He had been sitting on the uncomfortable plastic chairs of the ICU for the past three hours, staring at the Doctors and Nurses walking into the room and comforting the children. Tim had fallen asleep in his lap, resting his head against Dick's chest, after crying himself out because of an immunization shot. While Cass had fallen asleep reluctantly-even in sleep-against Dick's arm, sitting next to him. Jason was the only one awake, alternating between glaring at Dick and the ICU door. Dick had attempted to make conversation with the boy only to be met with deafening silence and had eventually given up. So, it was quite a surprise when Jason, himself, had broken his self-made silence.
"You want to adopt them, don't you?"
Dick startled, he hadn't expected Jason to even to speak to him, let alone ask a question, that specific question.
"I'm going to take that as a yes…You should adopt them, they deserve better than this." Jason said looking at the kids, his usually sharp eyes going soft as he brushed Cassandra's hair out of her eyes. "They deserve better than what I can give them. I tried my best but a nine year old can't really do much for two kids. Just… Keep'em safe… Dick."
"And where do you think you're going? I want to adopt you too, Jason."
Jason looked up surprised. "Adopt me? Why? You're a cop… I stole your wallet!"
Dick chuckled. "You stole it for a good reason and while I don't support your methods, I like your motives. Plus, Jay, I've fallen in love with all four of you, I can't just leave you on the streets-it would be against my cop ways."
Jason scowled. "I don't believe you." He growled. "You have to have another motive, no one is this nice."
"How about this, Jay, you guys live with me for a week and see how it is. If you don't like it or you're still suspicious of me, you can leave with all the kids." Dick offered his hand to shake.
Jason glared at it before spitting in his hand and taking it. "Deal."
Dick held back a wince as he felt the spit spread from Jason's hand to his. The moment Jason let go of his hand he discreetly wiped it off on his slacks, wishing he could go to the bathroom to wash his hand but didn't want to wake the kids. Luckily, Leslie walked out that moment distracting Dick from his disgusting hands. Jason leapt up from where he was sitting.
"How is he, Doc? Can we take him back?" Leslie smiled down at him before addressing both of them.
"Well, we've treated all his bruises with ointment and checked for any internal bleeding, luckily he doesn't have any. But it does bring up some concerns of domestic abuse since the injuries seem to be purposely inflicted. He also has a slight case of bronchitis. We can't do much more than give him some acetaminophen to relieve the fever and clear his nose using saline nose drops. It should pass with time. Continue giving him saline nose drops every two hours and some acetaminophen before he goes to sleep every night until his fever goes down. Keep him hydrated. We'll need to check up on him again in another week, you can call to make an appointment this time." Leslie summarized then she turned down to look at Jason, smiling.
"And yes, you can take him home tonight. I'm assuming they're staying home with you, Dick." She cast a pointed look at him, raising an eyebrow.
"Of course, they are!" Dick replied before looking down at the children to check if they were still asleep. "And what about the rest of the kids, did they check out okay?" Leslie flipped through her clipboard.
"Yes, we've restarted or started-in Cassandra's case-their medical records. Cassandra's checked out healthy-slightly too healthy. Her muscles have advanced development and razor-sharp reflexes, it's not normal in five year olds. As for her speech, we've deduced that she either won't or doesn't know how. I personally support the latter opinion. She can read body language very well and has her own version of communication. It's up to you to figure out what that communication is. Tim, however, is missing a spleen. We looked into his medical history and apparently at three years old, Tim accidentally hit the handlebars of his tricycle and ruptured it. His parents immediately sought out medical care and had it removed. He'll have to take antibiotics every day, since his immune system is weaker than it should be." She flipped another page. "Oh and Jason has lice. You can buy over-the-counter products to treat that."
"Hey! I don't have lice!" Jason said indignantly, scratching his head while the adults looked on amusedly.
Dick shook hands with Leslie, accepting the papers full of prescriptions and advice and the bag full of basic baby care before accepting the baby carrier with Damian in it and passing the bag full of supplies to Jason. They quickly woke up Cass and Tim, Cass immediately grabbed Jason's hand while Tim clutched the back of Dick's shirt. They walked like that half-way to the parking lot until Dick took pity on the poor boy tripping on his own feet and put him on his shoulders. By the time they reached the car Tim was fast asleep, resting his cheek on top of Dick's head while Cass was the one now tripping. Dick quickly herded the children in, strapping Damian's carrier down, then drove off.
/
"…'kay, thanks Wally." Dick hung up on his best friend before slipping the phone into his pockets and looking down at the fussing baby in his arms. He watched exasperated as perfect tiny fists hit his chest and tiny feet, with five toes each, kicked him. Wide, blue, innocent eyes looked up at him as they fluttered open and close in pain and a tiny mouth scrunched up in a scowl. He rocked the baby slightly humming a tune under his breath before quitting as the baby emitted a wail.
"shhh…Dami, I know it hurts but no matter how much I wish, it won't go away. Just be a strong boy, yeah? Soon you'll be smiling and laughing with your siblings. And no matter how bad it gets I'll be here… for all of you."