An Assassin's Guide to Family

Chapter 53: Present

 -------------- Dicks POV: ---------------

We walked into the dining room silently. I glanced over at Damian, he looked cold, usually he was just angry, but now he looked numb.

I'd seen Percy ruffle his hair, he seemed to like it. Carefully I reached out to touch his head but he slapped me quickly and harshly, sending me a glare I didn't want to mess with. One thing everyone in the household had learned over the past few months was that Damian was a loose cannon, one that had nearly killed everyone in the house at least once, and now Bruce was trying to teach him to have morals and to worry about human life. I can't say it's been too successful.

I looked up to see everyone looking at us as we took a seat. We hadn't said anything to them when we'd gotten back from patrol but I guess that was what was ticking them off, I always talked admittedly, it helped my brain work right. Wally liked to do the same thing. A small smile rose to my face at the thought of him. After dinner tonight I was supposed to go to his apartment for a while. Though, from tonight's revelations that may have to wait.

Over the past few months we've been trying to think of what could be so powerful to have such control over her, to keep her with such a horrific man. We couldn't think of anything besides Annabeth, the two had always been inseparable.

But what had happened to her while she was gone? How and why was she involved with Damian at all, and why can she suddenly control water? Is she a meta-human like Wally who found her powers later in life? Because if so, I couldn't imagine the horrors of finding this out by herself, Wally had always told me how glad he was to have his uncle there, Percy never had anyone like that. It was only giving us more reason to get her back.

We took a seat and the atmosphere was so thick you could cut it with one of Damian's strategically hidden knives.

After Alfred laid out all the food we all sat in silence. The food was good as it always was, but my interaction with Percy had set me off. She'd cried when she found out Bruce hadn't meant it, meaning she'd spent all these years thinking we hated her, the thought made me repulsed by myself for even allowing it to happen.

Not to mention that but she'd saved me, she'd done it so quickly too, and her quick thinking was impeccable. If only we could've convinced Bruce to take her in earlier.

"Dude." I looked up as the only word that had been spoken all dinner broke the silence like it was fragile glass. "Stop thinking so hard or you're gonna fry your brain cells." Jason said with a snarky attitude. He still hadn't forgiven us for not telling him about Percy, which was entirely fair.

I sighed and nodded. Picking up my fork to push the broccoli away from my salmon, I tried to distract myself from my thoughts, and yet that only seemed to bring me back to my thoughts in an awful predatory cycle.

"Ick- Dick!" I turned as I felt a hand get placed on my shoulder. Tim was watching me with careful eyes, he'd accidentally touched Jason in the middle of a PTSD session once so now he seemed to be a lot more...hesitant to touch us when we're not responding. He watched me for a moment before speaking again. "What's wrong? Did something happen on your mission tonight?"

He retracted his hand and went back to his chair. I turned to the other side to see Jason and Bruce looked just as interested in what I had to say, in their own ways of course. I looked in front of me, and Damain was already watching me, in some strange way, I felt the need to share the information was a decision the both of us had to make. Damian never acted so friendly with us like he had with Percy, and it wasn't fair if I spilt those details to everyone else.

Damian read my expression and after a moment of quiet he sighed and gave me one swift nod. A smile fell on my lips as I watched him, he seemed calmer now, more at ease. Maybe he was finally finding his fit in the manor.