CHAPTER FOUR
Jason pushes the window back open, getting his helmet off, peeling his mask from around his eyes, looking forward to seeing Gia in bed, but he turns around and is met with a gruesome scene.
Black fluid is spread across the bed sheets, and he's pulling his gun out, glancing around quietly, taking light steps around the bed to the door.
He realizes it's blood.
There's blotches of it at random, splattered in the carpet in almost a trail that he follows from their room to the bathroom, peeking inside to see Gia laying down by the toilet, eyes glossed over as if she's in shock, her body shaking slightly.
Seeing her mouth and clothes covered in the mess that's on their bed and floor, he drops the gun and goes to her, Rambo laying by her side, whimpering.
Her eyes stiffly move to him, a sound emitting from her throat.
"Gia," Jason steps over her legs, crouching by her and she tries to speak to him, but can't find the energy to for a moment. "Hey, hey," he pushes her hair from her face.
"I...I got…" she lets out a weak groan. "Sick."
"You got sick?"
"Mmhmm," she shakily lets out with a nod. "I'm sorry," she says next.
"No, no, you're good, baby, you're fine," he assures her, trying to keep his voice steady. "We need to get you to the hospital." He says next and she tries to nod. "Alright," he puts his arms under her and picks her up, wincing when he hears her let out a God awful groan, gasping for breath when a shooting pain shoots through her abdomen. "I'm sorry," he apologizes.
He moves to the door, the dog at his heels and when he tries to close the door of their apartment, Rambo's growling.
"We'll be right back," Jason assures him before biting the bullet and getting the door closed.
"It's metastasized to her stomach," The doctor says to Jason, quietly in the hall of the emergency room, right outside the little room they've put Gia in, "it usually doesn't spread to the stomach but this is just what stage four cervical cancer does in some women." He adds.
"Does this change...her doctor told us she'd have up to six more months, that was a few weeks ago so—"
"When we had her in the MRI, it lit up like a Christmas tree." He states, his tone telling Jason everything he needed to know. The cancer's growing. "I'm sorry, I really am. I don't know what else to do other than tell you to start preparing yourself, and really focus on her quality of life—to make this as comfortable for her as any of us can."
Jason wants to ask him how exactly one makes someone else's death as comfortable for them as possible.
Instead, he doesn't argue and once the doctor pats him on the shoulder and heads down the hall to check on another patient, Jason finds himself struggling to go back in the room, not wanting her to see him about to have a come apart.
Gia lays in the hospital bed, her heavy eyes blinking open, met with the sound of the heart monitor, feeling the uncomfortable pinch of an IV taped to her hand.
Her stomach is sore from heaving vomit, and her throat is raw.
She takes a breath when she hears the door open and sees Jason, smiling as best as she can.
"Hey," He says, happy to see her awake, stepping to her.
"Hey," she croaks out as he kisses her forehead, his hands smoothing through her hair. "Don't pull any of it." She reminds him.
"It's been long enough since you stopped chemo, I don't think you have to worry about your hair falling out anymore." He says, but is gentle nonetheless.
"It's still falling out." She states and he furrows his brows.
He hasn't noticed any falling out in a long time, but still, he doesn't argue.
"I'm sorry for getting bloody throw up all over the apartment." She tells him softly.
"Don't be sorry over that, you couldn't help it." He states. "Scared the shit outta me when I came in, but…"
This makes her laugh a little bit.
"I love you, Gia." He says next, his thumb rubbing over her forehead.
"I love you more." She replies, tears coming to her eyes. "And I don't want to leave you." She says next.
"You're not leaving me," he promises her, keeping his smile in hopes it'll keep her from freaking out, "I know you're not leaving me." He adds.
"I feel like I am." She says, and he wipes a tear that streaks down her cheek.
"You're not." He repeats. "When you were first diagnosed with this shit, and I was losing my mind over it, you know what you told me?"
"I have a purpose."
"'I have a purpose. Everybody's got a purpose, sometimes their purpose is carried out in a place that isn't here'." He recalls to her.
"...And you asked me if I'd joined a church or something." She adds, chuckling.
"You told me if you happened to not make it, I didn't need to be beside myself with grief. I needed to be at peace because you'd be living out the plan that was given to you." He says next. "I don't think of this as you leaving me, Gia. Because I know you won't."
"I do." She admits, her voice cracking. "I'm not ready to die, Jason, there's too much I'm supposed to do here—I know there is."
Jason tries to soothe her, his palm resting over her forehead.
"I-I think I've found a way to stabilize venom enough that it won't kill healthy cells." She tries to tell him, but doesn't want to necessarily tell him her 'way' is really a person she thinks can do it.
"You have?" He asks and she nods.
"I think—"
She stops when the knock at the door interrupts the two of them, Jason saying, "Yeah," to whoever's wanting to come in.
Jim comes in, his glasses still dotted with drops of rain, and her heart sinks.
Her courage to confide in Jason about her idea is now fleeted, and probably never coming back.
She couldn't possibly let her brother know her plan.
He'd have her spend the rest of her life—however short—in the asylum.
"The hell happened?" Jim asks his sister, her sickly appearance throwing a rock in what is his metaphorical glass window.
He wasn't expecting her to look like this.
Jason had called and told him she had gotten sick to her stomach.
He didn't specify how sick.
"I threw up some." Gia tells him, not wanting to mention the blood and the fact it's spread to her stomach. "I'm okay, though." She assures him. "They said I can go home in the morning as long as I'm stable." She says next.
"I think you should look into hospice, you know," he suggests, raising his brows, "they showed you a good program a few weeks ago—"
"—I'm not getting on hospice, James, I've told you that. I've told Jason that." She argues, shaking her head.
"Gia—"
"—I'm thirty-four. Not eighty."
"You have a terminal illness. Hospice isn't just for old folks, Gia."
"I'm okay." She demands, her tone ending the argument altogether.
Jason keeps his mouth shut.
"Fine." He exhales.
She finds herself longing for sleep just to avoid talking anymore.
It only takes a few more minutes of Jason and Jim struggling to hold a conversation before Jim's picking up on this.
"I love you," he tells his sister, grabbing her hand, "I'll see you later."
"I love you, too, see you later." She replies softly.
"Thanks for calling me and letting me know." He says to Jason.
"Yeah, no problem." Jason replies with a nod as Jim leaves, shutting the door behind him and looking at Gia, seeing her eyes closed as peacefully as they can be.
He's wiping a tear spilling past his lashes within a millisecond, clearing his throat to further try to convince his body he doesn't need to cry right now.
13 YEARS AGO
"Mmm," Gia hums, grinning as Jason's lips ghost between her shoulder blades, tracing her spine for a moment before she's rolling over to face him, bare legs wrapping around his hips, nails biting the flesh of his back as their mouths meet, tongues tasting each other, his hand grasping at her long hair.
"God, you're so beautiful," he says lowly, nipping at her neck and she chuckles, the both of them reeling off post-orgasm bliss, before he glances at her alarm clock beside her bed, "but I gotta go." He says next.
"Are you serious?" She questions, brows furrowed in disbelief as he kisses her cheek and pushes himself off the mattress, getting off of her to pull his clothes on.
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize how late it was and Bruce is gonna kill me if I miss curfew, again." He says next, nearly tripping as he tries to get into his jeans.
"Jason, it's our anniversary," Gia sits up, pulling the covers up to her chest.
"I know, and I'm sorry, I promise I'll make up for it, alright?" He assures her, getting his shirt over his head.
"You always do this, though," she points out. "Even when I stay at your house. You sneak out." She adds.
Jason bites his tongue, so desperately wanting to tell her the truth, but knowing Bruce won't like it if he does.
"I promise, I'll make up for it, Gia." He assures her after getting his shoes on, grabbing his jacket. "I love you, I'll see you later." He adds, leaning over the bed to kiss her, seeing tears in her eyes.
He knows he hurts her feelings when he ups and leaves randomly, but he can't necessarily help it, either.
Between her and his duties to Bruce and Gotham, he's got to choose the latter.
"I love you." He repeats it, looking her in the eyes.
"I love you, too." She says it genuinely, but frustratedly, and he kisses her temple before going to the window in her room, slipping out the same way he'd come in.
By the time he gets back home and into the batcave to get dressed, Bruce is waiting.
"You're late." He says as Jason runs in, rolling his eyes at Bruce's words.
"I was in the middle of something," Jason states, grabbing his suit.
"You know what time we start patrol." Bruce ignores his comments and Jason grumbles to himself.
"You know it's our anniversary, right? One year. One fucking year. You couldn't give me the night off?"
"You think they're all gonna be on their best behavior tonight just because Robin's bedded down with a girl he's celebrating one year of puppy love with?"
"Puppy love?" Jason raises his brows, getting defensive. "You really wanna bring up relationships? Have you ever had a girlfriend for more than three hours at a time?"
"Hurry up and get dressed. We're already twenty minutes behind." Bruce states.
"She was almost crying when I left." Jason starts next. "I feel like shit over it." He says next.
"She'll live." Bruce replies flatly.
"She thinks I'm fucking cheating on her, Bruce." Jason throws at him and he stays quiet. "I feel like I'm gonna lose her before too long if I don't tell her the truth."
"You're not telling her you're Robin."
"Why not?"
"Because she'll connect the dots and place me as Batman."
"So what, she won't tell anybody." He argues.
"Right." Bruce scoffs.
"She won't. I don't even know why you're being so dickish about it. You don't even know her." Jason hisses.
"Neither do you." Bruce replies.
"Excuse me?"
"Are you ready?" He sighs out.
Jason glares at him.
"Yeah."
A few hours later, staring up at the ceiling, sniffling and wiping her tears, Gia struggles to sleep, her feelings and ego taking a beating.
She sits up and reaches for her phone, only to find it isn't there.
"Crap," she remembers it's probably in her car, and rolls her eyes at the realization.
She glances at the time that reads 4:16a.m., and curses herself before getting out of bed and quietly stepping out of the house to her car on the side of the road.
Opening the car door and leaning over to grab her phone from the cupholder, she stops in her tracks, her spine tensing sharply when she feels a hand at the base of her back, exhaling sharply when she hears the clicking of a gun hammer being pulled back.
She closes her eyes and slowly leans back up, the hand balling in her shirt.
"You're not gonna scream," the man orders gruffly, and Gia feels nearly paralyzed in terror, her lungs and heart constricting.
"No, but you are," Jason replies in the same tone, taking the man off guard when Bruce disarms him the blink of an eye, Jason all but tackling Gia to get her out of the line of fire just as the gun goes off into the air, Bruce knocking the man in the chest, the blow sending the stranger to the ground with a sharp thud.
The last Gia or Jason see of her offender is Batman dragging him into the alley beside Gia's house as he yells and tries to get out of his grasp.
Gia tries to catch her breath, her chest heaving as she's face to face with Robin, well, face to mask.
"Sorry," he says to her, referring to tackling her, but not making any move to get off from on top of her, either.
"It's okay," she replies, studying his vivid blue eyes. Familiar eyes. Too familiar.
The next night Jason spent time trying to get as snazzy as he could, even wearing a tie, to take Gia out to a high dollar restaurant to attempt to make up for leaving her.
"Where are you going, again?" Bruce asks him, furrowing his brows as Jason steps down the stairs.
"Thinking the Royalle." Jason replies.
"That's like five hundred a plate of food." Bruce raises a brow.
"You always go there." Jason points out.
"I'm not a teenager with dad's credit card." He shoots back.
"I'm nineteen."
"Yeah. Teenager."
"I don't have your credit card. I have my own bank account, remember?"
"I just don't see the point in spending over a grand on a meal with…" Bruce cuts himself short, not knowing how to explain it.
"...A meal with who?" Jason already knows what he's getting at, turning to face him.
"I just think you two need to slow down." Bruce warns.
"Slow down? What the hell are you getting at? We're not going too fast, I don't even think we're going at all—it's not like we're getting married and pushing babies out." He argues, rolling his eyes. "I'm sorry the nineteen year old has an actual relationshipwhile you're pushing forty and still galavant like a frat boy seeing pussy for the first time." He cuts next, and Bruce lets out an exhale.
"People can take notice to the people that Robin and Batman tend to be in a more frantic hurry to save." Bruce informs him. "That's all I'm saying. You stay with someone too long, it creates a pattern. A pattern those that pay close attention pick up on. It makes them take it personally—makes them paint a target on those people just to see us squirm with the possibility that we won't be able to save them one day."
"I pity the prick that tries to paint a target on her back." Jason says darkly, just imagining it: someone daring to do that. "It'd give me a good reason to finally kill some of these motherfuckers." He finishes.
"We don't do that, Jason." Bruce sharply reminds him, rolling his jaw, looking at him. "We don't do that."
"I do that, if anybody even thinks of going after her to get to me." He defiantly pushes past him to get his car keys.
Bruce doesn't argue with him, letting out a ragged breath as Jason slams the door and heads to his car.
Gia smooths her hair down, pulling her heels on and stepping down stairs as Jim takes his jacket off and sits his keys on the counter, the door closing behind him.
"Where are you going?" He asks her, raising his brows at her in a tight black dress that barely reaches the bottom of her thighs, black tights and pointed heels to match.
"Jason's taking me out for our anniversary." She tells him.
"Did you two not celebrate that at 12:06 this morning?" He comments and her face
"Unfortunately." He mumbles next.
She goes to retort smartly, until she hears a car pull up by the curb, shortly after Jason's ringing the doorbell.
Jim opens the door, seeing Jason in a suit.
"H-Hey, Jim—"
"—It's 'James'." He narrows his eyes at him, seeing Jason's smile fall from his face for a moment.
"Jim, shut up," Gia rolls her eyes, stepping to the door, opening it wider as she comes past her brother, looking at Jason.
He struggles to catch his breath upon seeing her, frozen in place for a moment, his eyes taking her in from head to toe and back up again.
"You look…" Jason can't find a word to describe it as Gia raises her brows, a little surprised he's in a suit and tie, but he looks really good.
"...You do, too." She replies to him, rubbing her lips together.
"I want her back by midnight." Jim tells him.
"Um, actually, I have a room reserved at the plaza." Jason states.
"Of course you do." Jim replies, earning a glare from his sister. "As long as you're not on the streets past ten, I'm fine." He adds.
"You don't have to worry about that," Jason assures him, Gia taking his hand.
"Be careful. Precious cargo." Jim orders next.
"Always am." Jason informs him, opening his car door for Gia to get inside before he walks around the black and red Ferrari and gets in behind the wheel.
"Is Bruce aware of the room at the plaza?"
"Nope." He states and she raises her brows. "Don't look at me like that."
"He's gonna be pissed." She tells him.
"Well, he pissed me off last night when he wouldn't let me skip pat—past curfew." He quickly corrects himself.
Gia doesn't even notice...at least she makes him think she doesn't.
His mind then shifts to what happened last night, and he glances at her as they go down the road.
"Did you have a good night?" He asks her next, seeing if she'll talk about being held at gunpoint.
"Yeah." She nods.
"Y-You sure? I mean you were pretty upset when I left." He points out, trying to get the right answer.
"I got over it, I guess." She explains, looking out of the window, and she
"I'm really sorry about that, again." He apologizes once more, taking her hand in his and she looks at him.
"It's alright, Jason." She assures him.
"You sure?"
"Depends on where you're taking me to eat and how good the food is." She says next and he slowly grins ear to ear.
PRESENT
The next night is spent with Gia attempting to brush over the fact she's not in the best physical condition but attempting—and failing—to try to clean up the apartment, only making it one eighth of the way through before giving up and falling back on her bed, trying to steady her breath.
She exhales and tries to fan herself off before she hears the light switch flip on and off as Jason tries to get the ceiling fan to come on.
Once he gets it on, she's looking up at him.
"I told you not to." He tells her, raising his brows.
"Clearly I'm glutton." She replies as he falls beside her, looking at her.
"So, I'm gonna be outta town for a couple days," he starts, swallowing thickly.
"For what?" She turns to see him.
"A couple friends of mine down in Miami need help." He explains. "They're trying to drug bust but they're failing miserably." He adds, truthfully. "Told 'em I'd go down there and see if I could help some."
"Miami?" She furrows her brows.
"Just a couple days. I'll be back before the weekend." He says next.
"Is it an actual drug bust business or is it more like drug lord business?" She raises a brow, not convinced, and he hesitates, making her close her eyes. "That's what I thought." She sits up.
"I've been playing as safe as I possibly can, Gia, and you know that, but this—"
"—You're flying across the country to have a glorified shootout is basically what you're doing." She states. "As if the last time you went out of your way to take down a bad guy, you ended up dead."
"A pimping drug smuggler is not the Joker. Two completely different types of people, and frames of mind, firstly," he points out, "Secondly, I'm not having a shootout with anybody. I'm just gonna be the backup if it's needed. Thirdly," he starts but can't think of a thirdly, before he settles with, "I want you to stay with your brother—or Bruce."
"Why?" She snaps.
"I don't want you here by yourself." He raises his brows.
"Oh, please, Jason, I don't need babysitting." She hisses, getting off the bed.
"Gia," he rubs his forehead, sighing.
"Jason," she mimics him, rolling her eyes.
"It's not to babysit you. It's to make sure you're not alone in case you need help." He explains.
"I can stay here." She insists.
He stares for a second and lets out a breath.
"Gia."
"Jason."
She knows exactly how to get under his skin, and he know she fucking enjoys it, too.
"Fine. Stay here. I don't care." He gives up, getting off the bed.
"Baby," she starts.
"Don't 'baby' me. You're being difficult and you know you are." He states. "I don't want anyone to babysit you. But I don't want to leave you here by yourself after what just happened."
"Fine. I'll stay with my brother." She says next.
"Fine." Jason mumbles, opening the closet, ignoring the feeling of Gia's eyes burning into his back.
13 YEARS AGO
Gia looks around the fancy restaurant, every customer dressed to the nines, waiters and waitresses never missing a beat to gain as many tips as they can.
Her eyes catch on the dimly lit chandeliers hanging from the ceilings, and Jason watches as she gawks at her surroundings with the excitement of a little kid.
"How much is this place gonna cost you?" She asks him, seeing that only a few items on the menu actually list the price, and they're still heart attack prices.
"I don't know, I don't necessarily care since Bruce owns it." Jason shrugs it off and she widens her eyes at how casually he's looking over the menu with no second thoughts. "Get whatever you want." He adds as the waiter brings them their water.
"Are we ready to order, Mr. Wayne?" He asks and Jason sends a small wink to Gia, not denying the last name because it's gonna get him and Gia free meals.
"The fillet, cooked medium," He tells him.
"And for you, miss?"
"I'll have the same." She says.
"And she needs a glass of red wine," Jason more-so commands instead of asks.
"I.D.?" The waiter asks and Gia grabs her license from her purse and shows it to him.
"Which one would you like?" He asks Gia, as if she knows anything about wine.
"Um…" she looks at Jason for help.
"...Surprise her." Jason tells him.
"Will do." The waiter nods before assuring them he'll get their orders in.
"Wine?" Gia raises her brows.
"What? You just turned 21 last week. I figured it's a nice late birthday present." He adds.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Guess now's a good time to tell you I don't like wine." She informs him and his smug smirk just grows.
PRESENT
"Go home, Gordon." Danni states to Gia the next day as she comes into the lab.
"It's a work day." Gia replies, in the same tone, pulling her hair back in to a ponytail.
"You're sick."
"I can still work." She exhales, glancing at her individually tanked snakes, wondering if they've been fed today. "Have they eaten?" She asks next.
"Hell if I know." Danni shrugs, looking over some notes she's taken. "Go home." She repeats.
"I told you I can work."
"We know—we saw the evidence of that earlier this week." She cuts back, referring to the broken microscope they found. "Go home." She says for the third time...Gia started taking her seriously.
"What the hell is your deal?" She snaps and Danni sighs.
"It's not my orders." Is all she says.
"Then who's telling me to go home?"
"The same one who paid for that microscope you broke."
"Bruce told you to tell me to go home?" Gia cuts her eyes.
"He told Natalie, who passed it down to me to tell you." Danni explains, hesitantly.
"Bruce?" Gia feels her stomach turn, her heart aching just a little bit.
"Gia, I'm sure—"
"—Is he here?" She cuts Danni short.
"I-I—Maybe? I'm not sure." Danni tells her honestly. "Why?"
Gia doesn't reply, she just stomps out of the lab, heels hammering into the tiled floor as she hits the button on the elevator.
"Gia!" Danni continues to call after her, exhaling when she realizes what she's up to.
When Gia gets to the floor Bruce usually operates on, she's shoving past people.
"Where's Bruce?" She snaps, one of the employees on the floor stating, "meeting," and she doesn't bother to find out who said it in the hall of people, she just marches to the conference room and barges in.
Bruce is seated among seven others, power poing presentation on the screen in front of the table as an older bald man talks.
Everybody looks at the door as soon as it swings open and loudly hits the wall behind it.
Bruce sees Gia, furious, shaking, and prepares.
"'Go home, you're sick'?!" She throws at him.
"Gia, we are in the middle of a mee—"
"—Fuck your meeting!" She shouts, throwing her jacket at him, hoping the zipper takes his eye out or something. "I get to work and the first thing I fucking hear is, 'go home'!"
Their audience looks on in dismay as Bruce stands up and steps to her.
"Gia, we can talk about this—"
"—I don't wanna talk about this, not with you, because I know anything you tell me is just to get me to shut up!" She barks. "I can work!"
"You're not emotionally stable enough to work right now, Gia." He says lowly, hoping none of colleagues or guests hear it.
"Oh, God, please, because I broke a piece of equipment that you can't afford to buy 500 million of!?!" She looks at the people watching with wide eyes and decides to hit him where it hurts. "Just be honest and tell me you don't want a cancer patient working for you!" She makes sure to say it loud enough for everybody to hear, their expressions shift, and they glance at each other.
"That's not—"
"—We already had to push past the fact you were reluctant to hire me because I'm a woman of color but now—"
"—What are you saying?!" Bruce is shocked, putting his hands on her shoulders and pushing Gia out of the room gently.
"And he pushes women around!" She shouts to the room of people before Bruce slams the door behind them and glares down at her.
"What the fuck are you doing, Gia?!" He quietly tears into her.
"You stop my work, I stop your work." She replies harshly. "This is a low blow, Bruce, and you know it, you've crossed a fucking line."
"I've crossed a fucking line? Says the ones who has my conference room thinking I discriminate against and beat up terminally ill women."
"Terminally ill women of color," she corrects him.
"Gia, it's nothing personal." He tells her. "It's not. But I can't have an erratic biotechnician making a mess out of experiments that aren't going her way."
"I had a human moment, Bruce—"
"—You're on a strong opioid, Gia. You smelt like alcohol the other night. I'm not letting you ruin your own hard work and good reputation by driving yourself over the edge with this mess." He adds and she feels tears in her eyes. "I'm not firing you. I'm telling you I don't want you here anymore. You need to be at home resting, or off with Jason or your brother or your friends, living the rest of your life the best that you can."
"This is my life, Bruce." Her voice shakes.
"I'm sorry, Gia." He means it when he says it, knowing how important her job is. "Go home."