For Batfam Week 2020
Day 4 Prompts: Robins | De-Aging | Reverse Batfam AU
Jason smacked snooze as soon as the alarm went off in the morning and snuggled closer to Stephanie, who returned the favor.
"Morning," she whispered sleepily as she nestled deeper into his big spoon. And - oh. His morning wood. Too bad Damian was here, Steph thought wistfully as she heard the youngest Robin getting up, disdaining to snooze for seven extra minutes. Steph's regret must have come out in a sigh, because Jason was chuckling softly in her ear.
"We have to bring Damian, you said," he quietly teased her.
"Yeah, yeah," Steph smiled into her pillow as Jason lazily stroked her stomach. "I'm the Robin who got fired. I give terrible advice," she giggled. Jason's silent laugh vibrated against her back and Steph thought how cozy she felt and how nice it was to wake up in someone's arms and how infrequently that had happened back when she was with Tim.
Between his time with the Teen Titans, and her time-out in Africa, and them being in high school before that, and her still living at home afterwards, they hadn't had much alone time together when they weren't in the suits. In fact, they hadn't even had sex. Steph would have, but Tim wasn't ready and she respected that. He'd seen firsthand the accidental consequences that sex could bring in the early days of their friendship, although Steph had experienced those consequences firsthand, and that was a lot worse, she thought with a pang.
Her thoughts drifted to her baby like they did every morning before she could get up and stay busy enough to push them away for one more day. She sighed a little deeper this time, willing herself to focus on the wall of muscle that she was snuggled up against instead. But that muscular wall was surprisingly sensitive, it seemed.
"You ok?" Jason asked her with concern. "You're sad all of a sudden," he said.
Steph froze. He'd picked up on that? Don't cry don't cry don'tcrydon'tcrydon'tcry, her brain ordered her eyes, because Steph was not used to anyone except Cass and, formerly, Tim caring enough about her to notice little things like her being sad.
It was unexpectedly sweet and Steph wasn't used to sweetness and empathy and definitely not around the subject of her baby who everyone else seemed to have forgotten that she'd even had five years ago. Out of sight, out of mind for them, she supposed. For Steph, it was more like out of sight, always on her mind. Especially first thing in the morning.
"Yeah, um, just remembering some things," she whispered, blinking rapidly. Without warning, Jason rolled her over into his chest and wrapped her up tight in a giant burrito-like hug, trapping her with his legs, too, and almost squeezing the breath out of her with his arms.
"I got you," he said gently, though, looking down at her, and his blue eyes were so soft with not only concern, but understanding, that Steph got a lump in her throat.
Shit, she was gonna fall for him, wasn't she.
"I'm taking Batman out," Damian announced, slamming the door shut as he and his dog left the motel room.
"You want to talk about it?" Jason asked Steph as she kept trying to keep her tears at bay. She swallowed hard before attempting to speak.
"I just, I think about my baby the most when I first wake up," she said with a sniff. Jason looked at her curiously, confusion etched on his face.
"You had a baby?" he asked her. "Was that when I was dead?"
"Oh," Steph said, not taking offense that he didn't know about it now that she considered the timeframe. Since he'd come back to life, Jason was almost as out of the loop with the Bats as she was, so what were the chances that they'd gossiped to him about her teenage pregnancy that they all now pretended hadn't happened, anway?
"Yeah, it was when you were dead. Or with Talia. Sometime in there," she said.
"How old were you?" Jason asked her.
"Fifteen," Steph muttered. Jason gave a low whistle.
"Wow, Blondie," he said. "That was brave." And Steph's heart beat a little prouder, because Jason sounded like he admired her. Which was a refreshing change to how new people usually took the news.
"Did you give it up?" he asked. "Or -" he paused, not wanting to ask if the baby had died.
"I gave her up," Steph sighed. "I thought a lot about keeping her," she said, "but I kept having nightmares that my dad's enemies would find us and kill her and I wanted her to be safe."
Jason was quiet for a minute and appeared lost in thought. Steph looked up at him. He came to and met her eyes.
"You're a great mom," he told her sincerely, although his voice was a little rough. Steph's tears started to flow.
"I was barely a mom at all," she protested in a choked voice but Jason jerked her sharply.
"Bullshit!" he said strongly. "Once a mom, always a mom. You protected your kid and you miss her and you love her. You know what my birth mom did? She lured me to Ethiopia to get killed by Joker."
"Oh," Steph said softly, and she hugged Jason tighter. "That's horrible," she said with venomous disgust.
"You are a good mom, Steph," Jason repeated to her. "And a good person," he added. Their eyes locked and electricity flowed between them, fueled by mutual anger and grief and pain and respect and then Jason was fiercely kissing her and Steph was passionately kissing him right back.
The snooze alarm went off with gratingly loud beeps. They tried to ignore it for a second, but it was too annoying.
"Goddammit," Jason grumbled as he let Steph go and reached over to turn it off. He sighed as he looked down at the flushed and panting Steph tangled up in his arms and legs before he lifted both hands to brush her hair back from her face.
"If we don't get up, we'll miss out on waffles," he said sadly. Steph managed a smile.
"That would be a tragedy," she said, "but you should be flattered because if Damian and Titus weren't coming right back I'd almost suggest staying in bed."
"Only almost?" Jason teased her as Steph pushed off of his chest to sit up.
"Waffles and I are in a long-term relationship, Jason," she said with reverence. "I've barely started dating you."
"I didn't realize I was entering into a polyamorous relationship," Jason said with a grin as he got up. "Aren't you supposed to share details like that up front with a new partner?"
"It's more like a spiritual relationship than polyamory," Steph said thoughtfully as she walked to the bathroom. "Waffles are meant to be worshipped."
"By devouring them?" Jason laughed as she started brushing her teeth in front of the bathroom sink. He bumped her over with his hip so he could grab his toothbrush, too. "What kind of deity is this that we serve?"
"A delicious one," Steph smirked. Jason grinned at her with a mouth full of toothpaste and happiness hit Steph like a batarang to the heart, sharp and poignant and impossible to ignore. She reached up for Jason's head with the hand that wasn't holding her toothbrush and pulled him down for a ridiculously foamy kiss. He laughed into it but didn't resist.
Damian and Titus came back at that moment and Steph and Jason just barely had time to pull away from each other while he unlocked the door. He looked at the giggling couple with messy mouths full of toothpaste suspiciously as he came into the room.
"I leave you alone for ten minutes," he huffed. "And you lose all focus. Batman is very disappointed in you, aren't you, boy?" he asked Titus the dog. Titus whined pitifully in agreement and Damian sharply nodded his head.
"Hmph," he said. "Hurry up. I'm hungry."
"What was that kiss for?" Jason asked Steph quietly after they had both finished rinsing their mouths out.
"This feels really good," Steph said with a warm smile up into his eyes. "You and me. I like it."
"I like it too, Blondie," Jason said with a grin, giving her another quick kiss. "Hurry up and get dressed. Waffles are waiting."
Breakfast did not disappoint, although Jason and Steph had to take turns at the sole waffle iron, but there was whipped cream and strawberries to top them with. Damian opted out, however.
"I'm a vegan now," he announced as he ate his oatmeal and fruit. "I was unaware of the tragic fates of dairy cows until this… vacation," he said carefully, noting the presence of a few other diners in the small lobby, although the trio of Robins had cautiously seated themselves as far from the other guests as possible.
"I'm so glad you're not a vegan or vegetarian, baby," Jason said to Steph, whose heart melted a little bit at his term of endearment.
"Would you still have dated me?" she asked him mischievously. He groaned a little bit.
"I mean… I would have wanted to," he said. "Would I have? I don't know. The logistics would have been difficult to work out."
"Tt," Damian said, righteously peeling an orange. "Typical carnivore response." Jason and Steph looked at him.
"At least he didn't say 'typical male response'?" Steph offered after a minute and Jason laughed.
"So what's the plan?" Jason said. "Are we gonna sleep a little more and then scout, or what?"
"We should leave right after breakfast," Damian said. "Farmhands typically get an early start to their day."
"I guess that makes sense," Steph said. "Then we can nap this afternoon before our nocturnal activities."
"All right," Jason said easily.
As soon as they finished eating, but not before Damian pocketed several more bananas and a handful of apples and Steph loaded up her arms with mini cereal boxes and milk cartons, did the Robins head back to their room to pick up Batman.
"Didn't Alfred pack us enough snacks for about a month?" Jason asked the two junior birds when he had to be the one to unlock the room due to their hands being full of food. Damian and Steph gave him the same scornful look this time.
"You should never neglect an opportunity to replenish your supplies, Todd," Damian scolded him.
"And Alfred didn't give us any cereal," Steph added. "Look - they had Frosted Flakes and Corn Pops," she said with a connoisseur's true delight.
Jason was rolling his eyes at Damian, but he couldn't help adding a little crinkle to the corner of his lips for Steph, who was so damn cute he almost couldn't stand it, because she made him want to toss the truck keys to Damian and push him out the door so he could kiss his girl senseless. Among other things.
What the hell had the Replacement been thinking, breaking up with her? Jason was mystified but not complaining. His gain, after all, and he already knew that he wasn't going to be so stupid as to let her go. He'd already liked her, but after this morning? The way they'd bonded like that? And how happy she'd looked when she gave him that goofy kiss in the bathroom? Yeah, Jason was falling hard.
"Grab the dog and let's go," he said to Damian, forcing his mind back on the mission. The sooner they stole those cows, the sooner he got Steph to himself.
"Wait," Damian said. "Examine the map of the farm layout before we go. I have marked it with the relevant items that we must recon during daylight hours."
"You have a map?" Steph said with surprise. Damian gave her a sly smile.
"It was online," he said. "Which bodes well for the level of security we can expect to find." Jason laughed.
"I'm with you there, kid," he said, moving to sit next to Damian on the bed so they could look at his tablet together. Steph sat on Damian's other side as he began pointing out key features.
"The main gate, here," he said. "We must note its locking mechanisms and look for alarm wires. The shed is here on the right where we can expect to find the transport trailer and the pen with mothers and calves is here," he pointed. "We must scope out the possibility of watchmen and guards as well as overnight staff this evening before entering," he added.
"All right," Jason said thoughtfully. "Let's head out there and find a good spot for a stake out. Bring Titus's food and water."
"Batman's," Damian interjected but Jason kept talking.
"We might end up needing to stay all day so we can watch what happens when the main shift leaves," he said.
"We'll need Alfred's cooler, then, so we can eat," Steph said. "And your gear bags, too," she added. Jason thought for a minute.
"Let's take everything with us now," he said. "Just in case we don't come back. We're paid up for one more night so they won't be bothering us here before tomorrow morning."
With the plan laid out, the Robins quickly packed the room. Jason pulled out Lysol wipes when they were finished and began cleaning off every surface where they might have conceivably left fingerprints.
"Our DNA is still all over, you know," Steph teased him. "Hairs, dog hairs, skin cells…"
"We do what we can," Jason said without humor, causing Steph to raise an eyebrow and give him a look.
"You should have been Batman," she said. He threw the pile of dirty wipes at her, causing her to yelp before she picked one up to fling back at him. Titus barked.
"Batman is chastising you," Damian said severely. "Cease this foolishness at once and let us be on our way." Still giggling, Steph helped Jason pick the remaining used wipes off the floor. Their eyes met as they bent over the wastebasket and Jason's were warm and playful and soft as they looked into hers and Steph felt her insides turn to jelly.
Damian's impatient sigh brought them back to the present and they straightened up and grabbed the rest of the duffel bags and the cooler to head out.
Once in the pickup, Jason drove them out to the dairy farm, carefully following the speed limit. He casually drove past the main entrance so that they could get the lay of the land and find an appropriate stakeout position.
"The woods across the street will work," Jason said. "We can park the truck in there off road," he said, turning down the first side street he saw and driving a ways back before pulling off into the forest. He carefully drove far enough in that the truck wouldn't be visible from the road, then parked.
"Of course Bruce has a green truck," he muttered. "Never know when a billionaire's mountain outing might turn into a camo op," he said.
"Well, it's good for us," Steph giggled. "Although I don't think stealing cows was on his list of reasons for choosing a forest green paint job."
"I can only recall Father using this truck on one occasion," Damian said thoughtfully as he and Titus descended from the cab and Jason and Steph started grabbing the cooler and one of Jason's gear bags. "I belive he purchased it just for the event."
"It was a Wayne Enterprises employee bonding seminar in the mountains. Ugh," Damian shivered as he picked up the three sleeping bags. "All of those inept civilians who thought that sleeping in fully furnished cabins outfitted with electricity and modern plumbing qualified as roughing it."
"Why did you have to go?" Steph asked him curiously. Jason snorted.
"So Pops could cut out early, I bet," he said.
"Indeed," Damian confirmed. "I contracted lyme disease," he said with pride.
"Not really," Steph said in horror.
"Of course not," Damian scoffed. "As if I do not know how to perform a proper tick check."
"Which we'll all have to do after this stakeout, by the way," Jason reminded them. Steph wrinkled her nose.
"What's the matter, Blondie?" Jason teased her. "Wasn't it your idea to go camping, oh city slicker, mine?"
"Shut up," she said, but she was laughing. "I've lived in African villages, you know. Doesn't mean I like ticks. But at least we didn't completely lie to Alfred now that we're actually in the woods."
Jason laughed as they set out through the trees back towards the road. Once they got within eyesight, the three Robins carefully laid down and began crawling through the brush in case an odd car happened by, although the road appeared fairly deserted. Steph nudged Jason's ankle and he looked over his shoulder to see that Batman, too, was crawling on his stomach next to his Robin.
"Well trained dog you got there, D," Jason said with a slight chuckle.
"Naturally," said Damian.
Once they were in position, Damian began unrolling the sleeping bags for them to lay on while Steph handed out the binoculars. Jason opened the cooler and began passing out snacks.
"Ooo, deviled eggs," Steph said. "And there's bacon on top."
"Shame you're a vegan, D," Jason said to him with a grin. "Oh well, more for us," he said cheerfully to Steph who nodded happily in agreement. Damian sniffed.
"My superior morals are naturally a cause for jealousy," he said. "Pass me my couscous salad."
At first all three of the Robins kept eyes on the dairy farm, but as time slipped by, Jason suggested that they rotate the watch so that two could nap at a time. Sometime around five p.m., Damian started poking him and Steph, who were curled up together, asleep.
"Employees are leaving," he hissed at them.
"Ok," Jason mumbled reaching out to grab the binoculars. Steph yawned and pulled hers to her eyes as well. A steady trickle of cars departed for some time, until finally, after a longer pause, an SUV pulled out but stopped as a man emerged from the driver's seat. He slid the gate shut and padlocked a thick chain.
Damian and Jason had to bury their faces in their arms to hide their laughter.
"It's not even an electric gate!" Damian giggled, sounding almost childlike for once in his life.
"Oof," Jason said. "Barbed wire on top of a ten-foot chain link fence doesn't do ya any good if a pair of bolt clippers will get you in the front door."
"No watchtowers," Steph said.
"It's not a prison, babe," Jason said, laughing.
"It is for the cows," Steph said back, her eyes gleaming. "And we are their freedom fighting liberators." Damian nodded in agreement.
"There's a camera, at least one, anyway," Steph went on, motioning to the very obvious camera posted on top of the shockingly low tech main gate.
"Ok," Jason said. "I'm thinking we wait until it's good and dark, then pack the truck back up. Do some legwork recon to see if there's a night watchman, then make our jailbreak." The other two Robins nodded in agreement.
"Batman?" Damian asked Titus. "Your thoughts?" The dog wagged his tail enthusiastically.
"Plan approved," Damian announced.
Promptly at midnight, a tiny figure dressed all in black, wearing a black ski mask for good measure, climbed to the top of the gate and cut the wires to the security camera.
"Red5 to Red2, over," he whispered into his walkie talkie.
"Red2 here, over," Jason answered from the cab of the truck where Steph and Titus sat beside him. "Status?"
"We are a go, Red2. I repeat, we are a go. Over."
"Copy that," Steph said into her walkie talkie as Jason pulled out of the woods with the headlights turned off.
"Red4, it is not protocol to respond to another agent's call sign," Damian said with irritation evident in his voice.
"You forgot to say over," Steph said back. The hiss that came back over the comms was definitely not static on the line. "Good boy, Titus," Steph said, rubbing his head as he whined a little bit. "Your master is annoying sometimes, I know," she said. Jason grunted in agreement.
"Wonder who he got that from?" he asked Steph.
"Well, you know what they say…" Steph teased him.
"Like father, like son?" he said with her with a little laugh.
"Uh huh," Steph said with a grin.
Jason pulled up to the gate and left the motor running as he jumped out and quickly cut the padlock. He and Damian pushed the gate open so that Steph, who had slid into the driver's seat, could pull inside the farm. The boys pushed the gate closed again after her and jumped into the back of the truck.
"The trailer shed should be over to the right," Jason reminded her through the back window of the cab as she slowly started to drive over the dirt ground.
"There it is," Damian whispered, poking her shoulder as it began to loom in front of them.
"I see it," Steph hissed back. "Stop poking me."
Jason jumped out again with the bolt cutters and dismantled the shed lock as easily as he had the front gate's. He pushed the door open and clicked on a penlight as Damian jumped out to join him.
"How many cows can we fit in this?" Jason asked him as he shone the light on the white bumper pull trailer which looked to be about twelve feet long. Damian considered.
"I think, since we are liberating mothers and calves together… perhaps two of each would be wisest," he said. "We should not overburden ourselves on our first heist."
"Right," Jason said, giving him side-eye that was completely wasted in the dark. "Because we'll be repeating this operation so many more times," he said sarcastically.
"Not before obtaining pigs," Damian reminded him, missing the sarcasm completely. Jason groaned but he pulled the safety chains out of the back of the truck.
"Back it up, babe," he said to Steph. "I'll tell you when to stop."
"Ok," she grinned, her eyes sparkling in the moonlight. Jason smiled back at her and leaned in the window to kiss her before she started to turn the truck around. She slowly backed it up towards the trailer as Jason and Damian guided her.
"That's good," Jason called out quietly. "Let's get this hooked up," he said. Steph got out of the cab to watch as Jason quietly connected the hitch and then attached the safety chains.
"You just had the safety chains lying around at home?" Steph asked him. He shrugged.
"A man's got to be prepared for anything," he said.
"Yeah, you're totally B's son," she said back. Jason smirked and swatted her backside as he moved past her into the cab again.
"Shh!" Damian said with annoyance, although Steph had muffled her yelp. She sighed loudly. Jason pulled the truck forward slowly, testing to make sure the trailer was properly attached.
"I think we're in business," he said. "Hop in." Damian and Steph clambered into the back as Jason took off towards the cattle pen with the nursing mothers. Which, unfortunately, would become childless milking mothers within days, as soon as the next veal transport truck arrived for the latest batch of babies.
"All right, D," Jason said as he pulled up to the pen. "You and Batman are up."
"Codenames!" Damian hissed. "Shame on you, Red2!"
"Right," Jason sighed. "Let's get the cows and get out of here, ok?" he said impatiently.
Damian pulled his rope coils out of the pickup and opened the passenger door for Titus to join him. He walked with confidence up to the fenced corridor bordering the tiny individual outdoor stalls. Some calves could be heard crying softly and suckling, but for the most part, the farm was quiet except for the swishing of the cow's tails and the chewing of their cud.
Damian paced up and down the row quickly, appraising his potential new pets. He looked down at Titus and the two seemed to silently consult.
"What if the cows charge him?" Steph asked Jason, suddenly feeling a little nervous.
"I've got my guns ready," he said calmly, patting his holsters. Steph groaned.
Titus stopped in front of one of the pens and began wagging his tail. Damian climbed up the slats of the metal fence and reached his hand out to the large cow who was staring at him curiously as her baby nursed. Damian appeared to be talking to her and then he slipped the lasso over her neck. He walked along the rail of the fence to reach her calf, waiting to jump in beside it until the mother was facing forward again instead of watching him.
He quickly pulled the calf's mouth off of its mother's teat and lassoed its neck before replacing it right back on its milk source. The calf had barely had time to cry out before it was happily suckling again and Damian was out of the pen and the mother seemed barely ruffled. Damian was holding both leads in his hand as he calmly opened the gate.
"Oh, shit," Steph whispered. "Here we go."
Damian tugged on the two ropes. Initially, nothing happened.
"There goes our heist," Jason whispered.
But Damian began tugging harder on the calf's lead and issued a command to Titus. Like a Batblur, Titus ran into the pen and nipped at the calf's legs. It bleated and trotted forward to Damian, who was still tugging insistently on its rope. The mother quickly began following her calf and the next thing Jason and Steph knew, Damian was running in front of both cows with Titus nipping at their heels. He led them straight along the run towards the back of the trailer, dropping the ropes and dodging to the side when they got close. Steph dropped the trailer door shut as soon as they were safely inside.
"Wow," she said with admiration. "I almost thought you weren't going to be able to get them to come."
"Tt," Damian said. "Two more to rescue."
A few hours later, when Jason could see the dingy lights of Gotham on the horizon, he couldn't help but smile to himself as he looked across the truck cab to his two sleeping co-Robins, one of whom was slumped most adorably against his shoulder, and the passed out Batman, who even Jason had to admit was being pretty cute at the moment as he pawed at the air in his sleep. Jason glanced up in the rearview mirror to the four shadowy cow outlines that were swaying in the trailer.
"Welcome to Gotham, Cowbirds," he said quietly. "If you all have to share the name Robin, don't come complaining to me."
Coming tomorrow - The next chapter! For Batfam Week 2020 - Day 5 prompt: Insecurities