As if Damian hadn't been enough.

Jason stares at the little body crotched in front of him. This was supposed to be a simple rescue OP. Batman had found a lead on the child racketeers that have been hunting in Gotham the past month only to be prevented from following that lead due to broken legs. Both of them. Bane had been having a bad week and took it out on Bruce . . . who was lucky it was only his legs actually.

Anyway, Jason had been in the area and took up the lead for the Bat. Not for him for him - just, he had a soft spot for scared abused children is all. He'd found them off Gotham's shores docked halfway to Bludhaven. At least sixty pairs of big scared eyes had looked at him through the dark when he came down. They were all malnourished, dirty, ragged, and shook in the dark silence. Jason figures his Red Hood get up wasn't helping but . . .

These kids needed help. His blood simmered, they were defenseless and he was going to turn however was involved in this into Swiss cheese.

Then another kid, not so scared looking, jumped out of the dark and attacked him. With a freakin' sword. And this kid was unbelievably fast. Jason went for the defense mode because he didn't want to hurt her but damn - she could move. He could tell it was a girl from the movements and size. She was incredible, he was actually struggling not to die right now, ruthless, fierce, and silent as death. It freaked him out. So much.

He'd seen some pretty crapped up things in his life, but a baby assassin like this? Never. Damian was waaay noisier and demanding than this. He bragged a lot during a fight too.

But this kid. Silent, precise, clearly capable of killing him.

But something about her movements - she was scary good, like she could tell what he was going to do before he did it. . . his brain whirls, he doesn't like the realization that comes to him. This child could have killed him ten times over by now - but she hadn't.

Why?

The others start crying, some scream, others curse, Jason struggles to get the little vixen off. She aims the sword right for his throat. Down she plunges. Jason yelps and twists her arms completely around, she spins with the twist and -

"Stop." Jason hisses and hugs her from behind, clamping her entire small body down. "I don't know who you are, but I've come to help. Stay still. I know you're not trying to kill me."

The child freezes for a moment, then kicks him in the gut. He lets her go, not because it hurt, but because it was clear that's what she wanted. She throws something at him, gives him an almost imperceptible nod and runs off. Jason looks in his palm, a rusty key rests there . . . he bites his tongue and instantly lets out all the caged kids.

Getting them off the dank ship had been easier then he'd expected.

But that little girl . . . that kid - he couldn't help wondering who she'd been. She couldn't be older than Tim, who was only like twelve. And the way she fought, not like anything he'd ever seen before.

Even after he finishes the mission, takes care of all the kids, files the paperwork and debriefs Bats of the success, he still thinks about that little killer baby.

"Get your head in the game, Todd!"

Jason flinches and automatically jumps to the side and lands an unexpected kick to Damian's chest.

They were in sparring. He's forgotten.

"That was a cheap shot."

Jason snorts. "You would say that." He moves to grab his discarded shirt.

Damian stands and scowls. "What's with you. Grayson says you've been behaving strangely, I don't care, but it seems he's right. If this had been a real fight I would have killed you hours ago."

The elder male snorts again. "If this had been a real fight, Short stack, I still wouldn't need complete focus to beat you."

"Tt, you've clearly forgotten who the assassin trained Robin is -" Damian scoffs, "- And you are distracted."

"Yah. So."

"So, if Father finds out, he'll bench you-"

"Shut it, twerp, nobody benches me. I'm out." Jason's irritation levels have risen and he was getting touchy. His mind still wanders to that kid. He kinda wishes he could find her. But he leaves the Batcave and goes home instead.

The loud bang again this window in the middle of that night actually surprises him. His hand instantly goes to the pistol underneath his pillow, he gets out of bed, half bare bodied, and tiptoes towards the sound. It sounded as if something slammed into his bullet proof panes.

He peers out the window - nothing but empty dark Gotham streets.

Suddenly a face pops up, Jason tightens himself against his reflexes and slows his brain on cue, forcing back the fear reaction instantly. He opens the window and a small shaking body drops in. Jason sucks in a breath and bends down to see if the persons all right and - who the hell are they? It's a little girl, bloody, broken, and busted up. Jason's blood runs cold, it was that kid. She's unconscious but he'd seen the way she fights - this had to be done by someone more dangerous than her. And - how did she find-

He sees a shadow flicker past his window. Jason curses in his head, yanks the kid up and rolls behind his couch.

Someone is on the sill. He feels the presence, his hairs prickle on his neck. After years of training and living with Batman, he's learned how to feel almost invisible auras. It's definitely an assassin. The steps are soundless and -

Jason's hands tighten around the kid and his gun - He'll kill the guy if he has to -

Then, all at once, the presence was gone.

After a moment, Jason peeks from behind the couch and sees nothing but the moon filtering in through an open window. He doesn't move to close it in case the assassin is still there, instead he flicks on the silent security system he has that Bats gave him which made him stubborn and not turn it on out of spite . . .

And runs to the bathroom.

All the Robins were trained in some medical field, basics and a bit unorthodox methods, just in case. Jason took off the kids assassin costume and instantly notices the deep cuts in her sides and arms, her face was swollen on one side, as if she'd been repeatedly hit on that side, her leg was sprained and she was loosing an impressive amount of life liquid.

Jason spent his evening patching the kid up.

It had been two days since the little girl had come flying through his window. Jason hasn't told anyone yet, he didn't think he needed to anyway, this was his personal business. But the kid wasn't waking up - he'd need Alfred's help soon if she didn't -

That is until she opened her interesting almond shaped eyes. Big and slanted and brown.

"Welcome back to the land of the living kid." Jason gives her a half smile, the kid looks scared then she must have seen something on him because she relaxes instantly.

"Here, I bet you're starved." He hands her a bowl of soup. "Eat up, you'll need a lot of liquids if you're gonna heal fast."

She gulps the bowl down and has three more after.

It has been two week now, Jason's come to realize two things about this girl, other than the fact that she was most definitely not normal, assassin or person. One, she didn't know how to talk, read, or write. Two, she relied on body language.

She understood what he was saying because of his body, she sensed things he didn't even know he was thinking until he did.

She was strange, incredible, and healing pretty well.

Jason had decided to keep her around for a while. Or she'd decided to stay. Either way the little bugger grows on him.

He goes out every night, and then comes back to find her waiting at the door in a fetus position, hugging a pillow. He'll tell her bedtime stories sometimes, she loves to eat anything he makes, she was curious and sweet. Jason finds this little killer to be ten times more pleasurable to have around than Damian ever was. She was incredible. And sometimes . . . scared.

He looks into where she'd come from, of course he did. It's a well instilled paranoia complements to Bruce Wayne. Her blood test didn't show anything on his data base, and she couldn't tell him.

But he doesn't let that stop him from growing attached.

"Jay-son?"

The first time she says his name he trip over his throw rug and lands unceremoniously on the ground with a decidedly high pitched squeak.

She laughs.

Jason has come to call her Cat. She reminded him of cats. Curious, agile, and light with a hunters vibe to her.

She likes saying his name, it's the first word she's learned. She says it all the time, in a loud voice, in a quiet voice, in a sad voice, in a happy voice. Jason didn't know his name could sound so many different ways.

The others were getting suspicious now though.

He's cut down on patrolling some, he hopes nobody could tell. He seems less inclined to team up. He's been caught distracted more than once.

"You feeling alright, Little Wing?" Dick asks, they had gotten stuck patrolling the same neighborhood that night.

"Fine."

"Fine, huh? You sure, because you seem less murderous lately."

Jason's temper flares. "That can be re-established." His eyes spark as he bares a gun.

Dick just laughs and shakes his head in wonder.

Tim is more subtle about trying to find out what was going on. More - around the bush.

Jason ends that investigation with a prompt 'fuck off' and a misaimed bullet to the leg.

Bruce - he just flat out asks.

"Did you kill someone again?"

Jason has to laugh, half in amusement at the mans disturbance and half in bitterness because the guy still didn't trust him like he did the others.

"Maybe."

That didn't ease anyone's souls. Jason just laughs again. He's a troll like that.

His so called family aside, he likes the little girl. A lot. And he'd be damned if he let any of those freaks ruin the simplicity of having her around.

He's shocked one day when he finds the little girl on his rickety coffee table, the alphabet books he's borrowed from a library, he had a card so sue him, strewn all over the place, her hand gripping an ink pen like it was a dagger and struggling to write on a piece of crinkly paper.

She lifts up the work, flushed and tired.

Jason crouches down and reads.

"Kusanjru." Jason blinks. "Kus - K - Cassandra?" He looks at her for affirmation.

She nods, grin wide.

"Cassandra, your name, huh?"

She nods again.

Jason smiles, "I like it. Cass, has a nice ring to it. Cassandra the assassin."

She sags instantly and looks away. Jason cringes, he forgets she doesn't like to be called an assassin.

"Cass, just Cass." He reaches over and pulls her into a hug.

She hugs back. He realizes there was no way he was going to let any Batcronie ruin this.

Unfortunately, since when did Jason Todd ever get favored by the universe?

"Who's this?"

"Get out, Tim."

The younger Robin crouches down to hunched Cass in the corner, peering at her as if she was some secret phenomenon he was going to figure out. "She's young. Really young."

"She's like ten, you douche, barely younger than you." Jason snaps, his patience wearing.

Tim taps his chin."And you're like twenty . . . so that rules out fathering possibilities."

"Get out." Jason scowls and grabs at the kid.

Tim dodges and rolls to his knees in front of the girl. Damn his shortness.

"Hi, my name's Tim Drake, but you can call me Tim. Where did Jason find you?"

Cass blinks at him for a second, and for some reason it was like someone was squeezing his lungs for an awful stiff moment as he waits to see what she would do to Tim. She reads him. Then, she evidently didn't see anything wrong because she stands and looks the younger Robin in the eyes.

"C-ass." She stutters out, she's learned her name by now.

Tim smiles politely and holds out a hand. Cass stares then takes it slowly, unsure. Tim's smile gets wider.

"Foreign kid huh? Really Jason - I didn't think you were into adopting foreign kids."

"I told you to get lost, ya little freak." Jason is done with this. He opens the window and yanks the kid towards it. "And if you tell anyone she's here, so help me, I'll rip out your tongue and feed it to the lions at the zoo."

"'Kay. See ya Jason. Nice to meet you Cass. Bye." He grins like the little shit face he is and waves before disappearing out the window.

Jason knows it's too much to hope that this doesn't continue. But he hopes anyway.

"Dawwww! She really is adorable." Dick comes next, Jason almost shoots him right then and there.

He should have know that little pipsqueak couldn't keep his damn mouth shut. "Stop. Leave."

Dick giggles. "But I wanna meet her, hi I'm Dick Grayson, Tim says your name is Cass and for the record, I grilled him. He wasn't going to tell anyone." Dick throws Jason a devious look. "But I am excellent in bribing techniques."

Jason groans, loud and long and scrubs his face.

What's worse?

Cass likes the ass. No, she loves him. Of course she would, everyone else did. Jason snarls the entire time Dick talks to her and makes her smile and plays with her and reads to her and gives her cereal for lunch . . . Aw jeez, this was ridiculous.

And he was not jealous.

But this wasn't the worst of it. Damian comes after. Alfred in tow.

Alfred says he wants to make sure Jason's eating alright and to find out for himself if him having a child under his care was true. It was. Alfred likes Cass, his analysis being done he went to make lunch.

Damian just glares at Cass. Jason was starting to get pissed off by it. Cass just stares calmly back. Neither sat. Both were ridged.

Jason wonders if this is some secret assassin baby talk they were doing.

Damian ends up sparring with her, and getting his ass handed to him, much to his embarrassment. Turns out - Cass's fighting style is slightly familiar to the demon brat. It's a mix from someone in the league and someone else that he can't identify.

So Cass was connected to Ra's al Ghul somehow.

Great.

Despite that, Damian gives her begrudging respect. Jason's suspicious that he likes her.

But nothing compares to when Bruce drops by. It's horrible.

Jason expects judgment, reprimand, even relocation for Cass . . . but no, it turns out worse than that.

Cass adores the man. Jason feels cheated, left behind again, only this time someone was leaving him for Bruce, instead of Bruce leaving him for someone . . . or whatever.

After that he is forced to take her to the manor regularly. All of them adore the girl. Bruce finds out who her parents were of course, they don't mention it. Alfred gets her a room. Tim hangs out with her, Dick takes her to fun places. Damian trains with her. Barbie, she fucking acted like it was her own sister.

And Bruce?

Jason doesn't want to believe it at first. But he sees it. He sees the growing attachment the old man has for the kid. He sees her grow closer, fonder of Bats. He watches as Bruce takes her out on simple missions, as she impresses him, as she spent more and more time with Bats and less time with him.

He's hurt at first. He's grown to care for that little girl. Care about her more then he's cared about anything in a long time.

He's grown used to having her silently follow him around his apartment. Wait for him at the door. Ask him to read to her, to teach her how to read, to teach her how to be normal. He's missing her curious stares as she watches him cook. He's missing how interested she is in his favorite things. He's missing how she loves going to the park with him . . .

But she has other people for each of those things now - he wasn't important anymore.

Yah, it hurt at first. Real bad.

Then come the adoption papers.

"For me?" Cass asks, she's gotten the hang of this speaking thing for the most part. Though it was still choppy.

Jason crosses his arms, leans back into a shadowed wall and bites back his hostility as he watches Bruce from under his bangs.

"Yes. You spend much of your time here, we all love having you, and David Cain isn't going to have you back. I'm prepared to take care of you like a real father."

It was the first time Jason had seen the girl cry willingly.

Cass is fifteen now. She's a big girl. But she still wants a father.

And Bruce Wayne has this unexplainable way of making any kid he comes in long term contact with feel just that, like he was a father they want.

Jason wasn't it. He knew he wasn't. He doesn't want to be her father, he just wants to be important enough to be first for someone. . . but that would never happen. He's always last on the ranks.

He turns to leave as she signs the papers.

"Jason!"

He stops, hands holding onto his bike. "Yah?"

He doesn't look at her. He doesn't have the heart to at the moment. He wants to smile at her, but he can't just yet, even though she can probably tell how he really feels just by looking at him, he still doesn't want her to see it on his face.

She puts a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Don't go. We are family."

He doesn't mean to, but a bitter laugh escapes him. "No, Cass." He turns to look at her now. "They are Family, and I'm not a part of it, I haven't been really for a long time. I'm just a sideliner trying to peek in. But you? You chose them, you are a part of them now. I'm happy for you." He is or at least he will be later.

She reads him. She can tell, she can always tell, nothing escapes her eyes. She's too good at this. Jason feels bare, angry, and disappointed all at once.

She moves like a cat and squeezes him tight. Her arms around his middle. "Don't go. Please. You are sad, I see."

Jason laughs, dry and forced as he hugs her back. "I'll be fine kid. I always am."

"True." Cass searches his face. "Still my family. First family. First Brother."

That sends a sudden warmth into his heart and makes him ooze like a fucking fluffy marshmallow, though he'll never ever admit that out loud. He feels better. A thousand times better, he hates feeling anything. He places a large hand on top of her head. "Yah, Brother, your brother. Okay?"

She smiles brightly, one of her rare unreserved smiles. "Alfred cooks, he says it's roast." She still doesn't get some words.

Jason laughs, a real one this time. "Well, I can't turn down Alfred's roast. Come on, I'll stick around for a bit longer."

Cass nods and takes his hand. "You are family. To them too, you know."

"Let's not bring that topic up yet. Okay."

She nods again in understanding. Later, she'll probably figure things completely out. Maybe he'll explain in real words.

Maybe she already understands without them. Jason can't tell sometimes.

But, for some odd unexplained reason, as they are all sitting around the table, all eating, laughing, fighting, teasing, insulting . . . choking on the roast. Jason takes a second, only a second, to feel like maybe these jerks really were still his family.

He squashes that thought down when Damian insults his bike.