Disclaimer!!! I do not own DC or Nintendo!!!

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Something's up. Bruce has passed at least three kids this morning that he didn't recognize as Waynes.

As he thought this, redhead girl who looked an awful lot like a young Iris West jogged past him.

Usually, the manor was crawling with kids but this was getting ridiculous. Did Dick and Barbara adopt a couple more red heads without telling him or is he just getting old?

Suddenly Barbara appeared in front of him. Not Dick's wife Barbara, but their oldest child, Barbie. Apparently old fashioned questionable nicknames run in the family. Barbara Jr. decided at the age of five, after discovering that she had the same name as her barbie doll, that that would be her nickname, much to Babs's horror and Dick amusement.

Barbie was a red head like her mom, although her shade of red was more of a titan colour than orange like Barbara's. She had her mom's freckles and her dad's blue eyes and tanned complexion. Honestly, overall The 16 year old girl looked a lot like Jim Gordon. Her grandfathers often joked that all she needed now was a white mustache to complete the look, and Barbie took this seriously. A couple years ago she bought a fake mustache and white wig and went as police commissioner Gordon (The former, not the current one which was her mom) for Halloween. She hands down won the Wayne family costume party that year.

She had her mom's work ethic (Thank goodness) but was definitely her father's daughter. She could entertain anybody, and pull off the best distractions. Which was why seeing her was Bruce's second red flag that something was definitely up.

"Hey Grandpa!" She skidded to a stop in front of him. "How goes it? I'm feeling very chalant this morning. How about you?"

Bruce sighed. She also had her father's affinity for word play. She thought she was hilarious.

She was currently dressed in her favorite blue Gotham Knights sweatshirt and black skinny jeans. Her hair was half down, half up in two messy space buns with two wavy strands out in front to frame her face. Her black glasses sitting up on her head, buried in her hair.

"I'll be honest with you, I'm very suspicious right now. Is there anything you'd like to tell me?" He raised an eyebrow at her playfully.

"Of course not!" She said swiftly. Not missing a beat. "Should there be?"

Bruce chuckled. "I suppose not."

Another girl then came into view. Her hair was done up in pigtails and she had two black bows pinning her curls in place. The bows matched the solid black tee-shirt she wore with baggy blue jeans. An over sized zip-up green sweater was hanging off her frame. Just the way she liked it.

Abigail Trent-Wayne turned a corner and joined her sister. She signed something to Barbara that Bruce didn't catch. Gail has been selectively mute since she was eight. Years ago, There was a shooting at the Gotham ballet. Abigail's mother was the Sugar Plum Fairy in a production of the Nutcracker at the old Gotham theater at the time. Abigail had played a Jester in it and her father was the Snow King. Mr and Mrs Trent died in the shooting that occurred at the end of November, during the intermission. History repeated itself and Gail was sent to Gotham's juvenile detention center, all the orphanages being full, and no family to speak of to take her in. Unfortunately, a month later the center burned down, and Nightwing saved her that night. She hasn't been the same since.

It made sense that with all the apparent extra people in the house, she'd be feeling anxious.

Abigail turned to him and beamed. "Come Grandpa!" she signed. She turned and skipped down the hall. Barbie giggled and followed her.

Gail's dark blonde curls bounced as she skipped down the hall towards the grandfather clock. The 14 year old stood on her tiptoes and turned the hands to 10:48. The time her great grandparents were murdered. The entrance slid open and the two girls descended. Bruce sighed and followed his granddaughters into the darkness.

By the time he made it to the main open area of the cave, he noticed that Barbie and Gail had beat him to the computer and were hovering around the chair in front of the Batcomputer. They were standing next to a white haired teenage girl. This was Jason and Rose's daughter Catie Rose. Her relation to Slade Wilson was apparent through her white hair although in certain lighting it sometimes looked pinkish almost, as if her father's red hair was trying to peak through. She had her mother's facial features and her father's multitude of freckles and green eyes. The mark of the Lazarus pit on their family. She had in rose gold hoop earrings right now and her hair was done up into a high ponytail. The 15 year old was clad in jean shorts, a red top, and a cropped brown trench coat.

When she saw Bruce, she shot him a mischievous smirk that had too much of her father in it for him to not know that something was most DEFINITELY up.

"The old man's trying to figure it out." She stated, practically beaming at his frustration and confusion. Gail elbowed her and Barbie tried to wrestle her amused expression into a poker face. That's when the chair spun around and Bruce saw his 5th oldest grandchild sitting there.

Conner honestly had been a God-sent. When he was born, Bruce was holding onto the hope that he wouldn't be as unpredictable as his mother Stephanie or as work dedicated as his dad Tim. As much as he loved the couple, there were some things that he wouldn't miss as much once Tim moved out. Conner was his first grandbaby that took after his calmer parent, but not completely. Conner knew what it meant to relax. Almost too much sometimes. The boy could be really lazy if you let him be, however he could buckle down and get whatever it was that needed to be done, done when it came to it. He had his father's brains and interest in hacking, and his mom's quick instincts and natural reflexes. He was one heck of a lawyer whenever he and his cousins play "Court."

His sister Cassie was a different story. She definitely took after Stephanie personality-wise. She ran into situations and never stopped to figure out the facts first. What's more, she had an addiction to chocolate chip waffles. Her mom is always taking her out for waffles.

Cassandra Wayne ll was fiddling with one of her brother's fidget spinners when the gray haired man walked in. She hadn't noticed him until Catie said something. As soon as she did however, she immediately dropped what she was holding. The little girl came over and threw her arms around Bruce's waist as far as she could reach in a huge hug.

"Grandpa!" she squealed. Bruce chuckled and hoisted his third youngest grandkid into his arms. 'She has Tim's small frame.' he noted not for the first time at how light she was. Cassie was 8 and was the spitting image of Jack Drake. From the black hair, to the single dimple on only one cheek. She was currently dressed in what looked like one of Barbie's old purple sweaters that says "Shine" on the front in blue glittery writing.

Conner sighed at his sister's antics and ran a hand through his blonde hair, a habit he had picked up from Bruce undoubtedly. Conner had a lot of his grandma Crystal Brown's Guyanese features and nearly nothing from his dad's side. Whereas Conner's little sister, Cassie, looks more like a Drake and inherited a lot of Korean features. They're always getting those annoying comments about how much they don't look alike. (A/N And all us mixed kids who experience this with siblings sigh frustratingly in unison.)

"Good thing you're here Grandpa." Conner started, adjusting his glasses. "I need your help on this new suit protocol I'm trying to set up for uncle Damian and Gail on patrols..." The 12 year old launched into an explanation about the usefulness of the program and what the kinks were that he needed help with fixing. Currently, Damian wears the mantle of Batman with Gail as his Robin. It took a lot of convincing her parents, but eventually Dick and Barbara caved since Barbie had moved on from Robin and inherited Nightwing when Dick decided it was time to retire.

None of the Waynes really wanted the kids out there but they all decided that if they were fully trained (double the usual Robin training) and once they turned 14 at least, They could go out. Barbie had abided by this, so had Catie. Although, Catie had decided to fight crime under the alias Red Ravager rather than become a Robin after hearing what happened with her dad.

Even Mar'i and Jake respect this rule, even though they could easily claim that because they had training for their powers already, that they were ready. Jake and Mar'i were a special case. They had shown up shooting through a portal one night in the middle of the bat cave about a year after Gail was adopted, and were quickly accepted into the family. The two of them came from an alternate universe where most of the superhero community was wiped out. That had included their parents, Dick and an alien named Starfire (Koriand'r, the two had corrected). They had been sent here for their own protection, so protection the Waynes would give.

Mar'i was a sweetheart, albeit a ball of energy. She was bronze-skinned with pure green eyes (even the whites of her eyes were green). She had her dad's black hair and shared a lot of similar features with him. Her brother looked enough like Dick that you could tell they were related. He had blue eyes and a similar eye shape to Dick. However, Mar'i says he looks just like their Mom which is why none of them could really place his face at first. Jake also had a tanned complexion, however unlike his sister, he had bright magenta pink hair. According to the two, this is VERY common on Tameran, the planet where their mother is from.

Jake was 11 and was currently also in the cave, although Mar'i was nowhere to be seen. He was sitting on top of the batcomputer wearing his favorite green sweatshirt and jeans, reading a book. It had taken him a while to notice the newcomers, but once he had, he floated down and gave his grandpa a hug as well. Jake was one of the quieter kids. He wandered over to Gail and she pressed a kiss to his temple. The two of them had always been close, since their arrivals. Jake was one of the only people Gail was comfortable speaking to at first.

"Grandpa."

Bruce nearly jumped. Athena always managed to sneak up on him. Cass had trained her adopted daughter well. Even now at the age of 7, she was already a more proficient fighter than any of the other kids, even Barbie who had been out in the field for nearly three years now.

Bruce turned to face his second youngest. She was the daughter of someone Cass used to know in the league of assassins. They hadn't gotten far in training the young girl before she got left behind during an attack. No one's sure where or when excatly it happened. Afterwards, the five year old girl had been traveling on her own, somehow surviving on the streets and hitchiking her way until she ended up in Hong Kong. Cass had been there that night as Orphan, watching. Athena had run into some trouble with a few muggers who had no qualms about stealing from a child. Orphan intervened. Long story short, she was adopted, no questions asked. She could barely read at the time, let alone know the details of her journey anyways.

"Uncle Duke asked me to ask you to help Mar'i keep an eye on the kids." She stated seriously despite being one of the littlest and definitely counted as a "kid" (A child I mean not a baby goat lol). "The kids are in the playroom."

Today Athena had her chocolate brown curls pulled up into a puff with a brown scrunchie. Athena was very particular when it came to fashion. She liked outfits that were all one colour. She was wearing a brown shirt and light brown corduroy overalls to match. She had on brown Mary Jane flats and light brown socks. The brown aesthetic matched her eyes and her complexion beautifully. Athena's outfits were always honestly hit or miss.

With that she spun on her heel walked back the way she came, expecting her grandfather to follow. Bruce did. Slower however because of the load in his arms. However light Cassie may be, Bruce wasn't 20 anymore.

They rounded a corner and entered the cave's playroom. They had realized that they needed this room shortly after Catie had been born. Somewhere to let the kids be kids while they went out at night to protect the city.

The first people he saw were Mar'i and the triplets playing some Nintendo video game.

Mar'i was wearing a purple hoodie, and white jeans. She was hitting the 2 button furiously on her controller. On the screen, one of the race drivers drove off a cliff and got picked up by a yellow... thing on a cloud and transported by fishing rod back to the track.

Bruce gave up trying to understand Mario decades ago.

Two of the triplets looked like they were straggling in the game. But Harper was in first place. Harper was the youngest triplet. She was wearing an oversized yellow sweater and black and yellow striped leggings, her brown hair was in two braided pigtails.

Duke "Junior" Wayne was sitting on the end and desperately trying to catch up in the game but kept getting hit by turtle shells. He had on a black sweater and cargo shorts. His dark hair was braided back in cornrows and kept back in a ponytail. His blue jeans had rips over the knees that Bruce knew would give Alfred a heart attack.

Darlene was the oldest and looked like she had absolutely given up on whatever was happening in the game. Her light brown hair was out in an Afro that her sunglasses were tucked into. She had on a neon pink tee shirt and a white skirt.

The triplets all had the same face. Duke's face. It had been impossible to tell them apart by just looking at them as infants. They had to assign permanent aesthetic colours to the three (Darlene was yellow, Junior was blue and Harper, red) just to keep track of who was who.

To their left were the twins and Damian's two children. They were seemingly trying to build a skyscraper out of Lego, using Darian's height as a reference. Cassie slid out of Bruce's arms and joined them with Athena.

Darian was Damian and Raven's oldest. He was adopted as a baby, the couple deciding to not procreate in order to avoid a repeat of Raven's childhood. Darian was clad in a black top and bright yellow vest. His beautiful red eyes were hidden behind thick blue cameo patterned frames. Darian had been diagnosed with albinism at the age of 3, and he was so excited to pick out his own glasses, he went for the coolest ones a five year old could find. Like cousin Darlene, his light hair was out in an afro which was his favorite hairstyle. He was wearing salt and pepper coloured sweatpants that Bruce remembers giving to Conner for his birthday a few years ago. The perks of having a large family is that hand-me-downs will never end.

His little sister was sitting next to him, trying to wrestle a purple piece of lego out of Cassie's grasp.

"MINE!" She screamed.

"Davy." Bruce started, in a low serious no nonsense voice.

The five year old dropped the piece with a yelp. Cassie closed her hand around it.

"But-but." Her bottom lip started to tremble. Bruce sighed. As the youngest of 15 grandkids, she was certainly spoiled. "I h-had it first!"

"Cassie." Bruce warned. "Did she have it first?"

Cassie looked guilty. She nodded. hiding her face in her other cousin Wally's shoulder.

"Give it back."

The little girl without looking up, tossed the piece in Davy's lap.

"Apologize."

She mumbled something that sounded like "m'sry ". The video game played victorious music in the background and they heard Harper whoop for joy at her undefeated winning streak, and Darlene declaring this game "Stupid anyways."

"Give her a hug."

Cassie turned, resigned and quickly and barely gave a squeeze before letting go and running from the room.

Bruce sighed. He's getting way to old to deal with temper tantrums.

Wally looked relieved to have his shoulder back as the kids went back to playing. Davy pleased to have her toy back.

Davy was the youngest (For the moment anyways. New kids keep crawling out of the woodwork). She was proof that life had other plans then to let Damian and Raven get away with their plans to have no biological kids. Wayne genes must be strong because she looked nearly identical to her father and by relation, to Bruce. She had her father complexion, albeit a little lighter and her mother's purple hair. Damian had braided her hair that morning in pigtails with pink bows on the end, the way she liked it, and she was wearing one of Mar'i's millions of purple shirt hand-me-downs. The top said "Grayson" on the back in gold cursive and she was wearing blue denim overalls. Her green Lazarus pit eyes (proof that they did run in affected families) would widen and water whenever she didn't get her way. She was a brat most days but could be the sweetest little girl you've ever met when she's gotten a full 12 hour sleep. The only problem with that is she hated sleeping. Her full name was Arya Davina "Davy" Wayne. Raven chose Arya, meaning honorable, and Damian chose Davina meaning beloved. She carried herself similar to how Damian did as a child. Regally. It was rather terrifying actually.

She was seated next to the twins resuming the game of 'carpenters.' The now 10 year old twins were also happy accidents. The older one was named Wallace, after cool uncle Wally West. He got his name because when her water had broken in the middle of a thunderstorm, Wally carried Barbara the whole way to the hospital, the traffic being terrible that night. The kid had coincidentally been born with a head full of flaming red hair even brighter than Barbara's. Despite his namesake however, he was the spitting image of Barbara. He was the older twin and was currently adding a green building block on top of one of Davy's. His brown and green striped hoodie half falling off his shoulder to reveal a blue soccer jersey underneath. They had just come from one of the twin's games.

Beside him, looking nervous, was Johnny, the younger of the two by twenty minutes. While Wally looked just like Barbara, His brother also came out as a mini-me. He looks identical to how Richard Grayson looked at that age. With a darker complexion than any of this siblings and cornflower blue eyes. Bruce was constantly calling him Dick by accident, and having strange moments of supposed deja vu looking at the kid. The youngster's black curls were falling into his eyes as he tried to help his brother reach. He was also wearing a blue soccer jersey, his with the number 11 on it. Hilarious, as he was the 11 grandchild. He was still wearing his soccer shorts as well unlike his brother who had either changed or pulled on black sweatpants over them.

"Ahem!" Bruce cleared his throat. Time for answers.

"You birdies wouldn't happen to know of anything strange happening upstairs would you?"

"Course not grandpa!" Wally jumped in a little too quickly. "Why would you even think that?"

Beside him Darian laughed nervously. These kids were terrible liars.

"There are several strangers up there. You didn't notice?"

The kids exchanged glances.

"Grandpa," Mar'i began. "Are you sure that's what you saw? I mean you didn't get a great sleep last night maybe-"

"I'm not seeing things Mariand'r." Bruce said in a mock stern voice.

"Alright, alright. But while your here, could you help me try to beat Harper? She keeps killing us at Mario cart."

Bruce sighed and picked up Darlene's abandoned controller. Where had she gone? Oh well. She'll turn up. Eventually.

"For the record, I know you kids are trying to keep me busy." Bruce said playfully. Mar'i didn't say anything but Bruce saw in his peripheral vision, her shooting triumphant looks at Harper and Junior.

(Now that we've introduced all the grand kids we can safely put a line break here)
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After about half an hour of Mario cart, Catie came stomping into the room insisting that they all needed to go upstairs.

It took Bruce and the teenagers 10 minutes, but they managed to corral everybody upstairs.

The lights were out in the manor.

Bruce sighed.

"I'll go check the circuit breaker." He said resigned. "We must have blown a fuse."

All the lights suddenly came on.

"SURPRISE!!!"

Everybody, even the kids who had been standing beside him, were crowded around the dining room table. They left an opening so that Bruce could see a cake. Black fondant with a big red Z painted on. The main character from the Mark of Zorro was sitting on top of the cake, next to a cluster of candles.

Bruce blinked.

There were streamers and Mark of Zorro decorations everywhere. Cowboy hats and inflatable horses were decked out all over the main floor, that he could see.

Out of everything he thought possible. A surprise party hadn't even crossed his mind.

By the table stood his children and their significant others (If they had one).

Dick and Barbara were closest to him. Dick came over and wrapped his arms around a shell shocked Bruce in a hug. Babs laughed and kept Johnny from sampling the cake with his finger with one arm.

Someone burrowed under his arm and he looked down to realize that it was his youngest, Terry. The 11 year old was wearing a red shirt that he's fairly certain used to belong to Tim and blue jeans. his black hair was Sticking up from running all over the manor and the child was grinning like a madman. Sugar. Bruce looked up in time for Selina to give him a kiss on the cheek. She winked innocently at him. Of course. Selina loves to spoil their youngest.

As Bruce looked around, he noticed Jason had started speaking Spanish to his daughter. Something about shooting her boyfriend if he returns her home late again. Catie just rolled her eyes. Rose Wayne, rather than joining the conversation, was glaring at Catie's boyfriend Jeremy. Bruce realized that he was one of the kids he must have seen that morning.

Tim was sneaking a lollipop not-so-sneakily to his daughter. Cassie's eyes lit up at once as she took the sugary treat and immediately started to work off the wrapper. Steph stared disapprovingly at her husband but then turned and gave Conner one as well.

Wally, Darian and the triplets stared a game of ring-around-the-rosie but where they all died dramatic deaths instead of just simply falling down. Boys.

Athena was holding her mom's hand. Looking around and zeroing in on the lollipops the Drake-Waynes were enjoying. Cass smiled when Uncle Duke picked a green one off the table, and handed it to her daughter. Athena tried not to look excited but took the lollipop happily while grinning nevertheless.

Barbara, Mar'i and Jake were gossiping with aunt Isabella (Duke's wife) by the chocolate and vanilla ice cream tubs that sat innocently on the table.

Gail was standing with her favorite uncle, Damian. They were discussing something while Raven wiped cake off Davy's face with a wash cloth. How she got cake already is a mystery.

Additonally in the room, there was Clark, who walked over with his granddaughter Martha on his hip. She looked a mix of Lois and Jon's wife Kathy. Her brown waves were braided into a ponytail under her favorite green lantern cowboy hat she brought from home. Clark had on a simple black cowboy hat that he seemed to have gotten from the party.

"50th Bruce!" He said clapping his friend on the back. "How does it feel? Young grandpa with teenage grand kids?"

Bruce grunted. There wasn't much he could say except he had lost track of his age years ago but didn't want to admit that to Clark.

Clark chucked and stood aside so that somebody else could give their congratulations.

It turned out to be the Wests.

"We can't stay long," Began Linda, Wally wife. "But we just wanted to stop by to say congrats and to see everybody before Jai's hockey game."

Irey gave him a big hug.

"Happy birthday Grandpa 3!"

The West kids were over so often that they now referred to Bruce as a third grandfather figure. Despite the fact that Bruce was not lacking in grandkids.

Jai waved shyly before walking over to a young lady with reddish brown hair and another woman with darker hair and giving them both hugs.

The two women waved to Bruce. The younger of the two, Lian Nguyen Harper, shouted a happy birthday to Bruce while Auntie Donna smiled warmly at him. Behind them, Roy was explaining something that sounded like a threat to Jeremy while Catie continued to roll her eyes.

Bruce noticed Conner for the first time standing with Tim. They were laughing about something while Conner's daughter Lulu Kent did some secret hand shake with Cassie ll.

Lastly, Alfred came over to Bruce. The old butler had been long retired, but still lived in the manor, helping out every now and then with things that wouldn't be too strenuous. His cane, which was usually just a plain brown wood colour, had been bedazzled undoubtedly by his great-grandkids for the party. There was red ribbon running down it against a black background that looked like dark construction paper that had been taped on.

"Happy birthday son." Alfred greeted when he came over.

Bruce smiled "Thanks Al. How are you doing today?"

The British man smiled. "Simply splendid Sir. Everybody's here. Therefore, I am feeling simply splendid."

"What about you sir? How do you feel?"

Bruce smiled. he had spent so much of his life hiding in the shadows, wasted a lot of it to focus on his grief, never letting himself move on from the shooting that happened forty years ago. However, without him realizing, that darkness that had curled his soul so tightly, had began to unfurl the minute that first child came cart-wheeling into his life. One by one, these kids taught him that there was much more to life then he realized. They reminded him that life was short, so why waste it hiding from things that will truly make you happy. This family that found each other made him feel something that he thought he would never feel again.

"Happy Alfred. I'm so happy."

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Sorry for the crappy ending lollll I didn't know what else to write so I just ended the story.