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Jordan Nightingale left home for the night
It wasn’t that he wanted to leave.
He just… had a small mission.
Jordan skirts around the edge of the forest surrounding their isolated home, searching for… ah, there it is.
Papa’s portal gun.
Papa hadn’t used it since he got out of Gotham, and once he got here, he left it in the forest to rot.
An ending of a chapter, he called it.
Regardless, it would be easy to get to Gotham with it.
He just needed to fix it.
He would get his revenge.
—
Every night for the next two weeks, Jordan would sneak out to fix the gun a little more.
Every night, he plans, waiting.
Every night, he gives his family excuses.
Every night becomes a little closer to the night.
The night where everything changes.
—
Damian Wayne has been thinking about Daniel Wayne for years.
The mysterious ex husband of his father seems to always be in the back of his mind, a curiosity he wanted to solve.
Damian could see how much his Father mourns the loss of Daniel, and how he had little care for Damian’s own mother.
Such a curious thing it was.
But Damian grew, and soon he started to wonder.
Daniel must not have had a very good life, alone in the manor.
he didn’t know about his Fathers night time escapades as the Batman, nor did he know that his children participated.
Damian had read old rumors online of how Daniel Wayne used to drink heavily at Galas, perhaps a coping mechanism while watching his own husband being fawned over by some of the most beautiful women in the world? (Talia included.)
The more Damian read about Daniel, the less he felt, and the more… pity.
He pitied Daniel.
He couldn’t blame the man for leaving.
—
Jason had slowly started visiting the manor more often after that initial encounter with Alfred, confronting him about Dee-Dee’s disappearance.
Jason could admit, he was acting…
Irrationally.
Dee-Dee was admittedly, someone that Jason thought about a lot in the League, though he never mentioned it to Talia.
Jason realizes that he may had… a sort of limerence, with Dee-Dee.
Calling Dee-Dee his mother was probably… not okay.
But Jason was calmer now, and he realizes his mistakes.
Doesn’t stop him for missing him like mad though.
He would find Dee-Dee still, and bring him home.
“Dee-Dee? Are you coming to
My show this weekend???”
“Of course I am bud, both B, Dickie, and I will be there, and Alfie too, we’re all so excited!”
Jason paced through the cave, biting his thumb, a bad habit he learned from Bruce.
“Dammit, where is Tim? Dickie, where’s Bitty?” Jason calls over to where Dick was stretching.
“Hmmm… I don’t know? Maybe he’s on a date with Kon.”
“No, Kon is out with Kara somewhere near Pluto.”
“You know how he is. He has really independent periods sometimes.” Dick sighs.
“Bitty is like, obsessed with family. The only time he has really independent periods is when someone hurts his feelings so much he needs a breather. Like someone taking Robin from him.”
“I didn’t take—“
“Shut up. And I’m not saying it’s you this time, I’m just saying, someone fucked up.”
“…Shit, you’re probably right.”
—
Danny had a bad feeling.
Jordan was planning something, and he didn’t know what it was.
“Oh, calm yourself, Danny, it’s probably nothing… probably.” Tucker laughs as he slams down another rib, ignoring Sam’s disgusted look.
“I don’t know… Maybe I should just talk to him?” Danny worries at his lip as he floats above the kitchen table, occasionally nipping at the blob ghosts nearby, watching as they squeal and dance around him.
“Danny, Honey, you should just, take a break. When was the last time you’ve gone flying? By yourself, I mean.” Sam rolls her eyes.
Danny thinks for a moment.
“Oh, Ancients, it has been a while, huh?.
I guess the kids could use a little independence…”
“Exactly!! Plus, you have Timmy as a babysitter now, instead of Vlad! You should take a vacation, man!”
Danny smiles.
“You guys are great.”
“We know.” They chorus back in unison.
—
Tim didn’t know how long he could keep this up.
Bruce was starting to get curious where Tim was going to for months on end, and Tim was running out of excuses.
If Tim could say that he was visiting B’s ex husband’s house, everyone in the damn manor would probably kill him.
Tim loved Danny and his kids, they were sweet and nice, and would let him talk a lot.
But it was so exhausting to keep their secret, on top of all of his other secrets!!
Tom sighs as he watches Ellie color another picture, and Jordan tinkering with some… object.
“Whatcha coloring Ellie?” Tim asks, peering over her shoulder.
“Papa, Daddy, Jordan, and me!” Ellie holds the picture up for him to see
“Are you… strangling B??”
Ellie nods.
Tim is very concerned.
“I-it’s great kiddo.”
“Can you make me stab him?” Jordan asks, not looking up.
“Okay, okay, let’s not promote violence against people, okay??” Tim begs.
Jordan and Ellie huff.
Tim is so done with kids.
—
The second Jordan finished that god forsaken portal gun, he headed straight to Gotham, to do some investigating.
He followed Bruce Wayne for an entire day, watching him attend meetings, trip over things, flirt with men, flirt with women, and once, flirt with a telephone pole.
This was his father?!?!
Jordan was disgusted with him.
This man was living the life of a rich man child without a care in the world while his Papa was left heartbroken from their marriage and divorce.
Once darkness fell, Jordan stopped following him, and returned home.
But Jordan knew when he would strike, as he looks at the stolen invitation to the Wayne’s Winter Gala he had crumpled in his hands.
—
“Hey, has anyone seen Jordan? I haven’t seen him all day.”
“He said he was going into the woods to wrestle bears.”
“Oh, okay then. As long as he isn’t getting into anything dangerous.”
-
Dick Grayson was worried about his little brothers.
Jason was clearly having a crisis over not being able to see Dee-Dee ever again, Tim was avoiding the family, and Damian’s been avoiding Bruce, glaring at him whenever they were together.
Truly, a mess.
(Dick was also aware that he was on the verge of a mental breakdown himself, but he ignores those warning signals, as usual.)
Dick looks up at the sky through the window.
After all these years, Bruce’s work with pollution cleanup started to really pay off.
The sky was cleaner tonight than it had been in 70 years.
Dick could see so many stars, ones that he remembered Dee-Dee pointing out on the star map in the library when Dick first moved in.
It was so long ago, that moment, but Dick remembered it like it was yesterday.
Looking up at the stars, Dick starts to remember another conversation, one that happened a few years later.
“Someday Dickie, I’ll convince Bruce to leave Gotham behind. We’ll move somewhere quiet and cold with lots of stars, and I think I’ll be at peace.”
“…Dee-Dee, I don’t think B will ever wanna leave Gotham.”
Dee-Dee’s smile turned sad.
“A boy can hope…”
Dick wonders what happened if he tried to convince Bruce to tell Dee-Dee about Batman.
What would have happened if Dee-Dee was out on the streets with them.
Would things be different?
—
Bruce was sitting in his office, reminiscing.
Maybe too much.
Often, when Bruce gets like this, alone, with nothing to do, a glass of Whiskey in his hand, he thinks about the night he and Danny first met.
It wasn’t at a gala, or a club, where most people thought they met.
They met in a small diner at the edge of Gotham.
The diner was small, crowded, and sold the greasiest food known to man, but Danny loved it.
Danny had dreams, beautiful ones, that Bruce wanted to help come true.
Danny saw Gotham the way Bruce saw Gotham.
Something beautiful that needed help.
Bruce wanted Batman to be one of the many things Danny loved about the city, about him.
They still visited that diner, many years after they got married.
As Batman grew, Bruce’s own goals became muddled.
The Mission stopped being for Danny, and started to just be the Mission.
Does Bruce want to make amends with the man he loves?
Every moment of every day.
But Bruce recognizes his wrong doings, even if it was too little too late.
He hopes Danny has a good long life, staring at the stars.
Bruce would be busy here, making the stars brighter for Gotham.
—
December came, and with it, Gala season began.
The Wayne children huffed and groaned, but with a mixture of begging, bribes, and good old fashioned parenting (Alfred glared at them), Bruce managed convinced every single one of his children to go to at least the holiday Gala.
Even Stephanie and Barbara, not his children in any way, (legally.) agreed to go.
From there on out, there was a lot of dress shopping, (Steph, Cass, Barbara and Jason, he was curious about his options) hair appointments, (exclusively Dick, Duke and Damian) and making up a story for Jason’s return, (thank you Tim) they were busy until the day of the Gala.
“B, I don’t even wanna move, much less listen to Luthor yap my ear off about proper alien regulation!”
“Is Ollie gonna be there?? He owes me $20, and he’s not gonna avoid me again, dammit!”
“Daddd is Chartreuse a red or a green?? Steph says it’s green but I know she’s wrong—“
“B, what’s Casu Marzu?”
“It’s maggot cheese, Brown.”
“Why are rich people like this!!?”
Bruce sighs.
He’s so tired.
“Okay, crazies, line up for Alfred inspection!”
All of the kids line up neatly in a line, waiting to be inspected by Alfred.
Alfred checks over each one of them, a tradition started back when Dick was younger, and he snuck an entire chocolate bar into the gala, which melted, and was sat on by a model. (Her dress was ruined, but Danny laughed for what felt like hours, he had found the whole thing hilarious—)
“Okay, all of you are appropriate. Have a lovely time, Masters and Misses”
“Bye Alfie!”
And off they went.
—
Tim knew that something was off.
His intuition was famous for being very good, and his intuition told him something was up,
And that can only mean one thing.
A Rogue was gonna attack the Gala.
Tim starts to blatantly ignore the model trying to get in his pants (he was 17 lady, leave him alone!) as he thought up a plan to alert everyone.
He was just about to get away from miss ‘I like teenage boys’ when he heard the sound of crackling electricity.
He, and the rest of the gala, turned their heads as they saw a portal open up.
One that was very familiar to Tim.
And as Jordan Nightingale stepped through the portal, Tim froze.
‘FUCK IM SO SCREWED!’
—
Jordan relishes the feeling of fear.
Worshipped it, the ability to command the room.
But right now, all he cared about was one man.
“Hello Father. How are you?”
Silence.
“FATHER?!?!?”
Whispers fill the room as Bruce Wayne stares at him, a mixture of hope, sadness, and recognition etched on his face.
“You’re my…?”
“What, did you think my Papa left so quickly just because he hated you that much? Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.”
Jordan smiled.
“It really is lovely to meet you all.”
—
Dicks mind was broken.
This boy, this kid, looked exactly like Dee-Dee, right down to the small freckles on his nose.
But that can’t be right, Dee-Dee wouldn’t leave while pregnant, he wouldn’t do that…
“W-wait, this is all, crazy, are you saying that-?” Duke stammers out.
“Daniel Nightingale is my Father, yes….”
He turns towards Dick.
“You are Dick Grayson, yes?”
“Uh, yeah…?”
“Papa tells me stories about you sometimes.”
“…aww.”
“Oh, my names Jordan, Jordan Nightingale.
Oh, and hi, Timmy.” Jordan says politely, with a wicked grin plastered on his face.
Tim pales slightly.
“Tim… how does Jordan know you…?” Bruce asks slowly.
“Uhh… I don’t know, maybe it’s because I..”
“Timothy Drake-Wayne. How. Does. He. Know. You.”
Dick took a step back.
Bruce looked pissed.
—
Tim was fucked.
Everyone was glaring at him, Jordan was smirking like the little shit he was, Ellie and Danny were god knows where, and he had no back up!!
Tim sighs, and turns to Jordan.
“I’m so gonna get you grounded for this. Say goodbye to your beloved Nintendo, you asshole!”
“Woulda never been a problem if ya had told them the truth!”
“I was working them up to it!”
“TIM!! Tell us, how you know him.”
“…I think you know.”
“I want to hear it.”
“…look, I was really lonely, after you… went on vacation. So I… asked around, and I found… Danny Nightingale.”
Tim took a small peak at everyone, hoping for at least slightly sympathetic reaction.
Bruce, Dick, Jason, and Barbara all looked like they were gonna murder him.
Not a good sign.
“We talked, and we were getting along really well, but, he didn’t want anyone else knowing where he lived….”
“Bro, you’re gonna get jumped…” Jordan snickers.
“WHY ARE YOU EVEN HERE?!!?”
“Oh, I was gonna kill Bruce!”
“…you ruined my life.”
“Boys.”
“I didn’t ruin your life, they’ll get over it!”
“Boys!”
“You little freak, Danny shoulda left you with Vlad—“
“CHILDREN!!”
At that everyone was once again shocked by another new arrival.
Everyone stared shocked as a man stood at the entrance.
Danny Nightingale sighs.
“Honey, I’m homeeee.”