Chapter Ten

Barbara's heart stopped. For just a moment. Jamie? She stole a glance at Dick. He didn't know. He wouldn't know, not for a while. But the boy that went missing was his son. His son. A new wave of guilt swept over her.

"When did he go missing?" Dick asked.

"Sometime last night. After you both left the cave."

Barbara bit her lip. Dick's son went missing while she was having fun with Dick. Let's add that guilt on top of the fact she slept with her best friend.

"We'll be there in a few minutes. How's Ellie doing? How's she taking the news?" Barbara asked.

"I'm not sure. At the moment she is crying, well sobbing. I'm not sure what to do. What should I do?" Uncertainty controlled his voice.

"Do what you can. Babs and I will be there in a bit. Does she have any idea why he's missing?"

"Um, I'm just unsure how to even ask. Could you two just come and ask her? I'm sure she would rather talk with you two, than a freshman like me."

Dick looked at Barbara and they both nodded. "Be there in a few," Dick said, clicking off the comm, "c'mon babe." He went to gather his coat.

"Since when have I been 'Babe'," Barbara asked coming up behind him.

"Since I had the courage to say it to your face." He smirked.

Tim hung up on his partners and looked at the future girl in his arms. What was he doing? This was a crazy idea, even for a Bat. This girl's brother is missing and he's bringing in their parents to try and find him. One wrong word and so much could go wrong.

"Ellie?" No response. He tried again. "Eileen, we need to get inside. Dick and Barbara will be here shortly and we should be in the cave to explain what happened to Jamie. They'll need to know everything that you can tell them to find him. Do you understand?"

He could feel her nodding against his uniform and he stood up. He pulled her up by one hand and led her back into the cave. They had just made their way into the main-hall when the computer announced the arrival of two heroes.

Recognized: Nightwing B01, Batgirl B16

Eileen quickly wiped her eyes dry and turned to look at the heroes. Barbara and Dick walked through and almost immediately she began to sob again. Barbara's eyebrows knit together and her pace hurried to get over to her daughter. She was about twenty feet away when Ellie couldn't restrain herself anymore. She sprinted and clutched Barbara around the middle.

Barbara stumbled for a moment under the added weight around her middle. Her arms remained open for a moment before she closed them around the girl. She could feel as the girl sobbed into her middle. Barbara was a little confused. Why would Ellie come to her for comfort? Why wouldn't she go to Dick? He was her father after all.

She connected eyes with Tim. He walked closer to the two ladies. Ellie didn't notice anything; for she was too busy sobbing into Barbara's shirt.

"Tim, what's going on?" She asked.

"I don't know. You two left for the night and there was a-" Tim stopped and frantically thought about what to say. He couldn't very well tell them about Ellie almost disappearing from their decisions. "There was an issue that Ellie needed my help with and during that time, Jamie went outside somehow and was taken."

Barbara nodded and felt as Dick rested a hand on her shoulder. No, you should be doing that to your daughter that's currently in my arms right now, she wanted to yell at him. She kept her mouth shut.

"Ellie? Ellie, sweetie, you need to talk with us. You need to tell us what happened. C'mon," Barbara said pulling the girl away from her chest.

Ellie took a few deep breaths and looked into Barbara's face. Then into Dick's. His eyes were covered by his sunglasses. He wasn't Dick right then. He wasn't her father. Not yet. But as she looked at both of them, seeing their concern for her, for her brother, she couldn't help but feel like a failure.

"I failed," she muttered. She pulled away from the hero embracing her. She shook her head.

"I failed," she said louder. "I failed you two. I'm sorry."

Ellie wrenched herself away from the older girl and ran from the room. All three of the Bats simply watched as she fled the room.

They sat in silence until Dick broke it.

"What was that? She 'failed us'? What was she talking about Tim?" Dick looked at his younger brother, confused.

Tim raised an eyebrow, catching the girl's double meaning. Obviously the other two didn't catch it. And he couldn't explain it. No matter how much he wanted to. No matter how much that knowledge would help them understand. But something caught his eye. Barbara was looking at Dick with sadness, no, pity. Crap.

She knew.

Without so much a muttering an apology, he grabbed Barbara's arm and pulled her from the room. She was surprised, but went along with him. Tim pulled her into a closet and locked the door behind him, not realizing where they were.

"Ah, Tim?" Barbara said looking around.

"What!?" He snapped, spinning around.

"You do realize that you just dragged me into the Closet, right?"

He made no answer.

"Tim, you pulled me into the make-out closet. I really hope you aren't planning to do anything in here. Dick won't like it," she said half-jokingly.

"Would you shut up and listen to me?" He snapped.

Barbara got the clear distinction that Tim wasn't in there to have any sort of fun. She turned her head slightly and nodded, indicating she was listening.

"How much do you know about Ellie and Jamie?" His voice was cold and precise.

"About as much as you do. Why?"

His eyes narrowed and eyed her up and down. She didn't notice, but his eyes spent a millisecond longer on her abdomen. The blue eyes flicked back to her face.

"Don't lie to me. I know you know more. Tell me." He was deathly serious.

She narrowed her eyes in return. What did this kid know?

They maintained their narrowed eye battle of dominance for a few minutes. Tim refused to back down. And at first, so did Barbara. But her guilt and doubts ate at her inside. She could feel her resolve breaking down.

"Fine. I know that the two are Dick's children."

"Is that all?" He was suspicious of her.

"That's all I swear! I wouldn't even have known that, but Jamie came into my room last night before I left and he let it slip that Dick was his father. He was really distraught about it."

Tim nodded. That made sense. He had gotten reluctant answers from Ellie and there would be no way that she would have told her actual parents. And Jamie wasn't old enough to understand the implications of his actions. He had needed comfort and didn't watch his mouth.

"That was all he told you? Nothing about his situation or his mother?" Tim was doubtful that Jamie would only mention one thing.

"He told me how something happened and they have to move around quite a bit recently. He suspects they live on the Watchtower, and their identities were compromised. He didn't really elaborate. Why?" Now it was Barbara's turn to be suspicious. Why would Tim be asking these questions? Did he know something that she didn't?

Tim crossed his arms and thought to himself. This could be alright still. Ellie wasn't in any immediate danger because Dick and Barbara… well… anyways. Barbara only knew half of the equation. He could work with that. But for how much longer?

"We're not going to tell Dick are we?" Barbara asked.

"Oh, hell no. Can you imagine how he would take that? Hey Dick, guess what? The two kids that came back from the future, they're your children, and one's just vanished. Yeah, that'll go over well." Sarcasm dripped from his voice.

"Right, bad idea. But what do we do?"

Tim rubbed his chin. Something he did when he was seriously thinking.

"We find him. Then we send them home, where they belong."

With that, both nodded and exited out of the Closet, ready to take on the world for what it did to the little boy.

A/N: Review, pretty please? The next chapter will be all about Jamie, I promise. ;D