#most of these are referencing moments from tim’s earlier appearances which i /tried/ to track down but they’re like scattered across

[pokeberry5]

i feel like i never draw tim smiling but bb robin tim smiles a lot! (in between angst and tragedy)

brought to you by my continued attempts at figuring out tim’s early robin hair

[afni-fics]

In Hindsight: Chapter 8: In the Present... Fathers and Son

In Hindsight: Chapter 8: In the Present... Fathers and Son by C_R_Scott Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Tim Drake/Tam Fox, Jack Drake/Janet Drake, Janet Drake & Tim Drake, Jack Drake & Tim Drake, Lucius Fox/Tanya Fox, Tim Drake & Tam Fox Characters: Tim Drake, Tam Fox, Janet Drake, Jack Drake, Lucius Fox, Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth Additional Tags: Tim Drake-centric, Family Drama, Family Secrets, Family Feels, Childhood Friends, Childhood Trauma, Childhood Memories, Childhood Sweethearts, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Good Parent Janet Drake, Bad Parent Jack Drake, no beta we die like robins, Bruce Wayne Tries to Be a Good Parent

Previous Chapter | Masterlist | Next Chapter

Story Summary: What if Tim Drake was originally raised by his maternal grandmother for the first eight years of his life due to "circumstances" involving his biological parents? What if Tim's grandmother was also the next door neighbor and occasional sitter for Lucius Fox's family?

Chapter Summary: Still in the present day, Bruce watches over Tim as he sleeps away some of the emotional exhaustion of the morning. Some unexpected information is dragged into the light, and Bruce improvises what to do and say once his son wakes up.

...

How long had it been since Bruce last watched Tim as he slept?

The Wayne patriarch sat quietly on the window seat of Tim's bedroom, but kept his eyes on bed. Barely an hour earlier he'd managed to lead his physically and emotionally exhausted son out of the Nest and back into the living room of his house. Tam had led the way and gave a brief impromptu tour as she showed them to the master bedroom. Tim was barely coherent during most of the walk, and as soon as his head hit the pillow, he passed out. The boy didn't even flinch when Bruce pulled the comforter over him, tucking it over his shoulders. While Alfred asked Tam for a more in-depth tour of Tim's new home, Bruce remained behind.

Tim looked so drained and despondent, even in sleep. It broke Bruce's heart to see his boy this way. The last time Bruce saw this side of Tim was on his first night at the Manor after his biological father had been murdered.

And once again, even now, Jack Drake was the source of his son's misery.

Bruce heard a quiet knock from the bedroom door. After a quick glance at Tim to ensure he was still asleep, he got up and walked to the door.

"Yes Alfred?"

The older gentleman glanced into the room first, assuring himself with brief once over of the slumbering teenager before motioning for Bruce to step out of the room. With great reluctance, Bruce followed the old man out into the hallway, closing the door behind him.

"I wanted to let you know that Miss Fox has left to return home, and I'm on my way out to return to the Manor. Timothy's kitchen is rather sparse on ingredients, so I'm going to prepare some meals and bring them back for when he finally wakes up." Then Alfred brought out a medication bottle and placed it in Bruce's hand, his expression gravely serious. "Before she left, Tamara asked that as soon as Timothy wakes up he is to be reminded to take a dose of this. She said normally he takes it first thing at the office during the work week, but because he never made it there this morning he will need to take his dose as soon as possible."

Bruce's brow furrowed as he read the prescription label on the plastic orange bottle. "Amoxicillin?" His eyes shot back up to Alfred. "Why is Tim on a daily regiment of antibiotics?"

Alfred frowned deeply. "I do not know. I didn't press Miss Fox for clarification as I didn't want to upset her further than she already was this morning. She also appeared to be operating under the assumption that I already knew Timothy was taking this medication." 

Bruce shook his head. "What is going on? First we find out Jack was lying to Tim for years about his grandmother, and now Tim is keeping secrets from us regarding his health?"

"From the label, it appears that Dr. Thompkins was the one who prescribed the medication. I should still be on Timothy's HIPAA release forms regarding his medical records. I'll call her on the way to the manor and try to get some answers." 

"Thank you Alfred. Please keep me posted." Nodding, Bruce turned away from Alfred and returned to Tim's bedside, sitting down beside him. He gently stroked the teenager's hair from his face, concerned gaze softening as he watched his son sleep. 

  ...

For a few hours, Bruce kept vigil over his son. Though a part of him was very curious and wanted to explore the remodeled movie theater in greater depth, he did not want Tim to wake up alone after everything that had happened earlier. So he spent the next couple of hours on his phone distracting himself as best he could by going over Tim's Neon Knights reports that he hadn't had time to review earlier as well as other Wayne Enterprises related work that had been on the backburner for far too long, now that he was taking the time to review everything.

That is, he did so until a text message alert popped up on the screen. It was a message from Barbara.

"Call me."

With reluctance again, Bruce stepped out of the bedroom and into the hallway. He placed his Bluetooth headset on and dialed up Barbara. 

"What have you got for me?"

He could hear typing in the background. "Not much... yet. But I definitely get the sense that something was shady happened and was buried back when the original custody arrangement with Tim's grandma was severed. Fortunately for Tim, the ground is soft and I'm prepared to dig."

Bruce allowed himself a small smile at the fierce determination he could hear in Barbara's voice. He knew he could count on her. "What about why Tim was in his grandmother's custody to begin with? Was it just due to Jack and Janet's constant travelling due to their work, or was there something else?"

He listened to Barbara sigh, and there was a pause in her typing. "Definitely something else," she finally replied with an unhappy tone to her voice. "I'm sending you a couple of docs. One of them is the original custody arrangement, initiated when Tim was just two years old. 'Officially'--" Bruce could practically hear the air quotes around the word. "--the paperwork says it was due to the fact that they were travelling constantly for work, that it was more practical for the wellbeing of their son to stay in one constant, stable location and his grandmother was kind enough to open her home to him."

"And the reality?"

"I don't know for certain yet, but I think there may have been some domestic abuse happening. The rest of the docs are some of Tim's medical records from when he was a baby until he turned two. There are a worrying number of reports due to various 'accidental injuries' during this time period, that essentially dried up the moment Tim was in his grandmother's care."

Bruce could taste the bile rising up in the back of his throat as he read over the reports. On their own, if they were one-off occurrences, it would be easy to dismiss the injuries as just "accidents". Nothing was life threatening or permanently damaging, but as time went on, there was a definite pattern and a gradual trend of escalation regarding the severity of the injuries and how frequently they were occurring and requiring visits with his pediatrician or the children's hospital emergency department.

All before Tim even reached the age of two.

  ...

Tim's eyes opened slowly to the pitch darkness of his bedroom. His brow furrowed as he glanced around after sitting up, dislodging the comforter that had been tucked around his shoulders. He plucked at the still warm, very inviting blanket as if he wasn't quite sure if it was real or not before turning his attention to the glowing numbers of his bedside alarm clock.

"Why am I in bed at two in the afternoon?"

He rubbed at his eyes, which felt gritty and itchy. To his surprise, he felt a slight change of texture on his skin beneath his eyes. It was a feeling he was quite familiar with. 

"Was I crying?" he thought as he felt the remains of the dried tear tracks on his cheeks before reflexively scrubbing them away with the heel of his hand. "Why was I--?"

Then he froze.

His bedroom door had opened and he recognized the silhouette of his adopted father in the doorway against the daylight filtering in from the hallway.

Then Tim's short term memories from the morning caught up with him, and is breath stuttered audibly in his throat.

"Oh... I remember..."

Bruce had paused when he saw Tim sitting up in his bed. His startled expression quickly bled into concern. "Sorry," he apologized as he stepped further into the room, closing the door partway to dim the light, though he didn't shut it all the way. He shoved his phone into his pocket. "Did I wake you?"

Tim shook his head without a word as he focused his gaze firmly on the quilted lines of the comforter. He felt the mattress shift as Bruce sat down next to him. 

"How do you feel?"

The young man dared to glance up at Bruce's question. He opened his mouth as if to answer, but nothing came out. Tim was startled by his lack of words. There were so many thoughts and feelings twisted up inside his head. Heartache... Confusion... Anger... Regret... Betrayal... Surprise... Grief... There was so many conflicting things churning in his mind, like a pot threating to boil over.

But he couldn't find his voice for any of it. 

All Tim could do was close his mouth, bowed his head, and let his expression communicate how miserable he felt.

Suddenly, the bed shifted again and Tim felt a strong arm wind itself around his back as a hand gently clasped his shoulder. He tilted his head upward to see that Bruce had moved to sit beside him and drew him into a one-armed half-hug that gave him a choice of either leaning into the embrace or escaping it if it was going to be too much for him. Tim was stiff for a moment as he processed the unspoken choice he'd been given. Then, slowly, he relaxed into his adopted father's embrace and leaned against him with a small sigh.

"Having a hard time processing everything?"

Tim nodded. 

A low hum of acknowledgement rumbled from Bruce's throat that Tim could feel. A corner of his lips twitched upward even as he closed his eyes wearily. It felt nice. He felt safe. 

"Do you want to talk about anything right now?"

The teenager thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. Now that he felt safe and comforted, the tendrils of sleep that had slipped away earlier were returning to drag him under once again. He was still so very tired.

Bruce seemed to guess that his son wanted to go back to sleep. "Before you pass out again, Tam said you need to take these." He reached over for the nightstand and grabbed the orange bottle. 

Tim blinked at the bottle in drowsy confusion, though once he recognized the label of his prescription, his eyes widened. His posture had stiffened and he looked at Bruce with a guilty hesitant expression. "I-- I can explain..." he forcefully croaked out in a barely audible tone.

His father shook his head to stop Tim from speaking. "Is Leslie fully aware of what is going on and why you're on this medication?"

Tim nodded.

Bruce gave him a small reassuring smile. "Then, we can talk about this later," Bruce said "As long as you're not in any immediate danger, we can postpone this conversation. But since this involves your health, especially your immunity if I'm recognizing this medication correctly, I don't want you going out on patrol until we clear the air about this, alright?"

With a resigned sigh, Tim nodded again. "Fair." 

Once he'd taken his antibiotics, Tim made himself more comfortable again in his bed. After resting his head on his pillow, before he could allow himself to drift off, there was one question he had to ask his father. "Bruce?"

"Hm?"

"Who else knows?"

"Alfred was with us earlier, though I'm not sure how aware you were of everything that happened in your Nest," Bruce revealed, to which Tim nodded thoughtfully. "Barbara knows as well." At Tim's confused look, Bruce clarified. "I asked her to investigate how... all this happened. Was it just oversight or was it something malicious?"

"But I can--"

Bruce shook his head. "I could never ask you to investigate your own father. That would be too cruel." Bruce said sadly. Then he reached out to stroke Tim's hair in a soothing gesture. "And... I don't want you to focus on Jack right now. In fact, I want you to take a break from Wayne Enterprises and being Red Robin as well, at least for the rest of this week." 

Tim felt the words of protest rise up in him almost like a reflex. He tried to sit up and was fully prepared to launch into an argument right then and there about being benched. He paused though, when Bruce pressed a hand to his shoulder to stop him, and he could see the naked compassion in the older man's eyes.

"There's someone else who deserves your undivided attention right now, especially if you want them back in your life again."

Tim's breath got caught in his throat, and despite having felt like he cried himself out earlier, he could feel his eyes begin to tear up once more. New thoughts and feelings surrounding his grandmother began swirling around in his head, robbing him of his voice just as the earlier thoughts had done so, though these were nowhere near as angry, raw, and painful as the ones when he first woke up.

Bruce's smile was equal parts reassuring and wistful. Tim stared at Bruce's face trying to read the unfamiliar expression. He could tell that love was feeding the look his father was giving him, and it made him feel warm inside. But there was... something else hiding behind Bruce's blue eyes... a melancholy that he couldn't decipher that made his own heart ache to see.

Before he could ask Bruce about it, much to the teenager's surprise, his father leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to the crown of his hair. "Get some more rest," Bruce instructed as he rose to his full height and turned to leave the room. "I'll be here when you wake up."

Still stunned by the impromptu display of affection, Tim could only nod numbly as he watched Bruce step out of the bedroom and close the door behind him. Though his thoughts and emotions still churned inside him for a time, eventually sleep reclaimed him.

...

Author's Notes:

Author's Note: Bruce is trying really hard to be a good father in this story. A part of him both wants to ensure Tim is reunited with his grandmother, since it's clear the boy loved the woman. However, there is a part of him that is afraid that once he has his grandmother back, Tim might decide to leave him and the rest of his adopted family behind to remain with her. However, if that is Tim's choice, who would he be to deny him? What would Bruce do if he was given a chance to have his own mother back in his life? What about any of his other children (who had decent caring mothers...)?

#tim drake#tam fox#tim/tam#red robin#fanfiction#wip#rr: in hindsight#batfam#batfamily#lucius fox#bruce wayne