Blessing In Disguise

Six

It's a long trek. We spend so many days walking that I lose count. We stay near enough to the road that we can still follow its course, but far enough into the trees that we won't be seen by passerby.

Ra's men go running down the road at one point, and I have to shield little D and myself. We crouch down beside an area weathered away by time and duck almost entirely into a hole, where a tree's roots poke me. I pull Damian onto my lap and wait, shivering, until all the footsteps are long gone.

I try not to reveal to him that I am thoroughly terrified, but I know he picks up on it. Ra's has trained him to know things like this.

I'm fearful of what happened to Talia after we left. I hope, dream, pray even, that she is okay. I'm afraid of what will happen if we ever actually do get to Gotham. I've been gone much too long for things to have stayed the same. I'm scared they'll take my little brother away. He's all I've got right now, with Dad and Dick and my old friends half a world away.

Things pick up in pace. We find ourselves slipping through suburbs and sleeping beside buildings. It makes me recall my old days on the Gotham streets. Damian and I talk in the early mornings before we sleep and in the evenings before the sun is all the way down. I begin to realize he's a lot more excited to meet Bruce than I originally thought.

The suburbs start out as tiny villages, and then they progress to small towns, giving way to more technologically advanced things. I start to see cars and the occasional cell phone in use. Then, I find the payphone.

It's like a gift from the heavens. There's no coin slot and then I realize I can just call on the rotary dial. I spin the number for the manor, holding Damian's hand. A teenage kid picks up the third time it rings. "Hi! Um... Wayne Manor, Tim Drake speaking?"

I can tell he doesn't know what he's doing. Honestly, I don't know what I should do, either. "Um... is Bruce or Alfred there?"

"Sorry! They're both out right now. So is Dick. But I can take a message if you want."

"Sure." I hear a shuffling sound and the kid says, "Alright. Shoot."

"Tell Bruce or Dick that they should be expecting a call from Talia pretty soon or should have gotten one already. Also, tell Alfie that Bluejay says hello. And um... it's a payphone so good luck tracking it, but I don't doubt... Batman's skills. So yeah."

"Okay. Wait, you know? Who is this?" I let a little too much slip, I think, but how else do I let them know all that's happened?

"Just a memory, mostly."

I hang up quickly, then, I pull Damian from the street. It's getting lighter by the minute. "Come on, little D. Let's get some sleep. At least now they've got a lead."

We slip into a back alleyway, similar to the ones I spent my nights in before he saved me... Damian curls up against my chest and I wrap my arms around him loosely. The kid reminds me of myself. Needing attention like a flower needs the sunshine.

But I can't get the kid from the phone out of my head. I remember him from somewhere, and it's not vague. A strong memory but I can't place it... like we were close at one point.

It occurs to me that the kid was in the manor and answered the phone when no one else was home. That makes me realize either he was left there alone, which would never happen in Bruce's lifetime, or he... lives there now.

I've been replaced.