Wally knew he shouldn't be here. This was an extremely private family matter. Once upon a time, Wally was family to ALL of the Bat family members. Dick was his best friend and, besides his aunt and uncle, the person he loved most in this world. Barbara and Jason had become his younger siblings that loved to boss him around and mock him. Bruce was the grumpy bachelor uncle that he knew would do anything for him, even if he grumbled about it. However, nowadays, there was a new member in the Bat family and they were simply acquaintances. They weren't even friends, much less family. However, here he was knocking on his door to stick his nose in his private business.

He really shouldn't be doing this. The longer he thought about it, the stronger became the urge to speed away. However, the memory of Dick's desperate face didn't let him run away. His thoughts were interrupted by the door opening. Wally had to force himself not to gasp. Dick had not being exaggerating when he said Tim was a giant bruise. Wally felt like he was looking into a mirror of what he would've looked like if he had never gained his powers. He forced down those thoughts, he was here for a reason.

Tim looked surprised to see him. His eyes were puffy not only from the punches, but also from crying. His left hand was in a cast and his legs had started shaking from being standing so long. Wally wanted to find the Drakes and kill them. Instead, he gesture Tim to sit back down on his bed. Although confused, the teen complied. His legs most really be giving him hell. Wally followed Tim inside and closed the door. The silence was awkward, but Wally was used to awkward.

"I am glad to see you're better Tim." Wally finally said. It was hard to believe that this was better, but Wally supposed that after three weeks of fever deliriousness, Tim's actual status was an example of extremely good health.

"Why are you here?" Tim asked ignoring his statement. Wally couldn't blame him. The teen had to be tired. The last thing Wally would want if he was in his shoes was for a random guy to barge in on his resting time. Sadly, people didn't always get what they want.

"Dick asked me to come talk to you." Wally answered truthfully and to the point. In his experience, bats didn't appreciate when you wasted their time.

"Why?" Tim asked confused. Wally couldn't blame him, he had asked the same thing when Dick came over. Wally had been writing a report at work when Dick texted he was coming over. He had been surprised, given that he hadn't seen him since his last breakdown. The bird had refused to leave Tim's side while he recovered. He had taken time off at work and from the team and had practically gone off grid. Therefore, Wally had known Dick's reason for coming over was either because something extremely good happened or most likely something really bad. He had being right, Dick had been a combination of furious and depressed when he arrived to his apartment. It had been another long night for Wally. "Wally, I need you to talk to him. Please." Dick had begged to a reluctant Wally. In the end, Wally had agreed.

"He thought it would do you good to talk to someone who could relate." Wally answered, but Tim still looked confused. Apparently, the young detective had not managed to hack all of Wally's records in the Bat computer. However, he was still a prodigy of Batman and soon realization filled his gaze. He pushed himself back against the bed, recoiling slightly from Wally and hugging his knees. He obviously didn't want to talk about it.

"I don't want to talk about it." Tim confirmed with a glare, but Wally didn't scare easily.

"You don't have to. I know I didn't. But eventually you should talk to someone whether be Bruce, Dick, Alfred, an expert or a complete stranger. Believe me, bottling it in will only affect you and those around you." Wally thought of his panic attacks, suicide attempts and how much suffering he put Iris, Barry and Dick through with each of them. He didn't want the same things to happen to Tim.

"I appreciate that you're here Wally, but I am fine." Wally just looked incredulously at him. Nobody in their right mind would look at Tim and say he was fine.

"Tim, you look like a truck ran you over."

"I've looked worse. This is nothing compared to what the Joker or Two-Face have inflicted."

"But they weren't the one who did this Tim." Even though Wally spoke quietly, Tim flinched so forcefully that you'd thought Wally had slapped him.

"This has never happened before. He didn't mean it." Wally wanted to cry for not only Tim, but also every child that had ever hoped that their parents weren't monsters. Every child that would one day wake up bloody and tired and would realize that it wasn't going to stop. Every child that started believing they deserved the cruel words and brute punches. Every child like himself had once been. But, this wasn't about himself or those children. This was about Tim. His best friend and sister's baby brother, his uncle's son and his grandparent's grandson. Tim still had hope and Wally wouldn't let that hope crush him until he became a shell of himself. Wally couldn't save those kids, but he could save this one.

"Tim, do you consider Dick and Bruce family?"

"Of course I do." Wally almost smiled at how insulted Tim sounded at Wally's question, but he needed to push forward. He knew from experience that the best way to help a bat was for them to arrive to conclusions themselves.

"Why?"

"What do you mean why? I just do."

"They also consider you family. As I consider them and they me, family. Why do you think that is? Why aren't we all simply friends."

"I don't know. You guys have grown together and stuff. I don't know, what does this have to do with anything?" In other circumstances, it would be amusing to see usual level headed Tim so rattled. However, now, it just hurt to realize how much Tim was lying to himself in order to protect those that had hurt him.

"True, we've grown together. However, I've also grown besides Kaldur, Miss M and Artemis and they are my best friends, but not necessarily family. They have their own families and people they love, but Dick, Roy, Bruce, Alfred, …. Jason and I needed more. When I met my Uncle Barry, I felt so alone. He and my aunt were the first people that made me feel special and loved and that's why they are my parents and my family. The same happened with Dick, Bruce, Roy, Barbara, Jason, Alfred, Leslie and the Garrick's. They cared for me when nobody else did and loved me despite all my flaws. That's what family and love means Tim. And that's why Bruce, Dick and Alfred are your family, because they love you no matter what and they would rather die than hurt you. Our parents don't really understand that Tim. If they did, then we wouldn't have had to search for our own family elsewhere."

"You done?" Tim asked coldly, surprising Wally. The speedster didn't think he had been harsh, but maybe he was wrong. "You don't know me or my parents. Just because you had shitty parents, it doesn't mean that mine are the same! Parents make mistakes all the time! It doesn't mean they don't love their kids." The words should've hurt Wally. However, he could see in Tim's eyes that he himself didn't believe it. Instead of mad, Tim's word were desperate and pleading. After all, Tim still had hope for his parents and Wally hated to be the one to take it away from him.

"Tim, I know that parents make mistakes, but you and I both know that some mistakes are worse than others." Wally said carefully trying not to infuriate the kid even more. It didn't seem to work as Tim was already angrily opening his mouth to respond, but Wally didn't let him. "Some parents make the mistake of hitting their children and never do so again, but what your parents did to you goes beyond a mistake, kid. If you found a kid beaten blue and delirious with fever alone in his house, would you let him go back to them?"

"I never say I was going back." Tim said rapidly.

"You didn't have to." Even if that wasn't the reason why Dick had begged Wally to come over, he would've known. After all, even though they had utterly destroyed him, part of him still sometimes longed for his parents.

"Look, Wally, I understand why you guys are worried, but if my parents were abusing me I would know. This was a onetime thing. They aren't even here most of the time. I am fine."

"Tim, then, why didn't you want to go on that trip?"

"How do you know I didn't? I never see my parents, of course I wanted to go. I just have so much responsibilities with the team and Gotham that I hesitated…I wanted to go." Wally really needed to talk to Bruce about Tim's lying skills. They sucked.

"Ok, so you are telling me that if you go back to the Drake's, they'll never put a finger on you? You are telling me that what happened had never happened before?" Wally asked trying to not let his incredulity shine through. He almost groaned when Tim weakly nodded. "You don't seem so sure, kid."

"Well, I can't predict the future West."

"Well, do you think that in the future it's possible that Dick or Bruce would ever beat you up?"

"NO! Of course not." Tim snapped and proceeded to recoil instantly at own his answer. Because he knew there were kids who could be certain their parents would never touch them. Wally and Time weren't one of those. Slowly, Tim let go of his façade and tears finally fell down his cheeks.

"Why would they do this?" He asked brokenly.

"I don't know, kid." Wally said hugging him close like he had done with Dick and Jason hundreds of times. "I know it doesn't seem like it, but you are lucky Tim, because some of the most wonderful people in the world love you and want to be there for you. The Drake's may not see your value, but we do and we always will." Tim sobbed harder at Wally's words, but he didn't pull away. Finally, he had started to let go and accept what he already knew.

"Thank you Wally"

"It's nothing kid, like I said, we are family."

Wally knew things weren't fixed yet. Hell, they may never be. Hard decisions and moments would come. Tim was older than Wally had been, so he wouldn't be as shielded from the court cases already underway. And, unlike Wally, the custody battle would be harder since Bruce was not his blood relative. Moments of weakness would come and the sadness will attempt to swallow him whole. But Wally knew that Tim would eventually be ok. He had the full support and love of the Bat family and the team behind him. And Wally knew he would do anything to protect his new little brother too.