Soundtrack: How to Save a Life, by The Fray

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Jason awoke slowly for once, he rubbed his eyes and blinked away the sleepiness. He was still on the couch, a blanket draped over him.

So it wasn't just a dream. He would never admit it, but it wouldn't be the first time Jason had dreamed something like that. On the topic of dreams, Jason realized hadn't had any nightmares. That was a rare occurrence.

He sat up and stretched his now stiff muscles, a few of his joints popping as he did. He vaguely remembered falling asleep just before the credits of the movie rolled. Now he found himself alone in the living room. The smell of breakfast wafted in from the kitchen, making Jason's stomach growl.

He got up and slowly walked towards the kitchen, passing the tarp that covered the window he broke the previous night. He found Alfred in the kitchen making breakfast.

"Uh...hey." Jason announced himself awkwardly.

"Ah, Master Jason, I trust you slept well." Alfred greeted, "Please take a seat, I will be finished with your breakfast shortly."

Jason sat down, slowly, watching Alfred work expertly in the kitchen. As he sat there, for just a moment he almost felt like that wide eyes little kid again, the one who would sit in the kitchen and watch with interest and eagerness as the butler worked. Almost.

Alfred finished his breakfast and served it, setting it down in front of Jason. It was eggs, bacon, and toast.

"Thank you, but you know you didn't have too." Jason spoke.

"Yes I did, and it is my pleasure." Alfred answered, flashing him a small but fond smile.

Jason dug in as Alfred began to clean up the kitchen area.

"So where is everybody?" Jason asked, in between bites.

"Master Richard left to return to Blüdhaven, and Master Tim and Damain are upstairs preparing to leave for school." Alfred answered.

Jason demolished his breakfast in three minutes flat, putting his dishes in the sink after he was done. He helped Alfred finish cleaning, despite the butler's protests.

He then began to go about collecting his gear, which he had discarded the previous night. He strapped on his Kevlar and threw on his jacket. Then he put his Glocks in the twin tactical holsters he wore on his legs. Jason picked up his crimson helmet and was about to put it on when Tim came down the stairs, Damian following slowly behind.

"Are you boys ready, we will be leaving shortly. I have several errands to run before Master Bruce arrives tomorrow." Alfred announced.

Tim and Damain nodded.

"See you later, guys." Jason said, beginning to walk away.

"Jason." Tim called, walking up to him. Jason turned back.

"Hey, so about last night. You know how you said to include you in important things?" Tim started, nervously running a hand over the back of his neck.

"Yeah." Jason furrowed his brow.

"Well, we're planning a family dinner tomorrow after Bruce gets back. You don't have to come if you don't want to, but I want you to know you're welcome t0 come. We'd all really like if you would." Tim informed.

"No way." Jason blurted out of pure instinct.

"Just think about it, please." Tim replied.

Jason took a deep breath running his hand over his face. "Fine. I'll consider it."

Tim cracked a smile before giving Jason a pat as he walked out the door. Damian followed, being oddly quiet. As Alfred passed by he spoke.

"Please do consider dropping by, I have rather missed your presence at the Manor." Alfred told him quietly and sincerely, before he too walked towards the door.

Alfred stopped after a few steps.

"Also, Master Jason. If you do decide to come, kindly use the door this time." The butler added before continuing out the door.

Jason chuckled and shook his head, he wasn't gonna let that go any time soon.

Jason put on his helmet before he too headed out the door. He retrieved his bike where it had been hidden and started it, letting the engine roar to life. He revved it and sped away, glancing back as Tim, Damian, and Alfred, got into their car.

A decision weighed heavy on his mind.

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Bruce pulled his car through the gates of the Manor, parking out front. He had gotten back early from helping the Justice League and had returned as Bruce Wayne rather the Batman.

As he parked he noticed one of the cars were gone, Alfred was most likely running errands as he often did this time of day. Bruce got out of his vehicle and made his way to the Manor, he unlocked the door and stepped inside.

As Bruce walked through the house he immediately noticed several things were off. The first and most obvious, being the broken window, which was worrisome. But the hole had been expertly covered and they're appeared to be sighs of recent activity in the house, so Bruce reasoned that no one was in immediate danger.

He then continued through the Manor, making his way to the cave, he had business that needed attending to. Then he notice something else, it was the portrait and a crudely drawn stick figure that was supposed to be Jason.

Bruce shook his head as he saw it, Dick's doing no doubt. Dick had still been upset when Bruce had left and this was his—immature—way of acting out. Bruce knew he really needed to talk to Jason. He had wanted to, but Dick and Tim had insisted he give Jason some space. Which Bruce had mostly been fine with. As much as Bruce hated to admit it, when it came to Jason sometimes it was just easier to leave things alone.

Still, guilt over what had happened with the portrait weighed on him. Bruce knew he needed to at least speak to Jason about that.

Bruce then made his way down into the cave. That's when he saw it, Jason's memorial case had been pulverized. Broken glass lay scattered on the floor, the inscription plate was dented and bent, and the suit itself lay limp amongst the wreckage. Bruce clenched his fist, which one of them had done this? Most likely, Dick or Tim. Bruce knew they were upset, but this was taking it too far. He couldn't help but wonder what they're reasoning behind this was, what point they were trying to make?

Bruce growled in frustration, then sat down at the bat-computer, he was going to find out which one of them did this. He pulled up the camera feeds to the cave and started sifting through the last 8 hours of footage.

After an hour or so, he found it, it had occurred late the previous evening. To his shock it wasn't Tim, nor was it Dick. It was Damain who had a taken a baseball bat to the case.

Bruce found himself confused, he knew Damain and Jason didn't get along, but this? Jason must've done or said something to Damian while Bruce was away. Or maybe he was acting out on something? Either way, Bruce would have to speak with him.

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Bruce sat in the chair in the bat-cave, tapping his fingers impatiently on the arm. Alfred had arrived with Tim, Damian, and even Dick, in tow. The case and the broken glass still lay on the floor. He became aware of Alfred entering the cave.

"Master Bruce, I was not aware you had returned. You look well, may I..." Alfred trailed off when he saw the case.

"Good heavens." He spoke.

"Did you know about this?" Bruce questioned.

"I'm afraid not, I have not been down here since yesterday evening. My apologies." Alfred replied.

"It's fine. Please send the boys down here." Bruce stated.

Alfred nodded before walking away. A few minutes later all three of them filed into the cave, Bruce sat stiffly, jaw locked.

"Hey B, I didn't know you'd be back so soon." Tim was the first to speak.

"Welcome back, father," Damian added

Then as they all walked further into the cave they saw the case. Dick and Tim froze.

"Who did this?" Bruce boomed, casting hard glares at all of them.

"Okay, I know what you're thinking. But it wasn't me, I swear." Tim stated.

Bruce was silent for a moment or two.

"Damian, I know it was you." Bruce turned his attention to his youngest.

The others seemed shocked. Damian remained passively calm and stepped forward.

"I have no intentions of denying it, father. I did it, and I will accept whatever repercussions my actions have." He stated, not wavering.

"Why did you do it? I know you don't like Jason but this is unacceptable." Bruce lectured.

"I did not do it because of my distain for Todd. I owed him a debt and I have repaid it." Damian answered firmly.

Tim and Dick where looking more confused by the second.

"What debt?" Bruce ground out, frustrated.

"Even after everything, he assisted in my resurrection." Damian explained.

"How is breaking his memorial case repaying him?" Bruce shot back.

Sometimes even Bruce didn't understand his own son's reasoning.

"Because even after his return, you leave it up as a reminder of his death. Father, Todd is not dead, he is still here." Damian said, slight anger in his words.

"Just as I am still here. I realized that if you had done the same with my suit even after my return, I would have been angry as well." He continued.

Silence reigned.

That's when it hit Bruce. He sighed and ran his hand over his face, how could he have been so stupid? He had been so blinded by making sure he never forgot the fact he failed Jason that he never considered how the case would make Jason feel. He never considered the message that sent.

The more he thought about it, the more he realized the message that all of his actions were sending. The case, Ethiopia, the portrait. No wonder Jason felt unwelcome, no wonder he had wanted Bruce to stay away from him. How could he have been so stupid?

Bruce drew in a heavy breathe.

"Do you know where Jason is?" Bruce asked Tim.

"He's still in Gotham, but I don't know where he is right now." Tim shook his head.

Bruce got up and began to make his way towards his bat-suit.

"I know what you're thinking, but might I suggest you wait a little bit longer." Tim called after him.

"I've waited long enough, Tim. I should've gone and talked him a long time ago. I should never have waited as long as I have...I...I should've have gone and talked to him the day of the portrait sitting." Bruce turned back.

"I'm not arguing that. I'm simply suggesting you wait until tomorrow night. There's a pretty good chance he's coming to dinner." Tim explained.

"Wait, what?" Bruce said quietly.

The Dark Knight was shocked, he could barely get Jason to actually come inside the Manor for business, let alone a family dinner.

"I asked him to come, he said he'd think about it. If he doesn't show, I think you should go and find him. Honestly though, I think he will." Tim informed.

"Yeah, we've already got him to come on patrol with us, and a movie night." Dick pipped up.

"Patrol? He didn't kill anyone, did he?" Bruce inquired, that was more Batman asking than it was Bruce.

"After the Gala we all went on patrol together, and no Bruce, he didn't." Tim replied, the anger that Bruce had seen nearly a week ago briefly crept onto Tim features. He quickly concealed it.

"Movie night too?" Bruce moved on, that was even more shocking.

Tim nodded. "But that one I had to trick him for, that's kind of why the window is broken." He bounced on the balls of his feet awkwardly.

"The point is, he stayed and watched a movie with us. He even fell asleep on the couch." Tim added, a slight smile.

"He'll be here." Dick said confidently.

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Tim paced back and forth nervously as Dick and Cassandra where helping Alfred set the table.

"Why isn't he here? Why isn't he answering my calls?" Tim blurted.

"Come on, Tim. He said he'd think about it, not that he'd come." Dick replied.

"What happened to you Mr. Confident, you're the one who was so sure he'd be here." Tim countered, crossing his arms.

"I'm an optimist, I hope for the best." Dick said defensively.

"But sometimes, even the optimists have to accept reality. He's not coming, Tim." Dick spoke more solemnly, taking a step towards Tim.

Tim pinched the bridge of his nose, he had just really hoped things had changed. Hoped that Jason was starting to feel like a part of the family. Tim had half a mind to just sic Bruce on him, or drag him to the Manor himself. Tim took a breath before he headed over to the table to help set it. Everyone else was beginning to congregate in the dining room. Bruce, Dick, Damian, and Cassandra were all there. Barbara and Steph would be on their way soon as well.

Then Bruce's phone rang, and it wasn't his personal phone, nor was it his Wayne Enterprise phone. It was the other one. Bruce answered, Tim could tell it was Gordon but he couldn't hear what he was saying. Bruce's expression immediately turned to that of stone, and his grip on the phone visibly tightened.

Alfred was the first to notice this change in demeanor. He quickly moved to the living room and turned on the local Gotham news.

"Yes, I understand." Bruce growled, before hanging up.

Bruce opened his mouth to speak, but the news Anchor beat him to it.

"Breaking news, we are receiving reports that the Joker has once again escaped from Arkham. His whereabouts are currently unknown, and residents have been advised to stay inside their homes and keep their doors locked until the situation has been resolved." The woman on the television informed.

No no no no. Tim thought.

Bruce was already on the phone dialing Oracle. He turned it on speaker as she answered.

"I know what's going on and why you're calling. I'm already scouring my databases to see if I can find some footage of him." Barbara stated, the sound of keys tapping in the background.

"Alright, everyone suit up. We'll break off into teams and start searching key areas." Bruce ordered, everyone following him as he headed towards the bat-cave.

"We need to find Jason." Tim stated.

"Tim, for the last time, I'm sure Jason is fine. Right now we need to focus on finding the Joker, and putting him back in Arkam where he belongs." Dick argued.

"He's not answering his phone, I haven't heard from him since yesterday. Think about it, when has the Joker escaping when Jason is in town ever ended well?" Tim reasoned.

Dick was about to speak when they heard Oracle gasp over the speaker. That in itself was chilling.

"I...I found some footage of the Joker. He just briefly high jacked a news stations airtime, there's only about 30 seconds of footage but you need to see it, now. I've sent you a copy of the footage." Oracle informed, her voice briefly wavering.

They made their way to the cave and Bruce quickly sat down in the chair, everyone else stood around the room eyes fixed on the screen. With a few taps of the keys, Bruce pulled up the file and hit play.

At first it looked like a normal news report, except after a second static filled the screen. When it cleared, Joker appeared, he adjusted the camera before speaking.

"Oh Batsy. It's your old pal Joker." He called, before letting out a chilling laugh.

"It's time to come out and play, have few laughs. Just like old times." He said to the camera sinisterly.

Bruce tensed further.

"So if hanging out with your BFF isn't enough to smoke you out of your little cave," The Joker started.

He then moved the camera, revealing a figure tied to a chair in the corner. He was unconscious and slumped over, a white streak of hair hanging over his face. It was Jason.

Tim's stomach dropped. To make it even more of a punch in the gut, he was wearing civis. More specifically nicer clothes.

"I have a little something that belongs to you." The Joker spoke in a hushed tone.

Maniacal laughter ripped through his throat, the horrid sound filling the cave. Then the feed cut off.