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She Stared.
She didn’t want to believe it, she wanted to run away. Every single nerve in her body was telling her to run, and not look back because this wasn't possible. Couldn’t be possible. Maybe She’s in denial, maybe this is all just a messed up dream. Some sick part of her hopes it is. She isn’t ready for this, she isn’t ready for the responsibility, especially the responsibility she has to share with him .
She steps closer, and continues to stare. Black hair, long eyelashes, his skin a darker shade than hers, and even in his sleep he has his Scowl.
She wants to deny that he could be her- She still isn’t ready to acknowledge it, but she remembers the shade of green that stared into her eyes when she had found him. She recognized that shade, it’s the same shade that she sees when she looks at the mirror. Beautiful bright green eyes. Her entire life, she always heard compliments about her eyes, and she never cared for them, didn’t believe them, but.. But his eyes are beautiful to her.
She still remembers how her world froze when she had found out. How the sounds near her became a quiet hum, and all she could hear was the loud beat of her heart. How her body was overcome with chills, and how her vision blurred because it had to be a lie.
It had to be.
She still remembers how he had stepped back as if in shock, she still remembers feeling amazed that his mask broke, and how he had shown emotion. Remembers staring blankly at Ra’s al Ghul as everyone around her started yelling at him.
She faintly remembers hearing his explanation as her throat closed up with nausea overtaking her.
‘Sperm saved… Egg was taken when she was in a coma’
It had happened a long time ago, she had been with the Titans, and a bomb was dropped on them unexpectedly.
She had been taken, and had been tortured to such an extreme that her mind couldn’t handle it, and she had gone into a self-induced coma so that she could survive. They had never figured out who did it. When they had found the exact location to where she was taken, it had already been too late. All of her friends had prepared for a fight, and all they got was an abandoned area with her bloody, and chained to a bed.
When she had awoken, she was back at the tower at the medical wing. All of them had asked if she could recollect anything, but she never could.
All she remembered was blurred faces, and the faint sound of her screams. Her entire body ached for weeks, especially her stomach. She was cut up in many places, so she did what she has always done best, she pushed that memory away, and acted like it never happened. It was just better moving on and pretending nothing happened than actually facing what she didn't want to face.
As she inched closer, she slowly raised her hand, and moved his hair away from his face. Before she even knew it, her body curled in on itself when she made contact, and she couldn’t control the heart wrenching sob that she let out.
‘We wanted a perfect weapon.’
‘A half breed that exceeded our expectations, human and tamaranian’
She wanted to kill them. Wanted to rip their hearts out for doing this, for ruining him. She didn’t need a DNA test to know that he was- that he was…. She knew it the second she saw his eyes.
She had been 16 years old, a mere child when they had taken… when they had taken her choice away from her. The worst part was that she didn’t even know until now. At least with the Citadel, she had a clear recollection of her choice being taken away before she had gotten her revenge. This… This was a different kind of violation. For years her- he had been raised believing that his only purpose was to fight.
'He has been captured’
An enemy of Ra’s al Ghul had taken him in the middle of the night. Normally Ra’s al Ghul would’ve dealt with it immediately however his capturer was a metahuman that he couldn’t find. When he had come to the Justice League to seek them out, he had asked for their assistance.
She had only gone to visit Victor.
It was by mere chance that she was there. She had planned to visit, and leave as soon as she could, so that she didn’t have to deal with the awkwardness she always felt when she was near her ex.
Instead she got hit with shocking news.
When asked why it was so important that they help, he admitted what he had done years ago, and how he needed their help to get him back.
When clarity had hit her, She had to be held back by both Wonder Woman and Superman so that she wouldn’t kill him. He had remained standing in shock as she snapped. He only snapped out of it when she yelled in frustration as she tried to fight them off.
‘He’s yours’
It had taken a while for them to make sure that she wouldn’t snap his neck once their backs were turned.
The only reason why she had calmed down was due to Raven touching her and relaxing her enough to be able to think clearly. She had managed to calm her down until Kori had snarled at her, and damn near ripped her arm off.
No one had ever seen this side of her, so no one knew how to act around her.
It wasn’t until he snapped at Ra’s al Ghul that the only way they would help is if the boy stayed with them afterwards.
It took many arguments, and many minutes of Kori pacing back and forth while glaring at him, for Ra’s al Ghul to grudgingly agree.
She knew that he didn’t believe what he was saying, and she didn’t either.
It took a while for Rachel to find his exact location. Ra’s al Ghul had given her a shirt of his, so that she could possibly track him down, and it took her a good two hours for her to find his location. All of their emotions made it difficult for her to concentrate, she was overwhelmed by the shock and denial he felt, and the rage that had taken over Kori.
‘You can do a DNA test if you want to. It doesn’t change the fact that he’s yours’
All of them got ready for a fight, and Kori knew that they had to find him first. She knew that if it was Ra’s al Ghul assassins to find him first then he would break his word, and take him from them.
Oddly enough, it felt like fate when she was the one to find him.
Turns out that the metahuman had a group ready to fight just in case Ra’s al Ghul assassins came. They definitely weren’t prepared for the Justice League to arrive instead.
While everyone else was fighting, Kori had thrown a man, through a wall, out of rage. She had become completely feral in her anger, and as she stormed forward ready to beat the man bloody, she had frozen when she entered the room.
There he was, tied to a bed, groaning in pain. A mere boy, so tiny and fragile.
She couldn’t move, and she didn’t even notice the man crawling out through the hole she made.
He was shivering, and every time he opened his mouth, a whimper would come out.
She stepped forward, and didn’t see the rocks in front of her in her shock. When she stepped on them, a crunching sound filled the room, and he snapped his head towards her direction.
She couldn’t help, but gasp when those pain filled green eyes met hers.
The faint sounds of her friends fighting faded, and she could hear the blood rushing towards her head.
Everything seemed to slowly blur, and she felt like her heart was going to give out.
Those eyes- those eyes confirmed her fears right then and there.
She doesn’t remember when he came in from behind her.
She didn’t see the way he froze as well, or the way his shuddered breath seemed to come out against his will.
All she saw was how her- how his eyes rolled back, and how his body seemed to fall deeper in the bed as he fainted from the pain.
She doesn’t remember when Superman came in, and saw them both frozen in shock. She doesn’t remember how he slowly flew to the other side of the bed to remove the IV from his vein, and how he picked him up slowly as they both stared blankly.
She doesn’t remember the way he slowly whispered their names out of fear of shocking them too much. She doesn’t remember the way her body jolted back to reality when the boy in his arms whimpered in pain, nor does she remember how he stepped back once he heard it.
She doesn’t remember when Raven came in, and silently teleported them to the medical wing. She doesn’t remember how Superman gently lowered him down the bed, so that Raven could put the IV in to monitor his vitals.
She doesn’t remember how the beeping sounds of his heartbeat filled the room, or how they both took a step forward when Raven silently put a syringe in his arm to pull out blood. She doesn’t remember how her heartbeat seemed to skip a beat when Raven said she was going to do a DNA Test to see if Ra’s al Ghul was telling the truth.
She doesn’t remember how Raven hesitantly got near her to pull blood from her arm, all she remembers was numbly sticking her arm out. She remembers the grunt he let out when Raven got near to pull blood from him as well.
All she could do was silently stare as both Raven and Superman walked past them to give them privacy. All she could do was stare ahead as she heard him jolt back to reality when the doors closed. She remembers feeling his presence behind her, and doing everything she could to not turn around and acknowledge their- no, his existence.
She heard how he stuttered out that he was going to go out and wait for the results, and in the back of her mind, she marvels at how this is the first time she has ever heard him lose control over his reaction. Normally he’s always stoic, never shows emotions, never lets himself lose control. She knows that he knows that the test doesn’t matter, they both know what the test is going to say.
The boy is his exact copy in every way except his eyes, her eyes.
And now? Now she can’t help the sobs she lets out as her- as he continues to sleep.
All of this is wrong. She wants to deny it, wants to wake up from this.. This nightmare.
Kori never wanted kids, it was a secret she kept close to her heart.
Why would she bring a child into this world when they could get hurt like she was hurt as a child?
She remembers the way Galfore would hug her as a child, but she also remembers how she was whipped bloody as a child when she was with the Citadel. She remembers hearing Ryand’r giggle, but she also remembers the scream she let out when she witnessed his death. She remembers how she always thought that the sunset on Tamaran was beautiful, but she also remembers not being able to breathe due to the bombs that were dropped on her planet.
She remembers being with Dick, and thinking that if she did have a child with him that she would do everything in her power to make sure her child didn’t suffer the way she suffered.
And It breaks her knowing that her- that he didn’t get to have a childhood. Instead of laughter and innocence, he grew up learning what pain was like, and the deep color of blood when it’s spilled.
She wants to hold him, but she’s terrified to even touch him again.
She wants to scream at the world how it’s all unfair. How he doesn’t deserve this, how he’s a mere child that needs to be protected instead of being treated like a weapon. She wants to break everything around her, and set it all on fire. She wants to kill them for doing this. Wants to rip their heads off for doing this behind their backs.
She feels violated and disgusted. She feels like her world is collapsing on itself as she realizes that while she was off traveling and enjoying life, her- he was being trained to be a killer.
She also wants to blame him.
She knows it’s unfair, knows he had no idea, but he’s said to be the best detective in the world, so how the fuck did he not know?
She wants to blame him, wants to fight him until they’re both bloody and tired. She wants to prove his ideologies about her right, wants to show him that she really isn’t in control of her rage like he always warned Dick and Jason of.
Out of all the people in the world, why did it have to be him? She dislikes him. Can’t stand being in the same room as him, and even now as she stands staring at her- at Damian, she knows that she’s going to have to coexist with him if she wants to see her- Damian.
She remembers all the times she had to grin and bear it when she crossed paths with him, remembers the insecurities that haunted her 24/7 when she was with Dick.
Remembers how she knew that he constantly told Dick to be wary of her, and her inhuman strength.
Remembers how she would cry herself to sleep when Dick would look at her differently after his conversations with him. How she would always try and try, and it wasn’t ever enough.
She vaguely remembers how she tried to change herself after each encounter, so that he would approve of her, and it never changed how he treated her.
He was never rude, but he was cold with her, and she always recognized it.
She always knew that no matter how much she tried, he would never accept her into the family like she used to dream of when she was with Dick.
Now she wants to laugh at the pure irony of it all because now she’s connected to him in a way no one else is. In a way she doesn’t want to be. The worst part is that she knows he’s going to ask questions about tamaranian development, and she’s going to have to share information she never wanted to share with anyone, let alone him.
It makes her want to hurl, it makes her want to snap at the unfairness of it all.
‘His name is Damian, Damian Wayne’
Right now, she wants to prove him right, but she knows she can’t.
She can’t allow him to get to her like she did when she was younger. Can’t allow his judgmental opinions to rule over her in any way, shape, or form.
She isn’t 17, and insecure anymore. She knows who she is, all the good and the bad, and he’ll have to accept it whether he likes it, or not. Just like she has to accept his ways and his attitude if she wants to see her- Damian.
As her eyes fill up with even more tears, she stares at Damian and wonders what it would’ve been like if they had found out when he was a baby.
Wonders how her life would’ve changed, wonders if she- no if they would’ve given him a good childhood.
She wonders what it would’ve been like to watch him walk for the first time, or hear him speak for the first time, or watch him grow out of his baby clothes.
She wonders what it would’ve been like if he wasn’t born out of a tube, and if he wasn’t taught how to be an assassin.
She wonders if he would’ve grown up to be like any other child, innocent and happy. Some part of her, the part she tries so hard to keep hidden, wants to resent him, wants to resent his entire existence, but she can’t because he’s hers. Her child.
She watches him and yearns for all the could haves.
She knows that once she steps out, she’ll have to deal with everyone’s reactions. Knows she’ll have to face the harsh reality of their situation, she also knows she’ll have to talk to him, and she grimaces as she realizes they’ll have to figure out a schedule.
She also recognizes that she’ll snap at him if he even dares to make a comment about her powers.
She knows it’s going to be difficult, and if what Talia said is true then she knows she’s going to have a lot on her hands these upcoming days. The vindictive side of her wants to kill the bitch for what she did, for taking his sperm without his knowledge, for changing their lives.
‘He’s a difficult child, definitely gets his personality from you Bruce’
She hears the door open, and her tearful eyes snap up to meet his, and she wants to snarl.
The logical part of her is shocked to see that he took his cowl off, and she vaguely wonders how there could be so many shades of blue. Dick’s eyes were a light blue that reminded her of the sky every time she looked into them; His eyes though reminded her of the ocean when a storm occurred. How Fitting.
They stared at each other, and Kori did everything she could to not let the tears fall; She’s not going to give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry.
She knows she’s being too hard on him, but she also remembers how many times she cried when he made her doubt herself when she was younger.
As she continues to stare, she notices how tense he is, and how he seems to be in shock as he stands there. Slowly her eyes lower, and she sees the paper he’s holding tightly. It seems as if he’s doing everything he can to not rip it. She sees a glimpse of green, and her eyes snap back to meet his. She doesn't have to ask, she already knew what the green meant.
He was hers.
He was his.
He was theirs.
She straightens, and they continue to stare at each other while their- while Damian laid in the middle.
As she stares into his eyes, she makes a silent promise right then and there that she isn’t going to allow her- her son to ever suffer again.
She’ll burn the whole world to ashes before she ever allows it, and if he gets in her way, well - he better pray that never happens.
Deep down, She knows that he has made mistakes before, recognizes it, but she also knows that even though he has fucked up in the past, he still tries to be a good parent.
She knows this, and a part of her is glad, but she also knows that sometimes he cuts himself off emotionally and makes his sons insecure, and that’s something she won’t permit with Damian.
She remembers the silent whispers of self doubt Jason spoke of, all the insecurity that followed him. She remembers the way Dick would lose himself to his frustrations when he tried to meet his expectations.
If she has to beat that habit out of him, she’ll do it without hesitation. If anyone so much as harms her child, she’ll kill them.
He straightens, he can see the silent intent in her eyes, he recognizes that glint. It’s the same glint he had when he adopted Dick, and held his small hand in his as he silently promised to protect him.
Koriand’r and Bruce stare at each other's eyes while their son continues to sleep, and they both silently swear to protect him with everything they have until their hearts stop beating.
They make a silent pact to work it out for Damian's sake while the soft sounds of the monitor fill the cold silence in the room.