A/N: Again, thank you to Angel Queen! If you've read Sushi Ocean, then you'll have already met Sarah, but now it's time to meet Nick as well :) Enjoy!

Chapter One - Mother's Day

"Shhhhhh!"

"I didn't say anything!"

"Well don't."

"Your 'shush' will have already woken her up!"

"You don't know that, Nicky, so be quiet!"

Nick looked longingly at the still-warm bed his sister had just dragged him out of. Then he frowned at the grey dawn outside. "Don't see why we have to be up this early anyway – the sun's not even up yet!"

Sarah rolled her eyes. "We've been through this! Mommy gets up really early, and if we wanna give her a nice surprise breakfast then so do we! And Daddy will be on his way already, so –"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it."

"Okay then." Still half-asleep, he let Sarah lead him down the stairs, tiptoeing as quietly as possible past Mommy's bedroom. The plan was to let Daddy in through the backdoor, and he'd have all the groceries they needed to make Mommy's favourite breakfast foods. Though thinking about it…

"Uh, Sarah?"

"Yes?"

"How do we get to the keys for the backdoor?" he asked. "Mom keeps them on the top shelf."

She flashed him a grin and a half-shrug. "That's easy. I'll stand on your shoulders."

To Nick, this seemed anything but easy. "What if you fall?" he demanded.

"I won't," she replied with great assurance.

"Gravity, Sarah! Unless you're going to defy Newton's third law, there's no way –"

She frowned, stopping in the hallway. "That's not Newton's third law, Nicky."

"Yes it is!" he insisted.

"No it isn't!"

"Is!"

"Is not!" she said crossly. She planted her hands on her hips, and Nick recognised the lecture pose. Mom did the same thing. "Newton's third law: Every action has an opposite and equal reaction."

"Oh." He frowned. "Well what's the one about gravity?"

"Never mind that, we're going to run out of time!" she said, grabbing his pyjama sleeve and yanking him down the hallway again. "Come on!"

When they got to the kitchen, Sarah looked up at the clock. Five-thirty a.m. Daddy would be here in a few minutes. She pushed Nicky over to the counter and then dragged the chair behind him, standing on it. "Now, when I put my foot on your shoulder, grab –"

There was a soft knock at the backdoor, and Sarah jumped down from the chair and then moved quietly to the door. "Daddy?" she asked quietly.

"No, it's the boogie man," his amused voice answered through the wood.

"Daddy!" she mock-scolded.

Nick leaned forward. "Just a minute, Dad, we have to get the key."

"Nick, I have –"

"It won't take long, Daddy," Sarah assured. "Don't worry, we have a plan."

Neither of them paid any attention to the apprehension in Bruce's voice. "Kids, I don't think –"

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Jeez, Daddy, just wait a second!" Before he could answer, she pushed her brother back over to the counter, standing on the chair just behind him and planting her hands firmly on his head. "Okay, now when I put my foot on your shoulder, you grab my ankle okay? And you can't let go."

"Got it."

"Okay." She put a foot on his shoulder; he gripped it. "Got me?"

"Yup."

"Okay…" She took a deep breath and stepped up, planting both her feet on her brother's shoulders. "Yes, I'm up!"

"Hurry up, you're heavy!"

"I am not!"

"Sarah!"

"Okay, okay." She still couldn't quite see the top shelf, but she could reach it, so leant forward, groping around for the keys.

"Sarah, stop moving so quickly!" Nick hissed from beneath her.

"Well it might help if you stopped squirming," she snapped quietly back.

"I'm squirming?" he repeated. "You're the one who's –"

At the sound of the backdoor creaking quietly open, both of them jumped around to see their father coming in. Well Nick looked around. Sarah swayed and grabbed at the cupboards. "Daddy! How did you get –"

Sarah cut off when her dad dropped the groceries on the counter before striding over to them quickly and lifting her off Nicky's shoulders. He put her down, his expression neither pleased nor impressed. "Not a good idea, kids," he said lowly, mainly speaking to Sarah. "If you fell you could really hurt yourself, not to mention break your brother's neck on the way down –"

Nick shot a triumphant look at his twin. "Told you. Newton's third law."

"That is not –" She broke off with a sigh of exasperation, then looked up to her father with pleading eyes. "Daddy, tell Nicky to stop arguing physics with me!"

"I'm not arguing physics with you, I'm just –"

"Both of you stop arguing – physics or anything else," Daddy quelled.

They did, reluctantly, and then both received hugs. Sarah leaned back, looked at her father critically. "You look tired, Daddy."

He bent down and kissed the tip of her nose. "Good morning to you too, sweetie."

"Humph."

Nick was already at the bag of groceries that Bruce had put on the counter. "Dad!" he complained. "You didn't get any blueberries! How are we supposed to make Mom blueberry pancakes without –"

"They're at the bottom, Nick."

Nick dug down a little deeper. "Ew, they're all squished!"

"Daddy!" Sarah admonished. "You're supposed to put the heaviest stuff at the bottom of the bag!"

"Well how was I supposed to – Nick, don't do that," he added to her brother, who'd just wiped his purple-stained fingers on his pyjamas.

Nick just shrugged and continued to take items out and place them on the counter. Sarah – naturally – had a checklist ready; folded neatly into her pyjama pocket. "Bacon?"

"Yup."

"Eggs?"

"Yup."

"Orange juice?"

"Uh… yep."

"Milk?"

"We already have a gallon in the fridge."

"Flour."

"Yes," Bruce sighed. "Sarah, I remembered everything."

"No harm in checking though, Daddy," she pointed out. "And... pain au chocolat."

Nick looked. "Yup."

Sarah ticked off the last item with a smile. "Okay, now you have everything."

He smirked. "So I'm off probation?"

"Yup," she confirmed. "Okay, first we have to..."

"...make the pancakes," Nick finished.

"Right, so, Daddy, can you get the cookbook? It's right on the top shelf."

"Yes, ma'am."

The sound of coughing drew both their attention: Nick had torn open the bag of flour. Literally. Right down the middle, thus covering himself and that corner of the kitchen with white powder. He looked immediately decades older.

Sarah giggled while her dad glowered. "Good start," he muttered. "Do we have any more flour?"

"I think so," Nick said. "I'll get it –"

Sarah put a hand on his chest, still fighting laughter. "Maybe I should get it, Nicky."

He glanced down at himself. "Maybe you should."

While his dad's back was turned and as Sarah bent down to the get extra flour, Nicky decided the best start to making Mommy's Mother's Day breakfast was to dump whatever flour wasn't covering him on top of his sister. To Sarah's credit, she almost shrieked, but held it in. The whole point of getting up at the crack of dawn was not to wake Mommy.

Still, she wasn't about to let that go unpunished. Hence why, a few minutes later, Nicky found a raw egg being cracked on top of his head. Bruce was not impressed, but it wasn't anything even his normally terrifying glares could stop. Well, Nicky found them terrifying, but Daddy didn't really scare Sarah. He never stayed mad at her long anyway.

Needless to say, the silent feud between the twins went on until Bruce physically separated them, putting Sarah on one side the kitchen and Nick on the other. It didn't stop them pelting each other with fruit when he wasn't looking. By the time they got onto the pancakes, things had degenerated to a fully-fledged batter fight, with right now a bit more pancake batter ending up on Sarah's nose. Before she could protest – and possibly whack her brother with a nearby spatula – the phone rang. Her eyes widened and she lunged for it, lest it wake Mommy up before they were ready for her.

"Hello, Prince residence; Sarah speaking," she recited into it, just as Mommy had taught her and Nicky to when they answered.

"Miss Sarah? This is Alfred."

Sarah grinned. "Good morning, Alfred!"

"And to you, dear. I called to ask your mother if she has seen your father this morning. Is she awake?"

She giggled and shook her head. "No, but don't worry. Daddy's right here with me and Nicky. We're making breakfast for Mommy since it's Mother's Day," she explained.

There was a definite pause on the other end of the phone line. "Your father is helping you cook... breakfast?"

"Yep! Though, Nicky keeps hitting me with the pancake mix," she complained, scrunching her nose at her brother.

"She started it, Alfred!" Nicky called from his spot at the table, surrounded by blueberries.

"Goodness me," Sarah heard Alfred mutter. "Miss Sarah, could you please turn the speaker phone on? I need to speak to all three of you."

Sarah shrugged. "Sure, Alfred." She then reached up, pressed the appropriate buttons, just like Mommy had taught her, and put the phone back on its base.

"Master Bruce," Alfred said, his tone stern, "Master Nick, and Miss Sarah, I want all three of you to stop what you are doing. Master Bruce, turn off all parts of the stove that you have on and step away from it. Immediately." A moment later, the phone went dead.

Sarah blinked and looked at her father. Much to her surprise, he had a faintly guilty look on his face, like Nicky did when Mommy caught them trying to sneak another cookie. "What's wrong with Alfred, Daddy?" she asked.

Daddy didn't answer, though. He just shook his head and kept muttering, "One time, it was one time, Alfred." Then he smiled at her. "It looks like Alfred's going to take over, sweetheart."

"That's probably good," Nicky put in. "We weren't getting anything done, and Mommy will wake up soon."

Sarah nodded, but looked at the few items of breakfast they had managed to create. "Well we should at least take Mommy something," she said.

Bruce poured some coffee into a cup, and then flipped over a misshapen pancake. It was burnt on the bottom. "Well maybe not these." He pushed the cup toward Nicky. "Take her this."

Sarah opened the fridge and poured out some orange juice into a glass. "We have the card too, and her presents."

"What did you get her?" Bruce asked.

"We saved up our allowances – I got her an ergonomic keyboard for her writing."

"And I got her a really pretty pen," Nicky said. "Sometimes she writes on paper instead of her computer."

Daddy nodded, looking impressed. "Good ideas." He smiled. "She'll love them. Why don't you two go wake her, and I'll let Alfred in when he gets here."

After collecting their gifts from their room, Nicky led the way into Mommy's room, and opened the curtains while Sarah put the drinks and gifts down on the nightstand. At the sunlight suddenly flooding the room, Diana opened her eyes with a smile already on her face. To Sarah, and not for the first time, she looked like the most beautiful woman in the world.

"Morning, Mommy," she murmured with unconscious reverence.

"Good morning, my little star."

"Happy Mother's Day, Mom!" Nicky chorused.

"And good morning to you too, little sun," she smiled.

They clambered into bed with her, one on each side. "We got up early to make you breakfast," Nicky explained, "but we kinda... maybe made a mess –"

Suddenly Mommy looked stern. "How big of a mess?"

"No, it's okay, because Alfred's coming over to help fix it –"

"Alfred has enough to do at the manor without you adding to his burdens."

"But we didn't ask him to come, Mommy," Sarah replied. "When he found out Daddy was here and helping us cook -"

"Your father is here?"

At the slightly nervous, slightly excited tone of Mommy's voice, the twins exchanged a slightly gleeful look. This had been another reason to ask for Daddy's help – it would mean that they could have a nice family breakfast, with their parents sitting next to each other, being nice to each other, maybe beginning to...

"Yup," Nick answered cheerfully. "He's downstairs letting Alfred in when he gets here."

"Oh I see." She cleared her throat and made to get out of bed. "Well, why don't you two –"

They grabbed one arm each and pulled her back down. "No, Mommy, you haven't opened your presents yet!"

"Haven't I?" She sat back down and folded her hands expectantly.

Sarah rolled her eyes slightly, but her delight outweighed her exasperation. Both Mommy and Daddy did that whenever the other one was mentioned – went really scatter-brained. Which, considering that they were the smartest people Sarah knew, was very odd. Still, first things first: presents.

She leaned over to the nightstand and picked them up. "That one is from Nicky, and this is mine –"

Nicky took the opportunity to thrust his package into Mommy's hands. "But open mine first."

"Why should she open yours first, mine's better –"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

Mommy put her hands up and glared at both of them. "Children, stop this at once!"

They both fell silent, though they didn't stop glaring daggers at each other. Mommy carried on. "Now both of you go and get dressed. I have no idea what's in your hair, Nicholas, or just what you have all down your front, Sarah, but whatever it is, I'll not have it in my bed."

Ah. The twins looked down at themselves, seeing the evidence of their impromptu food-fight all over their clothes. "Oops."

Nicky looked hopefully up at Mommy. "Can we go once you've opened the presents?"

"No," she said with a smile. "Because this way we'll avoid arguments and you won't know which present I opened first."

Damn. Foxed.

Sarah sighed. "Fine..."

Feeling as though they'd been a little cheated, the twins traipsed down the hallway to their bedroom. It didn't take long for them to dress and go back downstairs again, to find Alfred in the kitchen already, somehow with at least seventy percent of the breakfast already made.

"Good morning, Miss Sarah, Master Nick."

"Morning, Alfred," they chorused.

Sarah looked around. "Where's Daddy?"

"In the dining room," he explained. "Would you mind very much helping him set the table, children?"

"Sure, Alfred," Nick said, accepting the bundle of cutlery Alfred handed him. Sarah collected her own stack of plates from the Englishman and went into the dining room. They hardly ever used this room – just for Mother's Day, her and Nicky's birthday, and Thanksgiving. Christmas was always spent up at the manor with Daddy.

As they came in, it was to see their father straightening the table cloth, making sure it was even on all sides. He even had a tape-measure to make sure it was the same everywhere – though where he'd gotten a tape-measure from, Sarah had no idea. Both twins stopped in the doorway and looked quizzically at him before Nick spoke.

"Dad... what are you doing?" His tone made it sound as though Daddy was dancing the foxtrot with an alien. At the image, Sarah had to suppress a giggle.

Daddy looked up. "Just making sure the table looks nice for your mother."

"Uh huh."

Daddy narrowed his eyes at their stereo scorn. "You can lay the table now."

They set the knives and forks down, along with the plates, and the table was finished with a rosebud in a stem glass, set in the centre of the tablecloth. Bruce turned to them. "Okay, kids, I'll see you tonight."

Since Mommy and Daddy didn't live together, Sarah and Nicky spent one week at the gate-house and one at the manor. Both of the houses were nice, but neither of them were really home. They had the people they loved; Mommy, Alfred, Daddy, Tim, and occasionally Dick, but when they were all in two different places it didn't really work – not when there was no reason for it to be that way.

The whole point of today was that they actually spent the whole day as a family. Daddy going back the manor was not in the plan – and for once Sarah didn't have a Plan B.

Luckily, Nicky seemed to: delay tactics. "No, Dad, you have to stay! You helped with breakfast and we already told Mom you were here!"

Sarah caught on. "Yeah, Daddy, she'll be really disappointed if you don't stay –"

There was a sound from the hallway, and she knew it was Mommy coming down the stairs. A few seconds later she opened the door to the dining room.

Sarah noticed Daddy seemed to have gone speechless. She had to admit, Mommy looked very pretty today. She had on a navy blue sweater-dress which fitted her perfectly, and her hair was tied back in a ponytail with a few curly strands around her face. Sarah wasn't looking forward to growing up, but if she had to... she hoped that she was going to look like Mommy. Except not with the black hair. Sarah liked her hair just fine. It was just like Grandma Hippolyta's and Grandma Martha's.

Mommy stopped in front of them. "Hello, Bruce," she smiled.

He cleared his throat. "Diana. Happy Mother's Day."

"Thank you." She sniffed. "I'm assuming the delicious smell is breakfast?"

"Yup!" Nicky said. "We tried to make it ourselves, but then when Alfred called, he got mad when Sarah told him Dad was helping..." He trailed off and looked up at Bruce. "Actually, why did he get mad, Dad?"

Was that a hint of pink around his cheeks? "Let's sit down, shall we?"

Once Alfred had served the breakfast, they sat down and ate together. Exactly as a family should – with Sarah and Nicky bickering over the bits in the orange juice, or who got the last blueberry pancake.

"I'm a boy, I need more food than you do!"

"Statistically," Sarah shot back in a snooty, know-it-all tone that she knew would really irritate her twin, "at this age we need the same amount of –"

That argument was solved when their father picked it up and put it on Mommy's plate. Both twins goggled at him. Diana chuckled. "Thank you, Bruce."

"Anytime," he said, offering a cheeky grin to Sarah's scowl. "Coffee?"

She nodded. "Thank you."

"So how's the book coming?" he asked, finishing off his pain au chocolat.

"Oh fine," she said dismissively, "it's Perseus; it pretty much writes itself. It's the other one I'm having trouble with."

"Other one?"

"Yes." She coloured slightly. "I decided to take your advice, and try original fiction as well as just the Greek myths. Though I'm sticking to the myth theme."

"Sounds great – well, if you're writing it, then I'm sure it will be great. From which culture?"

"I was thinking I might try my hand at Arthurian literature," she commented. "I did wonder if Jason might –"

"Who's Jason, Mommy?" Sarah asked, a slight frown on her face.

She didn't like it when Mommy started talking about other men, and it didn't seem right when Daddy was right there. Nicky felt exactly the same, and it had been he who noticed that Mom only ever blushed when Dad was around. As she was doing now, the twins noted. She'd had a few dates, over the years, but no matter how many compliments they'd paid her, Mom never blushed. All Dad had to say was that she was a good writer, and she was quite an interesting shade of pink.

Their parents exchanged a look. "Jason's an old friend of Daddy's, little star. A scholar."

"Oh. Okay."

Bruce and Diana went back to talking about some of the more obscure Arthurian characters in great detail, leaving the twins to marvel at the complexity and utter simplicity of the relationship between their parents.

Nicky looked at her with one eyebrow raised. Why aren't they together?

Sarah shrugged, then nodded at her mother. I think Mommy. Should we ask her?

Nicky pursed his lips in thought, then shook his head. Not yet. Then his gaze darted to Dad and back to Mom again before settling on Sarah. Do you think we could...?

A wicked grin spread across Sarah's face as she nodded vigorously. A blind man on a galloping horse could see how their parents felt about each other. Now they just had to help them see that.

The plan silently hatched, the twins returned to eating their delicious breakfast diligently. Once they were finished, Alfred came in and took the plates away. Mommy looked at them over the rim of her coffee cup.

"Why don't you two help Alfred with the dishes, hmm?"

They got up and went into the kitchen – then, inevitably, spent ten minutes trying to convince Alfred to let them help. Eventually Sarah put her hands on her hips, pointing out that Alfred worked for Daddy, not Mommy, and that he didn't have to. Alfred finally relented with a gentle smile that told the twins he was only humouring them, and poured himself a cup of tea.

There wasn't that much washing up to be done, and once the last skillet had been put in the drying rack, Nicky wiped his hands. "Think Mom and Dad would play baseball if we asked them?"

Sarah supported anything that got Daddy to stay longer, so she nodded. "I'll get the mitt and ball, you get the bat."

They both dashed toward the door, then remembered something in unison, and dashed back again to hug Alfred. "Thanks for everything, Alfred."

He putted their backs awkwardly. "You're quite welcome, children. Now I'll see you later tonight."

They beamed, and left the kitchen again. Alfred smiled, and then set about re-doing the washing up.

Upstairs, Sarah was, typically, ready before Nicky, who still couldn't find the baseball bat. Sarah let out a loud, exasperated sigh. "I'll find it!" he assured, recognising the signs of Sarah pretending she was Mom again. "There's only... seven more places it could be."

"Fine..." she said. "Just hurry up, okay? I'm going to get Mommy and Daddy."

Baseball mitt in hand, she slid it on, throwing up the ball and catching it again as she went down the stairs. Alfred had gone back to the manor by now, and she could hear her parents in the kitchen.

Her heart sank as she realised they were arguing.

"...six years, Diana, I don't see what more –"

"Well you wouldn't, would you?" her mother snapped quietly back. "I've told you before, I'm just not –"

"Not ready?" he asked. "How much more time do you need?"

From what she could see of her mother's face, it was frustrated and confused. "It's not a question of time, Bruce, I just... I'm afraid to change things from the way they are now. The kids are fine, we get on well..."

"'Fine' isn't happy, Diana." Daddy's voice had gone from angry to sad. Sarah hated it when he got sad – it was why everything she knew about Granddad Thomas and Grandma Martha came from Alfred, and not Daddy. She'd tried to talk about them with Daddy once, but stopped once she saw how heartbroken he looked. She could hear that same heartbreak in his tone as he asked, "Can you honestly tell me you don't get lonely?"

That seemed to surprise Diana, since she didn't say anything for a while. "You do?" she finally questioned, not sounding like she believed it.

Sarah frowned. It was true, Daddy had more people around him than anyone else she knew, but she also knew that none of them were really his friends. She didn't think there was one person he told everything to – and he needed someone like that. She had Nicky, she knew Uncle Dick and Auntie Barbara were really close. Alfred and Dr Leslie, the same. Uncle John and Auntie Shay. Uncle Clark and Auntie Lois.

"Christ, Diana, do you even need to ask? I don't have you, how could I not get lonely?"

"You don't exactly seem to be short on company," Diana commented coolly.

Sarah gasped – how could she be so mean to Daddy? Her free hand came up to her mouth.

Unfortunately for her, it was too late to muffle the sound and both parents heard her. Bruce turned around, pulling the door fully open. Sarah refused to look down, defiant and trying not to cry. "Why're you guys fighting?" she asked.

"We're not fighting, little star, we just –"

"I know what a fight sounds like, Mommy!" she protested, glaring. "Why do you have to fight when we were having such a good day? Why can't you just be like all the other mommies and daddies and be happy? Why can't you just admit that you're both lonely?"

Diana did not take kindly to being lectured by her six-year-old daughter. "Sarah, that's enough," she said sharply. "Whatever your father and I have to say to each other is private, not –"

"I don't care!" Sarah yelled, tears threatening now. "You're both being totally stupid!"

With that, she let the baseball and mitt drop to the floor, pushed past her mother and darted out the backdoor, heedless of what was said behind her. "Sarah Persephone Wayne, you get back here, young lady!"

"Oh because yelling at her is going to help!"

"Damn it, Bruce, I don't..."

Sarah clapped her hands over her ears as she finally burst into tears, and ran across the grounds from the house, heading in the direction of the manor. About halfway there stood a line of half a dozen old oak trees, the last but one her favourite place to go when she was upset at one or both of her parents. Reaching the bottom, she grabbed hold of a low branch and started to climb.

Nick had heard his parents starting to argue, and knew that his and Sarah's plans for a good day as a family were ruined. He had retreated to his and Sarah's room, hoping it would all blow over, but when he looked out the window, he saw his sister running away from the house. He sighed. He knew where she was going. She always went there when she was sad.

Getting out of the house wasn't that difficult. Mom and Dad were still arguing, though now about Sarah, and thus didn't even notice him slipping by Mommy's study. He closed the door behind him and ran toward the old oak trees. It didn't take him long to get there, but Nick's eyes widened when he spotted his sister. Sarah liked to climb the trees, but she didn't go very high unless Mommy or Daddy or Uncle Dick or some other adult was with them. That was the rule. No higher than the third branch if they were alone. Sarah was on the seventh branch.

"Sarah!" he called. "Come down!"

"No!" Her voice was thick with anger and tears. Great. Looking up, Nick took a deep breath and started to climb.

"Come on, Sarah," he said, "we're going to get in trouble as it is."

"No. Mommy and Daddy are being stupid."

Nick rolled his eyes. Being 'stupid' was probably the biggest crime you could commit in Sarah's eyes. "And you're not?" he asked as he got up to the seventh branch. "We're not supposed to go this high." He glanced down. The ground was awfully far away...

"Why can't they see it, Nicky?" she asked, looking out over the field. "They love each other. Always have. They wouldn't have had us if they didn't. I don't care what those newspapers say. Daddy's not a bad person."

"No, he's not. Mommy's not either," Nick agreed. "But we're not going to get anything done sitting up here except get grounded if they catch us. Come on, let's go up to the Manor. Alfred might have ice cream." Though, inwardly, Nick doubted it. They'd just had breakfast not too long ago. Alfred wasn't going to give them sweets so early. Still, it might be enough to get his sister out of the tree.

She shook her head. "No," she said stubbornly. "Not until Daddy and Mommy stop being stupid."

"Sarah!" He grabbed her hand and tugged on it insistently.

"No!" She yanked her hand back and pushed him a little for good measure.

Nick reacted instinctively, just like he always had. When Sarah pushed him, he retaliated and shoved her back. That's how it always worked. His hands hit her shoulders before he could remember just where they were.

There was also something else. They were both good at climbing trees. They knew how to sit on the branches so that they wouldn't fall. Nick didn't think Sarah had forgotten that, no matter how mad at Mommy and Daddy she was.

So when his hands connected with her and she flew off the branch like she'd jumped, Nick nearly had a heart attack. He heard her let out a terrified scream and he lunged after her –

A/N: Review please!