"…we can't just keep him here, Bruce." It was a woman's voice that he overhead. "It's not fair to him…"

"Where is he supposed to go Selina?" A lower man answered her. "He'll just go back to the life that he had."

"I meant that we can't keep him down here."

Jason felt the tension in the area without even opening his eyes. He knew that the people currently battling it out could be the two people that had just saved him, meaning Batman and that woman. However, the woman speaking now sounded different than the one he had heard back at the apartment building Yet he really didn't have time to think about that because he felt a slight shiver go up his spine and then there was another blanket being pulled over him and tucking him in. He immediately stiffened and opened his eyes to meet a woman with green eyes and red hair gently smiling at him.

"Hey I'm…" Barb didn't have time to finish as Jason sat up suddenly, knowing that the boy would regret the decision, Barb steadied him, to which he tried to smack her hand away. "We got a live one here."

All eyes turned to Jason sitting on the metal table. Jason took a note of each one of their faces, most he knew, others he didn't. John and Tim were the two cops wanting to talk with him earlier. Selina Kyle or Wayne as a lot of people knew her now, was a mob princess at one point but now had seemed to turn to the other side. There, standing next to her, was Bruce Wayne, in half of a batsuit. The emblem and cowl were taken off but the pants and belt was still on, as well as the under armor. The two women, he was unaware of but Batman, Jason knew well.

"The effects will wear off in about five more hours." Bruce was the first to speak and approach. "After you eat breakfast you should be fine."

"Are you joking?" Giving the outburst, Jason saw the adults in the room eye each other as the boy grabbed his head. "This can't be real."

"Hey, kid." John put a still gloved hand on Jason's back, which he slapped at. That did not seem to deter John as he grabbed Jason's shoulder. His hold was strong, making Jason pay attention to him but his voice was calm. "Hey, it's going to be okay."

"I'm going to wake up back in the apartment right?" Jason questioned searching for any answers he could find. "I mean this is not real."

"'fraid it is." John shrugged, stepping back.

"You should've just left me!" Jason went to stand but realized that probably wasn't the best of ideas so threw his hands up instead. "I would've been fine!"

"You would have died." Bruce corrected. "Cain would have killed you. If not the explosion would have."

"Oh wake up," Beginning to pinch himself, Jason decided that he could not take this dream any longer. "Jesus, wake up…"

"Jason," It was Selina's turn to try and coax the child, instead of keeping a distance from him she went right up to him and bent so she could see the chaos in his eyes. "You're not going back there. You are going to stay here until the League is gone. They are going to come after you and kill you. Here you will be safe."

"You want to ask me more questions." He asked.

"Probably." She admitted. "But you're going to go back to sleep until then."

"Am I sleeping here in the… bat-cave?" Glancing around the area, he thought that maybe it wouldn't be too horrible but it was still colder than he would've liked. However, he had slept in much worse conditions than this one.

"No." A small smile graced her face. "We have a room upstairs waiting for you with some spare clothes. You'll be able to take a shower tomorrow too."

"This is so weird." Jason whispered.

"I know." Selina nodded. Honestly, she did not blame him for thinking so. Waking up from a firebombed apartment building to the… what did he called it… the Bat-cave, was quite the change over. "But we can talk about it more tomorrow. Okay?"

"You're not going to torture me or anything right?" He questioned.

"Only if you consider waffles in the morning torture." There you go, something that made him a little less edgy as a look of wonder came over the half closed eyes. Putting a hand to his head, Selina told him. "Go back to sleep."

"I can…" A yawn and he started to go down, "Make it up my…"

And he was out.

"This is the part that we say sweet kid once you get past all the shitty parts?" Barb spoke.

"He's been through a lot, Babs." John looked over at her. "Give him a break."

"Okay." Stepping up, Steph was next. "I hate to broach the most obvious topic here, but is anyone else concerned that a street kid is now living here and knows who we all are?"

"You realize that the two of us are considered street kids?" Suddenly going on a slightly defensive streak, John felt a need to remind her of his and Steph's own origins. "Not to mention the little girl that's sleeping in one of the beds upstairs."

"Guys." Tim put his hand out. "We really need a plan here. What are we going to do with Jason? The League is after him and they're already after us. We're basically collected under one roof, don't you think that they would…"

"The League doesn't want to get too sloppy." Barb shrugged. "If they attacked us now, there's too much security on our places now, they would leave something behind. We would find it and then bam, they're done."

"Or maybe they don't trust their outputs right now." John offered. "They stretched too far and have too many people under their contract or whatever."

"They've played it too close for too long." Steph agreed. "With the mob, the League doesn't trust them, especially with what happened with…" Giving a glance towards Selina who was still over by Jason, Steph finished, "with Maria."

"The mob is too desperate." Selina nodded. "That's why Falcone is reaching out to me and since the League knows who we are, Talia might become suspicious of why Falcone would do that."

"So wouldn't Talia and Cain attack Falcone?" Barb questioned.

"Falcone holds the keys to Gotham's Underground." Bruce explained. "Talia would not risk that."

"Plus this flu that's going around?" Veering the subject around, Barb looked at everyone. "You think that we can finally pinpoint what exactly Falcone is up to tonight?"

"We just need a confession." Selina nodded. "But it's late, we can talk about this tonight."

"Plus we need Helena here." Steph agreed. "She'll know how to get around their current defenses."

"Be back here around seven then." Letting the group break, the two older people stayed down in the cave and looked at another. Selina sighed and touched Jason's hair. Though it had only been an hour or two since he had come to them, she also felt a kindred spirit with Jason.

"We're just collecting all of them aren't we?" Selina chuckled.

"I couldn't just leave him there, Selina." Bruce sighed.

"No, you couldn't." Giving a smirk, she looked up at him. "You're such a softy."

"How do you think Cass is going to react to him?" Going over to the pair, Bruce questioned the most obvious thing that he was concerned about.

"She'll be fine." She shrugged. "If we explain what's going on, she'll probably treat him like Jimmy or something."

"And when he leaves?" Bruce questioned. "Do we have to explain…"

"Bruce," her eyes bore a weary stare, "shut up."

"What?"

"Shut up." Selina shook her head. "Whether or not you know it right now, this kid is staying with us."


Cass wandered the hallway, curious as to why no one was really up expect for Alfred, who was downstairs getting the coffee ready. She knew that Barb and John were in a spare bedroom and even Steph and Tim were in their own rooms. There was something that was going on that she wasn't really aware of and she knew that she needed the answers.

Already having tried to get into her parents' room, finding it completely locked, she opted to try to figure out where John and Barb slept. They were basically another set of parents or really cool older siblings to her and Cass knew that Barb would tell everything. So as she turned down another hallway to the main row of bedrooms, Cass came to the door that she knew usually held Barb from time to time and John when it was just them staying at the manor.

Her eyes narrowed. The door was locked. Making sure that it wasn't just her, Cass jiggled the knob again. Since when did they lock their door? Deciding that she was not going to take another family member's locked door, Cass maneuvered the lock around and quietly opened the door. Perhaps she could figure out the answer herself. Besides it was what her father did.

Stepping into the room, she saw that instead of two larger bodies lying on the bed, there was just one. One body that was smaller and had managed to bundle itself up into many sheets. With that Cass thought that perhaps it was either Tim or Steph in the bed, but Tim was not that small and neither was Steph. However, it was difficult to judge considering that the piles of blankets that were on top of the figure. Smiling to herself, Cass thought about the best ways to go about awaking up the person since she usually did that with her own family members and most of the time they would be up anyway. But it was still more fun.

Quietly making her way toward the figure, Cass climbed on the bed and slowly crawled to the figure. Steadying herself, Cass found the perfect opportunity as the person was just about to turn and so she pounced and landed right on top of the person. However, what Cass did not account for was the fact that it was someone completely foreign to her.

"What the hell!" The people shouted and immediately shot up making Cass fall back but then reclaim her footing on the soft surface. They both stared at each other for a moment, unsure of what to make of each other. Then finally Jason decided to question. "Who the hell are you?"

Cass just continued to look at him too flabbergasted to actually think straight. She was going through the reasons that this boy would be here in a bed, in the house that she was becoming to think of as her own. Also, she could not get a good read on him. Who was this kid that had transpired through her home acting as though he had something over her?

"Seriously," he sounded incredibly agitated, "who are you?"

Perhaps this kid was not a threat. After all his door had not been on the security access that had been placed on the rooms in the manor just in case. He was also in something comfortable. Yet, he had been sedated at one point because his eyes were still blurry and he looked like he could possibly go back asleep.

"I'm not going to ask again!" Jason shouted this time. Obviously, he did not have any patience. "Who are you?"

After another moment of her not answering him, Jason took a swing at her, which Cass easily dodged. Then another and another jab, until Cass laid one right on his jaw, he did not appear as shocked as she thought that he might be. Perhaps he was used to girls hitting him. Interesting. He went for another but she blocked and then went for his neck before she was told otherwise.

"Cassandra!" Bruce hurried into the room still in his nightclothes with Selina close behind in similar gear. Luckily he was quick enough before Cass made her attack and she immediately paused. Both children looked at him.

"Why do you have a child ninja in here?" Jason shouted at the adults who had entered the room. Neither looked pleased with how he had addressed their daughter or the situation itself.

"Jason." Bruce slowly started and went closer to the children. Cass was still on Jason's bed, bewildered by what had just happened and the very loud boy that was opposite her. "This is our daughter Cassandra."

"What do you mean you have a daughter?" His voice had not lowered.

"Hey Jay!" Deciding that two could play at this game, Selina matched his volume causing the other two in the room to also look at her in surprise. "You mind using our inside voices?"

"Fine." Doing as he was asked and deciding that it was probably better to be on the good side of Gotham's most feared vigilantes, Jason relented. "She just jumped on me this morning and she didn't say anything."

"She has trouble speaking." Selina explained. "And she probably thought you were Tim or John." Looking towards Cass, Selina jerked her head. "Come on Cass, let's see if Alfred needs some help."

The two women left the guys to talk things out. Bruce walked the rest of the way over to Jason. Still not wanting to give off any warnings towards the boy, Bruce decided to stand until he felt comfortable enough to sit down.

"How are you feeling?" Bruce asked gently.

"Fine." He was lying and refused to look at Bruce.

"Still a little lightheaded?" There was not an answer, which meant yes. Seeing that standing was not really getting him anyway, Bruce sat at the spot where Cass had been, almost at the end of the bed.

"I didn't know that you had a kid." Jason grumbled, continuing not to look at Bruce.

"She was a member of the League's daughters and she ran away." That caused the boy to look and Bruce spoke further on the situation hoping to get somewhere with him. "They trained her to be an assassin."

"So that's why she can't talk?" Venturing out on a limb, Jason guessed correctly. "Because they just trained her kill?"

"Yes." Bruce nodded. "She's getting better but you have to be patient with her. She's good once she gets to know you but like you she had to adjust."

"I don't have to adjust to anything." Jason rolled his eyes. "It's not like I'm staying here forever."

"Well, you have to stay until this is all over at least." It had been a hard life for Jason Todd. Bruce already knew the sullied details of what caused him to become of the top orphan's rings. However, Bruce knew the pain of growing up too fast. Instead of growing up a pampered youth, Jason had the unlucky happenstance of poverty. But Bruce sought to change that, with time of course, everything took time.

"Then you'll kick me to the curb?" This statement didn't sound sarcastic or angry but merely a fact for the boy. Bruce's heart clenched a bit at the thought of doing so.

"Maybe a field." Bruce saw the shocked face but also a smirk of appreciation. "Come on, Alfred's made some breakfast."


Barb watched from her stool as John moved through the kitchen. They had decided to go back to her apartment and catch up on some sleep and now were waking from an uneventful nap. Actually a couple of their naps that had been run ramped with, well maybe not ramped but they used to be more… fun. However, Barb knew that they had hit their rough patch, things were working but she wasn't talking, which was admittedly strange for her but neither was he, which was equally as strange.

"I didn't mean anything by it." Barb spoke, surprising even herself. He didn't really turn just kept making the eggs at the stove but she knew he was listening. "Last night in the cave, I was just trying to…"

"I know." That was all he said and there were more moments of silence and Barb knew that it was now or never.

"John, look…"

"Barbara," finally turning, Barb could see the full extent of his unhappiness, "if you want to end it, just do it already!"

"I wasn't going to say that." She said carefully.

"Then what?" John threw up his hands. "We've been like this for awhile now and we all know it's coming! Ever since…"

"I don't know how to do this John!" Barb didn't shout but her voice was raised. "I've only been with one person and honestly it's hard to care so much about someone because you don't want them to die either!"

"Maybe you shouldn't be in this field then." He snapped.

"Screw you." She stood from the bar stool and headed down the hall but he caught her. "Get out of my way."

"No." He insisted. "Bruce has told me plenty of times that you pushed him and Selina to admitted their feelings for each other. I don't get why you can't do that for yourself."

"It's harder than it looks." Moving to the side, she tried to get around him but he blocked her again. "John…"

"It's not that hard."

"John."

"You're so smart Babs." John insisted. "Why not use that intelligence for something useful before you shut yourself off from the world like Bruce almost did."

"Because." She sighed. "I can't."

"You can."

"I can't." This was ridiculous, Barb wanted to get out of this conversation but John was in her way.

"I'm not letting you go until you tell me what's really going on."

"There's nothing…"

"Bullshit."

"John!"

"Bullshit Barbara!" John knew that he was pushing her but he could only take so much. She had been silent on so many things and now he was done. It was something that he dealt with in the back of his mind every day and he was sick of it. "I want to know what I did! What did I do to make you just shut off and not say anything to me?"

"It's not you."

"Bullshit.

"Stop saying that!" Now she was getting angry. Barb did not like to be pushed because she usually did it herself but there had been something missing ever since Dick died and now John was igniting once again.

"Not until you tell me what I did!" He insisted.

"You didn't do anything!" She told him.

"Bullshit!" He repeated the hated word.

"It's not you!"

"Bull…"

"It's me!" Shouting over the word that he was about to say, Barb took the leap and just said it. Since it was out there, she figured she might as well keep going. "I'm the one that's been screwing things up. It's my fault!"

"Why?" Now he was baffled.

"Because I can't tell you how much I actually care for you because he might go away!" Taking in a shaky breath to calm herself, Barb went on. "I know I've said that Dick doesn't play into this, but he does. And I'm sorry that I keep going on about this but he was such a big part of my life for so long and you can't just expect me to drop everything that we had and move on."

"Is that what you think?"

"No… I just…" Trying again, Barb explained. "If I tell you that I love you, I'm afraid that everything that I had with Dick will just disappear. That all those feelings that I had left and those memories will all go away. I can't do that to him."

"That's not going to happen." Knowing that she had been dealing with this for some time, John wanted to be understanding and to get past the past. But he also was aware that the past took time to build and so took time to take apart and analyze.

"It could." Tears began to form at the corner of her eyes. "At first when you weren't here, I'd think about him. I think what we could've had and everything but then you came over more and more and those fantasies began having your in them instead of Dick." She was still holding in the tears but her voice shook even more. "I thought about how I couldn't do that to him and I'd go back and forth but… but now…"

"Now what?" So taken aback by what she was saying, John could only stare in wonder. At first he thought they were breaking up but now this was something different and he knew that she needed time and Barb had hit her wall and he needed to be there to catch her. He was okay with that.

"I think about how he would want me to be happy and that you can't live in his shadow, you deserve so much more." Perhaps this wasn't going the way he thought. "And now… now I want to tell you that you still standing here means more to me than I thought and the thought of losing you is… I… I…"

And that's when she broke and crumbled and John was more than willing to comfort her. Taking her in his arms, he held her tight. He took his own shaky breath and breathed her in. Everything about this woman he did love. It was hard to love someone who had someone else ripped from her, but he could understand her torn allegiance.

"I'm not going anywhere." He whispered as he held her trembling frame. "I'm right here Babs."

"Please," looking up at him with the glassy eyes and her grip tightened on his shirt, "I never wanted to make you feel rejected, I just didn't know how to tell you."

"Tell me what?" His heart began to pound, uncertain now but still holding her.

"I love you John."

There was a crash in the apartment and before either one could react to what had just been said, they glanced at each other before going to the source. Quickly and quietly making their way to Barb's room, they saw that something rolled out from the closet at the source of the noise. After not sensing any danger, they both went over and looked at the item.

"You have a magic eight ball." John looked at Barb and saw the strange expression on her face.

"It was Dick's, a present from… Maggie." Her eyes narrowed as the answer from the purple liquid showed up on the plastic and they both smiled. Barb nodded and felt a similar reaction that the item had. "Well, I think I have to agree with the magic eight ball."

"Outlook good." John read and touched her cheek. "Me too."


Life has been terribly busy and I'm going to try to do better. Also, since it's only once a month that this one gets updated, next chapter WILL be longer!

-EV