Please read and then review.
Since Ethen's twin has the same name as Jason Todd… Ethen's twin be called Jase, short for Jason. (So, there are no mix up between the two characters.)
I hope you enjoy the new chapter.
"Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year-" The Winters siblings.
It was the night before Christmas, Raine checked on Ryan to make sure he was asleep. It took nearly two hours for Raine to get him to finally go to sleep. Ryan is extra excited during time of the year. Every kid his age loves Christmas, Ryan is no exception.
Raine is five months pregnant, she has stopped going to the Watchtower despite her objections. Green Lantern offered to fly to the tower, but when Batman glared at that offer, Green Lantern said, "I agree with Batman."
Despite M'eask telling Batman that no harm will come to the baby if Raine used her powers, but Batman just glared at him to. M'eask is now the medical doctor in the Watchtower, after earning the trust of the Justice League.
Ethen was promoted to Chief of police, and is now Commissioner Gordon's partner. Logan is now the third boss in Wayne Enterprises. Jason has his own repair shop, but most of the time he is repairing the Batmobile of the Batwing. Ryan is doing well in school, his teachers wanted him to skip a grade, but Ryan wanted to stay in the same grade as Jason Todd.
Raine is still working for Lucius, because she enjoys it, not because of the money. John is back to working at the hospital with his brother Ian.
Now they are all in Wayne Manor for Christmas and Alfred is excited. Instead of just cooking for two people he's cooking for twelve. Barbara and her father, and Dick are coming as well. Raine helped of course. Oh, and Clark, Diana, and Clark's mother are coming as well.
Raine went in to the master bedroom where Bruce was waiting for her in the bed. He had just come back from patrolling the city. Nightwing took over the patrol. "Go home to your fiancée." Nightwing scolded.
"What time are the other's coming?" Raine asked as she slid under the covers and rested against Bruce's front.
"Around eleven." Bruce replied not taking his gaze from his book. His free hand rested on her stomach, where his child rested. He kissed the side of her head.
Bruce and Raine decided to wait until the baby was born before they get married. Her pregnancy is going smoothly, M'eask came up with a formula to help with the morning sickness. But…
Raine leaned up and pressed her lips against his neck. Bruce groaned and captured her lips with his. M'eask did warn him that the formula will make her want to have sex more than usual. Those were M'eask's actual words to the T. And Bruce wasn't complaining.
"Ryan finally asleep?" He asked her.
"Yes, he's like this every Christmas." Raine sighed as she snuggled deeper in to the covers. Just then She saw the Batsignal flying in the air from the window. "It's amazing how you can see it from here." She said.
"Hmm?" Bruce looked in the same direction as Raine and saw the Batsignal. "I better see what has happened." Bruce said as he got up. Raine followed him to the Batcave.
"What's going on Nightwing?" Bruce asked through the Batcomputer.
"Crooks are breaking in to homes and stealing the kids presents. And there are too many for me to handle." Dick Grayson, aka Nightwing replied. Bruce sighed and ran a hand through his hair in frustration.
"Go." Raine said and Bruce turned to her.
"No one should break in and steal the children's toys and get away with it. Not on Christmas." Raine could picture the children crying because there were no presents under the tree. Bruce went over to the suit and got ready for a night of crime fighting. He pulled the cowl over his face and pressed the earpiece that was over his ear. "Nightwing, go and Batgirl."
"Already there now, she is getting ready." Nightwing sounded a little distracted.
"No fooling around." Batman growled.
Raine followed him to the Batmobile. The door opened but he didn't get in, instead, he turned and pulled Raine up against him and kissed her. "No fooling around." She whispered against his mouth. Bruce ran his hand over her stomach and then climbed in.
Batman found two men dressed in black breaking in to an apartment. He parked the Batmobile somewhere they will see it when they come out. And then he hid in the darkness. The thieves grabbed as many presents they can and stuffed them in to a sack, they took some jewellery and cash and bolted out the way they came in. They skidded to a halt when they saw the famous Batmobile.
"Oh shit." One whispered.
"Where is he?" Another asked, frantically looking around.
"Come on, let's go the back way." Another said and they all went back in to the apartment. But halfway through the apartment there was a black mass right in front of them. And from the grin on the little girl's face, it was him.
"Put the presents back. Now." Batman growled. The three thieves gulped and they dropped the sack and bolted but they were stopped by Superman. "You heard him." By the tone of his voice he wasn't happy.
"Really? Stealing children's presents?" Superman sighed shaking his head as he picked up the sack and placed the presents back under the tree. He smiled at the little girl who ran up to him and hugged him then she hugged Batman. Batman was in shock. Normally children are afraid of him.
When Superman tucked the girl back in to bed, they left. "You better get used to it… Children hugging you. Daddy." Superman teased and flew off before he could say anything. Batman gave a little grin at the word Daddy. He was going to be a father.
The next thief was wearing a Santa outfit. "You wouldn't hit Santa, would you?" The thief sneered. "You're not Santa." A boy from the stair case protested. The thief went for a punch but Batman grabbed the approaching fist and gripped it tightly, causing the thief to holler in pain, which caused the boy's parents to come running down the stairs. They stopped when they saw Batman and the fake Santa.
Batman recognised the boy's father, he was a police officer. The officer grabbed is cuffs and handcuffed the thief and then requested a squad car. "How many break in does this make?" The officer asked Batman.
"Too many." Batman replied.
"Let me get some back-up for you." The officer said and called on the radio for back-up. "Let Batman handle it, he will leave the suspects tied up."
When Bruce got back it was three o'clock in the morning. Raine was fast asleep when he slid under the covers and pulled her gently in to his side.
Clark flew on to Diana's balcony, she usually left the door unlocked. She was in bed when he reached the bedroom. He could tell that she wasn't wearing anything. He spun around and then when he stopped he wasn't wearing anything and he jumped on to the bed on top of Diana and kissed her, he pressed her in to the bed with his weight.
The next day Ryan woke up before everyone, except Alfred, and made it his mission to wake everyone up to open a present or two before breakfast. He jumped on his father's bed, then his uncle's and then his brothers', when he got to the master bedroom, he didn't jump on the bed her crawled on to it and gently shook Raine awake. "Merry Christmas Rai." He said cheerfully when Raine opened an eye.
"Merry Christmas Ry." She smiled and pulled him in to a hug, "we'll be down in a minute. I suppose you woke the others as well."
"Yep. Hurry up." Ryan said and bolted out of the room.
Bruce groaned and turned on to his back. Raine looked at him with sympathy. "I'm sorry, baby. Go back to sleep, we don't usually open presents until after lunch. He wants to open a present before breakfast."
"We'll have to get used to it." Bruce said with a happy smile. "Let's go." He added as he sat up and gave her a kiss.
Raine and Bruce got dressed and went down stairs. Ryan went straight to the tree and chose a present. "Bruce first." Ryan declared and picked the present that was from him. "Ryan's presents are handmade." Raine whispered. And Ryan handed him the present. "Thank you."
Alfred watched with a smile as Bruce opened the present with a wide smile. For the first time in a long time, Bruce was happy. While Dick was still living in the Manor, they would always be out on patrol all night, and sleep during the day.
But this Christmas is different. And it's thanks to the Winters siblings.
Bruce held up his present. It was a piece of paper, full of writing. "It's what your baby is thinking. I've been listening to what the baby is thinking." Now Raine knew why Ryan was always resting his head on her stomach, so he could hear the baby's thoughts.
"Read one, Bruce." Logan said excitedly.
Bruce read the writing and then turned to Ryan, "Are you sure, this is what the baby is thinking?"
"Somehow I can understand baby talk." Ryan replied with a shrug.
"I love my mummy's voice." Bruce read out.
"Do you know if it's a girl or a boy?" Logan asked and Ryan nodded his head. "I know, but I'm not telling you."
Bruce and Raine don't care about the gender of the baby, they do know the gender, they are just not telling anyone. They only care that the baby is healthy. Raine's father, uncle and older brothers want to know what the gender of the baby is. But despite all the tempts to find out, Bruce and Raine won't tell them.
At eleven o'clock on the dot, except for Commissioner Gordon, who got called in to work "Dad said that he will get here as soon as possible." Barbara explained. The other guests arrived arms filled with presents, everyone was joking and laughing. Alfred sat next to Bruce during lunch. "You are part of the family Alfred, you know that." Bruce said. Raine smiled and kissed the butler on the cheek, like a daughter giving her father a peck on the cheek. Alfred smiled at her.
They opened presents. Ryan and Jason got an iPad each, iTunes gift cards and books. Ryan had made Raine a jewellery box while he was at school. He brought (with John's help) Logan a metal detector. Ryan made a police badge out of wood. "I like it, it's really good little brother. You should make things for a living, when you get older." Ethen ruffled his hair. Jase got a tool box, again handmade.
"Ryan, you are really talented." Bruce examined each of the pieces Ryan made.
Raine got Alfred's attention and nodded. Alfred excused himself and left the room. "Where are you going Alfred?" Bruce asked. "There is one special present here for Ryan, I am just going to retrieve it." The butler replied and disappeared.
"Ryan." Raine got her little brother's attention. "This present is from Logan, Ethen, Jase, Dad, Uncle Ian, and myself." She explained.
"It was her idea, and I wish I had thought of it." Logan said and at that moment Alfred came back with a huge box, he placed it right in front of Ryan, who lifted the lid of the box and inside was…
Not one, but two puppies. Two Siberian Husky puppies, both females.
"They are from the animal shelter we visited the other day. They are cross breeds, cross between a husky and a German shepherd and they are sisters, the worker said that they are inseparable, no one wanted to adopt two at a time." Jase explained. Ryan hugged each other his siblings and his father and Uncle.
"What are you going to call them?" Clark asked as Ryan helped the puppies out of the box. "Misty and Cloudy." Ryan replied as he picked one of them up. "This one is Misty, and the other one will be Cloudy." Cloudy and Misty were almost pure white, and nearly identical, Cloudy's tail has a black tip, and a little bit of black on her paws.
"Can we go outside and play with them?" Ryan asked his father who smiled and nodded. "Come on Jason." Both boys raced out of the manor in to the backyard with the puppies right behind them. When they were gone from view Diana turned to Raine.
"Raine, my father, Zeus, wanted me to give you these. He had these specially made for you. He is impressed with what you have done, he would have given these to you earlier in the year. But they were still being made…" Diana pulled out a neatly wrapped box and gave it to Raine whose eyes were wide in surprise.
"Zeus?" She asked as she took the present. Diana nodded with a smile. Raine opened the present and inside the box were bracelets, identical to Diana's.
"A gift from the gods." Diana said. "Tell Zeus I'm honoured." Raine threaded her arms through the bracelets. "They are nearly as identical as mine, same powers and abilities." Diana explained.
"Thank you." Raine gave Diana a hug. "You're welcome my sister." Diana whispered. Raine smiled at the Amazon then she turned to everyone. "Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas." Everyone said to each other.
Bruce took Raine's face in to his hands gently and stroked her cheeks with his thumbs. "I love you." And then he kissed her. Raine noticed the mistletoe above them and she smiled and they pulled away. "You put that there on purpose." She joked.
Bruce shrugged and kissed her again. Raine couldn't stop laughing against his mouth.
Commissioner Gordon arrived fifteen minutes later. He had a surprise for his daughter… A new motorbike, a Yamaha motorcycle. Gordon knows about Barbara nightly activity (Batgirl), she told him months ago, Gordon threatened Batman and Nightwing with death he didn't watch out for her. "Thank you, dad."
"Who wants a ride?" Barbara asked. "I will." Diana said coming forth. Barbara gave her a helmet and started the engine. Barbara gave everyone except Raine a ride. Jase check out the engine. "Every good choice Commissioner." He said.
Barbara let Dick, Bruce and Jase drive it around the yard. The bike was blue and black, while she met the puppies. Alfred fixed Jim Gordon up a plate. Everyone went back inside to have some egg nog. Raine stood up.
"During the secret Santa at work last week I was sitting there thinking of what to put on my wish list, I couldn't come up with anything… It because I already have it…. My Dad, Uncle Ian, my brothers, my friends, Bruce, and this little one…" Raine rubbed her belly.
"The past is the past, it has already happened, and don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened, and we can't change it, as much as we want to. Who knows what the future will bring… What matters is the present, the here and the now. And do you know why it's called the present? It's a gift. And we should cherish it. We should cherish what we have."
"Here, here." Alfred called out and everyone nodded.
Later, Raine sang some Christmas songs and the party went on until all hours of the night. Everyone went home. Clark, Diana, Nightwing stayed the night.
Bruce fell asleep with Raine safely in his arms. "Merry Christmas." She whispered.
"Merry Christmas. I love you."
Merry Christmas and a happy new year
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