Chapter 6: Home is Where the Heart Is

The race down the mountain, towards the plane, ranked as one of the top ten most terrifying moments of Tim's life.

He wasn't sure if he could carry Damien all the way there, he wasn't sure if Jason would make it all the way there, they had no weapons and none of them were in any shape to fight hand-to-hand. Their chances of survival were slim to none.

They fell more than ran down the mountain, and Tim all but collapsed at the bottom. I'm too weak to carry Damien, he thought in a daze. But Jason took Damien from his arms without a word and they managed to make it the rest of the way to the plane.

Jason put Damien in the back while Tim programmed a course home and they took off as quickly as they could.

Then the plane was silent except for pained and ragged breathing.

Tim leaned back against the pilot's seat with an involuntary groan. Jason glanced at him. "I can see the blood," said Jason grimly. "Should you be flying?"

"Auto-pilot," said Tim wearily. He gave Jason a piercing glance. "How are you?"

A grim chuckle made its way past Jason's lips. "You're bleeding and you ask me if I'm okay?"

"You seemed pretty desperate for me not to jump in after you," prodded Tim.

"Yeah, well," Jason gave his replacement a twisted smile. "I didn't want you to end up like me."

"You know," said Tim after a pause. "That wouldn't be all bad."

Damien woke up while they were over the Atlantic Ocean. His body shuddered as he opened his eyes. Exhausted and cold, he looked up and watched his two brothers silently. Jason was playing with a baterang, flipping it over and over in his hand. Damien could only see Tim's reflection as he lay in the other seat with his eyes closed. Both of them were pale – but Damien figured he didn't look much better.

"Thank you," said Damien softly.

Tim's eyes snapped open and Jason looked around with surprise. "Say again?"

"Thank you for coming to get me," said Damien.

Tim turned and gave him a kind smile as Jason said, "It's part of the job description."

Tim gave him a look.

"I meant of being related," added Jason. "Sort of, anyway." He gave Damien a closer look. "How are you feeling, Dami?"

"I'm cold," Damien admitted. "Is the heat on in this thing?"

Tim glanced at the instruments. "Yeah. But there are hypothermia blankets under your seat if you think that'll help."

Damien tried not to appear too eager as he reached under his seat for the synthetic polymers.

"Mind handing me one?" Jason asked.

Damien silently handed the second blanket forward and wrapped himself in a cocoon. The plane began to beep and Tim glanced down. He gave a little laugh and said, "If you look below us, you may catch a glimpse of Superman."

"So we're almost home?" asked Damien quietly.

"Almost," promised Tim.

Damien nodded, watching the clouds zip by. You were wrong, grandfather. Damien thought. I got to choose my home.

Barbara had wanted to yell at them. Damien could see it in her eyes. But it was that type of yelling that meant she had spent no time sleeping and the entire time worrying about them. But she had swallowed her words and called for Alfred.

Tim half-collapsed trying to get out of the plane, face pale from the slow but steady blood loss over the past several hours, and Jason paused to help him. Damien muttered something about needing to shower, had pushed his way to the secret elevator and fled up the stairs.

He felt blue, grey, and green eyes follow him.

He got to his bare room and stopped. His eyes roved across walls that had been stripped of their wallpaper, across a bed that was missing sheets. Then he collapsed.

"Jay," Tim grabbed Jason's wrist as Jason made to leave after helping him get to the infirmary.

Jason shook his head; "Tim, please, I need to sleep-"

"Think about what al Ghul told him," insisted Tim weakly. "And the Pit…his room is empty."

Jason met Tim's eyes, and left silently.

"Tim," said Barbara softly. "What happened?"

"Can I explain when Bruce and Dick get back?" asked Tim, his eyes were already drifting shut.

Barbara swallowed hard. "Of course."

She exchanged worried glances with Alfred.

"Damien?"

Damien didn't reply, just stayed on his knees, shivering.

Jason knelt beside him and Damien felt a heavy coat get draped over him. He looked up to meet Jason's tired and pain-filled eyes. "I can't imagine what it felt like being brought back to life that way," Damien whispered.

Jason shrugged and said, "Come on, Dick's rooms is the nicest."

Damien let Jason help him to his feet. "I know you don't like people touching you," Jason said as they walked. "But it's like hypothermia, body heat is the only thing that helps."

"How did you know that?" asked Damien.

"The people who found me thought I did have hypothermia," said Jason matter-of-factly.

Damien didn't press.

When Alfred came looking for them, they were both asleep on top of Dick's bed, Damien pressed against Jason's chest.

Chapter 6: End Scene

Neither Jason nor Tim nor Damien had ever seen Bruce that angry.

They'd finished explaining. In stops and starts where Bruce had been stone-still in his seat but Dick had been pacing around and around the room. Barbara would periodically curse and poor Alfred looked like he was going to have a heart attack.

It was silent for several, long minutes after they were finished. Tim almost felt bad for Bruce and Dick – they'd just returned from a grueling mission on an alien planet. Alfred and Barbara had been kept in anxious suspense for a couple of days when Tim insisted that they really shouldn't tell the story twice.

Damien hadn't left anything out. Including what he'd learned about the circumstances of his birth.

Jason barely said three words, leaving Tim to fill in a good amount of information on their adventures through the den of the League of Shadows.

And now Bruce was sitting in that seat, looking murderous.

"You're sure Ra's is dead?" he finally asked. His voice was a low, dangerous growl.

"Well," said Tim slowly. "He's not alive. When I threw my staff in the Pit the entire thing exploded."

"And Talia?"

"I don't know," admitted Tim.

At Bruce's glance, Jason shrugged and muttered, "I was preoccupied."

"I feel sick," declared Dick. "I can't…listen, Dami…" He went over to where Damien was sitting on the couch looking at his shoes, and knelt so he was eye-level with the boy who had been his side-kick. "Dami, we're your family. Nothing you just told us changes thsat."

Damien met Dick's eyes, then silently slid his gaze to Bruce.

Bruce who still hadn't moved.

"Father?" Damien asked tentatively.

Bruce looked up and met his son's eyes. "I would die for you, Damien," he said simply.

Damien hurled himself across the room and into Bruce's arms. The angry look left Bruce's face as he held his youngest boy close. Tears came to his eyes; Damien's skin still felt cold.

He looked up at Tim and Jason over Damien's head and mouthed, 'Thank you.'

They both nodded. Jason's throat felt tight with tears.

Dick put his arm over Tim's shoulders. Barbara took one of Alfred's old hands in hers. Jason stepped forward to ruffle Damien's black hair with his hand, a half-smile on his face.

Talia stood with her hand on the gun outside the window for several long minutes. I could do it, she thought. She had meant to kill one of Bruce's other sons, in revenge for him stealing hers. But there was something close enough to love in her heart that she eventually dropped the gun she had stolen from Jason on the ground and disappeared into the night. They never heard from her again.