Holy shit, I'm ALIVE! And more importantly, POSTING!

For those of you waiting on more from Change of Heart, I can't say when that will be. I just don't know. I'm working on it and still working a full time job so life has been unbelievably busy for me. But I'm trying. And I'm happy because I'm writing about Batman and the Bat Family. I have always been a huge fan of Batman and this is a long time coming for me. So please enjoy, even if it's random as FUCK.


Jason wanted to go home, not be on a roof in the downpour that started somewhere around an hour ago. He had so many other important things he needed to get done, mainly sleeping, and having to listen to Dick prattle on about the newest girl he was seeing, in the seemingly endless parade of them, in his ear was grating on his nerves. It also didn't help that his only pack of cigarettes were sodden and he knew it would be a while before he would be able to get another pack of them, thankfully they were the cheapest he could find so he wasn't out of too much coin. Damien 'tt's something that Dick says back to him, some nasty comment about how he only seemed to see harlots probably, and again Jason is reminded about how much he hated working with family.

Tim and Bruce were both quiet, ignoring the argument that was happening between the oldest and the youngest of Bruce's wards/children. Hell, the only reason Jason was even here was because Black Mask had decided to encroach into his territory and far to close for comfort. Not that he was telling anyone of these clowns exactly why he was willing, sort of, to work with them.

The rain beating down on his helmet was starting to feel like someone playing the drums on his head though he was happy that it was sealed tight against the water even if his clothing was quite the opposite. He really didn't need to be getting a cold at this time.

"Hood." Bruce's voice was completely Batman and caused a slight shiver to crawl up his spine, but if asked he would blame the weather.. maybe.

"Copy B."

"There, at the corner. You see them." Jason looks down the seven story building he was on to the indicated location and finds a gathering of at least 7 huddled under a street light, the masks they wore indicating who they worked for. Under his helmet Jason grins, noting which ones were packing heat and which ones would have less lethal but no less painful means of protection.

"Yeah I see 'em. They're just the runners though, need to find the boss-man they're waiting for." Out of the corner of his eye he sees a flash of red and yellow swing past, the sound of the grappling hook lost in the rain.

"Robin, stand down!" Bruce commands but the youngest of his children ignores him.

"I'll make them talk." Was the comment relayed to them before all hell seemed to break loose when he lands. The four launch themselves from their perches, each far enough away that they weren't on top of each other but close enough to offer help if needed. And with the cacophony of the guns firing at the 16 year old, they knew they needed to help. Jason didn't understand how Damian could still be this hardheaded after working with both Bruce and the Teen Titans. He curses Bruce in his head for talking him into using rubber bullets when the baddies had seemed to skip the memo.

It was a dance he was familiar with; ducking when he needed, striking out a lucky hit when he could, shooting when he couldn't. He was paying almost all of his attention to his own fight, halfway listening to the comments the others were making until..

"Shit, more guys just showed up." Tim groans out as he leaps out of the way of a crowbar aimed at his head, rewarding the idiot with a smack across the face with the bo staff he was twirling around. The guy falls to the ground in a heap unconscious but more, many more, take up his fight. Suddenly Damian gives a short cry of pain that really hadn't been a scream but would only ever be as close to one they would ever hear come from the Demon. Jason looks back to his youngest brother, finding him pinned against the building by two guys, one of which had the teen's left arm bent around the corner. Jason fights the wince and fires several rounds at the baddies, giving Dick the chance to grab hold of the fourth Robin and grapple them both away. The rest remained a blur until there were an untold number of unconscious bodies surrounding the three, though Bruce had one held against the wall off the ground, his voice that angry growl of Batman that Jason was glad wasn't directed at him at the moment.

"Robin's in bad shape guys." Dick comments over the radio, the tone of his voice strained. Bruce had already finished with the guy, seeing as he was laying in a disgusting puddle of filth out cold, and Jason could see the change in his posture almost immediately. It was the same change that happened anytime any of his kids were hurt, the change from vigilante to father.

"How bad?" The Bat's voice was gone and Bruce was there, even as he fired his grapple gun in the direction Jason was sure Dick had gone. Dick was quiet for a moment.

"I..I can't get the bleeding to stop." Jason's heart almost stopped then as he followed Bruce, Tim just behind him, and all three land on the roof of some random apartment building. Jason notes that his own isn't far from where they are, and he silently prays that everything else was okay. Dick had Damian propped up against a stairway access, hands pressed against the youngest's right side. Damian's arm was still bent at a near right angle, something that made Jason's stomach do a queasy flip. Bruce and Tim were at his side almost at the same time their feet had touched the gravel.

"Alfred and Dr. Leslie are still out of town?" Tim questions and Jason didn't need the com to know what he was saying. They were all close enough that it was irrelevant, and Jason could see Bruce nod once in answer.

He could also see the wheels trying to work in the three's brains, but no answer was being brought forth. He wrenches off his hood, the domino mask he was wearing pulling tight the skin around his eyes as he frowned and pulled out his cell tapping a name at the top of his call list.

Either way, he was a dead man (again) now.

Sleep was a difficult thing to come by now for the young woman currently tangled up in the blankets and wrapped around the body pillow. She had managed to finally find a position that was somewhat comfortable with her current condition and the downpour had helped tremendously with calming her nerves. However, the sound of the most annoying ringtone (she would change it and find it returned to the stupid sound over and over again) playing loudly by her head caused her to growl and answer voice thick with sleep.

"Someone had better be in trouble becau-"

"Babe." She stops her tirade at the voice and tone. Something was wrong.

"Jay?" A quick look at the alarm clock showed that it was around 3 AM. He never called her when he was on patrol.

"Get your kit ready. Bringing you a baby bird that's hurt." She sucks in a breathe through her teeth, disentangling herself from the sheets and getting out of bed with as much grace as she could.

"How bad?" She questions, tugging on a pair of slippers before exiting the room to head to the living room and unlocking the window to the fire escape. She then turns around to the bathroom to find her first aid kit.

Its a heartbeat before he answers her question. "Bad. The family is flying around me." She stops for just a second, realizing just what this statement meant. She swallow a small lump forming in her throat, from fear or hormones she wasn't completely sure, and makes her way back to the living room. She cleans off the small dining table of the few things that had been left on it, setting her kit down on a stool she pulls from the island bar.

"ETA?" The sound of the unlocked window being opened greets her.

"Now." She turns with enough time to see Jason's helmet get flung onto the couch and the man in question clambering inside backwards. Two arms loll around listlessly, one obviously broken and tried to be reset in its disjointed movement, and then another body climbs inside holding onto the young man Jason was carrying. His skin tight suit was black and blue, two metal rods poking out over his shoulders, and she clicks off the phone.

"Table now." Jason knew that voice, no nonsense and authoritative. His sweet girlfriend had been replaced by the trauma surgeon and for this he was grateful. He follows her orders, dragging Dick along with him and places the paling Robin on the table, stepping away with enough time that the girl with rubber gloves and scissors was already cutting off clothes. He notices a quick glance his way out of the corner of her eyes, the gray orbs like steel at the moment, before they return to the task that was at hand for her. Dick and Tim begin to protest but a quick, cutting look directed at them from the short woman quiets the noise. Jason walks around her, he didn't need to get stuck with a needle with the speed she was moving at, and makes his way to the living room were Dick, Tim, and now Bruce were standing as they watched the short, round woman working. He ignores the pointed looks directed at him while peeling off the mask, the spirit gum pulling at the fine hairs on his face, and closes the window. He could hear his shoes making the squelching noise and pulls them off, placing them under the window before heading into the bathroom for towels.

Once inside he gives himself a once over, mentally preparing himself for the inevitable questions. This part of his life wasn't supposed to mix with the other part. He flings his jacket into the hamper then peels off the wet shirt and pants next, finding clean dry clothes waiting for him on the back of the toilet. As he was putting the shirt on he hears a cry of pain and runs out of the bathroom to find his two brothers and his father holding down his youngest brother as the small woman cauterizing the stab wound, the young man flailing at the pain that was having to be inflicted upon him further. It was only for a few seconds but in Jason's mind, it was an eternity. And then the needle was back out, sutures being made in a efficient and quick manner.

Jason watches the woman, dark hair falling out of the messy bun she slept in, and felt a small prick of pride. His woman, not that he would ever call her that out loud, was saving his demon brother's life. Maybe things wouldn't be quite as bad as he was thinking. He heads back to the bathroom, gathering up the towels he had left in a heap on the floor and returns to the living room. His family was hovering over their member, ready for anything. The girl in question was removing the bloody gloves and disposing of them in the trash before checking the metal sink, putting the stopper in it and turning the hot water on full blast, filling it halfway. She waddles (adorably so) around, picking up the towel with the medical instruments that she had used and dumping them into the hot water. He watches as she then leans slightly against the sink, and Jason pauses in cleaning up the wet mess they had made. He tosses each of the vigilantes a towel as he walks over to her, wrapping his arms around her small frame. She was shaking slightly and he lets her lean against him. A quick exhale lets him know she was in control and he releases her. She turns around to face him, arms crossed over her chest and an unhappy look in her eyes.

"A baby bird huh?" She swats at his arm with no intention of hurting him. "You're lucky doctors are adrenaline junkies. Surgeons more so." He gives her a grin.

"Hey, you were the one always complaining I wasn't going to introduce you to the family." She scoffs, smile tugging at her lips.

"I think you've lost us." Tim pipes up, scratching at the back of his cowl.

Jason turns to his family, arm slung around the young woman's back. "This is my girlfriend, Ashley or Ash for short."

"Ash appears to be pregnant Jason." Bruce answers, taking in the entirely relaxed visage that was his second oldest. Jason's grin widens.

"Caught that did ya?"

"Jay, you're terrible." The woman shakes her head.

"Terribly cute." Jason quips.

"I was going more for pig headed." Ash retorts back, stepping away. She waddles back over the young Robin, pointedly ignoring the way all three tense up. She gives him a once over, assessing if it would be okay to move him. "Jay, go get the round pillow and a blanket. He's not going anywhere." Jason nods and does as told, though he does linger for a second outside what the three were guessing was the bedroom. The woman turns to them and gives them a soft smile, one that lets them know they were safe. "You don't have to keep wearing the masks."

"Oh, they'll keep them on until they die if they think they need to." She sends a frown in the direction of the bedroom before she notices Dick costume.

"You're hurt." Dick winces as she waddles over to him, picking up some gloves as she moves from the first aid kit and puts them on, touch gentle as she turns his arm enough to see the wound fully in the light. It was a diagonal slash, shallow and barely bleeding, and she gives him a rather harsh look. He feels like a little kid again when she leads him over to a chair and begins to clean the wound with alcohol. "You're lucky, you won't need stitches. But do keep this clean. I have a feeling that whatever made it was far from clean." Once done she then waddles over to the couch, all but collapsing into it. Jason was tucking the pillow under Damian's head and tossing the blanket over him before heading over to the couch to sit with the small woman, setting his helmet on the floor. "You're cleaning the mess up in the morning."

Jason laughs as he buries his nose in her hair. He breathes her scent in, the calming smell of cranberries from her shampoo filling his lungs. He takes a moment to orient himself, before he looks back over to his family. Dick was rolling his mask off his face and Tim had already removed his cowl, Bruce was still wearing his though Jason could tell he was almost to the point of removing it.

He kind of hated that he could tell that.

"Ash, this is Dick, Tim, the little guy you were working on is Damian, and the big guy is Bruce." Jason points to each in turn and ignores the almost glare Bruce gives him, one that was halfway to Batman.

"Well, like the fool told you, my name is Ashley; Ashley Roberts. Or Dr. Roberts as my patients call me." Now everything made sense to Bruce, why exactly Jason was so okay with the woman, why she had made a joke about surgeons. Bruce pulls off his cowl and watches as she turns to Jason and punches him in the arm.

"Bruce freaking Wayne is your dad! You ass-hat, you could have at least warned me." Jason mock rubs his offended appendage, grin still in place. Bruce pulls a dining room chair into the living room, aware of the fabric couches and chairs, and sits across from the two. He notes that Jason's posture changes some, from languid and relaxed to defensive, not that the woman seemed to notice.

"I think Jason here has a lot of explaining to do." Bruce gives her the trademark Wayne smile, which she just blinks at unaffectedly. Beside him Dick coughs to cover up his laugh and Tim finds the assortment of instruments in the left out first aid kit interesting. Jason's grin returns and widens, an almost cackle like laugh escaping him.

"Congratulations Bruce, you get to be a grandpa."

Coffee had been made twice, breakfast with the second pot at around 8 AM, and Damian was finally starting to wake up at about 10. Jason kept the woman away from him, telling her that they needed to explain what had happened and where they were before she would be able to get near him. She instead busied herself with getting him something to eat that would be easy for him. A glass of cool water was given to Dick and after maneuvering Damian around to a rather comfortable lazy-boy, he was eating a simple vegetable broth with a few soft veggies. She was kept behind the counter in the kitchen, well enough away that if the Demon decided to attack, and he was angry enough at himself to do so, they would be able to stop him.

With a heavy sigh Ash looked over at Jason who looked back at her. "I need to check him."

"Oh no you're not. He's evil I tell you."

"Then why did you bring him here?"

"Because Dick would never have shut up if the brat died." Dick shoots Jason a glower, the four men still dressed in their suits.

"Uh huh, yeah, sure." Damian watches as she waddles? around the kitchen counter and mentally prepares himself. That preparation goes up in a puff of smoke when the woman's stomach comes into view and Damian's jaw falls open as he looks over at Jason.

"You've spawned!?" He chokes out, throat still raw feeling and tired. The woman rolls her eyes as Bruce pulls the chair he had been sitting it beside Damian and remains beside the woman as she sits, pushing the tray out of the way.

"He's very proud of himself for that." She smarts back, a little laugh in her voice. "How do you feel?"

"I'm fine." Damian retorts back haughtily, nose in the air. She snorts.

"For someone who was bleeding out on my dining table not but 7 hours ago, I doubt that's true. Feeling any lethargy, pain where there normally isn't, any irritations around the stitches?" Damian gives her a glare, eyes narrowing slightly. He twists his torso and winces visibly, swatting away both Bruce and Ash's hands with his one good one. Ash stands and is infront of him, squatted down and forcibly looking at the sutures. The skin around them was red and irritated but they hadn't ripped yet. She grabs hold of the arms of the chair to stand and has both Bruce and Dick helping her up, holding onto her upper arms as she does. "Arm." She commands, holding out her hand for the broken appendage. Damian's glare deepens.

Jason sips his coffee as her eyebrows shoot up before the relaxed look is on her face. Tim looks between all of them, settling on Jason who smiles at him. The hairs on the back of his neck begin to rise.

"Damian Wayne, you will let me look at your arm this moment or so help me I will make sure you go flying right out that window and into the nearest all female school." Jason snorts and stands over the sink, hot coffee dripping out of his nose. His girl wasn't stupid, she knew just how all those teen girls flocked and cooed and awed over the youngest Wayne. He also knew that her threat was far from empty, impractical but not empty seeing as she couldn't manhandle him herself. Tim was making a choking sound, trying not to laugh at the absolute horror that seemed to take over the young man. Dick was giggling quietly, shoulders shaking, and Bruce looked over at her with something akin to surprise. "I'm sure they would love to take care of you all by themselves." Damian's arm was in her hand the moment the words left her lips and he was 'tt'ing to cover up his winces, face red from embarrassment.

Jason cleans himself up and leans on the island. "Babe, have I told you how much I love you?"

"Not today." Her attention was focused mainly on the 16 year old infront of her when she answers, checking over the splint that she had Jason put Damian's arm in.

"I love you so fucking much."

"Your cigarettes got wet last night didn't they?"

"Yeah." She lets go of Damian's arm, who then cradles the appendage to himself as he leans as far away from her as possible.

"You're not getting anymore." She gives him a withered look and Jason laughs. Ash rolls her eyes before looking at Bruce. "How are all of you going to get out of the apartment dressed as you are?" Jason laughs again. Bruce hadn't heard him laugh, really laugh, since before the accident. Damian mumbles something in Arabic at the woman.

"Damian." The young man blinks owlishly at his father who gives him a dark look. "She saved your life. What you did, that was stupid and reckless." Ash once more waddles over to the couch, listening with half an ear to the lecture the teen was receiving. It was probably the most watered down version Bruce could give, not saying what they had been doing or what had happened to cause the young Robin to have gotten hurt. Not that she really wanted to know. Jason would do much the same, watering down what he had been up to on patrols enough so that it was really just the sound of his voice that would help to lull her into a real sleep. And boy was she tired. She hadn't been sleeping well enough, even with Jason taking on a vast majority of the tasks she normally did on a daily basis. She knew he was tired as well, something irritating him and keeping him awake. She glances over and notes his entirely relaxed posture, even as Tim talked to him as he poured himself another cup of coffee. God she missed coffee. She missed caffeine really, coffee was just the pleasant taste used to cover the most addictive drug known to man.

Her eyes widen for a moment, hand flying to her stomach as she giggles. "Well, someone is awake." She mumbles quietly to herself. Or so she thought because Dick was kneeling infront of her, blue eyes on the expanse that was her stomach. A portion of her raises, being pressed up from the inside, and Dick's eyes widen to saucers. Ash giggles and watches as he lifts a hand to settle on her stomach, stopping before he touches her.

Ash rolls her eyes and covers his hand with her own, pressing down on his fingers till a foot presses back. Or maybe it was a hand.

"Woah, think you got a fighter here Jaybird." Dick comments looking over at Jason. Ash mouths out Jaybird to him and he just smiles.

"Tell me about it. Kid doesn't understand that I'm not a punching bag."

"You're not a punching bag? I'm the one carrying around your spawn. I've had to deal with it for months before you ever noticed anything." Jason laughs loudly as Tim sets his drink down to walk over to her. He removes his gauntlets, setting them down on the side table, before taking a seat beside her.

"Move over Dick." Ash laughs, as Dick unhappily gives up his position to Tim though he sits on the other side of her on the couch. She takes Tim's hand and does much the same, pressing down just enough for the baby inside of her to respond by pushing up. Tim gives out a breathless laugh, a soft smile falling onto his face making him seem much the man of only 23. Both men were then vying for the attention of the unborn child within her, fingers pressing gently into flesh.

Bruce watched the interaction of his sons with the woman, who just sat back and allowed the sort of war to happen. He looks over at Jason, the son he thought he had lost forever. And now his son was going to be a father. He may not know this woman but she had his respect for letting Jason be... Jason. He then looks down at Damian and feels like this interaction, what his oldest sons were doing, should have been something that had happened with Talia. That Damian had really missed out on so much by being raised with Ra's as an assassin. But maybe, just maybe, this was something that would be good for all of them.

He was, after all, about to be a Grandpa.