A/N: Thank you all so much for the lovely reviews and for continuing to follow this fanfic! I'm really enjoying writing this, and I hope you like reading it as well.

For someone who claims he's going to attack him, Damian's doing a pretty good job of avoiding him.

Dick tries multiple times over the course of the next week to talk to Damian, going out of his way to "accidentally" run into him, but he's always shot down—shot down hard—before he can get half a dozen words out. He won't deny it hurts to hear those words—I hate you, go away, leave me alone—from Damian's mouth, but he doesn't want to mess this up by pushing too hard. He knows he hurt Damian, so he's trying to cut him some slack. He's trying to give Damian some space until he calms down.

That doesn't help much when Damian's being so stubborn it puts Bruce to shame. Like father, like son.

He's being outright ignored, and he's sick of it.

He knows he hurt Damian. He knows he was stupid to leave him like that. He knows he deserves this, to some extent.

But he's trying, and he's not even being given a chance.

Tim comes by one day and he's able to relax a little as they make small talk over microwave popcorn and an old movie.

And then Tim mentions his fight with Damian in the cave and it's so obvious that he's hurting, no matter how well he hides it, that Dick throws his arms around his little brother and refuses to let go.

Family doesn't hurt family. This has to stop.

He spends the rest of the day with Tim, and then decides to give himself a day to cool his head before he goes to talk to Damian about it. Someone has to set him straight.

But before that can happen, he hears about Jason through Bruce, who caught Damian returning home with Jason's helmet and interrogated him about what happened.

While being ignored has been maddening, it's what Damian did to Tim and Jason that finally makes him snap.

Damian's not "defeating" them, he's just hurting them. Bringing up parts of their pasts they don't particularly want to be reminded of, never mind by an unsympathetic ten-year-old ex-assassin.

If bringing up Tim's painful memories and insecurities hadn't been enough, he had put a crowbar in Jason's bed. That was a topic no one ever brought up around Jason; even if Dick wasn't on the best terms with him, he wouldn't throw that in his face. That was just cruel.

Enough. This is getting out of hand.

Hurt me if you want, but don't bring them into this.

Dick is near-furious when he storms into the Batcave and shoots Bruce a look he wouldn't have dared given him as a child. "Let me talk to him. Alone."

Bruce doesn't even pause before rising from his seat at the computer, closing files, and going upstairs. Something about his body language and the slight twitch of his lips tells Dick he knew this was coming.

Dick slowly counts to ten as Bruce's figure disappears, then turns to Damian, who's leaning against the wall. "Sit down."

"What, no 'good morning'?" he asks sarcastically, not bothering to move.

"Sit down."

Damian shoots him a strange look, not used to this tone of voice and complete lack of his usual humor. He slowly sits in Bruce's vacant chair.

"Thank you." He takes a deep breath. "Now would you mind telling me why you're attacking members of the family?"

"Didn't you hear me the first time?"

"Don't push me. You're going way too far with this."

"Did Drake go running to you because I hurt his feelings?"

"Leave Tim out of this! And while you're at it, leave Jason out of this too. You have a problem with me, fine. Don't take it out on them." It's taking all his effort not to start shouting.

"Oh, of course. You're okay with everything unless I bring people you actually care about into this. I'm sure Drake and Todd will appreciate the sentiment."

Dick leans down, hands on either side of the chair, his shadow looming over the smaller boy. "In case you hadn't noticed, I care about you too, Damian."

"Oh, right, I must have forgotten when you left me here!"

"I apologized, Damian! I apologized a dozen times, but you never let me explain!" Both their voices are rising now, despite their close proximity.

"What is there to explain? You lied!"

"I was trying to do the right thing!"

"Well, good job! That's obviously worked out so well for you!"

"Would you stop with the snarky comments for once and listen to me? I'm sick of being pushed away! I'm just trying to fix things!"

"I'm not something to be fixed, Grayson!"

"That's not what I said! I want to be...I want you to trust me again!"

"That's not happening, and you're a fool for trying. Leave me alone."

"No! Stop being selfish! You think I haven't missed you? You think I don't regret the way I left? I do!"

"But you don't regret leaving."

Dick's fists clench tightly. "You're going to make this impossible, aren't you?"

Damian locks gazes with him, not wavering.

"Fine. Just leave the others out of it. That was uncalled for." He pushes himself upright and starts to leave.

"Stop trying to act like you're my father, Grayson."

His eyes harden. "I'm trying to act like your brother, Damian. And I'm not going to give up. See you around."