Rachel knew that coming to Gotham Park was a terrible idea, but she had finally caved into her children's wishes because it had been months since she had woken the heroes up and her children had already missed their fathers.
Now, her children had finally met one of their fathers, Bruce Wayne. She knew then that her children would find a way to ingratiate themselves into their father's life.
Even as she watched Bruce Wayne play ball with her children, she knew that seeing them had triggered Bruce Wayne's paternal instincts. That was probably the reason he couldn't refuse the children when they asked him to play with them earlier.
She felt somewhat sorry for the hero because she knew how utterly irresistible her children were.
This would be the first time that her children had met with one of their fathers. And even though only eight months had passed, her children had grown up so swiftly that they almost looked like four years old, when in truth they were four months old.
Fortunately, they had put a stop to their swift growth and were growing normally like any ordinary children.
Since Rachel looked far too young to have mothered them, they had finally come up with a cover story regarding the children's parents. For their cover story, Rachel was their babysitter who was saddled with the responsibility of watching over them since their rich parents were far too busy with family business. That was the whole story that they were running with when they would meet their fathers. It was also a necessary cover because Rachel had also found a way to support her family with the use of her thousand years knowledge.
She didn't really like the pretense but it was better than to let everyone know that she got pregnant at a very young age, which people would easily assume around fourteen years old mainly because of the children's age. She didn't want to answer such uncomfortable questions from people, especially when it came to her children's welfare. So the pretense was necessary.
"Are they always that hyper?" A familiar, masculine voice suddenly said which brought Rachel back to the present.
She turned to the side and noted that Bruce Wayne had sat himself next to her in the grass while he watched the children play nearby.
She regarded his grinning face for a moment before she said, "Yes, they are always like that."
Batman let out a chuckle as he glanced at her.
"I don't know where you get the energy to watch over them, but I am certain that I probably have a difficult time keeping an eye on their shenanigans." He said as he met her eyes.
"I got used to it…and they are really not hard to take care of. They are well-behaved most of the time…and they are even mature for their age," Rachel told him while smiling in return.
Thereafter, she realized that Bruce Wayne was staring at her again.
She noticed that he seemed to be doing that often. Staring at her that is.
"I will take your word for it," He said after a while, flashing her yet another grin that caused her insides to somersault and her heart to race.
There was something about his grin that made her hyper aware of their close proximity. More than that, it made her feel self-conscious to be sitting with an attractive man like him. He was way out of her league, but he was also one of her children's fathers. So she couldn't very well keep a distance from him at all even if she wanted to.
There was a short pause while they simply watched the children in silence.
"I hope we are not taking most of your time, Mr. Wayne," she said all of a sudden, sounding guilty. "You probably got some places to be rather than here."
"Just call me Bruce…" he said to her without tearing his eyes off the children. "And no, you and the children are not taking most of my time."
He paused.
"Although…" He glanced at her then. "I admit that I was going somewhere else but it wasn't that important."
She gazed into his eyes for a while. She liked the color of his eyes. It reminded of the skies during the height of summer, but she also noted the light speckles of steel grey around his irises. His eyes were a mixture between stormy greys and sky blues. Something that she found mesmerizing.
Bruce Wayne had such arresting eyes and she couldn't help but stare at them. In fact, she liked staring at his handsome face very much, like he stared at her often.
For some unknown reasons, she was inexplicably drawn to him. It was probably because he was one of her children's fathers. Either that or she was just naturally attracted to him because of his personality and his appearance.
She knew for a fact that Dark Raven had feelings for the Heroes, but those feelings were complex to name. She knew it was close to admiration, but there was also a hint of infatuation in there, especially with Batman and Superman. Dark Raven's attraction to the men might have influenced her as well after she reacted the same way to Batman's distracting presence in that moment.
"Well, I am grateful for what you did for the children. I was not actually expecting that you would agree to play with them," she told him.
"Why? Because I'm Bruce Wayne?" He raised a brow at her while his crooked grin made an appearance once again.
Rachel's heart fluttered at his carefree expression.
"Well, that…and -" she was about to say more but a voice suddenly interrupted her.
"So this is where you are at."
A shadow had fallen over them without her notice. She quickly looked up and could only stare when she realized who had spoken.
It seemed that one of her children's predictions came to pass.
Another one of her children's fathers was there.
"What are you doing here Dick?" Bruce asked as he stood up abruptly to face the other man.
Rachel followed suit and stood up to face the detective.
"I could ask the same thing to you too, Bruce." Dick Grayson said while his gaze remained fixed on hers.
"Well, as you can see I am with company," Bruce said with a frown.
"I can see that, but why are you here though? Because I know you don't take your dates here. It's usually fancy places like five star restaurants and not a public park." Dick Grayson remarked with a raised eyebrow.
"I am not on a date," Bruce said and Rachel couldn't help but blush for being mistaken as Batman's date.
"Oh?" Dick Grayson said, "What do you call this then?"
"Not a date," Bruce replied bluntly.
Rachel watched the exchange between the two men. She observed how Bruce glared at Dick Grayson, who was simply grinning from ear to ear.
"Ok," The detective said right before he turned to face her again with his hand extended. "Hello not-Bruce's-date, my name is Dick Grayson."
Rachel was inwardly amused by his statement.
She met his dark brown orbs with her violet ones and noted the hidden mischief in his gaze.
"It's nice to meet you Dick. The name is Rachel Roth." She reached for his hand and instantly felt the warmth of his large hand seeping into hers.
"It's nice to meet you too, Rachel…" he shook her hand and continued on without preamble. "So how long have you been dating Bruce?"
"Dick!"
She heard Bruce said disapprovingly while her face turned crimson at Dick's words.
"We are not dating," was all she said to the detective.
"Like I said we are not on a date," Bruce said.
He sounded annoyed to Rachel's ears.
"Uh huh," was Dick's response. He looked skeptical.
"What are you doing here Dick?" Bruce suddenly asked again. This time with steel in his voice.
"I was looking for you. Alfred said you were here. So I came," Dick replied.
"Why were you looking for me?" Bruce inquired. He appeared curious.
"There is something I need you to look at," The detective responded, looking pointedly at Bruce.
However, before Bruce could reply, the children suddenly came running towards them.
"Hey, Rachel! Who is that?" One of the children asked loudly as they drew near.
You know perfectly well who that is, she thought with a sigh.
Then, the children were there and they clung to both her and Bruce, who appeared amused by their behavior.
Meanwhile, Dick Grayson looked downright surprised to see the children there.
"And who might you all be?" The detective asked as he crouched down in front of the children.
"My name is Samantha and you are?" Rachel's eldest daughter responded as she faced the detective.
"It's nice to meet you Samantha. My name is Dick Grayson,''
"Are you a friend of Mr. Wayne?"
"You could say that,"
Rachel smiled fondly at their interaction and couldn't help but say to her daughter.
"Samantha, go ahead and introduce the rest of your brothers and sister."
"Alright, Rachel."
"This is Nathaniel. He is the eldest. So he is the leader of our bunch." She watched as Samantha gestured towards the dark haired boy standing next to her.
"Hello!" Nathaniel greeted while he waved his hand.
"This is Laura." Samantha continued as she tagged the arm of the purple haired girl towards the front. "She likes to draw a lot."
"Hi," Laura said almost shyly.
"Lastly, these are Max and Jonathan. The troublemakers." Samantha said, pushing a blonde haired boy and a brown haired boy forward for Dick's perusal.
"It's nice to meet you Nathaniel, Laura, Max and Jonathan," the detective smiled kindly at them.
Meanwhile, the kids were more than excited to ingratiate themselves to their other father because they suddenly said to him.
"Are you going to play with us too Mr. Grayson?" "Do you want to play ball with us?" They all asked simultaneously.
"Well, it depends," Dick replied with a wide grin.
"Depends on what?" The children chorused.
"If Bruce would let me," The Detective glanced at Bruce, who was frowning in thought.
"Mr. Wayne, it's fine by you right?" The children turned their attention to their other father.
"He is free to do as he pleases. If he wants to play with you, then he can."
Thereafter, the children whipped their attention eagerly towards Dick who stood up and said, "Well, since Bruce had no problem with me joining, then it looked like you've got yourself another person to play with."
"YEY!" The children cheered loudly.
Then, the next thing Rachel knew, she was watching the children dragging the two men back to play their game again.
Meanwhile, she could not stop the warmth that blossomed within her chest at the sight of her children with their fathers.
They looked happy and Rachel would do anything in her power to keep her children that way.
Hopefully, she won't have trouble with her children's other fathers once they meet them.