Synopsis: Someone has stolen all the money from the Wayne Foundation Youth Charity Fund. Batman and Red Hood go after the man who did it. While doing research on the thief, Tim is hit by a mysterious beam from an odd weapon sitting on a shelf and is de-aged. Oh boy, what are they going to do with a four-year-old Tim?

Part 20: The Shoe's on the Other Foot

Damian held the stupid jewel in his hand. 'This was all its fault. Grayson won't pay any attention to me now since Drake is a little kid.' Damian scowled. 'I hate him. I hate both of them.' Damian tossed the jewel across the room and listened as it hit the wall. The jewel landed on the floor and started to glow. Seeing that glow, Damian went and picked it up. 'Strange.' He placed the jewel in his pocket. 'Maybe I'll investigate it, later.'

Damian got up and went down the stairs. It was time to get up anyway. He exited the manor and went to the garden. "Mom" was just getting out of the bubble. He can tell she was a bit sad because she hasn't been able to be around Tim. Damian walked with her into the manor and they ate breakfast together. They each had a bowl of fruit, which was enough. Both were in their own thoughts. Damian wasn't aware that Samantha had left the kitchen. He pulled out the jewel and looked at it again.

'Drake said it had no magical properties, yet the damned thing looks like the gem I gave Iris. I bet you could reverse it,' Damian thought. 'It probably takes a magician to do it. Like Doctor Fate or Zatanna. If that's the case. Oh well, I think Drake can bare being a child for a while. Dick on the other hand, I should ignore him like he does me. I should hurt him like he hurt me. He never pays attention to me. Everything is about Drake. I'm his brother, too. He's playing favorites. It's about time he be taught a lesson.'

Samantha entered the nursery. "Unca Da . . . Unca Da."

"Hey baby," Samantha came in to see Jaylyn was awake. "Are you calling for Uncle Damian?"

"Unca Da. Unca Da," Jaylyn once again called for her Uncle Damian. She liked Uncle Damian best, because he gave her strawberries.

Damian...come here. Samantha called Damian through the mind link.

Damian felt the mental tug of his mother figure. 'I guess she needs me,' Damian thought in the private part of his mind. Damian placed the gem in his pocket once more, walked out of the kitchen and up the steps to the nursery. He saw that Jaylyn was up. She was standing in her crib, holding the bars. "Yes?"

"Unca Da," Jaylyn said as she swayed back and forth. "Unca Dami."

Damian gasped. Jaylyn said his name. He walked over to her and picked her up out the crib. "That's right, I'm Uncle Dami."

Can I have some strawberries? Jaynyl said in Damian's mind.

"Of course. We can go down and get some." Damian felt his stomach rumble and realized the fruit he had hadn't been enough. He was still hungry. 'Or is it the sadness from Grayson ignoring me. No, I'm still hungry.'

"Una Dami . . . . Unca Dami . . ."

"Yes, Jaylyn?" Damian questioned, as he was walking down the hallway with her in his arms. She looked much like her father.

i love you Uncle Damian. Jaylyn said, squeezing his neck.

"Awe, Jaylyn. I love you too, my beautiful niece." Damian hugged her back.

We going to get strawberries?

"Yes, we are," Damian comfirmed and headed down to the kitchen. "But first a little breakfast. We don't want to fill up on strawberries alone." Damian sat Jaylyn in her highchair. He went into the fridge and pulled out the strawberries. He washed them off and went to grab a small knife. He also grabbed a handful of cereal and added that in a bowl. He sat in the chair next to his niece and cut up a strawberry for her placing them in the bowl for her so she can pick up the pieces and eat them.

Jaylyn picked up a piece and put it in her mouth. Mmmmm. I love strawberries. Daddy doesn't give me strawberries. He gives me French fries, but I love strawberries better. Jax likes French fries.

Damian ate a strawberry and watched his niece. She was smiling the entire time while eating. 'She must really like strawberries.' Damian started cutting up a second one, knowing that she could eat a couple of them. It was actually distracting him from the heartache his brother was causing him. /Here you go, limitless girl./

"Unca Da . . . Unca Dami . . ."

"You said my name." Damian gently pinched her cheeks. "How about you and I go outside today? We can explore the gardens."

"Oouut," Jaylin said. "Out."

"Another word. You're starting to talk early." Damian laughed, which was rare for him. "Yes out. Let's get you cleaned up first and put in a nice dress or shorts you can get messy in. I don't want your mommy yelling at me for getting something nice dirty."

"Out . . . . Out . . . Out," Jaylyn kept saying. 'I think I like that word.'

Damian went into one of the kitchen drawers and pulled out baby wipes. Alfred made it a good idea to keep some in here for situations like this. He wiped Jaylyn's hands, and mouth. "You look like a vampire."

Jaylyn let him wipe my hands but didn't like the tastes of the wipe. She tried to move my head.

"Lyn . . . Jaylyn stop moving. I have to wipe your face," Damian laughed out. She was acting like it was a bad thing to get her face wiped. "Don't you want to go outside and play with uncle Dami?"

"Out . . . Out . . ."

Damian hurried and wiped her face. She didn't like that one bit, but he had to. He moved her hands out of the way and quickly wiped her face. "There." Damian took her out of the highchair and headed up the stairs. As he got up to the top of the stairs, Damian noticed Dick was coming out of his room.

"Hey Dami!" Dick said. He was just the person that Dick wanted to see. Dick noticed that Damian was holding Jaylyn.

Damian ignored him and pushed by and headed to the nursery to get Jaylyn changed into some clothes for outside. 'That's what he does to me when he's with Tim,' Damian thought to himself. "Jaylyn, I think we should go and explore the vegetable garden. I think there are some that need to be picked."

"Out . . . Out . . Unca Dami."

Two things occurred in Dick's thoughts. Jaylyn just called his brother Dami and the fact that Damian had also ignored him. Dick dismissed it just once. 'Maybe he didn't see me. He's concentrating on Jaylyn.'

Damian went into the nursery and changed Jaylyn into a red shirt with hearts on it and jumper shorts with her little shoes. Damina was already dressed to go outside. They headed downstairs. They went into the kitchen again and entered the back hall and grabbed a basket. They exited the manor and headed to the garden. Damian placed her onto the ground and knelt down beside her. "These are tomatoes," Damian pointed to the red vegetables. We pick the ones that are red. Don't squeeze them too tight."

Damian watched as Jaylyn reached for a ripened tomato. He watched as Jaylyn crawled her way through the garden. He noticed she was taking everything in. Damian pointed out other vegetables that Jaylyn could reach, green beans, pea pods, green peppers, and cucumbers. "Are you enjoying the outside?"

Wow. I like the garden. Food comes from here. Then Jaylyn spied her favorite. Strawberries!. Jaylyn crawled over to the strawberry patch.

Damian walked behind Jaylyn. She was heading toward the strawberries. He watched as her tiny hand reached up and grabbed a berry. Damian pulled out his phone so he could take a video of her as she pulled with all her might. She tugged too hard and fell backwards into the dirt, the strawberry dangling by its stem in hand. 'She didn't cry. I think she was too worried about the fruit to even care.'

Jaylyn smiled with glee and held up the strawberry. I got it! I picked my first strawberry!

"Good job Jaylyn! I'm proud of you. Let's put it in the basket with the rest of the vegetables." Damian placed the basket beside Jaylyn. She held onto the strawberry a little longer than placed it in the basket. Damian watched as she grabbed another big strawberry. They spend a good amount of time pulling strawberries and placing them in the basket. Damian saw she had the widest grin on her face. Damian couldn't help smiling himself. It was with her Damian could be himself. 'I hope I can do something like this if I have a daughter some day.'

Jaylyn put another strawberry in the basket. It was almost full.

Damian picked a strawberry out of the basket and bit it. He took a small piece out of his mouth and plopped it into Jaylyn's. Her face lit up like the fourth of July.

"Unca Dami," Jaylyn clapped.

"I think that's enough picking," Damian stated. "We've been at it for a good hour or two. Let's go back inside and share our findings with Alfred. I'm sure he would love to see our strawberries. Can you say berry? Berry." Damian stretched out the word.

"B-b-bawee," Jaylyn tried to pronounce the new world.

Damian picked up Jaylyn and then the basket. Her little hand reached for a strawberry. He let her grab one and they went into the kitchen. "You almost got it. Keep practicing."

"Bawweeee."

Damian sat the basket on the counter and had Jaylyn on my hip. Dick was standing in the kitchen with Father. "Good morning, Father."

"Good morning, Damian," Bruce said. "Did my first granddaughter pick strawberries?" Bruce brushed his fingers along Jaylyn's cheek.

"Baarreeee." She held up the strawberry to give it to her grandfather.

Dick was looking in the basket. "Wow, that is a lot of berries, Jaylyn. Hey, Damian I was wondering if you wanted to hang out today?"

"Jaylyn, how about we go and play with Titus, later," Daminan said, continuing to ignore Dick. 'I've been meaning to introduce him to the babies,' he thought. "He won't bite. I'll make sure of it."

Titus?

"He's uncle Damian's doggie," Damian held onto Jalyne as he started to wash the vegentables and strawberries to prepare them for storage.

"Here let me help you with that," Dick reached for the basket, but Damian grabbed it before he could.

"I got it," Damian said with a slight edge, despite him having a little trouble.

"Oh . . . okay." Dick moved away from the sink and sat back down.

Bruce couldn't help noticing the edge in Damian's voice and the fact that he was trying to ignore Dick. He thought about stepping in, but maybe this was an opportunity for his sons to work out their problem on their own.

Damian chewed up a strawberry and fed some to Jaylyn. She was happy to eat it.

"Dami, you still didn't answer me . . ."

'And I'm not going to answer him,' Damian thought. He held Jaylyn and carried the strawberries to the fridge. He carefully juggled what was in his arms and placed the fresh berries in the container with the rest of the strawberries. Once that was acoomplished he carried Jaylyn out of the kitche and went to go find Titus.

Dick felt devastated. 'He didn't even answer me. He snapped out at me. What am I doing wrong?'

"It seems Damian has decided to ignore you today," Bruce said. "Should I have a talk with him?"

"I don't know," Dick said. He felt like crying. Then something occurred to him. 'Is this is how he feels when . . . Oh man, Tim tried to tell me, and . . .' Dick sighed and left the kitchen.

Continues with Part 21: Awkward Moments