Notes: I know this isn't the story I said to a few reviewers I'd do next. However, I was reminded that I had it partly written and we just had a story with a Robin!Ry'an so why not a story introducing the rest of his family?
As for Tuesday's special significance? It will be explained later but it's part of Damian (Ibn) and Mar'i's way of dealing with the kids, work and being heroes. It's basically Damian's day with the kids (because Mar'i works Tuesdays and Damian arranges his work schedule so he doesn't). Mar'i has made it very clear that Damian is not to go into the cave on Tuesday and that none of the family is to approach him with 'night work'. Nor are they allowed to babysit. As you can guess, most of the family avoid Damian on Tuesday because to do otherwise is to invite Mar'i's wrath (and they really don't want her to complain at work as she has a certain co-worker who will cause them trouble if she thinks they're making Mar'i's life difficult).
I'll use Ibn and Damian to differentiate between child (Damian) and the adult (Ibn). For everyone else, I'll try and make it clear. Most future versions of characters will only appear for a moment/chapter if at all. At least, that's the plan.
Ibn comes from the 'Kingdom Come' comic which is also the main inspiration for the Damian/Mar'i pairing which I love. In Kingdom Come, Bruce's son with Talia, Ibn Al Xu'ffasch (Arabic for 'Son of the Bat') is shown to be in love with Mar'i Grayson/Nightstar (and they're also shown in a future panel in something to be married with two children).
Ibn's canon counterpart is said to be Damian.
Anyway, my headcanon is that Mar'i calls Damian by his Arabic name, hence 'Ibn'.
Tuesday In the Grayson-Wayne Household
Part 1
Tuesday starts like this;
Ibn gets up and kisses his wife. And kisses her some more. And, because she has work, she tells him to go check on the kids.
Ibn sighs and his lower lip trembles and he nuzzles up to her shoulder and requests five minutes.
"Ibn, go," Mar'i orders, her hand reaching down to grab him harshly in a very sensitive area.
He finally crawls out of bed.
He checks Tal'i's room first, after grunting a half-asleep good morning to Alfred. The five year old's room is awash in pink, purple and black and her bed, complete with Batman comforter, is empty.
It takes Ibn one second to register that, another second for it to sink in and a third second to dart out of the room, check her brother's (also empty – good lord!) and head down the hall for the cave where he can start a search for his missing (please not kidnapped) children.
And then the doorbell rang.
"So, this is the manor in the future?" Tim's voice, younger than Ibn's used to, comments when Alfred opens the door. "Do these kids really live here?"
Years of experience allowed Ibn to see the horror in Alfred's expression at the appearance of the two children he just realised were missing. The slight widening of the eyes and tightness in posture.
"Tal'i!" Ibn cried out, bolting down the stairs. He didn't even care that she was in the hands of people who were most likely from the past or another dimension. It would be safer to think of them as being from the past. That way he would actually worry about telling them things they shouldn't know.
"Breakfast?" Tal'i responded with. Ibn gratefully took his daughter from past Tim's arms and hefted her up.
"First, you'll tell me what you think you were doing, disappearing like that."
"I'm giving Ry a family." She pointed to the baby in past Dick's arms. "He can have his own now."
"Tal'i," Ibn groaned. Mar'i often said that this one was his daughter. It looked like her sibling rivalry with her baby brother had reached 'get rid of him' level.
His daughter indeed.
"Ry'an is our family," he tried to explain to the girl.
"My family," Tal'i insisted with a pudgy frown. She wrapped her arms around his neck and shot a glare at the baby. "My Daddy."
Ibn sighed and his stomach growled. He pulled Tal'i's arms off him and placed her on the ground.
"Go get ready for breakfast," he ordered the girl. Then he turned to the guests.
A frowning, serious Bruce Wayne stood at the back, carefully examining every change in the mansion. A Dick Grayson free of grey hairs standing next to a frowning and suspicious Timothy Drake. A narrowed eyed Jason Todd was wandering around just inside the entrance with his hand on his gun, although he seemed to be drifting towards the kitchen.
And a young, ten year old, Damian Wayne was glaring at him. His pudgy frown almost an older mirror of young Tal'i's.
These people were certainly from the past or another dimension and Ibn had not been expecting to meet his ten year old self when he got up a few minutes ago.
"Who are you and why are you in Father's house?"
Really, Ibn could only deal with one spoiled brat at a time. Nonetheless, he squared his shoulders and addressed the visitors from the past.
"I'll answer that over breakfast. In the dining room." He's just glad he changed before checking on the children. Even if he was only wearing a black tank top and olive-coloured pants.
He reached towards the past version of Dick for the baby and held his son close. His heartrate was only just starting to go back to normal. "Allow me to also thank you for bringing my children home."
"Wow, manners," Jason commented in an angry snarl as they went towards the dining room. Tal'i was already there, sitting in her boosted chair and swinging her feet without a care in the world.
Ibn placed Ry'an in his high chair with practised ease as the guest all took their seats.
"So, do we get answers on who you are?" Tim asked.
"Does Brucie adopt another one?" Jason questioned with a smirk at Damian.
"Father has me!" Damian proclaimed standing on his chair in order to stare down at Jason. "He doesn't need any more of your kind!"
Ibn rolled his eyes. He knew that this was him however, had he really been that bad?
"Where are we?" Dick asked with worry in his voice.
Ibn took a moment to reflect on where his guests' present selves were. This time's Dick could be anywhere. This time's Jason was off training with Carrie, the current Robin, and they weren't expected back until the end of the week. This time's Tim was probably at the Robin's nest, sifting through the files related to their current cases.
And Ibn's father was probably sleeping. Ibn knew the man had been off with the Justice League the previous night. He planned to tell Dick about it later and let his father-in-law loose on his overworking father.
But, none of them could be expected to appear in the manor topside today. They all knew what Tuesday meant.
Ibn deflected questions until the food arrived. He wondered how long this could last before they recognised him. It couldn't be that hard. He had his father's features although his face was slightly longer and his hair slightly shorter and lighter.
"Alfred, I can do that," he insisted when the aging servant moved to feed young Ry'an. The baby cooed and wriggled in the chair, looking to be an escape artist of his father's skill.
"I am not so old that I cannot do my job."
"I'm not saying that," Ibn responded with. Then he glared over at his daughter who was shifting in the chair. "And where do you think you're going?"
Alfred's lips twitched upwards. Tal'i frowned and her eyebrows knotted as she settled back into her chair. Her breakfast was almost all gone, except for the egg yolks. She had somehow managed to eat the whites while leaving the yolks sitting there in a perfect yellow semi-sphere.
"Tal'i, you will eat everything on your plate," Ibn ordered, seeing past Jason chortle. It was the first not negative emotion the man had shown.
Ibn slipped back into his seat as Alfred started feeding the baby slowly and without making the mess Ibn would have. Somehow, he always ended up with mush over his clothes.
Ibn picked up his knife and fork and was about to start his breakfast when the doorbell rang.
"It must be Tuesday," Ibn muttered, getting up. Alfred hadn't moved because it was Tuesday and he knew better than to get involved in the unfolding scene.
Alfred did, however, suggest to their timely visitors to follow Ibn.
The 'timely visitors' were a little shell-shocked although none of them were the type to admit it.
They had been surprised when an irate Jason had turned up at the door with a little girl and a baby. The girl had been chattering away about how she wanted to give her little brother a loving family and it had taken over a day to work out where she was from.
Or when she was from. She had possessed the means to go home the whole time and didn't use it until it looked like Jason was about to shoot Dick.
"No fighting!" she had screamed, a burst of light coming from her hand as the time machine around her wrist activated.
"What kind of parent gives their child a time machine?" Jason had growled as the girl led them to her house. She pulled Jason along like he was her age and not a fully grown adult. He growled out that she was a 'strong brat'. The rest of the group just wondered if this was because of Jason's soft spot for kids or if he was on his best behaviour because she melted the tip of his gun somehow.
"Wayne Manor." Tim was the first to voice that observation.
Bruce showed no emotion to that, locking it away until he had more information.
Dick did something similar, although he tried to enjoy it by making a joke about it still standing. No one laughed.
Tim wondered if he was still around and who was living in the manor right now.
Jason just scowled at the thought that Bruce would take in more children, especially ones as young as these two.
Damian didn't care. He said loudly and vocally that he wanted to go back right now. But, the girl pulling on Jason's hand ignored him.
They hadn't expected the broad-shouldered man who had ran down to meet them. Or rather, meet the girl. He wasn't Bruce, even if they were in another dimension or something. His face was too sharp, his skin slightly darker and his hair lighter.
The girl called him 'daddy'. The man called her 'Tal'i'.
And they both seemed to find the presence of people from the past as not normal but still just a part of their day. Of all the things they could have expected in the manor of the future, an unknown and loving family wasn't part of it.
As they followed Ibn to the door, Jason commented; "hey, at least we get breakfast out of this," to the surprise of the group. They hadn't thought he had much ability to joke after going trigger happy upon his return to life and Gotham.
Mar'i Grayson-Wayne had beautiful dark locks which reminded Ibn of embers. They were pulled back in a clip yet still spilling along her path as she rushed to the door with files tucked under her arm, coffee in one arm and a small round bowl of cereal she was drinking and munching from.
"Mar'i, those are not good breakfast habits," Ibn scolded.
Her golden, almost orange skin shimmered as she turned to frown playfully at him. Ibn reached forward and tucked the files back under her arm as they slipped, sighing at his frantic wife.
"Sorry, but Pamela's waiting!" Mar'i said. There was a pause as she looked at the door and the doorbell rang again. "Ibn," she positively whined.
"It cannot do the children well to see us like this," Ibn sighed, opening the door. A red haired and greened skinned Poison Ivy waltzed in like she owned the place.
"Ibn," she greeted him.
"Only Mar'i can call me that," Ibn growled back, giving her his most disapproving frown. Unfortunately, it only made Pamela smirk.
"Still the angry little sprout I remember." Ibn felt something in his stomach curl as she clapped her hands together in glee, even though her smile wasn't as wide as a regular person's. "Which reminds me," she turned to Mar'i. "Selina told me the most fabulous story about your husband, back when he was jumping over rooftops with your father. See it was near Christmas and-"
Mar'i, perhaps seeing the slight flush in Ibn's neck, decided to interrupt and remind Pamela that they were going to be late.
"Bye, Tal'i! Be good for Daddy!" she called up to the overhang. She smiled a blinding and mischievous smile which was unique to her family. "And to our guests, don't push my husband too hard, okay? I want him in good condition tonight!"
"I'll tell you the story in the car then dear," Pamela said as they walked out.
Ibn closed the door, just stopping sort of slamming it.
"Husband?" Dick squeaked from the overhanging banister. There was no way he wouldn't recognise his daughter. She was unique, in personality and appearance.
And married. Dick's heart stopped at the thought. He wondered if he had gone to the wedding. In their time, he tried to forget he had a daughter hidden away in order to protect her from his enemies.
However, he must have been at her wedding if she was living with her husband here in the manor. Or had she married this 'Ibn', and Dick had a feeling it was short for a certain Arabic phrase, so that she could join the family? He really hoped not.
Either way, his daughter was married to this guy and he was not happy about it.
Ibn had been praying that wouldn't happen. He had already lived through one disapproving Dick when he first started dating Mar'i and Dick only seemed to approve when he married the girl and the first grandkids appeared.
Grandkids!
"Here, Dick," he said, picking up Tal'i and holding her out to the man. "This is Tal'iander. She's five and likes to fly."
Dick blinked at him and them down at the green eyed girl in his arms. She was adorable. She smiled at him and his heart melted.
"Tal'iander?" Jason questioned, "like Kor'iander? I mean, it's obvious that they're Tamaranian-"
"Quarter Tamaranian," Ibn confirmed with a nod. He walked back towards his breakfast. He was going to eat this morning, time travel mishap or no time travel mishap.
"Starfire has children?" Bruce questioned with a growl and a glare at the child.
"You sort of met Kori's daughter as she dashed off to work," Ibn explained offhandedly.
Ibn didn't know whether he was surprised or not at Bruce's reaction. Bruce had already grown to love Mar'i as a daughter and granddaughter by the time they started dating. Bruce had encouraged their relationship, although he had made Ibn's life difficult with his constant trolling of Dick over their kids' relationship.
Ibn reminded himself that he needed breakfast and went back to the hall.