Bruce: Tim?!? Why didn’t you wait for me to pay the ransom??
Tim casually walking into the Wayne Manor after escaping his kidnappers four days ago. With a concussion and a sprained ankle he hitchhiked through four states, created two new alias’s, solved a missing persons case and discovered a new cave system under Gotham along the way.
Tim: Who would pay? My parents are dead? And even if they were alive, Drake Industries doesn’t pay ransoms.
Bruce: I’m??? Your legal guardian??? I pay ransoms?? You’ve seen me pay ransoms for your brothers??
— Bruce married you a bit late into Jason’s career as Robin.
— You had just barely finished their bachelor’s degree, when their parents proposed the idea of an arrangement to strengthen business ties with Wayne entrepreneurs.
— After all, how was bisexual bimbo Brucie supposed to say no to a cute little thing like you.
— You understand what type of a man Bruce Wayne was. He had a reputation to uphold, and you were fine with him adding some more notches to his bedpost during the duration of this marriage.
— Bruce felt bad but was grateful for you understanding this was a marriage of convenience.
— You took care of Jason, grew closer to him, baked him chocolate chip cookies… they were always his favorite.
— Then came the hardest day of your life… Having to bury him. Bruce wouldn’t tell you what happened… a tragic accident he called it.
— ironically, a death in the family lead to you finally meeting your other stepson Dick Grayson. He was polite, and sweet enough… be he didn’t stick around.
— You started to take up self defense classes after that. Jason always begged you to when he was alive… it felt like a good way to honor him.
— Years pass and eventually Tim moves in… and so does Stephanie.
— Both of the young teens seem to avoid you when they can. You supposed it was only fair… they just had a bombshell dropped on them that Bruce Wayne was going to be their new father. You figured giving them time to adjust was the right decision.
— You finally get to meet Barbara Gordon one day at an award Ceremony Gotham University was holding. She was brilliant; utterly witty and confident. But at the same time she seemed to stare right through you.
— You knew what she was thinking, what they were all thinking. “This one is a phase.” You couldn’t blame them. You thought so too.
— It was that time of year again…
— Every year you made cookies… Jason’s birthday, his adoption anniversary, his death… every single important anniversary you made a fresh plate of Chocolate chip cookies and set them out on the counter. By morning they were gone… courtesy of Alfred.
— He enjoyed your presence but he found it tedious that you would waste food like this!
— Eventually something big happens
— Bruce is just… gone one day. No note, no phone call, no voicemail. Nothing! Just… vanished from the face of the earth for months!
— And with him gone… so too did Tim and Stephanie leave.
— Something about roaming the halls of that empty mansion left a bad taste in your mouth. This wasn’t your home. This was the Waynes home. And no matter what your marriage certificate said… you weren’t a Wayne… everyone made that perfectly clear.
— You took up painting in the time Bruce was gone.
— Might as well immortalize the family you inherited this Mansion from. It was easy enough to find photos of everyone online.
— It was a tad harder to hanging above the stairway in the great Hall.
— and they’re it was again… Jason’s Birthday.
— Alfred has been out taking care of Tim and Stephanie as they live downtown in Bruce’s old penthouse…
— maybe this time you’d actually be able to properly honor your son.
— and the cookies are still there by morning you got out of a sigh of relief.
— and that side turns into laughter.
— and that laughter turns into sobbing.
— eventually, everything changes again. Bruce comes home and he brings the entire family back with him. Dick moves and Tim and Stephanie move back in. Even Barbara and a new girl named Cassandra Cain move in.
— The home feels like we were than ever!
— so why does it feel like you’re planting even more into the background?
— most of the time they forget you’re even there.
— christmases and birthdays are usually filled with laughter and joy and cheer. The Waynes go all out and celebrating each other and filling the home with laughter and love…
— yours are filled with gift cards and awkward, exchanging of pleasantries.
— you might, as will be an ornamental lamp.
— and then Damien shows up.
— you try your absolute best to be nice. I didn’t really bother you that Bruce had an affair. You encouraged him to the beginning of your “marriage”. Damien’s existence wasn’t a problem. His attitude on the other hand…
— most people know Damien Wayne is a brat.
— he’s constantly mouthing off to his siblings, he’s constantly fighting with his father, he’s constantly sassing anybody who will give him five seconds of attention.
— but you get it the worst. It feels like he goes out of his way to annoy you and to try to pick a fight with you. He sees you as the evil stepmother before you even have a chance to get to know him. Part of him blames you, for being in the way of his mother and father being together. They were in love, but because of you, they had to go their separate ways.
— to him you’re just a Normie.
— a no good nobody who doesn’t deserve to even breathe the same air as the Waynes. Sure you’ve lived in this house long before his parents even met, but that didn’t matter to him. His mother was a purebred, you’re just a mutt. She’s beautiful, elegant, educated, deadly, cunning. She’s Bruce’s perfect match. You’re nothing special to him.
— and he lets you know every single time that you see each other that you will never compare to his mother. You will never replace his mother! You will never be his mother…
— The arrogant little-…
— it’s fine. You just have to survive six more years of this and then he’ll go off to college and you’ll never have to see him again.
— it’s the anniversary of Jason’s death…
— The hardest day of your life… The day you were forced to bury your son you. The only son you’ve ever known, the only family ever known in this hell hole since your parents sold you off.
— and what do you find the next morning?
— Him…
— Damian Wayne eating Jason’s cookies.
— You screamed.
— you snatched the plate away from him, and started screaming at him that he was a demon, a monster! How could he destroy your memorial to your beloved son?!
— Bruce comes in and separates the two of you.
— he screams at you, not to yell at his son.
— You fire back that he’s forgotten Jason. That if he remembered Jason, he would remember how hard his death hit you… and how much these cookies meant to you, and how much this memorial meant to you.
— in the 15 years since Jason’s death, not important date of his has gone by where you haven’t honored him in this way.
— if Bruce hadn’t forgot Jason, then how could he have not told Damien what these cookies meant
— it was all you had left of your son, and now there’s a demon has ruined it. And Bruce is letting him.
— after that, you spent months locked in your room. Bruce tried to smooth things over. He sent you gifts, he sent you money, he even made a Damien apologize. Nothing is enough
— and then, one day you suddenly started coming out of your room again.
— you look brighter than you had been in over a decade and a half.
— and you’re still baking those damn cookies.
— only this time you’re baking them on a weekly basis. You leave the cookies out on the doorstep of the service entrance on Sunday night and by Monday morning the plate is empty.
— Bruce felt bad.
— Of course he felt bad! He feel like he pushed you into a psychosis! You miss Jason so much that you’re trying to relive the past like he’s still here.
— and then one night… Bruce sees him again. Jason has come back as the red hood persona. He wants to tell you so badly. He knows how much you miss him, but that would compromise his secret identity as the Batman.
— he lets this guilt fester for months.
— and then, on Sunday evening, he sees you baking cookies again.
— you turned to him and grandmother smile.
— it makes him feel so guilty.
— You tell him that you can’t talk now Jason’s gonna be here any minute after he’s done with his red hood business.
— that made him pause. His heart stopped for a moment. You couldn’t possibly know that. Jason wouldn’t be that stupid to tell you about everything. Right?
— he gripped by the shoulder and turns you around. He needed to know…
