Castle Of Glass | B. Wayne

[39]

Calmia heard quite an uproar as she descended the stairs to go to the kitchen. It seemed as if the whole family was huddled together and had seen something hilarious. Laughter and excited voices met her as she entered.

"Good morning, Mia," Jason greeted her, and the others turned to look at her too. They were reading a copy of the Gotham Daily together, and it seemed the press had come up with something so outlandish that it was making them double over with laughter.

But one face was missing among all the people huddled around the breakfast counter.

"Where's Tim?" She asked as she took a seat, realizing that she hadn't seen the boy at dinner last night either.

She knew he often skipped meals, and someone from the family had to check up on him regularly. But the way the rest of them had gone silent indicated something was wrong.

"Tim? Well... Tim, uh, is not here," Steph answered, realizing that Calmia wasn't aware that they had sent him to Bludhaven overnight.

She looked surprised to hear that, "Really? Where did he go?"

"He went to Bludhaven," Jason tried to explain without revealing much, "Dickiebird said his friends were coming over so we thought it would be a good idea to send him there."

Calmia judged his expression very carefully, knowing that he was not telling the truth. All of them looked like deers caught in headlights.

Something was wrong with Tim and they were intentionally hiding it from her, she deduced.

However, she knew there was one person among them who wouldn't lie if she asked him anything.

"Damian, what's going on?"

Damian's emerald eyes flickered to the rest of his siblings but then locked again with Calmia's. Jason and Steph were both silently trying to convey to him that he should take one for the team and not tell her anything.

But Damian couldn't lie to very few people which included his mother, Alfred and now Calmia too.

"Todd sent Drake to Bludhaven because he was getting paranoid. Only Grayson can deal with him when he's like that."

Calmia's eyes widened in worry, "Paranoid? But why? What happened?"

"You didn't read Gotham Daily's last article?" Steph asked carefully.

"No because they are always churning out nonsense so reading it would be a waste," she remarked.

Surprisingly, Cassandra was the one who spoke up next, "Tim not well due to stupid article."

The atmosphere was heavy with discomfort now as none of them wanted to tell Calmia what the article was about as they did not want to worry her. But she was already worried about Tim so keeping it from her wasn't a wise decision either.

"Jason, what was in that article that caused Tim to snap?" She asked, unable to focus on her breakfast, "As long as I have known him, even though he implies that he's unstable, he has never lost his composure. Not even once in front of me."

He sighed wearily as he could no longer keep it a secret, "Yeah, he can put up with all sorts of shit but not when a person he cares for gets targeted. Then he becomes what we sometimes call vengeful mode Tim."

"Tim scary like that," Cass agreed with their older brother, "he kill press members if we not send him away."

She was taken aback to hear that but as it was Cass who said it, she was sure it wasn't a joke.

"That's impossible! Tim and killing... No way..."

Calmia was looking at them as if they were telling her a far fetched story to hide the truth. But their serious faces looked back at her, confirming that what they had just said was true.

"They're right, Miss Calmia. Drake gets unhinged when people insult his family," Damian added offhandedly.

"The point is not just about insulting," Steph added with a soft sigh, "It's about false rumors that involve him and... Well... You."

"Wait, what?"

Steph showed her the last edition of the Gotham Daily that had the article on Calmia's pregnancy rumors.

The kitchen that was echoing with laughter earlier was now eerily silent as all faces were focused on Calmia who was skimming through the text.

"This... This is ridiculous..." She threw the article aside, "And why did Tim take this so seriously? I know exactly what his intentions are and so do the rest of you guys. That's all that matters, right? He calls me Mom, he respects me so much and I love him and treat him just like I would do so with my own child... So why did he think this piece of paper was going to make any difference?"

"We know that Mia, trust me, we all do," Jason spoke up, his eyes flickering in a sympathetic look, "But Tim got paranoid thinking that it would affect Bruce and your relationship. Deep down he knows it's pointless too but he couldn't see your reputation being tainted by the press as well. He wouldn't give a shit if the press wrote anything about him but he flipped out because they were targeting you."

She felt terrible. Tim was closest to having a best friend in the manor with whom she could share anything and everything freely. But finding out that he had been going through a rough phase but didn't confide in her about it made her feel awful.

Especially because the reason for that rough phase was connected to both of them.

"How is he now?" She asked.

"He will be fine," Jason replied, "I talked to Dickie and he said his friends are with him. Don't worry, Calmia, he will come back too as soon as he gets better."

She nodded, hoping it would be just as Jason had said. However, she recalled they had been in high spirits earlier but that conversation turned everything rather depressing.

"Alright... I hope it is as you say," she sighed softly, trying to compose herself. "And you guys were in a good mood earlier which got ruined by this so I'm sorry..."

"Why are you apologizing?" Steph remarked, reaching out to squeeze her hand in assurance, "Actually, you should know why we were in a good mood. Perhaps it will make you get lighter too."

Jason fished out the fake copy of the Gotham Daily and handed it to her with a proud look on his face.

"What is this?" She asked, reluctant to read another article so soon.

"This is our revenge article on the press," Jason told her, eyes sparkling with mischief, "Steph and I decided to give these reporters a taste of their own medicine."

Steph nodded, showing Calmia the articles she and Jason had written in that morning's fake edition. "We wrote these together and got the copies printed then swapped them for the original. Every person in Gotham right now is reading this having no idea that it's our doing."

"I can't wait to see the faces of Gotham Daily's team when they pick up a copy too," Jason remarked, "they would finally learn how it feels when false rumors are spread out to the public."

Calmia smiled slightly at the effort they had taken to execute their revenge plot. But her mind was still deviating to Tim.

She had to talk to him so she decided to call him on the way to her office. Those days Alfred drove her to and from work so she would have enough time to check up on Tim.

Plus she had to give the boy a very motherly lecture on how he was far too much of a pessimist and that needed to change. Whatever other people thought about them didn't matter. What mattered was that they were sincere towards each other as a family.

***