"Cassie!!" That's what I wake up to. "Come down here!" I groan and roll out of bed. Since I don't exactly have any other clothes at the moment, I've been sleeping in my jeans, my t-shirt, and some socks I snatched from Barbara's room. I walk slowly down the stairs, struggling to keep my eyes open. It was a really bad idea to stay up reading until two a.m.

"What?" I groan as I step off the stairs. I trudge over to the counter and pour a cup of the coffee Jim had made.

"Don't take my coffee," he says. "Put your shoes on. Barbara's taking you out." I look up at him, my eyes still partially shut. "Don't give me that look! I think it's about time you had some other clothes. She's also gonna get you whatever you need for school. She's at the school asking what you'll need now." I groan and make my way over to the couch, setting my coffee down and falling over.

"Do I have to?" I ask.

"Go to school? Yes." I groan. "Come on, Cass. What kind of dad would I be if I didn't make you go to school?" I shrug, burying my face in the pillow. "I'm serious. Go get your shoes." I roll off the couch, landing on the floor with a loud thud. "And maybe don't hurt yourself while you're at it." I slowly but surely make it off the floor, grab my shoes, and come back downstairs, where Barbara is now waiting, and fall back onto the couch.

"How late did you stay up?" Barbara asks. I hold up two fingers.

"You stayed up until two?" Jim asks. I nod. "What were you doing?"

"Finishing my book," I say. "That reminds me. I need a new book to read. You got any?" Barbara chuckles.

"How about this?" she asks. "If you get up and come shopping with no complaints, I'll take you by the library on the way to the station." I look over at her.

"The station?" Jim nods.

"Yeah. You're gonna come in to work with me after you two get done." I groan.

"Three years I managed to avoid that place, and now I'm there twice in three days."

"Yes," Barbara says, "but I have to go to work too, and you'll probably be a lot less bored at the station." I shrug. "So...do we have a deal? You don't complain, you get a new book?" I think about it, then stick my hand out. She shakes it and smiles. "Okay. Get up." I look over at her. "Well, do you want breakfast or not?" She pauses. "I'll get you coffee." I roll off the couch and stand up, grabbing my leather jacket and leaving my black and gold one upstairs. We walk down stairs and outside. "So where do you wanna go?" I shrug.

"I don't know," I say. "I've never really bought food anywhere." She nods.

"Okay." She looks down at me, smiling. "I know just where to go."

~~~

"No...I'm not trying that on...no way!" These were the things I say repeatedly during my little 'shopping spree' with Barbara.

"Come on, Cassie," she says. "You have to get something." I shake my head.

"I think we've got enough." We already bought like fifteen outfits and all my school supplies. She shakes her head.

"You may not know this, but you've got to have options," she tells me. "Now, if you don't pick anything out, I'm going to pick everything out for you, and I will make a point to get everything I know you won't like." I groan and walk over to a rack. I pull off a few plaid button-ups and hand them to her. "Like that. Now keep going. I'm just following you." I sigh and walk over to the 'teen' section. I see a bunch of shelves stacked with t-shirts and look through them. I end up grabbing a bunch of merch for various bands like Metallica, Queen, Guns 'n' Roses, Def Leppard. Stuff like that.

By the time we get done and get to the station, I'm exhausted. We walk inside and Barbara leads me up the stairs to Jim's desk. My eyes may or may not be drooping again. I think I need more coffee.

"Barbara," Jim says as we walk up. "Cassie. How'd it go?" Barbara looks down at me, then back at Jim.

"I don't think she likes shopping." She looks at me then him again. "Or getting up early." He smirks.

"Well, that's what happens when you stay up until two a.m." I stick my tongue out. "You want some more coffee?" I nod slowly, and he chuckles, handing me a mug. I take a sip out of it and immediately perk up.

"So," the guy at the desk across from Jim says. "This is the famous Cassidy Alexandra." I stare at him.

"It's Cassie Gordon now," I say coldly. He smirks.

"You may have a new name, but you'll always have that cold-hearted nature." I narrow my eyes at him, and Jim sighs.

"Cassie, this is my partner, Harvey." I nod.

"We've met." He looks at me in confusion, but Harvey nods.

"Yeah, little miss 'no one can touch me' thought it'd be fun to get into a fight in the alley outside," he says. "Fight broke up once we showed up, but you know how great this one is at avoiding authority. Tried to bring her in by force." He looks at Jim. "Dodged every hit headed her way, managed to injure a cop without even touching 'im, then vanished."

"'Injure a cop without even touching him?'" Jim asks. I nod.

"Passive fighting," I say. "Make the opponent tire himself out. He came to punch me. I waited, then moved out of the way so he punched the wall. Broke a few fingers and his wrist." Harvey glares at me.

"Cap trusted me to bring her in." I shrug.

"Not my fault you're not fast enough." Jim stands up and grabs a chair, dragging it over to his desk.

"Well, I have a feeling you'll be seeing a lot of each other from now on," he says, looking between us. "So try not to fight?" I continue to glare at Harvey but eventually sigh, look down, and nod. Harvey, probably surprised I gave in, nodded in turn. 

~~~

I glance up from my book at Harvey, who's staring at me.

"Can I help you?" I ask. He nods.

"What happened to you?" he asks. I tilt my head in confusion. "This is like...the complete opposite of how you used to be." I smirk and narrow my eyes.

"It's amazing how a person changes when people are actually nice to them." He sticks his tongue out at me. "Fine. Be childish. I'm only trying to be nice." I look back down at my book as Jim walks over.

"How's it going over here?" I glance at Harvey, then back up at him and shrug. He looks at my book. "What book did you get?"

"To Kill A Mockingbird."

"What book were you reading before?"

"Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King." He nods.

"Good book." I nod as someone gets brought in downstairs. Harvey walks off somewhere, and my dad walks over to the stairs to watch the man be brought in. I keep reading until the guy starts yelling something about his pills. I don't know what happens, but the cops all start pointing the guns at the guy, and Jim yells not to fire as he walks down the stairs. I thought he was a rookie. Huh. Maybe not. I stand up, putting my book down, and walk over to the rail to watch the scene below.

"Sir, look at me," he tells the guy. "Not at them, look at me. My name's Jim. Jim Gordon. What's yours?"

"I need my pills!"

"Everything's gonna be alright. Look at me." He picks up a random bottle from the desk next to him. "I got your pills right here, huh? You want some pills? Want some pills? All right. Here you go. Here you go. Here are some pills for you." He holds out the bottle, and the guy grabs it, swallowing about six of them. That can't be healthy, but what do I know?

"These aren't my pills!" the guy exclaims, but Jim hits him in the face with his gun before he can do anything. He looks around.

"Sorry, guys, didn't mean to bark at you like that," he tells them. "I got a little bit carried away." Harvey walks over to him, and they start talking. I try to read their lips, but I'm too far away. Some guy tells them something, and Jim looks up at me, motioning for me to come down. I grab my book and run down the stairs.

"Oh, we're bringing the con?" Harvey asks. "She's just gonna get in the way." Jim shakes his head.

"Well, I'm not gonna leave her here." I smirk.

"I hope you will speak directly to her though." They look down at me, and I shrug. Jim starts walking away, and Harvey sticks his tongue out at me. I do the same before following Jim. We drive some random theatre and get out, ducking under the yellow police tape.

"Oh, the legendary Harvey Bullock," some cop says. "No rest for the wicked, eh?" I snort. I know who this guy is now.

"Tannenbaum, looking crisp," Harvey says. "This is my new partner, Jim Gordon, and his daughter. You may have heard of Cassidy Alexandra. Now goes by Cassie Gordon." Tannenbaum nods, and I smirk.

"'Sup, Christmas Tree?" I ask. He shakes his head.

"What we got?" Harvey asks.

"Just got here myself," Tannenbaum says. "Male, female, gunshot. Their kid saw the whole thing. Poor bastard hasn't spoke a word yet." Jim grabs me and walks a few feet away.

"Cassie, I need you to do something for me," he says. I nod. "I need you to talk to the kid. See if you can get him to tell you what happened."

"What makes you think he'll talk to me?"

"You're young. You can empathize with him more than we can." I think about it, nod, and head toward the kid. I stand in front of him. The poor kid's shaking like a leaf.

"My name's Cassie Gordon," I tell him. "My dad's a detective. What's your name?" He doesn't say anything. Doesn't even look up. "It's okay. You don't have to talk." I look back at Jim and Harvey, who's looking at me.

"Bruce," I hear. I look back at the kid. "My name is Bruce Wayne." I nod.

"Can you tell me what happened, Bruce?" He says nothing and instead starts crying. I cautiously sit next to him on the stairs. "I never knew my parents. Been in and out of foster homes my whole life. When I was five, I got put in a great family. There was another girl and a boy. Their parents were thinking about adopting me. But when I was eight, there was an accident. All three of us were hurt. But..." I let out a shaky breath. "Both of them died. Their parents didn't want a reminder, and I was kicked out." I place a hand lightly on his shoulder. "I know how you feel right now. And I promise you, however dark and scary the world might be right now, there will be light. There will be light, Bruce." He gulps and nods shakily.

"We just got out of the movies," he says. "We were walking through the alley to catch an uptown cab and a man came out of the shadows. He was tall with a black mask. He had a hat and gloves and shiny shoes. He took my dad's wallet and my mom's necklace." His expression turns from scared to angry. "And then he shot them for no reason. I should have done something. But I was too scared." I shake my head.

"There was nothing you could've done to stop what happened."

"But there is something you can do now," Jim says as he walks over. "You can be strong. Be strong. I promise you, I will find the man who did this." A tall man in a suit ducks under the tape, and Bruce jumps up and attacks him in a hug. Me and Jim walk over, and Jim extends his hand.

"Jim Gordon," he says. The man shakes his hand.

"Alfred Pennyworth."

"We're gonna get the guy that did this, sir."

"New boy, are you?" Jim shrugs.

"You could say." Alfred nods.

"Good luck, mate." He and Bruce walk away as Harvey walks over to me and Jim. "Shouldn't we be there when they move the victims?" Jim asks. Harvey shrugs.

"Why?" He shakes his head. "Listen, hotshot, do me a favor. Don't send your kid to start

talking to witnesses until I say so." I frown.

"What's your problem?" I ask. Jim nods, and Harvey looks between us.

"My problem, soldier boy and street girl, you just caught us a gigantic flaming ball of crap."

"Oh, yeah?" Jim asks. "How's that?" Harvey shakes his head.

"You never heard of Thomas and Martha Wayne?" Jim nods.

"Yeah, sure. The Wayne Foundation."

"Yeah, two of the richest and most powerful people in Gotham. You can't even imagine the pressure if we don't close this quick."

"So let's close it quick." Harvey scoffs.

"Yeah, right," he says. "This is a random street robbery, Holmes and Watson. Perp could be any one of 10,000 mopes out there." Harvey turns away, and Jim turns to me.

"Hey, it's getting kinda late," he says. "You wanna head home?" I shrug. "Why don't you head on back? Tell Barbara I'll be home in a little while." I nod and start walking out of the alley, but before I can leave, Harvey grabs my arm.

"Hey," he says. I jerk my arm out of his grip. "Sorry." I freeze. He...apologized? "You get the kid to talk?" I hesitate but nod. "He tell you what happened?" I nod.

"He said they'd just left the movies," I tell him. "They were cutting through to catch a cab, and this guy came out of nowhere, demanded their money, shot the parents, and left." He nods, and I start to walk away.

"Hey, Cassie!" he yells. I look back at him. "Nice work." I smile and head home.

And . . . . . . we have arrived at the Pilot

YAY

I do not own Gotham or its characters. I do, however, own Cassie Gordon, Gracelyn Ventura, Ice, etc. so don't steal. It's not nice.