Lance sighed as he felt the water hit his skin. The warmth felt so good after he'd spilled most of his heart to literal strangers. (Even if two of those strangers were his dead brother's alts.) He turned the water off after his skin started to turn red. He didn't need to add physical burns to his pain. Lance also didn't need another reason to get angry. There were small details he left out of his story, and there was also a few big ones.

Ones he doesn't necessarily want to share. Then again, if Slade IS evil in their universe, maybe he should mention it. He shakes his head softly. He can worry about that at another point in time. Preferably when he'd gotten plenty of sleep and some food in him. Lance dresses in the shower room (into a plain white t-shirt and black pants) and heads outside into the main room. The displaced Bats were everywhere now; none of them bunched up except for a few. He wonders if his story hit them harder than it did him.

Considering the fact that he started hearing the Joker laughing during his explanations, he doubts it. He heads over to the main console, happy to see that it was broadcasting footage from Bruce's bodycam. He was shooting at some gangsters over in Somerset. Lance figures his dad needs some time to process seeing strangers wearing his family's face. And of course, Lance now has to play nice.

Whatever. Bruce could do what he wants, he supposed.

"Alright, listen up!" Lance yells, and the gaggle of Bats all abandon their attention towards whatever they were all looking at. "Quarter of a mile away is a sedan. Not registered in my name and I change the plates frequently. We get in, go to the Diamond District and around there's where I live." He says, and when no questions were asked, he heads for the personal entrance to the Asylum (as opposed to the vehicle exit). The Bats follow him. They're all quiet, even Carrie, who usually breaks silence like bones, can't figure out what to say.

In fact, they're all silent. All the way until they reach his home.

(...)

Lance looks at his door. It's open ever so slightly. The rest of his 'family from another dimension' are staring at it too. Dick is, unsurprisingly, the first one to break their minutes long silence.

"What's the plan? Go through the windows and beat up the intruders?" He asks. Lance blinks. "I uh... I didn't know you were taking Jason's plans now." He says, and said man flipped him off. There wasn't much heat behind it, so he ignored it. Instead, he walked back over to his car, Tim following him.

"I'm assuming you've got a laptop connected to security cameras?" He says. Lance smiles. "Any self respecting Bat wouldn't be caught dead without it." He says, as he opens the driver's side and grabs the labtop hidden under the seat. He turns it on and is surprised to see no notifications around his home. None of the security locks were broken, nor was his alarms triggered. He already knows who he's going to see when he checks the cameras.

Tim gaps at the computer. Lance just groans as he slams it shut. He doesn't have time for this. He storms back over to the front door. Carrie opens her mouth, and but walks right by her and kicks his front door hard. The doorknob goes into the door.

There, sitting around his kitchen table and eating his leftovers, is the Wilson kids. Joey's got some shit on the table that he's tinkering with, while Rose and Grant eye him suspiciously as he moves towards them. The Bats slowly filter in behind Lance, and it takes all his willpower to hold himself back.

"Remember when I said Slade has kids? Yeah, that's these dumbasses." Lance says, and then points to the Bats as he turns to face Grant, Rose and Joey. "Wilson kids, meet our next dimension neighbors." He says. There's a pause in Joey's face, and Lance preemptively rolls his eyes.

"We don't got any sugar. Want some waffles?" Joey says, his face lit up like he's said the funniest shit in the world. Rose punches him. Right in the face actually, and he falls off of his chair. Lance wishes he could have done that. He turns his head slightly to look at the Bats. Bruce seems unaffected, as well as Jason. Dick, Steph and Cass have smiles on their faces. Tim and Damian are both looking at the kids with... Something. He's not sure. Carrie though, is ecstatic. She rushes forward, and latches on to Rose.

"Auntie!" She says happily. Joey picks himself up off of the floor. He groans. "No love for your favorite uncle?" The young man asks. Carrie's eyes widened. "Oh crap! You're right, I'm so sorry." She says, and then turns to hug Grant. Said man laughs as he ruffles Carrie's hair. Joey looks ready to complain, but Lance just sighs heavily.

"Alright, the peanut gallery can leave now. I've gotta get these idiots some night clothes and get them in bed." It's telling that not even Tim says anything about not sleeping. It's even more telling that Steph hasn't uttered a joke yet. They're... They're kinda fucked up honestly. Maybe more messed up than he thought.

Rose scowls at him. "Asshole, what the fuck? We took a plane around the world and you can't let us have one conversation?" Lance rubs his face. Again, he's glad the Bats are all really silent right now. "Ok, look, alright, you guys can stay." He says, and considers for a moment where everyone can actually sleep. "Take Carrie into her room and make sure she's got some clothes and other shit Rose. We'll all bunk in my room."

Lance turns around, and points at Bruce. "Door all the way in the back is my dad's room. He's probably going to stay at a safehouse tonight, so you and whoever wants to stay with you can go there." He says. Funnily enough, no one jumps at the chance. It's Duke who actually walks up to Bruce. "I can bunk with you. If you want, B." He says. Bruce shakes his head.

"Not if you don't want to Duke. I don't want to force you." Lance can tell this could take a while. Dick does too, apparently. "It'll be like old times B. Come on." He says, his cheer only partially fake, Lance thinks. He sees the three go to the very end, and once they go inside his dad's room, he then looks at the remaining five people.

"Steph, Cass. Carrie's room is the last room on the left. You have that." He says, and then eyes the three boys. "The guest room is the first one on the left. You three take that." Again, it's telling that he doesn't get so much as a thank you... Fuck, are they really that messed up? He's not even family! It's not like what he said should have bothered them that much.

The group all break off and head to their "assigned" rooms. Lance needs to rest. And maybe... MAYBE... A few hugs.

(...)

Dick closes the door behind him, and lets loose a breath he hadn't known he was holding. He really hadn't been prepared to learn what he did. Dick hadn't expected to feel so... So torn.

Here, Dick was able to properly pass down Robin. Yet, he's also dead here. But... Jason was right. His memorial was certainly better than 'A Good Soldier'. Dick's really not sure how to feel. He's not, but any type of lingering resentment towards Bruce evaporates when he turns around.

Bruce is sitting on the edge of the bed. Duke is next to him, but Duke doesn't know how to handle Bruce yet. Not in good moods or bad. And so, it's yet again thrust into Dick's arms to deal with this. He'd normally be angry, but... But seeing Bruce look so absolutely defeated? He can't. So instead, he smiles softly, and walks up to his father.

"Hey B? How you holding up?" He asks as he sits down next to Bruce, throwing an arm around the man. Bruce ignores him. The floor is more interesting than Dick, and well, Dick does take offense at that. Maybe. Possibly.

"Bruce... Can you at least try to talk to us?" Duke asks softly. Dick sees Bruce grip the bedsheets. Hard. Dick isn't sure what to say. He's used to arguing with Bruce. Far too used to that actually, even if it's been years since they argued like they used to. He's used to a happy Bruce. That's a wonderful thing to wrangle. A sad Bruce? Bruce doesn't do sad. He deflects and hides his emotions down deep with anger and frustration and Dick is really surprised when Bruce looks up at Dick, with tears threatening to fall.

"Am I a bad father?" Ok, so... Dick didn't expect that. At the very least, he didn't expect to just jump right into the deep end. Dick takes a deep breath. "Bruce... You've made mistakes. Big mistakes too." He says, and watches as Bruce's head falls. Dick tightens his arm around his dad.

"But look, everything you've done? Even if it was a shitty thing to do, even when you said absolutely horrible things... You never were trying to be mean." Dick says slowly, working the words out in his head carefully. "You've never tried to be cruel, or hurtful. You tried to do the right thing." Dick says, and Bruce scoffs softly.

"Doesn't mean much though, does it?" He asks, and Duke puts a hand on Bruce's shoulder. "B, look, you love us all, right?" And Bruce nods his head slowly, barely looking up to meet Duke's face. Duke smiles though. "You love us. And that's enough for me, personally, to forgive you when you're acting like an ass." Dick chuckles, and he can see the ghost of a smile just barely grace Bruce's face.

"Still... There's so many things I've done wrong. Things I should never have done in the first place." Bruce turns to face Dick directly. He puts both of his hands on Dick's shoulders. "I should have known that Robin would have meant so much more to you than I realized. I..." Bruce trails off. When Dick was younger, he'd yell at Bruce when he did this. He used to think it was Bruce trying to find the right words to manipulate him. Or it was him trying to come up with an excuse.

Now Dick knows. Knows his father just can't human like everyone else can. So, he waits. Gives Bruce time.

"I should have asked you if you were comfortable with Jason being Robin. I should have told you immediately when I let Tim be Robin." Bruce says, and then slowly hugs Dick. Dick hugs his father back. He'd gotten over this years ago, but... The apology was nice.

"Hey B, it's ok. I forgave you years ago." He says honestly, and then laughs. "I'd probably have screamed at you if you called right after picking up Jason anyway." He says, again, also honestly. Bruce smiles softly at that. Duke seems to scrunch his face up. Dick's about to ask what's up, but he taps on Bruce's shoulder.

"Hmm?" Bruce says, as he breaks the hug with Dick, and turns to face the meta. Duke takes a deep breath. "You didn't have to take me in. You really didn't, I was just a meta whose parents aren't... Aren't there." Duke doesn't say more, and Dick doesn't blame him.

"Unlike the others, besides Dick, I have - had - two parents who loved me and cared for me. And they could still get better." Duke says, and Dick ignores the information in the back of his mind that people who were infected with the Joker's shit when he was Robin still aren't ok. Duke hugs Bruce. Bruce hugs him back.

"No matter what happens B, I'm... I'm glad to be your son." Duke says, and Dick swears he sees a few tears fall from Bruce. Bruce huffs out a small laugh. "I don't deserve you two. I don't deserve any of you." Dick laughs.

"Nope! But we're with you anyway old man. No matter what." Bruce opens his arms and the three of them embrace. Dick's rather content to be honest, just sitting here, hugging his family. But the hug ends eventually, and Duke coughs.

"So uh, I'm not tired. You two?" He asks. Dick stands up, nearly jumping up and down with excitement. "Naw. Should we snoop around?" He asks, his voice in a mock whsiper. Bruce just shakes his head, a smile on his face. He wipes his face. "I think I'll take a small nap at least. Tonight's been... Rough." Dick agrees. Still though, he and Duke will have to figure out what to do while Bruce is sleeping.

Dick's eyes widen slightly, and he smiles.

"Hey Duke, I've got an idea." He says, and watches as his newest family member looks at him. This might be fun...

(A/N) I've gotta say, the Wilson kids were a surprise. Mentioning them last chapter got me to thinking and we're here now. They're pretty far from canon afaik, but don't worry, they SHOULD only be here for the next chapter and then they'll fuck off.

Then again, they weren't supposed to be here in the first place, so... Who knows!

Next chapter we get the remaining rooms inside Lance's abode. Which are:

Carrie's Room: Steph and Cass

The Guest Room: Jason, Tim and Damian

Lance's Room: Lance, Carrie, Grant, Rose and Joey.

Enjoy! I hope this, and by proxy the next chapter will be more lighthearted than the previous chapter)