Notes: So, I never posted chapter 18 here and I'm only realising that now that I'm going to update with chapter 19. I'm going to put the blame entirely on this site because having to place the document on the site and only then post it to the story is an inefficient process. I'm still trying to figure out how I missed updating. As it is, those on AO3 got chapter 18 days ago because I only have to copy, paste and post the story there.

In short: Missed a chapter (sorry about that), go back and read Chapter 18 if you haven't already.

Chapter 19 – Acting Civilians

Mar'i cracked an eye open. The large blurry figure at the side of her bed came into focus, Damian's blue eyes looking down at her. His eyebrows were drawn in worry and he looked like had hadn't slept.

"Please tell me you're not in my room again," she ground out, trying to lighten the situation. She had been stupid and didn't want to know what the consequences were right now. Not when she felt like she had run into a number of tables and chairs.

"Your dad asked me to watch you," he responded with a shrug.

Mar'i groaned. Someone needed to tell her dad that it probably wasn't appropriate to leave a man in the house with his unconscious daughter.

Not that Damian would do anything. She suspected he was only thinking about justice and other typical Wayne things.

"How are you feeling?" he asked. Mar'i had to refocus on his figure. "Hungry? Thirsty?"

She thought about it.

"I could go for some food," she said. Then she remembered something her dad told her about Bruce Wayne. "Are you able to cook?"

"I don't think you'd appreciate my kind of cooking. I brought some soup from Alfred," Damian responded with a small smile, getting up.

Mar'i let him go and waited while he put something in the microwave.

"So, what's the news with the hole?" she asked when he returned with two bowls of soup.

He passed one bowl to her while he took the other one for himself.

"It seems to be a normal sinkhole," he informed her. "It stopped expanding shortly after we found you. Took out a good block and a half of buildings and we're still waiting for a final tally of missing and suspected dead. You'd have to be some kind of monster to survive falling down there."

Mar'i placed her spoon into her soup and fixed him with a glare. "Gee, thanks," she grumbled out. So she was a monster, was she?

Damian paused while he tried to puzzle that out. She could see the exact moment he realised the implications of his words. His face screwed up in a silent curse.

"Not everyone can fly," he said by way of apology.

As apologies went, it was pretty terrible. The words 'I'm sorry' never crossed his lips and his comment didn't change how he was inadvertently calling her a monster. However, she could see he was trying.

When Mar'i finished her soup, she could feel the tiredness creeping up on her again. She leant back in the pillows and was ready to go back to sleep.

"Oh, right. I almost forgot!" Damian proclaimed, jumping to his feet. He went across and opened the curtains, flooding the room with sunlight. "Your father said you might heal faster if you could get some light."

Mar'i let out a groan as the light pricked at her eyes. It was warm and she couldn't deny the energy she could feel in the air around her. However, she still needed sleep and sleep and light didn't go together very well.

"Dad says a lot of things," she grumbled.

There was a low chuckle, warm and amused. Mar'i had to suffer one eye opening against the light just to check that the sound came from Damian. She hadn't known he could laugh like that.

"I agree with that," he said, coming back over to sit down. "Grayson likes to talk a lot."

"Dick," Mar'i said. She couldn't see Damian's face but she assumed it must have been puzzled like his tone.

"Pardon?"

"We're both 'Grayson'. Just call dad by his name. Dick."

Damian huffed. "Fine. Dick likes to talk a lot."

"I agree."

"Well, duh. You said it first," Damian pointed out in a petulant tone.

"Where is dad?" she asked, shifting a little in bed to get comfortable.

"I thought you were going to sleep."

"Nah." She had an arm over her eyes to keep the light out but, she could still tell it was there. That made it difficult to sleep, even with the aches she was feeling all over her body. "Talk with me while I sunbathe."

"You're going to fall asleep in the middle of it," Damian muttered under his breath before launching into a report.

Dick was out with Bruce, trying to figure out where money was needed to help fix this disaster. Jason was exploring the sinkhole and his findings would be used to determine whether this had happened accidentally or intentionally.

Mar'i didn't hear where Tim was, she had fallen asleep.

Mar'i opened her eyes to a dark room, feeling more alert than before. She could feel the stiffness of the stint her leg was trapped in and the sling around her arm. The sling was pulling at her neck and she wriggled a little, trying to get it to sit right.

"Annoying," she muttered as she pulled the sheets off using her good arm. Her leg was trapped past the knee, unable to bend. It would make moving around difficult.

There were dark splotches all over her skin and her leg was still visibly swollen.

Mar'i didn't want to think about how long she would be trapped in this apartment for while she healed. Instead, she started puzzling ways to get around which wouldn't use any of her powers.

She stepped out of bed and hopped across to the wall, leg dragging behind her. Her balance was almost perfect but, she couldn't stop and almost ended up going through the wall. Instead, she ended up leaning heavily against it.

"Mar'i," her dad sighed, appearing in the doorway. He had heard the bang.

"Uh, hi?" she responded, realising she hadn't seen him since being treated. He hadn't shaved and stubble was beginning to form across his chin.

"You alright?" he asked, reaching out. Mar'i grabbed his arm and he helped her stay steady.

Her face was flaming in embarrassment. Her dad hadn't helped her to balance since she was four!

They hobbled down into the kitchen where he seated her at the table. Toast and various spreads were piled in the middle, surrounded by cereal boxes and a carton of milk. Across from her, Damian was munching on a bowl of cereal.

"I thought you would have gone home by now," Mar'i commented.

"Nope," Damian responded simply.

"Damian will be staying with us for the next few days. At least until I can get things cleared up between him and Bruce."

"Don't count on it," Damian grumbled. "It's none of your business anyway."

"Did you two have a fight?" Mar'i asked innocently. She wasn't surprised.

Damian gripped his spoon tightly and his face darkened in anger.

"Father questioned my presence on the streets. Like I need a reason to help when the city's in chaos."

"Like I said, I'll talk to Bruce," Dick said. "Perhaps I can convince him that he's… being too harsh."

Mar'i looked over at her father, recalling the video Oracle had shown her. The pause reminded her of it. Her dad knew. He knew exactly why Damian's father was doing this.

Why wasn't he telling Damian Bruce's reasons?

Mar'i waited until Damian left. He said something about visiting Abuse as he ducked out of the apartment window with a bag pulled over his shoulder.

"Do you agree with Grandpa Bruce?" she asked as the question had been rolling around in her mind all morning.

Dick paused for a moment in his sit ups. Then he continued.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Oracle showed me the video. Grandpa Bruce wants Damian to find something outside of being Batman to focus on. Do you think the same?"

Dick sighed and lay back on the ground.

"I guess. It'd be nice but it's not always the case. Your Uncle Jay pretty much lives the vigilante life and I tried to turn my passion for it into a police career. Your Uncle Tim is the only one who really works outside of vigilantism. Although, he mostly uses his career as a means for money, resources and connections for Red Robin to exploit."

"Not really answering the question, Dad," she pointed out with a roll of her eyes. Her dad just could not answer things plainly when he was speaking to her. "Do you think Grandpa Bruce is right?"

"Honestly? I don't really know, Starshine. He makes good points."

She decided to change the question.

"Why don't you just tell Damian what Grandpa is thinking?"

"No. That's Bruce's place. They really need to work on their communication-"

"You can't give it a little push?"

"Ha. I don't want Damian to push himself into doing something he hates just to become Batman. We'd end up back here eventually if that happened."

Mar'i wondered if they really would. She didn't think so. It didn't help that her leg was itching, making her irritable. She couldn't reach under the stint to scratch.

"Have you tried at least asking?"

"Asking?" Dick was confused. Asking who what?

Mar'i huffed.

"Have you tried asking Damian if there is anything outside of Batman that he wants to do?"

"Um…" That was an obvious 'no'.