Jason looked at the small child sitting across from him with the now cold grilled cheese sitting in front of her. He let out a sigh, that was failed attempt number five in getting this girl to eat anything. It wasn't the fact that she wasn't hungry, her stomach was constantly growling. The little brat must have followed him home from patrol so he couldn't exactly kick her out, she knew his identity. How he didn't notice her he had no idea. She had just been sitting on his bed when he got home. He hadn't noticed her until he had taken his mask off. They had stood there staring at each other for a long while, until the girl's stomach had rumbled loudly. A slight blush had appeared on her face. She could walk absolutely silently though, he thought trying to defend himself. That must have been how he hadn't noticed her. She hadn't said a single word to him, just followed him around like a little duck. Or a puppy he thought ironically. The little girl had to be a meta, there was no other explanation for how she looked.
She had long black hair that fell to the top of her butt. Her eyes were a brilliant blue, so blue that they reminded him of Dickie. Her clothing had been hardly more than a dirtied white rag. He had had her change into one of his shirts, which was a long dress on her. She seemed no more than six years old. That wasn't what was odd about her though, no. She had two fuzzy dog ears on top of her head and a long black tail that poked out underneath the shirt she was wearing. When he had first looked her over she had a collar on, an actual dog collar. He had taken it off almost immediately as he couldn't stand to see the little girl wearing a collar like a common house dog. The name tag on it had said Project Shikon.
As the girl's stomach growled again Jason let out a sigh. Okay, it was time to call in back up. He picked up his cell phone and quickly dialed a number. The person that he called picked up quick enough.
"Hey Jay, what's up?"
"Hey Dickie, I've got a question for you. What is something both a dog and a child girl would like to eat?" Jason asked.
Dick was silent for a moment before asking "Uh, why are you asking?"
"Just answer the question Goldie." Jason growled out. The girl looked up at his growl and tilted her head quizzically.
"Um… meat? Have you tried something like chicken nuggets?" Dick questioned.
"Chicken nuggets? Damnit, I don't have any chicken nuggets!" Jason cursed.
"Jason why do you have a small child in your apartment?" Dick asked suspiciously.
"None of your business Goldie. I gotta go." Jason said before hanging up.
He looked down at the girl sitting at his kitchen table. "So, Shi, what do you wanna eat? Do you want some chicken nuggets?"
He was calling her Shi from the project Shikon, but calling her Shikon didn't feel right and he sure as hell wasn't calling her anything to do with 'project.' However, the girl just stared at him. At this point he wasn't even sure if the girl could talk.
He let out a sigh and moved around his house. Apparently, he needed to go out and get chicken nuggets. He would have to take her with him, there was no way he was going leave her here by herself. One he didn't exactly trust her, he did just meet her. Second, she was only like six and he was pretty sure that you weren't supposed to leave six-year-olds by themselves.
He found an old bandana and carefully tied it around her head, effectively hiding her ears. She let him, simply watching his every movement. She had a sad and defensive look in her eyes. He wondered what happened to her and where she had come from. Obviously, something had happened to her, there had been blood splatter on the dress thing she had been wearing earlier. Anyway, now he had to do something about her tail.
He picked her up off the chair and placed her on the floor, "Stand there for a second Shi, I've got to figure something out." His shirt would work well enough as a dress, but what was he going to do about the tail? "What do I have to hide your tail away for a bit Shi?" he thought to himself.
He was about to walk to his bedroom to see what he had when he felt a tug on his shirt. He looked down to see Shi holding onto his shirt. She took a few steps back and he watched as her tail disappeared under the shirt. Until that moment it had simply hung limply behind her, he hadn't realized that she could control it to that extent.
"Well alright, that works. Can you keep it up there for a while though?" he asked her. She gave a single nod as an answer "Okay then let's get going."
He opened the door for her and she walked out into the hallway. He closed the door behind him and made sure that it was locked before heading down the hallway. He almost jumped in surprised when Shi reached up and grabbed his hand to hold. He was about to take his hand out of hers, but then he saw the slightly hopeful look in her eyes. He let out a sigh and held on tighter to her hand and a slight smile appeared on her face.
"There is a supermarket not too far from here, it shouldn't be too far of a walk." The girl simply nodded again.
The trip to the grocery store lasted much longer than it should have. Shi got distracted at practically everything. Eventually he made it back to his apartment; one hand was holding the bag of groceries; the other hand was holding onto Shi's hand.
Once he made it to his front door he handed the bag to Shi "Hold onto this for a second Shi, I have to unlock the door." Shi gave a nod and took hold of the bag. Jason reached out and started to unlock the door, only to feel that the door already unlocked. His eyes narrowed and he squeezed Shi's hand before letting go of it completely, "Stay behind me Shi." He said before pulling a handgun out from under his shirt.
He quietly opened up his front door and instantly heard somebody rummaging around in his kitchen. He moved quickly yet quietly to his kitchen. He whipped around the wall and pointed the gun at the person in his kitchen. Only to curse at who was sifting through his cupboards.
"What the hell Dick? What are you doing here? I almost shot your ass." Jason yelled out.
Dick turned around with a smile "Hey Jay-bird. I was concerned after you called me so I decided to come over to come and check you out. Is everything okay?"
Jason let out a sigh "Yes Dickie I'm fine. I simply had a stray puppy follow me home."
"Stray dog?" Dick asked.
Dick's eyes went wide when a small head poked her head around Jason's back. Once she saw him her eyes went wide and she ducked back behind Jason. Dick's jaw dropped open and he pointed at him.
"Jay-bird what are you doing with a kid?" he screeched out.
Jason rolled his eyes "I told you, a stray puppy." He set his gun on the counter and then took the bag back from the kid "OK Shi, go sit back down. I'll make the chicken nuggets, maybe you'll actually eat it this time." He grumbled the last part out.
Before he could walk towards the oven her hand clung onto his shirt. He looked down at her questioningly and she pointed her the bandana.
"Oh right, yeah we can take that off now. You can also let down your tail, Dickie over there won't mind." He sent a sharp look over to his brother "Will you Dickie?"
"Um… no?" he asked confused.
Jason untied the bandana and tossed it onto the table, making her dog ears completely seen. In the next moment, the tail dropped out from under the shirt/dress.
Jason sent a smirk towards Dick "See I told you a stray puppy followed me home." He tossed Dick the collar that had been on her earlier "She had that on when she first got here. She hasn't spoken a single word, I don't think she's even able to at this point. She is very clearly very hungry, but anything I make her she just looks at. These chicken nuggets are my last attempt man."
A slightly dark look appeared in Dick's eyes as he looked at the collar, "Where did you find her Jay?"
"I didn't. She found me. She can walk absolutely silently and she must have followed me home from patrol. When I first saw her, she was sitting on my bed, just staring at me. I don't know how she did it, but she did. She was wearing a dirty and bloodied rag as a dress, which is why she's wearing one of my shirts." Jason explained catching up Dick as he put the chicken nuggets into the oven.
"Well if she doesn't want to eat those… you could take her to the manner. I'm sure Alfred could find something she will eat. If anyone can it would be Alfred."
Jason made a face "I don't know Dickie. She's really skittish and shy. I don't know if bringing her around Bruce and/or Damian is a great idea."
"Well what are you going to do if she doesn't eat the nuggets?" Dick asked, an eyebrow raised.
Jason rubbed his forehead "I don't know Dickie." He said before turning his attention to the directions on the chicken nugget container.
Dick turned his attention onto the little girl, who was now staring at him. Tiny stars appeared in Dick's eyes as he launched himself at the little girl. He felt the girl stiffen completely in his hug and a small frown appeared on his face. He decided he was going to treat her just like his brothers.
"Oh my gosh you are so cute Shi! The cutest little thing I've ever seen." He said as he cuddled her. He felt her slowly relax and his frown turned into a smile. He decided that he didn't want to stop cuddling her yet so he picked her up set her on his lap and continued hugging her.
Jason turned around and smirked "Don't smother her to death Dickie."
Dick smiled at him "She's just so cute Jay-bird. Look at her adorable little fluffy ears! They are so soft." He smiled as he petted her head. Shi's eyes became half lidded as Dick kept petting her. She slowly relaxed into Dick's lap and continued to let him play with her ears.
A little while later Jason took the nuggets out of the oven and placed them on a plate in front of Shi. "Here you go kid. Please eat these."
Shi leaned forward slightly to look at the food that was placed in front of her before her nose scrunched up, like it had done with every other food Jason had tried to feed her. Then she slumped back against Dick's chest and looked up at him.
Dick's lips turned downward as he heard her stomach rumbled loudly. "What's wrong Shi? They are good, see." He reached down and picked one of them up, tossing it into his mouth. "See yummy." He said through the nugget in his mouth.
A small frown appeared on her face but she didn't go to grab any of the nuggets. She seemed to slump back into Dick.
Dick looked at Jason "I happen to know that the manor is empty right now. Bruce is out on patrol, and Damian is with him. She needs to eat something Jas. Alfred could find her something to eat. I know it."
Jason let out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair, "Okay, fine, you win. We'll take her to see Alfred."
Dick let out a grin and picked up Shi up before handing her over to Jason. "Alright then. You take Shi on your bike and I'll ride on ahead and let A know we're coming. We'll get something into her rumbly little tummy in no time."