Chapter 21

"And… we're live," Tim said into the comm.

"Good evening, Gotham!" Harley chirped cheerfully. Her ten story tall Batgirl-covered-face was lighting up the Gotham Central jumbotron at exactly midnight. "This is Batgirl reporting to you live with some breaking Batfamily news!"

"That's not how I talk," Steph grumbled from her seat next to Tim in front of the Batcomputer. Damian and Osito were sitting on her other side in Bruce's lap as the family watched Harley's broadcast on the monitors in the BatCave.

"It's a better disguise if it's not how you talk," Bruce pointed out, and Steph gave him a glimmer of a half-smile without taking her eyes off of the screen. Their phones were buzzing too, with the emergency message overrides so Harley's poor imitation of Steph was coming through in stereo.

"This just in from Arkham Asylum," Harley said. "Six inmates have earned presidential pardons for patriotically assisting the government in some top-secret operations. So when you see them around town, be sure to give them a big thank you for all of their dedication and for reminding us that no one is beyond redemption!"

"Yes, run up to Deadshot and give him a thank you hug," Bruce snarked to the screen. "Good advice, Harley."

"Better than running up to Killer Croc," Tim said as he flashed the GCPD web address on the screen as 'Batgirl' directed citizens to check out the proof of her statements. Steph giggled and even Bruce got a small grin although Damian, of course, remained impassive.

"And, as a way to welcome these newly innocent citizens back into Gotham society," Harley was continuing, "Batman and the Batfamily have invited the Suicide Squad to assist us this week with patrols. So keep an eye out for Harley Hood - hey, did you all know she got married recently to Red Hood and killed the Joker? How's that for looking out for Gotham?"

"She's going off-script," Damian said crossly. "How can she expect to patrol successfully as a member of the Batfamily when she fails to correctly implement the details of a well-ordered plan?" Bruce snuggled Damian and Osito a little tighter in his arms.

"She just has to get through this week," Bruce said to him consolingly, although his eyes were twinkling behind his tiny son's head. "And she's only ad libbing a little bit," he said as his lips twitched in amusement, but he had hardly finished speaking before Harley started hamming up the intros of the Suicide Squad, too. Oh, well, Bruce thought. That's Harley.

Truthfully, he wasn't so sure that it was a great idea to announce to the masses that Joker was dead, but he could understand Harley wanting to completely divest her identity from her tormentor and when it came down to it, he was surprised to realize that he trusted Harley to keep the underworld in order. If she thought it was fine to publicize Joker's death, then it probably was.

Besides, she'd told Waller, and there was no way that Waller would keep that juicy tidbit to herself if she thought that she could use it to her advantage. So, Bruce mused, maybe Harley had the right idea, after all, to steal the warden's thunder by breaking the news herself. Well, except she was breaking it dressed as Batgirl. And, by doing that, was she giving off a subtle message that the Batfamily approved of killing? What did that -

"You're up in your head as much as I usually am," Tim broke into his thoughts, looking over at him with a grin.

Bruce chuckled as he caught himself and he met his Robin's eyes with much more affection than he was used to projecting. And, Tim was looking back at him with more ease than anxiety in his gaze, which was a welcome change to the Nervous Nelly that he usually was. Not that he could blame the boy for being nervous around him, Bruce thought with some guilt. Batman had been a cold, hard, asshole the last several years and had only recently begun to thaw.

"You've got more self-confidence since Bane took over for me," Bruce said to Tim with a soft smile so that it came off as a compliment rather than a resentment. "It's a good look on you," he added. Steph, who had turned to look at Bruce when he spoke, swiveled over to Tim and smiled up in his eyes.

"It does look good," she added and Tim actually flushed a little bit but he held her gaze and smiled back at her.

"Thank you," he said quietly to Steph, but then he flicked his eyes up to Bruce and smiled his thanks at him, too.

"What changed?" Bruce started to ask him but Steph shushed him suddenly as Deadshot came onto the screen.

"Now, look here, Gothamites," he said to the city. "The parameters of our contract with the Bat prohibit us from using lethal force this week… but that don't mean that I won't take great pleasure in shooting your kneecaps off if you spite me. So go ahead, rob those stores, jack those cars, assault those wom -" Batgirl shoved him hard and put her face back on the screen.

"Do not assault women or Killer Croc will bite your dicks off," she said ferociously.

"Right," Deadshot corrected, coming back into view as Killer Croc could be heard bitching at Batgirl in the background. "Scratch that last one. No assaulting women. But other than that, go ahead and try me, because I've been cooped up in Arkham a long time and I need to get some aggression out."

"Oh, my God," Bruce groaned.

"Correction," Killer Frost said, her blue face popping up around Deadshot. "Assault women and I will freeze your dicks solid and then snap them off with my bare hands and grind them to powder in front of you."

Damian had sat up straighter when Deadshot took the screen and he was watching the villains' ongoing dialogue with animated, albeit professional, interest, but Bruce was moaning and had started to rub his forehead with one hand.

"I knew I was going to regret this," he said. "What have I done?"

"It's fine, Bruce," Tim said with authority, causing all three heads in the cave to turn and look at him in surprise. "What?" Tim asked them. "So some criminals get a little more roughed up than normal. No one's going to get killed and it's not a bad thing to shake things up every now and then so we don't become predictable." Damian eyed Tim thoughtfully before slowly nodding in respect.

"Timothy Drake is not incorrect," he said.

"Notice he doesn't say I'm right," Tim teased and Steph giggled.

"Damian has high standards," she said.

"Indeed I do, Stephanie Brown," Damian said with satisfaction.

"What has Bane been teaching you?" Bruce asked Tim, sounding mystified but impressed.

"Oh, I guess he got me thinking about how I'm the next Batman," Tim said calmly, causing Bruce's eyebrows to shoot up. "And Bane said that I need to start preparing myself for that instead of thinking that I'm only Robin."

"Oh," Bruce said in muted surprise. Tim met his eyes.

"Because you won't be going back out there," he told Bruce with quiet conviction. And Bruce took a deep breath and slowly let it out on a sigh as the most profound grief hit him. He hadn't honestly considered his longterm future; he was having enough trouble getting through each moment of the present. He knew that Bane taking on the Bat was a huge relief and hell, he was happy to have Bane do it indefinitely.

But… was Bruce done? Really done? The Batman hadn't just been a part of him for so long, it had been him. His whole identity as a human being, wrapped up in a mask and a cape and hiding in the shadows. And to lay that down permanently felt like a death with the accompanying sorrow. He swallowed hard, because his gut knew the truth that his brain hadn't wanted to acknowledge.

He jumped slightly as he felt Steph's hand on his arm.

"Some things that break can't get fixed," she said gently. "And that's ok, B. You're fixing us, now. As a family," she explained, starting to tear up a little bit. "We like you better this way," she added bravely and Bruce felt some of his own tears start. Along with the shame and guilt that went with being the bad parent and apathetic mentor who he used to be.

"You are well past your physical peak, anyway, Father," Damian said very reasonably and Bruce let out an offended chuckle.

"Well past, hm?" he said dryly but Damian merely nodded affirmatively.

"Well past," he repeated. "And Tim and Steph are not yet adequately trained to properly assist you in the field should you be outmatched."

"Hey!" Tim and Steph protested. Damian looked down his nose at them and sniffed.

"To deny your limitations is to limit your progress," he said severely. "Whose ankle and bo staff did Bane break?" he scoffed. The teenagers started to argue but Bruce interrupted them all.

"Damian is right," he said quietly but firmly. "About all of us. I am getting older, it's true. Even without having had a nervous breakdown," he added with a small smile on his face for Damian who nodded his vigorous agreement.

"And you two are not at your peak yet," he said to Steph and Tim, despite their angry faces. "But one day you will be. And until then…"

"We have Bane," Tim supplied. And Bruce couldn't deny that those words gave him a flutter of happy warmth low in his belly.

"We have Bane," Bruce repeated, enjoying how the words felt coming out of his mouth. But a weight started to sink down on his chest as he thought about how harsh he'd been with his friend earlier that day. Who had lied, yes, and dammit, that had really hurt. But Bruce had put on a tour de force asshole performance in return.

I wonder if he'll even want to be with someone so fucked up, Bruce thought, feeling melancholy again. I might have screwed things up for good. He hoped not, but…

"Boss!" he heard Captain Cold's urgent voice over the comms. "We have trouble!" Bruce clicked the comms on and was about to respond when he heard Harley's voice and realized that he wasn't the 'boss' being addressed. Well, that was new. He held his tongue and turned the volume up as they heard an angry voice ranting in the background.

"... realize that Batman only goes by the clocktower at precisely 12:34 a.m. every seventeenth Friday? I have been waiting for this day with great pleasure and immense patience and now you disorganized buffoons had to go and disrupt his schedule! Just for that I will destroy the clocktower with equal randomness to teach you a lesson in -"

"That's Clockmaster," Bruce said tensely into the comms. "What the fuck is he doing out of prison, Harley?" he asked her in annoyance.

"Even God can't control people's free will, Bats," Harley snarked back at him. "And Tempus ain't on my payroll, if that's what you're askin'. Cold and Frost are gonna keep him talkin'; me and Floyd and Croc are on our way over."

"He's holding a dead man's switch," Killer Frost said as they heard Captain Cold in the background trying to butter Clockmaster up by offering him a pardon, too, if he joined their team.

"Plans?" Harley asked her team.

"I'll distract him," Deadshot said, "and Croc'll sneak up on him and bite the hand with the switch off."

"Are you kidding me?" Croc growled at him.

"Nah, man, you got that big reptile tongue to hold the switch down until we get the bomb disabled," Floyd answered him. "You're good with your tongue, right?" he asked saucily.

"June has no compla -" Bruce clapped his hands over Damian's ears who squawked in protest as Steph blushed and Tim giggled.

"Besides, you remember the crocodile in Peter Pan? Who had the clock in his belly?" Deadshot was snickering. "He bit Captain Hook's hand off. Let him be your spirit guide."

"You think you're funny," Killer Croc grumbled, "but that's just rude."

"I wasn't trying to be funny; I was being ironic," Floyd shot back.

"Well, you failed at that like Alanis Morisette," Croc said.

"Who's Alanis Morisette?" Damian asked as he finally succeeded in shoving Bruce's hands off of his ears.

"This is why we don't banter on the comms," Bruce muttered in disgust as Floyd protested "I was referencing literature, man! Come on! Don't sulk. You want people to see you as human then you should show some respect for the arts."

"Cut the chatter," Bruce ordered them, causing a startled silence to fall before the snickering started from all five members of the Suicide Squad.

"Ooh, Daddy Bats scolded you!" Killer Frost taunted. "Somebody's in trouuuuble!" she sang.

"Did you all forget that there's still a bomb on the Clocktower?" Bruce growled angrily.

"Naw, me and Snart are gonna go take care of that as soon as the others roll up," Frost said.

"We're coming in now," Harley said. "Floyd's gonna take over for Snart on distraction detail. I'm gonna cover Croc."

"Okey dokey," Frost answered. "I'm falling back now."

"I can't believe they haven't gotten themselves killed yet on Waller's missions," Bruce said with disgust to his orderly, well-behaved batlings, who were listening wide-eyed to the raucous mayhem that was apparently how the Suicide Squad got shit done.

"They are most unprofessional," Damian said in wonder.

"I guess we'll see if they manage to be effective, too," Bruce said. "At least the Watchtower is empty right now if the bomb goes off."

"Tempus!" they heard Deadshot's voice call out cheerfully. "Stop bein' a little bitch. It ain't our fault the Bat changed the schedule up tonight. We're here trying to earn a living. Why you gotta fuck that up for us? We just got out of prison, man. You think we want to deal with your shit tonight?"

"I have been waiting for over four months for this very night!" the Batfamily heard Clockmaster pout. "And now that the Bat is alerted to my plans, my moment is ruined forever!"

"But if you blow your bomb up, you're gonna have to build another one," Deadshot pointed out very reasonably. "Why don't we go get some beers and I'll help you think up a better spot to plant it in to surprise the Bat?"

Steph and Tim eyed Bruce who had started muttering profanities under his breath. Steph gently leaned over and replaced Bruce's hands on Damian's ears, who immediately started kicking Bruce's knees in frustration. Bruce let out one more choice curse before shutting up and uncovering Damian's ears as they continued to listen in.

"You're working for him," Clockmaster was saying petulantly to Deadshot. "You expect me to believe that you're going to help me?"

"I'm only contracted for a week, man," Floyd said back. "After that I'm a free agent. Come on, don't make me work hard tonight, Tempus. Be a pal."

Clockmaster's reply was cut off in a blood-curdling scream that was followed by howls of pain.

"Holy shit," Tim burst out, startled. Steph looked horrified but Damian was not only nonplussed but appeared quite impressed. Bruce's grunt sounded suspiciously amused as Harley broke into the comms.

"Croc has the trigger. He's holding it down. What's your status, Len?"

"Frosty's ramping us up to the clock face now."

"Freeze the clock hands first," Batman said. "He might still have a timer rigged up."

"Roger that," Leonard Snart answered and they heard the gentle hum of his ice gun firing. A second later, the BatComputer's video feed kicked in as Captain Cold clicked his camera on. He and Killer Frost were inside the clocktower looking through the intricate mechanisms for the bomb.

"To your right," Batman said. "Behind the middle gear."

"Got it," Frost answered, pointing it out to Snart. "Freeze it first?" she asked.

"Give me a close-up of it?" Bats asked them and Leonard moved in with the camera. Bruce grunted as he looked at a bundle of gears and wires and levers as beautifully intricate as the antique clocktower innards themselves, although they were elaborately arranged around a massive bundle of C4.

"Everyone's an artist," Bats muttered impatiently. "If that goes off even with ice around it, it'll kill you and do a lot of damage to the city," he said.

"No shit," Leonard said back. "We need to clockblock it," he said. Frost groaned loudly.

"Really, Leonard?" she asked him. Cold started sniping back at her as Bruce cut in angrily.

"Freeze the damn bomb and get it out of there," he said. "Before you idiots get killed. How the hell have you managed to stay alive this long?" he snarked at them.

"We're the best in the business," Snart said as he shot his cold gun over the bomb.

"That is a most disturbing commentary on the quality of Gotham villains," Damian said seriously.

"Aw, who is that?" Killer Frost cooed over the comms. "Bat-Mite? Oh, aren't you adorable. Bite my frosty ass," she said as she cut the frozen wires connecting the bomb to the clock. She carefully lifted the ice-encased bomb out from behind the clock gears and added a few more layers of ice to it for good measure.

"Let's go throw it in the harbor," Captain Cold said to her, picking it up. She nodded and they stepped up to the tower window where she crafted another icy ramp to lead them to the water. Bruce sighed long and hard as they sped off.

"Get back over here to us when you're done," Harley said over the comms. "I put a tourniquet on Tempus but I need you to freeze the wound shut and put his hand on ice so we can go get it reattached at the hospital."

"You're gonna give him his hand back?" Deadshot complained. "You're too soft, Harls."

"He has mental illness," Harley said back sharply. "We don't need to punish him with a permanent amputation if it can be fixed."

"Fine, fine, you're the boss," Floyd grumbled. "Y'all better hurry up, though, Frosty Freezes. Croc here looks like he's gonna gag on Fugit's hand any minute."

Bruce muttered under his breath as he and the batlings continued to watch on the video feed that Captain Cold had left on. Snart and Killer Frost sped along to Gotham Harbor, going well out to sea before dropping the bomb into the water. Once they looped their way back to land, Frost's voice came through.

"All clear, Croc," she said. "Let it rip." They heard a deafening boom in the background as the bomb exploded and Bruce finally heaved a sigh of relief. He shut off the mics and the video feed and stood up, gently setting Damian down on his feet.

"Harley is going to be the death of me," Bruce said, rubbing his hands over his head before walking around a little bit to shake his tension off. "Never in all my life…" he grumbled. Damian looked sympathetic in a rare display of emotion.

"That was a most disreputable display of ineptitude," he said. "Timothy Drake, when you are Batman, I shall not permit you to employ the Suicide Squad for any reason."

"You shall not permit me… ?" Tim asked him in a teasing voice, raising his eyebrow as he, too, stood and stretched before rubbing Steph's shoulders for her as she stayed seated with her broken ankle.

"Indeed I shall not allow it," Damian said. "As your Robin, it would be most foolish of me to permit you to rely on such uncoordinated and ill-trained vagabonds."

One of Tim's hands was lingering on Stephanie's shoulder and he bent down and whispered something in her ear. When she nodded, he let her go with a final squeeze.

"Let's go spar," Tim said to Damian. "I think most of the excitement for the night is over."

"Very well," Damian said, carefully placing Osito into Tim's vacant seat. "You are wise to request my assistance. Perhaps you shall not be a complete failure as the Batman if you continue to seek help from your betters."

"Uh huh," Tim said, winking at Steph, who smiled back at him. Bruce watched the two boys head across the Cave to the practice mats before he sat back down next to Stephanie, giving her a slightly curious look. She stayed quiet for a minute, picking at her sleeve and looking at the floor.

"You seem down today," Bruce finally said to her. She glanced up at him and Bruce's heart clenched a little bit to see the sadness in her eyes.

"Yeah," Steph said softly. She swallowed. "Things have been kind of rough at school. For a long time, actually," she admitted, "but today was worse."

The guilt swirled and settled in Bruce's stomach like a lead weight. He knew he hadn't been paying attention like he should have been, but Steph always seemed so happy. And fine. He'd thought that out of all of his kids, she was the one who was the most well-adjusted. But, apparently, he'd been wrong about that, too.

"Tell me about it," he said gently. Steph sighed.

"Well, I get bullied a lot for being poor. And because of my parents," she said, turning a little red. "And because of Tim. Well, he gets bullied, too, but pretty much only about me." Bruce thought to himself that Tim and Steph were going to have to get over that part soon, but he kept quiet as Steph kept talking.

"Today, um," Steph turned bright red and couldn't look at Bruce. She covered her face with her hands.

"You don't have to tell me if it's too upsetting," Bruce said but Steph shook her head.

"I want to," she said. "It's just really embarrassing. Um, I was getting teased for being a virgin and they told me I should let this asshole popmycherrybecauseTimwasn'tmanenoughtodoit," she finished in a rush.

"Oh, hell no," Batman growled in the voice that made criminals crap their pants. "I will end those little shits," he said. "And their parents. Give me their names." Steph smiled and peeked out at him from under her hands.

"Harley said she'd take care of it," she said. "But her and Babs said I should tell you about it, anyway." Bruce's brain skipped a track. Because what was the point of telling him if he couldn't help? Steph took pity on his evident confusion.

"Harley said there's other ways for you to support me. Like with ice cream," she offered. "Or hugs, I guess," Steph added with a tiny, hopeful look in her eyes. The Dark Knight softened and scooted his chair closer to hers and pulled her into a tight hug against his chest, wrapping his arms around his daughter tight and holding her close. To his surprise, Steph snuggled into him like Damian had recently started doing, but quite unlike Damian, she began to cry.

Oh, shit, Bruce thought in panic as he continued to hold her. He awkwardly patted her back as all of the tears that Steph had been holding in for so long came rushing out. Not knowing what else to do and desperately wishing that Tim would come back over, Bruce continued to hold her without saying anything. Daughters, he thought to himself, but with a lot more fear than affection as his eyes frantically looked towards the sparring mat where Damian was unsurprisingly wiping the floor with Tim.

Bruce gritted his teeth and prayed that Steph's tears would end without dissolving into hysterics, because then he really would have to go get Tim and probably Alfred, too, and maybe even call Babs and it would be nice if he could get through one day when Bane wasn't around without feeling like the world's biggest parental failure. But, he realized after a few anxious minutes, Steph was actually beginning to sniff and calm down, and Bruce breathed a sigh of relief as he rubbed her back with the circling motion that seemed to soothe Damian.

"I love you, Bruce," Steph surprised him by saying as she pulled back a little bit from him and wiped her nose on her sleeve.

"I love you, too," Bruce said warmly, leaning over to grab a box of tissues which he handed to her. As Steph took a wad and started to blow her nose and wipe her face off, Bruce spoke.

"I know I'm not your real dad," he said, "but, I do care about being another dad to you. Even though I haven't been very good at it so far," he added regretfully. Steph gave him a watery smile.

"My real dad wasn't very good at it, either," she pointed out wryly. "At least you haven't gone to prison," she said. Bruce smiled at her.

"I'd like to raise the bar a little above staying out of jail," he said teasingly.

"You are," Steph told him quietly. "You never used to ask me how I was doing."

"Yeah," Bruce muttered in embarrassment, looking down. "I'm sorry."

"It's ok," Steph said as she balled up her tissues. "You're learning. And you're trying, now, anyway." He nodded, feeling a lump in his throat.

"I could go fix you some ice cream," he offered as he blinked some tears away. Steph smiled.

"I'm ok for now," she said. "Ice cream was Harley's idea, actually, and it's decent, but you know what I really like?"

"What?" Bruce asked her curiously, because no, he really did not know, and that saddened him.

"Waffles," Steph said with a hungry gleam in her eye.

"Waffles?" Bruce asked her, wrinkling his brow.

"Belgian waffles," Steph explained. "The kind you make in a waffle iron? That you flip over to start cooking? And you eat them with strawberries and whipped cream?"

"Oh," Bruce said, starting to smile. "Do we have a waffle maker?" he asked her. Steph nodded. "Then tomorrow you need to teach me how to make them," Bruce said, and the warmth of Steph's smile melted away his lingering low self-esteem as she leaned forward to hug him tight.

As he hugged her back, Bruce said, "Tim likes you, too, you know."

"What?!" Stephanie said, jerking away from him in shock and blushing. Bruce grinned at her.

"But since I'm one of your dads, it's my job to tell you not to have sex with him until you're sure you're ready," he said.

"Agh!" Steph cried, blushing even more furiously and covering her face again. Bruce chuckled but he poked her arm.

"I'm serious," he said. "Fuck those kids at your school. You wait as long as you want. Tim'll date you without sex," he said. "Any good boyfriend should. Ok?" he said. "It's your body and your decision. Always."

"Ok," Steph mumbled, still hiding behind her hands.

"But always use a condom," Bruce went on.

"Oh, my God," Steph moaned.

"And let me know when you want a GYN appointment for birth control and I'll get Babs to take you," he said.

"Stop," Steph said to him. "Really. I get it. Thank you. Message heard and received."

"Ok," Bruce said. He paused for a minute. "You don't have to wait for him to ask you out, you know," he added. "It's not the 1950's anymore." Steph cautiously lifted her head and looked at him.

"You're sure he likes me, too?" she asked him. "Like that?"

"Hell, yeah," Bruce said with a little laugh. "Since you were Spoiler." Steph's jaw dropped open and she stared at him. Bruce grinned. "I figured you two would work it out eventually," he said. "But since you're sad…" he shrugged. "Maybe that nugget of information cheers you up a little?" he said playfully.

"You're a great dad," Steph said to him sincerely.

"I'm getting there," Bruce said, and he actually believed it.