It was supposed to be the harmless alternative. That's why Bruce had diverted him.

Bruce had essentially grounded Jason, keeping him off the field. The boy was becoming too aggressive for his own good. So Bruce decided to help him round out his skills. He began training Jay on all the behind the curtain skills; research and detection, etc.

Bruce had known his son was a smart kid. He'd tested into higher grades at school. In hindsight, he should have expected something. Ultimately, he was blinded by his own passionate need to protect his family.

Once he'd gotten over the whining, it didn't take Jason long to get a hang of the technology in the cave. He'd just helped Batman trace the identity of a criminal's secret relative. For fun, he decided to run his own genes through the machine, expecting to know the results already.

He was only half right.

Oh, hell! Where was he supposed to go from here?

Bats had been training him to be a detective.

He used his lunch hours to sneak out of school and go searching for his truth. Jay had no idea or interest in where Bill was, so the only resource he had was the woman who he had thought was his mother.

Within a week, he found out from his old neighbors that Catherine wasn't dead. Batman had had her admitted at a rehab center, but given the reputation of the city they lived in, his chances were bleak.

Between looking for the mother who birthed him and the mother who had no interest in raising him, Jason spent time with the one mother who seemed to give a shit about him. Selina hated being stuck in the mansion just as much as he did, and jumped at the opportunity to leave home.

During one of their outings, after confirming that Selina didn't tell Bruce everything, he took her to the apartment he grew up in.

"What are we looking for?" Catwoman asked from the window as Robin immediately started turning things out.

"It's a little brown book. Like, one of those old school address books?"

Catwoman scoffed as she hopped inside. "Never heard of a smartphone?"

"Risky business."

"Smart guy."

"Ass human."

His crass comment put Catwoman on alert. "Why are we here? Really?"

He didn't answer and pulled out a drawer, but Cat pushed it back. "Hey, talk to me buddy." She squatted down next to him.

Jay sighed. "We're in my old house. I'm looking for my father's name book."

The struggle it took him to admit that made her not want to press further. Selina sighed this time. "Fine. We'll look for the book. But whatever plans you have with it, you're not doing it unless at least I know."

"Promise not to tell B? Not yet, at least."

"Promise," she smirked and stood up, putting her goggles down. "Now, if I were a secret diary, where would I be hiding?"

With her burglarring skills, they soon found the book, and Catwoman kept it on her person. They snuck into the zoo and walked around with day old cotton candy to let off steam before they went home.

Her bike silently drove into the cave and the mother son duo hung up their masks before creeping upstairs... or at least attempting to.

"Fun night?"

They jumped as the batmobile's headlights turned on. Bruce was sitting on the hood of the car, contemplatively holding the cowl in his hand.

"You promised!" Jay whispered at her.

"I didn't tell him anything!"

"A good tip to secrecy? Clear your search history." Bruce hopped off and went to the computer near them.

"So... you know?" Jay tested him.

"Same as you do."

"You've been spying on me!?"

"The only time I spied on you, was when you left the scanner running." Bruce sat down on his chair. "Jason, I'm proud of you using your detecting skills, but I don't want you getting into situations you can't handle."

"I can't handle?!" Jay argued and walked closer to him. "You know well enough I can handle myself! No one has the right to this case more than I do! It's my life!"

"I know, it's your life Jason! I am trying to make sure you don't lose it." Bruce kept back from arguing. He didn't want to villainize himself any more than the situation made him out to be.

"So you do know something!"

"I have my suspicions, but even I don't have anything solid yet."

"Suspicions my butt!" Jason exclaimed, then took a breath as he made a decision. "I'm going to go find her."

"No," Bruce responded resolutely. "You're not."

Jason almost growled. "You can't keep me away from this!"

"I can, and I will! It's for your own good," Bruce left the chair, on his way to get ready. "Jason Wayne, you are not leaving this house until I get back."

"Not lea-? I have school!"

"Don't think I don't know how you spend your time there. Alfred can homeschool you, you have everything you need in this house. You are not leaving, end of discussion." He stepped onto the platform and was suited in minutes. If Bruce was unreasonable, Batman was unmovable.

Jason stared at Selina, unbelieving that Bruce had just done that. He screamed and ran up to any room but his own. As she watched him run upstairs, the batmobile roared off behind her. Sometimes she wondered if Jason wasn't really his son.

Bruce hadn't come back home, and Jason didn't come out for breakfast, leaving Selina and Alfred alone to talk. Both of them planned to talk to Bruce, having a better understanding of why Bruce was doing what he was. After eating, Selina went up to change, and found Jason in her room. She caught him red handed, but didn't say anything.

Selina continued about her routine and sat on her bed, going through her jewelry. "You promised to tell me what's up," she reminded him.

Jason sat across from her, nervously paging through the book. "This book has a list of names of everyone my father met."

Selina's heart broke. Up until last night, father meant Bruce. Bill Todd was never spoken of in the house. Or if he was, it was always 'Bill', or some other impersonal address. Bruce had crossed a line.

"It can lead me to the woman who gave birth to me," Jason continued.

At least he hadn't said mother. Here she was, and he was still searching for a mother. But Selina understood his urge to find his biological mother. She'd had it too.

Jason looked up at her, his hands absently resting on hers. "I just, I don't want to be with her. I just want to find her. Ask her some questions."

Selina grabbed his hand and smiled at him. "I totally understand. I was doing just that when I was your age. You have every right to try and find her."

"Right?! I'll come back. I promise! This is home. Where else am I gonna go?"

"You better!" she teased him. "Or you're grounded."

Jay laughed. "For till college!"

He hugged her, and Selina didn't want to ever let go. But they were losing time. She pulled away and held his face. "Well, if you're gonna go, you should do it now."

"Right. I'm gonna grab some stuff."

Jason went to his room and Selina went downstairs. Alfred didn't say anything when she began to put a go bag together, but she knew he knew. He laid out some high energy snacks on the island, and then stepped out. Jay came down with a stuffed up backpack, edging to go.

"First adventure, hmm? I see you're on par with your father," Alfred said as he came back to the kitchen.

"So... he'll understand, right?" Jay asked, looking between the two. There was nothing more he wanted than to go look for his mother, but he'd found a dad. What he had with Bruce was something amazing; it made him forget his past traumas of having a bad dad. So not having Bruce at his side-worse, that he was actually stopping him- hurt Jason deeply.

"Leave him to us," Selina winked at him. She headed to the door, and Alfred kept Jason back a second to give him a switchblade for him to use if he ever needed it. The backpack didn't allow him to carry many tools, but the Robin suit was the first thing Jason packed.

At the door, Selina gave him his snacks and a money card he could use anywhere. Jason hugged his mom as hard as he could, as a promise to her and himself that he would come back to her. "Tell dad I'm sorry?"

Selina comforted him. "You have nothing to be sorry for. He should be proud of you, following what you believe in. Just, come back home, okay?"

"Okay," he promised and stepped out, looking back for a second, "I love you."

Selina blew him a kiss with both hands and he was off.

Alfred and Selina watched the taxi drive off down the mountain. It was going to take him to a bike rental, where Alfred had already paid. As soon as the car was out of view, they both looked at each other, nervous for the impending hell.

"Where do we go from here?"