Coup De Grace | D. Wayne

[15] Assumptions

From the past few days, Tim had noticed something quite extraordinary. He had realized that Damian was getting quite invested in Ember's case.

It had never happened before for their youngest brother to take an interest in whatever resulted from patrol unless he got the chance to beat someone up. But with the current case focusing on Evan's abduction and his connection to Ember Sullivan, Damian was surprisingly always on board to help.

He had no qualms about shifting his patrol areas to Aparo and the vicinity so that he would be able to make sure that Ember wasn't abducted, he would reach out to the woman to help her whenever she needed it and for the first time, he was going the extra mile for someone other than his family.

That had never happened before and considering Damian's nature, no one would believe Tim's assumption easily if he brought it up.

Tim had a number of theories up his sleeve for what could be the reason for Dami's unexpected involvement and concern for Ember Sullivan but he never voiced it out as he valued his life to a certain extent.

He was the one most likely to make jokes about his death out of his siblings and they all knew he was borderline suicidal but that didn't mean Tim was unaware of how tortuous death could be if inflicted by the demon spawn they lived with. Therefore, he was in no mood to give him any opportunity to come at him with murderous intentions.

Still, curiosity got the better of him and that night as both of them were alone in the Batcave after patrol, Tim decided to talk to him about it.

"Hey Dames, got a minute?"

"Call me that again and it will take you more than a minute to recover," he mumbled, looking up briefly from the file he was studying.

Tim knew that was his default format of replying to whatever he asked of him. Damian had programmed himself to throw insults at Tim out of nowhere and Tim had learned to accept those insults like compliments. The time he wouldn't be throwing insults at the elder one, he would be threatening him or vice versa.

They had a very weird dynamic as it seemed they purposefully tried to get on each other's nerves but deep down they cared for each other just like they cared for the rest of their family members.

Used to hearing such cold replies from him, Tim took the seat beside Damian, leaning closer to see what he was doing.

"What do you want, Drake?" Damian closed the file and put it out of Tim's reach, turning to face him with a glare.

"I just want to talk, y'know," Tim replied with a slight smile, "it's been long since we got the time to sit down for a chat."

Emerald eyes narrowed in suspicion as he remembered, "but we talked during patrol."

"You answered one useless question, that doesn't count."

"Honestly, anything you say is useless," Damian shrugged but did not leave as he too had gotten curious about why Drake had approached him for a chat.

"I wanted to talk to you about Ember."

He paused, raising an eyebrow skeptically, "what for?"

"Just because... Since you are the one out of us who is most in touch with her I thought of asking you if she's doing okay or not. That's all," Tim deadpanned, seeing the cold look in Damian's eyes.

"I don't know how she's doing," he replied monotonously, "I was only tasked to make sure she stayed safe, and right now, she is safe. That's something you're aware of too."

"But Damian, I meant..."

His words trailed off as Damian's stare intensified, knowing full well that Tim was purposefully beating around the bush to hear an answer to something he couldn't directly ask without angering him.