It's one a.m. on a Saturday night and Jason Todd-Wayne, age twenty-eight, the current Batman, felt exhausted.

Over the course of the last few hours of patrol, he had stopped seven muggings, three rape attempts, a museum heist, and a would-be supervillain who would probably be murdered by the Joker the moment he got out of Arkham. The rest of the Family is treading on eggshells around him, his butler/surrogate grandfather is currently in a hospital room after his recent collapse and his sister is God knows where after ditching Bludhaven unexpectedly three days ago. Three months ago, his youngest brother died; six months before that, his second youngest brother died; and a year before that, his oldest brother died, which is how he got this thankless job in the first place.

It's been a hard two years.

But, Jason is nothing if not determined, and honestly exhaustion is still better to feeling numb all the time. So he perseveres, observing his city from the rooftops that have been his second home since he was twelve years old. Waiting for that next spot of trouble so he could swoop in as the Dark Knight, the scourge of Gotham's criminals.

Until, well—

"Hiyah!"

Jason stares.

It's Robin. Except not really Robin, because that mantle had been retired by Dick years ago after Damian finally graduated to solo hero. And there's never really been a girl-Robin, unless you count Stephanie's disastrous stint that saw her tortured and presumed dead. Not to mention the fact that, you know, Stephanie is blond and now in her mid-twenties, and this Robin is a red-headed preteen. She's attacking a couple of muggers with a slingshot, which is probably a first even to an experienced superhero like Jason.

Jason supposes he should be angry, except he can't really find it in himself to be angry. She's obviously a kid who wants to play hero and doesn't know any better. Every single member of Jason's family had been her at one point. Jason had been her at one point. They all wanted to be heroes, having no idea what exactly that meant, all the pain they would have to endure for the sake of saving others. And while, in the end, none of them had ever really regretted their choice, they would've all liked to have been a bit more prepared in the end.

But just because they hadn't regretted it, didn't mean she wouldn't.

So Jason drops down the fire escape, knocking out the baseball bat of one mugger that had been approaching the kid from behind with a batarang. The punk screeches in pain, clutching his hand, and is thus completely unprepared when the girl kicks him in the gnads. He collapses with his knees crossed, and gets a punch to his face for his troubles, knocking him out cold.

Not bad. You know, for an amateur.

Jason lands on the ground, and is still staring at this Robin-who-is-not-really-a-Robin. Fake(?) Robin finally notices him.

"Batman!" she squeals.

"What are you doing?" he asks before he can actually think his words through.

"What does it look like! I'm Robin! I'm fighting crime!"

"Why?"

Robin puffs up her chest and puts her hands on her hips. Jason has gotta admit, it's a bit adorable. "Because of you, duh! You saved me the other night from being mugged, and it inspired me!"

Jason resisted the urge to sigh and rub his temples. So it was his fault. But of course. "Kid, do your parents know what you're doing?" He doubted it.

And here, Robin deflated. "They would if they were around more often," she said mulishly.

Neglectful parents. Like Tim's. Wonderful. Hopefully they weren't as bad as Tim's. Tim's parents were so neglectful that their son had somehow gotten it into his head that stalking Batman and Robin was a great past time. Jason imagined that even if both of them had actually managed to survive their encounter with the Obeah Man intact, Tim's Robin training wouldn't have been encumbered in the least.

…He missed Tim.

"Well, regardless, I don't think they'd like you going out at night to punch out dangerous criminals." No sane parent would. Which implied a lot about Bruce's own mental state, but that was one of those things that everyone knew better than to talk about. "Why don't I take you home?"

"No! I want to fight crime!" She perked up. "I know! Make me your sidekick!"

Yeah, that wasn't going to fly. "No."

"But Batman always needs a Robin! It's, like, tradition!"

"I haven't had a Robin in four years." Actually, he's never had a Robin, but she didn't need to know that. It would probably just encourage her.

"Still!"

"Kid—" And then his comm goes off, and there's Oracle informing him about another heist a couple of neighborhoods over. Jason doesn't sigh, even though he really, really wants to.

"I need to go. But after I'm gone, you better head home, and I better not see you on the streets, at night, in that suit again." Point made, he lets his remote access to the Batmobile's autopilot guide the car to his position. He levels one last look at the girl before jumping inside, heading towards the heist.

He doesn't expect to see her again.

Except he does see her again. And again, and again, and no matter what warnings Jason gives her, she refuses to budge. He's going to have to do something drastic, he quickly realizes, so he plucks a hair without her noticing during their last meeting and stores the DNA in the Batmobile. After tonight's patrol is over, he scans the database in the Bat-Computer for a match.

Carrie Anne Kelley. Thirteen years old. Born and raised in Gotham to…a traveling business couple. Who are currently out of town on a business trip and won't be back for three months.

Like Tim. The girl might have Dick's personality, but she's certainly got Tim's background, and Jason refuses to see any more of the parallels because that way leads to madness. What he does see is that there is no way he's getting rid of the girl any time soon without involving the proper authorities. Jason is reluctant to do that, because that kind of neglect raises eyebrows and causes lawsuits and the girl really doesn't deserve to be put through that even if her parents do (to say nothing of how he'll have to do it as Batman, since Carrie Anne Kelley has never met Jason Wayne). It's a miracle nobody thought to do the same with Tim, though Jason imagines that after the Obeah Man they probably thought it to be redundant.

But. He can't have her running around as Robin. She has no training, and that R symbol is just as much of a target as the bat on his chest. So, he'll just have to figure something else out.

He'll have to do it later. He still has to go to that stupid mayoral inauguration at noon which means actually sleeping so he looks somewhat presentable. So, Jason takes one last look at Carrie Anne Kelley's file, and saves it for a later date.

Then Joker IV died and then came Joker V and Carrie Anne Kelley is the furthest thing from his mind when she appears and saves his life, pulling him up and away from the miniature sinkhole the newest Joker tried to kill him with. He thanks her, asks her to stop the machine with some specific instructions and then takes down the latest Joker with disturbing ease. She might have killed Joker IV, but Jason is still Batman, and no amount of psychotic smarts can compare to the skills he's cultivated over the last decade and a half.

As Joker V is carted off to Arkham, to be incarcerated in the cell of the man she replaced, Jason looks at Carrie, and sighs. "You're not going to stop, are you?"

Carrie juts her lip out, looking belligerent. "No."

"Fine. Then if you're going to do this, you're going to do this the right way."

"The right way?"

Instead of answering, Jason beckons her over to the Batmobile, and Carrie, after some hesitation, follows him. The ride is silent and awkward, but when they finally arrive and open the hatch, Carrie is in complete wonder. She's in the legendary Bat-Cave, and knows that from here on out, her life has forever been changed.

"If you're going to be Robin, Carrie Kelley, then you're going to need training. Lots and lots of training."

Carrie snaps her head towards him, mouth agape. "You know my name?"

Jason snorted. "I'm Batman. Of course I do. And since we're going to be partners, I figure you should know my identity too." He takes off his cowl and reveals his smiling face, holding out his hand. "Hello, Carrie Kelley. My name is Jason Todd-Wayne, and I'm the third Batman."

Carrie shakes his hand, entranced. "The third Batman?"

"Oh Carrie, there's still so much you still need to learn."

Carrie nods vigorously, and goes back to sightseeing. It almost feels like a betrayal, doing this, training another Robin.

But.

Even if it is a betrayal, Jason can't help but feel that he made the right choice.

Three years later and Jason is thirty-one and Carrie is sixteen and things have changed. Carrie is orphaned by a freak car accident and Jason takes her in and after a spell, adopts her as his own. And it is one the best decisions of his life, to make the girl he considered his daughter his actual daughter. The world feels brighter than it's ever been.

Only for the world to be completely turned over on its head when Helena Magdalene Kyle-Wayne arrives on his doorstep. Helena is a pretty little thing that looks so much like her mother and father and brother that it hurts. Jason takes one look at her and knows that, just like Carrie, he'll never be able to consider as anything less than his own.

It tears at his heart, having to break her mother's death to her. The mere sight of Helena's tears is enough to make Jason swear that he won't rest until Ricky Sionis spends the rest of his days in a prison cell while his budding empire is ground into the dirt, forever lost and forgotten. Jason puts everyone on the Family on it, even recruits mob expert Helena Bertinelli for help, and goes hunting.

And when it's all said and done and Ricky Sionis is beaten and Selina avenged, life goes back to a new kind of normal for a little while. Helena is put under his custody, and after some initial awkwardness, they fall into a father-daughter dynamic instead of the sibling connection the law espouses them to be. At the very least, Jason certainly spoils her like one would a daughter.

Then Helena asks to be Robin, and Jason realizes that he might have spoiled her too much.

"No."

Helena looks at him like she can't honestly believe he said that. Jason reminds himself to say it more often because the last thing he needs is for Helena to turn out like Pre-Robin Damian. Pre-Robin Damian had been a complete and utter nightmare. That 'demonspawn' nickname wasn't just because of who his mom was, far from it.

"But Dad—!"

"No, Helena. I will give you anything you want, except for that suit. That suit means putting you in unnecessary danger, and I, for one, will never ever put you in that kind of danger."

Helena pouted. It was cute, but Jason wasn't swayed. "You let Carrie be Robin!"

"Because Carrie was stubborn, had neglectful parents, and refused to go away no matter how many times I told her to. I had no actual sway over her because I wasn't her father at the time. And since she wasn't going to go away and wasn't going to stop, I trained her so she wouldn't get killed." And because Carrie saved his life, but he wasn't going to tell Helena that just yet. No need for his younger daughter to get any ideas. "That is nowhere near the case with you. I am your guardian, your father. And if I say you're not going to be Robin, you're not going to be Robin."

Helena stares at him before she whirls around and runs to the elevator, trying to wipe away her tears with the sleeve of her shirt. "You're the worst father ever!" she wails.

It stings.

But Jason knows he made the right choice.

Jason did not make the right choice.

If it had just been the silent treatment, Jason could've handled it. He knows for a fact that, for all his faults, he has far more patience than a hyperactive eleven year old. It would hurt, but Helena would break, they would apologize to each other, and life would go back to normal.

But it wasn't the silent treatment. Oh, no, his little girl was a devious mastermind with mischievous streak she just had to have inherited from her biological mother. Jason knew that he should have suspected that something was up when Helena capitulated too easily, when she started spending more time with her Aunt Babs. But, alas, Jason is an overworked, overstressed, single dad who also doubles as a world-renowned vigilante. He takes what small mercies he can.

So, he only has himself to blame when the speakers of the Bat-Computer start blaring the LEGO Batman song. The same song Tim and Jason had mixed to annoy the hell out of Bruce over a decade ago. The same song they brought back to piss off Dick when he became Batman after Bruce's death. At the time, Jason thought it was hilarious, an amusing joke that would never lose its charm.

Except it did lose its charm. Because Bruce and Dick are both long dead, and Jason is Batman now, and Jason doesn't find it nearly as amusing as he used to.

And now Jason can't escape it, because whatever Helena did has made it so it's hooked up to all Bat-technology that has some kind of speaker. Jason cannot work like this, especially since the song has a particular clue inside it that will expose his secret identity to the world. Jason is going to kill Barbara when this is all over. There is no way she didn't know what Helena was planning, and instead of putting a stop to it, she encouraged her instead.

It takes only four hours for him to crack. He confronts Helena with a severe look on his face, his arms crossed.

"What's it going to take?" he asks, already knowing the answer.

"Robin," Helena says smugly.

Jason gives it one last shot. "Are you sure that's what you want?"

Helena gets a stubborn glint in her eye, the same glint that her older sister had and the same glint that Jason imagines all his siblings had, him included. "Yes. I want to make sure what happened to Mom and me won't happen to anyone else ever again."

And, well, what could Jason ever say to that?

Life goes on. Carrie becomes Batgirl and then Batwoman while Helena becomes Robin. Then Helena takes a short break from vigilantism (which Jason futilely hoped would be permanent) before coming back as Huntress. Jason forever regrets introducing Helena Bertinelli to his daughter when she was a kid, no matter how thorough Bertinelli had been with Helena's training. And just when Jason is getting used to seeing his two girls all grown up—

He walks down Park Row (the former Crime Alley) and spots a miniature Bruce trying to jack the fuel rods off the Batmobile.

Jason can't help it. He stares. Mini-Bruce stares back. And once his brain catches up to what he's seeing, it takes everything he has not to collapse.

Then an even smaller miniature-Bruce tries to attack him with a wrench, and Jason has enough.

He takes the kids home, feeds them food, allows them to sleep in a guest room together (one with patented security), and then has the DNA from their drink glasses analyzed. Once he confirms they have half of Bruce's DNA, he instructs Carrie to keep an eye on them while he makes a long overdue visit to Talia, the first time they've seen each other in person since Damian's funeral. Because if anyone has any idea what's going on, it's the woman who had Bruce Wayne's child and kept it a secret from him for over a decade.

The visit is enlightening and frightening and Jason wants to beat himself over the head for being so negligent. Yes, most of it happened around the time of Damian's death, when Jason was at his absolute lowest point, but it's still no excuse. Because of that negligence, Warren and Mary McGinnis are both dead and their sons Terry and Matthew are now orphans. Jason is almost glad Talia ran Lyla Michaels through, because he isn't sure if he would've been able to stop from doing it himself.

There is no question where the boys are going. Regardless of the method, they are Bruce Wayne's children, Damian and Helena's siblings. That makes them Jason's responsibility.

And, well, Jason has two daughters. He's probably overdue for some sons.

Provided they're willing to have him that way, of course.

They are, but it takes time.

It was easy with Carrie and Helena. Carrie's parents were hardly ever there and Helena only ever had a mother. Having Jason as a father is simply him filling a role that had never been filled before to both of them. Once they slipped and Jason told them he didn't mind, well, it was like everything had fallen into place.

But in the case of the McGinnis brothers, it takes longer. Much longer. Because Warren and Mary McGinnis were good parents, and Terry and Matty aren't quite ready to let them go. Jason can understand that, Dick had confessed to having a similar problem when he first came to live with Bruce, so he lets it go and lets his relationships with both boys grow at their own pace. He lets them call him Jason or Jay (not Mr. Wayne, he already has to deal with enough of that when he's working at Wayne Enterprises), and tries not to overstep any boundaries. And gradually, ever so gradually, they open up.

Then Terry decides he wants to be Robin too, and begins some of the hardest months of Jason's life.

He's stubborn with Terry. More stubborn than he ever was with Carrie and Helena.

It wasn't because of the fact that Terry was specifically conceived by a morally ambiguous government agency to replace him when he died, though Jason would be lying if he said that didn't play a part. No, it was because Terry reminded him of both Bruce and himself, and while Bruce was an amazing vigilante and Jason had more-or-less followed in his footsteps, they were hardly aspirants when it came to mental and emotional health. They were, quite frankly, the last two people Jason wanted Terry to be like.

But Terry is a Wayne, and he is more stubborn than either of them. He's tries every trick in the book to get Jason to give in, and it takes Jason everything he has not to break. He even tried Helena's own stunt with the LEGO Batman song, though Jason, thankfully, had been prepared for that. After six months of similar incidents and building frustration, Jason believes his son is ready to stop and give in.

Then Jason walks into the Bat-Cave one day and sees every model of the Batmobile he owns completely disassembled. It will take days to rebuild them all.

Jason gives up.

"Fine," he tells a victorious Terry, "but you're still grounded for two weeks."

Terry is too happy to care about the punishment, and he practically skips his way to the elevator. Jason watches him go, watches the cart ascend back to the Manor, and sighs.

Then he looks at the costume displays, specifically the one with the original Robin suit. He goes to it, places his hand on its chest, and sighs again.

"Why did we even bother, Dick?" he asks with exasperation and no small amount of bitterness, "Why did we even bother?"

Dick, predictably, doesn't answer.

Two years later, Jason is forty-three years old, and getting too old for this shit.

One year ago, his best friend died. In the year since, Jason had to help his best friend's successor acclimate to his new role as the world's greatest superhero. At the same time, Jason and his other (distinctly female) best friend are dealing with how they're no longer completely ignoring the fact that they're in love with each other and probably have been for the last couple of years. It's been a trying time, to say the least.

So when he comes home from patrol one night to find the Manor almost completely sacked, he counts to fifty so he doesn't lose his temper. Terry, great kid that he is, is already heading to one of the Manor's many closets to grab the cleaning supplies. The Jokerz gang responsible for the carnage is currently tied up and unconscious, courtesy of his youngest child and his dog Ace, the Great Dane that resembles Damian's long-deceased companion Titus. Ace the Bat-Hound, his children had nicknamed this canine, and Jason has to admit it fits.

He reminds himself to update the security on the Manor again (and to not murder the Jokerz for daring the invade the sanctity of his home), and looks at Matty, who's got that familiar stubborn glint in his eyes.

Jason wants him to fight him on this, he does, but Jason's fought this battle with all of Matty's older siblings, and has lost every single time. He has no reason to believe it will be any different with him, even with his younger age. Chances are that even if Matty accepts his decision now, something else will happen to bring the subject back up again. It's not what Jason wants, far from it, but when has anything Jason ever wanted mattered in the end?

So.

Jason crouches down to one knee, clasps his hands on his son's shoulders, and looks at him straight in the eye. "We'll start training when you turn eleven and not a moment sooner," he tells him.

Matty smiles.

Jason loves his kids. He does. But he's also half-convinced they're payback for the complete hell he put Bruce and the others through when he first came back. They're the reason why he tries to make life easier for Bruce these days.

Also, thank you to everyone updating the TV Tropes page! Though, I must ask that if you continue doing that, could you also add to the main page as well instead of just the characters page? Just a suggestion.

Next chapter: Christmas.