Light entered the room as night faded into daylight. Accustomed to waking up at the first ray of dawn, Veruna peeled open her eyes. Unlike usual, she did not wake up to the sight of the blank walls in her room at the Al Ghul fortress.

The sight that met her eyes instead felt no less than a dream and she had to blink twice to make sure she had woken up.

Saahir was asleep, his arm resting under her head and his messy brown hair obscuring his eyes from view. She sat up, making sure not to disturb him then untied the strings of his cloak that he had put on her last night.

As she took it off and laid it in front of her, she could very clearly see the Persian Empire's emblem over the thick fur. Her hand brushed over it, smoothing it gently.

He had stood on the opposing side of the League on the battlefield and five years had passed since then. Yet something about him made her want to believe that he had no intention of going against the League. 

The fact that he was a prince yet still chose to live with Amma and the twins merely out of concern and affection for them made her come to the conclusion that revenge wasn't what he wanted. He had told her himself that he lost everything in the previous war but he couldn't bear to lose the family he had currently.

And if he struck against the League, his newly found family would the first price he would have to pay for it.

Veruna sighed, folding the cloak over to hide that emblem. If anyone else saw that symbol, it would put Saahir and the rest of his family in trouble.

Perhaps that was why he had kept it hidden away and taken it out only when there was nothing else he could find to give Veruna to keep her warm in that soakingly cold weather.

She shook all those thoughts aside, knowing that she had to get up and leave for the base as she had stayed away for too long. So very gently, she brushed the hair back from his forehead, in an attempt to wake him up.

Deep brown connected with hazel as his eyes fluttered open. Surprise crossed his features as well for he too wasn't accustomed to waking up to anyone else that close to him. But a smile played upon his lips shortly after.

"I should get going now," Veruna spoke up, retrieving her hand that had rested on his forehead a while earlier.

He sat up as well and took the folded cloak that she handed him. "Will you not have breakfast with us?"

"It's too early and I think Amma and the kids are still asleep," she replied, her cheeks tinting red slightly, "maybe next time..."

Her voice trailed off as his lips touched hers in a delicate kiss, making the shade on her cheeks deepen. "So you think there will be a next time?"

"Saahir..." As usual, he couldn't let go of an opportunity to tease her, making a smile play upon her lips as well.

"Alright, I will come with you," he stood up, offering her his hand that she took, "if we leave now, you will reach the base before the rest of them wake up and find out you were gone."

"Hard chance. We all wake up at the first ray of dawn."

"It's been a long time since I was a soldier or else I would have been accustomed to that too," he remarked, checking up on the occupants of the other room who were sound asleep. "You're right, Amma and the little urchins are all asleep."

"It's alright, you don't have to come with me," she spoke up, feeling that he might have other tasks to do but was putting them for later just so he could escort her back.

"Madame, I want to spend a little more time with you. May I?"

She smiled, stepping through the door that he held open for her, "alright but on one condition."

His eyes sparked slightly, "any condition of yours will be granted."

"You stop calling me madame," she remarked, "from now on, just call me Veruna."

He could see she wouldn't agree if he gave her any reason against it, especially not the one he had given her earlier of them not being close enough to be on a first-name basis. After all, he let her call him by name, it was only fair if he did the same.

"So be it then," he took her hand in his, placing a delicate kiss on her knuckles as he pronounced her name in his soft voice, "Veruna."

***

"Miss Talia... The Demon Head's daughter?" Richard was quite shocked to hear the latest revelation.

"Yes, Miss Talia Al Ghul if that wasn't enough hint for you to realize," he mumbled, focusing on the screen of the Batcomputer.

"But I don't get it. Why would she openly tell you, or anyone else for that matter, that she's an Al Ghul?" The boy remarked, as usual helping Bruce out with the current case, "until or unless she already knows you're Batman which I hardly doubt..."

But Bruce froze in his seat, what Richard had said just then striking him as a possibility he had overlooked. "What exactly did you talk about when you were with her at the Gala?"

"What, me? I just told her about the people who were attending. You know, the society walk-through I give when I find someone new," he shrugged nonchalantly, "and she didn't ask me anything."

Bruce raised an eyebrow thoughtfully, "you sure about that?"

"Positive," he replied, "you know, I still need some time to process that Miss Talia is that formidable entity you just mentioned... She was so sweet to me!"

"Just because she talked nicely to you and was attending a gala does not mean she's harmless," Bruce reminded him, knowing full well that Richard had a habit of getting fond of people rather quickly, "keep in mind that her presence here is a threat to our city's safety. If she's up to anything suspicious, we have to put a stop to it."

"Got it," he touched his forehead in a light salute, "by the way, where's Jaybird? Isn't he going out on patrol tonight?"

"No, he's grounded."

He paused, rolling his eyes wearily, "again?"

"Yes," the answer as usual was vague, "if you want to know the reason, ask him yourself."

"Oh no, let me guess," Richard's face had puckered up into a thoughtful little frown, "might as well practice my detective skills while we're at it."

Bruce didn't reply as he kept his attention on his task of finding out what the League was up to in Gotham but subconsciously, he was listening to the boy.

"First guess, Jay tried to run away again?"

"Partially, yes."

"And he might have keyed the Batmobile in a fit of rebellion," Richard mused, "can I go check?"

"He did not touch the Batmobile, sit back down."

"Then I don't see any reason for you to ground him," he shrugged, "he must join us on patrol."

Bruce turned to look at him upon that remark, "you have terrible detective skills, you know that?"

"Hey, I'm working on it," he replied enthusiastically, "but in any case, I manage to make you smile, don't I? See, here comes this little expression that reminds me you too have smiling muscles."

It was impossible not to smile in Richard's company, even for a robust and apparently expressionless man like Bruce.

"Ya know what, Bruce, you're a little too hard on him," Richard did not sit back down and it looked as if he was about to leave the cave, "maybe the reason he acts out so much is that he feels you don't give him enough attention and he takes it either way, not caring if that way actually ends up annoying you."

Bruce thought about his words, knowing full well that he was right. He was a full-time detective with two lives running rapidly for him. One life was swamped with the press and the pressure of managing Wayne Enterprises. The other life had danger every step of the way in the form of criminals and threats like the League of Assassins was posing right then.

In the race of managing those two personas and keeping them separate from each other, he often got too caught up that there was no time left for him to spend with his family. No time left to communicate without any pressure of either of those lives weighing him down.

"Just talk to him, okay? Tell Jay you care for him and that he's important to you," Richard advised, "I am sure things will get better. He's not a bad kid, y'know. He's just a little mean, like a very little amount of mean... Tiny."

Bruce did not give a reply just yet but he was considering the suggestion seriously. Perhaps talking to Jason would end up solving the rift that was coming between them.

"Alright, I will see what I can do," he replied at last, leaving the Batcomputer to go and suit up for patrol.

Richard followed him as well but he couldn't refrain from throwing a last remark at him. "So what do you think about my detective skills now? Not so pathetic, right?"

He didn't reply but that ghost of a smile flickered for the briefest seconds on his features. He had schooled his expression back to the normal emotionless look before Richard could start exclaiming in glee that he had made him smile again.

The boy was a ray of sunshine, no doubt. Bruce was glad to have him, no, he was glad to have both of them by his side. And he couldn't let anything bad happen to either of them.

***