Also not a continuation of the storyline, but I've been sick. So this happened. I think someone wanted to see Jason sick before. I plan on other sick stories of course, but this is a fun one. I just noticed something I do when I'm sick, and I thought Jason would too. Enjoy!

Jason - 9

Cold Misunderstandings

Mrs. Picard did not like it. For the past few days, Jason Wayne was really quiet. The first day it was a blessing. The kid was usually really loud. Two days in a row made her wonder. This was the third day and he hardly made a peep. Coming from a public school system not too long ago, she learned what it meant if an outspoken child suddenly shut up.

"Jason, would you wait here a moment?" It was the beginning of lunch period, the perfect time to catch the boy for a few minutes. He gave her a confused look, clearly wanting to run out and eat instead of hanging out with the teacher, but he already had a few strikes against him. He couldn't keep sassing her without getting into more trouble. So he stayed with her as the class emptied for the lunch line. He gave her a 'what do you want' look, still not speaking. "Jason, I was just wondering if anything was wrong."

Still confused, the boy shook his head 'no'. Taking a deep breath, she tried again. "Are you sure? You don't seem yourself."

"I'm fine." For a moment, she thought she heard something in his voice. A cry for help? He moved his tongue around in his mouth and spoke again. "Can I go now? I'm hungry."

Sighing, she let him go. She'd have to try again before he went to recess in the afternoon.

"Jason," Mrs. Picard called before he could leave with the others. He seemed a bit sluggish but he turned to her anyway, placid. Something really was wrong. He wasn't being cocky or goofing off with the rest of his class. Something had to be going on at home. "Would you mind coming to the nurse's office with me?"

It took a moment for the idea to register with his brain, but when it did his eyes widened dangerously. "I'm fine!" Despite trying to shout, Jason's voice was pretty weak. He was scared of something.

"Humor me." Not waiting for him to comply, the woman grabbed the boy's hand and pulled him through the door. Though the kid struggled for a bit, he didn't fight her as he would others. Either things were that bad at home that his fighting spirit was diminished or he learned to stop fighting adults as much as he reportedly used to. The kid always seemed jaded to her. What scared her most was how he hardly yelled out or complained, just whining and tugging away the entire trip.

"Ms. Jacobs!" The teacher called out as she and the whining boy made it into the nurse's office. "Bette Jacobs!"

"Over here Malinda." Nurse Bette came out from the supply closet, sighing to herself. "I swear, someone is sneaking in here and... oh." She stopped as she looked between the two visitors, eventually making eye contact with her coworker. "It's this Jason you were talking about."

Malinda Picard nodded, ignoring the slightly panicked looks coming from the kid. His struggles against her grasp were getting stronger, more fierce. He really did not want to be there. "Yes. Jason's been unusually quiet lately and in my experience..." She looked away sadly, then to the boy who seemed to be debating whether it was worth biting his hand off to get away. "Well, let's just say... it's not something I want to discuss unless I have to."

"Unusually quiet?" The school nurse looked over the boy with misgivings, remembering the times she had to mend people because of this boy, and sometimes even the kid. He never felt sorry for hurting people bigger than him, and only occasionally did if his opponent was smaller. Those were usually accidents. He didn't like preying on the weak. But no matter what he'd chat it up. She'd think with the way he was fighting his teacher now (nicely at that) he'd be yelling his head off.

But no, the boy was quiet. This wasn't right. "I see... Jason, would you mind coming over here for a brief examination?"

"Don't touch me!" came his weak reply. Angered, he twisted his teacher's thumb at last and released himself from the woman's grasp. Then he made a mad dash towards the doors, trying to escape.

"Jason!" Quickly the two adults chased after him, hoping to get to the bottom of this. Instead of catching up, they were luckily helped by another coworker. This one was security. He caught the kid around the waist and hoisted him upward to stop any more running. "Thank you Reginald."

"Not a problem captain." His private joke made small smirks, but didn't stop the boy from writhing away from him. "Easy there buddy! What's the hurry?"

"He's being uncooperative about a simple check," Nurse Bette insisted, groaning to herself. "It'd only take a minute."

"Shouldn't you call his parents first?" The guard tried to look the boy in the eye, but he kept on moving, kept on trying to escape. From what he could see, the kid was a little flushed and out of breath. Was he okay?

Mrs. Picard sighed heavily. They would have to, legally. CPS too if her suspicions were right. They were likely right. She rarely had it wrong when it came to this. "I guess so..."

"Sweet. Hey kiddo!" The man grinned at Jason, trying to gain his trust. "How'd you like a snack? I've got some chilli dogs and-"

"Chilli dogs?" That got the guy to stop struggling. He looked cute when he was interested in something, particularly food. Was this kid really nine? For a moment he looked much younger.

Appeased, Reginald set him down and offered his hand nicely. "Yep. With extra cheese. Want one?"

The boy nodded emphatically, smiling slightly as he took the man's hand and the two of them walked away. Jason looked back for a moment and stuck his tongue out to the women. Well, maybe his cheeky attitude wasn't really gone after all. Sighing to themselves, the two set off to the principal to call him in. Him and the parents, whoever they were.

Bruce sighed heavily as he came to the elementary school, not happy in the slightest. Either Timmy got hurt or Jason got in trouble. Unless something truly unusual happened, he doubted Cassandra was the reason he was called in. Boys were so much more trouble it turned out. After checking in at the front desk, he made his familiar way to Principal Hayne's office, not happy about this.

When he made it there, he made himself known, rapping lightly on the open door. "Principal Hayne."

"Ah! Mr. Wayne!" The starting to bald man looked away from whoever he was talking to moments ago, anxiety in each of his features. Oh great. What did Jason do this time? "Please! Come in, come in!"

"Just tell me what happened and what the damage is." Honestly his head had been hurting all day and his throat was bugging him. The CEO did not want to talk, did not want to argue, and did not want to deal with this. He just wanted to collect his kids, get home, and take one of Alfred's special remedies to nip whatever he had in the bud. "I'll take care of everything."

"I certainly bet you will."

The second voice that spoke pulled Bruce out of his tired state and into a highly annoyed one. Slowly he turned his head to see Ms. Gorgans, an older lady in counterfeit fashions who really did not belong in her position at social services. She made a mess of Dick's paperwork when his parents died, sent him to juvenile hall, and made the entire adoption process a headache the year following. What was this monster doing here?

"You rich people think you can get away with everything. And one kid just wasn't enough for you."

"I see you haven't improved since our last encounter Ms. Gorgans." The stony look he gave her only made his audience wary. They didn't know about their history. "How have you kept your position all these years?"

"By taking down men like you." A smug look on her face told him she thought she had something on him. Great. Just what he needed. Another headache.

Rubbing his head, Bruce chose to ignore the barbed words. "Of course you do. Mr. Hayne, would you please explain what's going on? And quickly? I'm not feeling my best and I suspect Cassandra and Timmy are starting to catch colds."

"And you sent them to school?" The idea seemed to strike the principal a little bit, along with a young woman who had to be a teacher there. After a moment, he recalled her name was Malinda Picard. Jason's teacher. Of course.

"They only had coughs," he persisted, trying to brush it off. "If I stayed home for a mere cough, I would never get any work done. I was planning on taking them to the doctors this afternoon if they still had it. If it's something serious I'll keep them home. Now, what did Jason do?"

"Jason didn't do anything," Mrs. Picard informed him, leaving her seat. Her icy glare confused the man to no end. "It's his behavior that worries us."

"His behavior?"

"He's been very quiet the past few days."

"And you're complaining?" Now that Bruce thought about it, Jason had been acting unusual the past few days. Honestly he thought the lad was scheming something, but he wasn't eating much either. Maybe something was up.

"In my experience," she continued, annoyed, "a sudden shift like this means sexual abuse."

"Excuse me?" His insides dropped at the implication. Did she just...

"Jason refused to be medically examined earlier-"

"He hates doctors!" He couldn't believe this was happening. "It took over an hour to get him to settle down and be examined by my doctor when I first got him. He only lets Leslie help him now."

"Jason also resisted anyone touching him," the woman persisted.

Bruce took a deep breath. He had suspicions about that but, "He doesn't like anyone touching him. You know he likes you if you still have your limbs after hugging him. It took three months for him to accept that he was safe in my home."

"Are we sure about that?" Both Ms. Gorgans and Mrs. Picard gave him a skeptical look, the principal staying out of it for one reason or another. "He won't talk to us about anything, and all three of us have tried. He only started opening up with the guard over food, and he still didn't talk much."

"What were they eating?"

"Mr. Wayne," the principal finally spoke up, a little tired of the banter, "I don't think you understand the seriousness of this accusation."

"I understand it," Bruce insisted, "and if it were any other kid in this school I would encourage an investigation. But I assure you, Jason is not being molested. If he's quiet, then there's another explanation."

"I'd like to hear it." Both women gave him skeptical glares, but the social worker seemed to take some pride in the charge against him.

"So would I. Have you actually tried asking him why he's not talking?" They exchanged looks telling them they hadn't. "Then let's ask him. Where is he?"

"He's in the nurse's office." Principal Hayne grudgingly looked away. "After eating his chilli dog, he threw up."

"Threw up." An idea clicked in his head at long last, a frustrated grunt coming out of him as he turned and headed out. "I think I know what's going on."

"Mr. Wayne!" The threesome nearly had to run after the man marching away from them. He was going to get to the bottom of this. Within minutes, they made it to the nurse's office, some still loudly making observations. "You can't go in there and see him! The investigation is-" "If you try and influence his actions I swear I will-" "Just give the man a chance! He's turned a lot of kids around and-"

"Will you shut up?" He stopped just short of the door, grabbing the handle and ready to turn it, just to snap at them. "If you haven't realized, my son is sick in there, and so are probably a few others. They need quiet, and all you're doing is making a racket. So do everyone a favor and be quiet for five minutes."

This shut them up just as he opened the door. Both the school nurse and security guard looked up at the intrusion, only joined a minute later by a disoriented Jason. The kid's tired look vanished in an instant, becoming excited and happy. "DAD!"

"Jason." The kid's voice was weaker than normal, but it didn't stop him from running right up to him and leaping up for a hug. He moved so fast no one could stop him. And the way he grinned... no one could doubt the boy loved his adoptive father. "Hey there sport. You feeling alright?"

Jason shrugged, leaning his head side to side, in answer. He was being awfully affectionate though, especially for him. He was only like this a few times before, and that was because of one of a few reasons. And he clearly didn't have a nightmare just then. "Are you sure?"

This time he got the 'you're being stupid' look that came with asking too many questions. "Alright then. Explain to me why you haven't been talking then."

This stilled everyone in the room, especially the kid. He seemed to gulp something down, then bit his lip. He did not want to answer. "Jason, you know hiding things makes people suspicious. A few people think I've been hurting you because you haven't said much lately."

"What?!" The kid's voice cracked a bit, startling them. His mouth stayed open, just at his father's eyelevel.

"That's the truth. Now let me see..." With a snap, the boy shut his mouth, caught written across his face. Sighing, Bruce started to lecture. "Jason, why are you hiding that you're sick?"

"I'm not!" came with another weak crack, betraying him. "I'm fine."

"If you were fine, your throat wouldn't be hurting, you'd be talking more, and you wouldn't have thrown up."

"I'm fine!" he insisted once more, glaring daggers.

Shaking his head, Bruce asked the next question. "Why do you have to be fine?"

Looking away, the boy grumbled. "Alfred won't give sick people cookies. And he makes us drink that horrible soup. And we can't play down stairs if we're sick. And-"

"You didn't want life to change because you were sick." Shaking his head ruefully, he looked back to the teachers. "See? He's just being his usual self. He just has a cold, which seems to be turning into the flu at the rate he's going. Heard you threw up."

"That may have been my fault." They looked over to the security guard who sheepishly raised his hand. "I had an extra chilli dog and he scarfed it down so fast... I should have made him slow down."

"I like chilli dogs," Jason stated plainly, letting his sore throat be heard at last. To think he was hiding it all day! For three days! Boy did the school staff feel sheepish. "Alfred doesn't make them very much."

"Because you eat them too fast and get sick," his father reminded him. The boy shrugged in response, not wanting to admit it. "Do you have any cough drops on you?"

"Duh." The kid dug a hand into his pocket and showed him the two left over. "I'm not stupid."

"Then you are sick." The smirk of victory was met with a sour pout. Bruce ruffled his hair playfully anyway. "It's better to just fess up than hide it Jason."

"I don't wanna be sick."

"Too bad." He looked back to the adults watching nearby, almost a little smug. Jason's teacher seemed ashamed of herself, seeing her mistake. Ms. Gorgans sourly pursed her lips, knowing she had no case yet again. Principal Hayne was almost smiling at the cuteness of the scene, giving his approval to them. This man really knew kids. Time to make their exit. "Now if you don't mind, I'd like to take Jason and the others to our doctor, and then go home. He needs proper rest and attention."

"Just sign him out," the principal instructed before giving his apology. "Sorry for the inconvenience. Looks like we jumped the gun here."

"Rule 2," Jason joked, now letting himself lean against his father. How long had he kept up the 'I'm healthy' act? He had to be exhausted.

The kid's joke was mostly ignored as the adults talked. "It happens. Better to suspect something is wrong than to ignore the signs. Just keep in mind there are other explanations for the same symptoms." Bruce looked over to the social worker, a slight smug smirk on his face. "Anything you'd like to add Ms. Gorgans?"

The woman pursed her lips sourly, then turned on her heel to walk out of there. Her role was done, and spoiled. He strongly suspected the lady delighted in taking children away from people, and decided to make Bruce her personal supervillain. No peace being made with her today. Or likely ever. "I guess not."

"Well I'd like to apologize." Mrs. Picard was a little red, ashamed of the trouble she caused. "I really shouldn't have-"

"It's alright. You were just doing your job." He smiled kindly, glad she didn't have a vendetta. "You noticed and cared to report it. Not everyone is that lucky. Would you mind gathering up Jason's things and assignments? He's going to be out for the rest of the week."

"WHAT?!" the boy tried to bellow, which only started a coughing fit. It both distressed and humored the adults watching. Despite trying to be the tough guy all the time, Jason was just a kid when he had a cold.

A/N: Yeah, when I get sick, I get really quiet. It's partly because my throat hurts, partly because I don't want people noticing I have a cough drop in my mouth (got in trouble at school because of them once XP), and partly because when I hurt in any way, I hate talking to people. Glad my job doesn't require being overly nice to people. Yes, I still go to work, because I usually don't get so sick I can't. *knocks wood* Same with school. Fun times.

Anywho, I read elsewhere that children who are molested sometimes become really quiet. I thought of my personal symptom to being sick and then that and that's how this happened. My dad one time as a kid burped every other minute for fun in class and his teacher freaked out. They took it to the nurse then the principal, who eventually called in his mom. They all asked if he was hurting and he said no *burp*. Eventually his mother asked them if they asked him why he was burping, and until then they hadn't. They just all assumed something was wrong. She asked him why he was burping and he answered that he learned this swallowing air trick and was doing it the entire time. Learning the truth, his mom ordered him to stop. It stopped. Since I heard that story, I remembered to just ask kids why they're doing things and you usually get a simple explanation. Silly grown ups...

Well, until next time. ^^V