Disclaimer: I do not own anything. If owned the Batman franchise then I wouldn't have to take my chem test today...
Just a random idea i had. Review, tell me what you think.
Chapter 1: Surprise
Damian sat at the top of the stairs of the mansion, watching silently as Diana Prince slid into her coat. She was dressed in a sleek black dress with her hair up. She was, of course, beautiful. Moments later, his father, Bruce Wayne, entered the foyer, trying to fix his bow tie. Diana turned to him and pushed his hands away, wrapping her own delicate fingers around the red fabric. She spoke to him in hushed tones so Damian was not able to pick up on their conversation. Not that he cared anyways.
Bored, Damian stood up and trudged down to the foyer when he heard the doorbell ring. Expecting to see Alfred rush in to answer it, he raised an eyebrow when Bruce gestured for him to get the door. "I'm not a butler."
"Get the door," his father said sternly.
Damian shrugged and complied, not in the mood to argue. He opened the door and was surprised to see a blonde teen around the age of his third brother. She smiled brightly at him and for a second, he thought she was radiating energy or sunlight. Blinking, he realized that he just imagined it. "Who the hell are you?" He inquired, crossing his arms.
Her smile turned into a smirk as she leaned forward, placing at hand on his head and leaning down so that her face was at level with his, "I'm your babysitter, Dami."
"Don't. Call. Me. That," Damian growled, swatting her hand away.
"Ah, you're on time," Bruce appeared behind Damian. With a firm hand, he pushed Damian aside and gestured the girl to enter. She followed, all the time shooting Damian a sickly sweet, smug smile. He frowned, already hating this girl.
"Father, who is this girl?" He demanded pompously.
"This is Courtney, she'll be babysitting you tonight," Bruce introduced the blonde who smiled at Diana and Bruce warmly.
"Thank you for the opportunity to look after your son. And thank you for trusting me with him, I assure you that you will not regret it," Courtney said with ease, as if she had prepared this little speech and said it a thousand times but every time it sounded just as natural as the first time.
"We should be the ones thanking you," Diana added, "for making room for us. We are well aware of your waiting list."
Damian rolled this new piece of information over his in his mind. Waiting list? For a babysitter? Who exactly was this girl?
"Alfred has the night off so if you have any questions call us at this number," Bruce handed her a small sheet of paper. "That's my cell and Diana's cell. Below is the restaurant's number. I own it so just ask for me." Courtney nodded, her eyes darting between Bruce and Damian, as if she wanted to see the resemblance for herself. "The boys will all be out and should not be returning tonight. Don't expect any visitors. Alfred let dinner in the refrigerator. Just heat it up and help yourself to anything else in the kitchen." As Bruce explained the basics to the blonde, Damian wandered off to his room, deciding that he did not want to get to know this new babysitter. Bruce had been watching his son out of the corner of his eye. As soon as he was sure that the boy was gone, he cut himself off midsentence and spoke seriously to the girl, "Keep him out of trouble."
"That's what I'm here for," Courtney smiled. "Don't worry, Mr. Wayne. I've got this under control. Your son and your house will be perfectly safe when you get back."
Bruce gave her a doubtful look, not because he was worried about her capabilities but he was worried about what Damian would do this time to act out. Finally, he sighed, "I suppose we don't really have a choice?"
Diana nodded solemnly agreeing before turning to the girl with a supportive smile, "Good luck with him. He's tough, but I'm sure that you can break through to him. He'll warm up to you eventually."
"Most people do," Courtney grinned.
Courtney had spent the first thirty minutes or so trying to find Damian. He had disappeared as soon as his dad had left. And it wasn't as easy as she thought it would be. After all, they did live in a mansion with thousands of nooks and crannies that a person of his size could easily fit into and hide. Letting out a sigh, Courtney reached the final door of the floor. It was across from Damian's room, where she had looked first to find it deserted. She knocked tiredly on the closed door, "Come on, Damian, get out here. I'm not letting you die of starvation…" She opened the door and stopped midsentence, gasping at the sight before her.
In front of her, the window was open and a bloody, beaten up Red Robin stood. His suit was torn and he was barely holding himself up. Half of his mask was torn off while the other half miraculously held up. Before she could react, he collapsed onto the ground, in the process, knocking over a lamp that fell to the ground with a crash.
Running to his side, Courtney turned him over so that he was facing the ceiling. She gently moved his hands away from the wound on his abdomen and bit her lip when she saw it. Tearing off a piece of his cape, she gently pressed it to the wound to stop the blood that was seeping out. He was barely conscious in her arms.
"What happened? I heard the crash," Damian appeared in the doorway. As soon as he saw the fallen figure, he narrowed his eyes, "What did you do?" His voice was low and shaky.
"Damian, it's okay. He'll be okay," Courtney murmured absently, more focused on keeping the boy alive. "It's okay, Red, Stay with me. Stay with me." Red Robin nodded his head slowly but when he saw that he couldn't resorted to blinking his eyes slowly to show her that he was still conscious and holding on.
Reaching a bloody hand into her pocket, Courtney took out her cell phone and tossed it to Damian who looked at it as if it was a bomb. "Hit 1 on my speed dial," she ordered, never tearing her eyes off of the injured teen in her arms.
"We can't call the emergency," Damian muttered under his breath but he complied with the order. He pressed the phone to his ear but heard no one on the other side. He was confused as he looked to blonde who was still coaxing his brother to hang on.
"It's okay, Red. You're going to be okay," Courtney whispered softly, moving a hand to cradle his cold cheek, "Help will be here any minute now. Just stay alive, okay?"
Damian hated not knowing what was going on, "What the hell are –" Before he could finish his statement, there was a blur and in standing in the room was Jay Garrick, the original flash. Damian's eyes widened. "What is he doing here?"
Courtney looked up at the newcomer, her face was strong yet betrayed some of her fright, "Jay, do you run him as smoothly as you can to Mid-nite? Or should we call for Dr. Fate?"
Jay leaned down and examined the boy, "We shouldn't move him far. I'll bring Dr. Mid-nite." He was gone in seconds.
"We're getting you the best help we can," Courtney explained softly to Red Robin who closed his eyes slowly and opened them again, a low moan escaping his lips. Damian felt himself feeling nauseous at the sight before him. He leaned against the wall and let himself slide down, feeling terrified.
A few minutes later, Jay returned this time with Dr. Mid-Nite. If the situation hadn't been so dire, Damian might have pondered how they had gotten there and then snickered at the obvious answer. But all he could think of was if his brother was going to be okay.
"Courtney, we'll take it from here," Dr. Mid-nite assured the blonde who looked reluctant to leave the injured boy. But the doctor's tone told her that he didn't want her in the room as they started to operate on the boy. Sighing, she slowly stood up to leave but Red Robin's gloved hands tightly grasped her bloody fingers.
"You'll be okay," she assured him, using her other hand to brush his black hair out of his uncovered eye. He slowly released her fingers and closed his eyes. Courtney looked at Dr. Mid-Note, startled.
"Courtney, please, leave," Dr. Mid-Nite ordered. Courtney got to her feet and slowly trudged to the exit as the doctor moved in to help Red Robin. She stopped at the door and gestured Damian, whose face was void of all emotions, to follow her. The two of them walked silently down the hall to the powder room.
Courtney shut herself into the small bathroom and ran the hot water. She let the warm water flow through her fingers, washing away the young hero's blood. Looking at herself in the mirror, hot tears flowed down her cheeks. Worry and terror ran through her veins and she couldn't control herself. Wiping her face, she took a deep breath, remembering that she still was in charge of a ten year old kid whose brother was on the verge of death.
"Get it together, Courtney," she mumbled to herself as she splashed cold water onto her face. Turning off the water and putting a strong face on, she exited the powder room and turned to Damian.
"Hungry?" She inquired. He shook his head, not meeting her eye. Biting her lip, she added, "Yeah, neither am I. Come on, let's go see if there's anything on the TV." She offered him her hand.
Damian glared at her outstretched arm, "Stop."
"What?" Courtney was confused.
"Stop babying me," Damian ordered, hiding his fear and worry behind a shield of arrogance. "I don't care about him. He's not my brother. We're not blood related. So leave me the hell alone!" He stomped away towards his room where he shut the door loudly and locked it. Courtney quickly jogged to the door and knocked on it furiously.
"Damian, please, come out," her voice was pleading and almost at a beg. She got no answer. Leaning her against the door, she took a deep breath, wondering what she should do. This situation wasn't new to her. But she had never dealt with Damian Wayne before. So she had no idea what his reaction to his brother's injury meant and why he was trying to cover it.
Picking up her phone which Damian had thrown down in his fury, she scrambled for the piece of paper Bruce Wayne had left her. Her fingers shook as she punched in the number of his cell phone. "Hello?" Her voice was meek but she soon reinforced it, "Mr. Wayne?"
"What's wrong?" His voice was deeper than before and much rougher. Courtney cursed silently, knowing that meant that he was in Batman mode. "Is Damian hurt?"
"No, not Damian," Courtney muttered, "Ti- Red Robin's injured badly."
"What happened?" Batman's voice was breathless, as if he had just been punched in the gut.
"I don't know," Courtney answered honestly. "I called Dr. Mid-Nite and he's attending to him." There was silence on the other side. "You can't come, can you?"
"Mission to Asia. I won't be able to come back until tomorrow morning." There was another pause. "Take care of my boys."
"Yes, sir." Courtney nodded, more to herself than to the older hero who couldn't see her. She waited until he hung up before letting out the deep breath that she had been holding. When she had agreed to babysitting one of the Waynes, she had not signed up for this.
Running a hand through her hair, she put her phone into her pocket and headed for the kitchen where she was surprised to see Damian sitting at the counter, rolling around an orange over the kitchen counter.
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