Castle Of Glass | B. Wayne

[32]

Tim was the only one out of the Wayne siblings who knew the actual reason for which Bruce and Calmia had gathered the immediate family for dinner. Richard, Barbara, Jason, Cassandra, and Stephanie were all invited to be there as they no longer lived in the Manor.

Calmia had arranged an exquisite assortment of dishes for them and Jason was gushing over how delicious everything looked already. It was quite obvious by the slight tension in the air that Bruce and Calmia had something to tell and all of them could sense it.

And only Tim had the right guess on what it could be but as he had promised Calmia not to say anything to let it slip, he was silently enjoying the show.

Dinner passed in lively chatter and the game for guessing what dessert Calmia had made followed. That once, all of them had looked up different Egyptian dessert names to guess the right one but when she finally bought out the much-awaited dessert, surprise struck them.

She had made brownies, the one thing none of them had even thought of stating as a guess considering their experience last time.

"Seriously, Mia, you love to keep us guessing and somehow we still don't win at this game," Jason remarked.

"But I love brownies so I couldn't have been happier," Steph remarked with a bright smile.

Calmia smiled as well but her slightly fidgety hands showed that she was on edge. Cassandra noticed that and exchanged a glance with Richard who shrugged slightly. She then looked over at Tim who dipped his head in a single nod.

It seemed as if the Waynes were silently conversing among themselves on whether to ask Calmia if she was okay or not.

"Miss Calmia," surprisingly Damian took the lead, his emerald eyes flickering to his father and then focusing on her, "I feel like you have to tell us something."

"Actually... Bruce and I both have to tell all of you something."

That statement garnered all their attention as every face was turned to the couple eagerly. Tim hid the very small smile that was about to break on his face upon imagining how Jason would react when he found out that he already knew.

"We are expecting a new addition to the family," Bruce spoke up, his eyes fondly locking with Calmia's before returning to the rest of the audience, "and before any of you try to guess, no, I am not adopting another Robin. There's no need to call David, Jason, I didn't ask for any papers."

Jason put his phone down immediately, "I wasn't doing that, certainly not. Please carry on."

"Bruce isn't adopting anyone but you all will be getting a sibling, we don't yet know if it's a boy or a girl, um..." Her voice trailed off, judging their expressions of pure befuddlement and Bruce placed a supporting arm around her.

"Wait... That's awesome!" Steph spoke up, standing up immediately to go and give Calmia a hug, "congratulations! Both of you!"

Slowly the rest of them seemed to realize what they were trying to tell. And as the realization settled in, everyone at the table broke into smiles and cheers as they congratulated Bruce and Calmia.

Well, all except Damian who was still somewhat confused until Cassandra nudged him, "we getting a baby Bat soon."

He seemed to understand then as he remarked, "another blood child?"

"Yup."

"Congratulations, Father and Miss Calmia. I hope this one doesn't turn out to be as much of a bloodthirsty nuisance as I have been," he mumbled and silence engulfed the table until Damian added, "I mean... I get it, I shouldn't joke. Forget I said anything after the congratulations."

It was quite adorable to see Damian try to make a joke even though it ended up making him get flustered. He knew if the rest of his brothers said anything like that, the others would immediately know they were joking. But as Damian was always serious, they hadn't considered that a possibility.

"Aw, was that an attempt at a joke from our lovely Dami?" Steph squished his cheeks while he glared at her.

"Demon spawn is transitioning into a human it seems," Jay remarked in a hushed whisper.

"Our baby bro is finally growing up to be a normal person... My, my, these are happy tears," Richard flung an arm around Damian in a hug while pretending to wipe those happy tears. But Barbara shook her head, silently telling him not to annoy Damian as he was certainly not liking all that attention.

Jason laughed as well but then noticed Tim sitting smugly. "Replacement, why haven't you congratulated Bruce and Mia yet?"

Tim's smug little smirk widened to a full-blown one, "because I have done so personally. Before any of you could, to be precise."

"Wait, what? How is that possible...?"

"You lie, Tim," Cass stated but then noticing his expression, she too did a double take, "no lie?"

The rest of them were confused but Jason realized what he meant as his laughing expression turned into a threatening one, "you knew..."

"Hasta la vista, everybody. Gotta escape before the zombie tries to fulfill my death wish." Tim winked before vanishing from the table with Jason following close behind.

"Why did you know? What did you do to find out before us? No, spare me the details, you annoying little shit. How dare you?" Jason's dramatic exclamations could be heard in the background as he chased after Tim, "and Mia, this is not fair, you can't tell Tim personally! This is pure betrayal that I never expected from you!"

Laughter ensued at the chaos being cooked up by Jason and Tim. Eventually, they returned to the table although a bit battered up after a slight fistfight.

Calmia looked at them in concern but they were both smiling as if nothing had just happened. They were quite used to fighting with each other and making up afterward.

"Congratulations again," Tim spoke up, stifling a pained grunt as Jason squeezed his arm where he had hit him not long ago.

"Next time, make sure no one ever tells him anything beforehand, not even you, Mia." Jason spoke up, letting go of Tim at last, "it hurts my feelings."

"Don't worry, I will keep it in mind," Calmia smiled, relieved that the news had not been met with any opposition.

She had been a bit skeptical about how Damian would react but the boy was calmly taking another brownie from the dish, ignoring the chaos his brothers had just cooked up.

Emerald eyes looked up and glanced in her brown ones as Damian seemed to have noticed her looking at him. Before she could look away, he remarked, "none of these idiots remembered to compliment you on the brownies."

"Oh..."

"These are adequate," he resumed and it caused the rest of his siblings to laugh.

"What he means is that he likes the taste, isn't it right, Dami?" Barbara added and Damian nodded his head for the briefest of seconds.

"Thank you," by then Calmia was surely relieved and felt much better after telling them. "I feel so lucky to have you guys."

"Trust me, we are the lucky ones," Richard replied, a soft smile creasing his features.

***