A breeze came and casually, almost teasingly tossed her hair into her eyes. Her hand came up and brushed her ear-length black silk with its blood red ends back behind her ears, and her smile vanished. Soon return to the rat trap she called home would be required, and with that came the prospect of Frost. That one thought put all images of a good end to her day out of Blaise's head. She was going to receive a lashing such as only Frost could give for not coming home the night before.

The beauty of the park and the buildings in the nicer part of Gotham City was lost on her as she struggled to think of what the truth should be when Frost found her. Should she have gone to a friend's? No, Frost knew she had no friends. She was too busy with work to make friends. Did she stay late at work? No, Frost could always see through her lies. Oh well, something would come to her eventually. If not, Frost would just have to cope.

Blaise swung a door with peeling paint and rusty hinges open to reveal a room that could be crossed in maybe four paces. Despite the bright sun there was little light in the room, and the faint glow that there was was coming through a window so grimy it made the world behind it a blur of colours. A bug scuttled across the warped wood floor and she didn't want to turn her head and see how big it was as it disappeared through a hole in the cracked, peeling wall.

Sinking down onto the floor cushions that served as a couch she called out to Frost, hoping to get this over with quickly. "I'm home."

"Where the fuck have you been?" Frost's voice was flung from one of the back rooms, the bedroom.

Blaise smiled briefly. "That was better than I expected. Frost must be in a good mood," she muttered. Then she called back, "Out."

"No shit."

"You don't have to yell at me."

"Yell? Come in here and I'll fucking yell."

Blaise grinned. "Why do you think I'm in here?"

"Why don't you get your ass in here so I don't trash my voice?"

"Frost, darling, you'll yell that loud if I were in there. At least out here it's dulled somewhat."

"Get your fucking ass in here. If you make me get up and come in there you will be a dead bitch."

"Frost, you couldn't get up and come in here if you wanted to. And watch your mouth." Blaise groaned as she got back to her feet and went into the back room.

Frost was sprawled out on one of the two tiny beds shoved nearly together and against the walls at the same time. A threadbare blanket had been pulled nearly to spiky hair that had been dyed bright blue. A pair of blue eyes peeked out from under the coverings showing the pain Frost was in but would never admit to, a pain Blaise couldn't begin to understand.

"Come here," Frost commanded. Blaise obeyed almost without thinking about it, and a very well muscled arm came flying out from under the covers and hit her upside the head. She jumped back instinctively, her hand going to her face and her black eyes flashing silver for an instant before returning to the dark vortexes that they usually were.

Walking away from the bed, Blaise began pawing through her clothes, which were still in a box for lack of any place else to put them. Grabbing up a dress, she tossed it onto the second bed and began to strip off her dirty work clothes. "I'm going out again and I probably won't be back until late."

"If you come back at all."

Blaise whirled around to look at Frost. She still wore a pair of tight khakis from her job at the local pharmacy, but the only other thing she wore was a black lace bra.

Frost laughed. "If you think you're going to sound convincing looking like that, half dressed and dirty, you're a fucking idiot."

"I don't need to sound convincing, Frost. I can do as I choose." She tugged the dress over her head and peeled her pants off. "I'm leaving as soon as I fix you dinner."

"It's dinnertime already? Damn you! You disappear for nearly twenty-four hours, then when you return it's only to feed me before you leave again. And dressed like that," Frost waved a hand at Blaise's black dress, which showed more skin than it concealed, "like a little whore, you're going to find some guy to fuck. You're a fucking whore going out to find some man willing to pay for your services. Well, I hate to tell you this, you little bitch - all right, I don't - there isn't a man out there who would pay for what you have to offer."

"I don't need to explain myself to you, Frost. My actions are my own, little sister, and I have given up caring what you think since it's never complimentary. I'm going out tonight and that's all you need to know." Blaise stepped into her only pair of dress shoes and took the two steps necessary to enter the kitchen.

Opening the refrigerator she noticed that they were out of anything that resembled food. She pulled out the last of the cheese and a few slices of bread. "There's no food, Frost. Do you want grilled cheese again, or do you want me to try and bring you home something?"

"Don't bother with food for me, I can take care of myself. I don't need you. Go out and have fun."

Blaise sighed and left the apartment, not bothering to put the food away. If it spoiled it wouldn't matter; it wouldn't last the night anyway. There was nothing she could do about her sister's moods and she knew it. Not for the first time, she wondered if perhaps Frost's mood swings were just one more of the things she took with her when they moved from the last hell they had lived in.

The sun was going down and it gave Gotham City a dark look that no other city she had ever seen had, and she smiled. The darkness appealed to her, it made her feel at home. Perhaps here they could find someplace to fit in.

The bar came upon her quickly as her long legs ate up the pavement. She went through the door and sat waiting for someone to come and buy her a drink. She had been waiting almost every night now since she and Frost had moved to this brooding city the year before, but no one worth a second look had come. The bar changed each night, but the kind of people who frequented them never did, and Blaise was beginning to lose hope.

A grubby man who looked as if he was in the bar simply to get drunk and make a nuisance of himself (like so many other men) came and sat at the table beside her, his eyes taking in her body beneath her dress in open approval. "Hey, baby, let me buy you a drink?" His speech was slurred by the obvious number of drinks she could smell on his breath. He dropped his hand onto her knee.

Blaise yawned. "And let you contaminate perfectly good alcohol by looking at it? No thanks." Someone at one of the tables nearby laughed at his friend.

"Aw, but baby, I just want to buy you something to make you happy." The hand slid up her leg.

"If you really wanted to make me happy you would go sit at the other end of the room with your face to the wall so I wouldn't have to smell you anymore, but somehow I doubt that you want to make anyone happy here buy yourself."

"Okay, baby, you figured me out, so why don't you make this easy and come with me someplace nice and quiet." The hand kept moving up until it neared her waist.

"Take your hands off me now before I have to take them off for you. No guarantees who I'd take them off of." She still looked and sounded, to all outward appearances, as if this were something she did all the time, threatening to dismember men at bars, but her heart was pounding.

"But baby…" Something seemed to pick the man up and pull him away from Blaise. She just smiled. This wouldn't be the first time a fight had broken out about her and she found them kind of amusing.

"Why don't you let the lady go?" The voice seemed to radiate absolute control and the slimy man slunk away without another word. "I seem now to have to apologize for all men." Blaise looked up and saw a well-built young man with long black hair that he had tied back. She smiled. If nothing else, he was charming. "I wasn't planning on saving any damsels in distress tonight, but somehow they seem to come looking for me."

Blaise laughed at him. "I wasn't terribly in distress, and I'm certainly no damsel, but thank you anyway. That was very kind of you."

"I can't stand to see a beautiful young girl being harassed by filth like that. Men like that aren't worthy of looking upon one as radiant as you."

"Now you sound ridiculous." Blaise grinned at him and the young man blushed slightly.

"My name is Richard Grayson. Dick. Would you be so kind as to allow me to buy you a drink, and maybe some dinner… someplace a little nicer than this?"

"Why not? It's the best offer I've had all year. I'm Blaise Evans." Blaise stood and noticed that with her heeled shoes she was nearly as tall as Dick. She smoothed her dress down so it wasn't any shorter than need be; it already stopped midway up her thigh. Dick's eyes went wide as he suddenly became aware of just how little skin her dress really covered, but he didn't say anything, just held out an arm, which she took. "You seem well-bred, not like the other riffraff you find in places like this, " she told him. "Manners and behavior worthy of a gentleman." They stepped out onto the street and Dick led her away from the bar.

"My guardian used to take me to all sorts of black tie events with him."

"Your guardian?"

"Bruce Wayne. He took me in when my parents died."

"You're Bruce Wayne's ward? Wow. I've been trying to get a job with him for almost the entire year I've lived here. I can't ever seem to get an interview. They don't think I'm capable just because I'm young." She paused. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be mouthing off like that, especially about your guardian. It's just very frustrating to be turned away simply because I'm younger than they expected."

"It didn't sound like you were mouthing off to me, at all. Tell you what, I'll see if I can get Bruce to see you."

"You'd do that for me, even though you just met me a few minutes ago?" Blaise opened her eyes really big and feigned shock. She knew the affect she could have on men if she tried.

"What's the worst that could happen? He doesn't like you and he tells me so?" They stopped walking and Dick swore under his breath. They were facing a black motorcycle and Blaise was greatly hoping it was his. She loved them.

"What?"

"I'd forgotten about that."

"Forgotten what? You sound like my boss, never actually answering anything."

"Sorry. I forgot that I have my motorcycle. I'm sure you don't want to ride it in a dress like that."

"Why ever not? I love those things. I don't think I'll be flashing anyone important… so let's go."

Dick turned to look at her, his eyes wide and a reckless grin was spreading on his face. He tried to hand her the helmet, but she turned it down with a negligent wave of her hand. They got on the bike and he made sure she was seated properly, but soon discovered that she knew how to ride that thing as well as he did. So he took off and he could barely hear her laughter over the rush of wind in his ears.

They raced through Gotham City at breakneck speed, Blaise enjoying herself more than she had in a long time. The wild ride did eventually end, though, and Dick helped Blaise get down in front of a restaurant that looked like it would take two months to get reservations. The maitre'd stood outside to welcome guests and Blaise could see through the large glass double doors that the inside was every bit as nice as the front of the building led people to believe.

"Are we going to be able to get in?" she asked. "It looks like you'd have to make reservations years in advance."

Dick grinned at her obvious amazement. "Bruce has a table here and they've seen me with him often enough that I should be able to get use of it for the night."

She allowed him to take her arm while she quickly ran the fingers of her other hand through her windblown, multicoloured hair to keep it out of her face. The maitre'd standing by the door took one look at Dick and led the two inside.

The walls were lined with candles and the tables, no matter how close to the next, all seemed private. The carpet was deep green and all the tablecloths were cream, matching the napkins which were fanned out upon the bread plates, which sat on tables waiting for someone to come and use them. It took all of Blaise's concentration not to look around and stare at the elegance of it all.

They were taken to a table sitting in the corner that actually seemed more secluded than the rest, more personal. Dick held the chair for her as the waiter placed menus on the table before them.

"This is wonderful," she breathed. "I've never been anyplace like this before."

"I don't believe that. You've never had some boyfriend who wanted to take you out to dinner in a fancy restaurant?"

"I've never had a boyfriend. I never had time. Too busy with working and taking care of my sister."

"How old is your sister?"

"Seventeen, but due to where we used to live she requires a lot of care… more than she'd admit to."

"Where did you used to live?"

"Gensry. It's a very small city with a very big nuclear power plant. They were dumping illegal chemicals into the river behind our house and it took its toll on my family. My sister can barely walk and my parents are dead."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. As soon as I have the money I'm going to sue them." She opened the menu in front of her as a sign that the conversation was closed. Looking it over she realized she didn't know what half of the things on it were. "All right, help." She looked up at him in embarrassment. "I don't have the faintest clue what most of this stuff is. Just the appetizers and soups are giving me trouble, I haven't even looked at the meals yet. I mean, escarole, pasta fagiolli, what is this stuff?"

Dick laughed. "I can see you haven't had much Italian food."

"I told you I've never been someplace like this before. Why don't you just order something for me? That way at least I know it might be edible."

When the waiter came back Dick ordered food for the two of them, although Blaise suspected he was ordering enough for at least three extra people. When the meal was actually brought to the table she saw that she had been wrong. He hadn't ordered for three extra people, he ordered for three hundred extra people. She had never seen so much food in one place in her entire life.

"You can't expect me to eat all of this. I think I might possibly eat this much in a week." Blaise picked up a piece of bread and spread butter on it, looking at all the food that had been placed in front of her.

Dick laughed again. "Blaise, that's just the appetizers. They haven't even brought the meal out yet."

"I think I'm going to explode just looking at all of it. And don't you dare laugh at me again."

"I wouldn't dream of it," he said, although Blaise could see the smile he was trying to fight back. "So, what do you do?" he asked, trying to change the subject away from the food.

"Nothing terribly interesting. I work in a pharmacy, although I would really like to work in a lab. I always loved science, and I was really good at it."

"Is that what you want to do at Wayne Tech?"

"I was hoping there might be a department for treatment of diseases. Discovering them, I mean. That's what I really want to do." She stuck her fork into a pile of something that looked suspiciously like really dark, cooked lettuce, or possibly seaweed. It squished and she gave it a funny look.

"That," he couldn't help saying, "is escarole."

"No wonder I couldn't figure it out. I still can't. Are you sure it isn't going to bite back?" She smiled and he laughed again.

"I don't think I've laughed this much in a long time."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

Dick wasn't given a chance to answer as the waiter brought their meals out. Two plates of some kind of meat over a really big portion of pasta were placed on the table and Blaise nearly choked on a sip of wine when she saw the size of them. The waiter left again with the promise to check back and make sure everything was okay that all waiters make.

"Okay, what is it?" Blaise poked at her plate, which was giving off a very pleasant smell.

"It's chicken in a wine sauce."

"That's the biggest chicken I've ever seen. Are you really sure it isn't pterodactyl? They both laughed at that and the rest of the meal went well.

By the time the meal was finished and Blaise had all of her leftovers wrapped up she had nearly as much food to take home as she had eaten. They walked out of the restaurant still laughing. Dick got on his bike and held out a hand to help Blaise up, but she shook her head.

"I'll walk. It's a nice night."

"Gotham isn't safe at night. There are a lot of crazy people out there."

"I can take care of myself."

"Why don't you let me drive you home?"

"Because I want to walk. I'm not afraid of anyone I might meet out there." She paused and laughed. "Wow, we sound like a bad movie. Fine, take me home. Just don't look at my house when we get there, please."

"How do you expect me to do that?"

"I don't know, but do it anyway, please. You're a smart boy, you'll figure something out." She got onto the motorcycle and slid her arms around his waist to keep herself on. The wind rushed past her and she laughed, knowing the sound would be swallowed up by the noise. She had never known anything quite as exciting as a motorcycle when pushed to full speed… at least, not until the night before. Still, motorcycles were something she would always enjoy, and she vowed to herself that as soon as she had the money she would be buying herself one.

The ride slowed considerably when they entered the neighborhood she lived in. The roads were much narrower and winding, and there was much more of a chance of wiping out at the speed they had been traveling. Blaise didn't loosen her grip, though. She was enjoying herself. Tipping her head back she watched the stars. The night was dark enough - there were no street lamps - that she could see every one of them. She loved the stars. No matter how fast everything around her was moving, the stars appeared to stay still. She knew they moved, but the apparent lack of motion gave her the feeling of something stable.

Finally the bike came to a stop. It was just because there was a stop sign, but Blaise began to get off. Dick grabbed her hand. "Where are you going?"

"Home. This is it."

Dick looked around at the garbage in the streets, the buildings so tightly crammed together it looked like they were holding each other up, the lack of anything green, and the rat that ran past and scurried down into the sewer. "This can't be it. This is Crime Alley."

"It is. I told you not to look."

"Because there was some way to avoid it?" He got down from his bike as well.

"Where do you think you're going?" she asked.

"I'm walking you to the door like any good date should." He reached out and took her hand.

"I don't think so. I didn't want you to see the outside of this dump. You are not coming to the door where you can see the inside, too." She tried to turn him around back towards the motorcycle, but he was very persistent. "Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you." She paused, then laughed. "I could really do to stop sounding like a cheap movie where the good guy always gets the girl and everything always turns out happily ever after, because things don't work that way. Things don't always turn out okay, and the good guys aren't always good looking and running around with their underwear on the outside of their clothing. Not that I'd mind if things worked out that way, but they don't." Dick gave her a funny look, but didn't press the issue.

Then a voice came from just through the door. "Blaise? Is that you? You decided to finally come the fuck home? So, did you find some idiot to pay you to be the whore that you are?"

"Who is that? It sounds like a trucker or something. You have a boyfriend?"

"No. I told you I've never had a boyfriend. That's my sister. I recommend going home now. I don't think you want to meet her today… or ever."

"Can I at least have your number?"

Blaise looked up at him and he looked so eager she didn't know what to do. "I don't have a phone." His face fell. "You could call me at work, though, I suppose. I work at the Gotham Pharmacy on the corner. Real creative name, huh?" He laughed then turned and got back on his motorcycle to ride off to wherever he lived. Blaise took a deep breath and opened the door, entering the nearly pitch-black living room.

"Frost, darling, why are there no lights on? I'm not even going to ask how you got in here because I'm not sure it matters."

"The damn bulb went out and we don't have a replacement. What reeks?"

"I brought you food."

"I told you not to bother. I don't need your fucking help. And I certainly don't want any food you have that smells like you pulled it out of the garbage in the back of some fast food place."

"Fine. Don't eat. I don't care at this point. I'm tired and I'm going to bed." Blaise tossed the container with the food in it next to her sister and went off to the bedroom.

"You're tired because you never come home anymore. You fucking stay out all night and leave again as soon as the sun comes up. Don't come dumping that shit about being tired on me."

"If you got yelled at as much as I do when I'm home, wouldn't you rather not come back, too?" Blaise pulled off her dress and bra and crashed down onto her bed, not bothering to put anything on. She just pulled the covers up and buried her face into her pillow.

"So now you're fucking saying you don't want anything to do with your own sister anymore? Some goddamned big sister you are."

"Shut up, Frost. I'd like to go to sleep. I have to get up for work tomorrow so you can eat." She didn't bother to mention that Frost was the only one who got to eat, which was why she went out to get men to buy her dinner, or that perhaps it would all be over soon. She fell asleep to Frost's angry words in her ears.

Blaise signed herself out of the computer for her lunch break. This was the first time in three weeks she had enough money to buy herself lunch, so she took the opportunity. Stepping out from behind the counter she looked up and saw Dick walking into the pharmacy.

"What are you doing here?"

"I thought I'd come find you. Bruce said he'd like to meet you, and since this is his lunch break I thought we'd come get you. He's in his car outside, waiting to take us to lunch." He took her by the arm and led her through the door almost against her will.

"What?" she asked, as if his words just sank in. "He's… Fine, just spring something like this on me." Dick just grinned and held open the door to the car. Blaise slid into the seat and found a very well dressed man of about forty in the car already. He looked very well built, and Blaise had no illusions about the muscle that she saw in his arms. Bruce Wayne didn't look anything like she expected him to. Dick got in and the car started to move. Blaise looked up front to see an elderly man driving the car. He looked friendly and quite devoted in his service.

"You must be Blaise Evans." Bruce held out a hand and Blaise had to shift around to take it. "Dick hasn't mentioned much else since last week."

"I'm flattered. I don't usually make such an impression."

"He also mentioned that you're looking for a job in research."

"That's right, Mr. Wayne. I have a knack for sciences and especially for finding new ways to do things. I think, given the right resources, I could be very useful to the medical world, finding new cures for things."

"She sounds like she works for me already, Dick. Wherever did you find her?"

"One the other side of a very large, very drunk man who was making a pest of himself. I thought you weren't going to talk business at lunch today."

"I'm not. I was just getting a feel for her. I like to do that with all of my new employees."

"Mr. Wayne, are you saying what I think you're saying?" Blaise's eyes flashed silver for a moment as they got very wide and she smiled.

"Yes, I was offering you the job. One of my scientists had to leave unexpectedly, along with my computer expert. I've been looking for replacements anyway."

"Computer expert?"

"Yeah, I need someone who can run multiple computers at once, and understands all that high tech stuff that most of my employees don't get."

"I think I know someone. Although I have to warn you, she's very hard to deal with. Very hard to deal with."

"She wouldn't really have to deal with people, just computers."

Dick looked dismayed. "I don't like where this conversations is going. Blaise, you're not talking about your sister, are you?"

"I'm afraid so. I don't think there's anyone else in the country who can run a computer like she can. There isn't anything she can't do with the help of a computer… except walk."

"Your sister can't walk?" Bruce asked.

"No. We lived too close to a nuclear power plant for too long. The radiation… no, she can't. That's part of the reason I was looking for a new job. I want to find a cure for this before it gets any worse. Not to mention working in a pharmacy doesn't pay enough to buy her a wheelchair."

"From what I heard of her the other night, if you bought her a wheelchair she'd just think you thought of her as an invalid and curse you out for it. She wouldn't take it," Dick said, taking Blaise's hand.

"But at least the option would be there. She may hate me, but I'm going to do everything I can for her."

"I'd like to see what she can do with a computer. If she's half as good as you say she is I may hire her."

"Mr. Wayne, are you a saint?"

"Please, call me Bruce. As long as you're dating my ward there will be no formalities here."

"Speaking of which, can I have her back now?" Dick asked, looking a little put out.

Blaise laughed at him. "Do you feel left out?"

"No." He answered a little too quickly and she could tell he was lying.

"We're there, sir," came a voice from the front.

"Thank you, Alfred. Please be back in an hour."

"Yes, sir."

Dick got out of the car and held out his hand for Blaise to follow. She let him help her out and they waited for Bruce to get out before they all went into the restaurant.

It was a tiny place with small tables and a fireplace in the back. There was a second room that was curtained off with a cascade of beads that jingled a little when someone went through them. A fire crackled in the fireplace, and there was a large mirror over it that reflected the room back at them. They were shown to a small table in a corner by the fire and handed menus.

Blaise opened her menu and started to laugh. The two men at her table looked at her funny. She turned to Dick. "Do you do this on purpose?"

"Do what?"

"Take me places where I have to rely on you to order for me because the menu doesn't make sense. I thought the last one was bad. At least I could pronounce those."

They both laughed at her. "I thought maybe I'd introduce you to something a little more exotic than Italian. Now we're working on Japanese. I'll have to come up with something really hard to pronounce for next time." Dick grinned.

"Thank you so very much." Blaise rolled her eyes at him, then smiled. She glanced down at her watch and her head snapped up. "I'm supposed to be back at work in ten minutes. I'm not going to make it."

Bruce stood up and left the table. "Where is he going?" Blaise asked.

"Don't worry about anything. Bruce will take care of it. He's good at that," Dick reassured her.

Bruce came back to the table about the same time the bowls of soup arrived for each of them. "Don't worry about work," he said, sitting back down. "They are currently trying to find a replacement for my newest scientist."

"Thank you so much," she said, lifting a spoonful of soup. She nearly dropped it. "What is this? It looks like it's alive."

"That's miso," Dick said. "It's just soybean paste."

"It looks more like little creatures to me. Little things swimming around in my bowl."

"It's not alive, I promise," Dick laughed.

"Are you sure? I mean, last time you tried to feed me pterodactyl."

Bruce looked startled. "What?"

They both started to laugh. "It was just chicken," Dick said.

"It was big enough that it looked like it should have been pterodactyl," Blaise added.

Bruce just nodded and the main part of their meal came out. Blaise looked at it and couldn't decide if it looked really good or like something you might feed the cat. There were little rolls of something involving some slimy green thing that might have been avocado once and something red that looked like some sort of seafood, all wrapped in what looked like the escarole dried out, but was probably seaweed. She tried to pick one up but Dick slid a pair of chopsticks into her hands. She just laughed.

"You expect me to pick that thing up with these little sticks?"

"They're chopsticks," Dick told her.

"I know what they are, that doesn't mean I can use them." She took them in her hand, watched as Bruce and Dick each deftly picked up a piece of the green, ricey thing and ate it. Positioning the chopsticks in her hand the way they held them, she tried to pick one up, and succeeded. Then she proceeded to drop it in the bowl of soy sauce, splashing herself with the dark brown liquid. Dick laughed and even Bruce cracked a smile. "Can't I just pick them up?"

"No. Here, let me help." Dick took her hand in his and with his help she managed to get one of the seaweed things into her mouth.

"What is it, now that I've eaten it?"

"Do you like it?" Dick asked.

"It's not bad, but what is it?"

"It's maki. Rice, avocado, crab and cucumber wrapped in seaweed." Dick helped her to eat another one.

"I figured out what was in it, I was just making sure. Let me try this again," she said, picking up the chopsticks. This time she managed to get it almost to her mouth before she dropped, but she was quick enough to catch it in her hand and not lose it to the always-hungry floor. She set it back on her plate and tried again, determined not to be show up by two males. On her third try she managed to get it to her mouth without dropping it. Dick smiled at her.

They left the restaurant and got back into the car. Dick slid his arm around Blaise's shoulders and she let him. "Would you mind letting me off at the grocery store, instead of home? I need to get stuff for dinner or my sister won't get to eat today."

"Of course," Bruce said. "Since tomorrow is Saturday, there won't be too many people at the lab if you would like to come have a look around. I'd be happy to show you around myself, since I'll be in for the first half of the day. You could bring your sister and I could see what she can make of my computers, too, if you'd like."

"That would be wonderful, except that she won't be able to leave the house. She can't walk that far. She can barely make it from the bedroom to the living room."

"I'll send a car and a wheelchair."

"She won't take it. She wouldn't use it since she didn't earn it."

"Tell her it's company procedure for anyone who has trouble walking. It's a big place."

"Thank you again. You've helped me so much in one day. I don't know how I can thank you."

"If you can fill the two vacant places in my offices that will be thanks enough."

The car stopped at the grocery store and Dick got out to let Blaise out of the car. She tried to go inside to buy dinner, but he wouldn't let go of her hand. "I'll be there tomorrow, too, if just to see you. Plus I think it would be a good idea to meet your sister, and since you won't let me into your house this might be my only chance."

"I'll see you tomorrow, then," she said and slipped away from his grasp and went to buy dinner for herself and her sister.

When Blaise returned home she found Frost once again in the living room. She set the bags of food down and went to sit next to her sister. "I brought you a present," she said to her sister.

"What?"

Blaise pulled a box of Italian pastries that she had bought on her walk home. "I thought these might make a nice dessert. And then I have to go out for a little bit, but I shouldn't be back too late since we have to go out tomorrow morning."

"We? Blaise, in case you hadn't noticed, I can't go anywhere." Her voice was scathing, and Blaise winced.

"Actually, the person we have to go see has taken care of that. He is sending a car and a wheelchair."

"You think I'm using a fucking wheelchair to go visit some rich boyfriend of yours?"

"He's not my boyfriend. Actually, he's Bruce Wayne."

"You managed to get Bruce Wayne to see us? How much of a fucking idiot do you take me for?"

"He offered us both jobs."

"What is there that I can do that he might need?"

"He needs a computer expert to run all his big, high tech, powerful computers." Blaise watched her sister carefully. The only thing Frost was really interested in was computers and her face lit up like someone had set fire to it, but she didn't want Blaise to know she was interested.

"And he's going to let a seventeen-year-old nobody do that when he could have anyone in the country working for him? I'm not that fucking gullible, Blaise."

"Why don't you just come with me tomorrow morning and see what this is all about. What's the worst that could happen, you spend a morning out of the house?"

"The worst? You could fucking humiliate me. You've been trying to do it for years."

"I don't care anymore, Frost. Don't come if you don't want to. I'll just tell Bruce that he needs to find someone else to run all those computers for him. It's a shame, too, he was looking forward to having the position filled." Blaise got up and went to the kitchen, taking the food with her.

She began to pull out ingredients and toss them into a big pot. Soon the smell of boiling soup filled the apartment. Frost still hadn't responded, so Blaise knew she must have really struck home with the computers.

Finally her sister broke the silence. "Fine, I'll come tomorrow morning, but just to see the computers."

"I didn't expect anything else, darling," Blaise said as she handed the blue-haired girl a bowl of soup.

After supper Blaise helped her sister back to the bedroom. Then she changed her clothes, grabbed up a bag and left. There were a couple of people on the street so she started to walk down the sidewalk, heading towards the better part of the city, the part with street lamps. As soon as there was no one around, though, she ducked down an alleyway.

She made twists and turns through more alleys and little back streets than anyone with good intentions should know about. Finally she came out where she wanted to be: a large, abandoned warehouse. Dropping the bag she began to pull clothing out of it, then she began to strip. In a matter of minutes she was entirely re-clad. She wore black shorts that stopped about two inches below her ass, a black bra-like shirt trimmed in red, black thigh-high boots that laced up and a black hood to hide her all too recognizable hair. Leaving what she had been wearing where it fell, she walked into the streets heading for the heart of Gotham City.

It took her almost no time to reach her destination: the Gotham City Museum. There was a traveling exhibit of rare coins showing there for a few days and she wanted to stop in.

After a few minutes of careful work the door silently popped open without triggering the electronic alarm. She had learned a few things about computers from her sister. She stalked through the halls like a cat on the prowl. Once she was almost spotted by a security guard, but she leapt behind a display just seconds before she was seen.

When she finally came upon the room she was looking for she found someone already there with a bag full of coins. Blaise froze where she stood, not wanting to be seen, but the figure turned. To Blaise's surprise it was another woman. She was clad in black leather that was stitched together with thick white thread. Her hood had cat ears on it and she wore a whip at her side. Blaise grinned. Cat Woman.

"Who do you think you are? This is my claim." Cat Woman's eyes glowed dangerously.

The girl showing less clothing than skin bowed deeply. "You may call me Paw. It seems we are here for the same thing."

"I don't like it much when people move in on my territory. I think it might be best if you left before I decide you make a good scratching post."

"I'm not leaving until I get what I came here for. However, since you seem to have it, I think I'm just going to have to take it from you." Paw grinned. "I think I might even have fun taking it from you. I haven't had a chance to meet people yet. You'll make a good example." She paused and her grin spread even wider, making her look truly evil. "Who says cat meat is out of fashion?"

"What do you mean by that remark?"

Paw didn't get a chance to answer. Just then the glass ceiling gave way with a shower of glass and three figures came crashing down in front of them.

"Batman!" the cat hissed.

Paw stepped back to watch the exchange with some amusement. She had heard a lot about Batman from the people she used to work with and from what she saw on the front page of the newspapers. This might be an exciting trip after all.

"Give it up, Cat Woman, you know you'll lose in the end anyway." Batman had a deep voice that seemed to be far too controlled to be real, and Paw was quite sure she had heard it before.

The whip cracked and the three figures jumped back. Paw noticed that one of them was considerably smaller than the other two, in fact he looked to be still a child.

"I don't think so, Batman. I'll be leaving with this now." Cat Woman lifted the bag full of coins in almost a salute before leaping up onto the top of the display case. She would have made it out, too, if the display case hadn't suddenly burst into flame. With a cry she jumped back onto the ground, dropping the bag full of coins, which Paw scooped up.

Within minutes the fire had spread to other cases and had quickly trapped everyone in the room. The sprinklers came on, but not soon enough, and they were all stuck in the middle of the rapidly growing inferno.

"See you later, Batboys!" Cat Woman called as she looped her whip around a beam up by the missing section of the ceiling and swung herself up and out.

"Robin, let's go," Batman called. The smaller boy followed. The taller one, who had long black hair, was still looking around, possibly to see if he could spot where they bag had fallen. Paw watched him, thinking that he moved in a very familiar way, but she couldn't place it. "Nightwing! Hurry up." Batman's voice came floating down from the roof. Nightwing disappeared through the hole that everyone else had gone through, the bright blue bird on the front of his black costume was the last thing Paw saw before she was left alone with the fire.

Clutching the bag of coins to her chest, she walked over to the wall of flames and stuck her hand into it, smiling. Then she walked through the blaze and came out on the other side without so much as a bit of ash on her to show for it. Laughing a slow, evil laugh she walked out the doors and down the street to where a man was waiting to pay her a large sum of money for what was in that bag.

"Abso-fucking-lutely not!" Frost declared hotly when the van stopped in front of Wayne Tech and someone tried to wheel her inside. Bruce had come out personally to greet them and with him came Dick. Blaise blushed at her sister's choice of language for the first thing that came out of her mouth in front of these people.

"Watch your mouth," she admonished. Frost just glared at her. Blaise turned her attention to the two men who were leading this tour, Bruce and Dick. "Why don't we start with the computers so that she can see that she didn't make this trip for nothing."

Bruce nodded and lead them to a large room filled from wall to wall with computer monitors, keyboards, and lots of technical things that Blaise couldn't even begin to understand what they were for. Frost's eyes went wide and she wheeled herself over to the nearest piece of equipment and started typing away without so much as waiting for permission. Blaise just sighed.

"What did the fuck who touched these last do? This could take me hours to fix!" Frost exclaimed to herself.

Blaise tipped her head towards her other companions. "That means it would take anyone else you hired a few weeks to fix, just so you know." Frost didn't even look up.

"Why don't we just leave her to it while I show you the lab. I trust she won't do anything too bad to my computers." Bruce led her out of the room and down a long hallway.

"Only if you consider having all your computers reprogrammed so that she's the only one who knows how to run them is a bad thing. She'll fix whatever's wrong with them while she's in there, but she'll also fix it so that she is the only person who can run them. She hates having other people know how to run her systems, and now that you've let her at them, make no mistake, they are hers. It would take you years to figure out how to run them without her."

"What have we done?" Dick asked, snaking his arm around Blaise's waist.

"Hired the best there is."

"You assume she's hired already?" Bruce asked.

"As soon as she saw those computers she was hired. I wasn't kidding when I said you won't be able to run them without her by the time we get ba-" Her voice trailed off as Bruce opened the door to the lab and let her in. Wide-eyed, she walked around looking at things, picking up a few for closer inspection. "I feel like a little kid in a toy store," she whispered.

"You like it?" Bruce asked.

Blaise didn't answer. She just picked up a couple of beakers and began mixing stuff over a flame that he hadn't seen her light. While the stuff simmered she began grinding a few other things and soon she had a purplish powder that smelled faintly of spice tea. Then she picked up the liquid, which had turned amber in colour and poured it slowly over the powder, then stepped back, counting to ten. Exactly as she reached ten the mixture exploded in a shower of colourful sparks which extinguished as soon as they hit any surface. "Great at parties," she said softly, looking around the room like it was the best thing she had ever seen in her life.

"I think you're hired," Dick whispered to her, still watching Bruce's face. He looked slightly stunned.

"I haven't ever seen anyone who could do something like that off the top of their head that quickly. That was very impressive."

"That was nothing, a simple trick I learned to impress people. You'll see the real stuff when I start work. If you want to see something really impressive let's go see what my sister has done to your computers."

They walked back up to the computer room and when they entered they found Frost still typing away, a smile on her face that made Bruce feel a little nervous that perhaps Blaise was right.

"Frost, what have you done to the computers?" Blaise asked.

"Nothing you would understand, sister dear."

"Would anyone but you understand it?" Frost gave her a big grin. "That's what I figured. Bruce, if you don't hire her you're going to spend the next ten years trying to figure out what she did so you can undo it."

"You can both start work on Monday morning."

Dick took Blaise's hand. "Why don't we let him mess with the computers for a while to prove to himself that he really can't figure it out. I'll take the two of you home."

Paw knew it was stupid to try and pull another job the day after the museum had nearly burned down, but she couldn't contain herself. The excitement of the rest of the day had to be let off in some way and this was the only thing she could think of to do. Besides, no one had seen her the night before. In all the confusion from the fire no one had noticed one extra person.

Pausing to fix her boots, she waited until the person who had been behind her stopped before she turned on him, her eyes glowing silver.

"Who are you and why are you following me?"

Nightwing stepped out from the shadows. "I noticed you last night at the museum and I wanted to see what you were up to tonight that would require a mask."

She laughed. "Great line coming from someone in a mask."

"You took the bag with the coins. What did you do with it?"

"First off, why should I tell you? It's obvious we're from opposite sides of the law. Secondly, it wouldn't matter if I did tell you, it's gone. I sold it off last night."

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to arrest you now. I hate to do it, but it's sort of my job."

"You don't hate to do it. You'd do just about anything to get your hands on someone who wears this little clothing and that's about the only way you could do it." She arched an eyebrow at him just to see him blush. Turning, she began to walk down the street, her hips swaying just to get a reaction. "You don't have any way to prove your accusation, so I'll be on my way now." A cord wrapped around her waist, holding her in place. She turned slowly, her eyes sending daggers of ice into him as his eyes met hers. "You couldn't get me to go with you freely, so you'll do it against my will? You're such a dick, Nightwing!"

His eyes went wide. "What did you say?"

"I called you a dick. Are you deaf, too?"

"How'd you know?"

"What? That you're deaf?"

"No, that… never mind."

Paw looked at him closely, taking in all the little familiar things all at once and nearly gasped out loud. I'm… that's Dick! she thought. I'm dating a guy who runs around with his underwear on the outside of his clothing. Somehow I don't think this bodes well… or perhaps it bodes very well, depending on how you look at it. She smiled an evil smile and nodded her head up at the sky where the Bat signal had just appeared. "I think you're called… to something other than me. Why don't you just untie your little toy from around my waist and be on your way? Unless, of course, you had something in mind other than arresting me… dinner perhaps?" She gave a throaty laugh at the look on his face. "Then just let me go and be about your business."

"You are my business, and I don't work for him. I'm my own person."

"You seemed to run when he called the other night."

"Sometimes cooperation suits my purposes, sometimes it doesn't. I think tonight is one of those times he's on his own."

Paw's smile disappeared and her eyes went black, but they quickly turned back to silver. "I tried to make this easy for you. I will walk away from this one way or the other. If you let me go I won't have to hurt you."

"Pretty confident words coming from someone caught in a rope that I hold the other end of."

Paw just gave him her most charming smile and held out her hands. "You look flammable," she purred.

When Nightwing looked at the hands she held out he noticed that she held a small fireball in each. "How the… pyrokinetics! You set fire to the display case!"

"So good of you to notice. If you aren't careful I'll set fire to you. I have perfect aim with these things." She tossed one of her fireballs in the air and caught it like a little kid would a toy. "Not to mention I could light you up like a Christmas tree with a mere thought. I'd be careful if I were you." The rope that held her captive seemed to burst into flame with no outside help at all, but they both knew otherwise. "I'll be leaving now. If you try and follow me again you won't be happy with the results." Turning, she walked away, then smiled to herself as she tossed her fireballs over her shoulder, first one, then the other. She didn't have to turn around to know that they landed on the ground at his feet. This ought to make for interesting dinner conversation tomorrow.

Blaise was watching out the window when Dick drove up. He had the motorcycle and she grinned. This should make things even more interesting. She was always in a good mood when she got off that thing, and that would make it easier to press him about the night before.

She was on the porch ready to leave before he even made it to the door. "Let's go."

"Eager tonight."

"Frost is being worse than usual and I don't want to listen to it anymore."

They got on the bike and took off. Blaise held on to him tight until they stopped in front of a little restaurant.

"So, what will I not be able to order this time?"

Dick laughed a little, but he quickly stopped. "Indian, this time."

They were shown to their seats and Blaise put on a puzzled look. "You look upset by something. Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." His face said otherwise.

"You really don't look fine. I won't press, but if you want someone to talk to, I'm here." Five, four, three, two…

"It's just trouble at work." He didn't seem to want to go on, but she gave him such a sympathetic face that he couldn't help himself. "Just a problem that I haven't figured out how to deal with yet."

"What kind of problem? I'm pretty good at problem solving. For that matter, what do you do? I don't think you ever told me."

"I work for Bruce… in a sense. It's a night job, but I get a lot of nights off. He sort of provides for me. It's just running errands, things like that."

Bruce? Bruce is Batman? The more she thought about it the more she realized that they did seem to have the same build, the same voice, the same way of moving. How did I miss it? "Oh, okay. So what is this problem? What kind of problems could you come across running errands?"

"Things are mysteriously catching fire every time I go to run one of those errands. I think someone is out to hurt me and I don't know who it is or why they would do it, but I can't think of any other explanation. There have been one too many fires around me lately for it to be a coincidence."

"How many?" Blaise put a concerned note in her voice while she was trying to keep herself from smiling.

"Just two, but…"

"Two fires! Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, just a little on edge. I don't know when she'll come again."

"She? I thought you didn't know who it was."

"I don't."

"But you know it's a she. Jealous girl?"

"Who wouldn't be jealous of you?"

"Nice try, but not good enough. Is there someone else?"

"Of course not!"

"First you won't tell me what your job is, then you tell me there's someone after you but you have no idea who. Then you say it's a she and you sound completely certain of that. What do you expect me to think? You don't expect me to believe you just miraculously knew it was a girl, do you?"

Food came out, but Blaise didn't touch it, keeping her eyes on his face, watching for him to slip. He didn't eat either, hoping to appease her.

"Can you keep a secret?" he asked finally.

"Of course. I'm real good at it. I keep Frost secret from people all the time. She doesn't want to meet them and they wouldn't want to meet her if they knew. And she's hard to keep secret."

"I've never told anyone this before, but working for Bruce is just a cover. I'm really Nightwing."

Blaise, who hadn't been expecting him to come right out and say that, burst into laughter. "And I'm Cat Woman."

"No, Cat Woman is Selina Kyle. I really am."

"Right. Get back to me when you feel like telling me the truth." With that said she got up and left.

Once outside she ducked down an alleyway. Towards the back she quickly changed into Paw and slipped away to find Selina Kyle. They had some things to discuss.

Paw watched with some amusement as Selina Kyle jumped a foot in the air at the tap at her window. The window opened and a hissing cat jumped at her face.

"That's it, Isis. Who are you and what are you doing here?"

Paw reached a hand towards the cat, who stopped hissing immediately and began to rub on her. "Can I come in? We have some things to talk about… Cat Woman." Selina stepped back and Paw dropped noiselessly into the room. "I think we could become friends. You know this city better than I do, that's for certain, and I have some information that you don't."

"What's that?"

"Make it worth it to me to tell you."

"A large shipment of diamonds is coming in on Saturday. I'll tell you when and where when you make it worth it to me."

"I know who Batman is."

Cat Woman, who had changed into her costume as they were speaking, turned to stare. "What? How did you find that out?"

"Completely by accident. I had a little run-in with Nightwing last night and I recognized him. The rest wasn't hard to figure out."

"Who is he?"

"That I won't tell you."

"Then why bother telling me you know?"

"Because it means I can find out anything about him now. He isn't just some mystery figure, he's a real person. I can know where he'll be when. I'll know when he'll be busy. I can make sure he's busy."

"How will you do all that? Just because you know who he is - if you really know who he is - doesn't mean you can get all that information. Although, I admit it makes it easier if you do really know who he is."

"I promise you that I do. I work for the man. Not only that, I'm dating his… son."

"That should prove interesting."

"It makes things truly entertaining. What do you say we go have some fun on the town, see who turns up."

The two women left the building and headed for the inner city. They were just about to go into a large jewelry store when they ran into Harlequin. She seemed to be without the Joker, so they decided to have a little fun with her.

"Hey Harley," Cat Woman purred.

"Hiya, Catsy. Whatcha doin' here?"

Paw shuddered. The girl practically bubbled.

"We're just out for a night on the town. Did you know that my friend here knows who Batman is?"

"Really? Wait 'til Mr. J hears about this." She started to cartwheel away, but stopped midway through one and came crashing down on her head. "Who are you, anyway?"

"Call me Paw." Harlequin got up and pranced away. "Why did you tell her that?"

"Because by this time tomorrow the entire city will know that you know. This way we own the city. Everyone will do anything we ask for that information, and we just won't give it to them. We'll just keep asking for more."

"What's this 'we' stuff? I'm the one with the information. You have nothing to do with it. This is my game to play and we'll play it my way. Now scat. I feel the need to set fire to something."

"You're going to burn something down?"

"Or someone. If I were you, I'd leave." Paw began tossing fireballs around and Cat Woman seemed to get the point and ran away. Paw just tossed her fire up and used her mind to set fire to a building across the street. It had been condemned anyway, so she wasn't really doing any damage. Walking forward she stood in the heat of the fire, watching the sheer elemental power consume the ruin.

"Back in business?" came a voice behind her. Turning, Paw found Nightwing flanked by Batman and Robin.

"Thought I'd help the demolition crew along. Oh, Selina Kyle says hello." She was rewarded with seeing Batman's eyes get slightly wider. That was probably the most reaction anyone ever got out of him.

"Who is this girl?" Robin asked.

"Girl? Honey, I'm probably twice your age. And you can call me Paw."

"Paw? What kind of a name is that?" Robin laughed.

"I'd watch it, Bat-Brats. I'm in no mood to play and if you make me mad enough I might do something that you don't like."

"What can you do to us?" asked Nightwing. "You come to a city under our protection and make threats to us? Somehow I think you've gotten things confused. Anyone that crazy belongs in Arkam with the rest of the loonies."

"I should warn you that this city is now mine. By tomorrow I will have every criminal eating out of my hand. I have something up on you that none of them has ever had before."

"And what's that?" asked Batman.

"I know who you are." They all stopped. Robin even tripped over his own feet in an effort to stop moving. "I will have more bids on that information, for more money than you could even begin to imagine ever having… yes, even you, Bruce."

"How did you…" Nightwing looked appalled.

Paw ignored him. "And I'll make a deal with you. You let me go for now and I won't tell anyone who you are, no matter how much they offer me. I'm just out to make enough money to take care of a few debts. Besides, you might find I'm not like the other criminals. If you were to go back to the museum you might just find that all those coins are back in their display cases where they belong."

"How… why…?"

"I'm not out to destroy anything. I can appreciate art as much as anyone else. I just needed the money. I returned it as soon as I got paid."

"Your buyers just paid you to let them see them and then take them back?" Nightwing scoffed.

"Of course not. I stole them back. It's only right, since they're buying stolen goods. They ought to expect to get stolen from once in a while. I mean, they are dealing with criminals." She paused. "You both look flammable."

While they had been talking Batman and Robin had been slowly slipping around to flank her. Now she casually tossed a couple of fireballs at each of them.

"How did you do that?" Robin asked as he jumped back to avoid being singed.

"A little run in with a chemical plant."

"Isn't that always the way?" Nightwing asked of Batman.

"Look, just let me go for now and we can be back to business as usual tomorrow. It's been a long night and I don't feel like doing this right now. I'll just way away anyway. Nightwing here can attest to that. You let me go for tonight and I won't sell your secret." None of them moved. "It's not like I've done anything you can arrest me for. You can't say I stole those coins because they're back in the museum. You can't even really arrest me for burning down this building since there is absolutely no evidence of arson. Just let me go home and go to sleep."
Finally Nightwing stepped out of the way. "Don't think this is over."

"I'm looking forward to much interaction with you, darling, but for now…" She threw one last fireball as a sort of parting warning and walked away. When she hit the corner she ran a hand over Nightwing's motorcycle. "Nice bike, Dick!" she called back and disappeared.

Nightwing stood looking stunned for a moment, then nearly choked. "Blaise!"

When Blaise got home she crashed down on the couch and had her eyes closed before it had sunk in that Frost was watching television. The TV was tiny and black-and-white, but it worked well enough. She just hadn't been expecting to find her sister out of the bedroom any time soon.

"Where the fuck have you been?"

"Out with Dick."

"Bullshit. He called here to see if you had come home after you ran off on him. You weren't here, so where were you?"

Blaise ignored her. "How would you like to move someplace a little bigger? Maybe someplace where you could have a wheelchair and get around on the days when you can't walk."

"Don't fucking try and distract me. Where were you earlier, Blaise? Or should I call you Paw?"

Blaise's eyes snapped open and she regarded her sister with a look of disbelief. "Why would you call me that?"

"I saw the fire on the news, Blaise. They're saying someone calling herself Paw did it, though they can't prove it. She dresses in black and red and likes to set fire to things. I couldn't think of anyplace else for you to have been going all these nights. I can't believe you would do something like that. Not to mention not tell me."

"Because I should tell you anything? All it ever does is get me mouth. I don't have to check in with you before I do something. I'm old enough to make my own decisions. I'll do things how I feel I must, and if that's how I feel I must do it then so be it."

"But stealing?"

"How else was I supposed to pay for things around here. I may have gotten a decent job, but that doesn't pay last month's bills, or the month before. That doesn't put enough food in our kitchen for both of us to eat… why do you think I go out looking for men to buy me meals every night? So we can both eat. A new job that might not last doesn't buy us someplace that could fit more than one rat."

"There's a whole shitload more than one fucking rat in here."

"A job I didn't know I was going to get didn't get you a wheelchair so you can do things again. A job I didn't know I was getting didn't take care of my sister for me. I had to do it myself. That was the only thing I could think of. I was out of options."

"You don't give a shit about me or I would have seen some of this fucking money."

"I didn't have any of it until two days ago. I've been looking for someplace bigger for us to live." She reached out and plucked a spider off the wall. "Someplace where we aren't outnumbered."

"Fuck you."

"I'm going to bed now, Frost. Call when you want to move. Until then, shut up and let me sleep. I've had a lousy day."

"Dick wouldn't give you any? That why you walked out on him?"

"I'm going to bed now."

"Fine. That's how you deal with a conversation you don't like. You just walk out. You don't really know what to do with people, so you run from them. Go to bed, Blaise. Don't deal with me anymore. Just go fuck yourself."

Just about then there was a knock on at the door. Blaise got up and opened the door to find Dick standing outside. "Can we talk?" he asked.

"Fine. I'm coming. Frost, we'll finish this later. Wouldn't want me to sleep anytime this year." She grabbed up a jacket and walked out the door.

"Why don't we go for a ride?" Dick asked.

"Whatever. I don't care right now. I just want to go to sleep."

"That's what you said earlier."

"I know. It's still true."

They got onto Dick's bike and they rode to Gotham City Park. Blaise couldn't even enjoy the ride, she was too tired. Finally they came to a stop and she nearly toppled off. He didn't help her this time, just walked into the park, and she followed.

"Why did you do it, Blaise? It's not like you needed the money. You got a good job. It would have taken care of everything. I would have helped you. You didn't have to do it."

"Like I told my sister, I didn't know I was going to get a good job, and even if I had, that doesn't pay for last month's bills, or the month before. That doesn't pay for someplace to live that isn't so small you don't even have to move to get from the bedroom to the bathroom to the kitchen. They're all practically in the same place. A job I didn't think I was ever going to get wasn't going to feed my sister or get her a wheelchair. I had to do something."

"I would have helped, and I'm sure Bruce would have, too. He liked you, Blaise."

"I don't take charity." Let's just get this over with. You're leaving me, just do it so I can go to bed. I haven't slept more than a few hours in the past few days. "Besides, it's fun. I enjoy the thrill of it. You can't tell me you don't enjoy breaking into places, making an entrance. Even if you do it for one reason and I do it for another we both do it for the thrill. Isn't it a rush? Isn't it fun? Don't you want to do it even when there's no one to catch while you're at it? Don't tell me you've never thought about breaking into someplace just to see if you could, just for the joy of it, to see if you get caught." She laughed.

"It's not the same thing. I don't hurt people."

"Right. You wouldn't have hurt Paw if you had half a chance and you could have brought her in. Besides, I don't hurt people, either. I could very easily have stopped all three of you without batting an eye. I didn't. I don't go in for murder, or pain, or suffering."

"Just thieving."

"I put it back, didn't I? I just needed money. Look. I'm tired and I want to go to bed. Now, either take me back and we can finish this discussion some other time, or just end it now. I won't be on my feet to hear you much longer."

"I'm finished. So are we. You won't be seeing me again except when I arrest you."

"Then please take me home. Unless I'm expected to walk now."

Dick walked towards his bike and Blaise followed. "Get on." She complied and they took off and didn't stop again until they were in front of her apartment. "Goodbye," he said as she got down.

"Wait," she said as he tried to ride away.

"What?"

She didn't answer, just kissed him, then turned and walked through the door.

"Did you two have fun?"

Blaise turned to her sister and glared. "Just shut up. Don't worry, I won't be going anywhere with him anymore, so I won't be disappearing nights for a while."

"Dumped you, huh?"

"No, he dumped Paw. There's a big difference, only he hasn't figured that out yet."

"So are you putting Paw to rest?"

"Of course not. She's just taking a bit of a vacation until she can get set up a little better. This Saturday, maybe. Care to help?"

"What good would I be?"

"If I got a computer do you think you could do things like shut down security alarms?"

"Of course."

"Not to mention that just about every toy the Bat-Brats have is linked to his home computer."

"That could be fun."

"Care to come with me tomorrow to pay for our new house, make sure you like it, and to buy your new computer?"

"Blaise, you dumb ass, I can't leave."

"I got you a wheelchair already. I knew you wouldn't just take it, but
I thought maybe the chance to pick out any computer, and software, you want might entice you. You know I'd just-"

"Fuck it all up."

"Well, those weren't the words I would have used, but that's the general idea. Now, the sooner you let me go to sleep the sooner I will wake up tomorrow and we can go do all of this." Then she got up and went to bed.

Blaise was dropping Frost off after a morning of running errands. She still had a few more stops to make, but Frost had been tired of going all over the place and was voicing it noisily.

Once she had finally gotten her sister into the wheelchair she didn't seem to mind it so much. She had loved the house that Blaise had picked out. Although they had both decided that it would need some alterations. They had been given the go ahead to move in immediately since the house had been standing empty for a while, and they had moved all of their stuff which was still boxed from the first time they moved, and Frost was now setting up her new computer.

Blaise went and stopped at a take out restaurant to get them some lunch. She was just about to pay when a voice came from behind her.

"Missing your first day of work. Not a good way to start a new job."

She whirled around to find Bruce Wayne standing behind her. "I was under the impression that I wouldn't be wanted. After last night I just figured - "

"Well, I gave you a job. Until you prove yourself unable to competently handle it I expect you to show up. That goes for your sister, too."

"You really are a saint. Will you tell Dick that I said I'm sorry? I know he doesn't want to hear it, but please?" Bruce nodded. "I promise we'll be in to work as soon as possible. We just moved, so it might be another day while we get settled, but we'll be in by the day after tomorrow at the latest." He nodded again and left. She paid and left as well, heading out to the car dealership. Now that she had the money she was going to have a motorcycle.

Paw rode down the street on her new motorcycle. She was just about to turn in for the night when she caught site of Cat Woman. "Where are you headed?" she called.

"To find you."

"What for?"

"There's a rather large crowd looking for you. It's time to make some demands."

"Already?" Paw looked startled. "I wasn't expecting results this quickly."

"Harley has a big mouth. Word was probably all over the city by the end of the night." Cat Woman grinned. "Shall we go stir up some trouble?"

"Sounds good to me. Hop on."

Cat Woman got on behind Paw who then took off at speeds that even the most daring and experienced wouldn't take straight roads at, and these were not straight roads. Cat Woman whimpered once then gave herself over to the fates.

About a mile later Paw slowed down enough so that Cat Woman could hear her. "Where are we going?"

"The docks. The warehouse on pier seven." They took off again.

It only took a few minutes to reach their destination, and almost as long for Cat Woman to get herself steady again.

"Remind me never to ride with you again. You're not safe."

"Is anything in out line of work?"

They walked into the warehouse to find a crowd of common criminals being kept away from the more elite ones. The Joker was there with Harlequin, along with Two Face, Poison Ivy, The Scarecrow, Scar Face, The Riddler, Killer Crock and many others. Paw walked to the center of the crowd, and they all parted for her.

"Are you the one who claims to know what hides behind the Bat?" came a voice. She turned and found that it came from Poison Ivy.

"That's me."

"Who is he?" asked Two Face.

"Make it worth it to me to tell you."

"A girl with a sense of humour," said the Joker. "I like that. Just give it up. There's a lot of us and only one of you."

Just then the Joker's pink flower that always adorned his costume burst into flames. "I wouldn't say I'm without defenses. I wouldn't have put myself here if I couldn't take care of myself. I have what you want, now find something that I want. Get lost and find me when you have something worth my time." No one moved, so she sent ribbons of sparks through the assembled thugs and they all scattered. Soon she and Cat Woman were the only ones left.

"So, how much are you going to give it to them for?" asked the cat.

"I'm not."

"What?"

"I'm not going to give it to them at all. I'll let them scramble for a while, make sure I have every single one of them eating out of the palm of my hand and then I'll take whatever I want. That doesn't mean I ever plan to tell them. I'm not completely without morals. The man who is the Bat has helped me out more than once and it would be very ungrateful of me to betray him now."

"Good. I don't think Bruce would like it much if you gave his secret away now."

"You knew who he was all this time?"

"Of course. I've been dating him for years."

"Then why did you wait for me to make it common knowledge that someone knows who he is?"

"That way if we get found out I'm not the one who takes the fall. I like Bruce and I don't want him to think I betrayed him, either." She paused. "I had better be on my way. It's a long walk back to my apartment, but I refuse to get back on the bike with you. I'll see you around." Cat Woman slipped out into the night leaving Paw alone to think things through a little bit.

"Hello," she said softly to the shadow at her side. "Please stop hiding in the shadows. It's not very becoming, and I know you're there anyway. How much did you hear?"

"Enough to know you're not what you seem."

Paw turned, startled, to find Nightwing at her side instead of the criminal she expected. "What are you doing here?"

"I saw you heading here with Cat Woman and I wanted to know what the two of you could possibly want together."

"Apparently we're starting a Bat-Brat fan club. She played me for the fool."

"And you're putting yourself in a very dangerous situation trying to play all those killers for fools. Sooner or later they'll figure out you aren't planning on telling them and they'll come for you."

"What do you care? I thought the next time you saw me you were going to try and arrest me?"

"I've changed my mind for the time. You haven't done anything to warrant arresting you… that we can prove you did, and you're putting your neck on the line for a loyalty to us even though we're on opposite sides of the law. You could have very easily named a price and told them who we were."

"Why would I do that after everything Bruce has done for me?"

"I thought you were in it for the money. That would certainly bring in some money."

"I told you, I'm in it for the thrill factor now. Nothing I take will be gone for long, and no one gets hurt. This is just a game now."

"It's not a game to all those maniacs you promised our identities to."

"Then why don't you stay and protect me? Isn't that what big strong men like you do?" She opened her eyes real wide and feigned terror.

He laughed. "You're hopeless."

"And you love it. Now, can I go home?"

"On one condition."

"What's that?"

"You let me take you out to dinner tomorrow."

"Will I be able to pronounce anything on the menu?"

"Probably not."

"Okay, then. Why don't you see if Bruce wants to bring Selina. We get along well enough and it would do him good to get out. He doesn't smile enough."

"Oh, you haven't figured it out yet?"

"Figured what out?"

"That he is smiling when you see him." Paw just shook her head and started walking towards her bike. "Nice bike."

"I thought so, too." She went to get on her bike, but he didn't let her, kissing her instead.

"Goodnight," he said when he drew back. Then he rode away leaving her standing there.

"Goodnight."