A/N: For once in my life, I have actually finished all of my schoolwork. Hallelujah!
Bruce was in the Batcave, working on the cure for the kids. He would have liked to have Damian with him, but he felt that it was better for Damian to watch the kids. Sure, Stephanie was responsible enough, but she was only eleven. Besides, the kids were bound to get into trouble, and Damian would be able to rein them in. Damian wasn't exactly happy about being 'stuck' with the children again, but he understood the importance of keeping an eye on them.
"Master Bruce." Bruce looked up from his work to Alfred, who stood beside him. "I would recommend taking a break—maybe spend some time with the children."
"I can't." Bruce looked back down at the chemicals he was mixing. "They need me to create an antidote."
"I'm sure they'd understand if you took a break. Besides, you should enjoy while they are this age. You won't get another opportunity."
"Alfred…" Had Bruce thought of that? Of course he had. The only one of those children that he had actually known at their age was Damian. He had not only thought of getting to know his children at their current age, but for a moment, he had considered keeping them as they were. He could give them the chance to have a normal—well, more normal—childhood than the one they originally had. But he couldn't do that to them, especially Dick. They deserved to go back to their true ages.
"Sir, as much as I want the children back to their own ages, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Get to know them. The antidote can wait a few hours." At least it was summer vacation, so none of the children had to go to school.
"It's not fair to them for me to wait, Alfred."
"Master Bruce, you have been down here for hours. At least come up for lunch." Alfred glared at Bruce.
At the mention of lunch, Bruce's stomach growled. He held Alfred's gaze for a moment before dropping his shoulders. He had never been able to win an argument against Alfred. Bruce looked back down at his work, narrowing his eyes. He heaved a sigh and stood.
"Fine, but I'm only staying for lunch. Then, I'm coming back down here."
"Of course, sir."
It was interesting to see that the children still had the same mannerisms as their older selves during lunch. Jason stuffed his face, no matter how much Alfred asked him not to. Cass, Tim, and Damian ate neatly and quietly. Stephanie chatted while eating, occasionally making faces and cooing at Dick. Dick, of course, babbled as he ate. He shrieked with delight at the faces Stephanie made and generally made a mess of himself. He was somewhat neater as a child, but Alfred had yet to get the child to successfully eat without getting food somewhere other than his mouth.
"Bah dah!" Dick used one hand to feed himself cereal while the other hand had a tight grip on one of Dick's stuffed animals—not Zitka since Alfred didn't want to risk anything happening to the elephant while Dick was a baby.
Soon, lunch was finished. Bruce stood, ready to go back to the Batcave, when Dick was suddenly in his arms.
"Master Bruce, why don't you give Master Damian a break and watch the children?"
"But Alfred—"
Alfred just slightly narrowed his eyes at Bruce. "Master Damian has been watching the children for hours. I am sure that he would like a break."
"I would." Damian was extremely wound up from watching them, and it took everything he had not to snap at them whenever one of them annoyed him. "I need to meditate." Damian left before Bruce could argue.
"Alfred, I need to work on the antidote."
"They can wait a few hours. Besides, they should not be unsupervised." Alfred looked at him pointedly.
"But—"
"No 'buts', Master Bruce." Alfred gathered everyone's plates and left the room, leaving Bruce alone with the children. Bruce didn't move, unsure of what to do. Dick was the youngest child he had ever had to take care of. He wasn't really sure what to do with these children, especially Jason and Dick.
"Hmm." Bruce looked around at the children—looked down at the baby. "What...do you all like to do?"
"Play!" Stephanie and Jason's answers were obvious.
"Read." Tim's quiet answer was also expected.
Dick gurgled, which wasn't very surprising either.
"...Fuck?" Well, Bruce tried. He really did, but Bruce gave up any hope with these kids at Cass's answer.
"I have an idea, but you have to listen to everything I say. If you break any of my rules, the fun will be over."
The children's eyes widened at the prospect of doing something fun—the mystery of it adding to the appeal.
"We'll listen!" Stephanie exclaimed, bouncing excitedly. "What is it?"
Bruce smirked. "Follow me."
As long as everything went according to plan, it was the best of both worlds. Bruce brought the children down to the Batcave, sending them into silent awe for almost a minute. He made sure to keep them away from the weapons and vehicles and kept an eye on them while he worked on the antidote. Unfortunately, he could only work with one arm. He was nervous about leaving Dick with the children, and he didn't have anywhere to safely put Dick down, so he was forced to hold him in one arm.
"Father?" Bruce looked over at Damian, who had just exited the elevator. "What are you doing here?"
"What are you doing here?" He wasn't expecting Damian to come down here, though maybe he should have. The boy did like to train, a trait that he still had as an adult.
"-tt- I was going to practice with the training dummies." Damian narrowed his eyes. "Does Pennyworth know you're down here?"
"No, and we're going to keep it that way." If Alfred knew that he had brought the children down here, there would be trouble. "I could use your help with the antidote though."
Damian made his way over to his father and looked at the chemicals. He picked up a beaker and narrowed his eyes at the liquid inside. "I've mostly worked with fear gas and Joker gas antidotes. Once or twice, I've made antidotes for Poison Ivy's sex pollen." He peered at the formulas on the computer screen. "I haven't seen anything like this before, but I'll do my best as I always do."
"I wouldn't expect anything more from you." Bruce shifted the baby in his arms to better secure him before going back to working on the antidote.
It was about four hours later when the antidote was finally finished. In that time, he had had to reprimand Jason for trying to wander off multiple times and warn Cass to stay away from the weapons. Tim and Stephanie thankfully stayed put, though he often had to answer questions from Tim when he felt brave enough to ask them. The antidote was finally done though, which meant Bruce could get his children back. He missed them, no matter how infuriating they could get sometimes.
"I need everyone to come over here. Please." As the children scampered over to Bruce, he suddenly had a thought. He turned to Damian, murmuring. "Could you go get everyone's costumes? It'll make this much easier."
Damian did as he was asked and brought the costumes over to the children. Stephanie noticed the costumes and gasped. "Are we going to play dress-up?!"
"...Yes. You're all going to play dress-up." Bruce put a smile on his face as he handed a costume to each child. Cass and Tim looked suspicious, but Stephanie and Jason were excited. Bruce changed Dick into his Robin costume and looked at Damian. "If you don't mind, you and Dick will be going last. It'll make it easier." Damian nodded. Bruce lowered his voice. "I'm going to need you to prepare to grab Cass. She's going first."
Bruce kneeled and looked around at the children. "You guys don't remember this, but I took blood samples while you napped yesterday. You're all sick, but I have something that'll make you better."
Immediately, all the children looked suspicious. Bruce knew they were about to run, so he grabbed Stephanie and shouted to Damian. "Now!"
Stephanie screamed, letting out a cry as Bruce injected her with the antidote. Her body went limp, so Bruce set her down gently and made his way over to Damian, who was struggling slightly with Cass.
"I would suggest hurrying, Father." Damian growled, gritting his teeth. Bruce quickly stuck another needle in Cass and pressed down on the plunger. She, too, went limp.
Tim and Jason had run off, with Jason screaming. This caused Dick to cry. Exasperated, Bruce pressed a needle into Dick and set him down on Stephanie's stomach (He didn't feel comfortable laying a baby on the stone ground). Bruce and Damian glanced at each other for a moment. They nodded and took off for a child. Damian went after Tim while Bruce chased after Jason.
Tim was proficient at hiding, but Damian knew this cave better than him and was able to find him easily. He dragged the child back to the lab and grabbed a needle, roughly pressing the needle into Tim's arm. Damian let Tim drop to the floor and watched as his father plucked a running Jason from the ground. Jason shrieked, but quickly died down as the antidote was injected into his body. Bruce carried Jason over to the lab. He frowned at Damian when he noticed Tim slumped on the ground. Damian simply shrugged, not caring.
Bruce set Jason on the ground and walked over to Damian. They stared at each other for a moment before Damian held out his arm. Bruce took his arm and injected the antidote into it. Damian slumped, but Bruce caught him and gently laid him on the ground.
Bruce probably should have put them in their beds instead of leaving them on the ground, but it was too late to do anything now. He watched them slowly grow, adjusting their costume whenever it was shifted out of place.
Stephanie was the first to wake up, as expected. She groaned and sat up, unconsciously grabbing Dick so that he did not slide off her body. She looked around, confused, and cracked her neck. She noticed Bruce and stood shakily, adjusting Dick so that his head was against her shoulder.
"What the hell happened?" She rubbed at her head. "What was I doing on the ground?"
"I'll explain when the others are awake." Stephanie looked around and noticed the others. Her eyebrows shot up.
Cass was the next to awaken. Then Tim. Then Jason. All three groaned and sat up within moments of each other.
"Did the Batmobile run over me?" Jason whined. Bruce, Stephanie, and Tim snorted.
Dick moaned from Stephanie's arms. "Tati?"
"He's here, Little Bird." Stephanie ran a hand through his hair. "And everyone else too."
Dick blinked up at Stephanie before laying his head back on her shoulder. "'M tired. And achy."
"I think we all are." Stephanie held back a giggle. She looked up at Bruce. "So, bossman. What happened?"
"Isn't it obvious?" All heads snapped over to Damian, who was just now sitting up. "We should all remember being de-aged. Our minds must have regressed as well."
Bruce nodded. "You all forgot being older. It was...chaotic at first."
"Well, we're all back now." Stephanie smiled.
"I wanna hear what happened. Did Cass try to stab anyone?" Jason looked between Bruce and Cass.
"She stabbed Damian." Bruce turned. "Now, come on. I'm sure that Alfred is wondering where everyone is."
"Is it dinner time?" Jason asked. "I'm hungry!"
"You're always hungry." Tim said, rolling his eyes. Jason stuck his tongue out at him and ran off to the elevator. Dick climbed onto Stephanie's shoulders and asked her to run, to which she complied. Cass and Tim chased after them, wanting to get on the elevator before it left. Damian glanced at Bruce, who nodded. Damian nodded back and quickly walked after the others, leaving Bruce alone in the Batcave. He smiled and began walking to the elevator.
It was good to have his children back.
A/N: If you have any requests or prompts, feel free to send them to my tumblr, browniesarethebest!