Stephanie Brown prided herself on being a tough, self-assured, independent young woman. She had to be, growing up in one of Gotham's rougher neighbors with a single mom. But if anyone asked, she would always say she liked it better that way. Just her and her Mom taking on the world.

As she grew up, she eventually made close ties with the Wayne boys and, to everyone's amazement, found two best girlfriends in Cassandra and Barbara. While it was far from perfect, Stephanie did truly love her life. This knowledge, however, did little to curb her discomfort with the current topic of conversation.

The three former Batgirls typically had long, rambling talks about whatever came to mind at lunch, but today was different. The normally quiet Cass was practically bouncing in her seat as she gushed about the upcoming school dance.

All the girls had attended one or more of these events before, but this was special. In an effort to encourage parental involvement (and monetary donations), Gotham Academy was hosting a father-daughter dance.

Cass had been all but dancing when she had handed Bruce the invitation, and the smile on his little girl's face was the only persuasion the man had needed. "Baba brought home my dress." Cass was gushing. "He says we will go for dinner after."

"My Dad made me that offer, too." Barbara laughed. "I told him I'd be just as happy with a movie on the couch, but he's insisting. Making up for the long nights he's been working."

"We can go to-gether!" Cass exclaimed excitedly. "It's a date." Barbara winked. Suddenly, Stephanie pushed back from the table, scooping up the remainder of her lunch as she stood. "Hey, where are you going?" Barbara called after her, but Steph didn't answer.

She couldn't listen to them talk about this stupid dance for the rest of the period. Especially since she wouldn't be going.

Crystal Brown had been more than a little surprised to find her daughter on the couch when she got home.

The girl went home with the Wayne children so often, and while Crystal was glad Stephanie had such good friends, she did occasionally wonder if she was trying to get away from her. Still, as long as Stephanie came home at night, Crystal supposed she wasn't completely failing as a mother.

The uncomfortable silence of dinner was interrupted by the buzzing of Stephanie's phone. "That's 3 texts in as many minutes, Little Miss Popular." Her mother smirked. "Anything you're missing out on?"

"Just Cass." She shrugged, shoving the phone aside. "Well, I appreciate you working me into your busy schedule." Crystal smiled.

Stephanie did her best to eat, but her thoughts were clawing at her, refusing to be ignored. "How did you and Dad meet?" Steph blurted out. Crystal stopped mid-chew.

Stephanie had been around 6 when her father had left them, although the girl had barely noticed at the time. She had been too enamored by her new scholarship to Gotham Prep.

By the time the divorce was finalized, Stephanie was used to her Dad not being around. And with every year that passed without either of them broaching the subject, Crystal had assumed her daughter simply didn't care. But now Stephanie had proved her wrong.

"Where is- ahem- where is this coming from?" She asked, trying to stall her answer. Stephanie shrugged as she pushed her food around her plate. "Well," her mother breathed.

"We ran into each other; well, I ran into him on my first day working in the hospital. I probably wouldn't have given it a second thought. I was always bumping into people. But he was waiting by the door when my shift ended. Gave me this corny line about wanting a private consultation with the doctor."

"You went for that?" Steph laughed. "Hey, give me a break. Med school kept me busy. It had been a minute since a guy had shown interest in me." She laughed back.

"Anyway, we went for a quick dinner. He told me how he was trying to make it television. And yes, I did get a little sappy for the up-and-coming TV star. He was sweet and charismatic, and he knew what he wanted. I wasn't even surprised when he landed the host role on this new game show." "What was the show?" Stephanie pressed, but her Mom just shrugged.

"Some quiz show. I thought it was pretty dumb even then, but your father was proud of it. He would come home and watch the recordings of himself the way athletes watch game tapes. It was his life's achievement. You know he proposed to me at the end of one shows? Said it made for a great season finale."

"Kinda lame but kinda sweet, I guess." Stephanie smiled, but then her expression flipped. "Soo… why- why did he leave?" Crystal took a deep breath, followed by a gulp of water to steady her nerves. "There was an… incident." She sighed.

"He'd been feeling stagnant at work and took it out on a contestant. He blew up at them at a live recording session. The network let him go. He spent 2 weeks moping on the couch. One day, he snapped at you over nothing, and I told him to take his sulking somewhere else. So he did. When he didn't come home and I didn't hear from him for a while… I guess I took that as his answer. I filed for divorce a few months later."

The tense silence sat between them for a while. "I'm sorry I asked." Stephanie whispered. "No, I probably should have told you all this before. You were just never the sentimental type." Her Mom smirked.

Stephanie was still thinking about everything her Mom had said as she lay in bed. After not knowing the details for so long, the truth of it all just seemed so anticlimactic. An over-ambitious, pretty boy who had cared too much about the wrong things. What a rip-off!

She and her Mom were better off without him. So why couldn't she get him out of her head? She already had plenty of reason to be mad at him for leaving her Mom.

What's more, Stephanie knew what he was up to these days. Running around Gotham threatening people just to get some attention. Most pathetic of all, she had beaten his stupid little games time and time again.

A series of taps on the window shook Stephanie from her thoughts as she whipped around. She peeked through the drawn blinds and came eye to eye with Red Robin, perched on her windowsill.

"What the hell?" She hissed as she opened the window a crack. "Are you out of your mind? My Mom is home and probably still awake."

"Well, you disappeared after school, and not even suddenly, by the way. Cass has been trying to text and call you all night. She thinks you're mad at her."

"Well, I'm not. I'll tell her so tomorrow." Steph said dismissively, but Red Robin only opened the window further and slipped inside. "Until then, do you maybe wanna share why you're not out here tonight? I had to handle Kite Man by myself. He asked for you the whole time." He grinned. Stephanie did not return it.

"You're spending too much time with Dick." She huffed as she plopped onto her bed. "Look, I appreciate the concern, but I'm good. I just decided that I maybe shouldn't ditch my Mom so much. The last thing she needs is a daughter who's too focused on other stuff that she stops coming home."

Tim pulled his domino mask away as he sat down next to her. "You wanna unpack that?" He asked softly. Stephanie shook her head. "Cass says you disappeared when they started talking about the dance." He pushed, still trying to get her to open up without earning a punch in the ribs.

"Hard to care about a party I'm not going to." She shrugged. "It's fine. Who wants to spend the night in a stuffy dress and heels anyway?"

"One more question, and then I'll drop it?" Tim asked, trying his luck. Stephanie nodded her permission. "If you know who bought you the stuffy dress and heels and could take you to the boring dance, would you want to go?" Steph thought for a bit. Then she laughed, and Tim raised a brow.

"I'm trying to imagine the version of my Dad that I know at school dance. He's just there in the Cluemaster costume. And what would we even talk about? 'Sorry about that time you broke your arm, disarming one of my traps.' 'No big deal, Dad. It's not the worst thing that's happened to me when you threaten the city.'"

The girl dissolved into a fit of giggles for a moment before she regained her composure. "Honestly, I'd love to go with the guy my Mom described. It's too bad, I guess." Tim nodded solemnly as he stood and slipped his mask back in place.

"Text Cass, please. She's gonna know I talked to you and will twist my arm for information." "Wouldn't want that." Stephanie smirked, and Red Robin disappeared into the night.

Cassandra forgave Stephanie for ghosting her in a heartbeat. She couldn't stay mad at her best friend forever.

The next day seemed to go back to normal although Stephanie did notice that Barbara and Cass avoided the subject of the dance. Steph tried to tell them she didn't care. After all, they had every right to be excited. Still, she appreciated the consideration.

III

"You're being weird." Stephanie told her Mom as the woman snapped her attention back to their board game. "You keep looking at the clock like you're waiting for something."

"I'm just used to being alone with my thoughts on Saturday nights." Crystal smiled. "Not that I don't love having you home, but don't you normally book a room at Wayne Manor for the weekend?"

"Eh, Bruce took Cass to this dumb Daddy/Daughter dance at school. Babs went with her Dad. I guess I'm just not in the mood to hang with just the boys tonight."

Before her Mom could respond, there was a knock on the door, and Crystal jumped up to answer it. Stephanie could hear her talking to someone but chose to ignore them.

"Stephanie dear, you have a visitor." Her Mom said in a sing-song voice as she came back to the living room, followed by the last person Stephanie had expected to see tonight. "Bruce? What are you doing here?" She asked, jumping to her feet.

"Picking you up for the dance, of course." The man smiled. "You'd better get dressed quickly. Cass is already bouncing out of her seat in the limo."

"She did tell you it's a Dad and Daughter thing, right?" Steph asked. "She did. So I called your Mom and asked if she'd be ok with me standing in for your Dad. You are family, after all."

Stephanie turned to her Mom, who was practically gushing as she watched the scene play out. "You knew about this?" she asked, trying to hide her growing grin. "I hid your dress in my closet." Crystal smiled. Stephanie threw her arms around her for a quick hug before running to get ready.

III

While she would never admit to enjoying a school function, Stephanie smiled in every picture they took that night. It was far from a conventional Father/Daughter dance, but that was ok. She was part of an unconventional family.

A/N Thanks for your patience. I know it's been a minute, but now that the semester is over (and I'm on bed rest from surgery), I'm trying to write more again. I hope that you long-time readers stick around and you new people enjoy what you read. Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night!