An odd ending, because this chapter somehow didn't want to end :P
Whatever Roy expected from this little escapade, it certainly wasn't this.
He got a message from Jason earlier that day, requesting for a meeting at the new shopping center, because Jason wanted to show him something. And since Jason kept low profile these past few days, Roy was equally curios and dreaded of what was going on.
Roy barely put his foot inside the center, sighing in resignation at the sight of the crowded people bustling around, when he heard his name being called. His head snapped in that direction and his blood boiled.
There was a man, holding a small boy and trying to shut him up. When that didn't work he backhanded him, letting the kid fell down.
Roy doubled his efforts in reaching them, not even paying attention to the gun, until he had the fucker unconscious on the floor with the crowd cheering and clapping. He took a couple calming breaths, looking around and spotting security coming their way. A few looked awfully familiar. Roy wasn't hanging much around Gotham, but even he could recognize some of Red Hood's men. Briefly he wondered what they were doing here, but he decided to think about it later and focused on the kid.
The boy was curled up, gasping for breath and had tears streaming down his face from tightly shut eyes.
Roy gritted his teeth and sorely regretted knocking the man out so quickly. He knelt down and reached for the boy, who flinched away.
"Whoa, kid," Roy said, a little surprised at such strong reaction. "Calm down. You're safe. I promise."
"Roy," the kid muttered hoarsely, wiping his eyes.
Roy narrowed his eyes. How the kid knew his name? He looked closely at the boy, suspicion forming in his mind at the familiar look of him. Black hair, blue eyes, Red Hood t-shirt, blue jeans, red hoodie. Wait. What? Red Hood shirt? There were Red Hood themed shirts? The suspicion evolved from Batman taking in another stray to the kid being Jason's actual child. Oh, boy. No. Nope. Not happening. This was merely a coincidence and whatever Jason wanted to show him had to be related to his men being there.
"What about Megan?" the boy asked.
Roy glanced at the little girl being fussed over by a woman, who he vaguely remembered claiming to have a medical training and was checking her for injures. The kid followed his gaze and then frowned in confusion at the security guards. Filling that for thinking about later, Roy asked if the boy was hurt.
"Okay, little guy," he soothed, running his hand through the boy's hair. If the man wasn't already dragged away by the guards he would kill him. "Stay still, this nice lady will check you over in a minute."
"No," the kid protested, struggling to sit up.
Roy tried to keep him laying down, but the boy was stubborn and eventually Roy let him win the struggle in fear he was doing more damage keeping him moving around.
"I'm okay. Just bruises," the kid reassured.
Roy resisted the urge to scream at him in worry and instead tried to calmly explain to him in baby terms, that he could be gravely injured. It seemed to annoy the kid for some reason.
"Nothing's broken," the boy almost snapped. "I know how that feels."
The implications of that statement did nothing to reassure the redhead. Quite the opposite.
"What?" Roy growled, more than ready to tear apart whoever thought it was okay to lay a hand on the child.
The kid eyed him speculatively and then visibly crumbled with a whimper of his name.
Now Roy just had to know.
"How do you know my name?" he asked.
But instead of answering, the kid crawled into his lap and latched onto his neck. Roy's fatherly instincts kicked in and he wrapped his arms around the boy, rubbing his back in comfort.
"Shhh, kiddo," he crooned softly."It's okay now."
Roy felt the kid shaking his head, before demanding a Jason and starting crying in earnest. He froze, because the boy couldn't mean Jason Todd, the Red Hood. He just couldn't. Not when Roy finally convinced himself, that meeting the kid was just a total accident.
He sighed heavily in resignation and tried to calm the kid down. Somebody put a hand on his arm and he turned to see the woman finished with Megan and now wanted to check on the boy. The security guard, who watched them lowered himself to one knee and started asking the little girl questions.
"I'll take him," the woman prompted, extending her hands expectantly.
Fuck. The last thing Roy wanted was to hand the boy over to a complete stranger. But if it was indeed Jason's kid, he would kill the redhead for not allowing him to be checked over for injures. With a heavy heart Roy untangled the child from him and transferred the boy into woman's waiting hands.
The kid started to scream a bloody murder the second Roy let go. Roy winced and quickly stepped aside to make a call, leaving the startled woman to console the little guy.
Roy pulled the phone from his pocked and selected Jason's number, nervously waiting for him to pick up, which he did almost immediately.
"What?" was growled at him.
"Did you lose something?" Roy asked vaguely. He didn't want to make a fool of himself, if the kid was actually a complete stranger.
"He's with you?" Jason asked at once. Roy didn't miss his relieved tone of voice.
"Yeah," the redhead managed before Jay was demanding where they were. "Near the main entrance from the parking lot, but we might go to the security office."
"On my way," Jason replied and hung up.
Roy sighed, pocketing his phone and turned back to his charge. And cringed.
The kid was red in the face, clearly hyperventilating and struggling. The poor woman was pale and confused and barely managed not to drop him.
Roy quickly crossed to them and whisked the boy from her. He wrapped his hands around him, talking soothingly. It did nothing to calm the kid down. A few minutes later Roy was getting desperate and started considering knocking the boy out. Fortunately Jason showed up, practically flying through the crowd towards them, Tim and Damian hot on his heels.
Roy barely opened his mouth before Jason grabbed at the kid and hugged him so tightly to his chest, that Roy worried the boy would suffocate.
"Hey, hey," Jason soothed. "I'm here. It's okay."
The kid sobbed with relief, latching onto Jason just as tightly as he was being held. The panicked, terrified screaming, turned to a normal baby crying as Jay rocked back and forth.
"Are you the father?" the woman asked. Why was she still hovering here?
Jason nodded distractedly, busy with calming the kid down.
Roy felt very faint. Oh, God, it was Jason's kid! But how?! Jason was too young to have a kid this age.
Tim sighed and pulled his phone out, typing something quickly.
Roy supposed he was texting Bruce to let him know Jason managed not to kill his own son yet. The redhead barely suppressed the hysterical laugh, that bubbled up in his chest at the thought.
"My name is Patricia Lacy," the woman introduced herself. "I'm a nurse at Gotham General. I'd like to check your son over. He might be hurt."
"What?" Jason's head snapped up. Tim and Damian gave the woman their undivided attention too.
"Yeah," Roy nodded. "He was being kidnapped, I think. And the kidnapper hit him and then kicked him. I recon in the ribs?"
Jason looked positively homicidal.
"He said it's just bruises and he could move well enough on his own," Roy quickly added. "So..."
"Still," the woman insisted, "I'd like to check. Your son was too agitated earlier for me to examine him."
Roy saw Jason considering the offer for a moment and then reluctantly he nodded.
"Hey," he nudged the kid in his arms, who almost stopped crying. "This nice lady will check if you're hurt, okay?"
"I'm fine," the boy sniffed.
"I wasn't asking," Jason countered.
The kid slumped in defeat, so Jason took this as his cue to untangle the child from around him, narrowing his eyes at the bruise, that started forming on boy's cheek. Then there was a moment of silence, when nobody moved. Jason raised an eyebrow.
"Well?" he prompted.
"Oh," the woman rushed forward, flustered a bit. She was clearly expecting for the child to be handed over to her. Ha, as if!
First, she examined kid's face, then she smoother her hands down his sides and grabbed at the hem of the shirt. The kid instantly flinched away with a protesting noise and went back to clinging to Jason.
"What the hell are you doing?" Jay growled.
"I'm sorry," the woman backed off. "I just wanted to see his ribs for better assessment."
Roy noticed his friend starting to lose his patience as his child grew more distressed by the second. Holy shit! Jason had a kid. What was his name? How old he was? Who was his mother?
"I think you're done here, harlot," Damian ordered.
"Excuse me?" the woman blinked down at him, stunned.
"Are you deaf as well as stupid?" the little Wayne snorted. "Go away. Now!"
"Damian," Tim warned the boy and smiled apologetically at Patricia. "Sorry about that. He still needs to work on his manners. We appreciate your concern. We'll get him checked over by our family doctor immediately."
Someone cleared their throat next to them. Everyone looked at the security guard. He was watching them, keeping a little girl close to him.
"Excuse me," the guard said, "but this child needs to come with me. And you too, mister," he gestured at Roy. "We need to confirm your identities before we hand the kids over to you."
"Understandable," Jason nodded and started to walk in the direction of the security office.
Damian tutted and followed.
"Shall we?" Tim asked with a tired smile.
Roy shrugged and started walking.