Author's Note: Thanks to Guest 1 (It's just terrible timing for everyone involved. And Jason isn't going to take this well), Wombo Combi (There's definitely some struggles ahead of them! And thank you!), and Meridianpony (Poor Damian never really gets a break in these. And Jason's going to have some trouble with the news) for reviewing the last chapter! I own nothing.
Dick was exhausted and when he heard retching from the bathroom he knew his night was only going to get longer. Forty-five minutes ago Stephanie had managed to coax Tim into lying down. When Dick had driven the blonde home, Tim had been asleep but now the older boy expected to see him in the bathroom. Instead it was Damian shuddering and sobbing over the toilet. Dick hesitated a moment and then gently settled his hand between Damian's shoulder blades, running it in gentle circles in hopes that he could calm the boy.
Dick had not been in Gotham since Talia had brought Damian to Wayne Manor. Instead he'd been busy with Bludhaven and Bruce had suspected the mental walls J'onn had long ago erected were probably fragile so it was best that Dick stayed away. According to Tim the boy was prickly and acted far older than he actually was. Stephanie had added that Damian was obnoxious, proud, and extremely stubborn but her eyes had gleamed when she'd added that he had promise. Neither Jason, who spent most of his time running around as Red Hood and terrorizing bad guys everywhere with Starfire and Arsenal, nor Dick had actually met the boy. At least not in this incarnation.
As far as Dick knew, Jason had not actually met the clone at all. Damian had spent very little time in Wayne Manor the first time around and once he had become an infant thanks to the Light's last ditch attempt to make their plans succeed he had been given over to Talia. Now the boy was here, with Dick, but he was far different from the person he'd been ten years ago. Still, underneath all the posturing, Damian was a young child and Dick knew how to deal with those.
Damian stopped retching after a few minutes, sniffling as he tried to control his tears. Dick flushed the toilet and scooped the tiny boy up, cradling him close. Damian's cheeks flushed an embarrassed pink and the ten year old buried his head against Dick's shoulder. The boy let out a little upset whimper when Dick shifted him to turn off the light and shut the bathroom door, jostling Damian slightly. Dick grinned as the exhausted ten year old nuzzled closer, still trembling though not as badly as he had been when Dick had first found him.
Dick made his way towards the open bedroom door not bothering to flip the light on. The stream of light filtering into the room from the hall revealed a room that looked more like a prison cell than a child's hideaway. The bedspread was one of the spare cream affairs Alfred kept in a closet,mostly brought out when one of the guest bedrooms needed to be made up, and Dick pulled it and the white sheets beneath it down, trying not to jostle Damian. Then he carefully settled the ten year old down, or tried to.
When he tried to pull away, Damian clung to him tightly, trembling growing worse. "Hey, hey," he cooed, settling down at the edge of the bed and wrapping an arm around the shaking boy. "It's okay." He snaked a hand around to press the back against the boy's forehead, wincing slightly at the heat there, and silently began cursing Bruce for choosing such an inconvenient time to dramatically kick the bucket. Not only was Damian dealing with the loss of a parent, possibly the second one depending on what had happened to Talia, but he was also sick. The unfairness of it all made the older boy want to scream.
Damian was obviously exhausted but the boy refused to stop clinging to Dick, almost as if he were afraid the older boy would vanish the instant he let go. Seeing no other way around it, he gently pried Damian's fingers free, ignoring the little whimper it earned him, and tucked the boy in before settling on top of the sheets so Damian could cling to him again. Instantly tiny fingers were wrapped in his shirt material, clenching so tightly the knuckles turned white. The boy fell asleep that way, fingers fisted in Dick's t-shirt. The older boy followed him swiftly into dream land.
Jason's first reaction to the news was to throw his helmet. Part of Barbara was shrieking about expensive tech equipment and how difficult it would be to buy new stuff and bring it secretly up to the clock tower to install if any of it was broken. The rest of her knew it was better just to let Jason get it all out. When that boy bottled everything up it never ended well. "How did it happen?" Jason demanded, hands trembling minutely.
"He went on a mission for the League," Barbara told him, trying to remember everything Dick had told her in a shaking voice over his com link. "There was some kind of beam fired. Bruce pushed Diana out of the way and when the beam faded he was gone. They searched every way they could think of but found nothing." Jason's head bowed and a few tears escaped his control, dripping down his cheeks. For a minute, as he trembled and cried softly, Barbara saw the boy who'd been so excited to be Robin. It broke her heart.
What hurt worse was when all emotion vanished from his face. "They all went back to the manor?"
"Yes. Dick was going to call Cass and tell her," Barbara replied, brushing a strand of red hair away from her face. Jason's entire posture said he was tired and she understood that feeling. It was the same kind of tired she'd felt when the cancer had finally taken her mother away. "I have a cot in the back room," she offered. Jason nodded numbly, allowing her to take his hand and guide him out of the room. Hopefully a good night's sleep would erase some of the pain she could already see sinking down on Jason's shoulders. One could hope.
Roy felt sick. His stomach was rolling as he tossed his duffel into the passenger seat of his car and launched himself over the hood to the driver's side. He peeled out of the driveway, trying to ignore his exhaustion and how his heart was pounding. Batman was dead. It was hard news for Roy to take in and if he was taking it badly then Dick was probably a wreck. A wreck pretending to be strong for the sake of two younger brothers and whoever the current Batgirl was. He sped through town, headlights flashing across signs and buildings.
Oracle had called Felicity, asking for Roy. She'd passed on the news that Batman was dead and requested Arsenal's presence in Gotham. Roy hadn't even thought of refusing. Oliver would be coming to Gotham as soon as he could but for now it would be up to Roy to keep Dick in one piece. Unfortunately the only members of the Batfamily that he had any experience with were Dick, Jason, and Barbara. That meant there were at least two people, possibly three, in Wayne Manor that he'd never met. Still he was there for Dick, and if he could hold the oldest of the Batclan together until Ollie arrived everything would be okay. He hoped.