Their plan was simple enough. "Dick" would be stopping by with his cousin "Peter" from out of town, who wanted to see where his police officer cousin worked. In the meantime, "Dick" would pick up some case files for a case he was working, and could access the information they needed. If it all went smoothly, they would be in and out in 10 minutes. Of course, nothing ever went smoothly for them, so Dick didn't have high hopes. He pulled into a spot in the BPD parking lot. They had borrowed one of the more inconspicuous vehicles from Bruce, a dark grey Ford Explorer that could fit all four of them (and Tim's reconnaissance equipment).

"Okay, we'll be listening in on the whole operation, if you need a quick extraction you can tell them that you were just stopping by while going out for groceries, and your kid brother is suffocating in the car."

Damian had his arms crossed and scowled from the back seat. "Tt, if anyone will be suffocated during this operation it will be you, Drake."

Tim rolled his eyes and passed Dick and Jason ear buds. "You'll be able to hear us from the car, we'll be ready to back you up with any info you need while you're there."

Dick raised an eyebrow as he accepted the communication device. "Don't you think this is kind of overkill, Tim? I know my way around the precinct."

"Yeah, but Jason doesn't. If you guys get separated, it won't be hard for the building full of detectives to figure out something is up when 'Dick Grayson,'" he made air quotes as he said the name, "can't find his way out of the building. And they're probably not gonna accept, 'Don't worry guys, I'm really here, I just swapped bodies with my largely-considered-to-be-dead younger brother while we were fighting a sorceress during our nightly escapades as vigilantes,' as an excuse. Then we'll never get the information we need, and you guys will be doomed to be stuck like this forever." Despite Tim's dramatic over exaggeration of the situation, the message got through to Dick.

"Fair enough," he conceded and jammed the ear bud into his ear. He turned to Jason. "Do you want to go over the plan one more time?"

"You drilled every part of the plan into my skull, Dick. I think I could pull this off in my sleep by now."

"Okay, okay, let's just get this over with."

They clambered out of the car and made their way up the steps of the building. Due to it being a weekend, it thankfully wasn't particularly busy. They walked up to the security checkpoint so they could be cleared before heading up to the main area. As they approached, the security guard looked up and greeted them.

"Oh hey, Dick, how's it going?"

Figures, Jason thought, annoyed. Dick probably knows everyone in this entire building. Time to shine. He felt that the many times he had done an impersonation of Dick being annoying over the years gave him some advantage to the situation, so he plastered a smile to his face and tried to appear relaxed.

"Oh, I'm doing pretty good," Jason barely paused to read the guard's nametag, "Phil. Just bringing my cousin Peter on by, he's visiting from out of town and wanted to see where I worked. I need to pick up a case file anyway, so I offered to bring him along."

As they pulled anything metallic out of their pockets (the earbuds supplied by Tim were carbon fiber-based and undetectable by metal detectors), Phil the security guard chatted amiably with them. "Where are you from, Peter?"

Dick smiled, Phil was a friendly guy, he always had time to chat when Dick came in for his shifts. "Star City, have you ever been?"

Phil the security guard's face lit up. "Yeah, my wife's from there! We visit her family every Christmas with the kids."

Dick made it through the metal detectors with Jason and picked up a visitor's badge. "Yeah it's a beautiful city in the wintertime." (Phil had in fact told Dick the exact same thing several weeks prior when they were discussing their winter holidays). They collected their things and began to make their way to the elevator.

"It sure is! Well, have a nice time in Gotham, Peter, and nice seeing you again, Dick." Dick thanked Phil and Jason waved half-heartedly, already on his way to the elevator. As they waited for the elevator Dick spoke in a low voice.

"Hey try to be a little more… I don't know, approachable? I'm a friendly guy, I talk to people."

Jason scowled. "That entire conversation was pointless, I just want to get in and out of here as fast as possible." They entered the elevator and began their slow ascent to the floor they needed. "You realize I usually try to avoid places like this, right?"

"Yeah, well if we're lucky we won't be here any longer than five minutes." The elevator dinged and they exited—only to come face to face with Dick's partner, Amy Rohrbach. She was reading through some papers as she walked past the elevator.

Amy looked up at their frozen expressions with a surprised look of her own. "Dick! I didn't expect to see you in today, isn't it your day off?"

When Jason didn't respond Dick subtly elbowed him in the ribs. Remembering Dick's elevator pep talk, he put on a fake smile again. "Oh, uh, I needed to pick up some files for one of our cases, and my cousin is visiting from out of town and wanted to see the precinct."

Amy squinted. "I thought you said you didn't have any living blood-related family?"

Jason scrambled for an answer. "Oh uh, technically he's not related to me, but he's my… adoptive dad's first cousin once removed, and since he's around my age we hung out a lot growing up. So he's my… kinda cousin. Yeah."

She raised an eyebrow at Jason's explanation but stuck out her hand for a hand shake. "Nice to meet you, I'm Amy."

Dick accepted the handshake. "I'm Peter, nice to meet you too, Amy."

Amy surveyed Dick up and down. It was uncomfortable to be looked at like this by someone he knew so well. He put his hands in his pockets.

"Trying to kick the habit, huh?" Amy questioned. She gestured to the nicotine patch on his wrist (Dick had made them stop at a drugstore on the way to the station, because "I'm going to get you clean goddammit.").

"What? Oh yeah, I'm trying to quit. It destroys your body, you know."

Jason scowled. "Well maybe some people do it to deal with their crazy lives."

Dick turned and frowned at Jason. "Those people should remember that there are other ways to deal with stress, especially if they stop pushing away their families."

"Well maybe the family is the reason they smoke!" Jason glared at Dick.

There was silence for a few moments as they had a stare down. Amy looked utterly confused. "Dick… are you… advocating for your cousin to smoke?"

Jason broke eye contact with Dick and plastered yet another wide smile on his face. "No, no of course not! That would be insane, I would never stand in the way of someone's goals like that, especially when they so clearly need the support."

Amy squinted and drew back a bit, Jason still smiling like a maniac. "Yeah, ok… look I'm going to get back to work, nice to meet you Peter, good seeing you Dick. Maybe get some extra sleep this weekend? I think you need it."

As she walked back to her desk, Dick smiled at her, internally cringing, and pulled Jason around a corner. They spoke in hushed whispers. "Dude, easy on the smiles, she my partner, not my wife." Jason glared at him.

"Hey this isn't easy, you want to switch places with me?"

"Gladly, but that's clearly not an option!"

"Yeah, well it's a hell of a lot easier to pretend to be pissed at everyone than it is to fake being happy all the time!"

"You ever stop to consider that maybe that's how I cope with our crazy lives?! When things suck, at least I can make the people around me happy, and it feels like things suck a little less!"

Jason took a step back, surprised. "Wait, that's what it is? I thought you were just irrationally happy all the time."

"What? No, I have emotions, Jay. I just…" He sighed. "Look, as much as you hate to admit it, I'm kind of the big brother figure in your guys' lives, or at least I try to be. When you first moved in, that didn't really mean much to me, until I realized I had started to think of you as a little brother, and realized that what I said and did could have an effect on you. I decided I should make more of an effort to set a good example, so you guys could have one to go off of—I mean, Bruce definitely isn't the best role model when it comes to dealing with stuff. But I figured out that at least acting amiable for others' sakes can make me feel a little better too, it's just basic psychology. That's not to say I don't get mad at people, I just… try to keep a level head and choose what I want others to see. Most of the time."

There was silence for a moment as Jason pondered his words. "Huh. I'd never considered that," he admitted. "I s'pose it makes some sense, even if it's not how I deal with things."

They both jumped when a voice crackled in their ears. "Are you two done or are we actually going to get the plans today?" Damian's voice crackled annoyed over their comms.

Jason chuckled. "Alright, let's do this."

They rounded a few corners and made it to the records room. A plump middle-aged woman sat at a desk inside a metal cage of sorts that was the entrance to the records room. She had to buzz people in to allow them access to the records beyond. In their planning for their "heist" Dick had informed Jason that the woman, Dorothy, was willing to bend the rules a little if the person asking was nice. Time to put on his game face.

Jason walked right up to the counter, again smiling, but this time he tried to make it look natural and easy-going. "Hey Dorothy, how's it going?"

She smiled up at him. "Oh, you know Dick, same old same old. What brings you by?"

"What, I can't just come and visit my favorite record's keeper?" Jason actually had the audacity to look offended, while Dorothy blushed. "Well I guess I'll just have to pick up the files I came for, then." The easy-going smile was back, which Dorothy quickly returned.

"Files I can do. Who's your friend here? You know I can't let him in with you…"

"This is my cousin, Pete. Can he really not come in? He wants to join the force someday, I told him I'd show him around, I swear we'll be quick." And Dick couldn't believe it, but Jason was pulling off his signature puppy dog look flawlessly.

Dorothy looked pleasantly flustered. "Oh… you know I can't say no to you Dick… alright, just be quick," and with that she buzzed them in.

"Dorothy, you're an angel," Jason praised. She responded by blushing even deeper than before as they traipsed by.

Dick would have thanked her as well, if he wasn't in absolute shock at Jason charming his way to victory, and in such a Dick Grayson manner. He managed a weak smile and a nod to Dorothy. Once they were a few aisles away, he whispered to Jason, "Wow, Jay, nice. I didn't know you had it in you."

He harrumphed. "I still maintain that your superpower is being able to charm any woman, so don't chock it all up to me."

"Pat yourselves on the back when you're out of there, for now focus on the mission." There was a shriek of indignation as Damian was apparently shoved away from the microphone.

"Stay off the mic, brat."

"Boys, play nice," Dick whispered.

Tim ignored the suggestion. "Dick, the file that you want is in section F 23."

They moved a few aisles over and down a row, and found the box containing the file. After thumbing through a few folders, they found the file with the address of the gang's home base. "Got it," Jason muttered. They made their way to the front of the room and passed Dorothy. "Thanks Dor, hope the rest of your shift passes quickly," Jason smiled once more.

"Oh it's always a pleasure having you stop by Dick, you know you can come by anytime. Nice meeting you Pete!"

This time Dick had his wits more about him and was able to flash her a smile to rival Jason's. "Nice meeting you too, Dorothy."

She stage whispered to Dick, "If you're ever back in town, you feel free to visit too. I get lonely here you know."

He laughed, the irony of her statement was not lost on him. "Oh, I'll make sure to stop by."

They turned the corner, walking back to the elevator. They were home free, they had the file, they just needed to get back to the car and—

An alarm blared. Commotion started around them as all the officers jumped up from their desks, grabbing their gear and running to the stairs. "Shit," Dick swore under his breath.

Jason turned to him, confused. "What, what's going on?"

Dick turned to him, tense. "Quick, try to catch the elevator, that's the alarm for—"

"Dick! I'm glad I caught you," Amy was rushing past but stopped at Jason and Dick. "There's been a break in at the First National Bank down the street, they've taken hostages and need everyone there. I know it's your day off, but we need you there. Suit up buddy!"

Jason sputtered. "Wait, what? B-but— I— uh, my little brother is waiting for me in the car and probably suffocating, I can't leave him!"

"Your cous' looks old enough to drive, give him the keys. Come on!" Jason was swept away by Amy, a wild look in his eyes. He was so not prepared for this. Dick made to follow, already thinking up excuses in his mind, but Amy stopped him. "Sorry kiddo, you've got to head back home." And with that she and Jason disappeared around the corner.

"Ah fuck."

Hey everybody! Sorry about the delay in posting, school started up for me again and has given me less time to write than I had over the holidays, so I probably won't be posting quite as regularly as before, just know that I'm still working on the story! I hope Jason isn't too ooc here, I wanted him and Dick
to have a chance to have a heart to heart chat, which is surprisingly difficult to write.

Thank you all for favoriting, following, reviewing and continuing to find interest in my story, you're all awesome! Please review, it is incredibly helpful to me to hear what you think of the story!