Tim rubbed his eyes tiredly and set on to lathering his face up so he could shave. He hadn't slept at all the last five days (if one was honest you could say he hasn't slept at all the last eight years of his life, but one wasn't honest). He had just got in two strokes with the razor when his cell phone rung, the low sound pounding on his aching brain. Tim cursed at the device, but decided that looking like a decent human being came first than whoever was calling him, so he continued to shave. The device stopped ringing, and Tim sucked in a relieved breath. He was even humming, so happy he was to have this small moment to himself, but one glance to the cell phone reminded him that the real world was on his neck, waiting for him to finish shaving. This thought made him shave even slower, milking these few precious minutes where all that mattered in the world was to give himself the closest shave possible. As if throwing a tantrum, his phone rang again, this time so loudly Tim jumped and nicked his face with the razor. He cursed so brightly even Jason would be proud, and wiped his face with a towel. He took a few seconds to compose himself, but seeing the droplet of blood on his face on the mirror got him even more agitated. He glanced at the screen, and of course the only human being who dared to call him at 7 o'clock in the morning would be Bruce.
"Did you seriously just hacked my phone so you could talk to me?!" He accused
"Maybe. I need you to come down to the manor ASAP."
"Haven't you had enough of ordering me around the past week?" When the man gave no answer, Tim huffed "Is it really important? I have a meeting at W.E. in about 45 minutes."
"I already cancelled that for you."
"You what?! Bruce! Stop doing that, damn it!" Tim ignored the man calling him out for his language "How am I supposed to do my job when you keep getting in the way?!" Tim wasn't the kindest person in the morning, especially before he had his first cup of coffee
"You'll figure out a way. I'll see you in 20 minutes."
"Ugh, this better be really important, do you hear me?!"
Tim wanted to throw his phone on the wall when his answer was the beep that the call had been cut off
Tim sighed as he looked at the gigantic manor. Talking to Bruce about crime wasn't really a way to start the day. He closed the door of his car with a thud and tightened his coat around himself. Cold was beginning to settle down in Gotham
"Hey, Timmy!" Dick's energetic voice in the morning was really annoying. Tim noticed the fact he wasn't wearing his uniform on a Wednesday, and deduced Bruce had called in sick for Dick as well. At the same time this thought annoyed him, it also chilled his guts. Something really bad must be going on
"He called in sick for you too?" Tim already knew the answer, but wanted to start a conversation as they headed for Bruce's office
"Yup! It's a Wayne family reunion, Timbo!" Only Dick could manage an sarcastically excited tone "YAY!" Tim snorted
"Yaaay…"
"Grayson!" The arrogant voice called out and Dick and Tim turned to see Damian on the doorway of Bruce's office "Oh, great. The hindrance is here." The child turned away and headed back to the cave. Tim closed his eyes and silently counted to ten, hoping in his mind the young ex-assassin would slip in the stairs and break his neck
"Damian!" Dick huffed and went after the child to tell him off 'It's useless, Dick', is what Tim wanted to say, but he decided the sooner he was done there the more his mental health would thank him
As he reached the batcave, he could see Dick scolding Damian on the side, and Bruce glaring at the batcomputer, as if that would give him the answers he was looking for. Tim was about to open his mouth and ask what was so important
"Drake!"
Tim's temple twitched. "What?" Tim really wished Damian was still injured, that way the batcave would still be his Demon-free sanctuary. But after near a month in the bench, the child was one step from having the bats go insane, so Bruce relented and let him go back to action
"It was brought to my attention that apparently it is rude to say the truth-"
"Hey, that is not what I told you to say!" Dick interrupted. Damian tt-d and grumbled under his breath
"Your weak mental strength prevents you from accepting reality, so-"
"Damian!" Dick was about to scold him once again, but Tim stopped him
"It's fine, Dick. I don't expect Satan to have any social ability. That's why he's being raised as a gremlin in the depths of Wayne Manor, away from socie-" Tim's speech was interrupted by Damian throwing a brick at his face. "THAT'S IT! YOU'RE GOING DOWN, SPAWN!" Tim yelled before lauching himself at Damian. The two youngest bat-brothers tried to murder each other as Dick tried to separate them. Damian bit his arm and Dick yelled as he let him go
"You guys don't stop now I swear I'll sedate the both of you!" Dick threatened as he rubbed his arm. He huffed and went to where the sleeping gas grenades were kept. As he was preparing to throw the grenade at the two fighting monsters, Bruce raised from his chair. He pried Damian and Tim apart and dragged them to the debriefing table. Dick sighed in relief and followed him, touching his left cheek, which would most likely bruise. He took a seat at the table and took the folder Bruce handed him. It contained various photos and locations, but what called his attention was the name on the first page:
"Jason Peter Todd, A.K.A. Red Hood."
"Um, Bruce, why are we being debriefed about Jason?" He asked
"He has been off the radar for almost a month-"
"Yeah, so? He has been off the radar for even longer than that before, you never gave a damn about it." Tim countered defensively
"Yes, the amount of time he has been missing doesn't bother me. What I care about are the ten murdered criminals that came up in the last two weeks, all bearing the mark of a red bat somewhere in their bodies." Tim paused. He hadn't heard about that. Though, it's no news that criminals being murdered wouldn't make the news. Especially small-time ones like these
"So, your first thought is to blame Jason?" Bruce opened his mouth to retort, but Tim didn't give him the chance "Let me get this straight: Jason is missing for almost a month. No movement from him or any of his known aliases. You don't care about that. Heck, maybe you didn't even think about him in that time-frame, no "I hope he's not hurt" or maybe even a "Is he even still alive?". But then a couple of criminals get murdered-" Okay, Tim had to admit that ten murders were an alarming amount "and the first thought you have about Jason in almost a month is "He killed these men!"?" Tim got up from the chair and headed to the cave entrance "You are unbelievable, Bruce Wayne!"
"Give me one reason not to deduce this is Jason's work." Tim stopped in his tracks. 'Because he's got cancer, that's why!', is what he wanted to throw in Bruce's face, but he had promised Jason not to. Tim cursed to the depths of his soul the day he agreed to keep Jason's little secret. He marched to where Bruce was and jabbed his finger in his chest.
"Deduce? Is this deducing? The way I see this is just a biased conclusion that's coming from a man who can't even see what's in front of him!" At this point Dick (and even Damian) stood from their chairs, ready to intervene if things got out of hand "Well, if you want reasons, let me give them to you! What about the first and most glaring reason: Jason hasn't killed in over a year! Second: Jason only killed the really bad ones, like, dealing drugs to little children bad. He didn't kill Joe, the guy who mugged a couple people so he could pay his bills! If these aren't good enough reasons for you, please let me entertain you! How about the fact that Jason promised he wouldn't kill again? Or maybe that these "clues" are too good enough to be true? Please tell me when you had enough, because I can keep at this all day! Maybe you neglected that Dick and I are covering for his area of the town while he's doing who-knows-what. Or that he asked me to watch over his apartment for him. Do those sound like things a murdering psycho would do? No? Well-"
"Hey, Timmy, that's enough." Dick put a hand on Tim's shoulder. Tim batted his hand away, but stopped yelling at Bruce "Bruce, why do you think this is Red Hood's work?" He asked calmly, ignoring the tight breath he heard Tim sucking in
Bruce took the folder nearest him and took a few crime scene pictures from it. "Because there is no one else that could have done this. Height of the murderer matches with Jason's. The firearms, the modus operandi, the time of the crimes, the bat symbol… Everything about these scream Jason. The only thing that doesn't is the targeted group, but even that doesn't deviate much."
"Have you tried contacting Jason himself?" Dick asked as he looked at the pictures more closely
"I can't reach him." The way Bruce said it flipped the switch in Dick's head. He was worried about Jason. He knew Bruce would deny it until the day he died. Even his ghost would keep on denying it. Really, what is wrong with this family?
"I agree with Tim, this is too convenient. We should track Jason down, though, just to be safe."
"Are you serious?! I just gave you-" Tim started, but Dick held up a hand, silencing him
"It's just a precaution, Tim." He said with a serious expression." Tim huffed and threw his hands in the air
"You know what?" Fine! Do what you want! Just don't expect me to help! I'll go find the real murderer while you waste time and resources!" 'Oh, Timmy.', Dick thought, but just nodded
"Fine. Once we have Jason locked down we will continue the investigation from your point of view, see if it brings us anywhere."
Tim just grunted and kept walking, not wanting to stay even one more second near Bruce.
He slammed his car door with way more strength than needed. His tires screeched as he raced out of the property, his next destination set in his mind. He parked the black Audi and went to the reception. He took a deep breath, his nice guy persona already falling back in place naturally, he smiled brightly at the receptionist
"Hey, Sarah." The woman looked up from her screen, and blushed when she saw him. Tim was sure the woman had a major crush on him. Who doesn't?
"Tim! Hey!" The woman's eyes flicked between her screen and Tim, and her smile was a little on the forced side. Tim's bat-paranoia kicked in, and he dropped his smile, already full-on on his business mode
"Is something wrong? Did something happen to Jason?"
"What?!" Sarah gave a nervous laugh "No! Why would you think something like that?" Tim was sure something had happened and Jason had took him out of his visitor's list. He had already put his business smile back and was about to flirt the answer out of Sarah
"Sarah! Did Mr. Todd come here?" He heard a young man, probably an intern, ask as he ran to them. Behind him he could feel Sarah trying to silently tell him to shut up. Tim grabbed the young man's attention as he stepped in front of him, extending his hand so he could shake
"Hi, I'm Jason Todd's brother. My name is Tim Drake" The young man dumbly shook his hand back and Tim smirked internally. Physical contact was the first step to a successful business transaction
"Hi, um, George Smith." The intern reminded himself it was polite to introduce yourself when meeting someone
"Is something wrong with my brother?" Tim asked with an intimidating smile. George looked every part like a cornered prey, his predator ready to pounce
"U-Um, yes, sir. I mean, no, sir. Actually, I don't know, sir. Mister Todd sneaked away from his room. We haven't been able to find him yet." Tim mentally face-palmed. Is Jason what, five? He quickly bid his goodbye from Sarah and George, and headed to the floor Jason's room was. He could hear Sarah calling George an idiot as he distanced from them
As he got to Jason's room, he could see that he had fled his room quite hastily. The covers on the bed were untidy and Jason left his cell phone in his bedside table. The idiot clearly didn't think through before getting out.
Tim sighed. It wasn't even nine in the morning and his day had already been too long.
He exited the room and almost bumped with Jason. Both men cursed as they held a hand over their hearts, trying to calm down
"Jason!"
"Shit."
"What are you doing?"
"I forgot my phone." Jason answered as if that made everything alright
"No, I mean, why are you sneaking out of your room?"
"It's none of your freaking business." Jason grunt out as he checked the time on the clock in the room and hurried to get his phone and get out of there. Then it clicked in Tim's head. It was almost time for his chemotherapy
"Are you trying to get out of your chemo treatment?" He asked Jason. The older man froze, and tried to stutter out an answer to that. "Why? Are you afraid?"
"W-What?!" Jason spluttered indignantly "The fuck? I ain't scared of anything! I'm freaking Red Hood!"
"Yeah, you're scared." Tim crossed his arms and leaned on the bed. Jason blushed bright red and looked down. He was actually scared shitless. It would be the second session in his whole treatment, and Cassidy had told him that they would have to give him stronger drugs because the three weeks he had to stop treatment because of his injury had set the treatment back by a fair amount. If the first chemo session had been bad enough, he was terrified to see how the second one would go.
These few minutes he wasted with Tim had actually cost him his life, for Cassidy entered the room then. He knew he wouldn't be able to say no to the woman
"There you are!" Cassidy said out of breath. She had ran through the entire property of the hospital after him, and then remembered he had left his phone back in his room. She had planned to use the device for leverage on him, but apparently there was no need for that anymore "Are you ready?"
'As if I'd ever be.' Jason thought, but forced himself to nod stiffly. Tim saw how tense he was
"Hey, will it help you if I stay here with you?" he asked
"The hell? Do you wanna hold my hand too while you're at it?" Jason snarled at Tim. Tim winced, Jason had this tendency to become aggressive when he was scared
"No, I mean, we could just talk. I have some work stuff to you." Jason eyed him distrustfully, but nodded at him. It would actually be a lot of help "Can he have his treatment here in his room? Since we'll talk about confidential matters, it would be better if it was private." Cassidy seemed to think through his demand, but gave in anyways. They would have to probably carry Jason back to his room if he had it somewhere else
"Sure. We'll set up here." She said the last part to the nurse and the resident accompanying her
After about half an hour, everything was ready for Jason's treatment to begin. As Cassidy came with the needle closer to the port in Jason's arm, Tim hovered around her like a hawk. She honestly thought it was kind of cute.
"Okay, Jason. All set." She checked the drip once again "As I said before, the drugs are stronger this time, so you might feel stronger side effects." She said that mostly to Tim, since Jason already knew about it
"What kind of side effects?" Tim asked
"He might feel nauseous, and feel fatigue. I'll leave you two to yourselves, but if you think he is losing consciousness I want you to push the call button and a doctor will come running." She said as she handed Jason a basin so he could puke and left the room
"How're you feeling? Any side effects?" Jason chuckled
"Not yet." He settled back in the bed "What did you want to talk about?"
"Oh, right. Have you heard about some criminals being murdered the last two weeks?" Jason perked at that.
"No. Should I be sad about that?" He asked sarcastically "As you can see, I'm in no shape to go walking around killing bad guys." He said as he waved at himself
"No, no! I never thought it was you!"
"Bruce probably did." Tim's face got dark and Jason knew he had hit jackpot. He chuckled "Good old Bruce. Did you tell him why it couldn't have been me?"
"No."
"Thank you."
"But whoever's killing these people is obviously framing you. Red bat and all." He showed Jason the pictures he could snap before he and Bruce fought
"Wow. I must be more famous than I had thought."
"Some people would use the word hated." Jason snorted
"That works too."
"Dick and Bruce said they are going to try and track you down. I know they will start by looking for you abroad, but it won't take long before they turn their search back to Gotham." Jason nodded
"Thanks for the heads up."
"There's also the fact of this copy-cat. He knows your height, your m.o., even your guns. There is a high chance he knows your secret identity as well." Jason nodded. That was indeed a high possibility. He already knew where Tim was going to take this conversation "I want to stay with you at your place. So I can protect you." Jason sighed. He reeealy didn't want Tim's help, but he also knew he couldn't protect himself without the kind of ammo that all you need is a round in-between the eyes and your enemy was dead. He also knew that if he killed someone he would be sent to Blackgate, and he doubted their health-care was any good
"Fine. Do what you want. But make sure your stupid ass won't lead them right to me or I'll be really pissed."
Tim scoffed. Who did he think he was? Tim was just the only guy who was a better detective than the Batman. He had figured out Batman and Robin's real identities by the time he was nine. His thoughts were interrupted as Jason suddenly became pale. He bolted out of his chair, but Jason was already emptying his stomach on the basin he held. Tim scrunched his nose at the smell, but said nothing. He awkwardly patted Jason on the back, but when it looked like he became even sicker at the physical contact, Tim retracted his hand and watched helplessly as Jason retched. When he thought Jason was done, he reached out and took the basin so he could change it with a new one, but Jason pulled the object protectively closer
"No." He said weakly and started puking again. Tim stood there, gaping like a fish, and decided to make himself of some use. He went to the bathroom and took a new basin, and walked back to the room. Jason hadn't stopped retching for a moment, Tim stood on his side, waiting for a chance to change the basins. When Jason stopped for a breath, Tim quickly changed the objects, and carried the used basin back to the bathroom, as far away from himself as he could, and left it there for a poor nurse to take care of.
When he came back, Jason was dry heaving, as there was nothing left on his stomach to spill. Tim was apparently wrong, since Jason started to puke his stomach acid. He didn't know if this was the kind of situation he was supposed to call a doctor, but he didn't care. Abusing of the call button, as if pressing it harder would make the doctor come any faster, Tim was beginning to lose his calm when Cassidy busted through the door. She rushed to Jason's side, and checked the IV drip before turning to Tim.
"What's wrong?!" She asked him
"What is wrong?! Did you even look at Jason?!" Cassidy winced
"This type of reaction is to be expected."
"Well then, give him some nausea medicine or something." Cassidy shook her head as she ran her hand through Jason's sweaty hair and checked his forehead for his temperature
"I can't, it will put unnecessary strain on his body." Tim was furious
"I'll tell you what is unnecessary strain! This!" He pointed to Jason, who was moaning weakly over the basin. His face was wet, but if you asked him he would tell you it's because of contracting his face muscles, not because he felt like crap. He spit on the tray
"Stop shouting, you're making my head hurt." He moaned at Tim, who got a sorrowful face on
"Sorry." Tim said and sat on the bedside of Jason. The older man would have glared at him any other time, but the drugs had his defenses down. Right then, he craved the closeness. Cassidy approached him, and kneeled before him
"Look, you'll feel really sick the first couple of times, but then you'll get used to it and it won't be as bad. That's how you fight cancer. It gets worse before it gets better." Jason wanted to laugh at the woman. Who ever gets used to being sick? "Do you want me to stay here?" She asked him
"No, you're probably busy, right?" Cassidy shook her head
"No, I cleaned my schedule for today, actually. I have all the time in the world today." Jason hadn't even told her whether she could stay or not and Cassidy was already pushing a chair beside the bed. She patted her lab coat and pulled out a pack of cards "I stole these from the peds section." She announced as she held up her loot. Jason snorted
"What is it with you and the peds wing?" Cassidy shrugged
"Well, they've got the nicest things. I think it's because it's full of sick kids. No one can beat that." Jason chuckled again
"True."
With the arrival of Cassidy and her deck of cards, it didn't take at all for Jason's drip to empty out. Their game flowed nicely, the only interruption was when Jason had to puke. Cassidy wiped the metaphorical floor with Jason and Tim. The two brothers had no idea how a civilian could be that good at playing old maid.
"All done!" Cassidy announced as the resident took out the chemo drip. Jason slumped back in his bed, now that his nerves weren't on edge, the lack of adrenalin showed him how sick he actually felt. The room spun at an incredible speed, the only thing that made it worse was when he closed his eyes and lost all sense of space. His head ached so badly even the clock ticking bothered him. It was like the worst hangover of all times. He felt a touch on his left shoulder and glanced at Tim, who was talking to him. He could hear what he said, but his brain made no sense of it. He felt like he should probably nod, though, so that is what he did
"Hey, is he alright?" Tim asked Cassidy. Jason was really freaking him out. He was looking at him owlishly, his pupils fretted like he was drugged and he kept on nodding, even though Tim wasn't talking to him anymore. The doctor checked Jason's pupil, and, finding nothing out of what was expected, she sighed.
"We should let him rest." She put her hand over Jason's eyes. His head bobbed around, and he put his hand over hers, an effort to remove it, but soon he stilled and his hand dropped. She lifted her hand to see he had passed out.
As I said on the author note of the previous chapter, I want to make a Christmas special for this story. So, I would really appreciate it if you voted on what theme do you want for the special on the poll that's happening on my profile. If you have any headcannons for this story (even if it's not Christmas-related) please tell me and I'll do my best to make it true!
As always, please don't take any medical information on this fanfiction seriously, it's probably wrong anyways! If you are a professional in the area and find any mistakes, please notify me!
I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it
