A/N: OH MY GOD. DC you suck! Nightwing was fucking happy and you ruined that just because he left the fucking window open! GAH! My heart. Even though that wasn't my ship, it was still cute and sweet and you just had to fucking ruin it! Sorry if there are comic readers who got somewhat spoiled by that, but my God I needed to get that off my chest. Anyway, here's the next chapter!
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Enjoy!
Chapter: 28
Dick clambered up the stairs and turned towards Darren's room a mug of hot chocolate in his hand. He'd seen him slip out of the living room while they were still discussing the upcoming custody battle. Dick didn't blame him, it was never fun dealing with the justice system but they had to do it. He knocked lightly on the door and heard no reply. Frowning Dick lightly pushed on the door and it creaked open slightly,
"Dare, I have some hot—," he cut himself off when he saw Darren fast asleep on top of the covers with the light still on, the postcards they had found in the chest scattered around him on the bed. Now that was impressive if he managed to sleep with any lights on. With him it had to be darker than a crypt to sleep. With a chuckle Dick set the drink on the nightstand and tried to wake Darren up, he was still in his clothes,
"Don't bother," a voice said behind him, it was Bruce, "Let him sleep. It's been a long few hours for him,"
"I'll at least take his shoes off," Dick stated, slowly and gently turning Darren onto his back. He didn't even wake up a little bit, "He's out like a light," he mumbled,
"He's a growing boy, it might just be a growth spurt,"
"Wow, you're parental knowledge is limitless," Dick retorted as he tossed the sneakers onto the floor, "He needs to get his own clothes. I don't think he likes wearing hand-me-downs,"
"That can be arranged later," Bruce said from the doorway as Dick collected all the postcards, placed them on the nightstand, shifted Darren beneath the covers and finally pulled them up to his chin. He then grabbed the hot chocolate and turned out the light,
"I didn't mean right this minute," he replied taking a huge sip from the still steaming mug,
"I know," Bruce stated, taking the mug away from him, "Don't drink so much warm milk, you still need to be awake for patrol,"
"But I can't let it go to waste. It has chocolate in it, that's sugar…basically energy," Dick whined jokingly,
"You can have it when you get back. Tim and Damian will be out with us for a few hours tonight. They got all their homework done,"
"Great. Hours of arguing. I'm patrolling with Babs tonight, I don't want to deal with them when they're at each others throats," Bruce rolled his eyes, as he opened the clock to the Batcave,
"Leaving me with the problem children are you?"
"I feel that Jason is more of the problem child in our family,"
"He's not around here right now so I'd say it's Damian and Tim,"
"Only when they're arguing," Dick called as Bruce set up the computers for Alfred to run communication for them while in the field. He grabbed a domino mask and headed to the changing rooms. Business as usual.
Darren woke to a hand covering his mouth. In a moment of panic, his mind flashing to Talons and Owls glaring down at him, he acted on impulse. He grabbed the person's wrist and flipped them over so that Darren had his arm to their throat and his other arm raised to strike,
"Dad?" he stated, releasing a heavy breath, the panic he felt slipping away,
"Great reflexes," Slade stated gruffly,
"What are you doing here?" he hissed,
"I said I would come back didn't I," was the reply he got, "Are you going to let me up?" Darren pulled back his arm and sat back on the bed as his father got up and stood,
"What are you doing in here?"
"You weren't coming to the door so I let myself in. It wasn't that difficult. You'd think they'd invest more into their locks,"
"I didn't hear anything," Darren muttered, which was odd,
"You were having a nightmare it seems. You were screaming,"
"So you thought the best way to wake me up was to cover my mouth?" Darren stated, raising an eyebrow. Slade shrugged,
"It worked didn't it,"
"Where are Grant and Joseph?" Darren asked. He'd been wanting to see them for a while now. Slade never mentioned them the last time he'd come for a visit. He only said that Grant hacked the security system,
"They have jobs to do," Slade replied vaguely,
"What sort of jobs?" Darren asked, "I know you're a mercenary, but I don't exactly know what they do,"
"Have you asked your cousin? He knew them a while ago,"
"Really?" Darren replied, surprised. He didn't know that. Dick never mentioned it. To be honest though he never talks about his father or his brothers,
"What about Rose?" Darren asked, "Where is she. Does she know I exist. How old is she? And don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. I know I have a half-sister," Slade was silent for a moment. He wasn't wearing his mask so Darren saw the flash of irritation in his gaze, but when he spoke there wasn't a bite to his words,
"I do not know where she is. She and I had a falling out. Those are questions best saved for them. They know the reason it all happened,"
"You make it sound like it was their fault,"
"Perhaps it was," Slade stated. Now it was Darren's turn to feel irritated. Never any straight answers from Slade. Before his father seemed content to let Darren be angry and to use that anger on others and now he seemed eager to have him ask difficult questions to the people who are trying to help him. Darren got the impression Slade wanted him to turn on them, as if the whole falling out is a scandalous and terrible thing. Perhaps Darren already knew who was really responsible for any falling out within their family. Maybe if he found Grant and Joseph they'd give him answers.
Instead of pressing the matter Darren reached for the stack of postcards and letters from his mother. He'd left the living room last night to try and get through them. He fell asleep before getting very far,
"My mother thought your name was Aaron when she first met you. How did she discover your name was Slade?" His father didn't exactly react explicitly to the question, but he did reach for the postcard and scanned it over,
"We never really corresponded much. The postcards were ours—well her's—she wrote, I called using a burner phone. That was harder to track than a paper trail. I returned the postcards after I read them to give the impression that the address was wrong for anyone who noticed she sent them in the first place. The sealed letters I do not know. I think those are for you. She was very intuitive, your mother, it was like she was in your head without really trying. Maybe she knew something was off after we first met, I nearly botched up my hit that night, and she kept trying to guess my backstory,"
"She was always good at telling stories," Darren agreed. Sometimes, back when he was in the Nest, as he was trying to fall asleep he would think to when he was little and he could almost hear a soft melodic voice murmuring to him stories of kings and heroes and knights all made up off the top of her head,
"And I did mention that she was good with a computer. A few tricks and she knew…and yet she did not stay away," how his father said it made it clear that it was a surprise to him that anyone would stay after learning the truth about him. He may have been married once, but that woman believed him to be a monster because of what he did. Amanda clearly didn't see that…or she didn't want to. Darren itched to look through the letters that were supposedly for him. He wanted to know what she said and thought. Whether she was happy when she had Darren, what her father thought of him and his father or at least what he knew. Darren wished he could learn everything but it wasn't meant to be. There were only fourteen letters and they didn't seem that thick and there were limits when writing by hand,
"Now for the real reason I came," Slade stated, pulling a pair of dual blades from sheaths slung over his shoulders, "What do you think of these?" Darren couldn't help but grin, grabbing the blades and examining them in the moonlight. Sure he hadn't been allowed to do anything remotely athletic since he'd woken in the Manor, but Darren wanted to change that. And maybe that activity wouldn't include these weapons Slade gave him but they were still gifts given to him by his father. And they were fine blades,
"I love them," Darren stated,
"Would you want to practice with me sometime? They won't let you use these weapons at all,"
"Maybe…I'll let you know," Darren replied. He wanted the time with his father. He really did, but Darren didn't want to lose any aspect of himself—his new lifestyle—with the Bats. Sure he was technically using Slade's suggestion as a safety net in case they refuse to let him train or do anything athletic but it was necessary. His father wasn't being completely honest with him and him continually insisting they train together was starting to rub Darren the wrong way. He felt like a child being goaded into a van with shiny pointy pieces of chocolate,
"Aren't you bored here? I can see it on your face. You aren't doing anything you find fun or amusing. In fact you're probably not doing anything at all. I can change that," Darren pursed his lips,
"Things are still very new to me here. I do want to train with you…but not right now. As I said before, the Court is still out there and eventually they'll forget about me or I'll make a deal with them to lay off but until then I'm stuck,"
"You are very stubborn, you know that?" Slade asked, there wasn't anger in his voice. Just silent amusement and perhaps slight fondness "Just like her," Darren smiled,
"T-thank you," he stated, swallowing as his voice cracked. Footsteps could be heard from down the hall and before either Slade or Darren could do anything the door was flung open,
"Darren the security grid is down…Slade!" Dick snarled marching into the room, anger pasted on his face,"I should have known it was you," Darren got up from his bed and moved between Dick and his father,
"Dick. I know I should have—,"
"—Leave. You can't be here,"
"I can be here. Darren didn't tell me to leave. He wanted me to visit,"
"We had a deal,"
"Yes. Darren would recover here and I couldn't be present, but afterwards if he wanted to see me he could. And you wouldn't let him do anything so I came here myself,"
"Wait, you made a deal regarding my recovery?" Darren cut in, but he was overshadowed by Dick,
"So you snuck in here? That was a visit?"
"Oh I'm sorry, did I have to ask permission to see my own son!"
"You do when your reluctancy to accept responsibility ten years ago led to him being as wounded as he was!"
"Is that going to be your only excuse for me not to—," Slade started to shout, Tim and Damian both tired and glaring appeared at the door and Darren decided it was time to step in,
"—Dad, just go. I'll talk to you later," it was a promise. Dick cannot just cut his own father out of his life. Sure he has every reason to hate the man and to not want Darren near him—even if most of those reasons were never fully explained—,but just the same whether or not Slade was in Darren's life was up to him and only him. Dick was not his parent or his guardian—not yet at least—he was his cousin and he'd still be after the custody situation was over. He didn't have the right to command him to ignore his father. Slade nodded and with one last glare he left the room and leapt off the balcony,
"What the hell Darren! Why did you—," Dick started,
"Why did I what?" Darren snapped, "Why did I have a perfectly normal conversation with my father? Why did I not tell you? Because I knew you would react like this! You don't get to say who I can and can't talk to. I have a whole family out there and yes you are a part of it too but so are they and I know nothing about them just like I know—knew—nothing about you. I should get the chance to know them.
"You act like he is the worst person in the world because of what he does! And yet you don't see the only difference between him and you is that you refuse to kill people and that is okay, that is your choice! My dad made his! And I will make mine!
"You think that you can just stuff me in this house and this room and think that I can conform to a normal life but I can't. I can't because I have a mother who was an heiress and a target of the Court—who were just waiting for the next Crowne to be born—, a father who is a mercenary as well as wanted for murder in most countries and a cousin—," Darren stopped in his tirade to jab Dick hard in the chest with his finger, "Who swings around the city at night saving people's lives with a mask over his face. I am bored! I don't want to just sit around all day waiting for all of you to get home! I don't want to just take up mundane hobbies like every other kid in this world does! I wasn't meant for a normal life and I'm surrounded by people who don't lead a normal life," silence rung like a bell in the room,
"So yes. I was talking to my dad, because he was the only one who saw that," Darren stated much more calmly now, gesturing to the dual blades still laying on his bed,
"I…I guess we figured eventually you would want to do something—more," Dick finished lamely. Probably surprised at Darren's outburst. It took so long for Darren to say everything he'd been wanting to. Sure Slade being tossed out of the room by Dick made everything boil over but it was true. Darren was bored, he did want to do something like he had used to. Of course with nothing extraneous…if that were possible. Maybe just some exercise: running…gymnastics…acrobatics…good old fashioned knife throwing…something…anything. Doing such things didn't automatically lead to vigilantism like Dick feared it would. And by preventing Darren from experiencing any aspect of his night life as a vigilante, he was keeping Darren from making an educated choice regarding that lifestyle,
"We felt you'd want to have a more human first experience with the real world," Tim stated,
"You say that like I'm not human," Darren stated, sending a glare at Tim. So what if he was a Talon, it doesn't make him any less than who he was before,
"Well I guess I meant more humane,"
"True," Darren muttered, "But you live a double life and I'm only seeing half of it,"
"Let's talk about this in the morning…when we're less irritated and groggy," Dick stated. Tim nodded in agreement and left the room. Damian had left when the yelling started and Bruce appeared to not have been woken up at all, "Darren," Dick began,
"Yes?" he asked, yawning,
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry you felt that way. I didn't realize…I thought this was what you wanted, but I think it's really what I wanted for you. You weren't supposed to be the Talon, I was. My fortune became your misfortune and I guess I felt I could never make it up to you so I decided to cut out anything even remotely close to what they do, to what you were supposed to eventually do. We're not assassins, but what we do is similar only we do so without killing. Which is why we never included you…I wanted it to be your choice whether you got involved and I guess I refused to believe you were anything but happy to be doing relatively normal things,"
"I was happy," Darren stated, "I am happy here. Happier than I've ever really been…even with all the bad of the past and possibly the future…but there's a difference between living happily and living a happy lie. I know what you do, and even if the Drakes had taken me in and none of the Court shit happened, I would be right where Tim is. You and I both know that," Dick didn't frown exactly, he grimaced. He knew Darren was right. And Darren understood that he wanted to protect him but there are some things that you couldn't be protected from. No matter how hard others tried.
A/N: COOONNNNFLLLIICCT! My favorite thing in stories. Hope you enjoyed that! Please please please, leave some reviews. Say hi, talk about your cat, anything. I know people are reading this but I would like to know if you guys are liking this story.
Next chapter on Friday as usual, an extra if I get some good reviews(I'm not above bribing you people.) Things of the Future will be updated on Monday.
Have a great Friday and weekend!
