If she wanted to be completely honest, charging in like she had done wasn't the best decision that she had ever made. Sure it didn't hold up against everything with the Joker but it was still in her top ten worst decisions, right after the whole line dancing incident.
As she held her hand against her injured side, hoping the pressure would slow the blood loss, she fished about with her free hand for her phone. In less than a second she was looking at her short list of contacts unsure of whom to get in contact with or rather who was going to hold this lapse in judgement above her head the least. Her thumb hovered above Roy's number and by association Kori's, while they were top of her list to call neither would be able to make to her before she bled out as they were currently gallivanting around somewhere in South America - their location not completely known. Tim Drake was another that she wouldn't be able to contact easily for help. His duties with the Teen Titans had taken him back to their headquarters and he, like Kori and Roy, wouldn't make it to her in time. The third Robin and her relationship was the best healed and more often than not whenever she was in Gotham she was with him, sometimes with Dick or Damian but most of the time not. As sure as Jacin was that they would try their hardest to make it back to her, the chance of a second death was not something that she was willing to chance so she looked at the next option.
Damien Wayne was instantly disqualified. The littlest resident of Wayne Manor was not her biggest fan ever since hearing about the first few bloody filled reunions between herself, Dick Grayson and to a lesser extent his father. A tiny part of her felt flattered that she had managed to piss off the tiny assassin to the extent that she had but the rest of her knew that it wasn't exactly a hard list to get onto. Tim Drake had managed to get into that list by merely existing plus whatever else had caused the rift between the two. Dick was slightly higher on the list than Damien but not by much. Her hug loving older brother and herself were on better terms then when she first arrived back in Gotham but she didn't think that he had completely forgiven her for all the shooting and she hasn't yet been pinned down long enough with the acrobat to fully have the heart to heart that would end in hugs and tears - all flowing from Dick no doubt. Even so she didn't feel like having the mother hen that was supposedly her older brother hovering and reprimanding her while she bled out over the warehouse floor.
Alfred was a possibility but she didn't want to risk the ex-especial forces trained butler, even if she was sure that he could handle any of the people that she had forgotten about or missed in the fire fight. Barbra Gordon was out as well as the former Batgirl turned all-knowing eye wouldn't be able mobilise herself although she could still get in contact with someone who was close to her.
That left only one person and she let her head fall back against the wall behind her before closing her eyes. Bruce would no doubt drop what he was doing in order to help her. She knew that but that didn't mean that she completely liked it. Her former guardian and her relationship was a little less rocky at best, despite attempts by Tim recently to try and fix the badly repaired bridge that connected Bruce and herself. But it was getting better even she had to admit that.
Opening her eyes and looking up at the ceiling she wondered whether or not she would be able to handle what was surely going to happen the moment she pressed that button and called for help. It would mean crossing a path that hadn't been crossed in a very long time, a path that was over grown and hazardous but would mean that she wouldn't be making friends with the Grim Reaper once again. She knew that it was mainly a pride thing; that living trumped whatever it was that was causing her the hesitate calling him, and for a split second she wondered if maybe this was just fates way of righting whatever caused her to return to the world of the living. However she couldn't understand why fate would have been so cruel to allow her to return to life only to take it from her so soon. She took a deep breath, her chest feeling tight as she did and pressed the call button without looking.
She could feel her hand shaking, from blood loss or nerves Jacin couldn't tell, as the sound of the dial tone echoed throughout the warehouse. Her heart seemed to stop every time the dial tone repeated and for the second time in her life she wondered if maybe she had pushed Bruce too far and he wasn't going to come save her. She was ready to give up when his voice answered, gruff and filled with sleep.
'Hello? Jacin?'
Her voice caught in her throat for a second, held back by a sobbing sounding breath. He hadn't been ignoring her; she'd caught him during those precious few hours of sleep. The jerky movement caused her to gasp and she choked out his name.
'Bruce, I'm in a bit of trouble.'
She could hear the sounds of him moving as she talked, a muffled called for Alfred followed by instructions to trace her phone. She could hear the sounds of him pulling on his costume and the sound of the Bat mobile revving but she couldn't get anything else to come out of her mouth. She felt tired and the edges of her vision were starting to blur. She could hear Bruce telling her to talk, to make a noise of some kind but her whole body felt heavy, almost like it was made of lead and she couldn't gather the strength to do anything.
This was nothing like the last time. Last time she fought to try and get away despite the blood loss and broken bones. This time she was quite content to sit and wait. She supposed the bomb was what made the difference. You weren't so eager to move when you weren't seeing your life being counted down in be red numbers.
Her phone slipped from her fingers and as the sound of it hitting the cement floor echoed in the air around her she was sure that she could see four figures racing toward her in a blurry hurry before she closed her eyes and let the darkness surround her.
~*~
Waking up in the med bay of the Bat cave wasn't a new experience for her, but having four noses pressed up against the glass as Alfred moved around her was an experience that she hasn't been on the receiving end of. She couldn't see them directly, but she could make put the out of focused silhouettes of Bruce, Dick, Tim and Damian out of the corner of her eye and for a second she considered closing her eyes and allowing herself to fall back into the calming oblivion that she had just come out of. All thoughts of that were driven from her mind as she saw Alfred walk over to the glass, make a shooing motion with his hand and close the curtains before turning back around to face her. For a second she was ready to thank him for making the peanut gallery disappear but those thought quickly disappeared when she saw the look on Alfred's face.
There were few things that could cause the butler to get mad and look at Jacin like he was. The first was walking over the freshly cleaned floor with muddy boots - that was an easy way to make your way into Alfred's bad books and on cleaning duty for a fortnight. Second was doing anything that threatened the lives of those he cared about - more than once during her first stay at the manor Jacin had witnessed Alfred giving a firm and harsh talking to to a couple of guests who thought that they could talk badly about Dick, and that wasn't even bringing into account the time she had witnessed him wielding a gun when someone had broken into the house when Bruce had gone on a business trip. She saw Alfred use moves that she was sure not even Bruce knew how to use.
The third thing was making bad decisions that resulting in yourself or someone else almost dying. Jacin had pictured what Alfred would have said to her if she had returned alive after going to find her mother, she imagined a lot of British saying that made no sense to her and a few well-placed swear words just for good measure. She hadn't imagined how he would have looked at her, almost as if holding back anger and words that would have broken the picture of resilient British butler.
They looked at each other for a moment before he walked over to the bench and started to prepare something.
'How long was I out?' She asked, pushing herself up to sit and drawing in a breath through her teeth in pain as she did.
'A couple of hours. You were found unconscious and bleeding heavily, you're lucky you were found when you we're,' he replied.
'So I didn't imagine them bursting in then,' she said.
'No, Miss Jacin, you did not.'
'How mad are they?' She asked and glanced over at the closed curtain where she knew they were still waiting.
'Mad would not be the appropriate word to use. I believe that they are more worried than mad, as was I and as were your team mates.'
It took a moment for her to realise who it was that Alfred was talking about but once realisation dawned she looked around in search of her phone. It wasn't too far away from her on the bench next to Alfred but from her position she could make out multiple worried messages from Roy and Kori.
Jacin slowly pulled herself up further before swinging her legs over the side of the examination table. She carefully slid off and reached over for her phone only to hand Alfred's hand slam down onto it and stop her. The noise echoed around the room and outside she was sure that she heard a couple of gasps from the four waiting to come in and see her. Alfred's shoulders were tense and it was then she realised that Alfred had yet to look at her directly since she has regained consciousness. If she wanted to lie she could easily tell herself that he had yet to forgive her for everything that she had done when she had first returned but she knew that wasn't the case so it wouldn't be a convincing lie.
No, this had to do with what had happened tonight. Something about the whole scenario had caused her pseudo-grandfather to suddenly decide that he couldn't look at her right now.
'Alfred?'
'Jacin, I am only going to say this once so I hope that you take note and I do not have to make sure that you remember what I am about to say to you through other methods,' Alfred said, turning around to look at her with one of the sternest looks she had ever seen. 'If you ever put yourself in danger like you did tonight and do not call for help sooner I will ensure that your healing time will be stretched out to include but not limited to watching the three prequel Star Wars films - and only them - and allowing Richard complete access to your room and your TV without your prior approval.' Knowing that he was completely serious, Jacin nodded. 'Good, now please sit back down and I will return your phone to you shortly so you can inform Mr Harper and Miss Koriand'r that you are very much alive.'
His eyes didn't leave her until she was once again sitting on the examination table and then with one final firm stare he turned his back to her and continued with his preparations.
'You're lucky that you were found when you were, any longer and I do not think you would be still with us,' Alfred explained.
'That would explain why everything started to fade to black like in an overly cheesy movie,' she said, clenching her teeth when an unconscious movement jolted her injured side. 'How bad was it?'
'Bad enough that you'll be staying with us for the next month to ensure that you heal and to not cause yourself any either injury.'
'A month? I can't stay here a month Alfred!'
'You can and you will. This topic is not up for debate,' Alfred tossed over his shoulder.
'I have a life and my own patrols that I need to do, I don't have the back up to ensure that things don't fall to pieces.'
'That is where you are greatly mistaken between what you think you have and what you do have,' Alfred said. 'No doubt one, if not all of the men outside will be more than happy to help you during your recuperation.'
'Alfred, I'm not handing over my side of town to them. As much as I'm sure they can handle them, what I deal with nightly is different then what they normally deal with. Their methods are just going to cause more chaos,' Jacin said. 'They're going to cause more problems than they are going to be able to fix.'
'You make it seem as though Crime Alley and the surrounding people are children that need an exemplary strong hand in order to keep them in line.'
'That is one way of putting it. The other is that threats and beatings don't work all the time and that is when you have to resort to other means to ensure that the peace is kept.'
'And that is what you were doing tonight?' Alfred asked.
'What is was doing tonight was trying to ensure that a gang war didn't start up only to find myself in the middle of the gang war that I was trying to stop. I misjudged their tempers and didn't give them enough credit; apparently they were stupid enough to bring guns to the peace talks.'
Alfred hummed. 'Perhaps maybe a different approach is needed.'
'Yes, like me not giving them the chance to reach for their guns,' Jacin hissed.
'Now you are being over dramatic,' Alfred told her. 'This is not up for discussion, Jacin. You are grounded from patrolling until further notice.'
'I want a second opinion.'
'Like whose?'
'Leslie Tompkins.'
'Who do you think prescribed this impromptu vacation?'
'You're both over reacting. I do not need to be put on bed rest. I'm well enough to continue my duties regardless of what anyone else thinks.'
'Yes, that's why you were brought in here three hours ago, unconscious, with sever blood loss and a bullet wound that narrowly missed hissing anything other than muscle and skin. You're a lucky girl for only getting his there but I, as well as everyone else, would be remiss to allow you to walk out of here and resume your normal duties without fully resting. There is no more room for debate on the subject Jacin,' Alfred said firmly and she knew there was no way that she would be able to argue with him any further.
'A month? Only a month?' She questioned.
'Four weeks. At the end of that time Doctor Thompkins will look at your injury herself to determine if you are ready to return to Crime Alley or not.'
'Fine, but I swear if they screw up my turf-'
'I'm sure that whoever takes over in your absence will be more than willing to seek you out for advice if they need it, as you are the expert. Now do you concede to your Doctor's orders?' She gave a short nod. 'Very well. I'll leave you to get in contact with Mr Harper and Miss Koriand'r while I make sure that your room is prepared. But first I believe that we need to take care of some overdue business,' Alfred said, carrying a tray with three needles on it to the examination table.
Jacin eyed them. 'This is your way of punishing me, isn't it?'
'If I wish to punish you, young lady, I would have allowed the four outside in the moment that you awoke,' Alfred said, a slight glint in his eye.
~*~
Alfred was a lot kinder then she thought that he was going to be given the circumstances. Sure she knew that he wasn't going to be outright cruel to her but the older man could have easily allowed for Bruce and the other occupants of the Manor to play a larger role in getting her out of the med-bay and upstairs. Instead he sent each of them on their own little missions to acquire something that would help her later before helping her climb the stairs up to the main house.
It didn't take a genius to discover where Alfred was planning for her to sleep during her stay. In fact she knew the moment that he had all but blackmailed her into staying that he had been planning of having her stay in her old room. The room that looked like it had been frozen in time just waiting for fifteen-year-old Jacin to come walking back into it and begin reading her copy of The Outsiders for the hundredth time.
She had been in there a couple of times since her original return. Both times when Bruce, Dick and Damian were out of the house and Alfred was busy making Tim and her something to eat while they tried to find something on the computer in the bat cave that would help them on the case that they were working on. Each time she had come upstairs under the premise of finding a flash drive in Bruce's office to transfer the information onto. The first time had been an accident; she had honestly just been craving a cigarette after finding a flash drive and remembered the pack that she had hidden in her old room. Curiosity got the better of her and she went upstairs to see if the pack was still there. It was, as well as everything else that belonged to her sitting exactly where she had left it - even that half read book she had left on her bedside table.
It had taken her breath away at the time to think that they hadn't packed any of her things away, even when she had returned and started to take pot shots at them. Every other time after that was so she could borrow and replace something that she had taken from the room; feeling like she was invading each time and praying to whatever gods were out there that she wouldn't be caught. She was aware that Tim knew, her successor had spotted her walking out of the room a number of times, usually with something under her arm, but had never said anything about it. Alfred knew as well as there wasn't anything that went on in bother the bat cave and in the main house that he didn't know about, but it still shocked her when he pulled out a pair of pyjamas in her size from a dresser and placed them beside her.
'I expect that you'll be changed by the time I come back with some tea,' Alfred said and like that he was gone and the door was closed to give her some privacy to change.
Once she was alone, Jacin pulled her phone out of her pocket and sent a quick message to Roy and Kori telling them that she was fine and she would call them the next day to explain what had happened. After she tossed her phone onto her bed she turned to the next task and began to undress herself. Every movement she made cased pain to shoot through her torso and once she was dressed she seriously considered just leaving her clothes on the floor so they could be put in the hamper later once she wasn't in as much pain. The thought only lasted a minute before she started to bend down and pick them up, knowing that leaving them there would just annoy her until she did do it or Alfred came back and did it for her. Out of the corner of her eye she was the silhouette of someone in the doorway as she let out another hiss of pain.
'What are you doing?'
Jacin turned her head and looked at Tim who was holding a tray filled with a tea pot and cups on it, as well as a couple of books under his arm.
'What does it look like? I'm trying to torture myself further by picking up after myself - oh wait, that would actually be the perfect torture for you,' she replied sending him a knowing look.
Tim rolled his eyes and as quickly as he could he placed the tray on one of the bedside tables before bending down to pick up the clothes that she hadn't picked up herself. He looked around for anything he missed before taking the bra that she had in her hand and strode off into her bathroom without a second glance. He was back by the time she had sat down on the bed and without a word rearranged the pillows so she could sit and have enough support behind her.
'You could have left them you know, Alfred is not going to get mad at you for leaving your clothes on the floor while you're injured,' Tim said, a small smile on his lips.
'It would have driven me insane leaving them there, besides it's not like it's going to injure me further to pick them up and put them in the hamper,' she replied.
'No you could just pull your stitches and get Alfred even more upset with you, especially if you get blood on the carpet. He just had it cleaned last week,' Tim said and started to pour her a cup of tea.
'What are you doing back anyway? I thought your duties with the Teen Titans had most of your attention these days,' she asked.
'They brought me back here. I had a lead that a human smuggling ring had ties to a gang here in Gotham, I'd hoped that Bruce would have some information on them that would either prove or disprove the link. I was looking through the files on the computer when he came downstairs yelling for Alfred to let him know the moment he got a lock on your location,' Tim explained and sat down carefully on the bed. 'He didn't even see me until I asked what was going on and he just told me to get into the Bat Mobile, to call Dick and Damian and he'd explain it to all of us.'
'He dragged you all away from what you were doing to come find me?' Jacin asked.
'You make it sound as if he forced us,' Tim said.
'I was shot. All I needed was someone to get me some help not call in the whole Bat clan and launch of full scale rescue,' Jacin said.
'He would have done the same for the rest of us, you're no different,' Tim replied pointedly.
'Oh she's different, just not different in the way that you're talking about Tim,' Dick said drawing their attention to where he was standing, leaning on the door frame.
'Is that a shot at me being female?' Jacin asked.
'No that's a shot at you being able to step foot in the kitchen without Alfred shooing you would and muttering under his breath about fires and kitchen destruction,' Dick replied. 'And also that you're a girl.'
'Come closer Dickie and we'll see just how much of a girl I am,' Jacin said, crooking her finger and looking at him the way she would any criminal that she would come up against.
'No thanks, I choose life,' Dick said and held his hands up in surrender.
'What do you want Dick?' Tim asked.
'Bruce and Damian have gone back out. Commissioner Gordon needs them. Something about a warehouse filled with injured people down near the docks. Wouldn't know anything about that would you Jacin?' Dick asked and cocked an eyebrow.
'Don't know what you're talking about,' Jacin replied. 'But if I did I would suggest checking out the door on the right side of the warehouse, there's some pretty hinky things down there.'
As she talked she could see Tim already texting Bruce and she turned her attention back to Dick who rolled his eyes. 'Anywhere else we should go look?'
'I didn't get a chance to fully check out the warehouse where you found me. There might be something there, I'm not sure though,' Jacin replied.
'Got it,' Tim said before sliding his phone back into his pocket. 'What were you doing there?'
'Nothing that you need to worry about. I thought that they may have been connected to something that Kori, Roy and I were looking into but it can wait a couple of weeks until I'm back on the streets,' she answered. 'Seriously, you don't need to look into it. Well you could but it'll probably just end up being some drug related gang stuff.'
'You got shot because of some unrelated drug related gang stuff,' Dick said and rubbed his chin as he walked around to the other side of her bed. 'Nope, I don't buy it. Do you Tim?'
'Not at all,' Tim said.
'Well that's the best answer that you're going to get out of me,' Jacin said.
'Fine, but I'm sure that Bruce is going to want a better answer then drug related gang stuff,' Dick replied and laid down on the bed beside her.
'You want anything else?' Jacin asked.
'I figured that since Bruce and Damian were out and you were bed bound we could have a pyjama party,' Dick replied.
Both Jacin and Tim looked at their older brother for a moment to try and figure out if he was serious. After a few moments where Dick didn't shout "psyche" and start laughing they realised that he was completely serious and wanted to have a pyjama party. Jacin knew that they were on better terms with one and other but she felt as if she had skipped the memo about them having sleepovers.
'What are you a thirteen year old girl? Are we going to braid each other's hair and paint our nails?' Jacin said.
'Tim and I don't have hair long enough to braid but I'm down for the nail painting. Can I have black nails with a blue Nightwing stripe on them? It might just be the beginning of a new fashion trend in nails.'
'Any nail polish that is still here is probably past its use by date,' Jacin replied. 'It could be used to other things, just not for use on the human body so I don't think that is possible.'
'Damn, then we'll just have to go to plan B,' Dick replied.
'Which is?' Tim asked, looking just as worried as Jacin felt.
'Movies and popcorn,' Dick replied.
'Sounds good,' Tim said.
'Great,' Dick said and rubbed his hands together. 'I'll let Alfred know and we'll go get changed into our jammies. We'll meet back here in ten minutes and figure out what we are going to watch.'
Without looking back at her, both of the boys dashed out of the room and thundered down the hallway towards their rooms. She sat still for a few moments before the sound of her phone chiming dragged her out of her thoughts. Picking up the phone she saw that Roy had messaged her back.
Roy: Good to hear that you're ok. What are you going to do for the rest of your incarceration?
Placing her cup down on the tray, Jacin thought for a second before she started to reply.
Jacin: I don't know. But tonight I'm having a pyjama party.