Chapter Text
Call Tim biased, but he was of the firm view that locking a child alone in a room was almost an objectively evil act. Made worse when done to an already abused child, and further when the room was maybe twice the size of a closet. If he heard of anyone doing it to his sister, he just might actually kill them.
And yet, with several months to prep, that was still the best option he and Steph had found for a newly kidnapped Cassandra. Micro-dosing on solitary confinement, for at least a week. It wasn't as bad as that sounds, on the face of it; they did all they could to curb the borderline-torturous experience. They stuffed some things to entertain herself with under the sink along with a bunch of food, the most intuitive MP3 player they could find that they stuffed with music her older self adored, another one filled with recordings of Steph and Tim talking. They weren't sure how much if it she could understand, but hopefully the gentle, kind, and occasionally amused tones of their voice would carry over if nothing else, as they read fairytales and retold stories of their youth. They'd even gone to a Build-a-bear-workshop and put together a purple bear decked out in batman gear that they put two hearts and a recorded a button that would promise I love you Cassandra I love you Cassandra I love you whenever she squeezed it just right. There wasn't a window, but there was a book Tim had filled with photos he'd taken in the little spare time he could find here. There were puzzles and paints and toys and blankets and sweets hidden behind the food.
They did everything they could to make it bearable for her. It didn't make it okay, but nothing could. They did it because it was needed, not because it was right. They had no way to tell exactly what kind of intel David had, how suspicious he'd be of them for being near the scene of the crime. It was all Tim could do to keep tabs on the jobs he was taking, and thus vaguely knowing where he is. If he was watching them, they needed to be carrying on like they weren't hiding an eight year old in the bathroom. If he tried to break into their house, there needed to be one entrance and exit to the room Cass was in, so they could protect it if it came to that. There couldn't be any sort of window, or vent big enough for even the smallest child to shimmy through.
He knew all of this, objectively. That didn't make it any easier to pretend to forget about the locked bathroom, or any easier as one week stretched into two. On the 17th day he was beside himself with anticipation, checking his computer for updates on Cain's actions a little obsessively, honestly ready to start fabricating leads that went anywhere-everywhere-but-Gotham, when he finally sees what he's been waiting for.
A job in Australia, picked up by one David Cain. Why exactly he'd gone in that direction, Tim didn't know. He didn't much care. The part of his brain already eagerly prying into that was pushed aside as he jumped up from his desk chair and dashed to the bathroom. He has enough decorum to know better then to slam the door open, and enough forethought to close the door behind him immediately. He couldn't blame Cass for running away, of course, but he'd be damned if he let her.
When he finally looks over, he gets a brief glimpse of the most adorable sight. Cass's face is red from sleeping on her BatBear, hair generally mussed, curled up in various blankets and stuffies. somewhere in the pit of softness, he can hear the faint cadence of his and Steph's recorded storytelling. He really shouldn't be so proud to pull a look of blank shock out of a nine year old, but it was Cass, so he didn't feel all that bad about it. It was quite the accomplishment.
It's a moment that has his worst anxieties floating away, though it doesn't do much for his guilt. It's not a moment that lasts very long, though. In between one blink and the next, Tim has the most horrifyingly competent child he's ever met darting towards him, expression hidden by matted hair, and he shifts into a defensive stance.
The scuffle is hard, but manageable. Little Cass could already read body language, but she wasn't all that great at thinking ahead on her own, yet. It was the middle of the night; she was working by the dim glow of her night light.
"Hey, it's okay. I'm not here to hurt you." Tim promised, voice soft and even. The tone had the intended effect- she froze, hopping back a few steps to get a better look at him. He returned the gesture by backing up the free step or two he had to press himself against the door, hands raised to the side, body language open. Cass gave him a long look, trying to figure something out. Slowly she backed up a few more steps, keeping an eye on him while she fished around in her blankets for-
"I wished she'd never stop squeezing me. I wished I could spend the rest of my life as a child, being slightly squished by someone who loved me."
Of course, the recorder. The one playing his voice, reading one of the many books Stephanie had piled home from the library insisting that they were required reading for any child living under her roof. Tim couldn't really object. He hadn't been much of a reader as a kid, but the ones Steph had him read for the recorder were nice. He probably would have appreciated them as a kid, if he found the time.
"Yeah. Yeah, that's me." He guessed what she was thinking with a smile. "I'm glad you like the book. Stephanie will be very glad. Please tell me you've been eating." He sighed, stepping forward to squat at the cabinet under the sink. In his periphery he saw her tense up as he opened the door and catalogued the thankfully depleted rations.
A bit more depleted then he expected- at the rate he could guess she was going, she only had about three days of food left rather then the week he had assumed. Thank goodness she hadn't had to wait that extra week, jeez........
"Good. Good, but lets get you a real meal. C'mon." He pushed back the renewed guilt and turned to her with a relieved smile, closing the cabinet again. She relaxed a little at the smile, and then more and more the longer she studied him for hidden aggression and found none. He took a soft step forward and, just out of reach from her, slowly held up an expectant hand. She tilted her head and traced her eyes up and down his form, struggling to deduce what he wanted. The longer she took, the more she started to tense up again, but Tim stayed and waited patiently. When she met his eyes with a glassy stare, he just smiled a little wider and continued to wait. He didn't want to scare her, but he doubted grabbing her would make her less scared, and she needed to learn how things worked here anyway. Needed to learn that she'd be expected to think up and try her own solutions to things, not punished for it.
It took her several minutes to realize he wasn't going to prompt her further. She frowned- almost a pout, which only further brightened his expression- and slowly stepped forward. She circled around him a few times, like a different angle would reveal the answer. He followed with his eyes when she was in sight, but besides that didn't even twitch. She came back to the front of him nodded, and finally grabbed his hand-
pulled him forward, leveraged his weight ov-
He twisted out of her grip before she could flip him onto the floor, surprise quickly turning into laughter rather then something that would alarm her further. When he looked at her again she was frozen mid-motion, gaze wide and scared and not quite meeting his eyes. He stepped forward just enough to be back in his position, paitent smile and extended hand back in place. Slowly she unfroze, slight frown more prominent as it pulled down her eyebrows. Her gaze went went thoughtful as she turned the event over in her brain slowly, before snapping back to him with a familiar determination.
Very slowly this time, she reached out and grabbed his hand. Then she pulled- and immediately stopped, as he tensed to twist away again. She started to let go of his hand, but his fingers twitched in reflexive protest. Still seeming rather confused, she stepped forward and adjusted her grip on his hand so that it was comfortable, before looking up at him again. He smiled and nodded, even laughing as her confusion was washed away by satisfaction. Satisfaction washed away by hunger, as her stomach growled.
"That's our cue." He laughed, tugging lightly on her hand as he took a few steps. She already knew how to respond to that, falling in line with his steps immediately. She hesitated for half of a step when they walked past the sink cabinet instead of going to it, but besides that was the perfect shadow all the way to the kitchen. Even her grip was loose enough that Tim could barely feel it. He waved at a counter stool, and she let go of his hand to go sit down without looking back. He set a bowl of strawberries down right in front of her, and she stared at them blankly even as her stomach growled again.
He held back an annoyed sigh and pushed the strawberries toward her. She finally picked one up and was back to watching his every move as she slowly brought one to her lips and bit down. He nodded and waved at the rest of the bowl before turning to the fridge.
It was more then a little tempting to make something sweet. Cass always had an infamous sweet tooth, and she more then deserved pancakes or bagels or something of the sort.....but she was also a little slip of a girl who'd persisted on nothing but pantry food for the past week, and probably less before that, which was....Bad, he was pretty sure. Tim narrowed his eyes at the microwave and tried to recall the innumerable lectures on nutrition that Alfred had given over the years.
The quiet sound of nibbling from the girl behind him were interrupted by the sound of her stomach growling again, and Tim shook his head, reaching for a hand-me-down recipe book the Cullen's gave him and Steph, after realizing how culinarily challenged they both were and flipping to the middle.
Casserole. Quick, easy, heavy, cheap. Can't go wrong with a casserole.
--
"Boyfriend fucking Blunder," Stephanie hissed, storming into the kitchen, "What in the name of Batman's cape has compelled you to cook at 6:32 am?" She demanded, scorn a little subverted by her yawn. It was far too early to be awake, but she'd always been sensitive to the smell of food, in the same way Tim usually was to coffee. Through the window, she could just barely see the sun rising. Or- well, see is a strong word, given how thick the clouds were. but the clouds were lightening to indicate the sun would soon be rising.
"Oh. Steph, maybe cool-" Her husband- husband, not boyfriend, still weird to think- started in a warning tone, which was enough to get Stephanie to fall into a defensive position before being assaulted by a four foot tall tangle of baby fat and precision strikes.
Luckily, she has more then enough experience in situations nearly identical to this, and has the reaction speed to neither hurt nor be hurt by the child assassin attacking her in her own home. In fact, for a heartbreaking moment, she's absolutely convinced that it is Damian attacking her, but- no, the little demon was never so quiet, and even at his smallest couldn't really be confused for- for what she realized had to be Cass, as she deflected a kick away from her and started to disengage. If she realized, she would've done so sooner, but. Old habits died almost as hard as memories, she supposed, and disengaging with Damian usually just pissed the bugger off more.
Using her much longer legs, Stephanie skipped out of Cass's reach and held up her hands. Tim chose that time to finally make his way over to them, resting a gentle hand on Cass's shoulder.
"Hey, hey it's okay. We're okay, Steph here was just playing around. Steph, say something?" He prompted, stepping between them. Not enough to cut off Cass's view of Steph, but enough to show that Tim trusted the blonde at his back.
"You're safe, kiddo." Steph assured, pulling up a smile with ease. Cass's eyes widened at her voice, and took a half step back. She reassessed the woman, looking her up and down and finding no aggression in Steph's stance. Still, she didn't relax until she looked back to Tim and he nodded- though, relax might not be the right word. She fell out of the battle stance, but the tension in her frame didn't leave; it just retreated, from quick fists to a bowed neck, from agile knees to perfectly straight posture.
"The food's getting cold." Tim piped up, traces of annoyance in his tone. Cass tensed even further, eyes wide when they snap up to meet his, and Steph steps past him with a quick glare. She knew that his annoyance was with himself rather then Cass, but Cass didn't know that, and he was more then capable of watching his tone around a child.
(Their child, a part of her was already whispering. A desperate part, who wanted nothing more then her family back, the part that drove her out bird-watching most nights and to Leslie's employ most days, and was frantically trying to find a way to get her claws on a per-pubescent Damian. A part that might be more then just a part of her, at this point.)
"Lets get some proper food in you, yeah?" Steph smiled, holding a hand out. Cass eyed it for a few seconds, looking unsure. Her eyes darted to Tim and back, before she cautiously reached out and took it. Steph bounced on her feet in a slightly-exagerated display of excitement and gently guided Cass over to the island to sit down. It only took Tim a moment to set down two plates in front of them. It took him a little longer to fix his own- or, more likely, the one sitting in front of Steph was the one he had fixed for himself.
Cass doesn't fuss about eating the food, which is a small blessing. Steph hopes she hasn't been too hungry, with nothing to eat but protein bars, dehydrated fruits, canned goods she had hopefully figured out how to open, chocolate, and a handful of junk-foods and juices they remembered Cass liking. Maybe she could forgive Tim for waking her up so early, just this once. Just because when Cass took her first bite, she sagged in the chair and her face melted with contentment and, for just a moment, it looked like she was relaxed and safe and happy.
It's barely a surprise, when the little girl almost falls asleep in the mostly-empty bowl. Steph coos and reaches out for her sleeping form, but Tim carefully grabs her arm before she can touch Cass.
"You gotta be really careful." Tim whispers, hard to hear even with his lips half an inch from her ear. "She tried to flip me over. Twice."
Stephanie nodded, turning her head for a quick kiss in thanks before repositioning. When she reaches out to Cass properly, her feet art planted firmly and her touch is light on the girl's shoulder. Cass's hand makes a grab for her before the girl's eyes even open, and she manages to catch the tips of two of Steph's fingers in her grip. She'd really rather not have her fingers broken by a child.
"Hey Sleepy-head." Steph smiled, keeping her face honest and loving. Cass froze, studying her intently, and Steph realized she probably didn't have much exposure to either of those emotions, especially not directed at her.
They would fix that.
Steph flexed her fingers, and Cass pulled her hand back, a quick flash of either guilt or fear flashing on her face. Steph tried to soften her smile even more, as she reached out to grab the girl in her arms. Cass stared her down the entire time, but doesn't make a move to strike. She shoots a searching glance around the room until she finds Tim, doing the dishes. Tim notices the attention and nods, waving Cass toward Steph. Cass didn't seem much less generally confused, but she did let Steph gently carry her without a fuss. She tenses up again when they near the bathroom, but Steph hadn't even thought about locking the girl up there again. Her steps speed up, as she makes her way the rest of the way down the hall to the bedroom.
When Cass is placed on the bed, she only stares blankly for a second before relaxing and crawling under the covers, worming her way down to the foot of the bed, like an overgrown cat. Stephanie is both delighted and disappointed; on the one hand, she was hoping that Cass would be down for some cuddles. Admittedly her hopes weren't high, and she was mostly worried that Cass would try to sleep on the floor or something. On the other hand, it was nice to see Cass so comfortable around her, and gave her a surprise burst of nostalgic love to see Cass curled up at the foot of the bed, hair a tangled mess (they'd need to get her a shower, when they wake up properly). She hadn't thought the habit was one that Cass formed so young.
She didn't fall asleep until Tim came back into the room, sitting at his desk in the corner. He'd keep an eye and an ear on Cass to make sure the girl didn't try to run and/or murder them, until Stephanie woke up at a reasonable time.
Several hours later. When the sun was- well, not visible in the sky, but doing it's damnedest to make it's presence known.