Warning: This story contains descriptions of child abuse (poor Wally), if you are uncomfortable with this subject matter I don't recommend this fic.

Bruce's ears keened on the sudden intrusion of noise that was disturbing his otherwise silent home. Looking up from his newly opened book, he gave the door a glare that would have sent a living person to immediately retreat in fright. Normally, Bruce would have gotten Alfred to answer the unwanted annoyance but since he just left a few minutes before to drop off Dick at his mathlete meeting and was going to pick up some groceries afterward, he thought it would be a bit inconvenient for his loyal butler to return home for the sole purpose of answering the door. Bruce was otherwise looking forward to a very rare moment of peace inside his home, one that was free of Batman and Bruce duties alike, but it seems the fates would forever deny him of that simple pleasantry. With an elongated sigh, he picked himself up from his comfortable chair in the den and made his way to the source of the obnoxious rapping.

Forwarding his brow in annoyance, he mentally prepared for the multiple possibilities of who could be disturbing him. The press had been there a week before to conduct an interview for his upcoming fundraiser, so it was a possibility they could be returning to do a follow up article. If that was the case however, he was planning to give a much needed lecture to the writer on the importance of appointments. Another option was a pesky salesman, figuring someone who lived in this wealthy home could use a few useless appliances to add to the collection. Or, it could be a villain hoping to kidnap the billionaire for ransom. He desperately hoped it was the later.

As the door creaked open, Bruce's lips immediately tightened into a sharp line. Out of all the possibilities, it had to be him.

"Go home, Wallace." Wally slinked back when hearing the older hero and stiffened at his hardened voice. He was hoping it would have been Alfred who would open the door, for he would surely invite him in, not the scary bat.

"Uhh…is Dick here, sir?" Refusing to look the man in the eye, Wally cast down his gaze as if to examine his worn out sneakers. Feeling the hard eyes of the man infront of him, it took Wally all his strength to stay at his small spot in front of the door, refusing to budge. All he knew was he had to see Dick, he had to see his best friend as soon as possible. And…he couldn't exactly go home.

Rudy, Wally's father, had been in one of his fits again. He got into a fight with another employee, and ended up getting sent home for the rest of the day with no pay. This coupled with the fact that Wally got in trouble in school for goofing off, again, could only result in disaster. Mary looked calmly at her husband, explaining how the school wanted to have a parent teacher conference to determine the purpose of Wally's lack of focus, which only erupted more rage to build inside the angry man.

"That brat!" Rudy sneered in between his teeth. Jerking himself away from his submissive wife, he bolted to the living room in search of his son.

"Wallace! Get your ass over hear this goddam minute! Oh, boy, when I get through with you I swear to god you wont be able to sit down for a fucking week!" Taking off his belt and doubling it over, Rudy stormed room after room in search for the outlet to release his frustration. Mary stayed back in silence while watching her husband looking for their son, split on what to do. It had been true, Wally did disrupt class yet again, and they had to go to that meeting with his teacher that was indeed inconvenient, but she didn't want Rudy to hurt Wally…too much at least. They've implemented corporal punishment like this for a few years now, and it has helped her rambunctious son from causing too much trouble, but recently Rudy had become more and more quick to use his belt, which frightened her.

"Rudy, perhaps you should calm down first?" It was presented more of a statement then an honest suggestion, causing no change in Rudy's demeanor.

"He deserves everything I give to him Mary, you know that." Rudy gruffed while heading up the stairs to his sons room. Upon opening the door, he saw his pre-teen slouched on the bed with headphones in his ears and a comic book in hand. The scene made Rudy even angrier, how dare his son not know how much trouble he's in! He should be scared of him, begging for Rudy's forgiveness, not reading a freaking comic book without a care in the world.

Thrusting his free hand in front of him to tear away the thin book, he again screamed at Wally who had just at that moment looked up and found his frightening father glaring down at him. Completely startled, Wally fumbled back on his bed, getting as far away from his father as possible, which unfortunately only drove the rage further in Rudy.

"Your mother told me about your disobedience at school! When I'm through with you, I'm sure you'll be on your best behavior!" Without waiting for a reaction from Wally, Rudy lifted his belt high above his head and with full force brought it down with a crack on Wally's legs.

It wasn't the pain that caused Wally to yell out at first, it was the stinging look in his fathers' eyes as he started beating him again. Swing after swing, Rudy brought down the belt on Wally's still body. From years of experience Wally discovered that the beating would always be less hurtful and quicker if he took it, he just had to be strong. Eventually Rudy grew tired of beating his son over his clothes, he wanted to see skin. He wanted to see the effects of his strong arm firsthand, and he'd doubt his newly superhero son was feeling this anyway. In a swift motion, Rudy ripped Wally's pants down and his shirt up while pressing his body on Wally's back keeping his son immobile.

"You good for nothing brat! This will teach you!" Rudy screamed while a sudden outburst of newly regenerated energy rushed through his hand while continually beating down on Wally's body. Wally continued to shut his eyes with full force, moving his hands over his head clawing through his hair as each piercing whip of the belt tarnished a new area of reddening skin. Meanwhile, Rudy was enjoying his new sight of control, eager to punish this boy so he wouldn't even think about being a nuisance ever again.

Wally's mind was blank as his mouth continuously apologized to his assailant. Each gasp for breath repeated that he was sorry and he'd swear that he'd be a better student, and son. His plea however reached deaf ears and Rudy moved to Wally's back.

Somehow during the whipping, the belt buckle that was originally wrapped in Rudy's fist had come free and was now the weight that forced the attack harder on Wally. A scream ran through his lips as he felt the buckle hammering into his side and spine, twisting and maneuvering to get out of the way to no avail. With a free fist Rudy grabbed Wally by his arm and pulled his upper body upward, and brought down the belt and buckle immediately across his face for his defiance.

The rest of the beating lasted a few minutes, until Rudy was both emotionally and physically too tired to continue. Looking up and down his tattered son he gave out an evil grin at his work well done. He rose from the bed and headed out of Wally's room without a word.

A few hours passed without Wally moving, not wanting to leave the confines of his bed that was now giving him some comfort. His pain sensors were overloaded, making him unsure of where he was hurt the most. His back and legs stung and ached but his face actually felt numb. While trying to figure out which was worse, hurting a lot or not hurting at all, Wally tried to empty his mind and calm himself. Tears slipped past his red eyes, cooling his face a little with each trickle. A few minutes passed before he was full out crying, choking on his own tears and feeling the most alone then he ever had before. Wally wanted to see his Uncle Barry, but he also didn't want to disrupt Flash duties. Also…in a strange way Wally didn't want to tell anyone what his dad had done to him. He knew he wasn't the best kid in the world and his father was under a lot of stress from work and…now that Wally was a superhero it caused a whole new reason for frustration in his family. Cringing a little while venturing to sit up, he felt his back give a frightening creak causing a shot of pain to rush through his body.

Alone. He was hurt and alone, with no one to offer him some comfort. Wally knew that if his mother was truly worried about him, she would have made an appearance in his room some time ago. Shaking free some more tears as he lightly touched his face, Wally felt like he was in a continuous dark pit with no route to get out. Then, the image of the Boy Wonder flashed through his mind, causing a very small smile to peak through his reddened face. While Wally had only been Kid Flash for 6 months, he met Robin three months into his training. Batman and Flash had to team up to uncover a cross country drug operation that was dominating both their cities, and both protégés were able to tag along if they stayed a safe distance away and could radio for help if they were in any danger. This was proved to be a grave mistake for Batman, because now his protégé had constantly asked when KF could come over. Batman had outright refused, on more than one occasion, because he didn't want secret identities to be revealed. However three weeks later during another mission Kid Flash had proven his place in the hero community when he saved Robin's life, which ultimately lead to Robin disregarding Batman's orders and reveal his identity to the young speedster. Since then Kid Flash had visited the manor on more than one occasion, but he always took the zeta-tube. Well, except that one time.

Looking down at his curled up hands, Wally knew exactly where to go. That one time Flash took him to Bruce Wayne's front door (for a civilian party, Wayne Enterprise had donated a large sum to multiple police departments in the country, including the research lab connected to Barry Allen who was allowed to bring his nephew) Wally made sure he memorized each direction, secretly writing down notes to help him remember in case Robin needed an emergency secret sidekick sleepover. While gently picking up his feet and cautiously looking down the stairway to see if any parental figure was in sight, Wally held in a breath and made a dash to freedom.

It only took a few seconds for Wally to find Mr. Wayne's home, but now he wish he had more time to figure out what exactly to say. He didn't want to tell anyone what was going on, plus how would his new superhero reputation last if anyone found out that he was afraid of his father?

As Wally continued to stare downwards, Bruce soon became suspicious on what was going through the young speedsters mind. While it was true that Bruce hadn't known Wally for very long, his personality was pretty open and you could tell within a few minutes exactly what he was feeling. Instead of his normal chipper voice and overhyper eagerness that was quickly rubbing off on Dick, Bruce was greeted with a shaky, small boy asking for his friend that wasn't home.

"Dick left about a half hour ago to prepare for a tournament with his club, he shouldn't be home for the next few hours," Bruce settled on while carefully watching the boys reaction. Wally shot up to stare at the man, for the first time meeting his eyes, and quickly looked down again to nod.

"Sorry to disturb you then, sir," he said in a low voice. Uncertain of where to go now, Wally shifted to turn around but stopped when a firm hand rested on his shoulder causing a stiff shiver to quake in his spine.

"Would you like to come in, Wally?" Bruce said a tone that was normally reserved for Dick, but laced with some hint of concern. His heart beat pumped through his chest when he noticed the startling bruise that was plastered on the 12 year olds face, and it took much self control to repress the scowl of anger that was begging to be released. The Batman inside of him wanted to find out what exactly happened to the boy, while the father wanted to batarang the hell out of whatever, whoever, had done the damage.

Wally looked back to stare at the normally reclusive, terrifying, man before him before giving a short nod. He wasn't sure he was completely comfortable being alone with the bat, but at least that meant he didn't have to go home to probably face another beating for sneaking out of the house.

A gentle hand guided Wally through the door and towards the kitchen, where a dozen of Alfred's freshest blueberry muffins laid to rest. Bruce shifted uncomfortably during the walk, trying to figure out exactly how to address what was on his mind. He didn't want to cause Wally to bolt away from here though, so Bruce figured he'd have to attempt to make him comfortable first before his questioning.

Wally's eyes focused on the plate in the middle of the island, willing with all his might to attempt to do the polite thing and resist the maddening urge. A sigh belonging to Bruce Wayne filled the quiet air before pushing the plate over to the hungry boy.

"Help yourself," was all that was needed to be said before Wally ripped through the pastry.

Busying himself, Bruce strolled over and started making a pot of coffee filing it up with some of the best beans. It's not like he needed coffee at the moment, but it would give him something to do. Glancing over at the boy who somehow already consumed three of the muffins, he cleared his throat a little in attempts to gather Wally's attention.

"Would you like some coffee?" Bruce asked without really thinking. The boy gave him a wide eyed stare and slowly shook his head.

"I'm twelve, I don't drink coffee," Wally said dumbly while eyeing the intimidating man who returned with a shrug.

"Orange juice then?" Bruce attempted again, silently scolding himself for the avoidable mistake he just made if Wally had in fact accepted the drink. The last thing he needed was a speedster energized on caffeine.

Wally returned with a nod, before quickly adding a, "Yes, thank you sir." Before returning to his muffin.

Placing the drink down, Bruce took a chair opposite of Wally, silently studying him.

"Care to sit down?" Bruce asked while gesturing over towards the chair in front of him. Wally stared down at the chair and quickly shook his head in response.

"I'm fine standing, thank you though." Wally noticed from before that running had greatly upset his back and legs, causing them to be more sore then before. It might be a bit awkward to refuse the seat, but he doubt he'd be able to sit down comfortably anyway. He could probably lay down fine, but asking to lay on the couch would be even more awkward.

After finishing his fifth muffin, he noticed that his host was staring at him, and quite intensely. Usually Bruce was good at hiding his emotions, but at the moment the concern was obvious. It hit Wally like a wave, how could he be so stupid! The man in front of him was the Worlds Greatest Detective for crying out loud, of course he'd find out!

Panic spurred through Wally's body as he began to fidget and try to act normally for the first time since he's been over.

"Want to know what I learned at school? Well, did you know that bats aren't actually blind but," a sudden movement of Bruce's hand in attempts to signal "stop" flashed before Wally's eyes and before he had time to stop himself, Wally flinched and shielded his face with his hand. Tears were now seeping through his hand that was pressed on covering up the evidence of his hurt expression and his body was uncontrollably shaking.

Bruce stiffened, unsure of how to exactly proceed in this situation. If it was Dick crying at the table, he would have already been in his arms right now, but this wasn't Dick. However Bruce still felt a need to give some sort of comfort while taking control of the situation for Wally's sake.

"You need to calm down now and tell me what happened," Bruce said in his take-charge Batman voice while gently rubbing small circles on Wally's back. Wally held onto himself while hearing the command, unsure if it sounded threatening or not.

"Alright, if you wont tell me I'm going to call Barry." He said sternly before fishing out his cell from his pocket. This caused Wally to immediately without thinking grab onto Bruce's hand, desperately pleading with him to not call his uncle.

"Please don't call him," he choked. "I don't know what he'll do, what he'll say, how he'll treat me after this. Please don't call Uncle Barry!" At this point Wally was in full out hysterics, and it took a trained ear to exactly make out what Wally was trying to say. Bruce knew that he was eventually going to call Barry, definitely, but at the moment he suppose it would be better to figure out what was going on. He didn't know what exactly was the matter, had he gotten the bruise from school? Perhaps he went out fighting off on his own and was afraid he'd have his costume taken away.

"Fine I wont call Barry, right now, but you and I are going to talk about this downstairs while I clean you up. I want to help you Wallace, and if there's something going on I should know about I'm trusting you to tell me." Upon running out of options, Wally briefly glanced up at the man before giving a little nod. Maybe, just maybe, if he worded his story right it wont turn out that big of a deal.

I hope you all liked the first part! Part 2 will have a lot more cuddles and possibly the appearance of Robin. I don't expect this story to be incredibly long, maybe one or two more shots at the most. Please don't forget to review! I read each and every one of them :)