didn't have to break into my house."

We ignored him. Instead Grace came up to me, holding her hand out with the smirk still in place.

"I'm Grace." She said, and I shook her hand.

I instantly regretted it. Her hand closed around mine like a vice, crushing it ever so slowly. I gasped before I could help myself. She was obviously a meta of some sort. I tried to school my features so they wouldn't let her know she was hurting me, but I knew it wasn't working.

"Grace!" the other woman said sharply, and Grace let go.

I resisted the urge to rub my hand as the feeling came back into it.

"Pleased to meet you." I said back at Grace, gritting my teeth.

She smiled, a genuine smile this time, like she hadn't expected me to say that. "Likewise."

"I'm Thunder." The other lady said, and I nodded to her, but didn't try to shake her hand. Who knows, even though she seemed nicer then Grace, she could still be a bitch.

"So Nightwing's mentioned me?" I asked as pleasantly as I could, and Grace snorted.

"Yep." She said, sprawling in one of Roy's loungeroom chairs.

"He's been quite vocal about your visit to Roy." Thunder added, even as Roy growled.

I snorted. "Well, instead of telling complete strangers about our problems, he should have come to me." I said, rolling my eyes. "He's such an idiot."

Grace laughed, even as Lian looked up at Roy from where she now sat in his lap. "Daddy, Elizabeth said a naughty word."

I froze. Damn. Forgot there were small children around. Although, all things considered I could have said a lot worse when it came to Dick.

"I'm sorry, Lian. I shouldn't have called him an idiot. It was very naughty of me." I said repentantly. She nodded, satisfied, leaning against Roy's chest.

"So, now you've met each other, exchanged pleasantries, you can go." Roy said to Grace and Thunder, and I rolled my eyes.

"Roy, shut-," I stopped as I saw Lian looking at me curiously and changed what I was about to say. "the window, its cold. And while you're at it, be quiet, the womenfolk are talking."

Grace smirked at Roy, before we turned around and started talking again.

"So…" I said as casually as I could. "I'm always looking for more blackmail material against Roy or Nightwing…got any embarrassing stories you can share?"

BMBMBM

They left a few hours later, and I happily fetched Roy from his bedroom, where he'd retreated to watch a football game after it became apparent we weren't going to be finished talking any time soon.

"So…" I said, wrapping my arms around him. "You once split your pants open when chasing two bank robbers?"

I stifled my giggles when he groaned.

"They told you?"

I grinned. "That and many more."

END FLASHBACK

I slept in his arms that night, and it was one of the happiest nights of my life. Roy had made me promise not to utter any of those stories to anyone else, on pain of death by ticking, and I'd complied, albeit reluctantly.

I spent two more days with him before leaving to go back to Gotham, and to face a step brother that was in so much trouble.

Dick had gotten a verbal thrashing. I'd yelled about Grace and Thunder knowing more about Roy and Dick's dispute over me then I had, before going on to threaten emasculation if he so much as uttered a peep to the Outsiders or anyone else about me and Roy.

He's looked suitably chastised about telling others about his problems with Roy and my relationship, but that didn't stop him from trying to convince me to leave him because he was 'bad' for me.

I'd stormed up to my room, him following close behind me, until I'd slammed my door in his face.

He'd stopped knocking on the door, trying to apologize, after about ten minutes.

I forgave him after a while. After all, I needed advice on how to call off the birthday present monster that was Bruce.

He hadn't been much help though. It seemed Bruce's gift giving tendencies had skipped over the boys and landed square on me. It sucked.

It was only two days to my birthday when I met them.

Wonder Woman and Superman.

I was down in the Batcave, waiting for Bruce to come home from his nightly patrol, a plate of cookies, brownies and a muffin basket (homecooked, of course) sitting by me on a desk near the computer. I was spinning around on an office chair, waiting for the tell tale roar of his car. It was my final effort to make sure he didn't buy me anything expensive…or anything at all apart from that goddamn book. I was going to do the worse the imaginable to him. Home cooking and puppy dog eyes.

If this didn't work, I was going to give up. It was the big guns, so to speak.

I'd just finished another rotation on the chair when a device to the corner of the cave lit up. I fell out of my chair, righting myself just in time to see the two of them materialize in the cave.

I felt my jaw drop. Meeting Grace and Thunder was one thing. Meeting these two…scared the crap out of me.

They turned towards me, looking surprised, and I worked my jaw, trying to get some comprehensible words to come out of my mouth. No luck.

"Hello." Wonder Woman was speaking. To me. I think I might just faint.

The roar of the Batmobile and Robin's motorcycle saved me from saying something stupid.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank god!

My relief was shortlived when I saw Bruce stumble out of his car, holding his side.

"Dad!" I rushed forward, steadying him when he stumbled again.

"Shit, you're bleeding." My hand had come away red from his armor. How had something gotten through it? Sure, it was plate armor, but he was so safe usually.

I let Tim take his weight from me, before I turned, racing to the wall and slapping the intercom with my clean hand, my braided hair flying behind me as I ran.

"Alfred, we need medical attention down here." I said tersely, before I ran around Wonder Woman, who was standing behind Tim and Superman as they lay Bruce down on the table.

I yanked the field kit Bruce had in the Batmobile out of the car, turning and running back to Bruce, yanking out the gauze and ripping open the packet before handing it to Tim.

Alfred rushed down the stairs as Tim pressed some button on Bruce's suit that made it spring open, the breast plate coming off easily with the material. Bruce hissed when the material was peeled back from his wound, but I didn't notice. All I could see was the red. It looked bad.

"I'm fine." Bruce protested, trying to get the gauze from Tim.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, you're fine with a gaping wound in your side that's pumping about a quart of blood out of your body a minute. Just shut up and let them help you Dad."

I ignored the amused look I got from Superman and Wonder Woman, moving closer in case Alfred needed my help. I'd had Alfred show me what I could do to help if a situation like this came up, which had involved quite a lot of practice in first aid, something I was thankful to have considering the amount of people I knew who lived high risk lives. Even with that though, I was reluctant to plunge into the deep end by trying to help without Alfred telling me exactly what to do.

"It's not deep, Master Bruce." Alfred said, eyeing the wound critically over his glasses. "A few stitches and few nights rest and you should be fine."

I snorted. "Here that, Dad…rest. That means sitting on your butt watching TV, not trying to solve all the cities crimes from your computer like last time you were hurt."

He scowled up at me, but I just smirked down at him.

"I guess that means I have more time to shop for your birthday present then." My smirk became his smirk as I glared.

"You wouldn't."

"I would." He contradicted smoothly, waiting patiently for Alfred to finish stitching and wrapping his wound before turning to the other superheroes in the room.

"Wonder Woman. Superman." Why did his voice change and become so cold? I wondered. It was like they weren't his allies, but his enemies.

"Bruce." Wonder Woman smiled warmly, at him and then me. "We came down because we need you on a case."

"He's hurt." I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

Superman grinned, amused. At me, I didn't know. "We can see that now. We'll find someone else."

"I can do it." Bruce said, and I rolled my eyes before turning back to him.

"Says the guy whose lying on the table with stitches in his side." I snarked back.

His lips twitched. "I've had worse."

"Please." I said softly. I didn't want to see him go out and get hurt again. That was really something I could live without.

He sighed, shooting a glare over my shoulder at Wonder Woman and Superman.

"Elizabeth, you know I have a job to do."

"Not while you're hurt." I whispered back, furiously. He was going to go out, probably work on whatever case the Justice League needed him on, and die!

"Take Tim!" I said suddenly, turning back to the waiting heroes. "He's like…ten times the detective that Bruce is."

They all stood stock still for a moment, Bruce giving me a look that was suspiciously like a glare.

"What?" I asked. "He is. He figured out who you are by himself!"

"So did you." Bruce argued. "Do you want to go off and work on whatever case they have?"

I rolled my eyes. "Tim figured out who you are without the advantage of living with you for a month or so and having an idiotic big brother. He's the master detective of this family."

Alfred let out a sound that was suspiciously like a chuckle, before he covered it with a cough.

"This isn't up for discussion, Elizabeth." Bruce said, his voice dangerously quiet.

I glared. "The hell it isn't." I said. "You take too many risks as it is, and now you want to go out and work a case with the League while you're hurt?"

He sat up, barely wincing, before hopping off the table and making his way to one of the cupboards that I knew held replacements for the batsuit.

I felt tears well up in my eyes before I willed them away. I wasn't going to cry. Especially not in front of Dad's superhero friends.

"Fine." I said to his back. "Go out. Get yourself killed."

I turned on my heel, grabbing my plate of cookies, brownies and the muffins. On the way out I stuffed them in the bin. They were worthless now.

I ignored him calling out my name, slamming the book case shut on the batcave, before I let any of my tears fall. I was just getting to know my father, and he was about to go off and get himself killed. It wasn't fair.

I needed to get out of there.

I ran up to my room, throwing open my wardrobe, pulling out a pair of jeans and a black tank top. I threw them on as quickly as I could, ignoring the pain in my chest that came with my worry for my father.

I threw my hair up into a pony tail, grabbing a jacket before I left my room, stalking down towards the garage.

I'd only driven the Lamborghini a few times, and to tell the truth, it scared me a little bit, but I wanted to go fast today. I needed to go fast today. I had to get away from the Manor, and from reality, and that was the only way I could.

And besides, as soon as Bruce got the speeding ticket finding out how fast I'd been going, he'd be pissed, and at the moment, I was all for that.

I made it halfway to Metropolis before I broke down, pulling over to the side of the highway, sobbing into the steering wheel.

It was an hour before I could calm down enough to drive, and by then, I just didn't want to.

With the sun peeping out over the horizon, the sky gradually getting lighter, I fell asleep, my head pillowed against the glass.

BMBMBM

I woke to a tapping on the window.

Blearily I opened my eyes, blinking them to get them to clear. Floating there, outside my car, was Superman, a slightly amused look on his face.

I sighed, putting down the window.

"Yeah?" I asked rudely.

"You do know it's not safe to sleep in a car on the side of the road, don't you, Miss Morgan?" he asked politely, and I rolled my eyes.

"You do know it's not safe to take someone who's already wounded out on a mission, don't you, Superman?"

"Your father's fine." He said, instead of replying to me. "We didn't feel he was necessary to the mission after all."

I looked away. "Thanks." I murmured softly. "And I'm sorry I was, uh, such a bitch to you and Wonder Woman." I blushed.

He smiled indulgently. "That's alright. It's good to know Bruce has someone who can tell him when he's had enough."

I snorted. "Yeah, cos he certainly doesn't."

"But I think you should maybe go back to Gotham now, Miss Morgan." He said. "He's been worried about you."

I sighed. "Is that why he sent you out to find me?"

He just winked, and flew away.

I couldn't help it. I leaned out of the window and gazed after him as he floated into the sky. That was majorly awesome, even if he was a little annoying, cutting into my nap time. Even so, I couldn't express the degree of gratitude I felt towards him for not letting my father go out last night. As injured as he was, there was no way he could have fought his best.

With a sigh, I started the car up, doing a u-turn. Back to Gotham, even though every fibre of my body told me to go see Roy, the one man who could always make me feel better.

But I needed to work things out with Bruce. And sooner, rather then later.

I made it back to Gotham without incident, parking the car in the garage and making my way through the house, before stopping outside the entrance to the Batcave.

This could be awkward.

I walked down the steps slowly, my stomach churning.

What if he wouldn't accept my apology?

What if he asked me to leave?

The fear grabbed my in a vice, and mu legs almost turned to jelly on me.

Steeling my nerve, I continued my descent, hoping he wasn't down there, although knowing there really wasn't anyway he would be.

I was on the second last step when I saw him, slumped over a desk, the computer in front of him running searches on the identities of come of the Penguins henchman that had been caught on CCTV.

I smiled softly. Ever the superhero.

I moved over to him, mindful that with the injury he'd sustained last night, sleeping slumped in a chair wouldn't be the best thing for him.

I touched his shoulder gently. "Dad, wake up."

He did, slowly, blinking up at me as he groaned. "Didn't think I'd see you back here so soon." He said, and I shrugged, self conscious.

"You didn't expect me to miss my party did you?" I tried to smile, and he copied me, before stretching out as well as he could with a gash in his side.

"Look, I'm sorry-" I said, just as he said, "Elisabeth, forgive me,"

We both laughed nervously. "You go first." I said, before perching myself on the edge of the desk. He looked down, before meeting my eyes again. Reaching over, he took my hand, rubbing circles over it with his thumb.

"Elizabeth, sometimes I forget you aren't like Tim, or Dick." he started, and I frowned.

I didn't look like a spandex wearing male, did I?

He smiled at my frown. He could probably tell what I was thinking.

"I mean, I forget you didn't choose this life." He said. "You're not someone Batman can order around. You're my daughter. And I'm sorry if I seem like I'm blowing off your concern." He paused for a short while. "I guess I'm still trying to learn how to act as a good father."

I sighed, gripping his hand with mine.

"You're doing a remarkable job." I said with a small smile, before sighing. "I'm sorry for freaking out last night." I said, running a hand through my messy hair. "I get why you do it. It's just scary, when I know you're already hurt and you still wanna go out to fight. And I know that's what you do." I said, feeling my eyes start to tear up a little. "I mean, you're Batman. It's kind of in the job description."

"Will it help if I promise not to go out when I'm injured unless it's really important?" he said quietly.

I looked up, shocked, before shaking my head. "Dad, you help people. Whether you were injured of no, I shouldn't have tried to stop you from doing that."

I looked away, trying to blink back the tears. Finally he drew my face back to look at him, with a hand on my cheek.

"Elizabeth, never, ever worry about telling me to respect my limits. You're allowed to be worried about me."

He stood, drawing me into a hug, his arms tight around me. We stood there for a few moments, my face buried into his chest.

I breathed in his scent. Crisp cotton, mixed with the smell of faint sweat, leather and a very vague smell of antiseptic.

"Group hug!" I heard Tim yell from behind me, before his arms were flung around me as well.

I laughed, and we broke away.

Bruce was frowning, but from the faint twinkle in his eyes, I knew he has thought Tim was amusing.

A throat clearing from the top of the stairs made us turn. Alfred smirked down at me.

"Master Bruce, there is still the matter of Miss Elizabeth's attire for this evening." He said, and I groaned, shooting him a dirty look.

I'd be happy in jeans and a t-shirt and going to the movies or something, but nooo…. Bruce has to be hosting a big gala for my birthday.

The evil smirk Alfred had been wearing appeared on Bruce's face as well. "I'd almost forgotten." He said, before turning back to me. "Go get ready, Elizabeth. We've only got a few hours until the hair stylist gets here."

I groaned.

I should have gone to Roy's.