The Effort of Family

Man the Phones

A/N Warning for attempted kidnaping and implied/referenced kidnaping. 

Jason woke up groggy. He was still in his uniform and his muscles ached. Why was he still in his uniform? Oh... right. He changed into cargo pants and a hoodie. When he checked his phone, Jason realized he'd missed a couple texts from Dick. Didn't matter. He would just talk to him in person. Jason found the file on the counter, where he'd left it last night. Head in his hands, he read over the doctor's notes more carefully.

This sucked. He needed to update his brother... and maybe get some advice. He figured that Dick would still be at the manor. If not, maybe he could talk to Alfred? Yeah, that'd be nice.

He drove over. If he was lucky, most of the family would be out. He'd slept in long enough that the younger kids would be at school, so maybe there wouldn't be many listening ears for this conversation.

He was not lucky.

Duke and Damian were at school. But he could hear Steph shouting from the living room. Other noises indicated that she was losing at whatever video game she was playing. Tim was probably at work, considering he couldn't hear Red Robin shouting back. Jason sighed.

He walked into the primary family room, spotting Stephanie on the couch, her tongue poking out of her mouth in intense concentration. She was playing Mario Kart and losing badly. But, who- Ah. Jason felt a little guilty. He hadn't known that Cass was back in town. The quiet girl sat cross legged in the armchair by the T.V.

She was looking at Jason, her fingers still moving across the controller. Cass remained in first place without paying attention at all. She was smiling.

"Little brother," she greeted. Stephanie jumped, startled. She hadn't noticed Jason at all.

He cleared his throat a little uncomfortably. "Have either of you seen Dick?" Cass nodded.

"He's on his way back from dropping the kiddos off at school," Stephanie said, pausing the game.

Jason nodded. They all stared at each other quietly. He hated it when things got awkward around his family. It was Jason. He just couldn't say things. He didn't know how to fill the silence.

Cassandra was in front of him. How did she get there? Jason didn't know. She tugged him over to the couch and pulled him to sit next to her. She offered him a spare controller. Jason took it with an easy smile. Maybe he was just overthinking. He did that sometimes. Or all the time. It didn't matter.

He played a couple rounds. He lost every time.

By the time Dick got home, Jason had let himself forget why he'd come over. He'd shut the game off when his big brother walked in. Maybe they wouldn't talk about it? Jason had a feeling he couldn't avoid this one.

"Hey, Little Wing!" Dick smiled. "You never answered my message." Jason could feel himself tense up.

"I found what I was looking for." Jason didn't want to talk about this here. Out in the open. He didn't want to explain the situation to Steph and Cass.

Dick seemed to understand without Jason saying anything. Cass could tell too, he knew. "Let's talk in my room, Jay."

Jason followed him upstairs. "Do you wanna tell me what's going on?" Jason didn't. He did anyway.

"I found the doctor who took care of Sheila when she had her kid," he said. Dick didn't interrupt. "Her son died a few hours after being born. She paid him off not to file the birth or death certificate. She left his office and came back with another baby, and he agreed to pretend that it was hers. They- I don't know, they forged another birth certificate. Information with the kid she kidnapped instead of her son." Jason took a deep breath.