RHO 2

(Ten years later)

Jason Wilde Todd kept true to his word, when he set that schedule for him self he adhered to it without fail up until he considered he had it mastered. Then of course he went along from there. Jason was sixteen now, and a lot of things had changed, he matured naturally being now almost fully grown, currently standing at four feet four inches. His weight was one hundred and twenty pounds, his physique was lean but with lots of visible muscle due to non-stop work outs everyday for ten years. His mental capacity had changed as well, IQ was now a 177 and he had certified bachelors degrees in Engineering, mathematics, chemistry, biology, anatomy, computer science, and business management.

Jason also in his opinion achieved mastery of hisself. He had worked extra hard to make sure his autism was not gonna control him or have a large defining character on him. He worked every night to get it to where it is now and continues to work to make sure it stays that way. To do that Jason developed an effective routine to achieve and keep the goal he set. When the sun would go down Jason would retire to his room 10pm on the dot, he would turn of the main lights and then sit on the foot of his bed. Next he would pick a little remote he kept at the foot of his bed and flick on a device that sat on his dresser. The device would come on and immediately begin blaring death metal music, high pitched noises, gunshots, and other various noises at over 240 decibels, well and plenty over the limit of sound that causes him severe discomfort. At the same time the noises played LED lights built in would strobe and flash at high intensities that even regular foxes would flinch away from. Jason would stare right at the device for exactly one hour, then a timer would go off and he would flick off the device.

At the age of sixteen if he had a clear head going in he could get through it with no problem, if not….he was liable to have a outburst. As the years went by he added a third element trying to stimulate his nerves, because as he got older that nerve damage that burned his pain receptors started to spread. The doctors were able to stop it of course, but his ability to physically feel was dampened, stimulating his nerves every night helped gain back moderate feeling. Basically now he couldn't feel tiny things like say a spider crawling up his leg, which had happened a couple of times, didn't even feel the little bastard until they were sitting on his snout. For those couple of times Jason was no longer a fan of spiders.

Of course it wasn't always easy, when he had started this exercise he couldn't get to ten minutes without caving. It took almost all of the ten years to get it to where it was now. As far as speaking went he was still blunt, short, and to the point with no emotion put into it for the most part, he could of course fake it but as it was now he rarely chose to. He could now hold a extended conversation as well, so far 45 minutes was his record. As far as emotions went, he could feel them much more than before and grasped their general concept. But, as far expressing emotions went that was still something he really didn't have, it was still a foreign concept to him. He knows how he feels, but as far as expressing it goes, he just didn't know how. Not that it mattered much to him anyway.

His social and family life definitely changed over the past ten years. Alfred was gone, he had fired him three years ago when he discovered Alfred was really just spying on him for his mom, giving her daily progress reports on him. He was infuriated when he discovered Alfred giving one such report, he felt betrayed among other things. So he lashed out in anger and cast Alfred from he mansion and then his mother had gotten an ear full when she had returned. Her mother tried to discipline him but it was never her strong suit and she caved on it after fifteen minutes. She tried her best to convince him to let Alfred back into the fold but Jason was as firm on it then as he was now. Alfred had betrayed his trust and lied to him, so that ended that.

His group of friends were gone to. Not by anything they did, or him for that matter. No them leaving was a good thing and he was damn proud of that thing. They had started a Metalcore band called Waging War and it had taken off, they even got signed to a record label. So they had left Ibexas to go on tours and set up shop in Zootopia. Of course if they rolled through Ibexas they always made sure to stop by. Them leaving had been about six years ago. They stayed in touch of course, and Jason got VIP access to merchandise, tickets, anything really. So yeah, he didn't mind them being gone, they were pursuing their dreams.

As far as family life went, well….his grandmother had payed a visit a year ago and it was….an interesting visit.

(One year ago)

Jason had just finished another set in his daily workout routine when he heard the doorbell ring. Jason looked in the general direction of the front door in with a head tilted in confusion. He hadn't ordered any food, there was no packages scheduled to be delivered today, and it definitely wasn't his mother because she was at work and even if she wasn't she never forgot her keys. It also couldn't be any solicitors because the neighborhood they lived in didn't allow them to enter. So the question remained who was at the door.

Jason stood and padded over over to the chair he had tossed his shirt on and threw it back on, pausing to take a swig from a water bottle that was on the patio table. Once he was done he put the bottle back down on the table and padded inside. Once he was back inside he walked over to the security office and walked in, going over to the monitor displaying all of the security camera feeds. A couple of clicks is all it took to pull up the front door camera to full screen to get a better look at the mammal at the front door.

What he saw surprised him greatly, though the only way he could show it was by raising his eyebrows. At the door looking sheepish and prehensive was a older red vixen, and this particular older vixen looked just like a older version of his mother. It didn't take a rocket scientist to deduce that this vixen at the door was his grandmother. At this development Jason narrowed his eyebrows, his mother had told him the story of why they weren't in his or his mothers lives…so his opinion of them weren't to fond.

Jason exited the security office and made his way to the front door. Once he was there he paused for a moment to take a deep breath, he didn't want to come out of the gate harsh, he would at least see what she had to say. Jason opened the front door exposing himself to the grandmother he never met. When he opened the door he saw his grandmother jump back in surprise at his sudden appearance and clutching her red purse tighter. He just stood there as she took him in, looking at him from head to toe. He just stood there and allowed her to do it and after a minute he saw her swallow hard and with a little of nervousness in her tone spoke to him.

"We..well…look at you. You're all grown up. You look so strong."

Jason simply raised an eyebrow and in his signature neutral tone bluntly said, "Of course I'm grown up, that tends to happen when you haven't seen someone since the day they were born. And yes I am strong, I've worked out every day, eight hours a day, since I was six. You can come inside, my mother, your daughter, will be home in a few hours." After that he simply turned and padded towards the kitchen, intent to get himself a glass of juice.

He couldn't see his grandmothers reaction. She took a step back shocked and aghast at his bluntness and cold, neutral demeanor. But then again she felt it was deserved, he was right after all, she hadn't seen him since birth. So she put on a brave face and walked inside.

She quickened her step to catch up to Jason, who she watched twitch his left ear back towards her, but otherwise didn't acknowledge her following him.

Once they were in the kitchen she watched as Jason grabbed two glasses from a cupboard and then went over to the fridge and opened it. As he was rummaging through it for the juice he casually said "My names Jason by the way. In case you never got it before you and my grandfather charged out of the hospital room and out of my mother and I's lives."

Jason's grandmother recoiled in shock at her grandsons cold statement. She with a little of hurt in her voice replied. "I knew that Jason. I knew that."

Jason finally found the juice, strawberry orange banana juice, and pulled it out. Turning and saying with a blank face "Oh good you at least learned that." Jason took in the look of shock on his grandmothers face as he lured the juice into both glasses halfway before returning it to the fridge. As he turned back he saw the look of shock change to a look of hurt and sadness and he let out a internal sigh before saying "look I apologize for my coldness but I can't help it. I have a high functioning form of autism. Lack of showing emotion, especially in speech is a side effect. Of course you would have known that had you been in my life. But you know, even if I didn't have autism I still think I would be acting cold and you know damn well why. But here's a moment of honestly, I could care less that you weren't in my life, I had my mom and that's all I needed. I'm pissed because you cut your own daughter out of your life, threw her out like a piece of trash. You know she still cries sometimes because of you and her dad?...so there's that….(he holds out the glass), Juice?"

Jason's grandmother just sat there, looking at him and utter shock at his blunt delivery of his opinion of her. Then it quickly changed to one of sadness, her grandsons hatred of her was more than justified. But yet, he only knew one side of the story. Maybe if he heard why she stayed away his tune would change a little. But if not, her grandson was secondary, she was here for her daughter….she had read the letter Mary had sent her, she hadn't even shown her husband it. He probably would have just torn it up and said good riddance. So no she kept it to herself, lied and told him she was going on a trip for a week, and then gotten in her car and driven straight here. Because she was determined to see her daughter while her daughter still had time left. So she needed to push through her hurt because she deserved it, so she put on a brave face and set to try and connect with her grandson.

First she reached out a paw to take the glass of juice, as she did she muttered a "thank you." Jason simply nodded and took a sip from his glass. She put the glass up to her nose to sniff and Jason said, "its strawberry orange banana."

At that she nodded and took a sip, it was good so she took another and set the glass down and saying "what you said is fair, I was a fool to think I would receive a warm welcome from you. And I'm sorry about your diagnosis, it must be hard."

Jason nodded and replied, "it was in the beginning, very hard. Couldn't stand loud noises, bright lights, couldn't make eye contact with anyone, no physical contact either. It took a long time but all of that is now under control, and I achieved that through hard work and determination."

Jason's grandmother nodded a few times and said "that's…quite impressive." To which Jason simply relied with A "mhmm" and another sip of his drink.

After a few moments of awkward silence, well at least for her, Jason's grandmother chimed in and said "my name is Diane by the way."

Jason nodded and said, "I knew that grandmother, and your husband's name is Desmond, my grandfather. Is he coming by chance? I wanna knock him out for the way he's talked to my mother, his daughter."

Diane gave him a look of frozen shock and a couple of blinks. It took a minute but once the shock subsided she slowly replied "no…he's not coming…he doesn't even know I'm here…"

Jason gave her a level look and said "that's a shame then, pray tell why doesn't he know you're here?"

Diane let out a sigh and replied "because he wouldn't have let me come here if I told him my intentions….look Jason I didn't want to abandon you and I sure as HELL did not want to abandon my daughter. But Desmond said she was disowned and I was not to contact either of you, I couldn't dare defy him. Your mother may have told you stories about him but at best they're probably watered down, he's not one you want to make angry…." She was going to continue telling him her side of the story but his movements stopped her.

Jason walked around the island and sat next to his grandmother. He reluctantly took one of her paws in his own and said "look grandmother. If he really is how you say, and by the stories I've heard Controlling, abusive, narcissistic, misogynistic, and among other things..why don't you leave him? If he really controls every aspect of your life and doesn't let you have a say and hits you if you don't follow it, disobey him, or displease him…why stay? And he's keeping you away from your only child and grandkit, won't let you see them or contact them, won't even recognize them as family….seriously why stay? Divorces may be super rare for foxes but that doesn't mean they don't happen, and all of these things I've listed sounds like the right reasons to divorce him. Is it because your afraid of him? If it is don't be, you could easily live here after you make amends with my mother, and he couldn't do a damn thing about it, and if he tried anything I'd crush him into the ground. I have brown belts in four different styles of martial arts, I also do MMA and Kickboxing. He wouldn't be able to touch you without that part coming back to him broken. So why stay?"

Diane looked at her grandson with shock for what felt like of hundredth time in the minutes she'd known him, it even almost sounded like there was some compassion in his voice. Diane also couldn't help thinking. "No wonder he looks so strong." Diane then sighed and looked to the floor and replied "because despite all of it. I still really love him."

At that reply Jason released his grandmothers paw and stood, his coldness returning as he retorted with, "then you're a damn fool." After that he turned and walked away, leaving his grandmother sitting there reeling.

Jason kept to himself for next two and a half hours, he knew his grandmother was still there by scent. He knew she was here to see her daughter, he knew why too, so he knew his grandmother wasn't going anywhere. After the two and half hours his mother was home and he gave them a few hours alone to talk, after all they had a lot to talk about. After about four hours he heard two sets of footsteps approaching. Before his mom could even ask anything knock Jason called out "you both can come in." He let out an amused huff when he heard his grandmother whisper "how did he know we were here? The floors carpet." He let out another when his mom said out loud "Jason's senses are above average." Followed by her opening the door and walking in. Diane stood in the doorway a extra few seconds before letting out a "huh" and then walking in.

Jason was sitting on the foot on his bed and he simply gestured to the two chairs he set in in front of him, he had felt this was coming today. Jason's mom and grandmother took their seats and for a minute there was silence. He could see his mothers reluctance and trepidation, he was going to try and nudge things along and break the ice but his grandmother beat him to it by starting it off on a different topic. She gestured to his at the time associates degrees hanging on the wall and asked "are those what I think they are?"

Jason simply nodded a few times and said "yeah those are my associates degrees. Just got em last week. They are for Engineering, mathematics, chemistry, biology, anatomy, computer science, and business management."

His grandmother just blinked twice and said "you have six associates degrees….at 14? How?"

Jason shrugged and casually replied "I have an IQ of 177 and never went through the stupid common core. Since I was six I've studied these subjects, each subject got a day and eight hours of that day up to now, and it will go past that. I want them to be bachelors before moving on to something else."

Diane just leaned back a little and murmured "you really are something."

Jason just shrugged and replied "if I wasn't something I'd be nothing."

Diane kept chatting with him for about fifteen minutes, just trying to learn about her grandson. The Whole time this was happening Jason answered her questions, but he kept an eye on his mom, watching and waiting for her to feel comfortable enough to tell him what she had to. Eventually after the fifteen minutes he could tell his mom had pumped herself up enough to get her news across to him. Jason's grandmother seemed to have noticed it to and she brought the current topic to a close and took her daughters paw in hers. When that happened Jason sensed the sudden shift in demeanor, and in that moment Jason had to decide how he would react the news. In his mind he had to options, act shocked and devastated….or bluntly tell them he's known for years…and after thinking on it for a moment he made his decision…bluntness was his speciality after all.

Jason watched as his mother took a deep breath and looked at him, and after a moment of pause said "Jason, there's something I need to tell you…something that I've been keeping a secret for awhile now."

Jason just nodded twice and said with his signature bluntness "you have cancer. You were diagnosed three years ago and have been fighting ever since in secret, not wanting to worry me. It started in your pancreas and has since spread to your liver, lungs, kidneys, and lastly your brain in this past year. Doctors told you that it's now untreatable, and ultimately fatal. They say best guess is you'll last another year, and I've already come to terms with that as best I can. I've been preparing for this possibility that past three years after all."

He could tell he had blown both there minds, his moms of course more so. The best way he could describe what he was seeing was a fish out of water. His mom was rapidly opening and closing her mouth, trying to formulate a single thought since he had just absolutely blown it out. It took several minutes for his moms brain to reboot and even then she barely got out a "h. h .h .ho..how?"

At that Jason couldn't help but let out a short little chuckle and then he replied "You've always been bad at keeping secrets, I got suspicious in the first month of your diagnosis. You were gone a lot longer, you were coming home way more tired, then I started seeing hospital bills in the mail regularly. After that I all I had to do was tune in on a call with your doctor to know. I never told you that I knew because I knew you wanted to tell me on your own time, and you didn't want to worry me with the news in the beginning especially if you could beat it. Honestly it allowed me to process the information on my own time, and prepare myself for the possibility of you passing from the cancer."

After his explanation the conversation continued for several hours before coming to a close. This memory of course led him to the most important change in his life, his mom was gone. She succumbed to her cancer two weeks ago, luckily she passed peacefully in her sleep. Since her passing he had stopped speaking, he found no real reason to have to as there was no one worth speaking to. Her passing is why right now he was busy unpacking his bags at the local orphanage where he would remain until his eighteenth birthday. But, unbeknownst to him, a blacked out SUV was in route to collect him…and it wasn't for a good reason.