The first time Jason Todd meets Donna Troy, he's in awe.

He doesn't want to be at Titans Tower, be reminded of how inferior he is to Dick Grayson by Dick's friends. But Dick is apologetic, and desperate, and Jason hates seeing that kicked puppy look on his face, so he goes anyway. If Dick wants to play big brother to assuage his guilt, who is Jason to stop him?

Despite all that, things go surprisingly well. They're nice enough, and some of them he likes more than he should. But it isn't until he meets Donna that his face brightens. Wonder Woman is unapologetically his favorite superhero, and meeting her kid sister and fellow hero feels like a dream come true.

Donna, on her part, finds Dick's kid brother and his celebrity crush adorable. No matter how much Jason plays up the tough guy image, she can see the good in his heart, the softness in his eyes. He has been hurt and broken, but still so desperately wants to do good, and she can't help but be touched.

When it's time for Jason to go home, she ruffles his hair and tells him to come back any time.


The next time they meet, Death has touched them both.

Though it has scarred Jason more, and the more time they spend, the more Donna begins to wonder if that young boy, the one who used to smile so shyly up at her, is still there. As time goes on she realizes that boy is still very much there, just buried under untold amounts of grief and pain.

Such feelings are not unknown to her either. She has endured a thousand lifetimes of tragedy, lost a man she loved and the child they had together. Death was supposed to be the end of such suffering, and yet it only has brought more to both of them. So, in spite of herself, Donna doesn't stop trying to reach Jason, and slowly but surely, she finds him. And in turn, he finds her.

Their friendship is dusty but still strong. When they part, it's with a grunt and a smile, and even as more of the Red Hood's exploits reach her ears, she can't help but wish him well.


Fittingly, it is death that reunites Jason with Donna a year later.

Roy Harper is dead. Dead, and gone, and while they never quite found their way back to each other, he would always hold a piece of Donna's heart. For Jason, it is very much same, for Roy was the closest Jason had ever come to a best friend. The loss cuts into him in a way he hadn't thought was possible since his first death.

He's carrying flowers to the grave when he sees her.

She's tracing the lines etched into the gravestone when his voice calls out to her.

"Donna?"

"Jason?"

They stare at each other. They stare, and stare, and suddenly tears are in Donna's eyes, and when she collapses Jason is there to catch her. He hold her close, buries her head into his broad chest, and whispers comfort into her ears.

"He's not coming back, is he?" She asks him, already knowing the answer.

He stares down at her, then shakes his head sadly. She trembles and she sobs, and allows herself to break.


After that, they spend more time together. Usually with Dick, though sometimes it's just them. The loss of Roy, the reconciliation with his family, has tempered the rage in Jason's heart, and every time they meet Donna can see more of the boy she was so fond of years ago. When Bruce Wayne dies, Jason is the first one Donna comforts after Dick, is standing side-by-side with him when Dick finally takes up his birthright as the next Batman.

Jason has given up killing by that point, and slowly the Red Hood's reputation is rehabilitated amongst the superhero community. Donna feels more comfortable working with him again, and they go on more than their share of missions, again often with Dick but sometimes just them and a few others. Roy's ghost is there, but not between them, but beside them, the sadness fading into love and fondness. Because he may be gone, but they will never ever forget him.

And then, five years after Bruce's death, Dick dies too.

The shadow of grief hangs over everyone. They're both at the funeral, and both hold up Kori as she collapses in despair. Donna cannot take another loss like that, not after Wally three years prior and Lillith the year after. Her mind drifts to that terrifying future, where she broke again and wasn't able to piece herself back together, and she shivers. No. Another loss would destroy her, bring about that future, and she refuses to let that happen.

She returns to Themyscira, only staying long enough to say goodbye to those that still mean something to her.

Jason…

Jason becomes the night.


The wheels of fate continue to turn. Ten years pass before they find each other again.

Clark Kent has been dead for two years, and his half-human clone/brother/son is Superman now. With Jason's ascension to Batman years before that, there is a feeling in the air, a growing belief that Diana's time as Wonder Woman is soon coming to an end. A belief rendered true when Queen Hippolyta dies in battle.

Diana, as her eldest daughter, is next-in-line for the throne, and she dare not shirk her duty. But Man's World needs Wonder Woman, so another must take up her mantle. A tournament is held, and so many Amazons feel sure of themselves until Donna Troy enters the arena to great aplomb.

She ran to the island to heal, but she stayed longer than she should have, this she knows. She trained for a war that never came, and used it as an excuse every time Cassie Sandsmark came to visit her. And Cassie, after one too many lies, screams into her face that the only person she is fooling is herself, and they part on bad terms.

And then, the war does come, and Cassie dies, and finally Donna admits that she was right.

So, three years later, she decides it is time. For Donna has mourned for long enough, her soul not quite healed from the losses she has endured but patched in a way that the wounds no longer ache. She misses Man's World, misses the friends she left behind, and still so very much wants to do good. So she enters, and she wins. Diana gifts her new armor, new weapons, and the Lasso of Truth, and Donna leaves Themyscira once again for the shores of the outside world.

She's recognized immediately, and an envoy — Jessica Cruz — is sent for her, to take her place with the Justice League. She accepts with as much grace as she can muster, and when she appears, it is to a roaring crowd with so many familiar faces that she can barely keep track of them all. As friend after friend goes to greet her, to congratulate her, she feels herself overwhelmed.

The Watchtower has been rebuilt so many times that one would expect the layout to have changed more than it has. Donna finds a hiding place midst the chaos far easier than she should, and releases a breath, long and tired. She loves them all — she must — but sometimes, it is simply too much.

A glass of water is handed to her, and she takes it without a glance at the giver, aching too much for a sip.

As she finishes, her eyes widen, and she whips her head around.

"Batman?"

"Wonder Woman."

His voice is low, lower than Dick's, but without the gravel of Bruce's. And while Donna may have secluded herself within the limits of Paradise Island, she did not leave herself bereft of news of the outside world. She knows of the tragic fates of Tim Drake, of Damian Wayne. And with that, she knows that this man, this Batman, can only be one person.

"Jason," she says, and there is relief, because Jason, he understands. Perhaps better than anyone else she knows.

"Donna," He smiles, and they're hugging now, and Donna finally feels like she can breathe.


It's easy for them to fall into a rhythm after that. Jason and her, and Conner too, they've known each other long enough to make it work. The others that sit at the table (Wallace West, Bart's successor, Wally's successor; Jackson Hyde, who prefers his Atlantean name of Kaldur'ahm, because Garth has found his home in Atlantis now, with his family; and sweet M'gann M'orzz), they are close, but not quite, not like the three of them are. For there is a bond between them, a bond of knowing they are the legacy of the three greatest heroes the world has ever known, and with a desperation to live up to everything those heroes set out to do. Only Kyle Rayner can claim to hold the same bond, having to live up to such similar expectations, but he keeps himself apart and aloft, devoted to protecting space as much as the planet upon which he was born.

With every victory, they continue the legacy of their mentors with satisfaction. They even take time to train each other's proteges, Jason with their minds, Conner with their hearts, and Donna with their bodies. Their families become closer, close enough for even Jason to allow them to operate in Gotham with minimal observation. It is a gesture of trust, a beautiful one, and they know from the pride in Diana's eyes that Clark and Bruce would approve too.

Eventually, that leads to them creating something truly amazing. When Jason first reveals his tentative idea of a formal training system for heroes, Donna is immediately intrigued, and she knows Conner is too. They dive in head first, bouncing around ideas until they've got almost all their bases covered. Then they present it to the other Founders (including Diana), and once they have their approval and their aid in devising the rest, they reveal it to the JLA and the rest of the superhero world. It's controversial, but it has enough support to go through, and slowly they're winning over the holdouts inch by inch.

Yet, it is outside the world of heroes and villains that their relationship truly flourishes. The three of them go out to at least once a week. They sleep over at each other's houses, eat each other's food (Jason's, more often than not), join each other for birthdays and holidays and everything in-between. Jason's beloved children address her as Aunt Donna. They love her, and she loves them.

But for Jason and Donna, it is different. Dick Grayson's ghost, much like Roy Harper's, is not between them, but besides. And as much as they mourned him (or continue to mourn him, in Jason's case), he is no longer a factor in their relationship. And, as Donna looks back, he was never quite as big as one as they both liked to believe.

Jason is no longer 'Dick's kid brother'. Donna is no long 'Dick's best (girl) friend'. Those labels mean nothing now. They simply know each other now as Jason Todd and Donna Troy, and that shouldn't matter until it does.

Because Jason isn't a boy anymore. He's a man. A very attractive man, who has overcome great heartache and adversity and a bloody past to become a hero beloved throughout the world. A good man, a man any woman would be lucky to have.

And Donna. Donna is a woman. An impossibly beautiful woman. A woman who has gone through her own share of sorrows, her own share of pain, and come out all the more stronger for it. A hero just as adored as the sister that came before her.

And if she had to love a man, she'd rather it be a good one, because surely a good one would not break her heart like so many others had before.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out what happens next.


Love is a villain. For love creeps onto people when they least expect it.

Jason Todd realized he loved Donna Troy on a relatively mundane day. They're in the Watchtower, leading a training session for the current generation of the Teen Titans. It's sparring practice, and he and her trade off on the demonstrations.

It's Donna's turn, and she has Damian Kent, Dam-El, Jon's adoptive son/brother/whatever, in a hold. And she's flipping the boy over, a beautiful throw, he's looking at her, at how her face glistens, how her eyes shine, how her lips are pressed together into a heart's bow, and he can't help but think I love you.

When the thought passes, it takes all his self-control not to blanch.

A week later, when he sees Artemis and thinks of Donna as they make love, he knows that is the end of them. She tells him so a month later, of the yearning she suddenly has for Themyscira, the desire to stay there for reasons unexplained, and they part, no longer lovers, but friends.


Donna Troy realizes she loves Jason Todd while in the throes of battle. Another invasion, one that is so badly-planned that Jason drops Batman's serious demeanor, just for a moment, to joke about it with dry, morbid, sarcasm. And Donna, she can't help it. She laughs while cutting off the head of a particularly annoying war machine, and thinks I love you.

She almost stumbles when the thought finishes. An invader tries to take advantage, and she cuts it down a second later.

For Donna, this is not an end, but a beginning. Of what, she dare not imagine, for reality so rarely lived up to fantasy, even in their world. Even so, it does not change the truth she now has to face.

The truth they both have to face.

Jason Todd and Donna Troy are in love.

With that realization, they do the only thing they can do.

They fight it every step of the way.


They start avoiding each other.

Artemis may no longer be factor, but that is hardly the only issue, nor even the most important one. Their working relationship, their friendship, is far too important to them, to the Justice League, to the world, to risk on this. They have each other, care for each other, and that has to be enough. Whatever attraction is between them, they cannot afford to indulge.

It holds and holds until Conner dies, and Jon has no choice but to shed the mantle of Nightwing and take his place as the third Superman. Jason and Donna only have so long to mourn before they have to pick up the slack while Jon tries to settle himself into the position. The tension builds, and builds, and builds, until…

It's late at night. There's barely anyone in the Watchtower. Jason is in the gym, shirtless, just wearing a pair of sweats, practicing a kata when Donna comes in just a sports bra and sweats of her own. They take one look at each other, and against his better judgment, Jason asks for a spar. They take off their shoes, go to the mats, and they fight.

It is a close fight, for they are two of the greatest combatants in the world. Donna is an Amazon, the younger sister of their Queen and their greatest champion. Jason has honed his body to perfection, has trained it to be his second greatest weapon (his mind, obviously, is the first). His sister is the greatest warrior of the modern age, and he is one of the only people in the world that can match her. It's close, because it can be nothing else but that. It continues, until…

They don't remember who wins.

Just the kiss under the stars, and everything after.


They don't talk about it for months.

Then the Gentle Man comes calling, asking for another day, and Jason and Donna find themselves beholden to a promise their mentors made years ago, and cannot find it in themselves to renege on it. At least this time, they know and are prepared for what is to come. They face the hordes with grim determination, holding on as the years pass.

It doesn't take long for them to fall into each other's beds, to find comfort with each other's bodies, their shared heat. But they still don't talk, because they don't know what to say. That is, until a particularly hard day, where they share another night. Donna is resting on Jason's bare chest, staring at the walls of their refuge, Jason is staring at the ceiling, and both of them are wide awake.

She turns his head, and looks at him. "I don't want this to end," she confesses.

He opens his mouth, a perfect 'o', before he lets out a resigned sigh. "Neither do I," he admits.

It seems that is enough.

The Gentle Man relieves them, continues his duty, and they return to theirs. Their relationship is still something undefined, but it's there now, enough for them to hide it away like a dirty little secret. They steal moments, as many as they can, have dates in their civvies in far-off corners of the world, where no one can recognize them. They pretend that their friends and family don't know (they do, everyone does), and hold onto it, hoping to never let go.

They aren't ashamed. Or afraid. But this, whatever this is, it's something only for them. It's something sacred and empowering, enchanting them, leaving them utterly breathless. Every smile, every kiss, is a treasure to behold. Together, it's like all the worries of the world fall away, lost and misplaced until they have to be found again.

Together, they are the happiest they have ever been.

Of course, the winds of destiny continue to blow.


At age forty-eight, Jason learns he has lung cancer.

He tells Cass. Then Steph, Babs, Duke, and Luke. Followed by Carrie and Helena. Jon. Kyle.

Not Terry, or Matty.

Not Donna.

He breaks up with Donna instead, gives her some tripe about how he needs to focus on Terry more, which is true but not completely. It ends in a screaming match, she wants to know and he won't say, and at the end of it all she doesn't speak to him for months. Just as well, because Terry is ready to take the tests, the tests that Damian never managed to complete before his death. And if he passes them all, then Batman is his, and Jason will most likely never see Donna again.

They don't speak, and then Terry passes, and then, in front of the Founders of the Justice League (honorary; Diana is the only real Founder still alive), formally passes the mantle to him. He announces his reason for it, explains his diagnosis, and then walks away.

He doesn't dare look back.


A year later, Donna comes to him in the dead of night. Jason is weaker in body than ever before, but when he sees her, he feels stronger than the gods themselves.

The first thing she does is slap him across the face. He doesn't begrudge her that; it is perhaps the most deserving slap he has ever had in his life.

Then she kisses him. Then they make love.

As they lay together in the afterglow, Jason says, "I'm sorry." So very sorry, the sorriest he's been since Damian's death.

And Donna, she looks at him and says, "I'm sorry too." She's sorry she didn't push for this sooner, harder, that she walked away instead of trying to stay.

So much time, lost, and all they have are their laments.

"Take care of Terry for me. Please." Because the burden of Batman was so much more than a boy his age could bear alone.

"Of course, Jason."

She would've done it anyway. She loves Terry like he were her own son (all of Jason's children, really), and whatever issues she had with his father, that would never change.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

It was the last time they would say it.

Jason Todd had a lifetime full of regrets. But in that moment, there was nothing he regretted more than not putting a ring on the finger of Donna Troy the first chance he had.


Months later, Jason is dead.

Donna doesn't attend the funeral. Or any of the memorial services.

She goes back to Themyscira instead. Spends a week in mourning, praying to the Greek Pantheon for the safety of her lover's soul. For this death hurts more than all the others combined, and despite the words of her sister, the rivets of blood that her fingernails draw from her hands show what Donna knows in the deepest parts of her heart: she will never love again.

But she goes back anyway. She goes back because she still has other friends, who are also in pain and need her presence. She goes back because the world needs Wonder Woman, and she, like her sister, cannot shirk her duty even while enduring another of the greatest of tragedies. She goes back because she is Donna Troy, a hero, and nothing in the world would ever change that.

(She goes back because she made the love of her life a promise, and she had every intention of keeping it.

No matter what the cost may be.)


Ten years after Jason's death, Donna is poised to join him.

The years are hard, but eventually she moves on. She helps Terry, helps him grow into the man Jason always knew he would be. She trains Penelope, who looks so much like her father at times that there are days where Donna can't bear to look at her. But she trains her still, and Penelope becomes the new Wonder Girl, and then Troia, and Donna loves her as her own, as much as she loves Terry.

She does her duty as Wonder Woman, as the champion of Themyscira. She goes to battle with a smile on her face, saving lives, inspiring others. She protects the world time and again, against the many beyond who seek to destroy it all. For she is Donna Troy, a hero, and she would not, could not, allow herself to fall into despair.

But as far as her heart goes, Donna finds her intuition is correct.

She does not love again.

A month after Terry introduces her to his son Warren, two weeks after Penelope reveals her engagement to Diana's son, Donna's nephew, they are in the midst of another invasion. A dangerous one, planned years in advance, with competent soldiers and commanders throughout.

Donna fights, of course. She fights and she fights, more than she has in years. She fights and she falls and she gets up and she keeps fighting. She is a terror on the battlefield, a gleam of silvered red and blue and black that cuts down enemies before they can even move to attack. Everyone that saw her that day will remember it as her most glorious battle, the last stand of one of the greatest heroes the world has ever known.

Yet, when a trio of lasers come for Terry, Donna doesn't hesitate. She jumps in front of him, deflects them with her bracers, but gets another one through the chest for her troubles (and boy, isn't that ironic). Terry catches her.

He's screaming at her. What, she cannot hear. Not anymore. He takes off his cowl (how foolish, Jason taught you better than that) and when she sees his face, all she can think about is how much he looks like his father.

(She isn't talking about Bruce.)

Donna thinks of Diana, and how her sister brought wonder to her. Of how Donna's ever-changing origin nearly shattered the bond between them, and of the love that filled the cracks in-between. Of how desperately Donna wished to make her proud, and how she hoped she succeeded.

Donna thinks of Cassie. Plucky Cassie, and her unbending determination to be a hero. Of how, even when they were farther apart than they had ever been, Cassie still wanted to help her, to bring her back into the world she had turned her back on. Of how much she wished she made Cassie proud too.

Donna thinks of the Titans, of Dick and Wally and Garth and Lillith and Kori and so many others that filled her life with so much joy. Of how their deaths and departures cut into her, and how much she very much wants to see them all again.

Donna thinks of her students, of her children. Of how much she wished she could stay and watch them all continue to live and grow. Of how each and every single one never failed to make her proud, of how blessed she was to have them in her life.

Donna thinks of another Terry, Terry Long, and their son, their Robert, of how she kept losing them time and time again. Of how she divorced one then buried both and how she sometimes hates herself for not missing them more like she should.

Donna thinks of Kyle, of how they brought each other comfort during a time of great pain, with the losses that tore into them until they wondered if there was anything left. Of how, even though it fell apart towards the end, he would always have a place in her heart just for that.

Donna thinks of Roy, of how he made her smile, of how he made her heart soar. Of how, even after her love for him faded into fond memories, a warm feeling that no longer inflamed her with grief and passion, she still found herself wishing he could've lived, if only just a little longer.

And yet…and yet, her last thoughts are of Jason, of how much she loved him. Of how much she still loves him. Of how good he could be without thinking of it, of how much it pained her that he failed to see it. Of how she can't look at a single one of his children, adoptive or otherwise, and not think of him. Of how there has not been a single day since he died where she did not feel bereft of his presence, of his love.

The happiest moments of her life had been with him.

Always, always with him.

(But it could've been more. So much more.)

She smiles, and lets herself fall back into Death's embrace.


I blame you readers for this. I was thinking about Jason's romantic potential, who he was going to end up with, and this came out of it. I thought it would make an interesting story, and already had plans to introduce a new time traveler later down the line (because Jason needs at least one friend back, dammit). And then one of you mentioned Donna, and here we are.

This is the love story of Jason Todd and Donna Troy, and how they almost had something of a happy ending but didn't. Of course, now that Donna has come back in time, that's going to change. They still have a lot of shit to hash out, but they'll get there. Now, the more interesting part is how everyone else reacts to this. All the men who had a thing for Donna have to live with the fact that they just lost her to Dick Grayson's kid brother, while all the girls who have crushes on Jason are left heartbroken. Then there's Dick, who is confused. So very confused. And that's not even getting into the rest of the Bats.

This might be the last chapter in a while. I just went through my buffer and I would like to build it up again. In the meantime, I suggest updating the TV Tropes page.

Next chapter: Jason and Donna, again.