Before...

Jason trudged his way up the battered stairs of his building. He could clearly hear the television blaring through the too-thin walls of the apartment below him as he made his way up the last damned flight of stairs. Why the hell couldn't he have picked a safe house building with a working elevator? Then he remembered that incident with Black Mask's men last month, and thought, oh right...

Once in his apartment, he pulled his guns free of the holsters on his belt, and placed them on the table, next to be remove were his many knives, then his leather jacket was shrugged off and slipped over the chair. Jason stretched his tired muscles and cast a longing glance towards his refrigerator, where the last two bottles of beer were chilling, left over from Roy's surprise visit last week. He opened the fridge door, casting the still dark apartment in a halo of light and grabbed the two remaining bottles before bumping the door shut with his hip as he rooted around in a drawer for the bottle opener.

Jason snapped the cap off of one bottle and took a swig, twirling the bottle opener between his fingers. He pursed his lips. "Are you going to stand in the shadows all night or are you going to say something?"

Jason turned around and leaned his back against the counter, glaring into the shadows until the figure emerged to stand in the light cast in from the windows. "Jason."

Jason took another drink, the bottle resting calmly against his hip. He pointed one finger towards his front door."I thought I told you to use the door when you wanted to see me. Did you not get that message?"

"You kept changing your safe house locations. I couldn't have gotten a hold of you even if I wanted to."

Batman walked forward a little more until he was standing by the table where Jason's weapons were laid out on display. Bruce took a moment to eject the magazines from the two guns and placed them next to the weapons. Jason scowled, did Bruce think he was going to shoot him in his own apartment? As if...he couldn't afford anymore holes in his walls.

"Yeah," Jason drawled, lips posed over the rim of his drink. "I was hoping you would get that message too. Didn't seem to stop you, I see."

"How long did you know I was here?" Batman asked and Jason wanted to laugh. Was Bruce still trying to test his detection skills like he was one of his little birds? Even if one of his runners hadn't stopped him outside his building to tell him Batman had been spotted on the rooftops in the area, Jason still would have sensed that brooding presence the moment he walked through the door. He'd like to think even sooner, but one shouldn't become too cocky. It was unbecoming, as Alfred would say.

"I smelled something sour as I was getting out my keys and at first I thought the milk in my fridge had gone bad. Then I remembered I'm out of milk. I knew it could only be one other thing after that." He flashed his teeth at Batman, hoping to twist that stonewall expression into anything else.

"Amusing." Batman said, though he looked anything but amused under the cowl. "Are you trying to tell me I smell bad?"

Jason rolled his eyes. "I trying to tell you that you're so emotionally constipated that it's a wonder you haven't let one loose during patrol and killed frickin Bane!"

"Speaking of which..."

Jason nearly choked on his mouthful of beer. "Excuse me? How is that a speaking of which? Did you come here to talk to me about Bane?"

"No...though Bane can be seen as an example, if you like. I came here to talk to you about Tim."

"What about Tim?" Jason growled, not at all liking the territory Bruce was crossing into. What he had with Tim was private, he'd barely even let Dick in on the fact of their relationship.

"I know about your relationship with him, Jason." Bruce said. Jason's lips twisted at the phrasing, your relationship with him, like Jason had somehow blackmailed or tricked Tim into a relationship with him. Wasn't that just novel. It was just like Bruce to assume that no one could love Jason as he was now, instead of the obedient Robin that Bruce wanted him to be. It was just like him to protect Tim's innocent from Jason, like the other boy was incapable of making his own choices.

"I want this relationship to end, Jason. I'll give you the chance to end it yourself, but if you don't, don't assume for a second that I won't take matters into my own hands."

Jason slammed his beer down hard enough that the bottle smashed into pieces, pieces that cut into Jason's palm. His hand was wet with the remaining liquid and a bit of his own blood, but he couldn't careless as this moment. "Fuck you," he hissed. "Where the fuck do you get off demanding something like that?"

"Tim was a good Robin and he's a great crime fighter. In almost everything he does, he commits himself, but just in the same way, he constantly takes on things that are too much for him. You, Jason¸ are too much for him. He will put his heart and soul into a relationship with you and no doubt he will make you a better person because of it, but I know that if this goes on it's going to get him killed."

"No," Jason said. "You mean I'm going to get him killed. Don't you?"

Bruce's face was as grime and unreadable as always.

"Don't you!" Jason shouted.

"Yes," Bruce said eventually. "One way or another, you're going to get him killed."

Jason shook his head like he was trying to shake Bruce's unpleasant words out of his ears. "You're wrong, wrong on so many levels. I love Tim, more than I've probably love anyone in my whole two damn lives combined and I would never put him into a situation that I knew he couldn't handle. You think you can take one look at our relationship and suddenly you have the right to judge us. You know nothing of what I'd do for him. So take your opinions and get the fuck out of my apartment!"

Batman stepped closer until he was right in front of Jason. "You're reckless, Jason. You've always been reckless. I saw the footage of your fight with Bane, and I watched you put Tim's life on the line to take Bane down. Tim thought he could hide the new stitches when he came to the cave the next day, but I noticed. I refuse to let Tim be another thing that gets broken because of your carelessness."

"Tim is not your sidekick anymore." Jason said, his hands balling into fists at his sides. "He has his own identity as Red Robin and he will make his own choices in who he patrols with and who he dates. You have no say in that and I doubt you ever really did."

"I know that." Bruce replied.

Jason's eyes narrowed, realizing what Bruce was getting at. "And neither do I."

If Bruce really expected Jason to become the "Bad Guy" in this, then he had another thing coming. Bruce could rage on about how Jason was immoral for fighting with guns and killing criminals and thugs, but Jason refused to hurt Tim like this. He would not be responsible for breaking his heart.

"Think about it this way Jason. Calculate the number of people you have out for your head." Too many, thought Jason. "Then count up the number of people who are after Tim. Now think about the fact that Tim has lost his spleen. Add your reckless behavior into the mix and what do you think you come out with?"

Jason knew, Death. If they were lucky it would only be one of them, or maybe, not so lucky, at that...He tried to imagine losing Tim in the field and his heart seemed to tear itself out of his chest. The empty space there ached with phantom pains. He imagined it would feel much the same for Tim in that situation.

"I'd rather you break his heart than break his body. And if you end this now, then there's less of a chance that one of you will be watching the other die on patrol. A broken heart is easier to recover from."

Jason stared hard down at the floor, fighting back the tears that were forming in his eyes. He knew that Bruce was right about this, because Bruce was always thinking in terms of the long run. He did that every night on patrol as Batman.

He might hate me, but at least he'll be alive, Jason thought. He nodded once, eyes still pointed down at the floor. Bruce gripped one of Jason's shoulders, Jason could feel the firm fingers of his gauntlet press into his skin.

"You're doing the right thing, Jason. Just like I knew you would. You were always my good soldier."

Jason clenched his eyes shut and said nothing.