Until now, Tim didn't know whether the choice he made was right or wrong.

Staying up late is addictive. He worked for more than 72 hours in a row. His mind was still neurotic and awake, but his body could no longer bear such a burden.

The laptop was turned off, and the 72-hour effort was still in vain.

Tim picked up the espresso and took a sip until the coffee slipped into her stomach for a long time, and her numb tongue tasted a little bit of mellowness and bitterness.

Bruce is in a very bad state, not just Bruce, but the whole family is in a very bad state.

Everyone was in pain and self-blame. All the time outside the task was spent on finding Wendy. They were hopeful again and again, disappointed again and again... Perhaps they were acting too wrong, and even other superheroes joined the search ranks.

The door was suddenly pushed open, Tim was shocked and subconsciously lay back and made the illusion of falling asleep.

"Stop pretending," the visitor dragged his foot to the desk and sat down. The frustration that could not be concealed no matter how hard he pretended, "I know you must not have sleep yet."

"Dick." Tim said.

"Do you know what I'm thinking now?" Dick said almost to himself, "I'm thinking now... Why didn't I go to find Wendy when she ran away from home? Why didn't I persuade her seriously when she ran away from home? Listen to her, why did she say why she was so unhappy? Why..."

Why didn't he ask Wendy, why did he suddenly break up with him?

Tim sighed, this breath completely overflowing from the depths of his chest: "Dick, stop talking, it's not your fault."

"This is my fault." wiped his face and smiled haggardly, "I should have been...I should have been the one who understands her ideas the most, but I don't seem to understand what she is thinking."

Tim knows what Dick is referring to.

That is the common secret in this family: Dick once had a brief, passionate relationship with Wendy.

Before Dick left home and the first generation of Robin became Nightwing, Bruce and Dick had the most intense quarrel. The core of their quarrel was Wendy, and Dick was even broken by an angry old father Bruce.

Tim said that Dick is too unauthorized. Wendy is only fourteen years old. Although Dick is not old, he is still nineteen.

Their family all knows Wendy's promiscuity. To be honest, this level of promiscuity is nothing.

Before being with Dick, Wendy's dating was all upper class girls. Apart from this aspect, Wendy had no other bad habits.

Of course it is not good to be promiscuous.

But Wendy's psychological burden is too heavy. Compared to drinking, taking drugs or other excessive ejaculation methods, this little hobby is actually acquiesced by Bruce.

Bruce had no demands on Wendy. He only hoped that this delicate daughter would live a happier life, hoped that she could stay away from their "night career" and hoped that she would stay away from all the dark side of Gotham.

Regarding the previous entanglement between Dick and Wendy, Bruce was not angry that they were together. He was angry that Dick had no self-control!

What he was even more angry was that Dick and Wendy were hiding it from him!

As for the rest, it is just a trivial matter.

"We all know why Wendy is always unhappy," Tim said calmly.

"...Yes." Dick said sadly, "We all know that we just...even if we know, we all pretend to be deaf and dumb."

"Even if you are wrong, it's not your fault alone." Tim analyzed. "Wendy is not like us. Her mentality is too fragile. She can't bear these truths. Compared to the pressure she is under, it is obviously more important to live."

"When we...," Dick vaguely passed the word "together", "She has slapped me many times, wondering if there is something at home that she doesn't know. Sometimes I think she has discovered our secret, but the direction she guessed seemed to be completely opposite to the facts."

Tim paused for a moment and couldn't help but wonder: "What was she guessing?"

"She thought Bruce was secretly supporting Gotham's underworld," Dick said. "And we adopted sons are all the 'subs" recruited by Bruce, just like the family history mafia. Party."

Tim was in a wonderful mood, because after careful consideration of the logic of this reasoning, it made completely understand?

"How did you answer her?"

"I said this was not the case at all. Our family had nothing to do with the underworld, so she would stop thinking about it." Dick paused, "There were times when I almost told her the truth."

“…”

"She wasn't angry, but I could feel that she was very disappointed with me." Dick looked ahead in confusion. "I can't help but wonder why she is so merciless? Why is she so one-sided, without any warning, and without looking back..."

A subtle sourness appeared in Tim's heart.

He said: "You should tell her."

"I don't know what to do, it seems that everything is wrong. We tried our best to make her worry-free, but in the end, the facts we hidden became the thing that worried her the most." Dick's mood was still depressed, "Do you know this feeling? It's that everyone is kind and everyone has no malice, but in the end, everything we do is concealed and deceived, and pushes her outward."

Tim said: "That's why I said we should tell her the truth. But Bruce wouldn't allow it, and he couldn't stand Wendy's not living safe enough."

Dick suddenly asked, "Have you tried to tell Wendy?"

Tim was stunned.

"You will help every time Wendy runs away from home." Dick smiled. "We all know that Wendy targets you when you first joined this family for a long time. Bruce and Jason have always thought that you have a bad relationship with Wendy, and you don't like Wendy very much...but I know that's not the case."

Tim pursed his lips, and the sequelae of sleeplessness seemed to have emerged for 72 hours, and his brain became dizzy.

"I... didn't tell her." He whispered, "although I really want to tell her."

But what Wendy wanted most was not the truth obtained from another person. What Wendy wanted was her father's confession.

What she wanted to know was why her father was unwilling to let her return to Gotham no matter how hard she worked, and why, no matter how good she performed, her father was unwilling to let her work in Wayne Group.

Dick was silent for a long time and suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.

"There's one thing you don't know," he said. "Jason doesn't know either. I should tell Jason in the future and wait for him to calm down."

"Wandy was first kidnapped when she was almost five years old..."

Bruce opened the album.

He kept all the photos of Wendy, and even every physical examination before Wendy was born, Wendy's mother's bulging abdomen.

Wendy's birth was an accident, of course, the most wonderful accident. Bruce Wayne's external image is a playboy, but occasionally, he will maintain a long relationship with women who are happy with them.

Wendy's mother is a ballerina. She got pregnant unexpectedly not long after they were together. Because the early reaction was very small, Wendy's mother did not stop menstruating, but her blood volume decreased. So when they found Wendy, Wendy was three or four months old.

Bruce was far from ready to become a father, but in a complicated mood, he was still actively preparing to welcome Wendy's arrival.

But Wendy's mother had severe depression during pregnancy. She was originally a sensitive woman and a ballerina. Her severe distortion and rumors from the outside made her mood worse, and eventually she even developed to the point of trying to commit suicide with a seven-month-old child in her belly.

It seems very cold and thin, but Bruce is glad she chose to cut her wrists instead of some other ways that might damage Wendy.

Wendy's mother was unable to rescue her, but Wendy was removed by caesarean section and survived successfully.

The first time Bruce saw Wendy was the little baby who was wrinkled and red in the warmer box, gasping for difficulty wearing a ventilator.

...so small, so fragile.

This impression never left. Wendy almost lived in the intensive care unit before she was one year old. Various complications tortured her extremely weak. The doctor even tactfully reminded Bruce that Wendy was very likely to have some IQ problems.

Fortunately, Wendy's condition improved greatly after she was two years old. Her body gradually improved, her personality became lively, she was enthusiastic and laughing, had a strong curiosity, and she was extremely dependent on Bruce, her father.

all is well.

Until Wendy was almost five years old, Bruce thought it was time for Wendy to contact the outside world. He took Wendy out and invited some familiar people to party, and made a special note to ask them to bring their children with them. Their children were almost the same age as Wendy, Bruce felt that Wendy might be able to make one or two friends.

But at this party, Bruce received news that the Crazy Hatter was planning to destroy Gotham with poison gas.

He had to find an excuse to leave the party, but Wendy didn't want to leave.

This was the first time she got along with her peers and had fun with her companions. She begged Bruce to let her stay, and the invited guests also promised to take good care of Wendy. In addition, the bodyguards and nanny were there. After a brief hesitation, Bruce succumbed to Wendy's sweet coquettishness.

They made an appointment for time.

But when Bruce got the mad hater back to the party after he got the job done, he found that there was already chaos. Wendy was missing and she left herself. From the video, she was not coerced, but was attracted by something and took the initiative to leave the room.

He shouldn't have left so confidently at that time.

Wendy is only four years old!

But it was too late to regret. The most urgent thing was to find the missing Wendy immediately. Bruce was very uneasy. He didn't know what was waiting for Wendy, what was waiting for him. He only knew that he had to find his daughter immediately...

Batman didn't make any mistake in this matter. In fact, he found Wendy faster than he thought, and there was no hidden conspiracy in this matter.

Just a waiter who suddenly became rich, suddenly tempted and kidnapped the daughter of Gotham's richest man, trying to get a lot of protection from him.

Wendy was not physically tortured, and the waiter dared not torture her. He just wanted to make money, but he didn't want to welcome Bruce Wayne's anger.

But he had a serious lack of experience in kidnapping, but he made a fatal mistake. He locked Wendy, a little girl who was only four years old, in the trunk of the car for several hours. In order to prevent Wendy from crying and struggling to attract attention, he also tied Wendy's hands and feet and stuffed Wendy's mouth.

Wendy, who was rescued, had serious sequelae. She began to fear claustrophobia and dark space, and refused to contact the outside world.

Child psychologists can only suggest that Bruce use more companionship and patience to care for Wendy, but this happens to be something Bruce can't do.

He didn't have so much time and energy to give Wendy, he... wanted to protect this city of his.

Of course, Bruce also took as much time as possible to accompany Wendy. He reduced the time and number of shows to the outside world and stayed with Wendy more. After Wendy's mood gradually stabilized, he took Wendy out to eliminate Wendy's fear of the outside world bit by bit.

After all, she was still a child, and her playful nature prevailed, so he used this to trick Wendy out.

He took Wendy to visit the botanical gardens and zoos, and to the playground - but Wendy refused to leave him at all, grabbed his fingers from beginning to end, refused to go to entertainment, and Bruce took Wendy to watch the circus performance.

The tragedy of the "Flying Grayson" family happened.

...right in front of Wendy.

The bright red blood spread under the body, and Bruce's reaction was extremely fast, but his hands still could not cover the death.

Wendy fainted.

Even Bruce couldn't remember how messy the situation was afterwards.

After he took Wendy home, he was severely criticized by Alfred. This was the first time the old housekeeper was so angry. Even if he had any dissatisfaction with Bruce, he would have mostly used his standard English accent and said a few sarcastic words with a very British style.
To be continued...