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Wailing woke Talia for the fourth time of the day.
With exhaustion in her bones, she pulled herself upright and quickly to her feet; once she slid on her house shoes, she hurried to the next room. Damian had been sleeping so well for a time once his colicky nature of early infancy had died down, but that colic had seemingly returned from nowhere this week. She reached down and picked up her son before she went to the rocking chair and settled in with him once again.
"What is the problem, my treasure?" She tried not to sound too tired, but it was nigh impossible. She had only managed naps for as long as she could encourage Damian to sleep for, and this was now the third day in a row she'd been unable to rest. Damian was surely just as or more tired than she was, but she'd failed to determine what was wrong so far. Given how delicate the health of vampire and dhampir children were, Talia had brought over her personal doctor from the main League complex the day before when Damian had woken yet again with no source she could find. The doctor had found nothing specifically wrong, either, so the only assumption was a bad day. Talia had cancelled all her training sessions and meetings to stay in with Damian.
Throughout that night, he'd been a bit more fussy than usual but had no additional episodes of the outright sobbing he kept waking up with. The same routine had happened again and was starting once more now.
Talia slowed her rocking and stilled her hand where she'd been gently patting Damian's upper back in an attempt to soothe him. Something… was off. With as delicate of a touch as she could, she switched to a stroking pat across her son's back instead of the rhythmic tapping and watched Damian's face closely-
Around his shoulder blades, his distressed little face grew only more upset.
"Are you in pain, Darling?" Damian wasn't speaking yet- he was only ten months- but she spoke with him constantly for enrichment. And to ignore her own loneliness.
With the potential for a tender spot in mind, Talia shifted Damian around until there would be no pressure on his shoulders or upper back at all and returned to soothing him only on his lower back this time.
While it still took some time to ease him out of his tears and back to sleep, it was less time than it had been taking her the past couple days…
Hm. His lungs had been perfectly clear, so that was not a problem. Even now, she listened carefully to each breath and beat of his heart to find no issues. Something else, then.
She couldn't recall any moments where he fell or strained his arms or otherwise could've hurt himself recently. Or at all, for that matter. If anyone would know, it would be Talia— she kept Damian at her side at all times except when sleeping, and she would obviously know if he'd managed to climb out of his crib since he wouldn't have been able to get back into it.
Talia pushed aside the vague notion of asking Bruce. She knew if he found out about Damian's existence, he would do anything to bring them both to Gotham. It simply wasn't safe yet, though. She needed to know Damian was well enough to never need the Lazarus Waters again before she could leave.
There was very little known about vampire and dhampir children (especially since they differed from each other and she had no confirmation which one Damian would classify as yet given her own status as a yakshini), so she supposed it was time for fresh research.
Obviously, Talia had done extensive research the moment she'd realized she was pregnant. Bruce had researched even more than she had out of anxiety for her safety and the baby's. There was just barely any to be found, unfortunately. However, that was almost a year ago now. Perhaps she could be lucky-
Once Damian was finally back to sleep, Talia laid him in his crib just long enough to put on her wrap before she swaddled him into it to rest against her for the time being. She needed more sleep before the sun went down or else she would need to cancel her meetings and lessons yet again, but there would be no point in trying to sleep if Damian would simply wake her up more.
She settled him in and went to her office then got to work.
There was, unfortunately, no new research anywhere. As disappointed as Talia was, she could hardly say she was surprised. The only reason she and Damian were at Nanda Parbat now was due to her almost losing Damian. The Lazarus Waters were the only reason he'd survived beyond birth. Instead, she shifted her focus to vampires and dhampirs in general as a review.
Common traits.
Fangs. Damian would almost certainly grow them, but he hadn't seemed any worse than usual when eating or drinking. His teething seemed to be on part with a human of his age.
Bloodlust. Nothing to report yet, and she doubted there would be until the fangs grew in.
Sensitivity to sunlight. Since he was born which was why Talia had fully switched to being awake at night and sleeping during the day. Damian seemed to adapt to the routine so easily that she knew she'd made the correct choice there.
Enhanced strength, speed, and endurance. No signs yet, but he was still an infant.
Longer lifespan. Again, infant.
And… that was it. There was some flexibility and potential for additional gifts or powers but none she could think of that would cause pain in the shoulderblades. At least not for modern vampires who had intermingled enough with humans that no full-blooded vampires actually remained; there were simply ones with enough blood to be vampires and any direct offspring with a second, non-vampire parent could be classified as dhampirs. It was in that process that genetics had become unstable and caused so many issues for the survival of infants and children turned into or born as vampires or dhampirs.
Although…
Talia, herself, was not precisely from the modern era. She was far younger than her father and most of the League, yes, but very old blood ran in her veins.
Father had once admitted he lacked knowledge of her mother's full heritage…
Perhaps newer knowledge wasn't what she was after. She pulled up a fresh page and began researching again.
Vampire de-evolution.
Ten minutes for an initial search and thirty minutes of deeper research later, and Talia was fairly certain she had solved the mystery. Most of the traits she'd found were pointless here— allergies to silver and to garlic, teleportation, and shadow-manipulation. One trait, however…
Shapeshifting was rare amongst vampires even before they became diluted, but it was possible. Little was known about the process, but she did have a few more facts. Those with the ability to shapeshift could only shift into one type of animal, and that animal varied heavily on ancestry and the abilities of the parents.
She also knew there was a cliche that would be nothing but pure irony given Bruce could not shapeshift yet took on the visage of an animal regardless.
Unfortunately, it seemed like time would be the only way to find out.
It turned out that Talia could've waited only one more day before her extensive research became unnecessary. The angry, dark red stumps of sprouting wings broke through the skin of Damian's back within the next twelve hours, and he had only grown even more inconsolable. She kept him in their home to avoid any unwanted attention from her father, but that unfortunately meant Talia's every waking moment was spent trying to ease her son's pain and tears.
His crying hurt her heart, but the most she could do was administer some basic, infant-safe pain medication. She had attempted a topical treatment as well, but even the softest fabric against Damian's developing wings sent him into more thrashing and tears. With her own exhaustion growing while Damian slept only in her arms and nowhere else, Talia had to admit a truth to herself.
She missed Bruce.
Her Beloved worked so well with children and would be able to take turns with her in caring for Damian… if only they were together.
Unfortunately, this was the position she was in. She would simply make do.
It took nearly a week before the worst was over. Damian's back was still raw and tender to the touch, but he was finally sleeping in his crib again though only on his stomach. Talia was desperate for the break and the opportunity to sleep when it finally came as well. Despite how near she was to delirium with how drained she was, she could appreciate the irony of the situation.
Bruce- a man so afraid of bats at one point that he'd created Batman to overcome them- had a child who would one day be capable of fully shifting into a bat. Hopefully Talia would be able to properly laugh once she'd finally had some rest.
Being a single parent- to use a word she knew Dick enjoyed throwing around- sucked.