February had finally come but not without the frigid weeks of constant rain. Everything was soaked. The snow was gone and every morning they woke up to the estate looking like a swamp. Sarah was going stir crazy from being inside with nothing to do. The three young adults of drinking age had cleared out the stock of recreational beverages due to their movie themed drinking games. Sarah couldn't play the piano and hadn't in weeks since the rain begun. The muffler felt had worn out as she discovered. No one dared to go drive through the mess. At the rate it was raining, Bruce rationalized, places would be flooded. Even the Batman and his Robin didn't dare to go out. Nightwing hung up his costume for good.

Without the piano Sarah was irritable. Playing was like therapy for her. Dick suggested at one point that she come to the gym more often. It wasn't like she had much of a choice. He began to teach some acrobatics with the uneven bars but it changed nothing. She thought having Damian teach her some of his combat skills, to better understand the strange teenager, would take off some of the edge. All that did was make her look dumb with bruises and her ass on the ground. Jason warned her.

Sarah just wanted to go into the city of ruins and back to the mall to take a display piano for parts. No one was willing to brave the elements. If their Gotham technologies were working it would have been a different story, but the only thing that was working was the JL computers linked up to the Watchtower, but the Watchtower link was down. "It isn't like we have a batplan to go out there with."

On the first day of March they welcomed the sun. The sky was clear at last and the birds were singing. John was scratching at the back kitchen door whining to be let out to run. Damian happily opened the door watching the mutt bolt after a rabbit. Dick walked in the kitchen and opened the massive pantry and grimaced.

They had plenty of food and decided to act upon Sarah's suggestion to plant some vegetables when the ground dried up and the weather warmed, but he, ever since they took in Sarah, closely watched the food supply with a wary eye. He knew they were going to have to go into the city and scavenge, but he didn't think it would be this soon. He figured everything, after Tim and Alfred died, the supplies would last five years before they would have to act, not two and a half. He also figured they would find people living in a community that wasn't touched by the virus.

Dick had to make a choice (because Bruce showed no ability to do so). He had no idea what the city looked like after all those weeks of heavy rain but he didn't want to take a chance with weather being so unpredictable. It was the east coast after all. He sat down and began to make a mental list. He figured he would have to ask Jason and Sarah to help him out. He wanted to take two vehicles down to the city to either load up completely or as a safety provision if either were to get land locked. Dick figured if the mall wasn't underwater, that Sarah would end up there looking for piano parts. She was getting a horrible case of cabin fever. They all were, but they all had outlets in the manor to channel it, she didn't.

/ / / / / / / / / / / /

They traveled in a mini convoy through the dirty streets of Gotham. John happily stuck his head out the window as Jason drove Sarah's Silverado. She elected to stay with Jason. She couldn't figure out why she had such an attachment to him since she found him on the side of the road. Of all the guys Sarah knew, Jason wasn't her type, but maybe that was why she liked him. He was different.

They drove around the city watchful of the lower streets for high water levels. They were relieved to see that it wasn't as bad as they thought it would have been. Dick elected to scavenge any of the stores on the North side; Jason took the opposite with Sarah. The first place they hit was the mall. She went straight to work with John by her side watching curiously as she carefully pulled a muffler felt in decent condition out of a display piano. When she finished she caught up with Jason outside who was siphoning gasoline from an abandoned car into the Silverado. The plan was after she got her parts was to scavenge for any food supplies but Jason had other ideas that involved the higher, former wealthier, parts of the city.

Sarah protested whenever Jason and John went into small penthouses and looted them. She stood outside the vehicle with her arms crossed. She knew there was no logical harm in it, but she didn't care. "It's stealing from the dead," she said. No guilt trip she set on him worked. The only time she approved of his looting was when she emerged with a small blue dress, satin with gems sewn into them, for her. There was no point in dressing up, but she could only dream.

They drove by Wayne Tower. It was the only place she recognized from the past when she first drove through the city to find Wayne Manor with a very ill Jason Todd in tow. She was curious what was really in there now what she knew that Bruce Wayne was really The Batman. She had to be careful about how she worded her requests to learn more about the family after the last blow out in the cave. "Any chance you guys have stuff up in the tower that would be used in the manor?" Jason stopped the vehicle and looked at her sternly. "I mean there is no point in letting it go to waste."

Jason opened the door and let John out to sniff out the entrance. It was clear. Jason huffed, "You do realize that is up near eighty stories before you even reach the bottom floor of the penthouse right?"

Sarah realized that was an impossible feat to accomplish. Not totally impossible but it seemed like it. "I'm sure I can jerry rig some chords to get a charge and get the elevator working."

Jason shook his head, "And the likely hood of it being safe is?"

Sarah knew her logic was defeated. All she wanted was to see what was up there and possible get a better view of Gotham. There was so much of it they didn't explore. She was sure Jason wanted to see from above what the city had become. Dick, Bruce and Damian already had in their useless night personas, but Jason never joined them.

Jason pulled something out of his jacket pocket. A grapple gun. "I didn't think I would need it today but you can never shake off old Batfamily habits."

Jason sent John to sniff out a neighboring building that was only twenty-stories high. After gaining the canine's approval he began to pull off the board from that blocked the door. Sarah was confused as to what he was doing. "What do you think you're doing?"

Jason kicked the door open, "You want to see Wayne Tower right?"

"Yeah, but that's not Wayne Tower."

"Yeah well this thing in my hand is only good for up to sixty stories. This is how I plan for us to get in."

"Come again?" she asked. He couldn't be thinking of grappling that high.

"Jason crawled inside the dilapidated building. "You can climb eighty stories up yourself or follow me and save some time."

Sarah ran after John and Jason. They took their time going up what seemed like an endless stairwell taking breaks every five floors or so. They reached the roof but where Sarah stopped at the door Jason kept walking to the ledge. The first thing that went through her mind was him jumping. He turned around and held out his hand, "You asked for this now come here."

Sarah reluctantly walked closer to him. "You're not going to throw me off are you?"

Jason laughed, "Nah."

Sarah stepped back. She knew he was the Red Hood and he wasn't mentally all there. She felt like she had to be careful be damned her subconscious attraction to him. "You know if you kill me that makes you pretty ungrateful of me saving your ass out in the world."

"You act like I'm going to murder you. Honestly that is the last thing I would ever do to the person who saved my life."

She nodded and took his hand. He pointed the grapple gun up to the sky and wrapped an arm around Sarah pulling him close to his body in a tight squeeze. "Do you trust me?" he asked.

Sarah looked up at him, "I don't think I have much of a choice."

He pulled the trigger, "Then hold on."

She closed her eyes and started screaming when she realized her feet were not on the ground. Jason was calm and focused on landing near the penthouse. When they reached the end of the line he slowly eased to the floor of the penthouse balcony, Sarah still holding on to him with a death grip. He chuckled at the sight, "You can let go, you're safe."

"Safe?! You just flew off the ground holding me for sixty stories! HOW THE HELL WAS THAT SAFE?!"

"I asked if you trusted me. Well you wanted to see the penthouse. Nothing is stopping you from opening those glass doors." Sarah wanted off that balcony and ran to the doors.

She happily opened them and ran to the nearest chair to catch her breath. She took in the scenery and watched Jason as he walked around the massive living space. It had a modern theme with clean lines everywhere. The place was freakishly clean too other than a layer of dust. Jason walked up to her, "There is nothing here that we don't already have at the manor." Sarah got up and went exploring around the place. She was careful about the dark hallways so she wouldn't bump into anything. The place was so damn near perfect she was afraid she would break something wherever she stood. She reached a part of the penthouse that was largely empty save for a few furniture pieces that she figured Bruce used when he had extravagant affaires for charity events. There was one big thing in the middle of the room that stood out. A piano. She couldn't have been more excited. It looked rather standard and had nothing on the beautiful antique that was in Wayne Manor but when she pressed down on the keys for a D-flat major chord she was thrilled that it was in working condition. It sounded like a brand new piano, which wasn't the best, she favored the classical old sound, but it worked to help take some of the edge off.

Sarah was never happier to tickle the plastic keys and play out Reverie by DeBussy. She was lost to the music and blocked out the world around her. She did so much that Jason's touch on her shoulder made her jump. "I'm sorry but we are going to lose some daylight soon and I would like to meet back with Dick before he goes running to DaddyBats."

Sarah blushed, "Sorry, you know I haven't played in a while and I just couldn't help myself."

She started to get up from the bench but just as she was standing Jason was sitting. "Um you know if you wanted me to teach you how to play more than Clair de Lune you could just wait until we get back to the manor. I would rather play there where I can get some lighting and have actual music."

Jason smiled at her. "No I want to show you something now."

She cocked an eyebrow at him, "So you have been playing? How? I would have heard something."

Jason shrugged, "You're not always within ear shot. When you go down to the gym I practice a little too."

"But you can't read music."

"But I can learn by ear. People did that."

He pressed down on a few keys and played at a fairly upbeat tempo. Immediately she recognized the tune he was playing but didn't say a word. She was impressed. She couldn't help but hum along, if love is a labor I'll slave 'til the end. I won't cross these streets until you hold my hand.

He played as if he had been playing all his life and with confidence. Something is up, she thought.

He finished playing. "Well?"

"About what? That was amazing. It was so accurate," she said with a smile on her face.

Jason nodded but smirked, "That wasn't exactly what I was getting at."

The smile on Sarah's face faded, "Oh."

"Can I be honest with you?"

"Yeah, you weren't before?"

"None of us were to begin with. Look, I have been searching for anyone I cared about, even if it was just barely. Hell I looked for some of the crooks I took down that Batman wouldn't let me kill. I did the cross country thing like you but I wasn't strong enough to survive it. I broke down, got sick, and just when I was ready to call it quits, you show up. I am grateful for that."

"And Rise Against is related how?"

"I care about you and I know this can't be done conventionally since the world has pretty much ended but would you like to be my significant other for the end of the world. Only if you want to."

"Jason, I-I don't know what to say. I mean it is nice and all but what can we do? Like you said the world has ended there really is no point in doing anything since we are just sitting and waiting for our time to come without having to end it ourselves." Sarah had a life picture in her head that by now, if the world hadn't gone to shit, she would be freaking out over her junior recital and having her father there to see it, not freak out over a guy she couldn't deny an attraction for. Everything was different now. She rationalized in her head that there was no need to freak out since Jason seemed genuine enough, but she was nervous about the idea of a significant other. Hell she never had a real boyfriend before. That could be blamed on her father's intimidation tactics on any boy when she was in high school. He had a strict no-dating-until-you're-married rule. Her mind was going a million different directions and just in a flash she turned it off.

Sarah wasn't a woman who believed in God, but she had a feeling that the universe brought them together for a reason no matter how unconventional it was.

"So?" Jason asked.

"Yes."

"Yes what?"

"Yes, I will be yours."

This chapter was such a pain in the ass to write. I promise the next one will be better. I had rough plans for this but I got really bored in music theory and new plot bunnies showed up. New story plans! Woo Hoo! But hey I will also be taking requests. Leave a comment below and let me know