Castle Of Glass | B. Wayne

[25]

Calmia was slightly anxious about meeting the woman she had only ever heard about briefly from Bruce. It was very apparent that Bruce did not like to talk about Damian's mother so she did not know much about her and as she wasn't from Gotham, even the press had not covered any articles on Talia Al Ghul.

So when Bruce mentioned that she wanted to come to the Manor to visit Damian and would probably stay over for a few days, Calmia did not have any objection to it. But it made her curious to see what Talia was like and why Bruce or the rest of the family never mentioned her otherwise.

She knew Damian respected and valued his mother a lot. Even though they had never talked in detail on that topic, it was clear to her that Damian held a special place for Talia and did not want anyone to threaten replacing her. That was initially the reason to his slight uneasiness toward her in the early days of her marriage.

But now things had settled down and Damian had started to respect her too. So she was a bit anxious of whether Damian's mother would approve of her being around her son or not.

She was in the kitchen, pondering over the situation while Alfred was preparing dinner. She had found out that the best way to get her mind off things that worried her was to talk about them to Alfred who always offered a listening ear as well as good advice.

Right then, he had advised her not to fret too much as what Talia thought of her couldn't change the place she had formed in Bruce's heart. He assured her that Damian also cared for her and that visit wasn't going to be some sort of competition that could make her worry as such.

The doorbell rang and Alfred knew it would be either Damian and Talia or Bruce. However, Tim came up to the kitchen, slightly more awake than usual as he spoke up, "Calmia, Dami called and said they will be here in a while. So I've set up quite a welcome out there, you wanna take a look?"

She didn't know what he meant by that but she nodded, following him outside. But when they came out, they found Bruce looking in disappointment at the set up of barricades as if there was expected to be a gunfight in the manor's living room.

"Tim, what is this?" He asked, moving the table and chairs out of the way.

"This is for taking cover in case a certain someone decides to open fire," he remarked, "though I did consider that Talia doesn't use guns. Still, these can last for a while against katanas too."

Calmia's eyes widened slightly as she turned to see whether Tim was being serious or saying that as a joke, "remind me again what exactly does Talia do for you to set up this sort of welcome?"

"Well, Bruce didn't tell you?" He looked back at Bruce and shook his head, ignoring the glare the man was sending his way, "there's a reason we call Dami the demon spawn and we are never referring to Bruce when we say that."

"Alright, that's enough," Bruce rebuked him slightly, clearing up the way, "Tim, you must put everything back. Talia is not coming here to start a fight."

"Really though?"

"I'm being serious. Take everything away."

Tim's eyes sparked and he gave up the act, a short chuckle escaping him, "I'm sorry, Calmia, I think my prank went too far. I will clear it all up right away. Don't worry, demonic or not, she's not coming here to start a fight, or else Dami would have alerted us earlier."

The fact that she was already nervous combined with Tim's rather unexpected prank didn't help the situation. Bruce's eyes flickered in an apologetic look as he gently took her hand, shaking her out of her thoughts.

"Calmia, there's nothing to worry about. You shouldn't be so anxious," he tried to reassure her, taking her upstairs to their room with him, "she's only going to be here for two days, three at maximum. It will all be fine."