"You know, I've been thinking about this a lot lately. There's something I need to ask you."

It came out of nowhere. Those two words froze Jocelyn up faster than one of Mr. Freeze's ice guns. Her fingers hovered tensely over the keyboard before she collected herself enough to turn around to face him.

But instead of paying the same amount of attention, Jason was lounging back in his chair, browsing through the computer's playlist on the den's second computer.

"Yes?"

"Jo." He sat up and looked at her. Jocelyn felt her skin tingle in anticipation with… something. Was it excitement? Fear? Yeah, there was definitely a little fear.

"You want to ask me something?"

"Yeah." He propped a leg up and rested an arm across his knee. "How do you not fall through the world?"

"… Huh?" That was not what she expected.

"You know, when you do that phasing thing. How come you don't fall through the ground?"

"Oh." A little disheartened, Jo turned back to the monitor and continued typing. "I don't understand it completely myself. Verlix explained it to me once but… you know how he was." She stopped typing and placed hand under her chin. "It's the Specter suit; it kind of 'calculates' which surface is the ground by using the orientation of gravity. So basically it recognizes where the floor is and renders it unphasable."

"Hmm. Okay."

Apparently that was it. Jocelyn lowered her eyes, her attention suddenly being drawn to the little desk drawer next to her. Then she remembered something.

"Oh, so… you know how we weren't talking those past few days?" she began uneasily.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Jason answered phonily. "As far as I remember, it's been nothing but flowers and rainbows and butterfly kisses." He looked up to see Jocelyn staring at him with slightly annoyed eyes. "Fine, yeah. What about it? Aren't we good now?"

"We are," Jocelyn assured. "It's just, well, I went out during one of those days and I…" She looked back and opened the drawer. "Um, I went back to the tunnel where, you know—the lair. The tunnel was all caved in, but the lair was… It was a mess, but it was still… Well I hadn't gone there since…" She trailed off. The wheels on Jason's chair rumbled quietly as he rolled himself over. "Anyway, I found this." She pulled out something thin and frail. An old photograph. The color was incredibly faded, and there were scuff marks and tears all over it. Even then, the image was still discernable. A girl with dark gold hair and a boy with black, messy hair were lying in the grass next to each other, looking up at the camera. It had been a long, long time since that picture was taken.

"Now this takes me way back," Jason said, taking the photograph and examining it. "Damn, I was a pretty good-looking kid, wasn't I? No wonder you fell for me as hard as you did."

"Oh please," Jocelyn scoffed as she leaned back in her chair. "Who was the one who had to bribe the other for a date?"

"Well I figured you needed a little encouragement before confessing your feelings," Jason replied craftily. He made to put the photograph back in the drawer, and spotted something else inside of it. It looked to be a palm-sized shard of something metal and dark brown. "Wait, is that…?"

"I don't know what got over me," Jocelyn admitted with almost a hint of shame. "I just saw all the rocks and thought maybe I could… I don't know." She gingerly raised the metal fragment with both hands. It was a piece from Verlix's android body. On the piece was a doodled pink heart that had managed to resist all the wear and tear. "I guess I thought I could try to dig him back out—to just see him again. But there were so many rocks, and I couldn't move all of them. This was all I managed to find."

She avoided Jason's eyes, feeling guilty all of a sudden. "I know. It's pretty pitiful, and I know that. That tunnel, and everything down there, is gone. It's just that… we weren't talking, and I felt so alone."

"You don't need to say anything, Jo. I know exactly how you feel," Jason said. "Those few years after I finally got out of Gotham, I had nobody." Jocelyn grew silent. Jason hardly ever talked about what had happened to him after his supposed death. "Sure, I had an army. I had a whole legion behind me. But it wasn't the same; I was isolated still. All I had was cold, bitter respect. I didn't have a family anymore. Well…" He put his hand over Jocelyn's, fitting his fingers in the space between hers. "Not until now."

"Family?" Jocelyn repeated softly. "Us?"

"You don't think of us that way?"

"Don't get me wrong, Jason. As stupid and corny as this sounds, you are my everything. Ugh," she groaned. "Yeah, that really does sound dumb. Anyway, what I meant was… When I think of family, I think of a mom, dad, and kids. That kind of thing."

"Kids…" Jason muttered. They gazed wordlessly at each other for a while, and then broke out into laughter. "Kids. Can you imagine?"

"Yeah, no," Jocelyn agreed. "I think you better keep the rubbers on for now."

"God forbid we ever run out."

"Oh, and speaking of running out…" Jocelyn crossed one leg over the other and rested her in on a fist. "We're about to run out of yogurt cups. Can you please, please run out and get more? It's the brand with the red letters and cow standing on two legs. And don't even THINK about getting the low fat version."

Jason rolled his eyes. "We? I haven't even touched one. Didn't we just get a pack on Wednesday?"

"Jason, please! I'll die if we run out!"

"Okay, okay, calm down! I'll get it done." Jason sighed. "You better realize how much I care, Jo. I hate going down to that store. That cashier—you've seen her, right? The one with the nose piercing? She always stares."

"Hmm," Jocelyn hummed playfully. "I'm feeling a little threatened."

"You know that's not why she's staring." His voice was devoid of any humor. Here they were again, at the topic they desperately tried to avoid but always managed to crash headlong into. Jocelyn grew a little nervous.

Then, Jason seemed to realize. "But whatever. She doesn't know the truth behind it. That's all that matters."

"She probably thinks you got a little too drunk one night," Jocelyn mused.

"If only that were the case," Jason mumbled wistfully. "But that's the thing. I can't stand being on the streets, pretending to be normal again. I hate seeing people living their lives so simply because nothing's ever happened to them. And what makes it worse is that it's none of their faults. They couldn't ever begin to understand. But you do, Jo. That's why I don't mind being around you."

Jocelyn leaned over her armrest, leaning her chin on his shoulder. "Well that's good. Otherwise living together would be a bitch, wouldn't it?"

"Who says it isn't?" Jason joked, pulling Jocelyn's head up to kiss her. "You yogurt fiend."

"If it bothers you so much, I'll go out."

"No, no, it's fine." He wrapped an arm around her and rested a hand on her hair.

"Look at us," Jocelyn said. "Two lonely people."

"Two messed up people."

"I prefer the politically correct term: severely fucked in the head."

"Well pardon me."

For a while, they stayed like that. Occasionally, Jason would run his fingers through Jocelyn's dark gold hair while she lay against him, her eyes closed. The computer ran through the playlist one by one, softly taking up the background. After an undefined amount of time, Jocelyn spoke up. "Jason?"

"Hmm?"

"The store closes at 11:30."

"Ah fuck, that's right!" As Jason stood, Jocelyn returned to her own chair. "Be back in 10, all right babe?"

"Thanks, Jason!" Jocelyn called out and he left the den. She listened to the front door open and close. All was silent, save for the music that played idly from the other computer. Jocelyn pulled herself back to the desk and stared at the computer monitor. These past few days had been pretty uneventful. Even though police sirens sounded daily, the Specter and Red Hood only showed up when they had a good reason to.

Once again, Jocelyn found her eyes drifting over to the drawer. She opened it a crack and peered at the brown piece of metal and the corner of the photograph. Had it been right to bring those back? If anything, they were signs that she still hadn't been able to move on. Maybe she should put them back? But, no…

As Jocelyn pondered, a slow realization came to her. There was a strange noise that had been going off for a while. It had been in the background, barely audible. Jocelyn hurried over to the other computer to pause the music and stood still to listen. There it was, soft and repetitive. A muffled beeping that was coming from… the Specter helmet.

Opening the closet door, Jocelyn took the helmet and peered inside of it. Now that it was in front of her, the beeping noise was louder. The internal comms unit installed inside the helmet was picking up a signal. Jocelyn glanced at the door. It had only been a few minutes. Jason was still going to take a while longer to get back.

She slipped the helmet over her head. Immediately, the digital interface on the interior of her helmet activated. The holographic display showed up with a small notification down in the corner of her mask. INCOMING CALL, the notification read. Below that, it said that the source channel was… Axiom.

That was a name she hadn't seen in a long time. It shocked her. There was no way anyone in Axiom could be calling her. That organization had been disbanded years ago. All members, and all information about them, had disappeared.

But it was right there. She could see it with her own eyes. The impossible. And even then, something in her mind urged her to take the call. So she did.

"Hey," came a voice. "I know you're probably surprised."

"Are you…?"

"You know who I am. You still remember. It's been a while, hasn't it, Jocelyn Drei?"

Addendum: Jocelyn's attitude towards yogurt is exactly like mine towards coffee. "We're out of coffee?! Oh god, tell my family I love them!"

This was a very mellow, uneventful chapter. My apologies if that bothered you. There will be more action in the next chapter, I promise.