Dinner was awkward, to say the least, Oliver refused to leave Ben's side, Twigleg was forced to jump into Barnabas's pocket because of it, Vita wasn't exactly planning on feeding seven people so she made simple spaghetti and bread for them. Damian sat between Guinevere and Jackson, Atticus was in front of him on the other side, the only one without a plate in front of him. Jackson had to sit on a stack of phonebooks just to reach the table top. Damian made the mistake of looking at Jackson, the three-year-old felt it funny to throw a small handful of food at him.

"You mind controlling your son?" Damian asked rather bitterly as he wiped the spaghetti off of his jacket.

"I tried, but, you took him and now he's in my bathtub slowly dying." Barnabas quipped darkly in response to Damian's bitterness. There was a silence as Damian continued to eat. Atticus raised an eyebrow as he watched Damian stuff forkful after forkful of food into his mouth sloppily, eating at a fast rate like it was his last meal. Damian did lean over his plate, which was welcome, still...

Damian then started to slurp his spaghetti down and that was the final straw for Atticus.

"Ok...I'm dead. I drink blood, and yet, I still have better table manners than you." Atticus spoke up to Damian, Damian lifted his head a bit to reveal sauce all over his mouth, almost mimicking Jackson's own sauce covered face, a lone noodle hanging loosely out of Damian's mouth. Damian only slurped the noodle in response and grabbed his paper towel to wipe his face clean.

"Sorry, it's been three days since I last ate. I'm a tad hungry." Damian responded to Atticus nonchalantly. Damian then continue to eat at a fast rate and then with his mouth still partially full, he spoke,

"You know, I have a question..." He paused to swallow his food before continuing, "What's it like being eternally impotent?"

Guinevere suddenly spits out her food, onto her plate, thankfully.

"Ok, that is not something we discuss in front of a three-year-old!" Vita shouted, her face turning red from embarrassment. Atticus looked like he could leap over the table and rip Damian's neck wide open.

"...I'm not...That." Atticus finally said to Damian with gritted teeth.

"Oh right, half vampire...So...half impotent?"

"If you bring that up again I swear to god I will make you sleep outside!" Vita seethed to Damian, Damian just went back to eating in response. He could feel Atticus glaring holes at his head as he ate.

"You know, I have a question for you? How is that someone, who was sixteen at the time, manage to travel across the pond? I mean, it's clear at this point that you have no parents. Your table manners told me that..." Atticus asked as he looked at Damian, Damian pursed his lips bitterly and lifted his head up glaring at Atticus.

"It isn't obvious? I'm a dragon rider."

Atticus scoffed out in response while everyone just looked at Damian like he grew two heads.

"Oh please, There's only one dragon rider, and he's handcuffed to the bathtub."

"Say's the third dragon rider."

"Ok I WAS a dragon rider at one point, but I am no longer one. My dragon moved on away from me. You're just lying through your teeth." Atticus stated matter-of-factly.

Damian pulled out his phone and sighed softly, scrolling through his pictures, he found the one he was looking for and showed it to Atticus.

"That's Issiah...My dragon." Damian growled as Atticus gently took his phone out of his hand to examined the picture more closely. It was, in all honesty, Damian's favorite and only picture of Issiah. It had been when he first traveled with Issiah. The dragon had been asleep at the time, curled up in a ball like a cat. It showed everything beautiful about Issiah, his blue scales shimmering in the sun-mimicking the look of the ocean, his black horns contrasting against the light pink sky greatly, his black spine did as well.

"...Why isn't he with you?"

"He was taken...We landed in...Somewhere in England, I went to a small town to get some supplies and when I came back there was a big struggle. I tried to help him, they almost caught me with him, though, I just remember..."

He paused suddenly as the memory slowly resurfaced in his mind.

"Issiah!"

Running as fast as his feet could take him he could hear Issiah yelling and thrashing about wildly. Seeing the people all crowd around his dragon, ropes on all sides of Issiah, trying to keep him still.

"Don't think so!" Damian felt someone grab him from behind as the people suddenly threw a net over Issiah.

"Let go of me!" Damian screamed as he managed to get out of the person's grip, turning around to face the person his face feel and he angrily shook his head from side to side before spitting into the person's face, he then spoke,

"I can't believe you..." Damian breathed out with a scared headshake as he looked at the person. Rage slowly filled up Damian and with no warning, he balled up both of his fists and swung his arms, using all of his strength he hit the other person in the stomach as hard as he could. The person doubled over crying out in pain.

"Stop him!" Someone screamed at Damian, quickly Damian ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He could hear the others trying to catch up to him, making his way back down to the small town, Damian ran through the sidewalk as he could hear the others slowly fading off, their voices being drowned out by the sound of cars and people in the streets.

Turning to look back behind him, Damian let out a low sigh as he realized they were no longer behind him.

"Hey!"

Feeling himself collide with another, Damian quickly grabbed the other person by the arms so neither of them fell. Damian looked up to see another boy around his age, black curly hair, blue eyes, pale skin. He had on a beany, protecting his ears from the cold weather, The boy then gave Damian a look and just chuckled,

"You can let go of me now."

Damian did just that, he didn't say anything, he just looked back and then turned back to the boy.

"Anyway. Err..Happy holidays, you weird bloke." The boy chuckled as he walked away from Damian. Damian watched the boy walk away, his hands in his pockets as he continued on without a second thought...

"...It was the first time I met Ben..." Damian breathed out loud, not caring that he had literally been staring off into space for the past five minutes.

"What?" Guinevere asked him softly.

"Did he help you get away?" Barnabas questioned along with his daughter.

"No...I just...Ran into him ...I almost knocked him down." Damian turned away, deep in thought. He didn't say like for long as Oliver finally returned from the bathroom, wiping his hands clean with a towel.

"Well, I wrapped him up to the best of my abilities...We just need to move him out of the bathtub." Oliver spoke as he threw the towel in the trash. Damian and Atticus both stood up and just turned to look at one another.

"I got it, Dickless."

Damian snapped as he turned to walk with Oliver.

"I'm going to kill him." Atticus huffed out as he sat back down at the table.

"I think we all are." Barnabas sighed out with a headshake.

"Ok, again, I'm not that kind of doctor, but I'm pretty sure you shouldn't carry him like that," Oliver muttered softly as he looked at Damian, Ben over Damian's shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"You want to get him in a bed or not?" Damian grunted, "Besides its the easiest way up the stairs."

Walking out of the bathroom, Damian walked quickly up the stairs,

"Wait! you don't know what room was his!" Oliver yelled as he followed Damian,

"Who says I don't! Don't forget I spent a good while stalking him!" Damian countered as he turned.

"They probably changed it for Jackson."

Damian opened the door and blinked at the room, no, they didn't change it for the toddler. Granted he's never been inside Ben's bedroom before, but it shows that the room hadn't been touched since Ben left. A rather thick layer of dust laid on top of everything, a few cobwebs hung over the still fan up on the ceiling, his bed, made, but rather sloppily made like whoever made it didn't care or was in a hurry.

Oliver walked passed Damian and put a hand on his face as he looked around the dusty room.

"Three years...And they never even touched it...They hoped and prayed he'd come back..." Oliver shook his head softly he then narrowed his eyes and walked up to the bed. Sucking in a deep breath, he grabbed the blanket and pulled it back. Damian took a step forward to put Ben down, but Oliver just stopped him as he held blanket it in his hands, Oliver proceeded to whip the blanket up and down, sending a small bit of dust flying up into the air. He waited for the dust to clear a bit before doing the same with the pillow on the bed.

Once the bed was free of dust, he nodded towards Damian. Walking up to the Ben he gently placed him down on the bed. Being mindful of the bandages, Damian pulled the blanket up to Ben, keeping his arms above the blanket as he did so.

"Ok, let's see..." Oliver walked over to the closet and pulled out a hanger, Damian watched as Oliver then proceeded to grab the dusty coat rack by Ben's door and pulled it over. Positioning the hanger on one of the racks upside down, he turned and walked out. Leaving Damian alone with Ben.

"...Thank you...I know you probably can't hear me, but, you've done so much for me these three years...I just wanted to say it...Thank you..." Damian breathed out softly. Looking down, he walking over to Ben's nightstand and pulled the drawer out.

"Sly dog." He muttered as he pulled the dusty carton of cigarettes out, finding a lighter he pulled one of the cigarettes out of the carton and into his mouth, bringing the lighter to life he inhaled on it, only to start coughing horribly.

"Urg. Expired. Figures." He muttered as he cringed at the stale taste. "Well, at least now you don't need Atticus to buy you some." Damian laughed at to himself. Oliver came back into the room, the saline bag in his arms as well as an IV needle and tubing. He stopped when he saw Damian smoking.

"Sorry, I smoke when I'm nervous. I'll leave."

With that, Damian walked passed Oliver and down the stairs, cigarette still smoking between his lips.

Vita wasn't exactly kind to smoking around her three-year-old, Damian found out, as she angrily ushered him out into the cold.

"Out! Not around him, that is simply one thing I won't stand for!" She ordered as she threw Damian out into the back yard, slamming the sliding door shut as she did so.

Damian only chuckled softly and continued to smoke his stale cigarette. His fingers started to turn numb, and his body shake from the dropping temperature outside. Not even five minutes later, Atticus came out.

"If you came here to fight with me, you can just leave," Damian ordered.

"Who's Info-guy?"

"What-"

Patting his pockets Damian realized he accidently left his phone with Atticus, not his brightest move.

"Give me that!" He ordered once he spotted his phone in Atticus's hand. Snatching it back, he snarled as he looked at the message.

"I didn't read it, I only saw the name." Atticus simply said to Damian.

"He's just that. The guy who I get my information from. He can get me layouts of the buildings and tell me where the next dragon is."

"Still going along with this silly prank. Look, just admit that something happened with a fire and Ben got burned-"

"Wow. It just amazes me how much you are denying this. You know, Da Nile, isn't just a river in Egypt, buddy." Damian responded bitterly as he flicked his cigarette out. Turning he walked back into the much-needed warmth. Walking back up the stairs towards Ben's room, he stopped in the doorway, the professor, and Oliver were both there. Oliver had just finished putting the saline bag up, while Barnabas was sitting at the end of Ben's bed looking at his adopted son longingly.

"...I wanted him to come back so bad...Everyone did. When him and Twi..." Barnabas stopped himself from revealing Twigleg to Oliver by coughing at the end of that. "When he left, he sounded so upset, we all figured...'Oh, he'll be back, he's leaving on his own terms, of course, he'll come back!'...And he did, but not in the way we wanted. None of us wanted this."

Damian slowly started to walk over to Barnabas, before he could do anything, Oliver beat him to it and placed a hand on Barnabas's shoulder.

"What matters is he's back. It'll take a while, but hopefully, he'll make a decent recovery."

Damian slowly slunk back against the wall and looked away from the two of them. Without a second thought, he turned and walked out of the room. Jogging down the stairs, he stopped when he saw Atticus at the base of the stairs looking like he was ready to come up to see Ben. The two of them locked eyes, Damian could see that Atticus's blue eyes were clearly contacts, barely hiding his real color.

"Hey." Damian lifelessly greeted Atticus as he got to the bottom of the stairs. Atticus frowned at him a bit before just ignoring his greeting and jogged up the stairs.

Damian stood there, gently tapping the railing with his finger, before finally turning and silently walking up the stairs. Quietly walking to Ben's room, Damian stayed away from the open door and just listened to what they were talking about.

"No confio en el..." Atticus spoke, clearly in Spanish.

"Yo tampoco." Oliver agreed with him.

"Es obvio que le importa Ben," Barnabas spoke up and Atticus responded with a scoff,

"¿Cómo sabemos que no le hizo esto a Ben?" Atticus asked and Damian leaned against the doorway, Atticus had his back turned, but both Barnabas and Oliver looked uncomfortable as he stood there.

"Si quisiera matar a Ben, no lo traería aquí. Yo lo mataría." Damian responded matter of factly, causing Atticus to spin around and look at him wide eyed.

"Oh sí, hablo español." Damian shrugged smugly with a smile on his face as Atticus looked at him, hatred in his eyes. "Ayuda a ser colombiano."

"You're Colombian? But I thought-" Barnabas cut in and Damian cut him off,

"You thought I was just some lazy American that never bothered to learn a second language, right? Well you're wrong. I was born in Colombia, raised there for a little bit, then my family moved to America after my brother got a job." Damian shrugged he then turned and glared at Atticus, it was at this moment that Damian realized that they were almost the exact same height as he stared into Atticus's fake colored eyes. "By the way, Atticus." Damian spoke, he paused for a second before speaking once more,

"No hables de mí detrás de mi espalda y trata de enmascararlo como otro idioma. Sé más de lo que piensas. Dickless"

Atticus paused, his lips pursed as he was clearly angry at the whole situation, for a second he didn't say anything, he just stood there, brooding, before he finally spoke up,

"Je ne te fais pas confiance!"

Damian put a hand on his hip and eyed Atticus up and down, Atticus looking like he just won some great battle because he changed languages,

"Français? Vraiment? Je n'ai pas confiance en vous non plus." Damian responded before turning around and walking out of the room.

He sighed out with triumph the moment he heard Ben's door slam shut behind him.

"He'll come around." He said happily to himself before going downstairs. He was getting pretty tired. Grabbing his coat off of the rack by the door, he threw it on, only to sudden hear Vita's voice.

"Are you leaving?" She sounded worried.

"No, just going to get some sleep."

"Oh, you can sleep on the couch-"

"I'm sorry, Ma'am, thank you for the offer. But I really prefer to sleep in my car."

"Oh no, don't. It's going to drop to -17 degrees tonight, you'll catch your death out there."

"Er...-17...That should be...0 In Fahrenheit? I've slept in my car in colder weather." He told her as he wrapped his scarf around his neck.

"Please...Don't leave." She whispered, Damian turned her, he could see it, she wasn't afraid that he'd die in the cold, she just didn't want him to abandon them right now.

"Look, I'm not leaving. With Atticus's car behind me and Oliver's car parked on curb, I literally can't. I'm just going to get some sleep. Besides, I'd never leave Ben, not while he's like this. Like I said, just going to get some needed sleep." He reassured her. Turning, he walked out of the front door and out towards his car. The cold weather hit his face like a blast, making his nose turn numb almost instantly. Walking towards his car, he fished his keys out of his pocket and shakily opened his door. Getting into the driver's seat, he shook like a leaf as the coldness hit his body. Shutting the door he reached into the back and pulled out a thick blanket. Wrapping himself in the blanket like he was in a cocoon, Damian laid his head back and allowed himself to drift into much-needed sleep.

Ok, so here are the translated for the conversations, keep in mind I got these from Google translate so they might not be 100% accurate.

Atticus: I don't trust him.

Oliver: Neither do I

Barnabas: It's obvious he cares for Ben.

Atticus: How do we know that he didn't do this to Ben?

Damian: If I wanted to kill Ben, I wouldn't bring him here, I would kill him.

Damian (Again): Oh yes, I speak Spanish, it helps that I'm Colombian.

Damian (for the third time): Do not talk about me behind my back and try to mask it as another language. I know more than you think. Dickless.

Atticus (now speaking French): I don't trust you!

Damian: French? Really? I don't trust you either.