Dick could be Harley's redemption.
At least, HE thinks so. Harley would be content if she remained locked up where she could never hurt him again, and his family would be happy with that outcome as well. Dick refuses to stop trying, he knows there's still good in her; but is there?
Bruce and the rest of his family stage an intervention to attempt to talk some sense into Dick, but he won't hear it. As the conversation spirals out of control, new information comes to light within the family, pushing the envelope of their trust for one another.
"Damian! I'm home…" Dick called; his footsteps echoed in the large open foyer. He ran a hand through his hair, wondering where everyone could be in the silence of the mansion. "Hello?" He dithered, walking further into the mansion. As he stepped into the parlor, Dick stopped. "Hello," he said again. Bruce sat in a high wing-back chair, his hands crossed in his lap. Damian stood behind him, his hands tucked behind his back, with Tim over Bruce's other shoulder, leaning lazily on the chair. Barbara was away from Tim, sitting on a footrest with her legs crossed. She met Dick's eyes and then looked away in disappointment. Alfred, too, stood beside Damian, his eyebrows knit in concern. Dick looked between the five of them. "Okay. And this is… what, a surprise birthday party? Sorry, you're a little late…" he trailed off.
"I think we need to talk," Bruce told him sternly.
"Oh God not again," Dick threw his head back, groaning in frustration. "Guy's I'm okay. I don't need… whatever this is."
"Are you sure?" Tim asked. "Because your girlfriend turned out to be a criminal psycho, died, and came back from the dead to go to prison."
Dick thought for a moment, shoving his hands in his jacket pockets. He smiled a little. "...Yeah. I'm okay." Dick smiled thoughtfully.
"And that's what scares me," Barbara said.
"Whatever, Babs, like you're in a perfectly healthy emotional state right now." Dick rolled his eyes. "Like any of us are! I'm just saying I'm happy. Can't I be happy?"
"No," Damian deadpanned.
"Just because you hate absolutely everyone doesn't mean that I have to," Dick retorted.
"We want you to be happy, Master Richard," Alfred said. "But you're worrying us."
Dick's face softened. "Why am I worrying you guys? I got some sleep last night, ate all my meals today… things are looking up for me."
"You crashed your car into a tree, and spent two days as a complete wreck over this girl, Dick," Bruce reminded. "Are you sure this is what you want?"
"I'm sure," Dick answered immediately. Damian didn't flinch, but Tim blinked in surprise, and Barbara stood up quickly, her red hair tumbling over her shoulder.
"This is insane," she objected.
"No," Jason said, walking into the room. "Dick's girlfriend is insane."
"I think you all are," Damian muttered irritably. Dick rolled his eyes.
"Okay, you of all people are going to lecture me about my love life?"
"Hey, I'm just here for moral support. And possibly some rhyming cheers." Jason flopped onto the couch.
"Jason you are not help-" Bruce started, but he was interrupted by Barbara as she stormed up to Dick.
"She is a murderer!" Barbara snapped, her nose scrunched in anger as she looked him in the eyes. Dick raised an eyebrow coolly.
"So is Damian," he replied.
"No denial here," Damian shrugged.
"She's a criminal," Barbara protested.
"Sitting right here," Jason waved.
"You can't win in this family." Tim warned her.
Jason sat up on his elbows, "And don't even try on the whole dating aspect of it because you can tell that one to Catwoman."
"That's not-" Bruce blushed angrily, his sentence drowned out by Barbara's sudden shouting.
"Am I the only person here who is actually concerned with Dick's mental and physical well being!?" she cried, looking around the room.
"Don't speak, Barbara, you bore me," Damian yawned, walking to the door.
"Damian stop," Bruce stood. Damian looked over his shoulder, and Tim took a step away from Bruce, sensing the confrontation arising. Bruce glared him down. "We all need to talk about this, no matter our feelings toward the situation." He glanced at Barbara.
"Fire away," Jason told Bruce. "I've got my listening ears on." He put a pillow over his face.
"I can't tell you how to live your life," Bruce ignored everyone else and stared at Dick, "nor do I want to. But we need to discuss everything that this means for this family."
"Shoot," Dick nodded eagerly. "I'm ready to hear what you have to say."
Barbara snapped, "She's a murderous psychopathic bitch who is going to get you killed, or worse; get us all killed and then laugh right alongside her clown lover when she's the one doing the killing. You're a dumbass, you're blind to this because you think you love her, and you're a danger to us all."
"Well that hurt." Dick looked at her.
Jason shot him a 'what the hell!?' face over her shoulder and Damian shook his head. "It is true, though I would have said it without the colorful profanities of a jealous ex."
"She admitted herself into Arkham, right?" Tim asked. "That has to count for something?"
"He's on my side," Dick glared at Barbara, walking over to stand beside Tim.
"No one is taking sides here, Dick. She has some good points, and you need to consider them, but I'll say that it is your choice." Bruce tried to mediate.
"And you know what I'm going to choose." He replied quickly before Barbara could say anything. She crossed her arms angrily, cocking her hip.
"Then we are going to take this seriously." Bruce shot a warning glance at Barbara. "What exactly does Harley Quinn know?"
Dick looked Bruce in the eyes, biting his lip. "I… think she knows most of it," he said carefully. "But I'm not sure."
Tim looked between them, his eyes narrowed; he knew that he was missing something, he just didn't know what. Barbara, too, crossed her arms over her chest and watched them carefully, while Damian bent down to pick up his cat. Barbara pursed her lips.
"She knows what?"
"Considering she called Batman 'Brucey'," Bruce said with distaste, "and I am positive she knows that Dick is Nightwing, so we'll just assume she has her bases fairly well covered."
"Yes." Dick answered, nodding. Damian ignored them all, walking to the windows and stroking his cat. Tim looked down.
"She knows who we all are?"
"So we can assume the Joker knows," Barbara spat.
"Now hold on, Babs, I don't think she told him," Dick protested.
"She practically worships the Joker. Of course she told him!" Barbara crossed her arms and glared accusingly at Dick.
"Hey!" Dick shouted at her angrily, pointing a finger at her. "I'm getting a little sick of you attacking me personally, okay!? I know the situation is my fault, but I'm trying to clean up my mess!"
"Besides," Damian added, "I'm fairly certain some of this is Jason's fault." Jason bolted upright.
"You little devil. Keep me out of this!"
Damian smirked, stroking his cat as it purred in his arms. "I don't remember you getting an invitation to the party, Todd, but there you were," Damian hissed knowingly.
"I will torture you until you are begging for-"
"-Jason!" Bruce cut him off. "What did you do?"
"I was threatening her criminal to criminal!" Jason tried to defend himself. "How was I supposed to know her and pretty boy were going to have a moment?"
Barbara's cheeks flushed in anger and jealousy as Dick looked down. "Guys, I'm trying my best here to stay positive, but you're making it really hard…"
"That was a very stupid thing to do, Jason," Bruce said in disappointment, which almost hurt Jason worse than if he'd been angry.
"Hey, at least he didn't try to kill her," Tim amended. "That's a big step in the right direction."
Dick smiled at Tim, grateful for his positive attitude.
"All the same," Bruce shook his head. "If she had only found out about Dick, we may not be in this situation."
"I agree," Barbara said flatly. Though her words were directed at Jason, she glared evenly at Dick.
"They're both idiots," Damian decided, and then whispered to his cat. "They upset me too, Alfred…" The cat pawed his face and mewed as it clawed his shirt, climbing up to sit on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry if me finding out that Dick's girlfriend is a psycho isn't in my handbook of 'shit I know how to deal with'!" Jason snapped.
"An unsurprisingly small volume," Damian added to the side, and Dick rubbed his temples.
"Jay, you're really not helping your case here," he said, and then ran a hand through his hair. "You could have just left it alone, and let me handle it."
"And you handled it so well," Jason mocked. "She got pushed out a window."
Dick stared at him, pained, and Tim threw a sofa pillow at Jason. "Dude!" he cried. "Why the hell would you say something like that? God, Jason you're such an ass!"
"Language, Master Drake, please-"
"Yes, we all agree he's illiterate, Pennyworth, only proved by the fact that he just used the word 'dude'..." Damian muttered from the windows again.
"Damian I swear to God you little demon-" Tim began, but Dick cut him off as he snapped at Jason.
"-You just have to fire off the insults, don't you Jay? You can't just leave it at that, you always have to have the last word. Ever the middle child-"
"-and you're always trying to handle us. Ever the eldest child. Can't you just deal with the fact that you're the problem child right now?"
"I am not!" Dick cried defensively.
"My vote is still on Todd," Damian added aside again, not caring to inject himself in the conversation, but still speaking loud enough that his remarks could be heard.
"Enough," Bruce yelled. The room fell silent immediately. "None of you are problems, and no one is to blame." He glared at each one of them in turn, including Barbara. "Now can we please focus on the matter at hand?"
Dick and Tim nodded, Barbara mumbled a yes, and Damian and Jason reluctantly agreed as well. They all looked at Bruce for instruction.
"Dick," Bruce's eyes roamed over to him, "do you think she told the Joker?"
"No," Dick answered flatly, his hands on his hips.
"You can't know that," Barbara hissed. Dick's shoulders shot up to his ears and he glared at her angrily.
"I'm fairly certain, then," he snapped, his dark hair falling over his eyes. He flicked it back. "Where is the Joker now? If he'd found out who we were, he would have come by now."
"I don't know," Tim said. "Attempted homicide doesn't exactly encourage sharing."
"Then there's that," Dick said triumphantly, pointing at Tim as he glared Barbara down. "Thank you, Tim."
"Yes thank you Tim." Jason slapped him on the shoulder. "For demonstrating your specialty of kissing Dick's ass."
"Jason," Bruce snapped before looking at Dick again. "Did she say anything to you when you went to visit her today?"
"You did what?" Barbara exclaimed.
"No. She wouldn't say a word to me," Dick said, biting his lip as he thought back on seeing her in that cell. He ignored Barbara completely.
"Ouch," Jason muttered.
"So we will assume the Joker doesn't know," Bruce said.
"I think you're all being ridiculous about this!" Barbara shrieked.
"I agree," Dick said, and then added "Not with Babs, with Bruce. I don't think she told him anything. I'm going to keep trying, see if I can coax her to talk."
"She didn't tell him!" Jason cried in exasperation at all of them. "She kept her end of the bargain!"
"She… what!?" Dick cried, whirling on Jason, wide eyed. Everyone turned to Jason, and even Damian looked up in surprise as Dick grabbed Jason's coat collar, dragging him to his feet. "What have you done, Jason!? Who have you been talking to!?" he shouted, shaking him violently.
"Careful with the jacket," Jason complained. "I only knew she was alive for like a day or two before you found out, okay?"
"That was the day after she died!" Dick screamed, slamming him against the wall. Despite their height difference, Dick was actually overpowering him; lifting his feet off of the ground. "You knew!? You knew and you didn't say anything you son of a bitch!"
"You were going to find out eventually, and she asked me not to. She had been pushed out of a window; I wasn't going to say no to that!" Jason cried, growing a bit panicked.
"When were you with her!? God damn it Jason, who were you-" he punched Jason across the face "-talking to!?" Dick demanded, still holding the lapels of his coat and slamming him against the wall again.
"Dick!" Tim and Bruce grabbed his arms and pulled him off of Jason.
"Ah," Jason groaned. "You better not have broken anything." Dick kicked Jason in the stomach as Bruce and Tim pulled him away.
"I hope I did," he spat angrily, pulling his arms away from them. He glared down at Jason. "Answer me."
"Well, if you would stop attacking me for five seconds."
"Jay, you deserve to have your nose broken every time you speak," Dick said. "Answer the damn question. Who have you been talking to?"
"I've been trying to get Poison Ivy to talk since I know her and the Joker are planning something. I went to find out if she knew if Harley had said anything to the Joker the morning after the incident. Protecting the family first and all that jazz." He glanced at Bruce. "She had Harley with her, looking pretty good for someone who just fell a couple stories," he added. Everyone in the room stared at him, and the only sound in the silence was the smack of Tim's palm hitting his forehead.
"You… Jeez, Jason…" he muttered.
"And you're all worried about me getting into it with the wrong people," Dick said. Damian glanced up boredly from the cat on his lap.
"In Todd's defense, he didn't want to tell you."
"Hey, I never claimed I was good," Jason said shrugging.
"You did, once," Bruce said quietly, not looking at any of them, his dark brow furrowed in pain. His statement sunk in in the silence. Jason tried to hide it, but he was hurt, and they could all see it in his face. Damian ignored them all as the cat purred loudly, and Alfred watched the five of them in painful resignation and silence. "Dick," Bruce finally said. "Next time you speak to her, evaluate where her loyalties lie. She didn't tell the Joker what she'd discovered; and by now she's most likely severed her thoughts of him. She may be willing to help us."
Dick nodded curtly, biting his lip and stealing a glance at Jason, who stared at the floor in anger and humiliation. Barbara snorted at the thought of Harley Quinn helping them. "I can do that," Dick agreed.
"Now can I leave, Father? Or must I withstand more of these people?" Damian asked in a bored voice. Bruce nodded.
"You may go, Damian." He allowed, and Damian stood gracefully and strode from the room, his cat on his shoulder. Alfred looked down. Tim cleared his throat awkwardly and followed Damian out of the room with Barbara on his heels.
"I think we've all had enough for one night," Bruce said before walking slowly from the room. Alfred followed. Dick turned and looked at Jason, who rubbed his hands on his pants awkwardly.
"I'm sorry I hit you," Dick said quietly.
"Let's be honest, I deserved it." Jason smiled a little. Dick smiled too, putting a hand on Jason's shoulder and looking him seriously in the eyes.
"You are good. You can keep telling yourself different, but it's not going to change what I know. What we all know."
"I don't think I'm the one you should be worrying about who's confused with their morality right now," Jason told him seriously. After a moment, he added quietly, "She was really upset."
Dick closed his eyes sadly and nodded. "I know. I want to help her, Jason, I need to."
"She needs you, too." Jason said, and narrowed his eyes. "And one more thing."
"Yeah?"
"Don't ever touch my jacket again."