I apologize for missing last week's update. I had some RL things to deal with and then misplaced part of this chapter.

Thank you to everyone who has followed/faved this and for being patient.

It had been a week since 'Little Red Riding Hood,' or Ryder as Jason started calling her, starting living with him.

Hey, he wasn't gonna keep calling her 'brat' and 'kid' especially in public - too many suspicious women out there would just love to call the cops on him for no good reason (just because he looked tough wearing his leather jacket and combat boots must mean he's bad news...well, he was, but it was rude to stereotype dammit).

On a whim he had left her with an old nun at a woman's shelter just to test his theory that the kid was a human boomerang and could always find her way back to him. One hour and seventeen minutes later (he timed it) and she was standing on his doorstep.

That was the last time he actively tried to ditch her.

They had kept on the move and relocated to a different safe house each night. 'Being paranoid keeps you alive' was a motto Jason lived by. Having a box of fucking cereal turn up at each and every one of his damn safe houses, however, was something he could live without.

"Oi, Red, I'm heading out."

Before he went out on patrols she would normally stay at the table and continue to line up her dice in different orders, never getting tired of the repetition. But this time she got up, grabbed one thing in each hand, and walked over to the kevlar-clad anti-hero (or was he an anti-villain?) She offered him one of the objects she had grabbed and he took it in confusion.

"Aspirin? Ah, hell," his confusion expression morphed into something like distain or annoyance. "How many?"

This particular situation had happened a few times before. At first Red Hood hadn't known what she was doing but, after not accepting them he came back with a persistent ache and a wish he had taken some painkillers before patrol, realized she had somehow known he was going to need them.

The other object Ryder had brought with her was held up for him to see. One of her many dice rested on her palm, the number four side facing upward.

Red Hood popped the cap off the bottle and downed four of the pills in one gulp, mentally preparing himself for a rough night.

He offered the closed bottle back to Ryder who made no move to take it.

"I'll need them later, wonderful," Red Hood says dryly as he stuffs the pill bottle into his belt.

He ruffles her hair as he heads towards the window, "See you tomorrow Red, probably."

She stands there silently, watching as he disappears up the fire escape.

Now that he was gone, she had work to do. She grabbed her suitcase and opened it up. In addition to everything she had originally arrived with, Jason had given her some extra money for emergencies and some new clothes. The clothing was stolen of course, but they were clean and they fit so Ryder wasn't complaining (plus his face had been amusing when he came back with a brand new package of girl's underwear).

She wouldn't give up her red hoodies though. After wearing them both to bed so he couldn't get rid of them while she was sleeping he gave up, deeming it not worth the hassle (even if they were becoming threadbare and he could easily get more for her).

The approximately ten year old made her way to the bathroom and gathered all the supplies she would need and then some. Rubbing alcohol, tweezers, gauze; she even grabbed the Disney Princess Band-Aid box Jason had picked up for her (again, stolen, but Ryder knew everything she needed to know about him that first time they [and their eyes] had met. Everything important, anyway).

He was one of the few 'safe' ones out there. Sure he carried a gun and took the law into his own hands, but he would always be a safe haven when she needed one - she hadn't been able to find too many of those in the world, much less Gotham.

Ryder vaguely wondered how long she would be able to stay with Jason. She had already stayed longer than 90% of her past 'residences' but refused to get her hopes up for a permanent home. Jason was most definitely not the father type.

She would be happy with however long she could stay and would help him in any way she could. Mostly that meant giving him pain killers before any particularly rough patrols but it was slowly escalating.

Red Hood would be shot tonight.

Nothing too serious, a low-caliber bullet to his shoulder that would be slowed considerably by his kevlar. The problem was that it would nick the bone and a small piece would chip off and lodge itself in the nerves of his arm causing irreversible damage if it was not removed immediately.

Jason would not be returning to the safe house she was at. Some misguided notion that children shouldn't have to see blood and bullet wounds. Oh, and the one he'll go to is closer to where he gets shot, so less of a trek for the injured man.

In no time she was packed and ready to go. She waited at the door until the man who stays in the room across the hall got his drunk ass into his apartment before heading out herself (...perhaps Jason was more of a bad influence on her than she thought).

As long as Ryder didn't run into any unforeseen obstacles (and she knew there wouldn't be any as long as she avoided 5th and Sunset) she would arrive at their destination before Jason. This time she wouldn't be lucky enough for the door to be unlocked but that was fine, the vigilante would just let her in when he himself arrived.

The sun had set awhile ago, signaling curfew for children and good men alike.

It took Ryder about an hour to get to the safe house and another two for Red Hood to show up.

He grunted in combined greeting to seeing her and pain of the fresh bullet wound.

He opened the door and growled under his breath, "Get in."

She did as he asked and went over to the table where she opened her suitcase and began taking out the needed items.

Jason joined her shortly, helmet and mask thrown on the floor someplace. "Do you even know what you're doing?" he asked as she approached him with the rubbing alcohol and tweezers in hand.

They stared at each other for several seconds before Jason gave in. "Fine, whatever, just don't make it worse."

I'm not super happy with the ending, but I wanted to get this up and I've already made you guys wait an extra week so...yeah.