A/N: Okay I feel guilty I should be writing Breaking Law but no I'm writing a one shot... Sorry i wanted to write this sooo badly, and I've been working on my novel so it's been a while since I've actually gotten to work on Breaking Law... This a one shot, that has no relations to Walking the Line, but obviously involves a world in which Mari has been born... Please comment...

Disclaimer: As usual, no, i don't not own DC related characters or ideas represented in this fan fic...

A knock softly came from at the door, and Dick couldn't help but wonder who the hell it could be. Normally he would figure it be Tim dropping by on the way home to have a chat and reminisce and catch up like they do every few days, but is was pouring out and travel was highly advised against. Nonetheless, though, a knock came and almost forgetting that Alfred wasn't around anymore to answer the door for him. Dick had just finished making dinner for him and Mari even though she probably wouldn't be home for another hour he figured he could toss it in the fridge and they would reheat it later while they watched their late night crime dramas… She was out with Garfield and Rachel's kid, Jace, a good kid, a lot like Raven mature and raised well… If he was like Garfield and had Rae's power he wouldn't let Mari anywhere near him but he was responsible and a good kid so Dick allowed it. He ran quickly for the door quickly and opened it finding the last person he expected to be there. A soaked Damian Wayne, his head down dripping from the rain…

"Damian…" Dick breathed, the boy didn't even look up at him… Though not in spite, but of shame…

"Is… Is Mari here?" He asked through his teeth.

"No but come in Damian your getting soaked." He ushered the boy in and to his surprise Damian didn't move to stop him. The boy's hair was dripping all over his face covering the tops of his eyes… "God, Damian are you trying to make yourself sick? Go up stairs and rinse yourself off in the shower, I'll get you some of my clothes and leave them outside the door. Come down when you're done…" Damian didn't refuse, actually he didn't say anything and that's how Dick knew something was very wrong.

Dick finished up dinner, and ran up stairs to quickly place some of his old clothes that Alfred had in a spare room. Living in the Wayne Penthouse was a breeze for Dick, unlike Wayne Manor which was dark and depressing. Of course it was also his home but Dick preferred the Penthouse simply because of the fact that it's brighter. He didn't want Mari exposed to her grandfather too much, he didn't want her to experience the same sullen attitude Bruce gave him… He didn't want her to end up like Jason or Damian, though the girl insists on being near her Grandfather. She calls him Gramps and frankly, even though he doesn't admit it, Bruce enjoys her company, especially since she has such a tight leash around Damian.

He place two plates of spaghetti for him and Damian on the counter across from each other. Dick then sat down on one side of the counter as Damian came down his hair only partially dried… Dick smiled seeing Damian wearing his old blue plaid shirt and jeans. Dick remembered when Clark had bought him that outfit. "You'd be surprised how humbling an outfit like this could be." That's what Clark told him, that only Sunday afternoon. Now it was Damian's turn to be humbled, unfortunately the only one seemingly possible at that is Mari. Still Dick couldn't understand what the girl had done to break this boy, the unbreakable vault… Like how Catwoman has broken Batman, Mari broke Damian and won his heart. Dick knew Damian was like him, a player, but it was something with Tamaranian girls that made both of them melt. At the time he met Mari's mother he had become a complete jerk, he had just left Batman after an argument and somehow that girl took his whole world and turned it right side up. He guessed it helps having super strength though…

Dick gestured for Damian to sit down across from him and he did…

"Is she coming home soon? I really need to speak to her…"

"She won't be home for an hour at the least, but feel free to stay. It's your home too…"

"It's mine and no one else's I own the place so don't get too cozy… I'm kicking you out as soon as Mari turns 18." Damian said through his teeth obviously agitated about something and he just decided that Dick would be his next target.

After years of experience Dick figured it best not to ask what the boy meant by that, but instead move on, then again when it came to Damian Dick tended to make rash decisions and ignore common sense.

"What do you mean by that?" Dick said trying not to lose his temper yet.

Once Damian finished the mouthful of spaghetti he was chomping down he answered.

"When she turns 18 in a week she doesn't need you anymore, by law she's a free woman. Free to live with me far, far from Gotham, away from you, from Alfred, from my father…"

"And what if she doesn't want to go?"

"Either way she's going."

"You're going to kidnap her…" Dick said knowing that if Damian wanted to he could.

"If I have to, to save her from herself…" The two men stared at each other in the eye, until Damian looked away. The boy was weak, he was letting his emotions drive him and Dick knew he was just making things worse by arguing with the kid.

"What happened?" Dick asked changing the subject.

Damian didn't answer, he didn't even look at Dick.

"Where is she, I'm going to look for her." Damian said trying to get up hastily.

"Stop Damian!" Dick yelled grabbing him by the arm. Lucky for Dick Damian didn't attack him for doing that.

They looked each other in the eyes, and Dick noticed how much he had changed, how much he looked like Bruce. The kid Dick knew, the one in his mind was still only 10 years old… But this Damian, he was 17…He was tall and handsome, had all the money in the world, and was more dangerous than the Atomic Bomb, but this boy was head over heels for his daughter. His daughter, the daughter of a Circus Brat and an Alien Princess… Dick thought it to be irony that Batman and Robin's children would fall in love. Completely and utterly insane, and if he had been told this all those years ago he would never have believed it. Then again he would never have believed Bruce to ever have a son nonetheless him having a daughter with Starfire. Not in a long shot would he have ever believed that… Mostly because of biology, he didn't think it would be biologically possible but it was amazingly and they ended up with a beautiful black haired green eyed daughter who had melted the coldest boy on Earth, the boy standing before him in distress.

"What happened…"

"He fired me!" Dick's heart stopped. Those words…

"He fired me, his own son! Like I was nothing to him, he kicked me out because he wants' a new partner! He'd rather have someone else over his own flesh and blood!" Damian yelled… Dick had never seen the boy this angry and strangely, Damian wasn't yelling at him. It more represented a plea for help in Dick's eyes.

"I messed up I know I did… I didn't mean to, I didn't even kill the guy… It's not my fault he's in a coma, it was raining and… and…" Damian finally calmed himself…

"He wants Mari, he wants Mari to become his partner. Why wouldn't he choose the daughter of his first son?" Damian's voice fell hush.

"What?"

"He told me… That she's perfect, her skills are being wasted on the petty thievery and moonlighting she does every so often."

"Your father has no say in how I raise my daughter and if he think I'm just going to let him take my daughter out there with him…"

"Do you honestly think you can stop him. He's Batman, nothing stops him! He gets what he wants, and nothing changes that… Whether he gets it by force or other means he doesn't care…"

"So that's why you want to run away…" Dick said putting all the pieces together.

"I'm saving her from the monster that my father can be. I'm sure you understand…"

"Damian, I'm telling you. I wont allow it. Bruce is many things, a good man, a great hero, but he's getting old and unlike me. He's just now starting to understand the gray in the universe…"

"Unlike you?"

"I was fired like you when I was your age also… I went to Jump City and started the Titans, that is where I met Mari's mom…"

"Where is Mari's mom anyways…"

"On her home planet, ruling the Kingdom…"

"Wait…" He paused confused. "Ruling the Kingdom?"

Dick and Damian stared at each other in the eye before Dick hesitantly answered.

"Yeah that's generally what a Queen does…" Damian's mouth dropped quickly, he was utterly in shock and Dick knew why… Mari had never told him that she was a Princess, and Dick knew that so many things were going through Damian's mind at the moment, and he was sure one of them involved a planetary take over.

"She didn't tell you, did she?" Dick asked…

"No… No she didn't…" Damian shook his head in shame. "She spends too much time around my father, all these secrets are going to drive me insane."

Dick just smirked.

"Damian one thing you're always going to have to understand is that Bruce, he's a great father figure, and sometimes he can be a great parent., but the Batman… He doesn't know how to deal with teenage problems or even begin to try and understand what you're going trough. All he knows is that some place, somewhere there is a crime taking place and he needs to be there to stop it. I used to be the same way when I was Nightwing… Well I still am Nightwing but I've changed since my time as Batman." Dick said…

"It's different though Grayson… You will always been the only one, the first to ever stand by his side, to back him up when he was down. Nobody can replace you, not Todd or even Drake. As much as we like, Bruce considered you to be his only true son, the only son he'll take credit for… Everyone after you wasn't to replace you, it was his only way of coping with the fact that his own soldier had left him to start his own war. Even Drake told me that the old man always compared him to you… He was either not quick enough, or not fast enough, or even as graceful as you, if he fell short of all the expectations he was reprimanded. Tell me Bruce wasn't as strict today as he was when you were young."

Dick shook his head no, knowing that Damian was more than right.

"He was a better man, one I could connect with, one I could understand and relate too. We shared one common thing, we watched our parent's die at a very young age. We share a bond over that face, a fact that Tim or Jason could never understand… They lost their loved ones also, but not in the same way they weren't as young… I was his first soldier, and I blindly put my faith in him and followed him into battle, and it changed my life… Fact is, we wouldn't be here right now if Tony Zucco hadn't killed my parents, and till this day I regret never killing him. But he stopped me, he stopped me from doing something so idiotic, so stupid, something that would've turned me into a person I wasn't… A criminal… I guess the reason Bruce and I share that bond isn't because we both lost our parents, I guess it's because we both share a hatred so strong for a single man that we've attempted to murder… That's nothing to undermine, that's a bond impossible to break… Damian I think your problem is not that Bruce doesn't care about you, but he feels guilty…"

Damian looked at him a little shocked.

"Guilty that he couldn't save you… You've killed before, we all know that, and killing a man… It's a sin you can't take back… He saved me, and he couldn't save Jason… I think he figures that if he had been there for you, if he had only known… He could have 'saved' you… Killing is not something Bruce takes lightly, it's a curse that can be prevented and controlled… Something he does every hour of every night… He feels guilt that he let you be cursed and he can't take that back… He cares about you Damian, in a strange way, but don't worry… He'll come around he always does… But for now you can stay in the Penthouse here with Mari and me… Just, stay away from her room…"

Damian nodded.

"Thank Dick.." Dick smiled realizing the boy had called him by his first name…

"But your not taking my daughter away from me nor are you kicking me out, got it."

"Yeah sure…" He said and the two guys laughed as the door opened, the rain was still pouring down yet Mari was dry…

"Dad, I'm-" She stopped halfway seeing Damian and Dick sitting at the table. Dick stepped forward to give Mari a hug, whom was already barreling towards them, but instead passed him up and landed in the arm os an expecting Damian, who smirked evilly at Dick as they hugged. All Dick knew was that he was seriously starting to regret allowing Damian to stay for the time being…

"Hey Daddy…" She said giving Dick a peck on the check and running for the kitchen… Quickly pulling out a bowl of spaghetti and tossing it into the microwave she turned to her too men with a malicious smile even worse than Damians….

"So boys, what's going on?"

"Damian…" Dick started.

"I'll explain to you later, for now lets just relax and enjoy the moment…"

"Uh, okay… How highly uncharacteristic of you?" She said, twirling around the room, a few times coming off the ground but only by a few inches.

"So what did you guys end up doing?" Dick asked…

"We went to Paris!" She said… No wonder she's so happy, Dick thought grimacing slightly…

"What?" Damian asked appalled.

"You know it really is the city of romance…" She teased, making Damian's anger flare up.

"I swear if that demonic bastard laid a single hand on you-" She shut him up halfway through the rant with a solid kiss to the lips…

"I swear your too easy to mess with Dami." She smiled. "Nothing happened; actually it was quiet boring we just walked through the museums. I wished you were there…"

"Good because I'm taking you there for your birthday…" Dick shot Damian an infuriated glare, knowing that Damian was messing with him now, and was obviously enjoying it.

"Or maybe we'll go visit your mother on Tamaran… Maybe we'll stumble upon some ol' wedding thing and accidently get us married… Right Princess?" Her grin dropped and she looked at her father who had been panicking since the moment Damian mentions the word 'marriage'.

"You told him!"

"I don't get why you didn't tell me? Afraid I'm gonna try and take over the world?"

She mumbled a yes, and Damian just laughed placing an arm around his girlfriends waist, as she took the hot bowl out of the microwave and led her too the couch… She shook her head and smiled, she curled up in his side as he turned on the tv. Dick walked in and sat down on his old lumpy chair, and smiled. He knew this would be the end of their daddy daughter nightly crime dramas, but he figured he'd grow, once again accustomed to Damian being around the house, sticking his nose into everyone elses business… And they just sat there watching tv figuring out motives and suspects like it was a game, and as the night poured, Bruce sat at home wondering if he had done the right thing. He'd pushed his one true son away all those years ago, now he had the feeling that he had just pushed his only real son away also. Right into the hands of the man who could take care of him best… So Bruce just sat there contemplating his decisions, and watched, through the window, the rain…

A/N: Like, or no... :( Please comment I'd really appreciate it :D There will be a partner story coming out soon...