"Welcome back Master Damian, Miss Marinette." Alfred greeted the two as they walked inside.
"Hey Alfred. Where is everybody?" Marinette asked.
"They are all in the house somewhere. Who are you looking for?"
"We actually need to talk to everyone. A 'family meeting' is what Angel is calling it." Damian spoke up.
"May I ask what this is about?" Alfred questioned.
"We saw Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy while on our date today." The bluenette smiled at the butler.
"They had some pretty interesting things to say, too." Damian still seemed a bit annoyed.
"I will gather everyone up right away. Please wait in the living room while I go get them." The butler walked off.
As the teens sat down, Marinette opened up her purse for her kwami's to be let out. "Will you answer our questions yet, Tikki?"
"I think we should wait for everyone to get here so I won't be repeating myself." Tikki smiled at her chosen.
"If you think that's best." She gently poked her kwami's belly and Tikki let out a small laugh.
One by one, everyone started to pile into the living room to hear what the teens had to say.
"Okay, we are all here now, Sunshine. What's this all about?" Jason looked expectantly at her.
"We ran into Harley and Ivy today while on out date. Apparently, they were looking for me." Marinette carefully watched everyone's expression.
"What would they want with you, kitten?" Selina looked more confused than the rest.
"Marinette can heal the plants. It's an after effect of the long-term use of the ladybug miraculous." Tikki informed. "This 'Poison Ivy' woman somehow picked up on this."
"Did you know this would happen?" The bluenette asked curiously. "I didn't even know I was doing this."
"I've seen this happen maybe 2 or 3 other times with my past holders and each one of them is what you call a 'true holder'. You already knew you were a perfect match for the ladybug miraculous."
"So, Pamela wasn't necessarily looking for Marinette. She was looking for the source of what made the plants in Gotham grow?" Selina looked at the teens.
"Correct. Now that she knows who is causing it, she wants Angel to try and heal a dying and endangered plant of hers." Damian looked over at his father.
"Is this plant some sort of dangerous flora?" Bruce had on a serious face.
"She said it wasn't. She even offered for Damian to come if I didn't want to go alone." Marinette said. "I really do think they just wanted my help."
"I talked to both of them a few weeks ago Bruce." Selina rested her hand on his shoulder. "Those two have straightened themselves out. They even helped us out when we put the Joker away last month. You know how much they have a soft spot for young girls. If they didn't threaten them then I think they really are telling the truth."
"You're probably right. They have been awfully quiet for a while and they both had the chance numerous times to go back to their old ways." Bruce turned to the bluenette. "You can help them but only if you want to."
"But father, what if this is all a ruse?" Damian looked a little angrily at his father.
"Then you should probably go with her." Bruce smiled at his sons worry. "But I'm sure Marinette can take care of herself."
"I have a few questions about this though." Tim look over at the kwami's. "Are there any other 'after effects' Marinette can gain and is it only her miraculous that does this?"
"There technically are more than one after effect a holder can have from some miraculous." Tikki rested on the coffee table as she spoke. "For example, Marinette has 3 that I know of so far but I have only heard of one that can come from a true cat miraculous holder."
"I do?" Marinette looked genuinely confused.
"Yes." Tikki nodded. "You have luck and the ability to heal small organic life such as plants and trees. A true cat holder can gain the ability to see clearly in the dark." She shrugged.
"Okay." Dick looked curiously at the kwami. "What's the third one of hers then?"
"Marinette is extremely fertile." The kwami smiled at her chosen.
The bluenette let out a loud string of coughs as the rest of the family looked on with awkward and embarrasses faces. "Tikki! Oh my God, you can't just drop that on us like that." Marinette hid her face in her hands.
Plagg started to laugh at the awkwardness in the room. "What did you guys expect coming from the holder of the miraculous of LUCK and CREATION. It's pretty obvious to me."
"Well, baby bird." Dick smiles awkwardly at his youngest brother. "At least now you have a heads up."
Damian went almost just as red as Marinette did.
"Well, this was a fun family meeting, Pixie-pop." Jason stood up. "Way to keep it interesting."
"I blame Tikki." Marinette glared at her kwami.
"Hey! I tried to omit it but Dick wanted to know. I blame him." Tikki turned her attention to Dick.
"At least its not my fault this time." Plagg grabbed ahold of Kaalki and zoomed towards the kitchen. "We'll be getting some food if you need us."
"Wait for me!" Tikki floated after them.
---------
"I'm sorry about my kwami's." Marinette spoke up as they walked. Damian was taking her to the room where he kept all his paintings and art supplies. "They can be a bit embarrassing sometimes."
"It's okay, Angel. I know it wasn't your fault." He fished out his key to unlock the door.
"I know." The bluenette went red just thinking about it. "It was still embarrassing though."
Damian finally opened up the door and stepped aside to let her in first. "Enough about all that. Welcome to my art room, Angel."
Marinette stepped inside and looked around. This room was just as large as the room she was staying in, only this room had no furniture whatsoever. Instead, there were about five different kinds of easels in the center of the room and paintings covering every inch of the walls. There was also rows of canvases that where already painted leaning against the walls and a large stack of unused canvases in all sizes pile by the door. A few standing shelves were next to the easels in the middle of the room and they were all packed with different paints, painting tools and paintbrushes.
She walked over to the closest painting on the wall and saw a perfect replica of the rose gardens just outside. Marinette studied the painting for any flaws but couldn't find one. The only thing she noticed was a small signature of "DW" in the corner. As she kept looking, she saw paintings of things she recognized, like a wall of swords down in the Batcave, a portrait of his pets and different family members and even Gotham's city skyline. Some though, were foreign to her. She looked at a portrait of a beautiful woman with long brown hair, beautiful tanned skin and a disappointed look on her face.
"Who is she?" Marinette looked over at Damian who seemed to be watching her a little bit nervously.
"That's my mother, Talia."
"Oh." She looked back at the woman's expression and couldn't help but to feel a little bad for Damian. "You want to talk about it?"
"Not really." He looked at the painting for a second before looking back to Marinette who seemed to have the exact opposite expression of his mother. "She's not a very good woman."
"Where is she now?"
"Somewhere far away, hopefully." Damian gave the painting a mean look before smiling back down at his girlfriend. "Let's hope you never meet her."
"Okay." Marinette gave him a soft smile. She knew there was more that he wasn't telling her but she also knew that he would tell her when he was ready. "You don't have to talk about her if you don't want to." She began to look around at more of the paintings on the wall.
"These are really good, Damian." The bluenette stopped in front of what looks like a self portrait of Damian when he was maybe 12 or 13. "You couldn't even smile for your own portrait?"
"I told you that I paint what I see." He watched her closely as she appraised all of his works and he didn't know why, but he was nervous about it.
"You have quite the eye for detail. These all almost look real." Marinette walks over to the stack of paintings leaning against the wall. "What are all of these?" She points to them.
"I couldn't hang all of them up so those are my least favorite ones."
Most of these paintings are of landscapes and portraits of people he already has up on the wall but Marinette comes across one of a single wilted rose that she thinks he must have saw in the garden outside. "I like this one." She held up the canvas to get a better look at it.
"Why?" He looked curiously at her.
"First of all, you painted it and second, it's absolutely beautiful. You could have painted any of the perfect roses out there but you didn't. This one is special."
"But it's wilted."
"Yes, and?" She set the painting down.
"And shouldn't wilted flowers make you sad?"
"Were you already sad when you painted this flower or did the flower itself make you sad?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "Sometimes when we feel a certain way, we can't help but look for the negative things in the world."
"I..." Damian was at a loss for words.
"It's okay." Marinette grabbed his hands. "But you should know that it's a beautiful painting. You don't have to hide it away, or even hide your feelings away."
He stared at her for a moment before breaking out into a smile. "I don't deserve you Angel. You are far too good for me."
"No." She shakes her head as she smiles up at her boyfriend. "You need to think better of yourself. You aren't a bad person."
"Yes I am." Stubborn tears begin to form in his eyes.
"Why would you say that?" Marinette grabs both sides of his face so she can look at him.
"Because I've done bad things to people." A single tear begins to fall down his cheek. "I was raised to do bad things to people." He tried to look away from her.
"Is this why you don't want to talk about your mother? She raised you to do bad things?" She wipes the tear away.
All Damian could do was nod.
"Do you still do those bad things?"
Damian shook his head. "Not anymore." He whispered.
"Then you don't have to be defined by your past, Damian. If you want to be a good person then you can be a good person. The only one who could stop you from doing that is you."
"You aren't mad at me because of the things that I have done?" He looks sadly into her eyes. "Because I have done horrible things."
"No, Damian. I've learned to not judge people on their worst mistakes. I can see now that you don't want to be that person anymore, whoever he was."
"I wasn't always like that. I fought every step of the way while my father tried to make me into a better person."
"But he got through to you in the end though, didn't he?" She smiled softly at him.
"I guess they all did." He finally smiles back at her before giving her a loving hug.
"Thank you, Damian, for opening up to me." They pull away from the hug and she wipes away his remaining tears.
"Thank you for not hating me, Angel." He reached down to cup her cheek.
"I could never." She reached up on her tippy toes to give him a lingering kiss.