Chapter Text
Please knock before breaking in. Thanks. ~babs
Jason stared at the note taped to the window of Babs’ apartment. That she had the gall to expect him to do exactly what he planned to do...didn’t surprise him in the least. He rapped on the window with his knuckles and waited. If he could call about three nanoseconds waiting.
The window lock clicked open and from inside he heard Babs call. “Come in, as long as you’re Jason.”
He had no doubt that Babs knew that it was him long before he ever knocked on the window. While he hadn’t seen any cameras, he could feel their presence watching his every move. Before he, or anyone else, could change their mind, he scrambled through the window and into the apartment.
Babs curled up on the couch with a mug of coffee in one hand and a book in the other. She scarcely looked up from her reading. “Hi. Make yourself at home.”
“Did I miss dinner?” He glanced around the room. This was the first time he’d been in her apartment. He’d never really given it any thought, though now that he was standing here, he couldn’t have pictured it any other way. Her home reflected everything she loved and offered a welcoming environment. Though it was filled with books and technology, there were plenty of wide open spaces and evidence of the modifications made when she had needed an accessible apartment.
On the far end of the couch from where Babs sat, Dick’s motorcycle helmet was perched on an end table near a vase of fresh flowers. Along one wall, a complex multi-monitor computer setup was spread over two desks. Several different programs were running on the monitors, but Jason didn’t have a clue what they were doing. Something important and Bat related, no doubt. Along another wall, there was an entertainment center that appeared almost comparable to the one Bruce owned, though scaled down to fit the smaller space. As impressive as the entertainment center was, the nearby bookshelves were truly a sight to behold. Each shelf was stacked at least two deep and more books were piled on top of the upright books filling every space the shelves had to offer. Even as full as the bookshelves were, stacks of more books were piled about the room in out of the way nooks and crannies.
“No, we’ll eat once I finish the chapter,” she said bringing him back around to the question he’d asked earlier.
Jason was at a loss. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but it wasn’t this. He had expected Babs to chastise him. To complain that dinner was now ruined and it was entirely his fault. If she had, he could have used it as an excuse to storm out of the apartment and confirm his suspicion that she really hadn’t meant the invitation.
Yet, she had said nothing about the fact that he was forty-five minutes late. He’d spent the last hour perched on the rooftop across the street debating whether or not he was really going to go through with this whole charade. Except, it wasn’t a charade. Not to her. Probably not for Dick either....wait. “Where’s Dickiebird?”
“Taking a nap. While last night in Gotham was mostly quiet, in Blüdhaven, not so much. It was one of those nights on patrol where everything goes just a little off. Not enough to make it a bad night, but the aggravating kind where everything takes twice as long as it ought to and every step forward adds about a half dozen complications to your investigations. You know how it goes. Anyways, it kept him out until after dawn and then he had an early shift at work so he could be here in time for dinner.”
“Mm.” Jason moved to one of the bookshelves and studied its contents. He didn’t want her to see that it actually touched him that Dick had put the effort and sacrifice into being here. Jason wasn’t certain he was worth it.
Babs closed her book with a soft thwmp of pages and placed it on the coffee table. As she stood, she stretched, working the kinks out of her neck and shoulders.
“Hey, Jason.” When he turned to look at her, she slid something out of her pocket and tossed it at him. Instinctually he caught it. Keys. “They’re for the gun safe. Use it if you want, or not. It’s up to you. Either way, the safe is yours.”
She left him alone in the living room and headed further back into the apartment. He guessed she was headed back to wake Dick.
Jason peeled out of his jacket and draped it over the arm of the couch. Brushing his hands over his holstered guns, he studied the lockbox sized gun safe sitting on a table. Even though he wouldn’t need them in Babs’ apartment, he didn’t want to be unarmed. In the back of his mind, he knew he was clinging onto the guns like a child clings to his security blanket.
He shook his head and pocketed the keys. If he was going to do this dinner and family thing, he was going to do it on his terms. For now, the guns would stay. Maybe next time. Or, not.
“Jason! Glad you could make it.” Dick called as he entered the living room and greeted his brother with a hug. Babs wasn’t kidding when she said he had needed a nap. Even after the rest, he had dark circles under his eyes and the haggard expression that came from missing not one night of sleep, but rather several in a row. Despite his exhaustion, the genuine smile never left Dick’s face. When he said he was glad, he meant it. “Sorry to make you wait. You’re probably starving.”
“What?” Jason blinked in confusion. “What the crap? I’m the one who was bloody late.”
Dick ran a hand through his hair, causing the sleep-mussed hair to fall in even greater disarray. “Oh, well, then thanks. Apparently I needed that nap. Haven’t been sleeping well lately. Is it weird that it’s easier to sleep here?”
What were they doing? It didn’t make sense. They didn’t seem to care that he was late, only that he was there. When was the last time someone actually wanted him around as Jason and not simply because he was the Red Hood and his mere presence could scare the crap out of half the criminal population without lifting a finger?
From the state of things, Dick’s confusion might actually be genuine. But Babs was definitely plotting something. She was a plotter. Since he was already there, he was going to find out what she was up to. Leaving Dick to finish waking up at his own pace, Jason went in search of Babs.
When he turned the corner into the kitchen, he found Babs gripping the edge of the counter and leaning forward so her arms took her entire body weight. Catching him staring, she relaxed and rocked back on her heels. She winced slightly as her legs returned to taking on her full weight again. Before he could switch from the biting acerbic remark that balanced on the tip of his tongue for something a little more compassionate, Babs interrupted with a shrug and a lackadaisical response. “It’s nothing. My legs are a bit sore from sitting too long in the same position. That’s all.”
Jason frowned. He didn’t quite believe her, but he didn’t push. It had only been a little over a week since Babs and Dick had been abducted and faced down the business end of a gun held by a maniac that wasn’t him. While it might sound rather obvious, he didn’t trust any of the other gun wielding maniac’s out there. If someone was going to threaten his family, they would inevitably learn that they had no option but to answer to the Red Hood. Unless, of course, it was Jason himself doing the threatening, though it had been a while since he’d actively worked against the others. These days, when the urge to fight them grew too strong, he simply left town. Gotham wasn’t the only city that could benefit from his brand of justice.
But back to the matter at hand, the family all coped with those kind of incidents differently and none of them did particularly well with the dealing. Dick wasn’t sleeping. And Babs...well, he wasn’t certain, but she seemed to be in some kind of pain.
Babs changed the topic by handing Jason a stack of plates. “Since you’re here, why don’t you set the table.”
He took the plates, but didn’t move. Babs opened the refrigerator and began pulling out a series of serving dishes. There was a platter of chicken salad sandwiches on bakery fresh croissants. Beyond the sandwiches was a wide selection of side dishes including a summer fruit salad and a veggie tray. Nothing she planned had been ruined by the delay in mealtime.
“You expected me to be late,” he accused. “Is that why you didn’t say anything?”
“Jason.” There was a snap in her voice that didn’t allow him room to protest. It wasn’t angry or in accusation, rather it commanded his attention. “When I invited you over, I knew there was an equal likelihood of you completely skipping dinner as coming at all. If you came, it was also likely you’d be late to some degree. So I planned a meal that wouldn’t matter when I served it so you couldn’t use that as an excuse. You’re always looking for a reason to think we don’t want you around. That’s not true. I want you to know you’re always welcomed here and a wanted part of our family.”
He stared at her. She really did have something planned. Just, not in the way he’d expected. Heading for the dining room with the plates, he paused in the doorway. “Your family?”
“I can’t speak for the rest of them. But yeah, Dick and I consider you family just as you are.”
Right, for how long?
After dinner, they had moved back to the living room. Dick sat besides his girlfriend on the couch and quickly fell back asleep, leaving Jason and Babs to compare their recent reading lists and swap book recommendations. It had been quite a while since he had someone with whom he could carry on a serious literary discussion. Somehow all of this led Babs to pulling out a Pride and Prejudice themed game for the two of them to play.
With the exception of refilling their coffee mugs, they remained like that until Babs’ computer chimed and she scurried over to the array of monitors. She was scarcely seated before she started typing. A good fifteen minutes had passed before she looked up again. Jason was still there. He sat in the same chair, though he’d snagged one of the books from her shelf and was a chapter into the tome. Dick was still asleep on the couch, curled under an afghan.
“Well, you’re both welcome to stay, but I have to get back to work.” She answered another prompt that chimed on the screen.
Jason checked his watch and started. It was well after midnight. He hadn’t meant to stay this long. Closing the book, he placed it on the end table as he started to stand.
“You can borrow it,” she said without turning around.
“I’ll bring it back next week.” Pausing in the process of gathering his belongings, Jason wondered if he’d spoken out loud or if he had just thought it. Had he actually said he’d see them next week?
Babs didn’t hesitate. “It’s already on the calendar. Let’s make it a standing invitation. Whenever you’re in town on a Tuesday, I’ll expect you for dinner.”
“Uh, right. Thanks.” He waved the book in her general direction and exited through the window into the night air.
Usually after spending any significant time with the Bats, leaving felt like he had managed an escape worthy of Mr. Miracle. Instead, for the first time in a long time, he didn’t feel the expected rush of freedom as he went out alone into the dark and away from his family.