Stephanie woke up to see Tim sitting on a chair beside her bed. A pack of donuts was placed on the bedside table while he himself seemed to have dozed off in his wait for her to wake up.

Cautiously she sat up and grabbed the donut bag. However, sensing the movement, Tim's eyes fluttered open and a small smile crept on his face at seeing her awake.

"And here I thought you wouldn't get me donuts anymore," she remarked, "I screwed up, didn't I?"

"Of course not, you did great," he replied, "you've earned these."

"Yeah by fracturing a leg, sure." Though a light smile was dancing on her face as well, "here, I want you to share with me."

He took one donut out of the bag upon her insistence, "how are you feeling now?"

"Peachy," she replied, digging into the chocolate flavored donut in her hand, "gosh Tim, these are delicious. No wonder Dick is addicted."

"An unhealthy addiction, mind you. If he didn't work out as much as he does, he would blow up to a balloon in a week."

"And what do you have to say about your caffeine addiction?"

He shrugged, "equally unhealthy, I know. Now that I think about it, Jay was right; out of us I'm the one who has no sense of self preservation."

She laughed, "he said that? When?"

A shadow crossed Tim's face as he replied, "when I was blaming myself for getting grounded and said that I should have been out there last night instead of you. But to be very honest, Steph, I would rather get hurt myself than ever have to see you like this."

"Hey," she gently placed her hand on his, "that's sweet of you, Timmy, but please stop blaming yourself for things that you can't control."

He kept silent, contemplating the words she had said to him, until she offered him another donut, "no thanks."

"Why? Scared to get diabetes?"

Her green eyes had a mischievous spark as if challenging him to a bet so he accepted the donut, disguising the smile threatening to creep up to his face.

Though he had realized from last night's patrol that Stephanie Brown was extremely important to him. And even though he had never expected to feel that way about anyone, seeing her hurt had made him realize how much he cared for her.

"Since I have a fracture and you're already grounded, I can't wait to take over Oracle for tonight," she remarked, diverting the topic easily, "I mean you would definitely be there to supervise me but I simply have to tease Jay around a bit."

Tim knew it was a bad idea since Jay was already pissed about not having Barbara around as Oracle, "he calls me shitty Oracle already, wonder what name will he assign to you."

She looked at him as if honestly surprised, "you, a shitty Oracle? Damn then I'm going to be his worst nightmare for sure."

He nodded, "undoubtedly. As a consequence he would either kill us or himself."

"He can't possibly kill himself, it would be no use," Steph commented at which Tim laughed despite himself and she joined as well.

"Say that to his face."

"You bet," she winked mischievously, "any other title you wish for him to be serenaded with?"

"No no, that's enough."

She leaned back as if imagining Jay's reaction, "knowing Jason, he would throw up a lovely tantrum which I doubt even Alfred could control."

"Then he would have a valid reason to hate both of us if we did that to him, y'know," Tim remarked.

"Doesn't he already?"

"Not yet," he answered recalling the rare times when Jay was quite nice to them.

"Now that's news," she mumbled, "if he doesn't then why is he so hostile all the time?"

Tim glanced at her briefly as he replied, "it's just that Jason cares for all of us deep down but doesn't show it. My guess is that he doesn't want us to get the idea that he too can have a tender heart."

Steph's eyes sparked in amusement, "who knows? Maybe he doesn't even have a heart in the first place."

However, Jason seemed to be walking down the corridor outside and heard her so he immediately stepped in, "really, Steph? And here I thought after I pulled a rescue mission on you, you would definitely be more grateful." A scowl was evident on his face, steel blue eyes glaring at them both.

"It's not like that, Jay," Tim tried to make amends, "Steph was just joking."

"Steph was joking? No no no no," she held her hands up in surrender, "it was his idea. He thinks you have a tender heart, and I was only arguing against it."

Jay's gaze flickered from her to Tim as a smirk took over his features, "really, Babybird? I have a tender heart now, do I?"

He knew it was best to not answer that because even though Jason seemed to be in a good mood, he was quite unpredictable and there was no knowing when the mood would flip over.

"See I told you he doesn't have a tender heart," she emphasized.

But Jason shrugged off her statement, "this once, Timmy's right. I love you guys. All of you."

And with that vague yet shocking reply he stepped out leaving both of them completely flabbergasted.

Steph and Tim were staring at each other in shock, as if not sure of what they had just heard.

"Did he really say that?" Steph spoke up in a low awed voice.

"That's not Jason," Tim exclaimed, "that's definitely an intruder pretending to be him." Then he resumed switching into his slightly hyperactive mode just like whenever he made a shocking discovery, "we have to tell Alfred, I'm a hundred percent sure that wasn't Jay. Not possible..."

But as if putting him out of his misery, Jay glanced in again with his characteristic mischievous smirk, "nah, I was just kidding. I can't wait till you come back on patrol so I can throw you off Wayne Tower for real this time."

Seeing the two so shocked set him off laughing as he took a mental note to narrate the event to Richard. He knew Dick would thoroughly enjoy it as much as he did. Because no one got to see Tim shocked often since the kid always had every possible outcome worked out in his head.

But it seemed as if hearing a loving term of endearment from Jason was totally unexpected for him such that it had gotten him rightfully shocked. And according to Jay, he should have brought his camera along to snap a picture of Tim's adorably confused face.

***