As promised, the part 2 of the previous chapter is here. Get some tissues and prepare yourself.

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Dora woke up in the middle of the night, feeling nauseous yet again. However, the slight movement woke Tim up as well.

"Dora, is everything alright?" He sat up, hand closing onto her wrist gently.

"Yeah, just going to the bathroom," she freed her hand from his grip, "go to sleep, I'll be right back."

Still, Tim went with her and stood outside the door, knowing that she could need help. A few minutes later, a slight tap on the door alerted him and he pushed it open to see Dora clutching the sink tightly.

He immediately held her firmly, seeing that her face had gone white as sheet and she was shivering. She leaned against him, eyes falling shut in exhaustion so he carried her out and placed her down on the bed carefully.

With every passing day she was getting weaker as the toxin inside her was eating her up slowly but steadily. Even Poison Ivy's antidote seemed to be unable to stop the toxin though it had slowed down its deteriorating effects considerably.

Nevertheless, the foreseeable outcomes were not in Dora's favor and Tim knew that very well. He couldn't deny it but he couldn't do anything to stop it either.

He felt the most helpless than he had ever been in his entire life. No matter how trialing the situation, he had always figured a way out but right then he could do nothing.

It was the worst feeling ever, to live each second in fear that it could be his last moment with Dora.

But then seeing Dora bear all the pain and suffering just to give her child, no their child, a chance to live would make him try his best to overcome that helplessness. He never wanted Dora to feel that she was alone in that situation so he did his very best to be there for her.

But it was both physically and emotionally taxing for them. And Dora sometimes felt guilty that she was putting Tim through so much turmoil even though he hadn't wanted things to be that way.

He had wrapped his arms around her as he laid down with her, pulling up the blanket to cover them. His left hand gently stroked her head as if trying to make it easier for her to fall asleep.

"Tim," she looked up at him, brown eyes meeting his cerulean blue, "can I ask you something?"

"Of course. Anything."

"Do you regret supporting my decision?"

He got silent but didn't let go of her. When a while passed with him not giving an answer, she turned over, cupping his face in between her palms.

"Tim, please, I need an honest reply from you."

He let out the breath he was holding, eyes saddening to see her as such. "I had promised to always be there for you, Dora. And I don't regret keeping any promise I make to you."

"But you're hurting inside," she edged closer, eyes entreating him to look at her, "I am not blind, Tim. I see how hard it is for you to act like everything's fine. You're worried all the time, you barely even rest. And... And it's all due to me, isn't it?"

He sighed, bringing her close in a gentle embrace, lips touching her forehead in a light kiss. But he still didn't say anything.

"Why are you not speaking up?" She buried herself in his comforting warmth, his arms wrapped around her to hold her close, "your silence makes me feel terrible."

"I'm silent because you're asking a question that has no point," he replied at last, "don't blame yourself. I'm with you because I chose to stay and whatever we've been through or will face in the future isn't your fault at all. You know that very well, Dora."

"But you didn't want it to be this way. You had wanted me to save myself but I didn't... I couldn't..."

She couldn't bring herself to complete the sentence but didn't need to either as Tim had leaned in and kissed her tenderly. His thumbs stroked her cheekbones that had gotten prominent under the pale skin that stretched tightly over her bones.

"I know. Maybe if you had taken a different decision, you would have kept blaming yourself for taking our child's life away. This time, you won't have any regrets."

"And if...?"

"No," he realized what she was about to say and his features contracted in pain. His grip on her tightened too as if scared to let go so soon. "Don't say another word."

Tim was not in denial but he was still clinging onto a flimsy hope that the antidote would protect Dora from death. He couldn't imagine a life without Dora nor did he want to think about it for even a second.

And right then, seeing him stuck in a silent dilemma, Dora got the unspoken answer to her question.

Even in choosing that decision to keep the child, she had been selfish.

Tim hadn't wanted her to sacrifice herself for the child and yet she had chosen the exact thing he feared.

And right then the way he was holding her made her feel so guilty for  not thinking about him and his feelings while taking her decision. At that moment, all she had wanted to do was not to hurt the baby.

But right then she could see that it all was hurting Tim instead. And that realization was making her feel guilty as well.

"Tim, if you could choose in my place..."

"I've chosen acceptance," he spoke up, putting all her worrisome thoughts to silence, "because there is no other option left. And it would be better if you don't remind me of how things could have turned out in the other case. Please, Dora, that's all I ask for."

Her eyes had fallen shut as she relaxed in his arms, feeling his hand gently stroke the baby bump that had started to show a little.

"And I wish our child get to spend a lot of happy years with both of us. I wish he or she would get to know how great a mother you can be... I... I wish you stay with us," his voice was breaking and his eyes were welling up too.

"I can't make any promises," she whispered back, hand gently resting on top of his, "but I'll fight for my life. I want to live long enough to see our child grow up, Tim, and I'll do my best to ensure that."

***

Timothy Drake was exhausted.

He used to spend most of his time with Dora and Alex, making sure that he contributed as much as he could in order to keep Dora and their child safe.

Dora wasn't the only one who had gotten paler in those days, his complexion had faded a lot too due to exhaustion and the constant anxiety. His eyes had even darker rings from laying awake each night beside Dora, worrying that anything could go severely wrong at any moment.

Even though he wasn't going out on patrol because Bruce hadn't revoked his decision of taking his suit away from him yet. Still he was worn out by having to worry about so much.

He used to visit the cave every once in a while to check what new cases they had, using them as a temporary distraction. Right then, he was studying a case file thoroughly, tallying the facts and dates with the info he had gotten from the database pulled up on his laptop.

He got startled when a hand gently rested on his shoulder and a barely audible voice spoke up, "little brother."

He turned to see Cassandra Cain behind him, his favorite Bat sister who had turned up in Gotham at last without telling any of them beforehand.

It was indeed an unexpected surprise.

"Cassie!" He stood up and was quick to fling his arms around her, pulling her close in a hug.

In all the tiring time that had lapsed, seeing Cassie had returned finally put a smile on his features.

A smile tugged up on her features as she returned the embrace, dark eyes observing him carefully when he let go.

"Not out on patrol?"

"Long story," he mumbled, "how have you been?"

"Fine," she replied vaguely as always.

Cassandra didn't talk much, when she really had to she would just use the fewest words possible to convey her message.

"Barbara?" Her eyes flickered back to the cave, sweeping all over before resting on him again.

"She's at the Batcomputer," he replied, sitting back down and picked up the file he had dropped earlier as he expected her to go to meet Barbara but she didn't move an inch.

"You not well," she breathed out in her barely audible voice, his very evidently weakened state not hidden from her at all.

"I'm fine, Cass. A little caffeine deprived but fine, really," he smiled softly to reassure her and though his smile always worked, to Cassandra, it did not disguise the fatigue and stress he was through.

She had always looked for things not visible apparently, picking up on the faintest of traces as well. She could easily figure out people's weak points and right then Tim seemed a lot worn out to her.

Easy to take out in a fight, she judged. Alarming since she didn't want to fight him but could see he would be at a disadvantage if he went up against someone.

Perhaps that's why he isn't out on patrol either, she thought.

She could very easily see that there was something troubling him deep down but he was attempting to disguise it.

"You lie," she gave her verdict at last, dark eyes narrowing slightly.

But before he could give further justifications, she had stepped in further to go and meet Barbara, leaving Tim to wonder whether the topic was closed at that or she would ask him about it again.

Knowing Cassandra, he knew she did not probe when he didn't want her to but she had her means of finding out the answers to her questions either way.

He had busied himself with the case files again until he felt the hilt of a sword poke him, turning to see Cass again, handing him a sword.

"We train. Now."

His eyes flickered slightly, "Cassie, what...?"

"Now, little brother."

He sighed, wrapping up his work and got up because he knew Cass would make him leave either way and at least he preferred to do it on his own terms.

However, she didn't give him the time to properly close all of his work as she had picked him up by the scruff of his neck and dragged him away to the training hall.

"Oh come on..."

"You come on," she mumbled, steering him effortlessly even though he was taller than her.

It was not a lesser known fact that Cass was one of the strongest and most capable members of the Bat family. She had been trained to be the perfect warrior from a very young age and had experience as an assassin as well before she joined the Bats.

He took the sword from her and faced her as they stepped into the combative ground. "You always win, Cass."

"You try to win," she challenged, eyes glittering with a playful spark.

Both took their positions and at the slightest of nod from her, Tim charged first, his sword clashing against hers.

Cassandra observed him silently as she dodged the hit, judging his weak points. Though surprisingly what had seemed like a pattern of weak points began to trick her because whenever she aimed a hit, he blocked it as if he could see her move beforehand.

"You fight like me," she spoke up with a slight trace of surprise.

"They say fight fire with fire," he remarked, spinning as he dodged another slash of her sword.

But she could sense it was something out of the ordinary for Tim. She had trained with him a lot before but never had he been able to accurately judge and detect her moves.

Either he had gotten a lot better at fighting despite her initial judgement or he had miraculously gained mindreading abilities.

She relied on reading the opponent's body language a lot but right then she found Tim's quite disconcerting. It was evident that he was weaker and it would have been very easy to defeat him but still the fact that he was somehow detecting her moves and blocking them was slightly alarming.

"Stop," she retrieved the sword at last, "we draw."

Tim's blue eyes sparkled and all the traces of fatigue had vanished because it had been so long since he had last fought someone like that and he felt better than before. "Really? I'm sure you'll win this once too if we kept going."

"You rest," she stated, "you fight well. But you are tired."

He placed the sword back in its case and stretched, "rest...? I have too much to do, Cass, I can't."

Her dark eyes were analyzing him very closely, sensing that something about him was different but she was unable to figure out what was wrong. He seemed weak but at the same time he had fought well enough for her to call it a draw and that never happened.

Not in a fight with Cassandra. She always won.

"You make me worried, little brother."

He turned to face her again, eyes flickering in surprise, "and why is that?"

"You... Different. Not like Tim."

He paused, blue eyes looking at her in alarm, "wait, are you suspecting me?"

"Not like the Tim I know..." Her eyes were still scrutinizing him, making him feel uncomfortable, "something changed."

"You are meeting me after two years, Cass, a lot can change in such a long time," he tried to shrug it off casually.

But Cassandra had gotten worried because even though she knew the boy standing in front of her was Tim and not an intruder posing to be him, she could sense that he was her little brother she could go to hell and back for. But at the same time there was something askew about him.

Perhaps she was reading him too closely and couldn't properly discern the intent behind his movements. Perhaps he really had changed a lot in the two years they had stayed apart and had picked up a lot that she hadn't noticed in him before.

"Cassie... You just came back after two years," his hands gently rested on her shoulders, blue eyes gazing down in her dark irises, "and you scare the hell out of me by telling me I'm not like the Tim you know. At this point, I might as well start suspecting myself."

She shook her head, "no. You are Tim. But different."

"What kind of different?" He asked reluctantly because a feeling in him warned him that he wouldn't like the answer.

"Leave it," she draped her arm round his back, leading him towards the elevator that connected to the Manor, "I meet Alfred. Come."

"Cass, I have work to..."

But his voice trailed off as she shushed him, dragging him with her despite his protests, "come."

***

Everyone in the Wayne family was glad to have Cassandra back with them. She had left two years earlier without informing them much about her latest mission but had dropped off the radar with only contacting Bruce to convey him that she was fine.

Still they had not known anything about her whereabouts as she preferred to keep herself completely detached from them to make sure that they were safe and there was no risk of her cover getting blown up.

And as she had returned at last, they were all eager to spend as much time with her as possible. However, Cassie's first pick to spend time with was always Tim.

The two had been close to each other ever since Cass had become a part of the team when Tim was still a Robin in training. She had taken part in training him as well and always tried her best to look out for him, also being the first to help him out of any mess he fell into.

Cass had noticed that he had been sulking around a lot more than usual and was always very tired. Even though Tim had the reputation of being the meanest in the family after Damian already but his mean mode had become more constant, due to not going out on patrol and feeling trapped in a cage without his wings.

He had given up training as often as he used to do so earlier since he spent very little time at the Manor and that was why Cassandra had noticed him to be weaker when they had fought each other the day she had returned.

Barbara had briefly told her about Tim's year long disappearance as well as the events preceding it. But as the family weren't aware of the details themselves, Cass didn't find out the answers to all her questions.

Over the past few days with her attention continuously on her little brother, she had finally begun to discern the meanings of his body language, alarmingly finding it much similar to that of a high functioning mutant.

Each time she tried to focus, she would find his body to sing out in a chorus, making it unable for her to keep track of how he was going to react. It was a trait she had seen only once before and though it was very helpful in distracting opponents who were adept at reading body language, she still found it unnerving.

However, she had also noticed that it wasn't the case with him all the time. The only times when Tim was quite unreadable was during fights or training sessions or whenever he was caught off guard.

It was some sort of involuntary reaction from him that activated only when he was either vulnerable or highly cautious. Two extreme opposite situations ensuing a similar response from him.

Other than that, he was just the Tim she knew; the caffeinated wreck who was both an adorable idiot and a sarcastic genius at the same time.

But then she had noticed his reluctance to spend time with the family as well and how he was always on edge. It seemed as if something was worrying him a lot but he was intentionally not sharing it with any of them.

He would leave the Manor early every morning and would return late at night or most days, he wouldn't return at all. And as Cass was unaware of the current situation, she began to get more suspicious.

She had two options; either to ask Tim directly what was going on or to follow him and find out for herself. As Tim hardly got the time to sit down for a detailed talk, Cass chose to follow him and see what was going on.

Early next morning, she followed Tim to Dora's Coffee Haunt, curious to see what was keeping him so occupied. But Tim had highly alert senses so he figured out that she was following him and once they were inside the shop, instead of going to the kitchen first, he turned to face her.

Cass had ducked agilely behind the bookshelf in the comfy corner so that she wouldn't be seen but he approached nevertheless.

"Come out, Cass, I know you're there."

She slipped out from her hiding place at last, an apologetic look set on her features.

"I was going to bring you here myself someday but since you beat me to it, let me introduce you to my girlfriend and her elder brother," he remarked, gesturing her to come with him.

Cass was intrigued to meet Tim's girlfriend because she knew it had to be someone special to have caught his heart. He led her to the kitchen and she saw Alex first, busy in preparing the morning's coffee orders.

"Hi Tim," Alex greeted in routine but when he looked up to see Cass, a questioning expression flickered on his face, "and hi..."

"My sister Cassandra," Tim introduced her, "and Cassie, this is Alex. Dora's elder brother."

"Nice to meet you, Cassandra."

Cass nodded, dark eyes inquisitively observing the tall man in front of them who had gone back to tending his work.

"Where's Dora?" Tim asked, seeing that she wasn't in the kitchen unlike usual.

Dora had insisted on helping Alex out at the coffee shop even then because she got bored not doing anything else and baking was a good pastime for her. So not seeing her in the kitchen made Tim worried.

"She's in her room," Alex replied, "she was tired so I told her not to come to the shop. You can go meet her, she'll be awake."

Tim led Cass up the stairs to the small upper portion where Dora and Al's rooms were located. He asked her to stay outside while he went in to check up on Dora.

Cassie had noticed that Tim was being extremely cautious; perhaps his girlfriend wasn't feeling well and that worry was weighing him down. In a sense, she was correct to assume that.

Shortly after, Tim had opened the door wider and nodded at her in an affirmative sign. She stepped in and saw a very weak girl sitting up on her bed, pillows propped up to support her.

Cassandra saw that even in that weakened state, the girl was very beautiful and the smile that had spread on her face to see them was the prettiest expression Cass had ever seen. But she was alarmingly weak and as Cass observed further, she froze at the spot.

Tim knew it would happen and Cass would know without him having to tell her anything. So he reached out to her, hand gently resting on her shoulder to snap her out of it. He nodded again to tell her that he was aware of what she was thinking and he would explain everything later.

Cassie's eyes were full of questions but she stepped in and approached Dora who smiled at her, holding her hand out towards her, "it's so nice to finally meet you, Cassandra."

She nodded in reply and shook the outstretched hand but didn't say much as she sat down on the bed across from her. Tim was telling Dora that Cass had just come back to the family after two years and since she was his favorite sister, he had brought her along to meet Dora.

Throughout their conversation, Dora noticed that Cassandra was probably the most silent Wayne she had ever met. She hardly ever spoke though she could see the girl was very observant as her eyes kept flickering towards even the slightest of sounds.

But Dora didn't find that uncomfortable, Tim had told her a lot about Cass already and she knew the girl was much different from the rest of them.

On the other hand, Cass was silently observing her little brother's girlfriend. She could see that Dora was very pretty and sweet, someone Tim would feel immediately drawn to. And the way the two were comfortable with one another also suggested that they were genuinely content in each other's company.

But Cass couldn't help noticing that Dora was sad about something even though she managed to hide it well with her smile and light bell-like laughter. She could easily read her body language and to her it somehow translated into grievance.

Almost as if the girl was grieving over something even then but holding it within herself because she didn't want anyone to get worried due to her.

"Is it okay if I call you Cassie too?" Dora asked, a soft smile playing on her lips.

"Okay."

"You know before meeting you I thought the entire Wayne family was talkative except Bruce," Dora kept the conversation going, realizing that Cassie wasn't as alert and cautious around her as she had been earlier. "Jason never shuts up and even Richard and Steph talk a lot. I thought I would never meet a Wayne who would be as silent as you are."

"You not meet Damian then," she mumbled in reply, causing a light chuckle to escape Tim.

"He's never silent, Cass, he spews out insults faster than I do," he added.

"You two, same level."

Dora laughed at that remark, "I'm sure Steph would have agreed."

Tim spoke up as if he had just remembered something, "Dora, have you had breakfast yet?" When she shook her head in a no, he stood up, "I'll be right back then, you know you shouldn't stay hungry for this long. Cass, do you need anything to eat?"

Cassie shook her head but Dora remarked, "ask Susan to put in a few cupcakes in the tray as well. I'm sure Cass would like those."

As Tim had gone downstairs to bring Dora's breakfast, Cassie took the opportunity to ask Dora what was going on.

"You not well," she stated bluntly, her hand pointing to the medicines on the bedside table as Dora had opened her mouth to object. "How long?"

"Excuse me?"

"The baby... How long?" Cass repeated the question and Dora looked back at her, astonished that she knew.

"Four and a half months," she replied, "you can tell?"

Cass nodded, "Tim's?"

"Of course." Dora could sense that the conversation would get awkward from then onwards. Cassie truly was just as observant or probably even more than what Tim had told her earlier.

"You take care," Cassie spoke up, taking her by surprise as she had been expecting her to interrogate her further, "Tim very worried for you. You... You important to him a lot."

Dora's features softened into an understanding look and she reached out to gently hold Cassie's hand, "I know. I'm trying my best to recover. If it were in my power, I would never cause him so much trouble..."

But her voice trailed off, a wave of guilt washing over her as she was reminded that she could have prevented that if only she had chosen to abort her child instead. She shuddered at the thought and Cassie seemed to have sensed the unease and pain coursing through her as she shifted closer, her hand cautiously patting Dora's head.

"I like you. You get better soon," Cass tried to reassure her, returning the hug that Dora initiated, "I pray for you and the little one."

"Thank you so much, Cass, that's very sweet of you."

Tim came back to find them hugging each other and he halted at the doorstep, making sure not to drop the tray in shock.

"Dora, do you have some magic power that makes every adoptive sibling of mine care for you automatically?"

"I think you'd have to remove Damian from that list," Dora replied as she let go of Cass, "I have met him too but sometimes I feel like he hates me."

"I think he doesn't hate you but he's disappointed that you chose to date a lost cause like me," Tim answered, setting the tray down on the bedside table, "he has always been like that."

"Damian good too," Cass quickly defended her youngest brother, "he take time but he not hate anyone. He very nice."

Dora nodded, "I can understand. I like you too, Cass, you're even more awesome than Tim described."

Tim looked at the two smiling at each other, feeling relieved that Cass had gotten along well with Dora, "I like it that you two have become friends but if you ignore my presence here, I might take it to heart."

Dora laughed, shaking her head at his remark while Cass shoved him slightly.

"You annoying. Out."

"Hey! That's exactly what I feared would happen."

***

Well, so this is it for part 2. It got way longer than the previous one but I had a lot to cover, giving you guys somewhat lighthearted scenes as well along with the angst.

Hope you guys liked the chapter. Have a lovely day and stay tuned for part 3.

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