Bringing My Children Home
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Disclaimer: I am only borrowing the Bat family to practice my art.
Chapter Nineteen
Tim
With every selfish fiber of his body, Tim wished Damian had not come. For a year, Tim had felt wanted and secure. Bruce was willing to protect Tim from everything. Even now, none of that had changed. Everyone treated Tim nearly the same, and even the changes were gentle, his family trying to make sure he knew he still had a place despite Damian.
Bruce had offered to send Damian away, instead of Tim.
They all seemed to know how selfish Tim was, but were so afraid of what Tim could do, that they were willing to let him be selfish. It had been a hard realization. Tim had never considered himself selfish before. He had not become Robin to please himself. To be honest, he had had nightmares even before he took up the suit. Everyone believed he had jumped at the chance. They forgot he had seen the same things they had, behind his camera. There was a thrill, of course, and the confidence of being Robin was amazing.
He had been given a home he had not expected, had been protected, finally a real boy. Damian threatened all of it, and the worst part was, Damian and Tim were alike. They were both wanting the same place, the same affection and respect, the same family. They were both selfish and arrogant, certain of their capabilities, certain of their rights.
Perhaps that was why his parents had never wanted him. He just took from them. He had never tried hard enough to be what they needed. No wonder they could not be real parents.
Maybe there was a chance for Damian. Bruce was his father. Bruce was not perfect, but he would never abandon, forget, or torment a child. To have Bruce as his real dad, would make Damian a real boy. Talia had made a fake son, but…
"Bruce!" Tim leapt off his bed and ran for the stairs. Bruce was probably in the cave.
"Where is the fire?" Jason called when Tim swung past him. "Tim?"
It seemed every member of his family was in his path. Steph and Dick were hanging from the banisters, Cass was hanging up her jacket, even Damian was in the study, reading. For some reason, they all decided to follow him. Which probably was not a great idea. Or maybe it was. They might all need to prepare.
"Tim?" Bruce suddenly was in front of him at the bottom of the stairs into the cave. He caught Tim's shoulders. "What happened?"
"Nothing happened. It's what's going to happen. It's not a secret that Damian was out with the bats the other night. I can't see Talia being pleased about that. I think she's probably already on her way here."
Damian went pale.
"Crap," Dick said. "You're right."
"What is Damian's legal status here?" Jason asked.
"Talia's papers indicated it was joint custody, but Bruce had it quietly changed to primary custody due to unrest in his mother's country," Tim answered.
"Not like Talia is going to care about that anyway. It's just a piece of paper to her."
"Father," Damian said. "If she comes, what does that mean?"
Several beats of silence. Tim needed to double check that Talia was on his search program. Babs had threatened to lock him out, but it had only been a threat, once she got a look at the program, she had grudgingly admitted it was a work of art. Would Ra's himself get involved?
"It means we are going to need to prepare. She can't just come and take you. I promised you would not go back."
Everyone nodded in agreement, as if it had ever been in question. Did Damian really think Bruce would give him over just to avoid a battle with the League? They had fought against the League during attempted assassinations of men and women who had done terrible things. Of course, they would fight for a kid whose head was messed up by how he was raised.
Cass
Wayne Manor was not ill prepared for invasion in the first place, so the earnestness to prepare was a little overboard, but it eased the tension in Damian's face. It was the confusion that came over Damian, once Tim ran for his computer that made Cass pause.
A word from Tim would have gotten Damian sent to the Gotham Penthouse, could have turned Jason against Damian after their bonding moment, could even have destroyed the boy's pride. It was unlikely it would happen now, when they had seen Damian's arrogance was concealing terror, his anger concealing jealousy, but for a time, Tim had had the power to cut Damian out of the family.
Any one of them would have jumped to it, if Tim had given the word.
Tim was tired and afraid of Damian, but he had not spoken that word. It was not as if he had not known. Jason, Bruce, and Cass had all made the offer. Yet here he was, working to help Damian stay.
"What is it, Cass?" Dick asked, as Jason and Stephanie headed into the training room with Damian. She glanced up at their big brother with a soft smile.
"Tim is good."
"Yeah. He's the smartest of us all."
She smiled larger and did not bother to correct him.
Dick hurried to join those training, but Cass went into the computer bay. Her first brother was scrolling through his program, looking for something. It was Cass's place to stand with him. Tim would find his answers.
Damian
Drake was right.
Drake was right, and Damian did not know if he should be furious that his rival had seen the big picture first, or grateful that the teenager had realized that Mother would come. It would have been a dangerous thing for him to be unprepared. Had Mother come and seen Damian surprised, seen how learning about family from Dick and Stephanie had distracted him, the disgust at his failure would be dreadful.
It had been Drake who figured out her alias, giving them her route of arrival and the time frame.
As Mother's limo pulled into Wayne Manor's grounds, a couple days later, Damian stood on the foyer with Father and his family. Father and Grayson were on either side of him, and Brown was leaning on Grayson's shoulder. Todd, Cain, and Drake were a bit to the side, Drake in silent attention, while Todd played with a throwing star, and Cain glared at the limo. Damian remembered his arrival a few months back, when Father had stood with the strays, looking suspiciously down at Damian and his Mother.
He felt safer on this side. Even if he made a mistake, Father and Grayson would still stand with him, and they would show him how to improve. He did not have to be perfect to stay with them.
"Talia," Father greeted. She was wearing a pant suit, with simple flats. It was her outfit for when she might have to fight, but had to play a public role. "What brings you here this time?"
"Don't tell me you have another brat?" Todd groaned dramatically. His voice was nearer than Damian expected, and when the preteen looked around, he discovered that even the other three were closed in around him.
"Be silent, Jason. I cared for you while you were under my father's roof. You owe me," Mother answered.
"I could have done without the Lazarus Pit," Jason sneered in return. "And the lies about how Bruce so easily replaced me."
"We all know Timothy is far better than you in your heroic lifestyle."
"I wouldn't be standing here, part of this family, if he wasn't better."
"Enough, I am not here to banter with your rats, Bruce. I am here because you allowed Damian out in your world. No doubt his skills were useful to you, but my intent was not to give you a readymade partner," Mother replied. "Damian will be coming home with me."
Father allowed a few moments of silence before stepping forward, putting Damian slightly behind him.
"No, Talia. You don't get to drop him off and take him as you wish. He's not a toy for your whims."
Mother laughed. Damian leaned slightly into Grayson's side.
"There is enough evidence that he made a play for your favorite. Robin was rather silent for a few weeks. I know you, Bruce. Timothy has become your favorite, your right hand. Damian never had a chance of convincing you he was worthy of you."
Damian could not breathe. She had known? She had sent him here, telling him he could win his father's respect and affection if he could defeat his strays, but had known he would not succeed. It was all just a game, a way to disrupt Father's life, not let Damian take his rightful place.
Was he just a pawn between his parents now?
"Yes, Damian hurt Timothy," Father said quietly, causing Damian and Drake to tense up, wondering what he would say next. "He believed that all my orders not to go after the others were actually meant to spur him on. That is what you did, telling him one thing while wanting another. When he thought he had failed you and me, he believed you would send him away if he returned in failure."
"Of course, I would send him away. He would need time to think, lessons to learn, without being distracted by my plans."
Grayson's hand came up to Damian's shoulder.
"That is why I won't give him back, Talia."
"I'm his mother, Bruce. You won't be able to keep him from me."
"He's not going back with you."
Mother stiffened and paced a few steps before looking up the stairs at Damian. The little space between her brows that wrinkled when she was upset or surprised was lowering at him. Damian wasn't sure if she was surprised or just upset. It seemed to him that she had not expected Father's refusal. Considering that Father took in a variety of other children, that he would accept his blood son despite the way he was raised seemed to be obvious.
"Damian, it's time to go. Your Father is clearly unworthy of you."
Todd and Grayson snorted.
"I wish to stay, Mother," Damian said softly, tightening his hands into his fists. He would make friends with Drake, if it meant he could stay with Father, where he did not have to succeed at every task to earn affection, where Grayson, Brown, and Father would hug him.
"It is not your choice. I am your Mother. I raised you. You owe me everything."
"Children don't owe their parents for raising them!" Stephanie exclaimed. "They don't have to be what you want them to be. He's not some mindless extension of your will. You're as stupid and delusional as others."
Drake's parents hung in the air. They too had wanted Drake only as a useful tool. In one way, Damian owed Drake, since the rest were prepared to help him, because of Drake's experiences.
"Be silent, foolish child. You have less right than anyone to speak here," Mother snapped. Damian bristled, furious that Mother would put Stephanie down. She was the one who woke him when he was sleep walking, who made his nightmares go away in the dead of night. She had seen more of Damian's fears and weaknesses than even Grayson had.
"I would say that was you. You are the one who made Dami believe he had to be perfect, just for you to look at him or touch him. You taught him he was owed everything, but only if he was exactly what you wanted. So, I think you don't have the right to speak here." Stephanie stepped forward, her fists clenched.
Mother tensed to fight, her servants starting to line up in preparation for battle. Around Damian, most of Father's family took their stances. Father and Drake did not even move.
"I would not stay long," Drake said mildly. "It appears your alias has been tied into the South American drug trade. It won't be long before the DEA and FBI are looking for you."
"Is this a bluff?" Mother demanded.
"Of course not. Your recent travels to Mexico and Brazil coincided with a shipment of drugs that hit Gotham two weeks ago. Tim happened to get the shipment flagged, so when we saw where you were traveling, we had to let the authorities know," Father answered.
Several beats of silence ended, when Mother gave the signal for the servants to prepare to leave. She stood at the bottom of the stairs glaring up at Father and Drake.
"This isn't over, Bruce. I'll take it to the international courts if I have to."
"Your Father would never allow you to bring that kind of attention to his family. As of two months ago, Damian is legally in my sole custody."
Grandfather would never allow mother to draw attention to them, even with aliases. Not for something like this. Grandfather was powerful, but he was powerful from the shadows. Father would get the limelight shining on any legal custody battle.
"This isn't over," Mother promised, before she returned to her car.
"I would not expect it to be," Father said softly, as the limo pulled away.
"It would be nice to be in on the plans," Todd complained, as they turned to enter the manor.
"We only pieced this together this morning," Father answered, resting one hand on Damian's shoulder and the other on Drake's. "Most of you were either in bed or not even home."
Dick
"Would there really have been a fight if Father and Drake had not made mother visible to the authorities?" Damian enquired gravely, in the afternoon of the same day Talia had come.
"Of course. We aren't letting you go," Dick answered, ruffling the boy's hair. Damian scowled and backed away. He was picky about when and how he could be touched. Only Stephanie knew what was said during Damian's night terrors, but Dick had soon figured some of the boy's triggers out. Despite the knowledge that physical abuse had been a part of Damian's training, and he had certainly been kept secluded by Talia, the hardest thing for Dick to deal with was the clear lack of physical touch.
Bruce and Tim were similar, but both used to Dick's easy affection. Although Bruce's came from fear of letting people get too close, Tim's was more like Damian's. Touch, hugs, even simple pats on the shoulder had been rare, while the same hands had been used to punish for things the boys could not anticipate. Dick did not know how he had failed to see this as a sign of abuse in Tim's home.
"Why did Drake help? We aren't friends. We don't talk, much less do things together."
"That's easy," Dick beamed. "You are family, even if you don't like each other, even if you hurt each other."
"I have heard you all mention how Drake was the one who stopped Father from harming himself, after Todd's death. Todd has also said Drake helped him get rid of the worst effects of the Pit. I do not understand."
Dick placed a gentle hand at Damian's back and guided him towards the library. They had the manor to themselves and Alfred. Jason and Cass were out on Bat business, Steph and Tim were at school, and Bruce was playing Brucie at a golf meeting.
"After Jason died, Bruce and I grew further apart than ever. I didn't know what to say or do to him, and I did not realize how depressed Bruce had become. One-day Tim came to the Titans and demanded I return to being Robin."
Damian
He sat in his room, supposed to be doing his school work, but unable to concentrate on it after Grayson's story about how Drake had saved Batman. Everyone had talked about it as if it was obvious, but Damian had only known Mother's story about how Father had taken on another Robin. He had not known the full story.
It was clear Damian would never measure up to Drake in their eyes. He would always be the little assassin, arrogant and wrong. It would not make them send him away, but Drake would always be better. Until now, Damian had believed he had to show how different he was from Drake to be noticed as the better. Perhaps it was the opposite.
Brown had once said she enjoyed the fact that she had to work harder to keep up with the rest. It made her grow stronger, better, smarter. Under Grayson's instruction, she was becoming a better fighter. She was becoming more like Nightwing.
There was certainly no way Damian could become Grayson. Their personalities were too different, and Damian's fighting style was very different. Drake on the other hand was more similar, perhaps because they had both been raised to be tools for their parents. Their fighting styles were different, but neither was as flamboyant as Nightwing. It would be easier to turn his blunt force into Drake's tighter and more subtle skills.
When he had observed his rival earlier, he had been looking for weakness. Now he had to find Drake's strengths and make them his own. Maybe then he would be worth as much to Father and Grayson.
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By the way there are twenty six chapters and an epilogue.
