A/N: A little extra, Jason and Bruce, who knew? Samantha Clark was created by JasonToddLover. The character cannot be used by anyone else without permission. . . . I was asked how old are Tim and Samantha. Tim is 16 and Samantha is 17. Both are really too young to get married, but in this instance, since the story is based on a Role Play, both received special permission to marry for the sake of their children.

Neptune's Daughter

By

Part 3: Questionable Results

Alfred gave out a pained sigh. He needed a break away from the chaos. He hadn't been down in the cave for what felt like months. It probably needed a serious cleaning. Alfred went and grabbed an apron, some cleaning supplies in a bucket, and headed to the cave via his private elevator. Once he entered the main cave, he spotted Master Jason in the workout area with Master Bruce. They were doing a bit of sparring.

"That's it Jason, keep those hands up." Bruce was doing some rapid-fire punches, putting Jason on the defensive.

Jason could feel his temper rising a bit. Bruce wasn't letting him off the hook, which made it hard for him to get in a shot. He finally decided to sweep Bruce's legs out from under him.

"Oof!" Bruce landed hard. "Good move, Jason. Most people wouldn't think about going for the legs."

"Well, I'm not trained by most people," Jason replied.

Alfred watched the two spar for a few more minutes then went over to begin cleaning the equipment. He cleaned the chemistry lab and the shelves, dusting off the dirt and grime left behind. He paid strict attention to the apparatus. It was difficult to keep things clean from the bats that lived high in the crevices in the cave. Every now and then he would find a dead bat that had died from injury or disease. He was careful to make sure the body was taken care of with great respect. They were, after all, Batman's unofficial allies, calling upon them in a time of great need.

As Alfred cleaned each piece of equipment, his thoughts often turned toward the past and he marveled how a man who swore that he would be forever alone in his work had slowly gathered allies to aid him, nay sons, sons so loyal to his cause that they would sacrifice everything. And yet with the blink of an eye, those sons, well three of them for now, had produced, or were producing children of their own who will someday take up their legacy. Their lives certainly have changed.

Alfred dusted off the old bat computer that sat in an alcove, or small recess in the cave wall. It had been reliable for many years until it was necessary to expand. Next to it at one time sat the analyzer. It was still used for analyzing the various clues that would crop up, but it was, as Master Jason might say, "a bitch to clean."

As Alfred dusted off the top, he could not help noticing that someone had recently used the analyzer. Whomever used it last, however, had not cleaned it. He could still see the last read-out on the small screen. The analyzer had its own built-in memory, so if there was any contamination, it could filter out the source and re-perform the analysis without the need for a sample. Alfred opened the small drawer and found there were three sets of slides with dried blood. Each were marked accordingly. DG, TDW, and JT.

'JT? How did that one get in there?,' Alfred thought. 'Why would Master Jason run a sibling test? And who was the other person that he was testing? Master Richard or Master Timothy?'

Using what he learned in the detective novels he would often read, Alfred went to work on examining the evidence. He knew that Master Richard had tested his blood with Master Timothy's and it came out positive. Had Master Jason tested his blood with Master Richard's? It seemed unlikely, but the slides that were in place suggested it. Could he have tested with Master Timothy's? That was also a likely choice. Alfred checked the readout, again. Master Richard and Master Timothy's read-out had been done earlier. Master Jason's readout was more recent. Master Timothy and Master Richard's sibling match was assured, but Master Jason's readout was less clear. It was as if the analyzer had become confused between the three slides and printed out a partial match.

Well, that was easily remedied. Alfred decided to run the analysis with each of the two different slides with Jason's. Whatever the percentages were, they would know for certain if the test was correct. Even so, what if the test wasn't correct. He had never seen Master Jason so happy before. Alfred would hate to bust Master Jason's bubble if the test was incorrect. He was very conflicted at to what he should do.

"Alfred, is everything all right?" Bruce had actually come up behind Alfred without his awareness.

"I may have discovered something, but I don't know what I should do, Sir," Alfred replied.

"Explain."

"A test may have been botched due to contamination."

"I see."

"Well, rerun the test."

"I cannot," Alfred said pensively.

"Why not?"

"The samples are too old."

"I see, get fresh samples," Bruce suggested.

"I would, Sir, but . . . "

"But what?"

"I'm concerned that the samples may have damaged the machine," Alfred explained. "I may be able to clean it, but I would need a means to test the machine to know if the read-out is correct."

"What do you need?" Bruce asked.

"Blood samples, Sir."

"I can give you a sample."

"That would be good, Master Bruce."

"Bruce, what are you testing for?"

"Um . . . relationships."

"You mean, paternity?" Bruce questioned. "Wouldn't I need samples of my sons' blood."

"Yes, Sir."

"Alfred, I already know that Damian is my son. And I know that Dick is not my son, even though the test came back 96% probability. The test was done years ago and from an independent study. We performed it on a lark. It was a close enough match. Anything above 96% during that time was considered a match."

"You tested 96%?" Jason questioned. "Why didn't you use the analyzer in the cave?"

"We didn't have it at the time."

"Can you and I run the test?"

"Jason . . ."

"Look, I don't know who my father is. I just knew who my mother was. Even if it turns out that we're not related, we can test to see if the machine is working."

Jason's logic made sense. The machine was going to have to be tested anyway.

"Sure, why not. It might prove to be interesting," Bruce agreed. The last time he did a paternity test he had Dr. Leslie perform the test. Her equipment might not have been as accurate.

Alfred took a blood sample kit and drew two test tubes full of blood and marked them accordingly.

"Why so much blood?" Jason questioned.

"This will be than trying to place a drop of blood on a slide."

Alfred prepared to clear the memory of the machine, but pressed the analyze button instead. "Oh bother, now I must wait until the results are completed before cleaning and retesting.

"Don't worry about it Alfred, Jason and I will get showers."

Alfred watched the machine go though its analysis from the last data and the readout appeared. His eyes narrowed at what he saw. He printed out the results to compare later, then he cleaned the machine and placed the new samples inside. He started the analysis and no one was prepared for the results once the machine did its work.

Continues with part 4