Author's Note: All Copyrights Belong To Their Respective Owners.

Hey guys! It's been a long time...but I'm now back and better than ever! I'll eventually get to finishing my other stories...eventually. I'm not sure when but I will.

So I have a new story idea. Just so you all know, this is set in 2018 as opposed to 2005 when Batman Begins came out. The reason will become clear eventually.

You guys know the drill. Enjoy and destroy!

Fear the Past

Chapter One: Last Night in the Narrows

I was ten years old, my younger brother, Roman, was six when Mom disappeared. The day started out normal. Being latchkey kids, after we both got out of P.S. 298, we would return to the apartment, let ourselves in and work on our homework. If Mom had enough to pay the electric bill, we'd watch TV on the staticky old box and wait for Mom to get home.

If not, we'd light some candles and I'd read some fairy stories to Roman. Sometimes I'd write some fairy stories just for him when we'd run out.

Normally when Mom returned to the tiny two bedroom apartment we shared in the Narrows after working a double shift or applying for different hair salons around Gotham, she'd drop some meals on the table from Pauli's or Mama Feta's before taking off her worn sneakers, sinking into the chewed up sofa we had rescued from an alleyway and staring at the far away lights of Gotham.

Not that night.

She had returned home, her shoulders slumped and her green-gray eyes narrowed. I looked up from the homework I was helping Roman with. I could tell that this wasn't her usual tired.

It was like…she was resigned.

Roman picked up something was wrong. He walked over to Mom and hugged her. Mom's pretty face, now covered with fatigue shadows and her brown pony tail messy, turned up into a smile as she patted Roman's thick head of brown hair.

But it still didn't reach her green-gray eyes.

The instincts I had developed from being a mom to Roman pricked up. "Is it Dad?" I asked, my voice lowering.

Roman's little ears also picked up my fears and signed "He's back?" The little almond slanted eyes looked up at Mom and he grunted.

"No, baby." She said, kissing the top of Roman's head before holding a free arm out to me. "Come here and give Mommy a hug."

I hadn't called her Mommy in years. Not since before Roman was born.

Before Dad came into our lives for good.

I hugged her, breathing in the deep scent of lemon chicken and oven roasted potatoes from Mama Feta's embedded into her dark shirt and khaki pants. Her bony arm wrapped around my shoulders and she kissed the top of my head. Roman freed an arm and wrapped it around me, tugging me close. I wrapped my free arm around him, feeling the muscles Dad had made him develop from years of a bodybuilder's diet and punching his hand.

For a moment, we all stood together…as a family…for the last time.

Then Mom looked down at us. "Now, is anyone hungry? Dimitri was line cook and made extra chicken and potatoes."

Roman pointed at himself and ran off to set the table. I cleared off our books and things.

"How was your day, Mom?" I asked.

"Oh…it was fine…" Mom said, kicking off her sneakers and slumping onto the chair we made ready.

We ate our dinner in silence. Mom would ask Roman what he learned at school that day or how I was doing on my story project. She'd sometimes tell us stories about funny or annoying customers she had to serve that day or Mama Feta screaming in Greek at the cooks, who'd be wide eyed in fear.

Not that night. Our banged up cutlery scrapping at our food would be the last conversation we'd ever have at the table.

Looking back on it now….if I had known it would be our last time together…I would've made some effort to talk. Some way to tell her how much I loved her and would miss her when she was gone.

But we were only kids. What could we possibly know?

When we were done, I did dishes as I always did. Mom looked at Roman as they finished clearing the table. "Have you finished your homework for the night?"

"Yes, Mom…but I was hoping you and Martha would read me a bedtime story?" Roman said. His eyes widened as much as his face could allow. "Please?"

"We'll be reading it to you in a moment." Mom said. "This is something special just between Martha and me."

I almost dropped the plate I was washing. Mom and I hadn't had a girl's moment together in several weeks…even when Dad was still living with us. There was no way he'd allow that. Why, I don't know.

"But I'll be in to read you one in a moment." Mom said, kissing Roman's little cheek, still sticky with lemon sauce. "Now go get ready for bed. And make sure you wash your face good."


I was a bit confused as Mom directed me to sit down on the nearby chair. This was the first time since she graduated cosmetology school that she had ever brushed out my hair.

To be honest, I had missed the prickles running over my scalp, her thick fingers running over and braiding my hair.

I could drift away to another time. To forget about living in the Narrows and fighting at school.

To a nice home with a Daddy who didn't push Roman to "be a man", get into shouting matches with Mom about everything and clench his hand into a fist whenever I brought home a failed spelling test.

To a home where Mom could spend time with us and not look tired or frustrated or sad all the time.

To a home where I could be normal. Popular even.

I frowned as Mom took my hair out of the weakened elastic holding my ponytail in place. Things could be a lot worse…we at least had food every night and a roof that didn't leak over our heads.

And Dad was gone.

A drop fell on my head. I looked back at Mom's aging face. She blinked and wiped at her face with her hand before resuming brushing my hair.

I had to ask. I didn't like the look on her face. "Mom, what's really going on?" I tried to sound firm like I was with Roman.

Mom laughed. But it wasn't a happy one. It was bitter. "Always were too smart for your own good. Just like your father…" her voice trailed off, just like she always did whenever she talked about Dad. "Martha…there's something I need to talk to you about."

I sat up straight, preparing the mental "notebook" I always had ready. I was expecting her to tell me to pick up milk and bread tomorrow or ensure Roman's teeth were brushed.

It was something I had always done, always prepared.

Mom paused, trailing the brush over my hair. "Sweetie…you know that your Dad…isn't really your father, right?"

I stopped thinking. Of course I had known that. I had known it for a very long time, since taking a long hard look at Dad's black eyes, light brown hair and chunky frame compared to me. My hair was too dark, almost black. My eyes were more hazel brown and I was lithe and thin.

I nodded, not sure what else I was supposed to say at this moment.

"We met years ago. At college. He was in a group of friends and we became very close." Mom said, her voice far away and sad. There was happiness. But there was also a hard coldness there. "We didn't plan on having a baby but…well…things happen."

"Did he know about me?" I asked.

"He did…he was with me the whole time. Even cut your cord. One of the few times he ever cried was when you were put into his arms for the first time." Mom paused. "Excuse me." She sniffled.

The bitterness came out like a snake rudely awakened. "Then why did we end up with Dad?" I asked, surprised at the tone of anger in my own voice.

"When you were born, my Daddy, your grandpa, called me home and I was shamed. He was a strict Baptist and found me a good Baptist boy to marry and raise you. Daddy also forbade me to speak to your father again. Threw away my phone and had me watched like a hawk. It took me almost three years of wearing him down and refusing marrying Dale…but I came here to Gotham, hoping to find him…your biological father was long gone by that point." Mom said. "Call it desperate pride…but when Leo was so good to you and me…" She rubbed the back of my neck, on the dark blue birthmark shaped like a thumbprint.

"Why are you telling me this now?" I asked, confused and worried for Mom.

Mom paused. Her hands shook as she braided my frizzled hair, weak with split ends. I looked back and saw that the resigned look she had been holding all day had been replaced with fear. More tears were rolling down her cheeks and her lip quivered.

I hugged her. "Mom, it's going to be okay." I said. Mom wrapped her arms around me and leaned into me as if I was a rock in Gotham Bay during a nor'easter. "Hush, Mommy. Hush, Mommy. It's going to be okay." I said, shushing her and rubbing her beautiful brown hair falling out of its ponytail.

Except I didn't know if it was going to be okay. Nothing had been okay since the night Mom woke Roman and me up, told us to pack what we could and took the elevated train from our cushy life in Uptown Gotham to the stinking, humid, crime riddled Narrows.

That was two months before.

We'd been lucky that nobody from Dad's family had found us.

"Oh Martha…" Mom said, her voice as fragile as glass. "It's not fair for me to put you through this…"

"Through what, Mom?" I asked, impatience filling my tone.

This seemed to awaken something in Mom. She wiped at her face, calming down. "Honey, do you know where I keep the cookie tin full of my tips?"

A shudder crept up my spine like a spider. "In your bedroom closet on the top shelf?"

She nodded, leaning closer to me. Her whisper was so light I had to strain in order to hear it. "Inside that old tin is an envelope full of papers. That envelope will have a name on it. Tomorrow morning, I want you and Roman to pack a bag with a change of clothes and other necessities…."

I shuddered. "Has Dad found…?"

"Shhh!" Mom shushed me, looking around. I could see her pulse throbbing in her neck. "Listen very carefully to me. Once you have Roman and yourself packed up, I need you to take the money out of the tin along with the envelope. You must find the man the envelope is addressed to. The money should be able to pay for a taxi and maybe some lunch if you're really careful. I need you to find the man and give him that envelope."

"And then what?" I asked, keeping my voice low.

Mom stopped again, putting down the brush. "He'll take care of you and Roman."

"And what about you?" I asked, my mind trying to wrap around what she was telling me.

Family was supposed to stick together. It's how we had been able to survive living in not only Dad's family but the Narrows.

"You're making it sound like you aren't coming…"

"I won't be." Mom said, her voice resigned once again. "It's not safe here for you and Roman anymore."

"Then it's not safe for you too! You'll join us after work?" I asked, heart pounding like a drum.

Mom was always there. Even when she had worked a long shift and returned long after we had gone to bed…she always peeked her head into our bedroom to make sure we were safe and give us a good night kiss.

Mom bit her lower lip.

I had to make her agree. I had to make her promise she'd meet up with us.

I remembered the envelope.

I furrowed my eyes and looked at her as my voice firmed. It was like I did during the few times Roman got into trouble. "I won't take that envelope and Roman unless you promise to join us."

Mom smiled. But like before, it didn't reach her pretty eyes. "I will try to join you tomorrow night."

"Promise." I said, not believing her.

"I promise." Mom said, patting me on the shoulder. "Now let's go tell that bedtime story to your brother."


Mom joined us in the tiny room Roman and I shared. We had tried to make it cheerier with drawings Roman and I had made with the nubs of our crayons and whatever paper we could salvage from the trash. But it was nothing like the bedrooms we had left behind.

I missed my Anna and Elsa comforter to cuddle under while reading fairy tales and the poster of Elsa shooting ice magic out from her fingers with that confident smirk on her face. I missed the ice palace and all the dolls I had gotten from the trip to Disney World.

I had made sure to pack the picture I had gotten with the royal sisters at their summer house but I could only take a few books from the bookcase said picture was sitting on.

That photo was taken two years before all of this happened…how I wished we were back in those happy times.

I don't remember the story Mom picked to read to us that night. I don't remember her saying good night for the last night or if she gave me another look to remember.

All I can remember she gave us both a big hug and a kiss before leaving the room.


A/N: Okay, so we're set in the very beginning! I hope you guys thoroughly enjoy this story! I will try to post every Monday, which should be easy, considering that I'm currently furloughed from my job.