The Adventures of Martha Ridley Wayne

Chapter Six: Confrontations and Reconciliations

      When they got home, an angry Dick Grayson was waiting for them by the door. Martha looked like she was about to cry and Jason looked more anxious than Bruce had ever seen him before. Alfred quickly excused himself to go unpack all of their various souvenirs, happy to have an excuse to stay away from what was about to happen.

"Disney World, really? You always said we were too busy to go to Disney World, said it was a waste of time," Dick yelled.

"You're not mad about Disney World. Go on and say it, Dick. Tell me how much you hate me for whatever your newest reason is," Bruce said.

"You adopted another kid, you're training him to be Robin. Robin was my thing, I created it! He doesn't deserve it. He's just some punk kid that you felt sorry for," he screamed.

Jason was trying his best not to try, but Martha knew better. So she did the one thing she never thought she'd do again, she spoke to her brother to defend her other brother.

"Richard John Grayson, you leave him alone! He's done nothing to you and you don't even know him. Jason is the sweetest person I know and he understands me better than you did. You have issues with dad, but don't you dare take them out on him," Martha said, slowly and steadily.

"How could he possibly understand you better than I do? I have literally known you for your entire life."

"Because he gets what it's like to be abandoned," she said quietly.

"I didn't abandon you," Dick protested.

"As if! You left me here without saying goodbye. I didn't even know you were leaving until you were gone. Call it what you want to, but you left me alone."

"Martha, I'm so sorry. If I had any idea that you felt that way, I would've come back here in a heartbeat."

"Whatever. It's not like you care," she said, grabbing Jason's hand and pulling him upstairs with her.

Once they were in Jason's room, the ranting began. Martha was so angry, Jason had never seen her this angry before. She was crying and screaming and cursing her brother. Jason tried to comfort her, but he was never the best at that kind of stuff. He had never had a brother, which meant he couldn't possibly imagine what it was that Martha was feeling in that moment. He tried his best to imagine how he would feel if Martha ever left him alone, and that helped a bit.

Jason was sitting on the edge of his bed while Martha paced a hole in the floor. Her arms were flailing wildly and her voice was almost gone from the screaming. All he wanted to do was hug her until she felt better, but he knew that wouldn't work. He had no clue how to make it better, but all he wanted was to see her smile again. Jason had a feeling that after this interaction, Martha would break again.

"What should I do, Jay? I miss him, but he was mean to me. He left me," Martha asked, sounding defeated.

"Give him a shot but if he hurts you, I'll kick his ass all the way back to Blüdhaven," Jason replied.

"Love you, Jay," she said.

"Love you too, Marty."

There was a knock at the door about an hour later while Jason and Martha were watching Friends, their favourite show. Without thinking, Jason called for whomever it was to come in and the door swung open. Dick freaking Grayson was standing in the doorway, looking uncertain and uncomfortable. Jason sent a glare in his direction, hating the man for upsetting his sister so very much.

When Martha noticed Dick standing in the doorway, she buried her head into Jason's side. Dick visibly flinched at that particular reaction, but didn't move to leave. He closed the door behind him and approached them slowly. Immediately Jason tightened his hold on his nervous baby sister, ready to fight him off if necessary. For once Jason didn't care about what Dick had said about him, he cared about his sister.

It was strange for Jason to care more about the well-being of someone other than himself. He had always had to fend for himself and love wasn't a thing that he ever had the luxury of feeling. However, Martha was one of the sweetest people he had ever met and it was impossible not to love her. His protective nature had been extended from just himself to his sister as well. Logically he knew that he couldn't beat Dick Grayson in a fist fight, but he was willing to try just to make Martha feel better.

"What do you want? If you hurt her, I'll kill you," Jason growled.

"I'm trying to talk to my sister. If you'll kindly get the hell out, that would be great," Dick replied.

"She's my sister too and I won't let you hurt her again. She wants to give you a second chance, but it's not easy for her. Earning her trust back won't be easy," Jason said.

"I'll do whatever it takes. Martha, are you alright with me staying to watch the show with you?"

"Sure, Richard."

It wasn't much, but it was a start and that was all Dick really wanted. He needed his sister back, this anger and hurt had gone on for long enough. If he could back and change things, of course he'd make sure he never hurt Martha in the first place. When she first came to live with them he swore to keep her safe, to protect her from anyone out to hurt her and he ended up hurting her. That was not what big brothers were for.

Dick decided to move back in temporarily in order to spend time with Martha and to get to know his replacement. One night Bruce told him about Jason's parents and the kind of life he had lived up until Bruce took him in. He felt like shit for treating the kid the way he had, Jason had been through more than enough. It was because of the story of Jason's past that Dick let go of his jealousy towards him. He needed Martha much more than Dick did.

He began to make an effort to be a better brother, not just to Martha but to Jason as well. Jason didn't take so kindly to him at first, wary of his intentions towards Martha. If he was being honest, Dick was glad that his sister had someone as protective of Jason around all the time. Dick trusted Jason to keep Martha safe in the same way he used to when they were kids. He even decided to help out with Jason's Robin training despite his reservations about there being another Robin after himself.

In the months that followed the night of their tentative truce, many a Friends marathon was watched. Every Friday night Dick would have everyone gather in the theatre room to watch a movie. He always thought that movies made for excellent bonding experiences, because they gave you something to talk about once the activity was done. Martha and Jason secretly loved movie nights, he could tell by the looks in their eyes when it came to be that time on Friday again.

Slowly but surely he started to gain his sister's trust back. That girl may have been young, but she holds grudges just like Bruce does. He saw so much of Bruce in her all the time from her scowl to her determination to her need to brood when she was upset. However, she was different in many ways as well. Her life had not yet been touched by tragedy, unless you counted her mother leaving, which she didn't. She was happy most of the time, tried to see the best in people no matter how much they differed from her moral code, and she had no interest in becoming a vigilante.

Martha worked computers and coms a lot with Babs when they were on patrol, but she had assured everyone that that was as far as she was going to go. It wasn't for lack of physical fighting skills though, Bruce made sure that she trained just as much as the rest of them. You never knew when something like that would come in handy. For once, she didn't object to the violence of it all because she knew what Gotham was really like. Plus, she was not the type of girl to wait around to be saved.

Things were good for a few years. Jason got stronger every day and eventually started patrolling with Bruce nightly. Martha worked extra hard to keep Jason safe out there. She was even more protective of Jason than she was of Dick, that much was obvious. Dick thought it was because she viewed Jason as more fragile and in need of protecting due to his childhood. She wanted to be there for him to make up for all of those years alone.