A/N:  In this one shot, Batman is dead, or presumed dead... but he won't be seen here.  Dick has taken legal guardianship of both Tim and Damian.  Nobody knows about Jason.  Kind of a Dick and Damian one-shot... also important note at the end of this chapter and I need your guys input.

"Wake up Dami!  Time for school!" Dick yelled, slamming the door open, then rushing off to Tim's room to wake him up for another torturous day in high school.

"Go way Grayson, don't want to go to school." Damian replied, but threw his cover off and got himself dressed anyway.  He knew what would happen if he ticked off Dick enough.  And he was smart not to.

Grabbing his book-bag, he made sure he had all his books and papers, Damian quickly ran out the door and slid down the banister to the dining table.

"Seriously?  No...." Dick was talking on the phone whilst flipping pancakes, and he didn't seem to think anybody was listening, but Damian was, so he hid behind the wall and listened to the conversation, "Wait, so he went to Jessica and totally dumped her?  Woah, now that's heavy!  Okay, okay, I know.  Look I'm sorry Pete, I told you, I've got two kids to take care of, I'm not going to be joining Bludhaven Police anytime soon.  I know, I miss you too.  Wish I was there.  Yeah, I know, tell me about it!  Well, I know 18 is pretty young to be taking care over two children and a sick butler.... tell me about it, I would do anything to become a kid again... and I know, well I have to work these two work shifts!  Okay I know my adoptive father was rich, but he didn't give me his inheritance, I have to work for it!  Why do I take care of the brats?  Well, simple, they're my brothers.... I've gotta!  I know Pete, I'll see you Sunday for a sunday... look, miss you to, say hi to the force for me!"

Damian peeked out from behind the wall to see Dick leaning his head against the table, and he heard him whisper to himself,"I'm really taking care of three kids, one you should be acting like an adult but never does.  I'm taking care of the person that's supposed to take care of me, and one of my best friends is dying!  And my other one is dead.."

Damian decided against saying anything, but instead watched as Tim rushed into the kitchen,"Hey Dick!"

Dick immediately pasted a smile on his face, and handed the teenager a plate of pancakes, "Hey Tim!  So you have a math test today?  And I shouldn't pick you up, you're going over to a friends?"

"Yeah!  I'll walk back home after.  I'll be here by 7:00!  What are we having for dinner by the way?" Tim asked, taking a pancake off the top of the stack.

"Well Jason is gonna fix us some Asian dish, so it should be good.  Syrup?"  Dick replied, handing Tim a small flask.

"Oh thanks.  Here, I think Jason said he'd drive me today since you need to drop of demon and go to work." Tim said, picking up his bag.

"Okay, so you'll be back by 7:00?  Are you sure you don't want anybody to drive you?  Tim, it's really dangerous walking in Gotham around that time!" Dick exclaimed, kneading his knuckles on the table.

"Dick, I'll be fine!" Tim said, plopping another glob of blueberry pancake into his mouth.

"But Tim, you might get kidnapped..." Dick worried.

"I know martial arts!"

"Just stay safe okay, just promise me that?  It'll ease up on the worry..."

"I promise Dick, I won't let you down, I gotta go okay?"

"Okay, I'll see you tonight Tim!" Dick said waving at his second youngest brother, and shaking his head.

"Love you!" Tim said, waving and bounding out the door, his bag weighed down with books as he rushed out the door.

Damian walked into the kitchen,"Hey Grayson."

"Hi Dami!  Want some pancakes?" Dick asked, handing him a plate.

"Nah, I'll have them later.  I want to get to school early today." Damian said, pushing Dick away from him and immediately regretted it by the barely visible hurt face that disappeared in one second and the happy facade was up again,"I just want to go to class early."

"Oh, okay... sorry Dami.  Oh hey Jason!" Dick waved at his brother as he crossed the room, Jason was smoking really hard on a cigarette, "No smoking!  You're gonna die young!"

"I don't care!  I don't care at all!" Jason growled as he walked into the kitchen,"I want seconds on pancakes!"

"Look, Tim needs a ride right now, how about I just give you this stack of pancakes and you can munch on them while driving." Dick handed a giant stack of pancakes,"Do you want the ones with chocolate chips or blueberry?"

"Chocolate please." Jason said, hungrily grabbing the stack of pancakes and sticking a cigarette back into his mouth as he left the room.

"Cigarette out of that mouth Jason Peter Todd!"

"Don't boss my life around Dick-head!"

"Just so you don't die young!"

"I don't care, all right?"

"No smoking Jay!" Dick yelled after his younger brother and sighed, completely forgetting about his youngest brother for the second,"My life is a mess...."

"What?!" Damian asked, tugging Dick's sleeve, momentarily confused at the sudden change in emotion of his eldest brother.  Dick was always happy and it bothered Damian to the end that his normally happy brother was sad.

"Oh Dami!  I'm so sorry... okay you need to eat!  I know you don't want to, but I don't want you to stunt your growth.  Just one pancake, but you are going to eat!" Dick exclaimed looking at the current(and most stubborn) Robin.

"I don't want to!" Damian protested, because he just didn't feel like eating, "Now, can I go to school?"

"Eat!" Dick protested, pushing a pancake at Damian, looking slightly distressed.

"NO!"

"Dami, eat!"

"NO, NO, NO!" 

"Please Damian..."

"I said NO, let me go!"

"Damian, please will you just eat?"

"I SAID NO!"

Dick fell into a chair and shook his head,"Look, if you hurry up you can catch Jason.  Tell him to take to school.  Give him this address, he's been to your school before but that was before he died, he probably doesn't remember.  Tell him to not interact with anybody.  We don't want to explain how someone dead is alive."

Damian started a little in shock,"I thought you were gonna drop me off!"

"I'm sorry Dami, today's a little bit of a mess.  Okay?  I need to get to work.  I'll pick you up later, I promise."  Dick said, cleaning up the kitchen and watching as his youngest brother left the room.

Dick plopped back down into the chair and silent strong tears ran down his face,"I wish I was a kid again..."

----

It was pick-up time at Damian's school, and things were getting bad in the parking lot.

Damian waved his hand at the kid,"Give it to me you little twerp!"

"I'm...I'm sorry... but it's all the money I have and I have to have it!" the small 5 year old looked up at Damian full of fear as he held the 10 dollar bill close to his chest.

"To scared of me trailer trash?" Damian sneered, knowing very well that this child lived in a trailer park and his mother had ran out on him and his father was an alcoholic and often beat him.  The kid always stayed over at his best friends house, but he had to be moved out back to the trailer park.  Some other family took him for some time, but he was soon sent back to the trailer park.  The kid never stayed in one place, and had really no home.

"Yes!  I need this money!  It'll buy me a TV dinner!  It'll buy me food!  Leave me be!" the child cried as Damian reached towards him.

"Give it to me you worthless piece of scum!  You're parents hate you!" Damian growled and snatched the money while the kid was still in shock.

"NO.  THEY. DON'T!" the child screamed and ran off.

----

Dick watched with an open mouth in the pick-up lot as he could only stare at his youngest brother torturing someone else,"Damian!"

Damian calmly walked to Dick's car and clambered into the shot-gun seat,"Hello Grayson.  How was your work day?"

"Just fine.  Who was that little boy you were talking to before I picked you up?" Dick slyly said, giving not hint he saw what he did.

"Oh him?  That's Ethan Dunes... he's a... colleague." Damian said back with equal coolness.

"Was he letting you borrow his money?"Dick asked, still grilling the 10 year old for information,"I saw you take it from him."

"Oh yeah, it's gum money.  I told him I'd buy some candy for him if he let me borrow the money." Damian replied, with full confidence.

"Okay, no Damian, I really need to know why you were bullying him." Dick said, unable to dance around the topic anymore.

"Bullying him?" Damian feigned innocence, but he wasn't the best actor, so it came out like an evil grin.  Typical Dami.

Dick growled at himself when he accidentally missed a car by about 3 inches and cursed under his breath, immediately apologizing when Damian looked at him with pure amusement.  Dick shook his head,"Look Damian, I heard that whole conversation!  I need to know why you were doing it!"

Dick's eyes started to water as he remembered something awful and he didn't seem to notice it was turning into a red light.

"I was doing it for......." Damian was cut off when something crunched into the side of their car, knocking both him and Dick out.

-----

Jason waited anxiously at the door.  It wasn't like Dick to be this late and not leave a message.  It was well past 7:00 and Tim had already walked through the door, claiming that he and Steph had the greatest night ever and not to tell Dick that he had been at a party instead of a study gathering at his friends.

Jason took a giant whiff of the cigarette he had just been smoking on, then blew out the foul air.

Suddenly a voice called out from the opposite side of the door,"Jaybird, quit smoking and help me get this lug of a demon through the door!"

Dick and Damian did not look good.  Damian had a giant scar across his neck and blood was soaking his shirt.  Dick looked like he fared better, so Jason focused on Damian.

"DICKIE!  DAMI!" Jason practically yelled bringing an equally worried Timothy Drake downstairs in a flash.

"Get him to the cave at once!" Dick ordered shoving Damian into Jason's and Tim's arms and watched them rush off.

Dick had made sure before he rushed home with Damian he had thrown a large sweatshirt across himself so that his brothers would focus on Damian.  Even how mad he would be at Damian right now, he wanted Damian to get healed before him.  Dick's injury had been of course so much worse, as there was a giant scar across his chest and blood on his pants.

Hurrying upstairs before Jason would became overwhelmed with concern for him, which had been happening a lot lately ever since Jason had discovered the cuts covering his arms, Dick ran into his room and shut the door.

Quickly he hurried into his bathroom to fix himself up enough to convince his brothers he was okay.

----

"Oh my gosh!" Tim said, trying and sort of failing to stitch the wound around Damian's arm,"Is he okay Jason?"

"I think he'll be fine... we just need to clean off all the blood." Jason said, soaking up the blood with a wet washcloth,"Do you have any idea how this could of happened?"

Tim coughed as a giant puff of smoke blew into his face,"Jay, you're cigarette!  I could look it up, see if anything exciting happened."

"Do you think they got into a car crash?" Jason asked, getting a new washcloth and he continued to wipe Damian down carefully.

"Impossible!  Dick never ever gets into car crashes... not unless something bad came up...." Tim paused and looked at Damian,"You know, I have a feeling something really bad happened back there."

Damian shook his head and woke up, then looked at his brothers,"Why is everyone staring at me?"

----

Dick had already cleaned himself up and was now taking care of his butler.  Heck, Alfred had never been a butler to him, he'd always been a grandfather.  Well, he had never in his life called him a butler, or grandpa Alfie, but Alfred had always been there for him.

"Hey Alfred!  Want some soup?" Dick smiled at his eldest family member and picked up a hot steaming bowl of chicken soup for the elderly man.

"If you would, Master Richard.  I feel I ought to be out of this place and helping you boys!"  Alfred said, grumpily like a child who didn't get his way.

"Oh no, you're doing fine Alfred.  I've been taking care down there, you know, holding fort. Plus, this is a great break for you Alfie, you need a rest.  Unfortunately, getting sick wasn't the best way..." Dick grimaced and continued to feed the old butler.

"Oh, but I know you need help, I can practically see the gray hairs start to grow!" Alfred said, winking at his first 'grandson'.

"Okay, I don't know how you do it Alfred!  I just am so worried about Tim going out to parties when he's not supposed to, but he tells me he's just going to study... that really ticks me off.  Then he'll come home late... And I just don't know what to do with Jason, with his constant smoking and such, he's gonna die young!  I just don't want that to happen to him!  And Damian, Dami was bullying this kid at dismissal time today!  I don't know why, and he was about to tell me, but even before he did he seemed hesitant.  Now I'm sure he's clammed up all the way.  I just wish he wouldn't do it!"  Dick exclaimed madly, whilst feeding his adoptive father's kind of adoptive father a medicine.

"Oh young master," Alfred struggled to sit up, and Dick helped him, then Alfred looked deep into Dick's eyes and said very seriously,"Master, if I may offer you some advice.  Damian has always looked up to you.  And when I look at you boys and I observe you all, I see Damian studying your personality and such, and I know Master Richard that you often put up this happy facade that practically never breaks down, so he thinks that's what you really are.  Perhaps he was just upset and decided to take his anger out on someone."

Dick smiled as the old man talked to his way to sleep,"Goodnight Alfie, thanks so much."

----

"So let me get this straight.... you bullied some kid, Dick saw you, but you were doing it cuz you were worried and you have problems just talking things out?" Jason said, pretty much summing up Damian's whole plight.  He plopped himself down onto a chair near the bed that both Tim and Damian were able to sit on without killing each other.

"Why do you look so stressed Jay?" Tim asked, just about as in the dark as Damian was.

"Yeah?  Care to explain anything to us that will clear this situation?" Damian asked, rubbing his temples.

"I can't clear this situation up.  Only you can Dami." Jason rubbed his hands onto his forehead,"But seriously, why did you have to be a bully?  Do have any idea what that probably did to Dick?"

"What would it do?" Tim asked, before Damian could, resulting to a short fistfight that stopped once Jason sighed.

"Oh, well what are you waiting for Todd?!  Finish your darn story!" Damian said, once he pulled the sai back into his pocket.

"Well, back in the day, Dick used to be bullied both physically and verbally and it made him miserable.  They called him things like circus scum, or clown boy.  They said that the Flying Graysons should change their names to Falling Graysons.  They said his parents fell because they didn't want to be with him anymore and they just abused him.  Everytime he sees a bully, there is like a major flashback of memories and black hatred the emits from him.  It's scary."  Jason explained, because he remembered those nights that the poor teenager would cry himself to sleep.

"Uh oh..." Damian sighed,"This is gonna be hard."

----

Dick plopped himself onto the couch, and he turned on the TV, putting on old recordings of Boy Meets World and listening to Cory and Shawn do their goofy little handshake and laughing as he remembered doing this with Bruce when he was just a kid and he wished he could have a handshake.

"Tt... what's this show?" Damian asked, plopping beside Dick.

"One of the shows I watched when I was a kid." Dick said, smiling at memories,"Well when I was adopted."

There was a silence for a while before Damian spoke,"I'm sorry.  I'm so so sorry."

"For what?" Dick asked, munching on a piece of popcorn and looking like a perfectly normal teenager for once.

Damian grabbed Dick's shoulders and moved his face so that it would look at Damian,"I'm sorry for bullying that kid.  I had no idea what it would do to you..."

"You had no way of knowing..." Dick replied, figuring Jason had already told Damian everything and trying to keep tears from welling in his eyes.

"You can cry.  I don't mind, I'm not mad anymore." Damian sad, and dropped his head and turned back to the television screen.

Dick turned back also and it wasn't long before silent tears once again that day, streamed down his face, making Damian fear for the worst.  Because Dick never cried this easily.

So Damian could only do one thing.

He wrapped Dick in a hug and held him tight.

"I'm sorry.  I'm so so so sorry.  I have no idea what you're going through." Damian said, feeling something wet form in his eyes.

He would later figure out that these were called tears of sadness.

Things he never really experienced.

-----

"Hey Ethan.  I wanted to apologize for yesterday, so I'm giving you you're money back."  Damian said, holding out the money for Ethan to accept.

"But this is more then 10 dollars!" Ethan looked amazed at the amount of money in Damian's hand.

"Are you gonna take it or not?" Damian asked.

"Thanks!  Thanks so much!" Ethan said, launching himself onto Damian.

----

Dick looked on from the car and smiled.

Everything was crazy now, but it would all turn out great in the end.

A/N:  So you know Ethan, from the chapter Gravity?  I really enjoyed writing about him and I wanted to know how many of you would like to read about him, so should I just make a whole new story for him or just add some one-shots with mentions or brief appearances of him in this book?