A/N: hey guys :) i am sorry for the delay, i was out of the country for two weeks and had no w-lan :(
Also, i was sick for a week.
Anyway :) enjoy the second paaart :D


Damian woke up, the moment he heard the sound of steps in front of his door.
Eyes closed and lying still, he wondered who or what could be on the other side, and when the knob was turned and the door was swinging open slowly, Damian prepared to defend himself by reaching for the knife that was hidden under one of his countless pillows.

"Damian… are you asleep?"

Barely managing to hold back an annoyed sigh, Damian opened his eyes but kept his back turned to the door.

"Yes, Wilkes, I am asleep."

"Oh" came the apologetic response

"Sorry, then…"

Damian had hoped Colin would leave after realising that he had no intention of telling horror stories or building a fort in the middle of the night or doing any of his childish ideas…

But even after a minute, Colin stood in the door, now awkwardly stepping from one to the other foot, making annoying sounds.

Damian turned around with a groan.

"What is it Wilkes?!"

The light from the hallway, which shone in through the open door, revealed a nervous and terrified Colin dressed in a shirt and his boxers, desperately pressing a teddy bear to his chest.

"I…"

He didn't finish, but began to study his naked feet.
Damian was worried, he really was, but on the other side he had no idea how to help Colin.
Being well aware of Colin's fear of darkness and his other numerous phobias and anxiety problems, he couldn't help but feel helpless when it came to comfort the other boy.
All he knew was that one time, when he had been afraid and felt terrible, he had snuck into Grayson's bed.
That had helped him…

"Wil… Colin" Damian said and pulled up the covers and averting his eyes, embarrassed to the bone.

For a moment Colin froze, taken aback by the inviting gesture, but eventually he smiled and turned to close the door.
But when his fingers touched the wood, he realized that as soon as the door would close, it would be completely dark inside…
He gulped audibly and closed his eyes, trying to calm his shaking fingers, when suddenly a light flickered on behind him.

Looking over his shoulder, he saw Damian setting down a small flashlight on the nightstand.
Shooting him a wry smile, Colin closed the door and hurried to get under the cover, Damian kept holding up.

The bed was huge, but still Colin felt safer when Damian was lying next to him, and he fell asleep instantly, still holding his beloved teddy bear.

A bit confused, but happy to have helped, Damian shook his head smiling and decided to try and get some sleep himself, which was not an easy thing to do since his back was still badly burned…


The next morning, Dick witnessed something terribly adorable and he had to hold back his grin, or it would have split his skull…
Colin had somehow decided that Damian was just as suitable for a teddy bear as the old plush bear in his arms, and was lying on his side,
arms around Damian and his head snuggled into the black hair,
while Damian was completely knocked out and breathing calmly, an innocent look on his face.

Dick's fingers were itching to reach for the phone and take a picture of it, but he was sure that Damian would kill if he ever found out about its existence…

As if he had sensed Dick's thoughts, Damian ripped open his eyes and stared up at him in confusion.
His eyes darted around and he noticed the arms of the still sleeping boy around him, and when his face turned from confusion to embarrassment and finally to anger in a second,
Dick couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"Shut it Grayson!" Damian yelled, shoving Colin off him and waking him in the process.

Yawning and rubbing his eyes a bit confused, Colin rolled over and sat up slowly.

"What's wro-" he couldn't finish his sentence when something pushed past him and he saw the laughing Dick Grayson being wrestled to the ground.

Damian had taken Dick by surprise and was now sitting on his chest, gripping and violently shaking his collar,
desperate to stop the laughing noises that came out of that jerk's mouth.
But Dick wouldn't stop and pulled a dirty trick to get the boy off of him.
He slapped his back with both hands… hard.

Damian yelped and let go, when Dick gently pushed him off and got up.
While Dick had to stop laughing, Damian glared at him and bit down on his lip, trying to ignore the stinging on his back.

"Is breakfast ready?" Colin asked, voice heavy with drowsiness, and reminded the other two that Colin was still there.

"Yeah" Dick said, chuckling still.

"That's what I came here for actually."


Down in the dining room, Bruce was reading the newspaper, amused by the news in metropolis and the trouble his friend Clark had to deal with.

The whole morning had been really quiet and to Bruce's liking,
but as soon as Dick entered the dining room, followed by Damian and Colin, it was as if a sound bomb had been dropped on the house.
Damian was bickering and complaining about Dick, while said man just laughed and returned some of the friendly insults loudly.

And as soon as Tim entered, the chaos was complete.
Insults and threats were thrown back and forth while occasionally either Dick or Colin tried to calm the situation, causing even more noise…

Bruce sighed and set down his newspaper.

"Boys"

No reaction.

"Boys!"

Still no reaction, only a flying sausage hitting Tim's nose.

"BOYS!" Bruce shouted, silencing all of them instantly.

Sighing annoyed, he studied the scene.
Dick was standing between Damian and Tim, both armed with forks and a bit of sauce dripping from Tim's nose, and Colin pulling at Damian's arm.

"Sit down and eat peacefully" Bruce growled, his voice threatening but efficient.

All the boys sat down and started filling their plates with the dishes Alfred had prepared, and eventually conversations were starting among them.
Tim would discuss his plans for the day with Dick, while Colin desperately tried to talk Damian into building a fort with him.
Bruce smiled at the thought and remembered Dick doing the same when he had been younger.
Alfred and Bruce had often been forced to play tiny little wars with the boy and even if Bruce would never admit it openly, he had always enjoyed these moments, and sometimes missed them even now.
After Dick, there weren't many opportunities to play with the children.
Jason loved to play as well, but Bruce decided not to go there…

Damian was now in the right age to play, maybe a bit late, but he had never experienced a real childhood anyway.
A bit concerned, Bruce watched his son smiling slightly while Dick was telling a joke that made the others burst into laughter.

Even though Damian tried hard, Bruce knew that the boy hadn't understood a thing Dick was joking about.
He smiled and acted as if, but from the way his eyes kept searching for Dick's desperately, Bruce saw that he was insecure and searched for someone that could assure him…
And that person wasn't him.

It wasn't as if Bruce blamed Damian for that, or Dick for that matter, but it still hurt a bit.
Now that Bruce had decided to act a father, Dick had been watching every interaction between them like an overprotective hen, pulling Damian away as soon as he saw a hint of an error on Bruce's side.
But because of that, Bruce couldn't get close to Damian, they had to collide and fight before making up to get to know each other…
Bruce was ripped out of his thoughts, when Alfred turned on the lights.

"Alfred, why did you turn on the lights?" he asked, giving the butler a confused look.

"Didn't you notice, sir? There's a storm going on outside, and it was rather dark in here."

And really, when Bruce looked outside, he saw dark clouds and he could hear the rain, which he hadn't noticed while he had been lost in thoughts.
Bruce nodded and began to eat his now cold eggs.
Silence came over the group, until Dick set down his fork and he cleared his throat.

"So, now I know for a fact that someone wants to build a fort, and since the weather is horrible, how about a little fort-war?"

Colin instantly threw his arms up and agreed, while both Tim and Damian buried their faces in their hands, sighing annoyed.

"Aw, come on guys, it will be fun!"

More annoyed groaning.

"Yeah, I think it will be fun" Bruce said smiling, when all eyes fell upon him, genuinely surprised.

"What?" he asked, chuckling at their surprised faces.

"You will play too?" Dick tried to hide his confusion, but failed miserably.

"Why not?"

A little pause followed before Tim decided to speak up.

"Okay, since Dick won't stop harassing us all with the idea anyway, we'd better get it over with. Two groups? "

Everyone except for Damian agreed and Dick got up to stand behind Colin and Damian.

"Team win will be Colin, Dami and me" he said, grinning widely.

"Nope" Tim interfered "The boys must be split up, everyone gets a midget in their group and I call dibs on Colin."

"Oh no, you won't" Dick threatened and glared at Tim, a challenging smile on his lips.

While the two of them kept fighting over the teams, Damian sighed and turned his head, trying to ignore the stupid exchange of threats and taunts that flew over his head.
To his surprise, he saw his father, smiling amused and leaning back in his chair.
After about a second, Bruce noticed Damian staring at him with a curious look.

He smiled and shrugged as if to apologize for his older sons' behaviour, and Damian returned the smile.

"Okay, if you want the midgets, I will take Bruce!" Tim snapped at Dick.

"Oh no, believe me, you don't want him! He won't let you do anything at all, besides getting kidnapped by the other team maybe!"

Bruce sighed and got up.

"Boys, if you can't decide and if neither of you wants me in your team, throwing away every chance of winning at the same time, then I will decide."

He pointed at Tim.

"You will be leader of team red. Dick and Colin will be in your team. Team black will be leaded by Damian, while Alfred and I will support him."

"What?!" Tim, Dick, Alfred and Damian asked at the same time, but only Damian seemed to be happy about it.

"No questions, no disagreeing, choose a room and get started with building boys, all out war starts in an hour."


"Dick! Help us damn it! This stuff is pretty heavy!" Tim snapped, trying to keep the wall built from chairs and what looked like a huge dresser from collapsing.

Colin tried to help him, but was too short to actually help.
Frustrated, he sighed and decided that abuse would be a lot better at doing this job.
He transformed, ripping apart his shirt and startling Tim enough to make him stumble and fall over a discarded chair.
Cursing, Tim got up and slid inside the fort through an almost invisible entrance, where Dick was sitting, pouting.

"What's wrong? It's as if you don't enjoy building forts all of a sudden."

Dick sighed and leaned back against the wall.

"First of all, I wanted to play against you, you have always been a challenge to beat at this" he said smiling
"And secondly, I don't think Damian is having a good time over there, I mean Bruce is in his team, and you know how the two of them get along…"

Tim shrugged.

"When it comes to missions, they are professional, well, most of the time. And on top of that, why aren't you giving Bruce a chance? I think he's trying hard."

"I think he's messed up too many times. The boy is already pretty screwed up, and Bruce isn't helping.
You know how hard it was for us to earn his trust, do you really think Damian will ever be acknowledged by him? Because I don't".

"Yeah, well, I don't know. You know both of them better than I do, but I think that you aren't fair either.
You keep shielding Damian from everyone and everything, when all he needs is to be on his own from time to time."

Dick glared at him.

"He was raised to be an emotionless killer machine, do you really think what he needs is being alone?"

"I never said alone. I think that he needs to achieve something on his own.
What I am telling you now is stuff I have been thinking about, it can all be complete BS, but it seems reasonable to me.
You said he was raised to be emotionless, right?
But to me he seems like the most emotional person ever!
He gets angry and frustrated for no reason, laughs and jokes, is very hotheaded and whatnot.
He has lots of emotions building up constantly, so I think he doesn't need to be protected and shielded all the time.
He needs to find something for himself.
He has always been guarded and controlled, whether it was Talia, father, you his stupid vision of being heir to the batman or whatever.
He has never lived a life for himself, only for others, so maybe he needs to find a place and reason on his own."

Impressed and a bit taken aback by the mass of thoughts Tim was pouring on him, Dick thought that maybe he was right.

"I mean it's great to have a family backing you up, but sometimes you need to be on your own and astray to find your way back home, you know?" Tim said, ending his little rant and smiling wryly.

"That had nothing to do with Damian, right?"

"Yes it did, it was just inspired from personal experience."

Dick smiled and gently put an arm around his little brother.

"You know, you can be a great brother for Damian, a pity that he doesn't realize it."


Damian leaned back against the wall yawning and propping his feet up in the unusually big and well-built fort.

"When will they start? It's been ages since we started."

"Exactly thirty minutes, Master Damian."

"You really think our defences are good enough Alfred?" Bruce asked checking the canons he had built using pillows, rolled up yoga mats and a bit of explosive powder.

They'd probably backfire, but Bruce had had fun to build them.

Alfred didn't even answer, knowing that for emergencies, Damian and Bruce had even installed an electric defence grid…

"I will go and get some rations for the warriors" Alfred said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice, before leaving the fort.

"Do you think he'll return?" Damian asked

Smiling, Bruce shook his head.

"I seriously doubt it."

Chuckling, Damian shrugged.

When silence took over again, the atmosphere turned a bit awkward and Damian nervously started fidgeting with his fingers.
He wanted to ask his father something, but he didn't know how to ask without looking like an insecure wimp.

"Fa-"

"Da-"

Both started at the same time, and Bruce laughed a bit confused.

"You first, Damian."

"No, I, uh…" Damian searched for words and realized that he had none that he could use "I forgot what I wanted to say."

"Okay, then I will go first. Are you okay Damian? I mean, have you told anyone what's been bugging you?"

Damian shook his head.

"Damian, you know what we have agreed on."

"And you just broke the agreement" Damian snapped "You said you'd leave me alone with that!"

"Okay, I will stop now, okay? I am just worried" Bruce admitted, hoping to calm Damian a bit.

Sighing, Damian nodded and tried to smile a bit.

"I am fine, father. But…" Damian began to tug at his shirt a bit, nervous to ask "…why did you choose me? I mean as leader and in your team?
I was sure you'd want to be on Drake's team."

When Damian felt a hand on his head, he almost jumped, but he held his breath the moment he saw his father smiling at him.
It was strange, but whenever his father was like this, caring and comforting, Damian was afraid to ruin the moment by even breathing.

"I wanted to team up with you, because we never seem to spend time outside of patrol and I know that you are a great leader."

A bit flustered, Damian nodded and averted his eyes, not daring to move away from his father.
He knew that the relationship between him and his father would never be as close as it was with Dick, but it was something special and he sincerely enjoyed moments like this.

When he opened his mouth to say something, his ears noticed a very faint noise outside in the hallway.
His father had heard it too and both were now in battle mode, prepared to take down anyone that would dare to enter their territory.

Bruce went from open to completely calm and calculating while a smug and challenging grin spread on Damian's face.
They exchanged a knowing look before jumping into the now open battle.


After four hours of fighting, attempted and failed peace negotiations, betrayal and tragedy, the guys were seriously exhausted and rested on the remains of their destroyed forts that were scattered all over the hallway.

Everyone was happy when Alfred came around with drinks and snacks.
And as soon as he wasn't needed anymore, Colin decided to retreat into his room to change his ripped clothes.

"Wow" Tim said, breathing heavily "that was pretty epic. Now who's the winner?"

No one answered and when he looked around he noticed that no one had even listened to him.
Damian had fallen asleep and Bruce was picking him up to carry the boy into his room while Dick glared at the two of them.
Bruce was simply happy to have spent such a lively day with his kids and to be able to bond a bit with his son.
He had noticed Damian falling asleep soon after Alfred had appeared at the end of the hallway, carrying bottles of soda and snacks.
While the others had been practically stomping over to the butler, Damian had stayed behind.
The boy had been fighting the sleep so hard, that he had to brace himself on Bruce's arm before he collapsed.
A bit concerned, Bruce had checked Damian's vitals before deciding that it was a harmless fit and that he should get the boy into his room.
Of course, the glares shot at him by Dick hadn't gone unnoticed, but Bruce would take care of that some other time.

Like an hour later in his study.

"Bruce?"

Bruce looked up and saw Dick standing in the doorframe, wearing comfortable sweatpants and a black cardigan.

Inviting him in, Bruce nodded and waited for Dick to sit down.

"I wanted to talk about something."

"It's about Damian, right?"

Dick squint his eyes and shook his head.

"Not exactly. I wanted to talk about the stuff you gave him the last time he had a fit. The thing that – "

"Saved his life?" Bruce asked, raising an eyebrow.

"And hurt him badly, yes. It was and still is suspicious, why would you inject him with something like that?"

Bruce sighed and folded his hands on the wooden desk.

"It was the prototype for an antidote."

"So you have something?"

"Something, yeah, but essential things are still missing.
This one was simply to wake him up from a coma, I just knew that it was dangerous, so I tried not to use it before."

"But the fits won't stop?"

"No."

"So it was useless? And you put your son in danger on top of that?!" Dick had gotten angry and was now on the edge of snapping.

"Dick – "

"No! Bruce, he cried! He almost broke my hand while he had some sort of other fit! He could have died!"

"Okay, now what would you suggest we do the next time he is on the verge of dying?"

Surprised, Dick realized that Bruce was right and that there had been no other solution, but still he didn't want to give in.

"Just… something else, I don't know! You are Batman!"

Bruce frowned and studied Dick over the desk.

"This is not about the injection Dick, and we both know that. It's about Damian and whom he trusts, right?
You have been annoyed the whole time, is it really because you think Damian prefers me now?"

No answer.

"Dick" Bruce smiled weakly "honestly? I would love to say it's true, but we both know that Damian will never like me more than you.
The boy loves and adores you, just… give me a chance to at least become a part of his life too, okay?"

Suddenly, Dick felt bad about yelling at Bruce like that.
Tim and Bruce had been right, he wasn't being fair.
Bruce was Damian's father, but all Dick did was shield Damian, but not because he wanted to protect Damian.
It was only because he wanted Damian all to himself…

"I'm sorry, Bruce…"

"It's okay. Just, don't always go and question his love for you."

Dick nodded and got up.

"You are a great father, you do know that, right Bruce?"

Bruce shrugged and watched Dick leave.

Was he a good father?
He was trying, and sometimes it was for the best to let go.
That was a lesson he had had to learn as soon as Dick had grown up, when Jason died and left him…
He was aware that letting Damian go was in the boy's best interest, but it was still strange.


The moment Damian awoke, he pressed his face into the pillow to hold back a scream.
Cursing and shaking, he wrapped his arms around his body and pulled up his legs, curling into a ball.
When tears threatened to flow, he fought them back.
Pictures of the dream returned and he could hear the screams in his mind.

"Go away" he hissed to no one in particular.

But they didn't go away.
The pictures stayed, the screams, the feeling of blood on his skin…

Quickly, Damian got out of bed and grabbed a hoodie that was thrown on the ground.

He had to get out of here, away from the others.

When his eyes flickered to his bag, filled with numerous weapons, he felt a wave of nausea and he fled the room.
He didn't dare to breathe until he was out of the house and the still warm ocean breeze filled his lungs.

But it was still too close to them.

Only when he had reached the beach, Damian allowed himself to rest.
Sitting down close to the water, Damian looked up into the sky, and for the first time in years he noticed the stars.

Of course, he had seen them almost every night, but never actually took a moment to study them.
They calmed him a bit, but he knew that only one thing could completely calm his nervous mind.

Suddenly something inside of his hoodie began to vibrate, and Damian fished out his phone.
It was a text message, and he decided to open it in the morning, but as he held the phone in his hand like that, his fingers began to itch.

Should he do it?
it was better than going there in person, something that he wanted to avoid at all cost.
And almost unconsciously, the number was dialled.

He listened to the dial tone, until he heard someone pick up.

"Yeah?" came the slurred answer

"Grayson" Damian said, trying to keep his voice from shaking.

"Dami?" Suddenly, Dick seemed to be wide awake.

"Why are you calling? Are you all right? Should I come over?"

"No, I am not inside of the house anymore."

"Are you okay?" Dick asked worried.

For a moment, Damian thought of lying and hanging up, but then the screams were there again.

"No."

"Okay, where are you? I'll be there in a –"

"No, don't come! I can't be near you right now."

"okay… why?"

"Can I just… tell you over the phone?" Damian asked, voice breaking at the end.

"Of course" came the answer, worry swinging in it.

"I… I have been having these nightmares…"

And then, the words wouldn't stop.
Damian told Dick about his dreams and his fears of them coming true.
He didn't care about the tears that he felt running down his cheeks.
The only thing that mattered right now was that he finally got rid of the tension that had been building up inside of him for weeks.

Dick never interrupted him and patiently listened, occasionally aha-ing and mhm-ing.

When Damian was finished, he clutched the phone, waiting for some kind of reaction.

"Damian, it's okay, I'll hang up now."

"What?!" Damian asked, not believing what he had just heard, when suddenly the connection was gone.

Dick couldn't just hang up like that…
Damian had just told him over the phone that he was scared as hell that he'd hurt them and Dick just hung up?!

For a second, Damian stared at his phone, still not sure if that had just happened, when he felt someone sitting down next to him.
When he looked up, he saw Dick's blue eyes looking into his.
This time, Dick wasn't smiling.

"I'm here."

Immediately, Damian got up and wanted to run, but Dick held him back, an iron grip around his wrist.

"I told you not to come! I don't know what I'd do!" Damian shouted and tried to free himself.

Dick smiled wryly.

"Remember when I told you that you were like a wild kitten?"

Ignoring the remark, Damian started to dig his nails into Dick's hand, drawing blood.

"See, a kitten."

"Stop it!" Damian yelled.

Suddenly, Damian was pulled down, too fast for him to react.
Dick wrapped his arms around Damian and held him in place, not allowing him to move an inch.

"Why would you think that you'd hurt me?"

"Maybe because you are hurting me you asshole!" Damian screamed, feeling the seething pain of his burned back.

"Oh sorry " Dick said chuckling "Stay and I will loosen my grip, okay?"

"No."

"Okay, well then it will have to go like this."

Damian hissed and tried to fight the grip, but in the end he gave up, it was no use anyway.
As promised, Dick loosened his grip a bit and now it was more of a hug than a wrestling grip.

After a while, Damian finally rested his head against Dick's shoulder and close his eyes, letting out a deep sigh.

"Feeling better?" Dick asked, gently brushing his fingers through Damian's black hair.

Damian nodded but made no attempts to move away.

"You know that you don't have to be afraid, Damian, nothing will happen."

Still no answer.

"I will always be there for you, and I have no doubt that you'd never hurt me, not seriously at least."

"But what if?"

"No if, you are not a puppet Damian, and those are just dreams.
You think I never had dreams like that?
Sometimes, I still dream that I was the one who killed my parents… that it was all my fault."

"It isn't, you couldn't possibly have done anything to change what happened."

Smiling, Dick leaned his head against Damian's.

"I know… thanks. But do you get what I mean?
Dreams are fears, memories or even emotions that manifest themselves so we can learn to deal with them.
You just have to overcome your fear."

Again, Damian nodded and leaned into the hug, tired of all the stress that had been lifted off of him.

"Wanna go back?" Dick asked, but Damian shook his head and allowed himself to relax a bit before he fell asleep.


Unfortunately, the vacation ended short when Bruce got an emergency call from the justice league and they all decided to go home.
Dick promised Colin that they would build sandcastles the next time, but for now, vacation was over.

After Bruce had returned from the mission, he went upstairs to knock on Damian's door.

"Yes?" came an annoyed answer.

"it's me Damian."

Quickly, the door flew open and Bruce saw Damian, covered in sweat and dressed in training clothes, holding his home-made eskrima sticks.

"Training?"

Damian nodded and gave him a curious look.

"I just came to ask if you have kept your end of the bargain."

Annoyed, Damian sighed and rolled his eyes, but smiled.

"Yes i have. i told someone."

Bruce smiled and nodded.

"How about some training together?"

A challenging grin spread across Damian's face and he nodded, inviting his father into the room.
Maybe Bruce would never be as close to Damian as Dick was, but he would still try to be a good father.


A/N: hey :) so i took out the sandcastles part, i just wanted it to end like this (the chapter, not the story) but as we are this far in the story, i have to confess something :(
The ending of this story has already been roughly done and i will work on ending it in about three chapters.
BUT! it won't be the end of Batman stories ;) i just want to finish the story with the poison. i will start two new Dami-centered stories :)

So please stay tuned :)