AN: So I'm working on building the Lost and Found universe. I appreciate everyone who's been along for the ride - and if you're new to me Hi :) Hope you enjoy it!

Tonight was supposed to have been a good night. Her dad had promised her. He had tonight off and that didn't happen very often. They were going to go out to dinner and then he was going to take her to look at new dance shoes. Barbara had been looking forward to it all week. But then he had gotten a phone call.

That had been more than three hours ago. Now she was sitting at his desk, reading through a procedural manual because she had already finished her own book. Twice.

"Hey kiddo, brought you something."

Barbara looked up to see Harvey Bullock coming towards her with a bag of M&Ms. She smiled up at him as he passed her the candy. "Sorry about your big plans with the old man," he said, ruffling her ponytail.

"It's okay," Barbara responded, carefully pulling open her treat. "Why'd they need Dad tonight when they have you?" Harvey laughed at her.

"Well something bad happened tonight," he said, his eyes scanning the room before them. "And they think it might be linked to one of the Big Families, so they wanted your pops in just in case."

Barbara may have only been nine, but she had lived in Gotham for as long as she could remember, and she had always been the daughter of a police officer: Big Families was code for the Mob.

"What happened?" she asked, trying to sound as innocent as possible. She offered Harvey a few of the M&Ms on her outstretched palm. If she was careful, and didn't ask too many questions, she could usually get at least part of the story.

"Somethin' went down at the circus tonight," he said popping the candies into his mouth. Barbara nodded. It would explain the people moving around in bright clothes, but not really the few wearing suits. Her eyes landed on Gotham City's own celebrity: Bruce Wayne. He was standing off to the side, alternating between checking his phone and wringing his hands.

"Pretty Boy was a witness," Harvey said, clearly having seen the confusion on her face. "And he keeps askin' 'bout the kid so…" Barbara craned her neck around. She hadn't seen a kid anywhere.

"What about a kid?" She asked hopefully. But before Harvey could answer, another one of the officers stepped closer.

"Harv – I know you're not telling Barbara about this case, Jim will have your head."

"Hey Detective Essen," Barbara said with a smile, hoping the women would focus on her instead of glaring at Detective Bullock.

"Call me Sarah," the detective said with smile. She'd been trying to get Barbara to call her by her first name for a while now. "It's getting kind of late, little one. Have you eaten?" She was eyeing Harvey and the M&Ms more suspiciously now.

"Oh yeah," Barbara folded over the bag and slipped it into the pocket of her sweatshirt. "Dad and I were at dinner when he got called in."

Everyone knew that she shouldn't have been there. It was almost ten, but babysitters were hard to come by in Gotham – and this wasn't the first time that Barbara had made camp at her dad's desk in the precinct. Barbara sighed, pretending she couldn't hear the whispered argument the two detectives were having above her.

"Um…I'm going to hit the bathroom," she muttered, hopping off her seat and starting to wander off towards the hallway. She didn't really need to go, but she did need to not stick around while two more adults argued about what was best for her.

She had made it away from all the noise of the bullpen when the sound of someone sniffling caught her attention. Down the hall, there was a boy about her age, huddled in the corner, and the sound was coming from him. Barbara looked around. There should have been an adult somewhere near by, but the boy was completely alone.

"Hi," she said, moving to stand in front of him. When he didn't respond, Barbara looked around again, wondering why no one else was there. She shook her head. He was very clearly upset and there should have been someone. But there wasn't – so she would be that someone. Barbara sat down across from him, their feet nearly touching.

"I'm Barbara," she told him, her voice quiet. "My dad's a police officer." She watched the boy carefully as he continued to ignore her. He was wearing a funny one-piece outfit; the pants black and the top was red and sleeveless with some kind of pattern in gold on it. She couldn't see it clearly because of how he was hunched over, but she figured he must have been one of the circus people. Barbara realized he was shaking; he must have been cold in the air-conditioning. She looked around again, frustrated. Someone had to be missing this boy; she was the only kid she had ever seen wandering around the station.

With a sigh she shifted herself over to sit beside him. Barbara unzipped her hoodie. It was bright purple, but it was the only thing she had. Taking it off, she wrapped it around his shoulders. When she looked down Barbara noticed there was dried blood on his hands. That meant one of two things: either he had hurt somebody – or he had seen someone get hurt and had tried to do something about it. He really didn't look like the hurting people type.

"What's your name?" she tried, deciding to leave her arm wrapped around the boy as well as her sweatshirt. He leaned into her with a shudder.

"Dick," he whispered so quietly Barbara was almost convinced she'd imagined it.

"It's nice to meet you," she said. "Do you want some M&Ms?"

"No thank you."

"Okay." Barbara didn't know what to do, so she sat there, holding this boy with the messy dark hair and bloody hands against her while he cried.

"Jack said I couldn't stay," the boy, Dick, whispered after what felt like forever.

"Jack?"

"He said he wanted me to, but that it wasn't allowed."

"I'm sorry," Barbara whispered. She had no idea what was going on but he sounded so broken.

"Then this guy put me in a car and they drove me here. They didn't even let me say good-bye."

"My dad works here," Barbara offered. "Maybe I can go find him, and he can help?"

"Please don't go," Dick begged, one of his hands coming up to press against her arm. "I don't want the man to come back and start asking more questions."

"Well, it's the detective's job to ask questions," Barbara said. "He was probably trying to help."

"No," Dick whispered. "He asked too many questions, and then he told me not to say anything or he'd…" he trailed off, bringing his head up for the first time. Barbara was startled by how blue his eyes were. "I wasn't supposed to say anything." He started breathing heavier, his eyes darting around the hallway. He looked like he was getting ready to run.

"It's okay," Barbara said, instinctively reaching out to take his hand. "You can stay with me."

"Barbara, hunnie!" Barbara turned at the sound of her dad's anxious voice. "Oh, thank God." As her father ran towards them, she could feel Dick's body growing more and more tense.

"It's okay," she insisted quietly. "This is my dad, his name is Jim Gordon." She was a little more confused by the appearance of Bruce Wayne coming in behind her dad, but he just looked worried too.

Her dad crouched down beside them both, his hand reaching out carefully towards Dick. Barbara noticed that he held it out to him, but didn't touch the boy.

"Son," he said slowly. "My name's Jim. We were worried about you."

"I didn't like that guy," Dick muttered, pressing his body tighter against the wall.

"No, I don't suspect you did," her dad agreed, pulling his hand back, but staying at their level. "We checked with CPS, and he wasn't one of theirs. He wasn't one of my detectives, either."

"He said he'd kill me."

"I know, son," he dad paused, sighing heavily. "It's Richard right?"

"He said he was Dick," Barbara offered, trying to be helpful.

"Is that right?"

"Yes sir," Dick answered quietly.

"Okay, Dick. If it's alright with you, I'd like to ask you a few questions."

"But I already…" Barbara could feel Dick starting to shake again.

"I know," her dad said apologetically. "But I just need to ask a few more. Just about the man you spoke to earlier tonight."

"Not about…?"

"No. Not about that."

"Can…" Dick trailed off, his fingers tightening around Barbara's hand. "Can Barbara stay?"

Her dad turned to look her in the eye and Barbara did her best to smile. She was very lost, and she didn't like not knowing what was going on, but she wanted to help. She nodded.

"Okay," her dad said, shifting so that he was sitting on the floor across from them. He turned, looking back up at Bruce Wayne. Barbara had almost forgot that he'd been standing there the whole time. "Before we start, Dick, this is Bruce."

"Hi Dick," Mister Wayne said. He stayed back, but he did move himself into a crouch. Barbara appreciated the way he smiled.

"When Bruce was your age, something bad happened to his family too," her dad went on. "And this is completely unorthodox, but I am sure as shit not trusting those guys at CPS right now."

"Swear jar," Barbara whispered, keeping her eyes down.

"Yes, hunnie," her dad said before continuing. "Anyway, Mister Wayne – "

"Bruce, please."

"Bruce wants to offer you a place to stay for the night. And frankly, it's probably safer at his house than it is here right now."

"You don't have to decide right now," Bruce said. "My butler, Alfred, is driving Jack Haly back to the fairgrounds to help pack a bag for you. We thought you might be more comfortable in some other clothes."

"Can you ask him to bring Zitka?" Dick asked shyly. "Not the real one, but mine?"

"Of course," Bruce answered. Barbara could tell he was just as lost as she was when it came to what a Zitka was, but whoever Jack was probably knew, and Bruce's answer seemed to make Dick relax, just a little bit.

Bruce held up his phone with a warm smile, nodding to the three of them who were on the floor.

"I'll be just over there," he said. "I'll call them now."

"Now," her dad started once Bruce Wayne had turned away. "I know tonight has been…" he trailed off, eyes going up as if looking for the right words. "Well tonight has been hell for you," he said finally, his eyes coming back to rest on Dick. "But I want you to know, Dick, I'm going to do everything I can to keep you safe."

Me too, Barbara thought as she squeezed his fingers. She would figure out all the pieces later, but right now, she would do whatever she could to make sure that this boy was safe.

AN: Okay lovely human, that's a wrap. I need you to know I'm still working in this world. And for those of you who are Metus fans, hold on to your hats. The partner and I are in the process of rewriting the cornerstone of this universe. We're cleaning things up and adding more depth. It's going to be more than twenty pages longer than the original, but we won't be pulling the original off the site until the new one is ready to go. At that point, we'll have weekly updates scheduled and we'll even be adding in a sound track for your listening pleasure. If you're interested in updates and sneak peeks - I'm over on tumblr as gothamsgrace.

Seriously, you're continued support and feedback have meant the world. Thank you.