Evelyn's hand was held in Jay's as the two stood outside the gates of Wayne Manor. He had finally brought her to meet his family and though she had been nervous, he had assured her that the Waynes would turn out to be much more weird so she didn't have to worry about what they thought of her.

In fact, he mentioned that he should be the one getting worried about what she might think of them since they were chaotically dysfunctional to say the least.

Alfred opened the door and a smile broke out on his face seeing the two, "good evening Miss Nichols, Master Jason."

"Good evening," she smiled politely and Jason led her in.

"Hi Alfred. So who else is at home?" Jay asked noticing that it was really quiet.

Alfred closed the door behind them as he replied, "Master Bruce will return at his usual time, Master Richard and Master Damian are in the training hall, Miss Gordon is there too. As for Master Tim..."

"Right here," Tim almost gave the two a shock turning up unexpectedly from nowhere it seemed. Jay looked at him in confusion, trying to figure out where he had sprung up from.

"Master Tim has found a new hobby of giving jump scares to almost everyone," Alfred elaborated, "the first few times he even got me."

"But where did he...?"

"Floorboards, Jay," Tim remarked triumphantly, "see, this one is fake."

"Excuse you? The Manor has marble flooring so how the fuck did you just manage that?"

He laughed, "that's a secret I'm not gonna tell. Besides there's a whole tunnel underneath this floorboard that I dug out and the rest is confidential information."

Evelyn had a small amused smile on her face, "and you did it all by yourself?"

"Well... I had a little inside help but not gonna say who," he winked mischievously.

Jason looked at him closely realizing in an instant who the inside help could be, "the gremlin..."

Tim looked thoroughly flabbergasted, "Jay! His name is Damian, please... He's my little demonic brother that I love very much..."

His voice had trailed off as he dramatically announced, making a smile tug up on Jay's features as well.

Evelyn was laughing by then at their hilarious antics, "hey, when did that happen?"

"...And I would not stand if anyone other than me called him a gremlin," he completed the sentence, "yes Evelyn, that happened. A few weeks ago to be precise."

"You sure are in some mood today," Eve remarked.

Tim's pale face was radiant and that was in itself quite a rarity, "yeah, this mood is called Timmy accidentally fished out the keys to Alfred's coffee stock. And the rest, as you must have known fairly well by now, is history..."

Jason was shaking his head as if disappointed, hand landing on Tim's shoulder as he steered him towards the living room, "you seriously have a problem with caffeine. You get high on it."

"I know right! It's called beyond addicted."

"Tim, stop..." Then turning to Evelyn, Jay added, "see this is what I meant by the dysfunctionality that runs in the Waynes. And you've only just met Tim while he's being a caffeinated wreck so I'm already a little anxious about the impression the others are going to set on you."

Eve shrugged off his remark, "oh come on, I'm already used to Tim's antics. The rest of your family can't be any weirder than this."

Tim burst out laughing, "oh oh you have no idea... You'll take your words back the second you meet Dami then. Or Dickie for that instance. Both might be very different but they tend to shock people who they meet for the first time."

"Okay... Now I'm kinda intrigued to meet them."

"Well then here we go," Jason led her down to the training hall with Tim disappearing once again and popping down from the ceiling at the entrance way before them. "What the absolute fuck!"

Jason was glaring at him while he merely laughed it off, "oh come on Jay, what's the big deal?"

"Seems to me you've fixed some sort of secret network within the floors," his bluish green eyes narrowed, focusing on Tim threateningly.

"Maybe, maybe not. Let's not keep Eve waiting and perhaps go meet Dickie and Dami before we resume with our argument?"

"There's no argument," Evelyn thought it best to put a stop to it then and there, "so both of you... Behave."

Tim's hand touched his forehead in a light salute, "as you say so, Madam."

***

Evelyn's meet up with the Waynes did not go as bad as Jason had initially expected. Thankfully, Tim did not cause any dramatic scene further, Barbara was there to make sure Richard didn't cause a scene either as for Damian, he did not interact much but that was quite expected from him.

Barbara however had immediately taken a liking to Evelyn and it was quite clear that the two were going to become good friends really quick. They had all had a great time together and with Bruce returning from work, Alfred had laid out a special dinner in the gardens which all of them had enjoyed quite like a picnic.

As night had fallen and Barbara had insisted Evelyn to stay so she was still there when Tim came up with the idea of having a movie night. Bruce had given the young ones off from patrol and Jason no longer worked as a Bat vigilante so aside from Bruce, Barbara and Richard, the rest had watched a few movies together.

With the night deepening and all of them getting a little too sleepy to watch further, they decided to retire to their rooms. Damian had already fallen asleep on the couch so after a little pondering on what to do with, Jason had cautiously lifted him up making sure that he wouldn't wake up.

And then Tim showed him a short cut he had devised to get to Dami's room much quicker than using the stairs. Deep down Jay was surprised at how Tim had managed to set up his secret network of short cuts within the Manor but at the moment he did not ask so as not to disturb Dami's sleep.

After dropping Damian in his room, Jay threatened Tim to go to sleep because the effects of too much coffee hadn't yet worn off from him. A couple minutes later of severe threats, Tim had finally agreed to at least try to go to bed so at last Jason returned to Evelyn.

"And this is my room," Jay stated as he took her to his own room and led her in, shutting the door after.

She mildly observed the simplicity of the place, the somber brown sheets and curtains and the compact book shelf set up right beside his computer desk. That shelf had been a gift from Bruce on his fifteenth birthday and it was filled with books; half of which Jay had bought and the other half borrowed from Bruce's study with no intentions of returning.

"Still fond of the classics?" She asked, picking out a book from the rows of classic literature, dusting it with her hand slightly to reveal the title; The Mill On The Floss by Thomas Hardy. Right next to the book was Tales from Shakespeare compiled by Charles and Mary Lamb and as her eyes traveled down title after title, she noticed the poetry collections from Lord Byron, Keats and Shelley.

Jason Todd had an extensive taste in literature and she could clearly see that.

"I haven't reread this one in a long time. And even though the Classics are always a good read, I had become interested more in poetry in my last days here," he remarked gesturing to the book she was holding, "and then I had to die, staying away from this place for years and to be honest, this is the first time someone opened this shelf ever since then."

"Oh," her voice trailed off as she placed the book back.

He noticed the slight flicker of sadness in her eyes upon recalling that terrible time so he changed the topic, "the poetry collections belong to Bruce though that I borrowed from his study. But he never asked me to return these, probably must have forgotten about it altogether, so here they stay."

There was a while of silence in between them but then he picked out a book from the shelf, John Keats' collection of odes and taking her hand gently he brought her to the bed.

"Here, I'll read some of my favorites to you if you want," turning over the pages he stopped on the Ode To Autumn.

She nodded, snuggling closer to him as he pulled up the blanket on top of them. His left arm was draped round her waist holding her close while in his other hand he held the book. 

"Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, close bosom-friend of the maturing sun. Conspiring with him how to load and bless, with fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run."

His voice was soft as he read out the poem, eyes trained on the withered page of the book but Evelyn's light azure eyes were focused on him instead. She took in the slight crease on his forehead, the concentration in his bluish green eyes and the soft timbre of his tone as he resumed with each stanza.

His finger flicked through the pages again stopping on another poem when he had finished the first one. But before starting it, he turned to look at her and caught her gaze.

A soft smile spread on his face and he closed the book, facing her instead, "what are you looking at?"

"Nothing."

"Is this nothing?" He asked pointing to himself and she shoved him playfully, a laugh escaping her.

Her laugh had always been enchanting to him and as he took in the faint crimson on her features, the twinkle in her azure eyes and her rosy lips turned up in a smile, he couldn't help but feel as if he was indeed blessed to have her with him.

"What are you thinking?" She asked cupping his face gently in between her palms.

"I'm thinking that all this time I kept blaming my fate for snatching everything I held dear away from me," his voice was low as he resumed, his fingers closing on to her wrists gently as he pulled her even closer, watching closely as the crimson hue on her cheeks deepened, "but now you are all I have ever wanted and I can't be more thankful that you are with me."

Her eyes glistened slightly and she closed the minute gap between them, capturing his lips with her own.

"And you are all I have ever wanted," she mumbled gently breaking off the kiss, eyes looking at him in that adoring look he so loved, "promise me you won't ever leave me again. I lost you once, Jason. And I don't think I would have the strength to face any such thing all over again."

He took in a deep breath, palm fitting on the curve of her cheek, "I promise, I won't ever leave you again. You made me realize all the things I had misunderstood from life, you give me a reason to live, Eve... How could I even think of leaving you?"

And as his fingers gently lingered on her cheek, his eyes focused on her beautiful self, he knew there was no one else he would rather be with. Evelyn Nichols was the love of his life and he vowed never ever to leave her again, to stay by her side like a firm support and to love and cherish her for as long as their lives permitted.

Because just like she had said, he too never wanted to part with the blessing God had given him in her form.

***