A Basket Full of Bats

The Clan

This is AU. What happens if all of the bat kids were being raised by Bruce? The only thing I've tried to keep somewhat true to is personalities. Batman's been around since the 1940's there have been a lot of Batkids...

Terry - Adult

Damian - 18

Stephanie - 16

Tim - 14

Cassie - 9

Jason - 7

Helena - 0

Dick - 0

Carrie - 13

Let me know if I missed anyone.

Bruce Wayne had been fostering kids from the moment he was legally old enough to be accepted as a foster parent. It wasn't hard to be accepted as a foster parent in Gotham. There were so many homeless kids, they were desperate for volunteers.

His first foster kid had been Terry McGinnus a youth a year away from aging out of the system. They'd had more of a peer relationship than one of father and son but Terry still kept in contact and teasingly called Bruce Dad from time to time but he had moved on for the most part.

Damian Wayne was a blood relative, a second cousin with connections to an assassins guild. Bruce had officially adopted him at age ten to give him a chance at some kind of decency. He was eighteen now and enrolled in the business program at the local university. He was head of the class but had such an abrasive aggressive personality he had been banned from residence and had even had problems with the dean. He drove the old Porsche to school everyday now. He hadn't like residence anyway so getting banned and ending up with an hour long commute was no big deal.

Stephanie Brown was fostered when her parents threw her out due to a rebellious youth and a teen pregnancy. She planned to put the baby up for adoption. Finding parents for healthy white newborns was easy. There was nation wide demand. The infant was lined up to be adopted by a couple in Keystone city. She was sixteen and five months pregnant and still fairly new to the house hold.

Timothy Drake was fourteen. His came from decent parents. His mother had died and his father was gravely ill and unable to care for him. He was a genius and had skipped two grades but he was also extremely obsessive compulsive. He didn't like taking his medication. He had brought Stephanie to Bruce's attention. No one else at school noticed she was pregnant and homeless. Tim noticed. He was good at noticing details. He was extra good at noticing details when he didn't take his medication. Stephanie hadn't really appreciated having her new enhanced breast size, more frequent washroom breaks and sudden preference for baggy sweaters pointed out by the oddball pipsqueak in the classroom but she got over herself when she realized he was trying to help and she really needed help. Timothy kept telling people Stephanie was his girl friend. Stephanie had started just saying, yeah, whatever.

Cassandra Cain was another child rescued from crime and abuse. Like Damien, she had been raised by assassins but she'd been been raised in silence with very little physical contact and had very limited speech. Cassie was nine. She was very sweet. Her educational assistant made sure her classmates knew and understood it Cassie needed extra bubble space or she would lash out. It was something she was still learning to control. Her speech was making great improvements.

Then there was Carrie Kelley. She wasn't being officially fostered but she was just always around at least at night. She'd stop by after school. About half the time she stayed for dinner. Here parents were completely oblivious. It wasn't right that she disappeared most nights and her parents hadn't noticed or didn't seem to care. Bruce tried to make sure she went home at a sort of reasonable hour. Was midnight a reasonable hour to send a thirteen year old home at?

Bruce's latest foster was Jason Todd. He was seven. His mother was a drug addict and his father was a criminal. He had an attitude a mile wide but a good heart.

Bruce took kids that would have been lost to the system. He wasn't an amazing dad. Any psychiatrist would have told you he had problems of his own but he was also Batman and everyone of those misfits he called children had learned the importance of hard work, people you could depend on and helping others when no one else would. They had learned self worth, loyalty and how to make weaknesses, strengths. None of them had really learned that laws applied to everyone or how to communicate nicely with others or how to avoid giving off a creepy vibe but it was Gotham so that didn't really matter that much.