'Cause a lot of us wish that someone got to him on time. Now excuse me while I sob my eyes out watching the first several minutes of Under the Red Hood.

There is an unspoken law in Gotham that every crook, from the two-bits to the mob bosses, knows by heart:

Never hurt a Bird, 'cause it's never worth angering the Flock.

Trip them, tie them up, knock them out, maybe even shoot them in a non-fatal area. But never do anything that they can't get back up from again, or else your life will be forfeit. The Flock will destroyyou, if the Bat doesn't get to you first.

Of course, to a certain murderous, clown-themed psychopath, that's exactly what he wants. He just wonders why he hasn't done so sooner.

Even when his thoughts roared that this was all totally Dickface's fault, a tiny voice in the back of Jason's head berated himself for being so goddamn stupid.

He shouldn't have gone out on his own. Batman had repeated over and over to him and the others that as long as they worked under him and in Gotham, none of them were ever allowed to go out patrolling on their own, that they should always go out with at least one other.

But no, Dickface had left. He left. He got to go somewhere else on his own. He'd been gone for a few months now. The ass actually left them all, went under a new name, Nightwing, which totally sounded gay, just like the rest of him, and was patrolling another city all on his lonesome because apparently only he was awesome enough for that. And apparently he was just doing fine. Stupid dick, he couldn't just leave and-

A good hard whack across his face from a crowbar snapped him out of his thoughts and sent him tumbling to the unforgiving concrete floor of a long-abandoned warehouse. Might as well too, seeing how those thoughts were what distracted him and allowed the Joker to one-up him in the first place.

"Oh, kiddo. That looked like it reallyhurt."

Jason managed to raise his head to glare back at the grinning white face. He'd have loved to see it caved underneath his fist, but his hands were securely tied behind his back. The Joker grinned wider, running his fingers across the blood-spattered crowbar.

"Now tell me, pumpkin. What hurts more? This-" the iron struck the top of his skull "-or this?" there went his ribs "Forehand-" his shoulder cried out in pain "-or backhand" he was caught underneath his chin.

The Joker let out a belting laugh, but he still heard Jason muttering something underneath his breath.

"What's that? You're going to speak up a little louder," the Joker said, leaning down so his face right next to the teen's. "I think you have a collapsed lung-"

Jason spat a bit of blood onto his Joker's cheek. The insane madman actually grimaced for a moment before slamming Jason's head into the ground.

"Now that was just rude," he said, standing up and wiping the blood off with a handkerchief from his breast pocket. "Boy Blunder has a lot more manners than you."

Jason gave him his best shit-eating grin despite the fact that blood was running down his teeth and gums.

"Speaking of which, I haven't seen the Big Bird as of late. Heard he got his new big boy boots and is running around in Bludhaven how. I really wanted to beat him up all nice seeing how he's the first and oldest and all, but since he wasn't available, I had to settle with you," the Joker said, almost cordially, as he stuffed his handkerchief back into his pocket. He didn't miss the way Jason's mouth tightened or how his eyes, visible through the ripped domino mask, hardened. He laughed hard.

"Oh! Oh! Don't tell me there's some actual discord in that big happy family if yours!" he cackled. When the wheezes died down, he readjusted his purple suit and gave Jason a jaunty wave with the crowbar still in hand.

"Well, Batsy might've lost one kid already, but seeing how he already has so many, I'm sure he won't miss justone more-"

The doors promptly exploded, and the Joker barely had time to react before a foot collided into his solar plexus and sent him flying away.

He managed to get to his feet, and he actually had the gall to look disappointed at whom he saw. "Oh poo, all the kids are here but no daddy Bats."

Four pair of furious eyes all but radiated anger that would've sent most men choking underneath their intensity. The Joker was pouting.

"He's on a mission with the JLA," Nightwing said, his voice a deadly calm. "Good thing too, because we're the ones who're going to kill you. Right here, right now."

Joker slumped his shoulders. "Honestly, Batsy really has been too busy with that little club as of late to spend time with me. Why else would I go through all the trouble of doing this?"

Dick? Jason managed to mouth out, feebly trying to sit up but to no avail. Everyone?

His siblings all spared him a glance, silently telling him that everything would be okay now before charging in, intent on permanently bringing down the one who did this to their own.

It took less than half a minute to leave the Joker in an equally bad shape as Jason.

"Any last words?" Nightwing asked.

"There's nothing I ever wanted more than to see the Bat lose it. Unfortunately, I won't when all of us die together," he said before something slipped out of his jacket sleeve and neatly into his hand. He pushed the button.

They couldn't see where the beeps were coming from, but they knew they had to get out now.

Everyone raced for the exit, Dick barely stopping for a precious second when he stooped down to scoop up Jason into his arms. The five of them just made a couple steps out the door before the explosion sent them flying into a stack of crates. Dick twisted his body midair as to absorb most of the impact as to lessen the pain for Jason.

"You think he died?" Stephanie said a little hopefully. Jason let out a pained moan.

"Check body later, get Jay medical attention now," Dick barked out. Everyone nodded in affirmation.

"Dick...you're...back..." Jason managed to force out. Dick gently brushed aside Jason's bangs before adjusting him more securely in his arms.

"Shh, Jaybird. Rest. Glad to know you missed me."

"Dick...face...shut...up..."

Despite everything that had just happened, everyone couldn't help grinning. Everything was going to be okay.

The first thing Jason saw when he woke up was a round, cherubic, angryface.

The first thing he felt was a tiny fist punching him straight in the gut.

And the first thing he heard was, "You're a stubborn ass, Todd."

"Too stubborn to die. Now get off of me, Little D. All that extra pizza is making you fat and heavy."

The youngest of the Batclan, who was sitting rather comfortably on his stomach, promptly punched him again, smiling with self-satisfaction at the groan that came in response. "It's a pity that Pennyworth had insisted that I had to go on a quote on quote "play date" with Lian Harper, or else I would've been at that warehouse with everyone else."

"Awe, you do care," Jason said with mock affection. Damian crossed his arms and huffed.

"Tt. Hardly. I would've just finished you off for being such an idiot. Does Father not stress enough to you all that you're not allowed to patrol on your own? Though when Father finally deems me ready to go out, I certainly will never end up in a position you did-"

Before Jason could shoot back a not-so-witty retort, his bedroom door opened and Dick came inside. He was then aware of just how bad a condition he was in; he could barely move, it hurt to breathe (and Damian wasn't helping), his right arm was hooked up to an IV drip, his left leg was held up in a cast, and bandages probably covered most of his body, including his face.

"Damian, are you still in here? I know how worried you are about Jason but you can't just stay he-"

"SHUT UP, GRAYSON!"

Damian didn't like the way Jason was smirking at him, so there was one last punch before his little legs were running out the door, head ducked so that no one could see his furiously red face. Dick then realized that Jason had indeed returned to the land of the living.

"You're awake!" he said happily, the relief shining clearly on his face as he pulled over a chair as to sit by the bedside. Jason would've turned to the side as to not to face him has not the cast kept him firmly in place.

"How long have I been out?" he managed.

"Five days," Dick said, gently pushing aside the bangs the poked out of the bandaging.

"And the Joker?"

"Didn't find the body."

"Fucker's probably still alive then."

There was a moment's silence before Dick spoke up again. "We were all so worried about you, Jaybird. You'll be stuck in that cast for a bit, and Bruce'll probably won't let you on duty for awhile even after you've healed up, but I'm really glad you're alive."

Jason snorted. "Nice to see you still care." The words came out surprisingly harsh. Dick furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Hey Jaybird, what's the matter-"

"What are you even doing here, anyways? Why aren't you back at Bludhaven?"

Dick rubbed the back of his head. "I was already on my way for a visit, then Steph and Tim called me, freaking out because you disappeared. It wasn't until I got back to the Batcave that they figured out where you were thanks to the last image on the cam in your suit before it went out."

"Oh."

"But seriously, Jaybird, what were you doing out? You know the rules. You always have to patrol with someone else. Tim, Steph, Cassie, they were all home. Why'd you go out on your own?"

Jason badly wanted to roll over to the side so that he wouldn't have to look at Dick's face, but the casts wouldn't let him.

"Jay, did I do something? Are you mad at me?"

Even with three quarters of his face obscured with bandages, the scowl was apparent. "No, why would I be angry that you left by yourself to do whatever. It's not like I was angry back when you spent all your time on the Team or the Titans and I'm totally not angry that I really don't see you much anymore now that you've completely left the house and it's not like I'm worried since Roy sucked ballswhen he started out on his own and-"

"Whoa whoa whoa," Dick said, cutting off the tirade and raising two hands in protest. His expression softened even further. "Was that it? You didn't want me to leave?"

"No," Jason spat out, the denial obvious. Dick was quiet for a moment before flinging his arms around him.

"Mmfmfget off of me Dickfa-"

"I'm sorry."

Jason stiffened.

"Guess it was pretty selfish of me, huh? Thought it was getting a bit overcrowded in Gotham with all of us here and I thought you guys would be able to handle it fine on your own, but that wasn't the real issue, huh?"

Jason could feel his eyes getting wet. Oh god he was acting like a pussy now.

"We're all growing up, you know. Tim's spending more time with the Titans while Stephanie and Cassie are helping out Babs with her new intel network. But we're still a family, and I guess I've been forgetting that. I've been too eager to go out on my own."

Dick let go of him and sat back down so that he could ruffle Jason's hair again. "But really, do you have no faith in your dearest older brother? I've been it the business a lot longer than Roy did back then."

Jason actually scowled at the wide, trollish smile. His good arm frantically groped around for something, anything at all to chuck at it. Dick laughed before hugging him again. Oh god, the cheek-to-cheek rubs. Not those. Not tho-

"So how's it sound, just the two of us, with a movie and Alfred's popcorn and the big beanie chairs and you can try to kick my fine ass afterward in sparring-"

Jason's indignant sputters were cut off by a shrill cry of delight.

"OHMYGOD DAMIAN WAS RIGHT HE IS AWAKE! EVERYONE GET OVER HERE!"

"REALLY STEPH?"

The next thing he knew, he was dogpiled. There were shrieks and cries and barks (oh god, even the mutt was on him) and through the mess of the limbs that belonged to four of his siblings (Damian was insisting/shouting above the noise that someone had to be the mature one) he could sort of see Alfred at the doorway with a tray in his hands, smiling his British smile at him. Bruce was there next to him, smiling that awkward how-do-I-be-a-good-dad-in-this-situation smile. Several years in with a couple kids and Bruce was still struggling with that. Jason was sure that he'd get a stern talking from Bruce later, but now wasn't the time.

Especially since Stephanie grabbed the tray out of Alfred's hands, declared that she'd feed him, and tried to fight off the rest of her siblings with the soup spoon who shouted back that they wanted to do it instead. Cassie actually jumped at her, trying to pin her to the ground, sending the tray flying. And that was how the steaming hot bowl of chicken noodle soup got spilled on his crotch. Tim was frantic, Dick was laughing, and Ace was trying to lick the soup off.

And as much as Jason thought that his family was annoying as hell, he wouldn't have it any other way.