Uncle Bruce

7

Bruce left the kitchen and headed to his surveillance room. He looked for the video of the pool.

He watched them all, and was amused at the water fight all over again. But as he watched, he saw that Percy didn't come up for air while she was swimming around everyone.

Then Tim, Damian, and him left. Then Dick left, though, Percy and Jason talked for a while.

Percy seemed to be talking to Jason about the grey, and vise versa, but it took some time to get there. He'd talk to Jason at a different time.

He watched as Jason also left, but Percy stayed in the pool. He watched her swim laps for a while, then glance at the door, and swim laps under water for a good twenty minutes before resurfacing. But then she dove underwater and just stayed in one spot.

If he hadn't just talked to her and seen her, he would have assumed she drowned.

After she came up she swam a bit longer, then around 12:30 am she got out and headed to her room.

"Master Bruce, would you like to bring up the hot chocolate and cookies?" Alfred asked. Normally, he would. However, he understood what Bruce was doing.

Bruce turned away from the computer, and looked at Alfred. "Of course. You can get started on a light lunch, if you're able to," Bruce said.

"As you wish, Master Bruce," Alfred said, leaving the cup and plate with Bruce, then he left and went to start something small for lunch.

Bruce brought the chocolate up to Percy's room, and knocked.

"I'm awake," Bruce heard through the door. He opened it up, and felt defeated at the sight of his niece curled up in a ball.

"I brought hot chocolate and cookies. Alfred told me you made them?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah," Percy said, sitting up on the bed.

Bruce set the cookies down and opened the curtains. It was still bright enough to not need to turn on the lights, it was only 1 in the after noon. The boys weren't even home from school yet.

"You know the Dares?" Bruce asked, as he sat on the bed with his niece.

"I went to school with Rachel for a bit. She was the bravest girl I'd met. She threw a hairbrush at a man who tried to kill us, to distract him," Percy said with a laugh. Even as tears clouded her eyes.

"Who else did you go see today? You said that the Dares were the last one for today," Bruce asked.

"Tristan McLean," Percy said.

"The actor?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah. I was friends with his daughter, Piper," Percy said.

"You knew Jason too?" Bruce asked.

Percy looked at him, "how do you know about Jason?" Her glare was something to marvel at, he felt nervous.

"I know the family, I've met her boyfriend a few times," Bruce said.

"Jason was technically my cousin. His dad is my uncle, on my father's side," Percy said.

"You know your father?" Bruce asked.

"Yes, and he's an ass," Percy said.

"Sally didn't talk about him much," Bruce said, "just that his family is confusing."

Percy hummed in response.

"Here," Bruce said, seeing this conversation was not helping her, he handed her the hot chocolate and plate of cookies.

She took a sip of the hot chocolate, which had a blue tint to it, and took a bite of a cookie. She had a smile of nostalgia on her face, with tears in her eyes.

"Mom used to do this with me," Percy said, looking at the cup in her hands.

"I know," Bruce said, having a rather similar look on his face.

"She was an amazing person," Percy said.

Bruce hummed in agreement.

Bruce didn't know how to bring up what he saw in the videos. However, this was the first time Percy was somewhat relaxed around him, so he decided to wait until the time was right. Not after she's gone to tell people their children, her friends, are dead.

"Perce, I know a lot has happened to you, more than just losing your parents. And whenever you're ready to tell me, just know, you will always be my niece. I will love you just as I always have. I don't know what happened with Gabe, and I'm sorry I disappeared, but I will do my best to help you, but I won't force you to let me," Bruce said.

Percy looked at him and sighed, "a lot of what has happened is all related to each other. Mom's death, my friends' deaths, all are related. And I'm not ready to really go into detail about it, nor do I want to endanger all of you by telling you, like it did with mom," Percy said.

Bruce sighed, "whenever you are ready, we can talk about it. Okay, for now, let's go show you that training room. You can show me what you got, sound good?"

Percy smiled, "yeah. Sounds good." She could use a distraction.