Batfam Week 2020
Day 7 Prompts: Nightmares | Time-Travel | Mythology AU
"Let's go visit Batcow and company," Steph said happily when she got out of Bruce's truck after driving it back to Wayne Manor that evening. Jason kicked the stand of his bike down and took the extra helmet from her that she had brought along in the truck for when she rode home with him.
"I'll text D and let him know we're here," Jason said as they headed for the path through the grounds that led to the barn. He reached out for Steph's hand when he was done and swung it in his as they walked along, although it wasn't long before Steph was skipping beside him instead of walking.
"Excited to see the Robincows?" Jason asked her with a smile.
"Yes," Steph said as she danced along in front of him, now. "And happy to be with my awesome partner in crime," she added, flinging her arms around his neck to kiss him. Jason caught her and held her tight for a minute before she was pulling him after her again and all he could think about was how cute she was and how damn lucky he was and how oddly affectionate towards their cows that made him feel. Huh.
Damian would no doubt be pleased by that development, he thought with a little grin. It had been fun working with his little brother, even if Jason had been loathe to admit it to him. They rarely spent time together. When Talia had first dumped Damian in Gotham, he had been an unpleasant reminder for Jason of his zombified days in the League of Assassins before his mental rebirth in the Lazarus Pit.
Not to mention a guilty thorn in his conscience. He had been powerless to help Damian back then, given his altered mental states, but his memories of the abuse that Damian suffered at Talia and the League's hands haunted him.
So it had been good to bond with him and start to forge a genuine connection. Something else that he had to thank Steph for, Jason thought happily as he watched his blonde skip and dance along the wooded footpath, comfortably tethered to his hand. She glanced back at him and caught his thoughtful eyes.
"What's that look?" she asked him.
"I love you," Jason smiled. "That's what." Her smile lit her whole face up before she smothered him in kisses as he caught her around the waist.
"I love you, too," she finally said. "In case you couldn't tell."
"I could, in fact, tell," Jason grinned. "But you can remind me again later." Steph giggled and let him wrap an arm around her as they finished making their way to the barn, where they found a dejected Damian sitting on a bale of hay with Titus's head in his lap.
"Damian?" Steph asked in concern, looking over at the five cows, who seemed like they were getting along fine.
"What's wrong, Little D?" Jason said, dropping down to the barn floor to sit next to him and actually reaching a hand out to rub his little brother's back. "Is it Pops?" he asked grimly. Damian sighed heavily.
"He benched me," he muttered, and Steph saw tears in the back of his eyes.
"Why?" Steph asked, moving to sit down, too. "Because of the new cows?" Her face looked worried.
"No," Damian scoffed. "He does not even know about the cows, yet. He and Alfred do not frequent the barn," he said.
"So what happened?" Steph said gently as she scratched behind Titus's ears.
"Timothy Drake has returned from the Teen Titans and Father decided that having both me and Red Robin in the field together with him is a liability. As I am younger and he is more accustomed to having Timothy Drake as his Robin, he has benched me for as long as Red Robin is home."
"That bastard," Steph said with vicious feeling, causing both Jason and Damian to look at her in shock. "I will kill him," she said in a low voice. "I will kill him myself. And then nobody will be benched. That fuckin' piece of shit."
"Babe," Jason said, his eyes wide and concerned. She glared at him, her eyes hard and angry, but Jason knew that it wasn't him who Steph was mad at. He saw the memories replaying in the back of her eyes and her breaths coming fast and shallow and he knew, he knew that she knew better than any of them what the consequences could be of Bruce's thoughtless and often arrogant actions towards his Robins.
"Steph," Jason said again, more gently this time as he reached out to pick her hand up in his warm one.
"How dare he," she said in a taut voice. "How dare he," she repeated. "It's bad enough that Dick can't even be Damian's Batman anymore. Or his parent. But now he's going to bench Damian? No," she said firmly. "No, no, no."
She stood up and brushed the hay off of her jeans and began stalking out of the barn.
"Where are you going?" Damian said, getting to his feet to trail after her.
"To bitch slap your father," Steph called back. Damian glanced at Jason with wide eyes before slowly curling up the edges of his mouth. He turned and began running after Steph, followed by Titus.
"I want to watch," Damian yelled. Jason tightened his jaw and trotted out after them.
"Oh, Miss Stephanie, Master Jason," Alfred said as the trio stormed past the kitchen on the way to the Batcave elevator. "Will you be staying for dinner?" he called after them.
"It might be a repast, Al," Jason called back over his shoulder.
"It might be well deserved," Alfred murmured to himself as he continued to polish the piece of silverware in his hands. He sighed.
Jason suddenly halted Damian when they got to the conservatory and bent down with his hands on the younger boy's shoulders.
"You should stay up here, Little D," he said gently. Damian frowned.
"Why?" he said. "I want to watch Stephanie attack my Father." Jason shook his head.
"Dami, there are some times when it's better not to witness our father's fuckery," he said. "Trust me on this, kid," he said, squeezing his shoulders. "You want to have a relationship left with Pops when this is over." Damian looked up at him with big, quiet eyes before slowly nodding, albeit with disappointment.
"Very well," he said. "Come, Batman," he said to Titus, moving to sit on the tapestried couch to wait.
"We'll let you know when to ring the morgue," Jason said with a hollow grin as Stephanie activated the secret entrance to the elevator on the grand piano.
She looked at him with a question mark in her eyes as they rode down to the Batcave.
"I'm behind you on this," Jason said reassuringly. "One hundred percent, babe." She blew out an angry breath.
"Ok," she nodded firmly.
"Go get him, Batgirl," Jason murmured in her ear right before the elevator stopped.
Bruce and Tim were in front of the Batcomputer and looked over as Steph stomped down the catwalk towards them, with Jason right on her heels.
"Stephanie?" Bruce said. "Jason. How was camping?"
"You were camping together?" Tim sputtered. Steph ignored him.
"You fucking bastard," she growled at Bruce, marching right up to his face. He raised a solitary eyebrow at her. "How dare you," she said, moving forward. "How dare you," she repeated, taking both hands and shoving him in the chest. Bruce didn't budge, but his stare got even icier, if that was possible.
"Whoa, Steph," Tim said in shock, moving to grab her, but Steph whirled and shoved him away. Into Jason's waiting arms.
"Back off, bitch," she said at the same time that Jason snapped, "Don't touch her." Tim's look got almost as glacial as the Bat's but Steph wasn't looking at him anymore as she had turned back to face Bruce.
"You benched Damian?" she yelled at him. "What the fuck is the matter with you, Bruce?"
"I don't see how my management of Robin is any of your concern," he said coldly.
"No?" Steph yelled, getting closer to his face again. "Not my concern? I guess you forgot what happened to me and Jason, then, when you benched us. You asshole," she spat at him and it was so slight that it almost wasn't noticeable, but Jason saw Bruce's eyes flinch at Steph's rebuke. Right before she slapped him across the face. Hard.
"Damn," Jason breathed out in delight while he tightened his grip on Tim's arms, who was now struggling even harder to get free.
Bruce's head had flown to the side with Steph's slap and he left it there, staring at the floor and grinding his jaw.
"Bruce didn't bench Damian for incompetence," Tim said as he tried to break out of Jason's death grip. Jason didn't even have time to tell him to shut up before Steph had whirled and punched him full on in the face.
"Batgirl!" Bruce snapped at her, coming to and yanking her backwards away from a bleeding and somewhat dazed Tim. "Go upstairs," Bruce snarled at him. "Now." Tim hesitated only slightly before unwillingly nodding at his Batman. Jason released him and gave him a filthy look, which Tim returned as he made his way to the elevator, gently touching his bleeding nose.
Bruce let Steph go as Tim exited the cave, and she turned to face him again as Jason came up behind her and gently put his hands on her heaving shoulders.
"How could you do that?" Steph said more brokenly to Bruce, tears starting to fill her eyes. "How the fuck could you do that, B? After everything that happened to me?" She sniffed and Bruce swallowed guiltily as she put a hand over her mouth, trying not to cry.
"I didn't - I didn't think it was the same," he said quietly.
"You never do, Bruce," Jason said coldly. "That's the problem. You never fucking think about how we feel. And you never learn." Bruce flicked his eyes to his estranged son before his gaze went, as if drawn by a magnet, to Jason's death memorial enshrined in the Batcave. Steph followed his eyes and gulped.
"You didn't even make a memorial for me when you thought I was dead," she mumbled. "I guess that's how much I mattered to you."
"No," Bruce said immediately, turning back to look at her. "No. Stephanie," he paused. "What happened to Jason was a tragedy. What happened to you… was my fault," he said. "I couldn't live with a reminder of my guilt staring me in my face every day," he said, looking down at the floor.
Jason snorted derisively.
"Maybe you wouldn't keep making the same mistakes if you had to confront a daily memorial to your fuck-ups," he growled. "How did you think the kid was going to feel, Bruce? First he lost you, thinking you were dead. Then he loses his Batman and his parent in Dick when you show back up and now you take Robin away from him, too."
Bruce groaned and rubbed a weary hand over his stubbled jaw.
"I was worried about him," he said. "Red Robin and I worked together for so many years. We have our own rhythm and dynamic. Having Damian out there with us would throw it off and I don't want him to get hurt."
"So you couldn't fire Tim," Steph said coldly. "In favor of your son. Who's younger. And needs you."
"It wasn't permanent," Bruce said helplessly. "I don't expect Tim to be around forever. Dick didn't end up staying and Tim's been in and out of Teen Titans for years, now. He needs some time to figure out where he wants to land as an adult."
"Bullshit," Jason said. "He could go figure that out somewhere else. Damian needs Robin. You know the demons he's carrying from what Talia did to him." Bruce sighed.
"He and I," he said slowly. "We don't work together as well," he muttered. "I'm not his Batman and he's not my Robin."
"So your solution was to bench him until what? You disappear again? Something magically works itself out without your intervention? Or he gets himself killed," Steph said angrily. "I really hate you sometimes, Bruce," she said, blinking away tears.
"You should," Bruce said quietly. "You deserve to. Of all people. I let you down more than anyone," he said.
"So don't let Damian down, then!" Steph said in frustration. "What good does wallowing in guilt do if you don't change, Bruce?" He sighed but didn't answer.
"Look," Jason said after a minute of silence. "Damian needs Dick a hell of a lot more than he needs you. Start sending him to Bludhaven every weekend. And he can join Team Oracle and patrol with me and Steph the rest of the week."
Steph turned to look up at him.
"We're going to start patrolling together, you and me?" she said with pleasure.
"Yeah, we should," Jason said. "For Damian. I owe him that. And I love you, babe, but you're not ready to be out there supervising him by yourself yet. Because someone cut your training short," Jason said sharply to Bruce, who had started looking at him and Steph curiously.
"I've trained with the League. I can take care of you both," Jason said to Steph. Bruce frowned at him.
"You can't kill people," he said curtly.
"No shit, Pops," Jason said angrily. "Like I don't know way better than you how badly Damian is fucked up from being turned into a miniature assassin. I would never kill anybody in front of him." Bruce stared at him for a minute, unwilling to acknowledge the rebuke but clearly thinking about Jason's offer.
"I'll have to clear it with Oracle," he finally said. "And Dick. But I suppose it's an acceptable solution."
"We'll talk to Oracle, too," Steph said. "And Dick," she added, looking over at Jason, who nodded. Bruce gave her the faintest nod back before cocking his head to the side.
"How long have you two been dating?" he said. Jason smirked proudly as Steph smiled up at him.
"Since our camping trip," she said to Bruce, with her eyes on Jason. "But we're living together, now," she added. "I just moved out of my mom's house today." Bruce raised an eyebrow.
"Does Tim know?" he said.
"Nope," Steph said. "Not yet."
"Eh," Jason said. "Damian's probably rubbed it in his face by now," he said and Steph laughed.
"Yeah, probably," she said with not a small amount of glee. "I guess we should go back up there and see the carnage." She gave Jason a wicked smile. He smiled back but gave Bruce a more serious look.
"You need to come upstairs with us and fix this with Damian," he said. "If you can. At least apologize to the kid." Bruce hesitated but as he looked from Jason to Steph, he sighed and began following them towards the elevator.
Upstairs, Damian had burst into cackles when Tim had emerged from the Batcave elevator with a bloody nose and bruised face.
"What happened to you?" Damian asked him. "Todd or Brown?"
"Shut up, Damian," Tim said crossly, stalking out of the room to find some ice. He had just returned to the conservatory with a ziploc baggie wrapped in a paper towel on his face when the elevator opened on Bruce, Jason, and Steph.
Damian immediately flicked his eyes to Jason for answers, which made Steph's heart squeeze with a little bit of tenderness.
"It's gonna be ok, kid," Jason said to him comfortingly. "We got things sorted out."
"How?" Tim said suspiciously as he hovered in the doorway holding his ice on his face, not deigning to sit down.
Steph glared at him and the look that Jason gave him was downright evil. With a smirk, Jason strolled over to the large armchair situated by the couch currently hosting Damian and Titus and deliberately pulled Steph into his lap as he sat. Who promptly snuggled into him with the relaxed posture of a lover as he draped his arms around her waist and over her thighs.
Tim's inhale of breath was a sharp hiss. But Bruce was already seating himself next to Damian and starting to speak.
"Son, I want you to know that I was only concerned for your safety," Bruce started out. Damian frowned.
"I am more than capable of handling myself in battle, Father," he said.
"I know," Bruce said. "It was myself that I doubted. And my own ability to keep you safe." He paused. "Batman and Robin are a symbiotic team," he said slowly. "And you developed as Robin under Dick. Not me. I think you recognize that it's been difficult for you and me to mesh in the field since I've been home," he said gently.
"It has been different," Damian muttered.
"I know," Bruce said, laying a hand on his shoulder. "That's not your fault. It's nobody's fault," he said. "It just is. I'm not your Batman." Damian scowled as he looked down at the floor, struggling not to cry, Steph thought.
"Even if Red Robin leaves," Bruce said, "you and I won't truly be able to gel as Batman and Robin. But I'm still your Father," Bruce said. Jason cleared his throat significantly. Bruce's eyes flashed to his for an instant as Jason raised his eyebrow in the trademark Batcasm.
"I'm one of your fathers," Bruce amended. Damian raised his head to look at him in confusion.
"Dick has been more of a father to you at this point than I have," Bruce said gently. "Maybe he always will be. But there's nothing wrong with having two fathers and you couldn't have a better one than Dick."
"No shit," Jason said. "He leaves you in the dust, Pops. Not even a competition." Bruce glowered at him for a second but the corners of Damian's mouth were quirking up at Jason's jab. Bruce sighed.
"Your brother and I talked," he said. "And once I call Dick to work things out with him, you'll start going to Bludhaven every weekend to stay with him and be his Robin." Damian perked up the slightest bit.
"With Titus?" he asked.
"Of course with Titus," Steph said. "And I'll take care of the cowww for you," she said, barely stopping herself from putting the 's' on the word. "And Alfred can take care of Alfred the Cat and your duck." Damian gave her a small smile.
"Acceptable," he said quietly. But his eyes were flashing with gratitude.
"But wait, there's more!" Jason said cheerfully. "The rest of the week, you, me, and Blondie are gonna be Team Oracle and patrol together."
"Really?" Damian said, his face starting to light up a little more.
Behind him, Tim was muttering snarkily, "Blondie?" and staring at Jason and Steph with daggers in his eyes.
"Really," said Steph, swinging her heels lightly against Jason's legs. "Oh! And I just had the best idea!" she said excitedly.
"What?" Damian and Jason said together, although Damian sounded slightly wary while Jason sounded amused if not eager, especially with Bruce looking at Steph like he was bracing himself for a psychological blow to the stomach. Or another bitch-slap.
"When you're patrolling with us, we should call you Red Bull!" she said, bouncing on Jason's lap. "Because of Batcow!" she said. "We can make you a little red hood with bull horns on it," she giggled against the rumbling behind her of Jason's quiet chuckles.
"Could you?" Damian asked Jason, with a tiny hopeful gleam in his eye.
"Sure, kiddo," Jason laughed. "Whatever Blondie wants, Blondie gets."
Tim scoffed from across the room. Loudly. Four pairs of eyes turned to look at him.
"So you're fucking Todd now, Blondie?" he spat out.
"Fucking him, living with him, marrying him, all of the above," Steph said calmly, turning to loop her arm around Jason's neck so she could pull him into a deep kiss. Which he more than eagerly returned, as pornographically as possible, as Tim let out a series of strangled curses and stomped out of the room to the sound of Damian's mocking laughter.
Bruce watched Tim go without reprimanding Damian, then turned back to look at Steph and Jason, who were doing their best to wrap up their kiss now that Tim had audibly left. They couldn't stop giving each other goofy googly heart eyes, though.
"Congratulations," Bruce said quietly, drawing their attention back over to him and Damian. "I couldn't ask for a better daughter," he said seriously.
"I will tell Cass you said so," Damian said, earning a snort and an affectionate hair ruffle from his father.
"I'm sorry I didn't handle things better," Bruce said to him sincerely. Damian blinked and nodded as he rubbed his nose while his other fingers gripped Titus's fur a little tighter.
"So you and I will never work together, Father?" Damian asked him in a small voice. Bruce caught his breath.
"That - that matters to you?" he asked Damian slowly. Instead of answering, Damian just looked down at his dog.
"Maybe," Bruce said, thinking out loud. "Maybe you and I and Steph should start training together," he said. Steph jumped a little bit in Jason's lap and looked at Bruce, her eyes getting big. Bruce met her eyes bravely, although his held guilt and regret. And shame.
"If Steph wants to," Bruce said quickly. "We could practice becoming a trio and then patrol together one or two nights a week when we're ready."
"Not without me," Jason said flatly. Bruce looked at him.
"You think I'm gonna trust you anymore with my girl and my little brother? Uh uh," Jason said. "Not happening."
"You would have to come train with us, too," Bruce pointed out.
"Fine," said Jason.
"Really? You would?" asked Steph. He looked at her.
"I was gonna start training you more anyway," he said. "We can work with little D and Pops a few days a week, too."
"Three days a week, at least," Bruce said with a frown.
"Two days, maximum," Jason said back, holding his gaze. "Damian's going to be in Bludhaven Friday through Sunday every week and I need two days a week to train him and Steph as Team Oracle." Bruce looked at Jason with some surprised respect.
"Ok," he said. "I guess it's settled then?" he asked Damian, looking down at his young son. "Is that satisfactory?"
"It's acceptable," Damian mumbled, but his face looked a lot more peaceful as he said it.
"Good," Bruce said, bending down to kiss his hair. "I'll go call Dick and Babs," he said, getting up from the couch.
"Let's go back out to the barn, D, and hang out with Batcow," Steph said.
"Ok," Damian said, getting up with Titus as Steph and Jason stood up.
Bruce shocked Steph by coming over to her and kissing her cheek before giving her a gentle hug around her shoulders.
"Welcome to the family, officially," he said with a smile. "Not that you weren't a part of it before." He hesitated for a second as he and Jason stared each other down, but then Bruce cautiously wrapped his arm around his son in a loose hug. "Congratulations," he murmured in his ear. "It's good to see you happy." Jason blinked and gave him a small smile before Bruce turned to leave.
"When did you get engaged?" Damian asked them. Jason looked at Steph, whose eyes were quietly laughing.
"Just now, I guess," Jason said with a grin.
"I take it the answer's yes?" Steph giggled.
"Hell, yes, the answer's yes, Blondie," Jason said, pulling her into a kiss. "And fabulous timing, sticking it to the Replacement like that." She smiled.
"It just came out," she said, rubbing her head against his arm as they followed Damian through the manor to head back outside. "I didn't plan it."
"Not complaining," said Jason with a smile.
When they got outside, Steph tugged on his hand for a minute to stop him so Damian could get a bit ahead of them.
"What's up?" Jason said to her.
"Just so you know," Steph said, looping her arms around his neck with a big smile, "me and Tim never had sex." Jason stared at her as his jaw dropped slowly open and his eyes slowly lit up.
"Blondie," he said in awe. He swallowed. "I mean, not that it mattered if you had. I assumed you had."
"I know," Steph said. "He didn't want to. I respected that," she shrugged. "But…" she trailed her fingers up and down Jason's arm. "Given all the bad blood between you two and between him and me, now…" She looked up at him. "I wanted you to know. So you can secretly gloat over it."
"And gloat I will," Jason said with passion, pulling her into him for a deep, long kiss. That lasted until Titus came running up to them, barking. Steph giggled as they broke the kiss off.
"Batman is scolding us again," she said. "I guess Robin want us to hurry up, huh, boy?" she asked him.
"You're really ok training with Bruce again?" Jason asked her as they began walking towards the barn again. "We don't have to if it'll bring too many bad memories up." Steph chewed her lip.
"Damian needs it," she said. "And as long as you're with me… I think I'll be ok."
"Ok," Jason said. "If you're ever not, you'll tell me?" he asked her with a serious look and she nodded.
"I will," she promised. "But I'd like to try it. Damian could use the support and I know it means a lot to him to get to work with B."
"You're a good person, babe," Jason said, cuddling her close into his side as they walked.
"So are you, baby," Steph said back. "I can't imagine it's going to be that pleasant for you, either, working with Bruce again."
"Maybe not," Jason said. "But, for Damian…" he said. "I'll do it."
"Well, you tell me, too, if it ever starts freaking you out, ok?" Steph said. "Promise."
"Ok," he said to her as they approached the barn. "I can do that for my girl," he said, and she smiled at him.
"What did you name the cows, D?" Steph asked the waiting Damian as Titus impatiently herded her and Jason into the barn.
"Oh," said Damian as he petted Batcow's head while the calves nursed on their mothers, who seemed less anxious already. "I named them SpoilerMilk and RobinMoo for the moms and RobinBull and RobinHood for the calves, because they're boys," he said.
"D!" Steph said. "You named them after us?"
"After all of us," Damian said. "But you got two, because there were two girls."
Damian squawked and Titus barked as Steph pulled him into a hug.
"Release me at once!" he yelled. "Never hug an assassin! I could have knifed you in the ribs."
"You love me too much," Steph sang as she gave him a final squeeze before letting him go.
"Hmph," Damian said. "Only because you might be useful for future cow heists."
"I thought we were stealing pigs next," Steph said.
"Babe," Jason said, shaking his head frantically at her from behind Damian.
"Indeed," said Damian. "Todd is correct. Babe the pig. We must procure him next." Jason groaned.
"It'll be good training," Steph wheedled, wrapping her arms around Jason. "And romantic," she pleaded.
"We already have the trailer," Damian pointed out. "And Titus performed admirably as Batman." Titus gave a happy bark of agreement.
Jason sighed as he looked at his radiant fiancée and his unusually happy brother.
"Ok, fine," Jason grumbled. "The Robins will raid again."
"Yay!" cheered Steph as Damian smiled and Titus wagged his tail and barked.
"But only because I love you," Jason said, pressing his forehead to Steph's. "Both of you," he clarified, turning to look at Damian as well. "And also because I love bacon and need to atone for my sins," he sighed.
"Don't we all," Steph agreed.
"Tt," Damian said. "Not me. I am a vegan."
The End
Thanks for reading along with me on Batfam Week 2020! Hope y'all didn't mind the less literal take on nightmares. I was inspired by what different Batfam member's worst nightmares might be if played out in real life.
Please check out my other Batman fics! Lots of Jason Todd, lots of rarepairs, lots of Bruce Wayne pairings (and plenty of wholeheartedly good person Bruce Wayne in there as well as a few with more questionable parenting skills at play.) Happy reading!