Meet the Parents

By Serena

A/N: OK, just to make things clear - Jim is twenty-one, and Nightmaiden (Mel) is nineteen. The final events of the Dark Knight, where Harvey almost kills little Jim, did happen, only Barbara is older than Jim, and Batman was already married to Diana at the time. Weird timeline, but it's necessary so Jim won't be over ten years older than Nightmaiden. Here's how this timeline works:

Batman becomes Batman in his early twenties, meets Diana and forms the JL at thirty, marries Diana at thirty-four. I know he's in his late thirties/early forties in the comic and in the cartoon, but I still want this Batman to be very alive and kicking to further establish relationships with his children.

Oh, and I changed AcroBat's name to Vengeance instead, because I didn't like the name anymore than you guys did.

CHAPTER TWO – FIVE YEARS LATER

Twenty-one year-old Jim Gordon, Jr., stood on the rooftop of the Gotham City PD building, his hands jammed into his pockets as he gazed out over the dark city. The wind blew through his overcoat, but he didn't move or attempt to get out of the cold.

The door slammed behind him, but still, he didn't look back.

"Don't be disappointed if he doesn't show," said his father's voice from behind him. When Jim turned to face him, Jim Gordon, Sr., said with a smile, "He often doesn't."

Jim returned a brief smile. "I know." He glanced back at the city. "But it's a nice view up here."

Commissioner Gordon came to stand beside his son and shivered. "Yeah. Cold, too."

Jim grinned. "I'm fine. But if the elements are too much for the famous thwarter of villains and criminals…"

The Commissioner glared at his son and looked away. "I'm fine," he said.

Father and son exchanged grins. "You know," the elder Gordon said thoughtfully, "I never thought I'd see the day where there would be so many supers around, not to mention MH's. Seems like every day a new Justice kid pops up."

Jim glanced at his father with a careful look. "It's good, though. We need them."

"Oh, I know. Don't get me wrong, it's great. But it almost seems strange to have police around now," the Commissioner remarked. "Back in my day, we used to have one Batman. One Superman. Now we have at least five Batmans, two Batgirls, and two Wonder Women in Gotham alone."

Jim avoided his father's gaze and replied in a quiet voice, "There is only one Batman and one Wonder Woman and one Batwoman. The others are their kids and partners. Nightwing, Robin, Vengeance, and Shadow Knight. There's only one Batgirl and one Nightmaiden - they're Batman's daughters."

The senior Gordon snorted, and his son glanced at him. "What?" Jim asked.

"Batman, the one man declaring that he worked alone, ended up having one of the biggest families and the most partners in the Justice League," the Commissioner said with a grin. "Now that's ironic."

"You can blame Wonder Woman," Jim said, smiling. "She was the one who initiated getting together with Batman."

His father raised an eyebrow. "How do you know?"

Jim's smile faltered for a moment, but he quickly recovered. "Batman isn't exactly the kind of guy who'll ask someone out, is he? And Wonder Woman's… Wonder Woman. Used to getting what she wants. So…" He shrugged.

After a moment of comfortable silence, the Commissioner slapped his son on the back. "Well, I give up. I'm freezing my butt off up here. I'll see you back home."

"Yeah. I might be a little late," Jim said, trailing off.

His father shot him a look. "Got some plans?"

"Yeah."

"Do these plans involve a nice girl?" his father prodded.

Jim groaned and leaned back on his heels. "Dad, please, not this again. No, it's not a date, if that's what you're thinking."

The Commissioner held up his hands in defeat. "All right, all right. But your mother keeps wondering when you're going to bring home a nice young lady. We're not getting any younger, you know. And your mother wants grandchildren. Your older sister doesn't seem too interested in having children anytime soon, either."

That's because Babs is too busy being a cyber-whiz. "Dad, c'mon!" Jim moaned, shaking his head and looking down at the ground. "I don't need to hear this again."

The Commissioner sighed. "All right. But if you find a nice girl, bring her to the house. We'd love to meet her."

Jim nodded, feeling embarrassed. "Sure." He stared at his father's retreating back until the senior Gordon disappeared behind the door. When he was alone once more, he returned his gaze to the city. He checked his watch but then sheepishly realized that he didn't need to – he didn't know when his guest would be arriving.

Waiting, waiting, waiting. Geez, I feel like that's all I ever do.

"Hey, Gordon."

A wide grin crept across Jim's face, but he tried to lose it. "You're gonna kill me with this waiting, Mei."

"Oh, I'm sorry," crooned a scornful female voice. "Are you getting a little chilly?" A light snort followed. "Wimp."

Now Jim wheeled around to face the eldest – and only blood-related daughter of the Dark Knight himself. She stood in her usual dark outfit – black tank, form-fitting jumpsuit, and lace-up boots. On her arms were long black bulletproof wristbands, similar to that of Wonder Woman's bracelets. Apparently an appeal to Wonder Woman's gods had something to do with that.

Jim grinned. Nice young lady. Right.

"Well, excuse me if only one of us is human," Jim said dryly, stuffing his hands further into his pockets. "We all can't be Batty Amazons, can we?"

"Thank goodness for that," Nightmaiden said, folding her arms over her chest as she came slowly up to Jim. "How's your father?"

"Ready for retirement soon, I think," Jim said. "He feels safe leaving Gotham in Batman's hands."

Nightmaiden frowned. "Dad'll miss him. We all will. Your dad's the reason my dad's not in jail."

"And your dad's the reason I'm still alive," Jim said quietly. "Dad knows it. He still feels he owes him, you know."

"He shouldn't," Nightmaiden replied just as softly. She stared out at the city with sharp blue eyes.

The two stood in a comfortable silence for a few minutes until Jim said, "How's the family?"

She shot him a glance, eyebrow raised. "See for yourself."

"Don't want to bother you guys, especially not if your dad's on patrol."

"Actually," Nightmaiden said with a hint of a grin, "The reason I'm here is to bring you back. We're having a family get-together. Nightwing and his family and Superman and his family."

Jim shook his head. "That's a handful."

"Yeah. Dad's not too pleased about it either. But he's gotten better with that lately after practically running the Justice League for thirty-odd years." She gave a slight shrug of her shoulders. "You in?"

"Sounds like a blast. I'll get my car."

"You know, I could just fly you there."

"We've gone over this, Mei," Jim said, shooting her a wry look.

"Oh, right. Don't want to damage your fragile male ego," the nineteen-year-old superhero said, rolling her eyes. But the next second, her lips turned up into a grin. "Race you."

Even though he knew he didn't stand a chance (they'd done this too many times to count over the years), Jim grinned at his best friend. "You're on."

Not very action-filled, but things will pick up quickly. Let me know what you think!

- Serena