Jason scowls at the screen in front of him. Technically he isn't supposed to be in the Cave at all but he'd snuck down about an hour earlier after a nightmare had woken him. He switches the force of his glare (He watched Bruce and took notes. Its a good glare.) from the computer to the empty cases across the room.
It isn't fair. Dick had become Robin before he was even quite nine, no matter what the official record said, and Cassandra had pretty much been Black Bat before Bruce adopted her last November. And here he is, days away from turning ten, and still not allowed out on the streets. He knows he isn't in Cass's league, not even close, but he's hardly helpless. And he's going crazy, not being able to help outside of occasional work in the Cave. He's not like Timmy or Babs, he can do the computer sh-stuff but he isn't good at it the way they are, he doesn't read code like it is English. Hitting things is what he is good at and it is just what Bruce won't let him do.
Instead he is stuck here in the Cave, while his family is out there, almost every night, risking their lives and he can't be there to help watch there backs. All he can do is watch them fall in his sleep, struck down by the innumerable enemies lurking in the darkness. Watch as Cass is surprised from behind, as Barbara is outnumbered, as Dick's lines fail him, and as Bruce-
He jumps as a blanket settles over his shoulders and a cup of tea is placed in front of him. "You know," Alfred's warm voice says. "Hiding alone in the dark and brooding is not a healthy way to handle your problems, no matter what Master Bruce would like to think."
Usually the butler's dry humor is enough to get Jason to at least crack a smile but he only shrugs. His usual routine on nights when the dreams refused him sleep and Bruce was still out was to join Alfred in the kitchen, where they would sit in companionable silence with tea and books, the quiet warmth of Alfred's presence enough to hold the demons at bay. Tonight he'd needed to be down here.
Alfred takes the seat beside him, steam wafting upwards from his own cup. Jason lifts his in both hands and just sits, staring into the depths of the china as if it holds the secrets of the universe. "Might I ask you what is wrong?"
Jason shrugs again and take a sip. "Nothing." He says after he swallows. "I'm fine."
"Ah." He knows without looking that Alfred's eyebrow is raised skeptically. "I apologize Master Jason, I was unaware that such behavior was an indicator of being 'fine'."
Jason growls at the tea and takes another sip, his eyes turning up, almost against his will to the screen hosting the readouts from the suits. Batman and Black Bat's vitals are holding steady (though that doesn't mean much with Cass, who takes zen to a whole new level) but Robin's are raised, consistent with physical activity and/or stress.
And then the alarm goes off. An alert flashes onto the screen and Jason is jumping into action before he realizes it. "Dick's emergency override was used at the WayneTech facility in Philadelphia." He reports, looking to the secondary screen as Alfred pulls up the security footage, both live and from two minutes ago. On one half of the screen they watch Robin connect his wrist computer into one of the employee computers, on the other, they watch as he bursts into the building, overriding the lock-down and rolling under the blast door without any hesitation at all. "He's downloading something." Jason exchanges a worried glance with Alfred, neither of them saying what they are both thinking.
For Dick to risk linking Robin to his civilian identity like that...the situation must be desperate.
Alfred pulls up another feed from the camera's. Superboy, engaged in a fight with...Jason runs through his mental list of villains. Professor Ojo, loosely (as loosely as anyone gets) connected with the League of Assassins. He swears and scrambles to contact Bruce just as Superboy lays Ojo out with a punch and Dick, on the other screen, gives a celebratory whoop and says something. Jason squints at the screen. He's pretty good at lip-reading, but he's pretty sure that whatever Dick just said involved some of his mangled "words." Because he only got something about infiltrators.
By the time Jason finishes doctoring the security recording and files to show that Robin had made it through before the lockdown door and closed and erased the use of Richard Grayson's emergency override from the system he has nearly forgotten all about the nightmare that had brought him down to the Cave in the first place. Cass came in about halfway through, hugged him goodnight and smacked a kiss on his cheek before disappearing up the stairs to the manor. Dick returned just as Cass left, gave Jason a sleepy thank you for handling digital cleanup, and headed off to his room, though Jason doubts he made it past Damian's. (Unless Damian had made a nightmare induced move of his own to Bruce or Dick's bed, in which case Dick would end up there with him.)
He sits, staring at the cold dregs of his tea, for Alfred only knows how long until the Batmobile drives in and parks in it's place of honor. He curls up a little further under the blanket, just watching as Bruce pulls off the cowl and disappears into the showers. The rhythmic sounds of water nearly send him to sleep but he manages to keep his eyes open against his increasing weariness until Bruce emerges, wearing sweats and shaking his hair dry.
"Jason? what are you doing still up?" A warm hand ruffles his hair and Jason feels a wave of exhaustion as his tension melts away in response.
"Waitin' f'r you." He mumbles, not resisting as Bruce picks him up, blanket and all, and heads for the stairs.
He falls asleep before they've reached the top, safe in the knowledge that everyone in his little family is home and whole this night.
(And if he will make vocal complaints the next morning when he wakes up with his face shoved in Cass' armpit, Bruce a strong, guardian presence at his back, and his foot asleep because the Dick-Damian unit used it as a pillow...No one will take it personally.)
Do you hear that? That is the sound of the review button begging you to press it. You know you want to...