Family Ties : A Batfamily Story

Chapter Nineteen

POV Tim

My eyes fling open. The last thing I can remember is seeing half of the Gala engulfed in flames. Sitting up in a wild state, I'm no longer in the ballroom. My vision is blurry, but I can see well enough to make out a few shapes. I watch as one of the blurring figures come into focus. It's Dick, his face deformed by worry.

"You awake, Timmy?" 

I shake my head, trying to get rid of my splitting headache. "I just need some aspirin,"

"You hit your head pretty hard," He explains before handing me a glass of water. "You fell out a window."

"He was pushed out of a window," I recognize the irritating voice of Damian. "I pushed him out of a window."

"Coming up on Gotham City, please return to your seats and buckle your seatbelts!" A speaker sounds off from above me.

Taking an Aspirin, my vision starts to clear. I'm on the jet again, I was probably out for an hour. Everyone seems to be fine. Doing a quick head count we are only missing Babs who must be in some different part of the plane.

"What started the fire?" I ask, ignoring Damian.

Robyn shifts in her seat, "I accidental tipped over some candles."

Dick laughs hysterically but shortly stops as he realizes Robyn isn't laughing. "No one blames you, Robyn."

"But, look what happened to Tim! Someone could have died!" She exclaims, clearing thinking it was her fault.

I lock eyes with her. The soft amber of her iris highlighted by shimmers of gold take me by surprise. I see her for the first time as a person, not just some girl who stumbled into my life. The pain behind her pale expression and gentle frown has never been clearer. She reminds me of my mother for some reason I can't quite place.

"Don't worry about it," I find my voice softer than normal.

Robyn looks at me with uncertain but says nothing of it.

"Oh," She speaks up again, "Jason was there,"

Dick's head whips around so fast I excepted it to snap. "Wait, he was where?! Why?"

"He was probably just stalking us," Damian adds in casually.   

"He didn't say," Her faces turn reds with his sudden interest. "But he was the one that carried me out. If it wasn't for him I would have been crushed."

"Why would he save you?" It doesn't make sense.

 After all the times Dick has tried to reach out to him, he now just randomly shows up to save a girl he doesn't know. All he has done ever since his resurrection is cause panic and shoot up streets. Sure, he mostly kills criminals, but he's a villain none the less. To add on to that, he only met Robyn once before and he thinks she's Bruce's blood daughter, even if I know better. Jason hate's Bruce with a passion, why would he save his only daughter? Maybe he not as monstrous as I thought? 

"He's a good guy," Robyn insists, "He wouldn't just let me died. He wouldn't let you die either even though you do nothing but trash talk him."

Could I be missing something? Does this move have any other alternative meaning, some master plan? I drill my brain for answers but come up with none. Maybe she's right, maybe he's got a heart after all. Maybe the brother that Dick remembers is still in there somewhere. 

"Even if that's true, he is a murder." I snark before turning away.

Dick continues to ask Robyn questions for the rest of the flight and drive home. I watch this play out. Most of her answers are, "I don't know," or "I'm sorry,". I want more answers too, I don't like that I can no longer predict Jason's moves. He used to be so easy to read. He would always avoid us bats and hang with the mobs with little care for who gets hurt. Maybe there is evidence of behavior like this somewhere in the files that I missed. Lost in thought, I look over to Bruce. His head is turned skyward as he looks through the car window. Excepting the usual bat glare, I'm surprised to find his face calm, like he is thinking back on some happy memory.