Jonathan wrapped up his work at the research center an hour after everyone else, but Tim had left. The boy joined him on his way out, and as always, he had a lot to tell him as he hadn't come there the previous day.

"So why didn't you come yesterday?" Jonathan asked as they left the building behind, walking the short distance to the subway station.

"I had to go meet someone," he replied, "Take a guess who."

Jonathan felt he already knew who it could be if he had asked him to guess. Jack and Janet Drake were the only people he could think of that Tim should have met but didn't want to earlier. Perhaps he met them at last and resolved things with them.

The thought spread a bitter aftertaste in his mouth as he wasn't sure how to feel about it. If Tim and his parents had really come to better terms, would he go with them? However, he brought his racing thoughts to a halt, knowing the boy was waiting for an answer.

"Your parents, I assume," he replied, watching his expression closely.

Tim's eyes widened in surprise, "How did you know?"

"I guessed," he remarked but then asked, "How did it go?"

"Awkward," he shrugged his shoulders, lips pressing together in a thin frown.

The chagrin of the city muffled as they descended the steps leading to the underground station. The train headed for the outskirts and left in a few minutes, and quite a crowd assembled to board the second-last train.

Jonathan raised an eyebrow as if to ask why Tim was boarding the same train as him. He should have waited for the next one if he had to go to Wayne Manor.

"Jay's working late today, so I told him to pick me up from your place when he gets free," Tim explained. "You don't mind me staying with you for a few hours, right?"

He didn't mind at all. Tim's company was always a welcome respite from the troubling thoughts that gripped him otherwise.

"I don't mind," he replied vaguely, still reluctant to express how he truly felt.

Emotions and Jonathan were polar opposites; he felt awkward each time he had to express a positive sentiment. He cared for Tim, and the boy knew it, but even after all that time, he couldn't bring himself to say it.

"If I hadn't known you, I could have felt that your lack of interest means otherwise."

Cold blue irises met with his equally wide eyes, and Jonathan sighed wearily, "Well, fortunately, you do know me. And we were talking about your parents, not my lack of interest in everything in general."

Tim did a double take, observing him cautiously as if he was volatile and might erupt. "Yikes, Doc, you're in some mood today."

"I just..." He paused, assessing their surroundings and deciding not to say anything further. "I guess I'm just tired."

"Alright then, I won't bother you further," Tim remarked breezily. "We can go home first; I will whip you up a nice cup of tea and then tell you how my family reunion went. Sounds good?"

He hummed in reply, looking out the window to a blur of somber shades.

Why did that train even have windows? They could only see the ghastly underground infrastructure and the bulky pipes running alongside it. It was a depressing sight as the lights flickered and the train sped past, the greys and blacks fading into one.

After some time, as the stop to the Narrows arrived, they descended the train. Jonathan kept his head down as they walked to the apartment building. However, a strange feeling of being watched settled in the pit of his stomach.

He was always overly conscious of his surroundings, feeling the hateful stares and voices surrounding him everywhere. But it felt different from those stares. He looked around, finding nothing unusual, yet it still felt unnerving.

So he did what he would do in any other situation where he felt threatened. His brain switched into flight mode, and his pace quickened.

"Hey, you're practically running away. What happened?" Tim caught up with him as he quickly climbed the stairs to the seventh floor.

"I want to go home."

"Yeah, but..."

He unlocked the door hastily, pushed Tim in, and stepped inside, turning in the lock. His hands rested on the wooden pane, and his head dropped low, his eyes staring down at the thin space between the floor and the door's lower edge.

It was almost as If he was looking out for footsteps that could indicate someone was outside.

"Doc, you're making me worried. What's going on?"

Finally, when he was sure that no one would break open the door, he turned to face him. "It's nothing."

"It was clearly not nothing."

He sighed wearily, "Timothy, tea, please?"

Tim knew something was wrong, and he had intentionally not told him. But he didn't pester him further and went to the kitchen to brew tea for both of them as promised.

While putting the water to boil on the stove, he came out to check on Jonathan. The man had hung his coat and gone to his room to change out of his work clothes.

The tea powder added to the water had turned a rich brown shade when Tim poured in the milk, lightening the color to a deep saffron. He found sugar cubes in a cabinet and added one cube to each cup.

By then, Jonathan joined him in the kitchen, standing aside as he watched him work.

He looked very different in his casual home clothes. A simple pair of trousers, a plain shirt, and a light woolen cardigan made an outfit that felt rather out of place on him. He didn't seem like the always-on-guard Doctor Crane that Tim knew.

"What are you thinking?" Jonathan asked, seeing he was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he almost burnt his hand.

"Nothing. Just that people look different at home."

He raised an eyebrow, "How so?"

"Just comfortable. Relaxed. Off guard in a sense."

"I don't think I can ever be off guard," he mumbled to himself, but Tim heard him.

He poured out the tea in the cups, a fragrant whiff drifting around them. He offered one to Jonathan, then went out to the living room, knowing he would come up behind.

"So I finally met my parents," Tim changed the topic, "After what, like, seven years? They came to Bruce and asked him to arrange some sort of meetup. Then I had to go."

"I can't imagine Bruce Wayne would have forced you to go."

"You're right, though. He didn't force me. I figured I had an old record to set straight, so I agreed to the meetup," he elaborated.

"Why are they here?"

"Primarily to sell Drake Manor, but now that they saw me, they wanted to take me with them too. Guess they wanted to regain that image of a perfect little family." His words were covered with a poignant trace of bitterness that didn't go unnoticed by the former psychiatrist.

He took a sip from his tea, eyes observing the flickering emotions on Tim's face closely. He didn't want to go with his parents. But something else was weighing over him rather than just that decision.

"I met them in a fancy restaurant, and it added to the whole awkwardness," the boy resumed, seeing that Jonathan was listening attentively. "Luckily, Steph and Jay accompanied me, so after the very awkward meetup, they took me to Chinatown, and my mood improved."

Jonathan noticed he still hadn't said anything about what his parents told him. He had a feeling the boy had said something harsh himself, too, and that was why he was hesitant to open up.

"So you're not going with them?" He asked, at last, overcoming the brief silence that lingered.

"Of course not. Why should I when they didn't even care to check whether I was even alive or not," he frowned, leaning back on the old shabby couch. "Some lesson they taught about never trusting even your family members..."

He still felt there was more to the bitterness that Tim had expressed, but he didn't press further. He knew he wasn't a ball of sunshine either way, but his parents were a sensitive topic, one that could invoke either fear or anger in him.

Jonathan offered as a distraction from his rapidly souring mood, "I never told you about my family, did I?"

He paused, ears perking up in curiosity. "You did not. It bugs me how I never asked either."

The man took a deep breath, knowing full well that he was touching upon a topic that would make him slightly unstable. But sharing it with Doctor Fischer last time had slightly reduced the burden he felt.

Perhaps talking to Tim about it would help him come to terms with it entirely. Either way, he could give it a try.

***