The Birds Who Smile, a Batman fanfic by Raberba girl

Alternate route: Never Adopted - Part 8 (rough draft)

The 'library' was a VERY good place with BOOKS AND BOOKS AND BOOKS and [caw] liked it so so much that now Jane and the mamas took him a lot instead of only when he begged.

It was hard to read the books he used to like, he cried when he found Anne of Green Gables and the words swam on the page when he opened it instead of letting him read them. But the book ladies and Jane and the mamas gave him books with voices instead, so he could at least listen to Anne and Narnia and Arrietty and the others even though he couldn't read them.

The baby books with the pictures didn't swim so much, especially since Jane started helping him. " '*censored because FFN is stupid*,' " he read, hard because making mouth-words was so hard now, FUCK Batman, and fuck Arkham! "...*censored because FFN is stupid*...' " There was an R. Yes? Yes, an R. Not t-h-o, t-h-r. " '...*censored because FFN is stupid*..."

His mouth hurt, and his head hurt. He pushed the book away and put his head down and covered it with his arms to hide in the dark and rest for a while. Jane went away to get water for him.

" ' '*censored because FFN is stupid*' ' "

That was a good voice. [caw] looked up, and there was a big someone there who wasn't before, curled up in the 'bean bag' nest in the corner with Peppa Pig and Cat in the Hat. " ' '*censored because FFN is stupid*' ' "

Words words words, too many [caw] didn't know, but he liked that voice very much, and now he knew it was Big Jason. [warble] said that Big Jason was a Bat and bad, but [caw] thought he was wrong because he knew Jason was good. [caw] went to go nest with him, and Jason gave him Cat in the Hat to hold. [caw] hugged Cat in the Hat and put his head on Jason's warm chest and good heartbeat and listened to that good voice. Jason held Peppa Pig and the book and then held [caw], too, and he made many words with his good voice.

" ' '*censored because FFN is stupid*...' ' "

Jason continued to read Pride and Prejudice aloud long after his younger self had fallen asleep. His heart ached a little and he would have liked to take Peter home to the manor when the library closed, but when Selina and Harley walked in with the other birds and Peter woke up, the teen ran to them, calling them 'Mama,' without a backward glance at Jason. Then Jackson hissed at him, the little brat, warning him off, and John was putting up a clingy fuss, and Jason had to stand there and watch Peter walk away without him.

He had gained some ground, though. Jane started texting him whenever she planned to take her young charge to the library, and though Peter always ran to the Sirens and his brothers at the end, he clearly enjoyed cuddling with Jason and listening to him read and being helped with his own reading for whatever time Jason managed to steal before that.

o.o.o.o.o

Peter was recovering nicely and Jack, though still sullen, suspicious, and full of triggers, was slowly getting better as well.

John had good days and bad days. Sometimes he'd flit around the lab, play with his brothers, get nosy about his adoptive mothers' business, practice gymnastics (Harley had started taking him to classes, both for exercise and socialization), and nag the family about going out to have fun or people-watch.

Other times, he'd sleep or just lie in bed, conscious but motionless, for hours and hours. The record had been two-and-a-half days and two nights, broken only because Harley had forcibly dragged him out of bed and driven him around town on her motorcycle for a while. (He liked the motorcycle. And, as Catwoman discovered after a suggestion from Nightwing, he liked being held by someone who was swinging from rooftop to rooftop.)

This was one of the low times. He'd lain down after breakfast and had never gotten up, and now it was long past nightfall and he still lay there, covered with cats. Dusty, lying almost face to face with him, was purring as he slowly scrubbed the very tips of his fingers through her soft gray fur.

"Chirp," Ivy said, setting a timer right in front of his eyes, "five minutes."

He slowly lifted his free hand and isolated the middle finger.

She smiled, relieved to see at least a spark of life. "Timer goes off, you're getting up."

Once the five minutes had passed, she returned and sighed when the bed appeared to be empty. She picked up the comforter and shook it to dislodge the cats, then tossed it aside entirely. John, who'd been spread out to minimize his shape under the bulky bedding, now curled up and covered his head. "Tired," he whimpered in bird language. Ivy had learned some of it, finding it easier to pick up than ASL.

"You've been in bed for over nine hours. You are not tired. Get up."

He started crying as she dragged him to his feet, not with tears but the way animals did, whimpering and keening his misery. Ivy pressed little kisses to his face with very mild doses of her love-me toxin. Selina always took objection when she resorted to that, but she couldn't stand to hear her son's pain and it was the easiest way for her to calm him down. He soon quieted and rested his head against her chest. "Mmama."

"Good boy, Chirp," she murmured, and kissed him again, this time cleanly and out of pure affection. "My little rosebud."

"Tired."

"Let's go get some ice cream."

"...Sweet-cold," he twittered softly, tempted.

"With chocolate chips and all the sprinkles you want," she coaxed.

"Sss'ppi'kkuh."

"That's right, my love."

All the nearby ice cream shops were closed by now, so they had to make do with cheap treats out of the freezer bin at a convenience store. Since none of the frozen treats contained both chocolate chips and sprinkles, Ivy bought two, one some sort of cookie blend and the other coated end-to-end with sprinkles. John held that one in both hands and admired it for a while before he let Ivy open it for him.

They sat on the roof of the store, John munching on his treats and Ivy gazing at the stars.

"Mama," John finally twittered.

"What is it, Rosebud?"

"I am broken."

"No, darling, you're not."

"Bat tear out my heart, I am tired and empty."

Vines grew from her living dress, creeping to John, crawling up his body and blossoming into brightly colored flowers around his neck. He cooed at them in pleasure.

"See? You're not empty. Someone who's lost his soul cannot appreciate the beauty of flowers, but you can."

"Mama."

"Yes?"

"I want real Mama and Papa."

They had had this conversation before. "They are dead, sweetheart. They are never coming back. They loved you, but they are gone, so you have new people to love you now."

"Bat killed them. I hate him."

"The Bat who killed them is dead. The Bat here is a different one, and he does not kill people."

"...Different Bat, yes/no/maybe. Bad Bat. [warble] hates him."

"Warble thinks this new Bat is still the old bad Bat, but Warble is wrong."

"Yes/no/maybe. ...Blue Bat. I like him."

"Yes, you would. He likes you, too."

"Bats fly and...hurt bad people."

Ivy eyed him. According to Selina, Dick Grayson had started out as an extremely underage vigilante because he'd adamantly refused all other options. If the desire to physically battle injustice was innate, then the Sirens might have a problem on their hands.

"Maybe. But boys like you play and go to school and don't worry about bad people."

"Ss'chooo..." John liked school on his good days, but looked slightly conflicted now.

"Do you think you'll be able to go to school tomorrow, love?"

He ducked his head and took another bite of ice cream. She briefly set a hand on his knee, and he scooted over to snuggle into her side. There was nothing more to say, so they were quiet.

o.o.o.o.o

Jackson looked up from his computer, suddenly realizing that something was wrong. He frowned, set the device aside, and went to the bathroom, where Selina was sitting on the closed toilet lid with her face in one hand and something small and plastic in the other.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I'm too old for this," she mumbled. "I'm on the Pill. How did this happen?"

He looked at the thing in her hand. There were two lines on the tiny display. He looked at the packaging on the floor, then back at his mother. "Baby?"

"Don't say it."

He had no idea how to comfort her, and thought he probably shouldn't ask why she was sad. (Movies made pregnancy look like a wonderful, exciting thing. The women he'd seen in real life usually looked like their worst nightmare had come to pass. He had never figured out the reason for either reaction.) So he left and then came back with a bottle of wine, since he knew his cat mother sometimes liked to drink when she was feeling down.

Selina burst into laughing tears when she saw it.

"Fine," he huffed, offended at her laughter and rather dismayed that he'd apparently done something wrong. He put the wine down and left again, and this time came back with Isis. He put the cat into Selina's arms.

"Oh, baby," Selina whimpered, hiding her face in the cat's fur. Isis endured it magnanimously.

Jackson, feeling useless, went to bury himself in his coding again. He was very surprised and a little relieved when Selina came later and hugged him. "Thank you, Jackie."

"You're welcome, Lina," he responded automatically. "Feel better?"

"A little."

He forgot about the incident for months, until the mamas were dressing up for a night of clubbing and Selina came out of her room with a skimpy top that proudly showed off her baby bump.

"Lina!" Jackson screeched.

Everyone looked at him in surprise.

"Keeping the baby?!"

"Yes," Selina said defensively. "I'm fine with it now."

"She's gonna be as gorgeous as her mommy and daddy," Harley bragged, patting her friend's round stomach.

Jackson was horrified. If Selina had made such a decision, he would have expected her to also make escape plans, but as far as he knew, she hadn't. She was just going to let her baby be born in that hell house and grow up - if it was even allowed to grow up - at the mercy of that sadistic freak. "Why you wasting time?! We got work!"

"What work?"

"Run away! Save baby! Save YOU!"

"Oh dear, it seems our girls' night out has been cut short," Ivy said in fake-dismay, already kicking off her fancy shoes and tossing her clutch purse aside. "I'm going back to work."

"No, Pam, wait- Jack!" Selina cried in exasperation. On the couch, the other boys and the hyenas were watching like it was a sports match. John literally had a bowl of popcorn that he happened to have prepared earlier.

"I call Hood, maybe he help; get the flight plans in a minute-"

"Jack." Since Harley had gone to try to wheedle Ivy away from the plants, Selina focused on her youngest son, setting her hands on his shoulders. "I am not Bruce's prisoner, and he would never hurt this baby. Jackson, I need you to listen to me."

"NO!" he screamed, tears in his eyes, and fled. His brothers immediately rushed after him, and the Sirens' night on the town turned out to consist of tracking down skittish, agitated bird boys before they could get mugged rather than the planned dancing and minor mischief.

TBC

A/N: This fic is getting hard to write - everything after the library scene felt like pulling teeth, and Selina getting pregnant wasn't even in my notes. X'''D I'm trying to be good and stick with this story, the KH Batfam AUs, and the genderswap, but my muse is now obsessed with Batfam Bingo ._. (Although I've only posted one story for it so far, I've been brainstorming and drafting like crazy for both prompts on my own bingo card and prompts I've found on other people's.)

Anyway, I can't make any promises about anything, I'm still struggling with time management and my muse is all over the place. orz