Notes: Misunderstandings in this chapter (reactions next chapter). And angry Jason who doesn't look before he speaks.

Part 2 – Chapter 3

Jason walked down the hall slowly and was in no hurry to reach Bruce's office.

"Really, Dick, you sound like a country bumpkin." Sounded like Dickie was getting a scolding. Jason wondered what he had said to get that reaction. Bruce didn't talk to Jason about his street slang.

"You're just jealous," Selina said. Even though they didn't know he was there, Jason started a little at that. He was not.

"Jealous?" Bruce growled.

"That I'm 'ma' and Dick still calls you by name."

"Mama C!" Dick gasped. "It's not a competition."

There was silence for a few moments and Jason tried not to think about how he was standing just outside the door, pressed up to the wall and listening instead of going in.

Dick spoke again.

"Bruce? Are you really jealous? I could call you father, like Damian. Anyway, father." There was a pause and even Jason could tell, without seeing his expression, that Dick was uncomfortable saying it. "A picture only we should have has been printed in the paper-"

"Dick, stop," Bruce sighed. "You sound like Damian and I know how you hate being formal with family."

Jason nodded in agreement. It had been weird, really weird, hearing Dick call Bruce 'father'.

"I thought you would have an issue with the article's contents. After all, how did they find out?" Despite the words, Bruce didn't sound the least bit shocked or surprised.

However Jason's heart stopped as his thoughts screeched a 'what!?'. Maybe he should have read the paper because they weren't talking about the article he had come to talk to Bruce about.

Right?

"Really, Bruce?" Dick said dryly. "They didn't. It's just a wild guess and mass speculation. Not even the family knows."

"Hn?"

"I was talking to Superboy earlier. He pointed out how we never really told them."

Jason heard Selina sigh.

"I can't believe you never brought it up. So none of the others know that Dick was adopted as a baby by the Graysons?"

"Or that I was spawned as the result of Batman and Catwoman engaging in –ahem- during their rooftop chases? Timmy told me about the 'go gather evidence, Robin' thing by the way. At least tell me you used protection that time."

"Cut the sass, kid," Bruce ordered. "And really? They don't know?"

"Did you add it to my file?"

Bruce's silence was all the response Dick needed. And it was all the response Jason needed too.

This had to be a lie. It had to be. Jason stumbled away from the wall and bolted down to his bike, somehow managing to avoid Alfred as he went.

As he rode back to the safe house, he went over the conversation over again in his head.

They could have been talking about something else. However, the Batman and Catwoman spawning Dick thing seemed to be the truth. Jason didn't appreciate the realisation that if they had been making fun of the article, like he really wished they were, Dick would not have said 'Batman and Catwoman'. The article had been about 'Bruce and Selina'.

Dick was Batman's and Catwoman's son. This was news. Nightwing was the result of a union between Batman and Catwoman.

Jason could do so much damage with that information... if he could get anyone to believe him. No. This information would be better used against those who already knew.

He had something he could use again Batman, Catwoman and Nightwing.

Yet...

Jason didn't feel like it. Not that night. He spent that night at the safe house, after finding that kicking criminals' faces in just wasn't as calming as usual. He did that for a few days, using the time indoors to compile evidence and track a certain drug dealer said to be heading for Gotham.

Goldie was B's kid. He really should have expected something like that. After all, how was he supposed to compete with blood?

He told himself to stop thinking about it. Focus on the drug dealer. The bad, bad drug dealer who would be sorry he was dealing in Gotham while the Red Hood was in a bad mood.

Red Hood tracked him down to a certain warehouse where, if the pattern he was seeing was true, the dealer would be there that night. He set up a watch across the street. It was going well. He waited in the cold and hit pay-dirt.

The dealer was on the ground and Red Hood was ready to put a bullet through his leg, to match the bullet in his arm, before leaving him for the clean-up crew.

There was a crack behind him and he spun around to see Nightwing and Red Robin dispatching two other gang members while Robin played the grumpy lookout.

"What are you doing here?" Jason demanded to know.

"Thought you needed a hand," Red Robin said.

"Come on, Hood. You should ask for help with things like this! We've been following this guy for ages and your intel could have helped. And then you wouldn't have walked into a trap without backup!"

"Excuse you?" Red Hood growled, anger flaring in his chest.

"Well, if you hadn't kept your intel a secret-"

Jason's mouth moved before he registered the consequences of what he was saying.

"Like you've never kept secrets, hey, 'Wing?"

"What?" Dick recoiled at the venom in Jason's voice. He had no idea what he could have done to make Jason this mad. To Jason, it seemed like Dick was denying it.

"Anything you want to tell us?" Jason growled back, throwing his arms out and silently daring Dick to lie.

"What's wrong with Red Hood this time?" Robin asked Red Robin quietly. Jason heard it as did Nightwing.

"What are you talking about?" Nightwing asked Red Hood.

Jason ground his teeth before answering.

"Why don't you go ask your 'ma'?"

The room paused. The vigilantes didn't chase after the drug dealer, now scrambling for the exit.

"What?" Red Robin questioned. "Jason, are you feeling okay?"

"No," Jason responded, turning to Red Robin for a moment before looking back at Dick. "I hate being surrounded by liars."

Batman chose that moment to walk through the entrance, his cape brushing the ground quietly as he walked over. His face was stormy and he had just taken out the drug dealer.

"What is going on here?" he demanded to know.

It felt like something had pierced Jason's heart. He hated this. It wasn't any of his business anymore. He shouldn't care about it. Yet, it still hurt.

"I'm talking about how you and Catwoman had a kid," he said to Batman in a scarily calm voice. "You know, that first Robin you picked up? Just a question, how long did it take you decide to take in your own flesh and blood after the Graysons went splat?" He quietly hissed out the last part, his voice dropping in volume as he stepped up close to Batman.

Nightwing visibly flinched at the mention of his first parents' death.

"Jay-"

"Nightwing, what's he talking about?" Red Robin asked. The sound of his voice caused Jason to snap out of his anger for a moment and realise that Red Robin was shifting, almost swaying, as he looked from Nightwing to Batman and Red Hood, and that Robin was still with his lips pressed into a tight line.

"I..." Nightwing looked at the ground. "I was adopted as a baby. By the Graysons."

Tim's gasp wasn't quiet. The shock showed plainly on his face.

"And your real parents?" Damian asked, pulling the hood of his Robin cape over his head.

"Early on, I spent a night with Catwoman. One. Night," Bruce explained. "She disappeared a few months after. She was pregnant and didn't tell me. Not until after I did a blood test on Robin and found genetic markers which matched people other than the Graysons."

"You and... wow," Tim mused in a weak voice. He took a step back. "Uh, I'm going to... I think I need to go."

Jason flinched as little hands wrapped around his wrist.

"I need to speak to Todd," Damian said strongly. However, Jason could see the kid's lower lip tremble and the tightness in his shoulders.

Drained of anger, Jason let himself be led away by Robin. Nightwing didn't move to stop them and Batman stepped closer to him.

A father and a son, Jason thought and he wondered how they had missed it.

[I'm sorry we never mentioned it,] Dick messaged them later.

[Whatever, Goldie. Don't care.]

[Dick. In the middle of a mission here.]

[Grayson, I feel I should inform you that I'm going to be staying with Todd for a while.]

Dick looked at his phone and couldn't help feeling hurt because they were angry with him. And Bruce.

"Cass!" He called to the girl as she walked past his door. "You're not mad at me, are you?"

Cass looked him up and down.

"What about?"

"About Bruce and Selina being my biological parents."

"Biological," Cass recited, "meaning shared blood? Like Batman and Damian?"

Dick nodded and his shoulders shifted back and his stance changed, giving off a proud feeling. Cass mirrored his smile and mirrored the shrug she often saw him give.

"We're still family. Blood is not important." Then she paused. "Sorry. Rude. I'll say properly, I don't think blood is important to you. Are we still sister and brother?"

"Of course!" Dick insisted.

"Then there is no change. They will come around."

"I hope you're right." His body language screamed uncertain.