To others, it would seem that Thomas and Martha Wayne had all that they wanted. They wore both born with a silver spoon in their mouths, and were well respected in Gotham.
Thomas was born into the wealthy, and well-respected, Wayne family. His father, Patrick, was the CEO of Wayne Enterprises. Thomas always wanted to help people, and so he became a surgeon, and saved the lives of thousands of people. When his father passed away, Thomas inherited the family business, and the family home, the stately Wayne Manor.
Martha Wayne (née Kane) was the daughter of Roderick Kane, the president of Kane chemicals. She met Thomas in college, they fell in love, and married.
They were wealthy, had a beautiful home, and were admired by all. But with all the love they had for each other, they wanted to share it. They tried countless times to conceive, and yet they remained childless. No one but their closest friends knew of the sorrow it brought them to never be able to bring a child into the world.
Eventually it happened. Martha conceived.
They were overjoyed. They began preparing for their new child. They prepared a beautiful nursery, and told everyone of their excitement about their upcoming child.
Near the end of her second trimester, Martha became concerned one afternoon. Her normally active baby boy hadn't moved all day. She couldn't remember feeling him move the day before either. She called up Thomas, and he assured her that there could be any number of reasons why she hadn't felt any movement. But if she was concerned, he'd call her doctor to check on the baby that day.
Within an hour, the doctor arrived. He did several tests, but as the visit progressed, Thomas and Martha could both see that the doctor was concerned.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Wayne. I'm afraid he's stillborn. There's nothing I can do."
They felt like their entire world had been taken from them. They stayed at home for weeks. They told no one what had happened, but the rumors spread like wildfire.
One evening, after they had asked the household staff to leave them for the evening, they sat together in the library. Thomas had the evening paper. He'd read the same article five times and still didn't know what it said. Martha was reading the latest novel by Richard Castle. She'd read the same paragraph ten times.
It had been nearly a month since that visit from the doctor, and they still thought of nothing else.
Suddenly, they saw a flash of light steak across the sky outside the window and then heard a crash.
"What in the world was that?" asked Martha.
"I'll go find out," Thomas said. "You wait here. I'll be back soon."
Thomas followed the sound of the crash. It was a couple hundred yards from the house, still on their estate.
As he neared the crash site, the light from his flashlight reflected off something metallic. He approached the site and discovered some sort of pod. It was egg-shaped and appeared to be a single piece with no apparent seams anywhere.
He placed his hand on it and found it to be surprisingly cool. He had no time to think about that, as it began to open upon his touch. There was a bright light inside and he was momentarily blinded. He turned off his flashlight, and once his eyes adjusted, he discovered inside the pod a small child, a newborn. He couldn't be more than a few weeks old. He was wrapped in a red blanket which bore a design of a shield with an "S" in it.
The baby looked up at him and smiled. He picked up the child and carried him inside.
"What is it, Thomas?" Martha asked.
Thomas opened up the blanket and showed her the child. "I believe it's the answer to our prayers."