A/N Hello my dear readers, sorry for the long delay but I had something like repeat exams for the classes I didn't pass the first time. However now the are over and classes have started for the new semester ?. The good news is though that I have more to work on the story Yay!
Disclaimers: Damian an the rest don't belong to me, only the plot.
And now back to the story, i know this is a little out of reach but bear with me it is my imagination.
Summer in Gotham. School is out, the temperature is of the charts and everyone and I mean everyone is trying to stay cool.
In a certain manor a family was getting ready to dive into their swimming pool to escape the heat. Well almost the whole family that is a certain 10 year old was a little hesitant.
"Come on Little D, this heat is unbearable. You can't just stay under the umbrella the whole time the pool is a better option." Tried Dick to persuade his youngest brother to jump in the pool with him.
"Do I need to remind you that I grow up in the desert?" Questioned Damian standing a few meters away from the edge of the pool. "This heat is nothing" finished crossing his arms.
"You can really mean that Sami, even Bruce is going to jump in the pool and you know how Bruce is." Said Dick "He is all I am batman and there is no time for anything fun" tried Dick again and earned a little laugh from Damian
" My answer is still no. Believe it or not I am fine where I am. Outside of the pool, under the umbrella, lying on the sunbed with my pencils and my drawing book" stated Damian showing with his left hand the said book.
"What is going on?" Came a voice from behind Damian
"Bruce, thank god. Talk to your son, he doesn't want to get in the pool" turned Dick to Bruce when he noticed he came outside and lay his towel in the sunbed
"Why don't you want to get in the pool Damian the temperature is high today you need to cool off" questioned Bruce trying to figure out why his youngest seems so hesitant to enter the pool
"As I reminded to Grayson over there not a few minutes ago Father, I grew up in the desert I can take some heat" responded slightly annoyed Damian while his father dive into their pool.
"Why is the demon spawn standing outside the pool" asked a new voice
"Because I do not want to get in Todd" replied Damian turning slightly his head to look at him noticing also Drake with him gave a scowl and turn back to Grayson and his Father
"It will be so much better if you dive in too Dami. You are going to regretted not diving into the pool later." Dick tried to convince his little brother
"Your bother is right Damian" Said Bruce
While Dick and surprisingly Bruce were trying to convince Damian to jump into the pool Jason and Tim was plotting.
"hey ...psst replacement" Whispered Jason
"Why are you whispering" replied Tim whispered back
"Let's throw Damian into the pool" suggested Jason
"He is going to kills if we do that" said back Tim
"Yeah but it's going to worth it" replied enthusiastically
"Yeah you are right" agreed Tim
"Great! You take the legs I take the arms. We will swing him and throw him to the pool." Informed Jason
Damian was still preoccupied with his father and Dick and didn't noticed his other brothers getting closer to him until it was to late.
Jason grabs his arms and Tim his legs they lift him in the air and start to swing him.
"No stop...put me down!" Yelled Damian and tried to get away.
Jason and Tim laughed while swimming him.
"Relax Demon Spawn...are you ready Tim 3...2..." Begun to countdown Jason
"1" said Tim and throw him to the water.
Damian let out a scream while he was falling into the pool. A splash was heard, and Damian vanished into the water. Jason and Tim kept laughing along with Dick while Bruce let out a single chuckle.
A few seconds after Jason and Tim throw Damian in the pool the water calms. Suddenly he emerges from the water takes a big breath and starts coughing trying to get out of the water. Dick stops and swims closer to Damian.
"Damian are you okay?" asked worryingly Dick putting a hand on his back.
"Don't touch me" jerked away Damian getting out of the water and run away from the pool area, pushing Jason to the floor on his way there.
"What the heck was that?" asked Jason from the floor
"I don't know" said Tim helping Jason of the floor. Bruce and Dick got out of the pool and went to get their towels from the sunbeds.
"It was certainly weird... I never saw Damian act like that" said Dick
"It was like he didn't know how to swim" replied Tim looking towards the way Damian went
"Yeah, but we know this isn't true... we have seen him swimming on missions all the time and he is quite good at it" added Jason now standing
"I don't know what's wrong or why Damian act this way, but he left here distraught and I want to make sure he is okay" stated Bruce
"Bruce is right, we should split at and find him." Said determined Dick
"But we didn't even get to jump into the pool" complained Jason
"You shouldn't have thrown him in the pool then" answered back Dick
"Oh, come on, give us a break. How were we supposed to know he would react this way?" replayed Tim and start walking towards a random direction half hopping he would find him and the other half he wouldn't.
They all went in different direction and start looking. Dick and Bruce searched inside the house while Tim and Jason look outside. None of them had any luck with their search so far, but what did they expect? They were looking for a former assassin that he was trained from birth to hide.
Tim had checked every place Damian could hide except the mini forest they had close to the Mansion that Bruce Grandparents planted. If the other didn't find him this was the last place Damian would have hide. Tim entered the forest hearing nothing but the sound of birds and keeping an eye up on the tree branches. After about 5 minutes he begun to give up he started to exit the forest before he was stopped by the sound of someone crying. He looked up on the he was near and noticed a figure on a big branch.
He started to climb the tree which was not an easy thing to do in flip flops and swim trunks. How the little Demon climb barefoot was beyond him. He finally managed to reach the branch right next to the on Damian was sitting on and sit down carefully not to startle him.
"Hey... Demon... Damian" started Tim and cursing himself for almost calling him demon spawn in a time like this. "are you okay?" he continues when Damian turned to look at him with tears in his eyes "of course you are not, that was a stupid question" he finished
"W...what do yo...you want?" asked Damian between cries.
"Well we were worried about you, so we went to look for you and here I am" informed Tim
"You found me, now go away" ordered weakly Damian and turned away from Tim. Tim jumped carefully to the branch Damian was on and sit in front of him.
"I would but you are clearly not fine, thus I can't leave" stated Tim smirking
"Yeah right and since when do you care if I am fine or not?" asked Damian bitterly as he tries to make himself smaller
"I know we are not in the best terms, but I know you are not okay and even though you are a pain in the ass from time to time you are still my little brother." Said Tim putting his hand on Damian's wet head and mess with his hair
"Yeah right..." said in disbelief and turn away
"No, it's true... not tell me what's going on?" asked Tim "Why did you react this way?" continue Tim waiting for an answer
"It was nothing, you and Todd just startled me, that's all." Tried to lied Damian but Tim gave him a look indicating he didn't believe him at all.
"Even Titus can lie better than you Damian... and his is a dog" stated Tim "Now tell me, why did you jump out of the water like your life depending on it?" asked again Tim
"I told y-..." begun to say Damian before Tim cut him of
"And don't you dare to lie to me this time" ordered Tim half joking half serious
Damian was opening and closing his mouth, but no words came out. He was too hesitant to talk, so look down not daring to look Tim straight in the eyes and see how pathetic and weak he was now.
"Damian..." begun Tim hesitantly "you know how to swim right?" questioned Tim
"What kind of question is this Drake?" demand to know Damian with his usual tone "Of course I know how to swim" he stated
"Then why did you act like you didn't" asked Tim desperately "Please Damian tell me I promise I won't judge you" begged Tim
"You... You really want judge?" whispered Damian
"Yes, really I promise" he quickly reassured, reviled that Damian decide to open.
"it's not that I don't know how to swim, I do I really do but my mother didn't choose the most pleasant way for me to learn how to swim." Start it Damian talking. "Instead of helping me or order someone else to show me how to swim she decided to throw me into a pool of water that was very deep when I was one years old." he continued ask as tears begun to fall from his eyes "and I didn't know how to swim do the surface and I tried and I tried to go up but all I did was go further down and I began to drown and before I knew it, I lost my senses" he added "the next thing I remember is waking up in a bed with my mother at the other end of the room looking at me with clear disappointment in her eyes before telling me that you are weak and pathetic and you are going to be punished for this" he finished while crying
"Damian, I'm so sorry if I knew this, I wouldn't agree with Jason to throw you into the pool" apologised Tim and hug him
"It's not really your fault it is just that when you thrown me into the water, I begun to have flashbacks and I panicked" said Damian " The thing is that water scares me and I don't go into the water if I don't have too" confessed Damian crying on Tim's shoulder
Tim didn't know what to do, he was so mad at Talia for doing that to Damian so he did the only thing he could do at the moment. He hugged his little brother tight and let him cry
"It's okay Damian... it's okay I am here; I promise I won't let Talia do anything to you ever again".
Tim and Damian stayed for a about an hour before he cried himself to sleep. Tim gave him a kiss on the forehead, and he climbed down the tree carefully no to wake up Damian. He headed back to the mansion and upon entering he saw Bruce, Dick and Jason in the living room looking worried.
Dick noticed them first when he entered the living room and run to them. Tim mentioned to stop and don't make any sound. He whispered at them that Damian fell asleep and he is going to put him on his bed and then he will explain anything.
Ten minutes later after he went upstairs to Damian's room to let him sleep, he returned to the living and told them everything Damian told. Needless to say they were not happy to hear what Talia did to Damian and how she almost drown him.