Disclaimer – You recognise it, I don't own it.
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"Welcome back Cass." Dick pulled her into a hug, as she entered the Cave.
"You sad." Cass stated, "Guilty. Scared."
"And you're not much better." Dick remarked, "Your vocabulary is suffering."
"Tim is…" Cass frowned for a moment, "Special. Little Brother."
"You thought you had a lead?" Jason remarked, "Can it help?"
"No. Torture… Not them."
"Who?" Damian put in, "They might still be involved."
"Daughters of Acheron." Cass managed carefully.
"I've not heard of them." Dick frowned.
"I think I have." Bruce turned to the computer, "Here. Small report from Tim. Mentions that the Daughters of Acheron captured him in Paris. Cass rescued him."
"Was part of plan." Cass nodded, "I killed him."
"What?!" Multiple voices screeched.
"Part of plan." Cass sniggered, "Assassin competition. Final level. Blood unlocked entrance. Faked. Tim smart. My turn. He killed me before."
"Tim never mentioned that part of the plan." Bruce was scrolling through the report, "I presumed the Daughters wanted to win as well."
"Winning not first goal." Cass' eyes flicked away from everyone, "Daughters not nice."
Dick noticed her body language. It was practically screaming. Something was very wrong. Cass was holding something back. She was keeping a secret. Something to do with Tim.
"Cass," He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "What aren't you telling us?"
She tried to turn away from him, but Dick held fast. Everyone knew that if she wanted to get free she could easily do so. But she wanted his comfort.
He ushered her to a chair, but she refused to sit.
"Up." She managed to get out.
Dick easily translated and let her get changed, so that they could all retreat upstairs. Cass chose the small sitting room, where Dick preferred to relax as it had more of a family feel than some of the other rooms.
"What was Tim keeping from us?" Bruce asked gently.
"Daughters wanted Damian."
"Tt." Damian sniffed, "That would be an inefficient way of capturing me."
"No." Cass shook her head, "Daughters not want you. Daughters want a Damian. Not our Damian."
There was a long pause as everyone tried to think around Cassandra's words.
"No." Bruce breathed, "No, Cassandra. Tell me that's not true. Not Timmy."
"What?" Damian frowned, "I do not… I do not understand."
"God, no." Dick froze, "Please, Cass… Tim wouldn't."
"Daughters take. Daughters not ask."
"How far did they get?" Jason put in, calmer than the rest; although Damian was still confused, "We need to know."
"He was dressed. She was not. He joke. How we got Damian. No clothes off him."
"That's good." Bruce sighed in relief, "That's good. God, what have I come to? That I'm considering it a blessing that my son was almost raped?"
"Key word there being almost." Dick retorted, "I'm not trying to diminish what happened, B. But at least he doesn't have that burden. I wouldn't want that."
"Sometimes the near misses are just as bad as the actual hits." Jason pointed out, "Look I'm not disputing that it's a good thing that he wasn't actually raped. But it's not a good thing that they got as close as they did. No offence Cass."
"I think it might do us some good to do some research on PTSD." Alfred put in, "Help us to understand what we could be dealing with."
"That's a good idea." Bruce agreed, "Some research would help us."
"Fuck that!" Jason snapped, "Timmy needs people there for him. If you want him to be part of this family, we need to go and be there for him! You heard that recording from his office, same as I did. He'll be having flashbacks and nightmares. Even if it was only nearly. Even if it never actually happened… It's still there. Inside his head. And it'll only get worse the longer he's alone."
"He's not alone." Dick argued.
"Yes, he fucking is! Ma and Pa Kent are great people and all. But they're not his fucking family! I'm not even sure that we are! But we're the closest thing he's fucking got! He needs us right now. Kidnap? I know he could deal with. For fucks sake, I've messed with him before now. And that's messed with his head… But I'd wager he'd rather I was there than no-one was! Because what he's gone through… Torture? He'd handle that like a fucking boss! No shit there. I had him beat. Had his blood on my hands and he knew he was going to lose. He had no more fucking cards to play. But when I asked him if he thought he was good enough… He said yes. That's what I've never told him. That little word… That's why I didn't kill him. God, I went there to kill him. I went there to fucking beat him into paste. Had it all set out. All planned. But when it came down to it… I couldn't kill him, because he… He reminded me of me. All fire. All fury. Determination. Guts. I couldn't kill him. Not like that. Not while he wasn't able to fight back. It made me too much like the Joker… Like the Joker when he was killing me… I didn't want to feel like that again. But he needs someone. Someone who understands. Ma and Pa Kent are good and all… But they've never dealt with the darkness the way we have."
"Give him space." Steph fired back, "Tim knows what he needs. If he needs us, he'll say."
"No. He will not." Damian shook his head, "Drake does not believe he has any right to ask anything of us on a personal level. I am doubtful that he would ask for assistance on a professional basis, unless there was no other option available. He will endure through this on his own. He will not burden another with his pains. That is not his way."
"You can't know that." Steph argued.
"He right." Cass put in.
"Consider the evidence," Damian retorted, "Drake gave each of us one chance. He went looking for Father, when we all believed he was dead. Each of us told him that he was wrong. Not one of us believed him. He was alone."
"No." Bruce shook his head, "From what I've managed to piece together there was one person who believed him… Ra's Al Ghul."
"Oh God." Dick muttered, "That's why he was there. I basically drove him into Ra's arms."
"Explains." Cass nodded, "Ra's likes Tim."
"What do you know?" Jason frowned.
"Daughters. Leader. Half Sister Ra's." Cass replied, "She wanted child."
"He was nearly raped by Ra's Al Ghul's sister?!" Dick gulped.
"Half." Cass countered.
"Grandfather would not ever acknowledge such a woman as his sister," Damian declared, "Half blood would make her unworthy. She may be of his father's blood, but she is not his legitimate offspring. Therefore, she would not be deemed suitable to continue the line further. Certainly, she would not be deemed suitable to associate with myself, a true child of line. Although, she might have been permitted to serve as a maid or a nurse. Grandfather takes his debts seriously, a child of his father, even illegitimate would be offered a way to provide for themselves, unless they acted against the legitimate line."
"Proud." Cass pointed out, "She proud. Not bow head. Sensed… Getting one better. Better than Ra's."
"We'll look into that." Bruce nodded, "I want to know exactly what Ra's wants with my sons. He seems to have taken an unhealthy interest in Tim."
"I could investigate, Father."
"No." Bruce cut that suggestion off, "I don't want you anywhere near them. I don't trust them with you. I will never trust them with you. They were willing to sacrifice you to Ra's insanity. I won't risk you. I won't risk any of you."
"It might be too late for Tim." Dick muttered, "I know that Tim has fought Ra's. Sword to Bo. I won't say Tim won… But he certainly didn't lose."
"He was kicked out of the window." Damian was dismissive.
"The fight was on more than one level, little D." Dick returned, "Tim had everything else covered. Ra's never meant to kick him out the window. It was anger that drove him to that. Anger that Tim had out thought him."
"Which puts him at risk." Bruce nodded, "So I need to know how much risk there is."
"And you want to do that before we reassure Timmy that we still care?" Jason challenged.
"Ra's won't risk angering Superman." Bruce reminded, "He'd risk going after Tim, if he was pretty much anywhere else. But in Clark's home? No, he won't touch Tim. He knows how protective Clark is about his parents."
"That still doesn't solve the problem." Jason snapped, "Timmy needs to know we care."
"Right now, he's asking for space." Bruce countered, "We need to respect that."
"Fuck this shit!" Jason snarled, even as he stormed out the room, "If you don't want him back, B, just say. Don't do this half and half shit! Let him go! Or keep him! Don't keep him dangling. He doesn't deserve that. No-one deserves that."
"He is right, Father." Damian fixed Bruce with an unwavering stare, "You need to make your intentions clear."
Then Damian turned and marched out the room.
"You hurt him. I'll hurt you." Steph declared, "I may have hurt him before… But you have the potential to destroy him. I won't let you do that."
She followed the others.
"Tim. Brother." Cass made her feelings clear, "Love. Family. Protect."
She darted forward touching both Bruce's forehead and chest, giving Bruce a firm gaze, before darting after Steph.
"You have a careful balancing act to perform here, Master Bruce." Alfred's voice was only a shade or two away from a reprimand, "I would recommend that you not fail."
Alfred then smartly left the room.
"You know," Dick's tone was slightly shell-shocked, "If I didn't know what was going on, I'd think you were receiving Shovel Talks."
"Shovel talks?" Bruce frowned.
"A-and you don't know what those are." Dick sighed, "Let's just put it this way. That sounded way more like you're dating Tim than being his dad… But I do have to agree with them. I'm not losing Tim."
"Would it help you to know that I have a plan?"
"Depends upon the plan."
"First we get intel. Then we move from there. I have no intentions of losing Tim, Dick. I love him just as much as the rest of you. It's just that he's the good son…"
"He's the one we've never really had to worry about." Dick muttered, "Damn it! When did I stop watching out for him?"
"It's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease. The sticking out nail that gets hammered in… Tim… Doesn't. Never has. I don't think he knows how to."
"Oh, he knows." Dick laughed bitterly, "Just every time he has… We haven't given him the time he needs. We haven't been there for him. He's learned that he isn't important enough. That he's just a stand in. Just a patch job, until a full repair can take place… We taught him that. We didn't mean to. But we did."
"Once we have the intel we need, we can teach him the truth." Bruce reminded, "We just need intel. So, we know how bad things are."
"So, what's the plan, B? It doesn't matter what questions Alfred asks Ma Kent. Tim keeps his secrets close to his heart. He won't tell her about nightmares or flashbacks. About triggers or pain. Anything useful he'll keep tucked away."
"That's why we're not going to rely on gossip… Dick, you need to leave the room."
"What? Why?"
"Because what I'm about to do is underhanded, devious, and likely to really, really upset both Alfred and Tim, if they find out. Better you don't know, so that I'm the only one in trouble then."
"I don't think I want to know." Dick threw his hands up, "But you promise you'll share the data? Help put together a plan?"
"Of course. Go and calm the others down. I've got this… I swear to you, Dick. I've got this. I'll get the intel we need. Then we can plan with calm heads and all the information we need… You know as well as I do, that we can say all the words we like. Tim only believes actions. It is our actions not our intentions that he will judge us by."
"Agreed. And understood. Just don't take too long. I don't know how long I'll be able to hold Jason back."
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Please Review.
I write stories because I can't draw. I have all these images in my head that I cannot reproduce. So I try and describe them with words. If anyone else would like to try to translate what I have written into what they think I saw in my head, they have my permission. I only ask that I be notified of it, so that I may look and go "OOoooh!".
Many thanks to my reviewers:
Red-Hot Habanero – Something that is so often forgotten.
Inthenightguest – Thanks. Sorry to say it'll take some time.