"Quit poking me!"

"I'm not poking you!"

"I swear, Drake, I am a millisecond away from decapitating you and…"

"Right, as if you could even get close to me."

"I'll just get you while you're poking me."

"I'm not poking you!"

By this point, Bruce was sure his brain and ear drums were completely destroyed as he grit his teeth and tightened his grip on the steering wheel. "Damian, Tim, I thought we agreed we'd be nice today," he ground out, taking his eyes off the road for a moment to glance at Alfred. The elder seemed to be torn between amusement and aggravation.

Damian sunk into his window seat, snarling. "I'll be 'nice' when that imbecile Drake stops touching me against my will."

"Wow. That didn't sound creepy," huffed Tim beneath his breath as he shoved his earbud back in place and hit play on his iPod.

Bruce shook his head slightly and then glanced back quick at his eldest son, who was wedged in between his brothers. "Alive back there, chum?"

Dick smiled, his cheerful demeanor having survived the ride over to the forest park Bruce had rented out for the day. So far. "Hanging in alright."

"I must say I marvel your perseverance, Master Richard," Alfred praised him from the passenger seat. "Had it been I sitting in between the two younger, more agitated masters, I fear I might've rejected my no weapons policy and brought out my ol' Lily to do the reprimanding."

Dick snickered while Tim and Damian exchanged looks. "Yeah, I remember ol' Lily. She taught me not to go snooping in Bruce's stuff, definitely."

Damien, small mind now abuzz with frustrated curiosity, stretched up and tugged Dick's ear until his brother leaned down. "Grayson, who in heaven's sakes is ol' Lily?"

Dick smiled at him but shook his head. He ruffled his brother's hair, to the youngest Wayne's chagrin, as he explained, "Nuh-uh, sorry baby bird. No introductions to ol' Lily until you deserve it."

Damian scowled, crossing his arm. "Please tell me it's not something as undignified or sickeningly classic such as a 'wooden spoon' or some other form of punishment."

"Hey, I said no hints. Just behave – Alfred doesn't joke."

"No, I do not," the Englishman confirmed from the front, just as Bruce released a relieved breath. "Everyone cheer up," he commanded. "We're here."

"Finally. I feared Joker-level insanity would be contracted if I were trapped in here with Drake for any longer." Damian glared at the third adopted son of his father, but Tim had his iPod on and his eyes closed, head slightly bobbing to the music. Imbecile. Sneering, the child leaned back in his seat as Bruce parked the car.

Ascension Grove was an understatement. Ascension Forest-that-you'll-never-find-you-way-out-of-alive-should-you-be-careless was a much better title in Bruce's mind as he and his variety of a family climbed out of the black vehicle, 'ooh-ing' and 'ah-ing' and 'why are we even here-ing' from Damian. "I remember you brought me here as a kid!" Dick exclaimed giddily, soft breeze tousling his ebony hair and making the young man seem that much more like an excited child.

"You were going crazy being cooped up in the Mansion only a few months after you arrived," Bruce remembered fondly, allowing a bright smile to break through his usually stoic shell. "I rented out the entire park – we have the whole day."

"Sweet!" The un-uniformed Nightwing glanced around the empty parking a lot, and his happiness dampened a bit. "Um… anyone see Jay?"

Silence fell over as everyone noticed their car was the only one in the entire large, dirt covered lot. Bruce, attempting to instantly quench the flicker of disappointment entering his chest, cleared his throat and attracted everyone else's attention. "Give him a few minutes. He's farther away than we are from this location, and he doesn't have a Wayne vehicle to take him." A pause. "I… have no idea if he owns anything to get around in. I should've sent a car for him…"

"And you would have proceeded in frightening him away," Alfred reminded him kindly. "Let's not forget that the Wayne lifestyle is a bit… foreign… to Master Jason after all these years. Surely sending a chauffeur to Old Gotham would've given him enough of an uncomfortable sensation to keep him from coming at all."

Dick agreed. "Don't beat yourself up, Bruce. Jason has a really cool bike he got a few months ago. Even better than the R-cycle, I think." Damian rolled his eyes on the comment about the Robin bike but said nothing, just continued leaning against the car and kicking at stones.

Bruce, however, was fully interested now. Usually discussion of their vigilante lives would be completely unacceptable outside of costume; but the park was empty. He'd made sure of it. He'd even combed the area thoroughly himself. It was secure. "So… Jason showed you the new bike? Personally?"

"Heck, he let me ride it. I think maybe Roy let him have it from Green Arrow's stash, I dunno." The younger man fell silent for a moment, before he added, more quietly, "I've ridden it a few times, actually. On, um, patrol. Occasionally."

Alfred's eyes traveled north in surprise. "You've… gone on patrol with Master Jason recently?"

"… Yeah. Not that often, but he's invited me over to help him on a few cases. And then there are the times I just show up. He was kinda pissed about it for a while, but I think it's okay with him now. I went three days ago. We got pizza afterwards." Dick's voice trailed off, and he looked around again. "See him?"

Bruce shook his head, struggling to ignore this new information that Red Hood was allowing one of Batman's partners into his territory. Hell, inviting one of the Batman's partners into his territory. It shouldn't surprise him really that Dick had managed to reconnect to the resurrected Jason Todd – they'd always had a special bond – but still all this had gone unnoticed by him, and that was unacceptable. He'd thought he'd been keeping firm, complete tabs on his offspring lately. Obviously, that was wrong. He opened his mouth to inquire some more, but the approaching roar of an engine cut him off; and even the Batman couldn't suppress the smile that appeared as soon as he saw the familiar, broad figure in leather and denim come roaring up the pathway. "You're right, Dick, that is lovely bike."

Dick spun around, grinning ear to ear and immediately jogging over to where Jason was parking his ride several feet away. "Jay!"

Jason Todd stripped his biker's helmet off his head, revealing his usual cocky smirk and headful of shining black hair and white bangs. "Sup, Dickiebird."

Bruce watched, slightly amazed, as Dick slung an arm around his brother; and then as Jason actually returned the affectionate embrace before the two both looked over at the rest of the family. Jason's face visibly tensed, and Bruce looked away.

Jason stared, sucking in a deep breath and watching Bruce, Alfred, and the two pain-in-the-necks before turning back to Dick. "Sooo… what are we even doing here? Hiking? Cause you know I hate hiking."

"I know you do, and we're actually, um… hunting. We're doing a type of hunting. But not animals, because that's illegal and the poor animals here wouldn't know to run and that would just be not fair…"

Jason coughed, chuckling and growling at the same time. "Dick. Focus."

"Right. Um, well, you'll find out soon enough. Do you… ya wanna go say hi to everyone now? Get that swept under the rug 'fore we start."

Jason shrugged. "Whatever. Heh. Demon spawn's already glaring. Sure ya gave the kid his rabies shots lately?"

Dick pursed his lips but his jollity didn't dampen. "Don't worry, he'll play nice. They all will. We'll have fun, I promise. C'mon, let's go." He grabbed his younger brother's hand and began dragging him across the lot. "Heck, even Bruce is excited about today; and you know how seldom that happens."

Jason nodded, but didn't answer. Dickie's having a great time already. Demon spawn's glaring, but that's typical. Tim's… he seems okay. Wow, he's waving. Alfred's grinning, and Bruce is… His eyes widened. Bruce is smiling too. They're all happy.

Wonder how long it will all last before I wreck it all.

They rejoined everyone just as Damian shoved Tim into the Wayne car, furious.

"DRAKE, STOP POKING ME!"