CHAPTER TWO
14 YEARS AGO"Just try to play nice with everybody," Jim tells Gia, helping her out of his car.
"Kiss the ass of the spoiled kids, got it." She replies, scoffing.
"They're not all spoiled. Barbara wouldn't be friends with them if they were." He tells her.
"Barbara's judgment is fucked sideways."
"Talk like a lady, please, Gia." Jim sighs, holding his hand out. "And gum." He adds.
She spits her gum on the step of the mansion and rakes her heel across it, smearing bubble gum everywhere.
"Oops." She shrugs, stepping to the door.
Jim just rubs his forehead, shaking his head slightly.
Why couldn't his dad just keep it in his pants after he had him?
"Is there a bar?" Gia asks when they get inside.
"You're not old enough to drink." He tells her.
"I'm nineteen, Jim."
"Exactly--the drinking age is twenty-one. Thanks for proving my point."
"You're my brother, not my dad."
"I'm your legal guardian. You wanna argue some more?"
"Yeah, I do, actually. I'm a legal adult. I don't need a guardian."
"You're right...you know what? You can get a drink. You're a legal adult. Your responsible enough to get a drink." He says.
"Thanks." She doesn't give it a second thought, about to go look for the bar.
"...But be prepared to pay your own bail when I arrest you for underage consumption of alcohol." He says and she slowly turns to glare at him. "...You're an adult right? Adult crimes, adult consequences." He explains.
"Fine. I'll get virgin stuff." She bites back. "Are you gonna arrest me since I'm no longer one of those either or…?"
He squeezes his eyes closed and exhales.
"Gia," he says, opening his eyes, but she's gone.
"Can I get some water?" Gia asks the bartender at the open bar before glancing around at the room around her.
She figures it's a bunch of rich people--or people like her brother, working class that have some important stake or appreciation in what Wayne Enterprises is doing.
"Here you go," the bartender hands her her water.
"Thank you," she tells him.
Across the room, Jason Todd's examining the medal awarded to him earlier in the night by the mayor for the exemplary donation he took out of his own inheritance to give to foster families across Gotham.
He never thought he'd be awarded for exemplary behavior, ever, but he had a feeling it'd be the last time.
He looks toward the bar, wishing Bruce would get his foot off his neck and just let him have a celebratory drink so he wouldn't have to keep sneaking sips from his flask.
All thought is suddenly lost upon the site of an unfamiliar face. The most beautiful unfamiliar face he's ever seen.
She's drinking water and he suddenly feels the need to drink some, as well, his throat going dry and his feet moving her way before his mind can gather it's bearings completely.
He immediately puts his medal on display, holding his wrist up to show her arrogantly.
"Exemplary Behavior by Donation," he tells her, Gia raising her brows, looking at the medal.
"Jason Todd," he says next, dropping his wrist.
"Gia Gordon," She replies to him and he tenses up.
"...G-Gordon?...like...Jim Gordon?"
"Yeah, he's my brother."
"No shit." His voice cracks.
Great. Of course the one chick here around his age that isn't Barbara, is the sister of a cop. With a gun. And torture tactics.
"Why 'Todd', are you not Bruce's kid or something?"
"He took me under his wing, wouldn't necessarily call myself his kid." Jason informs her.
"But you have an inheritance from him?"
"...Yeah…" he says. "You can, too, if you flash puppy dog eyes and plead 'orphan'."
Gia can't help but blurt out in laughter, not expecting that answer.
"You got plans tonight?" He asks next, feeling a feat of confidence from being able to get her to laugh and she looks for Jim, unable to find him…
"Maybe, why?"
He looks for Jim and Bruce as well, not seeing Jim, and seeing Bruce and Dick talking to another rich man and his wife.
"...You wanna get outta here?" He asks next.
"Maybe, why?" She repeats, a little smile tugging at her lips, having a feeling he's up to no good.
It doesn't take but two minutes for the two of them to slip out of the small ballroom, Jason grabbing her hand and leading her, both scurrying up the stairs.
"Where we going?" She asks him, taking her heels off to walk on the freshly cleaned, burgundy carpet under their feet, looking at the various windows leading down the hall once they reach the top of the stairs, paintings on the wall opposite of them.
"Somewhere," he avoids answering directly, not wanting her to think he's an asshole if he tells her where they're going.
"This place is huge." She says next.
"I got lost in here all the time when I first moved in." He admits. "I still get the fucking creeps when I walk around here at night. All the paintings."
"Who are these people?" She asks him, her eyes going back to the portraits of people.
"Hell if I know, probably some of his family or something." He shrugs.
"We should've grabbed a bottle of something when we snuck out." She says next.
"Here," he reaches in his suit pocket on his jacket and hands her a flask.
"You daddy know you have this?" Gia sarcastically raises a brow and Jason scoffs as she takes a sip and wrinkles her nose.
"The vodka was all I could get my hands on." He informs her, and her head already spins a little as her throat warms up.
"Ah," she nods, screwing the lid back on.
They get to the end of the hallway where there's multiple doors and Jason goes to his and opens it up slowly, stepping aside.
Gia doesn't think anything of it, walking in and dropping her heels on the floor.
Looking around the room, she immediately notices the amount of books, raising her brows and looking at him.
"What?" He asks.
"Thought Richard was the smart one." She tells him with a shrug.
"Please, Dick's the know it all. He likes to think he's the smart one. I'm not a complete dingbat, you know," He scoffs, watching as she thumbs through one of the packed shelves.
"I never said you were a dingbat." She argues. "You have a favorite?" She asks next and he steps over to her, reaching above her head and plucking one from the corner of the shelf, dusting it off, holding it up. "Are you serious?" She raises a brow.
"Bruce made me and Dick read it once upon a time and it kinda stuck with me. It's the only book I've been able to finish because I wasn't bored to death."
"Why did he want you to read, 'The Art of War'?" She asks, curiously, grabbing the book and flipping through it.
"Um…" Jason tries to think fast, clearly not telling a chick he just met that he was Robbin and the only source of Patriarch in his life was Batman. "...He uses some of the tactics it teaches, in business, and wanted us to know it incase we had to take over one day." He bullshits it.
"Ahh," she nods, handing it back to him.
"And which one am I?" Jason asks suddenly, putting the book back up.
"What?" She looks confused, not knowing what he's talking about, and he leans against the bookcase, slipping his hands into his pockets.
"You said you thought Dick was the smart one," he shrugs, his deep blue eyes flicking to look into her dark browns and she raises a brow.
"You've always been the arrogant, cocky, pompous asshole one." She informs him.
He isn't phased, smirking down at her.
"You still think that?"
"Maybe," She crosses her arms.
"Do you have a definite answer for anything?" He asks slyly seeing she's been "maybe"ing a lot of things.
"Just for one thing, right now." She says softly.
"Yeah, what's that?" He leans in closer, practically reading her mind.
She's grabbing his tie, leading him down to her and he doesn't argue the slightest when she pulls his lips to hers.
It nearly knocks the breath out of him, her hand leaving his tie to thread through his black hair, his hands sliding to her waist.
They both smile when they catch their breath, pulling the pin from the grenade completely when she pushes his jacket off his shoulders, his fingers pulling at her dress as he guides them to the bed, sitting down when the back of his knees hit the mattress, his arms wrapping around her as her tongue pushes into his mouth, the two of them falling back on the bed.
Downstairs Jim's looking around for his sister, unable to see her, getting frustrated that she just left him without giving him a heads up. There's too many people for him to be comfortable with her being out of his site. Some of these rich bastards are sickos.
"Detective," Bruce says, tapping Jim on the shoulder and he turns around to greet the billionaire.
"Mr. Wayne," Jim greets him, extending his hand. "Thanks again for the invitation."
"Well, I'd figure I'd at least try to talk to her about the program." Bruce says, looking around. "You haven't told her anything about it, right?"
"No, no, I haven't. She thinks we're here for me." He tells him. "She's, uh, disappeared on me as of right now but I'm sure she'll show back up before too long." Jim explains to him, rubbing the back of his neck, praying Gia magically appears.
Bruce takes note being that Jason, too, has disappeared, and he doesn't want to mention it so he just smiles.
"I'm sure she went to the restroom or something," he suggests. "Dick's told me Barbara's got a new job at the library?"
"Yeah, yeah, she's really convinced she's found her thing."
"Good--I know these kids are under a lot of pressure to have everything figured out."
"You're telling me. Gia's already stomping her foot to get married and have kids. Keeps saying her biological clock is running out." Jim chuckles and Bruce raises his brows.
"She's only nineteen, she's got plenty of time. She needs to stay focused on what she's doing now."
"That's what I keep telling her. She says it's different for us guys...that unmarried men turn into desirable bachelors while women turn into two simple questions: 'what's so wrong with her that she can't make a man stay?' and 'why isn't she married by now?'" Jim informs him.
"I stay on Jason and Dick about getting distracted--they need to get themselves together before worrying about bringing anyone else into it." He nods.
"I'm more worried about who exactly she'd bring into it." Jim admits. "Last few guys she's brought home…" he trails off, wincing. "That bad?"
"One of them was an inmate that'd busted out of Back Gate." Jim recalls and Bruce closes his eyes for a moment, feeling bad for the detective, genuinely. "He ate dinner with us and the whole time I'm sitting across from this man, racking my brain about where I'd seen him before. Turned out I knew him as well as nearly every criminal in this town--he drove getaway cars."
"I hope her science skills are better than her judgement." Bruce voices, taking a drink from the tray of champagne going around.
"She's really smart, she really is, she has good intentions...she's just that desperate to get out from under me. And I get it, it's probably like having another dad to boss her around since our age gap is so big." Jim gives her the benefit of the doubt.
"Don't feel too bad, Jason and I have been going back and forth over a few things lately. All teenagers do it, I guess. They're just hungry and chomping at the bit. As long as we keep them off the streets and outta prison, we're doing our jobs good enough." Bruce says next and Jim looks at him.
"Agreed."
Meanwhile, Jason and Gia are laying in his bed, expensive sheets tassled around the bed, her face on his chest, his fingers twirling a piece of her hair around them as her nails gently smooth over the skin of his pectoral.
"Like father like son, I guess," she voices, smiling to herself.
"I don't get laid nearly as much as him," Jason scoffs back and she giggles as he runs his fingers over her bare shoulder. "What about you?" He asks.
"I usually don't sleep with people I barely know." She assures him.
"What was so different this time?" He questions.
"...A big ass inheritance." She tells him.
"Ohhh, the truth comes out, I see." He lets out, knowing she's bullshitting him, her grin widens and she turns on her stomach and looks at him, her chin resting on the back of her hand.
"Is this the part where you lose interest at the speed of light now that we've already gotten what we wanted outta each other?" She questions him and he gives her a genuine smile, his hand gently brushing curls out of her face.
"You think I'm that kinda guy or something?" He asks her, raising his brows just a little.
"Like father like son, right?" She repeats from earlier and he shakes his head slowly, his thumb running over her lips.
"Wouldn't necessarily call myself his kid," he reminds her and she leans forward when he gently grabs her chin and pulls her to him, their lips meeting one again just as the door opens.
Jason sits up, Gia tucking behind him, the two of them caught red handed.
Alfred just looks at the ground, brows raised, clearing his throat.
"Master Jason, you're needed downstairs." He tells the young man, finally looking up again, eyeing Gia as she pulls the sheets nearly up to her chin to cover up.
"I'll be down there in a second," he assures him.
"Very well," Alfred nods to Gia and addresses her as, "Miss Gordon," before turning to leave.
"Shit," Jason grumbles, Gia getting up to go grab her dress from the floor.
Alfred returns downstairs, informing Bruce, "He'll be here momentarily, Master Wayne,"
"Where was he at?" Bruce asks, curiously.
"Making a new friend." Alfred informs him.
"Oh," Bruce shrugs it off.
He's soon seeing Jason and Gia looking around, probably trying to find him and Jim...her dress is inside out.
"Oh," Bruce repeats in a more serious tone, resisting the urge to lean his head back and grown.
"I said making a new friend, I didn't say at what extent the new friend was being made." Alfred mumbles when Bruce glares at him for not giving him a heads up.
Jim notices Gia and Jason and make a beeline for Bruce, he and the two teens making it to Bruce at the same time.
"There they are," Jim sighs out with relief upon the arrival of his sister, "Gia, I want you to meet Mr. Bruce Wayne, Bruce, this is Gia."
Bruce smiles warmly at her, holding his hand out and she takes it as he says, "it's nice to meet you, Gia, I've heard incredible things about you."
"You, too, Mr. Wayne." She replies politely.
"Your brother's been telling me you're currently studying Biochemistry."
"Y-yes," she confirms, looking at Jim.
"Within the top five of her class," Jim can't help but to add.
"That doesn't surprise me, I've got a couple friends out there at Gotham University that have expressed a faith and trust in you and a few classmates of your's, and your ideas for the future of medicine, and I really think you'd be a good fit for Wayne Biotech, if you're interested." He offers and her jaw nearly hits the floor.
"W-What?"
"I know you've only been in school for a couple years and have two more to go but our internships count as class credits since you'll be working hands on with Biotechnicians that have been trained to teach you the curriculum that the state requires." He adds. "Not to mention when you graduate, you'll have a guaranteed job with us...again, this is only if you're interested."
PRESENT
Gia's palms sweat as Jason pinpoints Barbara, his hand holding tight to Gia's as the two of them make their way to the woman in the wheel chair.
"Hey, Babs," Jason starts and she looks at him.
"You're an hour late." Is the first thing she tells him.
"We hit bad traffic, can you tie this?" He cuts to the chase and looks at him as if asking, "really?"
"I don't remember how to tie a tie. Gia's normal and didn't have to know how to tie a tie." He explains.
She cracks the slightest smile and reaches for his tie.
"Thank you." He says, clearing his throat. "Where's Bruce?" He asks next.
She doesn't have to reply before he's seeing him across the room. "Found him." He states. "C'mon, babe," he tugs Gia along and she just gives a small "hey," to Barbara in passing, the redhead noticing how skinny she's gotten since the last time she saw her...her shoulder blades are sticking out, looking as though the skin is stretching thin to cover the bones.
Bruce sees them coming, taken back by how much worse Gia looks than when he last saw her a little over a month ago…
His eyes go to a thick folder in her hand, his brows furrowing slightly, quickly averting his gaze and greeting them when they get to him.
"Hey, you got a minute?" Jason asks him with no warning and Gia feels what's left of the color in her face, drain, not expecting to hop right into it.
"Hey, Gia," Bruce ignores Jason for a moment and acknowledges her and she peeks out from behind Jason.
"Hey, Bruce." She replies.
"You didn't answer my question," Jason says sternly and Bruce stares him down.
"It depends." He tells him.
"It's for her, not me."
"Then, yes, I do have a minute." Bruce sighs, looking at Gia. "What's going on?"
"It's gonna take a little while so can we go somewhere more private?" Jason cuts Gia off before she can reply.
"Can she not speak for herself?" Bruce asks smartly.
"Can we please go somewhere more quiet?" Gia asks and again, the two men stare each other down for a moment.
She's expecting them to pull their dicks out to measure any moment, of course Jason's like that with nearly everybody.
Bruce just glares at Jason for a moment before looking at Gia again.
They end up in the hotel's parlor, sitting at opposite sides of a glass coffee table.
"So," Gia clears her throat, her stomach knotting up with anxiousness, "I've been looking into a possible cure for cancer," she informs him and he raises a brow, his interest piqued. "And I've found it." She confidently says and he blinks at her.
"What is it?" He asks, curious, but not getting his hopes up.
"Snake venom." She replies and he lets out a breath because he's heard this before, but it didn't work, "Well, in general, snake venom--but different venoms treat different forms of cancer." She adds, flipping through her folder, handing it to him and he looks down at it, scribbled in her writing, diagrams of anatomy and different proteins listed beside circled spots that represent cancer, along with different breeds of venomous snakes like Copperhead, and Indian Spectacled Cobra, among others.
"And I've narrowed it down that the venom of Inland Taipans are most effective against Cervical cancer." She says next.
"Have you tested that, or are you just using critical thinking?" He asks.
"Well, that's what I was going to talk to you about." She raises her brows. "I haven't tested it on mice because I'm wanting to test it on myself first, and then--"
"--No." Bruce cuts her short, hearing enough.
Gia just feels her heart cinch in on itself.
"What?"
"If you won't test it on mice, how in the hell do you expect to know what you're doing and what works and what doesn't work?" He asks as Jason keeps his mouth shut, looking at the floor, Gia struggling to find the words to say.
"Cancer studies on mice are seen as no longer accurate."
"Then how do they know those venoms work on cancer? How are you so certain it'll kill cervical cancer?"
"Getting a sample of the cancer and seeing how it reacts in contact with the venom." She says, shakily. "I know it's a risk but it's been proven to kill cancer cells."
"As well as perfectly healthy cells." Bruce scoffs out, closing her folder, not wanting to waste his time looking at it any longer.
"Not if it's engineered properly." She argues.
"Have you bothered to engineer it properly and tested it with healthy cells?"
"Yes, I have."
"And the end result?"
She stays quiet, forcing herself not to cry...not wanting to necessarily tell him the end result...Jason breathing out.
"That's what I thought." Bruce nods. "You're not doing this to yourself, it's unethical, and illegal and I'll be damned if you endanger yourself or others on any of my labs' watch."
Gia looks to Jason to stick up for her, to tell Bruce to go fuck himself, to back up her hard work and dedication she's put into this.
He just looks at her, though, and she can tell he's taking Bruce's side.
"Back to the drawing board, I guess." She lets out, grabbing her work. "If I even make it there." She adds in a vicious snap, words dripped in resentment and anger as she leaves and slams the door behind her, cutting through guests to get outside.
Bruce breathes as calmly as he can, not knowing what else to say as Jason stands up, licking his lips, able to see both sides of the situation and agreeing with Bruce.
"It's spreading to her ribs and lungs, now," Jason says, lowly, and Bruce huffs out a breath. "She's only got about three months left." He says after a moment and Bruce nods slowly.
"I understand that, Jason," He looks at him, sincerity in his eyes. "But I'm not running a free-for-all."
14 YEARS AGO
Jason stares at the piece of paper with Gia's number on it, dopey smile on his face...he can still smell her perfume on his bed sheets, a smear of lipstick at the foot of the bed as evidence of their time well spent.
A knock on the door has him sitting back up, tucking the paper into his pocket, and saying, "come in!"
Bruce hears his invitation from the other side of the door and opens it slowly, seeing Jason content.
"What's up?" Jason asks, a little confused, as Bruce steps in.
"Everybody's gone, I decided I'd come up here and check on you before we go out." He explains.
"Oh, I'm good." Jason shrugs.
"Did you, um...have fun tonight?" He asks next and Jason raises his brows. "With Gia?"
"Oh, yeah. She's cool, I guess." Jason plays it off when in reality his whole body is lit up like a spark plug.
"Yeah, she is...she's really smart, too…bright future ahead of her…" Bruce agrees, sitting on the foot of the bed beside him.
"We used rubbers if that's what you're getting at." Jason blatantly says it.
"Okay, then." Bruce nods, raising his brows at Jason's brazenness, another thought coming to mind. "She didn't happen to mention anything about a biological clock, did she?"
Jason raises a brow and looks at him.
"No?" He says honestly and Bruce wants to sigh with relief.
Meanwhile, stopped by the department on the way home, Gia waits patiently for Jim to finish locking up his office, looking over the paperwork and forms Bruce gave her before they left.
"Better not lose any of that," he tells her, nodding to the papers.
"You can just rub elbows with Bruce again to get me some more." She replies.
"I didn't have to rub elbows with him the first time." He states, looking at her pointedly. "He saw what the rest of us see and decided you were good at what you've been doing."
"I'm sure." She mumbles, crossing her arms, waiting as he shuts the door and locks it with his key.
"Besides, if you do happen to lose them you can just get Jason to grab you some more." He says next. "Except when you do, make sure you put your clothes back on right side out." He adds and her face burns red with, looking down and seeing the inside seems of her dress are outside.
PRESENT
Gia stays quiet the whole ride home, slamming the car door as hard as she can, making Jason cringe.
"Can you not slam my car door? Please?" He asks as he gets out, and she doesn't answer.
When they get up to the apartment, she's using the spare key to get inside, again, slamming the door -- except this time, it's in his face.
He takes a deep breath, unlocking the door, again, and stepping inside to hear her throwing things in their room.
"Gia," He steps past Rambo, who's curiously listening to the racket, as Jason opens the door. "Gia, what are you doing?"
She's messily tossing things on the bed, and he leans against the door frame.
"I'm staying with my brother tonight." She tells him, sniffling, and he raises his brows.
"Why?"
"Because he would've fucking said something, Jason, that's why! He would've stuck up for me or at least would've tried to!" She barks, tears quickly darting down her cheeks and she's fast to wipe them away, bitterness boiling inside of her, spilling out years of resentment.
"What the hell did you want me to say, Gia?! Huh?! You're fucking talking about poisoning yourself with no scientific proof that what you're wanting to test out, specifically, is safe!"
"I'm dying anyway! Why isn't anybody considering that?! I'm dying! If it ends up killing me then at least I can say I did what I could to try to make an effort to save my life!"
"Did what you could?!" Jason laughs like a madman, raking his hands through his hair. "Sticking with Chemo is doing what you could! Sticking with r adiation is doing what you could! Putting the fucking alcohol and cigarettes down the first time you were told it was accelerating the cancer growth, would have been doing what you could! But what did you do?! Decide you were God or something and didn't need to listen to advice because you could fix it your way! And now your crying and boohooing and pissy because I didn't back you up when you were proposing practical suicide dressed up as treatment! You're not a fucking martyr, Gia, take some responsibility!"
She stares at him, numb on Oxy and anger, not even thinking rationally before saying, "I wish you would have stayed dead."
This does it.
Jason takes a step back, realizing he's not winning this fight. He doesn't want to, if that's how she's playing, anyway.
He just gives her a look before turning around, grabbing his keys, and leaving her to wallow in self-pity.