I do not own the Bat family. Shame that.

This chapter does contain a non-explicit allusion to the Holocaust.

Banana

"I hate you."

Replacement blinked at him, innocence radiating blandly from every pore as he tapped over the medical notes on his tablet. Jason wished his ribs didn't hurt so badly so he could get up and slug the creep's smug little face. He just knew that there were copies of the security footage being sent where he'd never be able to find and delete them all. Stupid Replacement. And they said he was the evil Robin.

"Why? I'm not the one who left the banana peel on the stairs."

Empire

"Dick was saying something about how he's waiting for us to take over the world." Tim sipped at his coffee and tapped out a few more lines on the report he was finishing, peering at Babs over the top of his laptop and glasses.

Barbara smiled at him, her face lit green by her many screens, her own lenses reflecting the surfaces back and mostly obscuring her eyes. "It's cute how he thinks we haven't already."

Paperclip

"What's with these?" Steph poked at the chain of bent and battered paperclips that had obviously been hanging off of Dick's old backpack for years. She was a little surprised at the sad expression that came over his face as he reached around to rub the pieces of metal.

"They're for my puri daj, her family anyway, and my aunt's." He said softly, running them through his fingers, one after another. "Mostly my aunt's."

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen.

Ceiling

Alfred glanced up and felt his heart skip a beat at the figure perched precariously in the chandelier, absorbed in a book. This child was going to be the death of him.

Caffeine

When Batgirl slipped through the window of one of Red Hood's safe houses she was not expecting to be met with the sight of all four of "The Boys" comfortably sprawled around, eating junk food. (And the sight of Dick "sprawling" in the Batsuit would never not be funny. She would treasure this sight forever.) Jason, who had shot at her the last (the first) time their paths had crossed merely waved her in with an "Oi, Replacement! Your girlfriend's here!"

Tim replied in chorus with her "She's/I'm not my/his girlfriend." And they were echoed by Dick who tossed a cheerful "right now" at them with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. This, Stephanie realized, was not the Batman who'd tried to stop her from being Batgirl. This was much closer to the Nightwing that Tim idolized like a big brother.

She thinks she could like Nightwing.

Then Red Hood throws a bag of chips at Tim's face and he throws it back and there is no blood-shed. She needs more coffee to be able to deal with this at three AM. Fortunately, they seem to have a few pots brewed already.

Ketchup

"You are a horrible human being, Replacement." Jason watched the atrocity before him with horror. "How do you even live with yourself?"

Tim just sighed and put the bottle back in the refrigerator. "Lots of people eat ketchup on their hot dogs, Jason."

Hardware

Bruce noticed the habit right away but said nothing. He figured it didn't really need addressing. It caused no problems, quite the opposite in fact.

Alfred noticed even sooner. He wasn't surprised, just saddened and made sure to always have hot chocolate with marshmallows waiting.

Barbara commented on it. Once, before she knew his identity. She never did after though, just made sure to leave her gear where he could find it easily.

Jason had gotten to the Cave early one night and had been surprised to see him there at all. He'd watched the entire time, and watched as he'd left before Bruce came downstairs.

Tim just watched and understood, as he always did.

Cassandra saw more than anyone else. She saw the memories, good and bad, the pain and the joy. Most of all she saw the love that went into each touch. Love for those lost and those gained. She just shrugged when Stephanie asked her why there were tears in her eyes.

Stephanie never experienced it until she was Batgirl. She thought at first that it was another way he thought she was incompetent until Barbara explained it to her. For the first time she felt truly accepted.

Damian was wildly indignant and railed about it until Alfred calmed him down and explained. Then he was silent for a moment before he stomped off, muttering under his breath about "sentimental Grayson," but he never made any move to prevent it again and years later, when Talya and Thomas came to him complaining that Grandpa Dick was checking their lines and didn't he know that they knew how? He taught them himself after all? Damian was able to give a simple, honest answer.

"It's because he loves you and doesn't want you to fall."

Notes:

For explanation on Paperclip, go to Wikipedia and look up The Paper Clips Project.
And I highly recommend the documentary. Warning for Holocaust-centered topic.

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