Wow... can't believe I cooked this one up so fast. Anywho, I just crammed a few psychiatrist sessions together because I want this part over quickly. Enjoy the reason why shrinks and Waynes do not usually get along.

Dick-17 Jason-13 Cass-12 Tim-9

Shrinks, Oh Joy

Jason glared with his arms folded across his chest at the woman on the other couch. Rosie Tolo wasn't it? The shrinky person who wouldn't let Dad sit in the sessions with Dick to make him feel better and instead made him sit next to his brother. Why did he have to play moral support? That was everyone else's job! He was supposed to make Dick miserable. It was part of the sibling contract.

Man he hated shrinks.

Not for the first time, that Tolo lady looked at him, trying to hide her annoyance at his presence. She didn't like him there either. Good. He didn't want to be there. If Cass and Tim weren't already set to visit the tailors for refitted school uniforms, one of them would be there! He didn't like the shrink Dad tried to get him to see after Joker, and he sure as hell was not gonna like this lady.

"Anything you'd like to add Jason?"

"Huh?" Confused, the teen realized he wasn't paying the slightest attention to what was being said. Dick was being told to recount what happened to him the first few weeks with Slade and what made him go with him, but it was all old news to him anyway. He knew all about the probes, about traveling in a semi cross country, and about him being trained near to death by the sadist. Dick became vague and quiet about things when they talked, but Dad said not to pry, especially if he didn't want prying into his issues. What did it have to do with him? "You talking to me?"

Dick choked on a laugh, relief coming to him after what must have been some tense memories. He did tell Jason earlier that he didn't have to listen to any of it, so he didn't. Tolo apparently wanted to use him and became very annoyed. "I was just asking if you feel Richard really should put your needs above his own. He seems compelled to constantly protect and watch over you and your siblings."

"You do?" Jason looked over to the older boy, who shrugged.

"Sorta? I mean I know you can protect yourself-"

"Damn straight."

"-but there are times I feel like I have to step in and... you know... run interference."

"Like that time with those rich wannabe punks?" Dick nodded and shrugged a little. "I could take 'em."

"Yeah, brilliantly at that." Jason gave him a look, making him throw up his hands. "Hey, I was actually thinking about some of those stunts you pulled and didn't get in trouble for. That thing in the attic last year, that prank on Hal that nearly backfired, when you tried flying on the chandelier back when-"

"As I recall, that one was your idea." Going down memory lane and all the wonderful dangerous things the two of them did was kinda unnerving, for their audience. It was more of a checklist for the two of them.

"No, actually that one was yours." Dick cringed momentarily as he refreshed his memory. "I only told Alfred it was my idea to keep you out of trouble. I mean, you were six. You were trying to prove you were as good as me in everything. You didn't know how hard it was or how dangerous it could be. So when you did it, I took the fall."

Jason rubbed his jaw, remembering that day in a haze. He was six after all. He cracked his jaw and lost two teeth from that fall, plus a few bruised ribs and sternum. If Dick didn't have signs of the same thing from when he was little in his X-rays, outsiders would have thought he was being abused and lied about it. What he really remembered was his first trip to the dentist afterwards. "That really what happened?"

"You kinda hit your head."

"Remember that bit."

"Back to the question," Dr. Tolo insisted, becoming impatient. "Do you feel it's right for Richard to put everyone else before himself?"

"Does it matter? Dick does what he wants."

"Look," Dick explained, "it's the older kids' job to protect the younger kids. That's the way it works."

"Does that mean Jason is obligated to take care of those younger than him as well?" The question made Dick anxious and Jason raise an eyebrow. Stupid question from a stupid lady.

"Well yeah, it is my job. When Dick was gone, I made sure Tim and Damian were okay."

"Was that really your job?" Dr. Tolo gave them a wary look, as if she was leading them to an answer they simply did not believe in.

Jason turned on Dick, glaring his annoyance. "I thought I was supposed to just be here for moral support."

"So did I." The older boy frowned, eyeing the lady with misgivings.

"Next thing we know she'll be asking us about our mothers and asking us if we wanted to sleep with them." He flopped further back into his cushions, looking at the ceiling despairingly. His brother caught on quick and they stared messing with the lady's head.

"Oh I did that all the time growing up. Small trailer. Not a lot of room for cribs, though they did rig a hammock when I got bigger. How about you?"

The lad shrugged. "Can't remember. Mom was usually sick so I don't think so."

"I thought your mother died in an explosion?"

Silence gripped the room at the psychiatrist's words. Dick just stared at her as if she was a feral beast, but it was nothing compared to Jason. He became perfectly still, every muscle in his body tense and ready to fight. Slowly he brought his chin down and looked the woman square in the eye, summoning death to her very soul.

"This is Dick's psychiatric session. Not mine. Bring her up again and there won't be any remains to bury. No body, no blood, no evidence, no case. And I will sleep like a baby."

"I see..." The woman jotted down a few notes then checked her creepy owl clock. It gave Dick a chance to breathe out and Jason to look towards the window. Just how hard would I be to send the lady through it and watch her fall ten stories?

Needless to say, Jason was not invited to any more sessions with Dr. Tolo.

Cass did not look up when the psychiatrist tried to get her attention. She was listening intently to Tess of the D'Urbervilles while reading the book, pushing through it. It was incessantly dry. If Barbara hadn't mentioned reading it for class once, she never would have bothered with it. Still she made it a goal to read the high school reading lists so she was prepared when she was required to later. Her memory was fairly good so she would be able to answer whatever questions were on the tests without having to read the whole thing a second time.

After this one though she was going to read the smaller books, or maybe something fun like Artemis Fowl. Or she could just take one of Jason's comic books. Anything but another dry classic.

It took Dick pulling one of her earbuds out to get her attention. "Hey, you listening?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, not at all impressed. "I thought this was your therapy session."

He rolled his eyes, tired. "It is."

"Then I'm not listening." She took her earbud back and put it in her ear, going back to her book. Too bad it was so horribly dry. She couldn't help but hear the next bit.

"Told you. She doesn't want to talk to you either."

"But according to her file, she was in a very similar position to yours."

"That was half a lifetime ago. And it's not like she'd want to remember any of it. Her life was pretty traumatizing."

"Have you tried talking to her about it?"

"I learned not to. She doesn't show it much, but Cass' got a temper. Besides, this is supposed to be my therapy session right? Why drag her into this? She has nothing to-"

"Maybe if you two talked about your experiences with each other, you would both benefit."

"Two for flinching." Both of them stopped when Cass spoke up again. She looked over her book at her brother and finished her idea. "Did he play it with bullets?"

Frozen for a moment, Dick hesitated to answer. The lady just stared at her as if she grew an extra head. Eventually the boy spoke. "No. He... washed me off with a fire hose."

"Hm. Explains your shower problems." She looked over to Dr. Tolo coldly. She did not like assessments like these. Often the girl could identify what that person really was without giving anything away. This woman was merely annoying, trying to get rid of everyone as soon as possible. Hardly helpful. "We were trained differently. Sharing will not help each other. Now let me read."

Finding no other way to object, Dr. Tolo could do nothing more than what she was told. If Cass was allowed back into a future session, she definitely would be bringing a more interesting book.

"This is supposed to be a therapy session, not study hall." Dr. Tolo pinched her nose, annoyed that Tim was there this time. Since the older two had done it, he insisted he get a turn. The catch was he had to bring something to do. He brought over his homework. Finals were coming soon and Tim was going to be top of his class before leaving the elementary school.

Honestly he didn't need help with it, but Dick was far more interested in the homework than in his therapy session. Tim looked up at her sheepishly from the coffee table. "Sorry..."

"Ease up!" Dick insisted, glaring slightly at her. "He's nine years old and doing sixth grade assignments. He's a freakin' genius, but he's not perfect. He needs help sometimes."

"Does he need help right now?" She cocked her head to the side, being all shrinky. "Or do you just need an excuse to be helpful and needed?"

"What are you implying?" The teen glared up at the lady, not liking what she was saying. Tim could tell from their tones that they were going to fight. Wonderful.

"That you create scenarios in which you must be the hero or protector in order to feel a sense of accomplishment in your life." Tolo's statement actually made sense to Tim, who nodded and shrugged along. Psychology wasn't that bad. Jason made it seem like torture. "I believe it stems from when you watched your parents die."

Both boys stilled at the comment, then fidgeted in almost an identical way. Let her say what she had to, but it wasn't anything they already didn't know. "You believe you failed to warn them of the impending danger and have since then determined to help and protect as many people as possible to make up for it. You are particularly protective of your own family and appointed yourself their exclusive bodyguard."

"Actually that's Bruce's role," Dick pointed out cheekily. "I just pick up the job when she's not around to help. Got it from him."

"And you hide your pain and thoughts through jokes and subtle evasion." She stared down the teen easily, making the kid between them a little uncomfortable. "Doing this isn't healthy Richard. You need to confront your problems and stop feeling responsible for your adoptive siblings."

"You honestly want me to just throw them away?!"

"That's not what I said."

"That's what you implied!"

"What I meant was, you need to stop putting them ahead of yourself all the time. Your own needs are important and-"

"So I should ignore the feelings of others and be a selfish little-"

"No, you should-"

"I was there too."

The two stopped arguing for a moment when Tim spoke up. He did it to stop the fighting, fast. They would never be able to fix anything until they stepped back and let the other complete a sentence. This was just two people misinterpreting what the other was saying. Hopefully he'd be able to distract and calm them down. He hated it when Dick got into arguments. His brother usually regretted it later. "I was there when Dick's parents fell."

"You what?" The doctor just gaped at the kid, surprised by his outburst. He was quite forward, unlike his brother

"Timmy..." Dick gave him a slightly pained look, clearly not wanting to remember much about that day.

Yet the boy continued. "I was really little and hardly remember it, but we have a picture back home of us and our parents meeting at the circus. Alfred said I learned to walk that day. My dad put me on the ground for a minute to talk to Dick's parents and I just started walking to Dick. Guess I always loved him."

The teen smirked sadly, yet a little fondly, as he watched his brother talk. "I promised to do a quad for you that day. Almost forgot about that."

"Dick was a good brother even before he was a brother," Tim went on. "I think even if his parents were still alive, he'd do everything he could to protect people. He was born in a circus, and they're always smiling for people, no matter what happens to them. It isn't bad for him or something to block out pain. It's just who he is! Can't you accept it? We do."

This silenced the woman completely, blinking and staring at the child. Seeing the gap in her endless talking, Tim decided to talk about what he heard their dad say when he was figuring out Slade's actions. He ended up looking up to his brother as he went on. "I'm guessing Deathstroke discovered this personality trait and decided to exploit it. I think it didn't matter who he infected with those probes, so long as he could prove it was a real threat. Dick wouldn't let anyone get hurt because of him. It was just more effective because we were the targets. He'd never want us to get hurt, ever."

"Darn straight." Without thinking, Dick swooped down and picked his baby brother up, hugging him and holding him close. Neither of them knew who needed it more, but it was appreciated on all sides. Tim held onto him and snuggled into the hold, relaxing a little. The building made him tense up earlier and their arguing only made it worse. "I'll never let anyone hurt you Timmy. Ever."

"Me neither."

Dr. Tolo watched the two of them for a good long minute in silence before sighing heavily and propping her head up with her arm, leaning to the side. "Looks like I've got a pair of white knights here. Alright, you don't have to put yourself first, but you do need to acknowledge you are not responsible for everyone's safety. Blaming yourself for what happened all the time is not going to help anyone, let alone you."

"Understood." The teen rested his chin on Tim's head, not letting go. "But it was my fault it happened. If Slade didn't want me, no one would have been at risk."

The woman sighed heavily. One step forward, two back? The boy whimpered at her obvious disappointment. They weren't making any progress? Weird. Dick seemed alright when he was around them. What did she think was so wrong with him?

Watching the kid for a minute, the psychiatrist mumbled. "Maybe we should have sessions at your house instead. Your siblings are clearly distracting you and feeding your neglected issues."

"No they're not!" "No we're not!"

Sighing once again, the woman rubbed her head. Things weren't going the way she planned. Too bad. They had their brother back and that was all that mattered. Traumatized yes, but at heart he hadn't changed. Dick was still Dick, and they were going to keep him no matter what.

Tim was starting to see why the others didn't like shrinks.

A/N: heh heh... so the sessions are not going well. I'm mostly guessing with psychiatry so please don't bite my head off too much. You won't be seeing many sessions in the future. I love how each session showed how they all were and how they interacted. Jason decides to threaten the shrink when she brings up something he doesn't want to talk about yet both he and Dick just compare notes. Cass mostly ignores what's going on and Dick leaves her alone to do her own thing (note how Jason didn't feel responsible for her at all. Everyone knows she can take care of herself and they rarely have to protect her at this point). And Tim's just trying to do homework at first, eventually defending Dick while trying to make everything better. Dick just gets to be protective with the last one. So much fun.

Tess really was a dry book. I had to read it for class once and I could not get through it. Scarlet Pimpernel though, that was so good I could not put it down. Short, fast, romantic, funny, and action packed. if you have to choose between the two for a paper, read Scarlet Pimpernel.

All that aside, poll on profile. I'll put up another story with Dr. Tolo as soon as I can. TTFN!