Burned Bridges

Parenting

A/N: this is all exposition, the next chapter will be longer.

Arriving home, he stowed the cookies on the highest shelf with a note in case Cass got talked into climbing up. He was about to make dinner when he noticed everyone already had plates full. Smiling, Jason made his plate and relieved Waylon Jones of duty. The human crocodile was a part of the family as much as Ivy was, social workers were just more willing to put children in her care than his. Remembering lunch, Jason put Barbara and Roy in a group text with the message Engineering meet business. As with every night, Jason made the rounds after lights out.

The master bedroom had two bunk beds with enough walk room the oldest wouldn't be pinned if they both stood between the beds. Against the wall next to the door were four sets of drawers with one desk at the foot of each bunk bed and in each of the remaining corners. The room also housed a couple of clothing racks to make up for the lack of closetspace. The boys shoes stayed in boxes with their names written in sharpie over the box logos. The bedrooms remained very neat and organized since the boys spent more time outside it, Jason made kids do everyone's laundry if their rooms weren't kept clean. The boys got the master bedroom even though Jason could fit two bunk beds in another room without violating any safety codes. The larger of the two remaining bedrooms housed a bunk bed in the corner across from the door, on the other side of the room were two sets of drawers and two clothing racks. One desk sat at the foot of the bed with the other beside the bunk bed. The smaller of the rooms was Jason's bedroom/office, he had a desk, clothing rack, set of drawers and his shoes had labelled boxes. One of his earlier foster kids had gone through his stuff and taped over the name Jason to replace it with Dad. Unlike the others, his room didn't have a bunk bed but instead had a bed in the middle and a cot in one corner with a chest of stuffed animals for when Open Doors hosted little kids fresh in the system. Though Jason could claim capacity, his current load all lived on the ground floor and he owned the building. The building was given a comfortable air by this. Upstairs, all rooms continued to follow the design with desks, bunk beds, plastic dressers and clothing racks. Jason had never bought a clothes' rack, he got them from stores either going out of business or throwing them out. One room on each floor of his building broke the pattern, creating a common room. The basement housed the laundry machines.

All of their foster kids, at one time or another, worked on a project. They all have Dr. Leslie Thompkins as their primary doctor. Though Jason had tried to find some way to repay Leslie, she insists that taking care of kids off the streets is enough, going so far as to tell him that she's proud of him.

Selina has the original Open Doors foster home in Crime Alley, forever known as the Park Row House. As the first, her foster home does not follow the model Jason's does. The second floor houses all of the rooms, each has a bunk bed across from two sets of drawers next to two desks with an extra bar in the closet for clothes. The first floor has an open floor plan for the common area, which all of the houses share since Jason renovates the buildings before making them foster homes. The kitchen has only an exterior wall, the fridge on one end with the oven on the other with cupboards between them and upper cupboards on both sides. The Park Row House has the widest kitchen with an island, which would take up the whole width of the others. The sink is in the middle of the cupboards across from the fridge and oven, with a dishwasher next to it. To walk through the kitchen, you either enter or exit through the dining room. The living room is on the other side of the sink from the kitchen. The Park Row House has two offices, Jason's has a false wall to access the armory which he hasn't used since he made it while Selina's false wall leads to the training area that hasn't seen much use since Harper and Cullen Rowe left the Open Doors network. Both the armory and the training area join at the Underground entrance Waylon Jones is known to use, though that connects to the basement proper as well.

Using the Park Row House as a jumping off point, Jason created the model for Open Doors foster homes. He owns several buildings throughout Gotham in addition to Open Doors foster homes, only one is an office for Outlaws Contracting while the rest are open to the public. Jason has found his projects build character, some of his foster kids have come home complaining work wasn't hard enough after only a few visits to the projects during their stay. Jason just laughs their concerns off, assuring them that they can get into construction after they graduate high school. None of his foster kids have ever been arrested or fired, the work ethic is too strong. Even though his methods work, he doesn't like sharing them with others in the foster care system because he knows they'll be twisted. Other foster homes can't afford to make volunteer building the go-to punishment, not that they'll even try. He doesn't ground teenagers or spank elementary schoolers, he doesn't even yell. If they're in trouble, he takes them to a project and makes them help until they're in his good books. Other foster parents aren't him, they can't take what he does and add it to their parenting styles, it doesn't work. His technique is tried and true, he's tried other methods but came to the conclusion that what works on one kid with those doesn't work on the rest.