Barbara and Tim were sitting in the kitchen at Wayne Manor discussing plans for Halloween. Barbara had spent the last ten minutes telling Tim her ideas, when suddenly she turned to him. "Halloween is in two days. So, we don't have a ton of time to come up with something, but the three of us could hang out, or something." She took one glance at Tim's very distant-looking eyes, and began snapping her fingers in his face. "Tim, are you listening?"

Tim simply stared up at her. "Does it look like I'm listening?"

She heaved a large sigh. "No!"

He rolled his eyes. "Oh good, I didn't want to send mixed signals."

Barbara moved next to him. "What's wrong with you, girl issues?"

Tim stood up from his chair, and walked over to the counter. "No."

Barbara wheeled herself beside him. "Well, are you going to tell me what's wrong?"

Once again, Tim walked away from her. "Not if I can help it."

Again she placed herself by his side. "But how can I make it all better if you don't tell me what's wrong?"

Tim glared at her. "Easy answer. You're not." He went to pull away from her one final time when Dick walked in.

"Will you two stop dancing around the kitchen and come help me with this?" Dick was carrying a large pumpkin.

Tim helped Dick put the pumpkin on the table. "Oh man, this is going to be such a great time." Tim's voice was saturated with sarcasm.

Dick pointed his index finger at Tim. "Hey, you liked it when we carved the pumpkin last year. In fact, if I remember correctly, it was you who suggested we make it a tradition."

Tim sat down in the chair he had previously been sitting in. "Traditions are overrated."

Dick glanced over to Barbara. "What's his problem?"

Barbara shrugged. "Don't ask me. He's been like that all day. I can't get him to talk about it."

Dick smiled evilly. "Did you try to hog tie him and feed him Bruce's cooking? That usually does the trick. I don't think there's a man alive that could handle that torture."

Barbara began to stroke her chin. "No, I don't think I did, but I'll keep it in mind for the next time I desperately need information on what I should get you for your next birthday."

Dick sat down at the table. "So Timmy, what's going on?"

Tim slumped back in his chair. "It's nothing. I'm fine."

Dick leaned over and ruffled Tim's hair. "Tell or I'm going to stick Alfred on you."

Tim gave a light chuckle, but there was no humor in it. "Go ahead. He already knows."

Dick looked shocked. "Wait. Alfred knows and I don't? Why?"

Tim leaned forward slightly. "I needed to talk, you were nowhere to be found, and Alfred wasn't terribly busy."

Barbara placed her hand on top of Tim's. "So, if you talked to Alfred, why are you still acting like..." She trailed off trying to think of the right word.

"Like your entire world is falling apart around you?" Dick finished for her.

Tim sighed, and removed Barbara's hand from his. "I said I talked to Alfred. I didn't say everything returned to sunshine and happiness."

Dick rolled his eyes. "Timmy, since when is anything with you sunshine and happiness."

Tim shrugged. "I don't know. I know getting you in trouble with Bruce usually puts a smile on my face, like that time I completely filled the batmobile with party confetti and you got blamed for it. That made me laugh for a good twenty minuets, especially when it turned out your punishment was to clean and wax all of the cars thoroughly."

Dick growled. "I remember that, you little weasel."

Barbara turned towards Dick. "I think that if we want Tim to tell us what's wrong, we should probably keep the name calling to a minimum."

Dick cleared his throat. "Yeah. So, Timmy, what's going on?"

Tim groaned inwardly. "If Babs weren't here, I could have gotten away with another twenty minutes of bickering before we got back to this subject. Anyway, it's just Batman being Batman again."

Dick leaned back in his chair. "Wait is it Batman being Batman, or Bruce being Bruce?"

Tim shrugged. "What's the difference? They both have qualities that piss people off on a regular basis."

Barbara stared at Dick with a look that just screamed, "Reprimand him." Dick looked back at her and raised his hands defensively. "What? The kid has a point."

Barbara rolled her eyes. "I'm beginning to worry about the fact that Tim is starting to sound a lot more like you." She faced Tim now. "Mind telling us what he did that made you so angry?"

Tim pulled up his pant leg. "I woke up this morning with that on my leg. Apparently, he doesn't approve of my plans for Halloween."

Dick poked the big black object on Tim's leg. "Is that what I think it is?"

Barbara stared shocked. "How did you sleep through the installation?"

Tim rolled his pant leg back down. "Okay first off, yes, it is what you think it is, and second, I didn't sleep through the installation. Bruce drugged me and then put the damn ankle bracelet on me."

Dick patted Tim on the back. "What exactly were your Halloween plans?"

Tim heaved a large sigh. "I can guarantee it was nothing to warrant this." He gestured widely to his leg.

Barbara rubbed Tim's shoulder reassuringly. "I'm sorry; Bruce has a tendency to, um…" Once again her voice trailed off looking for the right words."

"Go a little crazy." Dick finished for her for the second time.

Barbara rolled her eyes for what felt like the hundredth time today. "I was going to say Bruce has a tendency to be somewhat over protective."

Tim placed his leg on the table, and tapped the ankle bracelet with a fork he had sitting next to him. The moment the metal touched the outer casing of the ankle bracelet, sparks flew, and the fork went flying across the room. "Does that seem somewhat over protective to you?"

Barbara shook her head. She was absolutely appalled that Bruce had gone to this measure to keep an eye on Tim…not to mention slightly worried. This just wasn't Bruce or Batman's style. He normally went for small, unnoticeable tactics. Drugging people and placing large ankle bracelets on them just didn't fit his profile. The other thing that got on her nerves was the fact that, out of all people, Tim was the last person Bruce should have been worrying about keeping an eye on. Tim was a good kid, and Barbara just couldn't fathom that whatever he had been planning to do for Halloween could possibly be anything more than hanging out with his friends. Tim had said that he was planning to do something with both Dick and her, and then afterwards he was going out, but whatever out included she had no idea. There was always the possibility that Bruce was onto something, but then again, the possibility that Bruce was jumping to some crazy conclusion about Tim was also a high probability. Suddenly she turned back to Tim. "I bet with the right tools I could get that off for you."

Two hours later, with a few borrowed tools from the cave, the ankle bracelet was lying on the floor in pieces. "Told you I could get it off." Barbara smiled at Tim.

Tim grinned back at her. "Yeah, you did."

Dick walked in after returning the tools to the cave. "So Tim, any ideas as to why Bruce put that thing on you in the first place?"

Tim thought about it for a moment. "No, I mean we were in the cave after patrol, and he asked me what my plans were for Halloween. I told him I planned on hanging with you guys, and then going out for awhile. Next thing I know, I'm waking up with that thing on my leg."

Barbara was scrutinizing the pieces of the device she had removed from Tim's legs. "It's really starting to bug me how non-Bruce/Batman this all is."

Dick was about to argue that point, but stopped to think about it. "I agree that it is very unlike him. I call alien parasites. Timmy, any ideas?"

Tim was displaying his 'I'm in crucial thought here' look. "I don't know. I would have to go through our case files for the last couple of weeks."

Barbara pinched the bridge of her nose. "Dick, why do you always jump to alien parasites?"

Dick stared at her like it should be obvious. "With our lives? It's completely possible. Plus it beats the idea that he did it for a laugh, because that is probably the scariest thought in the universe. Bruce laughing, that is, not the whole possibility that he would do it for a laugh thing, cause he probably would."

Barbara tried not to roll her eyes again, but with these two, it was hard not to. "Okay, let's go for the more logical route here."

Dick simply smirked at her. "You're right. I should run some test and scans first." Without another word, he had disappeared to the cave.

Barbara wheeled around to face Tim. "Well, aren't you going to go help him with his ridiculous notions?"

Tim frowned slightly. "Actually, thinking back on it, Batman was off world last week. Dick's notion may not be as ridiculous as you think." Before she could say anything further, Tim fled the kitchen, and headed after Dick.

Barbara buried her face in her hands. "Ugh, boys." Her voice died away as she listened to the excited chatter coming from somewhere near the grandfather clock that led to the cave stairs.

The End