Another bead of sweat rolled down her forehead, but still, Raven persisted, transitioning between each martial form with the rhythm of a prima ballerina and tempo of a viper. Spinning and striking left, right and centre, she danced, feet mute against the wooden floorboards.

Each move imprinted in her brain and muscles, she performed with ease, the actions instinctive. Amidst spin-hooking kicks, flying side-kicks and the likes, she would fall in to a variety of stances, each tailored to put maximum power in to the next assault: some crouched low; others at full height. A plethora of guarding-blocks and knife-hands completed the intricate pattern of the martial dance.

Panting heavily, Raven remained in her last position for a few seconds, feet wide apart pointing to the side, left arm in a high block, right arm barring her mid-section, head forwards. Precisely five seconds passed until she dropped her arms to her side, relaxing her posture.

Rolling her shoulders backwards, Raven worked towards unwinding her muscles, breathing still laboured. Pulling a knee up to her chest and holding it for a few seconds, Raven contemplated last night's events (something she had been postponing because she "needed to concentrate on her technique" *cough* bullshit *cough*).

There was no denying it, she had more than kissed Damian. And it was genuinely wonderful. But how would they move on from there?

One thing she was absolutely certain of, however, was that they would wake sure that, until they new what they were, nobody else should know. Besides, Raven and Damian would never hear the end of it from Dick- he'd shout it from the roof of the Manor, leak it to the Justice League, post it on every form of social media available to man and so much worse.

Raven suppressed a shudder at the thought.

No. Dick was NOT going to be hearing off this.

Running a hand through her hair, Raven sighed: a shower seemed like a bloody good idea; then the usual half-an-hour of meditation; and finally, the regular morning tea with Damian.

The corner of her lips lifted at the thought of him a few hours ago.

Dam, he isn't joking when he brags about 'many talents'.

(A.N: All the PJO fans die because DAM)

***

Damian slipped in to the chair besides Raven, cradling Alfred the cat in his arms.

Passing him a cup of tea with a light smile was the only acknowledgement Raven made to him, just as usual. Nodding his head in thanks, Damian set the cat down on the counter, receiving an insulted 'meow', and raised the cup to his lips, pausing.

Raven shook her head in mirth, "Brown sugar instead of white, a china cup and I've already added the lemon. I'm not going to poison you..."

He took a sip.

"...yet."

Almost choking, Damian put the cup down, taking a serviette and using it to wipe the tea spillage.

Cleaning the drops on the counter, he coughed, "What... the ... fuck?!"

Unable to control herself, Raven let out a peal of laughter, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Sorry... couldn't... resist!", she said between chortles.

Once the mess had been cleared up and the coughing came to an end, Damian turned to Raven with venom in his eyes.

"You are a cruel, cruel person. Do you enjoy watching my suffering? Does me nearly choking to death amuse you? Despicable."

Playing along with his dramatics, Raven proclaimed, "Oh, my sincerest apologies! I shall be sure never to jest in your presence again, your royal idiocy. And whilst I'm at it, I'll be sure to practice my curtesy."

A moment of silence.

...

Unable to hold it in, the two burst in to chuckles, a stark contrast to their usual selves- an quite unexpected considering the events of a few hours prior: they should have been sat awkwardly about, not knowing what to say to one another, not laughing at the stupidity of the situation.

After a few seconds, the laughter quieted, leaving Damian to sigh, "What is wrong with us?"

Raven smirked, "Too much. Way too much."

***

Bruce, Damian, Raven, Koriand'r, Dick, Stephanie, Tim, Adyn, Jaime, Donna, Cassandra, Alfred and Jon hovered about, exceedingly cramped despite the volume of the bedroom. Of course, having all the Manor's occupants in one room (minus Jason) was sheer chaos- half of them probably wanted to kill one another, and many others would gladly record it.

Regardless of the potential loss of life, all of them wanted to be there to see the child that Bruce had just announced would be staying there...permanently.

Was it fucking stupid to have thirteen people stare at a five-year old as she woke up?- Yes.

Did they all feel the need to be there at the same time?- Yes

Did anyone give a damn that it was stupid?- No.

...

Well...yes, a select few, but they would make no progress in convincing the rest to bug off.

Blinking groggily, Belladonna sat up, evidently still half-asleep. Brushing her dark ringlets away from her eyes, the little girl continued to blink, adjusting to the light.

"Oh my gooosh! It's adorable!"

"It? That's a child asshat!"

"Shut up."

"Make me."

Alfred shut them up, "That's quite enough master Damian and miss Stephanie."

Their lips were zipped.

Steph and Damian's noisiness jerked Bella in to full consciousness, meaning that she now registered the unbelievably soft mattress she was on as well as the thirteen people ogling her like an animal in a zoo.

Perplexed, she tilted her head to one side in question, like Titus would, curls bouncing.

"I just wanna squash her adorable face!", Stephanie said, unblinking eyes fixated on Bella, "Like, squish, you know, and her cheeks would be like meep. That would be cute."

Cue face-palms all around.

Bella yawned, "Where... where am I? What's going on?"

Bruce exhaled, dragging a hand down his face. This wasn't going to work with all of them here, that would just confuse the- his child. Sensing Bruce's tension with his Alfred-powers, the butler made an announcement to those congregated before him.

"I should get to making the cookies now."

As though by magic, Bruce, Damian, Raven and Kori were the only ones left with the child.

"Bella, do you remember what happened last night?", Raven asked, walking over to the girl's bedside.

Ignoring her question, Bella looked straight in to Raven's eyes, "Where's mummy?"

***

"So she left me?"

Damian crouched down, holding her shoulders, "She didn't want to, Bella, but your mummy had to go."

Playing with the hem of her new dress -that she had changed in to a few minutes before- water welled up in her eyes, "Didn't mummy love me?"

Truly distressed by her sorrow, Damian swept the child in to his arms, standing up, letting her tears soak in to his shirt.

Kori and Bruce surveyed the scene with pride, two years ago, Damian would have scoffed at the thought of comforting a child (that was weakness in his eyes), it conveyed how far a person could change in so little time. Granted, Damian was still a caustic, fairly insensitive person, but this was improvement that warranted recognition.

Setting Bella down on one of the chairs in her temporary room, Damian opened the opportunity for the other three to step in.

Wiping the tears from Bella's cheeks, Bruce reassured, "Your mother loves you very much. She told me, so don't worry. If she could stay and look after you, she would."

He ruffled her hair, receiving a tiny giggle. Then, as though remembering something crucial, Bella returned to her thinking face.

"What is it?", Koriand'r lay a hand on her shoulder.

She bit her lip, "Well, am I gonna go back to Aunty Selina now?"

With the same thinking face, Bella listened as Bruce explained- with that occasional chipping in of Kori, Raven and Damian- that Bella would be staying with them.

"How long an I gonna be here then?"

"Hopefully until you're at least sixteen."

She cocked her head at Bruce, not understanding what he'd said.

"Bella, when your mum was with you, did she ever say anything about your father?", he asked, working towards telling her what he needed no.

Getting the impression of what Bruce was about to confess, Damian, Raven and Kori began backing away, acknowledging that this was a father-daughter moment that should pass between the two of them.

"Mummy only said that he was a nice, rich man. Why, are you gonna try find my dad?"

Bruce grasped her fragile, soft hands in his calloused ones, lips lifted in a comforting smile.

"Bella, I know this may be hard for you to understand, but I'm your dad."

***

Damian was unable to halt the melancholia overcoming his being. Observing his father interacting with Bella, whom he now knew to be his half-sister, the son of Batman allowed not a single thread of emotion to leak through to Raven, slamming up his mental walls faster than the Flash could run.

She would only grow concerned, and truthfully, Damian was fine...ish. The only way to move on would be to strive for a better relationship with his father, one devoid of doubt and a lack of self-worth.

Fixated on his half-sister and father in a tight embrace, Damian let a single thread slip through the cracks in his walls and reach Raven.

Hope.

Hope that Damian could rebuild the bridges between him and his father. Shooting a glance to where Raven stood in his peripheral vision, Damian saw the empath smile a knowing smile.

She knew him far too well.

***

Black Veil Brides blasting through her earphones (playing Faithless) Raven scratched Titus' head absently, eyes skimming across the pages of Oliver Twist. In the middle of flicking a page over, her fingers paused. Frowning, the demoness removed one of the earphones, setting the book down.

On the sofa opposite, in the main living room, she exchanged confused glances with Damian, leaving Bruce -who had taken the day off work- and Jaime wondering what was off with those two. Seated besides Bruce, Bella payed them no attention, just watching Spongebob Squarepants.

Stumbling over his feet in to the room, Adyn held on to the door-frame for support, "What's going on?"

"Sh, I need to concentrate sense what it is.", Raven silenced her half-brother, narrowing her eyes at the centre of the room.

"Wha-"

Before Damian could finish that thought, a loud crack issues from where Raven had been staring at. With the sound came a sphere of energy, bordered with intricate lines and dots: runes.

And through it stepped-

"Zee?"

"Constantine?"

A.N:

Hello darlings!

I know, not much went on in this chapter, it was pretty much a filler whilst I work on my larger plot-schemes. Hehe.

Alsooo... I would just like to point out that last chapter, the comments are insane! There are literally 139 comments currently! You guys...honestly...:3

Anywho, I hope you enjoyed this sadly short chapter!

Thanks :D

-Bats:3

Even when I fall down to my knees,
I never say a prayer I don't believe.

And I don't wanna look up to the sun, but I will never be the faithless one.

-Black Veil Brides -Faithless