Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Danny had gotten used to a bunch of vigilantes being thrown in his window or deliberately breaking into his small apartment before, during or after a patrol or after a severe injury.

Well, he was used to almost all of them doing it, at least. Although once in a while Red Robin was thrown around and he had to rescue him, it wasn't as frequent as Red Hood. Spoiler would show up there too, usually to pick up Red Robin and hang out randomly. And there was Nightwing... Well, Nightwing seemed to enjoy visiting him spontaneously in the middle of patrols to talk, pick up one of his teammates or to be patched up too. Even little Robin would stop by! Although he would usually scold the others for breaking into Danny's house with such little courtesy, he would also stop by and demand pictures of Cujo and talk to Danny about the dog and the animals the older man took care of at the place he would volunteer at on the weekends while drinking a hot chocolate that Danny offered him. Signal, oddly enough, had also ended up there once or twice.

After a while of Danny periodically serving as their unpaid doctor, and they started leaving letters with good amounts of money for him, he could easily obtain favors and hear good gossip. Red Robin at first only stopped by his house when really necessary, but now he was there after patrols just to talk and hang out. He was very fond of Ellie and played with her. Red Hood also adored the little girl and had taught Danny some good recipes, as well as telling her stories and reading her books. Spoiler adored and spoiled her, Nightwing did the same and also enjoyed telling stories. And Robin taught her about facts about animals and acted like a bossy older brother.

Fact was: the vigilantes made themselfs comfortable in his house and he really couldn't care less.

He was just thankful it was them and not Batman.

But Black Bat? Danny was not used to her. Never in his life had he even imagined he would interact with her. The idea of this girl being thrown through his window or sneaking into his home had never even crossed his mind before.

"Holy Ancients," he hissed under his breath, wanting to simply tear his own hair out at the sight of the woman actively bleeding out on his recently clean couch.

Couldn't he have a moment's peace!? Here he was, trying to do his college projects while reading reviews of schools in Gotham to enroll Ellie, since she had already been expelled from at least the last three schools she had attended in the last few weeks she had been living in Gotham with him, all for fighting with other students and for being involved in some confession while at the same time trying to pretend to be normal in the middle of some kind of fight happening far enough away for him not to be affected. Even though the sounds of gunshots and fighting were also close enough that any normal person and even him would want to start running and hiding — But instead, he ran to his room, tearing out of the world from his closet one of the first aid kits that he now religiously maintained and frequently updated his stock. Almost like a speeder, he ran back to her.

Was it some kind of agreement or communication between the Bats and now he was some kind of informal and unpaid doctor for them? He decided he doesn't want to know.

Right now, he was only worried about the girl bleeding on his fucking house. And her situation was not good.

He knew her from the whispers and gossip on the streets of Gotham, as well as the occasional news (as much as he didn't like following the Gotham Gazette) and Sam, who for some reason was extremely fascinated by the heroine almost as much as she was by Poison Ivy. And he knew that, in no situation, her being injured was a good sign. Not when that woman was one of the most durable and skilled, if not the most, of all the Birds, competing directly with Nightwing. The way she moved was almost inhuman. With the grace of a ballerina and at the same time, ferocity. Absolutely feral.They were two opposite sides of the same coin that, with her, simply mixed naturally.

Sometimes when he ended up in the middle of a typical attack and she was there, he would stare at her, admire would be the best word, as she fought and he would snap out of his reverie when something exploded or someone pulled him. It was an inside joke between him, Jazz, Sam and Tuck, who liked to say that he had a crush on Black Bat and tease him about it.

Which, of course, wasn't even close to the truth.

But now wasn't the time to think about that.

He could find something because if he was going to treat this injury properly, he would have to be more careful than usual. He knew she was strong, but not as far as her pain tolerance would go.

Having her hurt like that, under the shitty lighting of the apartment, wasn't how he expected their first meeting to go, really. In fact, all the other scenarios were horribly worse.

Looking at the most concerning wound, a bullet with no way out, which meant what he had first assumed: Danny would have to fish the bullet out of her.

He glanced at the girl hesitantly, who was staring at him from behind the eyes covered by something really alike the Batfurry mask, before taking a deep breath, looking at the tweezers and moving to clean the wound that was apparently bleeding heavily.

He had already quickly sanitized his hands so as not to risk infection, but damn, that didn't make it any easier. He simply went ahead and the other didn't make a sound — nothing but a low, muffled groan that Danny thought if his hearing hadn't been improved after he had died, he wouldn't have heard it. He didn't know what kind of fucked up training the Bats had, and seeing how she barely reacted beyond the small noise and the tensing of her shoulders he didn't want to know.

Her condition wasn't good. She'd probably been in some kind of explosion, considering her uniform was so torn and God only knows what Batman put in his children's clothes, because if there's one thing he's sure of it's that they're durable. Besides the bullet hole, there were other marks as if bullets had grazed her skin and hit her superficially, it looked like she'd been thrown against something. He couldn't help but notice how frighteningly thin she seemed to be. Dear Ancients, didn't the Bat fed his children? Looking at her like that, he'd guess she was around 5'8" and 110 pounds, which was definitely underweight and even dangerous for a vigilante. His pincers pushed through the layers of flesh, blood spurting out as he tried to maintain his composure. When he had the bullet out, he set it aside on a square of gauze before focusing again, grabbing a needle and sewing her up as quickly and careful as possible.

The quicker he got this done, the better it would be for both of them. Danny didn't even have any medical training! Besides being a teenage hero and getting into a lot of trouble. But the only person he usually had to fish bullets out of was Red Hood.

But he managed it. He was already making a habit of it and was surprisingly good at it. He stitched her up, and just to be safe, he cleaned all her other wounds and rubbed some ointment over them before wrapping it firmly.

"You'll have to change this often. Please make sure you take antibiotics and pain medication if you feel anything and be sure to check with a doctor." He sighed deeply, standing on shaky feet from not using them as he normally would for so long. He wanted to run his hands through his hair and push it back, considering how uncomfortable it was to have it like this. Ancients, he really needed a haircut "Can you, uh- can you stay there a little bit? I'll make you something"

With a nod from her, he rushed to clean up the mess, putting everything away before taking care of his hands, cleaning them meticulously and removing any remaining blood before washing them again in the sink.

Now completely certain that he was safe, he opened the refrigerator, taking out a freshly bought milk box and setting it to heat up a little in a pan on the stove over low heat. When he decided the temperature was reasonable, he chopped up some good chocolate and melted it. Stirring it in, Danny poured the hot chocolate into the cup before rushing over to her and handing it to her. Robin liked it, so it was only natural that his sister also did, right?

"Look.. I know the mask thing and that there's a bunch of assholes out there right now. You don't need to take it off in front of me or anything, okay?" He stared at her cloth eyes, watching her nod and stare at him as if paying attention. "I can turn around or close my eyes when you drink, if you want me to. But right now, drink this and don't go back to the fight, okay? The situation isn't good and if you were to help your friends, your injuries might cause some bleeding or something. You're a really lucky girl that nothing like this happened yet. Well, at least today" He said, handing her the warm mug.

She stared at him, straightening up in a corner of the couch, looked at the mug in her hands before pulling her mask up, just enough so that her lips were exposed.

"Thank you," she said, her voice half whispered, touching her mouth and taking a few sips. Suddenly, her body moved in excitement and she drank the rest a little faster.

He really should thank Red Hood later for teaching him how to do this for Ellie.

He watched her drink the chocolate excitedly, a bit of the candy remaining on her lips. She handed him the mug, laughing a little at the print before pulling the mask down, covering his face.

He smiled, a huff of laughter coming out of his nose.

"Wait a minute, please?" He asked, taking the object she handed him, placing it in the kitchen sink before heading back to his room.

Look, Danny knows she's the fucking Black Bat and she's more than capable of beating the shit out of anyone that tries to mess with her. But it didn't sit right with him to let a lady leave his apartment, freshly bandaged, with her clothes still fucked up. And worse, without offering anything! Other than the chocolate, of course. He was raised better than that!

He opened his closet, looking for a good enough sweatshirt. He rummaged through some things, pulling out a hoodie that Sam gave him from a pile of freshly folded clothes. It was simple and cute — black, with Snoopy, Charlie Brown, and Woodstock on the moon in astronaut gear.

He opened it, checking the condition, before folding it again and placing it in his arms. He went back to the living room.

Black Bat was now standing there, looking around his apartment through the whites of her mask's fake eyes with barely concealed curiosity. But she had barely moved, still standing in front of the bloody couch.

"Here, for you," he handed her the piece of clothing gently, missing the comfortable weight of the cotton as she took it.

She studied the hoodie, quickly pulling it over her head and dressing it over her costume. It was a definitely big for her, but she looked comfortable in it and it covered her wounds well. If a villain had seen them, they would have immediately recognized them as weakness and would have attacked her instantly.

"Thank you," she said once more, her voice now sounding distorted, robotic even.

"You're welcome, Lil' Bat." Her shoulders tensed a bit "Now, you better go to God knows where you and your companions are hiding. You should have a doctor or personal agent to take care of you, make sure to follow their orders and not be stupid like Red Robin or Red Hood, okay?"

" 'Kay." She laughed, the AI in her suit stuttering in laughter "Little Brothers, always like this."

"My big sister will agree with you," Danny scoffed.

Little Bat shrugged, sneaking through the window, which, thank the Ancients, wasn't broken. Well, it kinda was, but he could fix that in a hour and a half. It was nothing compared to the time Red Hood broke into his apartment, having been shot at least 5 times, breaking the window and scattering glass everywhere.

She waved goodbye and he waved back, his face involuntarily giving her a small smile before she threw herself out of his apartment window, running across the buildings and rooftops to God knows where.

She disappeared into the night and Danny sighed heavily.

He would get his tools and fix the window now and then call a cleaning company first thing in the morning. Or he would call his ghost servants. It was much better.

Chapter Text

Things had gone off plan in the worst way she could have imagined. Nothing about that mission had actually gone according to plan.

It wasn't often that Cass would team up with Jason on a mission. She and her little brother had very different moral codes and ways of working for that. But Tim was still on the plane to return home after a business trip for Wayne Enterprises in Brazil and couldn't work with her because he was on the flight and would be too exhausted afterwards. Damian was teaming up with Bruce. Dick was in Blüdhaven dealing with his own business, even if he was going to return the next day for family lunch, there was no way to call him yet and Stephanie was already in the middle of a mission when Cassandra was called to help Jason.

Technically, her little brother didn't need help. He always handled everything on his own in his territory. Cass technically didn't need to be sent to help him.

But this was still about Black Mask.

Jason could handle it. He could do it on his own and always did. But this was Cass's little brother, no matter how different they were and how estranged he was from his family. He made mistakes, a lot, but Cass knew that beneath those twisted morals he had the best intentions, he wanted to protect his people, he wanted people from the lower classes to have a dignity that the system didn't allow them to have. Despite their differences, Bruce sent her to accompany him and she went without question. Jason repeated what Cass already knew: He could handle it alone.

But she was just as stubborn as he was. So she wasn't ashamed or hesitant to join him, even with the protests, irritated grumbles and tired sighs.

It should have been simple: Follow Black Mask's henchmen, confiscate the contraband — which Oracle estimated to be about 25kg of kryptonite, Jason estimated to be 30kg. Cass would estimate 28kg, just to be safe and stay in the middle — and gather as much information as possible.

Until they were cornered in the middle of the second part of the mission. Cass and Jason were both naturally discreet beings. But things went wrong when, after a misstep, they attracted the attention of one of the henchmen. After that, everything had been a blur. Guns, a group too big against just two people and then, a bomb explodes. A shootout begins.

She couldn't say exactly how or who hit that bullet in her stomach, only that, amid the smoke from one of the bombs and with Jason's voice in her ear telling her to move away from the scene, she went with that small object lodged in the flesh of her stomach. She felt disappointed with herself for having been hit with such precision there, but she would have given herself a teaspoon because there were so many bullets at that moment, it was easy to miss the presence of one in that chaos. She was still upset by the small flaw in her instincts nonetheless.

But it was still purely instinctive to stop at Danny's apartment.

She had been there before. Just not like her brothers and Steph did. When she was hurt, she would rather make the logical decision to run to the Batcave than break into a seemingly normal civilian's apartment.

But her family didn't seem to find the logical option really logical. Cass knew, though, that the original reason they snuck into Danny's apartment was out of spite for Bruce, not wanting to deal with a lecture about injuries, or simply not wanting Bruce or Alfred to find out about their injuries.

Alfred knew it, and everyone knew he did. No one commented.

But they also genuinely enjoyed his company. Danny was nice, a bit clumsy, but kind and funny. Breaking into his house just became routine and he couldn't care less about it.

Yet, Cass never went inside. Steph would tease her that it was most likely because of her crush on Danny. Cass would say it was because she at least had sense, unlike everyone else in that family.

So she preferred to peek through the roof or outside the apartment.

She didn't really realize how much she was bleeding until she collapsed on Danny's couch. It smelled clean and she instantly regretted falling down there and getting her blood all over it. Everything burned and hurt, and then there was that specific pain she felt from the bullet nestled inside her. She bit the inside of her mouth to distract herself, to no avail. Her eyes were cloudy and her vision was blurry.

And then Danny caught her eye.

He looked exhausted, sitting in a chair with a cup of coffee so hot she could see the steam coming out of it, a battered computer on the kitchen counter and a few more books open and stacked as he appeared to be trying to study and research something. All while there was a shooting going on not too far away.

He looked at her, crystal blue eyes wide, as he pushed himself off the counter and ran away.

Panic, surprise, worry she recognized, but at the same time there was a certain habit to his actions.

He looked at her with concern and a rush in his movements, he knelt in front of her on the couch and sanitized his hands with alcohol. Took a deep breath and began to help her. He took a pair of tweezers and cleaned the bullet wound, his hands trembling slightly as he prepared himself and he only glanced at her once before he began to work in earnest. He looked slightly irritated as he stared at her abdomen, was the situation really that bad? Any questions she wanted to ask dissipated when she felt the pressure of the tweezers inside her, opening her flesh as he pulled the discomfort out with an experience she could only assume was because of Red Hood and Red Robin getting into trouble and Danny having to help them with the consequences of their actions.

Her eyes pressed together and she bit her own mouth with all the strength she had left until the bullet was pulled out. He left the little thing on a square of gauze and began to stitch it up, being attentive to the other wounds as well, cleaning them, applying some ointment and bandaging them.

He was also attentive in making her the best hot chocolate she had ever had. Alfred's were, of course, wonderful, even if he didn't make them often, but Danny seemed to have blessed hands and experience in making them.

He was attentive in offering her privacy, but Cass didn't mind lifting her mask a little to drink. It wouldn't hurt to do it once. She wanted to simply pour the whole mug into her mouth, but held herself back and drank as slowly as possible.

She didn't want to help the hospitality and ask for more, so she swallowed the desire for more that began to gnaw at her core and finished the chocolate, handing the mug to Danny. She couldn't help but laugh when she saw a childish drawing, two wobbly shapes made of stick figures, one that looked like a little girl and one of a man, holding hands and with "world's okayest dad" written on top in childish handwriting.

It wasn't long before Danny came out again and she took the opportunity to take in the surroundings. The apartment was small and the lighting wasn't exactly good but it was... Normal. The mess was healthy, the kind where you could find things and the kind you expected to have when you had a small child. There was a pair of tiny white ballet flats next to a pair of significantly large sneakers of the same color, which was fair since Danny was about the same height as Jason. There were children's drawings hanging on the refrigerator and a good number of children's books stacked on an old shelf.

She couldn’t pry too much, since when she stood up, Danny had returned, a sweatshirt folded in his arms. He handed it to her ever so gently, and she slipped it on. It was definitely too big for her, but it felt comfortable and hid any bruises or bandages visible from her damaged clothes. She didn’t mind that. She’d fight shirtless if she had to—she did it once before and had no regrets.

She still thanked him weakly, but the alterations to her outfit made her sound louder and more robotic.

It smelled of something she could only assume was him, fabric softener and a faint baby perfume, it was a homey, good scent.

Her cheeks burned and stung when he called her Lil’ Bat. That nickname was usually for Damian, he was the Baby Bat, she didn't really have a nickname like her brothers, not besides Casserole.

Maybe it was time she got one. Little Wing was Jason's, Baby Bird was Tim's, Dickie Bird was Dick's, and Damian had Baby Bat. She could be Little Bat.

She cheered inside, smiling beneath her mask. But soon the subject changed.

She would listen to Danny, she wouldn't be stupid like her little brothers, and she would go back to the Batcave, make her report, and check in on Jason and how the mission had gone, be taken care of by Alfred, and eat some cookies. She really needed some cookies. And more of Danny's hot chocolate.

She waved goodbye to Danny and he gave her the cutest smile she had ever seen. Dimples showed in his cheeks and she couldn't help but notice that his canines were slightly sharper, like little fangs. He snorted through his nose, his smile no less wide or satisfied, but he no longer showed his teeth.

—

The mission had gone well. Jason had dealt with the henchmen and managed to negotiate with Black Mask, bought all the Kryptonite and delivered it to Bruce. Cass had guessed correctly about the cargo, it had been 28.4kg.

She only brought it up the next day, after lunch.

She had gathered with her brothers and friends in a secluded room on the second floor, where they had made a game room for them. It was a rare moment of peace when they were all together like that, having fun and not fighting like they usually did. Snuggling up on a black beanbag, hugging a huge teddy bear that Dick had given her for her last birthday. Damian sat on a pillow on the floor, near her feet. Tim was in a heated Mortal Kombat match against Jason, and Steph was betting with Duke, Dick and Babs how long it would last before one of them snapped and went on a rampage. Damian was grumbling all the time there, and Cass chuckled softly, looking between everyone and the game. Tim and Jason were about to go at each other when she finally spoke.

"I went to Danny's yesterday," she said nonchalantly. She nuzzled her cheek against the soft fabric of the bear's head.

Tim and Jason stopped fighting, both staring at her with surprised expressions. Stephanie and Dick smiled the biggest smiles Cass thought she had ever seen in her life. Babs whistled and rested her chin on her palm. Damian just stared at her curiously, raising an eyebrow. Duke gave a crooked smile and leaned back in the chair he was sitting in.

The room exploded into chaos.

"Holy shit finally" Jason hissed, putting the game aside with an amused expression.

"I knew it!" Tim celebrated, raising the controller up in a gesture of victory "Too big to be yours, only Jason would wear a size that big and you can be sure Jason doesn't have a Snoopy hoodie. And I fucking recognize that hoodie wherever I see it!"

"Wait he gave Cass one of his beloved hoodies?" Dick laughed a half-incredulous laugh, frowning "That man wears nothing but hoodies, I must have seen him in a normal shirt once in my life, and it even had long sleeves"

"I approve of this marriage" Barbara hummed.

Damian looked at her and Barbara dumbfounded and mad.

"I don't!" Jason protested "Which one do I have to have a shovel talk for?"

"Are we going to keep this in the family? Jason really wants Danny's big sister," Duke sneered, whistling.

"Shut the fuck up, Power Rangers!"

Stephanie was beaming with happiness as she looked at Tim with a knowing look, "Tim, It's our time to shine! Bring the PowerPoint!"

"Brown! You should not encourage Drake's stalking tendencies-" Damian protested.

Tim looked at Steph, Damian, and then Cass with a look she could only describe as maliciously amused, and then left the room, leaving the door open until he returned with quick steps with a computer in his hands, kicking the door closed. He placed the computer on the floor, sitting in front of it and turning it on while Stephanie turned off the video game so it would mirror the computer's screen as if it were playing a movie.

Cass felt like she was going to watch a movie.

Especially when Dick and Jason told everyone to wait for them while they went downstairs with Duke to get popcorn and soda. They yanked little Damian out of his comfortable spot, ignoring the child's kicks and protests, to make him come with them. They came back with their arms full of popcorn and Damian holding a bottle of soda, a pitcher of juice, and with glass cups stacked on his, Dick's, and Jason's heads, who were balancing them on their heads with mastery. The youngest boy looked ready to kill someone.

They were quick to settle in and hand out the small, full cups to everyone except Damian—since the boy hated soda and was content to drink the orange juice Alfred had made—to hand out the popcorn and close all the curtains.

Tim stood up and Steph sat where he was, starting the slide. "Danny-globalization movement" written large enough on the first one. Someone laughed behind her and she identified it as Jason, and then Dick.

"The deal was to update this with everyone's reports and present it when we all met him then..." Tim looked at Steph and, with a nod from him, she passed the slide. Now, it had a picture of Danny and several written information. "His birth name is Daniel James Fenton-Nightingale, but he currently goes by Daniel James Nightingale and dropped his first last name after his parents died about a year and a half ago. He hates being called Daniel so he only introduces himself as Danny. He was born on October 1st, 2004 at 3:35 AM in a small town in Illinois called Amity Park as the son of two scientists named Madelaine and Jack Fenton-Nightingale, but who only used the last name Fenton for practicality. Before him they had a daughter — the lady Jason wants so much-"

"Fuck you, Timberella!" Jason yelled, throwing a popcorn at him.

Tim grimaced and made an obscene gesture before speaking again, "- named Jasmine Alice Fenton-Nightingale, who now also only goes by the last name Nightingale and also prefers to be referred to exclusively by the nickname, Jazz. Born March 31, 2002 at 2:56 PM. A psychology graduate, she works at Arkham with an insanely hectic schedule and, when she's not there, volunteers as a child psychologist at shelters for underprivileged children. Incredible lady, loves Jane Austen and Romances, very family-oriented too.

Danny also has a twin brother, Dante Janus Fenton-Nightingale, who like his siblings also goes by Nightingale as a surname, born about an hour before Danny. Not much information is known about him tho, but he's a mechanic and has had a conflictual relationship with Danny for most of their life"

He gestured with his hand, twirling his index finger, and Steph changed the slide again, this time to an Amity Park-themed one.

"Now here's where things get interesting; Amity Park, a small town in the Midwest that would technically be peaceful, is also the most haunted city in all of America. According to the news, the town is constantly terrorized by real ghost attacks."

The slide was changed. "Phantom" was now written. "Like Gotham, Metropolis and several other cities, Amity Park also had its own vigilante: Phantom. According to social media, Phantom has always been there, with even historical records mentioning the son of a bitch, completely confusing, since his age varies in a strange way. In most cases, he is helping and fighting against other evil entities and in one or two cases he is the evil entity, but these cases are not very reliable because they are newspaper reports. He and Danny apparently dated for a while, but Phantom allegedly cheated on Danny with a goth entity from the Infinite Realms and Danny was heartbroken, but a few weeks later he started dating Sam and Phantom kept trying to get back at him. Did they kiss and make up? No one's sure. No one talks about it. But he's single now. The situation is even funnier when you consider that Sam is also a goth."

The slide played again. It was "backstory" now.

"Danny's family was anything but normal. His parents were ectoscientists, or in other words, a type of scientist who studies ecto-entities, entities made of ectoplasm. Ectoplasm would be, according to their scientific definition and that of others in this field, a viscous green substance that makes up all ghosts and what gives them powers. They hated Phantom with all their might until around 2019, when some incident happened that made them completely change their opinion. We are not sure what it was, since all information about it has been erased from the internet. Danny and Jazz are completely separate from this world, as Danny simply tried to walk away without commenting it and Jazz when she did comment was to say that her parents' obsession with it was idiotic. According to his school transcript, he was an A and A+ student his entire life, the lowest grade on his report card being a B+ in physical education, but his grades dropped sometime when he was 14 and he was barely keeping up with C's and D's. Putting together his horrific accounts of his time at school, we believe it was because of the violent bullying he suffered from a boy named Dash and his friends."

The slide moved to something called "Danny's chaotic ass" "As we all know, Danny is a chaotic bitch. And some of his exploits include:
1. Dating Phantom for around a year and a few months, only for them to break up with Phantom cheating on him with a gothic entity from the infinite realms and Danny leaving crying and heartbroken. Some rumors still say that they hooked up a few times after the breakup, but nothing confirmed. Danny gets very embarrassed when people mention the time they dated.
2. Getting shot by the city mayor, since the mayor believed he was a ghost in disguise who would ruin his dictatorship.
3. Finding a bright green dog on a random Tuesday and adopting it. No one knows where it came from or why it's green. In this case, the dog is now a normal color. Not even Danny knows how it got that way.
4. Having a daughter at fourteen and hiding her existence for six months"

The slide changed, now it was "Ellie"

"The daughter he had when he was fourteen is Ellie, formally Estelle Jasmine Nightingale-"

"Cute" Cass laughed.

"Danny adores Jazz with all of his heart" Jason commented, stuffing his mouth with popcorn.

"Continuing..." Tim glared, adjusting the invisible tie he was wearing as he spoke again "Her birthday is March 11, 2019. They would have discovered her existence on September 27, 2019, that is, she was already six months old. No one knows how Danny and Ellie's mom hid her for such a long time, but people in town only found out about Ellie because one day Danny arrived with her at the small hospital in the city completely desperate, hurt and crying and Ellie was really hurt due to a recent ghost attack. Danny and his parents committed so much fraud regarding this little girl that they compete with the Kents when they found Superbaby. Apparently, the day Danny showed up with the girl in his arms,she still didn't have a birth certificate because It was a small city and, according to his words, he was a dumb teenager and didn't wanted people to find out and gossip. Anyways- his parents pulled some strings and made her existence legal, as if she had always existed. Even though her birth certificate was neglected, Ellie was a very healthy and good baby, her development was even faster than normal and she is a smart little girl now. Ellie's mom is Samantha Elizabeth Manson, Danny's ex, and she gave up parental rights due to not wanting to be involved as Ellie's mother — even tho they still dated for a a good time after Ellie was born — Danny says she got a lot of flak for this, but he didn't mind and actually enjoys being a single dad and only having Sam as a friend and nothing else. It was a silent pregnancy and she only found out about the baby after taking a pregnancy test as a joke and finding out that she was actually pregnant.

Danny raised Ellie with the help of his parents and older sister until he turned eighteen, when he had to go to college and his parents offered to take care of her full-time. Sam acts more like an aunt and a godmother. He went and, since Jazz was already studying Psychology here at Gotham U, he is now studying Aerospace Engineering at the same college as her. He has still been a present father to Ellie, even while working and going to college.

He gained custody of her again a few weeks ago. His parents died in a laboratory accident a year and a half ago. An object they were working on exploded and killed them. Ellie was sleeping in her room at the time and they were only able to discover their deaths a few hours later, when the neighbors called the police because the poor girl was crying and no one answered. Jazz raised her during some time because the apartment Danny lived in was even worse than his current one and he had no way of supporting his daughter. Jazz, besides being good with children, knows how to deal with a recently traumatized kid better than Danny. He saw her every weekend and did everything for her, now, he got a better job now and has his daughter."

And, like a student who just presented his homework, the slide switched to a thank you screen.

But instead of saying thank you, Tim shrugged. "That's it. It should have been more and more organized, but I don't have the time or patience to be a hero and a CEO at the same time, much less to make a well-crafted slide about someone's life."

It was interesting, Cass would admit. But it reminded her of how nosy her family was. She wasn't much better, but she still wanted to find out about Danny herself. She wanted to meet him herself.

The room erupted in applause and Cass quickly joined in, leaving Damian as the only one standing there doing nothing, just his arms crossed and the adorable angry scowl on his chubby, childish face. Cass wanted to pinch the baby fat on his cheeks, but Dami would hate that.

"Exes that gossip together stay together," Stephanie announced, high-fiving Tim as he sat down next to her. "...As friends at least."

"I just really hope our Cassie is ready to be a stepmama" Dick winked at her and Cass felt herself burn.

Chapter Text

The second time she went to Danny's apartment was much more peaceful than her first disastrous encounter. There were no injuries or villain attacks, just a desire in the chest and a curiosity in mind.

She slipped through a different and much more convenient window and let herself make noise where she stepped so that wherever Danny was in the house, he would hear her footsteps and not be caught unaware.

But as soon as she opened the window, a soft, low voice reached her ears with a melody. She stopped at the end of the hallway, looking into the living room and Danny standing there in the middle, rocking Ellie. He was holding her in his arms, both arms holding her close in a hug and one of his hands tracing circles on the child's back with his thumb. She wasn't asleep yet, just too relaxed to move, her little face nestled in the crook of Danny's neck in a way that Cass couldn't see it, but her little feet swung lightly and carelessly at Danny's sides. He moved almost in a dance, a movement that seemed so old and common to him and soothing to the child in his arms. He knew she was there — not exactly her, but someone — but he didn't care enough to stop.

"[...] -nd if I stare too long I'd probably break down and cry... Oh, oh, oh, sweet child of mine. Oh, oh, oh, oh, sweet love of mine" Danny sang and she was surprised at how quick she was to recognize his voice. It was much softer, more soothing and low. He was a soft-spoken person, but here he sounded different. She enjoyed the song for a while, closing her eyes and just listening. It was lazy and a little slurred, but not too much, it sounded like a routine sing-along. Danny settled Ellie on his lap, never stopping his humming, his cheek resting on her dark hair as he sniffed her hair softly. "She's got eyes of the bluest skies as if they thought of rain, I hate to look into those eyes and see an ounce of pain"

She stepped silently again, sure that if she didn't scare Danny by being so busy singing and, most likely, lulling Ellie to sleep, she would ruin a great song with the sound of her boots.

As the nosy girl she felt, and was, she let her eyes wander around the apartment and compare it to her memories; the shoes near the door were not the same, now in two pairs of slippers, both Snoopy, of such different sizes that it was impossible not to recognize which belonged to which. She saw small ballet medals on display, as well as proud medals from Astronomy Olympiad tests. There weren't many family photos in the living room, but there were small framed photos of Ellie around the house and a few on the refrigerator, of her with various different people who were obviously dear to her, along with magnets and children's drawings. The place looked like the most comfortable mess she had ever seen, it wasn't really messy, just... There was a child there and it was obvious.

"Her hair reminds me of a warm safe place where, as a child, I'd hide and pray for the thunder and the rain to quietly pass me by..." His fingers got stuck in her loose hair, getting lost amidst thick, dark strands, but his movements of caressing her scalp were obvious "Oh, oh, oh, sweet child of mine, oh, oh, oh, sweet love of mine"

She was almost sure he messed up the lyrics a little there, but she pretended not to notice, it was a simple mistake and one she herself had made when Tim was showing her the song for the first time few times.

And she felt like an intruder. She wasn't supposed to be there right now. So she took a few steps back.

The restless child lifted her head with a giggle, her feet bouncing a little more before her gaze glanced sideways to where Black Bat was. And her face turned excitedly to where she was.

Ellie, Cass easily recognized the small face as if she had always seen it. She had heard enough of the little girl to recognize her and all the comments about her being identical to Danny didn't do justice to how she really was a spitting image of him. The child had huge crystal blue eyes that were impossibly rounder than her father's, large, heavy eyelashes that adorned her eyes, hair the darkest shade of black that fell to just below her shoulders, a small, perky button nose and the same cute freckles that Danny had scattered across her nose and cheeks. But her cheeks were full and chubby and so pinchable, full of baby fat and rosy, perhaps the only difference between her and her father was that her eyebrows weren't as thick as Danny's and her hair, instead of being straight as silk, was a mix of curls and waves. Her mom's genes never tried.

Danny followed the child, looking at him standing there with a confused expression, he blinked a few times before smiling softly "Lil' Bat! What brings you here? How 're your injuries?" He asked as he passed Ellie with ridiculous ease to hold her on his hip with just one of his hands, adjusting her until she was comfortable enough.

She let herself be approached and didn't bother to force her feet to make noise as she walked over to the pair "Better" she replied simply, before deciding it was good to use more words "Came to see how you and the baby are doing"

"Hi Miss Bat!" Ellie introduced herself, stepping away from Danny to greet her and turning her torso, Cass couldn't help but notice how Danny's free hand moved protectively to prevent any falls. "I'm Ellie, but I'm no baby, I'm 6!" She gave a big, toothy smile, one of her small hands spreading into five fingers and the other leaving only the index finger up.

"Nice to meet you" Cass smiled under her mask and waved, forcing herself to talk at least a little with the child "I'm Black Bat"

"Miss Bat!"

"Little Bat" Danny smiled and put her down at the sign of her starting to get too fussy.

She settled on the floor, stomping her bare feet and approaching her. "Miss Bat came to see Baba?" Cass nodded. "That's cool! I don't think I've seen ya before. Ba has a lot of hero friends but I've never seen ya. I don't think I have any plushies of you either, but Baba will sort that out later."

Danny let out a tired sigh that sounded like a groan, crossing his arms and raising his eyebrow at the child with an 'are you serious?' look before shrugging when Cass looked at him and tilted her head at him in a gesture of silent questioning. She huffed out a laugh and waved at the child. 

"I'll make you some hot chocolate," Danny announced. "Ellie, sweetie, would you stay with our visitor in the meantime?"

Danny's voice was so soft and velvety when he spoke to his daughter.

"Yep!" She said with a smacking of her lips, approaching Cass. "I'll have one too!"

"Whatever you say." He really didn't know how to say no to her. 

Ellie looked at her with a proud smile and hummed with a look of someone who knew exactly what she was doing and the effect she had on the people around her. Danny ruffled her hair, whispered a 'good luck' with a little smile to Cass and went to the kitchen, not many steps away, grabbing chocolate and milk from the fridge and a pan from a drawer. She wanted to watch the process and learn but the child at her feet wanted her attention and she wasn't going to say no.

"Miss Bat" Ellie called shyly, playing with her fingers, but shyness was something she didn't have in abundance and she knew that from the gossipy mouths of her brothers and Steph "Wanna see my plushies?"

"Mhm" she vocalized in agreement, letting the girl take her hand and lead her back down the hallway, opening the last door on the right. She had an unusually careful way of opening doors and looked closely at the room before pushing the door open enough for both of them to enter and then leaving it open just a few inches.

The room was full of stuffed toys scattered around, most of them superheroes and most of them were from the well-known Batfamily, but she saw there in the pile Superman, Martian Manhunter, Wonder Women and even Superboy, almost everything was galaxy and star themed, including a nightlight in the shape of an astronaut on top of a low bookshelf full of children's books, the sheets had stars and but the pillows were white, the wallpaper was also stars. She looked at Ellie again and big blue eyes stared back at her.

Cassandra Cain was not good with children.

She didn't know how to act with children.

She adored them with all her being, but would be a bad influence on such a small and delicate human being and that was one of the few certainties she still had.

Yet, she melted like chocolate in the heat and let herself be carried away by Ellie's eyes.

"You don't talk much, do you, Miss?" She shook her head "It's okay! It's not a problem. I talk a lot."

"You do?" She asked with a secret smile, pushing Ellie's bangs a little so they wouldn't fall into her eyes. They were getting long and at that length, the strands there were annoying. Personal experience.

Ellie hummed, leaning into her touch like a puppy.

It wasn't a lie, Ellie indeed talked a lot, but she was very articulate. Cass didn't know if it was normal and every child at six already spoke so well, she had been an isolated child and Damian was older than that when they met, besides having all the training from the League.

"Let's see my hero toys, I have lots of them!" This time, she didn't wait for verbal confirmation, she pushed Cass to sit on her bed with the gentleness and strange brutality of a child and picked up the toys one by one to show her.

"Look, here's Blue Wing, there's Big Red and there's Little Red — Baba calls them Robin-Hood when they're together — I also have Spoils, Sunny Boy and Robbie! He's nice, kind of bossy, but he always hangs out with me and drinks hot chocolate here. He's like a brother, which is nice 'cause I like brothers, I just don't have any. I wish Ba would give me a brother or a sister, but I'd need another dad or a mom for that, and I don't have any of those, so Robin is my brother! Just don't tell him that, he doesn't know that yet."

Cass laughed and pointed to herself. "Robin's big sister," she said, her smile hidden by her mask, then pointed to Ellie. "Robin's little sister."

"Yeah!" A starry sky shone in her eyes again and Ellie waved excitedly as she picked up the toys one by one and placed them in the small nest of sheets and pillows she had on her bed, she sat there with a small Red Robin clinging to her arms and quickly changed the subject "You using voice changers?" Cass nodded in confirmation "My Tio Tuck has those! He uses them to play video games and pretend to be a girl. Your voice is still very cute, Miss Bat, even if it sounds kind of robotic, you're cute!"

Now, she couldn't control herself, with those chubby cheeks so close to her and pinched them gently "You're the cutest"

The child laughed a little awkwardly, her cheeks blushing and clutching the plush to her chest.

"Yo know... I really like Big Red, he gives me a new book every week and reads to me all the time too. He told me about you, that he has a little sis who doesn't talk much"

Cass scoffed "Not little sister. Big sister"

Then, with a knock on the door, light and just a warning, Danny opened the door pushing it with his shoulder, the most full ones with a mug and a child's cup "Am I interrupting the ladies' conversation?"

"No" they both answered with a shake of their heads and were handed their respective cups. Ellie held the plastic cup with both hands, blowing on the liquid before taking a sip. Cass simply lifted a bit of her mask and drank, the slight burn on her tongue and the roof of her mouth were comforting.

"Ellie, what about your Superboy plushie? Since you're showing Lil' Bat your plushies, show her that one too, do you know where it is?"

"Oh yeah!" she exclaimed as if she had a small light bulb in her head and left her glass on the bedside table to run to the closet, tearing off another film, this time definitely Superboy, whoever made it got the tanned skin tone and the piercings right, even though she could see that the thin beard of someone had drawn "It's Little Red's boyfriend, Superboy! They kiss and is ew. I think that's ew because kissing is gross, but Baba said not to say that because people would think I think ew because they are two boys."

Danny shrugged when she looked at him "Don' side eye me I don't wanna people thinking my baby is a mini homophobe" and she laughed into her drink and blew a little and the heat was no longer so hot to burn her mouth, but still comforting.

"But that's not it!" Ellie protested "Baba likes boys and girls and I would think him kissing any of them was kind of gross, because kissing is disgusting!"

"I so hope you keep your words, kid" He scoffed and Ellie stuck her tongue out at him, picking up her hot chocolate again and drinking it, both Red Robin and Superboy in her arms and a pout on her mouth.

" 'M not a liar"

"Sure, sweetheart" he said in a singsong voice, his eyes landing on Casa once more as she took the last sips of her drink. "Black Bat?" he called

"Hm?" She tilted her head a little at him, watching a crooked smile appear on his lips.

"You're always welcome" he said "and you..." he raised his hand, using his thumb to rub her lips, wiping them with his finger before pulling away and showing her, a dollop of chocolate there "...have chocolate in your mouth"

Chapter Text

Tim Drake has always liked to be certain and to know things ever since he was a child. He had billions of conspiracy theories on his walls and his mind would create even more by minute, trait of his never left him. It was no surprise that he became the detective he became when he grew up, and it was even less of a surprise that he had more and more of them as the time passed.

And one of his theories was that Daniel Nightingale was either:

1. absolutely screwed in Bruce's hands if Cass was still so into him.

or

2. the perfect adoption bait and, if Cass was still so into him, it was mutual and they dated, Bruce wouldn't hesitate to try to make another son out of him. Even if an in-law. 

But it would probably take a long time for Danny to win Bruce over if the old man stopped being such an overprotective father for a second. Danny had something about him that just... won everyone over. Tim couldn't explain what it was, maybe it was his dimpled smile, his criminally attractive looks, charming personality, voice or his adorable little daughter, or maybe a mix of all of that.

Danny was like a damn magnet. Tim doubted there was anyone in their right mind alive on Earth who hated him.

Even the demon brat that was Damian loved him. The same child that took so long to feel and recognize them as family, was quick to reclaim Danny as an older brother figure and Ellie as an honorary little sister, even stating that he wished she was his niece oficially. Dick shared the feeling and wanted Danny part of the family immediately even if they needed to do like Barbara and Steph and he was just a pseudo-member. He was the one who had the genius idea to pair him with one of the siblings.

Jason, was his friend inside and outside the mask would be a good candidate if he didn't have a crush on Danny's older sister. Eliminated.

Tim would also be a candidate, at 19 and only 2 years younger than Danny, age wouldn't be a problem, but he was very happy and more committed than ever before in his relationship with Connor, besides seeing Danny just as a friend. Also eliminated.

Damian was never an option.

Stephanie, even just a pseudo family member was also seen as an option and found him attractive, but everyone did, but her view of Danny was also limited to a friendship and she was honest when she said that, if something happened between her and Danny, it would be more of a friends with benefits type of thing and that wasn't what Danny was into at the moment. Not eliminated yet, but really close to.

But then there was Cass.

Cass, single, who was a few months older than Danny and had had a massive crush on him for a while.

She wouldn't admit it out loud, but Tim knew very well how his older sister felt — there was little he wouldn't and what he didn't know, he discovered. He was still the same 9-year-old boy who discovered Robin and Batman's identity and stalked them alone and still the same 13-year-old who became Robin without Batman giving him the mantle and bullied him into taking better care of himself and simply accepting him there as an (at the time) honorary part of the family. And the girl didn't know how to hide certain feelings well.

In fact, he didn't think she was even trying to, she was absolutely pining for that man.

If he were honest, he would admit that he felt a not-so-subtle twinge of pride for his sister every time he remembered that she had as many stalking tendencies as he had when he was younger and that it was only a matter of time before she turned out even more like him. She just needed to be a little more careful so Bruce wouldn't notice too soon. He could try to adopt him before she makes him her man.

Cassandra could think whatever she wanted about herself, but she was a sentimental person and the mask she wore at night to beat the shit out of criminals didn't extend to every part of her.

She could keep her face calm and passive most of the time, had soft expressions that she knew how to control well. A bit too much like Bruce, but she wasn't as bad as him to the point of communicating with grunts most of the time. Like him, she didn't talked a lot so her tongue didn't betray her like it did with many of them.

But her eyes? Her behavior?

Oh, they spoke for her.

Maybe it was just that he knew her too well, she was his only sister and his favorite along with Dick and (unfortunately) Jason, close enough that the media swore they were biologically related or twins, maybe Cass's training was a little lacking when it came to hiding romantic affairs — but she would get alerted every time they started talking about Danny, would try to fake her curiosity, but would start to overhear the conversation and outright stop really paying attention to whatever she was doing. She'd always perk up like a kitten when Danny was mentioned.

Tim wouldn't call it love yet, but it was definitely a crush. A growing one. Maybe it indeed would become love if things went like they wished, but it wasn't there yet.

Everyone knew about Cass's crush on Danny, even if she didn't talk about it. Alfred knew. But Alfred knew everything.

His sister found herself much softer than them when she peeked through the roof or outside the apartment while they were there or when she was passing by. But the only surprise was that Danny hadn't noticed, she was in no way subtle as she believed. 

He scoffed when Dick said it was shyness, Cass wasn't shy. But, well...

What the fuck Danny did to people, he didn't know, but he seemed to unbalance the chemicals in Cass's brain and there was nothing more satisfying to watch than that.

Even more so when Cass revealed that she had finally met Danny.

If they could have thrown a party, they would have. Dick and Steph managed to get some details out of Cass, about how Danny was good with his hands (Damn, Cass...) and that, in addition to taking good care of her wounds, he worried about her and gave her his hoodie for hot chocolate. That same hoodie that she wore to sleep and around the house, showed no signs of giving it back any time soon.

Which may be shitty, but Danny had it coming by giving his hoodie to the biggest thief in the family. And they had Selina, as much as she and Cass stole completely different things and for completely different reasons, they were both theifs.

With said meeting, Tim finally got the chance to show off the masterpiece that was the PowerPoint presentation he had made about Danny. Even if a little outdated, it was perfect. He had purposely left out a few things, Cass would have to figure out Danny's stuff on her own, he wouldn't give her any information beyond what he considered basic on that slide. Danny was an open book, it wouldn't take her a week of visiting him for her to figure out that information he and Steph presented. But he still kept enough out so that getting to know him would be interesting to her.

The betting pool started as soon as Cass fell asleep.

Damian called it bullshit, but threw in $20 after some prodding from Dick. Steph, Dick, Jason and Babs each bet $50, Tim bet a bold $70 and his return to school and Duke, sensible as he was, threw in $20.

It was a hasty game, they made their assumptions and wrote them down on the cell phone of the only fair person there, known as Barbara, then calling Bruce to take Cass to her bed and straightening up so that he wouldn't suspect anything.

He was the first after Barbara to notice that Cass was going to Danny's house more and more just to hang out in secret, silently turning off the comms every time she passed by his apartment and changing her patrol route.

Okay, Danny's place was good and always had been, ever since he moved in and Jason first fell out of the window of his first apartment, way worse than his current one. But it was still good to spend time, it wasn't about the place, after all, Danny was a presence to be desired and since Jason stopped by there for the first time, the others did too.

At first, it was them being thrown through the window and receiving good, free medical care, the man was good at patching up in emergencies and didn't say anything to Bat, nor did he seem to want to. Sometimes, they would stop by by coincidence and get care and the delightful presence that was Danny and Ellie, sometimes with Jazz too.

It was as if fate sent them there, because even when Danny moved apartments several times, they would end up at the apartment, whether they knew his new address or not.

They started to stop by there on purpose when didn't want to deal with Bruce in the Batcave or when their injuries were too serious to go there. Danny was quick to become the first medical option even though he didn't even have a degree, but it didn't matter when B didn't have one either.

It became like a little secret just for them and a real friendship that none of them wanted to share. Danny never talked about the others to any of them, until the day they got together to gossip and discovered that they all shared the same pet civilian. Blamed the spilled little secret on the alcohol, since the only ones who weren't drinking there were Damian and Duke. Cass didn't got drunk, she didn't really enjoyed drinking, but also didn't say no to trying a drink from someone's glass. She listened to everything with attentive ears, and Tim didn't fail to notice her cheeks turning slightly pink when they showed her a picture of Danny for the first time.

But he wasn't the only one to notice that day, Dick had a machiavellian smile when he noticed the change in the color of Cass's cheeks and Jason looked at her with the crooked smile and light in his eyes of someone who just found a new partner in crime.

Ever since then, whenever Cass was in Gotham and patrolling, she found a way to patrol with someone and accompany them whenever they went to Danny's house. It was routine, and they made an effort to go to his place even when they had nothing to do there whenever Cass was with them.

But she never went in, just stayed outside watching everything like an owl, hidden so that no one would notice her. She always waited for any fellow patrolman she was accompanying to leave to go, checking inside the apartment before going.

At least she had finally started taking some action.

Just like Danny, everyone loved Cass. Cursed would be the damned, soulless being who didn't do it. She wasn't a people magnet like Danny, but Cass was a fucking angel.

She could be as deadly as she was, she could be lethal and probably the strongest of them all, but she was an absolute sweetheart.

Even Damian, the murderous child raised by the League who fervently believed in 'blood makes a family' melted with Cass when he arrived at the Manor, stopping calling her by her last name much earlier than expected, and just calling her Cassandra instead. There was a quiet respect in their relationship that screamed louder than the respect Damian held for Dick, the man who had been his Batman for a while, an older brother and a father figure at the same time.

She was Bruce Wayne's baby daughter. Batman's favorite daughter. Gotham's princess. And everyone in that family had her at least in their top 3.

Everyone had a certain level of protection towards her, as they did towards each other. Cass was their sister, big or little. They often laughed, calling her the baby of the family, even though Damian was the youngest, she had been the last to be officially adopted, since Bruce only made her official as his daughter after finally adopting Tim. Even Damian joked, telling the media that Cass was his 'little sister'.

But God knows how B was with Cass. None of her boyfriends or crushes lasted very long — partly because she didn't maintain interest in them for very long, partly because none of them wanted to date Batman's only daughter or Bruce Wayne's. Kon had lasted the longest and was the only official relationship. It had been an amicable breakup because they had both lost interest and they had barely gotten past the kissing stage before deciding to end things. Now, Tim was proud to say that Kon was his. Cass would find another man for her.

He just really hoped that Steph wouldn't start giving her romantic advice, or Danny would end up getting a brick thrown at his head.

If that man became part of the family, Bruce would stop pestering Dick so much for grandchildren.