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Bruce didn’t expect Jack Drake to wake from his coma after the Obeah Man incident. All the medical tests on him suggested he wasn’t going to. Bruce would never say it aloud or put it in any document Tim might come across, but he’d been pleased by that.
It wasn’t just that he wanted to keep Tim. He did, but he wouldn’t wish a man to remain comatose for the rest of his life for that.
It was also that he wanted to keep Tim from Jack.
Because as far as Bruce could tell, the man had been a very lackluster parent.
Jack had been gone more often than he’d been home. He hadn’t checked in with Tim at all, instead he seemed to leave the boy’s welfare to Janet entirely. He’d rarely known where Tim had been or what he’d been doing, even when Tim had put minimal effort into keeping his actions from his parents. Jack knew nothing of Tim’s interests, goals, or struggles. He couldn't keep track of Tim’s allergy (singular, because there was only one to watch out for) nor was there any evidence that he’d been familiar with Tim’s medical history (it had been Janet’s or a nanny’s signature to grace every medical form that required one). Jack and Janet’s fighting prior to her death had shown a notable negative effect on the boy, yet the man hadn’t seemed to notice or care.
Tim was very empathetic, observant, and a remarkably skilled detective, yet Bruce had noticed a concerning fact about the boy’s observations of certain persons of interest in the cases they worked together. He seemed to consider a loss of temper as ‘normal’ well past the degree that Bruce would consider it so for an adult. Either the boy had an adult in his life who lost their temper far too readily and treated it as normal, or he simply hadn’t had a consistent enough adult presence in his life to realize they didn’t react that way normally.
To top it all off, both Clark and Alfred despised the man. If Bruce had held any concern that his perspective was unreliable when it came to Jack Drake, either of the other men hating Jack would have convinced him he was right in his assessment. To have both dislike him proved the man was no good, as far as Bruce was concerned.
Bruce was the type to prepare for unlikely but potentially horrific events anyway, so he’d initially planned to have evidence ready, should Jack wake up and Bruce have to sue him for custody of his godson.
Unfortunately, Bruce hit a problem.
Bruce knew Tim had mostly been home alone (or taking public transportation to New York to confront a man he hadn’t spoken to since he was two because Batman was losing it and he’d managed to take and develop photos to prove it and Bruce couldn’t think about that too much or he’d be tempted to go find Tim and hold him and be thankful he hadn’t been murdered during all of that and that would just freak the poor boy out). On paper, however, it wasn’t so black and white.
Because such neglect cases were hard to prove in any case and, while Jack Drake didn’t even appear to remember that he had a son most of the time, Janet Drake had always covered her bases.
Tim had a full time nanny until he’d been enrolled in boarding school (the paychecks all came from Janet’s account) with the occasional last-minute babysitter in-between if the Drakes found themselves firing a nanny unexpectedly. Tim’s nannies had to check in with Janet on a scheduled day every fortnight and also if there were any emergencies or incidents that his mother might want to know about. Janet regularly scheduled appointments for Tim (for the nannies to take him to) and she was informed by their insurance whenever he was taken to his pediatrician, dentist, urgent care, the ER, or to any medical specialist.
After the nannies, Tim had a few babysitters here and there (again, all paid from Janet’s account) for the next year or so during school holidays if the Drake’s were going to be out of town. After that, the boy appeared to be home alone several nights of the week and for most weekends. While Tim had been left alone when younger than Bruce would ever be comfortable with doing so, theirs was not one of the few states that had a minimum age for leaving a child home alone. As long as they could establish that he was reasonably mature enough to care for himself and seek help when needed, the Drakes hadn’t broken any laws.
The boarding school was near enough for Tim to come home for weekends and holidays, and on weekday evenings when his parents were in town or when he had extracurricular lessons in the city proper. However, he always had a room there where he could stay overnight at any time, provided his tuition was paid up, and his tuition was always paid. Tim's grades were always good and he never caused any problems, so there was rarely cause for the school to contact his parents. Janet Drake had always made sure her contact information was up to date. The school had her home, cell, and office numbers as well as her email address and her assistant’s number.
The school never informed her of how often Tim didn’t spend the night there when his parents weren’t home (the school likely didn’t know when the Drakes were in town or not). They didn’t inform her when Tim arranged for his mail to be forwarded to Wayne Manor when he spent vacations or weekends there (Bruce was listed as Tim’s godfather and final emergency contact, so they likely assumed she’d known he was there). Nothing had come to her attention outside of the school system, so Janet never had a reason to question if the school was contacting her. In fact, she’d had every reason to think they’d inform her if her child was ill or missing.
Tim’s gymnastic lessons had been on Thursdays. The same day Janet had arranged for the landscapers to come every week to care for the Drake grounds. The same crew had come every week and were there when Tim came home from his lessons. The gymnastics coach had Janet's contact information and had been meant to report any missed lessons or injuries that occurred during lessons. The landscaping crew had always been paid on time (and tipped on top of that) and also happened to like little Tim Drake, who always offered them water or tea and sometimes gave them photos he’d taken of the garden or grounds. They also had her contact information and had emailed her a summary of their work each week. In these summaries, they’d taken to mentioning Tim, so she would likely hear from them if the boy didn’t make it home after his lessons.
The Drake’s grocery deliveries had always come on Friday, the same day as Tim’s Aikido lessons. The dōjō had Janet’s contact information and were meant to inform her of any snow dates or the like, as well as if Tim were injured during his lessons or didn’t arrive for one. Tim used to let the deliveryman in shortly after he returned home, then he'd check and sign the invoice slip. While the deliveryman had the code to the Drake’s service entrance, he rarely used it and he'd need to notify Janet if he had. Otherwise, she would receive a digital copy of the signed invoice. All that meant she’d likely have known if her son didn’t make it to his lesson or didn’t make it home afterwards.
Janet had arranged for a maid service to come on Mondays and Fridays. They’d always come when Tim had been at school, but they would’ve noticed (and were supposed to report as per their contract) if the house appeared to have been broken into or if there were any damages upon their arrival. They would also have noticed if the Drake’s child were home from school when he shouldn’t be (they were informed ahead of time to leave his room alone on days he was meant to be there), either due to an illness or injury (or good old fashioned ditching).
Janet had set all of the Drake’s utilities to auto-pay, with her contact information available if there had ever been any issue or scheduled disruption of service. She’d emailed Tim every week (as often as her traveling schedule would allow anyway) and even sent him the occasional postcard for fun. Tim had a prepaid debit card and a bus pass that Janet had always made sure had funds available. Tim had his own insurance card, an allergy alert card, and an epipen that he had been meant to have on his person at all times. He’d also had a library card (with the ebook lending options available) and a child-friendly streaming account that she’d always paid any necessary fees for. He’d had a profile on Janet’s Prime account with some reasonable parental controls set up.
Until Bruce needed an intervention, it looked like Tim had always spent Monday through Wednesday night at his boarding school, unless his parents happened to be home or he’d gotten ill while already at home. He usually spent school vacations at home regardless of whether his parents were there or not. There had been enough adults coming and going from the Drake’s home, plus his extracurricular lessons and a summer photography club at the local children’s museum, that Janet could have reasonably expected to be contacted within a couple days if anything happened to her son.
As far as the Drakes had been aware (or Janet Drake, at least), their son had been cared for. He’d had all the necessities. He’d been getting a good education. He’d had adult supervision more often than not during most of the week, and they’d been legally allowed to leave him home alone on weekends well before Bruce learned of his situation. If Janet ever knew about Tim spending time with Bruce after Jason’s death, there was little reason for her to have been concerned. She’d selected the man to be her child’s godfather, after all.
As it had always been Janet’s name on everything and Jack had reportedly poisoned his son with a known allergen on a few occasions, Bruce could argue that Jack alone was unfit to care for his child. However, as the Drakes had been a married couple, it would be nearly impossible to prove that Jack hadn’t been involved in any of Janet’s efforts to parent her son from afar. Even if Bruce could get witnesses to attest to only speaking to Janet ever in regards to Tim’s care, he’d likely have to wait until Jack screwed up for the courts to ever consider allowing him to take Tim.
Bruce didn’t want Jack Drake to screw up. He wanted him to be a good parent. He wanted Tim to be properly cared for. He wanted his son to be happy. He wanted him to be safe.
He knew that it was somewhat hypocritical of him to want such things when he allowed the boy to join him as Robin, but Bruce watched after Tim. He made sure Tim had the training and supplies he needed to be safe while going out as a vigilante. He (or Alfred or Dick) made sure the boy wasn’t hurt when they returned to the Cave. They saw to it that he was cared for whenever he was injured or ill. They noticed when he was over stressed and encouraged him to rest. For better or worse, Bruce was aware of any danger or trauma his son faced.
Jack Drake couldn’t say the same.
And not just because Bruce had been helping Tim keep his activity as Robin from him.
But because he didn’t seem to care.
Bruce cared. He cared more than he ever thought he would, after Jason…
So he would watch over his son (even if he wasn’t legally his) and he would prepare as best he could. If Jack did anything he could legally use against him, he would take Tim from him.
He wasn’t going to lose another son because their other parent didn’t care.