Chapter thirteen
Two weeks after Jason's recovery, a whole month after Tim's battle to save the wayward Robin, came Bruce's birthday, an event that anyone who was anyone in socialite Gotham must attend. It was an Event. After all both of Bruce's parents had come from the two founding families of the city. The social leaders of Gotham planned a huge party each year.
This Event was to be Jason's official reintroduction to Gotham as a Wayne son. Although Bruce had held a press conference to reveal the fact that his son's death had been mistaken Jason himself had not been present and no one had seen him yet. The young man was not looking forward to this, but Dick, Bruce and Alfred were insisting on it.
Dick came up with the bright idea to avoid the monkey suit. Both he and Jason went tie free. Jason wore a light blue suit with red converses while Dick wore a flamboyant yellow shirt under a bright blue sports jacket and dark jeans. Bruce raised an eyebrow at the sight of their attire, but Dick leaned over Jason's shoulder to point out the faintest hint of jealousy that they, in their insolent youth, could get away with this, while Bruce, with the stuffy line of ancestors, could not.
This Event was held at Gotham's largest hotels ballroom, a glittering room so full of men and women of all ages in various stages of fashionable attire that Jason stopped outside the door to glare at his father and brother. They ignored him and, with the hubris of the dynamic duo, entered the battleground of Gotham's who's who. Bruce's stated elegance and charm, not to mention being the Guest of Honor, won him a round of applause. Dick's flamboyant smile and attire made all the girls smile, except Barbara Gordon, who frowned at him and shook her head.
Jason stepped across the threshold, aware of the breathless, infinitesimal silence as ALL eyes focused on the street boy turned Gotham's prince who was supposed to be dead, but wasn't. The social life of Gotham would never dare admit their fascination, but it was there. Lucius Fox came forward with an outstretched hand as greeted Jason as if he'd never left, as if he still shorter than Dick, still under eighteen…
A torrent of introductions followed and Jason was grateful for the amnesia story, because he honestly did not know most of the people who claimed they had met him at one time or another. Bruce was always nearby, and in the occasional moment that Jason felt like throwing in the towel and running away Dick always caused an outburst of laughter. Jason knew this façade was necessary. Batman's secrets needed their inanities, their eccentricities.
"Ah, Mr. Drake, Mrs. Drake… young Timmy!" Mrs. Prinz, the official hostess and currently Jason's guide through the attendance, said.
Timothy Drake and his parents were there. Jason ignored the parents for just a moment as he found himself needing to reevaluate the boy behind Robin again.
Tim did not appear to be the fool Bruce and Dick liked to play. He was dressed up to the nines, and looked much the miniature CEO. The shyness Jason had noted in Wayne manor was nonexistent. He greeted Jason and the hostess correctly and with such apparent respectful interest that Jason wondered if he was investigating something here. The fourteen year old was cooed over by the surrounding women and men.
The Drakes did not look either proud or displeased. In fact they were sizing Jason up and ignoring the splash their son was making. Dick lunged into the circle around Tim. Jason barely caught the grateful look the younger boy sent to the flamboyant acrobat as the attention was drawn onto the handsome son of Bruce Wayne.
Dick maneuvered Tim away from the boy's parents and then got Jason out of the introductions. Jason's terror at what his brother had planned was relieved when he was pushed into a little corner. Cass, whose speech impediment made her dislike the party even more than the rest, Barbara Gordon and a young blond were already there. Cass and the blond were grinning triumphantly as they held a platter of treats.
Jason felt thirteen again. It used to be just him Dick and Babs, so their numbers had doubled, but they had done this before.
"We're going to get in trouble for this." Tim, who was clearly the youngest of the group, suggested.
"Nonsense. Brucie is out there attracting all the attention." Dick pointed to their father/mentor.
Jason eyed the blond suspiciously. Cass glared at him.
"Friend Stephanie." She said.
"What?" Dick turned around. "Oh, right. Stephanie, Jason, our brother. Jason, Stephanie, our…"
"I'm Tim's friend. We met on the roofs." Stephanie grinned. Tim blushed. Perhaps more than a friend.
"She hit him with a brick." Dick said. Now Stephanie blushed, but only slightly. She was clearly closer to Dick's side of the spectrum of Bats.
"Who are you?" Jason asked.
"I'm called Spoiler. Batman doesn't like me."
"Batman doesn't like anyone." Dick pointed out.
"He likes Tim." Babs, Cass and Stephanie said together. Surprise filled the eyes youngest member of the small group.
"That's because Tim is like a mini-bat." Dick said with a delicate shudder. He grinned as he spoke and wrapped an arm around Tim. "Tim can read his mind."
"I've noticed he gets away with back talking." Jason said.
"But I don't back talk!" Tim exclaimed, looking shocked. "I always have a reason for what I say."
"So that's how you do it! Logic!" Dick said, ruffling Tim's hair. Tim pulled away from the young man, looking put out. He glanced rather nervously out from behind the huge, decorative vases they were gathered behind as he tried to straighten his hair. His friends laughed at his desire to be slicked back.
Tim smiled faintly at their laughter, but it was clear he was not amused.
"So who do you belong to?" Jason asked Stephanie, searching the crowd to see if he could find her parents. The wide grins and little giggles from his family told him that his first surmise that she was not from the upper echelons of society was correct. The blond grinned.
"I'm a party crasher. But it's all Cass's fault. She invited me. So if we get caught I won't be the only one in trouble."
Cass, whose look had terrified all of her brothers on more than one occasion, looked unruffled by this declaration. She simply looked at Stephanie with a bit of curiosity in her normally placid face. A more opposite friend could not have been found if they had tried.
"I think it's been noticed that we aren't out there." Dick said. "Or at least that Tim isn't out there." He was watching the crowds with an interested eye. All of them leaned forward to peer out from behind the vases. Tim's parents were stalking through the crowds, looking for someone.
Tim scurried out of their group quickly, the mask of the future businessman perfectly in place.
"I suppose we better go mingle again." Dick said, taking Bab's wheelchair in hand.
"I want to go say Happy Birthday to Bruce." Stephanie whispered audibly to Cass. Dick looked delighted, Babs looked concerned, Cass seemed unmoved.
Jason let them go, but remained behind the vases himself. Yes. Just like old times, but with more people. This was a new dynamic, but he rather liked it. He'd never had siblings before Dick and apparently he'd gained two younger siblings and possibly a determined third.
LINE BREAK BRINGING MY BROTHER HOME LINE BREAK
It was Jason's first time on the sparring mats since his rescue. Bruce was his sparring partner, but Dick, Cass, and Tim were there to watch. The two combatants bowed to each other and then began. It felt good. It felt right. Bruce was clearly easing up a little since Jason had lost weight and strength, though both were coming back. Jason had never been able to win against his mentor and he knew today would be no different, but it was so great to be back here.
Bruce let him spar for five minutes before ending it, more than enough time for them to see where Jason needed work. Particularly, his stamina. Of course he was technically just recovered from an illness, but he wanted to get back to form, to stand with his father and brothers as Gotham's guardians. "You had some new moves." Bruce commented.
"Yeah, much good they did me." Jason breathed heavily, sitting down. "It's going to take me months to get back in shape."
"Plenty of time to come up with a new name and uniform." Dick grinned.
"You are not helping with that." Jason said. "Disco wing! I had to survive your color blindness as Robin and I will be making my own identity up. The kid was smart enough to make the needed changes!"
"You aren't going to be Robin again?" Tim squeaked, looking as if his world had just been rocked.
"Of course not. You're Robin and Bruce would go crazy going back to me and my big mouth and attitude after he had you!" Jason and Dick both burst into laughter, but Tim looked both terrified and hopeful at the same time. Bruce frowned and the look shut his adopted sons up at once.
"What is wrong Tim?"
"You need him." Tim blurted. "You need him, not me. I love being Robin, but I only became Robin because Jason wasn't here to keep you sane…"
"It doesn't work that way Lil' Bro." Jason answered. "I'm my own man and you are a better Robin than I ever was."
The fourteen year old quivered a little, a blush briefly racing across his cheeks before concern replaced it. He turned back to Bruce and stared hard at his mentor, as if trying to read his mind. Bruce was quiet, watching him with the same frown that creased Dick's face. Jason took a long drink, using the tipping of the water bottle to conceal the fact that he too was watching Tim.
"You needed Jason." The boy said, raising his head, straightening his shoulders with a firm look on his face.
"Tim, Jason's… death broke me. This façade, this… crusade wasn't supposed to take more members of my family away." Bruce replied. Jason felt a suddenly warmth racing through his body. He wondered how he had doubted that Bruce had cared for him. Dick loped an arm around Jason's shoulders. Bruce laid big hands on the shoulders of the teenager questioning him. "I wanted Jason back to be my son. You reminded me that there were still innocents that I could protect. You reminded me that I could not fall to the level of those who had stolen my parents and my son."
"I don't understand." Tim answered.
"Tim, you are Robin now. Jason doesn't have the right to take that away from you." Bruce answered. "You are my partner. Jason is not going away. He will fight with us, but as his own person, like Dick. If you choose not to be Robin I will understand. It is your choice."
"Don't you want Jason to be Robin?"
Bruce had to pause to consider the question, looking at Jason with thoughtful eyes. Dick grinned and Jason cocked an eyebrow. "No. I think I learned my lesson with Dick. Jason is his own man and I'm a demanding task master. One day you will be your own man as well, I suspect."
Tim turned to Jason then. "Don't you want to be Robin, to be partners with Bruce again?" He asked.
"No." Jason answered bluntly. "Bruce is my dad, but he's still Bruce. We'd be at each other's throats before the first patrol was over. Besides I did just spend the last two years of my life working on becoming my own man."
Tim frowned, cocking his head to one side to study Jason as if he were some strange animal. He clearly wasn't sure they were telling the truth, but couldn't figure out why they would lie about something like this.
Finally, he nodded. "I will continue to be Robin as long as you want me." He said.
Jason wondered why the wording sounded so strange to him. But Dick dragged him over to hug their little brother and the stray thought died the normal death of such thoughts.
So Jason begins to settle in at home again, sane and loved. His reintroduction allows him to see the odd things about Tim that Bruce and Dick don't see from familiarity.
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