AN: So I know I said three days to close the poll but I had nothing better to do so I started writing the next chapter so I closed it a little earlier than I planned on the plus side I no longer have any assignments due this week so I am free to write… Artemis won surprisingly, they were tied for a little while but when I checked again she won by literally one vote so wow.

No one said anything about Damian so I think Bruce will be getting Dinah pregnant, it just fits better.

Thanks for the awesome reviews people keep them coming.

Chapter 8

Catharine Todd knew she was doing wrong by her son. Her husband had been an abusive piece of shit she knew that logically but she had loved him and somewhere in her lost mind she knew that he had loved her once, it turned into something ugly but this home, there was once warmth here but now all she felt was the cold in her bones. She was dying, she didn't need a doctor to tell her that, years of beatings, cigarettes, alcohol and drugs did that to the body. She knew that Jason was smart and he was strong he would be able to make it out there she just hoped and prayed that he didn't fall into the same trap of addiction that she had fallen into. She knew she was depressed after all why else would she seek out the drugs to try and keep her going but she knew that her son was already doing petty crime to put food on the table and it broke her heart.

She had promised to take care of him and if she died from whatever sickness she could feel in her bones or from using too much it wouldn't matter, he was strong, resilient, he would never just go quietly to some home somewhere, he would take to the streets and as much as she couldn't shield him from the cruelties of this world she had tried to save him from the worst of it. She didn't want him to go to the streets she knew what was out there and how it changed and hardened people, Jason was untrusting and crafty now but those streets would beat the meaning of 'only the strong survive' into him by either beating the weakness out of him or hurting him until he built walls so high no one could ever breach them. He may not have much but he still believed in right and wrong and the streets would twist that until he became someone that she would never recognize.

Catherine was a mother and she wanted something better for her son, she wanted it desperately and now here was her chance. A sixteen year old boy had knocked on her door that morning and he smiled even though he seemed nervous and he told her who he was and of course she knew him, the eldest son of Bruce Wayne, there were rumors of his genius even the slums of Gotham had heard of it and she couldn't help but wonder what the hell he was doing here? He was likely to get himself killed in this place. Crime Alley was no place for a rich kid, genius or not.

Then he told he of how he met Jason and how he wanted to help them, he presented her with some papers and said, "I won't force you Mrs. Todd, I just want you to think about it. I can help you and I can help your son."

"Why would you do this? The cost of it…" she trailed off and the boy blushed slightly.

"I can afford it, we both know it. Jason is a really special kid, he is smart, driven and he has the potential to be so much more. I can give him a better life with more opportunities and I would never stop him from coming to see you but this place its an anchor around his neck and he will drown if we leave him here. Just think about it?"

The boy had left her and she didn't say anything, she spent the whole day just thinking, it would mean leaving this place, probably never coming back and it would likely tear them apart but Jason would have food every day and a real education and then he could go to college and he could make a future for himself. He could be someone and even if she wasn't there every step of the way then maybe she could just watch and she would be proud. He could offer her boy a better life and Jason trusted him and he needed someone, a male, not a father heaven knows that his father had probably tainted the word forever in his mind but a brother. Danny would be able to give him a much better life and she wouldn't let that opportunity pass her by, she called Jason to the kitchen.

"I know you're friends with Danny and he came here to see me yesterday and we talked for a while and he made an offer. There's a hospital on the other side of Gotham one that can treat me and he agreed to pay for the treatment if I allowed you to live with him."

Jason got angry and his mom and at Danny for trying to change everything and trying to take his choices away so he argued with her loudly and Catherine snapped, she grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him.

"Look at where we are Jay! A crappy one room apartment with nearly no food in the fridge and barely enough money to keep the roof over our heads. I'm a crack addict son and I'm probably dying and there is no one left, no family or friends that can take you in but Danny wants to. He can send you to a real school and then to a college, he can put food on the table every day and he can provide you with a life where you never have to suffer, a life without poverty. He can help you make something of this life inside of wasting away in this place never going anywhere and turning into a criminal. That's all Crime Alley does, it twists people and takes from them until they're nothing but monsters and if you stay here then you will end up in the same place your father did, trying to make money and ending up in jail. This place is poison and I will not allow you to die here."

"But its home, with you, you're all I got." Replied Jason and she started to cry as she clutched her son to her chest.

"I know son and if I were a better mother, a better person then I could give you a better life I can't but I can do this. I can send you to Danny and he isn't a stranger Jason. You know him and he didn't want me to just disappear you can come visit me, he asked that I think about it, maybe if the worst happened name him your next of kin so you wouldn't go into the system but he also offered me treatment. Maybe one day I'll be healthy again but son I don't think I'll last much longer and this way I know you have a chance at a good life."

Jason didn't want to say yes, he didn't want to leave her, this place was all that he had known his whole life but the truth was not so easy to hide from, his mom had been getting thinner and paler and weaker. She wasn't getting better here and Danny wasn't a stranger he was a friend and he knew that he could trust him. He hadn't lied to far so he knew that if Danny said he would go visit his mom then Danny would take him and he couldn't deny the fact that Danny would send him to school, a real school where he could get an education which was one of the only ways to get out of Crime Alley, get an education, get a job and don't look back. He didn't want to lose his mother but either way she would die or go to the hospital and the treatment would probably give her more time and maybe a fighting chance, at the very least she would be comfortable and Jason couldn't fight his mothers logic so he just nodded in resignation, she made the right choice here and they both knew it even if they didn't like it.

While Jason was getting life changing news from his mother Danny was currently racing his motorcycle towards Gotham Academy. He sighed, he really didn't want to go anywhere the High School most of the students there were all from the wealthy and elite families who had their own type of politics and teenage drama and they all wanted to know about the eldest Wayne who was also unmarried and probably in line to inherit Bruce Wayne's family fortune.

Danny couldn't help but roll his eyes at that, now he understood what Sam meant by people would only care about her for her money. Dick hated it as well, and he once told him that he hung around the scholarship kids instead of the fake people who were only interested in the fact that he shared his last name with Bruce but they really needed Dick.

Bruce tried really hard not to pull Dick out of school, if there was a mission which would cause him to miss school, he always called ahead and had some excuse lined up or he went on missions after school or during weekends. They didn't want anyone noticing that Robin appeared when Dick disappeared but this was one of those no choice moments and someone had to actually come and pick him up. Alfred would have come but Danny was closer so he just sucked it up and went to the bloody school.

It was break time, because of course the entire school would be around when the fancy motorcycle pulled up and revealed the elder brother to Dick Grayson-Wayne, the one who loathed the attention yet managed it with grace and calm even though behind the camera's and the backs of other people he gave his brother the 'please kill me' look.

Danny sighed and pulled off the helmet even though Dick was already walking over. There were two older girls with him a red head that he believed was Barbara and a blonde that he recognized as Artemis the second protégé of Green Arrow.

"Entrance much? Feeling the aster yet?"

Danny ignored the urge to strangle him and rolled his eyes, "Grab your bag while I go to the office and sign you out."

Barbara and Dick seemed to have a conversation with their eyes and Artemis just looked at him confused, "You're taking him away- who are you again?"

"Bruce needs him home. There's a family emergency. I'm Danny the older brother."

Her eyes widened as she looked at them both, "I thought you were like much older and you guys look a lot alike."

Danny shrugged, "College was more interesting and useful, I'm only a year older than him and that is complete coincidence. Could you show me to the office so I sign him out?"

Artemis nodded while Barbara accompanied Dick to get his stuff. She led him through the hallways pointing out some of the markings so that if he ever came again he would be able to find his way here again and he smiled at her and thanked her.

She couldn't help that his smile was boyish and it almost made her want to smile back but instead she waved over her shoulder and walked away rolling her eyes. She really didn't need to start fantasizing about some rich boy, she had enough to deal with both in and out of her mask, she knew better than to get some crush that would never amount to anything.

Danny watched her walk away, Artemis was not someone that he spent a lot of time around, he was pretty sure that he only met her like three times, as the team grew the more Danny pulled away from it. He still spoke to Connor but that was mostly because he was the only person who tried to help him control his powers and his anger. They weren't very close but he was the closest thing that Danny had to a friend. She was pretty Danny thought and as soon as the thought crossed his mind Danny nearly swallowed his tongue in panic.

He and Sam did not work out, their relationship had been friendship, to awkward flirting to actual dating and then they just fizzled out. The first three months they were a couple they were all over each other, in the whole 'newlywed bliss' sort of thing where they went on dates and held hands, shared a few kisses but then they slowly just grew comfortable and the kisses were no longer passionate but duty their affection just slowly died and Danny hadn't dated anyone afterwards, hell he barely had the time to find someone to crush on, he was so busy hunting ghosts, being chased by his parents and Val, catching up on homework and sleep and everything else that came with being a teenager that he never had the time to take an actual interest in someone after he broke up with Sam.

There had been that time when he mourned for the whole 'what if' with Sam, when he wondered if he wasn't Phantom then maybe their relationship wouldn't have died out but then again, they were both so young it probably wouldn't have lasted no matter what he did and in the end he realized that he wanted to be in love with her so badly that he just didn't think about long term, he wanted her so badly that he wasn't willing to really look at the people they were and realize that they weren't going to fit in the long run and once he made peace with the fact that they weren't right for each other he just never found anyone else and now this…?

As he walked back to his bike, he saw Dick waiting patiently for him even though his shoulders were tense showing how badly he wanted to know what the hell was happening, he was acting calm while Danny kept up his mask he was internally panicking. This was the first person to interest him in a long time and he didn't know what to do or even what to think. Maybe it was just his subconscious telling him that he is ready to think about someone again? Or telling him that he can still be attracted to people even though he concentrated all his time and effort on other people this was some sort of sign that he needed someone who was willing to look out for only him.

Danny climbed on the bike and Dick climbed on behind him and they sped away from the school and Danny tried not to look back to catch a glimpse of her. She was very different from Sam. Artemis had long, blonde hair and pretty brown eyes while Sam had short black hair and purple eyes. Sam was a goth and an ultra-recyclo vegetarian, he didn't really know anything about Artemis but he did know that they were both strong independent people. They were both kick ass women and he guessed that even if they were different in looks he still had a type. He liked strong women, who didn't take crap from anyone but that didn't mean he was in love with her or anything, he thought she was pretty and that she was interesting nothing more.

"What's going on Danny?"

Danny was snapped out of his love life troubles to deal with Dick and you know the present day situation.

"You're needed for a mission in Bialya. B said something about the President being controlled and how it came to his attention too late and you were already in school."

Dick seemed confused, "Shouldn't you be pulling Artemis out of school as well then?"

Danny shook his head, "The briefing is later. The team will head out sometime after school hours but the mission will probably make you miss school tomorrow. There really is a family meeting, we're just using it as your excuse for the mission."

Dick looked a little confused, "Since when do we have family meetings?"

Danny shrugged, "Before it was just you, Bruce and Alfred who needed to communicate, now that both Dinah and I live here, decisions that would affect the family need to be spoken about before they're actually made, basically we need to tell each other when we planning to do something."

Dick raised an eyebrow, "Was this Dinah's idea?"

Danny blushed and nodded sheepishly. She said we all sucked when it came to communication and there actually are things that we need to catch B up on so I thought we kill two birds with one stone. We tell B about Tim and Jason who I do have news on and we get you an alibi for being out tomorrow when Robin is running around a foreign country.

Dick just rolled his eyes and wondered how B was going to take the fact that Danny kind of adopted one kid and he was kind of thinking of adopting the other because he had been watching Tim and it broke his heart seeing how lonely he was and couldn't they keep him? Tim was so tiny and small and fragile that they could literally just hide him in a room in the manor and cuddle the shit of out him he was like a baby bird honestly, he wasn't so sure about the whole training him to be the future Robin thing but he did need to tell B that a civilian knew their identity.

Bruce did approve of the fact that Danny managed to get Dick an alibi for tomorrow as he would likely be missing school. He was also glad for the family meeting because he did have news that he would have to share with everyone so they knew what was happening and he agreed with Dinah, getting both his sons to just sit down and talk to them about what was happening in their lives both in and out of the masks was a damn good idea because they got busy and important news just got pushed around until they figured it out instead of sharing and when he was stupid enough to ask why that was important his girlfriend scrowled at him and he was pretty sure she would either throw something at him or just use her Canary cry to put him on his ass for being so thick headed when it came to emotions.

Bruce got a lecture about how sharing and communication was good for trust and helped to avoid misunderstandings. She also reminded him that he was raising teenage boys and as teenagers they needed things like reassurance and attention by simply sitting them down and talking about what was happening around them he made them feel safe and secure here. It helped keep them in control because there was nothing that could blindside them and it was a show of trust on both ends.

So when his sons sat down and Dinah took a seat next to him and Alfred laid out the tea and cookies he spoke, "Danny's work for the company has had a larger impact than we first expected. The new energy source has not only doubled our profits but it also has pushed my status into something that we didn't expect. Bruce Wayne is officially the world's first Trillionaire. The company's profits have made the title official and while we have been able to keep it out of the media I don't think we can last much longer."

Dick's jaw dropped, Bruce had always been one of the worlds richest men, in the top five, with people like Lex Luthor and Drake Industries in the limelight as well but this was something so totally unexpected that his mind actually went blank and Danny just face palmed. He didn't mean to do something like that and this was probably going to be bringing a lot of attention onto the family.

"Lucius is putting together the announcement but its going to big and we'll have to be extra careful until the extra attention dies down but for now that's the only thing you boys need to be aware off."

Dick took a moment to digest before blurting out everything that he found out about Tim and that he had spoken to the boy and he knows their identities because he was a fan of the Flying Grayson's and recognized Robin as he flew through the air and that he was stalking them and Batman didn't even know. Bruce just shared a look with Dinah and neither of the boys knew what to make of it so Danny jumped in with his news about how Catharine Todd had signed over custody of her son to Danny.

Dinah was impressed, Bruce actually managed to keep his cool for about five minutes before demanding more explanations which majorly came from Danny. Once they were done Bruce wasn't so sure about either boys but agreed to let Tim visit more at the manor so he and Dinah could get a feel of the boy and Jason was Danny's responsibility. Dinah and Bruce agreed to help but the Danny had already claimed Jason as his, so they weren't going to interfere with that, they both knew that Danny's ghost side needed more people to protect and as much as he mothered them all, Bruce and Dinah were adults and Dick was looking for independence, they just weren't able to let him fawn over them the way they knew he wanted and so he went and found someone to take care off. Bruce was hesitant it was a big responsibility but he also had faith that Danny knew what he was doing.