Damien was quiet and reserved when he came down for supper that night. He was polite to Tim, he obeyed Bruce and Alfred when they told him to wash his hands, and he smiled when he greeted Richard and Ruby. She raised an eyebrow at him, but he just shrugged and smiled as innocently as he could.
Dick turned to Ruby about halfway through the meal and asked, "What did you do? And how do we get Damien back?"
"I talked to him," she informed him in between bites of soup. "Damien is behaving this way of his own volition. I have neither replaced nor reprogrammed him. You should know by now that I am capable of neither. Even if I were, I happen to like the real Damien considerably more than any fake."
She pushed her chair back and gathered her dishes. Alfred took them from her despite her customary protests that she could take care of them herself. When Alfred took the dishes from her she turned to Bruce and crossed her arms.
"I need to speak to you. Alone."
Alfred looked on in amusement as Bruce gulped and complied with Ruby's command.
Ruby dragged him up to his study and shut the door behind him. "Tell me, Bruce. Why does Damien think you hate him?"
Bruce gulped once again, thinking that her single raised eyebrow was much more intimidating than any glare, Bat or otherwise, could ever be.
"Bruce Anthony Wayne. Are you even trying to understand your son?"
"Yes!" he said defensively. "Its not exactly easy. I think I'm starting to get him and something like tonight happens and I have to start over."
"Damien was good tonight because he's too preoccupied with thinking about what I told him earlier to put up his defensive facade. The Damien you see everyday isn't the real Damien. The real Damien is scared, and hurting, and jealous of the other boys and the attention you give them. He has been tossed into an unknown world where the rules are completely different from what he grew up with. Yes, grew up. Not is growing, grew. He's not a child, Bruce. He's an adult and an equal and you need to treat him like one. Yes he needs love, and compassion, and kindness the way a child would, but regardless of his height or appearance there is a mature adult in that head of his. By treating him like the ten-year-old you want him to be you're insulting him; telling him that he's not good enough. This has got to stop. You can't protect him from the past, Bruce. Stop trying."
Her last words to him were melancholy and she gave him one last piercing look before she left the house.
Jason found her out in the garden later, near the cliff.
"Are you sure that person in there is Damien?" he joked.
She sighed and looked off into the distance.
"Earth to Ruby. Come in Ruby."
She smiled faintly and reached an arm down to hug him. "Sorry, Jason. Just... Lost in memories."
"Good ones, or bad?"
"Mostly bad."
"What brought them up?"
"Conversations with Damien and Bruce."
"About...?"
"My childhood. The court of Solaria is not a nice place to grow up. Add in the fact that my mother never wanted me and you end up with one messed up kid. Dick wonders how I always know what to say to make whatever someone is dealing with easier. In truth, I only say the things that I wish someone, anyone, would have said to me."
"Oh."
"Come on, its too nice a night for dwelling on the past. Want to go down to the beach?"
Jason's face lit up. Behind them they heard a tentative, "May I come too?"
Jason scowled, but Ruby turned to look at Damien who had come up behind them while they were talking.
"Of course."
Jason headed on down to the beach, but Damien grabbed Ruby's arm to stop her from following. "I'm... Sorry... For bringing back such terrible memories." He struggled with the word sorry, but he was sincere.
"Not your fault. I would have had to face them eventually anyway."
He released her arm and they followed Jason down to the beach.
Before she got into the water she looked Jason in the eyes and told him, "He's not stealing me from you. I promise."