duh • tim drake

( chapter three )

Lily was lying in one of the many guest bedrooms in Wayne Manor. Never in her life did this situation ever come to mind, even after imagining some many of meeting her father. Yes, she imagined what it was like to meet him. If the man who her mother claimed to be her father really was that, then she could only overthink the entire thing.

What would he think when he meets her? Would he embrace her? Push her away? What was going to happen?

That's all Lily could do at the moment; stare at the tall ceiling and overthink almost everything. Taking some breathing exercises, Lily turned her head toward the bedside table and reached out for her iPhone. She tapped the screen to wake up her phone, it lighting up and showing her lock screen. Lily read the block numbers labeling the time, a little past one in the morning and deflated her chest in defeat. Lily had heard how people can have sleepless nights after losing someone close to them, but she hadn't had those in the weeks after her mother's death. Yet, here she was.

Deciding that being consumed by unwanted thoughts wasn't such a happy way to spend her time, Lily unlocked her phone with facial recognization and went through her apps to find something to do. She defaulted to watching TikTok. Funny fails, conspiracy theories, dancing tutorials, and stand-up comedy. She was able to get some good laughs out as she let the world around her disappear (even for just a little bit).

Eventually, her eyes became tired and she drifted off into a deep sleep. However, it was only a few hours before she would wake up and get ready for whatever the day may hold for her. Tim had told her with the Wayne resources, the DNA tests should go faster than the ones she could order online. Lily had some doubts about Tim's confidence in getting fast results.

But they were fast. With the Riddler's DNA already in the system, they were able to compare the two sets of DNA quickly and confirm that Lily was indeed the daughter of Edward Enigma. It wasn't a huge surprise ( they've heard more shocking news before ), but still, surprise! After the initial shock, they start devising a plan. How would they proceed? How should they tell Lily of the results? Alfred had come down at some point to let them know that Lily was up and in the kitchen, feasting on the breakfast he had prepared. Barbara volunteered to go up and talk with Lily so she wouldn't become suspicious if everyone was just not there. With that, everyone else was left to make the decisions at the moment. Or, everyone argues their points, and then Bruce decides with advice from Alfred.

"I don't think we should tell her. Who knows what she'll do with that information," argued Stephanie.

"No, Lily deserves to know. No matter what," said Dick. Tim nodded to his statement.

"And how do you propose we do that? Give her a card? Or send a text?"

"Of course not. We'll have Tim slowly break the news to her," suggested Jason.

Tim looked at Jason. "Why me?"

"You brought her here." More arguments ensued between the former Robins, Damian already at Gotham Academy for the day. They couldn't seem to come to an agreement on anything and, honestly, who can blame them? Though the Bat Clan has faced many difficult situations, finding out the solution to this problem seemed almost impossible. Almost.

Bruce sighed. "Okay, enough." He didn't shout or yell, but they shut up anyway. "We'll have both Tim and Barbara tackle telling Lily. Damian and I will observe Engima's latest activity to get a general idea of what his next attack will be. Dick, Stephanie, and Jason - tonight, while you are patrol, go by the last few hideouts of his. See if he might be anywhere near them. We need to handle this delicately." He looked at each of their faces, putting it into them. They all nodded in understanding. "Good. Now, go. Do your thing and Tim, you know what to do."