CherryBerry952 suggested I do more about and I take it as me being able to vent through various characters

I am limiting the characters here not to be that comic fan but because if I have to write a list of names and all their issues this will be 10,000 words too many so we're gonna go for the core four that grew up with Bruce - Dick, Damian, Jason and Tim

TW: TRAUMA IS A THEME THROUGHOUT SO BE WARY

They didn't know what caused it but Alfred told them all to meet in the library at four. Despite how when they met up there was usually a death threat and sometimes a murder attempt, no one could say no to Alfred. That was a death wish in itself. So at four, they all met up and sat waiting for the butler to tell them what was happening. "Does anyone remember killing someone?" Dick asked. It was pretty much the only explanation he could come up with as to why they were all needed. 

"Not recently," Jason answered, with his fellow Robins nodding. When Bruce didn't nod, they narrowed their gaze before he quickly shook his head. "Suspicious."

"I just thought it was obvious I wouldn't kill someone," he defended. 

"Maybe Alfred killed someone?" Tim suggested.

"If he did, he knows how to hide it," Jason pointed out. Although he was old, they didn't doubt that he could still make a body disappear if he wanted to. Eventually, Alfred entered the room with an expression they couldn't quite decipher. He could be pensive or angry or ready to curse them all out but they wouldn't know. 

"I've brought you all here today because you all need help," he announced. They glanced at each other anxiously then returned their gaze to him. "I should've done this years ago, when it was just Master Bruce and Master Dick but when he suggested it to me the other day I remembered there's no expiration date on developing a healthy relationship with each other."

"Oh, Dick!" Jason groaned, his siblings and guardian nodding in agreement.

"It was a passing thought! I didn't mean it, we never do therapy," the acrobat defended. 

"Your pushback only proves that therapy would be beneficial," Alfred stated. "So I took it upon myself to scout out the right therapist that could deal with both your vigilante side and your civilian side. Everything is confidential, she'd been checked for any wires, and she is good to go. You're going to sit in here for an hour and you're going to talk about your feelings. Got that?" Logically they knew that they could get up and leave but this was Alfred. You didn't go against Alfred without good reason and not wanting to talk about their emotions didn't seem good enough to have incorrectly seasoned food for the next month. The butler seemed pleased that none of them was going to do a runner and opened the door for the therapist to come through. She had black hair pinned up in a tight bun and big round glasses. In her hand was a small brown notebook with a pen settled between the pages and she wore a muted outfit. She seemed nice enough but they kept their suspicions. This was Gotham and they already had a crazed therapist running around although they couldn't quite tell how evil she was nowadays. 

"Hello, I'm Dr Thomas. I hope you're ready for this hour."

"I can promise you, we are not," Tim replied.

Alfred left the room and Dr Thomas found a comfortable chair where she opened up her notebook. She then clicked her pen and stared at the group. They stared at her. The room was silent. If their nightmares weren't already incredibly intense, this would definitely be a nightmare worthy situation. "It's interesting that you haven't introduced yourselves," she stated. 

"We assumed Alfred told you our names," Bruce said on behalf of the group. 

"He did but it's customary to greet people with your names," she explained. "Now, he did give me a rundown of your issues but I'd like to hear from you what you're struggling with." There was a beat of silence where Dick looked around the group. She took note of that. 

"We don't have issues," Bruce told her only to get a few laughs from Dick and Jason. It truly was comical that out of all of them, it was the head of the family that said such a thing. The same man whose trauma response was to become a bat-themed vigilante. She found that interesting and directed her sights to Dick who seemed to be the most reactive of the group. His body language, although visibly uncomfortable, was the most open. He'd probably give her the in she needed to crack open their shells. She could do it without him, she'd dealt with men just as emotionally cut off as them, but what was the point of going the hard way when the easy way was right there. 

"Why did you laugh?" she asked him.

"B has issues like I have fan accounts," he answered. A lot then.

"Is that true, Bruce?"

"I have no more issues than anyone else here," he defended. Considering he said that they didn't have any before, she wondered how thin the layer of denial was. He must be aware that his kids weren't doing well and compared them to himself. "It's normal to have some...troubles."

"I wouldn't call being beat to death some troubles," Jason pointed out.

"Do you always talk about your death with such an even tone?" she asked. He shrugged off her question so she made a note of that. "This is a safe space to talk about your vigilante lives. I'm aware of your work after hours."

"He doesn't need that reassurance. He brings it up every time we go to a gala," Tim told her. 

"So you could say you've become desensitized to your death?" He opened his mouth to say something but stopped himself. "Or have you come to terms with it?"

"It happened," he stated bitterly. "I'm fucked off with it but it happened and now I'm here. What more do you want?"

"What more do you want?" To everyone's surprise, Jason actually answered the question.

"I wanted Bruce to kill Joker. Turns out Goldie over there did and then this fuckwit decides to save him. It pisses me off that I died and he didn't kill him," he replied. He seemed surprised with himself for admitting it and eyed the therapist as though she'd slipped him something to make him truthful. 

"If he died, it wouldn't have been right. It would've destroyed myself if I killed him and it would've destroyed Dick if he succeeded," Bruce explained.

"Bruce, I'd appreciate it if we kept the attention on Jason," Dr Thomas stated. He looked slightly offended but didn't say anything further. "Why are you mad that Joker is alive? Do you believe he should also go through what you experienced?"

"I want him dead so he didn't kill anyone else."

"Right but you wanted Bruce to kill him which would actively go against his rules. Why did you find it appropriate to expect that of him?"

"Wouldn't you want to kill the person who killed your son?"

"I never said I didn't want to," Bruce snapped. "I couldn't." Jason stared at him and shifted. Something about that sentence seemed to put him at ease. 

"Can I tell you what I think?" Dr Thomas asked. He nodded. "I think you wanted him to kill Joker because you thought it meant he cared. Bruce does care but he showed self-restraint because it wouldn't do anything. If anything, it would put Bruce in a worse place. I'm assuming when Tim followed you as Robin, there were new sanctions in place to prevent what happened to you?" Bruce and Tim nodded to confirm. "I think what we're gonna work on in the future with you is how you feel your death was perceived by your family and what they can do to make you feel more appreciated."

With that noted down, she turned to Damian who intrigued her the most. He'd been silent unlike everyone else there so he hadn't been around for Jason's death nor was he affected by it. "Damian, I'm to understand that you didn't spend your whole life here." He narrowed his gaze but decided to indulge her. 

"I was raised by my mother," he answered. 

"And how was that?"

"I was trained to be a great assassin and my skills trump most of the people here." Tim and Jason rolled their eyes so it must be a very common statement he makes. Perhaps a sign of something deeper about how he sees himself. What she did find interesting was the lack of emotion in the statement. 

"Did you enjoy your time there?" she pressed. He nodded tightly. "It's not disrespectful to your mother if you didn't enjoy your time with her."

"I wasn't supposed to enjoy, I was supposed to endure," he explained. Although it came as nonchalant, it was a truly saddening statement. 

"So you wouldn't say you had a childhood in the traditional sense?" He shook his head. She noticed that Dick has subtly leaned closer to the younger. Something he'd done prior to Jason when he spoke about his experience. Interesting. "How would you describe your relationship with your father?"

"Serviceable."

"Bruce, would you agree with that statement?" The older nodded. "Do you not feel close to your father?"

"I met him when I was entering my teen years and then he disappeared and I was looked after by Grayson. We have not had much time to feel "close" but we don't need to be."

"Don't need to be or don't want to be?" He seemed stumped by that question so she decided to follow a thread she thought she'd picked. "Is there anything Bruce has done that has made you feel pushed away?" There was some silence and she noticed that his gaze flickered to Dick rather than his father. He seemed to be asking for some sort of reassurance. 

"I- he could have done more. Not everything that has distanced us is due to his own actions."

"You said Dick looked after you. Do you feel closer to him than you do your father?"

"I'm not answering that," he snapped. Little did he know that he already had. The answer was yes. 

"You don't have to," Dick assured him before she could. 

"Why does he get to stay silent?" Tim huffed. 

"Everybody gets to," Dick replied in an attempt to pacify the situation. Interesting.

Now that Tim had spoken up, there was a clear sense of animosity between him and Tim. It wasn't unusual for siblings to not get along with one another but in a family where fighting was their bread and butter, she could see how it could get out of hand. "Tim, I'm sensing that you don't get on well with your brother?"

"He is not my brother. He is a pain in the ass," he argued. "I was happy being Robin but then he comes along and I lose my title. Then whilst I'm out there trying to actually find Batman, they're playing happy families."

"We weren't. We didn't even know that Bruce was alive," Dick explained.

"Why did you lose your title?" Dr Thomas asked. 

"Because he gave it to Damian. Apparently, Demon Spawn needed it. All that kid has ever done is make my life worse," he ranted. "He's tried to kill me at least twice."

"I want to go back to you trying to find Bruce. Did you feel unsupported at all?" The teen laughed bitterly which was an answer in itself but he was happy to expand upon it.

"I was the only one who held out hope. Dick here was too busy with his new kid and Jason was God knows where. I came close to death trying to find Bruce and what did you do Dick? He was your mentor."

"Although I appreciate that you evidently felt a lack of support, I'm not sure lashing out at your brother is appropriate." Tim's lips straightened into a thin line as he leaned back on the couch. "What did you want from your family at that time?"

"I wanted them to come with me. Bruce isn't the best of guys but he was all we had. He'd do the same for us." Although that got some looks, she decided not to press any of the others on it. 

"Okay, for you I think you're experiencing the same issue as Jason. You felt alone in your wants and unappreciated by your family. It's interesting that this has resulted in animosity towards Damian who experiences that lack of appreciation from his father." 

Next, she set her sights on Dick. "Dick, you've been mentioned by each of your family members here. For killing Joker, for raising Damian and then for not following Tim around the world to find your mentor. Unlike when I suggested Damian was Tim's brother, there was no objection," she noted. The acrobat hummed, curious to see where she was going with this. "Do you feel like everyone here is family?"

"Of course," he answered without hesitation. "Sure we fight but they're always my family."

"Throughout the session today, you've leaned closer as each of your family members talks about something considered to be traumatic. Did you know you were doing that?" He shrugged. "You were Bruce's first child and protege. A lot of people who are firstborns or perhaps first adopted feel as though they're a tester child."

"Where are you going with this?"

"I believe your trauma response is to take a caretaking role due to your lack of a stable figure and the multiple times you've felt alone when something traumatising has happened. Of course, that's only a suggestion due to how you make sure everyone has someone when they talk about their traumas," the therapist explained. He seemed caught off guard by her examination but didn't go against it.

"Okay, when I suggested family therapy I meant it for those emotionally stunted trolls, not me. I'm off the market," Dick huffed.

"Mhm and is diminishing your own traumas also a coping mechanism?" The acrobat narrowed his eyes.

"Oh, you're good."

"Thank you. Now, what's something from your childhood you feel particularly unhappy with? Just to give me an idea of what we're working with." After some deliberation and a few glances at his mentor, almost to gauge how angry he would be, he answered.

"Bruce taught me how to kill my friends," Dick said bitterly. "I knew my friends for what? An hour? Maybe less? You made me list off their strengths and weaknesses like they were characters in a video game that I just had to find the right combos for." He looked up at Bruce who stared at him with something that could've been empathy but he didn't know. The fun of having Bruce Wayne as a father but he wasn't even that. He was the shell of a dad. All the perks of the title with none of the downsides because he didn't want those or he didn't know how to deal with him. "You wanna know something B? It didn't even work. All that training to take down my friends was for nothing because I still got hurt. I was still a victim in that fucking Nightwing suit."

"I'll have their head," Damian stated. 

"She's already dead." He held himself almost and it didn't go unnoticed by the group. "I can take some comfort in that." 

"Can you talk about that experience more?"

"No." Point blank refusal. They'd touch on that eventually.

"Bruce, is there anything you'd like to say?" 

"Oh fuck that," Jason snapped. "He'll say he's sorry, that he's going to change and he'll do better but you've been saying that since Dick was nine! Face it, you wanted soldiers and we wanted a father so now we're here with a league of overgrown kids with daddy issues and trauma we can't get over."

"You've had your time, let's hear Bruce's response," Dr Thomas said.

"Fine," he spat out, slouching down on his chair. 

"I'm sorry my training didn't protect you," Bruce said honestly. Had it been said at the right time, Dr Thomas supposed there would be a bit more of a reaction. Unfortunately, the apology was outdated and stale. "I'm sorry I've made everyone here feel unappreciated."

"Do you struggle to show your emotions?" she asked. He nodded. "Have you always struggled to show them?"

"After my parents died, I didn't know how." She noticed that despite all their issues with Bruce, everyone gave him a look of sympathy when he mentioned his parents. She wondered if that was what they used to justify his behaviour and if that's why they stayed with him in some regard. "I know I could've read books on raising kids and I did. I did the right things just not all the time."

"Why did you become Batman?"

"Because I didn't want anyone to lose their parents as I did. I took in these kids because I knew they shouldn't be without parents."

"And for the rest of you, are you here today because you wanted to help people? Do good in some way?" They all nodded. "What's happened here, if I'm frank, is that you have raised these kids with the skills you had at the time but they are who they are despite you. They still love you. That's clear from the fact that they're still here looking after your kid or begging you to give them some attention. It's obvious you still love them because when they mention their trauma, although you do defend yourself, you show empathy," she explained. "What this family needs to work on is communicating and showing how much you appreciate one another. When you communicate on missions I'm assuming it's clear and brief. That would be good in regard to your emotions."

"He won't do that," Jason stated, his siblings nodding in agreement. "He's just going to promise to do it."

"Change takes time and prior to this experience, you haven't had therapist intervention. You can do a lot on your own and you've done amazing things for this city as well as Bludhaven, but for this, you need help." She closed her book with her pen sitting snugly in the pages. "Bruce, do you love your family?"

"More than anything."

"Then there's your reason to communicate. You love these people around you and they need to hear that." He nodded. "Now that's the end of our hour but I hope to see you all again. I'd appreciate it if in between sessions you could write down some things you'd like to talk about." When they nodded, she smiled and stood up. "I look forward to our next session." 

With that, she walked out of the room and left the family to sit there. "What the fuck just happened?" Jason stated.

"We just went to therapy," Dick answered.