Little Beacon- A BATFAMILY X OC FANFIC

The Reveal...

Damian was a little jealous of the girl's ability to connect with others rapidly, jealous of the fact she'd made his father laugh more times than he ever did, but he did notice why that was so.

Something just radiated off of her, and he just knew that her aura was what brought Bruce and Jules together in the first place. That aura was now tugging at him as well, making him feel something warm bubble inside his stomach whenever she laughed. It was beckoning him to open up to her because he purely just didn't sense any rottenness inside her.

Sure, there was something off about her, but she certainly wasn't evil. This girl seemed she could barely even hurt a fly.

Dick laughed as she cracked another joke, and then his phone buzzed.

"Just a minute." Dick excused himself from the table, heading into the den.

"Babs, what's up?"

"You have that Cress kid over now, right?"

"Yeah... why?"

"Turn on the freaking news. Now."

Dick furrowed his eyebrows, complying.

Did she do something? Was she a criminal?

Why would this little ray of sunshine be on the news?

Dick turned the news onto full volume as a reporter stood in front of a tall house, surrounded by policemen who dragged a man and a woman into a cruiser. There was a social services car off to the side of the shot, and two small kids wrapped in blankets.

"A CPS investigation has come to an appalling conclusion as a child abuse, sexual abuse and child harassment case. Police kicked down the door today at 450 Houston Dr., a foster home previously certified by three childcare workers, to find a drunk William Whitman sexually abusing a seven year old boy, Gregory Smith. Further search of the house found a six year old girl by the name of Amanda Holt who was clearly abused, and several weapons used to inflict damage on their three foster children, including items such as barbed wire and baseball bats. Gregory Smith, Amanda Holt and Julianne Cress will be visited by CPS and child services to relocate to better foster homes. Felicia and William Whitman are under arrest-"

"Holy crap," Dick whispered, clicking off the call with Babs, staring at the screen.

Everyone at the dinner table heard the news from the den only a few doors down, a chilling silence falling over them. Everyone looked over at Julianne, who stared down at her plate, unwilling to look anyone in the eye.

Well, that just happened.

Julianne gulped down some water, hearing Dick walk back into the room.

There goes the nice dinner party.

"Would you like to explain yourself?" Bruce quietly said, looking at how terrified the girl looked, how pale she'd gotten, how she looked at anywhere but him.

Jules was...abused? By that fake businessman that Bruce didn't like?

And he didn't pick up on it? He was Batman, he should've picked up on it! That was his job! Because of his ignorance, Jules was stuck in that house for far longer than she should've been!

Bruce felt like a horrible person.

Bo cut the silence though, immediately erupting.

"What the- Jules! Why didn't you tell me? I'm your best friend, I'm supposed to help you out of things like this!"

She quietly responded. "I didn't want to drag you into the mess-"

"Mess? Mess?! Jules, I've always helped you out of messes, right? And you've always helped me! So why was this any different?! Oh, just wait till Bea finds out, she's probably on her way here right now!"