Synopsis: Someone has stolen all the money from the Wayne Foundation Youth Charity Fund. Batman and Red Hood go after the man who did it. While doing research on the thief, Tim is hit by a mysterious beam from an odd weapon sitting on a shelf and is de-aged. Oh boy, what are they going to do with a four-year-old Tim?

Part 32: Searching in Vain

A few hours later, the Wayne family did their own searching. They knew Tim would probably stay away from the road, but he would also need to keep the road in sight. They spread out on both sides of the road with flashlights in hand. Then they heard Jason shout out.

"I found something!"

Dick reached Jason first. "That's Tim's backpack."

"Someone must have picked him up and he tried to get away."

"Not another kidnapping," Dick replied. "We can't deal with another kidnapping."

"I doubt that," Damian stated. "Drake was probably picked up and taken into town, or they might have taken him home with him. Drake isn't going to give away any information."

"But which is it? And which direction could they have gone?"

Jason smirked at how Dick had said the words. There was almost near panic, and the Talon in Dick was also showing through. Jason could tell that the Talon would want to rip the person apart if they found Tim. "Easy, Double D, we'll find Tim."

"Let's show this to Bruce."

Jason. Damian, and Dick returned to the house to show the rest what they found.

"Alfred," Dick called out.

"Any luck, Master Richard?"

"No, we did find Tim's backpack."

"It contains only the clothes that I bought him," Jason stated.

"There's some money in the pocket."

"I don't understand," Dick mentioned. "We were having so much fun together."

"You were having so much fun," Damian pointed out.

"All of you have been so selfish," Sasha said as she came into the room. "As someone from the outside looking in, it's obvious to me what Tim really wanted."

Jason and Dick stared at Sasha with blank eyes. Damian crossed his arms and turned his head, now feeling ashamed having yelled at Tim.

"He wants to be returned to normal, but you were so wrapped up in the fact that he looked so adorable, you didn't take into account how much this would hurt Samantha and Tim's children, not to mention Damian becoming jealous because of all the attention you are giving him. And now he's gone."

Sasha's words cut right to the point.

"You're right, we have been selfish. It's just that . . . "

"No excuses," Sasha pointed out. "This shows you have no imagination, or respect for Tim's feelings, or his wife's. You all should be ashamed of yourselves. How many times has Tim tell you that he wanted to be back to normal?"

"Um," Dick started to answer.

"That is a retoracle question, not dignifying it with an answer. A few days is enough, but within those few days, Tim's been kidnapped, yelled at, rejected by one of his twins, his skull cracked from slipping in the tube, and almost taken home by a different person in the mall!"

"Wait, what?" Damian was surprised to hear that, along with Dick.

"Sasha, you promised not to mention that," Jason said.

"I'm sorry, Jason."

"That wasn't my fault, someone else grabbed his stroller."

"And you did track him down," Sasha replied, "Which was the right thing to do as a big brother. My point is, all this happened because no one wanted to turn Tim back to normal."

"Sasha," Dick started out. "You don't have to remind us anymore. We screwed up. We were being selfish, but now we have another problem. Tim's out there and someone has him. And we're not sure how to find him."

"Well, you can start by reading his note that he left."

"Exactly," Alfred interjected. "You all rushed out of the house so quickly you didn't give me a chance to read the note."

"What does the note say?" Jason asked. "I never saw it."

Instead of reading the note in its entirety, Alfred got to the most important part, where Tim was heading. "Master Timothy left to see if Ms Zatanna could assist him in returning to normal."

"Zatanna, hasn't she been gone for a while?"

"Yeah, and her house is enchanted," Dick replied. "It won't show itself while she's gone. It's to prevent intrudoers."

'Well, that's idiotic," Damian replied. "Drake doesn't know that."

"It's obvious he never got there since somene picked him up along the road."

"We'll need to fan out and see if there are any nearby homes between here and Gotham who might have taken him in."

"That's going to take a while," Jason said.

"We need to get started," Damian stated. "Since Father may not be back until Monday, unless there's some other world crisis he's got to face with the Justice League, that leaves us on our own."

'Perhaps it might be wise if I were to knock on those nearby homes," Alfred stated. "I might know who lives in them, and I can speak with the servants. They might know more than the homeowners."

"You'd do that?" Dick asked.

"Of course, Master Richard," Alfred replied. "All of you boys are like my grandsons. I would be remiss if I didn't assist."

"What about Samantha and Sasha?"

"I'll help," Sasha said, "If you promise not to speak for me when I'm standing right next to you."

"I don't think Samantha is in any frame of mind to help," Dick pointed out. "Someone has to stay with the children while we're conducting the search."

"We can trade off," Jason stated.

"That's a good idea," Dick pointed out. They all had small children that needed them, except for Damian. "Actually, we can all trade off. If Samantha might be able to locate Tim's aura, we would know in an instant where he is, but ever since this happened, she can't sense his aura."

"That's bad," Damian pointed out. "She won't know if Drake is being harmed in any way."

"So, it's still up to us."

"Yeah, let's just hope Tim's in a better place."

Continues with Part 33: Fostering New Relationships