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Slam. Jason shoots up, his eyes wide, staring at the Batcomputer.
That can’t be true. Looking carefully at the screen, he presses the button to run the DNA database search again. The confirmation box appears again, and the unfamiliar name reappears: Sally Jackson.
This was the second time Jason found out that his birth mother wasn’t who he thought. In his opinion, this was two times too many. He really had preferred it when he thought Catherine was his mum- she was dead, but dammit, at least she tried. At least she didn’t sell him out to die at the hands of a psychopathic clown.
Jason wasn’t quite sure how to feel. He wasn’t related to Sheila Haywood, whom he hated with a passion. His biological mother was a complete stranger to him.
He sits down once more, and clicks on Sally Jackson’s file. Apparently, his mother. She lived in Manhattan, New York, and was married to a man named Paul Blofis. She had two children, a son and a daughter. She had been married once before, but had gotten remarried after her previous husband went missing. Slightly suspicious, but disappearances weren’t uncommon.
He clicks on her son’s file. His name was Perseus Jackson, and his birthday… Jason gasped. Perseus’s birth date was exactly the same as Jason’s. No way. Jason had a twin. Has a twin.
He starts to skim the file, and something catches his eyes. A sentence near the beginning.
Perseus had a stillborn twin who was never named.
Another detail jumps out at him. Perseus had been born in the same hospital as Sheila had supposedly given birth to Jason at. It was listed on his birth certificate, the same one that had led him on the wild goose chase to Ethiopia resulting in his death.
Swapped at birth, then. Cases like these were rare, but not nonexistent.
He continued to read on. As it turns out, this Perseus, his twin, did not seem to live a normal life either. He seemed to change schools constantly, apparently a result of his dyslexia and ADHD. The file goes on to detail how at age 12, Perseus was kidnapped alongside two other kids and got into a shootout with his kidnapper. Jason chucked in appreciation. Then the file included a missing person’s report, where supposedly went missing for 8 months.
Then, at the very bottom, a recent photo of Perseus Jackson. Jason inhaled sharply. He immediately spots their resemblance- they had a similar face shape, and they both had green eyes and a streak of white hair.
Except Jason’s hair had been completely black before he came back to life. And that Jason had once had blue eyes before the Lazarus pit. So, if this twin brother of his hasn’t gone through all that, how-?
He quickly finds the answer. Perseus was born with green eyes, so they must’ve been fraternal twins. He couldn’t find an explanation for white streak, but Perseus could’ve easily dyed his hair.
Still, it was obvious this family wasn’t normal, but who was he to judge? His own family was the farthest thing from a typical family, after all.
God. Jason has a twin. Jason has a birth mother who was a stranger, but also hadn’t caused him to die. Despite himself, despite his past, despite his death, he wants to seek them out.
Well. The file does have their address on it. And this time? He doesn’t even have to leave the country!
This time though, Jason has learnt his lesson. He tells Bruce in advance, who repeatedly asked him if he was sure and made him promise to press the distress button to any sign of anything going wrong. This time, they were on good terms as Jason leaves to find his family.
————
Jason finds himself standing in front of a door. He was in New York, not Ethiopia, and the door he was knocking on was to an apartment, not a refugee camp, yet it feels so familiar.
He shoves away the deja vu and the rising dread, and briefly ponders what he might say. Then Jason shakes his head, lets out a breath and slowly raises his hand to knock.
The door swings open and a woman greets him. He knows it is Sally Jackson from the file, yet he asks anyway.
“Are you Sally Jackson?” His voice comes out a bit more hesitant than he wanted.
Sally Jackson- his mother- nods, and then asks him, “Who are you? Why are you here?” Her voice sounded apprehensive.
“My name is Jason Todd.” He rushes out, “and I think I might be your son. Not- I don’t mean Perseus, but- I mean, I think I was swapped at birth.”
Sally pauses to look him up and down, seemingly considering if he was a threat.
Then she hesitated, before gesturing for him to enter. “Maybe you should sit down for this conversation, then”
Inside, Jason sits on the couch. Sally brings out a plate of cookies, which were blue, for some reason. He doesn’t touch them.
“My husband and my daughter Estelle are out today. Percy is with his girlfriend at their college. I assume you have something to tell me?” Sally picked up one of the strange blue cookies and offered it to him, to which he shook his head. She puts it in her own mouth and takes a bite instead.
Jason explains to her- how he took a DNA test as a joke, how he found out his parentage wasn’t as he expected. He tells her how he found the records of the stillborn child, how Willis and Sheila had been at the same hospital that day, and explains his theory of being swapped at birth. He tells her how he had lived in the streets and was adopted by Bruce. He doesn’t mention Robin, Red Hood, or his death.
Sally listens intently to his explanation. When Jason finishes, she seems a lot more relaxed compared to when he first knocked on the door. She offers him another cookie, which he doesn’t decline this time.
The cookie was almost as good as Alfred’s. Almost.
The reunited mother and son sit and look at each other silently, before Sally breaks the silence.
“Can I hug you?” She asks. Jason nods.
She does, and it feels like Catherine. It feels like his mum, holding him in an embrace, apologising, making empty promises of quitting, of leaving.
Jason returns the embrace, and Sally sobs.
“My baby- oh, my baby, all grown up. I’m so happy- so proud- I’m so sorry. Sorry I wasn’t there for you.”
They break away, eventually. Jason asks about the colour of the cookies.
Sally flashes him a smirk. “It’s a bit of an inside joke, between me and Percy. Speaking of which, he’ll come home this weekend. He’ll be delighted to meet with his twin brother. You look so much like him! Will you be able to stay until then?”
“Hold on. I need to message Bruce.” Jason takes out his phone, sending a message explaining that he would stay for a bit longer. Sally seemed to stare at his phone, a curious expression on her face.
There will be many secrets to reveal, but for now, Jason has found a bit more family.