Father

A/N: I wrote 'Mother' while in one of my very rare maternal moods…it's only fair that I give the kid's dads their due.

The Father Who Is Also A Brother

Roy Harper shook his head at the two girls in amusement. Lian had sought out a particular guide at the site and Sin was listening in rapt attention as the Lakota woman shared stories of her people's greatest hero. "Cynthia appears to be enjoying herself," a voice chimed in, off to Roy's side.

"Sin never appears to do anything, Carrie. What you see is what you get," Roy replied.

"One who avoids masks," Carrie mused. "Interesting."

"Sin had an appalling upbringing in the social skills," Roy reminded Carrie. "She doesn't see the purpose in masks."

"That's not always a bad thing," Carrie smiled. "Well the upbringing thing is, but…you get what I mean." Roy laughed.

"You are seriously lacking in the 'innate wisdom' department for a tribal chief," he teased.

"That's an overly portrayed stereotype," Carrie dismissed with good humour.

"I know," Roy smiled. "I just couldn't help it." Carrie smacked his shoulder as they both laughed.

Lian and Sin led the Lakota guide to Roy and Carrie and made introductions. "Chief Smiling Water, Dad, this is Shelley Red Cloud. Shelley, Chief Carrie Smiling Water and my father Roy Harper," Lian introduced.

"We've met before?" Carrie asked Shelley.

"We have. When you brought your tribe's offerings for the museum," Shelley replied. "I'm sorry I missed the chance to meet up with you last year when you came back here with Lian," she added. After the Titan's road trip, Lian and Carrie had made sure that Roy went with them to the Crazy Horse monument in South Dakota. Lian had been told that Shelley was unfortunately unavailable, as she had to tend to personal business.

"No worries," Roy waved off. "Lian speaks very highly of you."

"The rest of them that were here, do too," Sin added.

"My deepest thanks for taking such good care of my young friends," Carrie told Shelley.

"They made it easy with their genuine interest in our history and this project," Shelley beamed with pride.

"Are we keeping you from your guide duties?" Roy asked.

"Nope," Shelley replied. "With the pow wow going on, we were asked to take care of whoever we got first."

"And I made sure we got her first," Lian grinned.

"She sent me an email to keep an eye out for you guys," Shelley said as she led them to the museum portion of the monument. "The elders decided to use the museum as the check in for the pow wow," she added.

Carrie signed in for her band as Roy spied an area where some of the native guests were marking their faces. Shelley saw how Roy painted Lian and Sin's faces and puzzled. "I have a question?" she asked Carrie. "Isn't that your band's mark for sister?"

Carrie looked over and saw what Shelley was wondering about. "While she's only a few months older than Lian, Cynthia is Roy's adopted sister."

"Oh!"

Sin was curious as well why her mark differed from Lian. "That's because you're my sister…not my daughter," Roy explained.

"Oh, duh," Sin replied. "I didn't know that there were different ones."

"If I were really hard up for entertainment, I could go up one whole side of you," Roy told Sin.

"He's kidding, because that's reserved for weddings back home," Lian added, elbowing Roy.

"Good luck marrying me off," Sin snorted.

"These guys respect tough women," Roy teased.

"Luckily for you, Dad will treat any guy you bring home the same way he'd treat anyone I brought home," Lian added.

"I'm cool with Jai," Roy reminded her.

"Which is why Jai gets threatened at least once a visit," Lian shot right back. Sin howled in laughter.

"Think if Jai wasn't the son of one of my best friends, huh?" Roy retorted.

Lian gave the idea some thought and nodded. "I'll give you that one."

"Well then I should probably warn you now," Sin piped up. "A monk I grew up with in Nepal has decided to leave the monastery and eventually meet up with me. After he's done some travelling."

"You're hooking up with a monk?" Roy asked.

"In a few years. And not hooking up the way you're thinking," Sin replied. "Deshi was never suited for monastic life. He's more the 'interact with the faithful' type."

"Deshi? How old is he?" Roy asked. Lian rolled her eyes at his tone.

"Two years older than us," Sin replied, indicating herself and Lian. "And good luck getting the upper hand on him…he loved training with me," she smirked.

"That's cheating," Roy muttered.

"He's crooked as hell, you'll love him," Sin added.

"I bet I will," Roy drawled sarcastically.

Years later, Sin took great delight in reminding Roy of the conversation at the Crazy Horse monument. Roy and Deshi were sharing beers and playing cards with Ollie and Jai and getting along famously.

On The Beat

"Perry's not going to rip my face off is he?" Chris asked, as he held the door for his father at the Daily Planet.

Clark laughed. "No. Perry's not going to rip your face off," he assured Chris. "Try to convince you to change career goals maybe."

"What's wrong with wanting to go into journalism?" Chris asked, as they waited for the elevator.

"Perry tries to convince any journalism student he meets, that it's a lousy job," Clark explained.

"On what planet?" Chris asked. Clark laughed hard enough that he had to wipe a tear from his eye. "What? I'm serious," Chris stated.

"I know. I just find it funny that's all," Clark replied. The elevator opened and Clark pushed the button for the bullpen.

"Kent! Who is this?" Perry White demanded when Clark and Chris ventured into the bullpen a few minutes later.

"Christopher. Lois' and my son?" Clark replied.

"How old are you?" Perry asked Chris.

"Twenty two next month, Sir," Chris replied.

"Already?" Perry marvelled.

Clark shrugged. "They grow up fast."

"I'll say," Perry agreed. "So what's he doing here? Is it bring your kid to work day?"

Chris bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing as Clark answered. "Chris is in journalism school and I figured that I'd show him the ropes."

"You don't want to be a journalist, Kid. The pay's lousy and the perks are over rated," Perry told Chris.

"I was already told that by my parents, Sir. I just like writing and journalism is at least a guaranteed paycheque for a writer," Chris replied.

Perry White glanced between the two. "How many years do you left in school?"

"I have one more semester before I graduate, Sir."

"Money wasted if you ask me," Perry muttered. "Alright Kent, you want to show him the ropes, I have a beat job for you. Rumour has it that Metropolis U has a money scandal brewing. See what you can find."

"You got it," Clark replied.

"And I have a job for you too," Perry directed at Chris. "Watch how your old man does things and submit your own take on the story. I won't publish it, but I want to see if you're cut out for this line of work."

"Thank you," Chris grinned, and offered his hand to Perry. Perry shook it and told Chris not thank him yet. Perry wandered back towards his office and Clark looked to Chris.

"Show me what you've got," he suggested, and indicated Lois' desk.

Chris smirked and powered up his mother's computer. "What's Mom's password?" he murmured just loud enough for Clark to hear.

"Our species, lower case K, the rest in caps," Clark replied over a faked cough.

Perry looked over in interest and wandered towards the pair to see what they were up to. "How much has Jai shown you?" Clark asked Chris.

"Loads, but I don't need any of it for this," Chris replied. He pulled up a government website where the annual revenue of organisations was free to explore. "I figure the LM-2's would be a good place to start…and low and behold I'm right," he grinned.

"What have you got?" Clark asked as he leaned forward to better see the screen.

"The last two years are interesting," Chris purred. "Last year's has sections left completely blank. There's a red flag if there was ever one."

"Uh-huh," Clark encouraged.

"Metro U in Gotham is roughly the same size as Metropolis U," Chris murmured. "I wonder," he added, opening a second window and pulling up the second university's financial records. Chris printed out the records he was looking at and records for several more randomly picked universities, before focusing on Metropolis U's records again. "Since when do schools donate to people?" Chris asked.

"Grants," Clark replied.

"Nope. It has grants listed as well as donations to three individual women," Chris stated. "All for ten grand. And it specifically says 'donation'," he added. Chris printed up the records and organised all of them by school on the desk.

Clark glanced over at Perry and smiled to himself when he saw the hint of impressed look on the editor's face. Chris pulled a highlighter from Lois' pen jar and began highlighting figures he found interesting. "Hey Dad? How about we find out who these three lovely ladies are and see what they have to say, before taking this to Secretary Treasurer Robbins?" Chris suggested.

"Sounds like a plan," Clark agreed.

"I have a question?" Perry piped up and looked at Chris. "How did you know to go to the LM-2's first?"

"My first year at school," Chris replied. "My professor said that if we were ever doing a story on possible financial fraud to hit the LM-2's and then go on from there."

"Good job," Perry commented. "I'm actually looking forward to seeing what you two dig up."

"Thanks!" Chris grinned.

"Get to it," Perry dismissed them.

The rumours Perry White had heard turned out to be far more delicious than he expected. Chris had taken the lead at Clark's insistence and they had found that the three women all reluctantly admitted that the donations were actually silence payments. The treasurer had a reputation as a womaniser, and to avoid being sued for his actions, he had used school funds to pay off the trio. The files Chris had found also showed that the treasurer was using school funds to pay his own personal legal fees. Clark's version of the story that was printed in the Daily Planet led to the treasurer being fired, as well as indicted on fraud charges. Perry read over Chris' version of the story and immediately saw that his writing style was vastly different from Clark's as well as Lois'. Though he would never admit it out loud, Perry felt that Chris had a promising future in journalism.

Don't Mess With Papi's Girl

Alberto Reyes figured that the customer was probably a year or two older than his daughter as he explained that his check engine light kept coming on. Alberto had the young man lead him out to the car and immediately suspected several reasons for the concern. "I'll run it through the computer and tell you what it says," Alberto informed the young man. Alberto told the customer to take a seat in the office after accepting his keys and drove the car into the shop. Popping the hood, he raised his eyebrows at what he saw. The initial suspicion he had was the most likely cause he figured, as he plugged the car into the computer. "Ay Dios mio…mi hija?"

"Que?" Milagro called out from the engine of a car she was working on.

"How much longer do you have on that one?" Alberto asked.

"About ten minutes," Milagro replied. "Why?"

"I have your next job right here," Alberto told her. Curious, Milagro stopped what she was doing and wandered over to her father.

Cleaning her hands on a rag she smirked. "Let me guess why you want me to do this one?" she teased, holding up one of her hands.

Alberto chuckled. "I won't be able to get these in there," he said, holding up one of his own hands.

"Okay Papi. I just need to replace the air filter on that one and then I'll take a look at this one," Milagro said, heading back to the car she'd been working on.

Alberto got the print out from the computer and took it into the office to go over it with the customer. "Whoever helped put the engine customisations together wasn't very good," he explained. Alberto explained what all codes from the printout meant and gave an estimate of the total cost. The young man grimaced a little but agreed to the price and signed off on the work order Alberto wrote up. He said he had a ride waiting for him when Alberto offered one if he needed it.

Milagro brought in the keys to the car she'd just finished working on and the work order with all of her notes. "Did he peg another shop or was it a do it yourself job?" she asked, handing the keys and work order to the office manager, Martina.

"I'm betting that it's a do it yourself job," Alberto replied, handing Milagro the print out and work order.

"When are these idiots going to learn that if you want to soup up your jalopy, you take it to a professional?" Milagro muttered as she read the list of codes the computer had printed.

Martina chuckled from her desk. "If they did that, we'd be out of business, Mija."

"True," Milagro agreed. A majority of the business they got were young men who had tried to modify their cars on their own only to have to bring it in to get it done correctly.

"Call me if you need anything," Alberto told his daughter as she wandered back out to the garage. She gave a salute off her brow in acknowledgment.

Fifteen minutes later, she was leaning in the door to the office and calling out for him. "Papi? Come check this out. I found the problem." Alberto followed her back to the car and Milagro leaned over to point to the problem she'd found. "Everything on this is brand name except this valve and connector," she explained. "Instead of dropping the one seventy five on the matching brand parts, he went off the rack and spent probably forty for a generic." Milagro slipped on a glove and slid two fingers into the tiny opening of the valve and pulled it out for Alberto to see.

"The fit's all wrong," Alberto sighed.

"You better call that guy and get his okay to drop another four hundred for the right parts and the engine flushing I'm going to have to do because of all the metal filings in the system," Milagro huffed. "I'm not touching it any further until he knows what he screwed up. And if he doesn't believe you, tell him to come down here and I'll gladly show him," she added. Alberto made mental notes of the brand name and generic parts and went and made the call. "Stupid pendejo," Milagro muttered under her breath, glaring at the car.

Alberto came out and Milagro raised an eyebrow. "He's coming here," Alberto grinned.

"I'm going to enjoy this," Milagro purred.

"Be nice mi hija," Alberto playfully scolded.

"No."

"Be nice," Alberto said a little more forcefully.

"You don't pay me to be nice," Milagro countered. "That's what Martina's for," she added, pointing towards the front office. They both saw a car pull into the lot with the customer. "That was quick." Alberto went into the office to meet the customer while Milagro went to her file cabinet where she kept ruined parts salvaged from previous jobs.

"Greg, this is Milagro and she'll explain what the issue is," Alberto told the young man as he led him out to the garage.

"Who did the original modifications?" Milagro asked Greg.

"My friend and I did," he answered warily.

Milagro clicked her tongue and pointed to the generic valve and connector. "This particular brand of engine requires brand parts. You can't go generic with any of these pieces," she explained. She went on to explain that since they were precision fitted, that generics didn't fit properly. Handing Greg a glove, she instructed him to put his finger into the valve and see what came out.

"What's this?" Greg asked when he saw the metal filings.

"A really expensive short cut," Milagro replied. "In an effort to save a hundred or so bucks, you put in an ill-fitting valve and connector that are vibrating harshly against each other and stripping the threading…thereby giving you a ton of filings." Greg looked over at Alberto, who only nodded. Milagro frowned behind Greg's back before continuing. "Hopefully you didn't drive this around with the check engine light on for any length of time," she stated when Greg turned back to her. "As it is, the correct replacement parts will be a hundred and seventy five dollars. And the cost to flush the engine of the filings in it is two hundred and twenty five."

"Ouch," Greg muttered.

"If the filings got into the block then you have a real problem," Milagro stated. She picked up a damaged piston that she'd retrieved from her collection. "If the filings got into the engine, it'll take them no time at all to reduce your pistons to this," she explained, handing over the one she had to Greg.

Greg sagged a little. "How many days before you know what kind of damage there is?" he asked.

"I'll know in about three hours," Milagro stated. "Although the earliest you'll be getting your car back is three days," she added. "No one in the Border-Plex carries this brand. We have to order the correct parts from a supplier in Dallas."

"Worst case scenario," Greg asked. "How much am I looking at?"

"You're already up to an extra four hundred," Milagro admitted. "Worst case scenario where I have to replace everything is what? Twelve hundred…fifteen hundred?" she asked Alberto.

"Roughly thirteen fifty," Alberto supplied.

Greg sighed. "Okay, do whatever you need to do," he told them. "Call me and let me know how bad it is?"

"I'll call later today once Milagro's checked everything," Alberto promised. He led Greg back out to the office and Milagro returned the damaged piston to her collection. Cracking her knuckles, she got to work dismantling the engine block to check how bad it looked. "You enjoyed that too much," Alberto teased, returning to the garage.

"Trust fund boy deserved it for the 'does she even know what a car is' attitude," Milagro retorted. Alberto laughed and left her to it as she went to work. Several hours later, Milagro strolled into his office with a large grin plastered on her face. "Not totally worst case scenario, but pretty damn close," she stated, placing the shredded pieces she'd removed from the engine on his desk.

"Wow," Alberto commented. "He must have been driving on that for a while."

"Uh-huh," Milagro smirked. "You call Greggie and I'll call Juanito and place my order."

Three days later, Greg came to pick up his car and Milagro had all the damaged parts along with a jar containing all the filings she'd flushed from the system on a cart for him to see. Alberto bit his lip to keep from laughing as Milagro patiently explained just how costly Greg's short cut had been. Greg went into the office with Alberto to pay for the work and left with his car. The following week, a bouquet of flowers and a thank you note arrived for Milagro. "Aw how sweet," Milagro smirked as she read the note. "Too bad for Greg I have a real prince of a man already." Alberto nearly choked as he howled in laughter when said prince walked in a few minutes later to pick up Milagro for a dinner date.

"What am I missing?" Cerdian asked.

"Nothing. Your timing is just spot on…as always," Milagro replied, handing Cerdian the note to read. Alberto told Cerdian the whole story while Milagro excused herself to wash up.

Cerdian cracked an amused smile and nodded towards where Milagro had gone. "She's a handful for me," he admitted. "I have the sneaking suspicion that this poor soul wouldn't stand a chance," he mused, holding up the note.

"They never do, Mijo," Alberto chuckled. "Have fun," he wished them a couple of minutes later once Milagro returned and left the shop with Cerdian.

So Much For Getting Away From It All

Damian Wayne slowed his pace to match Dick Grayson's leisurely one. They found the king of Shayeris and his heir lounging in a small rec room on the second floor of the Tower. Dick was about to speak but paused and simply stared at Garth. He'd never seen the Atlantean wear eye glasses before. Damian glanced over at his eldest brother and shook his head. "I'm informing Barbara," he chided.

"Hmm?" Garth asked, looking up from his reading.

Damian smirked. "Your need of reading glasses has triggered Richard's spectacles fetish."

"I hate you," Dick muttered at Damian.

"No you don't," Damian countered.

Garth ran his tongue along his upper teeth and playfully lowered his reading glasses. "I'm so sorry to inform you, Dick…but it would never work," he teased. "You're a married man and I fear and respect Barbara far too much to go behind her back…as tempting as that would be." Cerdian nearly slid off the sofa as he howled in laughter. "Besides," Garth sighed. "My current paramour tends to be a bit jealous. Not to mention she has really sharp teeth."

Dick's cheeks flushed pink as he elbowed Damian in the ribcage. Damian could only offer a weak protest as he leaned heavily against the wall in laughter. "Anyway," Dick stated. "We just came by to tell you that we're heading back to Gotham. This just came for you," he added, handing over a large official envelope from the nearby Atlantean embassy. "And I want to know when Bruce can expect that business proposal."

Garth handed the envelope over to Cerdian, who opened it and peered inside. "Give me a minute here and you can take the proposal with you," he informed Dick, downloading it onto a flash drive.

"What would be the best way to contact you and let you know what Bruce thinks?" Dick asked, accepting the flash drive.

"The easiest way would be to have Damian inform Ian," Garth replied. Cerdian looked up from the papers he'd pulled from the envelope while Damian nodded.

"That I will do," Dick said. "Alright, we're out of here. See you later," he added as he turned to leave.

"Bye," Garth playfully teased. Damian and Cerdian burst into laughter again as Dick glared at Garth.

"You done?"

"I'll never tire of amusing myself at your expense," Garth vowed. "Ever. You should know this by now."

Dick rolled his eyes and grabbed Damian by the collar. "C'mon smart ass. I'm siccing Cass on you when we get home."

Garth leaned back with a satisfied smirk on his face and looked over at Cerdian when the younger man took a deep breath to calm down. "I have a question. If he wasn't married, would you?"

Garth shrugged. "I wasn't kidding about the tempting part," he admitted. "Dare I ask, what's that?" he asked, indicating the papers Cerdian was flipping through.

Cerdian smirked. "A missive that only the King of Shayeris is qualified to handle," he stated, handing the papers over.

"I'll be the judge of that," Garth retorted. He squinted at the fine print and placed his reading glasses back on. "Would it be an abuse of power if I made it a royal decree that all official business be printed in no smaller than twelve point font?"

"Someone would be bound to complain," Cerdian replied. He picked up the piece of jewellery he'd been working on before Dick and Damian had come into the room.

"Probably," Garth agreed and then groaned. "You're kidding me?"

"Told you," Cerdian said in a sing song voice.

Garth flipped through the papers for a few seconds before tossing them onto the table in disgust. "You're backing me up I tell them that we were too busy to attend to that sooner," he informed his son.

Cerdian gave a salute off his brow. "As his majesty wishes," he said.

"Talisman making was never my strong suit," Garth admitted as he watched Cerdian fiddle with the piece he was working on.

"You lack the long slender fingers for it," Cerdian told him, waving his for effect. "And this is a birthday present for the mother in law," he added. "We were at the mall last time I was in El Paso and Bianca really admired a pair of earrings on display in this one shop."

"Mother in law?" Garth asked, raising an eyebrow.

"She may as well be, given the way she treats me practically like her own son," Cerdian shrugged.

"Ah," his father conceded. "Why didn't you just buy her the earrings when she wasn't looking?" Garth asked.

"Because they were ridiculously over priced for substandard material."

"Huh?"

"This is pure gold," Cerdian stated, holding up the earring. "The ones in the shop were gold plated."

"Gotcha." Garth eyed the papers and reluctantly reached for them.

"I thought we were too busy to attend to that now," Cerdian pointed out.

"I know," Garth sighed. "But I figure we may as well give it a shot now."

"We?"

"Yes. We," Garth retorted. "What ever happened to the Idyllists thinking of me as the scourge to everything they hold dear?" he muttered after a while.

"You failed to drop dead when they abandoned you at birth, and have gone on to save them so many times since then that they let it slide?" Cerdian provided.

Garth chuckled. "How much effort do you put into coming up with those lines?"

"Virtually none," Cerdian replied, studying the pair of earrings to see if they were perfectly matched. "It's a gift."

"Alright then, gifted one," Garth teased as Cerdian adjusted the hook on one of the earrings. "How does this sound?" he asked, and rattled off his idea.

Cerdian stared wide eyed into space and pondered his father's suggestion. "Wouldn't you need parliamentary approval first?"

"Believe me, this will be going before parliament," Garth assured him. "I just want to have this as concise as possible before it does."

"Going by what I saw skimming through those, you can eliminate about half of the pages just by dropping the excess language the author used," Cerdian replied.

"Having it re-drafted is part of my plan," Garth admitted. "So?"

"See if the re-draft makes more sense before tackling that," Cerdian dismissed, focusing on the earrings again.

"I like that plan," Garth agreed. He placed the papers back in the envelope and scrawled a note across it to have it re-drafted.

"Do you want to play hooky from our royal duties for another day?" Cerdian asked, setting the earrings in a gift box. Garth raised a curious eyebrow. "Bianca's birthday is tomorrow and we're planning on surprising her with a dinner party."

"In that case, I'll commission you to make a matching necklace to go with those as my gift to her," Garth replied.

"Way ahead of you," Cerdian smirked, and held up the finished piece he'd already made.

We've Never Been Cut Out To Just Relax

Damian was leaning back on the sofa and playing with Nefertiti when Bruce hobbled in with the aid of a cane. "How's your leg, Father?" Damian asked, rising to help Bruce into his favourite chair.

Bruce hissed as he sat down then thanked Damian for his help. "It'll be at least another two weeks before the fractures heal enough for me to get back out there," he growled.

"Alfred will wager you three," Damian pointed out, returning to the sofa. "Don't deny it, Father. You know Pennyworth will win that argument," he added at the dismissive look Bruce gave him.

"Hnn," Bruce grunted. He picked up the day's copy of the Daily Planet and began reading. "I never liked that man," he murmured.

"Who?" Damian asked.

"The soon to be former secretary treasurer of Metropolis U," Bruce replied and read the expose Clark Kent had written. As Bruce read aloud, Damian texted Chris to see what he knew about the story. "…sources were reluctant at first when questioned, but ultimately provided the information that uncovered the mishandling of university funds," Bruce read.

Damian checked his mobile and read the message Chris had sent him. "According to Christopher, the story behind the story is rather entertaining."

"Oh?" Bruce asked, as Damian demanded details in a response. They didn't have to wait long for Chris' reply.

"Take a look at the last two years' worth of LM-2's," Damian read aloud. He sent his thanks to Chris and set his mobile aside. "I'll get it," Damian said when he realised that Alfred had put away the laptop that Bruce kept in the living room. He quickly returned with his father's laptop as well as his own.

"Thank you," Bruce said as Damian handed his to him.

"How do you know of this Robbins person?" Damian asked.

"He used to be the secretary treasurer at Vreeland Enterprises some years back," Bruce replied. "Something about him never sit right with me."

"Do you recall when he worked for Vreeland?" Damian asked.

Bruce closed his eyes for a moment as he recalled what he knew. "He got the Metropolis U job in twenty twelve. He left Vreeland Enterprises to take the university position."

Damian glanced over at Bruce's screen and boggled at what he saw. "How was he not investigated earlier?"

"Good question," Bruce murmured.

"You go through those while I go through the Vreeland records?" Damian suggested.

"Do it," Bruce told him.

"Is there anything I should keep an eye out for?" Damian asked as he found the records he was looking for.

"See if Dearborn Law firm in New York is listed anywhere either in expenses or miscellaneous," Bruce replied. "And anything that looks unusual in the miscellaneous expenditures."

"I have Dearborn listed three separate times in the twenty eleven report," Damian stated. "For a total of nine thousand three hundred and seventeen dollars."

"Look in miscellaneous for donations to individual women," Bruce suggested.

"I don't have donations listed. However I have several 'gifts' listed ranging from five to ten thousand dollars," Damian stated.

"Start compiling them," Bruce instructed. "May I use your phone?" he asked and Damian handed it over. "Veronica? Are you busy at the moment? I might have something of interest to show you. I'm at the manor, feel free to drop in when you can. Alright, I'll see then. Bye," he said, finishing his call and returning Damian's mobile to him.

"So when should we expect Miss Vreeland's company?" Damian asked.

"She has an appointment she can't skip. She said she'll be by afterwards," Bruce replied.

"I'll inform Alfred to bring her right to us," Damian said and excused himself to find the butler.

Nefertiti stretched and hopped down from the sofa to wander over to Bruce. "Hello," he said when she jumped into his lap. "My cast is not a scratching post," he playfully scolded her.

"Yes it is," Damian said as he returned. "She's the reason my sling looked the way it did earlier this year."

Bruce got Nefertiti to stop clawing at his cast and resumed his work. Nefertiti decided that she was comfortable in his lap and curled up to take a nap. "I'm seeing a pattern," Bruce stated after a while. "Several years of suspicious reports, preceded by two or three years of clean ones."

"So far I only have the three years leading up to his move to Metropolis U," Damian added. "Everything before twenty oh nine is clean."

"He started working for Veronica in the nineties," Bruce supplied.

"I was about to ask that, thank you," Damian murmured.

After an hour, Alfred led Veronica Vreeland into the living room. "Sit down Bruce," she scolded, as he made to stand. "You have a broken leg." Damian barely hid a smirk as he stood in acknowledgement of her arrival and went to fetch a chair for her.

"Is there anything I can get you, Miss?" Alfred asked.

"Gin and tonic please," Veronica replied, as she took a seat in the chair Damian held out for her. "Thank you Damian." He nodded to her and returned to the sofa.

"Make it heavy on the gin, Alfred," Bruce added, as the butler left to get the requested drink.

"Oh?"

"Read this," he said, handing the newspaper over to Veronica.

"Marcus Robbins? He used to work for me," she said, as she read.

"Mmhmm," Bruce murmured. "That's a rather interesting read."

"Clark Kent," Veronica stated, reading the by line. "What does this have to do with me?" she asked.

"I'm friends with Mr Kent's son, Christopher. I texted him for more information on the story and his reply was rather intriguing," Damian replied, handing over his mobile with the text Chris had sent him.

"So you two looked at the LM-2's and found what?" Veronica asked, handing Damian's mobile back to him. "Thank you Alfred," she added when he returned with her drink.

"While I went over the Metropolis U records, I had Damian go over yours," Bruce explained.

"I found a pattern similar to the one Kent found for his story," Damian added, handing over his compiled notes.

"Dearborn Law?" she asked, taking a sip of her drink.

"A law firm in New York that specialises in civil suits," Bruce replied. Veronica raised a sculpted eyebrow at him.

"Excuse me a moment," she said, taking out her mobile and walking to the far side of the living room. "Miss Lane? This is Veronica Vreeland. Is your husband available?" Bruce and Damian listened in discretely as Veronica spoke to Clark. "I can get your personal number from Bruce? Thank you very much, I'll see you later this week," she added, finishing up the conversation. "My apologies," she said as she returned to her seat. She downed her drink and Bruce winced slightly.

"Can I have Alfred get you another?" he asked, as she placed the glass back on the table.

"No thanks. I'll be abusing those when I get home," she replied. "Clark Kent said I could get his personal number from you?" Veronica added.

"I have it," Damian said and handed over his mobile.

"Thanks. I have business in Metropolis later this week and Kent is willing to talk off the record with me," she said as she handed the mobile back. Damian entered the website into a text message and sent it to her.

"That's where you'll find the information we did," Damian told her. Veronica thanked him and got up to take her leave. "I'll escort you," Damian offered.

"Thank you again for your initiative. I truly appreciate it," Veronica said as she bid Bruce good night.

"No need," Bruce assured her. "If there's anything else, feel free to ask. I'll gladly help."

Veronica thanked him again and allowed Damian to lead her to her car. "She's livid," he said when he returned to the living room.

"Yes she is," Bruce smirked.

"That was fun," Damian commented, leaning back on the sofa and attempting to get Nefertiti's attention. She leapt from Bruce's lap over to Damian's and he resumed playing with her.

"I'm bored," Bruce groaned after a few minutes.

"We're incapable of relaxing, aren't we?" Damian chuckled.

"Yeah we are," Bruce agreed. "Want to see what else we can dig up on Robbins?"

"Twist my arm," Damian grinned, sitting up and reaching for his laptop.

We're Telling Mom

Wally West ambled to the lounge on the Watchtower and was surprised to see his children sharing a sofa near one of the massive windows. "What are you two still doing here?" he asked.

"We figured we'd head home with you," Iris offered.

"I still have another hour or so up here," Wally stated. "J'onn wants to debrief me when he's done with Kyle."

"We can wait," Jai shrugged.

"Up to you," Wally said dismissively. "Hey Fire," he added as the green haired beauty walked in.

"It was so good to see you again," Fire said as she went up to Wally and hugged him. "It's been too long," she added kissing each of his cheeks.

Jai and Iris shared a look and grinned at the affectionate display. "We are so telling Mom," Jai smirked.

"I'm sorry?" Fire asked, turning and seeing the twins for the first time.

"Bea, my son and daughter, Jai and Irey," Wally sighed as he introduced his teammate to the twins.

"Wow. She looks just like you," Fire exclaimed about Iris. Iris waved her fingers and gave Fire a cheesy grin. Fire saw the mischievous look on Jai's face and narrowed her eyes at him. "I see that look Smart Guy," she scolded playfully. "Your Papa is a very old and very dear friend. Nothing more."

"Gotcha," Jai grinned.

"They're not buying it are they?" Fire asked Wally.

Wally shook his head. "Even if they did, I'm still not off the hook." Fire's face fell in concern and he smiled ruefully at her. "Sadly this is not the first time this has happened," he told her. "Tora…Vixen."

"Zatanna!" the twins piped up.

Fire smothered a laugh with her hand and placed an understanding hand on Wally's shoulder. "I'll go before you get into any more trouble," she offered. "I have to go anyway," she added when a summons for her rang out over the Watchtower P.A.

"I'll see you later," Wally said as Fire turned to leave.

"Be nice," she playfully scolded Jai and Iris.

"Hell no," Jai laughed.

"Nice meeting you," Iris added.

"You too…I think. Bye," she added before leaving. The twins watched her leave before turning their focus on their father.

Wally sighed. "Get it out of your systems."

"No wonder you wanted to get rid of us," Iris teased.

"You've got a hot Brazilian on the side…pun fully intended," Jai added.

"Like you don't have a wandering eye," Wally scoffed at Jai.

"Lian's usually standing right there if I flirt with some random girl," Jai admitted freely.

"This is true," Iris said.

Wally rubbed at his brow. "Of all the shit he could have inherited from me," he muttered.

"Uncle Roy was very forthcoming about you as a teenager," Iris offered.

"I'll bet he was," Wally groaned as he sat down on the sofa between the twins. "For the record," he started. "There was a mutual interest there, many, many years ago…before I met your mother. Nothing ever came of it and your mother is very well aware of it," he explained.

"Ooo confession!" Iris grinned. "We didn't get that with any of the others."

"That's because there's nothing to confess about the others," Wally retorted, shooting Iris a look.

"You sure?" Jai teased. Wally glared at him. "I'm just checking. Confession is good for the soul."

"I can break your kneecaps before you can even blink," Wally warned his son. Jai just laughed. Wally held a hand up to silence the twins then stood up. "J'onn just summoned me. Stay here. Behave. I'll only be a few minutes and then we're heading straight home." He hadn't made it out the door when Jai and Iris started howling in laughter.

"Are you alright?" J'onn asked when Wally joined him.

Wally sighed. "I just wish I'd drowned my two in a bucket when I had a chance," he muttered. J'onn chuckled in understanding and bid Wally to take a seat.

"I'll be quick then," the Martian promised and began his debriefing.

Linda Park-West took one look at her husband and children and knew that she was in for a fun story. "So how was it?" she asked.

"Daddy introduced us to Fire," Iris grinned.

"Ahhh, the one he had the hots for supposedly," Linda grinned, folding her arms across her chest.

"So we were told," Jai smirked.

"It's been a long day. I'm tired. And I'm going to bed," Wally stated. "Knock yourselves out," he muttered as he headed upstairs.

"Night," Linda called out.

"Night Daddy!" Iris added.

"Later Playah!" Jai cackled. All three of them burst into laughter when Wally growled darkly at his son from the top of the stairs.

"How hard a time did you two give him?" Linda asked, wiping at her eye.

"Oh my God! It was epic!" Iris exclaimed.

"Dad threatened to break my kneecaps," Jai laughed.

"I'll be nice to him then," Linda chuckled. "I've met Bea a few times," she added. "She's a sweetheart."

"I can see what Dad saw in her," Jai commented and let out a low whistle. Iris and Linda both shot him a look. "What? Dad's not the only one who likes 'em exotic."

"Of everything you could inherit from Wally, you get that one," Linda remarked.

"Among other things…thank God," Jai said, giving her a pointed look.

Linda picked up a throw pillow and smacked Jai with it. "Get to bed!" Jai laughed and bid his mother and sister good night, before retiring for the night. Linda glanced over at Iris. "Please tell me he's not worse without any supervision at the Tower.

"No," Iris assured her. "I'd have killed him years ago."

"Good to know," Linda sighed. "So besides getting to tease your Dad relentlessly, how was it?" she asked, changing the subject.

A/N II:

Sister or not, Roy will treat Sin the same way he does Lian when it comes to boys. Deshi is a full blown character I have in mind that will show up in this soon enough in a guest capacity.

I was a little dark with Chris in 'Mother', so I went somewhere else with this. Their investigation is based on one I was involved in for officer elections with an organisation I'm part of. The outgoing treasurer was crooked as hell and I loved finding out just how crooked he was.

Unlike Milagro, I'm the son my Dad never had. Whenever he's tinkering with our cars, I get called in to help because I have very long slender hands that can reach into tight spaces. This is also how I know more than the average woman about cars.

I wrote this to utterly and completely exploit the slash implications in the beginning and the fact that Dick Grayson is DC's beloved whore…lol

Damian is far too much like Bruce to be able to just chill out and relax with his father. And besides…you know Bruce won't leave it alone if a friend might have been scammed by someone. I really, really enjoyed digging up all the stuff I did during the election campaign…lol

Lololol An idea I had based on the Justice League Unlimited toon and the mutual attraction between Wally and Bea (Fire). Jai and Irey would have a field day with it.