There was a time, where the sound of someone in their apartment in the middle of the night would've terrified Ripley. That time was of course, before they became involved with Dick Grayson, before they found out about his night time vigilantism. Now, silence in the middle of the night was scary, because Dick snored and if the house was quite that meant her was still out there fighting God knows what, and the years had not numbed the fear Ripley felt knowing that.

However on this occasion, Dick was right beside them, one of their four cats, Mochi, curled up on his chest, tailing coming dangerously close to flopping into Dick's mouth.

With an annoyed sigh and meows of displeasure from both Benny and Butters, Ripley got out of bed, bare feet padding against the floor of the apartment. The lights were on the kitchen, and peek around the door frame revealed Damian standing there, making tea.

"Dami, what are you doing?" Ripley asked.

"Preparing tea," the youngest Wayne answered.

"It's the middle of the night."

"I'm aware."

Something was off. Damian was acting normal, but it was forced. He looked tired and his voice let Ripley know that he was upset.

"Dick's asleep," Ripley said.

"I've gathered that. If he was awake and unsure of who was in his home, he most certainly wouldn't have let you come out, especially not alone and unarmed."

Ripley shook their head, shooing Damian out of the way and reaching up into the cupboard for a new blend of tea leaves that they'd gotten earlier in the week.

Damian hopped up on the counter, carefully ducking as Ripley dug through the cabinets for mugs and infusers.

"Why are you up?" Ripley asked.

"Couldn't sleep," Damian finally answered.

Ripley was a kind person, not always the most patient, but far more so than a majority of the people that Damian had grown up around. Ripley was thoroughly average, but Damian didn't hold that against them. Despite their watered down bloodline, average physical prowess and standard up bringing they had taken the life of the partner of a vigilante and the partner of a Wayne extremely well. They were hard working, compassionate, fiercely loyal, but at the same time were well aware of everyone's faults including theirs. As a result Ripley refused to take crap from anyone, but for some reason, Damian respected it in them.

"Really? I thought you just traveled a half hour to Bludhaven in the middle of the night for shits and giggles."

Ripley paused their motions. "Dami, how'd you get here?" they asked.

"I drove."

Ripley groaned. "And I'm gonna assume Bruce has no clue you're here."

"Father knows I'm capable-"

"You're father's going to hypothetically skin you," Ripley corrected. "What happened?"

"I had a nightmare," he answered, taking the mug he was offered. "This smells cheap."

"Not all of us were born into billion dollar families," Ripley reminded him. "What about?"

Damian remind quiet, staring into the mug watching as its contents changed color.

"Come on, D. Can't help if I don't know what wrong?"

"How can you help? You've never been killed by your own clone."

There it was. "No, I can't say I have," Ripley agreed. "Bu I can say with certainty that it will never ever happen again," they continued. "Damian, no one, absolutely no one is ever going to let anything take you from us again. D, they're just dreams, sucky dreams, but dreams. It's not real and it never will be."

Damian sipped his tea. "And I can say with certainty that I'm never allowing you to pick tea again."

Ripley relaxed. Damian seemed to be significantly less ruffled than before. "It's not that bad," Rip said, taking a sip. "Next time you can pick it."

Damian smirked smugly.

"I spent good money on that too," Ripley complained, cleaning up the mess.

"Alright, kiddo, come on."

"What?" Damian questioned.

"You're with us tonight. Step one of the keeping Damian alive plan."

"I'm not some toddler, who-"

Ripley slung an arm over his shoulder, pulling him along with them. Ripley knew being near Dick would calm Damian further, and that he may even be able to go to sleep.

They shook Dick awake. "Scoot over, Dickie. We got company."

"What?" he groaned confused. "Dami, is-"

"Nightmare," Ripley explained.

Dick's face softened, and he scooted over, annoying Mochi.

Damian grumbled, be reluctantly crawled next to Dick.

Ripley crawled on their side of the bed, shooting a quick text to Bruce to let him know, where Damian was. Butters got up and padded around again, before making herself comfortable on Ripley's back. "Night boys," Rip said, receiving replies equally as tired as theirs.

A short while later and Rip still wasn't asleep. Almost, but not quite. They could hear the quiet conversation between Dick and Damian, Dick affirming their earlier sentiments.

"You picked well, Grayson," Damian eventually said.

Ripley could practically hear the smile in Dick's voice. "Yeah, I did."