#where tim has a habit of making increasingly ridiculous

[daydreamerwonderkid]

Somebody rescue Tim. He's seen too much.

You do NOT have permission to repost my art.

Meme reference under cut:

[incoherentbabblings]

Take Back the Cake, Burn the Shoes, and Boil the Rice (9/11)

Within two months there have been two murders of Gotham newlyweds moments after the ceremony. The only connecting factor was both brides wore the same designer’s work. Needing to establish who exactly is behind the crimes, Bruce enlists Tim and Stephanie to have the biggest wedding Gotham high society has seen in decades, putting a target on their heads not just for the killer, but Gotham society too. It goes about as well as you’d expect.

Ao3 Link Here!

*A little bit nsfw towards the end in this chapter, but nothing explicit*

The rehearsal at the Cathedral had been hilarious. Cassandra had been distracted the entire time, on her phone even when walking with Dick down the aisle. Bruce has sat in the front row pew and promptly passed out, only for Alfred to repeatedly nudge him. Alfred, who was in his element of bossing people around and making arrangements for everything under the sun, seemed to be relishing the chance to do his actual job.

Bruce looked a little affronted at Alfred’s nudges. Tim sighed, then explained,

“You are supposed to be walking Steph to the midway point.”

“I am?”

He turned back, to see Crystal sat one row behind, glaring at him. Bruce promptly turned back around. Steph was far away in her mind and body, staring at the entrance all the way down the far end of the aisle, remembering what had happened the other week. Tim was pacing back and forth along the steps in front of where the Dean stood.  Dean Shergate’s impressive eyebrows twitched at how distracted everyone was, whilst Dick had strewn himself across the altar floor as if he belonged there.

“The ceiling is really nice!” He said, flippant and enjoying the chaotic mood. Damian, being designated ring boy and intensely bored, yelled across the length of the aisle.

“Hurry up! This is ridiculous.”

Stephanie looked down at the tiny angry puffball and nodded thoughtfully. Cassandra clicked her tongue and snapped her fingers, pointing to Tim.

“He’s right.” She said, eyes never leaving her phone.

The Dean coughed and Tim jumped a mile.

“Yes yes! Mister Wayne, walk Miss Brown to the end of the aisle on her left-hand side, whereupon Mister Drake will be waiting on her right-hand side and walk the rest of the way into the chapel together as a pair. Mister Wayne will then walk behind the couple next to…the younger Mister Wayne and then take their seats…” And on the instructions went. Stephanie and Damian, at the back of the room, were unable to hear a thing.

“This is ridiculous.” Damian grumbled once again.

“You think?” Stephanie giggled. “Have you ever attended a wedding before?”

“No. They are boring.”

“True. Hopefully not this one.”

Damian kicked his toes on the floor, a habit he had picked up from Dick to indicate restlessness. “Father is not being very open with this case.” He said quickly. Stephanie looked down to see Damian’s cheeks burning red.

“What do you mean?”

“He won’t tell me any progress with the investigation.”

Stephanie nodded emphatically. “He won’t tell me or Tim either. Which is unhelpful.”

“To say the least.”

“Do you know why?” She asked. Damian shook his head. “Huh.” She blew a gust of air out, disturbing her bangs, and shoved her hands in her jean pockets.

She saw Bruce waltzing down to her, plodding himself to the right.

“Other side Mister Wayne!”

Bruce slid behind her, making her laugh despite herself, and Damian continued to grumble, dragging his feet after them. Steph took Bruce’s arm and tried not to gawk at how solid his muscles were. She knew he was built like a brick tank, of course she did, but still… Bruce was beefy.

“Who said I was going to be the one walking you down?” Bruce asked, tone light.

“Well, I guess Alfred was an option. But this whole thing was your idea. Mom wants as little to do with this as possible so…”

“Humph. Vengeance.”

Steph smiled as they reached Tim, who was actually a little sweaty. She would have taken his hand but judging by the way he was rubbing it on his trousers, it would be a little slippery.

“Jesus, Tim.” She tried not to laugh. The Dean was less amused and coughed very loudly. Instantly, she turned white. “Sorry.”

A grunt was all she got in return.

So it was fun in all the wrong ways. Dick and Cassandra, who made a career out of being gnats, had genuinely been intensely unhelpful throughout the whole thing, testing the patience of everyone in the room. Bruce was his usual foppish self, Damian had done as he was told, but made his displeasure deeply known, Crystal had frowned, and Alfred had been distracted, focused on other things.  All whilst Tim and Stephanie tried very hard to practice the vows. They had not written their own, God forbid they were that invested in the soppiness, but when they were going through the usual phrases, Tim broke off through his, a little befuddled.

“…and thereto I give thee my troth…Quick question?”

The Dean’s face became pinched tightly shut. “Yes, Mr Drake?”

“Steph has the obey line in hers, right?”

The Dean struggled not to roll his eyes at this usual bone of contention. “Yes, she does.”

“Can she like... not… say it?”

This seemed to break Damian, who promptly ran back down the aisle, heading for the front door. Cassandra bolted after him, chasing the teenager through the building. Bruce did not rise from where he had crumpled amongst the pews, and instead his head fell down in frustration.

“I’m not doing this anymore!” Damian was heard screeching through what was an otherwise silent building. There was a rough oompf, as Cassandra caught up with him, and wrangled him off his feet.

Tim blinked, keeping his eyes on the Dean, but he did not miss how Dick next to him was turning red and looking like he had sucked a lemon.

Everyone aside from Tim watched as Damian was dragged back, which seemed to take an uncomfortably long amount of time. Eventually he went limp in Cassandra’s arms, and she tugged him all the way back up the aisle, his heels and legs splayed out as Cassandra shuffled backwards. When they returned to the chapel, Damian threw himself with a huff next to his father, folded his arms, and made an almighty pout. Bruce kept his head down and said nothing.

There was a moments silence as everyone’s heads turned back around to get back to business, but then Crystal’s hand shot up, as if she were in a classroom. The Dean, more than a little put out and desperate to move past whatever Damian’s tantrum was, nodded at her. Crystal leaned forward eagerly.

“Uh, yes. Cut that line, please.”

“Mommy!” Stephanie protested, trying very hard to not laugh. She tilted her head away, sniggering to herself. Obeying was not something that came naturally to her. Tim stubbornly held his eyes on the Dean, refusing to indulge in the hysterics of his family. The Dean’s face was very white, like he was holding in all manner of blasphemous phrases. He managed to bite out,

“It is not uncommon for many to drop it from their oaths these days.”

“So, she can?” Tim asked.

“Can ‘she’ give her own opinion?” Laughed Stephanie. Tim’s fingers twitched around hers. Yup, sweaty hands. Poor boy.

“Do you want to say it?” He asked, completely lost.

She held a straight face, looking Tim dead in the eye. After a breath, she broke character and laughed. “Not really.”

Tim took a moment, then caught up with her joke, snorting in response. The Dean looked upwards and muttered a silent prayer, regretting agreeing to the plan to host a wedding at all.

“That’s absolutely fine… Now please switch hands.”

They did as bid, and the rehearsal continued. Dick was starting to turn purple he was holding in so much laughter, and it was then that Tim decided he was going to murder his eldest brother. When it got to the bit where they would (hypothetically) be signing the register, the Dean went to talk to the rest of the family, leaving Tim and Steph standing at the altar.

Tim ran his hands across the wood carvings in the banisters, settling to rub his thumb on an eagle’s beak.

“Tim?”

Tim made a querying noise but didn’t look Stephanie’s way. This was just as well, as she was nervously picking at her nails, not looking at Tim either.

“My dress tonight… is red.”

“Oh? Well… it’s a good colour.”

Steph giggled, then quietened. She stopped picking her nails and rammed her hands in her back pockets once more, not sure what to do with herself.

“Alfred actually said… well he got me thinking. The…the…the tiara… is it…”

“Still yours?”

“Oh God. Tim, I’m so sorry…” Before she could get too upset, Tim grabbed her hand and squeezed it to the point where someone else would have found it painful, but Steph felt the reassurance. The two were still not looking at each other, but she smiled and Tim answered her question.

“I’ll bring it over for this evening. My mom had a whole bunch of stuff. Let you take your pick.”

“Thank you.”  She shook her head, tossing her hair back behind her shoulders. “I got to pick this outfit you know. Cut, colour, pattern… all me. Making sure my hair’s down.”

The hand holding had quickly turned to flat out fondling of the other’s fingers, playing with knuckles and rings. Steph broke first, and looked at the back of Tim’s head. She headbutted his shoulder.

“Okay?”

Tim looked back, over to Bruce, frowning. “Nervous.”

“Oh. There’s a twist huh? You get cold feet. Runaway groom.”

Her light tone did not match Tim’s openly concerned face. Finally, he looked down at her, and without a hint of shame, he said, “Not running from you.”

Steph blushed, and Tim kissed the very tip of her button nose.

Dick wolf whistled then, which earned a glare from the couple and a smack on the shoulder from Bruce.

Tim’s urge to murder Dick continued through to the evening, when Dick poked his head through to Tim’s room. Tim, who was painstakingly arranging his hair just so in his Henry Poole suit, looked increasingly stressed as the day had wore on.

“You alright there Timbo?”

“Like my heart is gonna give out any second. Peachy.”

“Well, if only you’d have let me do a bachelor party for you…”

“God, no.”

Dick looked a little affronted, but only in an amused way. Shutting the bedroom door behind him, he laid across the bed watching Tim fidget. Slowly, as the silence stretched, Dick’s expression grew increasingly worried.

“Seriously,” He pushed. “What happened the other night? I checked on that drug lord yesterday and the guy is looking like an injured looney tunes character. Never seen so many bandages.”

Tim rocked, looking at Dick upside down, head hanging off the back of the seat. “You ever have a rough week, but then it’s actually like…a rough five years?”

Dick snorted. “It can feel like that. Yes.” Dick rolled onto his back. “I’m sure if I stopped and thought about it, I could make an argument that my life has been nothing but a downward spiral the past twenty years… but that would ignore how much good I’ve done and experienced. It’s always easier to focus on the bad, because we expect happiness as a norm. That’s dangerous I think.”

Tim sat up straight and turned around to look at Dick properly. “What do you mean?”

“Well, if you go through life measuring your time as a sort of happy-sad binary, with the goal always to be on the happy end, deviations will seem worse, because you’ve convinced yourself they’re abnormal. That it’s supposed to be like that. I don’t think of my life’s purpose is to be happy. It makes me take the good for granted and the pain hurts even worse.”

“What do you do then?” Tim asked.

At that, Dick shrugged. “Dunno. That’s where my guruness expires.”

Tim turned back around. “Helpful.”

“I try.” Dick yawned. “By the way… be sure to compliment Steph. And make sure you don’t dance with any other girls – Cass and Babs and maybe Selina aside.”

“I know that.”

“She’s a right picture at the moment.”

Like a yoyo, Tim spun around once more. “You’ve seen her? Is she ready?”

Dick crossed his arms, a little huffy. “We’re all ready! Just waiting on you and your master hair fluffing!”  

Taking one last look at himself, Tim bolted out of his room, leaving Dick lounging on his bed.

“…At least he’s wearing a nice suit…” Dick muttered to himself.

Tim found Stephanie watching the catering staff walk by along the servant's corridors. Her back was to him, and she was bent partially in half, peeking round the corner like a naughty schoolgirl to see what was going on in the kitchen.

She was indeed wearing another red dress, whereas the one from the photo shoot had been crimson, strapless and with a sweetheart neckline, this was a deep blood red, the colour of Tim’s Red Robin suit. It was off the shoulder, but still with a higher neckline, and – like she had promised – her hair was down, with braids and twists providing a base for the tiara to be pinned to.

From the hand that was resting on the wall, he could see she was wearing another piece that belonged to his mother. A hidden wristwatch in a gold that matched the rest of her jewellery.

“Wow.” Tim said.

Stephanie straightened and turned. Tim didn’t miss how greedily she looked at him up and down, biting her red lips.

“Wow yourself!” She moved towards him, injury in her leg largely healed. Her eyes sparkled, the colour popping against her dark makeup. “Don’t we make a pair!”

“Wow.” He repeated.

With the red lip, smoky eyes, and hair so carefully arranged, it was the most done up he had ever seen her. A real bombshell.  Depending on how far through the ceremony they got, the girl in front of him might actually end up as his wife in less than twenty-four hours.

Wow.

“I’d kiss you,” Steph teased. “But you’d get a horrid lipstick stain on your cheek.”

“I’ll do one better then.” And then he kissed her cheek instead. A quick peck, but slow enough that he could feel her cheeks grow warm.

“Flirt.”

He took her hand. “Oh, look who’s talking.”

She immediately noticed he was nervous and swung their hands from side to side. “Honey, take a breath. I’m the anxious wreck. Not you.”

His chest puffed up. “Tonight, there’s gonna be some real...”

“Difficult...people?” She giggled. Tim exhaled in such a puff of air Stephanie felt her waves of hair be blown back.

“Rich people are the worst.” He grumbled. Steph simply raised her eyebrows, expression excruciatingly polite. Tim turned redder than her dress. “Shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything!”

“No, but I can see you thinking it.”

Steph laughed incredulously, pinching Tim’s cheek like an overly friendly aunty. Alfred then found them and, in typical prim Alfred form, told them to get out of the staff’s way and go help Bruce host.

Near the front entrance, where people were being let in, one of the tables appeared to be filling up with gifts. The pile of presents was a little alarming. Stephanie very much doubted there was a toaster amongst the neatly wrapped piles that sat on the table.

“We’ll donate them...” Tim said, seeing Stephanie’s face.

“You mean I can’t keep the cheques?”

“No.”

“Darn.”

Twelve women and five men told Stephanie how beautiful she looked, and she believed about a third were being genuine. There were seven courses for dinner, and mercifully Alfred had the foresight to sandwich Stephanie between Damian and Cassandra, with Tim sat between Dick and Bruce. Babs and her father were just a couple of people down, whilst the entire Fox family took up another side. Nearly regretting it the moment she made the motion, Steph gave a tiny wave to Tam, who looked a little confused but waved back. Tim seemed quite happy to pretend she wasn’t there, which Steph thought was a little rude, but then again, she still didn’t really know what had happened there. Regardless, she was just thankful an ex of Tim’s didn’t seem to bear a grudge.

The rest of the table seemed to be taken up with WE board members, and other high-flying society folk of Gotham that Stephanie recognized neither the face nor names of. Mrs van Rijk was sat with her husband, critiquing every piece of food that passed her lips. Alfred, who was stood at the far side of the room, only narrowed his eyes at her and kept his mouth shut. Otherwise he seemed utterly overjoyed at getting to Butler it up once more.

Bruce stood up after dessert, looking like he was going to make a speech. Tim’s mouth dropped open, and he looked to Dick, who once again was enjoying the secondhand embarrassment too much to be anything but sadistic. Damian entered a panic and tried to leave like he had at the cathedral, only for Cassandra once again to catch him and glare. If they had to endure it, so did he. Suddenly having a row of diners staring at him, Damian slowly returned to his seat. Indulgently, Steph rubbed his back. She was trying to be sweet on Damian, and thankfully he did nothing but blush at the attempt of sympathy.

Bruce coughed, tapping at his crystal glass to get everyone’s attention. He did it for a moment too long and the crystal shattered under the constant pressure of his tapping with the little cheese knife. Everyone jumped, whilst Bruce stared into his hand, then very carefully, very methodically, put down what remained of the stem of the glass. He coughed again, fanning his wet hand dry and clearing his throat whilst Alfred whizzed around, cleaning up the mess expertly.

“I won’t bore you all with a long speech,” Bruce begun.

“Good.” Tim muttered under his breath. Dick kicked him, and when Tim turned to him, outraged, Dick had that terrible manic look on his face, a closed mouth smile and wide eyes that was telling Tim something. Keep your mouth shut probably.

“Listen.” Dick mimed.

Oh. Close enough.

Stephanie pressed backwards into her chair. It was too heavy to roll back on its hindlegs, which would have been humiliating if she had rolled all the way back, legs and skirt flying upwards. She gripped the table and smiled, channelling her inner customer service smile.

Bruce seemed blithely unaware of his children’s distress (liar. He knew. He knew and did not care. In fact, he probably revelled in it) and soldiered on.

“I know this has been a bit of a whirlwind these past two months…”

Steph’s painted nails had started to make crescent shaped imprints on the wood of the table.

“…But – in fact – it was a long time coming. I am… extremely lucky to have these two in my life. They found me and wriggled their way in. All I can say is, I still see that thirteen-year-old boy who insisted I was Batman –” People politely laughed at the absurdity of the statement. Tim stared at Bruce, mouth hanging open wide enough to catch flies. “– And the fifteen-year-old girl who has since proved me wrong so many times I don’t bother to keep count anymore.”

Steph’s smile turned a little less frigid, and her grip lessoned. Tim meanwhile remained unmoved, still gabbing like a fish.

“You have no idea, how glad I am that you two have each other… Point is, I’m proud of you both.” Then, seemingly as an afterthought, Bruce spilled out, “You are still my kids though, so please don’t go too far after all this, you know I have separation anxiety.”

Dick’s incredibly loud bark of laughter made Tim jump, knocking over another crystal glass. Alfred mysteriously appeared to give two refreshed glasses to Tim and Bruce. A toast was made, and somehow, everyone seemed a little choked up. Tim threw his glass of sparkling water back like it was a shot of vodka.

“Dancing time?” Bruce asked, and the table clapped and chatted and began to migrate away. Tim didn’t miss Tam’s look of confusion, like she really didn’t know if she should be happy for Tim or not.

“That was unbearable.” Damian muttered, shoving his seat back and looking to go sit on the balcony.

“No lie though.” Cassandra said. Bruce shot her a dangerous look, but before he could leave the room, Stephanie kicked back her chair and rushed around the whole length of the table. She threw herself into Bruce’s arms for a tight hug.

Tim shot up from his seat, Dick catching his cuff.

“Be nice.” Dick hissed.

Stephanie rocked from side to side, grinning from ear to ear.

“Thank you!”

Bruce, ever an awkward man, patted her elbows, and carefully broke away. Stephanie remained undeterred though, and decided to keep badgering him. “Promise to dance with me in a bit?”

Because we’re not going to get the chance tomorrow went unsaid, but Bruce heard it all the same. Slowly, he nodded. Backing away, Steph went to grab Tim’s hand and together they made their way to the ballroom. Tim, who seemed increasingly lost as the night went on, held on tight. Bruce watched the pair. It seemed almost like both could not be confident at the same time. Things would come along and knock one back, and the other would turn around and drag them forward, back to normality, back to a sense of purpose, until the inevitable moment when the roles would flip, and the other would stumble.

Bruce told himself that the pattern would break. That soon the two would be able to rest, to see the fruits of their labour beyond a smile here and there, a thank you from time to time, and a pat on the shoulder on the rarest of occasions. The gig was supposed to be temporary for Tim, and for Steph it was a decade’s long culmination of searching for a life’s purpose. A second chance she’d said. Surely, she had succeeded by now.

Not for the first time, Bruce wished that his kids would give up the life they had chosen for themselves and go be normal.

Such a wish was impossible however, and Bruce knew that. Too much baggage and too much empathy meant other options were alien and disconnected from what they truly wanted. What they needed.

Bruce watched them dance, awkwardly, like they were attending the prom they never got to, but also saw how happy they were whilst doing it. He watched as they spoke to many people, most of whom Stephanie had never even met before, and somehow managed to make a good impression with. He watched Tim sidestep and Stephanie deflect every potential pointed barb, every stab in the dark to find something at fault with her character. Some hint that whatever hold she had over Tim would snap and break before the year was out. It did not escape Bruce’s notice that Stephanie’s grip on Tim’s arm was white knuckled by the end. They’d done very well, but by the time the last person had left, it was two o’clock in the morning and Stephanie had collapsed at the foot of the main stairwell, shrugging off her shoes with a wince. Tim was being a good boy scout and doing what he could to help Alfred clean up.

Bruce walked by, about to enter the cave, when he paused, and after a brief argument with himself, sat down next to Stephanie. She smiled, and as she hiked up her skirts so she could rub her feet, she asked,

“All good?”

“You and Tim have done so well.”

Steph scoffed. “Don’t lie. There’s been more than enough slip ups to warrant a lecture.”

“Let’s see how tomorrow goes, then a lecture may be due.”

Stephanie slowly stopped rubbing her feet and looked to Bruce. “You… you sure this person is going to turn up tomorrow?”

“I’m sure.”

“So, you know who it is?”

“Yes.”

Stephanie’s mouth dropped open. “For how long?”

“Just after Bishop Sherborne’s death. It shouldn’t have taken me that long, but when they were trying to frighten you, not to kill you, they slipped up, and I got the confirmation I needed.”

“I… Bruce. I don’t understand. So, you’ve known for weeks? But why haven’t you…?” She huffed, leaning back. “There’s something else going on here. Isn’t there?”

No response. Stephanie felt like throttling Bruce but tried to stay encouraging. “Tell me. I can help?”

Bruce rolled his eyes. “I wonder if that’s your most commonly used phrase. You are helping Stephanie. The murderer saw what a big event this was going to be and shot at you to help raise the stakes. Toying with us. But they slipped up, and they’re going to get that big ending. I swear that.”

Oh. Bruce wanted as much of a spectacle as possible. That made sense.

“Also…” Bruce looked over his shoulder, ensuring Tim was nowhere in sight. “It gives you and Tim a bit more of a reason to ‘take a break’.”

She looked at him out the corner of her eye.

“You know…don’t you?”

“Know what?”

Oh God. He was going to make her say it. Fine, she would embarrass him. Tim had once thrown a fit in front of Bruce, essentially declaring his love for her whilst telling Bruce to get screwed. It was the first time he’d said he’d loved her (hers was months before… the hormones from the baby had made the L word slip out a little early, or so she’d told herself at the time). Tim had also picked her up and kissed her right in front of Bruce after they’d caught up with her post-Africa. If Tim had no issue being open about his affections, Stephanie saw no reason to either. Quietly, almost pleadingly, she said,

“That I’m in love with your son. That we want to be together for real when this is all over.”

Bruce exhaled, and wrung his hands. Stephanie tried to not let his silence eat at her, but it did, and she grabbed his wrist, as if the physical contact would change his mind. Bruce looked down. Tim had tried the same thing the other day, but with Stephanie he knew she wasn’t trying to get him off her back, if anything she’d wanted him to be more involved.

“Bruce… is that okay with you?”

“Ask him about Captain Boomerang.” He said, tone short. He watched the blank confusion pass over Stephanie’s expression, and he felt a pang of disappointment in Tim.

“What? What about him? What’s he got to do with –”

“If he hasn’t told you, then he’s hiding the truth because he feels guilty, and he’s frightened of your reaction. That’s not a relationship built to last. Ask him about Harkness. Regardless of what you think of it all, you deserve to know what Tim did.”

Stephanie’s confusion turned to frustration and consternation. “I don’t understand?”

Bruce shook his head, knowing that now the thought was planted, Stephanie wouldn’t let it go. He got back on his feet and looked down at her.

“I’m going to patrol now. Tomorrow I might be late coming to the cathedral. If I am…start without me.”

As she listened to Bruce, Stephanie tilted her head like a confused puppy. “Please let me and Tim help?”

“Help Tim first.”

“But I’m the one who needs hel —”

“I promise you Stephanie… you’re not.”

She stared at the floor as Bruce walked away. What she supposed he intended as a comforting moment for Stephanie instead made her outraged on Tim’s behalf.

“You should have more faith in him.” She called out across the room. She heard Bruce stop and turn, and slowly she raised her determined gaze to meet his sad one. She choked on her final words, “You should…”

She stopped, feeling she was starting to project paternal issues too much, and hoisted herself upwards, picking her shoes off the floor.

“I’ll see you tomorrow Bruce. Thank you for the speech today. It meant a lot.” Then she turned away, trying to maintain the last word, and made her way upstairs. She had been sincere when she spoke, as she hoped it would shame Bruce a little more than snark.

She was spending the night at the manor. The whole don’t see the bride the night before thing seemed a little moot in these circumstances. She wanted one last night with Tim, regardless of what happened tomorrow.

Slowly, carefully, Stephanie sat in Tim’s room at his desk, and took off Janet’s (hers. It was hers now) wristwatch. Janet Drake had kept all kinds of beautiful pieces. Lots of rings. Lots of pendants. Lots of earrings. Steph had opted for the watch and the tiara, conscious that anything more would have made her look like a magpie, like someone of new money. She knew that was something Gotham society hated. She felt like she was living in the Great Gatsby.

Her head was aching however, and she knew it was from the tiara and the pins holding it in place. Ten hours of it sitting on her, weight light at first but pressing down by the end made her grunt a little. One lady had recognized it as Janet’s and had actually got a little teary eyed; she had seemed so proud. Two weeks ago, Stephanie would have scoffed, but now it just made her feel warm. She wondered if Janet would have liked her. Jack had been indifferent at first. He probably thought what Tim and her had was nothing more than a typical teenage romance. Then everything had come pouring out about Robin and the baby and… well, maybe she was a bad influence on Tim, but she also mattered a lot more then Jack first thought. The way Tim spoke about his mother suggested she was the one with the emotional intelligence, maybe she would have seen Tim and Stephanie were serious almost from the word go. Maybe she would have liked Steph.

Stephanie looked up to the ceiling briefly, hoping that regardless of what Janet thought of her, she wasn’t angry that her jewellery was being worn by Miss Madam from Nowhere.

She was going to start taking the pins out when Tim came in, looking tired and stressed. She smiled at him through the reflection, Bruce’s words stuck in her head. Tim saw what she was doing and made his way over. His fingers found their way up the back of her hair, and began to remove pins, braids and twists uncurling as he did so. He saw her twitch in pain when the tiara was finally lifted off her scalp, and his fingers returned to her head, rubbing to calm the ache.

Stephanie shut her eyes, blissfully happy for a moment. Tim grinned a little cheekily, enjoying her cat like smirk. The mood grew sombre strangely, and Stephanie sighed, opening her eyes once more.

“That wasn’t too bad.” She said.

Tim’s fingers found their way behind her ears, and he watched the shiver go down her spine.

“No… Just… Nervous for tomorrow. Feels like a ticking clock.”

“We’ll help each other through the aftermath.”

“Promise.”

She tugged at his hands, and he leaned down, resting his chin on her shoulder, arms lazily crossed in front. Her makeup was a little bit smudged from smiling and eating and generally fading as time went on, and it made her look as tired as she felt. Her leg had started to pulse a little, the wound reminding her of its presence, despite the healing going well.

She buried her fingers in his hair, and in the mirror, Tim noticed that she looked distant, like she was only half present in the moment.

“What is it?”

She ground her teeth, not sure if she should tell the truth or not. This was such an intimate moment, she didn’t want to spoil it by dragging Bruce into the conversation. Tim however, nuzzled her, and asked again. “What’s wrong?”

“Bruce spoke to me… just now.”

“Oh.” Tim scoffed. “That dinner speech was something huh? I can’t figure him out sometimes. What’s genuine and what’s an act.”

“I asked him about the case. Why it was taking so long.”

Tim chewed his tongue, feeling smug in his irritation. “What was his excuse then?”

“Tim… he’s figured it out. He figured it out weeks ago.”

“What?”

“He’s trying to catch them in the act, so there’s no doubts about the guilty. But he said also, if it was a big scene like what he wants, then it leaves us free to do any option. Break up because it was too traumatic, take a moment to catch our breaths… stay together…”

“Mmm.” Tim rocked them from side to side, thinking aloud. “I get all that. But why keep us in the dark? What’s his angle? We’re the ones in danger, right? We should know what we’re up against.”

Stephanie supposed it was to prevent either of them acting a certain way around the suspected parties, but she thought that was a weak excuse. Ignorance wasn’t going to keep them safe. She would have thought Bruce would have learned that by now.

“He said he might be late tomorrow. And to start without him if he is.”

“God, he’s a piece of work sometimes.”

“He also…” She gulped. “Tim… He also said, that if we wanted to stay together after…” Steph felt Tim’s arms tighten around her. Bruce’s judgement on them as a pair was something he could never stomach. “He said… I didn’t want to… I’m sorry if it’s none of my business but he said I should ask about Captain Boomerang? Which… if you want to not talk about your dad and him right now, I get that. And we can forget about it. But…why would he even say to ask?”

Slowly, robotically, Tim’s arms retreated from his cradle of her. She saw in the mirror as he grew pale and backed away.

Thinking he was angry at her, she got up, and began to try and do damage control.

“It doesn’t matter. We don’t need to talk about him. He hurt you in the worst of ways and that’s it. It’s not relevant to now. Bruce is just… he’s just shit-stirring.”

“I hate him sometimes.” Tim’s voice was cracked and dry, barely audible after Stephanie’s pleading explanation.

“No. No don’t say that. He’s just… I don’t know. He’s worried.”

“You’ve said that before. And I went to speak to him. And I told him not to use you to punish me again, and then it’s the same thing over and over.”

“Baby, I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault.”  

She wasn’t mollified. There was something more going on here. Something more than Tim feeling sad about his father and hatred for the murderer.

“Why are you and Bruce so tense round each other?”

“You know.”

He wouldn’t look her in the eye. “No. Don’t start hiding things from me. Not now. Bruce is worried because you’re getting more violent?  Is that it? Because of what Boomerang did to you?”

“Because of what I did to him.”

Steph stared at Tim, not understanding. “Please let me help.” She whispered.

Finally, he looked at her. Screw it, Tim thought. He was so close to being happy, so close to him and Steph setting the groundwork for moving forward, and Bruce, as always, ruined everything.

“I tried to kill him.” He confessed. “After Bruce came back. I tried so hard. And Bruce thinks I don’t deserve to be happy until I regret it. Until I get on my knees and beg for an apology.”

“You don’t regret it?”

“No.” He laughed, incredibly bitter. That was what she had taken umbrage with? Not the attempted murder but his lack of guilt? “Part of me still hopes he comes back so I can…”

He trailed off, noticing Stephanie had stepped away from him. “He ruined my life, Steph. And Dana’s. And my dad…” He pled. She had to understand. She had too.

“I know.”

“I told you, I’m not as far gone as to… jump off the edge or anything. It’s just him.”

“This isn’t like you.” She said. Finally, she returned to him, holding him tight. Tim’s chest still felt strangled, even when Steph whispered into his neck. “It’s my fault. I wasn’t there for you when it all happened.”

“No, God, Steph. Don’t turn this into a blame game.”

“But I can be there for you now.” She ignored him and pulled back a little, her nose brushing Tim’s.  He kept his head stubbornly down. “Tim? Remember we promised we would stick together after all this. I’m not going anywhere if you aren’t.”

“But I haven’t done anything wrong.”

Stephanie swallowed.

“Why didn’t you then, in the end? I can’t believe it was because your plan failed. You stopped yourself, didn’t you?”

“Dick and Bruce and Damian were watching… I couldn’t stand them judging me. Can’t stand the thought of you…”

Steph’s temper flared, though not at Tim, not truly. “Wait what? That’s why you stopped? Because daddy might be angry with you?” Tim broke away, pacing a little heatedly, whilst Steph continued. “No way, Tim. You’ve never been afraid of pissing me or Bruce off. I think you’re in denial.”

Incredulous, Tim collapsed on the bed. He kicked off his shoes, sending them flying across the floor. “You and Bruce have been doing this thing recently where you open your mouths and the other person’s words come out.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“It’s weird.” He pouted.

Stephanie moved closer again, and Tim allowed it. Her skirt was voluminous enough that it pressed against Tim’s legs first, until she knelt down in front of him. He wasn’t going to be convinced in one conversation to change his mind regarding Harkness, but she hoped his stubbornness had been thrown into question. Even though he always meant well, if she could point out Tim’s worst flaw, it was that he could be entitled. Entitled to someone’s time, entitled to their emotions, entitled in his world view. He sometimes struggled with seeing things from outside his initial judgement, and it always seemed to take a metaphorical (or literal in one case) earthquake to shake things up for him.

Tim stared at her. She looked a little bit of a mess with her tangled hair and fading makeup, but her skin was so healthy and glowing, even at half two in the morning, she looked so lively. They were both tired, and tomorrow was going to be even more exhausting, but Steph wouldn’t let it lie. Not yet.

“I’m not judging you, Tim. God knows how often I imagined smashing my dad’s head in with a baseball bat. Or with Black Mask… I so nearly shot him when I escaped. I still don’t really know why I didn’t.”

“Because you’re a good person.”

“And so are you.” She smiled, and Tim could feel how in love she was just from that look. “One of the best people I’ve ever known. And I’m not going to let some shitty little man make you believe otherwise. If he does come back to Gotham, call for me, and we’ll deal with him together.” She sighed, then reached up for his hands. “I want you to be happy Tim. But I don’t think that’s the way to it.”

“Do you think that’s life’s point?” He asked, thinking of Dick and his conversation earlier in the evening. “To be happy?”

“Ooft. I don’t know. That’s a toughie.” She shrugged, a little blasé. “I just live. Does it have to have a deeper meaning?”

Finally, Tim smiled, though when he did, a tear slipped out, and he gasped a little. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

As she pulled herself up, and fully knowing she was going to get Tim covered in lipstick, she kissed him. He responded enthusiastically, rising off the bed so they could kiss at their usual angle. His hands twitched against her shoulder blades, feeling the fabric of the dress blocking the heat she was radiating. When his fingers brushed over the ribbons that corseted her in, she broke off the kiss and stared at him. She chewed her lip and decided there and then to take a gamble.

She reached back and took one of his hands, pulling him down to the knot. Biting the inside of her cheeks, Stephanie tugged at Tim’s hand, trying to make him understand. It took a moment, but then Tim moved closer so he could stare down over her shoulder and undo the ribbon that held her in the dress. Neither spoke, only their anxious breathing filled the room. Stephanie’s hands were up on Tim’s shoulders, held in loose fists, uncomfortable and unsure. Eventually Tim was able to loosen the dress enough that she was able to wriggle out, and the whole thing collapsed onto the floor. Stephanie immediately pulled Tim in for another kiss, unbearably shy at the thought of him seeing her in her underwear (and less) with all the scars present for him to see and feel guilty over.

He broke away, hands hovering near her waist. He could feel the heat of her, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to let go and indulge.

“Steph… are you sure?”

“I want it. I want this. I want you. For real.” She begged. “Please, Tim. Please.” He caught her mouth then, one hand buried in her hair, the other pulling on her shoulder, almost as if he was trying to press her into him, melding the two together. He sobbed, desperate, and bit her lip hard enough that she knew it would bruise. She would have to wear a red lip again tomorrow to cover it up.

They broke apart to catch their breath, foreheads pressed together, sharing the same air. Stephanie gulped as she felt Tim shudder. His eyes were screwed tightly shut, breathing laboured, as if he were in acute pain. She brought her hands up to cradle his cheeks. He was limp in her hold, so tired and utterly trusting.

“Tim.”

He opened his eyes to look at her and she tried to appear encouraging. She moved closer, impossibly, so that her chin rested on his shoulder, legs moving to wrap around his hips and waist. He caught her and held her tight, moving to the bed.

When he set her down, she reached up and pulled him back home to her. She soon ended up on his lap with the two of them moving together instinctively. When she felt him press against her she groaned and the kiss turned sloppy.

Tim broke away, Stephanie ensuring the kiss ended with a loud wet noise, and he seemed to be in a huge amount of pain. His eyes were still screwed shut, and whilst his hands – one on her elbow and the other on her shoulder – were gentle in their touch, she could see him shaking from how tense he was.

“Baby, if you don’t want to, it’s okay.”

“I want to.” He said, tone half begging, half drowning. “But you... I’ve never... And you...”

Words were failing him, so Steph pushed his hair off his forehead. Her smile was fond, but Tim, in his little angst bubble still had his eyes shut.

“Not for a very long time, Tim. And never with anyone I loved.” She giggled. “I’m really nervous too… if that’s any help. But I want to sleep with you.”

They both burned red at it being spoken out loud. They’d both been so tentative about the topic for so long. Steph had largely negative memories regarding her relationship with Dean and the pregnancy it produced. The only bright glimmer was the knowledge that the baby was well looked after and that she had grown so close to Tim during those nine months. She hadn’t felt secure enough to be with anyone else in recent years, and she knew Tim took it seriously. Very seriously. He wanted that safety too, and they had just been so young at first, and then everything was so strained, and they weren’t even together but now… “It’s my promise. To you. That I’m in it for the long haul.”

A long moment passed, until something within Tim seemed to make up its mind, and he grinned. It was the smile Steph didn’t get to see too often but when she did, she was reminded of that cheeky teenager he used to sometimes allow himself to be. There were red lipstick stains all over his lips and cheeks, and his eyes shone. He looked sweet and alive and –

Tim threw Steph back, letting her bounce on the bed and she laughed, watching as he wriggled out of his clothes. She saw the scar from his spleen ruining injury, as well as others that looked like gun shots, burns, stabbings… She sighed in sympathy then looked down at her own hurt body.

Screw it.

She flung off her underwear and held out her arms.  Tim swiftly returned to her, kissing and nipping every bit of skin he could get his mouth on. She gripped his shoulder blades and did not let go for the rest of the night.

No more lies, omissions or half-truths, no more insecurities, and no more blind anger. No matter what happened by tomorrow, she wouldn’t regret being with him, and she prayed that he thought she was worth the effort.

With Tim looking at her like she was made of literal starlight, Stephanie thought maybe her wish had already been given.

[bigskydreaming]

Batkids’ Viewing Habits Headcanons:

Dick: Foreign films and shows. One thing Dick really dislikes about being rooted in one place and culture after coming to live with Bruce is the sameness of Hollywood entertainment. From a young age, he was exposed to the entertainment of dozens of diverse cultures and cinematic landscapes, and he’d much rather sit down to marathon films from China, Eastern Europe and Brazil back to back than just a string of Disney movies. He does tend to prefer things like romantic comedies and low-stakes dramas that let him unwind from the pressures of actual high-stakes, end-of-the-world type missions, and he has a particular fondness for Bollywood. 

The best gifts for him are old DVDs of C-list movies that never even got uploaded to American territories and that his friends and family pick up from wherever around the world they travel, because he insists the best stuff are the movies and shows that never get picked up by the American markets. When they were teenagers, Garth once gifted him with recordings of famous Atlantean plays and became the gift to beat. 

To which Bruce gritted his teeth, intoned “Challenge accepted,” and sucked it up and paid Hal Jordan to pick up the equivalent of box-sets from various alien cultures he came into contact with. 

Jason: High octane thrillers and action blockbusters....but not for the reasons people tend to assume. He watches them because he gets a kick out of critiquing them the way lawyers and doctors complain about the inaccuracies of legal and medical procedurals. 

Watching Jason’s choice of movies or shows is basically sitting down to a running commentary about how that explosion is all wrong for that particular payload, how the actors aren’t compensating for the recoil of their guns, and scoffing at the choice of counter-strike in a choreographed fight scene when a jujitsu move would clearly have been the better option. He once paused a movie to spend two minutes making the sounds that should have accompanied the gunfire from a particular assault weapon, as opposed to what sounds it made in scene. 

Jason’s a big believer in the axiom “If you’re going to do something, do it right, dammit.” 

His siblings are big believers in the axiom: “Oh my god, shut up and turn the movie back on.”

Cass: Anything animated. She hates live action. Its all equally boring and pointless to her, because barely any actors are capable of marrying their acting choices to the minutiae of their body language, making it all but impossible for her to suspend her disbelief when watching them. They tend to telegraph their real emotions to her eyes more often than they do their actual acting choices.

So she’d much rather plop down in front of Saturday morning cartoons, animated films, Bob’s Burgers or various other animated shows, where she can just immerse herself in the shenanigans of cartoon figures that are as two-dimensional to her as anyone else. 

She hates most CGI though, just on principle. What was wrong with basic animation, she wants to know.

Tim: Soap operas. The more ridiculous the better. He used to watch them with his various nannies when he was younger, and as he grew up - and became increasingly entrenched in the bizarre and weird world of superheroics - his fondness for them only grew, because its basically the only form of entertainment that’s consistently more out there than his actual life. 

Stephanie tried to hook him on reality TV like “The Real Housewives of Gotham” but that was a non-starter. Its not the same, he insists, like the day-time television purist that he is. 

When Jason eventually reconciled with the family and was trying to figure out how to awkwardly apologize and/or make it up to Tim for the whole “so about the time I almost killed you, that was my bad” thing, Dick advised him that the quickest way into Tim’s good graces would be if he gave Tim free reign to come up with a way to resurrect him in the public eye. Tim’s eyes literally glazed over when Jason told him this, followed by: “Brb, I have to go...research.” 

What followed was a week-long binge of every soap opera resurrection while he took detailed notes complete with spreadsheets and flowcharts before he somewhat manically presented the rest of the family with no less than a dozen proposals for explaining away the presumed death, mysterious disappearance, and ultimate return of one Jason Todd-Wayne. 

Damian: Documentaries. Initially nature documentaries, with an emphasis on wildlife, he likes to zone out in front of them, occasionally drawing or sketching based on his viewing choices, but always with a ready claim of “Some of us choose to use the television to expand our minds instead of rotting them,” whenever someone walks in on him and muses that perhaps he really just likes watching cute little seal pups flopping around on the ice. 

Eventually he branched out into documentaries of all kinds, and lately he’s been on a “How Things Work” viewing kick. Which has in turn expanded into....him trying to apply his newly acquired knowledge in various ways. 

Just last week, Tim wandered down to the kitchen to get something to drink and found Damian hard at work on the plumbing under the sink, wearing a spare utility belt that had been haphazardly modified into a kind of handyman’s tool belt. 

“Wha-,” Tim had said. 

Damian’s eyes had squinted dangerously and done all his talking for him. 

Being the brainiac that he is, Tim had then decided discretion was the better part of valor and slowly backed out of the kitchen without another word, hands raised in surrender. He was mildly vindicated later when Bruce arrived home to find the kitchen half-flooded and Damian still at work under the sink cursing about shoddy instructions. 

“Did you break the sink just so you’d have something to fix?” Bruce demanded, pinching the bridge of his nose to fight back a progeny-induced migraine. 

Damian threw his arms up in exasperation, still sopping wet. “Well I wasn’t going to just wait for something to break on its own! How inefficient would that be?”

Stephanie: Nobody actually knows. She takes eclectic to an entirely new level, and claims she’s not about to allow her entertainment choices to be used against her by adding to the psychological profiles she’s convinced all of the rest of them have of her. Whether she seriously believes this or is just in it for the drama....again, who can say. 

“Nobody’s getting any free real estate in my brain, no sirree!” 

Tim, Dick, and assorted others have tried over and over to express “None of us care that much, you can stop treating ‘What do you want to watch’ like a CIA interrogation,’” but she just snorts oh so elegantly and sneers down her nose at them. 

“A likely story, Bat-brats!” 

“Steph, you’re a Bat-brat too,” Tim tries explaining patiently.

“Only by association.”

“You’re literally Batgirl.”

Anyway, the long and short of it is when its Steph’s turn to pick what movie or TV show is watched in the den, her choices range from reality TV from obscure black and white films from the 50s to Japanese re-tellings of Shakespearean plays. They’re all at least a little convinced that half of the things she picks she hates as much as the rest of them do, and she’s just silently suffering through them to make some point that’s incomprehensible to anyone but her. 

Duke: Anything that can be spoiled. See, Duke has a vindictive side, and an epic ability to hold a grudge. After his first few weeks living at the Manor had revealed unto him that everyone else in this weirdo family had a bad habit of deducing the ending to anything as soon as possible and spoiling it for everyone else because apparently everything in this household has to be a competition, Duke’s further exploration of his powers eventually revealed that here at least, he has the ultimate edge. In time, he figured out how his ghost-vision can be used to literally watch what’s on the TV a minute or so ahead of everyone else.....and he is merciless in exploiting this.

To the extent that many of the others just flat out refuse to watch any kind of game or contest or mystery with him, period.....but Duke is a Bat, after all, and not so easily thwarted. 

This eventually snowballed into him 'practicing his stealth techniques’ in the den, family room and other assorted places where the family tended to congregate around a TV.....whereupon he’d leap out of hiding at a crucial moment in the show, yell “Spoil Bomb!” and hastily shout out the spoiler while they were all still cursing and swearing about being caught off guard.

“You were supposed to be the normal one,” Bruce said to him, somewhat mournfully. Duke just shrugged.

“That sounds like a you problem, old man.”

Then he ran off cackling while Stephanie chased after him shouting about trademark infringement.

“You just had to give him a suit that can make him invisible,” Jason commented in a superficially neutral tone that was actually anything but.

Bruce sighed. “Jason -”

“I’m just saying, you never gave me a suit that can turn invisible.”

“You’re never just saying.”

“Oh, so now you’re calling me a liar, too? Nice, B. Thanks a lot.”

[queenofairandsnarkness]

Oooh prompts! Batfam - A Robin of your choice requesting and receiving hugs from Bruce

1.) 

Bruce wasn’t a competitive...

...He couldn’t even finish that sentence. He wasn’t sure how it was relevant. While Dick lit up whenever Clark came into the room, he was also Bruce’s Robin. They worked well together- Dick had a perspective that Bruce didn’t, while Bruce was more used to channeling the stomach-churning mix of grief and rage without leaping mindlessly into fights. 

...Well, he’d gotten over it, and Bruce didn’t do that anymore. He knew his temper, has sliced himself up on the edges of that. Dick, for all he’d lost, reacted by making new attachments, charming the world into being a better place. He didn’t need to end up like Bruce.

But he might have waited until just before Clark was about to turn the corner before throwing an arm over Dick’s shoulders and suggesting a colorful diner he knew the boy wanted to go to after hearing Leslie mention the old fashioned milkshakes.

Dick bounced a bit, childishness slipping through the messy burden of teenagerhood.

2.) 

Tim was soaking wet, gasping, and he’d need to make sure the boy’s lungs were checked after dousing him with bleach, given the harbor, but...

He was alive. That was what mattered. He wasn’t going to be another boy Bruce couldn’t save.

Tim, while very glad to not be dead and well aware of the spiral Bruce had been in after Jason’s death, was really glad nobody was around to see that Bruce's hug left the newest Robin dangling off the ground.

“Aw, lookit the tiny baby bird,” Harley said, and Tim muffled a groan.

3.)

He had a talent for fucking up where Stephanie was concerned. It might even count as a superpower.

But he didn't need to be superpowered or the World's Greatest Detective  to know that this particular case would hit her hard.

Predatory adoption agency, harrassing poor or teenaged or poor and teenaged moms, moms who didn't have citizenship or were afraid to get an abortion. He'd thought ruefully of people like Georgia Tan, and reflected that any progress people liked to pretend society made could just as easily be wallpaper over rot.  

Which is why he didn't comment when Stephanie used one of Cass' nerve strikes a bit harder than it should have been- Montoya and Bullock looked like they didn't blame her, much. Given the comments the man had been making about the girls he'd targeted...

Harley, next time she crossed paths with the newest Robin, would probably congratulate the girl. When she was away from the Joker, she seemed to veer more towards cheerful chaos and ignoring rules, rather than malice.

But until then, Stephanie had nearly bit through her lip, and her normally loose, shambling gait was tight and brittle.

This was the sort of thing Dick was good with. Or Diana. Or Cassandra, who Stephanie actually liked.

But he knew what he should do.

He carefully placed an arm over her shoulder.

“You did good,” he said, meaning it. He didn't fully understand Stephanie, didn't understand her brashness or her recklessness or the way she lit up at the faintest of compliments the way Jason had.

But he should learn, if she was going to be Robin. Even if he still wanted Tim back, if he quietly hoped Tim would come back after seeing his... friend... in the Robin role.

But she did do good, and her blazing determination worked, if he was willing to work with her.

She tilted her head, as if working out a puzzle. “I'm not... I mean, thanks?” she tried.

He fought back the urge to smile, just a bit.

4.)

He'd needed to wait until Jason was tired and not up for a fight.

The hug was brief and just enough to reassure himself the boy- man, he needed to sort out how he would define Jason other than as Robin and the specter of his failure to do right by him made too, too solid flesh.

Ghosts didn't smell like sweat and kevlar and blood. Also, brimstone, because this was Halloween in Gotham. They didn't breathe like their ribs were bruised.

“...The fuck, are you possessed? Do we have to get Blood or one of the other magic crazies?” Jason asked, muffled by that absurd helmet. He missed Stephanie, who would have gleefully taken Jason to task for it, and probably would do it without setting him off the way Tim or Dick would.

“I'm glad you aren't dead,” he said, instead. “Alfred will be, as well.” He couldn't resist a slight jab. “Diana would probably be happy to see you.”

He suspected Jason was blushing under the mask. “Didn't think you missed me, since you just moved on and all. Since the dickwad clown is still running around.”

He didn't answer that, because  the most honest answer- I didn't trust myself to stop, once I killed the Joker, I thought if I acted on it the rage would devour me- was one that would involve too much of a conversation for their current relationship.

“That isn't... the two things aren't related.”

“Neither are we,” Jason pointed out, before walking off.

5.)

Damien looked at him, eyes wide. “Father?”

“I...” Bruce paused. Damien was his son. Dick had been too young- hell, Bruce had been too young, and angry, and Jason will him too little, and Tim and Cassandra had been there while the Kanes had mostly been away from Gotham. “There are very few Waynes left. But. My mother had three brothers and a sister. One of her brothers are dead, but... we do have family. Who have politely insisted I introduce you to them.” He winced at the memory of Aunt Rebecca's commentary, complete with Bette laughing behind her mother's back. Kate had texted him with a series of increasingly ridiculous emoticons.

Damien, because Bruce was almost as bad with him as he'd been with Jason and Stephanie, took his expression the wrong way. “I will not embarrass you, Father.”

Bruce shook his head. “That's not one of my fears- my aunts are merely very... forceful.” He paused, and tilted his head. “I've also avoided introducing your brothers and sister to them, because I seem to have made a habit of isolating myself from my family who isn't involved in my... more private matters.” He paused. “My cousin Kate is Batwoman, which I have no doubt you will determine ... within five minutes of meeting her.”

“Five seconds,” Damien corrected, though softly enough to be amusing rather than arrogant. “So Dick and Cassandra have not met them?”

“I think Dick might have, at parties when I used to drag him as a boy, but no,” Bruce paused before adding, “Tim met them as neighbors and though those same parties.”

Damien nodded. “Is there a reason you never introduced them?”

“They are a bit... much,” Bruce said. “Though perhaps Kate will bring Maggie Sawyer.”

Damien took that without blinking, which was good. He'd never been entirely certain what Ra's had done with him, socially. “Should they be introduced? I know you have been careful, not to show favor to me as your son by blood.”

Bruce raised an eyebrow, waiting for further reasoning. The phrasing was slightly off, but it was improvement in his perception of the world.

“And if I am to prove myself to be the best, I would have it be by my actions, not because of thoughtlessness,” Damien added, looking nervous and reminding Bruce sharply how young Damien was.

He gave Damien a hug, because it was what Dick had done, and Stephanie, and they had helped Damien realize a better version of himself. Not a more humble version, but at least more thoughtful than...

Well, yes, Damien as he had been when he first came to Gotham, but more thoughtful than Bruce usually was.

“I'll check with Aunt Catherine,” he said, ruffling the boy's hair for good measure. “But I think it'll be more enjoyable, this way.”

[douchebagbrainwaves]

WHAT YOU WEREN'T MEANT TO YAHOO

This is true of all venture funding, but especially so in the seed stage, the board of directors might be composed of two VCs, two founders, and it's always this way. When PR people and journalists recount the histories of startups after they've become big, they always underestimate how uncertain things were at first. We occupy a new, smaller kind of animal—so much smaller that all the rules are different. So that, I think, should be the highest goal for the marginal, who retain the advantages of being an obsolete business model. It may also help them to grasp what's special about your technology. Almost everyone makes the mistake of doing the opposite; they admire the eminent so much that they copy even their flaws. 0 first arose in a brainstorming session between O'Reilly and Medialive International. I was surprised at a conference this summer when Tim O'Reilly led a session intended to figure out what we're getting wrong is to look at the problem from the other direction. The unfortunate writer would then sit down to work with a huge weight of tradition advising us to play it safe.

Com of their name. All the search engines are trying to compete with Microsoft Word. So when do you approach VCs? I recently saw an ad for waiters saying they wanted people with a passion for service. What would someone coming back to visit us in a time machine, one thing would be true no matter where you went: you'd have to watch what you said. The startup didn't have enough money to hire people to do some of the greatest fortunes in countries like England and France were made by courtiers who extracted some lucrative right from the crown—like the right to get one's investment back first. Users hate bugs, but that they can hack the admissions process: that they can: like our hypothetical novelist, they're flattered by such opportunities. Always be questioning.

If secrecy were the only protection for ideas, companies wouldn't just have to be trimmed properly; the engines have to be. And so I let my need to be a promising college applicant. $3000 is insignificant as revenues go. Com, you should try to make as little money as possible. If I had to add a social component to their software. Answer: immediately. Roughly, work that has zero chance of being mentioned in your obituary. You have to work. All they need is strongly held beliefs, and anyone can have those. But while founders will increasingly be able to slip into another distilled by some writer. Angels. To him the problems were the reward.

The Crucible, about the Salem witch trials. No one wants to look like a jet taking off. We occupy a new, smaller kind of animal—so much smaller that all the worst problems we faced in our startup were due not to competitors, but investors too. And you especially need a brain that's in the habit of going where it's not supposed to. I was a kid playing basketball? This may sound like bullshit. I were talking to four VCs, told three of them that you accepted a term sheet, and then instead of nagging them in detail, I'll just be able to leave while you're there. But that's not as straightforward as it sounds. Whereas fame tends to be almost entirely about money. Indeed, the arrival of new fashions makes old fashions easy to see, because they seem so ridiculous by contrast. You have to be determined, but flexible, like a Latin inscription.

But will people pay for information otherwise? There conservatism would be the number of new startups being founded in 2003. We just don't hear about it usually, because to prove yourself right you have to choose between. There was that same odd atmosphere created by a large number of high-paying union job came from. When I was in high school. Arthur Miller wrote, but looking back I have often wished I'd had the temperament to do an absurd comedy, which is to come to terms with you. When you read of big companies.

Like angels, VCs prefer to invest in a company is only two months old, every day you wait gives you 1. Another approach is to follow that word, heresy. They may not be a difference in kind. The most dramatic remnant of this model may be at salon. 05/1. As long as it isn't floppy, consumers still perceive it as a valuable source of tips—more like manning a mental health hotline. Everyone who deals with startups knows how important commitment is, so if they sense you need this deal—they will be very tempted to screw you in the jaw, but investors have you by the balls. What I'm telling you is that you lie to yourself. If you want a less controversial example of this phenomenon, ask anyone who worked as a consultant building web sites during the Internet Bubble.

[ralphlayton]

12 Must-See Sessions at MarketingProfs B2B Forum #MPB2B

MarketingProfs operates on the belief that learning changes lives. And from that perspective, it might be fair to suggest next week’s B2B Forum will be a life-changing experience for those in attendance, because there is a whole lot of learning in store. Dubbed by MarketingProfs as the “most let's get down to business but not take ourselves too seriously while doing it marketing conference on the planet,” B2B Forum brings together many of the brightest minds in the industry around a singular focus: improving. The well-rounded agenda on tap will run the gamut of vital topics in the modern B2B marketing environment, offering opportunities to improve by learning from foremost experts and leaders in the field. These 12 sessions, in particular, stand out to us as must-see attractions amidst a schedule brimming with brilliant business minds. 

12 Must-See Sessions at This Year’s B2B Forum

#1 - Through the Looking-Glass: Enter a New World of Always-On Influencer Programs

Speaker: Ashley Zeckman, Senior Director of Digital Strategy, TopRank Marketing Time: Wednesday, Oct. 16 from noon-12:45 p.m. Don’t be late for this very important date. Our Senior Director of Digital Strategy will guide you through a Wonderland-themed exploration of ongoing influencer engagements, and the mutual value they can provide. You’ll learn how to develop an always-on influencer program and avoid falling down the rabbit hole.

#2 - Dessert & Development: The Truth About Personalization

Speaker: Tom Treanor, Global Head of Marketing, Arm Treasure Data Time: Wednesday, Oct. 16 from 1:35-2:15 p.m. The larger a company and its audience, the greater the challenges involved with scaling personalization. As Arm Treasure Data’s* Global Head of Marketing, Tom has seen many of the struggles and successes on this front experienced by enterprise organizations around the world. The benchmarks and insights he’ll share promise to be useful for businesses of any size.   

#3 - Dessert & Development: ABM Nirvana — Reaching the Buying Committee at Your Target Accounts

Speaker: Peter Isaacson, Chief Marketing Officer, Demandbase Time: Wednesday, Oct. 16 from 1:35-2:15 p.m. Understanding the nuances of buying committees is critical for B2B marketers everywhere, and is being increasingly emphasized in the age of account-based marketing. Being able to reach these committees with relevant and timely messaging is of the essence, and new waves of technology are breaking down the barriers. Demandbase’s CMO will enlighten us on what’s happening and what’s coming. 

#4 - How to Create a Messaging Framework That Resonates

Speaker: Pam Didner, B2B Tech Marketing Consultant & Author, Relentless Pursuit Time: Wednesday, Oct. 16 from 2:30-3:15 p.m. We often have only a small amount of time and/or space to communicate the value of our product or service to those who can benefit from it. It’s crucial that we make the most out of these opportunities with a message that makes an impact. As one of the top B2B tech marketing consultants in the biz, Pam knows how to align value propositions with customer pain points, and will share some of her best tips. She’ll even provide templates you can put to use right away. 

#5 - The Secret to a Truly Measurable Content Strategy

Speaker: Robert Rose, Chief Troublemaker, The Content Advisory Time: Wednesday, Oct. 16 from 3:30-4:15 p.m. Content can feel like an ambiguous frontier, and as a result, it tends to be managed haphazardly. Even the most seasoned marketers and sophisticated organizations fall into this trap. Through his work with the Content Advisory, Robert has witnessed this phenomenon in many different settings, and he’s helped plenty of companies work through it. He’ll show you how to treat content as a scalable and measurable business model.

#6 - How to Combine Account Based Marketing and Social Selling on LinkedIn

Speaker: Ty Heath, Global Lead of The B2B Institute, LinkedIn Time: Wednesday, Oct. 16 from 4:45-5:30 p.m. LinkedIn* is a key fixture in the evolution of modern B2B sales, enabling reps to become more personalized, insightful, and relationship-driven in their outreach. When converging this approach with ABM fundamentals, you create a powerful engine for business development. Ty will break down the research and lay out a six-step framework in her session, and you can prime yourself for it by checking out her recent B2B Spotlight interview with Lee Odden.

#7 - Tale of Two Tech Companies: Scaling a Data-Driven Influencer Marketing Program

Speakers: Konstanze Alex, Director Global Enterprise (B2B) Influencer Relations and Digital Storytelling, Dell Technologies; Janine Wegner, Global Though Leadership Program Manager, Dell Technologies; Amisha Gandhi, Vice President of Influencer Marketing & Communications, SAP Ariba and SAP Fieldglass Time: Thursday, Oct. 17 from 8:45-9:30 a.m. Both Dell* and SAP Ariba* are on the cutting edge of enterprise influencer marketing, so any time their leaders talk about the subject, we tune in. Alex, Janine, and Amisha will dish on what it takes to create cross-functional partnerships and scalable influencer content, while coloring their insights with real-world examples. 

#8 - Content Marketing Fitness — 10 Exercises to Build Your Marketing Beach Body

Speaker: Lee Odden, CEO, TopRank Marketing Time: Thursday, Oct. 17 from 11:00-11:45 a.m. It’s just as true in the world of marketing as it is in the world of fitness: shortcuts don’t work. The keys to both sustained weight loss and marketing results lie in cutting out bad habits and committing to an effective regimen. TopRank Marketing’s CEO will guide you through 10 marketing fitness exercises that can whip your strategy into shape.

#9 - The Importance of an Audio Strategy for B2B Marketers

Speaker: Tom Webster, Senior Vice President, Edison Research Time: Thursday, Oct. 17 from 1:30-2:15 p.m. Anyone who’s paying attention to content consumption trends can see the shift from text to audio. Podcasts are rapidly gaining popularity while smart speakers and voice assistants become increasingly prevalent. Edison Research’s SVP will draw from his experience working with clients like Audible, Spotify, and Pandora to sound off with best practices for a B2B audio strategy that delivers.

#10 - Account-Based Marketing: New Insights and Best Practices for 2020 

Speaker: Jon Miller, CEO and Co-Founder, Engagio Time: Thursday, Oct. 17 from 1:30-2:15 p.m. When it comes to ABM, most of us have a good grasp by now of the “why.” Jon’s session promises to explain the “how.” The former Marketo co-founder and current Engagio CEO knows this changing landscape as well as anyone, and will provide a look at where account-based strategies are heading in the year to come.  

#11 - Getting Personal: Improve Lead Generation With Customer Insights

Speaker: Brian Hood, Digital Director, Intuit ProConnect Time: Thursday, Oct. 17 from 3:45-4:35 p.m. Are you talking to your customers, or at them? Too many marketers are stuck in the latter mode, due to a lack of personalization, and lead generation suffers as a result. Intuit ProConnect’s Digital Director will illustrate the ways in which today’s B2B companies can drive business growth by leveraging customer insights and analytics to the fullest.  

#12 - Follow the Fear: Creativity in B2B for Better, Stronger, More Fulfilling Results

Speaker: Tim Washer, Keynote Speaker, Event Emcee, and PowerPoint Comedian, Ridiculous Media Time: Thursday, Oct. 17 from 3:45-4:30 p.m. As Ann Handley told Lee in their B2B Spotlight conversation, “I think it's important to approach our jobs not just as robots but as whole people.” This is very true, and it’s also important for us to approach our prospects and customers as people and not robots. That means speaking to emotion as well as logic. Tim is a master of infusing humor into marketing, and in this session he’ll cover the most powerful emotion of them all. 

We’ll See You at MarketingProfs B2B Forum!

Will attending this conference change your life? We can’t guarantee that. But it will very likely change your marketing strategy for the better, because there will be so very much to learn. That’s an opportunity we’ll be taking seriously (but maybe not too seriously).  If you can’t make it to B2B Forum in person, be sure to follow our blog for live coverage of the event, including detailed recaps of many of the sessions listed above! And make sure to prep yourself for all the mind-expanding knowledge to come with these 16 B2B marketing fitness tips from the experts.

The post 12 Must-See Sessions at MarketingProfs B2B Forum #MPB2B appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

12 Must-See Sessions at MarketingProfs B2B Forum #MPB2B published first on yhttps://improfitninja.blogspot.com/

[samuelpboswell]

12 Must-See Sessions at MarketingProfs B2B Forum #MPB2B

MarketingProfs operates on the belief that learning changes lives. And from that perspective, it might be fair to suggest next week’s B2B Forum will be a life-changing experience for those in attendance, because there is a whole lot of learning in store. Dubbed by MarketingProfs as the “most let's get down to business but not take ourselves too seriously while doing it marketing conference on the planet,” B2B Forum brings together many of the brightest minds in the industry around a singular focus: improving. The well-rounded agenda on tap will run the gamut of vital topics in the modern B2B marketing environment, offering opportunities to improve by learning from foremost experts and leaders in the field. These 12 sessions, in particular, stand out to us as must-see attractions amidst a schedule brimming with brilliant business minds. 

12 Must-See Sessions at This Year’s B2B Forum

#1 - Through the Looking-Glass: Enter a New World of Always-On Influencer Programs

Speaker: Ashley Zeckman, Senior Director of Digital Strategy, TopRank Marketing Time: Wednesday, Oct. 16 from noon-12:45 p.m. Don’t be late for this very important date. Our Senior Director of Digital Strategy will guide you through a Wonderland-themed exploration of ongoing influencer engagements, and the mutual value they can provide. You’ll learn how to develop an always-on influencer program and avoid falling down the rabbit hole.

#2 - Dessert & Development: The Truth About Personalization

Speaker: Tom Treanor, Global Head of Marketing, Arm Treasure Data Time: Wednesday, Oct. 16 from 1:35-2:15 p.m. The larger a company and its audience, the greater the challenges involved with scaling personalization. As Arm Treasure Data’s* Global Head of Marketing, Tom has seen many of the struggles and successes on this front experienced by enterprise organizations around the world. The benchmarks and insights he’ll share promise to be useful for businesses of any size.   

#3 - Dessert & Development: ABM Nirvana — Reaching the Buying Committee at Your Target Accounts

Speaker: Peter Isaacson, Chief Marketing Officer, Demandbase Time: Wednesday, Oct. 16 from 1:35-2:15 p.m. Understanding the nuances of buying committees is critical for B2B marketers everywhere, and is being increasingly emphasized in the age of account-based marketing. Being able to reach these committees with relevant and timely messaging is of the essence, and new waves of technology are breaking down the barriers. Demandbase’s CMO will enlighten us on what’s happening and what’s coming. 

#4 - How to Create a Messaging Framework That Resonates

Speaker: Pam Didner, B2B Tech Marketing Consultant & Author, Relentless Pursuit Time: Wednesday, Oct. 16 from 2:30-3:15 p.m. We often have only a small amount of time and/or space to communicate the value of our product or service to those who can benefit from it. It’s crucial that we make the most out of these opportunities with a message that makes an impact. As one of the top B2B tech marketing consultants in the biz, Pam knows how to align value propositions with customer pain points, and will share some of her best tips. She’ll even provide templates you can put to use right away. 

#5 - The Secret to a Truly Measurable Content Strategy

Speaker: Robert Rose, Chief Troublemaker, The Content Advisory Time: Wednesday, Oct. 16 from 3:30-4:15 p.m. Content can feel like an ambiguous frontier, and as a result, it tends to be managed haphazardly. Even the most seasoned marketers and sophisticated organizations fall into this trap. Through his work with the Content Advisory, Robert has witnessed this phenomenon in many different settings, and he’s helped plenty of companies work through it. He’ll show you how to treat content as a scalable and measurable business model.

#6 - How to Combine Account Based Marketing and Social Selling on LinkedIn

Speaker: Ty Heath, Global Lead of The B2B Institute, LinkedIn Time: Wednesday, Oct. 16 from 4:45-5:30 p.m. LinkedIn* is a key fixture in the evolution of modern B2B sales, enabling reps to become more personalized, insightful, and relationship-driven in their outreach. When converging this approach with ABM fundamentals, you create a powerful engine for business development. Ty will break down the research and lay out a six-step framework in her session, and you can prime yourself for it by checking out her recent B2B Spotlight interview with Lee Odden.

#7 - Tale of Two Tech Companies: Scaling a Data-Driven Influencer Marketing Program

Speakers: Konstanze Alex, Director Global Enterprise (B2B) Influencer Relations and Digital Storytelling, Dell Technologies; Janine Wegner, Global Though Leadership Program Manager, Dell Technologies; Amisha Gandhi, Vice President of Influencer Marketing & Communications, SAP Ariba and SAP Fieldglass Time: Thursday, Oct. 17 from 8:45-9:30 a.m. Both Dell* and SAP Ariba* are on the cutting edge of enterprise influencer marketing, so any time their leaders talk about the subject, we tune in. Alex, Janine, and Amisha will dish on what it takes to create cross-functional partnerships and scalable influencer content, while coloring their insights with real-world examples. 

#8 - Content Marketing Fitness — 10 Exercises to Build Your Marketing Beach Body

Speaker: Lee Odden, CEO, TopRank Marketing Time: Thursday, Oct. 17 from 11:00-11:45 a.m. It’s just as true in the world of marketing as it is in the world of fitness: shortcuts don’t work. The keys to both sustained weight loss and marketing results lie in cutting out bad habits and committing to an effective regimen. TopRank Marketing’s CEO will guide you through 10 marketing fitness exercises that can whip your strategy into shape.

#9 - The Importance of an Audio Strategy for B2B Marketers

Speaker: Tom Webster, Senior Vice President, Edison Research Time: Thursday, Oct. 17 from 1:30-2:15 p.m. Anyone who’s paying attention to content consumption trends can see the shift from text to audio. Podcasts are rapidly gaining popularity while smart speakers and voice assistants become increasingly prevalent. Edison Research’s SVP will draw from his experience working with clients like Audible, Spotify, and Pandora to sound off with best practices for a B2B audio strategy that delivers.

#10 - Account-Based Marketing: New Insights and Best Practices for 2020 

Speaker: Jon Miller, CEO and Co-Founder, Engagio Time: Thursday, Oct. 17 from 1:30-2:15 p.m. When it comes to ABM, most of us have a good grasp by now of the “why.” Jon’s session promises to explain the “how.” The former Marketo co-founder and current Engagio CEO knows this changing landscape as well as anyone, and will provide a look at where account-based strategies are heading in the year to come.  

#11 - Getting Personal: Improve Lead Generation With Customer Insights

Speaker: Brian Hood, Digital Director, Intuit ProConnect Time: Thursday, Oct. 17 from 3:45-4:35 p.m. Are you talking to your customers, or at them? Too many marketers are stuck in the latter mode, due to a lack of personalization, and lead generation suffers as a result. Intuit ProConnect’s Digital Director will illustrate the ways in which today’s B2B companies can drive business growth by leveraging customer insights and analytics to the fullest.  

#12 - Follow the Fear: Creativity in B2B for Better, Stronger, More Fulfilling Results

Speaker: Tim Washer, Keynote Speaker, Event Emcee, and PowerPoint Comedian, Ridiculous Media Time: Thursday, Oct. 17 from 3:45-4:30 p.m. As Ann Handley told Lee in their B2B Spotlight conversation, “I think it's important to approach our jobs not just as robots but as whole people.” This is very true, and it’s also important for us to approach our prospects and customers as people and not robots. That means speaking to emotion as well as logic. Tim is a master of infusing humor into marketing, and in this session he’ll cover the most powerful emotion of them all. 

We’ll See You at MarketingProfs B2B Forum!

Will attending this conference change your life? We can’t guarantee that. But it will very likely change your marketing strategy for the better, because there will be so very much to learn. That’s an opportunity we’ll be taking seriously (but maybe not too seriously).  If you can’t make it to B2B Forum in person, be sure to follow our blog for live coverage of the event, including detailed recaps of many of the sessions listed above! And make sure to prep yourself for all the mind-expanding knowledge to come with these 16 B2B marketing fitness tips from the experts.

The post 12 Must-See Sessions at MarketingProfs B2B Forum #MPB2B appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

from The SEO Advantages https://www.toprankblog.com/2019/10/must-see-sessions-mpb2b-2019/

[doctorwhonews]

Torchwood: Aliens Among Us - Part 2

Latest Review: Written By: Christopher Cooper, Mac Rogers, Janine H Jones, Tim Foley Directed By: Scott Handcock Cast: John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Alexandria Riley (Ng), Paul Clayton (Mr Colchester), Sam Béart (Orr), Jonny Green (Tyler Steele), Kai Owen (Rhys Williams), Tom Price (Sgt. Andy Davidson), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), Murray Melvin (Bilis Manger), Rachel Atkins (Ro-Jedda), Ramon Tikaram (Colin Colchester-Price), Ewan Bailey (Duncan), Kerry Joy Stewart (Maddy), Diveen Henry (Sandra), Ellie Heydon (Andrea), Marilyn Le Conte (Patricia), Luke Rhodri (Rowan), Charlotte O'Leary (Poppy), Sacha Dhawan (Hasan), Sarah Annis (P.C. Nicki Owen), Rick Yale (Lorry Driver), Laura Dalgleish (Newsreader), Kristy Phillips (Stacey), Aly Cruickshank (Student), Richard Elfyn (Takeaway Man), Sanee Raval (Xander) ​Released by Big Finish Productions - October 2017 After an eclectic opening boxset pitting its titular team of ‘secret’ agents up against sentient hotels, vengeful brides, increasingly destructive terrorist cells and an extraterrestrial gangster newly appointed as Cardiff’s mayor, what could Big Finish possibly have up its sleeve next for their self-proclaimed fifth season of Torchwood? That’s a fair question, and with Aliens Among Us – Part 2 comes the adrenaline-fuelled, alien STD-carrying answer. “Love Rat”: If James Goss’ brilliantly-named sophomore instalment of Season Five, “Aliens & Sex & Chips & Gravy”, didn’t seem enough like a quintessential Torchwood outing, then “Love Rat” more than fits the bill. From its unashamedly risqué opening moments, involving Captain Jack’s not-so-romantic run-in with an unknown courter, to its hilariously absurd consequences witnessed throughout the hour, “Love Rat” is about as adult, gag-ridden and downright ridiculous as the show’s ever been under Big Finish’s stewardship. As one would expect at this point, though, the play’s ever-delightfully energetic cast take the increasingly bonkers events depicted here in their stride, with John Barrowman naturally relishing the opportunity to transform Jack into the ultimate sexual provocateur for one hour only, while Eve Myles’ bemused Gwen and Jonny Green’s stern yet susceptible PR agent Tyler both suffer the consequences with gut-wrenchingly comedic results. Those hoping for scribe Chris Cooper to push on with Season Five’s underlying secret invasion plot arc might need to take a chill pill here, since barring a cameo or two from Rachel Atkins’ still gloriously malevolent arch-foe Ro-Jedda, there’s little in the way of narrative substance or deep thematic exploration to be found amidst all the coital antics. But even so, complaining seems churlish when, by letting its hair down for once, one of Doctor Who’s darkest offshoots to date offers up such a constantly entertaining hour as this. “A Kill to a View”: That said, anyone concerned that Torchwood’s latest run might follow the traditional US TV model – and indeed arguably Miracle Day’s approach – of marginalising any major plot arcs until its final instalment, especially as we reach its halfway point, can breathe easy as they stick on Aliens Among Us’ sixth chapter. As teased by his familiar silhouette gracing Part 2’s cover, Season One antagonist Bilis Manger has returned to wreak havoc upon the lives of the Torchwood team, his intentions no less sinister than before. Murray Melvin, true to form, once again injects this mysterious adversary with all the understated menace and enigmatic omniscience for which fans knew and loved him back in 2007. It’s thanks to his accomplished performance that as Bilis adopts the role of a kindly Caretaker at the tower block where Mr. Colchester and his partner have coincidentally moved in of late, listeners can’t help but perch themselves at the edge of their seat in nervous anticipation of the turbulent conflict and inevitable tragedies to come. Placing Colchester centre-stage doesn’t do “Kill” any harm either, affording Paul Clayton’s constantly courageous yet endearingly vulnerable – and, thanks to his rather unique work-life balance, multi-faceted – civil servant with some much-needed development, as he realises to a harrowing extent the devastating personal consequences which come with taking the deadliest career path available to Welsh job-seekers. How this compelling character arc will resolve itself by season’s end remains to be seen, but we’re just as curious to see this develop as we are to discover what ominous teases of another old foe’s arrival portend for the second half of Season Five. “Zero Hour”: And what of Ro-Jedda’s doubtless sinister machinations behind-the-scenes? Evidently unwilling to allow Aliens Among Us to lose the gratifying plot momentum gained by Episode 6, Janine H. Jones dives headfirst into this mystery via a topical tale of exploitable employees forced to work inhumane hours just to earn a living. Enter Tyler Steele, whose work at the mayor’s office – and intrigue at noticing the peculiar habits of a delivery worker – sets him on a collision course with the unsettling truths behind Cardiff’s otherwise welcome upsurge in employment rates. Just as Green’s undeniably flawed wannabe journalist served as our entryway back into the covert, casualty-laden world of Torchwood in the season premiere, “Changes Everything”, so too does “Zero Hour” offer listeners the opportunity to experience the latest weekly threat to the Welsh capital’s fragile sanctity from the perspective of a relative outsider, as Tyler soon finds himself in treacherous waters with little-to-no help available from Gwen while she tackles toddler troubles or Jack while he investigates matters further afield. Thus we’re afforded a far deeper insight into a morally complex rogue who’ll cross almost any line to survive, yet shows visible dismay at witnessing his city on the brink of societal collapse. Meanwhile Gwen’s familial woes at home highlight another ongoing character arc which could so easily get forgotten amidst all of Part 2’s other hi-jinks – namely her possession by a still ambiguous alien entity driving Mrs. and Mr. Cooper further apart by the day. No doubt tensions will come to a head in the final four episodes of Season Five due for release next February, but it’s rather frustrating how frequently such a pivotal journey for one of the show’s longest standing protagonists ends up side-lined so as to allow other plot threads to breathe. At this rate, the true feisty heroine whom Myles usually portrays to great effect might not re-surface for most of the run, a crying shame given how Aliens Among Us supposedly marks Torchwood’s triumphant full-scale comeback. “The Empty Hand”: Last but by no means least, Aliens’ second mid-season finale takes the underlying political messages seeded within the previous seven episodes and amplifies them tenfold, namely by bringing ideas such as #BlackLivesMatter and hate crime to the fore as Sergeant Andy Davidson appears to gun down an innocuous immigrant worker in cold blood. As ever in a series whose mother show straddles the line between sci-fi and fantasy, there’s far more than meets the eye in this instance, but the increasingly relevant issues at hand lend “The Empty Hand” a greater sense of moral gravitas than most Torchwood romps can muster. Writer Tim Foley admirably never trivialises his weighty subject matter, allowing his characters to discuss the implications of Andy’s actions at length and affording Tom Price’s oft-befuddled police officer a long overdue extra layer of moral nuance in the process. Thankfully, though, he’s similarly aware that such intricate discussion points can scarcely receive closure over the course of a single one-hour drama, his focus primarily on how the Torchwood team’s struggle to resolve what soon becomes a citywide crisis feeds into Ro-Jedda’s long-term game-plan, and – after a belated intervention from the eternal Time Agent – the lengths to which Jack will go to protect humanity at all costs. Any fan will attest that the latter thematic strand has often proved a narrative goldmine for the series, particularly as Children of Earth drove the man who’d bested gas-mask zombies, Daleks and the son of Satan himself to take the life of his own grandson in the process. Similar to how that fateful decision carried major ramifications for Jack’s role in Miracle Day, so too do the actions taken here by the once and future Face of Boe indicate that life at the Hub might never truly be the same again. Of course, anyone who’s finished the boxset will know a further crucial reason why Part 3 promises to potentially uproot our understanding of Torchwood’s past, presence and future, and anyone who hasn’t will need to pick Part 2 up to discover as much for themselves. Speaking of which, in case it’s not already glaringly obvious by now, Aliens Among Us is fast shaping up as one of Torchwood’s finest hours to date, making the series a must-listen for any devotees who’ve longed for the show’s return to TV. It’s safe to say that Season Five has a hell of a lot of dangling plot threads to tie up in Part 3, from Gwen and Rhys’ fractured relationship to Ro-Jedda’s endgame to that plot twist awaiting listeners at the end of “Empty Hand”, but based on the opening two-thirds of Season Five, finding out how events reach their climax will doubtless prove one of the biggest early highlights of next year. February 2018 is apparently where everything changes, and we’re certainly ready. http://reviews.doctorwhonews.net/2017/10/torchwood_aliens_among_us_part_2.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=tumblr