Chapter Six – Justice League Universe
A/N: I keep getting ads for rings now…
"The morning paper Sir," Alfred says as he places the Gotham Gazette in front of Bruce. The action takes Bruce's attention away from the ring he has yet to remove and to the page Alfred had flipped to.
There on page two, in full black and white, is a picture of all of them at the courthouse. The headline is in a big and thick font, reading Bruce Wayne Getting Hitched? then under that the subtitle reads Mystery man marrying billionaire playboy. Who exactly is it? "Oh no." Bruce groans and rubs at his face. "This happened a lot sooner than I thought it was going to. Clark is going to be mad."
"Are you sure Master Bruce?" Alfred asks, placing a mug of coffee in front of him.
"Clark didn't want to get married in the first place, Alfred." Bruce picks up the newspaper. "Damn it, I should have been more cautious."
Alfred starts up the stove in order to begin making pancakes. "I wouldn't blame yourself Sir. It was bound to come out eventually."
Bruce sets the newspaper aside and looks to the ring again. "I wonder how long it will take them to find out about Ko then."
"That would probably depend on how long you keep him isolated in the Manor," Alfred says.
Bruce eyes the butler. "I'm not going to keep him locked up in the Manor if that's what your suggesting."
"Well with how protective you are of the kid," Dick says as he walks into the room, bowl in his hand. "Then it wouldn't surprise me if you kept him locked up in here for the rest of your life." Bruce rolls his eyes and Dick picks up the newspaper, whistling. "Looks like half the cat is out of the bag. How are you going to handle this one Bruce?"
Bruce rips the newspaper out of Dick's hands. "I don't know yet."
Just then, Clark walks in. "You don't know what yet?"
"Nothing."
"Well, if it has anything to do with the interesting conversation I just had with Perry, then I suggest you figure something out soon," Clark says, sitting down at the table next to Bruce, Ko on his lap.
"What kind of conversation?"
Clark pets Ko's hair. "Oh, something about privileges and playing favorites when dating and then marrying your boss."
Bruce closes his eyes and groans again, burying his face into his hands. "Clark, I'm sorry."
Clark chuckles and Ko chuckles in turn. "It's no big deal Bruce. It's not like Perry is going to fire me or try to fire me. Really, he doesn't care, he's more afraid of what other people will think, especially HR and the other board of directors for the Daily Planet."
Bruce lowers his hands. "I didn't think it would get out this soon. I was going to come up with a-"
"Contingency plan?" Clark has an amused smile. "Don't worry Bruce, I'll take care of it. I know how to handle my own job after all."
Bruce decides to leave it at that, trusting Clark to be able to fix his job situation on his own. Instead, he looks down at Ko. "How is he?"
"This little one?" Ko gurgles when Clark tickles him. "Seems like the strength has gone away for now. It probably comes in bursts. Want to hold him?"
"Is he going to break my arm?"
"No," Clark says with another chuckle then hands Ko over. Bruce takes him gratefully, holding him close to his chest. Ko immediately rests his head on Bruce's shoulder.
"By the way Clark, we need to bring Ko to the doctors at some point." Clark raises an eyebrow in question as Alfred sets plates in front of them with pancakes on them. Clark reaches for the maple syrup and drenches his pancakes in it. "Since Ko is a premature baby, we're going to need to monitor him for any disabilities. However, since he's half Kryptonian, I don't know if he'll have any." Bruce pours some maple syrup onto his own pancakes. "We should expect him to reach the developmental milestones a little later than other babies his age but it should still correspond with his adjusted age. Meaning," he says before anyone can interrupt. "That when he is around six months old since being born and not sitting up yet, it's probably because his adjusted age is still at four months. When he is eight months old but adjusted six months old, then he should be sitting up."
"Okay, that makes sense," Dick says, sitting down with his own pancakes, bowl of cereal now gone. "But, according to what I'm seeing, he's going to be developing a lot faster than what we are going to be expecting."
Bruce looks down to Ko. "What are you talking about?"
"I've seen newborns Bruce, and you said he's negative four weeks old. None of the newborns I've seen act the way he does."
"That is true," Clark inputs. "He's already doing a lot more than what newborns do. Especially on the sleeping front. Newborns tend to sleep a lot and he… he doesn't."
Bruce looks from Dick to Clark. "When the hell did you two see newborn babies?"
"I see them all the time when saving people," Clark says.
Dick shrugs. "You know… around."
Ko kicks Bruce and he's thankful it felt normal instead of induced in strength. "Okay, say that he is developing faster than a regular baby. It's probably due to his Kryptonian genes. We don't exactly know a lot of information about Kryptonian babies that are under a yellow sun except for the grown up one sitting at this table."
"Are you calling me a baby?"
"However, we also don't know how babies develop in that alternate universe he came from," Bruce continues, ignoring Clark. "This could be normal for newborns there."
Dick shrugs again. "I'm more inclined to say it's the Kryptonian genes. He's already starting to show signs of muscle strength in his neck in order to hold his head up. If we're going by adjusted age, he shouldn't be able to do that yet." Bruce eyes him. "What? I did my research."
"Right." He looks to Clark. "Don't forget to ask your mother about your own powers. Also ask her about your development."
"Bruce, I was already six months old when I landed on Earth. I-"
"Just do it, Clark, would you?" Clark rolls his eyes and looks away. "You'll also want to probably go to the fortress and ask Jor-El."
Clark looks at him, irritated. "Why don't I just go there in the first place?"
"Because we need someone that has actually raised a Kryptonian baby. That would be your mother."
"But how much help is she going to be when I was six months old, Bruce?"
"I don't care how old you were, she had some experience and we need that information. Have her write it down too."
"Bruce-"
"Clark enough!" The whole kitchen falls into silence. "Jeez, why can't you just do this without throwing a hissy?" Clark's jaw sets angrily and Bruce gets up. "Just do it Clark."
Dick looks between the two. "Ooh, the first couple's spat."
Bruce give Dick a deadly glare and Clark ignores him, still staring angrily at Bruce. Bruce starts to make his way out of the room. "One of you can have my pancakes. I don't want them."
He leaves then and starts making his way down into the cave. There's something else he needs to do. Bruce sits down in front of the computer and sits Ko down in his lap so the baby can lean against his stomach. "Computer, bring up files ABO." The screen lights up and the file opens into documents. Bruce begins to read and a half hour later, Ko starts to cry. Bruce lifts him and places him against his chest, rubbing the baby's back. "You're a complicated baby aren't you?"
In answer, Ko continues to cry, causing Bruce's shirt to become wet. The crying continues for five minutes, nothing that Bruce does stopping it. "Maybe he needs some sunlight." Bruce turns to the voice and is surprised to see Jason. Turning back to his computer screen, he sees that the intruder warning went off but he hadn't noticed it. "Looks like the baby distracted you."
Bruce turns back to Jason and stands. "What are you doing here?"
"You never called." Jason walks up to him, eyeing Ko. "I told you I wanted to see the kid." Jason holds his hands out but Bruce doesn't hand over Ko. Jason rolls his eyes. "Oh come on Bruce, I'm not going to drop him or put a bullet through his head." Bruce still doesn't hand him Ko and Jason rolls his eyes again. "Or a kryptonite bullet. Just hand me the baby."
"Fine." Reluctantly, Bruce gives him Ko. Ko stops crying then and Jason holds him to his chest.
Jason is rubbing Ko's back. "There, you better now?" Ko gurgles and Jason chuckles. "You just needed a good cry didn't you?" Ko's eyes slowly start to close as the baby begins to fall asleep. "You tired? Yeah?" Ko, making a small sound, finally closes his eyes all the way. "There you go," Jason whispers, petting Ko's head. Jason looks up at Bruce. "I guess he just needed some sleep." At Bruce's wary look, he adds. "What? I know how to handle babies." Jason starts to pace the cave, still holding Ko close.
Bruce keeps a close eye on him. "Is that the only reason why you came here?"
"Yep."
"Jason," Bruce waits until he's got Jason's attention. "Thank you."
"I didn't come for you. I came for the baby."
"I meant thank you for coming to the wedding."
Jason looks to the floor. "That was also for the baby." They both know that isn't the complete truth but Bruce decides to not comment on it. "So, I noticed that it's already in the paper. What are you going to do about that?"
Bruce shrugs, sitting down and turning back to the computer. He has to learn to trust Jason with Ko no matter how much he feels like he doesn't want to. "I don't know yet." He starts to read the documents again. "Be careful with him." He can feel Jason's anger even without looking at him. "Not because I don't trust you," Jason relaxes, "but because I don't trust him."
There's a pause before Jason says, sounding confused, "You don't trust a baby? A baby? I think your paranoia is going a little far Old Man."
"No," Bruce turns in the chair so he can face him. Ko is completely asleep in Jason's arms and Bruce tries to not be amazed at how much the baby already trusts him. "He's already showing some super strength that comes and goes. Eventually we can assume it'll be there permanently but I don't know when that will be."
"Does he… uh… have super strength right now?"
"No."
Jason rests his cheek on top of Ko's head, something that Bruce suspects Jason did unconsciously. "Good."
"He's already hurt Dick so just… be careful with him. If he starts to show any super strength, call Clark."
"Okay." Bruce turns back to the computer and silence falls upon them. About ten minutes later, Jason steps up beside him. "So, how's being married?" Bruce doesn't say anything. "I mean… you do love him right? Have you realized it yet?" Still, Bruce says nothing. Jason crouches and peers at him. "You know Bruce, when I was younger, I used to have a crush on Superman." Bruce flicks his eyes to Jason before returning them to the computer screen. "Don't worry, it was just a kid crush. I suspect Dick did too actually. You know, one of those crushes you get on older people when you're a kid? That kind of crush. Anyways, my point is, it's…" Bruce is eyeing him again, causing Jason to falter. "Well, I'm just trying to say that that is something you probably never knew about me and maybe even about Dick but I can't be sure. Either way, don't think that you know definitely that Clark doesn't love you back without actually… asking him. Without facts because, you know, you work on facts so you shouldn't jump to conclusions." Bruce looks at him with furrowed brows. Jason gets up. "Yeah, I'm going to stop acting out of character by giving you advice now. I'm starting to creep myself out. Either take it or don't Bruce, I don't care." He then starts to make his way to the stairs of the cave. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go put this little guy down in his crib."
"Jason." Jason stops half way to the stairs. "I did know about you and Dick liking Clark."
Jason smiles and huffs. "Of course, you did. It still doesn't mean you know for sure that Clark doesn't like you." He then continues on.
When Jason is gone, Bruce turns back to the computer with a sigh. Jason is right, Bruce knows. He doesn't normally just assume things without hard facts and he doesn't have any facts that Clark doesn't actually love him too besides not wanting to get married and then wanting to divorce. But shouldn't those facts be enough? Maybe not.
It's another hour before Clark finds him down in the cave. "Hey," he says, approaching Bruce and then settling in the air, legs crossed. Bruce ignores him. "What are you doing?"
"Did you ask your mother yet?"
There's a pause and then a sigh. "No, not yet." When Bruce opens his mouth to say that Clark better do it soon, Clark stops him. "I will soon. I just couldn't get a hold of her right now."
"Then you should go to the fortress."
"And you should stop ordering me around."
Once again, the cave fills with silence except for the bats above. They sit there for twenty minutes before Bruce changes the subject. "I'm looking at the notes Bruce left me on the alpha, beta, and omega castes."
"And?"
"And, by the looks of it he thinks Ko will most likely be an omega."
"Why?"
Bruce sighs. "According to him, since Ko is only half Kryptonian, he only has half a chance of becoming casteless, if that. However, he also has a small chance of being an alpha since Thomas Wayne was an alpha which should have given Bruce an alpha gene. The problem runs into effect when you factor in that Martha Wayne and Bruce Wayne were both omegas."
"So Ko has twice the likelihood of becoming an omega, a small chance of becoming an alpha, and then an even smaller chance of becoming casteless?"
"Sort of. I would suspect he would have a greater chance of becoming casteless because of his Kryptonian genes than he would become an alpha. He also has a zero chance of becoming a beta since there are none in his family." Bruce continues. "We also have to keep into consideration that apparently the omega gene is the most dominate out of all them."
"So you can't have an omega gene at all in order to be an alpha or beta."
"Correct."
"So then where does that lead Kryptonian genes?"
"That's where we run into a little bit of a problem. Bruce didn't know whether the Kryptonian genes are dominate or submissive to omega genes or even alpha genes."
Clark swallows. "So, what you're saying is that there's not only no way he'll become a beta but there's also no way he'll become an alpha as well?"
"Not necessarily."
"Not necessarily?"
"It all depends on if Bruce passed down his recessive alpha gene and whether or not the Kryptonian casteless gene is recessive to the alpha gene," Bruce explains.
"Great," Clark says, sounding a bit worried. "And what will we do if he becomes an omega. I mean, don't they go into heat?"
"Yes, every month. Kind of like a menstrual cycle in this universe." Clark looks speechless so Bruce decides to trudge along. Clearing his throat, he says, "In their universe there were such things as heat and rut suppressants. The ruts are what the alphas would go through, kind of like the omegas in which they would need to have sex except theirs only happens every six months."
"Lucky them."
"And the effects of a rut aren't as pronounced," Bruce says. "Meaning they just get a little horny. However, heats are significantly different. Here, I'll let you read about them." Bruce presses a few buttons on the screen and the omega heat page comes up.
Clark speed reads through it. "Sounds fun." Clark's voice is strained.
"Bruce gave me the chemical formula for both rut suppressants and heat suppressants. The rut suppressants are difficult but doable."
"And the heat suppressants?"
"Are a bit more complicated."
"Of course, they are," Clark sighs.
"The formula is… very complex and has a lot of different components to it. I'm having the computer run the formula now but… I don't know how successful it will be."
"And if you can't make it?"
Bruce looks at him and Clark is biting his bottom lip. "Then when Ko hits puberty we are in for one hell of a time."
A/N: I kind of headcannon that out of all the Bat Family (besides Alfred), Jason is the best with babies. I also headcannon that he had a crush on Superman when he was Robin but don't all of them? ;)
Thanks for reading!
