Veterinarians Meet Vigilante

CHAPTER 6

Gotham City
November 2023 2 weeks later

Venus and Juniper weren't sure how family dinner evolved into family game night so quickly, but they were having so much fun the absurdity of it all was quickly forgotten. "Wait, you are telling me that you actually managed to swing from the chandelier and it didn't break?!" Dick shrieked like a banshee as Juniper was retelling one of her favorite hide and seek moments from their childhood. She nodded then said, "I think we were 7 or 8 at the time and we were very bored. Moms were in a meeting with Bruce about ecological advances and we had nothing to do, so naturally we decided to play a game of hide and seek. Venus had lost rock, paper, scissors so she did it first. I don't think I really registered at the time how impressive it was that the chandelier didn't even move or buckle! I was up there for 3 hours and fell asleep before mama Ivy found me!" Everyone burst out laughing at that and Venus was starting to have a hard time breathing. Juniper looked over at her big sister in slight concern, but Venus waved her off mouthing that she was fine and didn't need anything. "Trips down memory lane are so fun." Bruce replied calmly, while sitting further back in his big lazy boy chair. "Uncle Bruce is that the same chair that I begged you to buy because I just wanted an excuse to read in a huge chair?" Venus asked him while tilting her head. As she had started to tilt her head, Jason had looked her way and couldn't help but notice how puppy-like and adorable she looked when doing so. Jason had no idea what was happening to him, he had never felt like this before. The instant connection he felt with her was indescribable, and also slightly terrifying. On instinct, his mental walls had raised themselves back up and he had automatically started thinking of every little thing that could possibly go wrong. He hoped that Venus felt the same way, if not he wasn't sure what he was going to do. All of the reading he did, and still does, would never prepare him for this feeling. All of the books say that you will know who your forever person is when you meet them, he had never understood that until now. "Jaybird? You okay?" He vaguely heard Dick ask, he turned to him and replied, "Yes Dickie I'm fine. Just lost in my head for a bit, what are we talking about?" He was so interested in listening to Dick's recap of the conversation that he completely missed the worried look Venus sent his way.
Venus was stuck in the same conundrum. What if he didn't want her the way she wants him? There are so many things that could go wrong, not to mention the fact that her and Juniper had the meta gene, it just hadn't manifested itself yet. When they were smaller, around 5 or 6, Ivy had taken them for genetic testing to make sure that everything was fine because she had never met or seen children so quiet and content with whatever they were doing. While getting the testing done, they discovered that both girls have the meta gene but they would never know if they had any powers unless it was triggered. Some people go their whole lives without ever manifesting their meta genes, so Harley and Ivy weren't worried at all about their abilities. Even if something did happen and they both triggered their meta genes, their moms would be there for them no matter what. On an added plus, Ivy is considered a meta so she could help them with learning their abilities and how to control them better if there is ever the need for it. "Oh my gosh V! Do you remember the summer before your 7th grade year?" Juniper looked her way giggling and trying so hard to not burst out laughing. Venus rolled her eyes and slightly glared at her little sister, "We agreed we would never speak of the incident of 13' ever again Juniper Elaine." Venus told her sternly, trying to change the subject, but the boys were already interested now. "Incident? What could you two have possibly done that requires such a title?" Damian asked them, he wouldn't admit to it if anyone asked, but he was very fond of the Isley girls. They loved animals almost as much as he did, and Venus was really good at calming Titus down when he got a little riled up with all of the noise in the manor lately. "Juniper." Venus warned, while also mentally preparing for the worst possible outcome. "V, I love you. But it's way too funny to not share the story!" Juniper defended before running and hiding behind Dick as a safety precaution. "Okay.. Go ahead.." Venus sighed as she slouched down into her chair with Alfred the cat in her lap sleeping away peacefully and Titus down below her feet. Venus sat criss cross in the other huge lazy boy chair she made Bruce buy for the family room. "Prepare yourselves for the best story of all time!" Juniper said excitedly as she settled on the floor in front of Dick's legs. "For context very quickly! This is before I had come out of the closet as bisexual. Please don't laugh too hard at my embarrassment." Venus provided before slightly moving Alfred the cat to a more comfortable position in her lap. The cat made no sound or movement at all, he was so calm and asleep he would let this human do whatever at the moment. "Okay, that was the summer of our trip to Milan. Moms had decided that since we both had gotten on honor roll that school year that we could take a family vacation for a month. One day we decided it would be fun to go down to the strip mall by the beach near our motel. We had been to like 15 stores and had a lot of clothes already bought. So each of us were carrying around like 2 bags per arm and still shopping. But as we were walking all of a sudden Venus trips over a bump in the sidewalk and ends up knocking into one of the drink stalls and completely ruining the iced drink holders! She had smashed so hard into this drink vendor that their entire stall had completely fallen apart! And to make this story even better, they had somehow accidentally kissed on their way down to the floor! Venus was so red we were certain her face was permanently stained at that point." Everyone in the room burst into contagious laughter at Venus' expense, she knew that the story was funny and now she had no problems with it. It is still to this day the most embarrassing thing that has happened to her though. "Honestly I am not shocked about it anymore... the amount of things I trip or run into on a daily basis should be illegal." Venus shrugged out as another round of laughter filled the room. Unbeknownst to the occupants of said room, they were being tracked. And the person behind the tracking was not willing to leave Gotham without their treasures.