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Bruce should have seen that something was wrong with Jason. For once, they were in a family patrol, but Jason has been too calm. Usually, he would have laughed at Tim’s cowl; he would have pretended to push Damian from a rooftop to annoy Dick…
Patrols with Jason were always loud. But this time, Jason was quiet.
They needed to prevent a gang from stealing a bank, and they needed to hurry up.
When they arrived in front of the bank, Jason lost his balance for a second, but he regained composure in a second, and Bruce thought that he had imagined it.
The older man regrouped his sons around him for a small debrief before entering the place.
They were supposed to make two groups: one composed of Jason and Dick, who should find any hostages and help them out; and the second, Bruce, Tim, and Damian had to fight the gang if they crossed their path.
They separated and Bruce concentrated on the present. The mission was perfect, everything was fine until Dick’s panicked voice was heard in the com: “Nightwing here, we have a problem with Red Hood. I’m scared he might be hurt or poisoned.”
“Poisoned? If Hood was poisoned, that means someone who knows about poisons is here, and that is a big problem.” groaned Tim near him. But Bruce didn’t listen to him, all he could think of was his son hurt, probably in the middle of a bank full of hostages and dangerous enemies.
“Nightwing, report. How is Hood?”
“He’s conscious but barely. Unresponsive, he seems very weak, can’t stand alone. We freed the hostages and went outside, we’re waiting for you there.”
Bruce didn’t wait until the end of the answer to tell his younger sons to follow him. They were finished here, now they needed to help the two others.
They found Dick and Jason at the entrance of the bank: they had helped the hostages out, and now, Dick was crouched in front of a very pale Jason, even though it was hard to see much with his mask covering half of his face.
Bruce asked Dick to bring the Batmobile as he was trying to rouse his son.
“Hood! Hood can you hear me?”
But Jason didn’t answer, worst, he seemed to have completely passed out as his body became limp in his father’s hold.
Bruce took the unconscious form in his arms and with the help of the two Robins, put him in the Batmobile’s backseat.
“You’ll be fine, Jason.” could be heard as Bruce was settling down in the passenger seat. Tim took his older brother’s head on his lap, taking off his mask to see more clearly his face. He was sweating and shaking a little bit, but his lips weren’t green as could be someone poisoned.
He tried to rouse him again by tapping softly his cheeks, but Jason didn’t move.
When they arrived in the Batcave, Jason was carried out of the car and taken immediately to the med bay. Bruce ran a hand through his son’s sweaty hair, feeling incredibly bad. He should have been more careful. Jason was his son, for god’s sake. Bruce should take care of him more than anything.
Alfred arrived a few seconds later and asked everyone to leave so he has space to check on Jason.
Bruce went reluctantly to the shower. He was scared for his son, but he knew Alfred would take care of him, and that there is nothing he could do for the moment.
The next time he saw his son was twenty minutes later. Alfred had put him on IV, but he was still a bit too pale for Bruce’s liking.
“Master Jason wasn’t poisoned, nor hurt. He just suffers from hypoglycemia,” announced Alfred and Bruce could hear the anger in his voice. To Alfred, food was sacred, eating was primordial, and seeing one of the kids suffering from hypoglycemia was probably unbearable for him. Jason was about to get lectured when he’ll wake up, and not only by Alfred.
Bruce and Dick entered the med bay one hour later to see the bed was empty.
“Dick, try to call you brother, he’s in no shape to go anywhere.”
Bruce ran to the computer to try and locate his son, knowing that he probably went to another case.
“Oracle, can you tell me if you’re hearing Red Hood anywhere, or just if you find any problems that just happened in the city.”
“Affirmative.”
Bruce was feeling guilty. He should have stayed with his son, waiting for him to wake up instead of just leaving. Now, Jason was gone. He was weak but probably alone in front of too many enemies for him.
“B. I found something. A kid was kidnapped one hour ago. They saw Red Hood chasing the kidnappers on his bike. They are currently fighting on the Gotham bridge.
Batman jumped on the batmobile, followed by Damian, the only one who was still in costume.
When they approached the Gotham bridge, they noticed many cars stopped, probably to stay away from the projectiles. Bruce ignored them and drove on the bridge until he could see his son’s bike lying on the concrete. Jason was near it, and he wasn’t in a better shape. His face and torso were bleeding, and his left leg was completely limp, because of what seemed like two bullet holes in his thigh.
The kidnappers were holding a small child in front of them, like a human shield, as they were trying to join a black van parked near the end of the bridge.
“Robin, go help Hood inside the Batmobile and wait for me there, I’m taking care of the kid.”
Damian wanted to argue, to tell his father that he could take care of the men, but seeing Jason in such a bad shape was making him worried and he nodded quickly.
It took only Bruce a few minutes to capture the kidnappers and to bring back the child to his parents, who were waiting anxiously meters away from the scene. Then, he joined his two kids in the batmobile. Jason was lying on the backseat, breathing heavily as Damian was on the phone with Alfred, asking him advice about how to stop a hemorrhage until they go back to the Batcave.
When they arrived in the Batcave, Alfred had already prepared the bed and the IV, but he seemed upset about something. “We don’t have any more anesthesia, Master Bruce. I will need you to hold him while I take away the bullets and I patch him up.”
Bruce could hear Jason groaned from the car, visibly not enchanted about it.
He soon lied on the bed as Alfred took a long clamp and started to take off the bullets.
Jason screamed when he felt the long piece of metal burying in his leg and Bruce felt his heart aching. He realized that his son was hyperventilating.
“Breathe. Jason, baby, you need to breathe .”
“It hurts, dad. It hurts .”
“I know. I know son, but you’ll feel better soon.” Bruce ran his hand through the young man’s sweaty bangs and kissed his forehead. Jason’s eyes were glassy and unfocused, and he was babbling incoherently. On the other side of the bed, Dick was holding back tears, visibly very moved by his brother’s pain.
Jason finally passed out after the second bullet was taken away from his leg, and Bruce couldn’t help but felt relief knowing that he wouldn’t feel the pain of the stitches.
A few hours later, Bruce was sitting on a chair next to his son’s bed when he stirred. He seemed very confused and groggy, and he couldn’t understand where he was nor why he was there. Bruce has been holding his hand the whole time he was unconscious.
“Why am I fucking cuffed to the bed?” groaned the young man.
“Because, dear boy, it seems like you tend to leave when you’re not even supposed to stand.” Answered Alfred, and Jason didn’t retort. No one answers Alfred.
“Firstly, you show up here with hypoglycemia, probably because you didn’t eat for a long time. And I do not allow any hypoglycemic children under this roof. And then, you leave, even though you’re not supposed to and you got yourself hurt. You, my boy, are going to let me take care of you for the next two weeks at least, and you will stay here until you have completely recovered. I am clear ?”
“Y...Yes, Alfie. I’m sorry.”
Then Jason turned slowly his head towards Bruce: “Thank you for saving me… twice, I guess.”
Bruce smiled at his son: “You’re my son, Jason. I’ll always come to save you.”
“Yeah, well I’m glad to see that sometimes you don’t arrive too late.”
Bruce felt his heart sinking into his chest. “I’m… I’m so sorry Jason.”
“Bruce, I was fucking kidding.”
“You’re going to stay on the med bay for the next day, but Alfred said we can take you to your room tomorrow.” Added Bruce, petting his hair fondly.
Jason nodded sleepily and closed his eyes again, ready to fall asleep at any moment now.
“I don’t want to wake up alone here like last time.” he finally groaned.
“You won’t wake up alone, I promise.”
The next day, Bruce had some work to do, but he made sure Jason would never be alone in the Cave. In the morning, Jason woke up almost suffocating in Dick’s embrace. His older brother refused to leave him until Alfred brought them lunch and Damian arrived to replace him. During the whole afternoon, Jason was forced to see his youngest brother training in the Cave in front of him… while criticizing him.
“See Todd, if you could do this, you wouldn’t have been beaten by two B-tier kidnappers.”
Tim joined them a dozen minutes later. He just sat there and worked on his laptop for a few hours, his feet resting carefully on Jason’s ankles.
Cassandra and Steph were working on a case out of town, but Tim assured him that they’ll be back before the end of his convalescence. Which was not really reassuring Jason. He knew they could use his immobilized leg as an excuse to polish his nails once again.
At the end of the day, Bruce and Dick came in to help Jason to his bedroom. They gave him crutches and Bruce put his arm around his son’s silhouette to protect him if something happened.
“What do you prefer? Your old bedroom or a guest room?”
Jason looked at his father with pleading eyes: “Your room?” He mumbled and Bruce couldn’t help but smile at the cuteness of his son, usually so cold and distant.
“Okay, but only because you’re hurt.” He smiled fondly.
When Jason was safely in the bed, Bruce sat next to him on the bed and took his hand. He wasn’t cuffed anymore, but Bruce was so worried he would leave. Jason had always been independent and distant. He needed to feel independent and Bruce respected that. But as a parent, he always feared that one day he could lose him like he already did many years ago. Jason was more than his son, Jason was his treasure, his family was what he loved the most in life, and feeling his son slipping away from him was like a constant nightmare.
“Please, don’t ever scare me like that.”
“Sorry, dad.” Mumbled sleepily Jason, as his eyes were closing.
“Alright, get some rest. I’ll leave for patrol in a few hours but Dick and Tim will replace me here.”
“Tim is a good replacement.” Agreed Jason, but Bruce couldn’t tell if his son was teasing him or being actually serious.
When he came back into the bedroom. His digital clock was showing 1:00 AM: It hadn’t been a busy night. He couldn’t help but smile when he saw his three sons sleeping in the bed. Dick and Tim were spooning Jason who was barely visible in his brothers’ embrace. Just a mop of black hair in a bed too big for him.
Bruce just sneaked in the bed, behind Dick and extended his arms so he could feel the two others too. When Damian finished his shower, he joined them without a sound, curling himself up between Dick and Bruce’s legs and falling asleep in an instant.
As long as they were together, nothing bad could happen; he would always take care of his family.