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Everyone else had ditched out of this little field trip. Sadly, you weren’t surprised, but you were disappointed in the lot of them. As far as you were concerned, Jason was the only one with a legitimate excuse since he’d had that meeting with Deathstroke set up for months in advance. Dick, Tim, and Bruce all claimed they had work issues that suddenly cropped up, which you highly doubted. So it ended up just being you and Damian on this trip to visit Batcow. Fortunately, he seemed to be perfectly happy with that outcome.
“Now that we’re here,” he announced after spending what he deemed to be enough time lavishing the sweet-tempered cow with attention, “and the others have predictably neglected to come, we can get to what I really wanted to show you.”
You raised an eyebrow. “I thought you just wanted to visit her?”
“That was just a cover so the others wouldn’t come. Father only entertains me when it comes to her; he does not care past that. No, I wanted you to meet Goliath.”
“Putting a pause on whoever you’ve decided to give that name, what do you mean he doesn’t care? They have come out here with you before, right?”
He shook his head. “Only Alfred and Jason. Why?”
“Because,” you were at a loss for words. They really didn’t show any interest in Damian’s pet? “Because she’s important to you! Like dick’s acrobatics or Tim’s computer stuff.”
“Those are skills useful to our nighttime activities, though.”
“They’re still hobbies for them, habibi; they’d be doing that without the whole hero thing. Part of being a family is showing an interest in each others’ hobbies. They should do the same for you, and I’ll be having a little talk with them later about this.”
“ … Oh …” Your son seemed crestfallen at the revelation. You’d tried to teach him how important others’ feelings were, and here was his own family just spitting on those lessons. Well, that wouldn’t be happening anymore now that you were around.
“So who’s this Goliath, anyway?”
That adorable spark of glee Damian got in his big, green eyes when he started talking about his pets came roaring back. “Remember that demon bat I brought back and told Mother I would train?”
Of course, how could you forget? You’d screamed yourself hoarse at Talia after that mission and had been sent to Russia for three months as punishment. “ … Yes?”
“Alfred helped me arrange an enclosure for him here!”
“Because of course he did,” you sighed. “Alright, lead the way. I need to meet this loyal bodyguard of yours.”
He tugged on your hand as he started jogging towards a large barn beside an outcropping of rocks. “This way!”