Richard had heard of the incident involving Bruce and Jack so he came to the headquarters immediately. He found Tim sitting by himself in the corner, his wide blue eyes terrified and he looked quite uneasy.

"Officer Grayson, this case is confidential," a colleague warned him seeing that he wanted to talk to the scared little boy, "please follow professional decorum and don't get yourself involved."

He nodded but his eyes were flickering towards Tim in concern, "I know but he's so anxious. Can I talk to him for just five minutes? I promise it won't be any longer than that."

The man considered then stepped aside, letting Richard go to sit beside Tim.

Right then Bruce and Jack were both being interrogated in separate cells by the detectives as they could both be equally responsible for the gunshot. However, Jack could be charged with attempted murder and that could land him in prison.

Plus if the victim's family pressed charges, things could get even worse. The man who had been shot accidentally was currently admitted to the hospital but he was in critical condition so that was a problem in itself too. If he died then his family could drag Jack to court.

"Tim, hey," Richard placed his hand gently on the boy's shoulder who looked up at him with wide teary eyes. "It's alright buddy, we are all trying our best to sort things out. Everything will be okay."

"It's all my fault," Tim mumbled in despair, "I should have told Dad... I should have been more careful... I... If it hadn't been for me, none of this would have happened..."

Richard understood the feeling of guilt Tim was going through. So he brought him close in a hug, trying his best to comfort him.

He asked Tim if he had been interrogated and allowed to go home to which the boy shrugged.

"I will go and ask, okay? Stay here and don't worry, you're not alone."

Richard went to ask what exactly was going on and Tim stayed there, waiting for him to come back. He had been interrogated by the cops already but he had been quite shaken and unable to answer all their pressing questions.

As he was just thirteen, he had been let off without stricter questioning but he was still terrified. Shortly after Richard returned after obtaining permission to take Tim home and stay with him for the time being.

There was still no knowing what would be decided for Jack and Bruce.

"Tim, let's get you home," he patted his shoulder lightly and the boy looked up.

"And what about Dad?"

He shook his head, "he will be staying here and Bruce will be kept too for the interrogation. You can come with me to the manor or I can take you to your home and stay with you tonight. Your call."

Tim stood up and followed him out of the headquarters but his thoughts were deviating time and again towards Jack, "I'm fine. You don't have to..."

"I want to," he interjected, "besides, your Dad wouldn't want you to be left alone right now."

"And he would get even angrier if he found out you stayed with me instead."

There were a few things that seldom had a solution and Richard could see that was the case right then.

"Tim, I can see this is hard for you but right now there doesn't seem to be a way out," he was speaking softly though he knew his words might not be the ones Tim wanted to hear, "you've always preferred being honest with you about everything, right? I won't keep anything from you either. Just let me handle things for tonight and then we'll figure it out together, okay?"

Tim always had a solution for everything but right then his mind was going blank. So he nodded feebly, agreeing to Richard's offer of staying with him.

On the other hand, Richard was fully aware of Tim's habit to overthink everything and get depressed as a result. So leaving him on his own in such a state could be harmful to him.

They reached the house and Tim took out the keys that the elder took from him and opened it, bringing Tim inside.

"I'll get you some coffee," Richard spoke up, locking the door, and then went to the kitchen.

Tim was staring down at his hands, his thoughts a mess as everything was swirling around. All he could think about was that his father would get imprisoned because the gun was licensed to him and he was the one who had initiated an attempted murder.

And if Jack got imprisoned then Tim had practically no one to look after him except the Wayne family. And after seeing how much his father had gotten angry to learn about his association with the Waynes, he didn't want to give him more reason to resent him.

"Here," Richard placed down the coffee cup in front of Tim, shaking him out of his morbid thoughts.

"Thanks," he mumbled taking the cup, "I'm sorry I've been bothering you so much."

"It's alright, kiddo, you're no bother at all," Richard ruffled his head, sitting beside him, "you wanna talk about what happened or shall we do something else?"

"Uh... I don't wanna talk about anything," Tim took a sip from the cup then downed it in a few seconds, "can you tell me something... Anything... That could work as a distraction?"

He thought about what he could tell him that would succeed in distracting him right then. The boy had a lot on his mind already and he didn't want to trouble him further.

"Let me tell you about Jason then and how Bruce first met him," he spoke up at last, deciding on a topic that could interest Tim.

He knew Tim idolized Jason a lot and had captured photographs of him back when the young boy was still operating as Robin and not killed by the Joker.

"He stole the tires off the Batmobile," Richard began, a sad expression flickering in his eyes as he leaned back, "Bruce caught him in the act and he was expecting he would be sent to jail. Instead, he ended up at the manor as Bruce adopted him and he became a part of the family."

Tim had turned to face him, listening to him attentively. He badly needed something else to focus his attention on or else all the guilt and overthinking would drive him insane.

At least Richard was there with him that night to make sure he didn't end up hurting himself. But he couldn't be expected to stay forever and Tim didn't want to think about what he could end up doing if left on his own with so much guilt piling inside him.

Yet he trained all his focus on to Richard's calming voice, listening to him until the exhaustion kicked in and he fell asleep on the couch beside him.

***