Chapter 12

Jason awoke the next morning before Dick did, unused to getting this much sleep. He didn't move though, fearing that he would wake the sleeping child in his arms. 6 more days before the Replacement and Demon Spawn got here. Who knows how long before going home.

Jason wondered how going home would even work. He wondered if they were going to send little Dick to an orphanage. He wondered where he could find guns.

So sue him, he was a vigilante. He couldn't stand not being armed. Too vulnerable. Needing something else to occupy his thoughts, Jason turned to the problem of childcare. He would need to do something with this kid, but they couldn't just swim, watch movies, and eat cookies all day. And then there was the whole 'grabbing his head in pain' thing. Jason decided to tackle that first. What could have set off that amount of pain in the smaller boy?

Jason remembered thinking that it looked like some kind of pre recorded
response. Since Jason was pretty sure Daddy wasn't a supervillain, it was probably something you could get on the black market, if you were rich enough. Of course, that didn't narrow things down by much.

Jason decided the best bet was that it was a pre recorded responses, triggered by certain phrases. This could keep Dick from dwelling on certain things, unable to think about them for the pain. But what phrases could have set him off? Jason thought back to the conversation, and played it back in his head. He couldn't think of anything.

"Well, be careful not to break anything. Let's find some computers and do some research on the us's of this world. We can't have two Dick Grayson's running around, could we?"

What could it be? 'Don't break anything'? No, that was an important thing for Dick to remember and think about. 'Research'? Probably not… too common a word, with too many applications. 'Dick Grayson'? That was just Dick's name! Jason decided to run all those phrases at Dick later in the day to see what stuck. He hated the idea of using the kid as a guinea pig, but he needed to know what would cause the boy such crippling pain if he was ever going to function as a normal person.

With that settled, what would he and Dick do? Jason had never had experience growing up in a normal home, and he didn't pay that much attention to Older Dick and Damian: normal activities of younger children were lost to him.

Maybe he would look it up on the internet. Google was, without a doubt, the greatest achievement of mankind. Period. Except maybe for bread. And guns. And that sticky glittery stuff that was great for pranks. Google was up there. Well, maybe he'd just wing it. See what struck him. That seemed like a good plan.

"Good morning, Dickie bird."

"I'm a bird?"

"No, silly, it's just a nickname." Jason replied, bopping Dick lightly on the nose. "I use it to to show how much I care about you." 'Note to self, remember to use L-word', Jason thought to himself: 'that kid isn't exactly going to interpret my deep seated fluffy feelings.'

"Oh. So you like birds?"

"They're pretty important to my family."

"Should I call you Jason-bird?"

"It's not really a nickname if you try to make it, kid. If one day a weird name for me just pops into your head, and it just seems to fit me, that could be a nickname. Hopefully you'll come up with one at some point, but you don't need to do it soon. In fact later's probably better; it's more natural that way."

Dick gave some wide eyed response, but Jason didn't hear it. He suddenly realized that he'd told Dick that the kid could give him a nickname later, as if there was going to be a distant future between them. As if Dick wasn't going to end up with an adopted family as soon as they could find an awesome family that deserved him. It was better not to think about that, for some reason.

Jason hoped whatever Dick had said hadn't been all that important.

"Dickie, I've been thinking. What does Daddy do for you as a reward?" Because any system of control needed some perks, or your minions either revolted or shriveled up and died.

"He gives me hugs, and runs his fingers through my hair, and there were two times where he kissed me!"

Jason instinctively wished for sunglasses at the impossible levels of joy radiating from the broken child. At the same time, his heart shattered. Two kisses? In the kid's life? Even Jason had gotten more than that from his mom when he was on the streets. That was… just impossibly messed up.

Jason Peter Todd did not like physical contact. Jason Peter Todd did not like doing things for other people. Jason Peter Todd was learning to be less selfish.

Jason Peter Todd kissed Dick's cheek.