Diabolical | T. Drake ✔

[50] The Meaning Of Family

Tim took the seat in front of his parents after greeting them stiffly. It all felt rather absurd to him and he was making no effort to hide it.

"Timothy, my dear, I can't tell you how glad I am to see you," Janet remarked, a saccharine smile playing upon her lips.

Tim knew that expression all too well; it was a smile she was so accustomed to putting on that no one could guess whether she was actually happy or just pretending.

"I wish I could say the same for myself," he mumbled but then straightened, realizing he had said it out loud. Janet's sudden change of expression from delighted to slightly taken aback confirmed that.

"It has been eight years since we last saw each other. We expected you to be very different from how we last recalled," Jack spoke up instead of his wife, "but no matter how much you have changed, you are still our son, our family."

Family.

Tim had lived eleven years of his early life without the actual meaning of that word and the eight years when he had been away from his parents were actually the time he had realized what family meant.

"Just because you two are biologically related to me doesn't mean that we are a family," he remarked, trying not to sound too harsh, "we never were. And I would like to keep it that way."

Janet looked as if she would tear up any second but Tim wasn't one to fall for that expression. "Tim, my dear, when did you get so cold?"

"Ever since I found out that my family was trying to get rid of me for the insurance money," his voice was even colder at that response and those words pierced through both of them.

They hadn't expected he would be aware of the truth and hearing it from him was shocking.

"What are you talking about?" Jack tried to handle the situation, "we never wanted to get rid of you. You are our only son."

"I heard you and Mom talking," Tim leaned back in his seat, a frown creasing his features, "you clearly said..."

"I said we had no other option, that was how helpless we were. That did not mean we were actually going to murder you, for goodness sake!"

Tim flinched and from the corner of his eye, he saw Jason get tense too. It was as if the elder boy was analyzing whether he should intervene or not.

Janet filled up a glass of water and handed it to Jack, her eyes softening as she looked at Tim, "what he means to say is that we were going through a crisis back then. The company was bankrupt and we couldn't even sell our home. We were given a lot of bizarre suggestions but that certainly didn't mean we would resort to..."

"Who would suggest killing your only child for the insurance money? Who would dare...?"

"Believe it or not, Timothy, we were shocked too."

He shook his head, not believing them at once, "I don't know... All I know is I couldn't sleep even a single night after that, thinking I wouldn't wake up the next morning if I did."

"That's ridiculous, we never wanted you dead."

"Funny because when you did get the insurance money, you never came back even once. Even if I had died in that crash, you could have at least come to visit my grave. I was your only son after all," he stated, knowing full well that he had made a very valid point.

If his parents had cared for him they could have visited at least once. But the only thing that brought them back to Gotham was the issue of Drake Manor's sale getting resolved.

To Tim, it was clear that they cared only for their money and their image.

The only reason they wanted him back was to regain the title of the perfect little family they once used to be.