Chapter Text
If it weren’t for the fact that she was stressed beyond belief, Jazz might have enjoyed the high tea Mr Pennyworth had prepared for her more. The array of finger sandwiches, little pastries and earl grey tea was a luxury she hadn’t expected to indulge in her entire life, let alone as a broke college student.
The couch she was sitting on was comfortably plush, the chandelier above her threw the early morning sun across the wallpaper in speckles of light, and there was a cat on her lap, purring away. The weight and noise was helping to ease her anxiety somewhat, but more so was the presence of the butler and the young woman opposite her, who had introduced herself as Cass.
According to them, Danny was on his way, escorted by Nightwing himself. Jazz would like to say she was surprised to hear that the Gotham vigilantes had been assisting Danny, but really she was just impossibly relieved. Danny had been rescuing himself for as long as he’d been in danger, and he was charming enough to earn anyone's adoration and loyalty. Jazz was surprised he hadn't made vigilante friends sooner, even.
She took a slow sip of her tea and gave the cat a light scritch on the head, avoiding glancing at the clock for the dozenth time. “How long has Danny been living here?” she asked.
Cass shook her head. “Not here. Jason’s apartment. About a month.”
Jazz nodded. That wasn’t nearly long enough, compared to the months he’d been missing. “Jason is your brother?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Young mister Daniel has made quite an impact on this family. All of Master Bruce’s wards have taken a liking to him,” Alfred commented, nursing some tea of his own. It was nice to see him enjoying the array he had put together with them. It gave Jazz the impression that he was more of a family member than a domestic servant.
Jazz smiled softly. “Yeah, he has a way with people. Thank you for taking care of him.”
“It is our pleasure, Miss Jasmine,” Alfred smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling. “Although I fear his last day with us has been rather distressing. I’m sure he would appreciate a familiar face.”
Jazz nodded in agreement. Ancients, all she wanted was to see her baby brother again.
The minutes passed by achingly slow, and yet in no time at all the doorbell was ringing and Jazz was leaping to her feet. She hoped Alfred wouldn’t mind her rushing ahead and throwing the door open, abandoning all formal greetings because Danny was here. He was in front of her, in the flesh, skinny and dishevelled and exhausted but here. He was in her arms in seconds, squeezed as tightly as her muscles would allow.
He returned the hug with double the force, almost painful, but she didn’t care. “Danny. Danny, oh my god. You’re okay. You’re here.”
“Jazz,” he whispered reverently, burying his face in her red hair. “I missed you. I missed you so much.”
“I missed you too.” Then she pulled away to actually look at him and she gasped. “Danny, your neck-”
He put a hand to his bandaged throat self-consciously. “Oh, no, it’s fine. I’m fine. It’ll heal.”
“What happened?” she asked earnestly. Even with two semesters of psychology under her belt, Jazz couldn’t decipher the complicated storm of emotions that crossed her brother’s face. His eyes were pronounced with dark circles and they held a depth she’d only glimpsed at during his brief stop home after escaping the GIW. He looked older, like a lifetime had passed without her.
Wordlessly, Danny took her hand and led her to a private room further into the manor - the first that he could find. The room was dim and smelled like dust and old leather. Danny took a seat and Jazz did the same, then tentatively, Danny began to explain.
He was obviously broaching the story with caution, brushing over parts that Jazz really thought needed more detail. Partly for her sake but also, she suspected, for his own.
For their shared illusion of reassurance and bravery, Jazz kept her reactions in check. Rather than showing abject horror, concern or even sympathy, she channelled a righteous anger. A determination to keep Danny safe, now that he was back in her life. Her brother had never liked being coddled, as much as he needed it, and she wouldn’t overwhelm him again by being overbearing. Danny didn’t want pity, he wanted to be understood.
When he finally closed his mouth, the story finished, Jazz wrapped him in another hug. Danny deflated into her arms like a puppet with its strings cut. Underneath the storm of emotions, she felt the faintest purr coming from his chest.
“You’re an incredible survivor, Danny. I’m so proud of you,” she murmured.
“I don’t feel like one,” he shrugged, leaning into her size. “I feel like all of this could’ve been avoided, again and again.”
“How? By knitting your core back together through sheer willpower?” she teased, lightly poking his side.
The hint of a playful smile made it all worth it. “Maybe.” He sighed, rolling the fabric of his shirt between his fingers. “I'm sorry for hurting you.”
“So you keep telling me,” she said with a gentle look. “And I said I forgive you. It’s completely understandable why you did what you did, and you’ve apologised and are trying to get better. That’s all anyone can ask of you.”
“But I-”
“No buts,” Jazz cut him off. “You’re here now. So am I. We’ll do what we can to be there for each other in the present.”
He bit his cheek and sighed. “Okay…love you.”
She squeezed him tighter, kissing the top of his head. “Love you too. Now come sit down with Cass, Alfred and I and have some tea. You look like you could use it.”
“M’ not really a tea drinker,” he shrugged, seeming perfectly content to hide in the empty room in his sister's arms forever.
“They also have little pastries.”
Danny’s eyebrows pinched together in that achingly familiar way that had Jazz’s heart singing He’s here. He’s here. He’s alive, all over again.
“Can't argue with little pastries...”
Jason had breezed past the little reunion happening in the entryway and headed straight for the cave. There was a whole army of Bats (liminal and otherwise) in the house available to intervene if Danny lost control again, but Jason couldn’t ignore his own issues any longer. He needed to get away before he became the one people had to be wary of.
Thankfully, Danny had been distracted enough by his sister to notice, but Jason had been slowly burning through his energy reserves just to keep himself in check all morning.
Being in the manor felt unsettling to Jason in that fresh, visceral way that it had after he’d first been resurrected. His newly re-fractured core was a fresh tear through old wounds, making every face, every photo, every familiar room feel like twisting a knife in his gut. The mere thought that Jason had regressed all the progress he’d made with his family caused fresh frustration and anguish to flare up within him. Just like he had felt from Danny in the Manson's kitchen.
Jason didn’t want to start over. He refused to let this be anything more than a setback. And if being stable enough to care for his kid meant doubling down on every therapy technique he’d ever learned, then Jason would do that. He would speedrun recovery this time.
Dick caught the edge of the elevator door right as it was about to close and pressed inside. He must have snuck back into the house without their guests seeing him still in costume. “Room for one more?”
Jason gave a tight nod, since he wasn’t sure he could manage any friendly banter without snapping right now. Being in an elevator with someone else in it was bad enough.
His brother easily picked up on this and dropped the smile. “That bad, huh?”
Another nod.
“I know it’s not an opportune time, but while you’re down here, mind if I do a medical check-up on you? I can’t imagine you’ll be letting Bruce do it.”
Since there was no getting out of it, Jason gave one final nod. Dickhead was right, if anyone was going to poke and prod at Jason, it should be him. But that didn’t mean Jason wouldn’t be keeping a firm hold of his control over the situation.
Once down in the cave, Jason marched ahead to the med bay and situated himself at the closest exam table. Dick wasn’t too far behind and got straight to work, picking up that Jason wanted things over and done with as fast as possible.
As he was checked over, Jason forced his mind elsewhere, because every time a hand drifted somewhere he couldn't follow it, his core screams at him to watch his back. Bats were trained out of flinching pretty early on, but Jason felt like he was holding back one long cringe as he was poked and prodded.
He had never been like this before. Sure Jason was afraid of needles, and medical exams hadn't ever been pleasant, but ever since the GIW, the mere presence of gloved hands near his body felt like a gun trained on him.
It was suddenly, painfully clear to Jason why Danny reacted poorly to Jazz patching him up on his first day back in Amity. Jason had only been with the GIW for a day or so, and it was enough to make the smell of rubbing alcohol set his heart racing.
“Where’s Crow?” Jason muttered, both needing the distraction and eager for closure.
Dick didn’t pause his work. “Arkham. Lab’s been dismantled too. After we stormed the place and saw the portal, it was pretty easy to round up the remaining GIW and warrant their arrest. They were super quick to throw O’shay under the bus once they realised her ulterior motives.”
Jason sighed. “Good. If Crow takes one step out of Arkham and I’ll show her the Infinite Realms myself.”
“She won’t,” he murmured, taking Jason's threat for what it was - thinly veiled fear. Jason never wanted to have his autonomy ripped away like that again. Crow would stay locked up if she knew what was best for her.
“Just got word that B shut the portal off,” Dick continued. “We kept an eye on it as soon as you went through, but B refused to let any of us follow you. He was going to get Constantine to check it out, but then you popped out in Illinois before he could arrive.”
Jason nodded along. “And the equipment? Tell me the GIW aren’t claiming it back as government property.”
“They might. It’s in bureaucracy limbo right now while the GIW’s case is processed. Although we snatched everything that wasn’t bolted down before the cops could show. Hopefully, they won’t get their hands on it before the JL gets the Anti-Ecto Rights Act revoked.”
Jason leaned back on the table so Dick had access to his chest and could check his vitals. “What next, then?” He winced against the press of the stethoscope against his skin. Was the metal always this cold?
“You and Danny rest and recover.”
“I meant regarding the GIW.”
“I know. You’re gonna hate me for this, but you need to let us handle the GIW for the time being. You just got back from a massive trauma, Jason. You’re more than compromised.”
Jason frowned at Dicks phrasing, yet he couldn’t deny it. “And I suppose you’re going to house-arrest me at the manor too.”
Dick sighed, pulling the stethoscope back. He rummaged around in the drawers for a moment before coming back with a penlight to shine in Jason’s eyes. “Well you’re an adult who can make his own choices, and you know none of us can physically stop you from leaving. But you’re also the guardian of a very traumatised kid, and if an extra set of hands caring for him gives you the chance to recover, then I say stay.”
Jason scoffed. “I can handle the kid on my own just fine.”
“I'm not saying you can’t. Only that you shouldn't have to.”
When Dick started to set up an x-ray screen, Tim took that moment to poke his head into the med bay and peer over. “Jason, you’re back! Are you okay?”
Jason’s mouth twitched and he fought back a scowl. “I’m fine.” Don’t fight your brother. He did nothing wrong. Of course the Pit thought otherwise, clawing at all the holes in Red Robin's little schemes over the last few days and scrutinising them viciously. All the ways Tim had let Danny down. Failed to protect him during Jason’s absence. Abandoned Jason in the cave, because he’d always been Tim’s least favoured brother-
Jason exhaled slowly through the green tinting his vision and tried to focus on Dick instead. “I need Tim to leave,” he said softly.
Dicks eyebrows rose in confusion. Jason hadn’t been standoffish around Tim in years, even on bad days. But he knew better than to try and push Jason for civility right then.
“Hey, Tim, maybe we can talk later? After Jason’s been checked out.”
“Oh, but I wanted to try out this setting I thought of for the X-ray machine. I think if we tweak the EM we can get an actual look at Jason’s core, similarly to how the GIW use their trackers to find ghosts.”
Jason’s eyes narrowed. “What, so you can study us more?” he growled.
Tim looked up in surprise, then shrank back with guilt. “No, no.. so I can see the damage and try to help. I...I’m sorry about…all of it. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt Danny.”
The part of Jason that was trying to retain his composure, that had forgiven Tim and wanted to let this go, got swept away in the sudden onslaught of Pit madness that bubbled from his chest and overflowed. He bared his teeth, shooting a searing glare at his younger brother.
“I’m gonna need a real good reason why Danny was sent down to the Lazarus Pit alone.”
“Because he can go invisible and intangible, and it was perfect for recon. He was only supposed to do recon.”
“You know he was never just going to do that. You got lazy and decided to kill two birds with one stone-”
“God, no! We were under time constraints! You were going to shatter-“
“Guys, calm down. Tim wasn’t alone in that call, Jay. We were all involved. We all could’ve done more for Danny,” Dick stepped between them with his hands out. Ever the mediator, at the mercy of the crossfire.
“You stay out of this, Dickhead,” Jason spat, fully lost in the green now. “The kid fucked up. He should own up to it.”
“You’re in no place to have a productive conversation and you know it.”
Jason was on his feet, eyes flashing bright green. “Oh and Danny was in a good place for a recon mission?! My kid almost died, Dick.” He whirled around and jabbed an accusing finger at Tim. “He almost died again because of you.”
“So did you!” Tim yelled. “I’m not apologising for trying to save you with the one resource we had!”
“Danny’s a fucking person!” Jason screamed, surging forwards until he was inches from Tim’s face. His gaze bore into Tim’s - a deep, angry emerald. He could feel the lick of flames up his skin, the flare of his molten core.
Tim's eyes flicked down, the hint of fear crossing his face. Good.
Then Dick was once again between them, facing Jason. “If you’re going to yell at anyone, yell at me, Jay.”
Jason's gaze snapped towards his newest target. “Oh, you wanna fight, Golden Boy? You wanna protect itty-bitty Tim from the big bad villain of the family?”
“This isn’t a fight,” Dick said firmly, using that fucking Nightwing voice. “Don’t focus on him. Focus on me. I need you to pull yourself out of it. Danny’s upstairs. He needs you lucid.”
Jason was moments away from head-butting Dick in his stupidly calm face, but at the mention of Danny, he hesitated. Danny. Protect. Mine.
Dick latched onto that sliver of clarity and pressed further. “Jason, where are we right now?”
“The cave,” he spat. That was obvious.
“Why are we in the cave?”
“Because-“ Jason frowned, trying to remember. “The med bay, because you need to check me over.”
“Why’s that?” Again with the stupid fucking questions. What was Dick setting him up for? To admit that he’d fucked up and got himself injured again?
No, not injured. He was in pain, but Jason was always in some degree of pain. His chest hurt, like someone pressed a branding iron between his ribs. And his jaw ached from how hard he had been clenching it. His skin felt hot. Really hot.
“Breathe, Littlewing,” Dick coaxed. “You’re safe here. We’ve handled the Pit Rage before, we can do it again.”
Jason pulled cold air into his lungs, fists clenching and unclenching. Why was he angry? Why did his chest burn?
His eyes flicked about the room. Tim wasn’t in the doorway anymore. “I…where’s Danny?”
“He’s upstairs with his sister. He’s safe. You’ve done so well keeping him safe.”
Jason gave a stiff nod, not quite believing his brother’s words. “I protected him.”
“Yeah, you did,” Dick nodded. “Do you wanna go find him?”
“I…no, I can’t go back upstairs. There’s guests, I…” Right. The manor. The portal. His core.
“The med bay cot’s all yours. I’m sure Alfred will bring you down food too.”
“I’ve eaten.” He muttered and cracked his knuckles, one finger at a time. He wanted to ask Dick to bring Danny down. Not having the kid in his sights was nagging at his core in a way only his Obsession had done before. But it was unfair of him to pull Danny away from his sister when they’d only just reunited.
Would she be staying the night? Or was Danny going back to her place? Fuck. Was Danny going to leave forever? Jason thought he’d done everything right, that he was good enough-
“Jay. Jay, look at me,” Dick prompted. “You’re slipping again.”
Jason blinked the green from his eyes and growled softly. “I was getting better...this fucking sucks.” Just as Dick opened his mouth to reply, Jason jabbed a finger at his chest. “Do not ‘progress isn’t linear’ me.”
Dick closed his mouth, then tilted his head. “Sometimes the same bullshit happens to us twice. As Sonic the Hedgehog once said, ‘We live and learn.’”
Jason punched his brother in the arm with a bit more force than he’d intended. “You’re terrible.”
“I try my best,” Dick grinned, not even wincing. His goofiness had done its job. Jason did feel a bit clearer, focusing on his brother’s antics instead of the Pit. “Do you wanna finish your check-up?”
“I think that was everything,” he shrugged. “Unless you wanted to give Tim’s X-ray thing a try.”
Jason frowned, digging his thumb into the palm of his hand. “Maybe tomorrow. I don’t wanna flip out at him again.”
“That might be best,” Dick nodded. “He…he’s really sorry about what happened, you know. Tim crossed a line, and there’s no excusing that, but he’s trying to make up for it in his own way. All that kid wants is to be a hero.”
“Yeah,” Jason sighed. “I know. He’s a good kid.” The words felt hollow in his mouth, his core stubbornly not letting him empathise with his brother, but Jason said them anyway. “And I can’t really articulate it right now, but I do forgive him. I did. I don’t know why I said that..”
“You need rest, like I said. You’ve been going nonstop for days, Littlewing.” Dick murmured, worry clear in his voice. “Now let’s get you to bed before you grind your teeth smooth.”
Jason nodded and turned towards the door. “Fine. But I’m not sleeping in the cave,” he decided abruptly. “I’ll take a spare room. Wake me if the kid needs anything.”
“Of course.” Dick put a hand on his brother’s shoulder, only to wince and pull it back abruptly.
Jason didn’t notice. He was too busy trying to figure out what route to take through the manor to avoid running into anyone.
When Dick finally returned to the living room, he found Danny half-asleep, curled up against his sister in the sitting room. A plate of crumbs and a half-empty cup of tea sat on the coffee table in front of them, with the rest of the food having been spirited away by Alfred.
“Hey,” Dick murmured softly, giving Jazz a polite smile when she looked up. “How’s he doing?”
Jazz returned the smile and brushed some of the hair from Danny’s eyes. Danny tilted his head into the touch and blinked sleepily. “He’s okay,” she breathed, the words coated in pure relief. “He’s safe and taken care of. That’s…that's all I could’ve wished for, for him.”
“You can thank Tim for that. He was the one who reopened the investigation and found him. And I’m so glad he did. Danny’s been a delight to care for.”
She nodded. “I spoke to Tim briefly, but I’ll be sure to give my full thanks next time I see him.” Then she turned to Danny and lightly nudged his shoulder. “Danny, are you okay to get up or do you need help?”
He scrunched his face up and grumbled softly, “I c’n walk…”
Walking turned out to be more of a lazy float. After giving Jazz another tight hug and confirming that she would still be there when Danny woke up, he let Dick lead him to the bedrooms. This time, to actually sleep on top of the bed.
Dick planned on taking Danny to the guest room, but as soon as they passed by the room Jason was staying in, Danny hovered towards it as if this was always the plan. Dick didn’t protest, he easily adapted his course and opened the door for the kid.
Inside, Jason was already out like a light in bed. His face was smushed into the pillow and the blankets pooled around his waist, as if he had fallen asleep before managing to fully tuck himself in.
Dick watched from the doorway as Danny tentatively shuffled inside, no longer flying. His ghost core did…something that Dick didn’t really know how to interpret, but could faintly pick up on. To his surprise, Jason’s echoed back the noise in his sleep.
Danny visibly settled after this. He kicked off his shoes and crawled onto the bed beside Jason before curling up against him. Dick smiled softly and closed the door, his heart doing little triple-axel flips.
(If he took out his phone for a sneak photo of the wholesome scene, Jason would never know about it.)
With his undead brother accounted for, Dick made his way downstairs to the cave to check on his dead-at-heart brother.
Tim, for once, was situated at a desk other than the Batcomputer. He had a workbench set up with a soldering kit and a bunch of little circuit boards and wires. In front of him were the gutted insides of a GIW tracker, which Tim tinkered away at.
“Whatcha doing?” Dick mused, watching Tim’s dexterous fingers work away at the tiny wires.
“Trying to modify the ghost tracker to be person-specific. If any of us go missing again, I wanna be prepared for it,” he explained, not taking his eyes off the hot soldering pen.
“Aw, did Jason’s disappearance get you all worried?” He ruffled his brother’s hair.
Tim pouted and swiped his hand away. “Yes. So did yours. If I do this right, we won’t need trackers in our masks and suits anymore. Anyone who’s died before can be found with one of these. Obviously I would keep your ecto-signiatures as secret as our identities, since we don’t want anyone else being able to track us.”
Dick tilted his head a little. “I have an ecto-signiature?”
“I think so,” Tim nodded. “At the very least, all ghosts with cores have them. They’re unique to each one, almost like a fingerprint. Or like a puzzle. At first it looks like their frequencies skip around in a way that nothing can record. But once you take into account recurring EMF, EMP, AMP and TED patterns, then you can map out a general script of sorts. From there, we tune the technology around this script and boom - we have equipment that can make sense of it! That’s why the sonic frequency hurt them so much. It was static in a way that disrupted their discordance."
Tim finished his explanation and looked to his brother for approval.
“Tim you would make a disgustingly good GIW.”
His smile dropped. “I’m not evil, this is all just really interesting.”
“I know, Baby Bird. You’re hyperfocusing on ghosts, which is great - normal even for your ADHD. But can you see how this is scaring the people with trauma surrounding being analysed and vivisected for ‘research purposes'?"
Tim frowned. “I know. I’m not an idiot. I’m not getting Danny involved in areas he doesn’t need to be. He was never supposed to find his file. He was never supposed to find the cave! Even though knowing all of this is beneficial to him in the long run-“
Dick held his hands up. “I know, Tim. You just have to extend this courtesy to Jason now, too. He’s trying to keep his head on after everything but his cores still really fucked up from O’shay. You need to give him space.”
“Okay…”
"Jason told me he's sorry for his outburst earlier, by the way. This'll all sort itself out in time." Dick walked past his brother, patting him on the shoulder as he went. “Just lock your files next time, yeah?”
Tim gave him a half-hearted smile and a salute before refocusing on his soldering. “Ay-ay captain.”