On the outskirts of Gotham city in a small subdivision of houses was a special baby blue house; located at the very end of the street, a near-ancient willow tree in the front yard, and one of the most secretive families in the entirety of Gotham. This was Mar'i Grayson's family and she loved them with all of her heart and soul. Her family was grand and she had a plethora of siblings to greet when she stepped inside of the front foyer. There were six people living in this house, she needed to learn a long time ago that nothing was exactly yours.

     From the front foyer, she heard music coming from the kitchen, television from the living room, and yelling from upstairs. No one knew she was here, she came to surprise them after all. Slowly she crept through the hallway and peered into the kitchen, her mother was whistling to the music playing on the radio while she sliced some vegetables on the cutting board in front of her. Mar'i knew her father was undoubtedly in the backyard playing with her youngest brother Jaxx.

     The music covered up the sound of her footsteps as she crept up behind her mother and covered her eyes with her hands. Her mother put down the knife and let out a long and tired sigh. "Dick, I already told you - we are not cancelling the dinner party tonight." her mother exclaimed. Mar'i stayed silent and instead removed her hands from around her mother's eyes. The older woman turned around and shrieked. "What's wrong?" Dick asked running in from the backyard.

"Surprise?" Mar'i announced.

     A flurry of kids rushed into the kitchen to see what all of the commotion was only for them to all scream as soon as they saw her. The two girls were the first to hug her. Sindella and Charlie had grown quite a bit since the last time she saw the two of them in person. "Wait, you're not moving back in are you?" Sindella asked, separating herself from her eldest sibling. Mar'i laughed and shook her head; the last thing she was going to do was move back in. She loved her family to death but she was glad she didn't live in this house anymore.

     After her sister's detached themselves from her torso, her father pulled her in for a hug. "Welcome home sunshine." he whispered giving her a pat on the back. They could hear laughter from outside in the back garden. "Sorry mom," John stepped into the kitchen, "- we got a little messy on the way in." he apologized, nervously scratching the back of his head. Jaxx, the youngest being six, was covered head to toe in dirt. "John Richard Grayson you better not get any mud on my freshly mopped floor!" Zatanna yelled.

     Mar'i and her sister's cracked a smile, her mother was exactly as how she left her. "So what is this I hear about a dinner party?" Mar'i asked, tapping her fingers on the counter. Her mother let out a long sigh and dragged a hand down the front of her face. "Well I thought it would be a good idea to invite everyone over to dinner, I mean with what happened with Wally and Kaldur," she paused, "- it messed everyone up and I just wanted everyone to get together and be happy. Is that too much to ask?" her mother explained.

"Okay well, I'm going to get Mr. Jaxx cleaned up so he doesn't look like a little piggy when everyone gets here." Dick said, picking up the filthy child.

"Well, I just left Arrow hanging upstairs on a call so I'm going to finish that." Sindella said slowly creeping out of the kitchen.

     The rest disappeared, getting distracted by other things around the household. "You really think this dinner party of yours is going to run smoothly without a fight?" Mar'i worried. The last time everyone was together under a single roof the police were called. Her mother dismissed her daughter's worries and went back to the vegetables she had been previously cutting up. "How's thing's with Leo?" Zatanna asked, deriving from the subject.

     Mar'i rolled her eyes and let out a long sigh. "Don't get me started, he backed out last minute saying he had 'business' to attend to in Germany." she scoffed. Lately, he had been backing out on a lot of things that she wanted to do with him. "As much as I love you, sweetie, I don't think he's right for you." Zatanna admitted. Her parent's had always been on the fence with Leonardo and his family. She was used to brushing off her family's accusations and rants. It was always 'he isn't right for you' or 'that man and his family is bad news'.

     However, she found herself actually evaluating her mother's opinion of him for once. "You know I heard he's -" the doorbell rang, "- can you go get that? I think it's your Aunt Artemis." her mother asked. The young woman sauntered to the front door; it actually was her Aunt Artemis. "Mar'i you're here, so good to see you!" the blonde exclaimed giving her a quick hug.

     From behind her Mar'i could see her uncle and the twins getting out of the car. "Wally hurry your ass up!" Artemis yelled with a smile. Mar'i moved out of the way and let the four of them inside of the large house. "Artemis I'm in the kitchen!" her mother called from down the hallway.

"Yeah Arty, 'hurry your ass up'." Wally mimicked.

      Her Aunt shot her husband a deadly glare, one that could make a feared criminal cry. The two adults bantered with one another as they headed towards the kitchen. "Hey is Sindi upstairs?" Arrow asked curiously. Mar'i nodded seeing the girls green eyes light up with joy. In a heartbeat, she was racing up the staircase to Sindella and Charlie's bedroom. An irritable popping sound made her turn back around to see the second of the set obnoxiously blowing pink bubbles. "You're like famous right?" Abigail asked.

"If you want to call it that then I guess yes I am"

"Cool."

     Abigail raised her cellphone and snapped a picture of the eldest of the latter. The young woman was seeing dark spots after being blinded by the teenager's cell phone flash. Over the next hour more of her aunt's, uncles, and cousins arrived. Mar'i felt as if her eardrums were to break from the sheer amount of noise being emitted around her. "Crazy that your mama thinks this is gonna work." Oshun took a seat on the sofa next to her. The last time she saw her Aunt Roquette and Oshun was five years ago at the last get-together her mother planned.

     That dinner party didn't last very long, she was surprised that the screaming hadn't started yet. "The last time I saw you-you were still in high school. How's the adult life treating you?" she asked, five years ago her cousin was fifteen. It was amazing how much could change with time. The woman shrugged and took a sip of her wine glass. "The world's still spinning isn't it?" Oshun replied dully. Oshun wasn't wrong, she was older and the world was still spinning, nothing changed. "How's your mom?" Mar'i asked.

Oshun shrugged. "She just got back from a medical conference in Boston. I stayed behind with Kendrick, he took me to a baseball game but that was about it." she sighed.

"Kendrick, that's your mom's boyfriend right?" Mar'i asked.

"Yeah, he's sweet on her and I. He was actually one of her patients in the ER and I remember her coming home and telling me, 'Oshun you won't believe it but this man who's just been hit by a car wouldn't stop flirting with me', and I would just see that small smile on her face as she shook her head. He treats her right, as long as she has someone to take care of her when I'm gone that's all that matters."

"Well, I'm glad she's happy."

     A redhead came running into the living room and up to the two of them. Mar'i recognized that blue-eyed, freckles face anywhere. "What's up Jacob?" she smiled seeing the little boy fidget in his place. From upstairs she could hear them all thumping around, earlier she heard something about them all playing hide and go seek. "Can I - can I hide here, Charlotte's counting and I need a hiding place." he stuttered out. Mar'i nodded as he climbed onto the sofa and squeezed himself behind her and Oshun.

     The two women had to stop themselves from giggling when his sister Wendy came trailing into the living room. Her dark hair bobbed up and down as she dropped to the floor to look underneath all of the furniture. "Have you seen Jacob? John, Charlie, Sindi, and I can't find him." She asked. Oshun and she shook their heads and watched as she groaned and stomped out of the room.

"Did she see me?" Jacob whispered.

"No, honey you're good." Oshun replied.

     From the dining room, they heard something shatter and someone yelling. The two women sighed and stood up hurrying to the next room. They already knew who was fighting and why they were fighting. "You bitch!" Roquette yelled grabbing Artemis by the back of her shirt. Everyone watched as Artemis twisted around to slap her across the face. This was exactly how it went down last time except that it was on the street and the neighbours called the police. "Okay, you two break it up." Connor stepped in between the two of them.

     Her Uncle Wally and her father tried to pull the two of them away to stop any more violence from happening. Roquette managed to pull away from her fathers hold and jump on top of the blonde in front of her. "You sit up there so high and mighty, you got your husband back - I got mine back in a body bag!" Roquette screamed, pushing the woman to the floor. The kids all began to come downstairs to see what was going on. "Okay, everyone outside!" Mar'i yelled ushering all of the children out of the house and onto the front porch.

"What's happening in there?"

"Is my mom okay?"

"Do Auntie Roquette and Auntie Artemis hate each other?"

     So many questions were being directed towards her at once she didn't know how she should've answered them. Most of them were kids and didn't need to hear about any of this stuff but on the other hand, they were family and she didn't lie from family. "A dispute, yes she should be, and no, they just like to resort to violence when this certain topic is brought up." she answered. It was a few minutes until her Aunt and Uncle stepped out of the house, Artemis's hair was a mess, face bruised, and her nose looked to be broken. "It was good seeing you Mar'i, girls get your things we're leaving." her Uncle Wally gave her an apologetic smile as he helped his wife down the steps and to the car parked in the driveway.

     The dinner party died down twenty minutes after they left, everyone was gone except for her Aunt Megan who was helping clean the place up. Mar'i was nearby cleaning the dishes and listening in to their conversation. "I mean we all miss him but it's been eighteen years since that happened." her mother frowned and collected the pieces of broken ceramic off of the floor. Her Aunt nodded and stood up, piling all of the plates that were in one piece together. "This hurts me as much as it hurts them, sometimes I wish we were still in high school." Megan admitted.

     Her mother nodded and squeezed past her father who was scrubbing the red wine stains out of the white carpet. "Next time if we have a dinner we should do two and invite them both separately." her father muttered. Mar'i was glad that things between her, Antonia, and Colette never got this bad. She was happy that they were all still friends and didn't hate one another, even if she was dating who Antonia dubbed as 'an emotionless, sadistic, viper'. No one told any of them exactly how things between her two Aunt's got so bad. All she knew was that one day Artemis's husband came home after being missing for a few years and Roquette's husband came home in a body bag.

     Before she left to head back to Antonia's apartment she went upstairs to say goodbye to her siblings. The four of them were in Sindella and Charlie's room watching a movie with her cousins. Her mother and her Aunt were speaking quietly on the sofa together downstairs in the living room. It was clear that they didn't want anyone, including Mar'i, to hear what they were talking about. "Are you leaving now?" Jaxx frowned, hugging her legs.

"As much as I'd love to stay I have to go home." she whispered, ruffling his dark hair.

     Everyone in her family looked the same except for her. They were all dark-haired, pale, and blue-eyed. She remembered teasing Sindella when she was younger saying that she was a knock-off, Snow White. That was horrible for her but whenever they recalled those days they laughed. "Shush you're ruining the movie!" John hissed. Mar'i rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at her younger brother.

"Wow I travel all this way to see you guys and this is how I'm treated." she retorted.

"Idiot."

"Jerkface."

"Loser."

     She huffed and turned around leaving the room and heading towards the staircase down the hallway. "Hate you!" she yelled from the stairs. There were heavy footsteps thumping all the way from the bedroom down the hall to the staircase. John leaned over the balcony and gave her the stink eye. "Hate you more." he smirked. "Bye mom, bye dad!" she yelled from the front foyer.

"Remember sunshine, no boys!" her father jokingly yelled from the dining room.

"Need I remind you I am twenty-six!" she replied.

     As much as she loved hanging out with her family sometimes it was a little overwhelming. She admired how hopeful her mother was but the fact was fact, her aunts were always going to hate each other. A fight was inevitable when the two of them were around each other. Mar'i was exhausted by the time she got back to Antonia's apartment. Her friend was curled up on the sofa eating a tub of ice cream and watching a comedy on television. "How was dinner with your family?" she asked as Mar'i took a seat on the sofa next to her.

     The young woman shrugged and sunk back into the sofa, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I mean it wasn't the worst get together we've had to date but it was still -"

"- pretty bad?" Toni finished her sentence.

"I just wish they could all get along y'know?"

"Just because you wish for something to happen doesn't mean it should."

     Mar'i nodded, Toni was probably right. Now that her mind was at ease she remembered that she was meeting Damian and his friend's tomorrow night. She turned to face Toni who was almost finished the small tub of ice cream she had been eating. "You've lived in Gotham for a while, what do you know about the Cat's Eye?"

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A/N: Tensions will run high next chapter and more drama is definitely to come. I should have published this next Monday but again as a treat I thought I should update it. You all have been waiting quite some time for the book to be released. 

Skcrystal23 ;)