A/N: This is based on a Role Play that I do with a friend. This is within the Brothers, Portraits, and Messages Universe.

Miracles Happen More Than Once

Part 2: Curse Breaker

Mr. M stared up at the owl with the baby robin inn its talons. He had seen that only once before, centuries before in a circus much like this one. It was in Europe. A sibling was born to a chosen talon of the Athenae, a sister. She was later found floating in the river. She was just a few days old. This one must be saved. The child cannot be allowed to die. We are near Gotham City. This means the child must have been conceived elsewhere, but when?

'I will have to backtrack. The circus had been in Europe before. It will take time.'

Mr. M could hear the cries of the child as he was brought into the world. Thunder could be heard in the background then lightning ripped across the sky.

'Strange. There wasn't a cloud in the sky.'

A bolt of lightning suddenly hit the wagon and the owl was instantly covered in flames. It fell, landing next to the wagon. Mr. M stood watching awestruck. The wagon remained intact as the lightning dissipated. No more lightning appeared or thunder. That had not happened before. Thunder and lightning with no rain in a clear sky? Lightning hitting the wagon with no consequence of fire? Mr. M moved closer to the wagon and heard the small cries of a child.

"It's another boy!" John Grayson's words rang out from inside the wagon. "Look Dick, you have a brother, born in this very wagon."

"Oh John, I . . . I can't believe it."

"He will be great, just like his brother."

Outside anxious voices came from a nearby tent.

"What was that noise? It sounded like lightning struck one of the wagons. Quickly, it could be on fire." Pop Haley and other performers rushed to the end of the row of wagons, checking each one.

"Did you see that lightning?" Bruno asked. "I was with the animals. It spooked the horses."

"Yes, I saw it," A clown in make-up came from a nearby tent. "I couldn't believe it. It struck the flying Grayson's wagon."

"What's that sound?" Bruno asked as they drew closer.

"Wah, Wah, Wah."

"That's, that's the sound of a baby."

'I didn't know Mary was pregnant. I thought she was just ill and gained some weight . . . "

"There hasn't been a baby born in the circus since Dick, John Grayson's boy," Pop said. "That's five almost five and a half years ago."

"Look what's lying on the ground near the wagon."

'Oh god," The clown approached placing his hand over his mouth. "I don't believe it."

Those performers that had been in the tents gathered around the object that lay on the ground. It was an owl. Its body was charred. And in it's talons, it still clung onto the baby robin, but this time, somehow the young fledgling was alive. Bruno picked up the small bird and held it in his hands. It chirped out a greeting then tried to fly off. It fell to the grass then hopped across the compound and into the wooded area surrounding the circus tents.

Mr. M followed the baby bird. It hid under a bush and stared out toward the wagon. He swore that the bird had been dead within the owl's talons. Maybe he had been mistaken. Maybe the bird wasn't dead. Maybe the baby bird had only been knocked out. Maybe the owl had only captured it and was planning on taking it back to its nest to eat it later. It was a miracle, a miracle that the baby bird had survived.

Everyone could fully hear the cries of the baby now. Pop Haley approached the Grayson's wagon and pounded on the door.

"John, John open up!"

John Grayson opened the door to the wagon and in his arms he held a naked newborn baby, crying out his protests. He was cold, and hungry.

"John, the baby," Pop Haley exclaimed.

"It's a boy," John said proudly. "We have another flying Grayson."

The crowd cheered. "It's a miracle."

"I don't believe it!"

"The curse," someone else whispered. "Does that mean it's broken?"

Yellow eyes in the back of the group narrowed. 'I must tell the court. This outrage will not be allowed. The law states, no siblings from a chosen Talon. He will have to be dealt with.'

A five-year-old boy exclaimed with joy, "I have a brother! I have a brother! I'm going to be the best big brother ever!"

'John, please. He needs feeding and he's cold," Mary called out.

"Oh sorry my dear," John came back inside and carried his newborn son to his wife's side.

"We want to see him!" Members of the circus troupe exclaimed.

"You can, but you have to come in one at a time." John stated. "You know how tight these wagons are on space."

Pop climbed in first and approached the newborn now resting in Mary's arms. "He's so small."

"Smaller than Dick was when he was born," John stated. "But he's got a strong heart."

'Oh my, he's like a little bird," another said as they got to see the baby as he suckled on his mother's breast. "Like that fledgling."

"Please John, he'll catch cold."

"We can wrap him in my blanket," Dick said and he pulled his blanket from his bunk so his father could wrap the baby in it.

"Wah . . . Waaahaaaa!' the baby cried as he was pulled from his mother's breast.

'It's all right little one," John stated. "We need to get you warm."

"What's his name?" Pop asked. "We'll have to have a celebration."

"Timoti," Dick exclaimed in Romani.

"Dick, we're not naming him after your favorite character from a book," John answered in turn as he placed the baby in the center of the blanket and started to wrap him up. "We'll name him Silus, after my father."

"No, he's Timoti," Dick argued. "I know he's Timoti, like in the story."

"Timoti Gayzo is a fictional character, a myth."

"'No he's not. I like Timoti." Dick stated. "He's not a Silus. Please Mom, can't we name him Timoti."

The baby started suckling on his fist then whined when he realized there wasn't any milk.

"I like Timoti, and it means Timothy," Mary stated. "Timothy Patrick Grayson."

"Patrick? I do not like Patrick. He is not Irish."

"Jackson then, after Andrew Jackson," Mary suggested, thinking of another Jack some months ago.

"Timoti Jackson Grayson?" John Grayson played with the name on his tongue. "I like it. He shall be named Timoti Jackson Grayson."

"YAY!"

'Wah, wah, wah"

'Dick!" Mary reprimanded her son.

"I'm sorry Timmy," Dick said. "I didn't mean to scare you."

After wrapping his new son in Dick's blanket, John handed Timoti to his wife so she could finish feeding him. He went to the storage compartment in the back of the wagon and pulled out an old baby carrier. They kept it hoping to add to their family some day.

'It's a good thing I kept Dick's old baby clothes," Mary said. "He's going to need a diaper. I saved a few of those cloth ones. They were fine for Dick, they will do for Timothy as well."

After Timoti was done feeding, John then took Timoti and placed him in the carrier and placed the carrier on the floor next to the lower bunk. Dick sat on the floor looking down at his new brother and smiled.

'Hi Timmy," Dick said. "Welcome to the family." Dick reached over and brushed a finger along the baby's soft cheek then leaned down and gave him a kiss on his forehead.

Tim stared wide-eyed right into his brother's eyes.

John could not help notice how the baby stared at his older brother with such intensity and awe.

"It looks like you are right my son. Timoti is a fitting name for him."

'I'm going to be the best big brother ever."

End