Tim Drake Gets the Love he Deserves

Ch. 5

Tim and Steph managed to find Cass, and they snuck away without anyone realizing they were gone.

They made it to the manor in record time, arriving just a few minutes after Tim received the notification.

Ra's wouldn't know what was coming.

He was obviously expecting to arrive at an empty house, with all the Wayne's out celebrating at the Mountain.

But, Tim was smarter. And, even better, Tim knew how Ra's thought.

Mistake number one.

Ra's would want to ambush them as they came out of the Zeta. Surprise them and take them down quickly.

But, how could he ambush them, if he was the one being ambushed?

They hid in the rafters, watching.

Waiting.

Usually, Ra's would send someone else to do this for him.

But he was angry. Not thinking straight. Cass and Tim had tricked him. He would want to do this himself.

That was mistake number two. 

Mistake number three was expecting to beat Cass and Tim and Steph.

With Cass on their side, they were unbeatable.

Ra's didn't know that. Because this Ra's never had The One Who Knows All in this universe.

He would not win this battle.

And he would not be coming back after this for a long, long time. If ever.

It was over quickly enough.

Steph and Tim took down all the ninja while Cass worked on Ra's. By the time it was over, and they'd sent the League running, it had been 38 minutes.

The rest of the family would have noticed their absence by now.

They'd be heading to the manor. Where the Zeta's said the three had gone.

They'd be here any minute now.

All that was left to do was wait, and nurse the few wounds they had received.

…

Bruce was yelling.

Tim didn't like it when Bruce yelled.

It reminded him of… well.

Everything, really.

But it was worth it. Damian was safe.

Damian would be safe forever.

It was all worth it.

…

"Why didn't you tell us?" Dick asked, once Jason had hit Bruce across the head and told him to stop shouting.

Tim sighed. "It was your wedding night. I didn't want to ruin it. Besides, we wouldn't have needed your help."

"Against Ra's?" Bruce exclaimed, "He's too powerful. You wouldn't have been able to beat him."

"Me? No. I wouldn't have. Not physically." Tim agreed. "But Cass? She can. And she did."

"Okay, there's one thing I don't understand." Jason said. "I get the whole, wanting to protect Damian and things. And Cass and you are both fucking bad asses, remind me not to get on your bad side, but why Steph?"

Steph glared at him. "Thanks, Jason."

Jason rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean. Out of all of us, you and Duke have the least training. Why did Timbo ask for your help, and not ours?"

Tim winced. "I um… couldn't lie to her."

"Say what?" Steph whirled around, looking very confused. "What do you mean you can't lie to me? You can lie to Batman?"

Ignoring the rise of questions at her words, Tim just winced again.

"I… um, well. That's… different. I… you're different." he stammered, his ears turning red.

Steph narrowed her eyes at him. "How so?"

Tim looked away. "Um, can we talk about this later?" he begged.

"No. We're talking about this now. Explain." she snapped, crossing her arms.

The Bats behind them looked at each other awkwardly, not knowing what to do.

"Fine. Fine. You're… you were my best friend, Steph!" Tim exclaimed. "You were all I had in the world that was 100% good. The only one that I knew loved me unconditionally. My parents didn't. Bruce, Dick, everyone… they didn't." he trailed off, his eyes looking distant. "But… but you? I… I knew. I knew that you loved me. You were my best friend and I… I fell in love with you. And I know. We can't go back to that. Not now. Maybe not ever. But… but you are still my best friend. I can't lie to you. It would… It would break me."

He paused, looking her in the eyes for the first time since he began talking.

"I can't handle another break. So no. I didn't lie. And I won't."

Steph was tearing up, and she ran over and hugged him, sobbing into his shoulder.

Tim hugged back just as tightly, a few tears slipping down his face too.

"Not yet." Steph whispered in his ear. "It wouldn't be healthy for us to get back together right now… but. Maybe. In the future."

Tim smiled into her shoulder.

…

The rest of the night was uneventful. Bruce had forgiven them, after he watched the footage of the fight and realized that they really did have it handled. (And also Tim's little heartfelt speech sure did help. And Bruce found himself wishing that he could go kick other him in the ass and ten times over.)

The news was talking about the three newest Wayne's for weeks. Tim and Damian had decided to home school, so they didn't have to deal with it much, but it made going around town as freely as before much harder.

But where there's a will, there's a way.

So they went to the movies. They went shopping. They talked. They laughed.

They were a family.

And Bruce couldn't wait to see where it would take them. Having Damian, Cass, and Tim join them was the piece to the puzzle they didn't know they were missing.

And Bruce had made it his mission to protect them with all of his power.

And if the other universe even dared come for his children?

He would make them suffer.

Because Batman didn't kill.

But he could make people wish they were dead.

........

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