GOTHAM CITY

NOVEMBER 9TH 2010 18:47 EST

From: Nerdy Birdie

meet me on your roof asap

Honeybee stood on the roof of her building, dressed in full hero garb, foot tapping impatiently as she waited for her friend to arrive. Only Heaven knew why he wanted to meet her on her roof of all things and especially so urgently, as there were about a thousand better places to meet.

Honeybee put her hands on her hips and looked out at the Gotham skyline. She had spent marginally less time up here on this roof versus the one of her old one, having not needed to train on the rooftop. Seeing as she had the Cave and more room in her current apartment to spar. The view from this was pretty nice, it was at the edge of the Narrows, and she could just barely make out the very end of the thin river that separated the Narrows from the rest of Gotham.

She ran a hand through her hair, which was starting to grow out to be at the nape of her neck. She wondered if she should get it cut soon or let it grow. She had cut it right after her mother had died and kept it this length for the past year – maybe it was time to let it grow again.

She heard movement behind her, and she turned to see the masked form of Robin in front of her. Robin had a thin smile, one not quite fake but quite real either. Honeybee chalked it up to Zatanna's situation, they were all feeling down after the sacrifice of Zatara and the tragic circumstances that Zatanna now found herself in. It was a situation that Honeybee did not envy – to have a parent gone, but not dead. Still out there but unreachable. It must be unbearably painful.

"Hey Bee," Robin greeted, one hand on his hip. Honeybee grinned.

"Hey Rob," Honeybee returned. Honeybee scraped her foot on the ground and bit her lip curiously. "So, uh, what's so important?"

Robin's smile fell just a little bit, and Honeybee felt an alarm bell go off in her head. Something felt off about this. Robin hardly ever called her to meet up, and he couldn't quite bring himself to smile, something he nearly was always doing.

"I, uh, wanted to talk to you about something," Robin said. "I wasn't sure – didn't know – how to reach y—"

"Robin," Honeybee interrupted, "it's alright. Whatever it is, you can tell me."

Why was Robin so nervous? Robin was never nervous. It just wasn't in his nature, he was a happy, confident fellow. For Robin to be nervous, it made Honeybee think something was really wrong.

Robin swallowed thickly.

"It's – it's about Jason," Robin got out. Honeybee started. Jason? What was wrong with Jason? Why did Robin - no, no. Something was wrong. Something was wrong.

"Jason?" Honeybee demanded. "Is he okay? Why is he – dear Lord, he was hurt wasn't he, you two found him? Oh, I just knew something like this would happen –"

Her thoughts were swimming, she could hardly collect them into something coherent. The fishes of thought swimming in the depths of her brain could not remain on a straight path, they kept veering off into worse and worse scenarios about what could have happened to Jason. About how and why Batman and Robin got involved once again in Jason's life.

"Hey," Robin interrupted her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, it's okay. He's okay."

Honeybee took a shuddering breath she didn't know she was holding in and brought her hand to her mouth. Jason was okay. But that fact only made her brow furrow and her lips purse. If they were okay, then what could they possibly have to say about Jason? What could be happening?

"He really is okay?" Honeybee asked. Robin nodded softly, comfortingly, and Honeybee gulped the air thickly. "Then – then why do you need to talk to me about him?"

Robin hushed at this question and shifted uncomfortably on his feet.

"It mi-might be easier if I show you."

Two tiny hands, a pair of eyes
An unsung melody is mine for safekeeping
And I will guard it with my life
I'd hang the moon for it to shine on her sleeping
Starting here and starting now
I can feel the heart of how
Everything changes

GOTHAM CITY

NOVEMBER 9TH 2010 19:53 EST

Jason sat in a chair in the Batcave, feeling a stubborn need to be doing something rising in him. Batman was fiddling about, typing on his computer, and Jason sat, feeling mostly ignored as he waited on a stool. He swung his legs and looked around the Batcave again, trying once again to justify what was happening to him.

He had tried to steal the tires off the Batmobile after the adults came back, figuring selling them metal would be enough to earn him some money to be on the streets for a few days. Then all of the sudden, Batman shows up and takes him to the Batcave, and he seems to already know everything about his life and situation. The only thing that he didn't seem to know was that Mom was de-gone, and that he was no longer with Betty.

Everything else he knew with scary accuracy. About Mom's less than stellar parenting skills when she had been alive, his dad in jail, hell, he even knew about Christopher and his brief stint at his apartment and the running away that followed suit. It was scary as shit, seeing how much this man knew about him despite having never met him before. Was this just how Batman operated? Knew everything about everyone?

Batman had said that Honeybee had told him about Jason, but there was no way that Betty had told Batman all of this about him. It had taken her months to reveal to him the secret of her identity and he knew she was still keeping secrets about it. Maybe it was different between the masked heroes, maybe there were no secrets, but something told Jason that wasn't true.

He had spent all his time since arriving at the Batcave under the watchful gaze of Batman or the man they called Agent A – a tall, older man wearing a domino mask who brought down something to eat with him. He didn't understand why they kept him here, why he was brought here in the first place. Didn't they have better things to do than keep watch of a ten-year old kid? Being Batman and everything?

A roaring sound echoed through the Cave, and Jason turned to see from down the tunnel leading outside was a motorcycle painted in red and black, two figures on it. The first was Robin, who was driving it. Robin had been in and out of the Cave ever since Jason had been brought inside of it, never staying for long. He had said maybe two words directly to Jason in the whole time, which put a sour feeling in Jason's stomach.

But when he saw the second person on the motorcycle, the sour feeling disappeared as he realized that Betty was here. Betty, dressed in her Honeybee uniform, was hanging onto Robin, arms around his middle and head on his shoulder. They lingered for just a moment, Honeybee looking around the room in awe.

"This is the Batcave?" Honeybee asked. Jason rocked in his chair and furrowed his brow. Hadn't Honeybee been to the Batcave before?

"Pretty cool, right?" Robin said. Honeybee let go of him and swung her legs over the side of the motorcycle, slipping onto the metal floor with ease. Her boots clicked on the floor, and Robin turned off the motorcycle.

Batman spun around from where he was working on the computer, his cowl pinching between his eyes as he watched the newcomers in the cave. There was a calmness about him that told Jason that he was expecting them, but the furrow also spoke of a bit of unsureness of Honeybee being here.

Honeybee took another step forward, and then looked in Jason's direction and froze in her spot. Jason saw emotions fly by in her face, too fast for him to catch them all. Shock. Happiness. Confusion. That was just a few of them.

"Jason?" Honeybee whispered. Jason nodded and got up from his stool, rubbing his arms wearily as he stared up at the closest thing he had to a sister.

"Hey," Jason whispered in turn. Honeybee smiled wide and rushed to him, wrapping him into a tight hug. He was raised off the ground, his feet teetering in the air as Honeybee squished him closer to her.

"Oh, I've missed you so much!" Honeybee said. Jason and Honeybee stayed like that for a long moment, neither Robin nor Batman saying anything to break the two of them apart. Jason didn't mind it, despite the current predicament of not being on the ground. In the short few days since he had last seen Betty, he had missed her deeply as well.

Jason leaned into the hug, wrapping his arms around her neck and burying his face into her shoulder. It felt nice to have her back again, if only for a few minutes.

Eventually, Honeybee had to put him down. Honeybee gently lowered him back to the ground and let go of him. She bit her lip in confusion and turned to Batman, who was walking towards the two of them now.

"What is Jason doing here?" Honeybee asked. She shook her head. "What am I doing here? You've never let me into the Batcave before."

"I found Jason almost two nights ago," Batman explained. "He was trying to steal the tires off my car."

"He did what?" Honeybee turned on Jason, surprise and anger in her face. Jason had known that Honeybee would disapprove of his actions when he done it. But he had done it anyway, and he wasn't going to hang his head in shame over it.

"Technically I was trying to steal the hubcaps," Jason pointed out. "Don't lie on me Mr. Batface."

Robin held back a laugh poorly, covering his mouth with his hand. Jason looked at him. Maybe this Robin kid wasn't so bad, he seemed to have a sense of humor at least.

"He had run away from his foster home," Batman continued. "As there are no current missing persons report for him, I'm assuming they haven't noticed yet."

Oh yeah, that was just as Jason had suspected. His foster parents were quite obviously just taking in kids for the government check. Jason was willing to be it would be a day or two before they remembered to even check for him.

Jason crossed his arms and sat back down on the stool, while Honeybee stood motionless, hands on her hips as she took in this information. They had been down this road with Mom. That was the whole reason Jason was staying with Betty in the first place. Jason had loved his mom despite all her failings, but he was not stupid enough to think she deserved a mother of the year award. Love was complicated like that.

"So, you've kept him…. here?" Honeybee asked, motioning around the room. "In the Batcave?"

"Yes," Batman said simply. Batman crossed over to Honeybee, and Honeybee looked up at him with an angered tint to her expression. Jason could sense the tension between the two of them, something that surprised Jason. He had thought that Honeybee and Batman would get along, seeing as she was close enough to him to tell him and Robin about her personal life. "He's been well taken care of. Agent A has made sure he's been well-fed, and he hasn't been alone for a single minute."

Jason knew that had more to do with making sure he didn't get it into things he shouldn't instead of concern for his well-being. For some godforsaken reason Jason was allowed inside the Batcave, but he was not to privy to the secrets it contained.

"Agent A?" Honeybee said, raising a brow. "Who the hell is Agent A?"

"That would be me," Agent A said, appearing at the foot of the stairs leading up to wherever it was that he assumed Agent A, Robin, and Batman lived as civilians.

Honeybee blinked as the elderly man walked forward, a domino mask securely in place, but other wise he was dressed in an old-fashioned suit, nary a stain or wrinkle in sight.

"It is a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Miss Honeybee," Agent A said. "I've heard much about you in the past few years."

"Uh…," Honeybee stammered, "it's nice to meet you too."

Agent A nodded and pivoted into the medical center of the cave, where a bed had been set up for Jason to sleep in during his time here. Agent A disappeared behind the wall, and Honeybee stared after him, confused, but then shook her head and turned back to Batman.

"Why, exactly, have you done that?" Honeybee wondered. Batman hesitated for a moment and Robin crossed his arms, his smile thinning.

"Because I plan to train him as the next Robin."

"I'm sorry you plan to do what?" Honeybee demanded at the same time that Jason blurted out, "Holy shit."

Jason did not understand what the hell was happening. How did they get to this point? Where Batman was announcing intentions to train him as a Robin when Robin was right there and Honeybee was just as shocked as he was?

"I've reviewed his past, his school files, everything about him," Batman explained. "I believe he has potential, if he is properly trained."

Honeybee shook her head, face colored red.

"No, no," Honeybee said. "Yo-you don't – you can't just pick kids off the street and decide to make them vigilantes-in-training!"

"Hell yeah he can," Jason cut in. Jason wanted to help, he wanted to be like Betty and Robin and Batman. He was totally prepared for that. Especially since Betty had refused to do it herself, and here Batman was basically inviting him to do it.

Honeybee turned to Jason, horrified.

"You're ten years old!" Honeybee said. At this Robin piped up, putting a hand on Betty's shoulder.

"I was nine. You were eleven," Robin defended, and Honeybee turned on him now too.

"And we should have waited!" Honeybee yelled. "We-we were just kids. And-and –" Honeybee cut herself off, her breath catching in her throat. She brought a hand to her chest and turned away from all of them, not daring to look any of them in the eye.

"It's just training for right now, Honeybee," Batman explained. "I have no intentions of throwing him out into the field without the proper tools or training."

Jason stood and walked over to Honeybee. He stood beside her for a moment, unsure what to say or do, when he took her hand in his and gave it a squeeze.

"I won't be like your mom," Jason whispered.

It hadn't taken a detective to figure who Waspia was once Betty told him her secret. Her mother dies and she moves in with her aunt at the same time Waspia dies and Honeybee goes into retirement? Waspia had to have been her mother, and he could tell she was still grieving that loss and was nervous about losing him too. Hell, Jason was only a few days out from losing his mom and he was nervous about losing Betty and Miss Melody as well.

But Jason wasn't Betty's mom. He wouldn't let himself be. He couldn't bring himself to break Betty's heart that way by leaving her the same way their mothers had left them.

Honeybee squeezed his hand back and then turned to look at him, and a thousand words were said in the silence. That Honeybee was afraid of many things, not limited to losing Jason. And that's the real reason she had refused to train him so thoroughly. Betty had never seemed more fragile than she had in this moment, a pale reflection of her usual confident self.

"He'll be staying here with me," Batman said. "Not just in the Batcave, but here in my home. I am a foster father, and would be eligible to take him in."

This really got Betty's attention.

"H-he would be safe? With you?" Betty asked. Batman nodded.

"Of course, Betty," Batman said. Betty's eyes widened and then she sighed, pulling off her mask, revealing her deep brown eyes.

"I guess we're using real names then?" Betty replied. Betty crossed her arms behind her back and sighed, looking down at Jason. Betty sighed deeply and shut her eyes.

"Jason, do you trust him?" Betty asked quietly. Jason blinked. It was Batman, a part of him wanted to believe all of this was real. That he could trust Batman with what that he was saying, that he was going to follow through on the promises. But the truth was, he was hesitant. He had been burned by people before.

But he trusted Betty. He trusted that she trusted Batman with information about him. That Betty would never give out the truth of his life to just anyone, that she would only give it to someone she trusted with her life.

"I trust you," Jason admitted. "And you trust him."

And that was good enough for him.

I didn't know, but now I see
Sometimes what is, is meant to be
You saved me
My blurry lines, my messy life
Come into focus and in time, maybe
I can heal, and I can breathe
'Cause I can feel myself believe

GOTHAM CITY

NOVEMBER 9TH 2010 21:05 EST

Dick Grayson was Robin.

Dick Grayson was Robin.

Dick Grayson was Robin.

In an effort of trust, Batman had revealed himself as Bruce Wayne ("Betty, what the fu—" "Don't you dare finish that sentence!"), and that immedailty set off an alarm bell in Betty's head. And then once her alarm bells stopped going off, she realized that her friend Dick Grayson, Bruce's adopted ward, then must be Robin.

She turned round on her friend, who had peeled off his mask already, looking sheepishly away from her.

All those months where Dick had been her friend? Dick had known the whole time? Through everything? After the exercise? That must have been why he stuck by her in the library. Why he was silent when they both needed, why he sought her out during that time.

Now Betty thought back to all the times that Betty had seen Dick tired in the first period. Bags under his eyes – she had chalked it up to late night studying. The way he would disappear for periods or days, wouldn't pick up his phone during common patrol times. All of it, it all made sense now.

All those missions they had went on. Everything they had done as a Team, she had done it with her friend by her side. Not just Robin, but Dick. One in the same. She had years of history with him, and she hadn't known it.

Betty smiled and laughed under her breath. Of course, it was. Of course. There was no other option. Who else would it be? Someone so mischievous and humorous had to be Robin, and Dick fit the bill perfectly.

Betty launched forward and wrapped him in a hug, which he was too shocked to respond to it.

"I'm glad it's you."

So I swear I'll remember to say we were both born today
'Cause everything changed

NORTH AMERICAN HEMISPHERE

NOVEMBER 11TH 2010 23: 37 EST

Honeybee avoided the laser directed her way, dropping to the ground in a crouch. Five snow fortresses had been spotted hovering most of Northern America, covering it completely in snow. And of course, because their job can never be simple, the fortresses were heavily armed, which made stopping them even more complicated.

One thing special about this mission though was that the Team and the Justice League had not been split, rather instead, the League and the Team were working together side-by-side. Her, Robin, and Aqualad had been assigned here with Batman and Aquaman, to the first fortress.

Honeybee rolled out of the way rose back to standing position and saw Robin just a few feet away, launching birdarangs at their target to bring it down. Honeybee narrowed her eyes and looked over her shoulder at the laser sending light blue colored blasts their way. She smiled to herself, a plan forming in her head.

"Robin!" she called out. Robin turned to her, birdarang ready to launch in his hand. "Maneuver seven!"

Robin caught onto her plan and raced forward, stepping into the small crevice she had made with both of her hands. Honeybee helped propel him backwards into a somersault, which he used to avoid the laser directed his way. Honeybee shivered in the cold wind and turned around.

She raced forward toward the laser; its target currently being focused on Robin at the moment. Using the ice from the cold weather, she used it skid past the laser, dropping two stingers into it, which activated and shut down from the small EMPs inside of it.

Robin, for extra measure, landed on top of it, inserting the birdarang before jumping off. It exploded into pieces with a boom, and she was for once thankful for the heat the explosion gave off. She may be in her polar stealth suit, but she was still freezing.

"How do you think KFs doing?" Honeybee asked. Robin and her raced forward toward another laser to dismantle it. Batman was already working on it, currently trying to find a way closer between the laser's blasts directed his way.

"Glum," Robin answered, taking out two birdarangs. Wally had been assigned a different mission than the rest of them. Due to his super speed, he was assigned to help transport a donor heart from Boston to Seattle. Kid Flash had been none too excited for his personal Grey's Anatomy experience, having wanted to come along on this mission, especially since it was his birthday.

A part of her felt bad for Wally having to miss the mission, but for once in her life she found herself….happy. Just genuinely happy. She may be on a mission to help save North America, but the rest of her life was fine. Jason was in a good home, she had friends by her side, her aunt had a great job, and her grades at school weren't too bad either.

For once, everything felt perfect for a moment.

But that moment eventually had to end.

Chapter Bible Verse:

"He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: But he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction. " – Proverbs 13:3S

Slightly shorter chapter following the slightly larger one last time, but honestly, it just felt right. I only briefly touched on "Coldhearted" because honestly, it's Kid's episode to shine, so there wasn't a lot for HB to do aside from the mission, which could be covered quite easily in the brief blurb.

What do y'all think of the Jason section? It's some of my favorite writing to come out of this fic, but I'm excited to hear what y'all think about it.

Song excerpts are from "Everything Changes" from Waitress: The Musical.

Review Replies:

MsRosePetal: This chapter was the culmination of the Jason storyline, now it's time for the resolution with some training for our buddy Jason. I tried to write this relationship between Jason and the Batfam has realistically as possible regarding the taking in and the reveals and everything. And I'm glad you were able to put the pieces together! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thanks for leaving a review, have a blessed day!

Questions, comments, or concerns, let me know! Have a blessed day!

-PrincessChess