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"You're being so good, pumpkin, almost done," Roy said to Lian as he finished swabbing her scraped knee. He reached for a bandage from the firs aid kit but Jason was already handing him one. "Thanks, babe."
Lian sniffled and your heart broke just a little more at seeing her teary eyes. You knew it was the same for the rest of your partners. She looked so small sitting on the kitchen chair as the four of you hovered around her, Jason and Roy kneeling in front to patch her up, you and Koriand'r to the side, present, but giving them space.
"You are a true warrior, Lian," Koriand'r said. "You have come out of your first battle victorious and you will bear the proof of this victory for years to come." She smiled at the little girl.
"More like weeks," Jason quipped. Roy huffed quietly, rolling his eyes.
Lian sniffed again. "Really?"
"Oh yes, I believe scars are beautiful things. They are reminders of past victories, they are proof that you have survived many battles and are still here."
"What are your scars from?" she asked as Roy finished putting the bandage on her knee.
"Hmmm," she traced a slash on her arm, "well, this one is from a fight with my sister, we didn't get along. And this one here was when Wally was thrown through a window and the glass flew everywhere…"
You watched Roy stand up and help Jason finish cleaning up the first aid kit and used cloths as your girlfriend pointed out her scars and told Lian the stories of how she got them.
"…This was during a fight with a demon named Trigon, when he and his forces attacked Earth."
"For the nth time," Jason muttered sarcastically.
"Did you stop him?"
Kori nodded, smiling gently. "We did."
"Good." Lian clapped, slowly getting her cheer back. "What about your scars?"
You looked up to see Lian, who had twisted in the chair and was now staring at you expectantly. "My scars?"
She nodded. "Yeah, where're they all from?"
You huffed a laugh and looked down at yourself. Where to start? "Well, this one on my wrist is from the smallest scrape I ever got, that never went away. Scraped it on a fake tree in high school, and my skin still remembers it."
"A fake tree?"
"Yep."
"Guess it didn't like you much," Lian stated in the way young children come to conclusions.
You chuckled. "Guess not. And this one" -you pointed to another scar- "is from a rusted fence-"
"Thank Alfred, you had your tetanus shot up to date," Jason teased from where he was rinsing the cloths in the sink. Roy nudged him, smiling.
You rolled your eyes. "Yes. It was from when I was chasing down an bad guy at work and got pushed into an old fence."
"You got the bad guy, though?"
"Yeah, bug, we got him."
Lian nodded astutely. "Good. What other ones do you have?"
"Well, I've got a lot, work keeps giving me reminders," you joked. "But you remember this one, don't you?" You shifted your shirt to reveal the small circle of marred skin.
Lian tilted her head, trying to remember. Your partners frowned, recalling the events of that one without much difficulty.
"It's from last year, when I got shot and ended up in the hospital for a bit," you reminded her gently.
"Oh yeah! I remember. The hospital smelled weird." She scrunched up her nose.
You smiled fondly. "That's probably all the disinfectants and people. Well, this scar is proof that I'm still alive, like Kori said, because I have the scar but I'm still here."
"I'm glad."
You smiled again. "Me too." You reached over and ruffled her hair. She swatted at your hand, giggling.
You pointed out a few others; you weren't kidding when you said work left its mark. Well, your day job and your occasional night job. A slash from an unsub with a knife here, rugged skin scarred from sliding down a roof and falling into a dumpster on a rainy night there, the time your grapple sliced you, a burn from an explosion during the chaos of an Arkham breakout, there were plenty to point out.
But you kept to the censored versions, not wanting to scare Lian with the actual bone-deep fear you'd felt in some moments, not knowing if you'd get home to your family, or alternatively, the moments you pretended you were fine because you'd learned to up your pain tolerance and hide your pain from the best. You all wanted Lian to learn the strength in vulnerability and trust by trying to practice that yourselves.
When you finished (not that you had shown all of them, but you thought you'd pointed out enough of your scars to sate her curiosity for now), she whipped around to her dad. "What about you, Daddy? Can you show me your scars?"
Roy froze from where he was now helping Jason make dinner. "Uhh-"
Jason reached over and placed a comforting hand on his arm and squeezed, you knew it might be difficult, but supporting him whichever decision he made.
Roy looked at his daughter, his lips automatically curling into a smile. "Yeah, sure, sweetie." He pulled his shirt up off his head, baring his scars to the room.
You'd talked with each other about how and when to bring up certain topics with Lian. You wanted to be as honest with her as possible, but agreed you needed to approach some subjects with care and in the right time, so she would have time to ask any questions she wanted and always feel supported by you.
Lian looked on, waiting for him to explain.
He pointed to an old gash above his left hip. "This is from a stray arrow from a fight when I was younger. Ollie actually stitched it up himself," he snorted.
"Grandpa Ollie?"
"Uh huh."
"Hmmm, he didn't do it like the doctors."
Roy barked a laugh. "What?"
Lian pointed at you and Koriand'r. "They've got doctor scars that are itty-bitty! Yours is pretty big, Daddy."
His lips twitched up into a smile. "Ollie coulda done a better job, huh?"
"Mhm." Lian nodded.
Jason snorted as he chopped up some vegetables.
Roy pointed to a couple others before tapping the lines on his chest, under his nipples. "These are from a, uh, surgery, to make my body fit better."
"It didn't fit good?" Lian frowned.
"No, sweetie, it didn't feel right, wasn't me, not really. You see, sometimes the inside doesn't match the outside. Remember when we had that bottle of ketchup, but when we opened it, it was mustard?"
Her face scrunched at the memory. She was not a mustard fan, and to this day, she still had a distrust of ketchup bottles. She nodded.
"Well, it's kinda like that. My outside didn't match my inside."
"But it's matches now, Daddy?"
"Yeah, baby, it matches now."
"And it makes you happy?"
"Yeah, it does, very happy."
"Good. That's good." Lian nodded.
Roy's lips curled up in a smile. "It is." He took a deep breath. "And these-" he drew lines down his forearms, across his track marks "-these are from a difficult time you helped me get out of."
"Me?" Lian didn't sound convinced.
"Yep, you helped me win this battle."
"How? When?" She scrunched her face up adorably.
"When you were younger and your mom dropped you off here, I was in a bad place. I was… sick. And losing a battle and when you came along," he booped her nose, making her grin, "you gave me the strength to win the battle and get better, so, thank you, pumpkin."
Lian leapt at him and he caught her, hugging her in close.
"I'm glad you're ok, Daddy."
Me too. I love you, baby girl," he whispered into her hair and kissed the top of her head. There were tears at the corners of his eyes.
Kori leaned against you and you intertwined your fingers, squeezing to say, I love you.
Jason reached over and squeezed Roy's arm, a silent show of support, an I love you.
Lian squirmed in her dad's hold to twist around to face Jason. "Your turn, I wanna see your scars, too!"
"Lian, sweetie," Roy started.
You chirped lowly, assuring Jason he didn't need to, that he shouldn't feel pressure to show his big scars today, not if he wasn't ready.
"Sometimes scars are very personal," Koriand'r said, "even though they may be proof of life, they can be painful reminders of painful situations. Sometimes people don't want to acknowledge them because they are reminders of bad times," she explained.
"'s ok," Jason said quietly. "'s fine." He set his knife down on the cutting board and shuffled closer to Lian and Roy.
You clicked your tongue, chittering, are you sure?.
He whistled back, a short chirp, yes.
"This one here" -he pointed to his forearm- "is from one of my first nights out, slipped on a wet roof and scraped my arm catching myself." He pointed farther up his arm on his bicep. "And this is rope-burn from one of the times I got kidnapped. I think it was Ozzy that time. This one, though, is from Nygma. I don't think he'd slept in a while because his riddles sucked that time."
Lian giggled.
He went on to point out a few others, telling Lian the stories of shenanigans he'd gotten up to throughout the years. Roy held on to Lian, kissing her head intermittently. You and Kori slowly gravitated closer to your other partners, and leaned against each other as you listened along.
"You're so cool, Jay," Lian said reverently.
"He is very cool," Kori agreed.
He rolled his eyes.
You caught a glint of nerves on his face but then he was shucking off his shirt and revealing the large Y on his chest.
"Whooaaa, where'd you get that one?"
"I died."
Lian frowned at him for a long minute. "So, are you a ghost, a zombie or a vampire?" she asked.
Jason blinked.
"That's actually a fair question." You nodded astutely, trying to keep from snickering.
Jason side-eyed you and you grinned, making sure he knew you were teasing. Koriand'r squeezed your hand, grinning fondly.
Lian poked him.
"Lian!" Roy exclaimed.
"Not a ghost, then," she sounded so methodical that a giggle escaped you. She tugged his wrist over and felt for a pulse. "Hm. Doesn't seem like you're a vampire, either. Do you like to eat brains?" She tilted her head at him quizzically.
You pressed your face into your partner's shoulder to muffle your giggles. Lian was just too cute. Roy tried to hide his laughter in a cough while Kori just smiled.
"Yes," Jason deadpanned.
Lian nodded astutely. "Must be a zombie, then. Do you take requests? Could you eat my classmates brains? Not that they have much, but they're getting on my nerves."
"Lian!" Roy burst out, aghast but amused. "You can't ask for your classmates to, to have their brains eaten!"
You wheezed, clutching your stomach. Sweet Metropolis, you had the best kid.
She huffed. "Fine. Can you do it next year, so they're not my classmates anymore?"
You stood up, leaning against Koriand'r and wiped your eyes, trying to catch your breath while giggles still escaped you. Jason looked like he was struggling not to laugh so couldn't help Roy explain that wishing murder upon people was not good. ("But it's not murder" -she rolled her eyes- "just that their brains are sucked out. It'd be an improvement. They're annoying." "…Lian, sweetie, that's not…")
"You must learn to defeat them with wits. There are always foolish, ignorant, hateful people, and alas, we cannot get rid of them all, and some will never allow themselves to become educated or kind. But if you find friends with whom to be happy, and you support each other, and help each other fight your battles when needed, life is much easier. It's nice to have good friends." Kori smiled. "I like being here with you, because you make me happy."
"Aww," you pouted at your girlfriend. "You're so sweet. I like being around you, too." You kissed her cheek.
"Me, too," Roy said, smiling softly.
"Me three!" Lian exclaimed.
"Yeah."
"You have to say 'me four'," Lian whispered at full volume.
He chuckled. "Ok, ok. Me four."