4 years, 3 months, and 15 days later...

"C'mon Dickie, blow out the candles and make a wish." Jason prompted, ruffling the 5 year old's hair.

Dick smiled broadly, closing his eyes for a moment and blowing at the candles on his birthday cake. He peaked an eye open, looking to see if there were any candles still lit before he opened both eyes.

"What did you wish for?" Bruce asked.

"I can't tell, cuz then it won't come true." Dick said with a no duh tone of voice.

"You can tell us." Jason said. "We won't tell anyone."

Dick's face scrunched up in thought for a moment. "Well... if you promise not to tell..." He said, smiling widely when both Bruce and Jason nodded. "I wished to be big and strong like you and Jason!" He shouted excitedly, jumping up and hopping onto Jason's back.

Bruce and Jason shared an almost imperceptible glance. 'If only he knew.' They both thought to themselves.

Jason cleared his throat. "T-that's great... that's a great wish."

"I knew it was! That's why I wished it." Dick said, using his tiny hands to mess with Jason's hair, trying his best to get it to stick up in a mohawk.

"Stop it you little monkey." Jason teased, grabbing Dick and flipping him over his shoulder and into his lap.

Dick laughed as Jason tickled his sides. "STOP, STOP, STOP!" Dick managed to get out between his fits of laughter. He managed to squirm out of Jason's grasp and he jumped away, wiping the tears from his laughter from the corners of his eyes. "Don't tickle me Jay." He said, covering his sides so Jason couldn't get at them to tickle him again.

Jason put a fake pout on his face, but his eyes were still shining with mirth. Suddenly he shouted, "The floor is lava!" He pulled his legs up on his chair, expecting Dick to jump on one of the chairs or the table. He definitely wasn't expecting Dick to leap onto one of the decorative pillars in the corner of the room, climb to the top, and from there jump to the chandelier.

Both Bruce and Jason sat there, mouths hanging open. Dick was definitely still the same acrobat he'd been before.

"Bruce!" Dick shouted. "Your legs are getting burned off by the lava!"

That startled Bruce and Jason out of their revorie. Bruce lifted his legs up, resting them on the table and patted them, feigning putting out the imaginary fire.

"Oh no!" Dick said, causing Jason and Bruce to both snap their gazes back up to the chandelier, thinking something might be wrong. "The lava's rising! You have to get to something higher or else you'll burn up!"

Bruce shot a look at Jason that said, 'This is why you don't start games like this with this child.'

Jason gave a nervous laugh, running his hand through his hair.

"Don't worry Dickie." Bruce said. "I have super breath. I'll cool the lava down so we can walk on it again." He took in a comically large breath and blew it out loudly.

Jason stood up. "The lava's all gone." He said, looking up at Dick's face that was peeking over the edge of the chandelier.

"You sure?" Dick asked.

"We're sure." Bruce said, jumping a few times to hopefully make Dick feel like he could come down.

Dick swung down from the chandelier, doing a flip in the air before landing in a roll.

Jason crossed his arms and frowned at Dick's show of his acrobatic talent. Though he tried to mask his jealousy, Jason couldn't help resenting the five-year-old for being so great at something he himself hadn't even mastered yet... something that Bruce never failed to bring up in his endless comparisons of him and Dick.

A knock at the door startled all three of the bats, the youngest wasting no time starting to run towards the door.

Dick giggled as he raced to get to the door first. Despite his best efforts, Alfred was already standing at the door, starting to open it.

The door was opened to reveal a young woman with long black hair and bright blue eyes.

"Zatanna!" Dick called, rushing forward and wrapping the magician in a tight hug.

"Hi Dickie. How are you?" Zatanna said, ruffing Dick's hair.

"I'm good. Bruce and Jason were just playing 'the floor is lava' with me." Dick said with a wide smile.

"Did you come to play with me?" Dick asked, used to being babysat by various teen heros.

"Not today Dickie." Zatanna answered, extracting herself from Dick's tight hug.

Dick put on a fake pout and asked, "Are you here to talk to Bruce then?"

"Sort of..." Zatanna said, reaching a hand into her pocket and fingering the green gem that resided within.

"Come on then!" Dick called, grabbing Zatanna's wrist and dragging her down the manor's hall toward the dining room where he had been about to have his birthday cake with Bruce and Jason.

"Bruce! Look who came to talk to you!" Dick shouted when they walked into the dining room. Dick released Zatanna's wrist and ran to Bruce's side, jumping up to hang on the man's back. "It's Zatanna. She said she was here to talk to you about something... It's probably important. I think it has to do with something she has in her pocket, cuz she keeps reaching in there." Dick rambled on, only stopping when Bruce placed a hand over his mouth and gave the tiny ball of energy a stern look.

"So, Zatanna, what did you need to talk with me about?" Bruce asked, tapping on Dick's hands that were gripping onto his shoulders until the child took the hint and released his hold on him, dropping to the ground.

"Well... " Zatanna started, looking from Bruce to Jason to Dick. "I found something that I think you'll be interested in." She reached her hand into her pocket, and withdrew a smooth green stone that glinted in the light.

"What... What is that?" Bruce asked, walking closer to examine the rock.

"This is the key to returning Dick to normal." Zatanna said quietly, dropping the stone into Bruce's hand. There was a moment of silence while Bruce examined the shining green stone that was lying in the palm of his hand.

"My father knew of it..." Zatanna started. "H-he wrote about it in one of his journals, but it has taken me a long time to actually find."

"This can break the spell?" Bruce breathed, looking over at Dick who was happily shoveling cake into his mouth while Alfred admonished him, telling him to slow down.

"Yes, I know the spell that will bring him back to normal." Zatanna said, seeing the confliction that Bruce was feeling.

"He's so happy like this..." Bruce whispered. "I-I don't know what to do."

"Would he want to be turned back?" Zatanna asked gently.

"I really don't know... I think he... he would." Bruce said, biting his lip as he remembered how bad his relationship with Dick had been before he was turned into a baby as compared to now. He didn't want things to go back to how they were before...

Zatanna gently took the stone from Bruce's hand.

Bruce took a deep breath before looking up, determination shining in his eyes. "Let's do it." He said.

Zatanna's worried look faded away, replaced with a look of confidence. 'This is what Dick would want.' She thought to herself.

Bruce walked over to Dick, who had finished his slice of birthday cake, and was now in the middle of giving Alfred a long hug. "Dickie." He said. "Remember that story I told you... the one about Robin and the wizard?"

"Ya." Dick replied, turning to face them with a bright smile on his face.

"Well..." Bruce said, trying to think of a good way to tell his son that he was technically supposed to be turning 23 today, not 5. "That was a true story... and... and it happened to you."

Dick's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What? I... I got turned into a baby?" He asked, looking up at Bruce.

Bruce sighed. "Yes. We didn't have a way to reverse it before, but Zatanna found something that has the power to bring you back to normal... and now we need to know... Do you want to go back to how you were before?" He asked, feeling an immense surge of loss as he looked into Dick's eyes, which was silly. Dick was still here. He hadn't left...

Dick was silent for a few moments. "I... I do want to be turned back." He said, a determined look on his face.

Bruce sighed. "Alright Zatanna. I guess it's up to you now." He said, stepping away and trying to hide his look of disappointment.

Zatanna sent Bruce a small, reassuring smile. "He'll need some bigger clothes before we start." She said.

Jason sacrificed a larger pair of his own clothes for Dick, hoping that he would be able to fit in them after he returned to the adult he was supposed to be.

Dick stood in front of Zatanna, nervously fidgeting as he tried to hold the large pants he was now wearing up around his waist.

Jason and Bruce stood with Alfred a few feet away, waiting for Zatanna to start the spell.

Zatanna closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She started chanting something that none of the bats could understand. Her words filled the large room, echoing and booming in their ears. The green stone now floated between Zatanna's two hands, and she herself hovered a few inches off of the ground.

When Zatanna opened her eyes, they looked like glowing white spotlights. Their glow illuminated Dick, and he was soon surrounded by swirling green light.

Jason's eyes widened as he saw his brother start to grow before his eyes. Dick soon filled in the clothes he was wearing, and he eventually surpassed the size Jason had remembered him to be. The shirt stretched over Dick's muscular chest and arms, now too small for him.

When Zatanna's chanting ceased the green stone shattered into fragments that seemed to evaporate into nothingness.

Zatanna floated back to the ground, and Jason caught her as she passed out.

Once Jason had laid Zatanna safely on the ground, he looked up at where Dick was standing. There he stood, as if Salt's spell had never happened at all, and he'd been living out the past four years as normal.

Dick blinked sleepily, looking around with his confusion clear on his face. He only stood for a few seconds before collapsing.

Bruce rushed to Dick's side, frantically feeling for a pulse.

Dick's pulse was strong and steady, and Bruce sat back on his heels in relief, a small smile tugging at the edge of his mouth as he heard the soft snores coming from Dick's mouth.

"He must've been exhausted." Bruce whispered, turning to Alfred. "Alfred, would you mind making Dick's room a bit more... suitable for him?"

"I shall get on that immediately Master Bruce." Alfred said, heading upstairs.

"He really needs some bigger clothes." Jason said with a faint smile. He really didn't know how to feel about Dick returning to normal.

Jason had stored up so much resentment for his older brother, not feeling that it was right to direct this anger at him when he had been a child, it was now all bubbling to the surface. Every time Jason had been made to feel like a second rate replacement had added to his resuvare of anger and pain.

"Ya, It looks like he does." Bruce said, startling Jason out of his thoughts.

Jason looked at Bruce, noting his smile, and the way he gently brushed the hair off of Dick's forehead.

Bruce scooped Dick's unconscious body up in his arms and stood, carrying him towards his bedroom.

Alfred had hastily changed the sheets to some plain blue ones, and he was in the middle of gathering up the various toys five-year-old Dick had kept in his room and removing them.

Bruce laid Dick down on his bed before leaving to grab some of his own clothes for the man to wear.

—

"When do you think he'll wake up?" Jason asked Bruce during a particularly quiet section of patrol that night.

"Honestly, I don't know." Bruce replied. "It could be a day, a week..." He trailed off, staring off into the unusually quiet Gotham night. "I don't know."