A Light in the Dark
A/N: This is it the last chapter! I have never written anything this big before. I want to thank you guys for reading, reviewing, favoriting, following, and encouraging. A huge shout out to my beta Alex Skywalker. She is wonderful and there aren't enough words in a thesaurus to describe how great she is and how much I appreciate her. I was shocked to find out all this time later working with her on this story that this is the first story she has ever beta-ed. She is not only great at beta-ing but is loving and encouraging and constructive. She in no way puts you down and always lets it be known that this is YOUR story and only yours.
As of this writing no one has guessed the Chapter 17 paragraph that I borrowed from the comics. Some people reviewed my last chapter, which I appreciate greatly, and didn't guess. So the contest goes on if you review (doesn't matter if it is a good review or a bad one, just please be more in depth than 'it was cool' and that's it) after your review if you can guess the paragraph from Chapter 17 that I borrowed from the comics and guess the comic I borrowed it from I will let you into my vault of 1,239 story ideas and you can chose what I write next since I have no idea what to write next. If you want to guess multiple times but can't leave multiple reviews one review is fine and then just PM me afterwards with your guess. AT THIS POINT: I might just take can you spot the paragraph and not even worry about which comic it is from. Or I can have two winners one person spot the paragraph and the other person guess the comic it is from REMEMBER I am not looking for a specific issue I am only looking for a title of the comic. Here's a hint. The comic is not a Batman, Robin or even a Batman character comic. It is a little but older but not too old and a Batman character does make a guest appearance in the comic. Hope that helps.
Warnings: Though nothing is in detail there is reference to childhood sexual abuse and assault. Also some spoilers for the movie Primal Fear. Good movie check it out if you can.
Chapter 20
Morning came too quickly as neither man had much sleep that night. Luckily, after the major night terror Tim had found sleep easily and stayed asleep through the night. Jason was quite a bit frazzled from the events and it took him a while before he was able to find sleep and stay that way.
Jason awoke first, with no surprise, finding Tim still plastered to his side. He was grateful he was able to help Tim calm down and stay comfortable through the night. He was planning on staying still to let Tim sleep some more when he noticed two blue eyes looking up at him.
"Good morning," Jason greeted.
"Morning," Tim replied.
"You ready to do this?" Jason decided getting right to the point was easiest to see if Tim was ready.
"Do we have to do it right now? I wanted to work on some things first. I wanted to be absolutely ready should Dick ask any questions. But first, I'm going to take a shower."
As soon as Jason heard the shower running he grabbed an extra flash drive, hacked through Tim's password protections and copied the boy's flash drive. If Tim couldn't make Dick believe, Jason was going to damn well try.
After breakfast, Tim worked on his laptop for a few hours, completely unaware of what Jason had done. Jason hoped he hadn't betrayed Tim's trust and his brother would instead see it as Jason backing him up should anything happen.
After working for a few hours, Tim closed his laptop but seemed hesitant.
"What's up?" Jason asked.
"Part of me wants to say I'm ready to go."
"And the other part?"
"Wants to run." Tim laughed with his response. "What should I pack? What should I bring? How long do I pack for?"
"As much and as long as you are comfortable with. There's nothing to say you can't make another trip back here if needed." Tim liked that Jason was using the term 'we'. "If you decide to stay longer you can always leave a couple changes of clothes and an extra costume here if you want. No matter where either of us are, the door is always open, Tim."
Tim nodded with that answer and started to pack, Jason following his lead and packing as well.
It was evening, close to dinner time, when they pulled up at the manor. They hadn't called to say they were coming. Upon entering the gate, the warning alarm no doubt rang at the house and by the time they pulled up to the house Dick was standing on the steps, a mixture of emotions on his face upon seeing it was Jason's car: happiness, excitement, anxiety, nervousness. Alfred stood next to Dick, a hand upon his shoulder as if to hold him in place from running off and smothering the two younger men. A few steps behind Dick and Alfred stood Damian in all his demonic glory. A smile on his face could almost be seen through the scowl that normally resided there.
The car stopped and both Jason and Tim stepped out of the car on their respective sides and then stopped.
"Got room for a couple more?" Jason asked with a smile on his face. Tim still looked a bit nervous.
"Always," Dick smiled and he and Alfred bounced down the stairs to help them with their bags. "Damian, come on down here and help out," Dick called back to the scowling youngster.
"If I must, I must," Damian said as he joined them. That was a sign that Damian missed them too; any other time Damian would have told then in no uncertain terms to go screw themselves and gone back in the house.
"I was just about to put dinner on the table, but there is plenty more for you if you haven't eaten yet," Alfred said to Tim who said nothing in return. Jason wasn't sure what to make of this.
"We haven't eaten yet, Alf; it sounds great."
Dinner went by too quickly for Dick. Jason did most of the talking with Tim mostly nodding or humming in response to things. Dick shot a concerned look to Jason who just shook his head in response. After dinner was over, Tim announced he was tired and was going to unpack a few things and was then going to bed. The pleasant good nights were said his direction. Dick waited until Tim left the room.
"Damian, go get ready for patrol."
"Dick, do you really think that's a great idea with Tim here?" Jason reminded him.
"You're right. Damian, go get ready for bed."
"Shall the town go down the tubes while we sit here and coddle Drake?"
"Damian!" Dick scolded.
"Gee, it is so good to have Drake home again," Damian said in an all too fake voice and went to bed.
"I'm still working on him," Dick said. "What was with Tim? He hardly said two words to anyone. Was this his idea or yours?"
"His. He had a rough night last night. Nightmares aren't totally gone. Uh, don't make it weird, but the kid may want to stay a couple night with me should things get rocky with him." Dick nodded. Jason took the flash drive out of his pocket and handed it to Dick.
"Here, he doesn't know I did this nor that you have it and I prefer it stay that way. I think the reason he is so quiet is because he's nervous how you are going to react to the fact that he still believes Bruce is alive and he still wants to go looking for him."
Dick sighed at that news.
"At some point, you are going to need to let him go. We all needed to do it. When you became Nightwing you had to do it, I had to do it when I came back from the dead, it's Tim's turn and you are going to need to let go. It's like Bruce always said: us birds always come back to this nest anyways. He won't be gone forever. Good night, Dick," Jason finished and left the room to go to bed.
The night wasn't uneventful. Jason was woken to Tim standing next to his bed. Without a word he scooted over and made room for Tim. Tim mumbled his apologies as he scooted closer to Jason. Jason in turn told him not to worry about it.
A week passed sooner than anyone realized. Tim slowly but surely started coming out of his shell as long as no one bothered him while he worked on his laptop or forced him into a conversation he didn't want to be part of. Tim also went back to staying the whole night in his bed. Damian, noticing that people were no longer walking on egg shells around Tim now that he was out of his shell, no doubt was ready to cause hell again as he was used to doing.
Towards the end of the week the four boys decided to sit together and watch a movie after Alfred had retired for the evening. It was only 6pm and the evening sun was shining through the curtains. Damian was not in the mood for 'family time' and was letting it be known through his sulking. Jason had managed to get Tim off his laptop for a period of time and they all decided to let Tim pick the movie. Tim had decided to choose something he hadn't seen before and true to form picked a mystery: Primal Fear. Jason, however, had seen that movie before and didn't like the things it reminded him of.
Towards the end of the movie, after the main character had gotten off with murder because the priest sexually abused him and faked multiple personality disorder, Damian decided to chime in.
"Oh this sucks, anyone could see this guy was faking it."
"Damian, kindly chose another word other than 'suck'," Jason piped up. Jason never did like that word; the johns he had had to service constantly used the word with him.
"Why?" Damian asked.
"Because I don't like it," Jason replied.
"Damian, drop it, chose another word," Dick scolded. Jason was surprised by this; usually Dick would use Damian's taunts as a way of finding out information one didn't want to share with the others.
"No, I want Todd to tell me why," Damian pressed and Jason didn't respond. So, Damian continued. "Suck, suck, suck," and then Damian made a slurping noise with his mouth and that had Jason off the couch and Damian against the wall in a second. Dick was over there in a flash trying to pull Jason off of Damian.
"Damian, that's enough, no patrolling for a week. Go to your room," Dick reprimanded. At the word 'patrol' Tim grabbed his laptop and went to his room, feeling like he started all of this. Dick sighed, hoping he hadn't just screw up with Tim again. As soon as Dick turned his back to Damian, the boy started up again.
"Suck," Damian taunted but before he could get it out a second time Dick turned and back-handed him. Granted, it wasn't as hard as Dick could back-hand someone, but it still surprised everyone, Jason especially. Dick just stuck up for him and made damn sure that Damian didn't press this particular button with Jason. Dick knew something. So Jason ran away, ran from the situation and to the one place where he could get some answers: the Batcave.
"Damian, I apologize. I didn't mean to, but I believe it is time you take your leave and go to bed," Dick said softly. Damian still had his hand on his cheek from where he was slapped and without another word went upstairs.
Jason went to the bat-computer as quickly as he could. He looked up Bruce's messages to everyone. After each person heard their message they had the option of saving it in their own file with their own password or deleting it. Jason had deleted it. But, with a quick search he found the message he had deleted, under Dick's file system. Next to Bruce's message file there were a bunch of other files with Jason's name on them; he clicked on a few to see what they were. The first one took him by surprise: it was security footage of him watching Bruce's message and falling to pieces over it.
"That son of a bitch," Jason said in anger. Why did Dick do this? Was he trying to figure out Jason? Try to figure out the secret? A click on the next file answered his question and he knew that Dick knew his secret. The next file was Jason's expunged juvenile record. It was expunged, deleted and buried so deep only the Batman and his protégé would be able to find it. Jason read his old arrest record. Robbery, assault, resisting arrest and several, several counts of prostitution.
"Jason." Dick's voice echoed in the cave and Jason slowly turned around to face his older brother.
"Why?" Jason asked.
Dick shook his head before starting. "I was worried. I thought you were in trouble. I thought this secret was the reason why you were so angry with us and if I could help you through it then I thought I could-"
"Help me see the light? Bring be back home for good? That's the problem Dick, you don't know shit. You look at this and it's so black and white…. you think you know everything?"
"I think you got into some trouble when you were younger."
"I got into some trouble? I did what I had to do to survive! I didn't have anyone taking care of me- my parents were dead! I was on my own! You think I'm proud of what I did? You think you know everything because you a few counts of prostitution?"
"A lot of counts-"
"Well, Boy Wonder, did you happen to know that only about half of those prostitution counts are legit?"
"And the other half?"
"Let's just say I didn't exactly have a choice in the matter."
"Is that why you got so upset over Damian using the word 'suck'?"
Jason snorted. "You don't know shit. You think you know these streets because you protect them? You don't know anything until you've lived them. That is what was offered to me, what I had to do to get anything I needed. I had to 'suck'. I had to suck to get a meal, I had to suck to get a roof over my head, I had to suck to get a jacket when it was cold, I had to suck to get an extra blanket when it was really, really cold. I thought once Bruce took me in that this was just some guy who was going to make me suck just to stay here. I even offered. Made a damn fool of myself- he never once did anything like that."
"I'm sorry-"
"And THAT is why I don't say shit about it; I'm not sorry and I don't want anyone else being sorry for me neither. If I was so sorry I wouldn't have had to do it all over again!"
Dick looked at Jason in confused.
"Look I don't remember much after I crawled out of the coffin. I remember waking up in there, screaming, scared out my mind calling for Bruce. After that I was in a coma. Then one day the lights just turned on and I left the hospital and had to live on the streets once again. I had to do what I knew. I went right back to it in order to survive. That's where Talia found me."
"That's why you shot that guy in the alley."
Jason didn't respond, he didn't need to.
The two men heard the door at the top of the stairs open and Damian stood there.
"Damian, I thought I told you to go to your room."
"That's just the thing, Grayson. I was on my way there and saw something. I think someone should talk to Drake….and fast." With that, Damian shut the door behind him.
Jason put up his hand to Dick to signal the conversation was over and to let him handle Tim. Jason bounded up the stairs, taking two at a time until he found himself in Tim's room. Tim stood there in his Red Robin costume packing a duffle bag sized back pack.
"Going somewhere?" Jason asked from the doorway.
"It's time for me to go. I cracked the code: he's lost in time! It's time for me to go look for him. I saw the pictures in the vault here. I know I'm right."
"Was that your whole reason for coming here?"
"That and to say goodbye. There are never any guarantees when we go out there, you know that. My bike is here, so is yours; you could come with me."
Jason shook his head. "I can't do that. This is your thing, like you said. Besides, someone has to be here to stop Dick; I'm not sure he's ready to let you go. I'll see you out though, Kid."
Suddenly leapt forward and embraced Jason. Jason wasted no time in returning the embrace resting his chin on top of the boys head.
"Thank you Jason, for everything, I promise you I'll come back."
"You better Kid, or I'll come after you myself."
"I promise."
"I know…..Ki-…Bro," Jason corrected as he felt Tim's warm smile beaming against his chest.
Jason and Tim lead their bikes out in front of the house, Jason having packed as well. Dick came running down the steps; no doubt Damian told him what was going on.
"Wait! Don't go! Please, Tim, let's talk about this!"
Tim mounted his motorcycle. "There's nothing to talk about, Dick. I forgive you, I do. With any luck, not only will I come back, but I'll bring Bruce with me."
Dick went and stood in front of Tim's motorcycle. Jason cringed; he really didn't want to have to hit Dick. Dick went to take another step towards Tim, but was stopped by Jason grabbing his bicep.
"Jason, let me go."
Tim started his motorcycle and Dick struggled against Jason's hold; the man now held both of Dick's arms behind his back. Dick was going apeshit. "Jason, let me go! Tim, don't leave yet, let's at least talk about this, please!"
Jason and Tim nodded to each other, each one having an understanding. Jason drug Dick a few steps away from Tim.
"You need to let him go. He needs to do this. Don't make this harder on him than it already is. Help him by letting him go!" Jason said right in Dick's ear, still holding him close to him. Dick somewhat relaxed in Jason's arms.
"Tim?" Dick weakly let out. Tim saluted Dick and took off. Once Tim did, Jason let go of Dick.
"I noticed your bike is here too; are you going with him?"
"Nope, like I said, this is his thing. But you know I can't stay Dick. I have things I need to figure out on my own too. And now you know why. Don't worry, as I told you earlier, all little birds come back to the nest." Jason mounted and started his motorcycle, saluting Dick in the same manner Tim did and took off.
Dick took a deep sigh and put his hands in his pockets, noticing and pulling out the copy of the flash drive Jason had given him. Dick turned it over in his hands and wondered how right Tim could possibly be. He looked out where his two younger brothers had taken off to, watching their bikes go until they were just a light in the dark.
THE END
That's it! The End! It's over and I am actually sad! Please go and review it would mean the world to me! Now I have to figure out what to write next.