It was half-past four in the morning when a door was suddenly opened from one of the bedrooms inside the Wayne Manor. The door noise was not loud; in fact, it was very silent as the person who opened the door slowly went out from the room with its robe hanging on his body and worries painted his whole face. He closed the door quietly and walked to the third door near the end of the hallway; he reached for the door handle to open and reveal what the inside room had to offer for him. As he remembered clearly this was his son's room, his biological son - Damian Wayne.

He opened the room slowly and was greeted by the darkness that filled the room completely without any lights shining for him to see his way into the room. His eyes lingered on the boy - a teenage boy - who was sleeping soundly on the bed near the fireplace with his big and dark dog lying on the floor, sleeping as well. His blue eyes slowly relaxed as he approached the bed slowly after he closed the door behind him with a little noise that woke the dog from his slumber.

"Shhh..."

He quieted the big dog before he could bark and wake the whole family up. He caressed the dog's head as he slowly returned to his sleeping position as he figured out who the big man was. Titus figured that he, Bruce Wayne, was not an enemy that he needed to fight to protect his sleeping owner from.

Bruce gave a quick smile to the dog as he returned his attention toward his son who was sleeping without any movements on the small bed, a twin sized or maybe smaller. He had told his son, once, that he wanted to get him a bigger bed than his current bed, but his proposal was rejected straight away by him as he told his father that he liked his current bed and had no problem with it at all. But, deep inside, Bruce knew that his son didn't want to give him any more troubles even to a small thing like new beddings. Well, Bruce was still going to get one for his son for sure since he was the only one who had the smallest bedding in the manor and overall, it's because he cared about him.

Bruce Wayne cared about his son.

He cared about Damian Wayne.

However, it was hard for him to understand the reason behind his son's sudden decision of returning - of giving up - Robin's mantle back to its previous owner, Timothy Jackson "Tim" Drake. Even Tim was also confused by the sudden decision and was left with no other choice but to accept the mantle back and had to pass the Red Robin to someone else for a while. But, it was something Bruce couldn't see or imagine Damian doing, but he did. He had done it and they were no longer the "Dynamic Duo"; they were just father and son.

Former Robin.

Ex-Robin without Batman on his side.

Damian Wayne, the teenage kid who was so proud of his own name, was no longer a Robin. No longer Batman's sidekick. But he was still Bruce's son and as his father, he demanded an answer from the former Robin, the thick-headed and stubborn ex-Robin - his son.

The big man sighed as he watched his son slept on the small bed which was probably too small for him to sleep since he saw his son grew up to be more like Talia Al Ghul than him. Talia had a slim yet strong body and Damian really just looked like her more than like him. Yes, he was his biological son with Talia, whom he had never wanted to come in contact anymore since both of them were the opposite from the other, totally different. And, so was his son. He was different when he first came to him and revealed himself to be Bruce's son. Damian was trained to kill people; he was trained by the best to do so, the League of Assassins and his mother, since he was still a kid, or maybe a little baby.

Bruce shook his head remembering all the troubles Damian gave to him and his family during his first stay in there. All the fights, arguments, and much more than a normal family would never have but always happened to them. They had gone there and it was not pretty, not at all. But, he could see that his son was slowly growing, maturing in time as many things happened between the two of them, between all the family. Loss, pain, sadness, anger...everything was there, and Damian had grown up since then.

He was never the same anymore...not until he suddenly gave up his mantle back to Tim without any explanations, or discussions with his own father, or the whole family. Damian was capable of choosing his own decisions without any explanations that almost drove Bruce crazy, looking for the mistakes he had done to drive the former Robin to such an extent. But, he could find none. None of them at all.

There was nothing he could find within himself that could drive his own son to give up the role voluntarily.

Yet, maybe Damian found it. And, it became a reason for his withdrawal.

Bruce sighed as he sat near Damian's bed with a small wooden stool that he knew Damian still used to reach for anything he needed on high drawers and sometimes to pick up books that he liked to read. He touched Damian's hand and wrapped it on his big, rough hand; it was weird to actually notice little things like this but Bruce enjoyed them with a hint of sadness that lingered on his face - on his touch.

Damian's hands were smaller than his and...cold. Yes, Damian's hands were too cold for such a warm morning even Bruce was not feeling that cold, but his son's hands felt like ice. Does he have a cold? was the first thing Bruce asked himself as he covered his palm on Dami's forehead, trying to feel the coldness and determined if his son was sick or not.

The big man stood up from the wooden stool as he walked toward the closed closet to find something he could use to warm Damian's ice cold hands. Bruce turned the lights on as he entered the closet and immediately opened the first drawer to see the inside; then when he couldn't find anything he was looking for, he opened another one to another one until he found winter gloves that could warm the smaller hands.

Yet, before he could find the gloves, he found some bottles of vitamin D that remained untouched inside one of the drawers. No, Bruce didn't know that Damian was taking vitamins for his daily need since he was pretty sure that Alfred, their family butler, had done a great job of maintaining their nutrition despite their intense workout and night job they had.

He didn't touch the bottles; he just closed the drawer and opened another one, taking a pair of winter gloves before leaving the closet and turning the lights off. He returned to Damian's side, sliding the gloves onto his cold hands and tucking the blanket more. He realized that Damian's blanket was not a normal blanket for summer but a heavy one for winter. It was as if his son really needed a thick blanket to shield him from the coldness of summer night which was abnormal - uncommon for him to see this.

It was almost five in the morning, the time where Damian would normally wake up from his sleep and Bruce normally would still be sleeping. He exited the room slowly, no sound or disturbance that could cause his son to wake up from his sleep. Bruce knew very well that Damian was trained to use all his senses and had the best ability when it came to hearing, but today was not like it. He didn't seem to be aware that his father had entered his room with a small cracking noise of the door, the quiet jingles from his dog's tag, and another small cracking noise from his closet. None of them were registered into Damian's hearing ability or perhaps, he was just unconscious from his deep sleep.

Another sigh escaped from Bruce's lips as he opened the door and looked at his sleeping son. "Why did you stop being Robin, son?" He asked, left the room silently, and closed the door quietly.

--

Damian woke up at six thirty, an hour and half past his normal wake up time, but he knew that he felt better after resting up the whole night without any night activities to disturb him. His muscles felt more well-rested than usual, and he surely would not slur his words or anything like that in front of his family. All he wanted was to look like his normal everyday life in front of his family, so they would not worry about him or much worse, interrogate him for his slightly weird behavior.

He slipped off from his thick blanket and revealed the gloved hands that he had underneath it. He took it off, knowing that Alfred Pennyworth was probably the one who slipped it onto his hands during his sleep as he knew how the old man really took care of everyone in the family even those who were no longer living within the manor.

He smiled, a small and gentle smile, toward the big dog that was already up and ready to face his day with his owner. Titus came near him, placing his head on Damian's lap as he caressed the dog's head with his hand.

"Good morning, Titus," he greeted the dog with a smile.

Titus pulled off from Damian's lap as he ran to the door, telling his owner that someone was coming. He stood up from his bed, carefully getting a glass of water that was placed on his study table before drinking it, finishing the half of the glass in a short period of time. He heard someone knocking as Titus barked at the person behind the door as they slowly opened it revealing Alfred in front of the door with something on his hand.

"Good morning, Pennyworth."

Alfred looked at him, greeted him back as he entered the room and placed the closed jar he had on his hand on the young master's desk. Damian opened the jar that was not tightly closed to see the inside before he could place it somewhere else. He looked at the butler who was still standing beside him without a voice to disturb his train of mind.

"Thank you. I appreciate it a lot," Damian answered him and closed the jar lightly before placing it near his laptop.

"You're welcome, sir," he replied. "Breakfast will be ready in thirty minutes. Would you like me to bring it here?"

Damian looked at the butler as he readjusted some stuff on his young master's desk to keep it clean.

"I'll be there. Thank you," Damian answered as he saw Alfred's nodded his head and left the room with Titus following right beside him as he knew Alfred would be serving his breakfast.

He was left alone in his room to prepare to face the world in his best. His eyes lingered on the black tall jar that was decorated with a white tie on it. Damian opened it again, just taking the top lid off to reveal the colorful straws with white strips that Alfred had given to him. Alfred knew that Damian was going to need it someday and soon, especially when drinking liquid ever since he had the problem with swallowing anything, these straws were going to help him, maybe.

He closed the lid and placed it on the desk. He could enter his private bathroom to get ready to face the day and also to change from his pajamas to casual clothing. There was nothing really special happening since it was just Damian getting ready and cleaning himself. As soon as he stepped into his closet, he returned the winter gloves to where it was supposed to be and dressed according to his day.

--

It literally took Damian twenty minutes to get ready, and before he stepped out from his room, he opened another new vitamin D bottle and took a capsule out for him to take it after meals. He stored the capsule in a small plastic bag, so he could carry it around in his pocket instead of clenched it on his hand for later use.

Damian was immediately greeted by another member of his family after he exited his room; he was greeted by the current Robin, Tim Drake. He just went out from his room when Damian did the same but there were only silence and awkwardness that filled the room as both of them walked to downstairs. Damian walked slower than Tim, and Tim realized this as they were a few feet apart with Tim leading in the front. Damian didn't say anything about it as he just focused on not using too much power and energy because he didn't want to waste a lot of energy in such an early morning.

Tim stopped his steps when he already reached the stairs, looking back at Damian, waiting for him to get down the stairs together, which was something unusual to happen in this family.

"Dami, you are getting really slow," Tim complained as he kept waiting for the other teen to reach where he was standing now. "We're gonna be late for breakfast if you keep walking like a turtle, demon spawn."

"Drake the Piggy Belly can just go on his journey to find food alone," Damian wore his usual grin as he slowly walked closer to where Tim stood.

What would Damian be without an insult here and there? But he knew that Tim wasn't having any of it at all from his face. Well, Tim was never having any of Damian's insult and sassiness but it was different this time. He could tell from the look on Tim's face that he still thought it was wrong for him to return back to be the Robin. It was weird for him to return to Robin when he was already the Red Robin, a man of his own.

Damian shook the thought as he knew he could not tell them the reason of his decision yet. Not until he knew what was really happening to himself. He could just keep a straight face, a face that he always used to, though it should really be restricted. But, Damian knew that he should be careful with all the former Robins, especially Tim Drake and Dick Grayson since they were all trained by the world's greatest detective, Batman or should he say, his Father, Bruce Wayne.

Tim was studying Damian's face and movements to determine things, something, or anything. He knew that Tim was probably going to be the first who figured out the reason for the sudden decision since he was the equal of the greatest detective.

"Go for your own breakfast, Drake. There's no such a need to wait for anyone," he said.

He looked away from Damian, who was still walking really slow and taking light footsteps to get to where he needed to be. Damian saw him walking down the stairs and slowly disappearing from his sight and by the moment he reached where the other Robin was standing, Tim was no longer walking down the stairs. He was already in the dining table with the others.

--

It took him fully ten minutes and more to get down the stairs to be with the others for breakfast. His father and Tim were already sitting on the chair on the dining table with their breakfast served while Alfred had just placed Damian's portion on the table. He was not surprised for having a full house all of a sudden in the morning. He saw Dick Grayson and Jason Todd, who was surprisingly here, on the table enjoying their breakfast. By breakfast, he meant full sugary cereal bowl for his former teacher and companion while the other, he couldn't really see what he was having.

Damian's breakfast included a scrambled egg that was fully chopped into small pieces for him to easily digest along with the sausages too. A small glass of milk was also a must-have for him since he wanted to grow tall, possibly as tall as his father though he knew that he inherited his mother's genes more than his father.

"Good morning, Grayson. Todd," he greeted. "Morning, Father."

His father stared at him, taking his attention away from the newspaper he had on his hand. They said nothing as they kept staring at each other in suspicion and confusion, especially when his father didn't greet him back like usual. Damian ignored him as he sat on his seat; his father's eyes were still on him, tracking every movement just like a detective tracking every possible movement of his target.

Bruce greeted him after their butler cleared his throat, asking Damian if he would like his breakfast to be heated again to which Damian replied with a no. He didn't say anything to his father or even to the others as they just ate their breakfast in silent as Alfred disappear from the background, probably having his own breakfast.

He knew everyone was still surprised by his sudden decision but it was for the best. Batman needed a Robin-like Tim Drake or Dick Grayson, or maybe like Jason Todd. Not like him. He knew that from a very long time, but now was the best time to let the mantel go.

"Dami, you're going with me for lunch," his former mentor said or commanded.

Damian turned his head to see Dick but all he could see was a bowl of cereal covering his face. Dick did like his cereal so much, but he didn't know that he would have done such a commotion especially in front of Bruce. He couldn't really say no to anything his former mentor asked him to since he knew the power of force was something Dick Grayson could do.

"You paying."

Dick nodded his head in agreement as almost all of them part their ways after they finished their breakfast, leaving Damian alone on the table with dirty dishes still on the table with Alfred accompanying him. He ate in silent, bite-after-bite while the butler collected everything from the table except his young master's plate.

"Do you have any plans for today, master Damian?" He asked, finished collecting all the dirty plates and placing it on the trolley.

"Nothing really," he said. "I only have doctor's appointment at ten and lunch with Grayson."

Alfred nodded his head, noting everything his young master had told him.

"Shall I drive to the hospital?"

Damian looked at him; staring at him for a while to think about his answers before telling anything. Alfred already knew the answer to his question. He knew that Damian was not allowed to drive anymore, and he never tried to go against it anyway because it was his rule. The rule he made for himself to obey.

"Yes, please do," he finally answered. "Thank you, Pennyworth."

Alfred could only look at his young master with a smile on his face. There was nothing he could do to answer his young master at all but a small bow and a smile.

"You are very welcome, sir."

Alfred left the room. Leaving Damian with his bowl of small square mixed fruits that Alfred had prepared especially for him.