A/N See? I'm capable of quick updates! Really, I am!

I have a better computer now, so hopefully quicker updates will become a thing. However, I do have several stories that I'm looking to get done, so I won't be focusing as much on this. I do have the next few one-shots written out though.

Anyways, in this chapter, I sort of switch from "Jason" to "Robin" and vice verse at least twice. It was meant to represent the mental switch from thinking as Jason to thinking as Robin. I will probably be doing the same thing with Dick and Bruce, but let me know if you think it's too confusing.

As always, a huuuuuge thank you to Purplehood and Merrit for all their amazing support and a huge thank you to all of you who have read/followed/favorited or reviewed this!

Enjoy!

XxX

"Uncool, Bruce," Jason muttered to himself.

"Names on the field, Robin," Batman's stern voice reminded him over the communicator. "Doesn't matter if you think no one can hear you." Robin flinched. He'd forgotten the communicators meant both Batman and Nightwing could hear whatever he said.

He'd switch it off, but of course that would mean he wasn't responsible enough to be out on the field.

The communicator was in case Batman and Nightwing ran into trouble and needed backup. Like they'd need backup.

"Right. Sorry," Robin spoke into the communicator.

Still, uncool, he thought sourly.

Bruce had told him he was to watch. To avoid involving himself in any altercations unless he said otherwise.

And so here he was, keeping his post like a good little soldier, but there had yet to be any action.

In fact, Batman and Nightwing's investigation had already led them away and out of his line of sight.

"If the point of this is to show me how it's done," he grumbled, "why am I sitting here? I can't even see you guys, so it's not like I'm going to learn anything I don't already know."

"You will remain at your post," Batman growled.

"Right," Robin muttered again. "Some patrol."

A scream cut through the air and he was instantly on alert.

"Something's happening!"

"Robin?" Batman's voice sounded in his ear. "Robin!"

"Someone screamed." He swallowed. "I have to do something!"

The scream came again, louder and more desperate. Batman was saying something, but he didn't have time to try to figure out what.

Turning off his communicator (and praying Bruce wouldn't kill him for that little stunt), Jason ran to the edge of the building.

The sound hadn't come from this alleyway, but a little farther.

He eyed the distance between the two buildings grimly.

It was a distance of maybe five feet. Not enough space for his grapple gun.

He could clear it though.

He could.

Robin took a deep breath…

… and then he flung himself out into space.

The jump was exhilarating-and terrifying!

He didn't yell. Doing so would only alert whoever he was trying to sneak up on.

Instead, he felt his feet touch down lightly on the roof of the building he'd been trying to reach and breathed a low sigh of relief, before running to the edge of the building.

Robin's eyes narrowed in fury, the source of the scream spotted.

A woman was cornered, her back pressed against the wall of the alley.

Two men had her boxed in, cutting off any route of escape.

There was nowhere for her to run.

"P-please," she whimpered, turning her head to the side, tear-tracks running down her cheeks.

"Now, now," the first man said, holding his hand out and rubbing his fingers together, "just hand over what's in your purse and no one needs to get hurt here."

He'd had enough.

Leaping down from his perch, he used the fire escape as the medium in between before landing directly between the men and their intended victim.

The men gave shouts of alarm, taking steps back.

"What's the matter?" Robin flashed a cocky grin. "You occupied?"

The first man, a brute with tattoos decorating his bulging biceps, took a step forward. "What's to worry about? He's just a kid. The Bat ain't even with him."

Robin tensed, readying himself for the fight. Behind him, the woman took the opportunity to flee. He heard her footsteps echoing on the trash-strewn pavement.

Good. She would be safe now.

And he could focus on being the hero.

The first man rushed him and Robin ducked the first punch, feeling the air as it whooshed over his head.

The man's fist smashed into the brick and he howled in pain.

Robin dropped down, sweeping the big man's legs out from under him and he went down, cursing.

The second man, having watched his companion fall, lunged forward with a snarl of rage.

Robin spun out of the way, then kicked out, catching the back of the man's knee and he cried out, crashing to the ground.

Before he could get too smug, a solid grip caught hold of his ankles and his feet were yanked out from under him.

He gasped, his chin striking the pavement, and lashed out, twisting out of the grip on his ankles.

He rolled onto his back.

The first man was on his feet again. "Stupid kid!"

Robin rolled out of the way, just as the man's foot came down where he had been a split second earlier.

Don't let a larger opponent get their hands on you.

Well… he'd already messed up on that one, he realized as Bruce's words came flooding back to him.

Didn't mean he had to make the same mistake again.

He was on his feet in an instant, dodging the next blow as it came.

"Seriously?" he taunted. "If you're the best Gotham has to offer, this job might be easier than I thought!"

Big, Tattooed and Ugly grabbed for him again, a guttural roar exploding from his throat. "Gonna kill you!" he snarled.

"Good luck with that one." Robin jumped, hands on the man's shoulders giving him the needed boost to slam his knee into the man's face.

The man let out a wordless cry, clutching his nose as blood oozed between his fingers.

"Next time you decide to try mugging someone," he hissed, "you're going to have to deal with a lot worse than just me."

"Robin!"

Crap.

So much for making it back to his post before anyone noticed.

Not that there had been any hope for that in the first place.

The dark shape of the Batman sailed down to meet him.

Robin waited, but Nightwing made no appearance.

He glanced at the slitted eyelets in Batman's cowl. "Where's Nightwing?"

"Alerting the GCPD," Batman answered tonelessly. "Gordon and his men will be here soon to pick up these two."

"You work fast," Robin muttered.

"You left your post."

Jason exploded. "What was I supposed to do? Let them hurt her? We're supposed to be heroes, Br- Batman! Heroes don't stand down and do nothing!"

Batman stared at him a long moment. Then, "We'll talk later."

Feeling like he had just signed Robin's death warrant, or, at the very least, gotten himself fired, Jason nodded numbly.

XxX

Jason sat on the edge of the table, swinging his legs as Alfred prepared the antiseptic for the scratch on his chin. His anger and indignation had long since faded away, leaving a sort of dull… nothingness. He didn't regret disobeying. He would do that again in a heartbeat. But without the anger fueling his resolve, he wasn't looking forward to facing down the Batman. "So…" His eyes traveled over to wear Bruce sat, logging the night's proceedings onto the large computer. Dick had already been sent upstairs to shower and head to bed. Jason would be following as soon as Alfred was done here. "Screwed up, huh?"

"Perhaps." Alfred eyed him shrewdly. "But it would have been most unfortunate had you allowed that young woman to come to harm."

Jason shrugged. "Wish Bruce could see it that way."

Alfred looked at him closely. "Have you spoken to him yet?"

Jason's eyes flashed back to the old man's face and he shook his. "Not since patrol ended."

Alfred hmmed, but didn't speak as he carefully swabbed the boy's chin. Jason flinched, instinctively pulling away, before remembering that this was Alfred and letting the man continue his work. "Give him a chance to come around, young sir." He placed a hand on Jason's shoulder, giving him an encouraging smile. "Master Bruce can be… difficult at times, as I'm sure you've noticed, but let him have time enough to reflect on it and I'm sure he'll see you did good."

Jason's insides fluttered hopefully. "He will?"

Alfred carefully applied a bandage over the scraped skin. "He can be surprising."

Jason snorts. "Go figure."

"Master Jason!"

"Alfred." Jason jerked his head back, surprised, as Bruce spoke up, having approached without their noticing. "I'd like to have a word with Jason, if you don't mind."

"Certainly not, sir." Alfred gave Jason's shoulder a comforting squeeze before leaving him to face the beast alone.

Jason faced Bruce, figuring he might as well get it over with now. "I'm guessing you must be pretty ticked off by now, right?"

"I'll admit that I was… disappointed in you for disobeying." He looked at him sharply. "Orders are given for a reason." Jason opened his mouth to argue, anger taking spark within him, but Bruce held up a hand. "However, what you did tonight… I would have been even more disappointed in you had you kept to your post and allowed those thugs to mug that woman."

Jason stared at Bruce for a good several seconds, fidgeting with his hands in his lap. "You're not angry," he finally stated.

"No," Bruce agreed. He took a step, before stooping so he's more at the boy's level and placing his hand on his shoulder. "No, I'm not. You saved that woman from harm, and… I'm proud of you for that."

He stood, and, this time, he frowned grimly. "But switching off your communicator was taking an inexcusable risk. You were lucky that those thugs possessed nothing more than brute strength without the training to put it to use. Had something gone wrong…"

He didn't need to finish the sentence.

A silence stretched between them.

"I didn't want you to stop me," Jason finally admitted, staring at his knees. He hadn't thought.

Okay, well, he had. Just not all the way through.

"You scared us." Jason looked up again in surprise at those words. He'd scared them? So he'd jumped off the radar, yeah, but… he'd scared them?

"Oh," was all he said.

"You turn off your communicator and we have no way of knowing if you're okay, or if something's happened to you and you'll have no way of knowing if one of us needs backup or medical treatment." Jason suddenly had a sinking feeling in his stomach. "The communicator is a lifeline. You keep it on at all times, is that understood?"

Jason nodded, the sick feeling in his gut increasing. He'd messed up big time. He found himself imagining Dick injured out there, Bruce frantically trying to contact him, being unable to reach him.

Jason winced.

"I'm sorry," he finally said, slumping his shoulders.

Again, the silence stretched between them, and Jason wondered if Bruce was about to tell him he could forget about ever being Robin.

Then Bruce sighed. "But… you stepped in to help that woman. And I'm proud of you for that."

Jason stared at him incredulously. "So I'm still Robin? You aren't firing me?"

"You're still Robin," Bruce confirmed. He didn't smile. Not really, but he looked a lot less… intense. "I'm expecting this to be a one time mistake though. Do not turn off the communicator again, otherwise we'll be having this conversation again. Now… I want you to head up to bed."

Still feeling slightly stunned, Jason nodded, before hopping off the table and heading up the several flights of stairs to where he can change out of his costume.

No costumes anywhere but the cave.

One rule that Alfred was strict in enforcing.

"Hey."

Jason's head snapped up.

Dick was standing at the head of the flight of stairs. He was already dressed for bed, hair still damp from the shower.

The idiot was going to get sick if he stayed down here any longer.

"You were brave out there, you know," he said, giving Jason a chance to climb the rest of the stairs until he reached him.

Jason shrugged, although his heart glowed at hearing such words come from his older brother.

"Just…" Dick barked out a small laugh that sounded anything but humorous, "don't drop off the radar again, okay? I don't want to worry if you're dead or dying."

Jason nodded. "Okay." Then something occurred to him. "Some record for first patrol, huh?"

Dick nodded. "Oh, that's definitely a record, but you want to hear what I did?"