Chapter Text
Stephanie isn't the Robin the Teen Titans want to see. She knows that and won't push to take the place Tim made for himself with the team. She is one of the few people with access to both the Batcave zeta tube and Tim, though, so she did bring a pretty great bribe even if Bruce wouldn't let her bring Tim.
She brought an Oracle-and-Batman approved set of cell phones with Tim's number programmed in. Steph had lobbied at length that cutting Tim off from his super-powered friends just because his dad is being a dip was awful. Batman had looked disapproving every time she insulted Jack Drake but he'd still listened to her arguments. He might have done nothing but listen if she hadn't had the right argument. Refusing to answer the Titans' questions and not letting them hear much at all from the previous Robin was only going to end with impulsive metahumans showing up in Bristol to look for Tim. Batman nodded, once, and said that she should propose a solution for the issue. She had several ready and he (of course) picked the most boring one of opening a line of communication. Oracle had laughed and helped her learn how to set up encryption to the point where Batman wouldn't complain about it.
Batman says Steph can visit to train with the Teen Titans but there will not be any missions until the Titans are happy with the team dynamics and Steph checked in with him. Steph isn't sure that fighting with the Titans will ever to happen but she doesn't turn down the chance to teleport to San Francisco and meet some of Tim's friends. The Titans rarely travel to Gotham for Batman-shaped reasons.
Stephanie keeps it professional during the meet-and-greet over a lot of takeout. The variety and quantity would be excessive if they didn't have so many metahumans and vigilantes digging in. The Titans have a regular large order from several restaurants used to Impulse zipping through to pick up the food. By the time they've had the chance to text Tim and hear back from him, the Titans all look a lot happier with her. Stephanie holds back until someone says 'Tim' and then looks at her like she might be surprised.
She introduces herself as 'Stephanie, Steph is also fine' and that's enough to end up on first-name terms with a whole bunch of superheroes. She does her best to be cool about it and not spend too much time missing Spoiler's full-face mask. It made it a lot easier to hide her emotions and pretend she wasn't gaping the first several times she went on patrol with Batman.
Wonder Girl (Cassie! Steph gets to call her Cassie and she is excited a normal amount) is calm but firm when an alert comes in. The Titans are going to respond and Steph isn't going to be coming with them. Cassie says that Steph is free to roam the public areas of the Tower, if she likes, but there are no promises when the Titans will be coming back. The zeta tubes are available if she wants to head back to Gotham and they'll be happy to work out a time that Steph can train with the team.
Steph doesn't protest. She waves the Teen Titans off and wanders through the Tower. She had tried to keep her expectations low. They could have been happy to see the phones but polite and distant with her. Instead, they'd taken the chance to get to know her, and Steph can't help but like anyone that agrees that the prior Robin should never have been forced to stop. After lunch, they'd slowly realized that they all knew about Jack Drake and that nobody had to hold back. It was wonderful to complain about him at length with people who care more about Tim being happy than some idea about what a family should be.
Wandering Titans Tower alone isn't much fun. Maybe she can fit in a tour before she heads out in the evening because avoiding the bedrooms and the locked training areas doesn't give her a lot of stuff to do. She curls up on the oversized couch with a huge blanket and all three remotes for the overly-complicated entertainment system and tries to remember which one Impulse had used first. He'd only been moving about three times as fast as an average person so she's pretty sure she can figure this out and not wreck their system. She's puzzled through the Batcave and Oracle's tech, this probably won't be so bad.
Stephanie has the television turned on and she's making decent progress at opening up one of the movie streaming services when the thudding of heavy boots across the floor draws her attention away from the remotes. When she peers over the back of the couch, she sees a muscular man in a leather jacket and a red helmet covering his entire head.
“Superboy!” Stephanie yelps from behind the couch. “You could've mentioned we had an extra guest.” She's not ashamed to look for backup. Yelling for a Kryptonian is the only sensible response when a Gotham boogeyman from Crime Alley followed her to California.
“He can't help you,” the man growls. His voice sounds just as robotic as the rumors say but the malice in the way he stalks toward her isn't at all programmed. “It's not worth calling your other friends. They won't save you, either.”
Stephanie sets the remotes aside and presses the panic button on her utility belt until she feels the click. She stands up slowly, letting the blanket fall to the floor. She wouldn't mind backup against someone that can confidently say that the Teen Titans aren't a challenge.
“If you hurt them, I'm not the only threat you're going to face.” Steph sets her shoulders back and does her best to look confident. It's hard to make out details about the invader past the shining red helmet covering his entire face when he has his back to the afternoon sunlight.
The helmet gleams as he looks her up and down. “Quaking in my boots, blondie. I don't know who you are but you're out of uniform. Bad hair day, Wonder Girl?”
“I'm Robin.” A month ago, Stephanie might have sounded defensive, but she's dealt with this before. She's had this conversation so many times that she stopped counting after the first week. He'll believe her or he won't. She knows the truth.
“Bullshit.” He steps closer, making it easier to see him and not the flare of light. He's wearing a black leather jacket over a white t-shirt and blue jeans, not at all the kind of things most people wear to pick a fight with the Teen Titans. “I'm looking for a shrimpy little twerp with short black hair. You're a shrimpy little twerp with blonde hair all over the place and you don't look like Robin in a wig.”
Stephanie glares. “Superman, we've got a problem,” she mutters under her breath. “All of this would be easier if I knew more peoples' names but I'm a bit new here.”
“Sure you wanna risk that?” he asks. The mocking tone is clear even through the voice synthesizer. “I got this far and kryptonite's not that hard to source.”
Stephanie frowns. “Who are you, anyway?”
“Red Hood. Losing your touch, Robin?”
“Confused about why you're out of your usual territory and going after a kid.” She's heard about the guy in the red helmet. Everyone in Crime Alley has heard about the guy. He doesn't target kids and he's protective of women that aren't criminals. This guy matches the description but she has no idea why he'd would leave Gotham to look for Robin. “Word on the street says Red Helmet Guy doesn't target kids and I'm not getting the feeling that you're here for some wise life advice.”
“Red Hood,” he corrects.
“Not what anyone calls you,” Steph retorts in a sing-song voice. “Possibly because your manners suck and it's not like you introduce yourself to the non-criminals. The criminals call you way worse than Red Helmet Guy. Maybe you should have some manners and not threaten to attack my hosts.”
“They'll be fine,” he says dismissively. “They're going to be busy for a while with the mess downtown.”
“Well, good, because they are also teenagers and I'm still figuring out how Mr. 'I Protect Children' thinks the Teen Titans and/or Robin are acceptable targets.”
“I was here for your predecessor but you'll do. You need to learn there's a cost to putting on that uniform.”
Steph stares at him for several seconds. There is no way she's rewarding that kind of dramatic line with anything but a blank stare. He waits for long enough that she gives up on waiting him out. “Um, duh?”
Red Hood pauses like she's veered off script.
Stephanie flips her hair. She can throw Batman off his game. Crime Alley's sometimes-protector won't be much of a challenge. “Of course there's a cost. It's awful for my social life, patrol makes school a lot harder, I am working with Batman instead of going out as a free agent and I think everybody knows the man can be obnoxious, and on top of all that I have to deal with nutcases like you. I don't care what you think you have against Robin but I knew this could be dangerous when I signed up.”
“That's what you tell yourself, Robin, but you don't know what the cost could be.”
Red Hood takes off his helmet in a smooth motion he might have practiced in front of a mirror.
She's seen this guy before, the white streak in the forelock to go with the built form, and her brows raise slowly. “Okay then. I mean, you look great, for a dead guy, and the physical changes like the hair thing and being crazily buff are cool, but there is no way I'm buying this.”
The man that looks a lot like Jason Todd gapes at her.
Steph crosses her arms. “You aren't even the first to pull this! Clayface looked a lot like this a while back and he isn't the only shapeshifter out there. If he was, I could just dump water on you and then we could believe that you're actually who your face says. I'm not believing you unless I borrow Wonder Girl's lasso or we run some tests back at Batman's headquarters.”
“You think I'm Clayface?”
“I think Clayface looked almost exactly like you do now, yes,” she repeats patiently. “There aren't enough dramatic speeches in the world to make me believe you're Batman's dead son. Go figure out a better angle and let me know when you've got some better material.”
“Batman wouldn't care,” fake-Jason sneers. “He never mourned me.”
Stephanie is unmoved. “Not remotely convincing. I've heard since I started that the guy with your face was incredibly smart and could read people like a book. So do me a solid and pretend that's you. Batman lost his mind when his son died and all of Gotham knew that Robin was a son to him. Batman would lose his mind all over again if his son actually was alive. If you're faking it...” Steph lets her voice trail off and waits for him to look a little interested before she continues in the firmest tone she can manage. “I sic Nightwing, Oracle, and Batgirl on you. I'm willing to admit they're scarier than I am.”
Fake-Jason frowns. “You think you aren't intimidating?”
“Not when I patrol with Batman or Batgirl or Nightwing,” Stephanie admits cheerfully. “I didn't put all my stat points in intimidation. Unlike the rest of you guys, I had my own gig before I agreed to start up on Robin after past-Robin's dad decided to be obnoxious again.”
Fake-Jason regains his sneer quickly. “What, he's only half as spoiled as he should be?”
Stephanie tilts her head slowly. “Do you even know who the last Robin was?”
“Timothy Jackson Drake.”
Stephanie looks Fake-Jason over thoughtfully. The stern look is slowly fading to something much more like the look on Bruce's face when Stephanie solves a cold case in four minutes but then can't explain her reasoning in ways that he understands. “Huh. Okay. I'm curious, I'll admit it. Where did you get your research done, the social pages? Tim's dad hasn't done anything for him in years.”
Fake-Jason's frown deepens. “Wasn't his dad in a coma?”
“Details,” Stephanie says dismissively. “Seriously, though. You were going to come all the way to California to beat up Tim because his childhood wasn't shitty enough. That would've been a train wreck. He might have let you get through your entire inaccurate speech.”
“Inaccurate?”
Behind her mask, Stephanie flutters her eyelashes. It makes the tiny hint of a smirk get just the right edge. “You want to run the prepared remarks and I can critique them? ”
Fake-Jason scowls.
Stephanie waits as he draws himself up. “If you're really Jason Todd, prove it,” she interrupts right before he starts talking.
Fake-Jason glares at her but doesn't go right into his speech. “Just what kind of proof do you want?”
“You punch in your access codes for the Batcave and I get to run a test if it's just the two of us there. If Batman's there, you win if there isn't ugly crying in sixty seconds or less. No ugly crying, we hop straight back through the zeta tube, lock it, and then we take your show from the top but with an appreciative audience.” Stephanie smiles winningly. “Dealer's choice. I can do a mean Tim impression, I can play along like I'm intimidated, I can do snappy one-liners... you just let me know and it's yours if we last one minute without tears or you have a genetic test come back as a match for Jason Todd.”
Possibly-Fake-Jason storms right over to the zeta tube, punches in a long series of numbers that makes the lights come back on, and then an access code with a familiar string of numbers in the middle. The system announces Robin and guest, destination Batcave. Stephanie types in her own access code. She's still in League communicators as Spoiler and isn't sure if she'll be Robin long enough for Batman to finish changing that over. Sometimes, Bruce makes the same kind of face that Possibly-Fake-Jason is making as the world around them vanishes and they reappear in the Batcave, the expression that makes it clear he thinks that he might have made a big mistake.
Stephanie hops out of the zeta tube before Jason's doubt can harden into something more dangerous. She waves merrily at Bruce. Bruce, wearing the Batsuit without the cowl, is absolutely stunned and this definitely could her new record for how long Batman has stared at her without having a word to say. She's on a timeline, though. Even if Jason is staring at Bruce like he's forgotten how to track time passing, she made a deal and needs to mind the time if only for bragging rights.
“Jason didn't think you'd want to see him even though he's alive again. I think he's wrong. Please hug him,” Stephanie chirps. She's maybe filling in several things Jason didn't say but it's not hard to assume. If he wanted to go home, he knows where the door is. Dramatically showing up to beat up Batman's new kid is not the way to get hugs from Bruce.
Jason seems to register her words seconds too late. If the mutual recognition and knowing the Batcave's access code that allowed for a guest wasn't enough proof, she might have guessed by the way Jason was completely clueless about the typical human emotional response to someone seeing their long-dead son alive and whole.
By the time Jason realizes what she said, Bruce is already holding onto him.
Jason thinks about it. It's clear that he could shove Bruce away or maybe try for a fight.
It's just as obvious that Bruce wouldn't defend himself. Jason sighs and leans a little closer, letting Bruce hold on tighter.
Stephanie's smile doesn't waver. She keeps up her silent countdown.
With eight seconds left on her mental clock, Jason sobs, once, and then curls against Batman's chest as his dad clings to him. Bruce takes a little longer to realize that he's not hallucinating. Stephanie stopped counting with Jason but between the two of them, they have definitely met criteria for ugly crying.
When Jason starts stammering out something that sounds like an apology, only for Bruce to cut in with apologies of their own, Stephanie wanders across the Cave to grab her cell phone. They deserve a little space to have emotions and she does not want to get caught in a possible group hug when people are still crying.
Hi, Tim. Heard anything from your friends in California? she texts.
No, Tim responds seconds later. Is there something I should know?
There was a security breach at the Tower but I'll have the Justice League check it out. The Titans are probably still busy with their fight, Stephanie replies. She's pretty sure that Jason and Bruce are not going to be up for talking to anyone else for a while and Robin is supposed to help with what Batman can't do. Sometimes that means setting up an impromptu dinner party and asking the Justice League to handle the boring details like security systems. Come over for dinner. We've got a family emergency and for once it's a good one. You should hear the details in person.
I'll try.
If Jack won't let Tim handle a family emergency, she might just head next door. She talked Red Hood into hugging Batman. She derailed some weird crusade into an increasingly sappy reunion. She is unstoppable and Jack Drake is not going to mess up her day.
Do or do not, Tim. There is no try.
That gets her a few happy emojis in response. Sending a quick invite to Cass and asking her to pass word onto Babs that dinner is a mandatory social event with ASAP attendance requested gets Steph a string of emojis that means 'on it.'
Stephanie logs into the Justice League portal and requests a non-emergency check-in with the member on monitor duty. She absolutely keeps her cool and does not squeal when Wonder Woman appears on the screen for a video chat.
Wonder Woman is in space at the Watchtower and Stephanie is talking to her. She can be cool.
“Hi! I'm Spoiler. I mean Robin. But also Spoiler,” Stephanie says. If she can't be cool, maybe she can settle for enthusiastic and polite. “I was visiting the Teen Titans this afternoon and I think there was an issue with security because Red Hood walked right in. Red Hood is not in the Tower anymore, and Batman's handling him, but I wanted to make sure they know I'm okay.”
Very enthusiastic, maybe, but Wonder Woman smiles as if Stephanie isn't embarrassing herself at all.
“I will ask Superman to check on the Tower. Thank you, Robin,” she says. “Does Batman need any help containing Red Hood?”
Stephanie turns to look across the Cave. Jason is holding on tightly enough to dent Bruce's armor in at the edges and Bruce is holding onto his son like Jason might break at the tiniest hint of pressure. If either one of them remembers that she's still there, neither one shows any sign of it.
Stephanie turns back to Wonder Woman. “He's got this. Batman might need to take a few days off, though. Do you think someone can swap him for monitor duty tomorrow? He isn't going to want to leave while we're dealing with things here.”
“I will make sure his shift is covered,” Wonder Woman promises. “He has done the same for me several times over when an emergency came up and I am happy to help.” Wonder Woman pauses for a moment then smiles. “The Titans are fine, Robin, and the glitch in access was restored before they returned to the Tower. They are glad to know you are alright.”
“Thank you so much,” Stephanie says. “I—um—look I wanted to be cool about this but you are so cool. And so is Wonder Girl.”
“I believe that you may be cool, as well,” Wonder Woman says kindly. “I look forward to the chance to work with you in the future. Is that everything for today?”
A particularly loud sob from far behind her is definitely audible on the microphone. However cool Wonder Woman is about this, both of the men behind her won't want any more out-of-family witnesses to a whole bunch of emotional catharsis.
“That's all, thank you!” Stephanie ends the call and sneaks past the guys to get to one of the Cave's locker room-slash-bathrooms to change. 'No costumes upstairs' is one of Alfred's big rules and Stephanie wants the man in a good mood. She also misses purple, sometimes, as fun as it is to patrol as Robin. Throwing on a purple t-shirt and jeans helps while she makes sure the costume is ready for the next time she wants to put it on.
Stephanie leaves Bruce and Jason in the Cave. She is almost certain that they won't get into a fight while she ducks upstairs for five minutes. Even if they do, she's sending down the only person that could make both of them back down and apologize for being ridiculous.
“Hi Alfred! I'm inviting everybody over for dinner,” Stephanie says from the kitchen doorway as Alfred dices onions. “Can I help you get dinner ready to make up for it?”
Alfred looks at her with the stoic expression that looks flat if you don't know how to find the tiny twitch of Alfred's lips. He's not as against chaos as the others guess. It just takes knowing the surprises he likes and having more of the family over for dinner always makes him happy. “You know I take it as a challenge to be ready to welcome guests, Miss Brown, but some detail may be helpful.” He sets down his chef's knife and waits expectantly.
Stephanie counts on her fingers. “Bruce is already here, Tim should be able to make it over, Cass, Babs, I'm going to call Dick next, you, me, and Jason. Jason's alive again, by the way, and he's downstairs with Bruce now.”
Alfred stares.
“I can handle prep work and get dinner started if you want to head downstairs. Jason's in the Batcave with Bruce.”
Alfred vanishes. Steph hums to herself and gets to work. Tim texts asking how soon he should come over. Based on the open cookbook Alfred had left on the counter, Steph texts back ASAP. Dinner will take a while and Tim is very useful in the kitchen as long as he is stationed at the correct parts of meal prep.
She calls Dick and puts her phone on speaker.
“Steph? What's up?”
“Happy family emergency.” They have had way too many sad emergencies and she won't make Dick wonder for a second. “Seeing is believing, though, so come to dinner.”
“Steph, I'm in Blüdhaven. I'm going to be back in two days.”
“Mmhm, but the emergency is today, and dinner's in progress, so get driving,” Stephanie says. She sniffs. “I know it's no fun in rush hour but I didn't have the chance to warn you earlier.” She sniffs, again, and tightens her grip on the knife. That one was more of a sniffle but she knows better than to admit weakness. As soon as the first tear falls, the entire process of cutting onions will be miserable. She sniffles and holds her head up higher. She is not going to cry before the onions are completely dealt with. “I just really think you should come.”
“Are you crying?”
“I'm chopping onions!” She definitely is not crying. Her eyes are just a little misty but she can be strong for a little longer. “Alfred's downstairs and I'm helping out.”
“A happy emergency,” Dick repeats dubiously.
Stephanie sniffles again. She is not going to cry. Not when she only has one more onion to chop. She is a superhero and she can handle one more onion. “You need to come. Please?”
“Steph... okay. Should I pick anything up on the way?”
Steph perks up. “Ice cream, please!” She sniffles, again, but persists on the last onion. She is not going to cry. “I want cookie dough and Neapolitan.”
“You got it. I'll be there soon, Steph.” He hangs up before she can say anything else. Usually he's a bit chattier but she doesn't mind having more time to focus on getting dinner ready.
Stephanie hums as she uses her favorite bench scraper to push the last of the onions into one of her mixing bowls. By the time everybody downstairs is done hugging, she might have enough time for a good pasta sauce, but she can at least manage something quick if they're too hungry to wait for the full process.
Barbara and Cass pause in the kitchen doorway to watch her peel carrots.
“What's the emergency that made dinner mandatory?” Barbara asks. “Where is Alfred?”
Stephanie sets the peeler down and turns to face them. “Alfred's downstairs,” she says. Babs isn't holding anything so it's probably safe to continue. “He and Bruce are with Jason. Jason's alive, by the way. I'm not really sure why. By the time I thought about asking, they were having a lot of emotions and it felt rude to ask.”
Barbara stares.
“Jason Todd,” Stephanie clarifies helpfully. “He's alive again. He's in the Cave with Bruce and Alfred so I'm making dinner.”
Cass studies Stephanie thoughtfully before nodding. “Not joking.” Cass gently touches Barbara's shoulder. “Go. I will help with dinner. You should go see him.”
Babs heads for the elevator. Cass takes over the carrots and garlic. She's happiest with kitchen tasks involving knives but she's also got a knack for getting pasta perfectly al dente. Stephanie preps the ground turkey while Cass works. Neither one of them talks. Steph hums to herself and Cass sets up a rhythm with the knife that matches the song.
Just when Stephanie is about to give up and start the sauce, Tim shows up.
“Sous chef!” Stephanie cheers. “We're making Alfred's fancy spaghetti bolognese recipe and I already prepped all the ingredients for you.”
Tim frowns. “Is spaghetti sauce the emergency?”
“We've got an emergency but all the emotions are down in the Batcave,” Stephanie says. Barbara hasn't come back upstairs and neither has anyone else. She's pretty sure they'll have time to let the sauce simmer for a while. “Jason's alive. He showed up at Titans Tower all mad about being replaced as Robin and apparently wanted to pick a fight with you over it. He seemed a lot calmer after he and Bruce started hugging it out. Alfred and Dick and Babs are all downstairs, too.”
“Jason Todd?”
“Mmhm.”
Tim thinks about that for a few seconds before shrugging and grabbing an apron from the hook behind the pantry door. “Alright. I can make bolognese. You're okay?”
“I'm fine,” Steph promises. “I dared Jason to come to the Batcave with me. He somehow thought Bruce wouldn't want to see him, which was crap, but they already have that sorted out and they'll figure out the rest eventually. Alfred and Babs are down there so between the four of them someone might run DNA or something. If they don't, maybe we can sort that out after dessert. Cass and I are making brownies. Jason liked Neapolitan ice cream, right? I asked Dick to pick some up so I hope I was remembering the right one.”
No one protests their assignments or her guess about Jason's favorite ice cream. It's for the best. Tim and baking do not get along, no matter how well he does with sauces and knowing exactly when the red wine is reduced by half. Cass moves on to chopping the baking chocolate into tiny, even pieces.
By the time Dick makes it from Blüdhaven, the kitchen smells like onions and garlic and wine and chocolate. Tim is keeping a close eye on the sauce, Cass is preparing an oversized bowl of salad, and Stephanie is carefully folding flour into the batter for brownies.
“Ice cream!” Steph cheers. “Cass, would you put that in the freezer, please? Thanks, Dick!”
Dick looks in the pot Tim is fussing over and sighs. “You really were chopping onions.”
“That's what I said! We have a happy family emergency because Jason is alive.” Steph isn't offended. If she'd thought fake crying would have lured Dick over, she would have done it, but telling the truth and still winning is even more fun. “Everybody else is down in the Cave, including Alfred, so I took over making dinner. Tim and Cass are helping because we have a lot of people over today and it's going to taste a lot better if I don't have to handle everything myself. Thanks for the ice cream, go hug Jason. He's alive and needs a lot of hugs.”
Stephanie waits patiently. Dick keeps staring at her.
“Jason's alive. He's downstairs in the Cave,” Stephanie says when she decides that Dick might need to hear the basics a second time. “I have no idea how and didn't ask. He's alive, though, and if he let Bruce hug him he might let you hug him, too. Dinner's coming along nicely and you guys have at least an hour before I set the table.”
Dick vanishes as quickly as Alfred did. Steph turns her attention back to the batter and makes sure that the flour is worked in just enough before spreading the batter in the baking pan. By the time the brownies are in the oven, the sauce is finally at the point where Tim only checks on it every few minutes. Steph doesn't understand the logic Tim sees in the fussy recipe with the vague descriptions about when to add the next ingredients but she appreciates the results when she lets him handle it.
Cass, Tim, and Stephanie polish off the carton of cookie dough ice cream after setting the table. Cooking for an entire party of vigilantes means dealing in massive portions and always taking time for a few extra calories. Stephanie is still counting Tim in their number and Alfred might as well count with how busy he is running a household and Batman's headquarters. Alfred even has his own mask and elaborate tail coat he's used a few times to bail them out of really bad situations.
“Time for noodles?” Cass asks when the brownies are out of the oven and replaced by the garlic bread. “Dinner would be ready in fifteen minutes.”
“Sure,” Stephanie says. “Can you keep an eye on the green beans, too? And the garlic bread?”
Cass nods and dumps three boxes of spaghetti noodles into the boiling water. “Easy. The salad is already on the table and Alfred made vinaigrette yesterday.”
Tim scowls when Steph turns to him expectantly.
“Come on, Timothy,” Steph wheedles. “I know I said after dessert but they're in the Cave and I need backup to lure that many people upstairs to food. If they didn't run tests, you can tell me what to get out so we can make sure I brought home actual-Jason instead of some shapeshifter. You've got to help, Tim, it would be awkward at this point but even worse after dinner.”
Stephanie keeps her cool when Tim agrees. She knows it's mostly curiosity and science on her side because Tim has a lot of hangups about counting himself as part of the family. All of those hangups have been dramatically worse since he went back to living with his dad. If even one person makes that worse, she will have her vengeance, even if her vengeance is limited to shouting insults and withholding brownies.
Tim makes a beeline for the computer. Stephanie can't even blame him, she's the one that suggested it, so she follows to peer over his shoulder.
The results to two different DNA tests and a fingerprint scan suggest she brought home the real Jason Todd, which is nice, but that leaves her with the harder task of not letting Tim vanish the second she turns her back.
Step one is not turning her back on him. Stephanie loops her arm through Tim's and hauls him toward the cluster of people before he realizes what she's doing. By the time he's deciding if he wants to fight her off, Alfred and Barbara are already looking their way.
Stephanie has possibly made this worse. She could have had Tim meet Jason without the entire group staring at him. Delegating pasta sauce to him might have made him feel like he wasn't part of the main family when she shooed Alfred, Barbara, and Dick downstairs. She'd separated the group based on people Jason had met before but maybe that was the wrong idea. Maybe she should have just come down to herd people upstairs on her own and tried to discreetly warn Dick and/or Barbara that Tim would need a couple extra hugs. Alfred already knows. Alfred always knows.
The truth has been working out pretty well so far and it isn't fair to expect Tim to talk first when Jason is already staring at him. Worse, Jason looks a lot more angry than curious.
“Dinner's about ready,” Stephanie says before Jason can remember his interrupted monologue and his Tim-focused plans. “Sorry for hogging Tim. Alfred had all the ingredients for bolognese laid out and I always mess up the sauce halfway through.”
Tim is tense at her side. Bruce is misty-eyed, Dick isn't any less emotional, and even Barbara and Alfred are pretty overwhelmed.
Stephanie doesn't like the way Jason's green eyes are fixed on Tim. She doesn't like the way Jason is just as tense but the way that his shoulders tense is distracting and not just because he looks like he lifts weights all the time. She's also not a big fan of the persistent thought that she thought Jason's eyes were blue because that is not helpful. She needs something else.
“Are you wearing a Robin shirt?” she asks.
Jason blinks. “No,” he says, tugging slightly at the hem of the white t-shirt underneath his leather jacket.
Stephanie shakes her head. It had been hard to see in the Tower, and she'd been a bit distracted, but it's easy to tell under the bright full-spectrum lights in the Cave. “Under the white shirt. That's a Robin shirt,” she says. She hadn't been sure until she saw the second shirt move beneath the white t-shirt. “Textured, too. Was that part of your monologue?”
“Monologue?” Dick asks, leaning closer to peer at Jason's shirt.
Jason loses his laser-sharp focus on Tim and starts trying to shove Dick away without admitting that he's wearing a Robin costume underneath his shirt. It takes a lot of focus since Dick is within arm's reach and difficult to fend off on a good day. Stephanie wouldn't want to admit that she planned a costume change in the middle of a speech, either, especially if she didn't actually get to deliver the speech first.
“Monologue,” Stephanie chirps, distracting Dick. Jason isn't glaring at Tim so she won't embarrass him with any details about his planned soliloquy. For now, anyway. “I'm pretty sure he had one planned, anyway, but I'm very distracting and dinner's ready.”
“You are very distracting,” Bruce agrees mildly. It might be insulting, normally, but he has a goofy little smile as he stares at Jason. He probably could mean it as an insult and he would sound happy anyway.
Jason still looks a bit stunned when he looks at Bruce, though, so Stephanie supposes that's only fair. The Bats don't talk about Jason often due to various flavors of guilt and grief but not all of them think that refusing to talk will help. Alfred told her about Jason, sometimes, and Stephanie had put together a good picture of just how much she'd wanted to team up with Jason to cause trouble.
Later, though. Unlike most of the Bats, Stephanie is almost always capable of figuring out when she's made something worse, and Tim is still much too formal and polite for someone finally back in the Batcave after a few long weeks.
Stephanie can fix this. She got Jason all the way from 'I'm going to beat the stuffing out of Robin' to hugging Bruce and heading upstairs for dinner. She can get Jason from dinner to not glaring at Tim and she might even manage that without telling everybody in the house that she's mostly sure that Jason is wearing Robin-themed briefs underneath his jeans. He seems like the kind of guy that wouldn't go halfway on a dramatic costume change. Even if she's wrong, she'd definitely get Jason's attention away from Tim.