Disclaimer-I do not own Batman

AN: In this chapter, Bruce is going to kindly question Tim a bit. There will be some Daddy!Bats, though Bruce knows not to go too far, like hugging him or anything, because Tim doesn't trust them at all, Dick however is a different story.

There aren't really any warnings, unless you count poor Timmy being drugged again and his abusive father being mentioned.

Bruce's POV

The moment Tim came to consciousness; he was struggling again and growling under the gag.

Bruce had a desperate desire to comfort his son, just take him in his arms and hold him and tell him he was going to be all right.

But this Tim wouldn't let him, he knew that.

Bruce still couldn't resist trying to consol him a bit though, and neither could Dick. They attempted to get him to stop struggling with soothing words and gentle touches on his shoulder, as if trying to tame a wild animal, but that only seemed to make Tim struggle more. It was as if their being nice was what was making him more afraid, and his fear seemed like it manifested as violence.

He looked like the moment he got free; he'd be clawing them to death.

"Tim, calm down," Bruce said.

Tim stopped struggling, but he still looked afraid, and shocked that Bruce knew his real name.

"We aren't going to hurt you, at all, I promise," Bruce said.

Tim cocked his head to the side, as if listening to something, and then remained still, but still looked rather hostile and distrusting of them.

"See, no one here's going to hurt you, not even them," he said, gesturing back to Jason and Damian.

"Tt. You know," Damian said, "I kind of like this new Drake; he looks ready to kill something."

"And you'd know all about that, wouldn't you, Demon Spawn," Jason said.

Before Damian could retaliate, Dick said, "Guys, it's not a good thing if Timmy looks like he'd kill someone; he's supposed to be all sweet and honest and stuff."

The look Tim gave Dick was almost amusing if it didn't make Bruce feel sad. It looked like a mix of: Did you just call me Timmy? And have you MET me? I am not sweet or honest!

Dick clearly noticed the look too, and began to look quite upset. Jason looked moderately upset and Damian just looked happy, almost gleeful

"You are not taking him out to kill things with you," Bruce told him.

"But, Father, it would be so much fun," Damian insisted. "Drake is usually so boring, this is a nice change of pace."

"No it's not," Dick, said, his voice emotionally. And before Bruce could stop him, he flung his arms around his bound, younger brother. "Oh Timmy! What happened to you?"

Tim mumbled something that was muffled by his gag, and began to try and squirm out of Dick's grasp, to no avail, he was tied up to tightly, and Dick was too strong.

"All right, Nightwing, you're beginning to frighten him," Bruce said, pulling Dick off of Tim, whose eyes had turned yellow again with the alarm of being hugged.

He looked at his three sons. "Go in the other room; it might make him feel more comfortable if only one of us talked to him."

His sons complied, and he was left alone with the other dimension, catlike version of his third son.

"You okay?"

Tim glowered at him. What do you think?

"Sorry about all this; we were taking precautions," Bruce said.

Tim still glared at him.

Bruce crouched down at his eye level, and could make out a distinct feline hiss behind his son's gag.

"If I take that out, do you promise you won't scream or try to bite me again?" he asked.

Tim glared at him for another few moments, and then grudgingly nodded.

Gently, Bruce reached forward and gingerly pulled the cloth out of his son's now slightly raw mouth. He suppressed a wince.

"You okay?" he asked again.

"You already asked that," Tim snarled slightly breathily, now that he could breathe out his mouth again.

"You can answer now," he said.

"Was my look not enough for you?" he growled.

Bruce shrugged. "I do care you know."

Tim laughed bitterly. "Like hell."

"I do," he said again. "You're a Meta, aren't you?"

"So what?"

"Where I come from, you're not," he said.

"Where you come from?" Tim asked.

"Yes. How did you become a Meta? Were you born one?" Bruce asked inquiringly, inquisitively.

"Why do you care?"

"Were you born one?" Bruce asked, using a bit of the 'Bat's' voice.

It seemed to affect Tim just enough to get him to answer a bit of the question.

"No, I wasn't born one," he said.

"Were you injected with something to make you like this?" he asked.

"No," Tim said.

"Then how?"

"I won't tell you," Tim said.

Bruce sighed, he really didn't want to this considering how afraid Tim had been of him, but he had no choice, he used all of the Bat's voice, glaring at Tim, though on the inside hating it, he demanded, "Tell me."

Tim looked frightened again now, and shrank back. "I-I di-died," he stuttered.

All of Bruce's features softened at that. "I'm sorry." On the inside though, Bruce was seething. Who had killed his little boy?

"How did you come back? Were you resurrected?"

Tim's iciness crept out again. "I've told you too much already," he snarled.

"I'll use truth drugs if I have to," he warned.

"I have a resistance to them," Tim claimed.

"I make my own; not many can resist them," Bruce said.

"We'll see," Tim said.

Sighing, Bruce took out the truth drugs and for the second time in the past hour, he drugged his third son. "I'm sorry."

Tim gave him a look that clearly state: No you're not.

"Were you resurrected?" he asked benevolently, his tone gentle, like he wanted it to be right now.

Tim tried to resist, but the truth drugs were getting to him. "N-no, sort of," he admitted.

"Sort of?" Bruce asked.

"Catwoman, she did it. Claimed she inherited the power when it happened to her. S-She made me like this, and Catgirl. She did it to save us." He said, his voice sounding weary and close to exhaustion. It's not easy to be drugged twice in one day, three times if you are counting Dick's darts.

"How did you die?" Bruce asked.

"Why does it matter?!" Tim suddenly screeched.

Dick came in at that. "Is everything all right, Batman?"

"Everything's fine, Nightwing; he's just upset," Bruce said.

"Upset?!" Tim suddenly shrieked. "If I were upset you would've lost your eyes by now!"

Dick looked stunned. "I can handle it, Nightwing," Bruce said. "Go back in the other room.

Dick numbly exited the room, obviously shocked to see his baby brother sounding so violent.

"Calm down, Tim," Bruce said.

"How do you know my name?" he asked. "I don't make contact with people; Tim Drake is dead!"

"You don't go to school?" Bruce asked.

"No, Catwoman thought it was best that we didn't, considering what we are and what we do," he snarled. "The only time I come across people other than Catwoman and Catgirl is when I am on patrol, and most of the time I am either saving them, or beating them to bloody bits."

Bruce had trouble imagining Tim beating someone to bloody bits, and assumed he was exaggerating, after all, somewhere down there, the Tim from their dimension must exist."

"What kind of a Meta are you?" he asked. "What're your abilities?" Bruce didn't like questioning his son, especially when deep down he looked so damaged, but it was necessary.

Tim resisted answering again, so Bruce gave him another dosage of truth drugs. "We, we're called Ai-Ailurans," he stammered.

"What are Ailurans?"

"Cat people," he murmured. "Werecats."

Bruce was stunned for a moment. "And Catwoman and Catgirl are werecats too?"

Tim didn't need to answer; Bruce already knew the truth. This was a lot different compared to their dimension. Selina and Kitrina, and Tim were all normal humans in their world.

"What are your abilities?" Bruce pressed again, not unkindly. He didn't want to make his son feel too threatened. He didn't want him to feel threatened at all, but that was sadly inevitable.

"We, we have cat parts," he admitted under the drug's influence, "claws, fangs, eyes, tails…"

"Tails?" Bruce asked.

"You got a problem with tails?" Tim asked, the drugs were beginning to make him drowsy again.

"No, continue," Bruce, said.

"Do I have to?" Tim asked, sleepily.

Bruce smiled and almost laughed. Right now, he could pretend that this was indeed his Tim, Red Robin, sweet, honest, kind, the son who found him when he was lost in time, not Stray, the cold, feline Meta who didn't trust him.

I'll just have to make him trust me, Bruce vowed.

"It'll be easier to get it all out of the way now," Bruce said. "What other abilities do you have?"

"Fast, strong, agile, catlike," Tim murmured through the drugged haze. "Heal quickly, can only age so far before stopping completely, can talk to cats, shape-shift into one sometimes…"

He was trailing off, really tired right now.

"Did you give me catnip?" Tim murmured.

Bruce did laugh at that. "No, I didn't give you catnip, son."

Tim's eyes snapped open at that. "I'm not your son," he didn't sound defensive, just fearful.

You are, Bruce wanted to say, but knew he couldn't. "Are you afraid of your father, Tim?" he read in-between the lines.

"He's dead," Tim said.

"I'm sorry," Bruce remembered how upset Tim was back in his dimension when his father died.

"No," his son slurred. "He killed me." And then the drugs forced him to slip into unconsciousness again, and Bruce was left alone, stunned with his son in front of him asleep again, feeling a mix of sadness and anger. Anger at Tim's father, and anger at himself, for not being able to help him, even if he was in a different dimension at the time.

AN: Well, what do you think? I know Tim has a resistance to truth drugs, and he does in this story too, but I thought it would be cool if Bruce had his own type of truth drugs that were stronger and since this Tim would have never had exposure to them... instant answers.

I know Tim seems a little OOC, but that's because he's had a very different, violent life compared to the one he had back in the Bat's dimension. He died when he was only about five, was resurrected by Catwoman, who turned him into an Ailuran, he was almost turned Feral a few years ago, has nightmares, though I know Red Robin Timmy does too, and only trusts Selina and Kitrina. All of a sudden, these people come out of no where and know who he is, even though Tim Drake was declared dead when he was five and only Selina and Kitrina know who he really is, and they are being nice to him, which isn't something this Tim is used to. He is used to hostilities, and trust issues, and his captors hurting him a lot, not this.

Anyway, tell me what you think.

Thanks for reading again,

-DragonsintheMoonlight