Part 2 – Chapter 7

Jason shifted on his feet and ran a hand through his hair.

"Okay. So Bruce is being… Bruce," he explained, hands moving as he tried to put it into words.

Tim sighed at the ineloquence of Jason's explanation. Steph laughed at it and Jason glared at her.

"Bruce has been doing something we don't agree with. We need an idea for, well, fixing it? I guess?" He decided then that it would have been easier if Barbara had known. Then they could outright say that they didn't like how Bruce 'omitted' Dick's status on his file and in his life.

Barbara, bless her, seemed to get the gist anyway.

"Okay, I guess I can't ask what Bruce has done?" They nodded. "Well, I doubt it's something to Jason, directly at least, because you would have blown something up by now-" Jason shifted nervously.

"I don't like that implication," he muttered, trying not to think about what he had been up to before Catwoman tracked him down.

Both women shared a look. Steph raise an eyebrow and smirked while Barbara nodded sagely.

"Okay, you would have done something so that Batman knows that you are mad at him," Barbara corrected.

"More like disappointed but yeah. What?" he questioned when they shared another look. This one was wide-eyed and caused the smile to drop off Steph's face.

"What did he do?" Steph gasped. "Did he kick Damian out or something?"

"No," Tim said. Jason thought about that for a moment. Bruce hadn't kicked Dick out, per say, but had implied as such to Dick during his time as both Robin and Nightwing.

"Close enough," Jason muttered, "but not Damian."

He got looks for saying that.

"I think you may be overreacting. Besides, saying Bruce is being himself says that he's not doing anything you didn't expect."

"I didn't expect this!" Tim cried out. Steph stared at him open-mouthed for that outburst.

"Wow. What did he do?"

"Forget that. We need an idea. Since mine apparently sucks," Jason said.

"What was yours?" Barbara asked.

"He wants to set Catwoman on him. It's not an idea, it's a recipe for disaster," Tim answered.

"I think it's a good idea," Steph said.

"Thank you!" Jason declared, nudging Tim in the side. "See? She thinks it's a good idea."

"Not commenting," Tim grumbled.

Barbara was thinking.

"I don't see why it's not a good idea. Selina might be able to set Bruce straight on whatever it is. Unless it involves something illegal that's not murder."

"Yes! Two out of three!" Jason cheered

"It's not a competition!"

"What's not a competition?" Robin asked, slipping through the window. Once inside, he pulled his mask off, since Jason and Tim weren't wearing theirs.

Barbara bit back a sigh and instead rest her head on her hand.

"Robin, why are you here?"

"Nightwing," he responded. Said man had slipped through the door, smiling at the group who looked in the direction Damian pointed.

"Aw, it was supposed to be a surprise!" Dick whined.

"Dick. Stop hacking. My security," Barbara threatened.

"You hacked her security?" Damian and Steph questioned in unison.

"I hacked her security," Dick said in a proud tone.

"And you'll be updating the Justice League's firewall," Barbara declared.

"Ew," Dick commented, crinkling his nose. "I had enough of that by the time I was ten."

"Then you should be a master of it."

"You're no fun."

"Because your brothers brought me a job and you're probably here about a job."

"Right," Dick said, looking at Jason and Tim. "Hey, about, you know, we're cool. Right?" Considering they hadn't tried to punch his face in, he hoped they might be.

"We're cool," Jason said. "Mostly."

"So, what job?" Dick asked. "Can I have in?" Tim and Jason shared a 'should we?' look. Tim was nervous and Jason hesitant.

Damian raised his eyebrows and gave Dick a look that said he wasn't impressed with them. Dick was hiding how he was hurt by their hesitation.

"See, we were hoping Barbara could help us with Bruce," said Tim, "since he's being private, I guess, about that thing Jason brought up."

"You know what they're talking about?" Steph asked excitedly when she saw Dick's eyes widen.

"Uh, yeah. But, why do you want to get Bruce?"

"He shouldn't be private about it!" Jason said, throwing his arms in the air. "Timmy says the connection is there but seriously Dick!"

"Wait. Is Bats testing you guys again?" Steph asked the younger Robins.

"No," Tim answered.

"Todd wouldn't get this upset over a test," Damian pointed out.

Barbara sighed and held her hand out to Dick.

"What did you bring me?" she asked. He passed her a USB.

"Well, you know that picture of me and Selina which is circulating around the papers?" Barbara nodded. "Batman tracked down the woman who sold the picture to them and interrogated her. He found out that she got it from a discarded camera, near a discarded shipping container in the slums."

"We just came from checking it out," Damian pointed out.

"It's disgusting Babs. Not only a mess but it's people's private details and photos just left out for anyone to take. Batman wants you to check the background of the company for whatever else you can find before Bruce Wayne makes a formal enquiry."

"Well, it's easier than the Reds' request. I have no idea what they want me to do.

"Probably something about birth parents," Dick stated.

There was silence for a few moments.

"Yes," Jason said. Barbara glared at him and Steph gasped. They thought he was talking about the Graysons.

"Subtle," Tim sighed.

"If you can't handle it, Todd, then get out of Gotham," Damian said.

"I'm not going anywhere, your brat! Besides, you didn't have the Mama Cat track you down!"

"Ma tracked you down?" Dick questioned in a baffled tone of voice.

'Ma?' Steph mouthed at Barbara. Barbara shook her head and shrugged her shoulders, although she suspected it was probably a joke Dick was poking at the article.

"Yeah. Gave me the 'don't touch my baby' speech. It was real heart-warming," Jason responded in his most sarcastic tone.

Slowly, Dick commented with, "okay."

"Does this have to do with whatever happened when Red Hood went after that last Dealer?" Steph asked. "You've all been dark since then, except Nightwing and Batman. We hadn't even got news that Robin was back and here you all are, talking in code."

"You hadn't," Damian snorted and Barbara nodded; she had been aware that Robin was back in action after whatever shook the group.

"Oh, right!" Dick said, suddenly realising, "you don't know!"

Damian gave him a scathing look, Jason face-palmed and Tim stared at Dick in bafflement.

"What?" Dick questioned, "I thought Cass would tell them."

"Not everyone has Jason's big mouth," Tim commented, "especially Cass."

"Someone explain now or get out of my watchtower," Barbara ordered. "I have a job to do."

Jason, Tim and Damian were silent.

"Batman and Catwoman are my biological parents," Dick stated calmly. He vaguely realised that this was the first time he had willingly said it to someone while not under stress. It was kind of nice.

"It's true," Tim said before Barbara or Steph could say anything. Damian nodded in agreement. "There's even evidence of it." And he brought it up on Oracle's computer, letting her go through the official documents which linked Dick to his biological parents.

Dick gave a small smile when he first saw it, a smile which grew.

"How did you find this, Timmy?" he asked cheerily.

"It wasn't hard," Tim said awkwardly, causing Dick to smile wider.

"Oh, for the love of, if that makes you happy, then we really need to talk to Bruce. The little brat gets to announce it everywhere but you don't? What is B thinking?" Jason ranted.

"It's not just Bruce," Dick said.

"Say what, Grayson?" Jason questioned in a growl. Dick was silent in response.

"Dick?" Tim questioned.

"Bruce offered to make an official announcement a few months after I first found out. I… wasn't comfortable with that. I'm not a Wayne. Not even close. And I don't want the kind of attention being a Wayne gets. I know that Bruce and Selina, or Batman and Catwoman if you prefer, are my parents. They both make time to see me and ask how I'm doing so we really don't need to be doing anything about it right now."

"Huh, cool story," Steph commented with a smile. "So, nothing changes, right?"

"I still say we sic Catwoman on B."

"And I still say that's not an idea, that's a recipe for disaster."

"Boys, if you don't need me anymore, take this drama outside. I have a company to look into."

Bruce walked into his office to find a glamorously dressed Selina Kyle sitting in his chair.

"What are you doing here?" he questioned, eyes narrowing. It hadn't escaped his attention that all his boys were out, except for the few minutes Dick came home and pulled Cass out with him.

To his confusion, Selina responded with, "I like Jason. Always have. Kid gets things done."

"What are you talking about, Selina?"

"Jason asked me to have a talk with you and stake my claim on your children. His words, not mine."

Bruce sighed and pulled an arm chair close to his desk.

"What are you after?" he asked.

"He also said, 'and tell the man if you have any more children together'. I think he was just saying it so that we don't have another awkward situation like the one we had with Dick and possibly so we could work out some kind of shared custody; that one is Oracle's suggestion by the way, but…"

Bruce groaned. No, she couldn't been saying what he thought she was saying.

"Darling, you remember a few years back? When things got a little… heated between us?"

Bruce dropped his head into his hands. Selina had disappeared again after that.

"We have a little girl. Her name is Helena."

The End.

Notes: That's it! I'm ending this here. The family knows (plus Babs and Steph) and their reactions weren't going to be over the top like the boys. And I just couldn't help including little Helena at the end there. If you're wondering, Selina's going to ask Bruce to help her find the little girl and see if she's happy. But she's not happy (maybe she's still in the orphanage for some reason or maybe she's in danger and Selina has some kind of sixth sense about it) so Selina and Bruce take her back. I cut the end part where Selina asks because it kind of ruined the flow.

Jason's still not happy about Dick's situation though. He does adore little Helena however (all of them do – Damian reluctantly). Maybe Jay takes Dick out for drinks more often now and get more engaged in the brotherly bonding to make up for the lack of acknowledgement Dick gets from his bio-parents.

And Dick's file does get changed after this. Babs does it.

The camera and personal info being disposed of incorrectly where anyone can get hold of it is inspired by a news story I saw. A phone company disposed of customer information in storage containers in the middle of nowhere where anyone could get a hold of it. There were IDs, driver licenses, personal details (name, birthdate, address), call logs, credit card details, bank details, more than enough for identity theft.

Here's a cut scene that I thought up but didn't find anywhere to place (Dick talking to Selina):

"Mum told me once that 'a dark haired angel brought you to us and I can only hope that one day you get to meet her'. I always thought it was strange; how did one meet an angel? But, I think that she wanted me to meet you."