Archive of Our Own ^beta

Jason woke up to the sound of vomiting.

Some small part of him wanted to just roll over and go back to sleep, and at first he did. It was probably just Roy, drunk from last night, now dealing with the aftermath of his decision. The thought made Jason think about the day before- when he, Kori, and Roy had fought off alien slavers for a good couple hours after finally having tracked the bastards down.

The fight wasn’t difficult, just taxing. Kori, being the big gun, tackled the aliens head-on while Roy and himself had stayed further back, hitting the stragglers and protecting the slaves, cutting their bonds whenever there was a moment to spare. There was a lot of the battle Jason couldn’t remember, but laying in bed, listening to the sound of retching and the faint hum of The Starfire , his mind dwelled on the eyes of the dozens of children he had tried to comfort. The many different species and tongues, nearly all of which he would probably never know the names of nor how to speak, and yet each child’s eyes shone with fear until Jason, Roy, and Kori had arrived. Then there was hope.

A faint smile tugged at Jason’s lips as he shut his eyes again, ignoring the ugly sound of vomit and trying to picture the children’s grateful faces when they were finally free.

The only casualty of battle, besides the slavers themselves, had been an older slave who had been used as a hostage when the Outlaws first made their way onto the ship. Kori shot the slaver with an energy blast, but was too late to stop the slaver’s shot to the slave’s back. Jason could vividly remember Roy shouting for Kori to stop but the Tamaranean rushed in without hesitation, taking a hard punch and plasma shot to the torso before disintegrating the slaver with very little effort.

Jason froze in his musing, shooting up in his bed. He grumbled something unintelligible even to himself, rubbing a hand down his face to wake himself up as pieces started to fit together, his memory finally forming coherent thoughts.

Roy hadn’t taken anything, let alone gotten drunk, ever since he’d started raising Lian.

Kori hadn’t let either of her friends check her over after battle, citing that she was fine despite her obvious grimaces following their return to The Starfire.

“Dammit, Kori,” Jason muttered, fighting to scramble out of his sheets and grab a pair of sweatpants, sliding them on as he shuffled out of his room and down the hall.

The lights in the metal hall were dimmed, but Jason could see the shine of the bathroom fluorescents and the open door of Kori’s room next to Roy’s, which was still shut. Jason kept his footsteps silent as he walked past, the sounds of retching followed by a choked sob reaching his ears. He could hear Roy’s snores through the door but let the archer sleep on, his eyes drifting to the floor which shone with something he couldn't quite make out.

Jason’s eyes narrowed, taking a step closer to the bathroom, seeing the shining trail of red leaking from Kori’s bedroom to the bathroom just a few doors down. He cursed, darting to the lit room while carefully skirting around the blood trail.

“Kori?”

Jason tried to ignore the shakiness in his voice, the hoarse worry seeping through his tone the moment he laid eyes on Koriand’r. She was kneeling before the toilet, covered in a light blue nightgown stained brown with blood dripping from her mouth and hands. At Jason’s voice, her head turned to face him and Jason fought back his horror at the pallor of her skin, the dullness of her pupiless green eyes. Her hands, gripping the bowl of the toilet, held a tremor that seemed to envelop her whole body and Jason watched, stricken, as Kori moved a hand in his direction, beckoning him.

Of their own volition, his feet pulled him closer to Kori until he was crouched beside her, pointedly not looking at the scarlet colored water and the dark clumps gathered at the bottom, nor those that covered the Tamaranean’s hands. Jason’s green eyes flicked to meet Kori’s own, searching for something beyond her exhaustion and obvious pain.

“Kori… why didn’t you say anything?” Jason raised a hand to her cheek, his finger gently rubbing some of her tears away. Kori closed her eyes, leaning into his touch with a gentle purr, a Tamaranean sign of contentment.

“It didn’t hurt that bad,” Kori whispered, her normally melodic and joyful voice now despondent and quiet. “I bruised a little, but I’ve had worse, Jason. I thought I was healed, then I woke up covered in blood and-”

Jason leaned back as she threw herself into the toilet, gagging on the bile. He shifted to plant his butt on the floor, running a hand over her shaking shoulders and pointedly ignoring how her hair barely had any flames dancing on its ends.

“Feeling any better?”

Kori bit her lip and shook her head, one of her hands gently feeling her torso as she leaned onto Jason.

He sighed, gently rubbing his thumbs into her shoulders, working out the tension. “You need to get cleaned up. You can’t just sit here in your own blood, Kor.” He helped her up, scooping the princess into his arms as she squeezed her eyes shut in pain. “How does a shower sound?”

“Jason, you really-”

“Nuh uh,” he tutted, a sad smile on his face at Kori’s fluttering eyelids and trembling body. “Come on, Kori, it’ll help with the pain too.”

Jason managed to stand up while being careful not to jostle Kori more than needed, moving to stand in the large shower with a raised edge that wasn’t quite high enough to be a bath. He cut on the hot water and shifted Kori, letting her get her footing but still supporting her with a steady hand.

A few minutes passed, Kori leaning into Jason as the blood ran down their bodies, leaking into the drain. Jason carefully cleaned her hands, wiping the waste so that he could finally see the natural orange of her skin underneath.

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

Kori lifted her head, staring up at him with brighter eyes. The sight made Jason relax. “For being you. You didn’t have to do this.”

“No,” Jason agreed, “but I wanted to.” A pause, then he frowned, staring at her torso and trying to look beyond the damp nightgown. “What else are you feeling?”

Kori’s face scrunched up. “What?”

Jason put her arms onto his shoulders, letting her support herself, before moving his own to her torso, poking slightly. “You were puking blood, so there had to be some internal bleeding, even with your physiology.” His gaze flicked up to her as his fingers hovered below her chest. “Kor, I’m gonna feel for something, tell me to stop if it hurts, okay?”

She nodded, her eyes widening as her grip tightened on his shoulders. Her muscles tensed under Jason’s hands. 

Jason moved up, lightly pushing on her breasts, wincing and immediately releasing his hands at Kori’s sudden gasp.

“Sorry!”

“It’s okay,” she whispered, eyes watching Jason’s ever-shifting expressions. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, nothing,” he dismissed, staring up at her. “Are you in any pain? Cramping?”

Kori frowned at him, but nodded her head ever so slightly. “A little. I woke up with some, and I thought it was just my cycle since I started a few days ago. Then when I got hit, they got a bit worse but…” She searched his face, frown still etched on her lips. “Jason, please, what is wrong ?”

“I…” Jason let his hands drift to her abdomen, pressing hard with his thumbs just above the line of her underwear. “I’m not sure but…” Jason suddenly froze, his fingers pressing against the bottom of her stomach and feeling a hardness that he recognized as something other than lean muscle.

“Oh my god.”

“What?”

Jason shifted again, pressing once more to make sure he wasn’t making shit up in his sleep but no. The hardness was still under his thumb. He glanced up at Kori, trying not to let his anxiety show on his face but her wide eyes saw beyond his attempts.

“Jason, what is wrong?”

“Kori…” He planted his hands on either side of her torso, just above her hips. “Remind me. How long has it been since you and Dick broke up?”

“Why.” Kori was completely stiff under his hands. Jason looked away, a grimace on his face. “Why the hell is that relevant.”

“Kor, please-”

“Jason, answer me!” She was trembling again, rivlets of water shakily making their way down her body under the showerhead. “Why would you-”

“Koriand’r.” 

Silence rang out, the only sound in the bathroom being the hot water streaming from the shower and running down both their bodies.

Jason’s face was stone-cold but his green eyes were pleading, and Kori relented, allowing her body to relax.

“A year.” Her voice shook, and she pointedly wouldn’t look at her friend’s piercing gaze. “You should know that, Jay. Him and Barbara got married last month, remember?”

“I do,” Jason replied, not hiding the tremor in his voice. “Kori, when was the last time you slept with him?”

Kori seemed taken aback, but looked too tired to care to argue. “A year. We broke up a week later.” Her pupiless gaze watched Jason as he stood back up, his hands not leaving her; she could feel him shaking. “Why? Jason, what-”

“A few years ago, you were helping Bruce build a database on alien biology, yeah?” A nod. “Tamaranean specifically, if I remember right. He let me read over it afterwards, when we started working together. There was a section on reproduction…” He wouldn’t meet her eyes.

Kori froze again, her grip slack on his shoulders but Jason held her up by her sides.

“I think you’re pregnant, Kori. And I think you’re going into labor.”

“It’s a girl.”

Jason was stationed at the head of the bed, hands scorched and his left thumb broken, petting Kori’s hair as she panted and finally relaxed for the first time in the past three hours. Roy stood up from where he had been crouched at her feet, hands sheltering a wriggling and bloody baby as he moved to the opposite side of the bed from Jason.

Roy met Jason’s eyes over Kori, both men sharing a slight smile as he passed the newborn onto Kori’s bare chest, her sweaty orange skin meeting her daughter’s for the first time.

“She’s beautiful, Kor,” Jason whispered, watching the baby cry into her mother’s skin, curling her hands into little fists.

“Took her sweet ass time getting here,” Roy muttered, eyes half-lidded as he stood up to retrieve a towel to clean the newborn and her mother.

The labor hadn’t been long, despite what Roy said otherwise, but it had been painful and draining for all the Outlaws. Roy was still basically asleep despite having helped Kori deliver the baby, Jason was wincing at the burns on his hands from Kori’s uncontrolled fire during labor, and Koriand’r herself…

“You okay, Kori?”

She stared at the infant girl on her chest, hands cradling the new life she hadn’t even known she’d been sheltering for the past year. Kori looked exhausted, her eyes drooping as she watched the girl squirm in her grip. The girl she and Dick had created.

“She looks like him,” Kori managed, still breathing heavily in the after effects of her labor. “She’s got his hair.”

The daughter of Starfire and Nightwing cooed, and opened her eyes for the first time as Kori shifted her in her arms. Atop her head sat a fluff of hair just like her father’s, black with shades that could have been blue but the ends were igniting faintly with fire tinged a dark purple. Her skin wasn’t as orange as Kori’s, more tan like Dick’s, but orange enough to appear inhuman. But most startling were her eyes, the same pupiless alien green as her mother, yet shaped like Dick’s.

“Your eyes,” Jason countered, raising a delicate hand to grace the baby’s grimy back before moving so that Roy could wipe her down. Jason’s own eyes flickered to Kori again, taking in her haggard appearance. “Do you need anything?”

Kori shook her head mutely, eyes following Roy as he shushed the girl and cleaned her up with a grace he had gained after caring for Lian for so long. A tempered smile was on her face, reeking of contentment, and yet it didn’t reach her eyes.

“Kor?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you gonna tell him?”

No one in the room needed clarification on who the ‘he’ was.

Kori glanced at Jason, sighing heavily before turning her gaze back on her daughter, who was making hushed sounds of annoyance as Roy started to wrap her in a spare towel.

“I don’t know,” she murmured quietly. “On Tamaran, this wouldn’t have been a problem. Marriages were arranged, divorce wasn’t a concept known to us. We were much like Krypton in that sense.”

Roy approached, taking residence on Kori’s other side, gently passing the tiny hybrid into her mother’s arms. Kori seemed to lighten a bit more just at the contact.

“In my time on Earth, I’ve gathered that the father doesn’t always have contact. Doesn’t always care.” She shuffled her hold, turning the baby so she could see her better. “But I’m sure Dick would drop everything for her. You both know him well enough to know that as well.”

Over her head, both Roy and Jason shared a commiserating look. Jason’s thoughts immediately conjured an image of his older brother falling over himself to try and get Kori and their little one anything they needed- even stuff they didn’t.

“But I don’t know if I can do that,” Kori admitted, voice low, hands clasping her newborn tight. “Maybe if we both hadn’t moved on…”

“Dick would still care,” Roy interjected, frowning. “Even with it having been so long, Kori-”

“I know,” she responded, eyes flicking to stare at them both. “But I don’t know if I can do that to him. We had such a… what’s the phrase, Jason?”

“Clean break?” Jason intoned, looking at Kori with a frown similar to Roy’s. “Kori, I’m not saying you should or shouldn’t tell Dick, but isn’t hiding her from him, just because you don’t want to shake things up, isn’t that… kind of selfish? Womens’ and mothers’ rights, yes, but-”

“Neither of us knew she was even a possibility.” Kori’s statement drowned out whatever else Jason had been about to say. “He’s got no reason to assume otherwise. I’ve barely been on Earth since then, if only to see Lian or be on the Watchtower. It’d be easy- maybe selfish, yes, Jason,” her pupilless gaze turned up at him, expression unreadable, “but I think we all deserve a little selfish sometimes, don’t you think?”

Three months later and Dick still didn’t know.

As always when Jason left Earth for the Outlaws, his family constantly messaged him, some way or another. Whether it be Replacement or the Demon Brat, bickering and bitching how they need him to run interference on their latest argument, or one of the girls sending him selfies- Steph was particularly fond of sending pictures with the many orphans and working girls of the Narrows- they always brought a smile to Jason’s face.

It should have been shocking, all things considered, but after bringing Damian home, and Bruce and Selina settling down, and the twins being born, well… Jason could bring himself to admit he missed his family sometimes. Which made it all the harder when Dick messaged him, wishing him well, sending pictures of Lian- who he and Babs were taking care of- even asking after Kori.

All the while Jason was holding his brother’s daughter, cradling her close and threading his fingers through her fiery hair-- and Dick still didn’t know.

“Your dad’s gonna kill me when he finds out about you, Mae,” Jason whispered, pocketing his phone and staring out at the star system laid before him. “But for now, me and Uncle Roy are gonna keep you safe. Ain’t nobody hurting you with us and your mom around.”

“Damn straight,” Roy said, entering the room. He ran a hand through his hair, shaking out the water from the shower as he walked over to Jason’s side. “How’s little trouble doing?”

“Asleep,” Jason replied, moving his hand from her hair to rest upon her back. His niece’s tiny torso moved slightly with each rapid breath. “Tuckered herself out squealing at the plushie you made her.”

“Ah, man, I missed it?” Roy gently poked the baby’s cheek before crashing into the nearest chair, groaning. “I love her squeals. Reminds me of Lian at her age.”

Jason shook his head, rolling his eyes as he turned to face his best friend who was smiling in response. “You didn’t know about her at this age, Roy.”

“Nah,” Roy acknowledged, rolling a hand in the air. “But it wasn’t too soon after. Should’ve seen her, Jay. All giggles and farts, the little shit.”

“Sorry, was a bit busy bein’ dead,” Jay retorted. In his arms, the baby grumbled in her sleep, and he bounced her lightly. “Besides, Lian is still a little shit, just like you. And I think Miss Mae here will continue the trend.”

“You’re an uncle two-times over now, Jay. And with all those siblings of yours, I doubt Mar’i is going to be the last,” Roy commented with a chuckle, eyeing the small hybrid. She grunted, her hands flexing against the roughened leather of Jason’s jacket. “But I have to say- Uncle looks good on both of us.”

“You would say that,” Jason scoffed, shifting his niece again. “Don’t listen to him, Mae. He’s got as much sense as your dad does.”

“Three months is too early to tell who she takes after, Jason,” Kori stated, gliding into the room. She hovered before Jason, opening her arms in silent askance. After a moment of manuvering, Jason passed over his niece, who was starting to wake up if her quiet snuffles and grunts of protest were anything to go by. “Hello, Mariand’r,” Kori cooed, hugging her daughter close.

The scene made Jason smile, even as he took in Kori’s full appearance. Every time she held Mar’i, her flames seemed to burn a little brighter, her smile shining a bit more. Despite it all, though, the circumstances of the labor and birth still had lasting effects on her body. Kori tried to hide it, keep a brave face, but Jason saw through it- and he had no doubt Roy did too.

Even now, when she was simply holding her daughter and whispering to her, Kori seemed off. Normally, she constantly hovered, gliding around as easily as breathing, but she had stood on the ground since entering the room. The flames of her hair were flickering, sputtering in an unnatural way Jason hadn’t seen in all the years he’d known her. She would cough, too. Harsh, wet things that would occasionally produce blood. Both he and Roy had dragged her to the med bay and any clinic they came across in the galaxy over it, yet could find nothing. Just old wounds and the still-healing traumas of her injuries and labor pains.

“So how much Tamaranean does she have in her, Kor?”

Jason snapped out of his thoughtful tangent, eyeing the way Kori softly whispered what he assumed to be Tamaranean songs. He had heard her before on occasion, humming them to Mar’i as she slept. Jason made sure every time to find the security recording and drop it into the secure file where he kept all the pictures he had of Mar’i, along with the rest of their family.

“It’s hard to tell,” Kori finally answered, tapping her finger on her daughter’s nose with a smile. “She has so much of me in her, mixed with so much of him. Enough that…besides her appearance, who knows?” Kori shrugged, and the movement caused a babble from Mar’i. “Kom and I were flying before our first year. She may never, or she may not until she’s older. We’ll have to keep an eye on you, hmm?”

Mar’i giggled, waving a hand at her mother.

“Maybe she’ll be a true Flying Grayson, huh, Kori?” Roy laughed, and Jason couldn’t help joining in. Channeling their inner Golden Boy, they were.

Kori smiled indulgently at them, shaking her head. “All she has to be is happy and safe. That’s more than enough for me.”

Things were going fine for the next few weeks, so of course everything went to shit the day Mar’i reached the six-month mark.

The Starfire had recently touched down on a nearby planet to refuel and restock on supplies. Roy claimed Mar’i and stuck with the ship while Jason and Kori went into the city by their docking bay, both clothed in disguise. Kori for the sake of being Tamaranean, and Jason for the sake of being visibly human.

All three had their comms on, tense and ready at any moment to make a run for it.

But in the meantime, Jason focused on the array of teething and stimulating baby toys laid out in the booth before him. Two stalls down, he could hear Kori bartering over some trinket or another. The being in front of him was clothed in robes and had five arms, criss-crossed into some odd pretzel shape.

“Anything in particular?” They asked, the translated English accompanied by a buzzing echo. The universal translator in his comm unit needed calibration.

“My sister has a little girl,” Jason half-lied, “She’ll have teeth soon, need something for her to chew on.”

Their mouth curled into a grin, elongated and full of too many teeth. “Species?”

“Hybrid,” Jason replied, shrugging a shoulder. “Blunt teeth, one row. Something soft but sturdy- carnivore species primarily, if that helps.”

“I’ve got just the thing,” they said, hissing in a way that Jason assumed they were laughing. They ducked around to the back of their stall, shuffling around. A moment later they stood back up, clutching a ring made up of gelled balls, shining the same fiery orange as Kori’s hair and ebbing the same way as the merchant passed it to Jason.

“How much do I owe you?” Jason asked, turning the teether over in his hands. “Thirty creds?”

“Let’s call it twenty, for such a wonderful uncle,” the merchant purred, grin elongating further, into something Jason might have called flirtatious.

Jason just smiled kindly and tossed the payment on the stall’s table, moving on his way to meet up with Kori. He took four full steps toward her before chaos erupted.

“Guys, you need to get back now. We’ve got problems.”

“What do you mean?” Jason replied, stashing his purchase in his belt. Without waiting on Roy, he ran to meet up with Kori, who was already looking at him, her own purchase being tucked away. “You still have Mae, right?”

“Safe with me. Just get back here. And look out for each other.”

Kori ran into him, gliding as fast as she could. Her pupiless eyes were wide, and Jason pulled at her arm, keeping a hand on her as they raced through the crowd. The docking bay was only a ten-minute walk from where they were, but it seemed everybody wanted to get in their way somehow or another.

“Roy, status?” Kori ordered, and Jason growled when the only response was the tell-tale sound of laser fire and Roy’s grunts.

“Shit,” Jason muttered, turning to look at Kori. “You strong enough to give us a lift?”

The next moment, they soared into the air as screams erupted around them from the crowd. Jason was held by one of Kori’s hands, dragging him along as he readied his gun for the fight awaiting them at the docking bay.

“Are those the slavers?” Kori exclaimed, surprise and distaste filling her voice as they made it to the docking bay. The Starfire was warming up for take-off, Roy crouched in her landing and fending off hordes of the fur-covered slavers they fought so many months ago. Mar’i was strapped to his chest, safe, but crying loudly.

“Drop me, Kor,” Jason ordered, aiming his gun and downing a few. “I’ll get to Mae, get her into the ship. You help Roy.”

“You keep her safe, Jason,” Kori stated, plopping him directly into the fight before heading off to decimate her own side of the battle.

The minutes flew by as Jason traded with Roy, shooting slavers as he went, and secured Mar’i. He headed inside the ship, flipping switches and encouraging the systems as quickly as he could without overloading anything. Outside, the fight raged on; Kori’s starbolts created fires as green as the Pit while Roy’s explosives and arrows covered the area in smoke plumes and craters.

“C’mon, c’mon,” Jason muttered, keeping one hand free as he monitored the ship while the other held a gun and cradled Mar’i. He shushed her, rocking her as much as he dared while keeping calm for her sake.

“Kori, how’s it going out there? Ship’s almost up, we’ve gotta get moving!”

Jason waited a moment, his comm buzzing, the overload of sounds ringing in his ears. His breath stalled when Kori didn’t answer.

“Kori?”

Nothing.

“Roy? Roy, what’s happening?”

“She…ugh! I think Kori’s down, Jay,” Roy panted, an explosion shaking the ship and the noise echoing through the comm. “You get the ship running and you get Mar’i out, you hear me? Don’t worry about us.”

“Roy, respectfully, shut the fuck up,” Jason growled and barely took a moment of relief when the ship lit up, ready for take off. He bolted to the landing, Mar’i thumping against his chest, giggles bubbling out of her despite the situation. The moment he breached the outside, his heart stopped.

It was a literal warzone, fires and smoke billowing out of the docking bay as laser fire continued further away from the ship. He could hear Roy yelling and immediately ran toward the sound, shooting any furry slaver who tried to stop him.

“Kori, where-”

“I got her, Jay,” Roy called, somewhere to his left. He sounded exhausted, but at least the sounds of battle were dying down. “She did something…I dunno, man, she doesn’t look good.”

Jason rounded a crater and stopped dead in his tracks, killing the last slaver he could spy in the vicinity. Feet away, Roy was kneeling on the ground, his bow discarded beside him. He held Kori in his arms, talking to her.

“Ah, fuck, no, no, no,” Jason yelled, a mantra as he ran over and skidded to a stop beside them. Kori was still breathing by some miracle, but it was weak and stuttered. Roy stemmed the blood from a wound in her side, where some melee weapon had met its target, but still various cuts littered her body, dark against the pale orange of her skin.

“Kori?”

“Jason,” she smiled up at him, eyes fluttering. There were burns on her face and hands, singed green like her starbolts. “You kept her safe.”

Jason leaned forward, pulling Mar’i from her spot in his jacket so she was laying on Kori’s chest. He helped her move a hand to hold her close, and Kori sighed in content, fingers twitching to play with the light flickers of Mar’i’s flames.

“Pushed myself a little too far, I think,” Kori said, wincing when Roy shifted the pressure on her side. “Roy, stop, please. Th- there’s too much. Only downside of having this little one- never recovered.”

“Kori, c’mon-”

“Jason-”

“No, no, no,” Roy interrupted, shaking his head. He still had his hands pressed to her abdomen. “Shut up, Kor, we’re getting you out of here. We’ll call up Blackfire, get her fleet here and-”

“Shush,” Kori muttered, smile still bright. Her best friends were crying, but Kori felt brighter than she had in weeks. “Kom’s too far, and there… isn’t any…”

“Kori, save your breath,” Jason interjected, placing a hand on her cheek and choking on a sob when she leaned into it with a warbling purr. “If not for us, for Mae- she needs you. You can’t leave her like this, Kori. We can’t even save you, I-”

“You’re her family,” Kori mumbled, lethargic but aware enough to tilt her head to look at Jason then to Roy. “You’re my brothers. You’ll do anything for her, for me. Take… take her to Kom. Let her help. Then…”

“We’ll take her back,” Roy finished, finally moving his hands off the wound. It had opened further, spreading across her abdomen to leak more blood. Poison, or some kind of destructive agent that was rapidly killing her. Kori was right. “And she’ll know you.”

“I know,” Kori said, beaming, petting her daughter’s hair as she cooed. “The audio. Good thinkin’, Jay. Protected her while I was here…better than me. She’ll be better.”

Kori’s chest seized, and the resulting cough moved Mar’i enough that Roy grabbed her. Kori watched, smiling despite the evident pain and grief on her face.

“H-he’s going to l-love her,” she whispered, breathless and content, before going limp in Jason’s grip. The remaining two Outlaws stared at each other, shock and grief rooting them to their positions- too broken to even move their sister laid across them.

The Starfire had been undeniably quiet since her captain’s death.

The only bright spot was the baby girl, able to keep the grieving smiling with her babbles and incremental progress over the ensuing two months. Kom had taken a shine to her niece, hoarding her the whole time the Outlaws resided with her fleet, and freely offered as much information as she knew about Tamaran that Kori had not known. Even guided her sisters’ brothers through the traditional death rites of their culture.

Jason and Roy had stayed with Kom for weeks, taking their time and welcoming her aid and explanation for what exactly led to Kori’s death. Tamaranean phsyiology was apparently much more complicated and precise than either had been led to believe- or even Kori herself. Carrying and birthing a pure Tamaranean child was hard enough, but Mar’i’s unique hybridity created a problem no one of their species had gone through. Add on the severity of her injuries throughout the pregnancy and during her recovery…Kom wasn’t all that surprised once they had explained everything to her, as hard as it was.

In their grief, neither remaining Outlaw had thought to check in with Earth until weeks had come and gone, and they were finally stable enough to return to their ship. Kom passed on her contact and well wishes in exchange for images of Mar’i when requested, then sent them on their way.

Jason sat in his quarters, Mar’i resting on his chest, tugging at the strings of his nightshirt. Roy was asleep down the hall, having watched her yesterday. They had started taking shifts, and the next few hours were Jason’s- at least until they figured out their next move.

Which reminded Jason of his phone, tucked away and ignored for the past few weeks.

There were hundreds of texts and images sent to his device, all some variation of things he’d seen before. The only exceptions had been Duke alerting him that a few new cats had been moved into the manor, and Tim updating him that he and Kon were dating. Both expected, nothing shocking.

Sucked that Jason would be the one to drop a bombshell on the family, yet again.

He swiped through his contacts, sending a request to video call with Bruce. He had no idea what time it was back on Earth, but Jason could not care less; and he knew Bruce would respond anyway. Nowadays, the man never refused or ignored a message from his children if he had a choice.

Sure enough, Bruce picked up on the third ring. He was in his main office in the Manor, ruffled, ebony hair scattered with greys, his tired eyes brightening when he saw Jason. It was remarkable how far Bruce had come.

“Jaylad! How have you been? Alfred and I were worried about you,” Bruce stated, features relaxing and an easy expression on his face. “Especially when you weren’t answering- what happened? Jason, are you okay?”

Ah, so he had picked up on the grief and distress on Jason’s face.

“We need to talk, Dad. Like, serious talk. And I need you to keep it quiet until I get back.”

“Done,” Bruce responded, looking more awake, eyes hard but wide with concern. “Tell me what’s happened.”

“Well, uh,” Jason swallowed hard, unsure of how to say it, “to start, we need to update the League files. We had a run-in with some slavers, and Kori had been injured, and…”

“Oh, god,” Bruce muttered, running a hand down his face. “You don’t need to say anymore, son. I’m here if you need to talk, later.”

Jason swallowed again, closing his eyes briefly to fight back tears. From emotions over Kori or over Bruce’s understanding, he wasn’t sure- probably both.

“Thanks.”

“Are you and Roy holding up alright?”

“Sorta,” Jason muttered, rubbing a hand over his eyes. Sue him, he hadn’t slept well in quite some time. “We met up with Blackfire a few weeks back, let her do the Tamaranean rites Kori would have wanted, I’m sure. If Dick wants to, I can give him her contact, later. Now, we’re grieving in our own ways.”

“Good,” Bruce said, a slight frown on his face. “Just make sure you take care of each other. Come back, stay out there- whatever you need.”

“Yeah…”

“Is…something else going on, Jay?” Bruce raised an eyebrow, frown deepening.

“How’s Dick doing?” Jason asked. It sounded like a deflection, but Bruce had a way of reading subtext.

“He’s good. Concerned about you, of course, but a white lie here or there of you being on a long mission helped,” Bruce explained, voice heavy. “Him and Barbara have had a very good few months, very happy, and-”

Of course, at that moment, Mar’i found a way to shimmy along Jason’s chest and reached up her tiny hand to vy for his longer white streaks of hair. Her nonsensical babbles cut the conversation like a knife.

Bruce had the gall to look astonished, and Jason couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out of him at the sight. So few and far between were the times Bruce Wayne appeared befuddled, each moment was treasured.

“We’ve, uh, had a bit of help with the grieving process up here, Old Man,” Jason explained, playfully nudging the tiny, tiny fingers away from his hair. He shifted, holding the phone up and out with one hand while his other arm cradled Mar’i to his chest, her smile bright and pure. “Kori had a stowaway, didn’t know until she came. How’s it feel to be Grandpa Batman?”

The trip back to Earth took a month and a half, and the whole time Bruce kept his promise: he would keep Dick unawares and distracted until Jason and Roy could return and plan how to break the news gently, in exchange for pictures and updates of Mar’i. Jason had no doubt she already had her own dedicated, encrypted file of videos and pictures on the batcomputer, just like every other bat-kid.

The befuddlement from Bruce’s first look of Mar’i apparently ran in the family, as the moment The Starfire touched down in the Watchtower’s hangar bay and Roy and Jason stepped off her landing, they were greeted by Bruce and Dick, both staring at the tiny bundle wrapped up in a blanket held tightly against Roy’s chest- but while Bruce’s expression was full of warmth at the sight, Dick’s was a facet of flabbergasted that would have made Jason burst into laughter, had it been any other situation.

The ensuing conversation took upwards of four hours, consisting of yelling and tears and dents in the metal walls of the Watchtower. Bruce had stolen Mar’i away to another room to avoid the conflict within the first twenty minutes, holding her gently against the bat emblazoned on his chest, even with the heavy gauntlets on his arms. Dick’s reaction was about what Jason expected from the get-go, when he and Roy got close enough that Dick could see the resemblance the baby had to Kori, and the distinct lack of a bubbly alien princess, and properly exploded in an unfamiliar but manageable way.

Jason was exhausted: mentally, emotionally, and somehow physically. There was little doubt in his mind that Roy felt the same, what with the way the archer kept running his hand over his eyes and the muscles in his arm twitched in their tell-tale way, an old tic from his drug days that never quite left. Shit, he may actually have been worse off.

Dick leaned forward in the chair across from them both, head in hands, and body rapt with tension Jason hadn’t seen since he was a kid seeing the original Robin pick a fight with his adoptive father.

“Is Babs still watching Lian?” Jason asked, breaking the tense silence of the room. His foot tapped against the floor at a rapid pace. Roy lifted his hand to look at him curiously. “I think Speedy here needs to go check on his daughter.”

Dick flinched, but raised his head to stare at them both. His blue eyes were red and puffy, his face flushed, but he had significantly calmed down from the start of the discussion.

“Yeah,” he responded, voice low. “They’re at the Clocktower, guiding patrol.”

“Great,” Jason said, stretching his arms up and over his head. He gestured toward Roy. “Night’s only gettin’ later, and you know you wanna see her. Go, Roy. I’ve got this.”

Roy sat up, eyebrows raised, eyes flicking between Jason and Dick. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

Jason just waved him off, nonchalant, but he knew neither Roy or Dick took that at face value. They knew him well enough to see through his bullshit. “Go take care of our niece, asshole. Let us Robins take care of our own.”

Rolling his eyes, Roy sighed and stood up, throwing his hands up as he went. “Fine, fine, I can hear when I’m not wanted.” He walked over to Dick and put a hand around the back of his neck, drawing their foreheads together. “You got this,” he whispered, and Jason turned his gaze down to give a semblance of privacy. “I’ve been here, you know I’ve been here. Whatever you’ve got running through your head- she needs you. And you know that. We’re here if you need anything, you hear me?”

“I hear you.”

“Good,” Roy responded, releasing Dick and grasping his shoulder. “You take care of your daughter, I’m going to go get mine.”

And with that, he left, leaving the brothers alone.

“You okay, Dick-face?” Jason asked after a moment of silence. Dick was staring at the floor once again. “I know you’re not, ‘cause Roy and I still aren’t, but we aren’t the father to that little girl either. You’re allowed to be fucked in the head, and you’ve already screamed and yelled enough, but how much longer are you gonna wallow? You haven’t even held her yet!”

“It’s a lot, Jason,” Dick managed, running a hand over his face and sighing before looking up. “God, it’s so much. I…I think I can wrap my head around it, but this isn’t an easy thing. Hell, what am I going to tell Babs?”

“Same thing me and Roy have been saying for the past goin’ on five hours,” Jason answered, crossing his arms over his chest. “You didn’t know, Kori didn’t know, and shit went sideways in a way nobody could control. Least of all the two of you. But now there’s a baby who needs her dad because her mom died to protect her.”

Another pause.

“We’ve been talking about kids, y’know?” Dick said, apropos of nothing, smiling but in a bittersweet way. “Me and Babs. The family is big enough as is, we’d have the help, and you and I both know Jim and Bruce would be thrilled. We weren’t sure with her injuries that it would be viable, but we’ve been talking with Leslie. It’d be hard, but not impossible. We’ve talked it through and agreed we want to try, maybe wait a little longer until things have settled down a bit, but…”

“There’s never a good time to have kids,” Jason interjected. “Absolutely never. Bruce with all of us being the prime example of that. And now Mae for you.”

Something seemed to hit Dick as he flinched and leaned forward, eyes wide. “Mae? Is…Is that her name?”

And Jason just about facepalmed because in all the emotion and chaos, he and Roy had never offered up Mar’i’s name to Dick. It had been ‘her,’ ‘the baby,’ and other variations. Part of the stress and all, Jason assumed.

In any case, he felt himself soften and relax a bit. Dick looked entranced.

“Sort of,” Jason said, grinning. “Kid needed a nickname, so as the epic Uncle I am, I chose it.” Dick huffed what might have been a laugh, and Jason counted it as a victory. “Kori actually named her.”

The moment the words left his mouth, Jason could see the realization on his face, but he still continued, “Mar’iand’r is her name. Kori called her Mar’i for short. I presume she’ll be Mar’iand’r Grayson-Wayne now.”

“God,” Dick murmured, breathless, and teary-eyed. “She always said she liked my mom’s name.”

“Bit of you and a bit of Kori,” Jason summed up, nodding and eyes tracking his older brother like he was going to break any moment. “She’s a terror, had Blackfire wrapped around her finger like nothin’.”

Dick was crying in earnest now, all the anger and harsh emotion apparently drained from him. Good, Jason thought, because he was tired of arguing and yelling.

“I’m sure Bruce could bring her back in,” Jason said, leaning forward and grabbing Dick’s hand to ground him. “Spend some time with her, then go talk to Barbie. I’d be happy to watch her for you a little longer while you get your shit together.”

As if summoned, a knock tapped the door to the room they were in. Jason hollered that it was open, and sure enough it was Bruce, still in the suit. Both his arms were up, cradling Mar’i and keeping her steady while she sat upon his shoulders and had her little hands clutching at his hair. She was giggling, eyes bright, and her hair flicked around her in unharmful sparks. Bruce seemed to be glowing as he smiled.

“You’re never getting her when Bruce is around, I hope you realize,” Jason chuckled, glancing at Dick who seemed shock-still. Looking back at Bruce, Jason shook his head. “You’re officially an Old Man, B. You can’t bitch at me anymore about the name.”

“I won’t complain if it means I get to love her,” Bruce responded, cutting his eyes at his second son playfully. His hands kept supporting Mar’i as he turned his eyes onto Dick. “How are you, chum?”

“I’m…not really sure,” Dick admitted, but seemed distracted by his daughter laughing atop her grandfather. “Could I…”

“She’s yours,” Bruce stated, plucking Mar’i from his shoulders and holding her close. He moved over to Dick, offering her up. “Jay warned me she was strong, and she is. She’s definitely got her mother’s powers, don’t worry about hurting her.”

Dick nodded, the information seemingly going in one ear and out the other. He gently pulled her out of Bruce’s arms and into his own, settling her on his lap. Mar’i cooed, bright pupilless eyes shining as she waved an arm around, excited simply to meet another person.

“Hi, baby,” Dick whispered, tears in his voice. “I’m… I’m your dad. God, you look just like your mother.”

Mar’i smiled, making grabby hands, and Dick let her have one of his hands to play and suck on his fingers.

“She’s advanced for her age,” Bruce said quietly, directed toward Jason. He raised an eyebrow. “Tamaraneans have different development, I assume.”

“Yup,” Jason acknowledged, digging in his jacket and producing a flash drive. Bruce took it and shoved it into his belt. “That’s everything Blackfire could give us on Tamaran. Buncha stuff even Kori didn’t know. Mar’i’s about nine months, but her development is accelerated a bit- she’s closer to a year old from what Roy and I could figure. She’s very split in her biology, but Blackfire thinks she’ll be even more powerful than her or Kori.”

“Like Jon,” Dick spoke up, not lifting his gaze from his daughter.

“Exactly,” Jason responded, watching his brother closely. Any sign of him breaking and he would have grabbed Mae away while Bruce dealt with the aftermath. Thankfully, Dick seemed too enraptured by the tiny person that he had made with Kori. “So far, she hasn’t shown any sign of flight or starbolts, but those may show up later.”

“She’ll be a real Flying Grayson, eh, Jace?” Dick joked bittersweetly, a grin on his face as Mar’i playfully swatted at his hand.

Jason groaned, long-suffering, mumbling something about Roy saying the same. Bruce just laughed at his expense, deep and familiar.

Maybe things had gone to shit before they got better, but if Mar’i could make Dick smile like that and Bruce laugh like a dolt, well…

“Mae’s gonna ruin us, you get that, Old Man?”

Bruce’s eyes practically shone, the bastard. “I can’t wait.”