Chapter Text
Tim was loyal, He didn’t tell them what they wanted to know. He could have easily told them that the quickest way to destroy Batman was to kill one of his children. Probably Damian, or maybe Jason again. Either of those would break the man. Instead he shut his eyes and let the pain wash over him, he was as silent as the grave, he would never betray them.
Tim didn’t know that the Bats had been searching for days. He didn’t know that Bruce hadn’t slept in three days or that Damian was still searching the streets after having been told to go home hours ago. He didn’t know that Jason had every hooker and drug dealer in Crime Alley looking for any sign of him. That they had called in Superman and Superboy trying anything to find him. He never realized that losing Tim would break the family, that he was just as irreplaceable as the others.
He was feverish when they finally found him, delirious. When he caught sight of Damian’s face he started pleading with him not to stab him again.
“You already stole Robin, and my spleen, I don't have any other organs you can take.” Tears were streaming down his face.
“Baby Bat, why is Tim saying you stole his spleen?”
Damian looked panicked. He was never going to tell the others about the exact nature of his and Tim’s altercations.
“After Bane, we got into a fight.” Damian hesitated.
“Yeah and I got on the comms and told you two to knock it off, so why does he think you stole his spleen.”
“I had already stabbed him when you told him to leave me alone, so I came to join you and we went back to the cave. I didn’t know that he lost his spleen.”
“Wait you left him bleeding out on the rooftop from a stab wound YOU inflected and neither of you told me?” Dick was nearly hysterical now.
“You knew,” Tim said, focusing on Dick. “You told me not to fight him, and then he stabbed me. You knew and left me there.”
Dick was gutted. He hadn’t seen the two of them fighting, he only heard them starting to bicker over the comms. He did what he always did back then, told Tim to leave Damian alone. Then he wrapped his arm around Damian trying to comfort him from the bad fight and took him home for a movie and hot chocolate. Had he really left his other brother bleeding out on a rooftop while he watched movies with the person who stabbed him.
“We don’t stab Family, Baby Bat.”
“I’m not family. I’ve never been family.” Tim mumbled back.
Dick made a terrible sound like someone had just punched him in the nuts.
“Okay all of that sucks, but apparently we have an immunocompromised Red Robin that needs help right now. So either help me get him out of here or shut up and clear the way.” Spoiler yelled at the two brothers.
Dick suddenly shook his head and helped carry Tim to the Batmobile. Tim was safely tucked into the front seat and sped off to the cave, apparently medical attention was a lot higher on the list than they first thought.
Tim didn’t see the family gather around his bed in the med-bay. He didn’t see them confront Damian about his stabbing habits. He didn’t see the tears on Dick’s face as he told them that Tim didn’t think he was a part of the family.
What he did see was the way that they started checking in on him more often and inviting him to hang out. He definitely noticed when Dick, Bruce, Jason, and Damian all came and actually talked about things they had done to hurt him in the past. What he noticed was that Damian never called him Drake anymore, instead he was Timothy or rarely Drake-Wayne. He noticed when Dick challenged him to a photographic scavenger hunt through Gotham one night when the two of them were off. He noticed that Bruce would tell him that he was proud of him, proud of his son, and not just for things he did on a case or for W.E. but for just being Timothy.
Things were better now, slowly he was beginning to feel like he was actually a part of the family. He was actually discovering what family really meant. It was weird but nice.