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Bruce tries not glance down at his phone again, since it would be the third time in the last minute. He couldn’t help but be nervous, since he didn’t have any messages saying they’d be late. He’s about to give in when he hears it, the sound of a young boy calling his name in glee. The boy is running up to him, ignoring the adult trailing behind him.
“Bruce! There you are, sorry I’m late,” the dark haired boy apologized, taking a moment to catch his breath. “We got the meeting place mixed up and finally found a decent parking spot. You ready to go? I can’t believe you got front row seats to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, it’s one of my favorite plays.”
Bruce chuckles at the boy’s enthusiasm, “I know it’s your favorite, if we hurry, we can get some hotdogs on the way. Or maybe,” Bruce pauses for a second, and glances up at the man who stands behind the boy.
The man’s face remains blank at the suggestion of food and Bruce takes that as a go ahead to continue his train of thought. “Maybe we can go out for some dessert.”
“Yes!” The boy yells, practically jumping in his excitement. (Bruce ignores how the voice cracks a bit, he was past that by this age.)
“Can we go to that new ice cream shop downtown, it’s near the theatre anyway.” Rather than answer him, Bruce looks at the man standing silently behind the boy, when he gets a nod of approval he agrees with the request.
They make their way down to the theatre, and Bruce smiles down at the boy as he tells him about his school day and how excited he is to see the play. Apparently, the cast tonight are fan favorites, and the boy can’t wait to see how they interpret the characters. In the short walk from the hotdog stand to the theatre, Bruce swears he learns more about this Shakespeare play then he ever did in school.
The boy is so into his discussion of the play, barely taking time to chew his food between his rants. The boy doesn’t even notice he has a ketchup mustache and Bruce reaches out to wipe it with a napkin, but a hand reaches out to stop him.
“Here you go,” the boy’s usually silent bodyguard cuts in as he hands the boy a napkin, “You got a little something on your face.” He turns to Bruce, “No touching, you gotta pay extra for that.” The boy smiles gratefully at the man and wipes he face, not finding the conversation odd.
Bruce feels his stomach churning at implications, “I just wanted to wipe his face, nothing more.”
The man just shrugs, “Doesn’t matter to me, just keep that in mind if you book him for another session. We can cut this one short if this a problem.”
“No, don’t take him,” Bruce begged almost in a panic, “He’s been looking forward to this play since it was announced a year ago and I promised I'd take him.” Bruce pushed down the feeling of guilt and disgust at himself. He refuses to ruin the moment; he can deal with his other emotions later. He glances at the boy, who stands in place, patiently waiting for the men to finish. Bruce takes a deep breath and gestures the boy to follow him.
The bodyguard studies him for a moment before deciding it's okay, “Let’s continue then". He returns to the background giving the two of them space. Bruce has to hold back a glare at the man, wishing he didn’t have to come with them.
“Let’s go already Bruce,” the boy yelled from a few steps ahead, “We’re almost there.”
The boy isn’t looking where he’s running and almost goes through the crosswalk as cars are still passing by. Bruce's heart nearly stops as he grabs his arm in time to stop him and can't help himself from yelling, “Jason, how many time do I have to tell you to look before you leap?”
The boy Jason stared at him in surprise, at the sound of his name or the tone of voice Bruce can’t tell. He drops his arm as soon as the bodyguard catches up, the man doesn’t comment on the physical contact and immediately checking his charge over for injuries. Bruce figures he’s getting a pass because he saved the boy's Jason’s life and didn’t cost the man his job for failing to protect his charge.
“Bruce are you mad at me?” the boy Jason asks, voice wobbling. “We’re still going to the play right?”
Bruce quickly replied, wanting to reassure the boy his son, “No, I’m not mad. I was just scared you’d hurt yourself. Besides, how could I be mad at you when it’s your birthday?”
The boy Jason stares at him blankly for a second, like he’s searching his brain for something. The man behind him whispers a phrase Bruce can't quite catch but it does the job. The blank look gone and the boy Jason is back to smiling at him. “Of course! It’s the sixteenth, how could I forget my own birthday? I remember now, you promised you take me to the play for my birthday last year.”
Bruce ignores the way the boy Jason speaks like he’s reading a script and nods his head. “That’s right, I keep my promises. Always. Let’s go, we don’t want to be late.”
Thankfully, the rest of the night goes smoothly. He doesn’t mind that sometimes, his conversations with the boy Jason are repetitive. He knows they could only imitate so much based on the information he gave them.
At least he gets to spend the evening (one more evening) with his son and that’s all he really wanted. By the time they have dessert, and head back to the meeting spot, he feels the guilt he pushed down earlier come to surface. He knows that he should end it here and move forward with his plan.
He needs to stop being Bruce Wayne and shift into Batman. But, instead he finds himself booking another session and requesting to be more hands on. The bodyguard just promises his boss will be in touch and takes Jason the boy away.

Bruce is a weak man and should be ashamed of himself. He was supposed to be taking down this organization, not giving money to it. But, then Jack Drake calls him and asks about his appointment. Bruce asks him to book him another session instead.
Bruce should be asking about how Jack and Janet Drake run their new program, The Dollhouse. How they do they recruit all these people and not have missing persons reports. How could the live with themselves for make innocent people into living dolls.
Do these people know the true extent of Dollhouse program? That it includes wiping their memories and inserting new ones? Their personality will be changed constantly to fit whatever the client decides when they rent them out?
Bruce told himself when he booked the first session it was to get more information on the program, so he could have evidence to pass along to take the Drakes down. He didn’t think the Drake would offer up their own son, Tim, when he requested someone with his dead son’s personality.
Horrified he vowed to refuse Tim at their first meet up. It was hard to remember when he had the same black hair and blue eyes that haunted him every night.
He couldn’t help himself and agreed to just one try. That turned into two and three. Today was suppose to be the last before he took them down.
He couldn’t pass up the chance to be able to celebrate one last birthday with Jason.
After experiencing a session, he had a hard time seeing the Dollhouse program in a bad light. He couldn’t blame people like him who seek out a chance to be with a lost loved one for another day. (He knew that not all the client’s intentions were pure as his).
He found himself swept up in it, asking Jack if he could bring more things in to make his next sessions smoother, maybe more clips of Jason to get a better nail on his personality or body language. Or if they could bring in make up artists to alter Tim appearance so he resembled Jason more.
(If they’d be okay with permanent alterations, like plastic surgeries if he paid for year long sessions. He couldn’t help but notice missing scars and wanted to make sure he has permission before pulling up pictures for doctors to match.)
He knows he should let Alfred, or the League know that he’s compromised. That someone needs to take this case away from him. He’s putting a child in danger to play out this sick fantasy where his son lives.
He knows but, that doesn’t mean he does it.