Tis the season.
As everyone returns home for Christmas Eve festivities, there's much fuss and excitement over the baby Haly Grayson. Dick and Harley have her back, and they couldn't be prouder or happier.
And with the return of the baby, the reality of it all hits the family like a ton of bricks. Jason is an uncle. Dick and Harley are parents. Bruce is a grandfather- and expecting father. Harley never could have asked for a more perfect family.
Harley smiled as she watched Haly. The baby was snuggled up in a cocoon of blankets. Her little feet kicked in her pajama onesie as she slept. Harley gently ran her fingers through her little tuft of black hair, feather soft after her bath. She glanced at Dick who had fallen asleep watching the baby, drooling onto his pillow. She shifted her elbow to a better position as she watched them.
Haly squirmed as she woke up, blinking her eyes before scrunching them up and clenching her little fists as she started to cry. Dick's head snapped off the pillow as he jerked awake at the noise. Harley chuckled a little.
"And I was so happy with the thought that you were getting some sleep." She kissed his forehead. "Go back to sleep," she glanced at the clock and saw it was nearly eleven, "it's my turn to feed her."
Dick smiled sleepily and rolled onto his side, yawning as he shoved his face back into the pillow. "Actually, I'm sleeping better than I have in months."
"Good," Harley scooped up the screaming baby, "but don't get used to it." She tucked her pink blanket around her kicking limbs.
Dick laughed. "I don't mind."
"Good." Harley nudged him with her knee. She talked soothingly as she carried Haly from the room. "It's okay, baby." When she walked in the kitchen, Alfred was waiting with a bottle.
"I could hear her crying from the parlor," he said, offering her the bottle. Harley adjusted Haly around to take it.
"Thanks Al." Harley smiled.
"Never had much luck with babies, mind you, but I do know how to prepare a bottle. After all, I only raised each of these boys, including Master Bruce, from adolescence." He smiled lovingly at Haly. "She's lovely," he said quietly.
"She really is." Harley offered her the bottle, but Haly fussed a little while longer before finally taking it. "There you go. You're just as stubborn as your father," Harley told her with a smile. Alfred laughed.
"Are you hungry, Miss Harley? Mothering is quite exhausting. I would know," he whispered with a wink as Bruce walked into the kitchen to the refrigerator. Bruce glanced at them suspiciously when they laughed.
"Good morning Bruce," Harley smiled, "did she wake you?" He took a drink of water from the water bottle that he'd pulled out of the fridge.
"I was up," he said simply. Bruce smiled a little and walked towards them. "How is she?"
"As far as I can tell, perfect." Harley watched her continue to suck on her bottle. "After Christmas we should probably take her to a doctor though. And according to official record, she's technically still dead." Haly finished off the last of the formula, and Harley set the bottle aside as the baby started to scream again. She grabbed a burping cloth and draped it over her shoulder as she moved Haly to burp her.
"Not a problem. Jason is technically dead as well, but I suppose that's a different situation." Bruce cleared his throat. "Harley... I want you to know that I will do anything I can to get you and Dick the life you want. Whether that's normal or... in our line of work... I want you to be happy. Both of you." He shifted a bit awkwardly and then nodded. Harley smiled at him.
"Here." Supporting Haly's head, she shifted the baby into Bruce's arms, adjusting them a little. "She may be a little fussy, so try rocking her a little. Gently."
"Wait, I-" Bruce tried to protest, but Haly settled down in his arms. He chuckled breathlessly and smiled. "She's..." Wow, Dick. "Congratulations."
"Thanks. I thought you could use the practice." Harley smirked, setting the burping cloth on the counter and moving to clean the bottle. Bruce went white, and Alfred turned sharply.
"What?"
"Alfred, I- we were going to-" Bruce carefully gave Haly back to Harley as Alfred walked towards him.
"What were you going to do?" he demanded. Bruce started to talk, but Alfred smacked the back of his head. "When were you planning on telling me?" He hit him again, and Bruce laughed in exasperation. "You'd best be taking care of this one. I'm far too old to be raising another child like I had to with you, and the rest of your sons..."
Watching them now, Harley couldn't imagine what Alfred dealing with a teenage Bruce would have been like.
"Sorry, I just assumed Alfred knew." Harley smiled down at Haly. "I didn't think anyone could keep a secret from him." Haly blinked her eyes, gurgling contentedly as their voices lulled her.
"It's been a busy couple of weeks," Alfred sighed, shooting one last glare at Bruce. His eyes shone despite his scolding. Selina came into the kitchen with Bruce's robe draped over her shoulders. She yawned and smiled when she saw Haly and Harley.
"How is the little angel?" She beamed. "Oh Harley, she's such a sweetheart!"
"She is," Harley cooed at Haly. "Earlier she was being a little devil instead and wouldn't stop crying after Dick fed her. It took a long time to get you to go back to sleep, didn't it?" Jason walked into the kitchen with tired eyes and bed head. He watched Haly warily as he walked by to get coffee.
Bruce took Selina's hand and guided her out of the kitchen to talk. Harley heard a pounding down the stairs in the foyer, and Dick leapt over the railing and through the kitchen door, landing quietly behind Jason.
"Heya, little brother," he flicked Jason's ear and grinned.
"Ew." Jason swatted his hand away, taking a gulp of coffee.
"Ah," Harley teased, "where's your Christmas spirit?"
"Hopefully at the bottom of this mug," he muttered.
"Jay did you spike it?" Dick pulled the mug away from him and smelled it.
"No." Jason smacked his hand, taking his cup back. "I only spiked the eggnog."
"Not the homemade stuff!" Dick whined. Jason shrugged.
"Hey everybody!" Tim called from the foyer as he and Steph dumped their bags by the stairs.
"Did you guys start the party without us?" Steph whined as she and Tim walked into the kitchen.
"Was Damian not invited?" Tim asked. He stopped by Dick. "I talked to the Titans. Everything's good, and they said to tell you Merry- What the hell is that?" Tim spotted Haly in Harley's arms.
"Oh. Tim, Steph-" Dick beamed- "Meet Haly."
"Meet... Haly..." Tim breathed. "Damn it. This is why I don't leave." Steph crouched in front of Harley, inches from Haly.
"Hey there little baby. Is this the Haly or a Haly? Are we just bringing in more Robins off the street?" She beamed at the baby. "She is as cute as a button."
"Long story short, Joker didn't kill her, he took her. And we got her back." Dick stroked Haly's chubby cheek lightly, smiling down at her.
"No telling what his demented plans were going to be, but for once, we were one step ahead of him," Harley grinned. Dick nodded and cleared his throat.
"Now... Now we can just focus on Christmas." He smiled lightly. "I've just... I gotta sit down..." Dick laughed and half stumbled to the table, the whole situation finally sinking in. "I'm a dad."
"Oh my God." Jason sat at the counter with his head in his hands. "Bruce is a grandfather. And Alfred's like that old relative in the nursing home."
"You're an uncle Jason," Dick laughed, but he looked… scared.
"Well," Jason stood up and clapped Dick on the shoulder, "at least you can't be a worse father than the Joker." He put his mug in the sink on his way out of the kitchen. "Morning Pan," he told Damian as he passed him in the doorway.
"Shut up, Todd," Damian muttered.
"How is Carrie, by the way?" Dick asked gently. Damian glanced at him stiffly.
"Fine. I suppose I should find your concern comforting and regard it a form of compassion or understanding- but I really find it to be none of your damn business."
"Young Master Damian, please, watch your language." Alfred shot him a glare from the stove, busy already preparing a Christmas Eve dinner.
"Yeah you sounded like your uptight mother right up until you turned into a tiny Bruce with the 'none of your damn business' part," Dick pondered. Alfred looked at him in exasperation.
"Well this uptight mother wants some coffee, so would you please take your daughter. Without upsetting her," Harley added. Dick beamed, taking Haly into his arms. He adjusted her gently against his elbow.
"Here," Damian handed Harley a mug of coffee and slid the cream and sugar towards her.
"Aw, Damian made his sister-in-law coffee," Steph cooed. Tim dropped down in a chair beside Dick, and Stephanie sat down on his left.
"Is there something wrong with me doing a good thing?" Damian asked lightly.
"No, it's just out of character," Tim shrugged. Dick nodded in agreement, and Damian scowled.
"Keep insulting him," Harley said, stirring in sugar, "and I'm sure poisoning your coffee won't be out of character." She sipped her coffee.
"Fine," Dick muttered. Damian walked out of the kitchen and glanced over his shoulder, pausing in the doorway.
"Carrie is improving, by the way," he said quietly. Damian disappeared into the hall. Dick smiled a little, his thumb stroking the soft blanket wrapped around Haly.
"Everyone's stopping by tomorrow, right?" Harley asked. "Dick told me you were Christmas breakfast sort of people instead of Christmas Eve dinner."
"Yeah, but Dick could never wait that long to open his presents," Jason smirked.
"Not true, Jason. Besides. I've already gotten everything I could have possibly wanted this year," Dick smiled down at his daughter. Stephanie awwed and Jason rolled his eyes. "We tended to be more of an early Christmas Eve, and then Christmas morning family. I don't think any of us remember a Christmas without patrol all night," he thought aloud, and Jason and Tim shook their heads.
"Not here, and not with Bruce, anyway," he added. Dick sighed in agreement, remembering Christmasses with his team. Haly fussed for a moment in his arms before he began humming softly, and she fell quiet again.
"I'm going to take her someplace with a little less noise," Dick said gently, and then kissed Harley's cheek before walking out of the kitchen. She saw him walking up to the bedroom before the door swung closed. Steph squealed loudly, practically tackling Harley.
"She is so cute! You guys need to bring her back down later, so I can hold her.. And start saying 'Stephanie is awesome' in front of her a bunch to make them her first words."
"'Red Hood' has a nice ring to it for first words," Jason mused. Harley laughed at them.
"You will all get a chance to hold her later, and she'll need a diaper change soon if anyone's volunteering." She picked her coffee back up and was about to walk out of the kitchen when she paused. "I know I'm usually the first person to yell at Bruce for wanting to go on patrol injured or on important evenings, but... we took her, and he isn't going to forgive that. If he..."
"You don't even have to ask," Jason scoffed. "There would be no greater Christmas present than my knife coated in the Joker's blood. Or a crowbar," he mused.
"Ok," Harley nodded, "but you keep that violence away from my baby."
She sipped her coffee as she walked out and headed up the stairs. She pushed open the door to the bedroom that she and Dick shared. The curtains were drawn, and she could see Dick's figure lying on the bed. One arm was around Haly protectively, snuggled into his chest, and his head raised off of his pillow a bit to smile lightly at Harley before he settled down again.
"Didn't you just get up?" Harley laughed quietly, crawling in beside him.
"I only went to bed three hours before then," he pointed out in a whisper.
"That used to be enough sleep for you," Harley countered.
"It is. But I'm not going to leave her alone," he whispered, tracing a finger feather light along Haly's cheek lovingly. He looked up at Harley and bit his lip before he smiled.
"I actually miss her when I can't see her," she sighed. "It's like physical ache. I never want to let her go."
"Then stay," Dick whispered softly. Haly kicked a bit, and he smiled.
"Who said I was going anywhere?" Harley grinned. Dick smiled a little.
"Good." He looked down at Haly. After some silence, he looked up at her again. "She looks like you."
"I think she looks like you." She studied Haly. "Definitely looks like you."
"Nah... She's got your eyes. Jay said she had mine, but mine are blue-gray. Hers have green, like yours." Dick watched their daughter stretch between them, her tiny hand clenched around his finger. Dick lay on his side with one hand propped under his head, Haly laying against his chest. "I might be wrong," he smiled a little.
"You are wrong," Harley assured him. "That adorably stupid look on her face as she sleeps? That's how you look when you sleep."
Dick laughed and then covered his mouth, smiling up at her. "I love you." He put one finger on her jaw, guiding her closer to his lips to kiss her. He smiled a little and leaned back again, looking down at Haly. "My two beautiful girls... What more could I have wanted for Christmas?" Dick laughed. "Well maybe another brother, or something." He chuckled quietly. Harley pursed her lips, staring at him with wide eyes. Dick looked up at her. "No. You aren't serious." He broke into a grin. "Are you kidding me?" Dick laughed, his voice still hushed in the dark.
"I was supposed to keep quiet about it," Harley muttered.
"Bruce..." Dick shook his head and smiled. "I can't wait to see what you do with another kid... I can't believe it. We're all changing so much." Dick looked up at Harley and smiled a little. He reached a hand up to push some of her hair away from her face, his finger brushing her cheek gently as he leaned forward and kissed her lovingly. His taste was so familiar and welcoming, his hand warm on her cheek. Haly kicked between them, and Harley felt Dick smile against her lips.
"I don't think I can get any happier than I am right now," Harley murmured, resting her forehead against his as she looked down at Haly. Dick nodded in agreement.
"Merry Christmas," he whispered, stroking Harley's cheek.
"Merry Christmas." Harley smiled before leaning in and kissing him.