This chapter has absolutely NOTHING to do with the current storyline. I suppose you could see it as a past Christmas event. But even so, this is meant to be a standalone story. I only chose to put it in this book because this is the story I'm mostly updating currently and I didn't want to make a whole new book. Mainly because I didn't want to screw around with covers...

Anyway! Enjoy and have a Happy Holiday!!
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"Why did we have to take the little brat?"

The armed man questioned his partner, for what seemed like the billionth time that hour, while peering at the whining toddler in the old shopping cart, serving as a make-shift playpen.

"Because..."

His partner looked up from the knife he was sharpening, giving his partner an exasperated glare from the one eye he had left.

"We ain't going to get the money if we don't have a hostage, and that sniveling little brat was the easiest target."

"Why the hell didn't we just take their eldest?"

The one eyed man jumped up from the crate he was sitting on and brandished the knife in his partner's direction.

"If you hadn't been such a big, stupid oaf then we would have gotten her as planned! Little bitch was too quick so we had to settle for the welp!"

The bigger man grunted before mumbling under his breath.

He took the handle of the cart and gave it a rough shake, causing the poor toddler to slam into the side of the cart.

His 'idea' was to make the child shut up, but it only resulted in a wail from the terrified boy.

The man with the knife snarled before stomping up to his partner and shoving him away.

He glared down at the still wailing toddler before pulling him to his feet by his pajamas and pointing the edge of the knife to the child's cheek.

The sudden and harsh force shocked the child into silence, silent tears still spilling from his wide eyes as he looked up at one of his captors.

And unbeknownst to the men, this caused an outside observer's eyes to narrow, and a black and blue shrouded hand to reach for his belt.

The one-eyed man, completely oblivious, narrowed his good eye at the frozen child and tightened his grip before shaking the boy slightly in pent up frustration.

He pressed the point of the blade deeper, raising a small bead of blood, causing the toddler to start wailing again. But the boy's crying was quickly interrupted by a large crash from behind his tormentor. 

The man dropped the child back into the cart from shock and made to turn around but instead felt a sharp pain in his back.

His partner, after recovering from initial shock, quickly aimed his weapon and made to fire when a sharp projectile wacked the gun from his hands, completely out of reach. His gaze snapped back to the intruder just as his partner recovered and turned around himself.

Nightwing was standing behind them, an angry look overtaking his face, causing his mask lenses to narrow dangerously. In his right hand, he was leisurely flipping one escrima stick while his left hand rested at his hip, touching but not yet readying his other one.

"Gentlemen... this is not the night to be pulling this crap."

Nitwit stood blubbering while One-Eye snarled and lunged towards Nightwing, suddenly lunging at thin air as the masked vigilante expertly dodged his 'attack' and easily flipped over the stumbling fool and, once behind him, struck his escrima stick first against the man's legs, causing him to fall to his knees before striking him again against the back of his head.

The man was out like a light.

He smirked before glancing over his shoulder after hearing a small click.

Nitwit had the gun again, aimed at Nightwing's back.

Coward.

Nightwing let out an exaggerated sigh before turning around with a bored look on his face. 

The man's stance was unsteady and his hands were shaking. Clearly unsure of himself without the 'brains' of the operation. 

"Do you really want to do that? Tonight?"

The man tensed, taking a small step back as Nightwing suddenly grinned and pointed his escrima stick toward him in a pointed manner. 

"Honestly man, you really wanna spend your Christmas in the hospital?"

The man blubbered before dropping the gun, raising his hands in the air.

"Good choice. Sleep tight."

The man's face contorted in confusion before he was hit in the head with an escrima stick, falling instantly to the floor, out cold. 

A/N: Not dead of course, because who dies from that?! Yeah, I will never NOT be salty about that.

Nightwing quickly retrieved his escrima stick while glancing down at the man.

"Well... you still shouldn't be spending the whole night in the hospital. You'll get to jail quicker than your partner at least."

He hauled the man over to his fallen partner before swiftly tying up the men, already hearing the police sirens approaching. 

Good. They got his message then. Not too hard when he hacked into their radio channels. 

He turned towards the cart containing the sniffling toddler. His face immediately softened and he carefully made his way over to the boy so as not to scare him anymore than he already was.

"Hey, hey it's okay. You're safe now. Your name is Gregory right? I've got you, it's over now... you want your momma huh? I can take you to her."

The child calmed down at the last sentence before hesitantly reaching out his arms.

An open invitation for Nightwing to pick him up,  one he immediately obliged with a radiant smile on his face.

"That's it little buddy, let's get you out of here... hmm? What is it?"

The child started fussing when he saw the one-eyed man. Of course, he was the one who was threatening him the most.

"Easy, it's okay Gregory. He's not going to hurt you anymore. Neither of them are. See? They're asleep and they'll be going away for a long, long time."

He shifted Gregory in his arms before bending down, making a fist and lightly bonking his fist onto the man's head. 

"See? Not so scary anymore right?"

The boy's teary face soon calmed down before his little eyes narrowed. He reached out his own tiny fist and bonked the man's head, starting to giggle as he did so.

Nightwing chuckled before standing back up, holding the boy close to keep him warm as he stepped out into the winter air.

"Way to go Gregory, that'll teach them, huh?"

Gregory smiled at him before shivering as he tried to snuggle into the crook of Nightwing's neck as his small body felt the cold blast of air. Reflexively, Nightwing's arms tightened around the boy.

Numerous cop cars and an ambulance peeled into the parking lot of the abandoned building. Some officers immediately running into the building to put the men into custody, while several officers and a paramedic ran up to Nightwing.

One of the officers tried to take Gregory from Nightwing's arms, with the intent to hand him over to the waiting paramedic, but the child screwed up his face before clinging to Nightwing's neck for dear life. 

Nightwing's mask lenses narrowed slightly.

"... it's alright, he just has a small cut on his cheek. I'll take care of him until his parents show up."

The young officer who tried to take Gregory away from him opened his mouth to protest before suddenly being yanked away by one of his superiors, earning a lecture about him needing to seriously take a hint when it slaps him in the face like that. 

The paramedic, on the other hand, merely smiled at the child. She gestured for Nightwing to sit down inside the ambulance so she could attend to the boy's cut while still allowing the boy to stay in his arms.

This was not her first rodeo, in fact she's responded to many calls where Nightwing has been involved.

And all of the officers and paramedics know, to never take a scared child away from the vigilante until the parents arrive. Unless, of course, there was a medical emergency.

Apparently, that one kid was a rookie. Ah well, he's learned his lesson now.

She gently cleaned the cut while Nightwing made faces down at young Gregory, distracting him from the stinging pain of antibacterial medicine. 

To anyone else, this would seem odd. Nightwing was, after all, a partner of the infamous Batman. Yet, to all those who have responded to situations involving the clan, they are quite used to it. It's been an unspoken rule for quite a while now, that anytime a child is involved they are immediately given to Nightwing until the parents or next of kin arrive. In fact, he's actually been doing this since he was Robin. 

He just seems to have this way with children. He always knows what to say or do to instantly gain their trust and cheer them up, no matter the situation.

The paramedic smiled to herself before focusing back on her work.

The cut was indeed small, would only need a band-aid. She fished one out from her bag and quickly administers it to the cut, giving the child a small pat on the cheek to show she's finished before handing Nightwing a thick blanket to wrap the child in.

Nightwing raised his head and gave her a small smile as thanks. She quickly returned the gesture before their attention was drawn outside the ambulance. 

Hmm... barking dogs. The K-9 Unit was here.

They both stepped out to see what was going on. Nightwing's body tensing for a moment before relaxing, noticing everything was still under control. They were still knocked out and were being dragged through the snow to the two other ambulances, the dogs barking and straining at their leads.

Guess they're not happy they didn't get to bite either of them.

Nightwing chuckled before his eyes focused on the German Shepherd dogs. His grin faltered before falling all together.

Just the sight of the breed...

He let out a small sigh before jerking his head back up at the sound of a woman's cry. A woman in a fancy fur coat was running through the snow, her arms outstretched. Despite the situation, Nightwing had to seriously wonder how this woman didn't fall with those high heeled boots on...

Gregory started cooing and stretching his arms out towards his mother and Nightwing forced a smile down to the boy before gently placing him on the ground, holding his hand for a moment to make sure the boy's legs were steady.

Gregory only made it a few steps towards his mother before he was swooped up in her arms, cradled safe and sound in her arms.

His father and sister weren't far behind her, and his father enveloped his wife in his arms, laying a hand on his son's head as his sister clung to both her parents. 

His smile turned real as he watched the family, a lump forming in his throat before he forced it down. No, none of that. Not alone anymore, haven't been in years... yet...

Two officers approached with their dogs, now calmed down and wagging their tails. One was an almost black and bronze colored shepherd. The other had almost the same coloring as Ace.

"We thought these two may be of help..."

The ferocious tempers the dogs had moments ago had completely vanished as they smelled the boy's fear.

Now, all they knew was there was a scared pup. They may not have been able to help with the bad guys, but they could do something about this.

The bronze one gently licked the boy's hand, earning a giggle and an affectionate poke to his nose.

The other, however, nudged Nightwing's hand, causing him to tense and frown at the dog for a moment before hesitantly giving the dog a pat on the head. A pang shot through his heart as he felt the soft fur, saw those intelligent brown eyes...

His hand wavered before pulling his hand back.

Okay, enough of that. Time to go!

By the time the reunited family turned to thank him, he was already gone. Gregory's father turned to one of the senior officers, searching for an explanation.

The officer, however, just stared back with a deadpan look on his face and shrugged.

"Yeah, they all do that." 
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Dick tore his mask off before stashing it with the rest of his uniform in his apartment.

He ran a hand through his hair and he looked toward his dresser. A new picture frame adorned it along with many others. 

It was of him and Ace, not long after they adopted her...

Dick bit his lip and tore his gaze away before grabbing his jacket and glancing at the clock, before running out the door. After all, he couldn't let Tim and Barbara hog all the cookies.
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He pulled up to the entrance of the Manor and quickly got out of the car, an early Christmas present from Bruce. Not like he accidently crashed the other one... hey, it's not his fault he was getting shot at trying to run off burglars from the road! He slams the door shut and tightens the collar of his coat, eyes glancing to a small stone across the yard. 

Merry Christmas Ace...

He opens the door, quickly wrapping his arms around Tim's torso as said boy practically tackled him to the ground in the foyer.

Laughing, he playfully shoves Tim off before ruffling his hair and giving Alfred a hug, quickly followed by Barbara and Bruce coming to greet him.

Barbara smiled at him and gave him a quick kiss while Bruce placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Merry Christmas Dick--"

"About time you got here Pixie Boots!"

He raised an eyebrow before Barbara grabbed one of his arms and Tim grabbing the other one, pulling him into the den.

"Your present was getting impatient!"

His eyes widened after hearing both Bruce and Alfred both chuckling behind them as they followed.

"I'm... sorry?"

Barbara and Tim grinned but didn't say anything as they made him sit down in front of the fireplace.

"Close your eyes and hold out your hands!"

He glanced incredulously at Bruce.

Bruce merely grinned and shrugged, apparently in on whatever is going on.

"Best just to do as they say."

Okay, now he was just scared.

Nevertheless, he did as he was told.

He sealed his eyes shut and reluctantly held his hands out as someone ran out of the room only to return a moment later, this time seemingly walk with care.

"Okay, no sudden moves."

Oh dear God...

His lips thinned in anticipation before opening silently in surprise as whatever it was was placed carefully in his waiting arms.

Small, warm... and furry.

"Okay... look!"

He opened his eyes slowly, already feeling a tear start to form.

In his arms was a small, fluffy and jet black German Shepherd puppy. 

Gleaming brown eyes and only one ear so far had stood up, the other was flapping against the puppy's head as he smiled up at and reached up to give his chin a small lick. A big, puffy blue bow was wrapped around the puppy's neck. 

Dick's mouth opened then closed again, seemingly lost for words.

"I think he outdoes that game I got for you all those years ago, huh?"

Barbara gave the pup a quick scratch behind his ears. Her smile faltered as she noticed Dick was still staring wide-eyed at the pup, worrying maybe it was too soon...

"Dick, I know he can never replace Ace but--"

Finally, Dick moved and brought the pup up to his face, nuzzling his snout as the pup happily licked his new owner's face.

"No, no-- he's perfect. I think... he's what I needed tonight. Thank you..."

"Good, you have no idea how hard it was keeping this little thing a secret for three weeks!"

Tim laughed and sat down in front of Dick, letting the pup sniff and lick his hand.

"Now you just gotta figure out what to name him?"

Hmm... that was a good point. 

What would he name his new pup?

He smiled down at the pup as he carefully curled up in Dick's lap, immediately falling asleep as Dick stroked his ears.

Well, he could worry about that later. Tonight, he just needed to spend some much needed time with his family. Especially his new little charge.
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Huh. Did I just make a new character for future stories?

Possibly.

Pup's gonna need a name though...