Chapter 23 – Alien Photos
Damian sighed and shot his father a weathered look. He had already been through this with the Graysons.
"You know, those things people insist you do in order to be considered employable?" Damian snapped.
Jason snorted at the snark-filled response and Dick hid his amused look behind a hand.
Mar'i looked over at Tim. He didn't seem to be joining in. As if he had heard this before... she stood up and walked around to the other side of the table, planting herself in the seat next to Tim's.
"Did you know about this?" she asked, being vague and motioning to where Damain was once again explaining his college education to the 'mature' adults around him.
"Damian planning to move out? No. Damian's college education? Yes. Who do you think told him about the scholarship in the first place?" Tim kept his voice low so that the rest of the people at the table couldn't hear them. He was also smirking a little.
Mar'i gave him an impressed look.
"Must have been tough, keeping it secret."
Tim shrugged in response. "I didn't think he would actually do it. And it wasn't any of my business. Nor do I care about what Damian chooses to do at college. At least he seems to be enjoying it. As much as one can enjoy having to pull all-nighters to protect the city from crime and get 'that one fifteen page assignment' done by morning."
"Fifteen pages?" Mar'i questioned in shock. That was a lot.
"Not when you're doing a thesis or assignment which makes almost your entire grade," Tim informed her. "Besides, how old are you anyway? Surely you've learnt all this now."
"I'm in eleventh grade."
"So you were kept down?" Tim questioned. The question alone implied that she was stupid.
"If anything, I'd be boosted up a grade," she snarled at him. Jason was certainly the 'Favourite Uncle'.
"Uh..." At least he looked embarrassed. "How old are you?"
Mar'i answered, even though she thought it would have been better to say 'none of your business'. Then again, her height and proportions often confused people into thinking she was older than she was.
"Oh." Tim looked horrified at getting it wrong. It wasn't the first time though and Mar'i felt she needed to remind him.
"Don't worry about it. You also thought I was Dick's protégé and not his daughter as well."
"Yeah, that was stupid," Tim responded.
Mar'i was confused. "Why?"
"We should have considered it. Dick has had a number of long relationships and I guess it wouldn't be completely unexpected to find he has a few children to go with them but, I thought he would share something like that with us. He is the kind of person who goes around sharing pictures and things. He does it with all of us." Tim glanced at Jason and lowered his voice even more. "He even carries a picture of himself with a teenage Jason around in his wallet which he rarely shows off."
Mar'i snorted. She needed to see that. It couldn't be that difficult to steal her father's wallet.
Bruce was rubbing his forehead with his thumb and finger in a motion which Jason and Dick recognised. Bruce was moments away from leaving the room because he couldn't compute what was happening.
"Okay, so you're telling me that you've been going to college, working a job-"
"Three jobs, technically," Damian interrupted. There was helping out Colin at the mechanic's, his work at his father's company and the money he made off sketches. "And not counting the night work."
"And you're going to move out?" Damian nodded with a face like stone. He didn't know how his father was going to react to this but so far, Bruce's reaction hadn't been encouraging. "Why didn't you tell me any of this?"
Damian shrugged.
"You never asked," Dick pointed out to Bruce, realising he had made the same mistake with his daughter. "So he never thought to tell you."
A light blush dusted Damian's cheeks. "It's not important. Not like information on Ivy's whereabouts or whatever."
"You're moving out and you don't think that's important?" Bruce questioned, his tone raised.
Jason slapped his forehead. Bruce was being stupid. After all, they were the Batman family. The manor and the cave below it were the only stable locations in their lives. Their apartments and safe houses changed often.
"I've left on missions and things for weeks at a time and lived all over the world. How is this more important?" Damian asked. He didn't get it.
"Okay, okay, stop," Jason said, holding his hands out.
"Stay out of it, Jason," Bruce growled.
"Don't talk to me like that," Jason snarled back.
Dick could see the fight about to start but he had no idea how to stop it. Everything he could think of would make it worse. He gave Tim a look, seeking help.
Tim stared back, face impassive. Dick stared harder, bottom lip pouting and pleading.
"I don't think anyone else here told you when we moved out," Tim pointed out. "Dick I have no idea about but Jason travelled the world without you knowing, I moved out when you weren't around and does anyone know where Cass is living?"
"I thought Cass was living with Steph?" Jason said, anger dissipating slightly at the change in subject.
"Do you know where?" Tim countered.
"Yes," Bruce growled, although everyone else shook their heads. Except Damian who nodded; huh, Tim hadn't thought Damian knew.
"Did she tell you?"
Bruce frowned and froze. They all knew the answer was no, just because he wasn't answering.
'Thank you, Timmy,' Dick mouthed to his little brother in relief. The fight seemed forgotten. At just the right time too because Dick felt something brush outside his pocket.
"Hey-!" A hand shoved his wallet out and his vision was lit with purple.
Startled, Mar'i flew back and up towards the ceiling with a surprised cry of, "X'hal!"
"What just happened?" Jason questioned as all eyes drifted to the ceiling.
Mar'i floated high above. It was the easiest way of moving around since her leg was out of commission. It dangled below her now, a useless dead-weight.
"Did she just pick your pocket?" Damian asked Dick. "Why?"
"Oh no," Tim groaned. He had an idea why.
"Mar'i, you come down from there this instant!" Dick called up. "And give me back my wallet!"
"No," Mar'i responded. She wanted to see if Uncle Tim had been telling the truth.
"Mar'i!"
"This seems familiar," Damian muttered recalling similar situations back when he and Mar'i had been children.
Mar'i had opened the wallet and was looking through it.
"I'll give it back in a moment!" she said.
"What's she looking for?" Jason asked Dick. Jason was enjoying this. Watching Dick with his daughter was amusing stuff. It was nice to see someone who didn't listen to Dick and probably caused a few grey hairs for the older man.
"No idea."
"Money?" Bruce suggested. Dick glared at him because he knew Mar'i wouldn't steal a wallet for petty cash and Bruce was supposed to be smart enough to figure that out.
Especially since Dick didn't carry that much cash in Dick Grayson's civilian wallet.
"I believe the young Miss has found what she was searching for," Alfred pointed out. He had returned to the room sometimes during the chaos to gather up the breakfast dishes. He was not surprised to see that they hadn't eaten a lot. There had been a lot of noise from here.
Mar'i had indeed found what she was searching for. The picture of her dad with his arm slung around a young Jason Todd.
"Uncle Jason has freckles?" she questioned with a grin, looking from the picture to the grown up.
"You still have that?" Jason said to Dick in a high pitch. Suddenly, this wasn't as amusing.
"Who told her about-" Dick's question was cut off as Mar'i gave a happy cheer.
"I'm in here!" She floated down, holding a piece of paper in her hand. It was a photo of Gotham's sky with green and purple streaks in it.
Damian had seen it before. Dick had shown him that picture with what he could only call fatherly pride.
"Aren't you seven in that picture?" he questioned, knowingly getting her age wrong.
"I was nine!" she snapped in response. "And if you hadn't noticed, I'm taller than you."
"Uh-huh," Damian responded in an unimpressed tone. "Doesn't make you more mature, girl Grayson." Alfred cleared his throat. Silence filled the room as he instantly had everyone's attention.
"Breakfast will be over in ten minutes," he said. "Make sure to eat your fill before then."
Everyone's attention went back to the food. However, that didn't mean that Damian and Mar'i's banter had gone unnoticed.
Mar'i didn't mind. She was just happy to find her picture in her dad's wallet. It was obvious that he kept a few pictures of people he cared about in there. It wasn't until she saw that picture that she realised she wanted some sign that her dad was proud of her. She knew her existence was a shock to his family; her grandfather, uncles and aunts. She knew that they might be angry that Dick kept her secret. But she couldn't help feeling forgotten.
It felt easier to sit at the table and eat, knowing that he dad kept pictures of her with the rest of his family. There was a physical reminder behind the picture of a young, round faced Uncle Jason that she was also a part of this family.