Bruce had what Alfred liked to call 'trust issues' that manifested themselves in a very secretive lifestyle. Granted, some of it was necessary. They couldn't have just anyone coming over to the Manor for fear that they could be enemies of Batman or gold-digging civilians.

Unfortunately, this made socializing a bit harder for Bruce's boys. It was hard to make friends when you only saw each other in school, and they could only make excuses about why their house was off-limits for so long before the other children decided they weren't worth the hassle. Still, the boys made due.

More of the Justice League members had kids now, and those Bruce trusted were allowed at the Manor. And of all the young proteges, no one spent more time there than Wally West and Roy Harper. Dick and Wally had been best friends since before they began their hero careers, while Jay and Roy had been adopted around the same time.

Despite the age difference, the four boys were quite close, and their mentors would often bring them together for sleepovers and the like. This time it was Bruce's turn to host.

III

The boys were in Dick's room packing for their main event of the night.

They were going to camp out in the woods behind the Manor, and they needed to make sure they had all the supplies to not have to come back inside till morning. They were talking animatedly about the fun they were going to have when there was a soft knock on the door.

"Dickie?" Tim called, sticking his head through the doorway. Roy and Wally snickered at the nickname, but the Wayne boys ignored them. "Alfred said to give you these." Tim said, holding out a container of freshly baked cookies. Jay and Wally pounced on the still-warm treats and shoved a few in their mouths.

"Hey, those have to last all night." Dick warned, snatching the bowl and shoving it in his pack. "Can I come with you guys?" Tim asked, looking hopefully at his big brothers.

Dick and Jason exchanged glances. They didn't want to hurt little Timmy's feelings, but they also didn't feel like babysitting him all night. "Sorry kid," Roy answered for them. "But this camp out has a height requirement, and Jay just barely passes."

"Yeah, we're gonna be telling scary stories and stuff. We wouldn't want you to get nightmares." Wally added, trying to be a bit more tactful. "I would not." Tim huffed, standing up as straight as he could to look taller. "Sorry Timmy. Jase and I will take you out some other time." Dick promised.

Tim pouted, but the older boys were already going back to discussing the night ahead of them.


With Jay and Dick off in the woods, dinner was much quieter that night. "You ok Timmy?" Bruce asked, noticing the boy had barely touched his food. "I want to sleep in the tent with Dickie and Jay." Tim whined.

Bruce thought for a minute. Tim was one of the youngest of the League kids by quite a bit, so he didn't have anyone to invite over. Bruce sighed. He didn't want to do this, but Tim looked so upset, and he hated that more than he disliked the idea of what he was about to propose.

"How about you call your friend Stephanie and have her come over?" He suggested, and his son's face lit up. "Really?" Tim asked, snapping out of his mood. Bruce hardly ever allowed civilians over to the house at least not until they'd had full background checks.

"Sure. It's a bit late notice for a sleepover, but I don't see why she couldn't come over and play for a few hours." Bruce smiled. Tim jumped from his chair and raced to phone his friend. Maybe this night wouldn't be so bad after all.

III

Stephanie's mom was more than happy to get some time to herself for the night. Alfred even offered to pick the girl up and drop her home later.

Tim was especially pleased with the turn of events. Not even his Daddy was allowed to have girls over (at least not this late, per Alfred's rules), but now he and Stephanie had free rein of the Manor.

After a movie, playing with Tim's toys, and jumping on the bed (until Alfred caught them), the two eight-year-olds were starting to get bored. "We could play video games." Steph suggested pointing at the console by the game room TV.

"All the best games are in Dick and Jay's rooms." Tim shrugged. "So let's ask if we can play with them." Stephanie reasoned. "We can't." Tim huffed. "They're camping in the backyard with their friends, and I'm not supposed to bother them."

"Why not?" The blond girl asked, slumping back down to the couch. "They say I'm too little and think I'll be scared." Tim rolled his eyes, something he was learning from Jason.

As the two of them sat in silence for a bit, Stephanie got a wicked idea. She whispered her plan to Tim, and they both started running around the Manor to gather supplies.


"Aw come on!" Jason groaned as Wally's avatar did a victory dance on the screen of their mobile game console. "No fair. He's using his powers to push the buttons faster." Jay whined, throwing down his controller.

"And what was your excuse when Roy and I beat you the last four times?" Dick smirked. Jay just stuck out his tongue.

"I'm hungry." Wally huffed, flopping on to his sleeping bag. "You're always hungry." Roy pointed out. "I told you to take it easy on the cookies." Dick muttered. "Maybe Alfred has some extra back at the manor."

The boys all got up and followed Dick out of the tent into the pitch black of the woods. They had set up camp far enough away from the house that they could feel like it was really camping, but now that meant it would be a bit of a walk before they could get more snacks.

As they trekked, there was a rustling from the bushes. "What was that?" Jason asked nervously as they all whipped towards the sound. "It was probably some furry little creature." Wally shrugged as Dick scanned the area with his flashlight.

"Jay, I promise there is nothing in these woods that can hurt us." Dick assured. "Yeah, quit being a scaredy baby." Roy smirked, giving his best friend a shove.

They kept on moving only to hear another louder rustling, this time coming from the trees. "That doesn't sound like a little furry creature." Jason pointed out, more panicked now. "If we knew you were gonna cry the whole time, we would've left you in the manor with the kid." Roy huffed, rolling his eyes.

Before Jason could spit back a retort, a snarling ball of black fur with glistening fangs jumped out from bushes and charged straight for them. It pounced at Dick, causing him to drop the flashlight, which hit a rock, blowing out the bulb and leaving them in total darkness.

"Nice going Boy Wonder." Wally groaned. "How are we gonna get back now?"

"Oh please." Dick scoffed. "I'm the son of The Dark Knight. I've patrolled in the dark plenty of times and have been playing in these woods for years. I don't need light to get us back."

III

But apparently, he did. After several minutes of stumbling over tree roots in the pitch-black night, the boys were more turned around than when they began. "I need to stop." Wally moaned, bending over to rest his hands on his knees. "I'm running on fumes here. I might die of starvation."

"What good are superpowers if they're killing you?" Roy asked sarcastically, trying to distract from the fact that he was starting to get nervous.

The boys all jumped at the sound of a low menacing growl. "It's back." Jason squealed, grabbing onto the nearest body. "Just stay calm and-" Dick didn't get to finish as the mound of shaggy black fur charged at them from the bushes.

The boys all screamed and took off running without any regard for where they ended up.

As luck would have it, they ran right out of the woods and towards the back porch of the Manor. Bruce, who was sneaking a few of Alfred's cookies, heard the sounds of terror and opened the back doors to see what was going out.

He almost fell backward as Jason jumped into his arms and the other boys dashed to hide behind his legs.

"Don't let it get us Daddy! Don't let it get us!" Jason cried, not caring if he was being a scaredy baby. "Don't let what get you?" Bruce asked, peering into the trees. "There's a rabid thing in the woods with glowing eyes and ten-foot fangs!" Roy wailed, his usual tough-guy act long forgotten.

Bruce almost laughed as he looked back to the trees and spotted Tim and Stephanie emerging triumphantly with a fuzzy black blanket slung over their shoulders. Stephanie carried two of Alfred's immaculately polished big kitchen knives while Tim held two pairs of night-vision goggles. "I think I found your vicious creature." Bruce smiled.

"Ha! We got you!" Stephanie laughed and gave Tim a high five. "What-what the heck was that for?" Wally demanded, wiping tears from his face. "Timothy, that was a very mean prank." Bruce scolded, and Tim's smile faltered a bit.

"They started it!" Steph argued. "They said Tim couldn't come on their dumb camp out cause he'd be scared. Well, who's scared now?"

"None of this would have happened if you just let me play with you." Tim snapped. "Well, you took it too far." Dick retorted crossly.

"Alright," Bruce called before they could really start fighting. "I think you boys have had enough excitement for one night. Go get cleaned up and ready for bed. I'll get your tent so you can sleep in the living room." The four older boys all headed inside, still sniffing and grumbling.

"As for you, young lady," Bruce said sternly, turning to Stephanie, who was beaming innocently at him. He let out a long sigh. "Alfred will take you home. And no more vengeance schemes for a while." Steph grinned as she headed for the car.

Other than a long talk about the appropriate vengeance levels, Tim got away with his night of mischief. It wasn't like he pulled this stuff often.


Before Wally and Roy left the following morning, Bruce made sure that they knew the events of the previous night were confidential.

Barry and Ollie hardly took anything seriously as it was, but they would never let Bruce live it down if they heard The Big Bad Bat spent the night comforting terrified children.