Babydoll popped a bubble before looking over the building one more time with a devilish grin. She whistled for the others who began blitzing for the doors of Gotham City's Museum of Fine Arts. Tonight was all about fun, no stealing, no killing, just good ole' fashioned vandalism and chaos. The meeting with her father had been canceled, something about a new crime boss trying to take over and him wanting to get the details first before making a move. This gave Baby the night off, and she was going to utilize it to all of her advantage.
"Let's go boys!" she yelled holding up her favorite sledgehammer as the teddy bears hooted and hollered like wild things. They busted open the doors, the alarms being disconnected before they had stormed in. Baby at least wanted a little fun before the Bat or Red Robin was called in.
Baby started the chaos by smashing a marble bust of some general from Roman times, letting the boys cheer her on as they started on their own demolition. Baby couldn't help it, she was grinning wide and feeling great with all the destruction. It was her calling, to destroy things, even if it meant herself...
She blew her hair out of her face as she took another swing at another bust. She had even dressed up for the occasion tonight, her body in a one piece that wasn't exactly whole in the sense, the fabric only covering her breasts and pelvis while the rest was just strips of cloth that tightly wrapped around her body. She wore big black boots that stopped at her ankle and she had dawned on her black leather finger gloves. She pulled her pink hair back into a high ponytail and clasped some dangling black earrings. She looked deadly and provocative, just the way she liked it as her gun was strapped to her bare thighs.
"Keep going boys!" she yelled out "Don't leave a thing unmarked! Let em' know we were here!" she giggled that last part and began moving farther into the museum. She heard the boys crashing and banging things around, the faint smell of spray paint filling the air. Oh yes, they would know she was here, and even if her father mentioned it she was sure he would approve of her use of time to herself.
She laughed as she smashed artwork after artwork along the hallway, her sledgehammer making that beautiful noise against the wall that she loved so much. She thought about the first time she had really destroyed something beautiful, it had been right after she had woken up and came to terms that her Jason was gone. She had gone into the city, her heart and mind gone with grief, unafraid of what her parents would say to her absence, her father wouldn't speak to her and her mother was caught in between the crossfires of them both.
She had walked past a happy couple, their arms linked together, their smiles contagious to whoever say them, and it made Baby want to scream. Why should they get happiness? Why should they be allowed to love one another freely? It made her furious and as she walked away from them she found herself standing beside one of the many churches of Gotham. The stained glass windows glowed against the darkness, their brilliant colors sparkling as they depicted saints and stories that Baby herself had never heard.
The rock had found her hand before she knew she had thrown in, the beautiful colors of glass shattering in the air, and rock after rock had been thrown by her hand, destroying the things that had given people hope and beauty in their time of need.
She had hated them, she had hated everything, and now her hate was being released again as she destroyed a painting nearly a hundred years old.
She laughed to herself, watching the painting drop down on the ground, the canvas torn and the frame split in half.
She could hear her laughter echoing, the pitch going high and low until she realized she was crying.
"What the-" she said suddenly letting herself calm down as her gloved hand wiped tears away from her eyes. She wasn't suppose to cry tonight, she was supposed to be having fun...
Suddenly she heard rounds of gunfire pop off and quickly turned in their direction. Looks like the Bat had found out about their little private party as she headed toward the noise, the yells of her boys calling out for her.
She walked fast towards a stone railing that overlooked a open area in the museum that probably once displayed ancient artifacts in glass cases until her boys had come through.
Her boys had made a barricade with various benches and stands as they shot towards a lone figure who was dodging bullets and cracking his own off towards the other side of the room.
Baby shouldered her sledgehammer to get a better look at him, unsure if he was one of the Bat's or not, but all she could see was the red helmet he wore along with his brown leather jacket.
"Figures" she muttered before looking over at her boys.
Jojo saw her and glanced up before another bullet whizzed by his head. She signaled for them to cease fire and they did so automatically, leaving Helmet Boy confused for a moment before she called out.
"Why don't you pick on somebody not your size?" she said before jumping down off the railing and in front of Helmet. She arms swung back with the sledgehammer and rocketed it right into Helmet's chest, sending him flying back against the wall as Babydoll merely giggled.
"Get going boys" she said over her shoulder "This one's alllll mine."
"Doll" Jojo called out but Baby shot him a look that sent him going before she turned back to her adversary.
He stood upright, his hands holding his helmet as his head shook slightly from being winded by her. Baby revved her arms back with the sledge ready to take another hit at him. She needed a good fight, and this guy looked just about right to give her one.
When Helmet Boy looked up though, and really looked at her, she saw him slightly stiffen, as if shocked.
"Probably surprised at how small I am" she thought to herself "Who knew something so cute could be so mean."
The thought alone made her black lips grin as she blitzed towards him, her battle cry loud as she swung back and made contact.
Except instead of hearing the thud of flesh, she heard the crack of the wall. Babydoll furrowed her brow as she looked back and found him swinging his own fist right for her face.
"Shit!" she exclaimed as she flipped upwards, her legs catching his arm and sending him down. She threw her knee upwards, rocking his helmet back as she darted out of his grasp and flipped a good few feet away from him. Her sledge was stuck in the wall, she could tell that much from the angle, and it would take more than a couple minutes to dislodge it.
"Fine" she thought to herself "Guess it's the real weapons" as she held her fists up ready to go.
Helmet got up fast and ran for her, his body big and tall against her small curved one, but she managed to dart out of his way but not fast enough not to earn a roundhouse kick to the back. She screamed as she fell to her knees but quickly summer salted so that he was in front of her once again.
Then as he drew close, it was a fist fight like none she had ever been in. His blows were hard, his blocks steady, his moves quick and calculated, he took her punches with stride but she knew she was wearing him down, his punches slowing as she could hear him breathing heavy behind that red helmet.
But Baby, she was just getting started.
Quickly she ducked from his swing and brought her body down, swinging her legs out to rock him backwards, her body leaping back in the air and running right for him. They had moved all around the room, but he was now facing right in front of the glass doors that led out to the balcony. She wickedly smiled and jumped in the air, her feet landing square in his chest, hurdling him backwards into the doors, the sound of glass hitting the ground as Babydoll landed perfectly.
She took a few deep breaths and walked through the busted doors, finding her opponent moaning slightly, his body wrecked from the contact with the door.
"Awe what's the matter?" she cooed at him "You aren't getting tired are you?"
She watched as he got up and stood, his body slumped a little as he faced her.
"Round two" she said and ran for him but instead of blocking he caught her arm, sending her body straight into his. Babydoll lurched away from him, her mouth snarling as she swung back again to clock him.
"Enough B!" the figure said before her fist collided with his helmet.
Baby felt all the air leave her lungs as she heard the name absolutely nobody was ever to call her.
She stood awe struck, her body stiff as her eyes grew wide and looked down at the male who was breathing heavy again, his helmet down turned from her gaze.
"What did you say?" she said breathlessly.
He looked up at her and must have realized his mistake, his head looking away again as he shook his head.
"No look at me!" she said drawing her gun right at him "What did you just call me?"
He looked right up at her then, and she could make out eyes inside the slits of his helmet. Eyes that nearly burned right through the metal, right through into her body. She needed to know where he knew that nickname from, needed to know why he had called her that...
"Take off the helmet" she demanded.
"No" he answered back.
"I said take it off!" she yelled clicking the hammer back on the gun. Tears were now started to well up in her eyes and she quickly tried to blink them away to no avail.
She heard an audible sigh, his hunched from standing up from the ground and looking at her. His hands reached up for his helmet, those eyes still looking at her. She watched as he hesitated for a moment, but her arm was steady and ready to fire if he didn't comply.
His hands held the helmet steady as he removed it slowly, time seeming to stop as Babydoll watched his full face come into view. That face...
"No.." she whispered looking right at him.
It was him, an older him, but it was still the face of the boy she once loved.
"You" she whispered "You were dead..."
"B" he said moving towards her but she immediately moved away from him. He watched her confused as her eyes were wide with terror.
"Your not real" she said almost to herself.
"I am" he said looking at her. He didn't have time for this, he knew the cops were on their way right now, but he had to see her, had to do what she asked, it was only right...
God, she was so beautiful. He had almost forgotten how beautiful she really was. Her body had filled out and her look was different then last time he saw her, but those steel blue eyes still burned, that heart shaped scar still stood out. He wanted to close the gap in between them, wanted to show her that he was indeed flesh and blood.
He moved once again towards her and Baby felt her heart skip in her chest. So many times she had seen him, so many times he had vanished like the ghost he was. But now he was walking towards her, his hand was reaching out for her...
He watched as her arm with the gun moved down the more he got closer to her, his heart beating wildly in his chest as he reached for her. Just one touch...just enough to make it real and then he would be gone...
Baby stiffened when he was mere inches away from her, that hand coming into contact with her soft skin that immediately sent shivers up her spine, her breath shaky as she looked up at him. His dark hair had been buzzed on the sides and she assumed the back, the dark locks falling in front of his eyes as he stared down at her. She noticed the white streak, singular in all that darkness...
She was shaking, actually shaking, he couldn't stand it. She had never been afraid of him, never once had flinched at his touch, what the hell had the Joker done to her...
His grasp on her became firm, his arms pulling her against him, her body frozen in shock as her face came within a breaths of his. Ever so softly, he bent and placed his lips against hers, the soft caress surely stopping time itself as Baby felt her lungs and heart stop, her eyes closed shut, and memories came rushing back of those same lips placing themselves against hers years ago. She could smell him, the leather and smoke drifting into her senses as he grabbed her just a little tighter.
He drank in her lips, their softness opening to him like the bud of a flower, her shoulders stopping their shaking under his touch, her breath caught in her throat and that intoxicating smell of wild flowers that always seemed to trail after her. It was all too much, all too much to remember and take it, but he wouldn't dare leave, not for a moment, not even for a second...
Then they parted, and Baby looked up right into those eyes and remembered. Remembered his laugh, his smile, the way he called out her name...
Jason felt them separate and immediately turned, already knowing he was out of time as he walked away towards his helmet, leaving Babydoll still standing there mesmerized.
He picked up the red helmet, knowing that there was no more Jason Todd for Baby to love, he had died, this was him now the vision of himself in the helmet, he was the Red Hood.
Baby watched as he stared down at the helmet, her fingers reaching up and touching the place he had just kissed. It was him...he was alive...
Her heart suddenly caught up and began beating wildly and hard in her chest as she inhaled a breath.
He heard her gasp and looked back, he couldn't help it...
"Jason" she whispered.
He felt his throat bob, nobody had said that name and it was wonderful to hear it come from her lips.
"Jason!" she exclaimed and hurdled herself forward to him, her arms reaching up and wrapping around his neck, her lips crashing down on his as his own found themselves around the curve of her hips. She fervently wanted to be closer, her body reaching to try and wrap itself around him and never let go, but Jason pulled her away for a breath of air that apparently she didn't need.
"Your alive" she said gasping.
"For the moment" he said without smiling.
"How?" she said not caring as her hands found his face, her fingers wanting to memorize it once more as they had when they were young.
He simply shook his head "Too long of a story, and you need to go."
"What?" she said as he pulled away from her "What do you mean I have to go? I'm going with you!"
"No B" he said putting the helmet on "Your not. You are going home."
"Like hell!" she yelled at him.
"I'm serious B, the cops will be here any minute, and since your thugs are gone you need to split" he said walking away from her.
"I can handle the cops Jason" she said sneering at him, appalled at how he could reveal himself and then just leave her like this.
"It's Red Hood now" he said as he went for an open window one of her boys must have smashed "Jason is dead."
Baby swallowed the cry that was about to escape her throat as she watched him jump from the window and land on the museum's second story roof with ease.
She'd show him, she didn't need him anyway!
Baby went back for her gun that she had dropped unknowingly and went towards the front doors just as the sirens began pulling up. She wasn't going to be pushed aside like that, especially now!
She would show him, she would show everyone...
A/N- What a reunion that was! Lots of mixed emotions going on right now, both parties being happy and angry at seeing one another. Now it's time for Babydoll and Jason to really show how different they have become while being apart. But don't worry folks! There's some fluff and smut coming right this way! Please review and let me know what you think of the progression of the story! Thanks!