Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

DICK POV

    I was sitting in the bat cave working on a case on the bat computer when a loud boom and shining light blinded me and made my ears ring. Once my vision comes back to me I stand up and get into a fighting position. Bruce and the others are still out on patrol and will be for an hour longer. My eyes immediately land on an uncontinuous body laying on the cold cave floor. I slowly approach the person laying on the floor when I get into view to see his face. It's beaten, bruised and bleeding but more importantly it's Jason or at least a grown Jason. I'm not sure what to do. I want to cry from joy at seeing my little wing again but it could also be a trap. A clone maybe? Or maybe a shape shifter? But then why is he beaten up and broken on the floor? I first move to the bat computer while keeping an eye on him just in case. “Batman there is a problem in the cave please make your way back asap.”

“Is everything ok Nightwing?”

“I am fine but there is an intruder in the cave. He is unconscious, and about to be detained in a cell.”

“Got it, be careful ETA fifteen minutes." beep

After getting off the comm I moved to get a DNA kit then went and picked him up to move him to a cell with a med cot. After I lay him down on the cot I take the DNA kit and get a blood sample so I can figure out what's going on. After I started running the DNA I got to get the stuff from the med room that I needed to help fix him up. I know he might not be my Jason but he still looks just like my Little wing so I cant help but want to help fix him up and take care of him. When I get back to his cell I make sure the cuffs on his wrist are locked and then I start to look over his body to assess the damage. His right leg is definitely broken as well as his left arm nose and probably some ribs judging by how purple they are. One eye is swollen shut, and there is blood coming from his nose, mouth and a cut on the head that will definitely need staples. His lungs must be collapsed or bruised based on the way his breath is labored and honestly sounding painful.
I go ahead and send off a quick text to Leslie asking her to come to the cave. She responds almost immediately saying she will be here in 20m. I also text Alfred letting him know what was going on and asking for his assistance fixing him up.
I sit down on the coat and just run my fingers through Little wings' hair. I missed my little wing so much. I hope so hard that this is not a trick. I don't know if I would be able to take it. I hear someone descending the steps to the cave.

“My goodness is that truly who it looks like my lad?

“ I dont know Alf, im running his DNA right now….but I hope more than anything that it is him.”
Alfred gives a slight nod then gets to work helping fix Jason up. “ Could you go and get a change of clothes for the young lad to wear for now.”

“ Of course Alfie.I'll be right back.”

I make my way up the stairs to go to my room. He is taller than he used to be, but he is skinny like he hasn't been eating well for a while. So he should fit into my clothes and might even be baggy since I'm bulky. I grab some sweat pants, a shirt and a sweat shirt for him to wear as well as some underwear and socks. The cave can be quite cold so I grab the fluffy socks I just bought.
As I make my way down back to the cave my mind is rushing with so many different emotions. What if this is myLittle wing? What happened to him? Will he be ok? Will I get a second chance to be a big brother to him that I never got to be? What will I do if this is not my Little wing? The family won't be able to take losing him again. What if he is from another universe?
So many thoughts and questions flood my brain as I make it back into the cave. When I make it back to Alfred he staples Jason's head, put a breathing mask on him to help him breathe, put an IV into his arm and took off his old clothes and wiped all the blood and grime from his body. He looks so much smaller than he did when he first got here. It makes me want to cry.

“ Hey Alf, I have some clothes for him. I'll put it over here till Lesly comes and helps you with the broken bones. Is there anything I can do to help you?”

“ No my Lad I'm afraid that I have done all I can till the doctor can get here and check him out herself.”

“Ok Alf ill-” my words get cut off by the bat mobile roaring into the cave. I go out to meet Batman as he gets out of the car.

“ Are you ok Nightwing? How's everyone?”

“ Everyone is fine Dames is upstairs asleep and Tim, Stef, and Cass are still out on patrol. I haven't told anyone about the intruder except for Alfred and Lesley who is on her way and will be here in five minutes.”

Bruce seems to calm down with this information, which is only evident in the way his shoulders relax a bit. “I see that's good. So tell me why did you not get rid of the intruder but detain him instead? If he gets out he could become a problem for the whole family and putting their lives at risk.”

“ I didn't kill him because he looks just like an older Jason. And I did not want to risk the chance of it actually being our Jason.”

“Dick Jason is gone, you know this as much as I do. It’s a trick to get to the family. We must get rid of him before he can do any harm.”

“We can’t get rid of him till we know for sure. This could be our one chance to have Jason back, we can’t throw that chance away!”

“Dick it's not possible he has been dead for five years. He is not coming back.” Bruce starts to make his way to where the cells are with a batarang in hand.

“Bruce, wait you can’t! BEEP BEEP BEEP!” we both turn our head straight to the computer and on the screen there is a picture of Jason before he died and in big green words across the screen says JASON TODD 100 PERCENT MATCH. Me and Bruce stair for a long while in shock.

“Little wing.” I sob.
...

Chapter Text

JASON POV
The last thing I remember is the sight of fist raining down on my face without an end in sight, the smell of blood and rain mixing together, the sound of the crunch of bones breaking, and the feeling of my heart and hope fading.

I hoped that I would be able to join the Batfamily again one day, I had thought that I was getting closer.

Tim no longer acts scared around me. Dick actually talks to me. And Bruce will let me help out with cases.

I stopped killing, I tried my hardest to help when I could, I truly tried my hardest to get them to accept me.

Now I know, they were just waiting for the pen to drop. I faked killing the penguin thinking that Bruce, no Batman would trust me by now to know I didn't actually kill him. Batman didn't even check before attacking me, didn't even ask me, just attacked me with fist and words.

I should have known better than thick that things could change, that they would accept me, I was just a naive fool.

When Batman finally got done beating me into the dirt, I crawled away. I tried my best to make it to my safe house, but I only got a couple blocks before passing out in the alley I was in.

The last thought I had was no one would care if I died here, so why try so hard, why?

…

I slowly open my eyes to the blinding light above me. I reach up to my face to find a breathing mask on, I yank it off and slowly sit up. I feel like ive been hit by a truck, everything hurts and it's still hard to breathe.

I look around and noticed that I was in the med bay in the batcave. This isn't good. Batman will probably try to throw me back into Arkham aging.

I refuse to go there, any were but there. I look around some more and notice Dick is asleep beside the bed.

Is he here to keep watch? To make sure I don't escape?

I look around some more and find Batman sitting in a chair at the end of the bed.

Panic starts to rise from my chest. I try to get up but just end up falling off the cot onto the floor. I try to stand but cant get enough strength to.

I slide back till I'm against the wall and in between the cot and counter. All I see is his fist hitting me. All I hear is his words.

I should have never taken you in

“Jay!”

You are my worst mistake!

“Littlewing breath with me!”

It would have been better if you had stayed dead!

“Jayson, please look at me.”

I feel a hand on my face, and I open my eyes and see Dick sitting on the floor in front of me.

“There you go, that's my Littlewing, breathe with me ok?” Dick takes one of my hands and puts it on his chest, exaggerating his breathing for me to follow.

But I can't focus on him with Batman just behind him.

Dick follows my line of sight seeing that I'm scared of Burce. “Hey Bruce, could you get Alfie for me?” Everyone could tell he was just getting Bruce to leave, but I don't care.

Batman gives a slight nod and leaves the room. Dick looks back to me. “Ok can you breathe with me now? Focus on different things you feel and see around you.”

I feel the hard cold ground, not the wet cold dirt. I look around and see a cast on my foot and my arm, I feel a brace on my lower back and bandaging on my head. I feel wet tears going down my face. I hadn't realized that I was crying.I feel soft socks on my feet and the warm clothes that aren't my uniform. I feel pain all over my body and something wet on my wrist that Dick has. I look up and see that there is blood, must have torn out the IV.

Dick smiles when he sees me looking at him. “That's it Littlewing you're doing great.” It feels weird that Dick is treating me like he does the others. The way I always wanted him to treat me like.

“Good your breathing is evening out. I'm going to pick you up and put you back onto the cot, ok?” Dick slowly reaches towards me, giving me enough time to flinch away, but I'm just too tired to care anymore. He slowly picks me up into a bridal carry and gently lays me on the bed.

He then sits on the edge of the cot and starts to pet my hair like a hurt animal, but it feels nice I can't help but lean into the touch. When was the last time someone touched me with so much care? Probably before my death. Either way the touch is slowly putting me to sleep aging.

“Oh Littlewing I missed you so much.” I barely register the tears rolling down Dicks face before I completely drift off to sleep.

“Ill be right here when you wake Littlewing.”

…

Chapter Text

DICK POV

Once Jason slipped off back to sleep I just sit there taking in the look of my Littlewing’s sleeping face.

After a few minutes I force myself up.

I wipe the tears off my face and pick up the blanket that fell to the floor when Jason woke up in a panic. I gently lay it back over Littlewing before making my way back to the main part of the cave.

Before I close the door to the med bay I take another look at Jason. It hurts to leave his side for even a second, but I really need to talk to Bruce.

I make sure to keep the door cracked just in case Jason wakes up.

I find Bruce at the batcomputer typing away. “I can't believe Jason went into a panic attack over just seeing us. Why do you think that is? What happened to make him have such a severe reaction to us? What if- what if-” what if Jason hates me? Ifinish in my head what I can't out loud.

“I don't know Dick but we are going to find out. Look at this for the last week I've been looking into what had caused Jason to suddenly appear here all of a sudden. And from what I've found It's clear that he was somehow transported from another universe. So I took our universe return device that we have used to send other villains that come here back to their universe and used it on the clothes that he was wearing when he got here and that showed me what universe he had come from.”

“ Bruce, don't you think that it's more important to be here to help him? You heard what Lesily said, his body won't ever be the same as it once was.” I start to pace back and forth as I start to ramble on.

“She said that he has paresis, he will have a hard time walking from now on, as well as the clear signs of PTSD that we just saw and malnourishment. I mean just look at him, he's skin and bones. And I mean it took him a week to finally gain consciousness since his surgery on his back. We should be more worried about helping him heal then worrying about what universe he's stuck in. Are you worried about him not being OUR Jason? We already tested that, remember? He's OUR Jason from OUR universe. Yeah maybe we don't know how he got to that universe in the first place but that doesn't matter right now since he's back, we can take care of him now. We WILL keep him safe from now on.”

Of course Bruce already knows all of this but I'm still having a hard time rapping my head around everything. This whole week has been a whiplash of emotions.

I mean Littlewing is back, but he's hurt and traumatized. I failed my Littlewing aging.

“I know that Dick, but how can we help him heal if we don't know what he's healing from mentally?" Bruce says with a tired look on his face.

“I know what you're saying. I want to know too but-”

Burce cuts me off "Listen Dick, it will just be for a few hours. We would probably even be back before he wakes up aging. We can have Cass look after him while we are gone. With her watching him nothing will happen to him. We will gather the information we need then head straight back here.”

What he says makes sense. But it's hard to think about leaving Jason aging after everything. But what if we can't help him if we don't know what happened.

I sigh “Fine,but only for a few hours. It's ten pm now we have till morning to get what you need and get back. We have to be back before the sun comes up.”

I lay out my requirements and Bruce looks pleased with them. “Well be back before the sun comes up. I promise Dick. I don't want to be gone longer than we have to either. Why don't you go tell the others and ask Cass to watch him till we get back?”

“Sure Bruce.” I make my way over to the training area where the others are at.

“It's ok Dick we'll be back before he wakes up, everything will be just fine.” I tell myself I take a deep breath in and out then go and talk to Cass.

...