A short little one-shot written for my friend Andy (robinluvzbatgirl on Youtube and Tumblr), who was in a Jay/Babs moods. I'm incapable of writing something without angst, so she gets this. Sorry if they seem out of character, but I won't lie, I haven't read much of the comics so I don't feel too familiar with either character.
She remembers the day that everything changed, when the world shifted and it suddenly felt like she was treading water. The only way to keep her head above the surface was to accept that some absolutes no longer existed.
The only certainty in life is death. She knew this. They all did, the heroes, the crusaders of justice. It was why, before any of them ventured out into the night, a little voice in the back of her mind whispered that they might never come back.
Now she stood, only feet away from him, close enough to see his chest expand and contract as air passed between his lips. Alive. He was alive. Bruce had warned her, and yet she hadn't truly believed until this moment, as she stood before the impossible. The ground beneath her feet seemed to lurch as reality shattered, fragmenting before her very eyes until all she could see was the ghost before her.
"What, Babs, speechless? I expected more of a welcome."
She couldn't see his face through the mask he now wore, but in her mind's eye she could envision the infuriating smirk tugging at the corners of his lips, tempered by the gentle teasing tone he always reserved for her and her alone. Her heart stuttered in her chest painfully, her fingers unconsciously curling into fists. "You were dead. What the hell do you expect me to say?"
He took a single step closer, then another, until mere inches separated them. His mask was a splash of red in her vision, a bloody gash against the night sky. She desperately wanted to remove it, ached to see his eyes once more, but she stood still, wary of the man before her. He raised a hand but seemed to hesitate. She could feel a tremor of uncharacteristic indecision shake through him, then the moment passed, and she exhaled slowly as his gloved palm came to rest against her cheek.
"Tell me you missed me." His voice was rough, the words whispered so softly she almost couldn't hear. The heat from his palm leeched through the material encasing it, and her skin absorbed the warmth until her entire being seemed to burn.
Seconds passed. She took a shaky breath, gazing up at his masked face. She didn't know if the man before her contained any remnants of the boy he once was. But just the fact that he stood before her, alive, outweighed any doubts clamoring at the edges of her mind. Her hand reached out to touch him, her palm resting flat against his chest, just over the steady thrumming of his heart. "I missed you."
She felt his heartbeat quicken upon hearing her words, and she couldn't prevent a smile from spreading across her lips. Each beat beneath her hand was a reassurance, confirming that the man before her truly was flesh and blood. Against all the laws of nature, he had returned and found his way back to her.
"Welcome home, Jason."