fic Baby Mine parts 3 & 4
Title: Baby Mine part 3 & 4
Author: darthbatgirl
Beta: larsinger29
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Characters: Roy/Tim, Steph, Cassandra, Bruce, Jason Blood, Zatanna, Kon-El, Lian, Damian,
Summary: Tim finds a baby in his living room one morning. With Roy's help, Tim discovers that the baby is his and Roy's. This discovery leads Roy and Tim down a path that will bind them together forever.
Previous Parts: 1 & 2
Word Count: 3148
Warnings: fluff, domestic, slice-of-life, slight angst
A/N: written for the dcu_bigbang. Thank you to the wonderful larsinger29 for her wonderful beta work. (All mistakes you see will be mine.)
Part 3
Jason Blood poured over magical texts as Zatanna bent over a tailsmon murmuring spells under her breath. She stood up and looked at Tim, “Tell me about this wish you made again.”
Tim ran a hand through his hair, “About four months ago the planet Orion VIII was being attacked by raiders. The Queen was an old friend of Starfire's, so the Titans went to help. During one of the attacks I had pulled one of the high priestesses out of the line of fire. After the attack she gave me a coin and said at sunrise I should go to a fountain in the palace's courtyard and throw the coin in and make a wish and it would come true. I wasn't even going to do it, but Starfire said it would be disrespectful if I didn't.”
“And you wished for a baby?” she asked kindly.
“Sort of. I wished for a baby that was mine and Roy's. So . . did I really wish for him?”
“There's extremely strong magical energies surrounding him. It's a good possibility,” Zatanna said. “It certainly feels like wish magic.” she said as an after thought.
“Wish magic,” Roy said from his place leaning against the wall. “You mean like rub the lamp and the genie gives you three wishes?”
“Something like that,” Blood said glancing up from his book. “But you have to be careful of the source. Some times the one giving the wishes likes to play tricks.”
“You mean the baby could be dangerous?”
“Well there's a long history of twists being put to the wish. A lucky coin causes the death of the owner - not very lucky for the owner. Wishing for a returned loved one, only have them come back as a zombie. A knight wishing for superior fighting skill being turned into a demon. Things like that.”
“Jason let’s not dwell on the negative right yet,” Zatanna scolded.
“He asked.”
Tim sighed, shaking his head and getting up from the seat he was at. “Roy could I talked to you out in the hall?” he asked not waiting to see if Roy followed or not. Roy pushed off from the wall and walked after Tim out in the hallway.
“Roy, why aren’t you happy about the baby?” Tim asked softly
Roy shook his head as he stepped closer to Tim, “I’m . . happy about him. I am. I mean how many people get a kid from a wish right?”
“You’re talking about Jack like he’s some science experiment,” Tim said incredibly.
“No. I'm not saying that he is, but . . . wait, Jack? You gave him a name already?” asked Roy, shaking his head.
“Yes, I named him. I got tired of everyone calling him ‘the baby’ or ‘the child’ or 'him'. It's been over six hours, I figured he deserved a name,” Tim answered back, a defensive edge to his voice.
“Except you had the name already picked out before all of this, didn't you? It was part of the wish wasn't it? A wish you didn't seem to think you needed to share with me.” Roy demanded.
“Is that why you're mad? Because I didn't talk to you about the wish?”
“I'm mad because yet again you're keeping me at arms length. You obviously want something more between us if you’re wishing we had a child together, but don't even have the courage to tell me!” Roy said waving an arm around in exasperation.
“Well maybe I didn't think I was ready for more yet. Or maybe you're the one that's not ready,” Tim said as he turned around and started to walk down the hall.
“Where are you going?”
“To check on Jack.” Tim said without looking back.
Tim headed down the hallway toward the room where they had set up a crib for Jack. Anger, frustration, and guilt seemed to form a pit in his stomach. Roy's reaction was hurtful. Was having a child with Tim - no matter the circumstances - so distasteful?
When he finally got to the room Tim had worked himself into a state.The sight of Superboy leaning over the crib, therefore made him almost cry in relief.
Kon-El had a huge smile on his face as he gently smoothed out the black hair on the baby's forehead. “Tell me I'm going to be the God-Father. You can't have Dick be it, he's an uncle. So it's me, right?”
“Kon, what are you doing here?” Tim asked as he came to stand next to his best friend.
“Clark told me what was going on. There was no way I wasn't coming up. Tim, you have a kid.” Kon said looking over at Tim, his grin faltering as he saw Tim's downcast look. “What wrong?”
“Roy and I had a fight. He's not happy with . . . everything.” Tim said softly.
“About the baby?” Kon asked in concern.
“More like the cause of it,” Tim said. “He seems thinks I'm keeping things from him. I'm not . . . it's just I had this thought, of me and Roy and Lian and this little baby that was Roy's and mine's and we're all together. It was just a thought and it made me happy. Now it's real and Roy doesn't want anything to do with it.” Tim said, shaking his head looking miserable.
Kon wrapped an arm around Tim’s shoulders, and said, “Look at this little guy. He's real and he's yours and if anyone deserves to be happy it's you. If that's too much for Harper to handle then its his loss.”
“I don't know anything about being a parent. I wanted Roy to show me how.” Tim said miserably.
At that moment Jack started whimpering in his sleep and whimpers soon turning into cries. Tim bent to scoop his son up and cuddle him close, “Shh; it's okay, I got you.” Tim whispered, checking him over. “Oh someone needs a diaper change.”
He smiled softly, soothing Jack as he turned to grab the diaper supplies that J'onn had left for him.
Kon grinned, “I think you got the parent thing handled just fine. So . . . I am the god-father right?”
Tim looked over his shoulder, smirking, “I could ask Bart.”
“Dude, harsh.”
* * * *
Roy strode into the monitor room with his shoulders hunched and a scowl on his face and flung himself into a seat next to Hal.
“Well hello there, sunshine,” Hal commented with a raised eyebrow.
“Not now, Hal,” Roy grounded out.
“Hey what's going on?” Hal asked.
For a moment Roy just shook his head, but then slowly he said, “Tim and I just fought. Things are . . . not the best between us right now.”
“Can't say I'm surprised,” Hal said, “ You've been wound up since you got here,”
“Me?! Tim's the one keeping his own agenda.”
“Roy, you can't be mad that Tim made some wish on an alien planet.”
“Of course I'm not mad about that. It's the fact he's not talking to me. Apparently he has this hidden desire to have a family that I had no idea about. Thought when you're in a couple these were the things you talked about.”
“Maybe these are things that he feels he can't talk about,” Hal offered.
“What do you mean?”
“Look I don't know Tim that well, but it seems that family isn't an easy subject for him,” said Hal.
“No, “ Roy said softly, “It's not easy at all.”
“So saying 'hey I want to have a kid with you' isn't going to be rolling off his tongue,” said Hal.
“Maybe be not,” Roy admitted grudgingly. “But I would have like to have known. If only to tell him that I liked the idea too.”
“Well you know now. Go tell him,” Hal said nodding at the door.
Roy nodded and slipped outside into the hallway. He grimaced as he realized he didn't know where Tim and their son had gone. The word still felt heavy and the idea of it made him feel both hot and cold at the same time. He schooled his face into a neutral look and pulled his communicator out. “Arrow to Red Robin., you hear me?”
“Sorry Arrow, but double R's not here right now,” came the all too familiar voice of Superboy. Not the voice he had wanted to hear.
He sighed in frustration, “Where's Tim, and why doesn't he have his communicator?”
“Well Manhunter said that Jack was perfectly healthy. So Tm asked if he could take him home and J’onn said sure why not. I just found his communicator, he must have dropped it.” Kon said.
“Yeah, he must have,” Roy repeated as he banged his head against the wall.
“Don't worry, I'll get it back to him,” Kon said.
“Yeah . . .sure.”
“And Roy?” Kon asked,
“Yeah?”
“Congrats on Jack, he's great.”
“Thanks Kon,” Roy said softly.
Part 4
Lian Harper huffed with annoyance as she thought that adults were impossible,.there was no other word for it. For two days her Dad had practically been living in the back yard, spending all day - and some of the night thanks to the backyard lights he installed two years ago - firing at the archery target at the end of the back yard. When she asked what was wrong, Roy simply gave her a sad smile and said he was just working through some things and not to worry about it.
Luckily for her, Mia was much more talkative. Lian credited it to the second Speedy being seventeen and not fully an adult and appreciating the need to know about the things that were going on around her. She was planning on wearing black on Mia's eighteenth birthday as her older sister/aunt/best friend and total confidant succumbed to complete adulthood. For the mean time however Mia told her everything.
Which was a lot.
So it seemed like Lian Harper has a baby brother and no one thought that they could tell her because Dad and Tim had some falling out. Which was just stupid. Dad and Tim were two halves of a whole and nothing would keep them apart for long, everyone knew that. Though if they thought that she'd just sit here waiting for them to make up before she saw her brother - well obviously they didn't know Lian very well.
A little after eleven, Lian got out of bed and quickly dressed in jeans, T-shirt and jacket. after checking on Roy, who was busy glaring at his current bullseye, she went up to Roy's study.
The room was really a bizarre mixture of study and armory with Roy's JLA teleporter stuck in a corner.
She quickly went over and typed in the password that would take her over to Tim's house. Lian hopped on the teleporter and shimmered away and reappeared in Tim's living room. The house was quiet, only one lamp on a side table, next to an overstuffed couch, lit the room and there was no sign of Tim. She felt bad for sneaking around in the middle of the night like this, but did they really think she’d just stay at home?
Lian crept up the stairs and down the hall,. peeking in room after room till she found one that had been turned into a nursery. Lian let a small squeal of excitement as she hurried over to the crib and looked on her little brother for the first time. “Oh how adorable!” she whispered as she lowered the guardrail down and picked him up.
“Why does everyone insist on picking him upon seeing him?” came a dry voice that was heavily laced with irritation.
Lian looked over her shoulder to see Damian standing in the doorway, a frown on his face. “What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Obviously I'm helping ,” He sniffed holding up the bottle in his hand. “Drake is totally over his head and needs as much help as he can get.”
Lian wrinkled her nose. She and the youngest of the Bats had never seen eye to eye. She much preferred it when she got to deal with Stephanie or Cassandra - Cassandra was cool. Damian was annoying and thought he was better than everyone except Batman. “Honestly, the child will never develop a proper sleeping pattern.”
Lian snorted as she cuddled Jack and kissing the top of his head, “And what would you know about taking care of a baby?”
“I've read books,” Damian said, crossing his arms.
Rolling her eyes, Lian went over to a rocking chair in the corner of the room, it was a light brown with light green cushions, and started rocking her brother as he made little cooing noises, “ Books? Really, Damian?”
Damian scrunched up his nose, but before he could say anything Tim walked in, “What going on here? Jack's suppose to be sleeping.”
“It's her fault!” Damian said point an accusing finger at Lian. “She snuck into the house! I told her she was interrupting!”
Lian looked guilty as she looked up at Tim, “Sorry, Tim. I didn't mean too! Honest! I . . . I just wanted to see him.”
Tim's face softened as his lips turned up in a smile, “Well Big Sister prerogative, I guess. I'm surprised it took you this long.”
Lian handed Jack over when Tim held out his arms. She screwed up her face and said, “ Daddy's being stupid right now . . . kind of like you.”
If Lian was looking, she would have seen Damian's eyebrows raise up in surprise. Something like respect kindled in his eyes for the Harper girl. Lian watched as Tim kissed Jack on the top of his head and laid him in his crib. “You're right,” Tim said as he turned to look at the two kids. “Did you at least leave a note for Roy?”
Lian bit her lip as some of her gusto left. “Uh . . no?”
Tim gave a look saying he wasn't surprised, but laid a warm hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “I”m going to give your Dad a call. You can watch Jack for a couple more minutes, but then get down to the living room. We are trying to get him on a sleep schedule.”
After Tim, left Damian and Lian moved over to the crib. Each looking down at the infant, Lian's look open and happy, Damian's a more guarded look. “He's so small,” he said at last.
“Well yeah, he's a baby,” Lian said, rolling her eyes - it's something she does a lot when she's around Damian.
“I've . . . never been around one before.”
Realization dawned on Lian's face, “So that's why you're here.”
“What are you talking about?” Damian asked softly.
“You were curious about the baby,” Lian said smugly.
“Tt,” Damian scoffed as he turned to leave the room. “I'm here because Pennyworth cannot be here all the time to make sure Drake doesn't screw things up.”
“Right,” Lian drew out the word as she followed after. “Because that's what Tim needs. A ten year old boy who knows nothing about babies.”
* * * *
Tim called over to Roy's and left a message that Lian was safe with him. He didn't really want to think to much about weather he got the answering machine because Roy was actually busy with something or weather Roy just didn't want to talk to him.
He checked on the kids and found them in the kitchen helping themselves to pie that Alfred had brought over. Satisfied that they weren't going to get into another fight, he headed up to his room to lay down for a couple of minutes.
He swore he had only closed his eyes for a moment, but he woke with a start as he heard a voice come through the baby monitor. Tim groaned as he sat up and rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hand. Jack was never going to get on a sleep cycle if Damian kept “checking up” on him.
Tim froze though when the voice was deeper, more mature - adult. Then he breathed quietly as he recognized Roy's soft timber. “I'm not to proud to say this,” he was saying, “But I was jealous and that has got to be the most humiliating thing ever. I mean who gets jealous of their own kid . . .apparently me.”
“Seeing him just melt when he found you . . .it reminded me how hard it was getting close to your Papa. He's had a lot of hurt in his life and kept people at a distance. Not that that really stopped me much. I was persistent, I asked him out all the time, over and over. I think he finally said yes just to shut me up, and that totally make me sound like some stalker. I'm not you know. I just knew he was the one and I couldn't just give up on him. Which again makes me sound like a stalker, but I'll have you know I have never stalked your Papa - except for this one time and only because he was sick and just wouldn't stay in bed. I was just making sure he was okay.
You know what? You shouldn't ever come to me for dating advice.
The point is I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. You had Tim wrapped around your little finger from the get go where I had to fight for every moment I had with him. That doesn't even make things remotely right. I'm your Dad, I should have been right there with Tim instead of seeing you as a threat.”
Tim had left his room and went down to Jack's. He saw Roy holding Jack in his arms walking back and forth with him just talking. He leaned on the door frame and sighed, “I'm never going to get him on a decent sleep schedule am I?”
Roy looked up, a mixture of emotions flickering across his face. He didn't put down Jack though, he held him closer kissing the top of his head. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Tim said back and took a couple of steps in the room, but didn't make a move to take Jack from Roy.
“We're parents,” Roy whispered, “His our son. He's ours.”
Tim nodded as placed one hand on Jack's back and another on Roy's arm. “Yeah he is.”
“Tim . . the way I acted . . .the stuff I said . . .”
“Shh,” Tim hushed as he placed a finger on Roy's lips. “It doesn't matter. You're here. That's what's important.”
Roy shifted Jack so he rested on Roy's shoulder and wrapped one arm around Tim's waist, resting his forehead on Tim's. Their lips was a bare inch apart and their breaths were warm and intermingled. Tim cupped Roy's face, fingers splayed across his cheek bones. When their lips met it was warm and welcoming, a sense of home filled them both. Roy grinned as they parted, Tim's soft sigh sounding sweet in his ears.
Author: darthbatgirl
Beta: larsinger29
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Characters: Roy/Tim, Steph, Cassandra, Bruce, Jason Blood, Zatanna, Kon-El, Lian, Damian,
Summary: Tim finds a baby in his living room one morning. With Roy's help, Tim discovers that the baby is his and Roy's. This discovery leads Roy and Tim down a path that will bind them together forever.
Previous Parts: 1 & 2
Word Count: 3148
Warnings: fluff, domestic, slice-of-life, slight angst
A/N: written for the dcu_bigbang. Thank you to the wonderful larsinger29 for her wonderful beta work. (All mistakes you see will be mine.)
Part 3
Jason Blood poured over magical texts as Zatanna bent over a tailsmon murmuring spells under her breath. She stood up and looked at Tim, “Tell me about this wish you made again.”
Tim ran a hand through his hair, “About four months ago the planet Orion VIII was being attacked by raiders. The Queen was an old friend of Starfire's, so the Titans went to help. During one of the attacks I had pulled one of the high priestesses out of the line of fire. After the attack she gave me a coin and said at sunrise I should go to a fountain in the palace's courtyard and throw the coin in and make a wish and it would come true. I wasn't even going to do it, but Starfire said it would be disrespectful if I didn't.”
“And you wished for a baby?” she asked kindly.
“Sort of. I wished for a baby that was mine and Roy's. So . . did I really wish for him?”
“There's extremely strong magical energies surrounding him. It's a good possibility,” Zatanna said. “It certainly feels like wish magic.” she said as an after thought.
“Wish magic,” Roy said from his place leaning against the wall. “You mean like rub the lamp and the genie gives you three wishes?”
“Something like that,” Blood said glancing up from his book. “But you have to be careful of the source. Some times the one giving the wishes likes to play tricks.”
“You mean the baby could be dangerous?”
“Well there's a long history of twists being put to the wish. A lucky coin causes the death of the owner - not very lucky for the owner. Wishing for a returned loved one, only have them come back as a zombie. A knight wishing for superior fighting skill being turned into a demon. Things like that.”
“Jason let’s not dwell on the negative right yet,” Zatanna scolded.
“He asked.”
Tim sighed, shaking his head and getting up from the seat he was at. “Roy could I talked to you out in the hall?” he asked not waiting to see if Roy followed or not. Roy pushed off from the wall and walked after Tim out in the hallway.
“Roy, why aren’t you happy about the baby?” Tim asked softly
Roy shook his head as he stepped closer to Tim, “I’m . . happy about him. I am. I mean how many people get a kid from a wish right?”
“You’re talking about Jack like he’s some science experiment,” Tim said incredibly.
“No. I'm not saying that he is, but . . . wait, Jack? You gave him a name already?” asked Roy, shaking his head.
“Yes, I named him. I got tired of everyone calling him ‘the baby’ or ‘the child’ or 'him'. It's been over six hours, I figured he deserved a name,” Tim answered back, a defensive edge to his voice.
“Except you had the name already picked out before all of this, didn't you? It was part of the wish wasn't it? A wish you didn't seem to think you needed to share with me.” Roy demanded.
“Is that why you're mad? Because I didn't talk to you about the wish?”
“I'm mad because yet again you're keeping me at arms length. You obviously want something more between us if you’re wishing we had a child together, but don't even have the courage to tell me!” Roy said waving an arm around in exasperation.
“Well maybe I didn't think I was ready for more yet. Or maybe you're the one that's not ready,” Tim said as he turned around and started to walk down the hall.
“Where are you going?”
“To check on Jack.” Tim said without looking back.
Tim headed down the hallway toward the room where they had set up a crib for Jack. Anger, frustration, and guilt seemed to form a pit in his stomach. Roy's reaction was hurtful. Was having a child with Tim - no matter the circumstances - so distasteful?
When he finally got to the room Tim had worked himself into a state.The sight of Superboy leaning over the crib, therefore made him almost cry in relief.
Kon-El had a huge smile on his face as he gently smoothed out the black hair on the baby's forehead. “Tell me I'm going to be the God-Father. You can't have Dick be it, he's an uncle. So it's me, right?”
“Kon, what are you doing here?” Tim asked as he came to stand next to his best friend.
“Clark told me what was going on. There was no way I wasn't coming up. Tim, you have a kid.” Kon said looking over at Tim, his grin faltering as he saw Tim's downcast look. “What wrong?”
“Roy and I had a fight. He's not happy with . . . everything.” Tim said softly.
“About the baby?” Kon asked in concern.
“More like the cause of it,” Tim said. “He seems thinks I'm keeping things from him. I'm not . . . it's just I had this thought, of me and Roy and Lian and this little baby that was Roy's and mine's and we're all together. It was just a thought and it made me happy. Now it's real and Roy doesn't want anything to do with it.” Tim said, shaking his head looking miserable.
Kon wrapped an arm around Tim’s shoulders, and said, “Look at this little guy. He's real and he's yours and if anyone deserves to be happy it's you. If that's too much for Harper to handle then its his loss.”
“I don't know anything about being a parent. I wanted Roy to show me how.” Tim said miserably.
At that moment Jack started whimpering in his sleep and whimpers soon turning into cries. Tim bent to scoop his son up and cuddle him close, “Shh; it's okay, I got you.” Tim whispered, checking him over. “Oh someone needs a diaper change.”
He smiled softly, soothing Jack as he turned to grab the diaper supplies that J'onn had left for him.
Kon grinned, “I think you got the parent thing handled just fine. So . . . I am the god-father right?”
Tim looked over his shoulder, smirking, “I could ask Bart.”
“Dude, harsh.”
* * * *
Roy strode into the monitor room with his shoulders hunched and a scowl on his face and flung himself into a seat next to Hal.
“Well hello there, sunshine,” Hal commented with a raised eyebrow.
“Not now, Hal,” Roy grounded out.
“Hey what's going on?” Hal asked.
For a moment Roy just shook his head, but then slowly he said, “Tim and I just fought. Things are . . . not the best between us right now.”
“Can't say I'm surprised,” Hal said, “ You've been wound up since you got here,”
“Me?! Tim's the one keeping his own agenda.”
“Roy, you can't be mad that Tim made some wish on an alien planet.”
“Of course I'm not mad about that. It's the fact he's not talking to me. Apparently he has this hidden desire to have a family that I had no idea about. Thought when you're in a couple these were the things you talked about.”
“Maybe these are things that he feels he can't talk about,” Hal offered.
“What do you mean?”
“Look I don't know Tim that well, but it seems that family isn't an easy subject for him,” said Hal.
“No, “ Roy said softly, “It's not easy at all.”
“So saying 'hey I want to have a kid with you' isn't going to be rolling off his tongue,” said Hal.
“Maybe be not,” Roy admitted grudgingly. “But I would have like to have known. If only to tell him that I liked the idea too.”
“Well you know now. Go tell him,” Hal said nodding at the door.
Roy nodded and slipped outside into the hallway. He grimaced as he realized he didn't know where Tim and their son had gone. The word still felt heavy and the idea of it made him feel both hot and cold at the same time. He schooled his face into a neutral look and pulled his communicator out. “Arrow to Red Robin., you hear me?”
“Sorry Arrow, but double R's not here right now,” came the all too familiar voice of Superboy. Not the voice he had wanted to hear.
He sighed in frustration, “Where's Tim, and why doesn't he have his communicator?”
“Well Manhunter said that Jack was perfectly healthy. So Tm asked if he could take him home and J’onn said sure why not. I just found his communicator, he must have dropped it.” Kon said.
“Yeah, he must have,” Roy repeated as he banged his head against the wall.
“Don't worry, I'll get it back to him,” Kon said.
“Yeah . . .sure.”
“And Roy?” Kon asked,
“Yeah?”
“Congrats on Jack, he's great.”
“Thanks Kon,” Roy said softly.
Part 4
Lian Harper huffed with annoyance as she thought that adults were impossible,.there was no other word for it. For two days her Dad had practically been living in the back yard, spending all day - and some of the night thanks to the backyard lights he installed two years ago - firing at the archery target at the end of the back yard. When she asked what was wrong, Roy simply gave her a sad smile and said he was just working through some things and not to worry about it.
Luckily for her, Mia was much more talkative. Lian credited it to the second Speedy being seventeen and not fully an adult and appreciating the need to know about the things that were going on around her. She was planning on wearing black on Mia's eighteenth birthday as her older sister/aunt/best friend and total confidant succumbed to complete adulthood. For the mean time however Mia told her everything.
Which was a lot.
So it seemed like Lian Harper has a baby brother and no one thought that they could tell her because Dad and Tim had some falling out. Which was just stupid. Dad and Tim were two halves of a whole and nothing would keep them apart for long, everyone knew that. Though if they thought that she'd just sit here waiting for them to make up before she saw her brother - well obviously they didn't know Lian very well.
A little after eleven, Lian got out of bed and quickly dressed in jeans, T-shirt and jacket. after checking on Roy, who was busy glaring at his current bullseye, she went up to Roy's study.
The room was really a bizarre mixture of study and armory with Roy's JLA teleporter stuck in a corner.
She quickly went over and typed in the password that would take her over to Tim's house. Lian hopped on the teleporter and shimmered away and reappeared in Tim's living room. The house was quiet, only one lamp on a side table, next to an overstuffed couch, lit the room and there was no sign of Tim. She felt bad for sneaking around in the middle of the night like this, but did they really think she’d just stay at home?
Lian crept up the stairs and down the hall,. peeking in room after room till she found one that had been turned into a nursery. Lian let a small squeal of excitement as she hurried over to the crib and looked on her little brother for the first time. “Oh how adorable!” she whispered as she lowered the guardrail down and picked him up.
“Why does everyone insist on picking him upon seeing him?” came a dry voice that was heavily laced with irritation.
Lian looked over her shoulder to see Damian standing in the doorway, a frown on his face. “What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Obviously I'm helping ,” He sniffed holding up the bottle in his hand. “Drake is totally over his head and needs as much help as he can get.”
Lian wrinkled her nose. She and the youngest of the Bats had never seen eye to eye. She much preferred it when she got to deal with Stephanie or Cassandra - Cassandra was cool. Damian was annoying and thought he was better than everyone except Batman. “Honestly, the child will never develop a proper sleeping pattern.”
Lian snorted as she cuddled Jack and kissing the top of his head, “And what would you know about taking care of a baby?”
“I've read books,” Damian said, crossing his arms.
Rolling her eyes, Lian went over to a rocking chair in the corner of the room, it was a light brown with light green cushions, and started rocking her brother as he made little cooing noises, “ Books? Really, Damian?”
Damian scrunched up his nose, but before he could say anything Tim walked in, “What going on here? Jack's suppose to be sleeping.”
“It's her fault!” Damian said point an accusing finger at Lian. “She snuck into the house! I told her she was interrupting!”
Lian looked guilty as she looked up at Tim, “Sorry, Tim. I didn't mean too! Honest! I . . . I just wanted to see him.”
Tim's face softened as his lips turned up in a smile, “Well Big Sister prerogative, I guess. I'm surprised it took you this long.”
Lian handed Jack over when Tim held out his arms. She screwed up her face and said, “ Daddy's being stupid right now . . . kind of like you.”
If Lian was looking, she would have seen Damian's eyebrows raise up in surprise. Something like respect kindled in his eyes for the Harper girl. Lian watched as Tim kissed Jack on the top of his head and laid him in his crib. “You're right,” Tim said as he turned to look at the two kids. “Did you at least leave a note for Roy?”
Lian bit her lip as some of her gusto left. “Uh . . no?”
Tim gave a look saying he wasn't surprised, but laid a warm hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “I”m going to give your Dad a call. You can watch Jack for a couple more minutes, but then get down to the living room. We are trying to get him on a sleep schedule.”
After Tim, left Damian and Lian moved over to the crib. Each looking down at the infant, Lian's look open and happy, Damian's a more guarded look. “He's so small,” he said at last.
“Well yeah, he's a baby,” Lian said, rolling her eyes - it's something she does a lot when she's around Damian.
“I've . . . never been around one before.”
Realization dawned on Lian's face, “So that's why you're here.”
“What are you talking about?” Damian asked softly.
“You were curious about the baby,” Lian said smugly.
“Tt,” Damian scoffed as he turned to leave the room. “I'm here because Pennyworth cannot be here all the time to make sure Drake doesn't screw things up.”
“Right,” Lian drew out the word as she followed after. “Because that's what Tim needs. A ten year old boy who knows nothing about babies.”
* * * *
Tim called over to Roy's and left a message that Lian was safe with him. He didn't really want to think to much about weather he got the answering machine because Roy was actually busy with something or weather Roy just didn't want to talk to him.
He checked on the kids and found them in the kitchen helping themselves to pie that Alfred had brought over. Satisfied that they weren't going to get into another fight, he headed up to his room to lay down for a couple of minutes.
He swore he had only closed his eyes for a moment, but he woke with a start as he heard a voice come through the baby monitor. Tim groaned as he sat up and rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hand. Jack was never going to get on a sleep cycle if Damian kept “checking up” on him.
Tim froze though when the voice was deeper, more mature - adult. Then he breathed quietly as he recognized Roy's soft timber. “I'm not to proud to say this,” he was saying, “But I was jealous and that has got to be the most humiliating thing ever. I mean who gets jealous of their own kid . . .apparently me.”
“Seeing him just melt when he found you . . .it reminded me how hard it was getting close to your Papa. He's had a lot of hurt in his life and kept people at a distance. Not that that really stopped me much. I was persistent, I asked him out all the time, over and over. I think he finally said yes just to shut me up, and that totally make me sound like some stalker. I'm not you know. I just knew he was the one and I couldn't just give up on him. Which again makes me sound like a stalker, but I'll have you know I have never stalked your Papa - except for this one time and only because he was sick and just wouldn't stay in bed. I was just making sure he was okay.
You know what? You shouldn't ever come to me for dating advice.
The point is I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. You had Tim wrapped around your little finger from the get go where I had to fight for every moment I had with him. That doesn't even make things remotely right. I'm your Dad, I should have been right there with Tim instead of seeing you as a threat.”
Tim had left his room and went down to Jack's. He saw Roy holding Jack in his arms walking back and forth with him just talking. He leaned on the door frame and sighed, “I'm never going to get him on a decent sleep schedule am I?”
Roy looked up, a mixture of emotions flickering across his face. He didn't put down Jack though, he held him closer kissing the top of his head. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Tim said back and took a couple of steps in the room, but didn't make a move to take Jack from Roy.
“We're parents,” Roy whispered, “His our son. He's ours.”
Tim nodded as placed one hand on Jack's back and another on Roy's arm. “Yeah he is.”
“Tim . . the way I acted . . .the stuff I said . . .”
“Shh,” Tim hushed as he placed a finger on Roy's lips. “It doesn't matter. You're here. That's what's important.”
Roy shifted Jack so he rested on Roy's shoulder and wrapped one arm around Tim's waist, resting his forehead on Tim's. Their lips was a bare inch apart and their breaths were warm and intermingled. Tim cupped Roy's face, fingers splayed across his cheek bones. When their lips met it was warm and welcoming, a sense of home filled them both. Roy grinned as they parted, Tim's soft sigh sounding sweet in his ears.