AUTHOR'S NOTE: Ok, I know I originally put this as a one-shot, but I decided that the story wasn't done yet. Hopefully, Possibilities Denied adds something to the original story. Oh, and please review!

Possibilities Denied

Bruce stared into his coffee cup. Dawn was breaking on the horizon, but Bruce was focused on what the night had brought. About twelve hours earlier, the night had started at Mount Justice, when Batman had given Young Justice their mission. It had been simple. Drug shipments in Gotham. The team had set out shortly after dusk. Batman had returned to the 'cave, to get ready to go out into Gotham himself, when Aqualad had contacted him in the 'cave. Robin and Kid Flash were missing.

Batman immediately set out for the warehouse. When he arrived, the team had already discovered some equipment, possibly the reason why their teammates were missing. It had taken time, almost an hour, for them to figure out how to turn it back on and use it. They never did find out who used it originally. Batman, in that moment, was more concerned about getting his son back, than finding the person who sent him away.

After an hour of work, the portal had opened on their side. Artemis had stood near it and she had been the first to see Kid Flash and Robin. The boys were alive. Kid Flash had been the first through, mostly because Artemis had dragged him through the portal. Batman had waited by the equipment, but, when his son hadn't appeared, he motioned for Aqualad to take over the equipment and Batman moved toward the portal.

Looking through, Batman had seen his partner talking with...himself? Batman wasn't sure, but the man was dressed as Batman. Perhaps he was that world's Batman? If that Batman was Bruce Wayne, then he was a bigger man in that world. The costume was also slightly different, with the added red color. It made that Batman seem darker and more dangerous.

"Robin!"

His son had turned. Batman had his partner's attention, but Batman had also gained the attention of the other Batman. There had been almost something familiar about the man, but Batman couldn't identify what it was. Robin walked away from the other Batman and went through the portal. After Robin was through, Aqualad closed the portal.

"Who was that?" asked Batman.

The boy seemed distant, almost like he had a lot on his mind. "Can I fill you in later?"

Batman had nodded, before turning his attention to the team. The mission was over and he told the team that they could go home. Batman suspected the tip on the drug shipment had been a cover to get the team there. Maybe to transport the whole team to the other world?

Batman also told Kid Flash to expect Flash to debrief him, though Batman planned to follow up with Kid Flash when he had a moment. On his way over to the warehouse, Batman had notified the teen's uncle. The Dark Knight was surprised that Flash had not arrived yet, but assumed that the other hero had been held up. For being the fastest man alive, Flash was often late for everything.

Just as the team was leaving the warehouse, Flash showed up. He grabbed his nephew by the shoulders and pulled him in for a hug. Bruce almost envied the easy display of affection that Flash was able to provide his nephew. Part of Bruce wanted to hug Dick too, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Emotions were never easy for Batman and displays were even more difficult.

After Flash and the team departed, Batman and Robin had returned to the 'cave. When Robin had changed out of his suit, Bruce had noticed the bruising developing around Dick's left shoulder and on the lower part of Dick's back.

"What happened?" asked Bruce. He had pushed back the mask, but had kept the rest of the suit on. Batman intended to go back out after he spoke with Dick.

"KF and I were in another world," replied the dark haired teen, as he took a towel and rubbed at his wet hair. The boy had showered after changing out of his suit. Now he was dressed in a pair of black sweat pants and a blue t-shirt.

The older man nodded his head. Since he had seen another Batman standing next to his son, he had assumed that the boys had ended up in another world. It was not the first time that Batman had encountered a world similar, yet different, than their own.

"If what...the other Batman said was true, then that world was an alternate timeline. One created by Flash going back in time to stop his mother's murder." Dick draped the towel around his shoulders. His blue eyes met Bruce's brown eyes. "He said it was a world at war."

"To my knowledge, Allen has never attempted something like that," said Bruce, frowning. As a member of the Justice League, Flash knew bad things happened when you messed around with time. Bruce decided he needed to follow up with Barry though, just in case.

While the older man wanted to know as much about this other world as possible, he wanted to know who had hurt Dick. Bruce was aware that Kid Flash and Robin had disappeared moments after entering the warehouse. The team hadn't had time for a fight of any kind and the bruising was new.

"Where did the bruising come from?"

"Batman," said Dick. "I mean, the other Batman."

"What?" demanded Bruce.

The teen put his hands out, palms facing his father. "He didn't know who we were. It wasn't until KF slipped up...I mean, well, I said...that is, uh, Batman stopped when he realized we were from a different world and we weren't a threat to him. He helped us."

Bruce said nothing, though he was angry over the thought of anyone hurting his son. The older man could tell that there was something the boy wasn't telling him.

"What is it, Dick?"

"The other Batman..." said Dick, but he faded out, not sure how to tell Bruce that, in that world, Thomas Wayne was alive.

"What about him?"

Bruce realized that Dick was trying to figure out how to share what he wanted to say. He wanted to be patient, but the other Batman had put a hand on his child. The alternate Batman should be grateful that he was in a different world than Bruce, otherwise he would teach him the consequences of touching his son.

"He was...Thomas Wayne," replied the boy quietly.

For a moment, Bruce thought he had heard Dick wrong. When the boy looked up, Bruce realized that he had heard the dark haired teen correctly.

"He didn't confirm it, but I think you died that night, instead of your parents," continued Dick.

Not long after that comment, Dick had gone upstairs and to his room. Bruce, his mind swimming, contacted Flash. Barry had already spoken with Wally and knew about who they had met and how that world had been created. Allen had confirmed that he had never traveled back in time to save his mother. Bruce cautioned Barry that, until they knew more information, the details of what had happened to the boys should be kept secret. If what Dick had said was true, whomever had sent Kid Flash and Robin into the other world had planned for them never to return, if the world was truly as violent as the other Batman led them to believe. Barry had agreed.

Hours later, Bruce found himself in his study, staring into a cold cup of coffee. Thomas Wayne lived in that other world. It seemed difficult to believe. Of course, Dick described Thomas Wayne as a hard man, which Barry had confirmed, based on what his nephew had told him. The word Kid Flash had used was "scary". Those words wouldn't have described the Thomas Wayne Bruce remembered as his father. What had that man gone through to change him into the man the boys had met? But there must have been something good left in him. Otherwise, why would he have helped Kid Flash and Robin?

Other than the questions regarding his father and who had sent the boys into that world, the question of how this other world had been created needed to be addressed. The alternate timeline meant one of two things. Either, in the future, Barry will travel back in time, thus changing their world into the one the boys had seen. Or, that alternate timeline belonged to a different Earth. One similar to their own Earth, where Barry was still Flash and Bruce was still Batman. And the Flash of that world changed the past and created that alternate timeline. Batman couldn't do anything to help that other world, if it turned out to be the second possibility. But, Bruce would have to monitor Barry to make sure it wasn't their Flash who would almost destroy the world, by changing the past.

…...

Batman stood in the graveyard looking down at a stone that marked a short life. He rarely entered the cemetery, mostly because he didn't want to see the grave that marked his son's death. But he wasn't standing at Bruce Wayne's grave.

After Richard and his red headed teammate had returned to their world, Thomas Wayne found he couldn't forget the boy he had met. The boy, that in another world, would have been his grandson. Thomas had to find out if Richard had existed in his world. The marker proved that the boy had lived and it had been a short life.

With the information that Richard had provided, Thomas found out that a circus had come to Gotham five years ago. And, on opening night, two performers had died. John and Mary Grayson had fallen to their deaths when the trapeze wire had snapped under their combine weight. Their son, Richard, had watched them die. He had just performed on those same wires, but his weight hadn't been enough to break them.

Richard had gone to the police in Gotham. He had told them that it wasn't an accident. Richard told the police about the argument he had seen between Mr. Hayley, the circus owner, and a man later identified as Anthony Zucco. Richard had also seen Zucco under The Big Tent, before the show. The police had examined the wire and seen that it had been damaged. The equipment hadn't snapped due to age, but because someone had tampered with it. Gotham City PD realized that Richard was a key witness and his testimony could put Zucco away for life.

Thomas assumed, in the other world, Bruce had then taken in the boy, adopted him, and raised him. He had protected Richard from Zucco. But Bruce Wayne had died in an alleyway over twenty years ago. He hadn't been there to take in Richard Grayson. Instead of the boy moving in at Wayne Manor, Richard had been placed in the custody of a foster family. The police had believed that he would be safer there than in an orphanage. They had been wrong.

Less than twenty-four hours after Richard had been placed, the boy went missing. The foster family assumed the boy had run away to join, or in Richard's case, rejoin the circus. The police suspected foul play. A couple days later, it was confirmed. The beaten body of Richard Grayson had been found. With their witness dead, the police couldn't pursue the case against Zucco and it was dropped. Like the police, Thomas Wayne suspected that Zucco had been responsible and he wasn't restricted by the law. Batman had decided to pay Zucco a visit.

Zucco could almost believe, when Batman woke him from a sound sleep in the middle of the night, that he was still asleep and in the middle of a nightmare. Batman was a terrifying man, standing in the shadows at the base of the bed. Dressed in a black, gray and red suit, Batman was a man without mercy. It didn't take much encouragement from Batman for Zucco to provide the masked man was a deathbed confession.

Yes, Zucco had threatened Haley after the man refused to pay the extortion fee. Yes, Zucco had damaged the equipment, knowing that the Graysons were scheduled to perform without a net that night. And, after it had come to light that Richard knew more than he should, Zucco had ordered one of his thugs to capture the boy when Richard was walking home from school. Zucco had beaten the boy, to teach him a lesson about going to the police. And, when he was done, Zucco had wrapped his hands around Richard's throat and choked the life out of the small boy's body.

As to why it had been a deathbed confession? Zucco hadn't been sick. He was younger than Thomas Wayne. No, the reason why it had been a deathbed confession was, after Zucco explained everything, Batman had put a bullet in his brain, right between the eyes.

Now, Thomas Wayne looked down at a grave marker for a boy he had never met. The only reason why the boy would have meant anything to him was if Bruce had lived. But Thomas felt justified, in getting revenge for a life that could have been. For a boy, that in another world, would have been his grandson.

THE END