Tim was sat on the couch looking through the news feed on his phone, keeping up to date with everything going on not just in Gotham but the rest of the world. It sufficed to say that Tim rarely ever quit working after he became Robin at the age of 15, now he was 19 and wasn't even Robin anymore. He was Red Robin, one of Gotham's protectors along with the rest of his family.

"Master Tim, would you be so kind as to take your feet off of the couch I just vacuumed?" Alfred asked, holding a tray with a mug of coffee on it. 

Tim bent his head backward to look at the English butler and gave him a sheepish smile. "Sorry, Alf." 

"Apology accepted, now would you please remind your brothers that we are expecting a guest?" Alfred requested, handing Tim the mug of coffee he had asked for 20 minutes before. Tim gave him a nod and rose to his feet, taking a large sip of the coffee. "Also, remind them I want the manor to stay clean until they arrive." 

Tim gave Alfred yet another nod. "Sure thing, also thank you for the coffee." he smiled and walked out of the sitting room. Knowing his brothers, they would be down in the Batcave prepping for the night's patrol. Something Tim did 3 hours prior. Turning the handles on the clock in the study, Tim drank half of his coffee in one gulp before descending the stairs. 

What he saw when he got down there was no surprise to him. Of course Dick, Jason and Damian were all down there but so was Stephanie and Barbara. Cass was still in Japan on Batman Inc. business and wouldn't be back for another month. 

There stood Stephanie in her average daily wear, with what looked to be jumbo marshmallows shoved into her mouth with Dick and Jason egging her on. He didn't have to see the look on Babs' face to see that she did not approve, and Damian was his usual self standing off to the side observing the others' antics.

"Guys, Alfred told me to remind you that our guests are arriving." he sipped more coffee and stood by Barbara and his assumptions were right. Steph was, for some unknown reason, shoving jumbo marshmallows into her mouth.

"Yeah, yeah. Timmy, you have to look at this. Steph has 14 jumbo marshmallows in her mouth. 14!" Dick said, clearly excited.

Damian huffed, "Why don't you tell him why she has 14 marshmallows in her mouth?"

Tim looked at his siblings, obviously it had something to do with Dick and Jason because they were to most excited about it. Knowing them, it was some kind of bet to see how many marshmallows she could fit into her mouth which would also explain the look of disapproval from Barbara. One wrong move and Steph would either spit them all over or choke and need CPR.

"Jason made a bet to Dick on how many she can fit didn't he?" Tim asked.

"Bold of you to assume that I started this babybird." Jason retorted.

"Did you?"

"Of course I did." 

Tim rolled his eyes and looked at the clock on his phone, according to Alfred their guests were an hour away and Bruce wanted everyone to meet them. Like clockwork, Bruce appeared and took one look at his kids and let out a long sigh.

"Why is it that everytime we have people coming over, at least two of you do something stupid?" he asked, as Stephanie shoved two more marshmallows making Dick grin wider.

"Oh come on B, at least let us finish this bet. I am 3 away from winning. I bet she could fit 20 in her big mouth, Dick bet 18." Jason said, not turning to look at Bruce.  "Besides, what's so important about these people anyway?"

"Oliver Queen is bringing his ward to stay with us for a while. They've been having some trouble and they thought I could help." he explained, crossing his arms and watched as Steph fit yet two more marshmallows maxing it out at 18 like Dick bet.

"Ha! I told you she could fit 18!" he taunted, pointing a finger in Jason's face. 

"Don't ha me yet Dickiebird. If she fits two more, I win." Jason grinned, pushing Dick's hand away.

Bruce dropped his head in defeat. There was no way they were going to listen to him when they were like this. Everyone watched as Steph grabbed 2 more marshmallows and began to fit one into her mouth much to Dick's dismay. Jason crossed his fingers as she tried to push the last one in to make it 20, but gagged halfway through and spat them all over the floor. 

"19! I win! Take that Jason, you have to bake me cookies now." Dick cried triumphantly. Jason however did not look that impressed. 

"You lost too looser, she had 19. Not 18." 

"Jay, that's not how it works. She got to my number not yours. I win." Dick argued.

The next thing they knew, Jason was trying to put Dick into a headlock who just kept flipping away out of his hold only making Jason try harder.

"Master Richard, Master Jason! Stop fighting and come up stairs. Our guests are almost here." Alfred announced, appearing at Bruce's side. Both boys stopped and rubbed the back of their necks. 

"Sorry, we'll be right up."  Dick said and began to help Barbara upstairs.

"What's so important about Oliver's kid anyway? Did he blow up a building or something." Jason asked, heading for the stairs. 

"Rory has been having problems, I think we can help." Bruce explained yet again.

"His name is Rory?" Damian asked, crossing his arms. "Sounds stupid."

"Master Damian, there will be no name calling of our guest. Understood?" Alfred scolded. Damian huffed again and gave him a nod.

Tim was the last one up the stairs, with Alfred right behind him. So the guy's name was Rory, what did he look like and what problems was he having? With their eventual arrival, Tim would find out soon enough.

About 20 minutes later, everyone was in the main lobby awaiting Oliver and his ward.

"What do we even know about this guy?" Jason asked.

"Jay, can you not be suspicious of everyone?" Stephanie asked, leaning over to look at him. 

"Being suspicious of everyone keeps you alive, big mouth." Jason replied with a smirk.

"Who are you calling big mouth?! If anyone is the big mouth it is you!" she yelled at him, a frown upon her face.

"I'm not the one who put 19 jumbo marshmallows in my mouth on a bet!" Jason yelled back, and like everytime someone starts a yelling match, everyone began yelling at each other.

"Enough!" Bruce yelled, his voice vibrating off the walls of the manor. Immediately, everyone went quiet with the occasional mumble of "Sorry, Bruce." 

Tim played with his fingers, there were a million other things he could be doing at the moment but they were waiting on Oliver and Rory to show up. The name Rory sounded familiar to him as well, years ago he knew someone by that name but there was no way they were the same person. His Rory was a girl for starters and Oliver's was a boy, so they couldn't be the same person.

There was a knock on the door and everyone straightened up. Alfred opened the door and in walked Oliver Queen with a few suitcases. "Hey Alfie! Long time no see!" he cried.

Alfred gave him a smile. "Nice to see you again Master Oliver." Oliver gave Alfred a pat on the back and looked back out the dor. 

"Come on Rory!" he called. The person who appeared through the door next surprised everyone. 

Rory Queen was in fact not a boy. Rory Queen was a girl, and not just any girl. Rory Queen was Tim's childhood best friend.

"Everyone, meet Aurora Queen." Bruce introduced. 

Rory's eyes looked around and assessed everyone in the room, she went from Alfred to Bruce to the line behind him. The boy at the end of the line caught her eye. The first words out of her mouth were not in greeting at all.

"Tim? What the fuck are you doing here?" she asked.

Immeadiately, everyone's eyes turned to look at Tim. "What, you know her?" Dick asked curiously. 

Tim was speechless, he hadn't seen Rory in 13 years and she looked the same. Of course the last time he had seen her she was 7 and he was 6, she had grown but her eyes and smile were still the same. All Tim could do was nod in response.

"Wait, you knew she was a girl and neither you nor Bruce thought to tell the rest of us?" Jason cut in.

"Well, I didn't want to ruin your assumption Jason. Maybe you should think before daring someone to put 20 jumbo marshmallows in their mouth." Bruce stated, a small grin on his face. "But I had no idea Tim knew her."

"In his defense, it's been 13 years and I was Aurora Sonnet then." Rory stated, looking at Tim who seemed to be in shock.

"Timmy? Hello? Earth to Timmy?" Steph said, waving her hand in front of his face. Tim's mind was going a million miles a minute. 

Why the hell was she Aurora Queen and not Aurora Sonnet? Clearly Oliver was her father figure now, so what did that mean about her parents? Last he checked he was still married to Dinah, so he couldn't be her stepfather. Bruce had also said she was Oliver's ward like Tim and the rest were to him.

So that left only one option, Michael and Clara Sonnet were dead and he didn't know until now. 

Snapping himself out of his thoughts, he finally found his voice. "Yeah, we were kids. She moved to Star City because she got into a prestigious ballet school." Tim explained. "How is that going by the way" he asked.

Rory's face fell, the thought of dance always brought her back to her parents and these days she just didn't have the heart to dance anymore. "I stayed until I graduated 4 years ago." 

"4 years ago? But that means you would have been like 15 when you graduated?" Dick asked, clearly confused. She was about the same age as Tim right?

"I was 16, I did highschool in 2 years." 

Everyone's jaw dropped. Not only was Rory Queen a girl, a pretty one at that but she was a genius and a vigilante like them. It wasn't long before the gears started to turn in Dick and Stephanie's heads, knowing someone close to them who was just like that.

"Well, you are welcome here Miss Queen." Alfred said with a smile. 

"I'm leaving her in your capable hands Alfie. Take care of her." Oliver ruffled Rory's hair, "I have to get going, Dinah can only do so much without me. Be good and for the love of everything do not bleach the cape again." he said giving her a quick kiss on the forehead and headed out the door.

"That was you!?" Stephanie yelled, "I had never seen Bruce so angry, how did you do it?" 

Rory went to open her mouth, but Bruce stopped whatever she was about to say. "Never mind the cape getting bleached, she is not telling you because I know at least two of you would try to replicate it." he pointed his gaze at Jason and Steph.

"I feel as if we should be insulted that he would asume we would try it." Steph mumbled. 

"Do you blame him? Have you not seen the things we have done?" Jason laughed, and shook his head.

"Enough about the bleached cape, Rory let me introduce my family." Bruce said. He gestured to the first person in line, he was tall with black hair and blue eyes. "This is Dick."

Dick stuck his hand out, Rory taking it and giving it a good shake. "Nice to meet you Rory, I hope you'll enjoy your stay here." he said with a charming smile.

The next person in line looked Rory over with a slight smirk. "Jason Todd, I'd say the same but half the time I don't enjoy it here." he said, making Rory laugh a  little. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind. 

Next to Jason was a blonde girl, immediately she took Rory's hand and shook it. "The name's Stephanie, glad we finally have another woman in the house. Babs and I are being suffocated with all the testosterone." she chuckled. 

Rory let out a chuckle, "Glad I could balance it out."

Next to Stephanie was another female but she had red hair, Rory could only asume this was the Babs she mentioned. Barabara reached up and shook Rory's hand. "I look forward to working with you." she smiled.

Next to Babs was another boy, but he was shorter and had a darker complexion and actually resembled Bruce a little. Rory stuck her hand out, only for him to reject it completely with a huff. "Sonnet." was all he said.

"That's Damain, he isn't a people person." Tim said from his side. 

"Are you sure you're even a person Drake and not just some robot Father concocted?" Damian retorted.

"Ooh, been working on that one all day little D?" Tim taunted, making Damian glare at him. "Tt, whatever." he mumbled.

It was then Rory turned her attention to Tim, the best friend she hadn't seen in over a decade. She didn't know how to address him, was Tim okay or did he prefer Timothy now? Should she hug him, but they weren't that close anymore so it could be overstepping boundaries. She looked at Tim and it seemed that he was thinking just as hard if not harder about their situation.

Rory followed her instincts and pulled Tim into a tight embrace. "I missed you, Tim." she mumbled softly. She felt Tim's arms wrap themselves around her and hold her just as tight. 

"I missed you too songbird." he smiled.

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So here is chapter 2, what did you guys think? Did I get their personalities and interactions right? See you next chapter!

Until Next Time,