Perhaps you should get a pet, Talia had told him once in the midst of his recovery, I hear they can be very therapeutic.

Still half-crazy from his little joy-ride in the pit, Jason Todd had merely scoffed at the idea. He wanted revenge. A pet would only get in his way.

Now…well, he certainly wasn't insane by most standards—not any more. And this girl most certainly wasn't a pet. But having that constant companionship…it was certainly nice to rely on.

"Welcome home," The girl called softly from the darkened depths of the apartment. Red Hood snorted and rolled his eyes, even though he knew no one would see beneath his mask. "Not my damn home, silly girl."

"I know," her tone was just as amused as the last fifty seven times they'd gone through this—not that Jason was counting. She was sitting on the couch, the only source of light coming from her severely dimmed laptop. The sounds of a familiar instrumental could be heard the closer he got, but unlike usual she wasn't glued to its screen. Rather, she seemed to be prodding at the inside of her arm…

In a swift movement Jason was at her side, holding wrist and elbow firmly but gently in gloved hands. "What did you do?" When he caught that look in her eye, however, he was quick to add, "If you say you tripped I'll shoot you."

"I tripped…on a mugger?" The questioning tone flushed out her lie well enough. With a drawn-out sigh he relinquished his hold, easily making his way through the lightly cluttered apartment to retrieve the first aid kit. He left the bathroom light on for good measure and, upon returning to the beat-up sofa, pressed the tip of his index finger to her temple, "Bang," he declared softly before returning to his seat. "You're so weird, Red," was the chuckled response. Using her free hand to rake through her inky-black pixie cut, she allowed him to examine, clean, and dress the long gash that ran the inside of her arm, just deep enough to puff up.

Sarah Hawthorne was your typical Gothamite—born and bred just on this side of the Narrows, she was one of few fools brave enough to remain in Gotham for the entirety of her schooling. Sarah was nearly half-way through her second year at Gotham University, and was one of few known metas allowed to remain in Gotham. Upon discovering her shadow-based powers, she had arranged with Commissioner Gordon to meet Batman, inform him of her powers, and personally request the ability to remain, at the very least to the end of her schooling.

At the age of ten she had subjected herself to several tests of her powers' stabilities, a full-scale background check, and was subsequently tailed off-and-on for the better part of two months by the Boy Wonder. Sarah never knew it, nor would she likely ever, but that was the first she had met Jason.

When Jason reappeared as Red Hood, he had almost stupidly found himself breaking into her apartment. It was so dark in there, he was sure it'd been vacated months ago.

That was the problem, she'd told him, about having power over shadows. Her eyes could no longer dilate to see in much light at all. As a result, her apartment was practically pitch-black 24/7, and she was forced to wear special dark glasses whenever she left the house.

"Looked kinda messy at the end," Jason remarked casually, replacing the bandage and ointment into the first aid kit, "You blind 'em?"

"Tazed. The bastard deserved it."

Almost mockingly, Jason whistled low, "Harsh. I think I'm rubbing off on you."

"You're surprised?" As usual, she took his attitude in stride, examining his handiwork, "You've been around for, what two months? Besides, this is Gotham, Red. I've seen what the Narrows can do to people."

"Too true," but Jason's chuckle, however honest it may have been, was melancholy. Carefully sliding off his helmet, he chucked the red dome in the general direction of the armchair and stretched his arms high overhead. Sarah fiddled with the touchpad of her laptop a moment before snapping the lid shut and setting it on the coffee table. Yawning widely, she curled into his side like a cat, ear pressed flat over his heartbeat. "Hey, Sar?"

"Yeah, Red?"

"Hum us that lullaby, would you?" Even already half-asleep, Jason could feel her smile against his chest. The vibrations of her humming coursed from deep in her chest to the base of his throat, echoing between them as they drifted off to the sound of her sleepy song. It was the seventy-eighth time he had heard her hum it—not that Jason was counting or anything.

~Fin…?