Tim Drake's rescue aired live on the evening news. The Federal Marshals and Capitol Hill were expecting a high viewership and an uptick in approval ratings. Everything seemed to be going smoothly until Tim was about to reach the helicopter. A group of extremists jumped into the view of the camera. A couple of them began to pull Tim away to take him hostage. Others began to shoot at the inside of the helicopter. The marshals retaliated forcing the group back. An officer jumped down from the helicopter that was hovering a few feet off the ground. He was given a clear path to Tim thanks to some sharp shooting from a couple of marshals. Tim was already running towards the officer. The two who had grabbed him were busy fighting a lithe figure dressed in black from head to toes.
"Is that Batman?" said the reporter from the news chopper that was keeping clear of the gunfire but still close enough to capture the rescue on screen.
"No way, that person is too small to be Batman," answered the camera-man as he zoomed into the figure who never stood still long enough to be captured by the camera without looking like a blur.
The reporter and the camera-man continued their conversation about who the hero of No-man's-land could be. The reporter kept her commentary off the Federal Marshals as she debated the possibilities of the person within the suit. However, the camera-man was still keeping the viewfinder focused on Tim right up until he was getting strapped into the rescue chopper.
The news chopper was forced to follow the Federal Marshal's orders to evacuate No-man's-land airspace for their own safety. Though the last of the footage showed all the extremists bound and the small bat-themed figure disappearing into the shadows.
"A daring rescue by the Federal Marshals could've turned ugly when the extremists entered the picture. If not for the daring efforts of a Batman copycat, there is no telling what the fate of Timothy Drake would have been," said the reporter as her camera-man focused his viewfinder on the helicopter that held the now rescued Timothy Drake. "Stay tuned for a reunion between the father who fought Washington so that he could retrieve his son from a restricted area and his extremely lucky son. We only got a glimpse of what it's like in No-man's-land..."
Tim was a dead man. His father was furious. Tim had no idea what he would have to do to convince his dad that his life had never been in danger. It didn't help that he was almost taken while he was being rescued. But that was hardly Tim's fault. As Tim Drake, he couldn't defend himself like he did when he was Robin. Though Tim knew that his father wouldn't care about semantics.
Tim was right about how his father would welcome him back. As soon as the reporters and the Federal Marshals left them alone, Jack Drake began to reprimand Tim for his reckless behavior. Tim knew that his father had been worried about him but it was too late for Jack Drake to act as a concerned father. Tim had been making his own decisions about his well-being since he could walk. Not to mention, he had been saving lives not gallivanting about No-man's-land without care. If there was one thing that Tim Drake was not that was being reckless. He considered a lot of things before he jumped into any given situation. Something his parents never did when they took those extended trips overseas.
"Stop," Tim said in a low voice but with enough conviction behind the sound that Jack stopped talking and looked at his son in earnest. "You need to stop."
"Stop what?" Jack said lacing his words with anger. "Stop being worried about my son?!"
"Yes, that," Tim said looking at his father in the eyes. Jack sputtered but couldn't get his words out. "I've indulged your sudden need to act as a father while you grieved but it's enough. I can't do it anymore."
"Indulged?!" Jack said and raised his hands to punctuate the word. "Tim, I am your father. I am not acting. And I am not asking you to indulge me. I am telling you to abide by my rules."
"If you want to be in denial about the fact that I raised myself and am completely capable of keeping myself alive, that's on you but I can't ignore the issue any longer. Do you have any idea how many nights I cried myself to sleep because I was so lonely in that big house while you and mom didn't care about me enough to stay? I stopped crying for you to come back before I turned seven. The only reason I cried at mom's funeral was because I never had the chance to be her son. It wasn't because I missed her. I couldn't miss someone who was never around. I was given another chance with you only because you were crippled. And I know that the only reason you're scared something will happen to me is because I'm the last living piece of mom. But, dad, I'm not going to sit around and act like that doesn't hurt. Or that you meddling in my life now isn't just to assuage your own guilt from neglecting me my entire life. You want another chance to get it right, have another kid. I'm done trying to live up to your expectations because I know I never will," Tim said and walked away leaving Jack completely stunned with tears streaming down his face. "I'm heading to Titan's Tower. I don't care what you tell the press. Maybe say you sent me away to some private school. You know, like you did as soon as you left the rehabilitation center."
Tim went up to the room that had his things. He hadn't been there long enough to call it his yet. And he probably never would.
An hour and a half later, Tim was knocking on Dick's door. Hailey was the one to open the door and she didn't wait for a greeting before she was hugging Tim tighter than anyone had ever held him. Then another pair of arms were surrounding them both. Hailey chuckled and Dick said, "I'm glad you're here."
Dick released them and Tim cleared his throat. Dick and Hailey had no idea how much Tim had needed to know he was welcome. He may not officially be part of their family but they were family to Tim. He was going to go straight for Titan's Tower when he left his dad's home but he had a letter for Hailey from Bruce.
Hailey dragged him inside. "We watched your big rescue on the news," she said with a tone of disapproval in her voice. "What were you even doing there?"
"That's right, Timmy," Dick said and crossed his arms over his chest. "You were supposed to be upstate."
"Well, I was until school let out and I guess, I wasn't really thinking past wanting to find Bruce," Tim said giving Dick a meaningful look. Dick closed his eyes and sighed. "He, um, gave me a letter to give to you, Hailey." Tim sat down and rummaged through his bag for the letter.
"What?!" Hailey said in surprise. "Dad is in No-man's-land? What the heck is he doing there?"
"Well, I guess when he was heading back here from Washington, he flew a little too close, and well, he didn't really explain it all to me. But now he's stuck there." Tim waved a hand at the look of horror that crossed Hailey's face. "Don't worry. He's perfectly safe. And Alfred is with him. They're down in a bunker so they're not in any danger."
Hailey frowned but didn't say anything. Instead, she sat down to read her letter. She had tears running down her cheeks after reading the greeting. 'My dearest Hailey'. Dick placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it a little when she sniffled.
Dick gestured to Tim with his chin so that he would follow him into the living room. They sat on the sofa, each taking an armrest to rest their backs on them.
"Who was the person dressed as a bat?" Dick as Tim in a low voice. He hadn't spoken to Bruce since the man had infiltrated No-man's-land but seeing that Tim was there with him and even contacted Jack to pull the boy out, Dick realized Bruce didn't have any excuse not to call him.
"Uh, she's Batgirl," Tim said awkwardly, mimicking Dick's low tone. "Her real name is Cassandra Cain and I guess Bruce offered her protection from her father then gave her the suit. She's...uh, super tough. More intimidating than Batman, if you can believe that. But I guess it can't be helped since she doesn't talk much."
Dick pinched the bridge of his nose. "Barbara is not going to be happy about this."
"Well, it's not like she, uh, you know..." Tim said and then looked away feeling guilty.
Dick didn't say anything to that. Instead, he sighed and shook his head. "Well, I'm not opening that can of worms. That's between the two of them. So, were you heading somewhere, or are you planning to stay here?"
Dick decided not to ask why Tim wasn't with his father. And seeing that it was Jack that forced him out of No-man's-land, Dick could hazard a guess that their reunion wasn't a happy one. Especially seeing that Tim hadn't smiled much since his arrival. And Tim had always been a jovial kid since Dick had met him.
"I was heading to San Francisco," Tim said sitting up a little straighter. "You know, just until school starts up again."
"You should stick around for a few days," Dick said and looked over to where Hailey was still reading her letter. "She was really worried about you and she hasn't asked about Bruce at all. I think she's trying to spare my feelings. Maybe she'll open up to you. What do you say?"
"Uh, sure, I guess," Tim said feeling uncomfortable. "But I'm not as good as you with the talking about feelings or whatever."
Dick smiled at Tim and wrapped an arm around his shoulder to pull him closer to his side. "She doesn't need someone to talk to her. She needs a listening ear. And that, Timmy, is something you do better than me."
Dick was good at avoiding certain subjects. Such as the fact that Tim needed a listening ear as well. Dick knew that what kept Tim and Hailey from broaching certain subjects with him was the fact that they saw him as an adult. As an adult, they assumed he would give them advice that they didn't want to hear. Or that he would feel obligated to tell their parents everything they said to him about them. Even though that wasn't the case, he couldn't simply say it to them. He had to earn their trust and with time they would open up to him. One way of doing that was not to pry unless necessary. At the very least, for the time being, they had each other.
"Oh, well, when you put it that way," Tim said and relaxed.
"Thanks, Timmy."
Dick yawned loudly, stretching his arms up high. "I have an early start tomorrow, so I'm going to hit the hay," he said and leaned over to kiss Hailey on the top of her head while reaching out with his other hand to ruffle Tim's hair. "Good night, you two."
Tim rolled his eyes. Dick was being way too obvious about leaving them alone so that they could talk. Not that Hailey knew what he was up to.
"Night, Dick," Hailey said and Tim turned to look at her in surprise.
"Since when do you call him Dick?" Tim asked curiously in a low voice even though Dick was already in his room.
"What do you mean? That's his name," Hailey said with a roll of her eyes.
Tim snickered. "Yeah, but you used to get red in the face every time I asked you why you didn't call him Dick."
"Shut up," Hailey said shoving him.
Tim only laughed harder.
"Thank you."
"Huh?" Tim said sobering up. "For what?"
"The letter, duh," she said looking at her lap. "I haven't talked to my dad since before he went missing. But I overheard Dick talking to someone about him before the press announced that he'd gone missing. So I knew dad was okay, I just didn't know where he was or why. Now, I do, so thank you."
"Oh, yeah, sure," Tim said and looked away feeling a little guilty because he knew more about her dad than she did.
"My friend Billy told us that Batman was in No-man's-land," Hailey said a little excited. Tim turned to look at her but didn't show his surprise on his face. "The reporters thought that whoever helped you during your rescue was Batman, but I've seen Batman in person and that wasn't Batman, so who was it?"
"Oh, um, well, I think she calls herself Batgirl," Tim said, looking everywhere but Hailey's face.
"Batgirl all in black?" Hailey said excitedly. "That's cool."
"Yeah," Tim said with a small nod.
"You got to work with her?" Hailey said quickly.
"Yeah, a bit," Tim said and rubbed a hand on the back of his neck. "At first it was annoying cause she would jump in and take everyone out before I could—" Tim stopped talking and looked at Hailey mouth agape. He shook his head. "I mean, she saved me a couple of times but I didn't really need her help."
"Like that time you saved me when I thought I didn't need your help?" Hailey said with a raised eyebrow.
"How long have you known?" Tim said in an accusatory tone.
"Since that night that you saved me," Hailey said and shrugged. Tim frowned. He couldn't remember doing anything that would have given him away. Hailey noticed and hurried to explain. "I didn't figure it out right away. It wasn't until I went to bed that night that everything just sort of clicked into place. But...I figured you didn't want me to know so—"
"Actually," Tim cut in, "I wanted to tell you but Batman wouldn't let me. I was sort of hoping you would figure it out on your own. Because I always wanted to know if you knew who the previous Robin was because he was my hero and...um, I'm babbling, sorry."
"No, no, it's okay. I did know. He told me right before, you know."
"Oh, sorry," Tim said awkwardly.
"Don't worry about it. I'm just glad you're not all doom and gloom like you were when you first got here," Hailey said and Tim winced. "Yeah, it was super obvious. So, what happened that made you...?" Hailey made a sad face.
Tim chuckled. "I got into a fight with my dad. He knows that I'm..." Hailey nodded. "When he found out that I went into No-man's-land he had a conniption. You saw what he did to get me out. Instead of being happy that I was back, he just started to lecture me and tried to get me to give up being Robin again. So I told him he couldn't pretend to be my dad whenever he was scared of losing me just because mom died. Especially since I've done a great job of looking out for myself since I was a kid. I left after that."
"Woah," Hailey said and let out a breath. "That's heavy."
"Yeah," Tim said and shrugged. "He needed to hear it. We'll work it out later. For now, I'm just going to stay away until school starts again to give him time to get used to the fact that he can't make decisions about my life for me."
"I'm sorry, Tim," Hailey said and hugged him. Tim stiffened up but then just melted into the hug. "Is it bad that I'm glad he had a conniption and got you out of there so that you could deliver a letter to me from my dad?"
Tim chuckled and shook his head. "Nope, not at all," Tim said and sighed. Hailey pulled back to look at him. "Batman didn't want me to be there either after the Joker killed Gordon's wife. So it was probably for the best that my dad was able to get me out."
Hailey covered her mouth with her hand. She hadn't known the commissioner's wife but Gordon had always been kind to her. He didn't deserve to lose his wife like that. Especially after what happened to his daughter at the hands of the Joker. She idly wondered why Gordon hadn't killed that psycho yet.
"Once Gordon and Batman get back on track, I don't think it will be much longer before they have complete control. Afterward, all that will be left is for Washington to get their heads out of their asses to put Gotham back on the map."
Hailey knocked her knuckles against the coffee table. Tim let out a startled laugh and he copied her.
"You know, my mom used to do that all the time," Tim said with a small smile.
"So did my dad, uh, Jasper," Hailey said and wrung her hands together.
"You never talk about him," Tim said and rubbed his hand across his neck. "But I guess I don't talk about my mom either."
"I guess it's hard to talk about people you hardly knew, right?" Hailey said and sat back resting her head on the sofa back.
"Yeah," Tim said with a small nod. "She used to talk about you all the time..."
Just like that, they both opened up to one another. Slowly a knot that neither of them had known existed started to loosen inside their hearts. Two hours later, they were both chuckling and sniffling. The conversation had been a balm that allowed them to shed bittersweet tears over guarded memories of those they'd lost and would never forget. It was something that neither of them had known they needed but a young man—who was totally not listening in with tear-filled eyes—had known.