The Curious Case of Jason Todd

VI

Five days later, Nightwing roared into the Batcave on his motorcycle. It was early in the morning and Dick was exhausted from a long night's patrol. Even though the sun was starting to rise above Gotham, the Batman was parked in his leather chair at the computer. The cowl was pulled back and Dick could see the dark bruises forming underneath his eyes. Although he looked tired, Bruce's eyes were clear and focused on the screen.

"Come on Bruce! Why are you still up? Don't you have a five year old to take care of during the day?" Jason was still stuck as a small child. Zatanna had been delayed earlier in the week by an old enemy but she had left for Ireland and Scotland yesterday to do some research on the spell. Although Jason wasn't exactly a terror, he was rambunctious enough to exhaust anyone working on less than four hours of sleep.

"Yes I do, but I've been very busy this past week." Bruce pulled up a chart and highlighted the spike in Gotham's crime level that has occurred over the past week.

Dick peeled off his mask and rubbed at the skin around his eyes, "We've all been dealing with this crime surge. Timmy's on leave from the Titans and is still being run ragged by all of his detective work. I don't understand this rise in crime, maybe it's the warm weather?"

Bruce opened an aerial view of Gotham City that had small red dots marking the location of known crimes in the past week. "Notice the abundance of crimes located in the East End? In comparison to the rest of Gotham, the East End has seen triple the criminal activity since last week." He zoomed in on the screen to the East End area of Gotham. "A majority of the crimes have been drug or trafficking related."

"The East End is where the Red Hood operates," Dick's eyes widened in realization, "Without the Red Hood controlling them, the drug trade is becoming more dangerous."

Bruce massaged his forehead, "I may not agree with the Red Hood's methods, but I can't argue with his results. I've been too complacent. I was unaware of how much reliance I have placed on having Jason in the East End."

"I never even realized. His control of the drug trade here," he jabbed at the East End on the screen, "allows everyone else to operate in the rest of the city. Jeez, I never thought I'd admit it, but we really do need the Red Hood."

Looking at his mentor and father figure, Dick finally noticed the dejected acceptance in Bruce's posture and face. He had been hoping that they could keep Jason as a child, a child who adored his new father rather than the angry young adult who had lost trust in his family. Dick knew that Bruce loved both young Jason and old Jason equally, but it was young Jason who was ecstatic at any attention that Bruce gifted him with.

Dick laid a hand on his mentor's shoulder, "Why don't you head up and get some sleep? I'll take Jason for a day out and you can focus on your work."

The shadows covered Bruce's eyes so Dick couldn't get a read on his emotions, "Fine. Take him to the go-karts, he'd like that."

Dick smiled in reassurance and marched off to the showers to prepare for his day with Jason.

Jason had a blast at the go-kart track. The kid couldn't stop grinning the entire time and Dick absorbed his little brother's happiness like it was a drug. He had never seen Jason so happy and he wished that some of the happiness would grow up with him. They took three races around the track and truthfully, even as a five year old Jason was a good - but aggressive - driver. After racing they headed to a nearby pizza place and shared a greasy pepperoni pizza that Dick was sure Alfred would kill him for. Especially since his little brother managed to get most of the sauce on his face. Then they spent another two or three hours at a kid's arcade where he and Jason won so many tokens that they got a huge stuffed dog toy about Jason's height. Jason had claimed it, but Dick was the one who got stuck carrying it.

They were passing through the park on the way to a kid's playground for Jason to play on the monkey bars when they were waylaid by an old friend.

"Dick?"

Dick turned around and tugged on Jason's had to stop the boy from walking ahead. Barbara was jogging towards them in a pair of tight running shorts and a tank top. Her iPod was strapped to her arm and her wild red hair was pulled away from her face. She was sweaty, out of breath, and her cheeks were tinged pink from the physical exertion.

She never looked more beautiful.

"Hey Babs, what's up? Uh ... stupid question. Having a nice run?"

"I am now," Barbara smiled and Dick tried to suppress the heat traveling up his neck. "Are you going to introduce me to your little friend?"

"I'm not little!" Jason pouted and stomped his foot, "I'm five!"

Barbara blinked. She took in the wavy black hair, the guarded teal eyes, and the familiar scowl. Kneeling down to his height she looked him directly in the eye, "I am so sorry. You're right! Five is a big number! What's your name handsome?"

Jason's irritation withered and he smiled back, standing up a bit taller, "I'm Jason! Who're you?"

Barbara had guessed correctly. Several days ago Dick had told her what had happened to his little brother and Barbara had to refrain from driving over to the Manor just to see with her own eyes. While Dick had been friendly and charismatic when he was younger, Jason was charming in his own way. Now this little Jason was just too freaking adorable for his own good.

"I'm Barbara, an old friend of Dick's. We practically grew up together."

Jason tilted his head to the side, "You're very pretty," Barbara could feel her face warm but Jason turned to Dick, "is she your girlfriend?"

Dick was uncomfortable with this conversation. "Uh ... not really - well, no. No she's not."

Jason gave Dick the most unimpressed face a five year old could muster. "Why not?"

"Well ... uh ... um ..."

Jason rolled his eyes at his cowardly big brother and turned back to Barbara who was watching the exchange with amusement. "Since he's being stupid, wanna be my girlfriend?"

Now Barbara was stuttering and her face was almost as red as her hair. She forgot how straight forward Jason could be. The boy's face was so eager and hopeful, she would be amazed if anyone could deny him what he wanted. Still, she had no choice, "Umm ... you're a little too young for me Jason."

Jason sighed and shrugged. "It wasn't a 'no'," he reassured himself. "Better than scaredy-cat Dick."

Dick slapped a hand over his face in both embarrassment and annoyance while Barbara chuckled under her breath. "Go on you little twerp. Go play on the monkey bars or something."

"Fine," Jason grumbled. He perked up and skipped over to Barbara who was still kneeling on the ground. "Wait for me beautiful Barbara! I promise to grow up fast!" To Dick's annoyance and Barbara's shock, Jason pecked her on the cheek before running off to the slide. Barbara touched where Jason's lips had met her cheek and Dick tried to regain some dignity by picking his mouth up off the floor.

"What the hell was that?" Dick sputtered.

Barbara smiled and brushed some grass from her knees. "That was the old Jason. He was always hitting on me when he was Robin and I could never figure out if he was joking or serious."

"He was? How come I never knew about this?"

"Because it never came up in conversation."

"Babs - "

"Cool it Dick, it was just part of the Robin - Batgirl dynamic. Anyways, the Joker ended it." Barbara's eyes darkened as she watched Jason clamber over the playground structure. Dick wasn't there when Barbara realized her legs wouldn't move, he wasn't there at Jason's funeral. He didn't have a scar caused by the Joker hanging over his head like she and Jason did.

"Barbara ... I'm sorry that I wasn't supportive when you decided to take back the mantle. I was just worried -"

"Jason's stuck."

"Don't try and distract me; we need to talk about this - "

"No! Jason's seriously stuck! Don't move Jason!" She ran towards the play structure and Dick finally noticed that Jason had climbed on top of the structure's roof and was having trouble getting down.

"Crap. HANG ON LITTLE WING!" How did Jason always manage to get in these situations?