Tim Drake Gets the Love he Deserves

Chapter Eight

"We're your friends in your universe?" Conner asked, looking confused. Tim nodded.

"Wait..." Bart said. "When you were talking about how two of your best friends died..."

Tim frowned, his eyes glazing over with a sheen of sadness. "Yeah. Bart. And Kon. A while ago." His voice was hard, void of emotion. It was obvious that any other questions would be answered with silence, a glare, and also possibly blood.

They moved on, leaving quite a few questions on the tips of everyone's tongues.

.....

The next was another picture.

It had a young boy, 10 years of age, with green eyes and black hair. The kid had an uncanny resemblance to Batman. He was scowling, looking at the person behind the camera with a glare. The man next to him was very obviously Dick Grayson, aka, Nightwing. He had his arm thrown around the kid's shoulder and was grinning brightly, holding up a peace sign.

Tim seemed to freeze when he saw the photo, turning to look at Bruce. "Does the name Damian mean anything to you?" he asked, watching the man for his reaction.

Bruce didn't react to the untrained eye, but the other Bats could tell that he was confused, and a little bit suspicious. And afraid.

Tim raised an eyebrow, his eyes growing unfocused as he gazed at the roof, a thousand unseen variables running through his head.

"Timmy." Steph said, gaining her old boy friend's attention. "Stop. That's you're overthinking face. Explain what's going on. Maybe we can help."

Tim sighed, nodding. "The kid in the picture is Damian. Damian Wayne. He's Bruce's biological son."

Well that was certainly a bomb drop. No, not a bomb. A nuclear war.

"What?" Bruce hissed, voicing everyone's questions.

"I'll need a computer to verify whether he's here in this Universe or not. He's probably not, if you don't recognize him. Cass wasn't. Steph wasn't. The teams are different. It wouldn't be too surprising if he never existed." Tim said. "But we can't worry about that now. If he does exist, it will take a long time for you to get to him."

"And why is that?" Barry asked.

Tim gave a mirthless smile. "His mother's side of the family will have a very tight hold on him. Let's move on."

...

The next one wasn't a photo. Or a video. It was a note.

It said, "Little brother, you do not have enough pictures of yourself on here. I asked Babs to add some. ~ Cass." in a sloppy scrawl. It was obvious that Cass was still learning how to write.

Tim blinked in confusion, his lips turning up in a small smile despite that, and clicked the mouse to move on to the next photo.

A photo that had both Steph and Tim blushing, and many of the occupants of the room cooing.

The photo depicted a laughing Steph, her eyes full of unrelenting joy as she leaned into Tim's shoulder. Tim's hands were covering his face, not hiding the reddened cheeks and smile on his face. They were young, around 13 and 14, and so obviously in love that you couldn't look away.

"I remember that day." Steph said, looking at the floor with a soft smile.

Tim gave a pointed stare. "You mean the day you wouldn't stop coming up with weird pick up lines? Yeah, me too. I don't even know how Cass got a picture of this."