Fic: Gossip Central

[sylph_fics]

Title: Gossip Central
Co-writer: merfilly
Fandom: DC
Word count: 3,051
Continuity notes: I hate current canon. My canon stops pre (the idiocy of) Graduation Day. So it's 'The Titans', Young Justice, the full Bat-clan, and the rest of the world.
Feedback: Please?
Warning: A bit of profanity, also sap and tissue warnings.
Summary: Continued from Surprise!, Announcements, Family Affairs, part 1, Family Affairs, part 2 Complications, and By Any Other.
Who needs a phone when you're a Titan?



Toni looked up at the sound of the wharf's mic going live, and blinked at the car pulled up to the dock--that was different--then recognized the woman standing with her finger
on the button as she spoke. "Hello, the Tower, it's Black Canary..."

"Hi, Canary," she spoke into the comm, "It's Argent. Wanting to bring the car over, too, or just a ride in?"

"It's everything in the car, Argent...can you lend a hand?" Black Canary stared at the full seats and knew the trunk was full too. "Taking the car might be easiest..."

"Alright, I'll come over with the ferry," Argent said with a shake of her head as she flew out to the dock and headed over. //...Everything in the car?// she wondered as she drew close... then got a good look inside. "Wow, what'd you do, buy out a store?!"

"A mall," Black Canary said with a breezy smile. "And sent detailed email lists of what I missed to the grandfathers."

Toni blinked, thought, and snickered at the connection she'd only just made. "Huh. I think I like the way you think. Okay." She slipped plasma under the car's tires to move it onto the ferry, and extended a hand to Canary to bring her on too. "Everyone else has been working on converting some of the low-floor rooms into a suite for them and the kids. Did the worst of it last night, mostly detail stuff today... So at least we've got somewhere to put all of this," she grinned again as the ferry headed back.

"That is a good thing." She smiled at Toni. "The boys okay? How about the babies?"

"Babies seem okay, they've got names now but I'm not allowed to tell anyone, and Nightwing took off to deal with something about his other ID early this morning..." Toni shrugged the shrug of the uncomprehending, and kept talking. "Has Roy kind of on edge, for some reason."

"Hmm." Dinah could guess, but Toni wasn't part of her family, so she wasn't sharing. She had to blink at herself, as she accepted, again, that Dick Grayson actually was now part of her family.

Toni brought her comm to her lips as they docked the ferry, "Hey, Troia, can you come help haul Canary's buying spree inside?" She wasn't sure she could manage to keep everything balanced on her constructs if she tried to do it herself.

"Oh no, Roy's going to kill her," Donna told her teammate over the comm. "I remember the last time she went crazy at a mall for Lian...."

"This's probably worse," Toni chuckled as she popped the trunk open to start dealing with the packages, loading the baby-wrapped packages onto a silver-plasma box.

Black Canary smiled as Donna came out. "Cousin!" The elder hero was feeling very bubbly over this event, as she hugged Donna fiercely. "The red wrapped ones are for Lian, the blue are for the boys."

Donna blinked for a moment, then nodded and hugged Canary back. "Cousin. It's good to see you... Roy is going to kill you, you know that, right?"

Toni switched out a few packages at that. "Shoulda guessed," as she kept loading things up. She finally stopped, "Still gonna take another trip, I think. C'mon, Canary, I'll show you down there."

Donna started gathering up some as well, while Dinah grabbed a couple of smaller bags that were not baby or Lian colored. She followed Toni down with a smile on her lips for everyone they passed.

Toni bypassed Roy's old room, going two levels deeper into the Tower before she stopped, knocking the door open with her shoulder. It smelled a little like paint and more than a little like cleaners inside, but the lights managed to mimic the light outside fairly well. She found a spot between a sofa and the wall to start placing packages, listening with half an ear to Jesse and Grant "discussing" painting.

"Very nice," Dinah said. "They definitely need the room," she added.

"Yeah," Toni agreed. "Bath there, Lian's room there--unless she changed her mind this morning, nursery on the other side of the guys' room..." That still had her rattled, that the Titans' jokes had been proven so obviously true. She'd never really believed it. "And you can see the kitchen stuff over there," she waved across the room.

Donna finished settling Lian's packages in her room, surprised her little 'niece' wasn't still inside it. "I'll go grab another load, Toni. Cousin, if you'd rather see the babies than listen to them, I think Roy's still in his room..."

"Don't pick on your teammates, Troia," Dinah teased, but she did turn and head back up to Roy's room.

Donna gave her an innocent smile as she headed up with her, leaving her at the door to go on up.

Roy heard the light rap on the door and looked at his daughter from where he was trying to change Raymond... //no, that didn't sound quite right...//. "Lian, honey? Get the door?"

Lian frowned at him from where she was perched watching John sleep, then nodded and slid down. The frown completely disappeared as she opened the door, and she flung herself at Aunt Dinah's legs to keep from squealing.

Dinah bent down and picked up her niece, kissing her cheek. "Missed you, Dart," she said softly. She walked over to Roy, and smiled at the diapering process. "Hey boy-o."

"Hey Di... you have good timing, even," he said as he lifted the little boy up.

"Missed you too," Lian grinned as she cuddled against her Aunt, and waited.

Dinah nodded. "If it means he's dry, I'd say so," she told him. "Lian and the boys have presents in the new apartment."

"Presents?" Lian whispered eagerly against her cheek, trying to remember to be quiet and not wake her little brother.

"Not what I meant, quite," Roy said as he turned towards her with //Ray? no, still not...// "Meet Raymond Lance Harper, Di."

Dinah was glad Lian was in her arms, because she had to hold on to the little girl tight. It gave her someone to hug without jostling the baby. To think her boy-o would go so far as to give one of his children a name of hers.... She could no more help those tears in her eyes than she could stop breathing.

"Oh, Roy."

Roy shifted the baby up against his shoulder more to go lean into her, dropping his head over hers, tucked against her other side. "Who else, Di?" he asked, trying to figure out how to get her to stop crying.

She sniffled, managing a small smile up at him. "So, who is his brother?"

"John Thomas Harper--given that Robbie decided not to argue with their hair color, or something," he said with a grin.

"John Thomas, huh? Guess it is fitting in a couple of ways," she teased him. "So, my nephews have names, you and your partner are moving downstairs, and Dart here is eager to open presents, I bet." Dinah wiped her eyes as best she could, and smiled more when Lian brought her own shirt tail up to do it. "Thanks, baby girl."

"I have to teach my brothers that you get to be Aunt Dinah cause you're young, and Grandpa Ollie is a Grandpa cause he's so old," LIan told her in a very serious voice.

Roy blinked at her, "Huh, Di?" He tipped his head to the side in confusion, then bit down on his lip to avoid laughing at Lian's serious voice, repeating something he'd told her years ago.

"Oh, just wait until Dick introduces them to Jason Blood," Dinah said obscurely.

"Di, what do you know that I don't?" He asked, mock-serious, wondering just what they'd done to John.

She sighed. "You gave your kid a name that matches his father's in slang for the Brits."

"..." Roy tried to think of something to say, then just shook his head and laughed, trying to keep it quiet. "Only the two of us could pull that off... Remind me to tell Dick."

"I'll remind you, daddy," Lian said sweetly, then looked up at her aunt, "Presents?"

Dinah nodded. "Let's go, Dart." She set Lian down to walk back downstairs where the presents were.

"Is it safe down there for the boys yet?" Roy asked, stroking his son's back gently.

"The paint fumes and cleaner fumes aren't good for them...I'll call you if they've got the air cleared."

Roy gave her an exasperated look--even he knew that--then nodded. "Thanks, Di."

Dinah blew him a kiss over her shoulder and let Lian show here the way again.

*~*~

Toni'd just gotten back into the monitor room from leaving the last of the packages when the squeal of an incoming radio broadcast crackled to life. //Who the?//

"Titans Tower, Changeling here, coming in with a jet... okay, okay, Cyborg's piloting, there, is that better?"

"Changeling, this is Argent, clear to land currently, but leave room for Nightwing to park in a bit."

"...He's not here? Huh. Okay, thanks for the heads up. See you in a bit."

Toni thought about that for a second, and tagged Donna's comm. "Troia? Were we expecting company from Titans LA?"

"No...oh Hera, how in Hades did we forget to call..." Troia started swearing more in Greek, going to meet the jet.

Gar bounded off the landing jet to meet her, his green eyes wide and curious. "Hey, Donna," he said as he reached for a hug.

She hugged him, swatting him across the back of the head as his hand slid a little. "What brings you, Gar? Everything all right on the West Coast?"

"West Coast is fine, what's up out here?" Gar replied impatiently, ducking away from the swat.

"Not terribly much, team wise..." Donna said, with a slight smile. "Vic!" She hugged him when he came down, still not quite used to his gold body.

Vic hugged her back, rolling his eyes at his best friend. "Gar, if we got woke up that early and drug out here for nothing I'm gonna re-build my sonic cannon just for him..."

"She said team wise, not that there was nothin' going on. So she's being cagey... what's up, Wondy?"

Troia laughed at the old nickname. "Come inside...we're trying to not talk about it too loud outside."

She was curious about Vic's comment, and only more so when Gar crowed triumphantly, flapping feathers for a second, "Ha, told you, rustbucket. Okay, gorgeous, lead on."

"Green genes, I will pour ice water on your favorite lizard rock..." Vic followed them down into the bowels of the tower.

"Don't you dare! It'll take forever to warm back up right!" Gar protested indignantly--and loudly.

Donna whirled. "Shush!" She glared at him. "You can't be that loud once we get down to the resident levels."

Gar was a mouse before he thought about it, and scurried up Vic's leg, jumping over to his hand. "Meep?" he said quietly. When Donna sounded like that...

"Very quiet." Donna turned back and led on, while Vic just scratched behind his ears.

Gar pushed into the scratching, tipping his head back to give Vic a wide-eyed confused look. Vic shrugged, but they soon reached the resident level, and Donna led them to Roy's door.

"Feather head...you've got company," she called softly, as she cracked the door just a bit.

Roy came to the door, a confused look on his face until he spotted the two of them behind Donna, and then sighed. "Stay here, while I talk to our favorite comedians, Donna? Did you call them?"

"Nope. Maybe Dick thought about it?" Donna offered, going into the room to tend her teammates' sons.

"No, Fearless Leader didn't call us," Gar protested from Vic's hand.

"Then what're you two doing over on this coast?" Roy asked, waving at the hallway behind them for Vic to head back some. "Everyth--"

"Everything's fine, Donna asked that, and what the heck is going on that--"

Vic's fingers pinched the mouse's jaws shut gently before he could finish that. "We got a heads up that we might want to see what was going on at the Tower, and green genes here wouldn't take no for an answer. So what is it?"

Roy ran a hand through his hair, trying to figure out the link in the gossip chain he was missing...and then he glared at Gar. "Shit." Dick's sleepy mention of Slade and 'later' this morning finally really sank in. "One day I will shoot him in every major artery and organ."

Gar proved a mouse could growl at that threat, then shifted back to human, nipping Vic as he did. "So what is it?"

The archer crossed his arms, looking at Vic first. "Thanks for the high tech gene scanner, man...proved handy." He jerked his head at the door. "Dick and me have twins. It's magic, but they're real."

Vic blinked, tapping a finger against his ear. "Did I hear you right, or did the Omegadrome malfunction for a second?"

Gar found himself on his back from the shock, looking up in meerkat form.

Roy snorted at Gar's theatrics. "You heard right. Bat-mite decided annoying the Bat could be done by making him a grandpa, apparently, via a pair of twin boys between 'Wing and me."

Gar sat up, shaking his head as he shifted back to human again. "Babies. Fearless Leader, a dad?"

Vic just studied Roy a minute. "You dealing okay?"

"Oh yeah, sure...mystic babies pop up all the time," Roy said, before blowing out all his air and taking a clean breath. "Sorry. I haven't been away from them for long...still just reacting off the cuff."

"It's okay, featherhead," Vic said with a shrug.

Gar tipped his head, "How come 'Wing isn't here, anyway? Argent said he'd be coming in, but..."

"You think we want our kids in the 'Haven at all?" Roy asked. "Dick's gone to...do something about his other life."

Gar thought about that, and winced. "Aw, man... sucks for him, but I think we'd all kill him if he even thought about stayin' down there."

"Yeah, we'd have to," Vic said. "So let me see the miracle twins." He smiled at Roy. "Trust you to figure out true immaculate conception to add to the strange things of our team."

"Us!" Gar protested, but with his voice down.

Roy snorted, "Magic I'll admit. Immaculate? That'd take you two."

Vic shook his head. "Don't know what you're talking about." They followed the archer inside, and Vic was quick to scan the boys with his sensors from the Omegadrome.

Gar'd opened his mouth, but shut it as Roy pulled the door open. He bounced over to the cribs, shifting to a lemur to perch on the edge of one and stare down at the tiny little babies inside.

Roy watched him and watched Vic. Mostly he just concentrated on Donna as he scooped his arms around her, feeling just how this was affecting her. She turned, smiling at him before kissing his lips lightly. She had come to terms with her loss when Vic had abducted them all; she was more than happy to have a place in the children's lives, though.

Vic finished letting the 'drome's sensors check out the kids, and wandered over to get a better look at them with his own eyes. "Kinda cute," he finally said softly, and reached out to lift Gar off the crib.

Gar's fur bristled and his fingers wrapped closer around the crib's frame--he wasn't done looking yet! They were... just kinda tiny, and all defenseless-looking...

"Come on, Gar...you might startle them if they wake up to see you there," Vic told him, with a patient, low voice.

Gar muttered softly and turned to clamber up to Vic's shoulder, rubbing his jaw against Vic's, tail going around his neck lightly. "Cute," he agreed, then he turned, expression gleefully mischievous even on the lemur's face, mouth opening.

Roy's eyes narrowed, glaring at the monkey on Vic's shoulder, "Y'wake up my babies, and you're gonna be a rug for 'em."

"Aww, just want to see them awake...."

"They need sleep, Gar. They're only seven weeks old and shouldn't be doing much more than sleeping, eating, and messing diapers. You wake them, you will be the one on diaper duty!" Donna scolded softly.

Gar wrinkled his nose in disgust, and mimed zipping his lips, ears flicking irritably.

Vic shook his head and walked away from the babies, over to Roy and Donna. "And here I figured he was gonna say something about how you keep managing to have cute kids, with your mug..."

"You're one to talk, stud. If it had been you and Gar, we'd be trying to figure the end to diaper," Roy shot right back.

"Boys!" Donna said, but she was biting back laughter. Put more than two male Titans in a room, and the insults flew. Unless it was Wally, and then it only took two of them.

Gar turned feline and hissed at Roy, tail flicking, then jumped to land lightly on Donna's shoulder, nuzzling her jaw, and blatantly ignoring Vic and Roy both.

"Come on, Gar. I at least want to see what Dinah got for Lian. She said the boys' gifts can wait until Dick gets in, Roy." Donna headed out, leaving Vic to talk to Roy.

"My own kid's gifts, and I'm watching the babies instead of watching her with her stuff.... and man, I get the impression Di's spoiling her rotten again..." Roy said softly.

"Might be why you're left to sit up here," Vic said. "She okay? We got the rumor out west her and your old man split again."

Roy's jaw tightened and it went all the way down to his shoulders before he made himself sigh. "Yeah, she's okay." He snorted. "You mighta heard that before I did, even. She doesn't like to "run him down" to me."

Vic rolled his eyes. "Well, you don't need much help seeing him for the low-down snake he can be," the golden Titan said.

Roy flashed a smile at that, nodding. "She loved seeing him stunned speechless, for sure."

"Man, I'm going to have to pull the feeds, once I fix what the hell they've done to the tower."

Roy cocked his head curiously, "What d'ya mean?"

Vic rolled his eyes. "They raped my sensor net mucking around! It's no wonder that son of a bitch merc keeps getting his bugs in!"

"Watch that mouth around my kids!" Roy snapped at him, barely managing to keep his voice dropped down. "Not that I disagree with ya, but..."

Vic nodded. "Sorry man."

Roy shrugged, knowing Vic wouldn't forget again, and settled in to get the West Coast gossip.