Dick smiled as he leaned back into the passenger seat. Warmth radiated up and through his Kevlar as the heater kept the cab a just the right temperature to make Dick feel a little drowsy. Or he could be crashing.

He was probably most definitely crashing.

As the last little bit of excitement and adrenaline slowly drained from Dick's body and left behind a pleasant tiredness, he watched the dark line of trees and shadows zoom past his window. The world always looked so different at night, but it was in a familiar, comfortable sort of way, especially now that his muscles had a slight ache to them like after a hard performance. It made him think of the occasional late show performances that his parents would sometime let him do – and the ones his uncle always insisted he do, but he wasn't going to think about that right now – and how keyed up he would feel right up until his head hit his pillow. He'd never even realize he'd fallen asleep, and the next thing he'd know the sun would be drifting in from the small window next to his bed in the trailer. It'd be that way tonight. He was sure of it.

Dick tried to stifle a yawn but found that he didn't really have the energy anymore for even that. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Batman turn his attention from the road for just a second to watch him. Dick just smiled back him. He'd been that so much lately that his face actually kind of hurt, but who cared. Because here he was, coming in from patrol for the first time, as Batman's official sidekick.

It was so awesome that Dick didn't even know the words to describe it. He knew a bunch of different words in a bunch of different languages, but none of them really seemed to fit the whole thing. It was easy and hard, terrifying and familiar, thrilling and tiring, and everything else all rolled into one big mess of emotions that he felt to young to know and too old to not recognize. Everything about it was just...right.

Sort of. (He pushed all those thought away, though, because running around and fighting crime with Batman was every kids' dream, and there was no way that Dick was going to blow it over stuff that hadn't happened.)

Instead, Dick decided to just bask in the greatness of it all because this week not only did he turn 13, but now he could finally be Robin.

Well, only on Friday and Saturday nights until midnight, but that was just for right now while he was still in school. It wouldn't be long until summer came around, and maybe by then he could convince Bruce (and Alfred) to let him go out patrolling a little more. It wasn't like he'd be doing a whole of anything else besides training then.

Maybe he could convince them that it could be a community service project. Bruce had been dropping hints about them taking a more active interest in that kind of thing.

Dick must have drifted off at some point because the next thing he knew the dim lights from the cave were filling up the cab of the batmobile. Batman pulled up to his usual parking space as Dick stretched his arms over his head and yawned once more.

Just as Batman killed the engine, Dick said, "That was awesome, B."

It was always hard to tell with Bruce, but Dick would swear that he smiled.

"You did good out there," Bruce said.

If Dick thought his face hurt before, it was aching now with the size of his smile.

This time, Batman actually did smile – which was kind of terrifying in itself – and said, "Go hit the showers. I'll walk you up when you're done."

If it had been any other time, Dick might have felt a little miffed by the fact that Batman was going back out without him. He knew Bruce had to. Midnight wasn't really all that late for the Gotham City Rogues, but Bruce had decided that it was plenty late enough for him. It was fine for now because at least he was getting go out. He would just have to work on trying to get more field time.

Hopefully, if he did, he wouldn't screw up again like he had with the Joker and Jason.

Ignoring the guilt that bubbled in his stomach, Dick climbed out of the car.

Alfred was still at the computer stations and going through the many terminals that monitored the city. Dick could see the program that filtered through the variety of police scanner stations to alert them to any major crimes happening running quietly. There were a few things popping up here and there, but nothing that need immediate attention.

Alfred, however, was currently more interested in the baby-monitor that they had set up in Damian's room. (Dick wasn't one hundred percent sure that Bruce hadn't put up similar monitors in his and Jason's and Tim's rooms, but he hadn't found them yet.) It only went off when there was movement in the room, which was probably why Alfred was currently looking at it. Movement in a two-year-old's room after midnight wasn't generally a good thing. Squinting a little, Dick saw a big, black blob walk across the nursery before laying down in front of Damian's bed. Ace must have decided to keep Damian company for the night. That wasn't unusual. Ace liked to keep an eye on them, especially Damian.

Beside it would be a little hard for him to watch Tim and Jason since they were currently charging at Dick.

"Robin!" Tim said like he had been waiting forever to use that name. "You finally got to go out. What was it like?"

"Did you see any top-tiers?" Jason asked. "Was Ivy or Two-Face out?"

"Did you get to swinging across some roof tops?" Tim's face lit up. "Did you get to do a quadruple off a building?"

"Did you stop any murders? What about gang wars?"

They stared up at him with expected faces, which caused Dick's stomach to drop a little. As great as it had been to be out, really, he didn't get to do much tonight besides sit in the car and run across a couple of rooftops. There wasn't a whole lot going on their early in the night, which was exactly why Bruce had decided to start his patrol then. Now that he thought about it, it did kind of make for a boring first outing.

"Um...there was a mugging," Dick said.

Again, Jason's and Tim's faces lit up at the thought of seeing real action on the street with Batman.

"Did you get to hit the guy?" Jason asked.

"Did you stop it by yourself?" Tim added.

With a sigh, Dick said, "No. Bruce stopped it. I just handed the old lady back her purse."

The excitement drained out of Jason almost immediately, and even Tim didn't seem overly impressed with the thought.

"She gave me some toffee," Dick added. She had been so grateful for the help that Dick hadn't been able to refuse her offer. Most of the paper had stuck to it no matter how hard Dick had tried to peel it off, and it tasted like it was probably made about a decade before he was born; but his acceptance had made her happy. He would swear that Bruce had been laughing at him when they walked back to the car.

With a little sigh, Tim asked, "Did you at least get to go see the Commissioner?"

A smirk that Dick really didn't like grew on Jason's lips. "Yeah, Robin. Did you go show off your costume to your girlfriend?"

Dick felt his cheeks heat up. "She's not – she's not my girlfriend, Jason!"

Jason snorted but kept grinning at Dick's reaction. "You're right. She'd have to know you're alive to be your girlfriend."

The usually cool cave was nearly stifling for Dick as he pressed his lips and tried to think of something to say back to that. He couldn't, of course, because it was true. Barbara didn't know he was alive beyond the fact that he was the oldest kid living at Wayne Manor, but Jason didn't have to point that out every chance that he could. It wasn't like Dick cared anyway. He just wanted to be her friend because he knew how great of ones they would be. Nothing else.

Nope.

No way.

...right?

"Why aren't you two in bed?" Bruce asked as he pushed off his cowl and, thankfully, saved Dick from this conversation.

Tim ducked his head a little he thought Bruce was about to tell him he was disappointed in him or something for not being where he should be. Tim didn't do as much lately – not like when he first started to stay with them, and it had only taken Bruce looking at him for more than a second or so to get that kind of reaction. However, Tim still did it enough for all of them to notice.

Dick would never say it, but he really didn't like Tim's parents too much. He knew they could be a whole lot worse and did love Tim in their own kind of crappy way, but that still didn't make the way they treated Tim right.

Reaching over, Dick wrapped his arm around Tim's shoulder and pulled him into a one-arm hug. He grinned up at Dick and just let him hold him. Tim's head was still ducked a little bit, but this time it was more out of shyness than worry.

"Come one, B," Jason said. "It's Friday night. It's not like we have school tomorrow."

Bruce just raised an eyebrow in response, which – of course – made Jason cross his arms. Dick sighed at them. He wondered if there would ever be a time when Jason wouldn't try to push B, but then dismissed the thought as wishful thinking. Dick was just glad that by the time Jason was a teenager he'd be almost old enough to be out of the house. That wasn't going to be fun. He couldn't leave Tim and Damian to deal with it all by themselves, however. Maybe when he moved out he would just take them with him until that war was over. Alfred, too, because he shouldn't have to referee them either. Plus, that would also mean he would still get Alfred's cooking for a while longer. The idea was sounding better and better.

Still tucked under Dick's arm, Tim said, "Alfred said we could."

"Indeed I did," Alfred replied as he walked to the edge of the platform that the batcomputer sat on and looked down at them. "I also said that it was only for tonight, and that you and Master Jason were to head straight up once Master Dick returned."

Bruce grunted, which Dick took to mean that he was okay with that, before walked past them to join Alfred up at the computer.

Groaning, Jason said, "But it's the weekend, Alfred. Can't we stay up a little longer."

Dick held in a snort. Yeah, like that was going to work.

As predicted, Alfred just held Jason with a steady stare that made Jason shifted a bit uneasily. After he was satisfied with that, Alfred said, "As you well know, Master Jason, bedtimes in this household are non-negotiable, and this was a one-time exception for Master Dick's first –"

A harsh ringing broke through the relative quietness of the cave. Dick swore that it didn't make him jump, but Timmy's startled twitch did. Thankfully, Jason's attention was still on Alfred, who was frowning at the cordless house phone lying on an empty space on the computer. Most people didn't bother with landlines these days, but Alfred was insistent that they kept theirs for 'just in case' things. Honestly, Dick couldn't remember anyone calling on in the past four months, which just made it all the more bizarre.

As Alfred properly answered the phone with "Wayne Residence", Dick wondered, "Who'd call a house with kids after midnight?"

Jason considered it and then said, "Bootycall?"

"Jason!" Bruce snapped. However before he could say anything more, Alfred held out the phone to him and said, "Telephone, sir."

Frowning, Dick asked Jason, "Do you even know what that means?"

The look he gave Dick clearly said that he did, which was just wrong that an eight-year-old would know something like that. Even if it was Jason.

"Is that when your phone accidentally dials someone while it's in your pocket?" Tim asked.

"Yes," Dick said, cutting off Jason before he had a chance to corrupt him. "That's exactly what that is. Just...don't ever say call it that."

Tim narrowed his eyes and frowned. Ignoring Dick, Tim said to Jason, "It's something bad, isn't it?"

A tired sigh from Bruce pretty much killed the conversation. Tim's and Jason's heads snapped towards the sound as quickly as Dick's did. Dick could feel Tim' shoulders tense slightly under his touch, while Jason just became very still. Something wasn't right. What it was they didn't know, but all three of them knew that it wasn't good if B made that sound.

"No, I understand," Bruce said. "I'll let him know."

Hanging up the phone, Bruce handed it back over to Alfred before walking over to Dick and the others. His attention, however, was mainly on Tim. Dick couldn't keep the frown off his face and gave into the urge to hold Tim a little tighter still to his side.

"What's going on, B?" Jason asked.

Instead of answering him direction, Bruce looked down at Tim and said, "That was your father, Tim. He and your mother have decided to come home for awhile."

"Oh," Tim said quietly. "When will they be here?"

"Sunday."