Evaine

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XXX truth hurts XXX

Dicks  pov.

" Bruce, we need to talk.
Bruce looked at him. He saw a stubborn desire for truth and quiet determination shimmering in his protege's eyes ; his brows furrowed with worry .
" It's about Evaine,  the civilian,  isn't it ?"
" Yes, it is."
Sitting in one of the leather armchairs in the break in  the bookshelves, I glanced out at the garden searching for the words. Luckily for me, Bruce saved us from the awkward silence.
" You know, I never found a way to tell you about Evaine; honestly I tried to find the right moment......... .But I never forgot." he chuckled sadly .
I sat up and I didn't quite know what to say. I'd rather not mess it up .
"Sit down and make yourself comfortable. It is a long story."
I took my feet out of my shoes and crossed my legs in a way that my knees were not bending at all.
" It'd been an easy night, I had met up with the Justice League, defeated The Joker and patrolled the city. My shift had ended but I felt tense and deep down I felt uneasy.I was five minutes from The Wayne Manor when I heard a shrill scream , it came from the alley I had just jumped over. Looking down, I saw a filthy oily-haired man about to molest a young girl. I jumped down and tackled him, it was a normal everyday thing, taking down criminals of all types.But, what made that night one I remembered was when the girl saved me. Her big eyes filled with awe and respect, she offered me money for saving her; imagine it , a poor beggar girl, seven or eight years old, despite her condition, offering me what must have been her life savings."
Dick looked at Bruce, sitting in front of him yet millions of miles away, back in a filthy alley at the incident that had occurred six years ago.
" I couldn't stand it, for the first time ever I couldn't stand there as a passive faced, emotionless hero;I stood there behind the mask, not as batman, but as Bruce Wayne. For her pure childish qualities I loved her like a daughter; for her offering of money I pitied her. What must that child have been through ? She had learnt at such a young age that this world works in a give and take .How cruel must it have been to her?

From that day onwards, I treated her as a daughter, getting her the essentials: warm clothes, groceries and an apartment; was a sweet kid thanking me profusely, independent, always wanting to pay back. She had a gentle nature. If she knew who we were she wouldn't join us in crime fighting but wait till she was of age and manage one of the enterprises. I visited her every single night for a year. I played with her, listened to her queer stories and on her requests, taught her how to clean and stitch up wounds. Which she did for me when I faced  Red Hood  ;that was gruesome."

Bruce's face turned worried, then suddenly an emotion Dick hardly ever saw on him.

Sadness

" The reason I didn't visit her after that year was because I was busy: I trained you and took care of Wayne Enterprises throughout the day and was Batman catching villains' throughout the night."

He chuckled wearily and darkly.

"But I never forgot her, a while later I missed her too much, so I visited her. She was fast asleep, it was close to midnight, so I tried my luck on the next day.
Surprisingly she was awake. She welcomed me into her room, at the time I fully intended to explain the reason for my sudden, unexplained absence, but when she told me she had something to say as well, I insisted I hear her news first. If I had known it meant she'd never hear what I had to say I would never let her say anything but go ahead and explain. She told me that she didn't need my support ,that the world and her instincts insisted that she repay me .It was the only time that I, as Batman was ever left  truly speechless.
My world was breaking apart, hell ,the sky was falling, I knew I'd made a mistake and I was there to fix it .Apparently, two years is too long to leave a child alone for the eleven year old in front of me, was as determined to have hr way as you are now."
Bruce covered his face as he uttered the last few words.

" I'm sorry"
It was all I could say .I probably shouldn't have asked.

Thoughts whirred through his head.
He had known there was to be a deep connection between Bruce and Evaine, but he had never expected a father-daughter relationship nor a bond so pure, established by pure coincidence.
He was probably never supposed to discover this Shakespearean tragedy but since he knew, he would make sure to fix this mess. Evaine was in too deep, she might as well know the truth. It was, unlike most things ,decided not by Bruce but by him.

He ,Richard Dick Grayson would uncover Evaine's side of the story and if it was worth it, give this story another ending.