Here we go with the sixth part. And we are very close to the end.

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"Well... Elios is a metahuman."

Silence engulfed the room though it was practically impossible for any place to be silent where such a large number of Waynes were gathered together.

"And you're telling us now?" Steph spoke up, recovering from the shock.

Tim looked back at them sheepishly, "I guess I forgot...?"

Damian saw through that excuse very easily, "Drake, you suck at lying. You know that, don't you?"

"First of all, no, I do not suck. Secondly, this isn't me indirectly accepting that I lied to you all," he defended himself, "I just thought it could wait. It's nothing to worry about."

Luke broke out into laughter, "true, nothing to worry about when your son can literally grow up a whole garden here at any minute."

"Oh come on..."

"Tim, you owe me a long explanation," Dora remarked, picking up the green leaves as she examined them in her hands, "and first thing we're going to do when we go home is to call Miss Isley. She would know the answer to why Eli is a metahuman."

"I do know the answer too, Dora," he replied, "and I'll tell everything to you but right now, we've got to focus on your recovery."

"You tell everything to Dora but exclude us as if we're not your family," Dick remarked, the expression on his face clearly indicating that he felt left out and untrusted by his younger brother.

"Oh come on," Tim tried to protest against it but knew it would be futile as all of them were giving him a stern look, agreeing with the eldest brother. 

He pondered that so far he had only told Cass and Dora everything that had happened in the one year at NOWHERE, not even Bruce knew the full extent of the experimentation. However, he felt that as they were his family, he shouldn't hide so much from them or else it would make them think that he didn't trust them.

He felt a light tug at his wrist and looked down to see that Dora had gripped his hand, a questioning look flickering in her eyes. She had sensed what he was thinking and wanted to know whether he was actually going to go with it.

Tim sighed and nodded then turned back to face the rest of them, "okay, I'll tell you all. But on one condition."

"Name it."

"None of you tells Bruce anything," Tim requested, "I have received enough lectures from him, I don't want to get grilled again."

As expected, Jason was the first one to agree, "I'm in. I would never let slip a single word in front of Bruce."

"Are you sure about that?" Steph asked, "you keep on reminding us that you're terrible at keeping secrets."

Jason chuckled, "did it ever occur to you that it was just a cover? Like of course, I'm brilliant at keeping secrets but I don't want to hear you all rambling out your problems to me."

Tim had been slightly edgy at the thought of having to share the second-worst time of his life with all of them but Jay's remark made him smile. "He's right, Steph. He kept his and Rose's relationship a secret very successfully."

"Fair enough," Steph gave in.

"I won't tell Father anything," Damian spoke up as well, "but you are not being pressurized to tell us either. If you feel like you shouldn't, then so be it."

Tim's smile deepened and he really wanted to go hug Damian because it were times as these that the boy showed how much he had matured. Tim felt very proud to see him as such because it showed that he had learnt a lot and was willing to accept and move on from his past mistakes.

"On second thoughts, stay away. I do not need a hug," Dami seemed to have guessed his intentions too.

However, the rest of them agreed not to tell Bruce as well so Tim braced himself for a volley of sermons from them and then told them about his time at NOWHERE, focusing only on the experimentation as that part was relevant to why Elios was a metahuman.

"You guys know I infiltrated NOWHERE, right? It could only have been possible if I joined the organization as a specimen for experimentation."

An eerie silence gripped them all and Dora gently gave his hand a reassuring squeeze, in a silent attempt to tell him that they would understand.

"NOWHERE had been modifying humans to turn them into mutants by using experiments and definitely infusing them with the meta genes. They had an entire colony of mutants modified as such. Since I had been a specimen too, some experiments were performed on me as well. I was confident that if I managed to get rid of them in the timeframe I had worked out, I would be able to avoid the final phases of the experimentation hence I would not gain any mutant abilities. But I was proved wrong."

Tim's eyes tookin each thoughtful face in front of him. It seemed as if all of them were starting to realize that Tim indeed had abilities beyond reach of an average human.

"I suspected it myself too and I got more confirmed when Cass trained with me and I was able to detect her moves, blocking them effectively. No one wins in a fight from Cass so I was shocked but I chose to ignore it."

"You can see unnervingly well in the dark," Damian remarked, "I suppose that's another of your abilities."

"Yeah..."

Barbara and Cass gave each other a look and Cass nodded because she had discussed the situation with Barbara beforehand, but omitted the fact that Tim had been experimented on.

"So my guess is that the metagene got inherited by Elios and combined with Poison Ivy's potions, it got activated and gave him powers. We do not know the extent of it just now and no, Luke, he can not grow an entire garden in a minute. But we'll figure out as we go," Tim concluded, taking in a deep breath to calm himself.

He had thought he would never tell them anything about it yet he had just shared it with them all. Still, the uncertainty of how they would react was making him nervous.

"Just one question..." Richard spoke up after listening to the entire account, "how are you going to explain this to Bruce without telling him the real reason?"

Tim knew that was a dead-end, "well... I suppose we tell him nothing until it's really necessary?"

Damian was shaking his head as if disappointed at how dumb Tim could get but Jason obviously was on board with the idea.

"I'll help!" He volunteered, practically unable to let go of such a fine opportunity to mess with Bruce, "I can always provide brilliant distractions if he starts to get suspicious."

Tim smiled at his enthusiasm to do anything given the incentive that it would piss off Bruce, "I appreciate that very much."

***

When Dora was finally discharged from the hospital and had to be taken home, it was decided that she would go to Wayne Manor. Since she couldn't go up or down the stairs and needed full bed rest and care, Tim offered that they would all look after her.

Alex had been reluctant because he didn't want Dora to be a burden on them but Tim and the others had assured him that Dora was like family to them and they would be glad to take care of her. Since it was Dora's betterment at stake, Alex agreed.

Therefore, Dora and Elios were brought to Wayne Manor where Alfred had prepared a room for them on the ground floor so that any overexertion on Dora's part could be avoided. And Alfred had also arranged a nursery for Bruce's first grandchild.

Needless to say, Bruce was very delighted to have a grandson though he didn't say it out loud. He had taken the newborn child from Tim the second they had reached and told him to look after that Dora was okay while he would keep Elios with him in the meanwhile.

Tim was hesitant because he didn't want Bruce to find out that Elios had powers just then but couldn't say no when Bruce insisted.

"What's he doing?" Damian asked looking at his father who seemed rather fascinated by the little child giggling and poking fingers at his face.

"Now that I think about it, Bruce has never adopted a child this small," Dick replied, the two of them on the lookout for any accidental plants sprouting, "look at him, he's fascinated."

"I have never seen Father like that," Damian agreed, keeping his voice down, "and it's a wonder he didn't ask why Drake Jr's hair has green tips."

"Don't point it out in front of him."

"What do you take me for? Stupid?"

"No, hush..."

However, Bruce seemed to have heard the mumbling coming from behind the bookshelf so he paused, looking straight at them.

Dick and Damian might have been hidden apparently but they could feel the Bat glare pierce through their souls.

"What are you two doing here?" Bruce asked, "come out."

Reluctantly, they stepped out and Damian chose to gaslight Richard. "I was doing nothing, Father. I saw Grayson and stopped by to see what he was doing."

Richard's eyes widened in alarm and a betrayed expression took over his features, "Damian, you little..."

"What were you doing, Dick?" Bruce interrupted before a long speech of how Richard felt disappointed that Dami had betrayed him would begin.

"I... Uh... I was cleaning," he said the first excuse that come to mind, "the back of the shelf was dirty so I thought to help Alfred out. That's all."

Bruce was looking at the two of them as if still wondering whether they had really grown up or was it just an illusion. At times, he still felt they were all troublemaking children trapped in the bodies of fully grown adults.

"If the back of the shelf was dirty and you were cleaning it by going behind, how come your clothes don't have even a speck of dust upon them? And where's the cleaning brush?"

Damian was controlling the urge to laugh while Dick looked no different from a deer in headlights. 

"Well... You see... Happy Birthday!" He panicked and of course, whenever he panicked, he overreacted involuntarily, "I just remembered it's your birthday, let me go get a gift."

Bruce looked extremely unamused, "it's not my birthday."

"Ah, an unbirthday gift then, even better!"

Both Bruce and Damian watched Richard make his hasty escape and when he was gone, Bruce turned to his son, "what are you two really up to?"

"We wanted to see what you would be like as a grandfather," he replied without any hesitation, "it was a pleasant sight."

An almost negligible smile crept on Bruce's face as he looked back at his grandson, "Dick panicked as if I had caught him keying the Batmobile."

Damian didn't hold back the slight chuckle, "Grayson would never do that, Todd on the other hand..."

He had left the sentence deliberately incomplete, watching Bruce get distracted by Elios again who had clapped both his tiny hands on either side of Bruce's face and giggled.

Damian had been right though. Seeing Bruce as a Grandpa was truly a pleasant sight.

***

I promise I will wrap this up quickly so the next part might be either the second last or the last part. I don't want you guys to feel like I am dragging it out but I just can't help it with all these cute scenes here and there.

See you all soon with part 7.

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