Stephanie was not expecting to nearly be sliced in half by a seven year old. Yet, here she was, barely dodging the katana of some little boy she'd never seen before. "Watch it!"

Sword boy rolled his eyes. "It's your own fault for not being aware of your surroundings. I was here first, you should have gone around."

"You jumped in front of me!"

"Natural selection."

"That is not what that means!"

"Damian!" Tim's voice cut through their argument- just like the kid's sword had nearly cut through her- "Be nice! Put the sword away when someone gets within distance. Seriously. Basic safety precautions much?"

Damian rolled his eyes again.

"Sorry, Steph. This twerp is Damian. That's Cassandra over there." Tim pointed to a girl that Steph hadn't even noticed. She really did have to work on her observational skills. "Damian, Cass, this is my best friend, Stephanie."

"That explains a lot," Damian scoffed. Neither Tim nor Stephanie dignified him with a response.

"I take it you're not the adoptive baby of the family anymore, Tim?"

"Yeah. Bruce got stuck with three newbies last night. These two and- well, it's actually a long story, I'll fill you in inside. Also, it shouldn't be too long until Babs gets here."

"I'm not adopted!"

"Shut up!" Tim snapped at his new brother.

"Make sure you warn Mr. Smart Ass over there to watch out for her. The last thing she needs is another spinal injury."

"Steph!"

"I was just being honest! A sword to the spine cannot be good for you!"

  "Fair enough. Damian, watch the sword when Barbara gets here! She can't jump out of the way."

"I'm always watching my sword!"

"You literally just almost sliced someone in half!"

"That isn't my problem."

Tim leaned over to Stephanie and whispered, "It's been less than twenty four hours and I'm already ready to kill him."

"I wouldn't blame you."

"How about we go meet Cassandra? This way."

Stephanie let Tim drag her away from the tiny brat. The girl watched her the entire time. Stephanie felt like her eyes were staring into her soul. Up close, Steph could see several scars on Cassandra's face. She wasn't sure if they were cool or terrifying. "Hi." She said awkwardly. "I'm Stephanie. Nice to meet you."

Cassandra gave her a small smile in return.

"She's nonverbal," Tim filled in. "And just... non-lingual? She has some kind of developmental issue, I guess. The language part of her brain doesn't work, or something. Anyway, she doesn't know any language."

"Wow." Stephanie's eyes were wide. "That's... crazy."

  "Yeah. Bruce and Alfred are both acting more stressed about that than anything else. Personally, I think they're trying to focus on that instead of the other chaos happening. It's something actually serious they can focus on without feeling like assholes."

Cassandra jumped up. By the time Tim and Stephanie had whipped their heads around, she already had Damian's sword in hand. The blade was a centimeter away from a tree trunk. She lowered the weapon and immediately started reprimanding him. Gesticulating wildly, anger lacing her features. Then she shoved him. Twice.

"Hey! I understand! Calm down, it's not that big of a problem, Cain."

She jabbed him in the ribs with the butt of his own sword before marching back inside the manor. She turned back, staring him down until he gave in and followed her into the house.

Stephanie doubled over laughing. "She really just lit into him! Did you see his face?! Oh, my god!" She dissolved into wheezing.

Tim was smirking. "It really was satisfying."

"Ooh, did you get the Zelda switch?!"

"Yeah! It's in my room! Want to come see it?"

"Duh!"

-•-

"Please pardon the chaos, Miss Barbara." Alfred opened the door and Barbara rolled in. "I am sure that Master Dick has informed you that we have acquired a few new arrivals."

"Thanks, Alfie. And yes, he told me. I can't believe that Jason is back. I'm going to have to see him with my own eyes."

"I don't blame you. It came as quite the shock for us all."

"Hey, Babs!" Dick greeted as he walked into the room.

Alfred raised an eyebrow. "Did you preemptively eat one of the cookies?"

"Ummm... I was taste testing!"

"My cookies do not require a 'taste test'." Alfred shook his head. "If you need me, I'll be in the kitchen, baking a much needed second batch."

"Thank you, Alfred!" Barbara smiled.

"We love you, Alfie!" Dick called after the butler. Then he looked at Babs. "Mission Extra Cookies accomplished."

"You need a better code name."

  "Excuse me, it's perfectly good as is!"

"Barbie?!" A new voice came from the living room.

  The two adults turned to see two teenagers. Barbara's jaw dropped. "Jason?! Oh my god, look at you! What have you been eating, brick walls?!"

"Of course I have. They're my favorite snack. What... what happened to you?"

Barbara took a deep breath. "I got shot. Not even in the line of duty. Just to mess with my dad."

"That's awful. How long ago? You're ok now, right?"

"It was about a year ago, so yeah, I'm ok. Thanks for your concern, it's very sweet." Then, she noticed the Asian girl next to Jason was just staring at her. Wait, not at her. At the wheelchair. Not with malice, just curiosity. Dick had mentioned that she grew up in the League. How many times had she seen a wheelchair before?

Barbara turned her attention away. "Though, out of curiosity, who was the little boy with the sword? He gave me a death glare when I passed him. Is he Bruce's?"

Dick laughed. "That's Damian. And yes, he's Bruce's. He's an interesting little character. And that's Cassandra Cain, his bodyguard."

"Cassandra! Like the Trojan prophetess!"

Cassandra just stared at her blankly.

"The language center of her brain didn't develop properly." Jason said. "She can't understand a word comin' out of your mouth. Or words in general, spoken, written, whatever."

Barbara was horrified. As a librarian, words were incredibly important to her. She was constantly absorbed in them, even more so than most people. How could someone just live their life without them? Without conversation? Without books? Without stories at all? She turned to Dick. "You forgot to mention that."

Dick shrugged. "Sorry I can't remember everything I have and haven't told you! It's been busy!"

"How do you forget- I... I'm going to fix that. Any special plans for the summer? Because I'm totally going to try to fix her."

"I don't know if she WANTS to be 'fixed', Babs." Jason frowned.

Barbara sighed. "I didn't mean it like that. It's just... that has to be difficult for her. It would be beneficial for her to try to learn just a little, you know?"

"Hey, Barbara." Bruce greeted. "You have your sights set on Cass, huh?"

"If you'll let me."

"You can take her home with you if you'd like. One less person for me to deal with."

"If you try to take her that far from Damian, she'll probably throw a fit." Jason warned.

  "I mean, if we let them settle for a couple days first..."

"Bruce. She will not go along with that. At all."

"How about we all just relax, put on a movie, and eat those delicious cookies!" Dick intervened. "Alfred made them! You know you wanna eat them!"

The tension was still there, but even so, they went with Dick's suggestion. This conversation could wait until later.