Work Text:
Jason crouched on the water tower for his usual mid-patrol snack break to survey his domain. His patrol routes, like Batman's, were carefully calculated to be random and unpredictable, but he paused on the water tower every night.
It had the best view of the heart of his territory.
Far enough that his helmet lenses had to zoom a little to see clearly, Nightwing had also paused his patrol, head tilted like he was on comms. But the bat-comms were silent, which meant Dick had stopped to take a call on his cell.
Nightwing then veered off his trajectory, free-running with the easy grace he was known for, directly towards Hood.
Jason leaned in.
Nightwing dropped into an alley three blocks from Headquarters. He'd been moving fast, but without the tension of fear in his urgency.
Curious, Jason followed.
At the mouth of the Alley, Danny and Will were standing, arms crossed against the chill, shoulders touching, wearing matching worried frowns. Nightwing was in the depths of the alley shadows, kneeling.
Jason dropped down beside the boys.
Danny startled, swore, and leaned into Will. Will smiled at him, warm despite his obvious worry.
"There's a kid," Will said. "But we couldn't get her to talk, or come out."
"I called Wing because I thought he was closer," Danny added. "Weren't you on the Sprang tonight?"
Jason inclined his head. "Was, but came back up." Then he took off the Hood and pitched his voice to carry gently. "Wing, you need backup?"
"Nah," Nightwing said easily. He'd folded from his kneel to cross-legged. "But you can come meet Isobel, if you like."
Jason obligingly wandered over, leaving the Hood with Will. "Hi there," he said, settling beside Nightwing with his own legs crossed.
Nightwing signed, "he says hello," to the little girl.
She waved brightly.
Jason figured she was about six.
"She's deaf," Nightwing added aloud. "This is Red Hood," he signed to Isobel.
"Safe," Isobel signed back.
Nightwing nodded.
Jason returned the sign.
Isobel perked up immediately. "You sign too!" she signed excitedly, shifting a little closer out of the niche behind the dumpster.
"I do," Jason agreed, smiling. "Nightwing taught me."
"I'm Isobel," she said, spelling her name and then making her name-sign, an I and the sign for play, but one handed, with only the pinky extended.
"You help people," Isobel signed to them. It was a question, but also sort of not.
Nightwing answered it anyway. "We do," he signed. "And we can help you," he promised. "If you need it."
A six year old girl hiding behind a dumpster in the middle of the night definitely needed help. Jason didn't make any indication of this, though.
"My mommy needs help," the girl answered. "Trevor's mean." She finger-spelled Trevor, scowl on her tiny face.
"Is that why you're out here?" Nightwing signed gently. "Because Trevor is mean?"
Her shoulders drooped. "He told me to get out. And mommy doesn't hear either, so she didn't know. He doesn't let her do anything. He's mean," she signed again.
Nightwing and Red Hood exchanged a speaking glance. "Why don't you tell me your address," Jason signed, "And I'll go check on your Mom, and talk to Trevor."
"And you can come with me," Nightwing said. "And we'll get you a snack and a better coat."
"It is cold," Isobel agreed. She climbed out of her niche and straight into Nightwing's lap.
Jason's heart turned over, the way it always did to see Dick with kids. Then he steeled himself. "What's your address, Isobel?" he asked.
Isobel's hands flew, clearly a rote memorization of her address rather than a clear knowledge. It didn't matter; Hood knew the place. He nodded to Nightwing.
Nightwing rolled to his feet, still holding Isobel against his chest. He tucked her to one side, and with his free hand, signed, "These are my friends, Will and Danny."
Isobel waved shyly.
"She's deaf," Nightwing said aloud to the boys. "That's why she wouldn't answer you."
"Nice to meet you," Will signed hesitantly.
Danny just waved.
"We're going to the community center," Nightwing added, signing one handed as he spoke to the boys.
Will handed Jason the Hood, and turned back to Nightwing and Isobel. "You cold?" he signed awkwardly.
Isobel beamed at him.
Nightwing narrated aloud as she signed faster than Will could follow, and Danny just shrugged and smiled.
Jason watched them go, and then turned to scale the fire escape. Isobel's apartment was two blocks down, on the third floor, and he was happy to pay Trevor a visit.
Trevor was on the way to the emergency room to have his dislocated shoulder set and his broken wrist, fingers, and fibula casted. Delia drove him. He seemed thrilled to have someone take him away from Jason, but Delia did not appear to be the person he wanted in charge of this process.
Delia and Hank had arrived first, the rest of Strike Team One ten minutes behind them with boxes and Hank's pickup. Once Trevor was out of the way, they packed everything that belonged to Isobel and her mother Mavette, and a few things Jason decided she should have regardless of ownership, and carried it in loads down to Hank's truck.
Mavette sat on the sofa, intermittently crying and desperately signing apologies and regrets to Jason.
Jenkins finally texted him back, with the news that there was an empty two-bedroom place in Havenwood, and the super had offered an air mattress for Mavette for the night.
The room that was clearly Isobel's, Hank and his team stripped empty, hardly caring about who had paid for which piece of furniture. If Trevor complained, Hood would pay him back. Or break his other wrist, depending on the quality of the complaint.
Then Jason coaxed Mavette down the stairs, and into the back seat of the truck. He climbed in beside her. "It's okay," he signed, again and again, as Hank drove the eight blocks over and three down to Havenwood.
The super, a scarred, stocky little man who'd been one of Ross's until Hood had taken the Alley and given him another option, met them in the lobby with the keys and the air mattress. Hood coaxed Mavette into the building office to sign paperwork, while Hank and the boys moved her things.
She cried again when she saw the rent line. Jason didn't ask, but he suspected it was a much smaller number than her shared rent with Trevor.
"Deposit later," Mario said, shrugging. "It's two in the goddamned morning."
Jason signed this to Mavette, and she smiled a little for the first time all evening.
"Thank you," she signed again. "I'll get the deposit tomorrow."
Mario shrugged when Jason repeated this aloud. "When you can," he said. Then he stomped off to bed, leaving Jason and Mavette in the lobby.
"Isobel?" Mavette asked.
"On the way," Jason answered. "She's been watching Bluey at the community center with Nightwing," he added. He'd told her this already, but he wasn't sure she remembered amongst all the other shocks. "He promised to bring her when I told him where we were moving you."
"Ma'am," Hank said hesitantly, shuffling around till she could see him.
Mavette startled a little, and then tilted her head.
"Come up and see your new digs?" Hank offered, Jason signing along with him.
Mavette nodded, and followed them into the elevator.
One of the boys had stopped at the nearest EZ-mart, because he produced a box of tissues when Mavette started crying again, when she saw that the team had reset Isobel's room almost exactly as it had been. He also produced a bottle of water, and a wrapped deli-sandwich, which made her cry harder.
Poor kid sent Jason a wide-eyed look.
Hank patted his shoulder, nudged him out of the way, and squeezed Mavette's shoulder reassuringly.
That was about the time Nightwing brought Isobel in the window.
Jason sent his partner a very dry look.
Nightwing grinned unrepentantly and unbuckled the harness he'd used to secure the girl to him for the climb.
Hank put the tissue box in reach as Mavette cried over Isobel too. Then he shooed his team out of the apartment with a little salute to Hood.
"How can we ever thank you?" Mavette asked Jason and Dick.
Dick smiled, totally at ease. "Pay it forward," he answered, like he always did. "Come down to the community center, when you can. Teach ASL classes for us," he added, shrugging. "Help with childcare when you can, and don't worry about leaving Isobel with the minders when you need."
Mavette was nodding slowly along.
"I can help too!" Isobel signed, bouncing eagerly. "I taught Danny how to spell his name!"
"She did," Dick confirmed. "And she was very polite and well behaved."
"Good," Mavette signed. She sighed, shaking her head. "I don't know how to begin."
Jason squeezed her shoulder. "Begin with bedtime," he suggested. "It's late, and Isobel's had an adventure."
Mavette nodded. "Thank you," she signed again.
Jason and Dick both just nodded. As Mavette turned to Isobel to send her daughter to bed, Dick started to turn to the window again.
Jason caught his wrist and pulled him out the door. "She didn't see you come in the window, and I'd like to keep it that way. One panic attack a night is enough."
"Fair," Dick said. "I'd never drop her."
"I am aware of this," Jason said dryly. "Mavette may not be."
"Call it a night?" Dick said. "I had another six blocks of my loop, but," he trailed off into a yawn.
"I think if anything were going to happen in those six blocks you missed it," Jason agreed. "Let's go home."
Jason's bike was at the curb. He'd left it at the center, which suggested Dick had driven here on his bike, with Isobel. "Oh I am so letting Mavette murder you when she finds out you not only climbed a fire escape, you also put her baby on a motorcycle."
Dick huffed a laugh, and plastered himself to Jason's back.
Jason kicked his bike into gear, letting Dick feel, more than hear, him say, "You were cute with her."
Dick rested his cheek on Jason's shoulder. "I'm always cute," he replied, hands tight on Jason's waist.
Jason couldn't argue with that, so he guided the bike into traffic, and took them home.