Bruce swore to himself that no more of his children would die, not after Jason, and especially made it up to him to make amends. But after every meticulous plan and every safety net, his baby still died. The fact that his children were still wary of him only solidified the gap in his memory that he definitely did not handle it in the same grace as the Dark Knight or Bruce would have. It was the raw grief that consumed every inch of you and festers until everything is drowning in it, too. He didn’t want to even consider the Lazarus Pit, not after the secondhand effects he had seen Jason go through, but living without his child? Out of the question, though it embarrasses him more to accept it, it took him four days to gather the courage to allow the Pit to even be an option. Then he called Talia.

Talia... he had never seen Talia look or act the way she did when he carried you into the Lazarus Pit; he felt like he deserved everything she said. She was still your mother and loved you, too. Bruce blinded himself to the effects that it very obviously had on you. The grief he was living through was on clear display on her face as she cradled her child's face and sobbed.

Bruce thinks he could never unhear those blood-curdling screams again. It was almost as if every cell that was stagnant and decaying was being forced alive again, every breath seemed like agony, and any twitch like it was dying all over again. The general consensus of the Batfamily was like witnessing a live re-enactment of Frankenstein, but in the most horrific possible way. And it only seemed as though his child, their sibling, was getting worse by the day. Until suddenly the days spent screaming until your voice broke and thrashing until your body physically couldn’t... stopped. Then, it felt even worse than if you had kept it up. His little bird was simply there, existing in a space but not living.

But Bruce only let you out of his sight to go to the bathroom, just leaving you in someone’s direct care, even if he would only be gone for two minutes. Even then, he'd wake up like clockwork every thirty minutes to hear the soft rise and fall of his baby's chest. His baby was still alive. "There we are..." Bruce whispered, almost spooking himself with how soft it was. He sets the plate down in front of you with a soft smile. "See? Your favorite... just like I promised." His baby bird will be as good as new; he just needs to be patient.