Like you guys have said, this bird rendezvous has been a long time coming. I didn't make it Scarlet-centric like the last few chapters have been, either- I wanted to show the viewpoints ofeveryone onvolved, and i really think this chapter does it. Tell me what you think and please review!

Jason woke up the next morning, grabing a cup of yogurt before heading downstairs to the batcave, plopping himself in the chair beside her bed and starting to eat.

He didn't expect her to wake up, and even if she did, he wasn't sure what he'd say. So he was caught off guard when, twenty minutes later, she moaned and her eyes fluttered open.

He figured she'd probably drift off again as long as he staid still, he figured, but she blinked rapidly, waiting for her vision to come into focus.

Her head ached, her throat was on fire, and everything ached.

"Bruce?" she muttered, propping herself up on one elbow.

"He's at work." Jason said after a moments hesitation.

"Right. Who are you?" she looked at him carefully, giving him a slightly crooked smile. He reminded himself the kid had a high fever- she probably wasn't going to remember any of this.

With that in mind, he spoke. "I'm Jason. Your older brother."

"Bruce adopted you?"

"Yeah." he was surprised she could put that together, with the fever of 102 she was running.

"That's cool." she said hoarsely, blinking again. "He tell you about me?"

"Yeah. He spends every minute he can down here- when he isn't at work or on patrol."

"He lied. I followed orders- he was just overprotective. I did what I had to..." her eyes fluttered closed, and she opened them a minute later.

"Are you gonna be Robin?" she asked. Her voice cracked painfully at the end, and she settled into a barking cough after a moment.

"I-yeah. I am."

"Cool."

He blinked. He'd expected her to be pissed as hell since he was taking the place of her brother, who, from what Bruce had told him, was the original Robin. He was also HIS brother, he realized, with some trepidation. Scarlet seemed okay with him, but the first Robin, the golden child... That was a new prospect all together.

He looked over to see Scarlet trying to keep herself awake. It was kind of adorable, really- her eyelids would grow heavy and almost be completely closed, when she'd snap herself awake and blink sleepily like a little owl.

Still, she was running a fever, and he realized she was trying to stay awake so she could talk to him more.

He smiled. "You can go to sleep, you know. I won't get mad or anything."

And just like that, she was out like a light. Jason chuckled. This big brother thing wasn't half-bad.


It was 1:37 in the morning when he realized he was wrong. Bruce was on patrol, and he'd been sitting beside Scarlet when she sat bolt upright. It was a moment later he realized what was going to happen. He grabbed a bedpan from th counter and barely managed to get it under her chin before she was puking and crying.

He stared, unsure what to do for a minute, trying to awkwardly rub her back in some sort of soothing gesture, while still managing keep the bedpan in front of her.

The worst part was watching her struggle. She retched uncontrollably, even though she was mostly dry-heaving, with only a mouthful of bile coming up every now and then.

"J-jason..." she choked out between gagging, eyes full of tears streaming down her face. "Make it stop..."

And the total helplessness hit him.

It was most likely only a minute or so, but it felt like an eternity. He could tell it hurt, it must've the way she was crying and gasping and retching... Just when he felt like he couldn't take it anymore, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He turned around, eyes wide, to see someone about a half a foot than him standing, with raven hair and blue eyes. He recognized him from the pictures around the manor- he was Dick Grayson, the golden boy.

He blinked for a moment, shocked, before Dick took the bedpan from him and took his place comforting Scarlet. He spent a moment in managing to quiet Scarlet before he turned to Jason again, blue eyes concerned.

"Could you get us a glass of water?"

"Right..." Jason hurried over to the sink, trying to block out Scarlet's gagging. God, he hated to see her in pain like this...

"It'll be over soon, Scarlet. Just relax for me, alright?" Dick was soothing her. She did her best to obey, but she'd woken up feeling sick, incredibly hot, and dizzy. Not to mention the bile and wretching made her already sore, raw throat feel like she was puking up molten glass, and her chest was burning from it too.

Still, after a moment or two she was calm, catching her breath.

"Alright?" Dick asked, taking the glass from Jason. Scarlet nodded. As soon as she was breathing regularly, Dick handed her the glass.

"Rinse." he said simply, and she obeyed, rinsing the nasty taste from her mouth before spitting the water into the bedpan, shakily setting the glass on the bedside table. Dick grabbed a trash bag from under the bed, tossing the pan into it and knotting it, before settling into the chair beside Scarlet.

"How're you feeling?" he asked, the concern shining in those blue eyes.

She gave him a wane smile. "Freaking wonderful." she croaked.

Dick's face took on a sad expression. "Sorry I wasn't here earlier. I just got Bruce's message yesterday, and I couldn't get off the graveyard beat in 'haven..."

Jason hovered near the doorway, feeling like he was intruding on somethign but not sure if he should leave or not.

"'S fine. I was asleep for most of the time, anyways. And Jay was with me." she looked over at Jason, dull eyes brightening a little.

Dick nodded towards Jason, gaze warm and friendly, as always, before he turned back to his main focus- Scarlet.

"You feel up to watching a movie?" he asked calmly.

"Mehhh..." she hesitated, coughing a little and wincing as she felt her throat burn.

"It's Frozen." Dick said, pulling the DVD from behind his back temptingly.

Scarlet had to smile. He knew she loved Frozen. He'd taken her ti see it opening night with her, before he'd moved out...

"Okay."

"Yes! You know I can't watch this alone! I always cry..." Dick teased, before gently sliding the IV from her arm and picking her up bridal style. She giggled slightly, eyes lighting up. Dick was here, and suddenly, she was distracted from all the awful symptoms...

Jason hesitated, not sure he should follow them. But a moment later, Dick ducked his head back into the room. "You coming?" he asked, looking concerned.

"Um... yeah." and so he followed them upstairs. They emerged from behind the grandfather clock. Dick swung open the door to the media center, settking Scarlet down on the leather sectional, popping the DVD into the DVD player and getting everything set up.

Jason felt awkward once again, but trooped into the kitchen, grabbing a bag of chips and a few juice boxes before heading back into the room, setting everything on the coffee table.

He settled on Scarlet's other side just as Dick hit a button on the remote. The lights dimmed, leaving the TV screen as the center of attention as Dick hit play, flopping on the couch beside Scarlet.

The movie began to play, and Jason, once again, felt like the third wheel as Scarlet curled up against Dick's side, and he put his arm around her. Around half-way through the movie, she was fast asleep.

Jason sucked absently on his juice box, listening to the dry bubbling sound it made since it was empty. They weren't at a particularly interesting part of the movie, and he felt like he should say something...

Dick turned to look at him calmly. "Jason, right?" he asked. He wasn't condescending or cold, but he seemed serious.

"Yeah." Jason said, suddenly feeling like an idiot talking to Dick Grayson, THE ORIGINAL ROBIN, with a juice box in hand. He set it on the coffee table.

"Bruce expects you to be Robin?" Dick asked, still serious.

Under normal circumstances, Jason would've snapped at Dick. But he had been the first Robin, the original, and he felt like he owed him some kind of respect. "Yeah." he said again.

"Take care of him." Dick's voice was slightly quieter. He wasn't listening to the movie anymore, instead staring absently at the coffee table. "He doesn't know when to stil. Bruce, I mean. He'd overprotective and controlling, sometimes, but no matter what, you have his back. He's a good man."

Jason nodded his agreement, and they sat in comfortable silence for a moment, the first comfortable silence Jason had felt all night.

Finally, Jason lifted his eyes and spoke. "What happened to her?" he asked, nodding towards Scarlet.

Dick looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"She was Sparrow. Bruce told me. She isn't a hero anymore, though..."

"Oh." Dick said simply. He had his own suspicions about Scarlet's hero status, but he didn't mention anything to Jason. "Like j said- Bruce can be controlling. She got tired of it, I guess, like I did. I was 18 when we finally parted ways- I could leave. She couldn't. So when Bruce banned her from being a hero, she asked to be sent to boarding school."

"Oh." This time it was Jason's turn to be toneless, not bitter, but simply absorbing the information.

Finally, he looked over at Dick hesitantly. Dick met his gaze, and he quickly looked away. He chanced a glance back towards Dick- the more expirienced hero was keeping a steady gaze with him, waiting for him to spit out whatever it was he wanted to say. So he did.

"You think I can make it?" he asked quietly.

"As Robin, you mean?" Dick asked.

Jason nodded.

"Considering the fact your knuckles are as scabbed as heck, you're almost as bullheaded as me, and you're tough- but not too tough to forget to pity the weak, then yes, I'd say you'll make it. But it won't be easy." Dick said simply.

Jason stared, slightly shocked. All his life, he'd just been that boy living in the narrows, that urchin, that theif stealing whatever he could to survive, eith all the boys his age protected by gangs and the demons that stalked him whispering in his ear that he'd never amount to anything... And the person he'd envied most, the person he'd IDOLIZED, had just told him he could BE something. That meant the world to him.


It'd been a gruelling night on patrol- Scarecrow had escaped arkham, but Bruce had nailed him once again, and Gotham was safe. He found he was actually looking forward to having Jason as Robin. The job was a lot more taxing, a lot more disturbing, when you were alone.

He peered into thr infirmary, finding it empty. His heartbeat quickened a litlle, and he jogged upstairs. Scarlet had been alone, Jason wasn't allowed o see her, unless Dick had come...

He noticed the door to the media center was ajar and swung it open. He couldn't help but smile at what he saw.

Scarlet was curled up against Dick, and Jason huddled up against the couch arm, face buried in the leather...

He'd called Dick yesterday to tell him about Scarlet, and he smiled slightly, carrying Jason to his respective room. Scarlet seemed to be well enough to be out of the infirmary, but he carried her up to his room all the same- he wanted to be near her incase she needed something.

He returned, at last, for Dick. The boy was around one hundred eight pounds or so, but he was Batman- and it was easy for Bruce to carry him upstairs towards his childhood room. He couldn't help but smile to himself as he did- it'd been YEARS since he'd carried his eldest up to bed.

He laid him in bed, noticing some scratches on the his son's arm- long scratches that started on his forearm and ended at his hand. He was still wearing his Bludhaven PD shirt, a long sleeved white dress shirt with his badges on it and black pants.

And he slept like the dead. He was working as a rookie, now, no doubt working all the beats he could to get by. He brushed the hair from his son's face affectionately. He supposed Dick's job wasn't really that different than Batmans. He just hoped Nightwing stayed safe.

Still, Dick was 18. He wanted to be a man, go out on his own, and Bruce was slowly realizing he couldn't coing to those days of the past. He wished Dick was still that cackling thirteen ear old boy by his side, but he wasn't. And he was learning how to adjust.

"Goodnight, Dick."


Dick woke up in his childhood room, not sure how he got there. He was surprised to find it was eight in the morning- he had an hour to get back to Blüdhaven for his next shift.

He sighed, getting up and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He slipped into the bathroom, splashing water on his face and taming his unruly hair. His uniform wasn't that wrinkled, and he figured he could head to work in it without anyone realizing he hadn't changed clothes.

He headed for the stairs. He met Bruce on the way down, nodding cooly to his father.

"Dick- wait." Bruce said quietly. Dick stopped. Dick had figured they were alright- their relationship wasn't great, but they had to be on at least good terms since he'd told him about Scarlet and let him to sleep there.

"You can always come back here, you know." he said, eyes studying his eldest worriedly.

"Thanks." Dick smiled. It was rare that Bruce was like this, speaking about something besides business.

"Are you coming back tonight?" Bruce asked calmly.

"I have to patrol 'haven." Dick said, shaking his head. "I have tomorrow off, thoug. Do you want me to come hom?" he asked, brow creased.

"I figured Scarlet would like you here." Bruce said calmly, and Dick smiled. That was Bruce speak for yes.

"Alright, then. I'll be here." His watch beeped and he looked down at it. He had forty minutes to get back to Blüdhaven for his shift.

Bruce noticed the preoccupied look in his son's eyes and place his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Be careful, alright?"

"I will, Bruce. I was trained by the best." Dick said, giving his father a grin before heading out the door. Bruce looked after him worriedly- He wished he could keep the boy here, but he had his own life to live.

But if he ever got in too deep, he knew where to run.

Well? How'd I do? Please review!