"Hold still Ella!" Artemis yelled at her anxious daughter. She was only trying to braid her blonde hair into a nice Grecian braid but no…Ella was restless, just like her father.

"But mom, Dick is going to be there and-"

"Oh hell, you still have that stupid crush on him? YOU'RE DATING HIS LITTLE BROTHER FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!" The mother was growing restless herself as her daughter continued to fidget, her eyes were on the window, trying to see who was arriving at their party.

"Oh please mom, Damian is a boy, Dick is a man." Artemis rolled her eyes; she could only blame herself and her husband's genes for creating a daughter whose mind formed such sentences.

"He's your age, I happen to like boys who are your age versus men who are mine!" She yanked her daughter's hair one last time causing the teen to let out a shriek. At the sound, Wally rushed in to check on his girls, seeing it was only a matter of frustration on Artemis' part, he laughed.

"Everyone's here but the Batboys, always late as usual. Steph and Cass are here though!" Just as he said their names, the batgirls stepped into the room. Cass did it ever so slyly while Stephanie jumped onto the bed, giggling in the process.

"How's my little Ella doing!"

"Auntie Stephie!" Ella let herself fall on her back to glance up at one of her favorite people in the world.

"Shoo Artemis, I must talk to me favorite child now." Artemis smacked Stephanie in the back of the head, smiling in doing so. She waved to Cass then grabbed Wally by the arm, yanking him out of the room.

"Try to keep her hormones in check." Artemis said.

"Oh please." Stephanie responded with her tongue sticking out, a classic move of hers.

"I was talking to Cass." And with that, Artemis shut the door. Stephanie rose and began to fiddle with Ella's hair; Cass joined them on the bed.

"So," Cass began, "You and Damian." Before Ella could respond, Stephanie cut in, her voice annoyed by the thought of Damian.

"Yes how are you and that demon child. Has he tried to kill you in your sleep yet?"

"I think that's a sexual innuendo." Cass said with her hand on her chin as she stared up at her best friend wondering how exactly their friendship began.

"Cass, it's me."

"Touche."

"Ok Auntie Steph, it's not anything serious. Besides, I prefer Dick! Or even Jason…maybe Tim." She said teasing Stephanie. Stephanie rolled her eyes and pretended to slap Ella in the face.

"STOP TRYING TO STEAL MY MAN. WE HAVE OUR OWN SHIPPING NAME AND EVERYTHING."

Cass nodded slowly and added, "It's Simphanie. At least that's what Stephanie calls it, I still don't understand what 'shipping' means."

"Well considering I don't really have a boyfriend maybe I will steal Timmy from you!" Ella said rising from the bed to slip on her shoes. She was wearing a black, strapless dress with a glittering hemline. She winked at her adopted aunts, Cass clapped as Ella twirled in place but Stephanie was lost in thought.

"Stephie?" Ella said noticing the change in her demeanor. Stephanie turned to look at Ella with a worried expression. She didn't like the idea of Ella not referring to Damian as her boyfriend.

"Ella, don't you love him?" While Damian and Stephanie bickered quite a bit, the two did have a sibling relationship and it was with Stephanie alone that Damian had told, or rather he let it slip much like one does with inner most thoughts, that he loved Ella. The idea that Ella did not feel the same way pained Stephanie in a very sisterly way.

"Oh Steph please! It's Damian. I mean I like bad boys, but I mean…well come on, wouldn't you prefer an acrobat?"

"Actually, she prefers socially awkward nerds." Cass said with her head going from side to side as if singing a song in head.

"Cass, don't talk about social awkwardness. It was I who taught you how to act in public and therefore your argument is invalid."

"What argument?" Cass said throwing her hands in the air, although she kept her voice quiet.

"Pwned." Stephanie said frankly.

"You're using that wrong…" Ella said with a sigh. Cass just shrugged her shoulders and Ella giggled.

"But really Ella, if you don't love him, don't string him along." Stephanie warned, sounding more like a mother now. Ella only waved her hand at her.

"Ella!" Stephanie said but the girl was lost now as Dick (and the rest of the Batboys) had arrived.

"He's here!"

…..

The party had gotten somewhat out of hand and not in a everyone-is-getting drunk-taking-off-their-clothes-call-the-police-out-of-hand but rather Portal 2 out of hand. Dick and Wally had pulled out the game and were now sitting on the couch with their eyes glued to the TV screen. Tim was next to Dick, elbowing him over and over trying to lecture him on the correct way of playing the game.

"SHUT-UP TIM." Dick screamed, not taking his eyes off the screen.

"DAMN IT DICK, THIS IS POKEMON ALL OVER AGAIN. YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO PLAY THE GAME, YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A FANBOY."

"And now for some gamer philosophy starring the adorkable Tim Drake." Stephanie said with a delightful smirk playing on her lips. Only Cass, and the Tamararian Amazon that was Koriand'r, smiled at her joke, Kory being somewhat infatuated by the game up until this point.

"Steeeeeeeeph." Tim whined.

"What? And by the way there's nothing wrong with being a fanboy…" she turned to whisper in Tim's ear, "But oh my God you're right, they don't know what the hell they're doing." Tim grabbed his girlfriend to hug her and the two started giggling like little fangirls holding each other. Cass shrugged her shoulders again and Bruce shook his head. While all this was going on, Artemis kept blowing air into her husband's ear, purely out of boredom.

"WOMAN CAN'T YOU SEE I'M TRYING TO WIN A GAME, STOP TRYING TO SEDUCE ME."

"DAD!" Ella cried out in embarrassment. With everyone distracted, Damian decided to take this opportunity to get Ella's attention. She'd hardly paid him any mind all night! Damian edged closer to her, brushing the hair hanging on the side of her shoulder away as he whispered into her ear "I have a present for you, Flash Girl."

Ella turned to look at him with a sprinkle of skepticism in her eyes she replied, "What's going on replacement?" Damian cringed at her petname for him. He hated being in Dick's shadow; he was his own person, in his own right…a person hopelessly in love with the girl before him. All night he'd watch her play with her black dress that hugged her curves ever so kindly. He'd watch her laugh and smile as any noise that came from her lips was music to his ears. Every little twinkle in her eye made him melt, and he was an assassin, born and bred to murder…but here he was falling over this girl.

"Follow me." He grabbed her hand, pulling her outside, hopping over Jason who was playing with his guns on the ground as he had grown bored of all the screaming. Stephanie caught sight of the two, nudging Tim to point them out; he stuck out his tongue for he did not care for Damian. Steph rolled her eyes and made the same gesture to Cass who nodded approvingly. Artemis, who had never taken her eyes off of her daughter, despite her persistent teasing of her husband, was smiling to herself and thinking maybe she'll finally come out of denial

"ARTEMIS FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, DON'T YOU ALREADY GET ENOUGH OF ME EVERY NIGHT." Wally screamed. Wally's parents, uncle, aunt and the rest of the Speedster family shook their heads. Lian chimed in with a mischievous grin, "Uncle Wally is getting some!"

"Really Lian, really." Roy said rubbing his eyes, his daughter was certainly a handful, and her words gave him cause to worry over her actions in college. Mar'I high fived her and the two started to dance around the living room chanting some pop song. Conner started hitting the table to give them a beat to dance to and M'gann played with the lights to center on the girls.

"EVERYONE SHUT IT." Dick shouted. Kory smacked her husband and he shrunk back into his seat, fearful of getting hit once more.

"You are all too loud." Kaldur said with Donna at his side laughing at the whole commotion. Donna patted Kaldur's head and sighed, this family…really.

….

"Ok Damian, what's my present?" Ella said rather impatiently, she was eager to get back to the party, if only to see Dick's perfectly symmetrical face.

"Well before I give you your gift…I wanted to talk to you."

"Since when did you become the sentimental type, you sound like a girl." Ella said resting her head against a wall. Damian's face started to turn red, she looked so pretty this way…it was distracting him.

"Um…no. I'm not. Forget it. Here." Damian picked up the box he'd been carrying around with him all night, a light blue box with holes in it. He had repeatedly left with it smelling like some type of animal food each time, only to return with the box still closed.

"What's that?" Ella said with genuine interest.

"Open it…" Damian said handing her the box. Ella slide down to the ground and stretched her arms out to the gift, she could hear bells in side and paused to listen, shortly after she opened the box, she found a little black fur ball. She picked it up and held it in her two hands staring at the little creature, it looked up at her with gorgeous gold eyes and lifted its nose to her face.

"Damian…it's a kitten!" Ella touched her nose of the adorable feline before her. Damian smiled and shrugged his shoulders for no other reason than the fact that he was at a loss for words. The kitten was the gesture of his feelings, after all it was kittens that brought the two together. Dick had always teased him for his love of these creatures and it was Ella who defended him. Normally, he hated the idea of it; he hated being rescued, let alone by a female. But Ella had softened him significantly and honestly, he didn't mind her effect on him one bit.

"Damian, what's the kitty's name?" Ella said looking up at him with wide eyes that had Damian melting all over again.

"I don't know…uh…well it's a boy so name it whatever you want." He said as he sat down next to her, feeling a sudden rush of heat now that he was so close to her, their arms touching.

"A boy? I'll name him Dick then!" She said pulling the kitten close to her. Damian rolled his eyes and sighed. He had put up with her love with his older brother their entire relationship and he did it because he loved her, but she didn't seem to understand this…and enough was enough.

"Ella, what about me?" He said with his fists clenched.

"What about you D?" She said as she ran her finger over the kitten's torso, the kitten in return purred with pleasure.

"I mean I'm your boyfriend Ella! You treat me like shi-"

"Hey no foul language in front of the baby!" She said smirking at Damian, she loved it when he got angry, she couldn't explain why but whenever he huffed and puffed his chest stuck out, his abs would line out brilliantly and that made her feel a little hot and bothered.

"You're a pain in the ass."

"Yea, but you find me adorable." She said leaning on him now. Damian shook her off, he wasn't too happy with her, he wanted to say what he felt even though the idea of talking about one's feelings made his skin crawl. That's what Tim always did with Stephanie; Damian mentally stuck out his tongue at the fluffy couple.

"Damian, are you really mad?" She said placing the kitten on her lap. Damian only let out a "tt" from his lips and turned away from her. Perhaps, he thought, it's better to just break things off now…it couldn't possibly hurt that much to…cut ties with someone you love…he rolled his eyes at the notion of love. He had been a fool! Or so he thought.

"Damian!" He snapped his head back to face her.

"Oh shut-up! You're so damn whiny." Ella wasn't fazed by his remarks; she only smirked again and placed her arms around the boy.

"Tell me to shut-up again." She said with her face ever so close to his that he found himself losing his resolve to get up and leave, to break-up with her and be done with this nuisance.

"Shut-up." He whispered.

"And if I don't, what are you going to do?" She said as she rested her forehead on his. She liked playing games with him but only him. With every other boy in her life it was all about being confrontational as her mother had taught her, and as Stephanie encouraged her to do. But Damian was different, he was a boy she wanted to make things last with for some reason…to lengthen the conversation…and maybe…just maybe hold on to…

"If you don't, I'll have to make you." He said with his eyes half-closed; with what he could see, he stared at her lips and only her lips.

"And how will you do that?" She said with her own lips touching his lightly. He then proceeded to push his lips to hers with as much fire as his anger allowed. She began to fall back into the grass. In doing so, the kitten jumped from her lap and scurried off to chase a butterfly somewhere in the yard.

Meanwhile, the two young lovers wrapped their arms around one another, moving with each other's bodies carefully, or at least Ella was. Damian was more eager to devour the girl but she was giggling throughout the process. Her laughter annoyed him and so he broke free from her grip and flopped to the other side of her.

"Damn you Ella." He practically spat out the words.

"Oh you like it." She said turning on her side and placing her hand on his torso.

"Do you love me Ella?" he asked with his face toward the sky. He thought it best to say the words outright rather than play around for the next hour. He had forgotten the weakness such a question entailed, at the moment he didn't care.

"Do you love me Damian?" she countered. Damian turned to look at her and with the most serious eyes he answered, "Ella, you annoy the hell out of me. Sometimes I want to stab you and be done with it."

"How sweet." Ella said with her classic seductive voice, not surprised at all by Damian's violent answer.

"I'm not finished. While there are times I think it'd be better to just kill you off, I can't because I like you too much. I can't get you out of my head. Every time I see the color yellow I get all…flustered, you know, cause of your hair."

"Poetic." Ella mused.

"Shut-up, I'm talking."

"Go on."

"Every time I hear that Coldplay you always listen to, I think of you and every time I see a cake I hear you jumping up and down asking for some. Which is really unbecoming of a lady."

"Indeed."

"And every time I see a kitten…I saw that kitten, and I thought of you Ella. My Ella, you. Hell, there's so many things wrong with me."

"That last bit was random but alright Damian." He turned away from her and rested his head on the ground, staring up at the clouds. He saw them forming all sorts of shapes, stupid shapes like hearts and the like. It angered him at first and then…he liked them…he liked the shapes above him and started laughing hysterically like a madman.

"I love you Ella. I love you so much I don't know what to do with myself. I'm at the point where I'd rather put up with all your crap than walk away, even if it hurts. And I've been stabbed Ella, you hurt me more than a stab wound to the heart." He was still laughing as he said it. The expression on his face took Ella aback. She wasn't expecting it. Despite his laughter, he seemed, sincere although he was sincere in everything he had just said…she was just…ignorant towards it? Up until now…now she was seeing something different and she liked it. Maybe…maybe her feelings for him were more than she had anticipated…maybe her need to keep him with her, the need to see him, to hear him rant and blab on about his rap and classical music…all his ignorant comments about people…it annoyed her but she liked it….and maybe…maybe she loved it?

"I love you too Damian." She let the words slip from her mouth but she didn't care. She realized…she meant it.

"Is that so?" Damian said as he grabbed her and pulled her over him, kissing her again with his classic ferocity. They continued to do this under the stars for quite some time, breathing as one with only the sound of a purr in the wind between them. That is until Wally stepped out…

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING WITH MY DAUGHTER YOU SON OF A BIT-"

Artemis was quick on the scene, but rather than calming Wally down she only laughed. The others soon followed. Stephanie cheered the two on as they were still in quite a comprising position, with red faces of course. Wally rushed up to attack but Dick grabbed him and shook his head.

"LET ME GO DICK, I'M GOING TO KILL HIM."

"GET EM ELLA." Lian and Mar'i cheered.

"I hate you." Damian whispered to Ella as they got up of the ground.

"It takes two to tango." She said nudging him in the rib.