Curate, connect, and discover
Tim Danny knew he would go far for family but it wasn't until now that he realized how far he literally would go.
Danny looked at the positive pregnancy test on the bathroom counter and tried to stop his tears both the joyful tears and the ones of anger.
He hates Vlad now more than ever for how he never decided to stabilize Dani. Even now that Danny is no longer Danny Vlad’s mistakes will still come back to bite him.
Dani's decision to help Danny figure out what was going on ended up with her almost dying. Her core would have been destroyed if Danny had been a second later.
Everyone's pretending things are back to normal.
Danny now has to figure out ways to hide this and how exactly he's going to tell anyone. The obvious answer is to not tell anyone and go into hiding, but after everything that happened someone's going to come look which means Danny is going to have to hide in plain sight.
Sometimes Danny regrets trying to help because in the end all it got him his throat slit, his entire identity ripped away and assassination attempts in his own home. Danny has no idea why he thought it would be any different now that Bruce is back.
Jason is barely civil with the family.
Dick has left the second he no longer has to be Batman.
Stephanie has joined Cass and Hong Kong.
Barbara is only talking to people when she's on Oracle Duty.
Damien is one bad Mission away from trying to kill him again.
That's not even mentioning Bruce who is just living in ignorance that everything has not gone awry.
Denial is a strong thing.
Danny doesn't even know why they agree to this. well they do know but they don't know why they didn't talk it out first.
they'd gotten quite good at getting all the logistics before they do something rash but they'll always be a Fenton running head first. All they want is for Dani to be safe after everything that happened; they are all secondary to Dani's well-being.
Danny forgot how unconditional love felt they are not going to lose the one person who cared about them
Idea that Tim is The Reincarnation of Danny but Ras is The Reincarnation of Vlad. I think that Vlad would get his Memories Back when Danny is born. it'd be really funny for him just to devolve into a comically evil supervillain when everyone's like he is a deadly danger and he's just laughing as he realized that his Nemesis has been born.
I think Danny wouldn't get their memories back until a little bit after they've been Robin. It's their first near death experience and then they're like God damn it, can I never not be a vigilante.
While Danny's on a mission in his early days as robin. he run into the league of assassins and end up getting kidnapped. I just want Vlad to try and intimidate this new Robin while Danny just locks eyes with him and knows. Danny will be like, you are no longer a threat to me.
Danny uses the Lazarus pit to talk to Clockwork to get Bruce back but as far as anyone is concerned he just went to the League of Assassins. It's also really funny if no one notices that they have this rivalry until after Bruce's back. like in Cannon where Ras wants him to be his heir but instead it's just Danny and Vlad who have way too much history not to throw down the second day they see each other. Everyone expects swords and verbal sparring when in reality they see each other and instantly fist fight.
“Returned at last Timothy?” Ra's greeted the young man without turning away from his knitting.
“Ra's…I want my children.” Tim told him firmly.
“You know it will take time. Have you prepared?” Ra's asked almost playfully.
“Of course I have. Bats is back in place and I've prepared everything they need to function until I can get back. They'll be fine. I want my kids Vlad.” Tim demanded more firmly.
Ra's chuckled, “Very well, let us begin creation then Daniel.”
“Ugh, it’s Tim now.” He complained following Ra’s towards the cloning lab.
<The Passage of Time: 8 Months>
“I told you to stop hovering Ra’s we’re fine.” Tim complained, not bothering to open his eyes. The baby on his chest whined and squirmed. “Shh, Dawn, Mama’s fine…just tired…”
“Tim… Tim what’s going on?” The voice was one he hadn’t expected to hear for another few months at least.
Tim’s blue eyes snapped open quickly settling on Nightwing, “Dick?! What are you doing here? Are you out of your mind?!” “I’m here to rescue you! We all are!? Is that a baby?!” Nightwing shouted pointing at Tim and the adorable squishy newborn in his arms. Tim stumbled to his feet, though the baby remained steady in his arms.
“You have to get out of here you idiot! If Ra’s catches you in here with me he’ll literally murder you!” Tim hissed quietly, this was the first time that Nightwing had ever seen Tim genuinely terrified.
Looking at Tim more closely Dick realized that this was probably the worst shape he’d ever seen Tim in as well. He was paler than he’d ever been, bags under his eyes, he even looked thinner than usual. Tim looked almost fragile, exhausted. What had Ra’s been doing to Tim in those months that he had been missing? Had he had Tim the whole time? Tim wasn’t supposed to look fragile; he was scrappy, clever, strong, and the most stubborn person Dick knew. He couldn’t…
“What happened to you Timmy? What did Ra’s do to you?” Dick asked softly, reaching out to help keep Tim steady by holding his upper arms.
“...He’s not all bad you know,” Tim spoke softly, “He gave me a gift! Isn’t she beautiful?” Tim adjusted the bundle in his arms to show Dick the baby’s face properly for the first time. Dick felt his heart turn to ice as he took in the baby’s features. Tim’s face shape, but Ra’s nose, Tim’s eye shape and color, but Ra’s eyebrows, and a tuft of feathery black hair. A perfect blend of Ra’s and Tim, adorable and so innocent looking as she looked up at Dick with bare curiosity. Dick felt himself go light-headed, woozy almost as his eyes looked desperately at Tim who was gazing at the baby like they were his whole world.
“Her name is Dawn Lyrae Drake… Heh, it’s a bit of a mouthful but I think she loves it.” Tim said as he nuzzled her chubby face.
“We…we have to leave Tim. We have to leave this place.” Nightwing said, clutching Tim’s arms a little tighter.
“I can’t leave… Not yet. It’s not safe, especially not for you and the others. If we go with you Ra’s will keep sending his assassins until I come back. He won’t stop and he won’t let you or the others live if we go with you.” Tim sighed and despite Dick’s hold on him broke free. “Gotham and Bludhaven need you Nightwing. You can’t be here wasting your time on an impossible mission. Gotham needs all of you, that’s why I brought Bruce back to you. I’ve done as much as I can for you all, now you’ll need to stand without me for a bit.”
“No! No Tim, you can’t just deal with all this crap alone! We can fight Ra’s, we can keep you and D-Dawn safe!” Nightwing tried to reason with him, but Tim only shook his head and stepped further away. “You know that we can’t Nightwing. If I go with you, any respect for Batman that held Ra’s back from killing any of us will be gone and Ra’s will send his men with the full intent of killing all bats and dragging me and our daughter back.” Tim told him empathetically, as though he knew what he would say was going to hurt. “None of you have the skills and resources to survive a full on siege from the League of Assassins. Not continuously and not with me out of commission and not with the No Kill rule in place. The only sensible thing to do is wait. You have to go home and wait for me to come back…”
“No! I’m not leaving you!” Nightwing protested fiercely.
“You have to! For the family!” Tim told him twice as fierce, his eyes nearly flashing with anger. “For Gotham and Bludhaven! For the good of everyone Dick! This is your duty as a hero! You have to leave me to protect everyone else.”
“NO! Absolutely not! I’m not leaving you with-with that! That animal!” Dick snarled, reaching out as though he could grab Tim and shake reason into him.
Dick didn’t make it one step before four assassins seemed to materialize out of nowhere trying to cut him to ribbons. Nightwing sprang back, out of reach just in time. The assassins stood more still than statues in front of Tim, almost lifeless in their stalwart guard. Nightwing tensed to fight them off and rescue Tim. Of course the moment he sprang to action so too did the assassins. They were faster than usual, more fierce in their defense and they did not hold back in the slightest as they cut into Nightwing’s defenses.
“Nightwing! You have to leave!” Tim shouted, he looked agonized as he watched.
“No! I can’t!” Nightwing snapped back.
But no matter how he fought, the assassins didn’t seem slowed or even ruffled at all and Nightwing was losing blood fast. Tim looked to be in agony, hunched over his baby and curled up in the bed. Tim looked at Nightwing, breathless and pained.
“Please Nightwing…go home…” Tim begged him.
Though it pained Nightwing beyond words, beyond anything he could articulate; he knew that Tim was right. He was always right. Nightwing couldn’t fight them off, not as he was. He was growing exhausted and he knew that if he stayed he would fall soon. He would fall and either die or be captured and just another hostage for Ra’s to use against them.
“I’ll come back! I’ll be back for you Tim! You and Dawn!” Nightwing vowed before dropping a smoke bomb and retreating.
Tim sighed with relief once Nightwing was out of danger. Ra’s stepped out of the shadows as the other assassins followed after Nightwing. He sat down on the bed beside Tim and began to gently run his fingers through the young man’s slightly sweaty hair.
“He’s placed you under unnecessary strain. Your core is already trying to support both you and Dawn, it can’t withstand that kind of strain again.” Ra’s spoke with displeasure.
“And who’s fault is that? I told you we needed to move to a different shelter! You know I need to Protect and yet you let them fight where I can see it?!” Tim snarled, reaching out to punch Ra’s in the gut. Ra’s allowed it, grunting at the impact.
“Forgive me. I needed to test your Bond with them. Luckily it’s not as strong as I feared, the contact can be severed before a proper Fraid Bond settles.” Ra’s reasoned.
“Knock it off, they’re still my friends Ra’s.” Tim snipped.
“Ah, but they’re not Fraid which is what I’d feared.” Ra’s seemed all too pleased with himself. Tim snapped at Ra’s wrist biting for a moment.
“You’re lucky Kon and Bart are dead because otherwise I’d have Fraid other than you.” Tim huffed.
“Yes, I suppose I am.” Ra’s preened. “Would you like to revive them? I could gift them to you. A gift for doing all the heavy lifting in creating our most precious beings.”
“Ugh, maybe later. I need to focus on Dawn until we can revive Dan…we should name him Dusk to match Dawn.” Tim yawned a little, exhausted.
“Rest, we’ll discuss our future son when you’re more rested.” Ra’s assured him gently. Tim hummed and fell asleep, Dawn on the other hand looked up at Ra’s entirely unimpressed with him. Ra’s chuckled and reached down to gently scoop Dawn from Tim’s arms. “Let’s let your mother rest for a bit. We’ll go test how well your mind is coping with squishy baby brain.”