This is bad. Tim knows, knows in the visceral way that means something is truly, completely, 100% off-the-rails wrong that twists his stomach and leaves his brain buzzing on high alert.

Dick is traumatized, and unresponsive. Damian is crippled by guilt and processing through anger. Jason is completely out of his head and put his fist through a door. Thank goodness Dick hadn't seen that, or he might have gone into a coma.

It felt like Tim was the only one keeping a level head (what else was new) and he didn't know what to do.

It wasn't like he'd never met an unresponsive kid before… but usually he handed those off to medical professionals. His job was… pulling them out of a burning building or something. Everything he really knew about long term care came from the internet.

Tim was the tech guy. Computers: computers any day. Traumatized kids… he poured himself another mug of coffee.

Damian was still with Dick. Jason was… somewhere. Out for a walk. An uneventful walk, hopefully. What to do about Jason?

If Dick was going to recover, they would need Jason to be able to interact positively with the family. The two were bonded. And besides… he felt responsible for both of them.

They were both family. They both needed and had asked for help. Dick was obvious, Dick was small and innocent and vulnerable and abused. Jason, on the other hand, was large and cynical and bloodstained and aggressive. But Jason had been through trauma too, and he wanted to stay with his family, and help them, he was just… struggling.

Tim couldn't let either of them down.

So he had to choose between focusing on Dick, who had no ability to take care of himself, and Jason, who could probably keep himself in one piece, but might also go and get himself killed and accidentally (purposefully?) take someone down with him. Tim doesn't like to think about how responsible Jason is for what he does in his… moods.

It's not mindless destruction, not always. Sometimes Jason will… go green, and his actions will be planned to the minutiae, and undeniably spring from the deepest desires of his heart. But that's a problem for another day.

The point is that Jason presents the greater potential active threat, but Dick has less resources to deal with anything that comes his way, and in order to fix Dick they have to fix Jason, but it isn't as if Jason is going to know what to do either, so they're just going to funnel endless time and resources into fixing Jason so they can all three stand uselessly around Dick as a family.

Nagging curiosity tugs him upstairs again to check in on Dick. Dick is leaning against Damian on the bed, as both of them stare into the middle distance.

"I didn't know Dick's condition was contagious," Tim opens, which sounds like something Dick would say (the real Dick Grayson, Tim's big brother who would know what to do), and Damian snaps his head over to narrow his eyes at Tim.

Dick doesn't respond.

"Your mockery is ill-timed, Drake."

Tim lets out a huff of air through his nose. Insults may be Damian's defense mechanism and love language but this isn't what anyone needs right now. Especially Dick.

Tim glances at the hot chocolate set on the side tables - one clearly untouched, though within Dick's grasp. "Has he… done anything?"

Damian purses his lips. "No. It is like he isn't even…"

"It's OK," Tim cuts him off. If Dick isn't totally disassociating then he doesn't want the kid picking up on anything negative right now. As he watches the two boys sitting on the bed it hits him that as little as he can do for Jason there is nothing he can do for Dick.

"Just… stay with him. Stay in contact with him. Maybe… tell him a story or something. I've got to go talk with Jason real quick, alright?"

Damian nods, stiff and withdrawn. One more person probably won't make much of a difference to Dick right now - but one person could be just what Jason needs. Tim turns away from his younger brothers and makes to find the only older one available.

He finds Jason trekking down the long pathway out of Wayne manor on foot. Where he plans to go and how he plans to get there are anyone's guess - assuming he's planning anything at all.

Jason's steps are unsteady, his gaze locked ahead of him and he does not seem to notice Tim's approach even though he makes no effort to soften his footsteps.

"...Jason?"

Jason startles, and jerks to the side.

"Replacement. Don't you have bigger problems right now?"

"Damian's looking after Dick for the moment. Not that much seems to be happening. I wanted to come look for you."

"Yeah? And do what? What are you gonna do with me now?"

Frankly, Tim hasn't quite figured that out yet.

"Dick needs you. You can't leave him."

"Yeah? Does Dick need a fist through his head? Is that what he needs?" Jason's voice rumbles and crackles and breaks and his eyes are still locked straight ahead. His hands tremble by his sides.

"...You won't hurt him. We won't let you hurt him. We'll find a way to help you control it."

"I can't be around him, Tim. I promised… I promised I wouldn't hurt any kids and I can't keep that promise. I have to go."

"No, you don't." Tim picks up speed for a moment to plant himself in front of Jason who draws to an abrupt halt and stares him in the eye. "I don't think you'd hurt him. I think you know when you're getting bad and you can get yourself away before anything happens."

Jason's jaw works, and his eyes shine with an unnatural green tint - light, faded… but there.

"You been in the kitchen yet?"

"Not yet."

"You'll want to get the blood off the tiles. Before Dick sees it."

"The wall can take it. We can fix this."

"...I'll call, Timmy. Can't do more than that."

"Yes you can. You promised, remember? I don't care if you hide in your room and only come out when you're feeling perfect but you can't just run away. You're the first person Dick met, the first person he trusts… he needs you."

Jason bulldozes forward, and Tim's heart jumps in his throat. If Dick were here, the real Dick, he'd know what to say. Tim does computers, not people - he doesn't know how to hold everyone together, how to make things work.

"No! No, you can't leave Dick like this! Do you know what it will do to him, waking up and finding you gone? We'd never get him out of his shell again!"

Jason shudders and comes to a stop, face turned resolutely toward the ground. "What do you want me to do, Replacement? You've been worried I was going to snap since we got here and - guess what - you were right. I can't… take that kind of risk. I always knew this was a bad idea and… well, here we are. Hold everyone together, Timmy, they'll need you."

And then Tim is staring down the walkway, completely alone.