Author's Note: Stories (both oral and written) play a big part in this fic. I grew up with my grandfather reading to me every day, and I imagine that Talia is very well versed in all kinds of literature. Many Middle-Eastern cultures also have a long oral tradition. As seen in Batman and Robin #23, Jason seems to like to read, but here he really struggles with it. I'll definitely be addressing that more in the story. Enjoy and please review and happy upcoming new year!

Jason looked ecstatic.

Bruce was honestly not sure if he'd seen the boy so happy in all these months. He'd opted to pick him up from school instead of Alfred. Talia looked like she might need some space, and he figured he owed it to the boy to spend some quality time together considering the bomb that he would be dropping on him soon enough. There was no way that Jason was going to take that one well.

But at the moment he was running to the car with a huge smile on his face. When he saw that it was Bruce rather than Alfred, it only widened. He jumped into the front seat, instantly unzipped his backpack and began rummaging through it. Bruce waited, curious, until the boy pulled out a few stapled sheets of paper and proudly handed the stack to him.

"What's this?" He feigned surprise even though he had a good idea already.

"My English lit essay!" The boy was almost breathless with excitement. He poked the red letter at the top. "See?"

"B+," Bruce read and gave him a glance of mock suspicion. "You sure this is yours?"

"Course it's mine!" Jason rolled his eyes, sulking, but only a little. "The teacher called me in later. He didn't believe I wrote it by myself either, but then I explained it. He said if I kept it up and tried to use more different words I might even get an A next time!"

"That's great." Bruce smiled and handed the paper back to him. "I'll read it over the weekend. Is this the one you and Talia were talking about?" The boy nodded. "Show it to her when we get home. She'll be very happy for you."

"Mhmm." He stuffed the essay back into his backpack and pulled on the seatbelt. "Think she read To Kill a Mocking Bird? It's the next one we got."

"Probably." He pulled out into traffic. "She likes to read, and that's a classic. It's one of my favorites, actually."

"Really?" Jason looked at him with genuine interest. "What's it about?"

He thought about how to best explain it. "It's about... a man's quest for justice in a society that's not necessarily interested in it. About doing what's right and teaching the next generation to do the same."

"So... it's about you."

"No," Bruce smiled sardonically. "Atticus Finch, the narrator's father, is a lawyer. He works within the system, not around it."

"Yeah, well, the system sucks."

He couldn't argue with that, especially not with Jason, who up till only recently had been truly discarded and overlooked by the very system that was supposed to be in place to protect children like him. The boy had a right to feel resentment, but Bruce was determined that it would not be the only thing in his life, that it wouldn't consume him.

"Sometimes," he admitted. "But the point Harper Lee tried to make is that there can be good people in very bad situations, and that they can stay good. Come talk to me when you start reading it. I'd like to hear what you think."

"Okay." He seemed happy enough with that response then looked up at him. "Is... umm... is Talia not sticking around? I know she said she was leaving at the end of the week, but you guys looked kind of... together."

They stopped at a light. For the countless time in the week, Bruce found himself very careful with his words. "We'll talk about it today or tomorrow. I think she wants to stay, but it's... it's complicated, Jason."

"So what else is new?"

Sometimes Bruce forgot that Jason was no ordinary child. At times it was difficult to tell when to treat him like any other twelve-year-old and when to talk to him as an adult. There were things he still had to wait on, but by the same token he had to know what the boy thought on the matter. Blending this family was not going to be easy.

"Do you want her to stay?" he asked.

The child shrugged a shoulder. "I wouldn't mind, I guess. It's not like with those other people you have to have around sometimes. She knows everything, so you don't have to play that stupid clueless-dumb-guy role. And she doesn't treat me like a charity case. I know that's what all the snobby rich people think."

Damn it! He'd been trying to keep Jason out of the spot light, but it seemed like that hadn't completely worked. There was little doubt in his mind where the wind was blowing from. He might not have had any parties in Wayne Manor since he took Jason in, but it seemed that even in a public school the boy could not help but attract some attention.

"I don't care about all that stuff," Jason put in as if reading his mind. "Totally ignoring it. But it's... you know... nice not to be treated like a zoo animal."

He wanted to tell him that it wasn't fine no matter what, offer to talk to someone at school, but as fiercely private and independent as he was, Jason was sure to balk at the suggestion. A born performer, Dick had been good at playing the role of air-headed, bored rich kid, but Jason didn't even try to do that which was just as well. No matter how much he tried to hide it, the boy wore his emotions on his sleeve most of the time.

"We'll talk about it soon," the man repeated. "I'd like for her to stay, too."

Jason snorted. "I bet."

Bruce was about to tell him that his love life was not up for discussion, then realized that they were sort of discussing it, then was about to rephrase that it was his sex life that was not up for discussion, but that was a topic he really didn't want to go into with the boy. So Bruce said nothing. He only felt a little like a coward for it.

Though he tried not to think about it, Bruce was nevertheless relieved that Talia was still at the manner when they returned. She emerged from the living room when the door closed behind them, and he noted that her first smile was not for him but Jason and it only got bigger when he showed her the paper.

"That is fantastic." There was true pride in her eyes. "Very well done, Jason."

Bruce couldn't help but feel that those should have been his first words too, instead of however playfully asking if the paper was really his. Jokes like that would have been perfectly fine with Dick, but Jason was understandably a shade more sensitive. But all that was completely secondary to Jason's obvious happiness at the praise in Talia's voice. He had known her for less than a week and already her opinion meant something to this boy who was usually so guarded. When their eyes met, Bruce offered her a small, grateful smile.

It could be like this, his eyes spoke silently.

All he got in return was a look of resigned sadness.

It was Talia who told him to go back out on patrol. One night off was fine, but two and she saw him glancing at the clock when he thought she wasn't looking.

"Go," she'd said a few hours after dinner. "This changes nothing as far as you and the city are concerned. I will not have you pretend otherwise. Do not concern yourself; I will still be here in the morning."

He had that guilty look then, like he hadn't realized he'd been so obvious about his anxiety that she might just run away after learning that he'd known for most of the week. Talia tried not to feel angry about it – she had no right to that anger – but it was hard not to. Still when it came time to rest, after he had departed, she had chosen his empty bed as opposed to any of the other numerous guest rooms. It might have been unseemly considering the question that still lay between them, but Talia was honestly too tired to care.

In the quiet of the large room, the bed and sheets were a comfort that let her at least pretend he was there beside her. She buried her face in the pillow that smelled like him, slightly musky and masculine. It lulled her into a surprisingly somewhat restful sleep. With the end of Sunday deadline approaching, Talia knew she still had to decide what to do... but that would be later.

She was a little surprised that when she awoke well before dawn it wasn't due to any discomfort, just restlessness. Lying in bed for a few minutes more, Talia absently touched her lower abdomen, feeling both amused and annoyed.

"You torment me when it was just the two of us," she said to her unborn child, "but as soon as your father asks, you deign to spare me. Should I expect the same treatment after your birth?"

It hit her at that moment: why it was so very different now that he knew. There was a moment of gut reaction to want to curl in on herself and hide, but instead Talia felt... relieved, even a little hopeful. She would tell him everything tomorrow, she decided. Her reasons, her hopes... everything. Then they would decide what was best.

Together.

Feeling the unburdened for the first time in two months and still a bit restless, Talia threw aside the sheets, and reached for one of the silk robes she'd brought with her after the last trip to the loft. The manor outside the master bedroom was dark and empty, and she was contemplating going down to the kitchen for a glass of water or milk, when a sound from Bruce's study caught her attention. It was still a bit early for him to be back from patrol, but knowing that one of the entrances to the cave, she decided to check.

What she found was not Bruce but Jason sitting on the floor with his back against the large mahogany desk. His hands hung from his slightly bent knees, and he stared at the grandfather clock that Talia knew to be the doorway, the passage out of Bruce Wayne's world and into Batman's. When he heard her enter, the boy looked up, not so much startled as just tired.

"What are you doing awake, child?" She knelt by him.

Jason rubbed his eyes with the back of his pajama sleeve. "Waiting."

Talia knew the feeling all-too well. "Would you care for some company?"

He shrugged, and she took that as confirmation, sitting on the floor opposite of him with her own back against the book shelf next to the clock. Aside from the initial acknowledgment, the boy did not really look at her. Actually, he didn't seem too awake. She looked around the rest of the room.

"Well, this is a bit cliché." Jason did glance up at her questioningly then. "The women and children waiting for the men to return from war. Cliché."

Jason picked at the carpet. "I should be out there with him."

The idea made Talia uneasy at best, but instead she said, "Soon enough. Do not be in such a hurry to plunge into the world of violence."

The look he gave her reminded Talia of a few she'd received from her father or one of her teachers when she was very young and had said something foolish. When this boy looked at her like that, it was as if she was the child. She lowered her eyes first.

"My apologies, Jason."

"He told you about me, didn't he?" It wasn't so much an accusation as a simple checking of the facts. "Where he got me from, I mean."

"Yes." Talia tried not to look at him with the pity she knew would be unwanted. "I meant to say that simply because you have already witnessed horrors does not mean you should be in a hurry to return to that world. However capable you think you are – and I have no doubt you will be even more so – you are still very young."

"I want to help. People out there in the East End... other kids who weren't lucky like me and..." He pulled his knees to his chested and tilted his head to rest his left cheek against them. "If I was with him, Bruce would have someone to watch his back. What if something happens and he's all by himself out there?"

"Trust in him," Talia replied to assure him as much as herself. She didn't want to think of the possibility. "He has been doing this for a long time. Before you and before Richard Grayson."

"Oh," Jason said sourly. "Him."

Feeling that this was a subject best left to Bruce's discretion, Talia changed the topic. "Would you like to hear a story? About one man's – a hero's – will to return home after a war."

"What's will got to do with anything?" Jason snorted. "I'm sure everyone who died would much rather be home, too."

"Will is everything." Those were her father's words. "It can overcome any obstacle, even death. Shall I tell?" Jason nodded, and Talia took a breath, organizing her thoughts. "You know of Princess Diana of Themyscira? Wonder Woman." Another nod. "This particular tale comes not from my land but hers. It was written almost three millennia ago by the Greek poet, Homer. His two greatest works are the Iliad and the Odyssey of which I will tell you the latter. The tale of the cunning king and warrior Odysseus goes as such..."

About an hour later, somewhere between Scylla and Charybdis, Jason began to doze in earnest despite half-hearted protests for her to continue. Talia smiled, assuring him that she would later, and tried to convince the boy to go back to bed. That much proved useless, but she did manage to get him to move to the sofa where sleep finally took him for good.

Ironically, the grandfather clock slid aside only moments later. Still standing over the couch, she didn't turn but allowed the ghost of a smile to touch her lips.

"He wanted to wait for you."

"He often does." Dressed in a loose shirt and sweatpants, Bruce came around and touched the sleeping child's dark hair. "Usually he makes it back to his room before I come up. I think he's embarrassed."

"Why?" She asked earnestly.

Bruce shrugged. "Touch guy mentality. He thinks it makes him look… weak."

"He is a child and he worries his father may not come home one night. He needs you no matter what he admits."

She didn't point out that there was no age at which that was no longer true. As much as it applied to both of them as the children of either murdered or sometimes distant parents, it could also just as easily apply in reverse to what was to come. Bruce must have realized this, but he didn't call her out on it. Instead he bent and lifted Jason into his arms. It was not lost on Talia just how painfully small he was for his age. Bruce easily supported him in one arm, resting the other on his back. The boy shifted a little in sleep finally resting his head against the man's shoulder.

"Smells like Kevlar," he murmured without really waking.

Talia smiled. "It does."

Bruce chuckled. "I get the hint. I'll shower."

He just began moving to the door when she reached out and touched his arm lightly. He turned. Talia took a breath. There was no going back now.

"I am ready to talk."

"Alright." He nodded slowly never breaking eye contact with her. If he was surprised, he didn't show it. "Let me put him to bed and we'll talk."