Author's Note: I have been working on this story for literally months and am actually nervous about letting other people read it. Probably because I am playing

around with a lot of different things and I fear confusion. However, I have great confidence that you will try your best. (Please ?)

Stuff That You Should Know: Some stuff to help you understand some of the plot.

1). Proper characterization? Probably not.

2) Plot holes the size of Mount Vesuvius—most likely

3) I intentionally have Dick still being Robin despite being older—because I wanted to.

4). Batman and Robin have been doing the super hero thing well before the Gordons have arrived—which means yes . . .

5). Understand that the Gordons are new to Gotham.

6) I do not claim to have any real knowledge to the internal workings of a police station.

7). I will let you pick up on the rest. I can't explain everything.

-Assuming that you are still reading this and have not just barged on ahead and/or have fallen asleep, I hope you enjoy this story.

Explanation: Holy cow, I will just not shut up will I? The idea behind this story comes from reading Pride and Prejudice and enjoying the idea that sometimes love

doesn't always start smoothly.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the names, places, etc. used in this story. (Obviously)

Chapter 1: Welcome to Gotham, This Could Get Interesting

"So is this the exit Barb?"

Her father's voice broke Barbara Gordon out of her book reading trance. She looked up quickly and sucked some of the remaining cheese dust leftover from her

snacking off her fingers. Reaching down, she grabbed the badly folded map off of the car's floor.

"Uh, what number is it?" She asked him while pushing some of her long red hair out of her eyes.

"Forty two." He recited. "It's coming up on the left in less than a mile." Jim Gordon kept his eyes on the rode as he talked.

"Uh, maybe?" She said frantically scanning up and down the map.

"I'm going to need more than a 'maybe' Barb. Half a mile now." He told her.

"Okay, ah, exit for Gotham . . . ah . . . yes . . . wait no NO! It's the next one we need!" She decided just in time for her father to keep on driving down the road.

Looking into the review mirror, Gordon started to chuckle.

"What are the odds," He asked his daughter. "That our moving truck driver thinks we are nuts?"

Barbara grinned at her father's joke.

"Well, he at least knows that we have no idea where we are going." She replied.

"Well, that might be true." He conceded while watching more road signs fly passed. "I guess it's mostly my fault. I wasn't paying very good attention to the roads

when I was here a month ago."

Barbara gave her father a smile.

"It's not your fault. You flew into town remember? Plus, you weren't there to sight see." She reminded him. "Besides, directions never had to be my job before." She

added quietly.

Her father gave a shrug and carefully guided the car into the proper lane so as to exit the interstate. Barbara leaned forward as far as her seat belt would allow

taking in the view of the city.

"It really is big isn't it?" She asked in wonder.

"As I told you." Gordon said glancing over at her. "That is downtown right there." He pointed.

She watched as street by street huge skyscrapers came and went. It was a mix of urban glitz and glitter, but had an undercurrent of dark . . . something. She

couldn't quite name it. She leaned back into her seat.

"You sure about this?"

She looked over at her father with a smile.

"Dad, you've been asking me that every time for weeks now and the answer is still the same—yes I am."

"But, I don't want to think that you have to do this for me, I mean, you'll have to go to a different school . . ."

"I don't mind; it still offers the major I wanted. . ." Barbara broke in.

" . . . and you had to leave your friends . . ." Her father continued.

"What friends? I really haven't had any real friends since . . ."

". . . I just don't want you to give everything up for me." Her father concluded.

"I'm not." She argued. "It will be what we both need, a fresh start on life."

"I'm a little old for a fresh start." Gordon mentioned as he took a left around a corner. Barbara rolled her eyes grinning.

"You're not that old." She chastised him.

"I don't know about that Barb. I just have to look at you, and I know I must be." He pointed out.

Wordlessly, Barbara sat back in her seat to once again stare out the window.

"Our brand new little home should be right up the street here." Gordon spoke up using a more cheerful tone of voice. "It's not very much." He warned her.

"Oh, Dad, it will be fine. We will make it home." She assured him.

He returned her smile as he pulled down a little well-worn stretch of road that led down what seemed to be a quiet street.

Barbara glanced back at the heart of the city towers. Living in a town this big was going to take some getting used to.

"Well, there she is." Her father called out as they turned into the driveway of a one story brick house. Across the street sat a few houses and down a bit further an

apartment complex. A few cars whizzed past as their car came to a stop and Barbara got out. Behind them, their moving truck pulled in behind them.

"What do you think?" Her father asked her somewhat nervously.

The outside was solid red brick, cracked in places, but it appeared to be sturdy. Ivy was growing on one side of the house giving it the feel that it belonged sitting on

the edge of a forest and not a major city. It had a nice bay window in the front facing the street and a plain white front door with a screen.

"It's perfect." Barbara declared.

Gordon looked relieved at his daughter's announcement.

"Want to go in?" He offered temptingly as he held out the keys. She ran over to him and gave him a hug before taking the keys out of his hand. She rushed over to

the front door, but paused before putting the key into the lock.

She took a deep breath and reverently inserted the key. The bolt unlocked with a click and she slowly opened the door.

She slowly entered, and quickly went from room to room. She soon reappeared on the small porch.

"It's perfect!" She called to her father who was watching the truck driver starting to open the back of the moving truck. He turned to face her grinning.

Gordon slowly made his way towards his daughter.

"I'm thinking that we should paint the front room sage and there is even a small backyard! I could plant a . . . garden or something next summer." Barbara finished

by saying. Gordon placed his hands on his daughter's shoulders.

"Hold on there Barb, we both are going to be busy these next couple of weeks, settling in and getting our bearings so let's take it easy. Not too many projects okay?"

He requested. "Let's just focus on getting what we have into this place."

"I know, I'm just excited with the possibilities." She explained as they linked arms and headed towards the truck.

Three hours later, all of their belongings were in their new home. Barbara stared daunted by the pile of boxes that filled every room.

"You never know how much stuff you have until you try to pack it up and move it." She said to the bare room.

She walked outside again to find her father seeing off the moving van driver.

"Thanks a lot. Have a good journey home." Gordon told the man. The sun was beginning to set and the lights of the city were starting to come on one by one.

"Yea well," The man rubbed his head. "Good luck, you're going to need it."

Barbara and her father shot each other a look, but Gordon shook hands with the man regardless.

"Thanks." Her father said simply.

The man gave a nod to Barbara and climbed back into the truck and pulled out.

The Gordons stood there watching.

"Nice guy. One of those glass half empty types of people I guess." He said to her.

Barbara shook her head.

"It doesn't matter. We are going to be fine." She said confidently.

Gordon turned back to stare at the house.

"I guess we better get building or else we both will be sleeping on our mattresses on the floor."

Barbara nodded. "Yea, let's start to make our house a home."

Since they were able to build the bases to both of their beds, the Gordons actually managed to get a decent night sleep. It was a good thing too because their day

was going to be busy.

Barbara awoke the next morning to bright sun in her eyes.

"Curtain." She mumbled. Her and her father managed to get a few things up last night, but a shade for the window was not one of them. She fumbled around for her

clock on the nightstand only to realize that she had no nightstand at the moment. Lazily, she sat up and surveyed her new room. The walls were white and bare.

Boxes covered most of the floor. She wondered which one had her clothes in it. As she started rummaging, the smell of coffee caught her attention.

"Good morning!" Her father greeted her as she entered the kitchen.

"Coffee." She managed to say.

"Yep, I'm working on it. Took me forever to find the right box though. Who knew we had so many bowls?" He told her.

She rubbed some of the sleep away from her eyes.

"I was marking on each box what it had inside, but then I started getting lazy as the day dragged on and we needed to start loading stuff onto the truck." She

explained as she watched him pour some of the black liquid into a mug.

She took it from him graciously.

"Did you find your clothes okay?" She asked him.

"Well, not at first. I thought I was going to have to wear that awful orange striped shirt, but then I found another box. Funny thing is, I thought I got rid of that shirt."

He mentioned. "Did you sleep okay?"

She shrugged. "Pretty good I guess." She took another sip. "I do need to take a shower though; I should probably start on getting the bathroom in order first. My

hair is probably a mess." She said.

"Well, if you want to go first, I'll start in here putting these dishes away. Do you want them in any order?" He asked her.

"Just keep the coffee mugs in the cupboard to the right of the sink. Anything else will be fine."

"Yes ma'am" He saluted. She returned his gesture.

She found the box with all the towels fairly easily. The linoleum was a blue floral pattern that actually wasn't too ugly. She laid down the fuzzy rugs in front of the

sink and the shower. It was a tight fit, but she made it work.

The water was thankfully hot, and didn't run out.

"Okay, all ready for you dad." Barbara called out into the kitchen.

She had managed to find one of her better pairs of jeans and a good shirt out of a couple different boxes.

Her father looked up at her from his position on the floor. A stack of plates were in front of him.

"How many plates do we need? We have enough here to host a dinner party." He told her.

"Some of it is Mom's dinner china. We can leave it wrapped up and put it on a higher shelf." Barbara decided. "Here, I'll take over; you can go take a shower."

"Alright." He agreed. "After I get out, we can start arranging the furniture so decided where you want it." He told her.

"Alright, I'll be ready." She assured him.

After a couple hours of huffing and puffing, they managed to get the front room in order, get Barbara's bookcases and her desk into her room. Gordon sat on the

couch as Barbara fixed the curtains that she had just put up over the window.

"And . . . there we go." She stepped down off the ladder to view her handiwork. "Another touch of home."

Her father looked at his watch.

"Are you ready for some lunch? It's important that we learn what places out here have takeout." He said in a mock serious tone.

"Definitely." She agreed. "I'm up for whatever you want."

"Okay, I'll grab a phone book."

And so the matter was settled and the nearest pizza place with delivery was called.

Barbara took a break from eating to ask, "Hey do you need anything particular for tomorrow that I need to wash?"

"I don't think so Barb. You washed my suit before we came here and made sure that I carefully packed it away. It might need to be ironed though." He said. "I

suppose that they will give me something official once I show up."

"Well, I will make sure that I am up early to see you off." She told him.

"You don't have to Barb. It will be the last time that you can sleep in on a Monday for a while."

Barbara shook her head.

"I have the entire week to sleep in if I want to. I am going to see my father off on his first day."

"You make me sound like I'm going to kindergarten. Funny, how it seems like you were just there." He replied staring fondly at his daughter.

"Besides, I want to get out early tomorrow to start learning the town."

"You sure you don't want me to drop you off somewhere?" He asked her.

"No it's okay. The bus picks up two blocks away and I am going to the school first to check it out and get my books. Then I am coming back here to drop them off at

home, and then I will head back out and explore, and end my day bringing back food for the homestead." She recited.

"Do you know where the library is?" He asked her knowingly. She grinned.

"I have a pretty good idea. I still have that map you brought me when you came for the interview. There are all sorts of places I want to look at." She said it with excitement in her voice.

"Just be careful." He cautioned her gently.

"I will." She assured him. "I'll be fine. Besides, I know what I'm doing. Remember, my father is Gotham's new police commissioner." She reminded him proudly.

Monday morning came. This time with no sun directly in her eyes as Barbara turned off her alarm button. She quickly slid out of bed and slipped on her fuzzy green

slippers and went out into the small hallway. Her father was in the kitchen, double checking the papers in his briefcase.

"Where is you suit jacket?" She asked him coming into the room.

He looked up quickly.

"Oh, ah, still hanging up in the laundry room. I've already turned the iron on." He informed her.

She thanked him and quickly made her way back down the hall and into the small room that housed their washer and dryer.

The deed was soon done and Barbara reappeared with one freshly pressed gray suit jacket.

"It's not perfect. I will never be as good as mom was." She explained as he put it on. He leaned over and kissed her forehead.

"It will be just fine. I'm sure it's better than I ever could have done." He said with a bit of a chuckle.

"Well," He said running a hand through his slightly graying brown hair. "I guess I better hit the road huh? Would not want to be late for my first day. I try to give you

a call sometime to let you know how I'm doing, okay?"

"Okay." She replied as she walked with him to the door. They both turned and stared at each other smiling. Barbara launched her arms around her father's

shoulders.

"It's going to be a great day." She assured him. "They are going to love you."

Her father set his shoulders and gave a firm smile.

"We'll see Barb." He said evenly. "Everyone there seemed very nice the first time I walked around."

"See? It will be great. I'm very proud of you. Mom would be too." She added.

Father and daughter shared a sad smile that quickly melted away into one of resolve.

"Off I go then." Gordon said as he opened the front door.

Barbara waved as he pulled away and watched as his vehicle was out of sight. She turned to face the empty room.

"I guess I had better get ready for my own day as well."

"You know sir, I am actually quite excited about this."

The English butler's voice broke through the quiet silence of the dining room.

"What was that Alfred?" Bruce Wayne asked lowering the newspaper in order to the older man's face. Alfred seemed to give a slight huff.

"The side column story—the new commissioner in town today." Alfred said pointing to the story on the page.

Bruce's eyes gave the story a calculated scan before he closed the section.

"We'll see." He replied firmly.

"Well I think that it will be a change for the better." Alfred said restating his belief.

"Well it sure can't get too much worse." A cheerful voice said entering the conversation. Both men in the dining room looked up.

"Master Richard," Alfred began. "I hadn't expected you to be up some soon what with both of you having a late night and it being the last free week before school

starts.

Black haired, blue eyed, Richard 'Dick' Grayson winced.

"Eh, don't remind me." He remarked as he pulled out a chair from the table and sat down. "There should be some sort of school that people who have crime fighting

alter egos can attend. Maybe when this is all over, I can start one." He joked.

Bruce let the comment pass with the barest of an eye roll.

Alfred reappeared out from the kitchen bearing a plate that contained an omelet and a bowl of mixed fruit.

"Thank you." Dick said as Alfred handed the plate over along with a glass of orange juice. He speared a forkful of egg and cheese and took a bite. "So ut do we owh

about iss guy?" He asked.

"Well, besides. . ."

"Master Richard how many times must I tell you not to speak with your mouth full?" Alfred barged into his employer's response to chastise the young man.

"Auh lowt?" Was Dick's garbled response. Quickly realizing that he was doing it again, Dick burst into a grin that caused him to start coughing as he swallowed. He

cleared his throat. "Sorry Alfred. Old habits die hard."

"Well this one is a particularly old one." Alfred reminded him. Alfred shot Bruce a hopeless look.

"I'm sorry Alfred, but I'm pretty sure it's too late to give him back." Bruce responded picking up the paper.

Dick grinned.

"That's right. Warranty is now up." He added—making sure that this time there was no food in his mouth.

Alfred conceded with a smile that he could stay and headed back to the kitchen.

"So seriously, what do we know, beyond what you gathered at the meeting with him?" Dick asked.

"I wasn't actually there." Bruce reminded him from behind the newspaper. Dick twirled the fork in between his fingers.

"Okay then." Dick chose his words better, "Beyond what you gather from visual and audio surveillance."

Bruce grunted.

"Nothing that is useful at this point. During his interview, he gave all the right answers; his record contained all the right things, but . . ." Bruce trailed off. "But, that

proves nothing about his character. And I refuse to throw another one of our commissioner into prison."

"Yea, that was awkward." Dick inputted. "Having to put away people that are supposed to be on our side is getting old."

"We will not make the same mistake twice. Commissioner Gordon is going to have to prove himself and we are going to start studying his character immediately."

Bruce said firmly.

Dick tapped his fingers against the table.

"We've hit a bad stretch lately haven't we? Commissioner Williams was killed, Commissioner Tomik just plain got scared off, Commissioner Branson was released

from his post on ethical charges, and finally Commissioner O'Donnell . . ."

"Helped bring in more drugs into this city than any drug lord ever did." Bruce said finishing Dick's sentence.

"Not exactly a good track record when the Commissioner of your own town is showing up your number one mob boss—and not in a good way." Dick mentioned.

"That is why keeping tabs on Gordon is going to be a top priority. He's not from around here, and I know that that is one of the reasons the city chose him. He has

no connections; he doesn't owe anybody anything." Bruce set down his newspaper and glanced across the table at Dick.

"Gordon is going to have to earn our trust, especially before we let him in on anything. We are going to need to watch how he operates, how he conducts himself . . .

whether or not he's good at judging people's character."

Dick sat there quietly as Bruce continued.

"We will start observing him this weekend. I'm inviting him and his daughter to the charity auction this weekend." He finished saying.

Dick made a face.

"I forgot about that. What a way to end a week." He bemoaned.

"It will be important that we get a feel on what kind of man he is. You of course will have your own assignment." Bruce instructed. "Adults can be very deceptive in

their actions and personalities, but often their children lack such skill."

"That's where I come in," Dick said tiredly. "Honestly, from the beginning of time, I've always scouted out the commissioner's kids."

"Yes, and with some success." Bruce brought up. "You informed me from day one that Commissioner Branson's twin boys were often trouble makers, had no respect

for authority, and would often cheat when playing games."

"That doesn't always reflect the parents though." Dick pointed out. "And that describes plenty of high-school kids by the way."

"It reflected the parent that time." Bruce reminded him. "I expect nothing less from you this time around. However long it takes, I want full character sketches of

them both before we make any decisions. They are not to be trusted."

"So I get to be some ones new best friend." Dick said stiff tone of voice. "Joy. What's her name?"

"What?" Bruce responded looking back over at him.

"Her name." Dick repeated. "Some people have them."

"I don't recall, asked Alfred. He is in charge of making sure that the invitation gets delivered. She's going to Gotham University and that's all I know. I haven't given

her too much attention at the moment." Bruce answered dismissively.

Dick rested his hand on his chin and gave a sigh.

"Are you going out?" Bruce asked abruptly.

"I was thinking about it. Alfred mentioned that he wanted a book from the library so I might stop there." Dick answered. He turned back to Bruce who was once

again absorbed in the newspaper.

"Okay then," Dick said. "I'm going out, don't wait up for me."

Random End Notes: How are we doing? Is everyone on board here? Following so far? This might take a few

chapters to get the feel of this story and where I am trying to go, but I hope you will give it a chance. It's not a big

flashy/boom/bang kind of story, but that doesn't mean we aren't going to have fun. ;)

{Dick/Babs because, HELLO! They are perfect for each other!}

Alright you know the drill. Advice, and (gentle) [be nice please! :}] criticism, would be appreciated. Or a haiku if you feel like one.