Chapter Text
Jason had no idea how the baby had come into his care.
Okay, that’s a lie, he knew exactly how it happened.
He didn’t know how he had grown attached to said baby.
Just last week he had been patrolling Crime Alley, stopping crime, checking in on the street kids, when he had heard a wailing from behind a set of dumpsters. Jason had naturally gone to check out the noise, expecting to see a parent trying to calm a frightened child or, the more likely case, a kidnapping in progress, but instead no one was there. Hidden behind a stack of boxes, barely sheltered from the chill of early November, was a baby girl, wrapped in an old flannel jacket.
Patrol ended early that night.
In hindsight, the most logical thing he could have done was call Alfred, possibly even bring the baby to the manor, but he and Bruce were still arguing and he wasn’t sure he was even welcome. So instead, Jason brought her to his nearest safehouse, swaddled her in the comfiest blanket he could find, and knocked on the door of a prostitute.
That sounds really bad out of context, doesn’t it?
Shortly after becoming the Red Hood, Jason had saved a working girl named Olivia Morris from one of her stalkers, who had been following her for weeks, scaring away her customers and threatening her life. Currently, the man was six feet under and Olivia was taking college classes online in her new apartment with a top of the line security system, installed by the Red Hood himself. Jason’s safehouse was the apartment above hers, something she knew only because she had to help stitch him up once and watched him climb the fire escape out of worry he’d tear the stitches.
In Jason’s defense, he had been loopy from the blood loss and was not thinking through any of his actions.
The reason he felt the need to knock on Olivia’s door with a baby in his arms at two in the morning was due to the simple fact that she was the only person he trusted (besides Alfred) that also knew how to take care of a baby.
“Please tell me you didn’t kidnap a baby, Red,” she greeted.
Olivia had clearly just gotten back from work, her dark red hair wet from a shower and a blue bathrobe clinging to her figure. Her brown eyes were narrowed at him, as if she expected the worst.
“Ouch, Liv. That hurts,” Jason said, smirking at her. He had taken the helmet off after quickly realizing it, paired with the voice modulator, had scared the baby, leaving just the domino to hide his identity. “And no, I did not kidnap a baby. I like kids.”
“Hence why I think you kidnapped a baby,” Olivia snarked, holding out her arms for Jason to place the little girl in. She had calmed down the second Olivia had her, looking up at Olivia’s face with wide, blue eyes.
“I found her hidden behind a dumpster, wrapped in nothing but an old jacket. No sign of any parents or siblings. I’ll check with the alley kids in the area if they know anything but, I didn’t think she’d last another couple hours.”
The baby immediately began wailing again, seeing as her curiosity had apparently been satisfied.
“I don’t know what to do,” Jason said, eyes widening behind his domino at the little girl’s cries. “Thought you could help.”
“She’s hungry,” Olivia said, rocking her arms. “Can you run to the 24 hour store and pick up some formula?”
“They have that there?”
Olivia shot him a glare, silently questioning his intelligence. Jason threw up his hands and ran back to his apartment, ditching his mask and throwing on a hoodie before running out of the building to the 24 store around the corner. While there he also grabbed a bottle, diapers, and a onesie that had ducks on it. It was probably best to put the baby in actual clothes.
Ten minutes later, Jason was in Olivia’s apartment, heating up a bottle of baby formula in the microwave. “Please work, please work, please work,” he muttered when he brought the bottle to Olivia where she was rocking the baby (now in the duck onesie) on the couch.
Olivia gently took the bottle from his hands and directed it towards the baby girl’s mouth. Thankfully, she began eating without a fuss.
“There we go,” Olivia whispered softly, watching the baby with a smile.
Jason gave a sigh of relief and sat down on the couch. “Thanks for your help, Liv.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Olivia said, waving him off. “It’s not like I’m gonna leave some poor kid with you, Red.”
“I know how to take care of kids. Just…not babies.”
Olivia rolled her eyes and began rocking the baby, lulling the poor girl to sleep. All the crying seemed to have worn her out.
The two adults sat in silence watching the little girl sleep peacefully.
“Do you think she has any family out there?” Olivia eventually said, slowing her rocking movements.
Jason sighed and stood up. “Probably not anyone that’s willing or capable of looking after her. I’ll double check tomorrow night but…”
“You can’t put her in the system, Red.” Jason looked towards Olivia, the way she was holding the baby close, tears beginning to form in her eyes. “She doesn’t deserve that life.”
“It’s not like I know anyone who could take care of her. And I sure as hell ain’t leaving her on the streets either,” Jason sniped. He let out a deep sigh, leaning against Olivia’s messy kitchen counter. “Maybe I could keep an eye on her. Least for a little bit, you know?”
Olivia’s head quickly turned, a semi-hostile expression on her face. “You're a crime lord who sells drugs and has tried to blow up Batman! How in the world are you a decent parental figure? Do you even know how to raise a kid?”
“Keep your voice down, Liv,” Jason whispered with a hiss. “You’ll wake the kid.”
“Sorry,” Olivia whispered, leaning her head back on the couch with a moan. “Look, Red. Let’s say you can raise a kid decently–”
“Which I can.”
“A baby needs a lot of attention. You gotta be there at all hours of the day. She’ll wake up at one in the morning. You can’t be out blowing up warehouses when she needs a diaper change.”
“I’m not gonna stop being the Red Hood! Do you know how much of a power vacuum would be left if I just up and vanished? Gotham would turn into a shit show in a single night!”
Jason looked at Olivia and tilted his head to the side, a wide smile overtaking his face.
“No.”
“But Liv!” Jason cried. “You're great with her!”
“I’m not raising a baby. I’ve gotta job that has hours as shit as yours so I can pay for college. Do you know how expensive a kid is? I’m barely affording college as it is!”
“What? No!” Jason said, violently shaking his head at Olivia’s incredulous expression. “I don’t want ya to raise her. Just babysit.”
“Babysit?” Olivia deadpanned.
“Yeah. I take care of the little one during the day and then you can take care of her at night while I work!” Jason said, a bright smile on his face. Olivia did not match his cheerful expression.
“And my job?”
“I’ll pay you double what you make from your best customers.”
“Overpaid babysitting here I come,” Olivia said with a sigh, looking down at the baby still in her arms. A small smile graced both of their faces as they watched her sleep. “She’s gonna need a name, you know?”
“You can pick it,” Jason said, walking over.
“Celia,” Olivia murmured softly. “It was my sista’s name.”
“I like it.”
For a long moment the two of them stayed there, watching Celia.
“Does this mean I finally get to see your apartment?”
“Fuck no,” Jason muttered. “I’ll just buy two of everything. Anything she gets attached to can move between apartments.”
Olivia shrugged. “It’s your money, Red.”
With that, Jason found himself a father, for all intents and purposes, with quite possibly the strangest co-parenting arrangement in history. In his defense though, Celia was just too cute to get rid of.