He's Back! But as our Den Mother?

Chapter 11: Family Dinner

{3rd POV}

{At Batcave}

The zeta tube flooded the dark cave with light as it teleported the 2 young heroes inside. Tim and Barbra quickly changed into the civvies and ran up the stairs, trying to beat the other to the top of the long staircase. When they reached the top they continued their race into the parlor. Barbra was the first to enter the room, closely followed by Tim.

"Ha! I win again. Barbra 29, Batboys 0." She said happily. She started parading around Tim, basking in her own glory.

"Ok, there is no way that one of us hasn't beaten you at least once," Tim complained. I mean they were THE sons of Batman, how could they have not beaten her at least once.

"You guys might think your top-notch, but no one can beat me," Barbra said cockily. Their bickering about the score was cut short but a cough that came from the couch across the room. They looked over and noticed that they were the last to arrive, well except for Dick. That was unusual, especially for breakfast for dinner night.

"Took you 2 long enough." Jason complained, "Do you want us to starve to death." He leaned his head over the back of the huge sofa.

"We still have 5 minutes before we were supposed to be here," Barbra said, flicking the top of Jason's head. Jason put his hand on his head, looking at the girl who flicked him.

"Ow." He said, glaring at her. The two exchanged their best batglares at the other. Both were good impressions of the infamous glare. Neither could best the other. They were interrupted by the eldest batboy entering the room. He looked at Tim for any context on what he walked in on, only to get a sigh and a wave of the hand as a response from the younger.

"Well, I hate to interrupt whatever this is, but Alfie says dinner is ready," Dick said smiling while trying to end whatever Jason and Barbra were starting.

"Finally. It's been so long since I've had an actual good-cooked meal." Jason said, leaving the room. The rest of the family followed suit, a few thanking Dick for letting them know. They walked through the large hall of the mansion into a dining room. The room was smaller than most of the other rooms in the manor. The family dining room, while still looking magnificent, was just a small room where the family could have casual dinners when they were all together. They didn't really see the point of using the large dining room when they didn't have any guests over.

{Nightwing POV}

I followed my family into the dining room, the smell of fresh pancakes and bacon filled the entire room. Alfred really overdoes it when we are all able to get together. The table was filled with stacks of pancakes, bacon, sausage, french toast, normal toast, scrambled eggs, fruit salad, oatmeal, and yogurt. I was eyeing the pancakes as I walked over to my seat and sat down. Bruce sat at the head of the table, I was next to him with Jason on my right and Barbra next to him. Tim sat across from me with Damian next to him (who decided that was a good idea?), and Alfred stood at the end of the table, clearing his throat to gain our attention.

"Thank you all for coming, it truly has been too long since we have all been together like this." The butler addressed us. "Now, let's dig in." He said before joining the rest of us sitting. We passed the serving plates around grabbing all the food we wanted.

"Todd! You better not take all of the sausages!" Damian yelled across the table. Jason just stuck his tongue out at the younger and continued to place more on his plate. Bruce cleared his throat and glared at Jason, signaling him to knock it off. Jason rolled his eyes and passed the plate along. After the chaos of getting our food finally settled down, we all began eating Alfred's incredible cooking. A few small conversations happened here or there. 'Any new criminals?' 'Anything new about the Joker?' 'How's the Team?' 'How has school been?' Just the basic questions. Well, all basic until Alfred looked at me.

"So Master Dick, how was your first mission with the Justice League?" Alfred asked me. Tim choked on his coffee and Barbra looked at me trying to hold in her laugh. I could tell that they knew what chaos I would bring. Well, before I say chaos I think it should be defined more as organized chaos. Having fun is great and all, but my job is to make the team better. So while I will be tolerant, that doesn't mean I'm playing buddy buddy with all of them. I'll be like good cop turned bad cop. Anyway...The rest of the family shot confused looks to Tim and Barbra and then back to me. Well, all except Bruce who was clearly already aware of my assignment.

"Well, It wasn't really a mission. It was more like an assignment." I told Alfred. Jason was still looking confused and Damian looked like he was starting to put things together.

"That is alright as well. They have a lot of faith in you for already giving you an assignment." Alfred reassured me. "What have they assigned you?" He once again asked me.

"Den Mother duty for the Team," I said, smirking a bit. The room went silent. The silence was interrupted by Jason's laugh. This was the hardest I've ever seen him laugh. He was practically crying. A chain reaction began causing all the kids to start laughing.

"No fucking way." Jason said trying to catch his breath. "This is too good." He slapped me on the back. "First they kick you from their little club thing, and now you get to boss them around. God, I fucking love Karma!"

"Jason, language," Bruce said, only to be ignored.

"I guess you are once again stuck as a babysitter Grayson." Damian said, "It's a pity the League has no other use for your talents. A real waste." He turned his head away from me, trying to hide the fact that he just complimented me. We all looked at each other a little surprised by his comment.

"Did the little Demon just...compliment someone?" Jason asked, a smirk growing on his face. "Damn the little thing does have a heart." He said shrugging his shoulders.

"Shut it, Todd." Damian shot back. His face was a little red. "Based on Drake and Gordan's reactions I'm assuming the Team knows of this change." He said trying to change the subject. Jason immediately looked at Tim and Babs.

"OMG! Demon Brats right! Replacement! Tell us, I need to know." Jason basically demanded the 2 members of the Team for the reactions.

"I'm also kinda curious. I have an idea of how it went, but I wanna know." I said, pestering my younger brother. I already know most of the team was like WHAT OMG, NO BUT HE'S A TRAITOR! Or something like that.

"It was honestly hilarious," Barbra said, giggling. "Pretty much everyone was like, NO how could you trust him. He's nothing but a traitor." Barbra mocked the team. "They literally took it so personally." She laughed. "Tim however looked like he just saw a ghost." She said poking fun at her friend. Tim immediately blushed.

"Wait! Timmy, do you not trust me?" I said, putting my hand over my heart. "Am I...just a traitor to you?" I said fake crying.

"It's not that I don't trust you as a person or hero, it's that I don't trust you to watch over like 14 people without something being destroyed." He said defending himself.

"Fair point." I said shrugging my shoulders.

"Dick is more than capable of watching the team." Bruce joined the conversation. This made me smile a bit. At least one person believed in me.

"Thanks, Bruce," I said, looking at him. "Hey, how did Wally and the OG team react?" I asked my youngers.

"They looked pretty excited, especially Wally. Well until Tim told him something. But they were pretty much just defending you and putting the team in their place." Barbra explained.

"What did you tell him, Tim?" I asked. Tim made an awkward smile at me.

"Well, he told me, 'It won't be that bad.' and I told him that we both know Dick better than that. That's all I said." Tim told us, getting a little defensive. We laughed it off and continued eating. Tomorrow was going to be a big day. My first day back with the team.

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A/N

Hello everyone! Sorry for the short chapter, I hope to have the next one out soon. Anyway sorry if this chapter sucks I'm trying to stay in the writing mood so I was just writing. Have a good day/night.