GOTHAM

WAYNE MANOR

DAMIAN'S ROOM

Damian lay on the bed, lost. His best friend, his first friend when he came to Gotham, was gone, simply gone in the space between heartbeats. He had put himself between Damian and the knife and then there had been simply nothing to be done.

The door opened silently but Damian didn't move. There was only one of two people who would dare enter his room at this time. Lian was on a mission which left only Helena.

He sensed more than felt the cats, Alfred and Court, landed on the bed and slink towards him.

"Ace, up." Came Helena's quite command. There was no mistaking the massive bulk of the shepherd as he landed in front of Damian. "Ace, down." The dog settled in front of Damian, stretched out full length with his back to Damian's front.

"Oh, just pick a spot." Helena's voice held an aggravated edge as she spoke to the two twining cats. There was a momentary pause. Alfred curled near his forehead but Court attempted to drop his massive body on top of Damian's head. The Maine Coon mix topped out at twenty-five pounds of muscle and so he slid right off. "Honestly, not helping Court. No. Stay right there."

Helena slid on to the bed next. She snuggled up right behind her brother and rested her chin on his neck. Her arm wrapped around his waist. "I don't know what to say."

"You're here." His hand slipped over her arm. "You brought them. It's helps."

"I should have done something. I should have tried harder." Tears leaked from her eyes on to his neck. "Maybe I could have saved him."

"They had been planning this for a long time. They got through the Estates defenses. They knew we were alone. They waited until we were outside because they couldn't get into the Manor. We weren't Robin and Nightbird because they wouldn't dare go at us fully armed and armoured." Damian pulled up her hand and kissed it softly. "There were just too many of them for us to take them down without any real weapons."

"We are weapons." She said bitterly.

"Apparently, so is Court." Damian chuckled.

They had been playing in the snow with the dogs beyond the kitchen entrance when the Shadows had started dropping around them. Helena had managed to break free and run for the kitchen with the panic button, and shotgun, that Alfred kept there. She had just flung the door open when one of the Shadows caught up to her. The unholy scream that emanated from the house had caused everyone to stop mid-battle. Only Ace seemed unaffected.

The flying ball of fur, claws, and teeth came out of the house straight over Helena's head into the Shadow behind her. The man screamed. Helena kept going into the kitchen, grabbing the shotgun, and hitting the panic button on her way out.

By that time, Court had made his way on to his next victim and Shadows were clearing out of his way. Helena fired once into the air. She announced that back up was on its way and they should just leave while they still could. Then it happened.

The assassin in front of Damian twisted with a snarl, lunging forward with a knife; before Damian could react Titus was there, a powerful jaw around the man's throat, huge body bearing him to the ground. Neither of them moved after that.

Damian pushed the image from his mind. "He was old, you know, for a Dane." He felt Helena nod against him. "He would have been pleased, a warrior's death, protecting us."

There was a long silence between the siblings.

"Dami?" Helena's voice was soft and full of tears.

"Yes, Cub?"

"That's not helping."

"No, I know."

Lian found them in that position sound asleep when she arrived two hours later. If anyone had told her that the love of her life would be Damian Wayne she would have beat them into the ground. Oh, but he was so very much. Helena was very much a part of the man she loved. That girl pushed him and prodded him in ways no one else could right out of his dark shell. Or least made him consider looking out of it Lian chuckled to herself. It had been Helena, more than the spontaneous battleground kiss, which made Damian open up about his feelings for her.

Two sets of feline eyes had opened when she entered the room and watched her carefully. Lian slid on to the bed and joined the huddle slipping behind Helena effectively sandwiching the girl between herself and Damian.

"Lian?" Damian twitched slightly.

"Shhh. Go back to sleep." She draped her arm over both him and Helena. The girl muttered and snuggled deeper. Lian smiled. Always a snuggler, just like Uncle Dick.

"I thought you weren't back until tomorrow." Damian muttered.

"I wasn't." She stroked her hand across Damian's cheek. "Batman pulled me out. He felt my assistance was better served elsewhere. Now go back to sleep, love."