Authors note: Bold Italics= Flashbacks

Italics=Author's note/Final notes

Chapter 2: Zero Year 2

Hal Jordan being the amazing Green Lantern was prepared for anything, but he was not prepared for the the child the princess turned into when she finally got comfortable around them. She was very talkative... Hal wasn't really sure what to make of it other than it was just more reinsurance that this girl was really the daughter of Nightwing. It was hard getting the girl to talk when they had found her, but now Hal couldn't shut her up even if he wanted to. She would tell him about Tamaran how she was always kept in the Palace how her mother always took care of anything and everything she needed. How her mother trained her in combat and other things. She would talk and talk and talk, and after two weeks abroad the ship with Hal on the way to Earth she finally ran out of things to say. It was as if the closer they got to his home that the quieter Mar'i got. Hal wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Mar'i, are you okay?" Hal asked, "You're quiet, and it's not that I'm not enjoying the silence, but it seems a little out of character." Mar'i said nothing only looking out the window of the ship. "Mar'i." He called again this time really worried.

"You know my father, don't you?" Her voice rang out the accusation without even looking away from the window, with such an icy tone to it that she again reminded him of a certain caped crusader, and his protégés. He thought the habit was something taught, but it seems to be hereditary as well. Hal didn't know when she figured out he knew her father, but he had prepared for this issue.

"I do." Hal confirmed.

"Tell me about him." She said this time looking him straight in the eye as if she could see them behind the mask.

"We have a small issue." John Stewart said to Carol Ferris and Hal jordan.

"And that would be?" Carol inquired.

"How exactly are we going to keep our promise to that little girl that we're going to take her Earth?" John answered. Two days ago they agreed to take Princess Mar'i of Tamaran to Earth to leave her in the care of her supposed father.

"I don't see the issue. Why don't you two just take her back. You know Nightwing well, don't you?" Carol said as if it were that simple.

"We do, but we still need to report back to Oa." Hal said. "We were on our way there when we found her, and we came here because it was the closet planet with people we knew. We still need to go to the guardians."

"Okay then," Carol said. "I'll take her. Whether we like it or not we agreed to take that child to Earth so it has to be one of us."

"Yeah, Carol, I know but you can't go either." Hal said.

Carol looked offended. "What! Why?"

"Batman isn't really friendly with new people(well, he really isn't friendly with people in general), and this news should be kept close to the family. I've known her father since he was a kid, and he's practically Batman's son. And if there is one thing The Batman is, it's overprotective of his family. Sending you, would be sending you to the den of wolves while covering you in pig's blood, and slapping an "EAT ME" sign to your back." Hal explained. "It needs to be either me or John, you can come with us, but it has to be one of us."

"Okay, but we just established that you both need to be heading to Oa. Last I checked the guardians weren't very patient. " Carol said.

"Good now you see the issue." Said John.

"I don't understand why one of you just goes to Oa while the other comes with me to take Mar'i to Earth." The resounded slap that rang out in the room was from Hal slapping his own forehead.

"Why didn't we think of that?" he said, "Carol, you are genius."

"Thank you, I try. " Carol answered with a cheeky grin, "Now which one of you are going to take her."

"Hal" "John" Both said at the same time.

"Really." Carol sighed.

"He likes you better." Hal said to John

"Whatever, he's known you longer. He'll take this news better from you, Hal." John said in a smug voice.

"He has a point, Hal." carol said.

"No far, he just doesn't want to deal with him angry, and this is going to make him angry!" Hal almost shouted

"It's two against one, you're going."

"I didn't want to go see the stupid guardians anyway." Hal mumbled. "Okay, on to our other issue. " Hal said sobering up. "What do we tell Mar'i about her father?"

"Well, until we get a proper DNA test we won't for sure if she's even really his daughter." John pointed out. "If this turns out to be some elaborate plan from a villain, we could give away some very important information."

"But if we have to tell her something?" Carol asked

"So the bare minimum?" Hal asked

"The bare minimum." John agreed.

"You're father is a very good man." Hal said. "One of the best people I've ever meet."

"Tell me more than that, Hal. I get that from the servants in the palace back on Tamaran. Tell me things like what he liked to do during his childhood, what accomplishments he's made in his life, who his parents are, or his name. I don't even know my own father name! The closest thing I have to a name is Nightwing. The same thing the whole world calls him."

"You're nervous to meet him." Hal concluded.

"I'm expected to stay with a person who I know nothing about indefinitely, and worse he knows nothing about me. I don't the planet, or the people. I'll have to learn a completely different culture. I don't know what my mother was thinking by sending me to Earth?" Mar'i sighed finally venting the things that had been weighing heavily in her mind since she had left Tamaran.

"Hey, Princess. Firstly, you will get to know him. You will learn his name, and what he liked to do as a kid. You will learn who his parents were, and everything else about him. You have to have a relationship with a person first before you know anything about them and sadly, Princess, you don't have one yet, but you will build one. A strong relationship. Secondly, Do you trust me?" He asked

"Of course." She answered with a doubt.

"When did you start to trust and like me?"

"I do not know. The day after I meet you, if I were to guess." Mar'i said.

"Do you trust Carol and John?"

"Yes."

"Mar'i, you knew us for a total of two days before you started to trust and began opening up to us. Heck, the two days you were on Zamaron you were trying to spar with the other Star Sapphires like you've known them you're whole life! You shouldn't be worried about learning the culture, and Nightwing will get to know you. In 12 hours after a very long two weeks stuck in this space ship, you will get to meet your father. Trust me when I say he's exactly like you dreamed your father will be. He won't disappoint you. "

"Okay." She still sounded unsure.

"If things don't work out with him, Carol's promise still stands. I'll take you back to Zamaron and you can stay there with her. " Hal said.

"Really?" Her whole face perked up as if the idea seemed to be the best option right now.

"Yup, if you feel uncomfortable on Earth, or with you father. I'll take you back to Zamaron, but only if you really try to get to know him."

"Okay, I'll try."

"That's all I ask." Hal said. The two quickly fell into silence before Mar'i broke it.

"Hal?"

"Yes?"

"Before I forget, I wanted to thank you, Hal Jordan. You are my first friends from Earth, I owe you my life."

"Kid, It's no problem. It's what I do, I'm glad I could help." Hal sighed slightly grateful that at the last minute Carol wasn't able to come because she would never let him live down the Kodiak moment he just had.

"Hey Hal, is that Earth? It's beautiful. Is it a tropical planet like Tamaran? or does it get cold? Ooo, if it gets cold does that means it snows? Have you ever seen snow before, Hal. What's Snow like, Hal? Is it cold? It doesn't get cold on Tamaran, did you know that? Can we go see snow first, Hal. Or can we see the ocean instead? I've never seen a body of water that filled with salt. Is the ocean really salt water, Hal? Have you seen the ocean, Hal? Is the ocean pretty? My mother said the ocean was pretty that's all she would ever talk about when she talked about her time on Earth. Hal, can it snow where there's an ocean? Because that would be cool. Hal, are you listening? Hal! Hal!"

"YES!" Hal yelled as Mar'i screamed his name in his hear.

"Were you even listening?" Mar'i asked

"Of course I was. I listen to everything you have to say, Princess."

"No you don't. You just nod every minute or so so that i'll think you're paying attention." Mar'i accused.

"I do not!"

"Prove it!"

"Fine." Hal said, "The answers to your questions in order are: Yes; No; Yes; Yes; Yes; Its like powdered ice; Yes; I did not know that; No, we have other things to do; Same verse same as the first; Yes; Yes, I have; I would like to think so; Yes it can, but only in the Arctic; I'm pretty sure it would be cool." Mar'i huffed as Hal gave her a grin, "See I was listening."

"Okay, how long till we get to Earth?"

"Ten minutes, before we actually go to Earth we need to go the Watch Tower so I can call your father and tell him to meet us in a few hours." Hal said messing with some of the controls on the ship. Are you excited?"

"A little." Mar'i admitted. "My mother only had good things to say about Earth the few times she talked about it."

"Wow, what happened to that girl who was scared of going to earth 12 hours ago."

"She's gone for the moment, but trust me she'll come back." Mar'i assured. "You said We'll meet my father in a few hours. Why a few hours? Why not now?"

"Well, I want to take you around Earth a little bit. Maybe take you shopping?" Hal said

"Shopping? " Mar'i asked. "What is that? We don't have this "shopping" on Tamaran."

"Oh, this is going to be fun."

And Hal did as he said. He took the young princess shopping. Bought her an outfit that didn't stick out so much, and as much as Hal hated shopping normally, with Mar'i he found that he enjoyed it. Her smile as she tried on clothes. Her frown when he made her buy tights and long sleeve shirts. Complaining that on Tamaran covering up so is pointless, and then watching her face light up when she tried on variations and variations of head bands. From simple headbands, to ones with large elaborate flowers, to ones with colorful bows. Mar'i made Hal buy at least twenty. Hal took Mar'i to all the places he could in the short time that they had, but sadly their time together had come to an end.

"Hal, We must go back to that wonderful place! The mall of shopping! So many wonderful things to purchase. Hal, we must return, but with John and Carol next time!" Mar'i chatted excitedly as they walked through the Halls of the Watch Tower. "I adore this 'headband' contraption, we have similar on Tamaran but not so fashionable! Hal, we must see one of those movies, you were telling me about, promise one day we'll go?"

"Promise. " Hal said with a nod. He then instructed Mar'i to stay in a room till he returned asking her to play with her new rabbit stuffed animal.

Hal sighed this was not going to be easy.

"Lantern." A gruff voice called out making Hal jump.

"Batman," The green lantern greeted.

"Hey Hal," Nightwing called from behind the caped crusader. Hal didn't even see him there.

"What is this about, Jordan? Why did I need to be called out of Gotham?"

"It's important, trust me." Hal gestured to the room next to the one he put Mar'i in and followed the two Gothamites inside.

"Now that we're in private tell us what you've found out about Nightwing, Hal." Batman ordered.

"How do you know it's about Nightwing?" Hal asked.

"You put a lot of stress on Nightwing being here when I talked to you. I'm sure he's even figured this out just because of his presence here."

Hal looked at the younger man in surprise, who only shrugged his shoulders in response. "Well then, I better get on with this." Hal said. "Nightwing, were you in a relationship with Starfire eight years ago?" Hal asked suddenly.

Nightwing thought for a minute, "Yes, that about right. I was with her a little after but that's time we were together, before we called it quits the first time."

"What's the point of this, Hal." Batman demanded.

"This." Hal flipped a switch revealing the double sided mirror looking into the room currently holding Mar'i. "John and I found her floating in space after her ship had been attacked. She is Princess Mar'i of Tamaran who ran away from Tamaran after the Gordanian attack, she also claims to be the daughter of Starfire and you, Nightwing."

"Holy Shit." Was the only thing that came out of the Nightwing's mouth.

"What proof do you have that she is who she says she is?" Batman asked a raised eyebrow.

"Other than her word, This letter from Starfire, addressed to you, Dick. In the letter was also a picture of you, further pushing my belief that she is really your kid." He handed Nightwing the letter. "It took a while to get that letter from her. She wouldn't even let me hold for a while. The only reason I have it now is because I promised her that I wouldn't read it."

"And did you?" Nightwing asked before opening the letter.

"No, I didn't." Hal answered, and with that Nightwing began to read the words of his former lover. "Believe it or not, Bats, I'm sure that girl is his daughter 100%."

"We won't be sure until a DNA test." He replied only studying the child in the other room.

"Trust me, I know we still have to do a Paternity test, but I spent two weeks alone on a ship with that kid, she's done some things that I've only seen Dick do as a kid." Hal said

"Like what?"

"We'll talk, I thought Dick had a mouth when he was a kid, but I think she's got you beat . Also reading body language, She knows when I'm lying it took me a whole two weeks to be able to convincingly lie to her. Before I even told her I knew a lot about you she figured it out long before she asked about you. She figured out that there were some issues getting her here, and that John couldn't come like we originally said. She so smart, I almost can't believe she that smart and the only child I knew that was intelligent like that was-"

"Me." Nightwing cut off finish reading the letter. "This is Kory's handwriting, alright. It says she apologizes for not telling me about our daughter, and that she leaves her in my hands now." Nightwing dropped the letter before sitting down in the chair next to him and resting his hands on his face. "I just can't believe she would have kept something like this from me. An eight year old? Really I was with Kory for a little bit 6 or 7 years ago, she had multiple time to tell me and she didn't. I don't understand why."

"We still need a paternity test." The dark knight said taking the letter from his former Protégé, and reading it. "Though right now we need to discuss what we're going to do with the girl. "

"If you don't want her, or the Paternity test comes out negative Carol said she will take her on Zamaron. Carol loves her, in fact all the Star Sapphires do. She would be happy there, just say the word and she'll be out of you hair."

"WHAT!" Nightwing shot up, "No. no, even if she's not mine, this girl is convinced she's my daughter, Kory gave her to me and she's my responsibility now." Nightwing gave a chuckle it wasn't one of his usual laughs of amusement more of one of self-pity. "Kory and I talked about children a lot. We said we name a boy, Ryand'r, and if it was a girl we would call her Mar'i, Mary in english, after my mother. At least Kory thought of me slightly when she decided to raise this child alone." Dick paused. " I'm going to go talk to her." Dick quickly exited the room to enter the other room. Giving one final glance at the glass, taking the image of his daughter in and went to go meet her.

Dick went into the room without even knocking and saw the girl playing with a stuffed rabbit that Hal must have gotten her. Dick also took time to notice she wore season appropriate clothing, most likely Hal's doing as well because Tamaranian's didn't get cold so they didn't wear tights or long sleeves. She almost looked like a normal human girl, except for the eyes. The same eyes that lured him to Kory. Other than the eyes Dick could say quite confidently she looked just like him. She had his nose, and the shape of his face. She had his hair, that dark color with a slight wave to it. There was no doubt in his mind if there ever was one. This girl is his daughter.

"Oh." She said looking at him. "You must be him, my father." She said. Her voice had a slight foreign tone to it similar to the one that Kory had.

"I am." He agreed. "and you are Mar'i, right?"

"I am." She said and after a slight pause spoke again, "Are you going to send me back to Zamaron?" She asked.

"No." He promised. "Your mother sent you to me, so with me you'll stay."

"Really?" She asked as if she almost couldn't believe it.

"Of course."

"And can we go see one of those movies Hal told me about?" She asked.

"Sure, I don't see why not." Nightwing grinned.

"And we see the ocean, and snow! I wanted to see snow since I was really little! Please take me please, please!"

"Sure one day soon I'll take you to the beach, and come winter you'll see more snow than you'll be able to handle." He answered a little taken back.

"I like you." She said making Nightwing beam. "I know next to nothing about you, but I like you a lot."

"Well what do you want to know about me." He gave his best smile to the little girl.

"Your real name would be a nice start." She said.

Nightwing paused slightly, "Dick." He answered finally, "Dick Grayson."

"Dick Grayson, huh? Grayson is that your surname." She asked. Saying surname like she didn't completely understand the concept. Nightwing nodded his head. "Mar'i Grayson. It has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

"I do." He said, this time with a genuine smile, "Did you know on Earth our equivalent to the name Mar'i is Mary spelled M-A-R-Y. When we take you out with other people who don't know about Tamaran you will be called that."

"Oh, my mother mentioned something like that. Like when she went normally, and when she modeled here on Earth she had to do so under some other name, right?"

Nightwing nodded, "Yup, her name here on Earth was Kory Anders, everyone who knew her on Earth called her Kory plain and simple Kory."

"Really everyone? Only my uncle ever called her that." Mar'i said

"If you don't believe me you can ask your Uncle Jason." Nightwing replied.

"I have uncles here on Earth, too?" She asked some how amazed at the fact her father had other family.

"Yup, three in fact. Two, if you don't count the last one." Mar'i gave him a confused look, "The youngest one is only ten making him two years older than you, almost three his birthday is coming up soon. "

"Do I have any Aunts?" Mar'i asked.

"Like one and a half." Mar'i gave him another confused look. "Ok well the one you have is Cassandra, you'll meet her as soon as she comes back from Hong Kong, and the half is Stephanie, she's one of your uncle's girlfriend and I'm sure when he graduates high school he'll propose to her and probably marry her after he graduates college, but she's still around all the time. She's like your aunt that's not really your aunt yet. If that makes any sense." Even though Mar'i nodded Nightwing wasn't quite sure she understood. "So how is you uncle on Tamaran? Ryand'r isn't it? I never got to meet him."

Mar'i froze. she just stopped as she stared off into nothing. Nightwing was bout to as what was wrong when Green Lantern and Batman walked into the room breaking her out of the trance as quickly as she fell into it.

"HAL!" The young princess screamed as she ran to hug him.

"Hi princess. So do I have to take you back to Zamaron." He asked smiling as if he already knew the answer

"No, I think I will take my chances on Earth." She said. "Hal, you will come and visit me often, will you not?"

"Of course I will. I believe I still owe you a movie." He smiled as he patted the young girl's head. "Until next time, Princess."

"Goodbye, Hal Jordan. Until we meet again." She said

Dick would be lying to himself if wasn't slightly jealous at the connection his daughter and the Green Lantern had. He knew he would get there eventually but still it irked him that right now the young girl in front of him knew Hal better than she knew her own father and that wounded Dick deeply.

"Don't worry. " Hal said as if he would read Dick's mind. "I've been with that girl for a little over two weeks by the time I come back, she'll know you too, and love you more than she could ever love me. You're her father, don't forget that."

"I won't" Dick promised, and with a pat on his back and a wave to Batman Hal Jordan took his leave.

"Mar'i there's someone I'd like for you to meet. " Nightwing gestured to Batman, "This is Batman, he might as well be my father."

"I'm legally your father." Batman reminded.

"Oh yeah...You've got a lot of kids."

Batman only sighed in response.

"If your my father's father does that make you my grandfather?" Mar'i asked.

"In a way, yes."

"Oh well, you look like a Drach'tal." Mar'i said simply.

Nightwing could barely hold back a laugh with Batman's eyebrows crinkled in confusion.

"A Drach'tal is a creature in Tamaranian myth that drinks the blood of bad children in the night, very similar to our myths about bats." Nightwing explained through laughs.

"So why are you laughing?" The dark knight asked.

"Because that is the first thing Kory said about you when she saw you." And Nightwing fell into a fit of laughter.

Again Batman sighed, "What are you going to do now, Nightwing?"

Nightwing sobered up, and answered, "Take her to Blüdhaven, get her some more clothes and other necessities, go home, get her feed and into bed. After that I'm going to call Babs tell her the situation ask her for help with the legal papers and all, Then I'm am going to sleep, Batman, because I think this is all I can take in one day."

"Call me if you need anything."

"Don't I always?"

Final notes-

Word count : 4312(wow, now that's too long!)

2nd chapter ready to rumble! Thanks for you guys support and to the people who have Liked/followed/reviewed this story already!

Please like/follow/review it brings me great joy and helps feed my muse!

With great love,

Miyu k.~