Hey Brother

Chapter Two

Helena found Stephanie in her room, the younger sister staring blankly at the wall as tears streamed down her face. She barely reacted when Helena sat on the edge of her bed, pulling Steph into a hug. Stephanie just let her.

Stephanie looked up at Helena with fresh tears in her eyes. "Am I the reason my parents did what they did? Is it because I really am worthless?"

Helena sighed. "Oh, sis, don't let what he said bother you. He doesn't know what he's talking about." Stephanie sobbed harder, curling into Helena, who held on tighter and whispered soft, comforting words into her ear.

While Helena was having some luck getting through to Stephanie, Jason was having none getting through to Damian.

"Damian, come on. They technically are our family." Jason groaned, wanting to rip his hair out in frustration.

Damian whirled around with fury in his eyes. "Don't you ever say that again! Mother is our family. Grandfather is our family. These heathens are not."

"We share DNA, so yeah, they are." Jason knew Damian held value in blood relations, he just didn't realize he would notice the holes in this argument so fast.

"We share no DNA with the blonde abomination. She has no place here."

A gasp was heard from the doorway and the two brothers turned to look as a black streak came flying at them, pinning Damian to the ground. Cassandra was straddling Damian, fist pulled back to punch him. "Say that again. I dare you."

Damian scoffed. "I was trained in the art of combat since I could walk. There is no way-" A punch to the face affectively shut Damian up.

Jason grabbed Cassandra around the waist and heaved her off Damian, a look between horror and anger painted on his face. "He's twelve!"

"He was also insulting our sister. He deserved it." Cassandra narrowed her eyes at Jason, daring him to challenge her.

"Okay, fair, but again. Twelve. He doesn't know how to deal with stress and right now, we are both under a lot of stress." Jason sighed, rubbing his hand through his hair. "Neither of us asked to be yanked from our mother and forced to live with a bunch of strangers."

"And you think we asked for this? We were perfectly content before you two showed up." Cassandra snarled. "Thanks to your brother, Stephanie may relapse! Hope you're happy."

With that, Cassandra stormed from the room, leaving Jason to wonder just what his sister meant.

Deciding it wasn't his business this early in the game, Jason heaved the unconscious Damian up into his arms and started to head towards what he hoped was the bedrooms.

He ended up back in the dining room, the last place he wanted to be. 

Bruce and Selina took one look at the bruise forming on Damian's face and sighed, turning their attention to Cass, who just glared back at her parents. She crossed her arms defensively. "He deserved it."

"He's twelve, Cassandra." Selina got up from the table and walked over to Jason, eyeing the mark on Damian's face. She sighed again, turning back to her daughter. "And you knocked him out cold. What have we talked about, Cass?"

Cassandra stuck her chin out defiantly, not saying a word. Bruce stood from the table, mumbling something about getting ice while Dick, Tim, and Barbara just stared at Jason and Damian. Jason stared back, daring them with his eyes to say something. 

Bruce returned a moment later with a bag of frozen peas, placing them on Damian's cheek. "Come on, let's get him to bed."

They walked in silence towards the bedrooms, the tension being ignored by both parties. As they approached Damian's room, Helena slipped out of Stephanie's room, took one look at Damian and exhaled sharply. "Cass?"

Bruce nodded. "How is Stephanie?"

Jason had a feeling that question was very loaded.

Helena was hesitant to answer, eyeing Jason carefully. "She's sleeping, but she'll be okay."

Bruce smiled at Helena, a tight, forced smile before gesturing for Jason to follow him into Damian's room. The two of them pulled back his covers and placed the boy on his bed, staring down at his sleeping form for a moment before exiting the room, closing the door gently behind them.

Jason turned to Bruce in the hallway, opening his mouth to say something, anything to rectify the words his little brother had spewed. Bruce held up a hand, a kind smile on his face. "Don't. You weren't the one to say those things."

Jason awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, looking down at his shoes. "Yeah, but I feel as if he is my responsibility. I'm his brother, y'know?"

"And I'm his father. Don't worry about it Jason, I'll handle it." Bruce put a hand on Jason's shoulder squeezing it once before turning around and heading back towards the dining room.

Jason stood there for a moment, unsure what to think of the whirlwind of the past day. He went from having one brother to three and four sisters, plus a second mom, and his dad wasn't dead.

He needed to sit down.

Jason went to his room, noting all the differences between his room here and his room back home with Talia. This room was cozier, more home like.

Jason ran his fingers along the bookshelf, a small smile playing on his lips as he looked at all the titles he had yet to read here. He jumped when he heard a voice behind him.

"We have a whole library, you know." He turned to see Dick standing there leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed. "I could show you tomorrow, if you'd like."

Jason nodded slowly, his heart rate slowing down from the startle. "Yeah, thanks."

Dick nodded once. "Anytime. Well, goodnight." He pushed off the door frame and walked away, leaving Jason to wonder just how rich his new family was to have a whole library in their house.

He would have to do some research on them in the morning, but for now, bed time. He was exhausted.