This is pretty short but I had to get something in for my favorite boy's birthday today! Happy birthday Jason!

Bruce

Bruce slides stiffly in the driver's seat of his Bentley and grips the steering wheel hard. He's at the Gotham air strip, and ever thankful for the hanger tech that never asks questions. As he turns the car on and starts for home his phone rings and he answers it with the car's bluetooth.

"Hey, how'd it go?" Clark asks with the hope of joy in his tone.

"I just landed back in Gotham." Bruce says shortly.

"Oh. That bad, huh?"

"Yeah. That bad."

Bruce spends the next thirty minutes or so explaining all that has happened: Jason's condition, his children's mistrust of him, Alfred's iciness. Clark listens without interruption, just taking it all in.

"I just- I don't know how to fix it." Bruce finishes tiredly.

"I don't think there is anything you can do to fix this. I think…" Clark stops for a moment, pondering something. "I think the most you can do is just to change how you would respond in the future. What's done is done, there's no way to undo that and clearly they don't just want an apology from you, they want to see it."

"See it? See what?" Bruce asks, beginning to get frustrated.

"They need to see that you mean it, that you've heard them and that you'll- ya'know- actually change."

Bruce ponders this for a moment in silence. The problem is, he doesn't really know what change they want from him. They've expressed that they believe he's been too harsh with Jason, and he agrees and apologized for that, but they also want something else, something he can't quite wrap his head around.

Bruce pulls up in front of the manor and parks before the large front door. He rests his head on the steering wheel for a moment as Clark reassures him that this won't last forever and eventually everything will be back to normal. Bruce doesn't have the heart to tell him that normal really wasn't that great either. But he listens and thanks him before hanging up and dragging himself from the car.

He trudges up the front steps, lost in his own head and pushes inside swinging the door shut behind him. He pauses for the dogs,who always greet him at the door, but there's nothing. When he opens his mouth to call for them he hears a clinking coming from the kitchen and tenses. He creeps silently through the foyer and down the hall. As he reaches the dining room the sound of clinking grows slightly louder. Bruce slowly strips off his shoes and socks and makes his way soundlessly through the butler's pantry. His mind reels through a never ending list of who could be standing in his kitchen, but when he bursts through the swinging doors he finds someone he wasn't expecting.

The dogs sit patiently at her heels for a treat as she stirs her tea. She takes no notice of Bruce, just continues to stand at the far window, hips leaning slightly against the edge of the sink as she watches the garden through the glass. Bringing the cup to her lips she takes a sip and hums in apparent delight.

Bruce still stands, unsure if he should approach her. After a few moments pass and she has still yet to even glance his way, he walks softly up to her side and joins her.

"Would you like some?" She says, voice slightly hollow, not taking her eyes off of the flowering gardenia bush that has grown a bit messily since Alfred stopped tending to it.

"No thanks." Bruce says casually. "What are you doing here, Diana?"

"How are things with the kids?" She asks as if this were their normal monthly dinner, and she was simply checking in.

"It's complicated." Bruce answers, eyeing her.

She hums in response and takes another sip of her tea. Bruce can feel that she's displeased with him, something he actively tries to avoid, he also knows this has to be about the kids, probably Jason in particular. But how would she know? If Clark had told her then he would have told Bruce that when they were on the phone. None of his kids ever reach out to leaguers, even Diana, mostly out of stubbornness. Had Dick called her in hopes she'd get him to see reason? Something about that doesn't ring true.

Bruce realizes that they've been standing there in silence for almost twelve minutes and clears his throat.

"Whatever reason you're here, I promise I've got it handled." Bruce says shortly and turns to leave.

"Is that why Alfred called me" She says, freezing Bruce to the spot, "because you've got it handled?" She takes another sip of tea and reaches out to touch the leaf of a potted plant on the window sill. "What happened to Jason, Bruce?"

Bruce stands, perfectly still, hands clenched tight at his sides.

"What did Alfred tell you?"

"That he was on the brink and needs a safe place to land, which I plan to provide for him."

And despite the situation, and the accusation, he can't help but feel grateful as a weight lifts from his chest.

"Thank you." He mutters.

She hums again, still waiting for an answer, so Bruce tells her. He tells her everything.

Diana is respectful, sipping her tea and listening intently but Bruce can feel her emotions boiling. By the time he's done she has abandoned the tea and has one hand over her face, pressing her eyelids closed.

"I don't know what to do." Bruce says, feeling more hopeless than he's felt in a long time.

"By the gods-" Diana starts, trying to stay calm. "You need to stop looking at the boy like he's not the same one you raised."

"But he isn't-"

"He's is! He's been to hell and back but he's still that same little boy."

"I- It's just that-" he wants to say that he's tried, that he just can't seem to do it but he hates how childish it sounds. "After everything he's done I don't know if I…" Bruce gestures his arms as his words escape him.

"You must forgive him for that. He was being fueled by a power far greater than himself, he was healing, he's still healing. He's changed, yes, but he's trying. He tried to understand your beliefs and your views, why can't you do the same decency for him? After everything he's been through doesn't he deserve at least that?"

"But Diana, it's murder not political views."

"I kill." She says firmly, stepping away from the counter and standing squarely before him.

Bruce wants to say that it's different, that she's her own person, that he didn't' raise her and isn't responsible for her. And that he honestly couldn't stop her even if he tried. Jason is his son, his responsibility. He can't let him murder the people in his city. But once again the words sound flimsy.

"Jason is just a boy, he's still growing. I thought that maybe I could- I don't know."

"Train it out of him?" Diana fills in and he nods.

"Have you ever tried just accepting him for who he is, no matter how much you may disagree with it?" Diana says, the anger palpable.

Bruce casts his eyes down, he feels like a child, like he's being lectured at by a principal, or Alfred. He thought that he tried, but if he did not succeed then did he try hard enough?

His phone rings and he answers it quickly, desperate for a distraction.

"Hello?"

"Father?"

"Damian? Is everything okay?" Bruce asks, his heart pounding, Diana's face has filled with concern and he puts the phone on speaker so she can hear.

"Grayson says I shouldn't call you but I thought you should know."

"Know what?"

"It's Jason." The boy takes in a shuddering breath like he's been running or staving off a wave of emotion.

"Damian, what about Jason?" Bruce asks, his heart sinking, already running in step with Diana down to the cave.

"He's gone, we think he's been taken."

And just like that, all of those feelings, all of those memories; the desert, the warehouse, his cold stiff body, come flooding back into the present. And Bruce knows that this time he won't be late.

I feel like this chapter has a little bit for everyone, humanizing Bruce, calling him out on being a literal child, giving him real functional relationships with his friends, and finally kinda getting him to understand. So, I hope you guys liked it. And, don't worry, I WILL NOT make this man into a savior so fear not because something beautiful is coming.

Also, you guys have overwhelmingly chosen for this story to end with Jason going off on his own and saying fuck you to Bruce, so I will keep that in mind as I write. I really hope you guys like what I have coming for you guys and I'm sorry that there isn't any Jason or Artemis in this chapter.

Until next time, MS