The Adventures of Martha Ridley Wayne

Chapter Eighteen: Scheming

          Things got better after that day, they started to get back to what we would call normal. I never mentioned Jason in front of dad, afraid that it would set back the progress we had made. My nights were still spent hanging out at Jason's apartment waiting for him to get back from patrol so I can stitch him up. He claimed that he could do it himself, but we both knew that was a huge fucking lie.

Sometimes Jay would stumble into the apartment with multiple bullet wounds and there would be blood everywhere. When I was little I would help Alfred patch up dad and my brothers, so I was used to the blood and gore that went with being a Gotham vigilante. Still, Jason shouldn't have had that many injuries, which meant he was being reckless again. That was the only thing that really bothered me on the nights he would come home beaten to a pulp.

It only got worse for Jason and I got to the point where I started wondering if he was trying to get himself killed again. Whenever I would bring up dad, he would get really upset. Sometimes it came out in the form of anger and he would rant for an hour straight about how much he hates him for not killing the Joker. Sometimes it came out in the form of sadness and he would cry on my shoulder, asking me why his dad didn't love him anymore. Either way, it broke my heart to see and something had to be done.

Tim and Jason had made amends after that day at the diner as well and they started to get to know one another. He was the only other member of the family other than myself who was seeing Jay on a regular basis, so I went to talk to him. The newest Robin knew my dad better than I did at that point on account of my refusing to acknowledge I was his daughter for years. Tim would have had to have some idea as to how I could get dad to listen to my pleading of Jason's case once again.

We were in my old room looking at old pictures as I told him the stories behind the images. Thinking about my past had stopped hurting as much and it was nice to have someone who wasn't actually there to share the stories with. Plus, he had asked for some good blackmail material to use against Dick and I couldn't resist a chance to mess with my big brother. It had been a good day, but Jason and dad were still lingering in the back of my mind.

"Timmy, I need your advice and possibly your physical strength if it comes to that," I blurted out.

"What? Do you need me to help you hide a body or something?"

"No, I need you to help me with my dad and Jason. You know dad better than I do and if things don't go as we plan, we can lock them in a room 'til they work it out," I replied.

"Are you sure that's the best idea? Your dad has a strict 'no Jason Todd' policy and I've never seen Bruce change his mind when it was this set on something before," Tim said.

"Yeah, but Jason is his son. He still loves him, I know he does, because he still loves me. Dad never stops loving his kids. He never stopped loving Dickie after he left or me after I ruined my life."

"If we're being honest here, the only thing I can think of is locking both of them in a room and forcing them to talk."

"Timothy Jackson Drake, I could kiss you right now! That's brilliant," I exclaimed.

"I was just joking, Ridley. That sounds like a bad fanfiction trope that probably won't work out very well," Tim pointed out.

"Yeah, well I don't have any better ideas so we're going with it."

"We? As in the both of us? Who said I was going to help you?"

"We're friends now, Timmy, and friends help friends get their brother and father on speaking terms again," I explained.

"My experience in the friend department may be severely lacking, but I'm sure that this isn't typical," he said.

"I know it is, but you're the only one who can help me with this. Dad hates Roy and Wally, which means you're the only one who can lure him into this."

"This means a lot to you, I know. I will help you in hopes that you'll be happy again. I'd like to see you happy," Tim said.