The Lazarus Effect

Ten

He smiled a little which is a bit of fresh air, considering he has a nearly permanent scowl on his face. We finished getting what I needed with a few other things Alfred asked me to get for him. The paparazzi were having a field day seeing us out in public like this for the first time.

"There is a frozen yogurt place Damian likes to go to. Would you like some?"

"Yeah, sure," I said putting my things in the back of his Lamborghini.

"Tell me about the incident with the ice cream," he said once we were in his car. It made me wonder how long he had been dying to ask me that question. Odds are he already knows the whole story.

"Wow," I said shaking my head. "That-I-uh- I was twelve when mom and I moved to Star City. There was this little shop across our apartment building called I Scream For Ice Cream and I used to go there after school to hang out with Sin and eat ice cream.

"That day, I didn't have time to stay there so I took my ice cream to go in a really cool cup. Mom and I went down to Central City. By the time I finished eating it I started feeling sick. I didn't tell my mom right away thinking it would just go away.

"She noticed anyway and took me to the hospital. They were going to take me from her when detective Lance came in and told them it had been from the ice cream I ate at that shop that a lot of kids have been drugged. A few died,"

"That must have been difficult for you,"

"I stopped going out to places like that for a long time,"

"What about now?" I reached into my pocket and pulled out a mint box and opened it.

"Test Strips," his grin made my entire day.

The way his eyes lit up and the smile, it just took my breath away. Bruce Wayne is a handsome man. It's hard to believe I had come from him. In what universe does that even begin to make sense? This man is my father. Something I had never had and here he is taking me supply shopping and buying me fro-yo.

"Is something wrong?" he asked probably noticing how quiet and serious I had become.

"No, it's just. It's hard to accept all of this," he sighed reaching for my hand giving it a light reassuring squeeze.

"I know how hard it is to lose a parent," a sad smile pulled at my lips thinking about my mom. It's all I ever do. The only thing that lets me feel more than the coldness in my bones.

"That's not it. I mean yeah, I can't believe she's gone. What I mean is sitting here with you," he glanced at me before shifting gears.

"With me?" he asked confused.

"When we were kids, my friend Sin and I used to make up stories about what it would be like for her to have her parents. It was fun and I'd go home thinking about what my dad would be like. I wanted him extraordinary of course. He would have had a cool job, like being a lawyer or maybe a doctor. He'd be handsome obviously and easy on the eyes. Very tall and he'd smile all the time. Especially, when he got home after double shifts at the hospital,"

"I'm sorry I can't be what you expected me to be, Ilya,"

"Are you kidding me?" I asked looking at him. "You're Bruce Wayne. You are one of the smartest men in the world. You could have broken your parent's company apart because it's such a big responsibility but you kept it afloat and it's now doing better than ever. You employ so many people with families and help so much in a City that just spits people out.

"You've taken in three wayward sons and turned them into men and you're currently trying to give a little boy who has lived through the worst shit he could have lived through at his mother's side, a normal life.