Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Are you really sure about this, Timbit?”

Tim resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He understood Dick’s hesitancy, really, he did. His whole family was worried on his behalf, and he got that, Poseidon knows he was plenty nervous himself. Even if he was certain this is what he wanted to do, it was going to be a huge change, and that was terrifying. They were all freaking out to varying degrees.

But also, this was the 5th time Dick had asked some variation of that question in the last hour.

“Yes, Dick, I’m still sure. Just like I was yesterday.” His voice wasn’t harsh, but he didn’t bother raising his eyes from where he was going through his things, trying to decide what he should take with him.

He wouldn’t need most of it, a lot of it wouldn’t work where he was going, and it would raise questions he didn’t want to answer. So far, he’d mostly just packed a few sentimental things, but if felt wrong to bring so little with him. It felt so momentous. Surely, he should be agonising over how to fit everything, that felt like how these things were supposed to go. But so far, his “packing” had just been him sifting through his possessions again and again without really adding much to the small pile on the bed.

Dick sat next to said pile, wringing his hands and trying to pretend he wasn’t fretting.

“I know. I know, but, well surely it wouldn’t hurt to wait a little more? I mean, it’s not like they’re going anywhere.”

Tim sighed, dropping his head and giving up his pretence of packing. He pushed off the ground and flicked his tail to bring him over to Dick, wordlessly sitting and leaning against his brother as they both stared at the opposite wall.

“I’ve already put it off three times, Dick. If I don’t go now I never will.” He cut off whatever Dick was about to say. “And I do want to go. Even if it’s hard, I- I don’t want to regret it if I don’t.”

He let that settle between them for another moment before commenting.

“To be honest, I thought you’d be the one to understand the best.”

Dick huffed quietly, settling his arm around Tim’s shoulders. Tim ignored the tighter than normal grip.

“Forming a migrating pod is not the same! I’m only gone for the cold season, and Alfred can always call me if I’m needed back sooner.”

“But you did it for your parents, right? To connect with them, with that part of who you are. It wouldn’t have felt right for you to just stay put like B does. To just leave that tradition behind.”

“Timmy…” Dick’s voice sounded pained.

“I’m not doing this for my parents, that’s not what I’m saying, don’t worry. But. Dick, I’m still a human. Even if I don’t act much like it these days, I always will be. And not just because of my parents, but because that’s part of who I am. And I don’t want to cut myself off from that.”

“I know… but land, Tim? That’s a lot further than any of my migrations ever went.”

“It won’t be forever. I promise, there is nothing that could keep me away from you guys forever. You’re my family, that isn’t changing no matter where I go.” Tim wrapped his arms around Dick’s waist, trying to force the certainty into him with the strength of his hugs.

“But… I just feel like if I don’t go now, it will be too late. I’m eighteen now, if I was still on land, I’d be moving out and going to college soon. Trying to find my place in the world. It feels right. I’m old enough that they won’t try to put me in a foster home, but young enough that I have time to figure my life out. And maybe I’ll decide that I want to come back here and never set foot on land again. Maybe I’ll want to visit both. But I want to be able to make that choice, I want it to be my decision what I do and where I go.”

He paused for a moment, before continuing in a quieter voice.

“Plus, my parents weren’t the only people on land. There’s some that I want to see again. I don’t want them to have to keep grieving me, it’s not fair to them. They deserve to know I’m ok.”

Dick sighed, pulling him closer into a proper hug.

“Oh, Timmy. Who gave you the right to grow up so fast.”

Another voice spoke up from the doorway, startling them both.

“Well, Dickiebird, someone had to if you weren’t gonna.”

Dick squawked and Jason swam in, plopping himself next to Tim and brusquely pulling him into his arms. Tim twisted a little, trying to get a look at his brother.

“Jay-”

“I still don’t like it.” Jason interrupted him. “But if you feel like this is what you gotta do then I’ll help you. You get to make your own choices and I’m not gonna take that from you. But-” His grip on Tim tightened. “You better come back, Timbit. I swear to god, you better find some way to check in all the damn time and you better come back to visit us because if you don’t, I WILL find some way to come and bring you back. I don’t care where you go, I will drag you back here and I’ll tie you up and sit on you so you can’t go running off again.”

“I second that.” Dick piped up.

Tim slumped a little in relief, hiding his smile in Jason’s chest.

“Alright, alright, I’ll work out some way to get the communication charms to work on land. I already mentioned it to Alfred, and he thinks it’s possible since my magic doesn’t need water to work. I promise I’ll call. And visit as much as I can without being suspicious.”

“You better.” Jason muttered darkly.

“And guys?” His brothers hummed in response. “Thanks. For letting me do this. For trusting me.”

“Don’t thank us yet, Timbo. You’ve still got to convince Bruce.”

---

“Bruce.”

“Hng.”

“Don’t be like that. You know why I need to do this, I know you were listening when I explained it to the others.”

“Hrmm.”

“I know. I promise I’ll be careful. But you have to let me try things for myself. I’m not a little kid anymore.”

“Hn.”

“I know, B”

“Hng”

“I love you too. Thanks, dad.”

---

Tim clutched at the bag strap haning over his shoulder as he stared at the small island ahead of him, nerves coiling in his gut.

This was fine. He was as prepared, he’d thought through every contingency he could, and so had everyone else. It would all be fine.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to settle himself, then turned to where his family waited behind him, offering them a shaky smile.

Dick was the first to move, crashing into Tim and wrapping him in one of his patented octopus hugs. After the incident at the coral reefs, Tim could actually confirm that an octopus was significantly easier to escape than one of his brother’s hugs.

“Be safe, Timmy! Make lots of friends and don’t forget to visit us! And call, often, even if you don’t have anything to say, we want to hear from you.”

Tim buried his head against Dick’s shoulder, relaxing into the hug and maybe holding on tighter than he would normally.

“I will, I promise, Dick. I’ll call once we arrive, and every day after that.”

“Good. You better, Timmy, or we’ll have to come looking for you.”

Dick gave him one last squeeze before reluctantly moving back. Jason was floating a few feet back, arms crossed and glaring, but his expression cracked when Tim held out his arms and he shot forward to grab him tightly. Tim squeezed back just as hard, taking comfort in the strength this brother had grown into.

“You be careful, alright Timbit? Keep your guard up and look after yourself. I don’t care if you’re also a human, they’re dangerous.

“I know, Jay. I’ll keep an eye out, I promise.”

“I don’t like you going alone.” Jason’s voice dropped to a whisper, and Tim had to blink away the tears that threatened to spill at his brother’s tone.

“I’ll be careful.” He whispered back. “And I’ll come back. They’re not going to keep me away.”

Jason shuddered and held on for another moment, before letting go and brusquely wiping the tears out of his eyes.

“You better, you brat. It’s too quiet around here without you constantly getting in trouble.”

Tim grinned softly at him.

“I’ll miss you too, Jay.”

Jason nodded and drifted back a bit, shrugging off the arm Dick tried to wrap around his shoulders and half-heartedly glaring at him.

Tim turned and was gently wrapped up in a hug from Alfred. The older mer held on for a moment before pulling back to rest his hands on Tim’s shoulders.

“Do endeavour to have a good time, Master Tim, I’m sure there will be many joys to experience, both new and old.” He lay a soft palm to Tim’s cheek, who leant into it. “And make sure you are eating enough. I might not be there to serve you meals but I’m certain you will be able to find plenty of human cuisine to enjoy.”

“Of course, Alfred. I’ll tell you all about the different dishes I find.” He smiled softly at his grandfather, who patted his cheek once more before drawing back.

“Good. See that you do.”

Finally, Tim turned to look at his dad.

Bruce looked his normal stoic self, but Tim knew him well enough to see the worry lining his posture. Bruce wrapped him up in a gentle, all-encompassing hug. Tim closed his eyes, soaking up the affection he was being offered.

“Be safe,” Bruce said softly, only audible from Tim’s position right next to him.

“I will,” Tim replied, squeezing tightly for a second before pulling back.

He smiled widely at his family in front of him, ignoring the tears starting to well up in his eyes.

“I love you guys. I’ll be back before you know it, and I’ll make sure I call you all the time. Wish me luck!” He raised one hand in a wave as he turned and swum towards the island, a chorus of well-wishes following him up to the surface.

Tim changed back to his human form and climbed out of the water, moving up the pebbly beach a little to find a comfortable seat. This island was really just an outcropping of rock in the middle of the sea. A few scraggly bushes and some tough grasses had managed to grow on the higher areas, and the rock was slick with algae where it led down to the water. It was a fair distance from their home, and nothing about it was interesting enough for him to have visited it before, but it was ideal for his purposes.

He settled down on a rounded boulder, checking how his clothes had held up out of the water.

When he’d first arrived, the clothes he’d been wearing had perplexed the mers, not understanding why someone would want to wear such an absorbent and heavy material that rotted so easily in the water. Tim had tried in vain to explain it but eventually had given up and accepted new clothes from Alfred. It wasn’t like he’d wanted to keep wearing the old ones anyway.

So, for years now he’d been wearing clothes woven and stitched together from different kinds of seaweed and plant life. Different types, as well as certain dyes and a bit of magic led to an enormous variety of styles withing mer fashion. Tim had felt more than a little foolish at being surprised about that. Of course, mers would have developed fashion, they were intelligent enough and their culture complex enough that stood to reason. It had just taken Tim a little while to get used to seaweed clothes enough to start noticing all the intricacies and subtle differences, the way some mers wore complex jewellery and some adorned their clothes with pears and countless other little details.

Dick was the only one of his family that really went in for that stuff, and Tim had eventually learnt that his brother’s taste might have been flashy, but it wasn’t necessarily considered… elegant according to mer fashion. It had been a very interesting experience when he started meeting mers from outside their region and saw all the variety that was possible.

But that had left him with a dilemma now in what he was supposed to wear in front of the humans. They had no way of making normal human clothes, so Tim and Alfred had eventually settled on just making a very simple set, something to cover Tim, but nothing decorative or elaborately made enough to arouse suspicion. Just the shorts, since missing a shirt wouldn’t be too weird in the circumstances and the less items of mer clothing he had, the less suspicion he’d arouse.

The shorts felt weird, but they always did when he first left the water. They’d discovered early on that anything Tim wore on his legs would disappear when he transformed and reappear when he changed back, which was a huge relief. He did not want to worry about ripping his clothes or being naked when he changed back.

Alfred had enjoyed the challenge at first in making clothing to fit a pair of legs, but after so many years practice the pair of shorts had been trivially easy. Honestly, Tim could have made them himself if he’d needed to but hadn’t wanted to miss the chance to work together with his grandfather.

As it was, he settled himself in the sun to bask and hopefully dry off a little. He was still nervous, mind still whirling with everything that could go wrong, but he was as prepared as he could be, and there was nothing he needed to do right now.

He relaxed and settled his gaze on the sea stretching out ahead of him.

Now he just had to wait.

Chapter Text

Babs let her eyes drift over the horizon, revelling in the calm of the moment.

The wind whipped at the hair that escaped her hat, and bits of spray occasionally made it past the railing, but she had a good jacket, and the boat provided her some shelter, so it was no hardship.

For right now, there was nothing she needed to do, she could just relax and breath in the refreshing sea air until they arrived at their study site for the day.

Her dad had been taking these weekly trips with her for years now, long before she got the funding to do her studies officially. Technically with the new funding the university would help her with finding a boat as part of her equipment if she asked, but she didn’t want to give up this little ritual.

She and her dad had both grown to savour this time, a little escape from the hustle and bustle of their busy lives. Even if Babs was technically working, sitting around waiting for the microphones to finish recording gave them plenty of time to talk, catch each other up on any interesting news. Just hang out, really.

She was so grateful she got to have this kind of relationship with her dad, where they could relax with each other and talk like real friends. She knew from talking to her lab assistants that was far from a universal experience, so she tried her best to savour it.

Plus, there was no shortage of other equipment she could use that grant money for. Waste not want not and all that.

She settled her chin on her hand gazing out at the passing scenery.

It was an about an hour and a half out from Gotham to her preferred study site, depending on the weather. Her and her dad had chatted at the start but as was so often the case had lapsed into contented silence for the trip. The wind didn’t make for ideal conversation anyway.

By now they were reaching the little islands dotted about that indicated they were less than half an hour out. Pretty soon Babs would narrow down this week’s site and get her gear in order so she could set up quickly, but she took a few more minutes to watch the islands, since they were one of the few breaks from empty ocean.

Sometimes, you could spot flocks of birds settled on one of them, or occasionally a seal if you were really lucky, or sometimes a figure waving at you-

Wait what?

Babs’ head shot up, and she shielded her eyes as she squinted over to the island in question.

She thought her eyes must be playing tricks on her, but no. There, standing at the edge of one of the practically barren rocky outcroppings was a humanoid figure, waving one arm above their head.

What the fuck?

“Dad!” she called, rushing over to the wheel where he stood. “Dad, look. There’s someone there. On one of the islands.”

“Huh?” he gave her a confused look, slowing them down a little and looking over to where she was pointing. His brow furrowed as he caught sight of them. “What in the world…”

He cut the speed so that the boat was only drifting with its own momentum and stepped to the railing to try and get a better look.

“How on earth did they get out here?”

Babs shrugged, biting her lip a little, a bad habit when she was thinking too hard.

“We should go check on them, right?” she asked. The figure had stopped waving when the noise of their engine cut off, presumably assured they’d been spotted, and was still standing there watching them back.

Her dad hummed in contemplation but was already starting the engine back up and carefully wheeling the boat around to get closer to the figure.

“We should, they probably need help if they’re stuck all the way out here.”

Babs squinted at the figure as the boat got closer and they started picking their way down to the shoreline.

They were pale, with a fairly lanky build and dark black hair reaching almost to their chin. The only clothes they were wearing were a pair of… she squinted, looking closer. A pair of green shorts? Odd, but so was the fact that they were out here in the first place. From the bare chest she could make an educated guess that they were a guy.

He looked young, now that she was close enough to pick out facial features. Young and… familiar somehow? He almost looked like-

Babs bit her lip. She thought she’d gotten over this. Stopped seeing his face on every black-haired little boy that crossed her path. She knew the pain would never leave her completely, she never wanted it to. She’d carry that poor kid in her heart forever. But she thought she’d stopped seeing him everywhere she went. This guy wasn’t even a kid, he was a teenager, maybe a young adult. Why did he make her think of Tim?

Her dad turned the boat in to stop next to the island the boy was standing on, a small bag hanging across his chest. As they slowed to a stop he took a few steps into the shallows, so he could look up at them from only a few metres away from their boat.

His face… he really looked just like…

The boy smiled shyly, giving them a little wave. His other hand gripped tight to the strap of his bag.

“Hi Babs. Mr Gordon. Um. Sorry I missed our library meetup.”

Babs gaped. Her dad had frozen beside her.

What?

No. No there was no way.

Could he really be…

“Tim?” her voice came out as a broken whisper. Desperate and hopeful and terrified.

His smile turned sad, still looking up at them, his expression gentle and soft and full of sorrow.

“Hi.”

She thought she might have heard her dad gasp beside her, but she was too busy grabbing onto the railing and leaping over the side of the boat. She landed with a splash in the shallow water and waded over to Tim, throwing her arms around his shoulders and clinging with all her strength.

His arms wrapped around her too and it was only then that she realised she was sobbing.

“Tim. Tim, oh my god, you’re alive. You’re alive, you’re really here, how- Where have you been? What happened to you, are you ok? We thought- we thought you were-” She broke off, burying her sobs in Tim’s neck. He was almost as tall as she was. He’d grown up, he’d been able to grow up. She sobbed again.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, his voice thick with emotion and cracking just the same as hers. “I’m so sorry. I’m alright, I promise, I’m completely fine. I didn’t mean to- I didn’t think- I’m sorry. ”

Babs shook her head, squeezing him tighter.

“Not your fault. None of it. You have nothing to be sorry for.”

Tim hummed noncommittally. He tilted his head towards the boat and gently nudged her shoulder.

“Come on, we should get on the boat. You should dry yourself off before you freeze.”

Babs abruptly remembered the freezing water she’d jumped into, felt the goosebumps starting to pebble her arms. Remembered how Tim was distinctly not dressed for warmth.

She pulled back from the hug, quickly brushing the tears off her cheeks and reaching out to grab one of Tim’s hands and pull him towards the boat.

“God, you must be freezing dressed like that, why didn’t you say sooner? Come on, we’ve got some extra towels and few spare sets of clothes for emergencies I’m pretty sure. We’ll get you warmed up in no time.”

Tim smiled softly at her as she tugged him along like a kid who got caught playing in the snow without a proper jacket. She noticed that the arm she was holding onto wasn’t covered in goosebumps, despite being in the frigid water longer than she’d been. Weird.

She shook her head and focussed on chivvying him up onto the boat where her dad had already gotten towels, clothes and a shock blanket that they kept in the first aid kit ready for them.

His eyes were glassy, and he was looking at Tim like the boy was a miracle. He hesitated a moment, then carefully wrapped the towel in his hands around Tim’s shoulders, squeezing one tightly as he met Tim’s eyes.

“I’m glad you’re alright, son. You had us-” his voice cracked, and he cleared his throat, before continuing, the words thick with emotion. “You had us real worried there.”

Tim sniffed and gave a wobbly smile back, his eyes glistening.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you worry.” He wrapped the blanket tighter around his shoulders and shuffled his feet, looking so much like a little kid again that Babs had to sit down before her legs gave out. “…it’s really good to see you again.”

Her dad took a deep breath, blinking rapidly, and his voice when he spoke was hoarse, rough with emotion.

“You too, kiddo. Like you wouldn’t believe.”

They all stared at each other for another long moment before her dad cleared his throat and started ushering him into the dry clothes, bundling him up in perhaps more layers than necessary. But then again, Babs would have done the same. Even all grown up, and god, wasn’t that a trip- she couldn’t stop seeing the tiny little boy he used to be, the one with so many questions and not enough love.

Babs had to blink away tears again as Tim settled himself across from her, her dad moving to sit at her side.

They both stared at Tim, unable to take their eyes of him in case he vanished into thin air.

She only realised when Tim started fidgeting with his sleeves that they were probably starting to freak him out.

She cleared her throat and Tim’s head shot up.

“Tim…” she had to swallow around the lump that formed in her throat as she looked at him. “Tim, can you tell us what happened? Where- where have you been?”

Tim nodded, squaring his shoulders as though trying to appear confident. The way he still twisted his fingers together gave his nerves away though. It had always been an easy tell with him. She blinked tears away again. God, the fact she got to see that again-

“Right. Um. How- How much do you already know about?”

Her dad nodded, pulling himself to sit up straight as he went over the what the investigation had found. When the call had come through, the searches they’d done, finding the owner of the van. Babs caught the hesitance hidden in his voice as he carefully skirted around the issue of Tim’s parents, which. Yeah, that was a minefield if ever she saw one. How were they supposed to just drop that on him? Who knew what he was even feeling towards them as it stood, Babs sure wouldn’t have been kindly disposed to them in Tim’s situation, but they had no idea how much he even knew or could have worked out. No idea what conclusions he might have come to.

She exchanged a glance with her dad. Yeah, probably best to ease into that one. Get a sense of where Tim was at before dropping any emotional grenades on him. That was not going to be fun.

“-and we sent out search parties, Gotham and Bludhaven both had the boat on record to watch out for, but we never found a sign of it. We couldn’t find any record of the other two men making it to any kind of port either. We looked, I swear to you son, we looked everywhere for you. But we couldn’t find a trace. Everything suggested the ship was wrecked in the storm.”

Her dad’s voice was almost pleading by the end, and Tim had twisted his fingers tightly in his sleeves. Babs own hands were clenched at the reminder of what that time had been like.

Tim slowly nodded and let out a breath, offering a weak smile to her dad.

“Right. It’s- its ok, you did everything you could. I never doubted that, and I never blamed you for not finding me. I mean, by rights I should be dead.”

They both flinched at that, and Tim’s smile wavered.

“Sorry. Um. Well anyway, you were right about all of that. The shipwreck, I mean. The kidnappers stayed out on the water for too long trying to get in touch with my parents and we got caught in the storm.”

Babs clenched her fists in her lap, and saw her dad’s jaw tighten, at the confirmation of just how much blame rested on the Drake’s shoulders. It was nothing they didn’t already know, of course, but to have it confirmed so matter-of-factly-

“I didn’t see exactly what happened to them. I hit my head on the deck when the waves started getting really big. When I woke up the boat was in pieces. I- I doubt they survived.”

Babs swallowed and spoke softly, “How did you?”

Tim swallowed, his eyes darting between them for a moment before he pulled himself up, sitting straight aa if trying to appear confident.

“The bit of deck I was tied to kept me afloat. Eventually I washed up on an island. There were people living there, and they looked after me.”

Babs blinked, exchanging a surprised look with her dad. She’d never looked too closely but she hadn’t heard of anyone living on any of the islands in this part of the sea. As far as she knew there weren’t even any that would be large enough to support more than seabirds.

Tim didn’t give them a chance to ask questions though, as he continued with his story.

“They don’t speak English, so I, uh- I couldn’t tell them where I was from for a while. And then, when I could I… didn’t want to.” Tim’s voice had dropped to a mumble by the end of the sentence, and he hunched down, like he was trying to hide in the blanket as he continued.

“They just… they were really nice. They helped me and took care of me even when they didn’t know anything about me and I just… I didn’t want to go back to my parents. And I don’t regret it!” His head shot up to stare at them defiantly.

“I don’t regret staying with them, they’re my family and I would do it again if I had the choice. My parents were- they weren’t good to me, and I deserved something better. But…” he sighed, looking much older than she’d ever seen him for a moment.

“But I do regret letting you guys think I was dead.” Both the Gordon’s breaths hitched at that. “I couldn’t go back to my parents, I wanted to stay out here, but you guys didn’t deserve that. I- I was just a kid. And I guess- I got so caught up in what my parents did to me that I forgot there were other people in my corner. Other people who would miss me if I just disappeared. I shouldn’t have left you hurting like that for so long. It was selfish and cruel and I’m sorry.”

Babs could feel her heart breaking at the sincere, solemn way he delivered the apology, like he’d long since accepted what he felt he’d done. She decided screw it to the idea of giving space to the young man with unknown potential trauma and moved to sit next to him, resting her hands on his shoulders and turning him to face her.

He looked mildly bewildered by the action, but he didn’t resist, and it wiped the terrible sad expression off his face, so she counted it as a win.

“You don’t have to apologise. No, hey- look at me.” She squeezed his shoulder as he tried to turn away until he reluctantly met her eyes again. “You. Don’t. Have to. Apologise. You were a kid. God, Tim, you weren’t even ten when you disappeared. No one would expect you to be thinking of everything after going through that kind of trauma. Would we have like to know you were ok? Of course, god Tim, I can’t even-”

She stopped, clearing her throat and looking away for a moment to blink the tears out of her eyes, before catching Tim’s wide eyes in her gaze once again.

“But you’re here now. You did come back and tell us, you didn’t let us miss you forever. And Tim? I am so proud of you for choosing happiness for yourself. You’re right the- the Drakes weren’t good to you. And maybe if we’d, maybe if we’d seen that sooner, maybe things might have turned out different, maybe you never would have been taken.” She took a deep breath, forcibly turning her mind away from the spiral both she and her dad had fallen down countless times since Tim was taken.

“But we can’t change that now. So, if these people who rescued you, if they treated you better, if they kept you safe, made you happy-” She tilted her head inquiringly at Tim, who nodded and spoke in a very small voice, not breaking her gaze.

“They do. They’re my family and they love me.”

Babs nodded decisively.

“Then I’m proud of you for choosing to stay with them. Even if we missed you, missed you so much- you made the right choice. You have nothing to be sorry for. And Tim?” He tilted his head, his eyes shimmering with tears, matching the ones she was ignoring as they built up in her own eyes. “I’m so glad you’re ok, kiddo.”

Tim lost the battle with his tears, and Babs couldn’t hold back any longer. She pulled Tim into a tight hug and let him cry into her shoulder as they clung to each other.

There was movement behind her, and her dad settled down next to them, wrapping an arm around Babs and reaching out to run his fingers through Tim’s hair. When he spoke, his voice was just a quiet murmur, thick with the tears Babs could see glistening in his own eyes.

“She’s right, kiddo. You did nothing wrong, we’re just happy you found somewhere safe.”

Tim shuddered as another sob ripped through him, clutching tighter to Babs, like this was something he’d been carrying for a long time, and now that he’d started, the rest was too much to contain.

Babs just held him tight, her dad stroking his back soothingly, as the little boy she’d spent every day missing for the last nine years finally came back to her.

Chapter Text

Eventually, once Tim’s tears- and let’s be honest, Babs’ own as well- had died down, they finally started heading back towards Gotham.

Sure, Babs hadn’t actually done any of the work they had set out to do but given the circumstances she quite literally could not care less. As they moved along the waves, she had to keep sneaking glances at where Tim was sitting, reassuring herself that he was really there, that this wasn’t all some crazy dream. She saw her dad doing the same a couple of times.

The silence was comfortable, somehow, but both the Gordon’s were still burning with questions, although reluctant to break the peace they had settled into.

Eventually, her dad cleared his throat.

“So, Tim,” he started, speaking casually, “you mentioned you washed up on an island and that was where you met your new family, right? Could you tell me more about them? I didn’t know there was anyone living on any of these islands.”

There, a nice easy topic to start of with. Something Tim had already explained to them, so it should be a much simpler conversation than the one about his parents she was already dreading.

Surprisingly though, Tim tensed up immediately at the mention of his family, eyes shifting back and forth between them suspiciously.

“Yeah, they’re very private people. They don’t like outsiders knowing about them. We made sure to drop me off somewhere on your route, but not near where we actually live.” His eyes narrowed. “I’m not going to tell you anything about them without their permission.”

Babs exchanged a glance with her dad, brow furrowed slightly at the defensiveness Tim was showing that had been absent from all of his other answers so far. What was it about his family that put him so on edge? Where they really just that private?

The look in Tim’s eye told them that he really wouldn’t be offering any more information, not right now at least, and the last thing they wanted was to push too hard and lose the trust that had somehow survived all this time.

“That’s fine, son,” her dad reassured Tim. “They sound like good people, we just wanted to learn more about them. But we won’t pry if you aren’t comfortable sharing.”

“I’m not.” Tim was still eyeing them a little suspiciously, but most of the tension was gone from his shoulders. “And they are good people. They just don’t like strangers, so I’m not talking about them to anyone they don’t know.”

After that conversational landmine, Babs frantically cast around for a new topic. Tim, however, managed to beat her to it.

“Um… Mr Gordon? Am I gonna have to get, like, un-presumed-dead when we get back? Or, I don’t know. How does all that work?”

Her dad blinked a few times before focusing on the question and nodding sharply.

“Right. Yes, there is a process you’ll have to go through. Basically-”

Barbara settled back to listen as her dad went through the steps, they’d need to take to get Tim legally declared alive again. It was a lot of information for Tim to take in at once, but a lot of the bumps would be smoothed out by the fact that the police commissioner was the one helping him out.

As her dad finished the explanation he hesitated before levelling a serious look at Tim.

“Listen, Tim. There is… one more thing you should probably know before we get back to Gotham.”

Barbara’s heart sank as she realised what he meant. God, she wished they didn’t have to be the ones to do this. But it was better he found out like this than have it sprung on him by strangers when they arrived.

Tim just cocked his head to the side, looking curious and a little concerned.

“What is it?”

“It’s your parents.” Babs could see the way Tim froze at that, but her dad continued, knowing it was better to get it out at once rather than keep him in suspense. “I’m afraid they passed away several years ago. There was a cave in on one of their dig sites and they did not survive. I’m so sorry.”

Tim seemed frozen for a moment, and Babs braced herself for his reaction, but eventually he just blinked a few times and looked down at his hands.

“Oh. Um. Thank you for telling me.”

Babs exchanged a worried look with her dad. Was this some kind of delayed reaction? Did he need time to process it before the emotions would hit him. Babs opened her mouth to offer her own sympathies, but Tim beat her too it.

“Do you think we could talk about something else?” he asked quietly, and her dad rushed to reassure him.

“Of course, buddy. What would you like to talk about?”

Tim bit his lip before shyly looking over at Babs.

“Um, you guys seem to sail out here pretty regularly, could you tell me about what you’re doing out here?”

Babs blinked at the admission that Tim had been observing their boat for a few weeks at least but jumped at the less emotionally fraught topic of conversation.

She launched into an explanation of her research on the mers in the area, how long she’d been doing it, the changes now that she had proper funding, what she hoped to achieve and the samples she’d already gotten.

By the time they reached Gotham Bay Tim was smiling again, happily asking her all sorts of questions about the mers. He seemed so interested in her work, and she couldn’t help but wonder if he’d ever been able to see a wild mer, out where he had been living.

---

Tim flopped onto the bed he’d been offered, exhausted.

After they’d arrived back in Gotham Tim had immediately been swept into a flurry of activity. Going to the police station, proving who he was, giving his statement and signing just, so much paperwork.

He was so grateful that Mr Gordon had been there to help because he honestly lost track of what was going on after the sixth person who tried to talk to him.

But! He’d done it. Tim Drake was once again legally alive. And he’d managed to get away without having to tell people any more about the mers than what he’d told the Gordons. He could tell the officers hadn’t liked that, but he’d told them every detail about the kidnapping and there wasn’t any investigation into what happened after that they could use to demand answers. He was an adult now, so his family was no longer any of the state’s business.

He was once again very glad he’d waited until he was eighteen to do this and had the police commissioner on his side. He was pretty sure Mr Gordon and Babs had also been working to make sure the press didn’t catch wind of his return.

He needed to start meeting with lawyers tomorrow to sort out his inheritance which, wow was he grateful that he apparently could still have that, that would make things so much simpler. But for right now it was late, and he was tired and ready to just pass out in the Gordon’s guest bedroom.

He couldn’t sleep just yet though, so he dragged himself out of bed and into the bathroom, fiddling with his charm bracelet as he turned the shower on to hide the noise. The spell activated with a small chime and he heard faint sounds of movement coming through it as the little bead started to glow softly.

“Guys?”

“Timmy!” Dick’s voice came through loud and clear, drowning out the slightly less bombastic greetings from the others. “Are you ok? Were they nice to you? Do you need us to do anything?”

Tim chuckled slightly. “I’m fine, Dick, I promise. Everything went according to plan, I’m just calling you let you guys to let you know I’m ok. I’m at the Gordons’ house right now, they’re letting me stay here while I get settled.”

“And no one gave you any shit?” Jason cut in, speaking over whatever Dick was going to say next.

“Language, Jason.” Said Bruce, “But Tim, everyone believed your story? You didn’t have any trouble?”

Tim rolled his eyes, smiling fondly at his family’s mother-henning.

“Yes, everything went fine. The story worked great, you don’t have to worry.”

To be honest he knew that at the Gordon’s suspected he was hiding something, but he was fairly certain they wouldn’t push. Plus, whatever they thought, he was pretty sure they wouldn’t jump straight to guessing that he had been adopted by mers and could also transform into one himself, so it didn’t really matter what suspicions they might have.

Tim spent a few more minutes reassuring his family that yes, he was fine and no, no one suspected him or had tried to tie him down and steal his scales, honestly Jason, they all think he’s a human, why would they even do that? Eventually, they’d been talking for long enough that the Gordon’s might start getting suspicious, or just concerned for their water bill, and Tim said goodnight to his family.

“I promise guys, everything will be fine, and I’ll call again soon so that I can tell you all about it. Ok? I love you guys, talk to you soon.”

“Bye Timmy!”

“See ya Timbit.”

“We love you too son, talk soon.”

“Goodnight, Master Timothy.”

Tim relaxed the thread of magic circling through the charm, and it disconnected with another soft chime, the light dimming once again. With a sigh he shut off the water and stood, stretching his arms above his head to try and loosen some of the knots that had formed in his back.

God, it had been a long day. Still, even if he only saw them this morning, it was nice to hear his family’s voices again, and to confirm that the charm worked as they expected it to. He was so grateful for Alfred’s skill as a mage to manage to adapt the charm to work with his human magic, it had been a godsend since he first managed it.

Yawning, and only staggering slightly, Tim made his way back into the bedroom he’d been given. He blearily clambered into bed, collapsing onto the pillow with a contented sigh. Overall, this whole plan was going better than he could have hoped. He’d actually managed it, he was on land, living as a human. And tomorrow he could start planning how he wanted to spend his newly recovered life. With his family supporting him at every step even if they couldn’t be there with him.

Yeah, Tim thought as he drifted off, today had gone pretty well.

Chapter Text

Tim fidgeted, nervously adjusting his shirt as he waited in front of the door.

He’d been oscillating between nerves and excitement the whole morning, but now that he was actually standing here, the nerves were very solidly winning out. He could feel his palms starting to sweat, and he grimaced, wiping them on his pants in anticipation of a handshake.

Finally, after what felt like an hour but realistically wasn’t more than a minute or two after he knocked, the door opened, revealing a dark-haired woman looking out at him curiously.

“Hello,” said Zatanna Zatara. “You must be Timothy Drake.”

Tim put on his politest smile, trying to hide the combination of anxiety and hero-worship he was feeling. He was actually meeting Zatanna! In real life!

“Yes, that’s me. Thank you so much for agreeing to meet with me.”

“It’s my pleasure.” She said, shaking his, thankfully non-sweaty, hand. “Here, come inside, please.”

She stepped aside to let him into the apartment, closing the door behind him as Tim looked around the space. For all that it was in a residential building, this was clearly more like Zatanna’s office than her home. There were various magical looking artifacts on shelves, and what Tim was going to guess where runes painted on the walls, but nothing about the place felt personal.

Smart. Tim could only imagine the kind of people who came here and the kind of business they might bring was probably not something she would want to bring home with her.

“I must admit, I’ve been very curious since you called to make the appointment.” Zatanna said as she led him into the living room where a tea set was placed on a low table between two couches. “I saw the news about your miraculous return, but nothing I could find had very many details, and especially nothing that would bring you to my door. They all just said you asked for privacy.”

Tim chuckled politely. Those interviews had been fun, especially seeing the colours the reporters turned the longer they went without a single useful answer. Much less nerve-wracking than talking to the cops had been, and they’d mostly moved on in the weeks since, once he made clear he had nothing scandalous to say and was only going to be giving very boring and unhelpful answers.

“Yes, I will admit there are a lot of details of my time away that I haven’t been inclined to share. Not with the press, or with the police, or anyone else for that matter.”

“Oh?” Zatanna looked intrigued as she poured the tea, offering a pot of sugar to Tim that he declined. “A what is it that you wish to speak to me about that you have kept so secret from everyone else?”

Tim took a deep breath, steeling his nerves. This had been one of the selling points to his family for him visiting the surface, a real expert opinion on his strange magic. He knew the uncertainty weighed on them, especially with the trauma surrounding its appearance, the way he relied on it constantly to keep him alive down there. He could admit it scared him too, the fact he knew nothing about what could potentially cause it to fail, if that was even possible, if there were other risks that they didn’t even know to be scared of. He’d already put it off for long enough and had forced himself to make the appointment as soon as he’d gotten set up in his new place so that the Gordon’s wouldn’t find out about it.

But at the same time, he’d been so careful to keep it hidden since coming back. He was scared of what would happen if people found out about it, had lived with mers too long to trust human authority like he had when he was younger, not when it constantly allowed his family to be hunted. Not to mention, he wasn’t so naïve to think that there wouldn’t be people who would want to take advantage of his unique powers, and he didn’t know if he’d be able to stop them on his own.

But Zatanna was a hero. And an expert on magic. He’d looked into her again since coming back and had found news reports of her defending newly awoken magic users, protecting them and helping them control their powers when other people wanted to brand them as dangers to society. If anyone could help him, it would be her.

“I… During my time away, I went through an event that led to me developing magical abilities. I’m hoping you can help me understand them better.”

Zatanna paused, and her expression turned serious, the half joking intrigue from earlier gone. Whatever she’d been expecting from him, it wasn’t that. Which was fair, even if he wasn’t the first she’d dealt with, this type of manifestation was still very rare, and she had to know that the circumstances leading to it would be far from happy. She set down her cup, and leaned forwards with her hands clasped, focusing all of her attention on him.

“I think you’d better start from the beginning.”

So, Tim did just that. He explained the shipwreck, Jason finding him, living with the mers and overhearing the Gordon’s conversation. His voice broke a little as he recounted his breakdown in the quarry, the way he’d slowly run out of oxygen, the panic he’d felt.

Zatanna offered him a box of tissues that he took gratefully, avoiding her sympathetic eyes and clearing his throat before continuing. It was oddly freeing to tell the whole story. His family had been there for most of it, and he had told the Gordon’s a heavily redacted version, the press even more so. He’d never had the chance to just lay everything out in one go, and Zatanna was a good listener, kind and attentive, staying focussed on what he was saying, but keeping her expression open and encouraging.

“…and the mages in the ocean couldn’t really help with it, it’s so different from the kind of magic they use, they’d never seen anything like it.” Tim said, his hands outstretched, one webbed and clawed, the other perfectly human. “So, I’ve just been figuring things out myself for years now. I know your magic is different again from what I have, but is there a way to check if it’s… I don’t know, stable?”

Zatanna hummed consideringly, gazing at his hands, before looking up and offering him a gently smile.

“I can help you with that, yes. I doubt you’ll have anything to worry about though, if you’ve been using it this long with no issues. But I understand the anxiety that comes with not understanding your power, especially when it’s gained so traumatically.” Her smile turned sad, and she tilted her head a little. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. Gaining power in this way is always terrifying and I’m glad you had such good people to support you.”

Tim blushed a little at the sincerity, rubbing at the back of his neck.

“Thank you. And you’re right, they- I’m really lucky to have them.” The moment stretched for a second as Tim continued to blush before he cleared his throat. “So, uh. How does this work, exactly?”

Zatanna smiled indulgently, allowing the subject change with grace.

“Well, I’ll do a few diagnostic spells, and we’ll work from there, probably with a combination of you experimenting with your power in certain ways and me doing more scans. That way we’ll be able to get a more comprehensive picture of how exactly this works, as well as if there are any weak spots or idiosyncrasies to watch out for that could pose a danger to you. Sound good?”

Tim smiled, some of the anxiety coiling in his chest loosening at the straightforward confidence.

“Sounds great.”

So, they spent the next few hours experimenting. Zatanna’s magic was as fascinating to see as ever, more so in fact, to see how it was really used practically, and not just for flashy performances. He did get distracted with questions a few times that led to them going down tangents on broader magical theory.

Tim learned that he wasn’t the first person that Zatanna had helped, or tried to help, like this, but he was apparently by far the most polite. Understandably, since Zatanna had previously found them as or right after their powers developed, they were generally a lot more overwrought than Tim currently was.

From the look in Zatanna’s eye as she spoke about some of them, he could guess that there was more to the story, as well as other stories she was skipping over entirely. Ones that weren’t so happy.

Still, Tim had been right that this kind of event was incredibly rare, enough that Zatanna had only heard of enough to count on her fingers and actually encountered even less. Add to that the way each one would manifest a completely unique skill set, and Zatanna was absolutely thrilled at every discovery they made about Tim’s magic. As well as everything he could tell her about the mer magic he had experienced. She nearly squealed when he showed her the communication charm.

“-I’ve just never heard of it being applied like this! And, I mean, how could we? This type of spell wouldn’t make sense unless you had a large enough group of magic users to make it worthwhile and that has just never been a thing here. We can never just assume that someone would have magical abilities, even extremely rudimentary ones. They’re working on an entirely different system than we are and-”

Much of what they found about Tim’s own magic was confirming what he already knew. Changing individual parts or his whole body, that his clothes would reappear when he changed back, that each transformation was accompanied by his eyes briefly flashing golden. And Tim was still mad at his brothers for how long it had taken them to actually let him know about that little tidbit. It wasn’t like he’d had a mirror!

But thanks to Zatanna’s spells they’d also discovered more of the how. He could admit that most of what she’d said had gone over his head, but apparently the mechanism behind his magic was very different to what would be used for more standard transformation spells. She’d promised to explain it to him in more detail another time.

The most important things, and the biggest weight off Tim’s shoulders, was confirming that neither form was consuming more energy than the other to maintain. Each transformation, be it partial or total, took energy, as evidenced by his flashing eyes, but it didn’t take anything to maintain that form once he took it.

Which meant that Tim didn’t have to be scared of passing out as a mer and turning back into a human underwater because he ran out of energy. He could admit he’d had nightmares about that, and knew it was one of the big fears that drove his family to make sure he always carried the breathing charm with him.

According to Zatanna, there was a degree of instinct to it as well, meaning that alongside his deliberate transformations, his lungs at least would change automatically if he found himself underwater, kicking in without his having to think about it when he would be in danger in his other form.

It made sense, that was essentially what had happened the very first time after all, but Tim had somehow never noticed, assuming he was always transforming deliberately since, well obviously he would have chosen to switch to gills when Jason decided to knock him into the water.

Overall, Zatanna could find nothing concerning or dangerous in his magic, to himself or anyone else. Ultimately, his magic had kicked in to save his life and had picked one simple mechanism to do that. He would have died as a human, so it let him change to something he knew could survive in that situation. Everything else was just a variation on that theme.

It was simple, but Zatanna assured him that in this case, simple was what you wanted. It was better to have one trick and do it well, do it properly, get really good at it, than it was to have a dozen half-baked powers, none of which could be properly controlled. He had a feeling she had seen the fallout from the alternative.

“Here, for whenever you have any more questions to ask me.” Zatanna said as she typed her number into his phone, sending herself a text to get his in return. “Would you mind if I reached out if I needed an expert in mer magic? I’ve never thought to investigate it before and now I think I’m going to end up on a research binge before too long.”

Tim smiled genuinely. He’d grown more comfortable with her over the hours they’d spent testing his magic. He could see her now not just as a hero to be admired, but as someone genuinely passionate about her work. Someone that he hoped he could come to see as a friend.

“Sure, I’d love to. I mean, I’d hardly consider myself an expert, but I certainly know a few, and I’d be more than happy to play tour guide and introduce you.” He took his phone back and held out his hand, which Zatanna took, shaking it with a warm smile on her face.

“I just might take you up on that. I wish you the best of luck, Tim, it’s been so lovely to meet you. And seriously, feel free to swing by if you have any more questions, about your own magic or anything else. I’d be more than happy to chat over a nice cup of tea.”

“Thank you. And-” Tim clasped Zatanna’s hand between both of his. “Seriously, thank you so much for this Zatanna. It- I can’t describe how much it means to have answers about all of this.”

Zatanna clasped his hands in return, her face understanding and her eyes kind.

“Stay safe out there, Tim.”

“You too, Zatanna.”

Chapter Text

Tim tapped his pen against his notebook, trying not to frown too obviously at the professor who he stood droning on in front of the class.

His new life had been going very well, all things considered. Surprisingly well.

The Gordon’s had been incredibly helpful, and he was so grateful each day for everything they had done for him. Since getting his inheritance reinstated, he’d been less reliant on them monetarily, which helped him feel less like a burden, but they’d still offered him indispensable advice, connections and just companionship.

Tim hadn’t considered how lonely it might be to return to land on his own, but now he couldn’t imagine doing it without the Gordon’s there with him.

His family had gradually relaxed the longer he went on land without any kind of incident, and the information he had shared from Zatanna had been a load off everyone’s shoulders. Even if Dick had joked that he should come home now that he’d found the magic expert and got some advice.

Ok, maybe it had only partly been a joke.

But still, his conversations with his family had settled back into the more relaxed ones he had had before he left. He always loved to hear about everything happening back home, even if it sent a sting of bittersweet longing through him, and the others had slowly overcome their trepidation and settled into being fascinated when he told them about human life.

They had been especially confused by the rigidity he described in the human education system. Jason had been horrified to realise that the process Tim was going through was actually significantly less structured than average. He couldn’t fathom the idea of being stuck in a room all day with no choice in what to learn. He said that it sucked all the fun out of learning, stripped away the thrill of discovery.

Tim couldn’t help agreeing with him. He’d had much more fun studying in the ocean than he ever did in school. And he’d never even had to experience the horrors of high school.

In the months since he’d gotten set up in his own place and visited Zatanna, he’d been working to get his GED and start a college degree. He’d continued to have dinner with the Gordon’s once a week at least, and so at Babs’ recommendation had applied to Gotham University, the college she was researching at. He hadn’t told Babs yet, wanting to surprise her, but he was planning to major in marine biology, wanting to focus on studying mer.

He'd been thinking about it a lot recently. He’d never really had an idea before what he wanted to study. He was too young the last time he was on land, and then with the mers it wasn’t a concern. Even now, he wasn’t sure he was going to keep living on land long enough to build a career in whatever field he chose. There were still so many uncertainties, but he’d committed to living as a human at least long enough to finish his degree before he made any other decisions.

But he knew that no matter what he decided that the mers were always going to be a part of his life. They’d done so much for him, so it felt right that he try and do something to make them a little safer.

It had been shocking to read some of the articles he’d found about mer poaching. He’d known some of it before, having done a little research when he was younger, but he hadn’t fully considered just how much harder it would hit now.

Now, he’d lived with the threat of poaching. Especially since his magic had awoken, but even before, it was a constant threat for them. Bruce drilled constant awareness into all of them, made sure they would always be aware the first second that a boat showed up.

They checked the for nets more carefully than they did for sharks. At least sharks would leave if you made yourself a hard enough target. At least sharks were just hungry.

But for all that it had been a constant danger, Tim had never seen anyone actually get caught.

He knew that both Bruce and Dick’s parents had been killed by poachers, had seen the terror in their eyes when Jason had once briefly got tangled in a net before they cut him free of it, but he hadn’t seen anything more than that. Bruce was smart enough and had damaged their boats often enough that most poachers knew coming to their territory was more trouble than it was worth.

Looking at the articles, it seemed other pods hadn’t been so lucky.

Tim was glad he’d been alone when he first saw them, because the pictures included had sent him running to the bathroom to vomit until his stomach was empty and he was left dry heaving.

It had taken him an hour to work up the nerve to open the articles again. He didn’t look at the pictures- not that it mattered, they were burned into his head, he still saw each of them in his nightmares- he just tried to focus on the actual information in the article.

It nearly made him sick again.

The author, whoever they were, Tim hadn’t bothered to check, clearly cared a lot. Every word frankly oozed righteous outrage as they described, in an amount of detail that was nauseating to Tim, the horrors that occurred in the poaching industry.

But what really stuck with him was the way they talked about the mers. They called them ‘majestic creatures,’ talked about the importance of ‘protecting our precious wildlife.’ They quoted an animal rights expert and compared the process to shark finning. They called it ‘inhumane.’

Tim was struck by the absurd urge to laugh.

Every word that was said, every horror they described, Tim couldn’t help slotting the faces of his family into the picture. Imagining this being done to them and then having a self-important journalist call them helpless animals.

He couldn’t help the knowledge that they would have done this to him in an instant as well. Would he change back to a human when he died? If he did, would that finally make them care about what they’d done? After they had tortured and killed so many other people?

Tim had to do something about this.

Listening to Babs talk about her research, Tim really thought that her idea could work. That they could help protect mers everywhere if they could prove they were thinking, feeling people. He wasn’t naïve enough to think that would stop every poacher, but it would help. It would put poaching more in the level of human trafficking and would carry the kind of punishment that might actually deter some people. It wouldn’t stop it entirely, but it would save so many lives.

So that was where he’d decided to focus his studies. He wasn’t sure yet if he was going to try and join Babs’ team, or how that would even work, but he knew this was what he wanted to learn about. After all, he’d grown up in the ocean, surely a course studying it would be a breeze.

So far though, the classes were proving to mostly just be frustrating.

He wrote another line of notes that he knew for a fact were incorrect, frowning as the lecturer droned on.

He had apparently failed to consider just how little humans had actually been able to learn about the ocean. It stood to reason considering they could barely even get down there, but seriously, some of this made no sense.

For half these species Tim felt like he could have stood up and given twice the information the lecturer did just from having lived near their habitat. And that was nothing compared to the ones that he’d actually studied with Jason.

It seemed like most of the classes would be an exercise in Tim trying to figure out what fraction of information the humans actually knew and then memorising all the nomenclature and species names that they were using. He was already resisting the temptation to fill his notebook with snarky comments about some of the bullshit he was having to memorise. He was honestly dreading when they got up to studying what little humans had managed to learn about mers. He had a feeling it was going to be very difficult to hear.

He sighed, doing his best to focus back on the lecturer’s droning. This was going to be a long degree. It would be worth it though, to help his family.

---

It was months later again, Tim most of the way through his first year, that he finally got an opportunity to ask Babs’ about joining her research team.

He was at dinner with the Gordon’s again, enjoying a lovely lasagna that Jim (Tim had finally caved) had made for the night. Even after being back for so long, Tim couldn’t help savouring it. Mer food was amazing but also wildly different from anything he’d ever had, and there were some dishes he had missed fiercely. There was really no way to achieve anything like lasagna underwater. Mers didn’t even have any kind of cheese. The first time he’d had pizza when he’d come back had been a religious experience.

Babs was complaining because apparently one of her research assistants was dropping out with almost no notice and leaving her down a pair of hands.

“-and I swear, he was almost useless the entire time he was here, I’d just barely finished training him and now he decides to just up and leave?! And right in the middle of the term! No one is ever applying for positions this time of year, because normally we only advertise at the start of the semester, so everyone who wanted one has either already got a position or given up for the year. So now I’m stuck for the rest of the year, and the girls are going to be so much busier than they already were from picking up that idiot’s slack.”

Babs huffed, taking a bite of her lasagna as she fumed. Tim finished chewing his more sedate bite and spoke up, keeping his voice casual.

“I mean, I wouldn’t mind helping out if you needed another assistant?”

Babs’ eyes widened and she leaned forward.

“Really? Are you sure, because it would be such a big help, but I don’t want you to feel like you have to just because I’ve been sitting here whingeing. We really will be able to manage, it’ll just be a pain.”

Tim shrugged, a little awkwardly.

“I am. Interested that is. I’ve been thinking about trying to apply for a while, but I didn’t know how to bring it up without seeming like I was trying to get something out of it. I don’t want to get in just because we’re close.”

Babs waved her hand dismissively, still looking excited.

“You’re not, don’t worry. You’re in the right course and I’ve seen your grades, you’re already more qualified than the last idiot. If I’d known that you were interested, I would have told you to apply before semester started and you would have beaten him easily. Besides, we don’t have any other applicants right now, this is hardly the most popular research team going on right now. If you’re serious, I’ll talk to my department head, and you can swing by on Monday to get the tour and meet the girls. She’ll just be glad I was able to find someone on such short notice without her having to get involved.”

Tim blushed slightly at the praise and ducked his head.

“If you’re sure, then yeah. I would definitely be interested. Seriously, thank you so much Babs.”

Babs grinned again, the relief visible in the line of shoulders.

“Don’t thank me, Tim, you’re the one doing me a favour on this. I didn’t even know you were thinking about it though, what got you so interested in mer studies anyway?”

Babs had that gleam in her eye again, the one she got whenever he talked a little too knowledgably or passionately about mers. It made him paranoid every time, but if she’d discovered his secret, he was pretty sure the reaction would be a lot more intense. His best guess was that she thought he’d seen mers in the wild while he was living on the island and was refusing to tell her about them.

Which. Well, she wasn’t exactly wrong.

Thinking about her question, his mind flashed once again to the smiling faces of his family, to the pictures that haunted his nightmares. He kept his face casual only through careful practice.

“It sounded interesting when you talked about it, so I started looking into it a bit more.” He shrugged, affecting nonchalance. “I just think if your research was successful, it would really make a difference. To a lot of people.”

Babs’ face softened, the slight suspicion vanishing from her features.

“Thanks Tim, that really means a lot.”

“No problem.” Tim mumbled, focusing on his lasagna as he tried not to let the guilt of the secrets he was keeping from them weigh him down.

Chapter Text

Tim was nervous as he and Babs walked to the lab on Monday. Babs had met him after his class let out to tell him that the department head had approved him, and so that she could take him to get the tour of the lab.

And meet the other assistants. That was the main bit Tim was nervous about honestly.

He knew Babs, he was getting to know the field, and he knew more about maren than any other human. Not that he could call it maren, he reminded himself. He’d have to see if Babs had come up with anything to call it, or if he was going to have to say ‘the potential mer language’ ever time. That would get old fast.

What he didn’t know were the assistants. He’d heard Babs talk about ‘the girls’ plenty enough, but he didn’t have any details on them as people. Would they think he’s as useless as the other guy? Would they resent him for getting a position so easily when they probably had to go through a whole application process? Oh god he didn’t even know what the process was, they were going to hate him, and they’d be right to, he was totally taking advantage of Babs by getting this spot, he should-

He was knocked out of his spiral by Babs lightly squeezing his shoulder, shooting him a knowing look.

“Hey. You’re alright. I promise, they’re going to love you, it’ll be fine. Now, come on.” She said, opening a door that Tim hadn’t even noticed them stopping in front of. Tim didn’t even have a chance to start panicking again before she was pulling him inside.

“Steph! Cass! Come meet our new hire!”

There was a clatter from the next room over before two girls about his age came tumbling into the room. One was a bit taller than him, with long blonde hair tied up in a ponytail, and a violently purple shirt under the lab coat that she had left unbuttoned. Following much more calmy behind her was an Asian girl about a head shorter, with her short hair just long enough to be tied into a little tuft at the back of her neck. Her lab buttoned properly, with only a small triangle of black shirt visible at her neck.

“Babs! You found someone already?” Steph asked, practically bouncing over to Tim to squint at him suspiciously. “This one isn’t useless as well, is he?”

Babs sighed, her face in her hands, and Cass silently reached forward to tug Steph out of Tim’s personal bubble. He appreciated it.

“No, Steph, he isn’t going to be useless. And please don’t talk about him like he’s not there. This is Tim, I told you about him, remember?”

“Oh, wait, this is that Tim?” Steph looked at least somewhat chastised, rubbing her neck as she looked at Tim. “Hey, sorry man, that was a bit of a dick move, my bad.” She squinted at him again. “I feel like I know you from somewhere.”

Tim shuffled his feet, a little embarrassed at the attention.

“It’s alright. I don’t think we’ve ever met before though.”

Steph frowned at him for another second or two, thinking hard, before her face lit up.

“Oh, I remember now, you’re Timothy Drake, right? We were in Patterns of Marine Behaviour together. I remember because my friend told me that everyone said you’d been, like legit missing-presumed-dead for years, and then you beat out all of us on the exam. People said you got, like actually perfect marks.”

Tim blushed, now thoroughly embarrassed.

“I just got lucky.” He mumbled, trying to downplay, but Steph snorted.

“Did we take the same test? Because I’m pretty sure luck had nothing to do with it. Damn, if I knew you were the same Tim Babs keeps talking about, I would have been pestering her to get you to join up earlier, everyone in that class was talking about you.”

Tim wanted to crawl into a hole. Luckily Babs picked that moment to intervene.

“Yes, yes, Tim’s a little genius and we’re very glad to have him on board. Now, I’m sure I don’t need to say that there will be no pestering Tim with questions about things he doesn’t want to talk about. We’re here to research, not interrogate him because some tabloid made you think he’s part of some sort of conspiracy.”

The girls nodded solemnly, Steph looking a little abashed, and Tim relaxed slightly.

“Now, let’s do this properly. Girls, this is Tim Drake. He’s joining up on very short notice, so I expect you to make him feel welcome and help him out as he’s still finding his feet. Tim, this is Steph and Cass. They’re both second years and have been helping me since the start of the year, so they should be able to answer any questions you have.”

Steph gave a little wave at her name, and Cass smiled at him, signing something with her hands that Tim didn’t recognise.

He was confused for a second, before it hit him and he felt like an idiot. Of course, she wasn’t signing in the same language he knew. She’d be using one of the human ones, which Tim didn’t know any of.

Babs confirmed what he was thinking. “Cass isn’t Deaf, but she has some issues with speaking, so she generally uses ASL. She says it’s nice to meet you.”

“You too.” Tim answered politely, nodding at Cass, who smiled at him.

“Alright, let’s get this show on the road.” Babs said, clapping her hands. “Tim, lab coats are over here, we don’t do much work where we’d actually need them, but this is still technically a bio lab, so they’re worn whenever you’re inside. And not like Steph does, don’t think I missed that Steph, do it up properly. Alright, let’s start over here…”

Babs walked him through the lab, explaining the layout and function of everything. It wasn’t very big, according to Babs the rest of the building was waiting on some kind of construction, which was why they were the only ones here. Most of it was desks, computers and cabinets of equipment. Babs briefly talked him through the different audio equipment, but said she’d go more in depth on that another time.

The main part that made it stand out as a marine biology lab, was the adjoining room with a saltwater pool set into the floor, large enough to fit an adult mer fairly comfortably, if not much else. It looked like one wall had an exterior roller door leading into the room.

“Honestly, the only reason we got access to the pool was because none of the other research groups applied.” Babs explained. “I only put down for it on a whim, so I was pretty surprised to get it. We haven’t had to use it yet, but we keep the water maintained just in case we find an injured mer. We make sure to keep an eye out whenever we go out on the boat, in case we find one that needs help. Hasn’t happened yet, but after that big exposé on poaching last year-” Tim flinched. “-I made sure we were certified for rehabilitation should it be necessary.”

Tim inhaled slowly, making sure to keep his breaths even as Babs moved on to the next thing. He spotted Cass looking at him quizzically, but he smiled at her, and she seemed to relax.

“Now,” Babs said, having finished the tour and now fiddling with one of the computers, a speaker attached. “I know you’ve heard me rambling plenty about what we do here, but you’ve actually joined just as we’re starting a new angle on data collection.”

Tim tilted his head, curious and just a little nervous. What exactly did that mean? Was she going to start doing more than dangling a microphone in the water? He’d have to warn his family if that was the case, or see if he could dissuade her.

“We’ve been analysing our previous recordings, trying to find the most frequent possible words and word combinations. Hopefully, we’ll be able to play this to the mer and record their responses. If we can get consistent results, then we can start mapping the sounds to greetings, warnings, all kinds of categories. We’ll be able to show that there really is a consistent and understood meaning to the sounds, and once we have the basics down, we might actually be able to start communicating with them, figure out some real merlish words.”

Tim nodded consideringly, thinking the idea over and trying not to wince at merlish. God, that was going to take some getting used to. That was seriously what they’d settled on?

What Babs had described wasn’t a bad starting point. Without some feedback from the mers, there was no real way for her to start decoding the sounds, she recorded, even if she managed to break them down into their individual words. If she could figure out a couple, she’d be able to play with combinations of them to figure out meanings. Tim would have to call his family and warn them to play along so they didn’t get spooked and start hiding again.

“We’re planning to do the first test this weekend. Do you want to hear the sound we’ve prepared? We took some of the most common sounds to form what we hypothesise is a kind of greeting.”

“Sure, that sounds really interesting.” Tim said, curious what kind of sentence they could make from all the recordings they’d gotten over the years. Curious, and a little nervous, given his recollection of their contents.

Babs smiled widely, clicking a few buttons on the computer, and letting Tim hear one of her recordings for the first time.

There was a fair bit of interference, likely from the water, but after a second, he could hear Jason’s voice coming through, the sound choppy and the pitch inconsistent as if they’d spliced together words from several different recordings.

“…HEY- idiots. …stupid boATPEOple-…-re dumb!”

The lab was silent for a moment. Babs and Steph were both grinning excitedly. Cass was looking expectant.

It took everything in him not to burst out laughing.

“Uh-” he cleared his throat, desperately biting the inside of his lip. “Wow, that’s… that’s so cool. You said that’s one of their greetings?”

“That’s our best guess,” Steph jumped in enthusiastically. “We did a bunch of analysis on the recordings. These are some of the most common, and they’re most often said at the start of a phrase, so our working hypothesis is a greeting of some sort. We’ll be able to tell more after the weekend.”

Well, Tim thought a little manically as he thought back to all the days Jason and Dick had spent yelling insults up at the boat while he signed ideas at them, they weren’t entirely wrong. ‘Hey assholes’ counted as a greeting, right?

“Mm-hm,” he managed, his voice coming out significantly higher than usual. Cass shot him a curious look, and he cleared his throat again. “That is… fascinating. That’s really so fascinating. I can’t wait to hear the response you get.”

In that much at least, he wasn’t lying. No way was he spoiling the surprise for his family before the first test, he wanted to hear their reaction.

He wondered if Babs and the girls had identified mer laughter yet. If not, they were about to get a very robust sample.

“Thanks, Tim.” Babs said, “I’m really excited. I just- I feel like we might be able to start making some real progress now, y’know?”

Tim nodded, returning her smile as he tried to ignore the little pit of guilt in his stomach.

Babs cared so much about this, even without any personal connection to the mers. She just wanted to help them, and she was working so hard to do it. Tim couldn’t help but feel a little like a fraud, sharing in her excitement like this.

Just like in his classes, he knew more about this subject than everyone in the room combined, but he was keeping quiet to protect his secret. Out in the lecture halls it was an annoyance, having to hide what he knew. Here it felt like a betrayal.

Tim shook his head, trying to clear the thoughts from his mind.

It had to be this way. He couldn’t risk revealing his secret when he still had work to do on land. Besides, none of his knowledge had been scientifically proven by humans, so it couldn’t be used to affect legislation like Babs was trying to do, right?

So, it was better like this, after the first test, he’d tell his family what Babs was doing, and they would make sure she got good recordings. If she’d tried this on any other pod, there was a good chance she would have got no response or been attacked if it sounded like she’d trapped a mer on the boat.

Tim was helping. He would make sure Babs got good data, he’d try and give hints to help her along without being too suspicious. Then Babs would succeed, and the laws would be changed, and his family would be safe.

And maybe then, when he knew mers wouldn’t have to live in so much danger, maybe he could finally come clean to the Gordons. Maybe they could even meet the rest of his family.

Alright, Tim thought, focussing back on the conversation the other three were having. Let’s do this.