Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tim stumbled a little on the walk up the steps to the apartment. Jason caught him under the arm and Damian looked curious.

“Hey, there,” Jason said, a playful tease on the tip of his tongue.

“Shut up,” Tim grunted, straightening himself and marching the rest of the way to their floor.

Damian hung back, shoving his hands in his hoodie pocket and avoiding eye contact. Jason smirked a little to himself while he unlocked the door. Tim kept his arms folded tight to his chest.

“I’m going to lay down,” Tim announced, darting into his bedroom before either Jason or Damian could reply.

Damian looked after him with wide eyes.

“C’mon, my man, me and you can start up dinner,” Jason said, walking into the kitchen and expecting Damian to follow.

Damian stayed by the open door. He was comfortable enough around Jason now, but he still preferred his mother. Jason was just … so alpha. It still set something under Damian’s skin off, made his chest tighten a little when they were too close or Jason’s scent shifted.

“Hey?” Jason said, peering out of the kitchen to see Damian the same place he left him. “You don’t wanna help?”

Damian shook his head and walked off to his own bedroom.

Jason was left standing in the kitchen alone.

“Alright then,” he muttered and started dinner.

~ ~ ~

Tim laid on his back, rubbing his belly.

He was just barely showing. Really it just looked like he stopped working out. The taut plains of his stomach softened and protruded slightly. It could be hidden under pretty much any t-shirt. That was the one thing he wasn’t looking forward to. Being big. He remembered feeling useless and sick the entire time he was pregnant with Damian.

Once, Bruce had come into his bedroom while he was in his third trimester and found Tim struggling to pick up a notepad he had dropped on the floor. When Bruce offered to help, Tim snapped and said he was perfectly capable of bending over and picking it up, despite that he had, in fact, given up trying.

And of course, there was the fact that he would have to stop working eventually. If this pregnancy was anything like his previous one, he was fairly certain he wouldn’t make it to month seven on his feet (though he also hoped this baby wouldn’t be as early as Damian had been).

None of that compared to the budding nervous pit that was growing deep in his stomach behind the thought of a child. The last time he was pregnant, he almost lost Damian. He nearly miscarried at three months, almost delivered at five months, then delivered for real at seven months, then Damian wasn’t breathing, then they were in the hospital—apart from one another—for another two months, then, after all that, he had been taken away.

Tim was … afraid. He hardly left the house without Jason by his side and had fallen back into some of his more protective habits with Damian. He flinched away from any and all touch. Jason barely got close enough to him these days before Tim was prickling with anxiety.

“Hey,” a soft hum came from outside the door before it creaked open. Jason appeared in the crack. “Dinner’s ready. Wanna join?”

Tim wanted to say no, to just be alone in his nest for the rest of the night but the rumble in his stomach protested.

He nodded.

“Damian’s setting the table,” Jason said.

“You asked him?” Tim pondered aloud (groaning a little internally as he got out of bed, already tired). Damian had taken issue with Jason demanding things of him, telling him to do something rather than asking, so they, their family, was working on asking things of Damian instead, being patient with each other.

Jason nodded with a smile. Tim returned it ten-fold.

Tim reminded himself that Jason was different. He was gentle. He was trying. Things were better. He repeated it like mantra. We’re ok.

~ ~ ~

At dinner, Damian was quiet. He was usually quiet unless Jason or Tim asked him a question about his day at school or karate or books or his best friend, Jon.

“I have a doctor’s appointment on Saturday,” Tim announced.

Jason nodded, taking another bite before asking, “What time?”

“Uh, 2, I think? I have to check, but I’m pretty sure that’s right,” Tim replied.

“Shit,” Jason muttered. Immediately, he turned to Damian. “Sorry, Dami. But, shit.”

Tim gave a curious look to his boyfriend.

“I have work,” Jason explained. “Ya know that project I’ve been telling you about?”

This was their own code. Damian knew about their nightly activities, but they still tended to keep shop talk under his radar. A lot of that had to do with the fact that the “project” Jason mentioned was actually getting to the center of a sex trafficking ring based in Gotham. He knew that Jason had been driving himself crazy trying to figure this particular case out for months and had come up empty. If he was finally finishing this case up, that was good. For them. For Damian. For Gotham.

“No worries,” Tim said. “It’s important, you should go.”

“I don’t want to miss it,” Jason grumbled. “I already missed the first one.”

Ultrasound number one had been marked with a steady heartbeat and Jason calling him an hour after to tell him he had been shot.

“Jason,” Tim said, reaching across the table and taking his hand, “I understand. I really do. This is important. I’ll be fine.”

“I …” Damian began, not looking up from his plate and becoming increasingly interested in his green beans, splitting them meticulously with his fork.

Both Jason and Tim exchanged a curious look between themselves before turning it on Damian.

“Never mind,” he mumbled, shoving a biscuit into his mouth.

“No, Dami,” Tim said, letting go of Jason’s hand in favor of his son’s. “Tell me.”

Damian took a long breath. “I could go,” he finished. “With you. To the doctor.”

Tim’s lips curled up a little. “If you want to, if you really want to, I’d love it if you came.”

Damian nodded his head, like he didn’t care either way, but his chest tightened in excitement.

They finished the rest of their dinner with little conversation, Damian once again silent, but happily so.

~ ~ ~

On Saturday, Damian sat close to Tim in the doctor’s office. More so than usual.

On any given day, Damian searched for security and comfort in unfamiliar surroundings in his mother. He liked to be in Tim’s line of sight, sometimes connected with a small touch. Occasionally he liked to hold Tim’s hand, but he’d begun to grow out of that particular comfort.

Today, Damian was more uneasy than usual. He had nuzzled his cheek into Tim’s shoulder and was holding tightly to Tim’s jacket sleeve, like he might disappear. Tim had asked him if he was nervous about something, but Damian shook his head and said he felt fine. Tim knew he was lying but didn’t press further.

“Wayne,” a nurse called. Tim perked up and stood. Everyone else in the waiting room watching him closely as he let himself be led into the back, his son following on his heels.

In the office, Tim left Damian in the hall while he put on the paper gown then let him come in.

They sat together on the observation table and waited.

“Are you afraid?” Damian asked so suddenly it gave Tim chills.

“Afraid?” Tim asked.

“Of having a baby,” Damian clarified.

Tim wrinkled his brow and thought for a moment.

“A little bit,” he answered honestly.

“Is it because of me?” Damian asked.

Tim paused again and shook his head. “No,” he said.

“Jason?”

Tim laughed a little. “No.”

“Then … what are you afraid of?”

“I’m not afraid …” Tim said, but stopped himself from saying anymore than that.

Damian waited for Tim to finish, to explain a little. But he didn’t and they left the conversation there.

The doctor came a few minutes later with a large beaming smile.

“Mr. Wayne!” she chuckled. “I’m sure you don’t remember me.”

“I do,” Tim said, a smile of his own growing.

“You do? God it must’ve been, what?”

“Ten years,” Tim supplied, patting Damian on the head gently.

“OH!” the doctor yipped. “Baby Damian!”

She launched herself forward and wrapped Damian in a hug. He went stiff in her hold.

This doctor, Dr. Dean, had been the doctor who delivered Damian, who gave Tim all his prenatal checkups and even a couple of Damian’s first doctor visits. She worked at a clinic then, specializing in underage omega birth control and prenatal care.

She was also an alpha.

“You’ve grown so much,” she cooed, pulling back and running a finger over Damian’s cheek. That had been what had drawn Tim to her initially, her affectionate side, but now it wasn’t working for him.

Tim rumbled softly, involuntarily, and only for a moment. Damian jerked away. He placed himself skillfully in between his mother and this stranger, posturing in a way that Tim was sure he learned from Jason.

“Oh dear,” Dr. Dean said. “I’m sorry.” She took a big step back, holding her hands behind her back and showing a bit of her neck as a small sign of submission, a gesture of good will that settled both Tim and Damian. “I seem to have forgotten my manners. And boundaries. Damian, it’s nice to meet you properly, I’m Dr. Dean. You were the first baby I delivered solo! Also it’s hard to forget such an adorable face.”

Damian nodded, still uncertain about the alpha woman, but eased just enough that he was comfortable letting her see Tim (under supervision of course).

“Alrightly, we should get started then,” she said. “Damian, how about you have a seat in my cool spiney chair over there.”

Damian looked to Tim, who nodded encouragingly, then hopped down from the table to sit in Dr. Dean’s chair.

“Lay on back for me, Tim.”

Tim did and the rest of the poking and prodding was normal. His comfort was to be expected.

But he kept checking in on Damian, who bristled whenever the doctor touched his mother.

“So are we finding out sex today?” Dr. Dean asked, cheerfully.

“Uh, yeah,” Tim said.

He had made it very clear to Jason that he wanted to plan everything for the new baby. He hadn’t gotten to do that with Damian, hadn’t really wrapped his head around being pregnant until he went into labor the first time.

“Cool! I’ll go get the tech, you can get dressed,” she said, before tossing her gloves and leaving the room.

Once she was gone, Damian visibly relaxed.

“How’s it going over there?” Tim asked while shimmying into his pants under the gown. Once they were on he took the gown off and crumpled it, tossing it in the same place Dr. Dean had tossed her gloves.

“I don’t like her,” Damian admitted, looking over his shoulder.

Tim grinned. “She’s defiantly … an acquired taste.”

“Did she have to touch you so much?” Damian asked.

“Yeah, she’s gotta make sure everything’s all good with me to make sure everything’s good with the baby,” Tim explained pulling his sweater over his head but leaving his jacket on the floor where his pile of clothes had been.

“Did … did she do that when you were pregnant with me too?” Damian asked.

Tim thought about it, then nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I guess she did.”

“Did she have to touch me that much when I was a baby?” Damian said, almost urgently. “Is she gonna touch the new baby that much??”

The second question seemed more feverish than the first.

“Dami?” Tim said, softly, crouching in front of his son. “What’s going on? You’ve been acting strange all day.”

Damian shook his head and looked away from Tim.

“Dami,” Tim said more firmly. He put his hand on Damian’s knee. He meant it to be comforting, but Damian almost fell over with how fast he jumped out of the chair and away from the touch. “Dami?” Tim’s voice wavered.

“I don’t wanna talk about it,” Damian whimpered, holding his arms over his stomach.

“O-ok,” Tim said, more rattled than he was willing to admit. “We don’t have to. Do … do you want to go sit in the car? Or I can call your Grandpa to come get you. You don’t have to stay.”

“No,” Damian declared. “I’m fine. I wanna … I wanna stay. I wanna stay with you, Mom.”

Tim nodded. “Ok then. How about you move your chair over here and you can sit with me. That make it better?”

Damian paused before nodding.

He pushed the chair over to the table while Tim climbed back up. They sat together and waited.

This time, when Dr. Dean came in she was accompanied by a shorter black, omega woman. She had her hair pulled out of her face and a bright smile. Her scrubs were decorative, decals of llamas in sunglasses littered over the fabric. Dr. Dean also made a point to stay by the door, away from Damian.

“My name is Lily. I’m the tech.” the omega said, rolling the ultrasound machine closer to them. “Are you ready?”

Tim nodded. He pulled his shirt up just shy of his chest and wiggled his pants down a little bit to expose his belly fully.

Lily put on gloves and pulled out a bottle of cool jelly which she squirted across Tim’s warm stomach, making him shiver. She took the wand off the machine and pressed it firmly into Tim skin. On the screen, fuzzy grains appeared, searching for the baby who was probably the size of an avocado or an apple or some other obscurely baseball shaped fruit.

After a couple seconds of moving the wand around, the baby appeared on the screen. Tim’s heart fluttered a little.

Damian was leaning on the table to get a better view. He looked in absolute awe.

“It’s … so small,” he breathed.

Tim nodded his head.

“So, little brother or little sister?” Tim asked the tech.

Lily smiled and looked to Damian, then back to Tim.

“Boy,” she said.

Tim grinned wider. Another boy.

Damian is quiet, but he seems to be smiling too.

Chapter Text

Tim found himself nesting more these days.

He stole everything of Jason’s he could find, assembling a fort of blankets and pillows and sweaty t-shirts in their bed. Jason complained there was no room for him anymore, but crawled in anyway and pulled Tim on top of him.

That was something else Tim had found happening more too. Jason was more outwardly affectionate.

Of course, Jason had always been affectionate but mostly in small ways. Doing dishes, cooking, looking after Damian, listening to Tim talk, stuff like that. He wasn’t the one to initiate contact most times unless he was getting in the mood for … well, you know.

To have Jason so cuddly and soft was new. Tim wasn’t sure he liked it.

He loved Jason. He loved that he was going to have a family with him. He loved that Damian was going to experience a family.

But he absolutely couldn’t not get on board with Jason’s sudden personality change.

Tim was laying in bed late one night, trying to calm the buzz inside his belly. His son wasn’t moving yet, but there was something about knowing he was there that made Tim hyper aware of his body, almost to the point of debilitation. He’s startled outward when the bedroom door opened and closed quietly and Jason tip-toed into the bathroom.

There is the light switch flicking, shuffling, the sound of Jason going to the bathroom, water running, and the light switch flicking again. Jason walked softly to the bed, trying not to disturb his sleeping partner and lowered himself beside him. His arms slide under Tim’s body and lifted him slightly so Tim was now half laying on him.

Tim decided he’d had enough.

“Goddamnit Jason!” Tim barked, ripping his boyfriend’s arms off of him and throwing himself out of bed.

“Woah!” Jason replied, holding his hands up. He reached over and turned on the bedside lamp to look at the disgruntled omega. “What’d I do?”

“I was trying to sleep,” Tim hissed. “Until you,” he points accusingly, “came in and decided to manhandle me all around the bed! If you want a doll go to the fucking store and buy one you asshole!”

Tim didn’t give Jason the chance to respond, just stormed out of the bedroom and slammed the door shut.

~ ~ ~

Tim was tossing around on the couch when the light from the bedroom hit the wall and casted a large shadow down the hall into the living room. He turned over completely so he was facing the back couch cushions and stayed that way even as Jason came over and sat on the coffee table.

“Hey,” Jason said gently. He reached out and shook Tim’s shoulder a little bit.

Tim jerked away. “Don’t touch me.”

“Ok. Ok, I’m sorry. But you and me are gonna talk about this.”

“No,” Tim declared, pulling the blanket over his legs all the way up over his head.

“Hey. Turn around. Look at me,” Jason demanded.

Look at you. Such a pretty omega. Open for me.

Tim clenched his eyes shut. “NO! Go away!” he barked.

“Tim.” Jason kept his voice even. “Baby.”

You’re gonna take it? Aren’t you baby? Filthy slut.

“Stop,” Tim gasped. “Please.”

Jason deflated entirely. He dropped to his knees beside Tim’s quivering body, wanting so badly to hold him, to comfort him, but knowing that he couldn’t.

“Tim? Tim please. Please look at me. Please.”

Roll over. Good bitch.

“I-I ca-an’t br-ea-athe.”

Tim’s breath came in short, uneven puffs, bring his heartbeat into his ears.

“Tim. Tim. C’mon sit up. Sit up.” Jason held his hand out and Tim used it to pull himself rather violently upright so the two of them were looking at each other. “Count to ten. C’mon sweetheart, you can do it. You’ve got this. C’mon with me now. In.”

1, 2, 3

“Out.”

1, 2, 3, 4.

“In.”

And they went on like this until Tim was able to speak more than a syllable at a time.

“Ok. Ok. Good. Good job Tim. Hey, I’m so proud of you. You did so good.”

Jason reached out to smooth down Tim’s hair, but his boyfriend flinched away.

There was a flash of hurt across Jason’s face. He pulled his hand back.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. I’m sorry. For whatever I did. I’m so sorry.” Jason’s eyes welled with tears.

Tim felt guilt sink into his stomach. For a little bit he had forgotten that Jason loved him. He had forgotten that Jason gave almost twice that love to Damian, a boy who was not his, who he loved like his own. He had forgotten that Jason wasn’t him.

Tim took Jason’s hand and guided it to his belly, pulling it up and under his shirt to a position where the bump was palpable.

“The last time I was pregnant …” Tim trailed off. “When I was pregnant with Damian, I could think of nothing else but getting him out. At first it was because I didn’t want to have that bastard’s kid. I shouldn’t have been a teen mom. Then it was because everyone wanted to hurt him and I couldn’t keep myself safe enough to protect him.”

Jason nodded, eyes wide and wet. Tim shifts his hand up over his swelling chest, to his left pectoral, and he pressed it firmly into him.

Jason felt Tim’s heart speed up.

“And I lost him and soon as I got him.” Tim voice broke for a moment. He had to collect himself.

Jason felt his boyfriend tremble.

“Jason, I … I don’t know how to do this. I don’t know how to let you be here for this. Because all I want to do, all I can think to do is hide the three of us from you.”

Both of their heads drop. Jason’s head hit Tim’s knee and Tim’s chin his is chest.

“I don’t want to feel like this,” Tim whispered. “I don’t want to be broken.”

“He didn’t break you,” Jason declared, jerking his head up. He rose so he was a bit more level with Tim. “Tim, he did not break you.”

“It kinda feels like he did,” Tim half-heartedly chuckled.

“Tim. You are not broken.”

“Jason, he … he destroyed the happiest things in my life. He obliterated my trust in alphas for so long that I barely let Bruce touch my son unless there are at least two other omegas present. He … he took away things that weren’t even his! He took my virginity! My child! My … my pregnancies. He’s taking away all the things I want to be happy about.”

“You … Tim are … what are you saying?” Jason stumbled.

“That I love you Jason. I love you so fucking much! It hurts how much I love you! I just want you to hold me and rub my belly and talk to me about our baby. I want to be something good for you, but I can’t even touch you without remembering him. Without thinking you’re going to destroy me like he did. Like he does.”

“I will never,” Jason declared, “I will never, ever, ever do that to you, Tim. You are … you’re everything to me. I—I don’t even know how to tell you. I don’t want to hurt you, baby.”

“I know, I know. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.”

“Can you kiss me?”

Jason kissed him.

“Can you bring me to bed?”

Jason lifted him off the couch, bridal style and carried him back to their bedroom. He laid him in the center of the nest.

“Can you hold me? Just until I fall asleep?”

Jason crawled in next him, draping his arm loosely around Tim’s waist. “And after?” he asked.

“After, I want you to promise me that you’ll love us.”

“Forever.”

“Please don’t let go.”

“I won’t.”

Chapter Text

Tim’s hormones were going to kill him.

“I just, love you both so much,” Tim sniffled.

Almost always while crying.

Jason and Damian exchanged a look of shared confused before directing their attention back to Tim, who was currently cradling his stomach and crying while doing pregnancy yoga on the floor. Jason and Damian had come into the living room to turn on a movie they both wanted to see. An ad had come on before the movie began for some cereal or breakfast replacement or something and had featured a family of four that somewhat resembled Tim’s and it had him in tears before it really even began.

“God,” Tim grunted, wiping his eyes quickly like he had just realize what was happening. “I don’t know why I’m so weepy.”

“My love, you are pregnant,” Jason reminded, like Tim could forget about the gremlin currently sucking up all his energy and delicious homecooked meals.

“Is he gonna be like this all the time now?” Damian asked Jason.

Jason pursed his lips and shook his head, but then took a pause and thought for a moment. “Wait,” he said. “Maybe? I didn’t see him a lot when he was pregnant with you.”

“I wasn’t like this when I was pregnant with him,” Tim protested. “At all. I’m so…” he stopped for a long sniffle followed by wiping his nose with the sleeve of his hoodie, “…weepy.”

“What’s that thing you always say when I quote baby books at you?” Jason shot back. “All pregnancies are different.”

“Shut up,” Tim grumbled, tucking his knees up as far as they would go with the added presence of his ever-growing bump. Right now, he was just shy of his chin if he parted his legs a little. Dr. Dean said he was carrying small and low.

“Yeah Jason, shut up,” Damian taunted.

“Hey!” Jason replied, nudging Damian playfully on the shoulder. Damian nudged back and it turned into another one of their living room wrestling matches.

Jason was significantly larger than both Damian and Tim, but whenever they wrestled like this, he always pointed out to Damian how his weight could be used against him.

“If you destabilize my leg, while I’ve got you like this,” Jason explained when he had Damian in a kneeling headlock (that had Tim leaning forward, ready to rush forward if Jason dared hurt him). “You can slip out and use the momentum of my body weight to get me on my back, yeah?”

“Good job,” Jason cheered into the carpet, patting Damian’s leg. Damian let him up.

Damian nodded and did just that, but pinning Jason on his stomach not his back, which, while less effective, throws Jason for a loop. Tim’s impressed. Watching them settled an uneasy feeling that had been gurgling for a while. Still, that didn’t stop him from trying to get them to cease any further sparring.

“I don’t like it when you do that,” Tim admitted aloud. “I’m afraid he’s gonna get hurt, Jay.”

“I won’t let him get hurt,” Jason assured Tim, patting Damian on the back, almost gently.

Damian wrinkled his brow.

“I’m fine, Mom, I can handle Jason,” Damian shot, a little more sour than he intended.

“Ok,” Tim ceded, “ok, fine, but the first time something breaks, you both are done.”

“Yes’ir,” Jason teased, mock saluting at his boyfriend.

Damian chuckled at that and Tim glared at both of them a second before breaking a smile.

~ ~ ~

Damian’s behavior began to get more combative when Christmastime rolled around.

He was off school and his good friend Jon was away at his grandfather’s farm to visit, so that meant he, Jason, and Tim were around each other a lot more.

Tim was still working, but from home and Jason’s job really just took up his nights. Daytime left plenty of room for disaster.

“I don’t understand why we have to go,” Damian grumbled.

He had been arguing with Jason and Tim about attending the Wayne Christmas Gala since that afternoon and Jason was at the end of his rope.

“Because I said so, Damian, that’s why!” Jason barked, slamming a pot he had been drying onto the counter with a loud crash.

Tim froze, his hands clenching around the counter until his knuckles were stark white.

When Damian caught sight of this his eyes went wide and he stared Jason down for a long time before throwing his seat back and squaring up with the alpha.

“YOU CAN’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO! YOU AREN’T MY DAD!” he screamed at the top of his lungs.

Tim was about to interject when Jason lost it fully.

He clenched his fists and marched up to Damian, glaring down on him like he was about to swing, but instead he turned quickly back and landed a punch on the cabinet, making a good size hole in the side of it.

“WHAT THE FUCK JASON!” Tim roared, rushing to separate his son and partner with his body. “HAVE YOU LOST YOUR FUCKING MIND!”

Jason immediately looked guilty, pulling his hand slowly out of the shattered wood.

“I’m … I’m gonna stay the night at Roy’s,” he mumbled.

“Yeah,” Tim hissed, standing firmly between him and Damian. “I think that you should.”

Jason quickly grabbed his jacket and keys and left the apartment.

Tim turned to his son who was shaking behind him and knelt down to make himself smaller.

“You ok, bud?” Tim asked, softly, reaching out.

Before he could touch him, Damian ran off to his room and slammed the door.

Tim clenched his fists and stayed there for a moment. His vision blurred and a few tears streaming down his face. He wiped them quickly and sniffled, trying to think of way to blame hormones for this. He couldn’t.

All he could see, all he could feel, was complete a total darkness. Years of repressed memories flooding back.

Chapter Text

A long time ago, when Tim was just a scrawny 15, he ran away from home.

He found himself in the Wayne’s care, under the stern and concerned eye of Bruce and the tender and terse eye of Alfred.

Still, he hid away so much of himself. Fearful, young, ignorant.

He denied himself, his status, his preferences, his health. He wanted to be the smallest he could be, take up as little space as possible and just survive.

But he was still a teenager. He still had needs and curiosities and mistakes to make. So of course he fell in love with someone who could never love him back. Of course he convinced himself he was ok with being ignored and toyed with and fucked like he was nothing. And of course, when the boy came to Tim while he was in heat, to fucked out of his mind to truly consent to anything, he agreed to have sex. And of course, he got pregnant. And of course, the boy wanted him to get an abortion. And of course, Tim didn’t want to, was convince the boy loved him enough, that they would have a family together. And of course, the boy hired thugs to jump him in an ally. And of course, Tim almost lost the baby, but didn’t. And of course, Tim forgave him. And of course, for the first couple months, Tim clung to the boy like a lifeline and let himself be fucked and played with and abused and used. And of course, Tim blamed himself for feeling like shit. And of course, it took the boy threatening to shoot Tim and the baby himself for Tim to leave. And of course, that wasn’t were it ended.

Of course.

~ ~ ~

Damian is two months old.

He is hooked up to machines, under a warming light because he’s too skinny just like Tim. Tim isn’t allowed to hold him right now, not until after midnight, because that’s when the ‘how many times I’m allowed to hold my baby today’ counter starts again.

Tim is tired.

He doesn’t leave the hospital, even when Bruce comes for him. He sleeps there. He eats there. He tries to hold his son’s hand.

He can’t. So, he just tries to make him feel less alone.

A couple hours later, Tim is holding him again. He has his shirt off. Damian tries to nurse but also doesn’t because he can’t swallow yet, all Tim’s breast milk goes directly into his stomach through a pump. Tim has his shirt off because the nurses say it’s good for him. For both of them. Tim can’t bring himself to disagree because he gets to hold his baby and Damian is quiet, scarily quiet, but they can feel each other breathing. That seems like enough.

“I still think you should’ve got rid of it,” the boy says.

Tim stiffens and clutches Damian closer.

“Can’t deny he’s gonna be a pretty kid.

“What do you want?” Tim mutters, not turning to face him, too afraid that he might let himself fall back in.

“You,” he says.  “Come back, Timmy.”

Tim’s voice fails him. Al the instincts telling him to get away, to protect his child from this man, this alpha, this threat, paralyze him into the hypnotic pull of his first love. However painful it had been.

“C’mon. Don’t you want to play house?” he asked, leaning closer so his lips were moving against Tim’s ear. He leaned closer to Tim’s scent gland, mouth parting and teeth dancing over that threatening piece of skin.

“No,” Tim says sternly, standing quickly with the baby and setting him back in his plastic bassinet. He stands, firmly planted between Damian and Damian’s father. He won’t give in. Not this time.

“No?” the boy says.

“No,” Tim says, louder.

The boy’s heavy feet come up to him. He reaches out and grabs Tim by the throat, squeezing tight.

“You forget,” he hissed, pulling a squirming Tim up into his face, “I’m the only one who will ever love a bitch like you.”

Tim shakes his head. “No,” he wheezes.

The hold tightens and Tim’s vision narrows, starting to blacken.

Tim swings his arms, kicks his legs, tries to make as much noise as he can.

“You,” he gasps, “can’t … have … him.”

“No? He is my son. Maybe I can raise him better that you were. I mean who would ever respect a mother who let himself get fucked without a mating bite. Shameful.”

The grip tightens.

“No,” Tim whimpers, he’s starting to cry. His vision is going dark. And all he can think is: Please, God don’t let him find out my baby is an omega.

~ ~ ~

Damian heard crying in his mother’s bedroom.

He got out of bed and tip-toed across the hall, cracking the door.

Once the light flooded in, he could see Tim was still asleep. He was tossing and turning and whimpering. Damian opened the door further and crawled to the side of the bed Jason usually laid on, close to the wall. He crawled under the covers and wrapped his arms around his mother, pushing his nose into his shoulder. The crying slowed.

Tim woke up a few minutes later, startled by the arms around him before catching a whiff of Damian’s still pup-like scent. Those days Damian scented a little more like Tim, an omega who doesn’t submit, but he still had the tell-tale whiff of baby, infancy, childhood. IT was something of a comfort.

“Dami?” Tim said into the dim-lit room.

“It’s me,” Damian’s sleepy voice mumbled against Tim’s shirt.

“What’s up, baby? Why are you in bed with me? Did you have a nightmare?” Tim asked, reaching up and stroking Damian’s arm where it laid above his belly.

Damian shook his head. “I could hear you crying from my room,” he explained, barely audible.

Tim’s heart sunk.

He’d had that dream again. The one that’s actually a memory of the single worse night of his life. He’d been having it all week. Since Jason went to stay with Roy.

“Oh baby,” Tim said. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“I don’t mind,” Damian replied, too quickly.

Tim turned to his side and Damian moved his hands back to rest on the bed.

“You aren’t supposed to take care of me,” Tim stated. “You’re my baby.”

“We take care of each other,” Damian said. He reached out and took Tim’s hand.

For so long it seemed like it was Damian and Tim against the world. Like they were destined to be two omegas huddled up in their apartment watching Scooby-Doo cartoons and growling away any alpha that came knocking. Then Jason became a part of their life. Now, the new baby. Their world was growing.

“No, hun,” Tim said. He brushed Damian’s bangs out of his face with the hand he wasn’t holding. “Not anymore. Because now we have people. We have Grandpa. We have Alfred. We have Uncle Dick. We have Aunt Steph. We have Aunt Cass. We have …” he almost said Jason, “Uncle Kon.”

“We haven’t seen Uncle Kon since I was nine,” Damian replied, wrinkling his brow.

“We still have him,” Tim protested, smiling a little. He was trying to get Damian to respond in kind. He didn’t.

“But we didn’t before,” Damian said. “They weren’t there when we were … when you were hurting. They didn’t come. It was only me.”

Tim’s heart sunk. Was that what Damian thought? That he needed to protect him?

“Things change. Things change for the better, baby,” Tim assured him.

“Like with Jason?”

Tim paused. “Yeah. Like with Jason. Do you remember before him? When it really was just us?”

Damian nodded. “A little.”

“Well do you remember me taking you to the movies? Or for ice cream? Or to daycare?”

Damian shook his head.

“Well, that’s because I didn’t. Because when you were little and it was just the two of us, I spent all my time thinking someone was gonna take you. Or you were gonna disappear.”

Damian didn’t do anything. He just listened.

“When there’s a Grandpa, an Alfred, an Uncle Dick, an Aunt Steph, an Aunt Cass, an Uncle Kon … a Jason … there’s people we can turn to. There’s people we can trust. People who make all the things that make life worth living possible.”

Damian took a moment, to take all of what Tim said in, but eventually nodded his head.

“So, I don’t want you to think you have to take care of me, anymore, alright?”

“Alright.”

“I like when you snuggle me though.”

“Alright.”

Damian moved closer to Tim, pressing his face into his chest and letting himself be cocooned in his mother’s arms and nest.

Chapter Text

“We need to talk,” Tim said into the phone before Jason could say hello.

“I know,” Jason said.

“You can’t come to the apartment,” Tim stated, leaning into the counter. Damian is out with Bruce this afternoon, but he’s still talking lower than normal. “I’m thinking the coffee shop on Main. At 3. Damian’s … out.”

Jason’s breath audibly shook, but he agreed.

~ ~ ~

Damian would be four months old today.

Tim can’t leave his bedroom. He’s given up. On finding Damian. On himself. On his life. Bruce is trying to get in, softly knocking and saying something gently into the silence of Tim’s dark bedroom. It’s not what Tim wants to hear, so he doesn’t listen.

“Tim?” a new voice comes.

This is Jason’s voice.

Jason and him were sort-of friends these days. They don’t try to kill each other. Jason wasn’t out for blood or as rage filled as before. Tim is still curious why he’s here. Why he sounds like he cares.

“Jason?” Tim replies. For a few seconds, the only thing he lets himself feel is shock.

Bruce smiles on the other side of the door. It’s the first time he’s heard Tim speak in a while.

“Can I come in?” Jason asks.

“No,” Tim says, pulling his sheets over his head. “I want to be alone.”

“I’m coming in,” Jason announces anyway.

Tim wants to put up more of a fight, but he figures this might as well happen. He’s already lost everything. Jason couldn’t possibly do anything worse than keep him from his child.

Jason’s sweet, subdued scent fills the room and Tim stiffens. He’s wearing scent blockers, but they really only work to muffle specifics of his personal scent. He still smells alpha.

“I want to be left alone,” Tim mumbles.

“You shouldn’t be,” Jason scoffs, settling into the foot of Tim’s bed. The weight by his feet feels good. The warmth feels good. Jason feels good.

Tim relaxes a little, his body at least understanding he’s not in danger.

“I want my baby,” Tim whimpers, pulling the sheets tighter.

Jason’s hand reaches across the bed and pulls it out of Tim’s hands gently. Tim is left exposed. He’s staring at Jason in the dark. He can’t really see him that well, but it’s him.

“I know,” Jason says. “We’re doing our best. We could use your help?”

Tim shakes his head.

“I can’t,” he manages.

“You can,” Jason says.

“I can’t Jason!” Tim barks. “I CAN’T! I can’t even get out of bed! I can’t stop thinking about him! I can’t stop thinking about how my baby was taken out of my arms and I was too afraid to do anything to stop it! It’s my fault he’s gone! It’s my fault!”

Tim’s is sobbing, holding his head.

Jason is reaching out and pulling Tim into his chest. He’s wrapping his arms around Tim. He’s taking his blockers off. He’s releasing calming scents. He’s comforting Tim.

And Tim … Tim wails.

~ ~ ~

Jason was sitting outside, cradling a cup of coffee. There was an empty chair across him with a steaming mug. It was cold in Gotham, but Tim thought it felt good, which of course Jason knew which was why he was sat shivering in the bitter winter air. Tim slid into the empty chair. Jason smiled at him and pointed to the cup.

“It’s tea,” he said. “I forgot for a second, no coffee, so I’m drinking what I got you. I can’t believe I forgot. If you don’t end up liking it, I’ll get you something else.”

Jason is rambling. Tim is quiet. This is normal. This is typical for them.

Tim took a sip. It tasted like lavender and honey. Tim liked it because it reminded him of Jason.

“I like it,” he assured Jason when he set the mug back on the table.

They sit in silence for an uncomfortably long amount of time before Jason is sniffling and wiping his eyes quickly.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered. “I’m so sorry, Tim. I- I don’t know what happened! I just got so … so mad. I can’t believe I let myself get that mad! I can’t believe I almost …”

Tim filled in the rest of Jason’s sentence and his hands clenched around his mug.

“We’re gonna need to work up to you coming back,” Tim stated, avoiding Jason’s watery eyes.

Jason nodded, hope filling his eyes. “I … I don’t like it, but I understand.”

Tim grinned a little. “It might be kinda romantic, ya know? Like we’re dating all over again.”

“Except this time, you’re pregnant with my pup,” Jason teased, wiping his tears and taking a steadying breath.

Tim’s hand reflexively went to shield his stomach and his smile fled from his face.

“I’m sorry,” Jason said. “I didn’t mean …”

“It’s fine,” Tim said.

They fall back into silence, this one a bit more comfortable.

“I haven’t been sleeping well since I started staying at Roy’s,” Jason finally admits, the wetness of his voice disappearing. He isn’t on the brink of tears anymore.

Tim shook his head. “Yeah, me neither.”

“Which one is it?” Jason asked.

“The one … the one with Damian,” Tim shuddered.

“I’ve had mine too,” Jason sighed, leaning into his hand on the table. “Mostly I get the Robin dream over and over again.”

Tim could see the dark bags under his eyes the way the afternoon light was hitting his cheeks. There was a bruise blooming under his shirt that barely crept over his collar and onto his neck. His shoulders were caved in. He was wearing scent blockers, which meant he was upset enough or angry enough or just downright emotional enough to feel the need to protect Tim from his smell.

“How is he?” Jason asked.

“Fine,” Tim said, curtly.

“Sorry. Overstepping. First date,” Jason said. This was his second play at a joke, but this one earned a genuine chuckle. A giggle. “I’m happy I can still make you laugh.”

Tim grinned and sipped his tea.

“It’s hard to have a first date with someone you’ve loved since you were sixteen,” Tim admitted. “I think we know too much about each other.”

“Yeah. Call it a do-ever, because I took you on the worst first date in the universe.”

Tim shook his head. “I remember. I also remember how it ended, which was not the worst way to end a first date.”

“Think this first date might end up like that one?”

“Not if you keep talking.”

They did end up chatting the afternoon away. Tim asking about Roy and Lian, what it’s like to trade a living situation with one not-quite-preteen for another. Jason catching up on Tim’s pregnancy and the episodes of Criminal Minds Tim was binging in his free time.

When they leave each other, they hug. It’s loose and distant but still familiar.

Tim leans in a little and kisses Jason’s cheek, which makes Jason blush.

“He’s good,” Tim said. Jason quirked an eyebrow before realizing what Tim was telling him. “He misses his dad. He’s a pain in the ass. And he spends more time in his room than anywhere else. But he’s good. Really good actually.”

Jason nodded, smiling.

“Thanks … thank you,” he mumbled. “Will you tell him I say hi?”

Tim paused and thought about it before nodding in agreement.

“Thanks.”

 ~ ~ ~

Damian is six months old when Jason finds him.

He’s in an apartment in Blüdhaven. He’s crying on a mattress which is on the floor without a box spring. The apartment’s lights are out and have been since Jason started his stake-out three days ago.

Jason tracked him down on accident. He was looking for druggies who murdered a family in Gotham. He was looking for someone dealing a type of meth laced with fear toxin which lead the user to unleash their anger to extremes. He wasn’t looking for Tim’s baby.

If he had been, he would have gone in the first day.

Because they left the baby alone for three days and they didn’t come back.

He didn’t know how Damian got there. He wasn’t even sure how he knew it was Damian, but he did (it was confirmed with a DNA test, but Tim knew it too). He didn’t know where the father went. He didn’t know anything except Damian was sickly and dying and so small.

Jason picked the baby up. The bundle didn’t move much, couldn’t do much else than raise his arms and flail his feet. Could barely sit up. Could barely roll over on his belly. Could barely retain heat. Could cry like a motherfucker, though. Jason was hopeful at that.

“Hello,” Jason cooed, brushing Damian’s hair against his finger, rocking him.

The baby pushed his face closer to Jason’s chest, seeking the heat radiating from him and whining at the cold metal that he found instead. Jason knew it was dangerous, but he took his armor off and sat on the mattress. He pulled Damian close to his sweaty undershirt and rubbed his hands over the blankets to stimulate blood flow.

“It’s gonna be ok, little guy. Don’t worry. I’ll get you to your mom. Don’t worry.”

~ ~ ~

Damian was already home when Tim came in.

Tim is five months pregnant, so his belly enters a little before him, the baby having decided to grow several inches since his last check-up. He wondered if he was still considered to be carrying small, but he thought not.

Bruce was there too. They were playing cards.

“Hey, sorry I’m late,” Tim apologized, locking the door behind him and kissing Damian on the top of his head. “My meeting ran a little later than I thought it would.”

“No worries,” Bruce assured him. “We just got back a couple minutes ago.”

“Mom, Grandpa took me to the space museum!” Damian said, jumping a little in his seat, like he just couldn’t wait to get that out.

“Oh yeah?” Tim asked, running his hand over his son’s head. “How was it? You sound like you enjoyed it.”

“Oh, it was the coolest! Did you know that Pluto is essentially an asteroid and scientist think that it was launched into our solar system by another solar system exploding but instead of becoming a comet, it got caught in the gravity of the sun? The tour guide told us that! Right Grandpa!” Damian rambled.

Bruce nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, Damian asked a lot of questions while we were there. He and the tour guide got on great,” Bruce explained, leaning back in his seat.

“Oh! Show him what we got!” Damian squealed, pulling excitedly on Bruce’s shirt sleeve.

“Right,” Bruce said. He turned in his seat and produced a fairly large bag almost halfway full with trinkets. “We might’ve gone a little crazy in the gift shop.”

“No such thing,” Tim declared. “As long as there isn’t anything that can be weaponized.”

“I remembered that rule,” Bruce assured Tim. “But … we might’ve ignored another one.”

Tim quirked an eyebrow.

“We got you something, Mom,” Damian supplied.

“Oh, you guys, you really shouldn’t’ve. I don’t need anything. I don’t need you buying me things, Bruce,” Tim protested.

“It’s already been done,” Bruce brushed off. “Besides it was on sale so it’s not like I can return it.”

“Can you at least see it, Mom?” Damian asked.

Tim thought for a moment before agreeing.

Bruce pulled a few things out before finding what he was looking for. He held onto it and it was definitely not just an ‘it’ but multiple things. Bruce looked at Tim.

“Close your eyes,” he said. “It’s a gift.”

Tim rolled his eyes but did as he was asked. There was shuffling.

“Ok, Mom, open!” Damian ordered.

Tim opened his eyes and saw a galaxy themed onesie, a baby blanket featuring a Hubble telescope picture of another universe, and, perhaps Tim’s favorite, two identical alien plushies.

“One of them is mine,” Damian explained. “But the other one is for the baby.”

“Damian insisted,” Bruce said.

Tim’s eyes watered and he covered his mouth.

“Mom??” Damian yipped, jumping up and running to wrap his arms around Tim. “Mom, do you not like it?”

“No, no baby. I love it,” Tim whispered, pulling Damian closer. “Thank you, so much.”

They hugged for a long time. Tim looked over Damian and to Bruce, who looked unsure of what to do with himself, and simply mouthed Thank you.

~ ~ ~

Tim is sixteen. He is almost a ghost of person. It’s be four months since he lost his son. It’s been four months of heartache and healing and hoping and searching. He is sixteen and he is sad.

He sits in front of the Batcomputer, running coms. Jason told him he was coming in almost an hour ago which is strange because he’s supposed to be in Blüdhaven on a mission. But Tim can’t really bring himself to ruminate on it too long. He’s distracting himself. He’s working again. But his chest aches still. From loneliness. From milk production. From the crushing weight of knowing he wasn’t strong enough. The longer he types, the duller the ache.

The cave doors open.

He expects Jason’s motorbike. But it’s Dick’s truck. The one he uses in his civilian life.

He gets up to greet Dick, who he expects to be in the seat, which he really shouldn’t because Dick wasn’t the one who called an hour ago saying he was coming back to the cave.

Jason is there. He’s beaming.

Tim wants to slap him, shout “WHAT’S THERE TO SMILE ABOUT!” until his lungs burst. He smiles back instead. He’s been practicing, so, now, it’s easier.

Jason hops out of the truck, but doesn’t come to Tim. He turns to open the backdoor. Tim can’t see what he’s taking out of the seat behind the driver, but it must be important, delicate, because Jason takes his time picking it up. Then comes the cry.

The cave is filled with a shriek, a wail really, that makes Tim’s chest tender and empty all at once. He falls to his knees.

Jason brings Damian to him, bundled in a blanket. He lays the baby in his mother’s arms and Tim sobs.

He never stops thanking Jason.

~ ~ ~

Bruce stayed for dinner.

He stayed for dishes. He stayed for Damian’s bedtime.

He got a beer from the fridge and sat on Tim’s couch and they put on the news in the background. Tim reads this wrong.

“I don’t need you looking after me,” he declared, falling into the couch, opposite Bruce.

“I know,” Bruce said. “I wanted to ask you how it went. With Jason.”

Tim’s heart skipped. He hadn’t told Bruce what he was doing that afternoon. He hadn’t told Bruce what had happened. The most he said was Jason was at Roy’s for a little while. Never why.

“Ok,” Tim said.

“Just ok?”

“I’m mad,” Tim clarified. “I’m beyond mad, I’m pissed. He punched a fucking cabinet, Bruce! He almost hit my son!”

“But,” Bruce prompted. “There’s a but.”

“But … I love him. Still. I love him. And that terrifies me.”

Bruce swirled his beer bottle. “He’s not Damian’s father, you know.”

“I know,” Tim snapped, jerking his head to glared intensely at Bruce. “Don’t you think I know that? Don’t you think I haven’t sat up at night with his fucking arms around me and told myself that he’s not Damian’s father, he’s not going to hurt me. I fucking know that Bruce!”

“Tim—”

“You don’t understand how hard this is okay?! You don’t understand how much I want to just let him back in and fall asleep knowing he’s beside me, that he’ll be there. But I can’t. My kids are my first priority.”

“Tim. I was going to say I think it’s a good idea. To take it slow. I think it’s for the best. I think it’s very brave of you to do it.”

“You … really?”

“Really.” Bruce leaned back into the couch and took a small sip from his beer. “I’m just going to say that the reality of the situation is that Jason obviously feels bad about what happened, bad enough he removed himself and is staying at Roy’s. I’m assuming he didn’t even mention returning to the apartment?”

Tim paused and then shook his head.

“What I mean is Jason is a good man, but he’s been through a lot. He’s died and come back. He’s been kidnapped. He’s been shot and stabbed and fear toxined and beaten within an inch of his life more than anyone I know. But—at his core—he is good. You see it. I see it. I think even Damian sees it. Maybe you shouldn’t keep him so far away. Maybe you shouldn’t go back to how things were, but you shouldn’t let yourself think that he’s anything like Damian’s father. Because he’s not.”

“Bruce—"

“I’m not telling you what to do,” Bruce interrupted before Tim could even finish. “I’m telling you, maybe Jason needs someone to talk to. Someone who can help him work through whatever he’s going through and you and him can get back on track. Maybe you don’t have to wait forever and a day to be a family again.”

Tim sunk further into the couch.

“What about Damian?” Tim asked.

“Damian …” Bruce trailed. “I think you baby him too much. I think Jason is good for him. A good balance. I think he understands more than you think he does. Maybe I’m wrong to say that, but I’m sticking with it.”

“I don’t baby him,” Tim protested.

“Don’t change the subject,” Bruce replied.

“I’m not.”

“You are.”

They both laugh a little.

“So, you never told me,” Bruce said, “do you have any names picked out?”

Tim grinned.

~ ~ ~

Damian barely eats. The doctors tell Tim he was malnourished for a couple months, but the effects are largely reversable. He will be ok. But Tim still needs him to eat his goddamned lunch.

“C’mon Dami!” Tim groaned, trying to nose the nipple of a bottle into his son’s mouth. “Please, eat, baby! C’mon! You have to eat.”

Jason comes into the kitchen. Tim doesn’t notice him and Jason doesn’t announce himself, just watches.

Damian whines and moves his head away from the bottle.

Tim lets his forehead fall onto the high chair tray and he shakes it.

“C’mon,” he whimpers, tears welling in his eyes. He was failing again. “Please.”

Damian starts whining louder.

Jason steps forward and Tim jumps at the sound of his boots on the tile.

“Holy shit!” he swears. “How long have you been there?”

Jason doesn’t respond but instead yanks the bottle from Tim’s hands and pushes him aside. He stays standing over Damian, who has gone quiet.

“Ahh,” Jason says, opening his mouth wide and demonstrating for Damian what he wants from him. Damian lets his mouth loll open and Jason shoves the bottle between his lips before he can think anything of it.

Damian suckles happily at the bottle, consuming, what the doctor had explained to be, a “nutrient bomb.” Jason holds the bottle, pulling it back every couple seconds so Damian can catch his breath and not vomit everywhere from eating too fast before sticking the nipple back in his mouth.

Once he finishes, Jason hands the empty bottle to Tim.

“Babies don’t understand you if you aren’t clear,” Jason explains. “Don’t ask. Just do it.”

Tim nods his head smally.

Jason walks away, going into the fridge to get a handful of Alfred’s homemade “energy balls.” He pops a few in his mouth and puts a few more in his pocket to snack on later. As he leaves, he hears Tim’s weak voice say:

“Thank you.”

Chapter Text

Jason moved back in when Tim was seven months.

Damian was hesitant at first. He and Jason had a long conversation about how what happened wasn’t Damian’s fault, that Jason was the adult and should have controlled himself better, but promised he was working on it.

And he was. He saw a therapist twice a week at the moment to deal with the more stressful aspects of his life and control his anger.

Tim thought they helped a lot. He saw a difference.

“I can’t find the whisk,” Jason said. He had walked in to his and Tim’s bedroom and woken his pregnant partner up from his nap to say this. “I can’t find the fucking whisk and I’m gonna lose my shit,” Jason stated again.

Tim sat up in bed. “It’s in the drawer by the oven. I thought that was where you put it, so that’s were I’ve been putting it.”

“Thanks,” Jason said. His shoulders dropped.

“No problem,” Tim said.

Jason didn’t scream about the whisk. Jason didn’t get mad it wasn’t where he left it. He took a deep breath and asked Tim. And if Tim hadn’t known, he would’ve taken a walk. Like he did when Damian said something particularly nasty to Tim at dinner a few nights ago. Or when Bruce came over and mentioned a case Jason hadn’t been able to solve. Or even, early in his therapy, when he found his toothbrush under the sink after being away for a couple months.

Tim rubbed his belly and laid back down. He was hopeful.

~ ~ ~

Tim was told to stop working at eight and a half months.

He almost fainted in the office. The baby had shifted so he kicked his mother’s lungs.

Tim hated not working.

“Babe, you’re supposed to be resting,” Jason reminded gently when he found Tim furiously cleaning the kitchen floor at four in the morning.

“I need to do something,” Tim hissed, scrubbing a spot that was being particularly stubborn and not getting shiny like Tim wanted it too.

“Can you do something that doesn’t have you on our kitchen floor at four in the morning practically naked, because I’m tired and would very much like to cuddle you,” Jason said.

Tim stopped scrubbing to glare up at Jason.

“Leave me alone,” he growled.

“C’mon,” Jason grumbled, rubbing his face. “Please come back to bed?”

“I can’t sleep!” Tim protested.

“What if I do the thing?” Jason offered.

Tim stopped cold.

“Really?”

“If it’ll get you the fuck back in bed, I’ll suck your fucking toes,” Jason said.

“Gross,” Tim teased. “Help me up then.”

Jason held his arm out and let Tim use it to pull himself up.

“Thanks.”

They went back to the bedroom.

Jason guided Tim to the bed and sat him at the foot. He climbed on behind him and pulled Tim’s shirt over his head so he was completely naked. He took his fingers and pushed them into Tim’s lower back, leaning forward to press tender kisses into the side of Tim’s neck.

Tim sighed loudly and appreciatively.

“You know, I’ll do this anytime, right? Just ask?” Jason said, moving his hands along Tim’s hips before sliding them back and to Tim’s butt. He kneaded it firmly for a second before moving to Tim’s thighs.

“You always get so hot though,” Tim said. “I feel bad.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Jason replied. “I’m a big boy, I can handle a little boner.”

“I want to be in the mood, I really do,” Tim said, like he hadn’t heard Jason.

“I just said it was fine, babe. Seriously. You just enjoy this. Enjoy being taken care of, alright?” Jason demanded.

Tim nodded. “You take care of me all the time, Jay. So good.”

Jason continued twenty minutes like this. Massaging Tim’s tender muscles and swollen feet, kissing along his naked body, brushing his hands over Tim’s belly. Loving all of it.

Tim lolled off a little bit after Jason pressed into the middle of his aching feet so Jason stopped and moved Tim up to lay on the bed. He wrapped his arms around his pregnant partner, and they fell asleep.

~ ~ ~

Tim was 42 weeks when he decided enough was enough.

“I’m getting this motherfucker out,” Tim growled, calling and making an appointment to be induced the next day. He had originally been opposed to it, saying he want the baby to take his time, but two weeks past the due date, Tim was done being pregnant. He wanted his body back. He wanted to meet his baby.

Damian was supposed to stay with Bruce the day of the inducing and then come to the hospital after Tim delivered to meet his little brother.

Damian didn’t like this plan.

“I want to go with you,” Damian declared. “I don’t want to go with Grandpa.”

Jason was packing a bag for Tim. He was staying out of this one.

“I’m not arguing about this, Dami,” Tim said. “You just gotta trust me, ok?”

“I do! I just don’t understand why Uncle Dick can’t take me to wait with him when he gets here! Or why Grandpa can’t take me to the hospital until the baby comes!” Damian argued.

“Because I don’t want you waiting for a really long time in an uncomfortable chair or sleeping on the floor while I’m having your brother! There’s no way to guarantee he even comes out today! For godsake he’s already two weeks past his freaking eviction notice and he’s still camped out in my goddamn uterus!” Tim barked back.

Damian looked to Jason.

“Daaaad?” he whined, stomping his foot a little.

Jason stopped folding clothes and Tim’s heart skipped.

When the initial shock passed, Jason cleared his throat.

“Uh, Damian, you heard your mother,” he replied.

Damian huffed and left the room.

Jason and Tim looked at one another.

“Did he just …?” Jason said.

“Yup,” Tim replied.

“And we’re just gonna …?”

“Yup.”

“Fuck.”

“Yup.”

Chapter Text

Tim was induced at four pm on a Tuesday.

Contractions start immediately.

“Fuck me!” Tim grunted, a small sharp pain beginning to bloom from his lower back. The baby kicked him when it passed. “Yeah, I didn’t like that, either, my love.”

Jason chuckled a little, amused.

“What?” Tim hissed, rubbing his belly to try and calm the restless baby.

“Nothing,” Jason said. His smile only grew.

“This isn’t gonna be pretty,” Tim said. “I don’t know how much longer you’re gonna be smiling like an idiot.”

“The whole time,” Jason replied. He took Tim’s hand, the one not on his belly, and kissed his palm. “You’re beautiful.”

Tim blushed a little. “Stop,” he said.

Jason shook his head. “Never.”

~ ~ ~

Damian was pacing in the foyer of Wayne Manor. Bruce had picked him up almost an hour and a half ago and he hadn’t left the front of the house.

“Master Damian, I’ve made sandwiches,” Alfred announced.

Damian continued pacing, ignoring the older man trying to get his attention.

“Master Damian,” Alfred said again.

Damian turned his head this time, acknowledging Alfred was there, but making no effort to communicate further.

Alfred sighed and left the boy.

~ ~ ~

Labor happens fast.

By eight, Tim’s contractions are five minutes apart.

“I hate this,” he growled, fisting his hospital gown in one hand and clutching the end of his bed in the other.

“Not much longer,” Jason assured. “That was five minutes.”

Tim tried to grin a little, but the pain was too intense. A moment later a rush of liquid coated his thighs.

“Fuck,” Tim hissed.

“I’ll get the doctor?” Jason offered.

“No,” Tim said. “Nurse. I just need a new gown.”

Jason nodded and left.

~ ~ ~

Damian was curled up in a tight ball. He had fallen asleep with his cheek pressed into the front door. Bruce found him on his way to the cave. He figured Damian should be in bed, so he crouched down and scooped him off the floor. Once he did, Damian stirred.

“Mommy?” he mumbled. His voice sounded smaller than it usually did. Bruce hadn’t heard his voice like that in years.

“It’s Grandpa, bud,” Bruce said, starting up the stairs.

Damian opened his eyes and wiggled out of Bruce’s arms quickly. He scrambled up the steps, holding his hand out. There was a warning scent cascading off his whole body. He kept his arms out, like he was trying to will Bruce to stay back.

“Damian?” Bruce said. He knelt on the steps so he was looking up at the boy shaking into the carpet.

“Where’s Mom,” Damian demanded.

“He’s at the hospital,” Bruce reminded, gently. “You’re at my house, we’re waiting for your little brother to be born.”

Damian let his arms fall slowly, still stiff. “R-right.”

“Hey, bud,” Bruce said, standing again. He was going to try and sit next to Damian on the steps but thought better of it, opting for settling back on the step he had been kneeling on. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” Damian said, shaking his head. “I just … I forgot for a second.”

“Ok,” Bruce said. “That’s alright. Are you still tired? I was taking you to your room. You fell asleep on the floor.”

Damian shook his head.

“Alright, how about you come with me down to the cave. I’ve got a couple things to do, but you can play with your mom’s bo staff,” Bruce bribed. He never let Damian in the training area. Tim always gave very clear instructions; Damian was not allowed to play with any weapons or anything that could be weaponized.

Not even this worked.

Damian shook his head.

Bruce nodded, understandingly.

“I’ll come check on you in a little bit,” he said.

“Ok,” Damian replied, pulling his knees to his chin and hugging his legs.

Bruce left Damian holding himself and staring at the door.

~ ~ ~

At midnight, Tim began to deliver.

He cried a lot. Jason did too, unable to sooth his partner.

“I’m never doing this again!” Tim declared. “This suck! This sucks, this suck, this sucks …”

His mantra continued as Dr. Dean pressed her fingers inside of him to check the baby.

“God fuck!” Tim growled. “I really hate that!”

Dr. Dean winced apologetically. “I’m sorry. I know this is uncomfortable.”

“Fuck!”

Dr. Dean pulled her hand away. “Ok, your fully dilated, Tim. You can start pushing.”

“Finally,” Tim hissed. Another contraction washed over him and he didn’t resist the urge to push this time.

~ ~ ~

Damian ran away from Bruce’s house half past midnight.

He put his sneakers and hoodie on and slipped out the garage, the one door in the house which had disabled security (remnants of his mother’s time there).

He walked in the direction of the hospital, even if he wasn’t sure where exactly he was going. He just knew he needed to go.

~ ~ ~

Tim and Jason’s son was born at 1:30 AM on May 30^th. He was six pounds, even, and sixteen and a half inches long. Jason and Tim named him Sebastian Peter Todd. Tim took to calling him Bash almost immediately. Jason didn’t like it at first, thought Seb would be a better nickname or no nickname because why name the kid Sebastian if you weren’t going to call him that. The longer Tim cooed “Bash, Bash, baby Bash”, the more Jason liked it.

They were existing in this perfect little bubble of perfection with their new baby when Jason’s phone rang.

He ignored it at first. But it rang again.

Bruce was on the other line.

Jason excused himself, letting Tim see the name on the screen. Tim wasn’t paying attention. He was too enthralled with Bash.

“Hey,” Jason greeted, his bubble still warm and fuzzy around him, honey seeping into his voice.

“Jason,” Bruce’s almost panicked voice came. Jason’s ears were ringing. “It’s Damian.”

~ ~ ~

“What?!” Tim screamed, startling the baby in his arms.

Bash began crying. Tim rocked him but was still glaring with his full might at Jason.

“I don’t even know what happened!” Jason replied, defensively. “Bruce said one second he was there and the next he was just gone!”

Tim’s heart was racing. All the blood from his face drained, leaving him sweaty and cold. He shook.

“Babe?” Jason said, softly.

“Jason,” Tim said, his mouth dry. He reached out and gripped Jason’s shirt sleeve, pulling him closer. “Find him.”

Jason nodded his head.

~ ~ ~

Damian was sitting outside the hospital on a bench. The spring air was still chilled, but not as much as a couple weeks ago, summer bleeding into Gotham. Damian was almost done with school for the year. He would start day camp mid-June, though maybe his mother would let him stay home since the baby had come.

It was hard to explain, this attachment Damian had to Tim.

His first memories aren’t even of Tim, they are of his father. He’s four-years-old and the man looks like he’s angry with him. Damian is afraid. His first memories are of fear. His first memories are of his father’s lingering touch, aching in his pants, crying. His first memories are sour ones. His first memories are lonely.

But Tim had come for him. Tim wrapped him up in his arms and held him close. He protected him. Tim was safe.

“Dami??” a voice came.

Damian looked up from where he stared at the concrete. His parents’ older brother, Dick, stood in front of him. He was dressed in a collar shirt and dress pants, like he had come from a formal event, but had a leather jacket draped over it, a motorcycle helmet under his arm.

“What are you doing out here?” Dick asked.

Damian shrugged. He put his hands deep in his pockets and pressed his mouth into the hood gathered around his neck. Dick sat down next to him.

Dick was an omega. He was casual and kind of goofy and he was soft. More importantly, he was familiar.

“I heard you’re a big brother,” Dick said, nudging Damian on the shoulder. “Congrats.”

Damian smiled. He hadn’t known his mother had the baby yet. He was happy to know now.

“Do you know his name yet?” Dick asked.

Damian shook his head. “Mom won’t tell me.”

Dick chuckled. “Yeah, he was like that when you were born too. I asked him about a thousand times what he was gonna name you, but he never told me. Not until you were a day old.”

Damian hadn’t known that, but liked that his mother had kept him to himself.

“You were also so small when you were born,” Dick said, cupping his hands in front of him and making a face. “Could fit in your hands. You were a preemie. Like two whole months early! They weren’t sure if you’d even make it. But your mom knew you were strong. He got everything ready for you, made sure you had something to come home to, a strong name to hold you up, the works. He believed in you the whole time you were in the hospital.”

Damian hadn’t known that either. Tim didn’t like to talk about Damian’s birth. He didn’t like to think about those first months where everything went wrong.

“I was the only one who met you when you were in the hospital though,” Dick said, smiling. “Your mom wouldn’t even let Bruce in.”

Damian laughed a little, then paused. “What about my dad?”

Dick’s face went dark. He shook his head. “Your mother and father … God … Tim wouldn’t let any alphas in. ‘Cept the doctor. He was … afraid.”

Damian’s chest tightened but he shook his head. He had forgotten not everyone knew he decided to start calling Jason ‘Dad.’ “No,” he said. “Not my father, I meant Jason.”

Dick beamed. “Oh? Uh, well … your mom and him weren’t on really good terms then. They were barely friends, from what I remember. Jason didn’t even live in Gotham. He was in Blüdhaven with me. He didn’t move back until … well until your father took you away.”

Damian had known about that. No one ever told him directly, but it wasn’t a hard thing to piece together.

“I thought … I thought he was always there?” Damian said.

“No,” Dick replied. “Jason was the one who found you in Blüdhaven, but he didn’t really stick around. He made sure Tim was settled with you, then went off. It wasn’t until you were four or five I think that he started hanging around again.”

“Where was he?”

“Oh, all sorts of places! He went to China, Afghanistan, England, Greenland … pretty much everywhere he could get work. He wanted to help wherever he could.”

“Why did he come back?”

“You.”

Damian buried further in his hoodie. Jason had returned for him?

“You had gone missing again,” Dick explained. “You must not remember that. Your father took you again when you were four, after the courts ruled he wouldn’t be allowed to see you. Ever.”

Damian remembered that.

“Jason came back to come and get you again. Tim, er, your mom, asked him. And he came.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“They worked together for weeks and finally found you. Jason was there the day they brought you home again. Both times. All times. It’s kinda crazy if you think about it. Like usually only the alpha who sires you has that bond, this like sixth sense, for your wellbeing and all, but Jason always had it for you. Even before he and your mom started dating.”

Damian liked that.

“Anyway,” Dick said. “How about we go get some cuddles in with the baby?”

Damian nodded and the two of them went into hospital.

~ ~ ~

Jason was running out of Tim’s room when Dick and Damian came around the corner. Without thinking, Jason barreled forward and swept Damian up in his arms, tightening his hold as much as he could without hurting him.

“You’re so fucking grounded,” Jason grumbled, his threat empty and undercut by the tender touch he was placing into Damian’s hair.

Damian’s eyes watered and he hugged Jason back.

“Did I miss something?” Dick wondered aloud.

Jason chuckled and kept holding Damian tightly.

“Thing two here takes after his mom,” Jason explained. “He’s supposed to be staying the night at Bruce’s.”

Dick quirked an eyebrow. “Thought it was strange you let him outside by himself.”

“I didn’t mean to!” Damian whimpered, pushing his face into Jason’s neck. “I wanted to be with you and Mom!”

Jason nodded his head, understandingly. “You’re still grounded.”

Damian nodded back.

After a few more moments of holding each other, Jason set Damian on the ground and the three of them went back into Tim’s room.

Upon seeing his mother, Damian had a similar reaction to when he saw Jason and rushed forward to burry himself in Tim’s side.

“Oof,” Tim grunted as Damian headbutted him. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m sorry!” Damian immediately said, burrowing further into his mother.

Tim placed a tender hand on his oldest son’s back, rubbing slow, soothing circles.

“It’s ok, Dami, it’s ok. What matters is you’re ok, we’re together,” Tim said.

Damian nodded and pulled back.

Tim sighed and put a hand on Damian’s cheek. “I’m happy to see you.”

“I’m happy to see you, too,” Damian mumbled.

That was when he noticed the baby bundled in his mother’s lap. Tim saw him staring and grinned.

“Damian,” he said. “This is your little brother, Sebastian.”

Damian beamed, reaching his hand out without thinking before pulling it back quickly and looking to his mother.

“Would you like to hold him?” Tim asked.

Damian nodded eagerly.

“C’mere. Come sit,” Tim instructed, moving up and over on the bed so Damian could settle in next to him. Damian climbed up. “Hold your arms like me,” Tim said, pulling Bash up to show Damian how his arms were cradling the bundled baby. Damian did. “Good. Now, just remember to hold his head, ok?”

Damian nodded.

Tim slowly placed the baby into his brother’s waiting arms. “Good job,” he said, once Bash was settled.

Damian stared.

He forgot everyone else in the room. Bash was tiny. He wiggled a little in Damian’s arms. He didn’t open his eyes. He smelled brand new, fresh, and so much like Tim. Damian wondered if this had been what it was like when Tim held Damian for the first time. He wondered if there was love and protectiveness or if that had come later. He wondered if Tim was afraid. He wondered if Tim was afraid now. But mostly, he wondered—no he wished, hoped, that Bash would never know what it meant to Damian that he finally had a family, that he was safe.