I thought the story would be fifteen chapters, but now I am positive fourteen will do. That said, this chapter and the next shall be longer than the past ones and worth the long wait. :D Hope everyone had a happy Halloween.

Chapters fifteen and twenty-one (next chapter for the latter) of "The Natural Conclusion" for the final moments with Bruce/Batman who has become what he swore to destroy.

Title by Tara Pammi.

Chapter Thirteen

The Man to be Reckoned With

He was someone she was at home with, so she was sure he'd felt the same way. The threads she felt towards him were just tougher than ever. And yet -

"You're sure, Steph?"

She gawked. Guys said that every time there was an unexpected pregnancy, so she should have expected that. "Jason, of course!" she exclaimed, showing the offense in her tone. He reeled back a little, still shocked. She went on and couldn't stop because she guessed as much. "I know we both forgot to use condoms, and I'm afraid if you are. I should have thought to get on the pill, but we were both busy -"

He stopped her with both hands in front of himself. "No, no, stop! I didn't mean anything that way! It's just that...I'm afraid." Jason lowered his eyes to his lap. She'd expected that from him, feeling it herself. "Because of what world we'll bring them into -" By "them", he meant the child, THEIR child. "- but because of him."

Exactly what she'd been thinking. "What else?" Steph pressed on, already knowing but needing to hear from him.

"...what if I turn out no better than him and Willis?"

It was her hormones and she knew it. Talia was still silently observing and had stayed out of it until the right moment. "Jason Todd, I tell you how much I'm scared, too, and you say you worry about being like those assholes! You ask me if I was on the pill with everything going on! What next, blame ME?"

"No! Stop!" He reached over and took both of her hands into his, pulling her close to him in his arms. She cried, suddenly drained and the festive mood murdered. "Stephanie Todd -" He turned the usage of whole names back on her, suddenly calmer but still worried. "- I'll never blame you for anything, especially not this. I'm being an ass again. I'm sorry." He ran his palm over her back, massaging her spine to help her relax a little. And what he said next took her aback in the most amazing way ever.

"Gotham's most remarkable fighter is gonna have my baby." Oh, if Barbara heard that, she'd eviscerate him. But he meant it just for her, and her alone. "And that means I have another being to protect." The other hand found its way to her stomach, solidifying the warmth rekindled. "You know what all of this means, Blondie?"

It meant exactly this: she was his wife in everything that mattered. First, the plans for their home city and neighborhood. Next, the proposal and wedding. And now this.

It meant their agreement of four years had become the rest of their lives.

She'd wound up giving him a far better Christmas present that wasn't materialistic.

~o~

Still no love confession, but Jason did tell her this like the man he was now: he was gonna support her and make sure she and the baby were both happy and healthy in every way. They were gonna make this work.

But that also meant they had to keep it confined within their group for now and not announce it to the world yet even though she was a few months along. Batman was still out there even though Wayne Enterprises cut him out of his family's legacy. He'd be dangerous more than before and would spring when they least expected it. What if he swoops in and takes our baby, or uses the pregnancy against us, like if he sees us incapable...raises a new soldier, and then takes us down?

There was so much that her brain went into overdrive with these thoughts before she mentally smacked herself. Yeah, she was gonna be a mother for a second time, and unlike before, she was keeping this child. She had more than before. She was worrying, rightfully so, but she needed to think about this rationally, or else.

They broke the news of the baby to the group who came on Christmas to celebrate, including her mom.

"OH, MY BABY!" Crystal squealed, taking her face into both hands and planting kisses all over much to the daughter's chagrin and everyone's amusement. "I'm gonna be a grandma!" She halted and looked over in Talia's direction, not minding the fact Jason's mother knew before her. "That makes two of us, doesn't it?"

Cass came close to crushing them both in a bone-breaking embrace, delighted at the prospect of becoming an aunt. Tim managed to make the time to come, too, but later, they would see Damian, Ric, and the Kents who were in Kansas to be with Ma and Pa. "Count me in, too," Tim said, smirking before it transformed, and everyone knew what that meant.

"Ah-huh, none of that, Baby Bird," Jason said with a finger wagging in his face. "How often do we have a good Christmas?"

Damn it, he'd jinxed it and hadn't meant to. Tim's phone then went off, and everyone crowded around in horror at what showed up.

This alarm was reserved only for notifications on Alfred, and the headlines were saying he was MISSING as of the day before Christmas Eve. That day, he'd phoned the police and told them he was afraid for his life, and by the time they'd gotten there, Wayne Manor had immediately gone into lockdown never before seen that even Lucius Fox stated he'd never been aware of it upon questioning.

~o~

"Alfred missing just as he was turning on Bruce and being vocal about it," Jason stated heatedly when they gathered around the table, the festivities soiled after the wonderful news. "This a coincidence or what? I don't think so."

"I have League agents checking across the city," Talia told him, coldly indifferent. "Timothy?"

"Hacked into the cowl feed without Bruce knowing it," he answered vindictively, "and you'll never believe what I found." He then held up his tablet he'd brought with him. They gathered around behind him to watch the sole focus on Alfred, Stephanie putting a protective hold on her still-flat stomach, her husband wrapping an arm around her waist to pull her back against his chest.

"I thought you, of all people, would never betray me like this, Alfred."

The man himself was bound to a chair with the greatest of restraints only the Batman could get a hold of. "So did I at one time, Mr. Wayne," Alfred said icily, "but you are not the boy I'd taken care of after his life changed forever, nor are you the man I ever thought you were. I tried telling you a long time ago you were going to lose yourself in this monster of yours. Good men have started out one way only to become something else they'd never thought of. All those people have become collateral damage you don't care about at the end of the day, or like you used to.

"I wonder where I went wrong with you even though I already knew the answers: you refused therapy which does wonders for others, and you could afford the best while those others struggle to find the right one. You wasted your inheritance namely on yourself and the fancy toys from the very company your family built for the city. I believed you once when you said it was for Gotham, but look at it now."

"Everything's being taken out of my control, because of those two and now because of YOU," Bruce growled.

Cass hissed at that. "Disgrace."

"Who's fault is that? Nevermind. I don't need to answer. Everyone already knows, yet you continue to be in denial. I thought outing you without giving away your Batman identity would make you open your eyes, though I'm not surprised. I've watched you fight a war you have now lost in the end, lose loved ones, and save the monsters more than the people they drag into their schemes. You are to blame for the loss of your loved ones and friends who are still alive. Master Jason and Miss Stephanie are doing what your parents did before they were murdered. They're cleaning up the mess you and your playthings have left."

"I'M NOT TO BLAME!"

"Oh, but you are!" Alfred shouted back. "I enabled you when I should have done something long ago. I tried my best to raise a child who was never mine. I should have put my foot down harder against you taking in the children who were more your soldiers than they should have been. For all of that, I hope you get what you deserve."

No one saw the blow coming to strike poor Alfred in the face, drawing some blood if not a broken tooth. Tim hissed and cut off the feed. "Still getting it, but I can't watch anymore. You guys?"

"And I had thought I'd seen the worst in that man," Talia hissed.

"Someone get me a shotgun so I can make myself a hero," Crystal agreed. "Nothing would make me happier."

Cass lividly signed that she was going to rip his head off, all for them. Stephanie agreed with her, and as for her husband...

"I'm gonna kill Bruce the next time I see him."

~o~

Jason had said it before, and now he said it again. Her husband was gonna kill Bruce when they saw him again, and even though there definitely would be some consequences, it had to be for the best, but also a nuclear decision in the mix that Tim of all people had to bring up.

"We expose him as Batman. Not just everything else, but what he did to Alfred is unforgivable."

"Are you insane, Drake?!" Damian shouted from his place in the Clocktower when they all met with Barbara, and Ric was included. "This will compromise the caped community at large and the rest of us!"

Tim smirked devilishly. "Not with what I have in store, thanks to some digging into LexCorps and swiping it under Luthor's nose." He then held up what looked like a small USB, the brightest silver there ever was. Barbara gasped.

"Timothy, you stole a clean slate program?! What the hell, you genius?" She then doubled over, cackling. "Oh, I had thought of that but never thought you'd go through with it. Guys, know what this means?" She accepted it when he handed it to her, and they all got a better look, crowding around. "With this thing, you type in certain names and keywords, and in a few minutes, every file and record of them are gone from a certain device. There's a much broader scale rumored to be in development, such as use for the entire world." And that was scary shit since that could fall into the wrong hands, which was why Drake Industries was fighting to acquire it out of Lex Luthor's hands.

All had the same thought on their minds, and this was gonna bite Bruce on the ass.

They went about their plans right away and once again.

~o~

Their apartment, safehouses, and the Clocktower got the biggest security upgrades ever seen that the Batman would just have to try and get in.

Jason was also being very attentive to her every time she got home from the hospital, making sure she was comfortable and got everything she could ever want. He was spoiling her so much it wasn't funny, but Stephanie wasn't complaining after all the symptoms she revisited, this time welcoming them with ease if wishing for them to be over once the kid was out. Day by day, he showed no signs of slowing down with the prospect of becoming a dad and bringing the child into the world they were changing.

We're going to have a family.

New Year's came and went. Their son or daughter would arrive by June or July at the latest. And next month, not just their birthdays, but their first wedding anniversary!

Except they had to tell the world of the pregnancy at some point, but were still in danger as long as Bruce Wayne was out there.

Yet despite everything, Stephanie felt like she was on top of the world. She had never felt this way, or maybe it had been a long time within a span of a few years. Life at college and the hospital went on without a hitch but then came a point when the Joker attacked the hospital in broad daylight, and she happened to be there. But thank the stars for Barbara.

This was the perfect opportunity.

It was time to end the true nightmare brought on by Batman's existence, and then the others would follow. Once and for all.

It had been predicted that he'd come here to the hospital, the piece of shit he was. Apparently, he'd gotten bored after the months of no Batman and decided to just act, despite being in touch with what was going on.

His gimmicks were the same as usual: Joker gas and targeted towards, this time, the family and children's center, which set off Stephanie's instincts, not just because she was Spoiler - damn it, now I wish I had my suit and protection for the baby - and it just so conveniently happened that SHE was there when it took place. She'd ducked behind her desk with Lynn, her coworker she just happened to get along with and could count on for anything but didn't consider a best friend and sister figure like Cass, when the speakers screeched with that familiar obnoxiously sadistic voice that put Pennywise the Clown to shame in real-time.

Thank God Jason wasn't here even though he deserved the honors. She killed her sperm donor and torturer, so she would not shed a tear or lose sleep doing this for her husband.

"Back and better than ever, kiddies! Bah, Batsy and ol' Brucie Wayne been giving Gotham hell - what irony that they both turn out to be just as bad as yours truly - so I figured I've been tanned and well-rested enough to come back to the show!"

"And what better than a place which is a soft spot for everyone?" Steph muttered bitterly, rubbing her abdomen where her little one was. Oh, she was not going to stand for it. Thankfully, they had gas masks because everyone was used to it by now, but that stopped today. "Lynn, you know if the police are on the way?"

"Yeah, but it'll take a bit. That means we're on our own. Been thinking what I'm thinking?"

The blonde smirked. "We take matters into our own hands for once? And when any of the other Bats get here, we get called helping hands. Time for the good people to be known, and then our asses are off to protect ourselves!" Something to happen someday when capes are no longer needed, once Gotham is in a place for that.

They had their gas masks on, and out of their station they went, and into danger.

~o~

The security had been down on the level they were on, but thankfully, the girls got to the family ward in time, and Stephanie managed to get a hold of the Taser of one of the guards who were dead from laughing gas.

Steph wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty, and she always hated when women, children, and whole families were involved. Now it was because she was gonna be a mom herself. No one would blame her for the instincts and the fact none of the Batkids made it in time because Oracle told her why:

"Everything happened so fast, and he chose the daylight right under our noses. Everyone else is trying to hold off B, J is not active, but you know him." Instead of "RH" since there was definitely a chance the Bat would get the wind himself, they all opted to include "J" for Jason in their conversations. Thank God they kept B from coming here so that SHE and O could finish this. She could physically act and Barbara connected in between everything...and the payoff was rewarding.

The GCPD arrived in time to collect Joker's corpse as well as the deceased from the laughing gas. Despite the tragedies mostly among the security detail sarcastically akin to "it's Tuesday", celebrations were about to explode.

The Joker, the Clown Prince of Crime, the "love of Batman's life", was dead, and Stephanie Todd was hailed by the people and the media who had turned in her favor.

It, unfortunately, put a certain target on her back she knew would come.

Stay tuned for the finale. :D