Chapter Text
“Dick! You came back!”
Groggily, Dick blinks his eyes and squints up at Timmy’s beaming face above him. “Whaaaa?”
The end of his bed is bouncing up and down before Cass launches herself up next to Timmy, her face only inches from Dick’s. “Get up! Christmas!”
Christmas. Haly’s. Leech. Wormhole. Europe. Manor. Christmas. Dick tries to make sense of everything as Cass and Tim each grab a hand and begin dragging him towards the door of his room. He remembers the mission, talking with Pop, flying back, stumbling into the manor at 3 AM.
They run into Jason and Damian in the hallway on the way to the family room. Dami looks sleepy, curled up in Jason’s arms like the cat his onesie pajamas are made to look like. Ace is running circles around them all, his tail wagging madly and Timmy is chattering non-stop and Dick’s brain is having a hard time following it.
“-And it’s Damian’s first Christmas and I was so scared you’d miss it! And-”
Jason cuts him off, setting Damian down on wobbly feet. “Hey Timbo, why don’t you take Baby Brat and Cassie to wake up Bruce.”
The three dash off, Cass sweeping Damian up and carrying their youngest brother, who is at least half her size, effortlessly. Jason glares at Dick and leans in a little to poke him in the chest.
“You made Timmy cry.”
Dick blinks and Jason rolls his eyes. “Except he didn’t cry because he’s Timmy. He just made that face where you can tell he wants to cry but doesn’t think he has the right to!”
His heart sinks to the pit of his stomach. “Jay-”
“No!” Jason hisses, “No excuses. You don’t get to run out on us like that, especially not right before Christmas! Just because he’s used to being abandoned doesn’t mean you get to just disappear! And what about Damian?!”
Dick lurches forward and wraps Jason in a hug. “I’m sorry, Jay! I really am. But they needed help and there wasn’t anyone else.”
“Idiot.” Jason grumbles but he doesn’t push Dick away, which he decides to count as a victory. “There’s us. You didn’t have to go dark you know. We could have helped.”
“I’m sorry.” Dick repeats mournfully. “Wally’s already read me the riot act. I promise I won’t run off like that again.”
“Yeah you will.” Jason says shortly. “Just…always come back. Okay?”
And Dick realizes that Jason is this close to crying into his shoulder.
Bruce stumbles out into the hallway, bleary-eyed, Cass on his back and the boys each hanging off an arm, his dressing gown on but untied. Selina trails out behind them, looking amused. Jason straightens up and wipes a quick hand over his face before breaking into a broad grin. “Merry Christmas ya filthy animals!”
"Master Jason." Alfred says disapprovingly behind them. Selina laughs and tugs Bruce over to kiss him under the mistletoe.
There is so much wrapping paper on the floor they are practically swimming in it. Cass has actually buried Ace in it and has coaxed Bruce into sitting on the floor so that she can start covering him up. Damian is trotting back and forth helping her, the oversized Haly’s T-shirt Dick brought back for him trailing around his feet, giving him the overall appearance of a kitten (the onesie has a tail and a hood with ears) wearing a baggy dress.
Selina has gone to get properly dressed since she’s leaving directly after breakfast and Jason is taking the opportunity to inspect her pile of gifts. Dick isn’t sure what he’s expecting; for her to have hidden Bruce’s mom’s heirloom silverware in the bottle of perfume? He gave up trying to understand Jay and Selina’s relationship months ago.
Ace’s tail is still wagging, the only part of the German Shepard visible from under the mound of crumpled paper, thump, thump, thump on the carpet.
Alfred gathers up the now empty mugs of hot chocolate and leaves the room, he’ll be back soon with a trashbag for the paper and to tell them that it is time for breakfast. (This is Dick’s sixth Christmas in the manor. He’s got the routine down pat.)
After breakfast they all run upstairs to get dressed and bundled up and dash downstairs and out the door for the Great Christmas Snowball Fight.
Dick has a good team this year; it’s him, Cass, and Dami against Bruce, Jay, and Timmy. Ace bounces back and forth between the two teams, barking happily and occasionally breaking off to chase the odd squirrel.
He checks to make sure that none of Dami’s snowballs have rocks or ice in them and then sics him on Timmy while he and Cass tackle Bruce and Jason. That works until Jason abandons Bruce to go rescue Timmy from Damian, who has progressed to just tackling him into a snowdrift and trying to drown him in it.
In the end, it’s a tie. Cass succeeds in taking Bruce down, but Jason and Dick end up in a draw and impromptu alliance prying the youngest two off of each other and haven’t gotten back to pelting each other before Alfred announces lunch.
It’s nothing fancy, just sandwiches and hot chocolate to tide them over until dinner, which Dick knows will be spectacular. They all take their plates and Alfred shoos them back to the family room, now paper free, where Jason picks a movie and they all settle in to eat and watch.
A Muppet Christmas Carol, Jason’s favorite. They’ve seen it so many times over the past month that even Cass is able to join in singing along with some of the songs and Dick snorts his hot chocolate on accident when they all laugh at Jason’s hilarious rendition of Marley and Marley. He manages to keep from spilling it all over Damian though, so point to him.
Jason had even commandeered a couple of Cass’ paper chains off of the Christmas tree and dances along with the two Muppet ghosts.
Cass twirls Tim through the choreography of Feels Like Christmas until they have to lean on each other they are laughing so hard.
(The best part is Bruce’s baritone singing “There goes Mister Humbug! There goes Mister Grim!” and shrilling “No cheeses for us meeces!” along with the opening number. At least until Alfred unexpectedly sings Thankful Heart along with Scrooge perfectly.)
Dick stays curled up on the sofa with Damian and watches his new family, feeling the ache of the loss of his first fade just a little more, holding close the reassurance he’d gotten that they were still part of him and always would be. The credits begin to roll.
“The love we’ve found,
The love we’ve found,
We carry with us,
So we’re never quite alone.”