A scream ripped through the dark, causing Jason to wake from his unexpected slumber. The awkward position he was sprawled in wasn't enough to support his alarm and he hit the ground in a panic.
Another scream severed the silence. His eyes darted to the couch where Damian should have been laying. In the dark he couldn't see how far he'd gotten, but judging from the screams it wasn't far. He quickly got onto his feet and made a sweep of the apartment. It took all of one second of looking over the couch to find him. The kicked in door seemed to show some sort of exit for the boy, and he'd tried to run off, thankfully Jason's blanket nest managed to tangle him, preventing him from leaving.
Making a mental note, Jason walked around the couch, and crouched next to the boy. His shallow screams now were different, tears streamed from his fear stricken eyes, his body struggling with the blankets.
This was ridiculous. Damian Wayne. Son of the Bat. Screaming and crying over his feet trapped under blankets. Obviously there was more to it, but just the sight was baffling. Absolutely baffling.
Jason took a deep breath and sat properly on the floor.

"Damian?", the name felt like sand on his tongue, "Damian can you look at me?"

If Damian could hear him, he was ignoring him. He began to claw at the dingy hardwood floors, ignoring the blanket binding his feet together.
Due to what his mind was going through, he most likely wouldn't be able to connect with what was going on around him for the next days to weeks.
He rememberd slightly, when he was living with Talia, she would hold him until his fits subsided, cooing sweet nothings to him as he sleep took over. Well, he'd be damned if he sang sweet nothings to the kid, but he didn't think holding him would be so bad.
Carefully, he wormed his arms around Damian's middle, and although he screamed and pushed Jason away, he managed to get him close. His arms almost covered Damian completely once he had him close. He'd never realized just how small he was.
Throwing his weight to his left, Jason began to rock side to side. He couldn't remember the last time he held someone close on purpose.
Damian's screams began to fade, and soon he was just crying. Jason couldn't bring himself to look at him so he watched the wall, his body still rocking. The cries tugged at Jason's heart strings, a constant reminder at just how vulnerable Damian was, just how scared he was, just like Jason was all those years ago.
It was a place in his mind he'd promised himself he'd never go back to, regardless of the circumstances, and now here he was. It had been less than a day with Damian coming back, and Jason found himself revisiting memory after memory to try and help Damian. What the hell had become of Jason Todd?

He woke up, what he presumed to be, hours later with the afternoon sun blinding him. Damian lay sleeping in his arms, his eyes red and puffy. He didn't want to move him, but his arms were stinging from lack of blood circulation, and his bladder throbbed. He couldn't remember falling asleep, he'd have to keep a better eye on that.
Sliding his legs out in front of him, he managed to get up on his knees and from there onto his feet. He had to move quickly and set Damian down on the couch, lest his sleeping arms give out. Jason was able to get to the bathroom and relieve himself before his jeans began to buzz. Thankfully he kept his phone on vibrate, allowing Damian to sleep.
Jason didn't look at the number before he placed the phone to his ear, an action he'd kick himself for later.

"I've been calling you for weeks, and now you answer?", Dick's voice was almost sing song.

"What do you want, Dick?", Jason spat out the name with more hostility than he probably should have given him.

He hadn't exactly been avoiding everyone, but he hadn't been answering their calls either. Tim called once a day for the first two weeks, and then nothing. But Dick was terribly persistant. He called sometimes three times a day, and had taken to showing up every now and then unannounced.
That, thankfully died out fast.

"I haven't seen you in weeks, nobody has...", he took a breath, "I won't ask you to come home, but have lunch with me. Come out on patrol."

"Dick, I-"

"I know,", he continued, "I know we asked you to spread out, but just one night Jason."

If he had anything to say about it, if anyone had anything to say about it, Dick missed Damian the most. He was closer to Damian than Bruce could ever hope to be, and on that day Dick not only lost a brother, he lost a son.

"I can't, Dickie-Bird,", Jason sighed, his eyes glued to Damian. He prayed he wouldn't wake up until he was off the phone, or at least sleep enough to let him have shower. Letting Dick know Damian was alive, let alone in his apartment, wasn't an option.

"Why not?", Dick pushed, "I'll pay for lunch, and you don't have to patrol with me if you don't want to. Tim's gone and I don't know where Bruce is and I can't do this alone Jay."

"Listen, Dick, I can't.", he kept his voice hushed and turned away from Damian, "I would, I really would, but I'm going through somethings, and I just can't alright?"

"Jay-Jay, we're family. We're all we have left. If you're going through something let me help you."

"Not this time, Dickie,", he smiled sadly, and although he couldn't see it, he knew Dick could feel it.

"What if I come over then? Just for a few hours, just for an hour even. I'll bring Chinese, and we'll talk?"

He wasn't going to give up. He was going to push and push, and he would have given in. Easily. But not this time. He couldn't. He had to be sure Damian was going to be okay before Bruce and the rest of them found out. Sure, they'd probably hate him for keeping Damian from him, but Damian was going through something only he understood, and he was the only one who could make sure he'd be okay.

"Another time, big D."

Dick was silent before letting out an exaggerated sigh, "Okay...", another pause, "I just wish you'd talk to me, Jay."

Damnit.
Jason growled, running his fingers through his greasy hair.

"D, if I could talk to you I would, but I can't alright? So drop it."

"Jason, are you in trouble?", Dick's voice was stern now, concerned.
The death of Damian was a blow nobody was sure Dick could take, if Bruce or Tim or anyone else really were to die Dick surely wouldn't recover. He jumped to the worst possible conclusion with almost every scenario now.

"Damnit, Dick!", he didn't mean to yell, "I'm not in trouble, I don't want to get lunch, I don't want to patrol, I don't want you to come over, I need you to back off."

Everything came out sounding much more harsh that he intended it to be, but he needed to make sure this went off without a hitch. If Bruce or anyone else caught wind, they'd take Damian back, and it would all snowball downhill from there.

"Yeah,", Dick cleared his throat, "Yeah alright, sure. Sorry, I didn't mean to push."

"No, Dick-", now he felt like an ass, but now was not the time to try and fix it. He turned around and found Damian not where he was supposed to be. He could hear Dick talking in his ear, but panic set in when he noticed the front door still hadn't been fixed. With the phone absently drifting from his ear, Jason did a quick sweep of the tiny apartment. He wasn't anywhere. He'd taken off. In the day time. Panic gripped his chest.

"Jason? Are you there? What's wrong?", were all the words Jason managed to hear before he blatantly hung up. There was no time. He couldn't have been gone long.

He didn't grab his jacket of shoes as he barreled out the door and down the hall. His apartment was on the third floor, so he didn't make it down to the street in the amount of time he'd have liked.
He grabbed the side of his head in absolute frustration before he decided to run to his left. Thankfully, he didn't live in one of Gotham's more prosperous area's, so foot traffic wasn't heavy.
He kept on the sidewalk, running a full block, until he wound back at his apartment.

"Damian!", Jason called out. The chances of him answering were almost nil but he had to try. Luckily for him, a small whimper met his call. He whipped around, following the sound, and to his relief, he found Damian sitting inside the apartment hallway, his bare bottom on the stair.
Relief flooded him.

"Jesus Christ, Demon,", he hadn't used the nick name in a long time, "You know how to scare a guy.". Everything in him wanted to yell, would have screamed, but he couldn't. The sounds would set him in a panic, and he didn't need him having another screaming fit.
He wasn't crying anymore, but his blue eyes were glassed over, his mind alarmigly elsewhere. Without another word, he managed to pick Damian up and carry him back into the apartment. He set him back onto the couch, and he didn't move a muscle as Jason managed to screw the door back into place. He spoke to Damian the whole while, he knew he wouldn't answer back, but he thought he might enjoy it.

He stood in the hallway and swung the newly hinged door, slightly proud of himself. He closed the door gently, and stood back to get a better look, lest it be crooked.
He was taken aback when he shuffled backwards, and hit someone passing.

"I didn't take you for some handy man.", Dick's laugh was like barbed wire twisting itself around Jason's eardrums. "I'm sorry," he started as Jason turned to reluctantly face him, "I know I shouldn't have come but it sounded like something was wrong on the phone."
He scrambled through his brain, hunting for something to say to get Dick to leave. Damian was on the other side of the door. If he started crying or went into another fit, Dick would know.
He parted his chapped lips to speak, but was cut off but a loud crash and glass shattering from inside the apartment. Dick looked past him, his eyes although fighting exhaustion, quick and alert.

"What the hell was that?", he asked, his eyes scanning the door as if it was the intruder.

"It's my cat.", Jason scrambled, "I got a cat. It probably knocked over something."

"Oh...", Dick wasn't buying it, "Well..do you wanna check it out? I could use some lunch anyways"

"No.", his answer was rushed, "Uh...Chinese right? You wanted Chinese? Let's just go from here.

Not giving Dick time to protest, he reached into his pocket, pulled out his keys and locked the door. The window in the apartment was locked, so the only harm that could be done was from inside. His mind raced to find what had fallen, was Damian okay? Everything in him screamed to run inside, but he couldn't risk it.
He would just have to rush lunch and pray Damian was okay.

A/N ~ Yay! Almost 2,000 words this chapter! I hope you are enjoying this! Feedback is much appreciated!