Jim O'Neil, small time meth dealer turned supplier, hurried down multiple flights of stairs at a pace just short of a run, no longer stopping at the elevator doors that lit up only to die down whenever he tried to use them.
He was nervous, would have been stupid not to be with all the break ins where nothing was stolen, things that had gone missing with no signs of a break in and notes left in places no one but him even knew about.
A rhythmic banging sounded out behind him and he made one more, desperate try for the elevator, sobbing when the door opened and he could rush inside.
His relief was short lived when suddenly the lights went out and the lift ground to a stop. Stunned, he stood like a statue for a full minute before he snapped out of it and started banging on the walls, screaming for someone to rescue him.
His cries went unanswered until he'd quieted down and the hatch at the top of the lift slid open with an echoing thunk. O'Neil was just tall enough to hook his fingers on the edges of the opening, but before he could attempt pulling himself up, the lift started up again and the man dropped back to the floor, landing on his ass with a shout.
By the time he got to the basement parking, he was a sweating mess and gave up all pretenses of walking to his car like the suave criminal mastermind he tried to present himself as. He broke into a mad dash, leaping over more cars than he twisted around.
At the other end of the lot, Jason finished off the candy bar he'd been snacking on and lowered the screen displaying the feeds of multiple cameras he'd set up on the path from O'Neils apartment to the parking lot as he pulled down his ski mask.
Amusingly, the first thing O'Neil went for when he slipped in the car he hadn't taken a second to check for intruders, was the candy bar that had been stashed in his dash.
Jason took a lot of satisfaction in dropping the wrapper into the guy's lap. "Yeah, your fat ass took so long I got hungry." It hadn't exactly been a cake, but he'd treat himself where he could.
The man's attempt at making a run for it was cut short by the gun Jason pressed to the back of his head.
"Come on now, dine and dash isn't half as stylish if you don't dine first." Jason lowered his voice. "Drive."
"Fuck you, you little prick!" The man growled, surprisingly brave for someone who'd come an atoms width from pissing himself not a minute ago. "You can fucking end me now if ya want, I aint turning out like those pissed dumbasses he got working for him. Ya can tell the Red Hood to shove his fucking proposal down his filthy…"
"Whoa, whoa, that language aint fucking doin' it for me, buddy." Jason rapped his knuckles on the guy's temple, forcing mirth into his voice despite the little prickling of ice that needled at his chest at the mention of his former persona. "What's this I hear about the Hood?"
"You aint his one o his lackies?" The man asked, looking somehow terrified and relieved at the same time.
Jason laughed then, low and deep as he brought his lips level with O'Neils ear. "Not even on the reservation, but I'd love to hear more. Now…" he reached over to turn the key in the ignition. "Drive."
Jason had a feeling this was going to take all fucking day, not that he'd expected the universe to cut him a fucking break for once.
o
o
o
And it looked like no breaks were coming for the foreseeable future.
Jason slammed his door shut and reactivated his security before stomping across to the only walled off area of his studio apartment. He peeled off his sweaty jacket along the way, wrinkling his nose at the stench.
He'd already missed their meet up at The Dive and now… There was no meet up at the Dive that day, she had some Bat thing she had to do. He tossed the jacket into some corner where he didn't have to look at it.
It would have bothered him a little to leave it laying there, but all he could think about right then was a long, scalding shower without a camera pointing at him, and then curling into his massive bed until he met up with Little Miss Sunshine for lunch the next day.
He was halfway undressed before his stomach reminded him that some food before then would've been extremely welcome too. It took some consideration for him to decide between chowing down on whatever he could scratch up in his fridge, or ordering out.
If he called before the shower it could be waiting for him not long after he was done. His phone was in his jacket pocket, which was attached to the jacket he'd tossed across the damn room, and he was already right next to the shower his tensed muscles craved – downside of gaining back some of the weight he'd shed was not being able to comfortably squeeze into tight spaces.
He had a moment to be taken back by how liberating it was to be able to make such simple, petty decisions again before the tapping at his front door distracted him.
His security system was activated, very few people should have been capable of getting near that door without him noticing it, and none of those people were good news. A grab for one of his hidden guns was cut short by the biting voice on the other side of the door.
No breaks at all.
o
o
o
Bored.
That kind of bored where all you could do was stand in a corner, chewing on a chocolate cupcake because any attempts at livening things up felt like sacrilege. Steph pressed herself against a wall and listened to Bab's yelling at Huntress about something over the hasty set up she'd thrown together moments after arriving.
Steph was glad she wasn't on 'that' mission.
She wasn't even sure why she'd been invited to whatever the little get together was supposed to be, only that it felt like kind of a family thing.
Damian stood by the large windows, hands clenched into fists at his sides as he glared at the rainy city below for all he was worth. Tim's voice drifted unintelligibly from where he was chatting away with Dick who'd gone to answer the buzzing from the elevator, and Alfred was in the kitchen, churning out still more of the warm cupcakes that no one else had so much as touched.
Cass was supposed to be there, that was the only reason Steph had even shown up, yet her friend was nowhere to be see. She was going to give off some very 'not happy' vibes when her friend finally did show up.
There really were a lot of cupcakes, and Steph was giving thought to asking if she could pack some up to share with Jason later when she noticed the picture hanging on the wall not far from where she stood.
Old, and looking like it had seen better days with yellowing edges curling up to meet the glass of the frame and some kind of smoke damage dotting the surface.
Just two people standing atop a slope with a snowy mountainous background. Dick, with his arm wrapped around a young boy. She studied the boy's face, his cocky grin, the loose posture of his shoulders set off by tension in the arms shoved into his pockets. So similar to when she'd dragged Jason with her to the planetarium.
But that couldn't be right, Jason's eyes weren't that blue, and he was at least six feet tall, there was no way he'd ever been so…
She didn't even realize her fingers had been reaching for the frame until a hand closed gently around her wrist. Her head snapped up to see Dick, looking between her and the picture, expression shifting too fast for her to read.
"Damnit Helena!"
Bab's shout broke him from whatever episode he was having. He dropped Steph's arm, taking a Steph away from her and slipping a mockery of a smile onto his face.
"That's literally the only picture of us together, and I think Alfred would skin us if we gave him a reason to spend another two hour polishing it."
Steph let out a nervous squeaking sound and clutched the hand to her chest. "Sorry." She chuckled. "HE just looks so tiny, I mean, I really can't believe that's him, he got so…" She raised one hand above her head to illustrate the difference in height between the boy in the picture and the one she'd stolen onion rings from a day ago.
Dick's smile shifted to something more genuine while also being one of the saddest things Steph had ever seen. Someone rested a hand on his shoulder and for the first time, she go a look at the dark haired woman who was unfortunately not Cass.
"He seems happy enough there." She said gently.
Dick snorted and rested his hand against the frame. He titled it back and forth as though it wasn't already perfectly straight already, bringing Steph's attention to the little scrapes in the wallpaper that gave away just how often he must have been doing that. "I had to bribe him for this picture, to prove to Bruce I was keeping him alive. There was an all you can eat buffet and he didn't want to leave." He chuckled and his hands dropped to his sides. "He wouldn't stop putting marshmallows in his curry."
Steph let out a short bark of laughter, tilting back on her heals. "God you'd think he'd grow out of that huh?" She suddenly felt herself in the sights of two very curious pairs of eyes. "Uh…" She tugged at the hem of her shirt and averted her gaze, trying to keep calm while she felt her insides burning up and fuck that had been a mistake.
"You know, I uh, brought him marshmallows once and he wanted chili sauce with it, but I thought he was just messing with me, and so I didn't bring any, like, maybe I would have, but right after that was when he got real sick and…" Oh god their faces, why wasn't anyone telling her to shut up, that was why she needed Cass. "I, uh…"
She couldn't have been more grateful for the sudden bout of crashes and cursing that erupted from Bab's slapdash computer room.
"I should go make sure she doesn't throw one of those computers out the window." Dick shrugged before patting the new woman on the shoulder. "Stephanie, this is Donna. Donna, Stephanie's the newest Batgirl, get along okay."
Steph waited until he was out of sight before she let herself bury her red face in her hands and collapsed against the wall for support. "I'm the worst person ever." She scrubbed at her face as though it could erase the thing away and she'd never have to show it again.
Donna laughed, and a peek through her fingers showed Steph that yes, the sound was almost genuine.
"There are a lot of people who'd love to take that title from you." She put a little silver box on a little table near the picture next to another one wrapped in green. "You shouldn't feel too bad about it, it's good for then to know that some people have good memories of him."
"Yeah well, the last time I said something about my memories I made Dick…" Steph caught herself before she could tell this virtual stranger about Dick crying in the Batcave. It had freaked Steph out, and she didn't want to think about what would happen if it got out to the rest of the community. "Remember the bad parts." She snatched up another cupcake, hoping the chocolaty goodness would ease her mortification somewhat.
"I just came here cause my friend asked, I don't even know what this thing is, it's like a funeral." She swallowed her cupcake before turning wide eyed to the woman, depressing atmosphere, polishing pictures, comfort food… "This isn't a funeral right?"
"No." Donna shook her head only slightly. "It's not a funeral, it's just…"
Before she could finish, there was a crash and Tim stumbled back into the room, calling for Bab's to call Bruce.
Cass finally appeared had finally appeared. Steph's sudden excitement at seeing her best friend was immediately dampened when took in that said best friend was wearing a very disheveled Black Bat costume, and seemed to be having a hard time staying on her feet.
Steph leaped forward to support her best friend and help the girl to the sofa nearby. Damian had gotten Alfred and Cass was muttering about poison while Bab's hurried into the open, already talking about finding antidotes.
"No time." Cass said, and Steph felt something cold trickling into her blood before her friend even said her next word. "Talia."
o
o
o
Stephanie ducked under the flurry of small knives that were sent her way, pivoting on her toes as they flew overhead before pushing off to continue her chase. The rain still hadn't let up, making everything slick and impossible to traverse with at her usual speed.
Stupid ninja, why did hers have to be one of those who ran all over the freaking place when they were fighting. The others were all in relatively the same places they'd been when they'd come across Talia's new lackeys, at the house of some oldish woman the creeps had been trying to off, but Steph had moved at least twelve blocks away.
Steph complaining got her an earful from a stressed out Barbara about staying focused on her mission.
Said mission turning out to be a game of rooftop tag that was significantly less fun than when she did it with Cass. Another knife came at her neck and Steph dodged just a second too late, getting a slice across her chin, and wasn't that just perfect? Now she had to chase after the asshole with blood dripping down her neck.
She really wished Cass could have been the one to chase after the freak, her friend would have caught him in no time flat, but Bruce had her guarding the prison like Schools even deserved their protection when he still refused to say anything.
When she caught the guy she was going to…
'Batgirl, how far did you say you've gone out?' There was a banging sound present in the background of Tim's comm.
"About a dozen blocks." The ninja dropped down from the rooftops, doing a bunch of fancy acrobatics while descending a fire-escape. "Aw great." Steph groaned, she just had to get a show off on top of everything, like the day hadn't beaten down her self-esteem enough yet. "Why?"
'Stay where you are.' Tim's voice was breathy, and Steph could almost hear his grapple going off. 'It's a trap.'
Steph halted her much less graceful descent and leaned against the fire escape, whishing she could pinch the bridge of her nose through the cowl. "I thought she was done trying to kidnap me." She'd given Jason the stupid envelope. What the hell else could Talia have wanted from her?
'Must have found out we were looking for him again.' Tim said, the cracking of his comm had died down, so he was getting closer. 'Might want to pump you for information.'
"She's killing off people who saw her at Arkham, right?" Steph swallowed, but it did nothing to ease the sudden dryness of her mouth anymore than the icy raindrops dripping off her eyelashes. "You don't thing that maybe…" She looked down at the darkened ally her opponent had vanished into. "You don't think that might include Jay, do you?"
For a few seconds there was near silence over the comms, not even the tapping of computer keys or fighting in the background. Then it was abruptly broken by a chorus of curses that she wasn't in the mind to pin to any of the people she was working with.
Talia would know Steph hung out with Jay just about every day, just like she'd known Steph had been the one to drag him out of Arkham. Did that make Steph an information source or a target once the woman had already gotten to Jason.
'Batgirl, I want you off the streets.' It took Steph a second to register that it was Bruce speaking for the first time that night.
'The caves too far, but Troia's still at my place, wait there.' Dick chimed in.
"No, we need to find her, what if she's…" There was a knot in Stephanie's throat, making it hard to speak. She couldn't sit the night out, if she could distract Talia long enough, then maybe Jason.
'We can't afford her getting the information we do have from you, get off the streets.' Bab's ordered, but Steph barely registered it.
She hadn't seen Jason since they'd had lunch at The Dive the day before. Cass had found out Talia was in Gotham not long after that. It was enough time that anything could have happened.
What if he hadn't done whatever it was she'd told him to do in Arkham, or that letter…
'Batgirl!' That was Babs again. It shook Steph out of her thoughts and she leaped off the fire escape, climbing higher and higher onto the rooftops.
"Does anyone know where she is yet?" Steph asked as she shot off her grapple in the direction of Dick's penthouse, which thanks to him living in the center of the city was also the direction of her own place.
'We'll find her.' Tim said, 'Just…'
"Yeah I know, I'm going. Steph tried to stomp down the fear that was growing in her chest, but she knew it would be as much as she could do just to keep them from noticing it until she was out of her suit and away from the comms.
o
o
o
The relative silence of the room amplified the mechanically distorted sound of screeching tires, broken only by the occasional clinking of porcelain teacups.
Jason opened his mouth to speak, but Talia held up a finger, taking a sip of tea, as the no longer sleek blue sports car on the screen careened around a corner, his own face just barely visible as he fired of some warning shots at the men speeding after them.
He kept his eyes on the screen and, not Talia's face set in that same expression she'd worn when he'd offed his second poisons teacher and trashed her safe house – Jason still wasn't sure which of those the woman had really been upset about.
Thank fuck she hadn't been there in person to smell the alcohol on his breath, not that any of what had happened that night could have been blamed on the little he'd drank, but she definitely wouldn't have seen it that way.
Jason occupied himself with drinking his own tea, hot and sweet and just spicy enough to burn at the back if his throat, instead of Talia's magnified glare. God, Jason was beginning to think that was something both she and Bruce had picked up from Ra's because there was no other explanation as to how they could elicit the exact same reactions just by looking at him.
He noticed some movement behind him and watched the reflection of one of Talia's men in their fancy new reddish, black bodysuits looking over the security on his window.
The car on the screen finally went over the cliff, Jason and Blondie leaping out of the door, rolling to a stop on the on the wet grass, laughing all the way as the resulting explosion soaked them in salty water.
Talia set the screen down and interlaced her fingers in front of her, perfectly manicured nails reflecting the bright yellow lights of Jason's apartment, her lips curved into something that wasn't neutral, but not quite a scowl either.
"Not like it's the first time I've done something like that." Jason said, meeting her eyes when it became obvious she wouldn't talk first.
"Not in your condition, and not without some purpose." Because fifty kilos of cocaine off the street wasn't good enough of a reason on its own. "Not long ago you were incapable of walking normally, yet you recklessly endanger yourself by putting yourself in close proximity to that…" She waved her hand at the now blank screen, he didn't have to think to hard who she was referring to. "You know the consequences if you are apprehended again."
"She coulda let them take me when I was an OD'd mess." He set his empty cup down. "Ya think that'd be easier than lulling me into a false sense of security and taking advantage of me in a moment of weakness as opposed to, ya know, the weeks of weakness from before. A real mastermind we're dealing with here, huh?"
"I recall us having this conversation before Jason, the ending is always the same and disregarding my counsel led to the psychotic break that had you incarcerated in that filthy place to begin with." She spoke calmly, with not even a touch of the anger Jason could feel burning up in his own chest.
"It's not the same" He snatched up a meat pastry from the plate nearest him and began turning it over in his hands, mashing the flaky crust into the mince with his thumb. "There's nothing they could use me for…" Nothing except the experimental drug ring and the missing people who were playing at being lab rats.
Talia smiled, pouring the both of them a fresh cup of tea, she took a sip of hers and grimaced. "Pass me the sugar."
Jason raised an eyebrow at the little bowl of sugar cubes that was sitting closer to her than him, but reached over to push it over to her. Before he could pull back, her hand was wrapped around his wrist, he jerked back reflexively, but didn't break her tight grip.
"You've been subsisting solely on bar food, haven't you?" She asked, slowly turning his arm over in her grip. Behind her he noted one of her people shutting his bare fridge.
"I've been doing a job," He snatched his arm back as soon as she loosened her hold. "Mighta finished it up by now if you'd left me someone to interrogate."
"You know I'd never have let them live after the part they played anymore than I will your handler if you find yourself in a similar situation once your 'job' is complete." The cup in Jason's hand cracked and he set it aside before he inadvertently shattered it. "It's little consolation, but I can take some comfort in that you've gotten yourself attached to the weakest of them. When the inevitable comes she'll be easy to dispose of."
"You let your venom addled rejects touch her and I'll gut every one of them Talia, I fucking swear it." He locked his eyes with hers, unable to relax the tension in his muscles or push down the sudden nausea swirling in his gut. "Whatever goes down I'll deal with it. I never asked you to fight my battles for me."
Talia tensed up for just a second, barely long enough for him to be sure it had even happened before she spoke again, her voice underlined with cool fire. "You've never needed to." She unnecessarily wiped her hands with a napkin before waving one in a loose circle above her head.
He sucked the meat filling off the edges of his fingers while servants stepped forward to box up the barely touched platters of food and Talia stood, her people lining up to leave behind her. It was the same as she'd brought him in Arkham, the little pies she swore he'd preferred when he'd been a brain dead vegetable. His body felt heavy when he pulled himself to his feet.
Stephanie was off limits, she had to be, regardless of Talia's justifications, but he was self aware enough to know that his own reactions in similar circumstances would have been just as extreme. A car bomb in Nyssa Raatko's car could attest to that.
He was really in no position to judge.
"Thank you." He said at last, arms tense at his side and back straight. When he made the mistake of thinking about it he could still feel the pinch of the needle at his neck and the bite of leather restraints digging into his chest. He 'hadn't' asked her to do what she had, hadn't expected her to do anything at all once he was out, but like every time before she had anyway.
'I never needed to ask'. He diverted his eyes out the window showing off the starless Gotham skies, no place had better stars than the desert.
Unbidden came thoughts of artificial stars swirling across strands of hair twirled around his fingertips and grass scratching at the back of his neck, water dripping down to soak him through. A mental shake and they were pushed back before he spoke again.
"But, you know I gotta deal with what's left of it."
She hummed softly and patted his cheek twice, her warm hand rested there for barely a second before it was gone, held out expectantly to receive a thick manila envelope and a dark lacquered wooden box. She held the items out to him
"Yeah maybe." A plastic container was placed in his arms and he watched her leave the room, followed closely by the last of her people.
He really wanted to go somewhere he could see the stars again, and the fucking sun for good measure. Getting out of Gotham for a while didn't sound like a bad idea.
His eyes caught a wilted chain of pale flowers hanging near his books case and he sighed, pausing on the way to his bed to run his fingers over the delicate petals. Any more thought could wait until he'd gotten some sleep.
o
o
o
It wasn't hard to find, and that was the whole problem. If it was terrifyingly easy for her, then how much more so would it have been for Talia with her wealth of recourses to track him down?
Jay had found Steph when she'd shown up at The Dive after they'd caught Schools. 'My evil supervillian friends told me.' He'd said. That had to mean he had someone keeping tabs on the place for him, which meant someone there had to know how to contact him.
Lucky Steph, she had a stack of money gathering dust in one of her drawers and something of a reputation she hadn't even known about until recently at the place. All it had taken was some thinly veiled threats and waving around of the cash for someone to give up a location.
Well ,as close of a location as she was sure she was going to get.
That was how she found herself running through an apartment building, pounding on each and every door in the hopes that she would find the right one, feeling sick to the point she thought she'd throw up whenever it took more than a few seconds for her to hear some signs of life on the other side of the door.
She'd even busted into one vacant apartment when her frantic mind had connected the smell of rusted iron to blood.
Even she wasn't sure how long she'd been at it, had given up on checking door numbers and or the time when, as she brought her fist forward to begin knocking on yet another door that a hand wrapped around her wrist. She spun around to break the grip hold and keep going when his voice stopped her.
"Don't you dare, they got kids in there that never fucking sleep." He was standing shirtless in front of an open door, the warm light spilling into the hallway making him seem almost ethereal to her tired mind.
She ran her fingers tips along the scars on his arms, looking him over for any cuts or bullet holes, or bruises, seconds away from calling Leslie if she found anything wrong with him, but there was nothing.
He was fine, he wasn't hurt and he was safe and breathing and…
"Jay…" She breathed out and leaned into him, felt his arms snake tightly around her shoulders for just a few seconds, long enough for her to feel the warmth coming off him through her soaked shirt, the strength in his arms and his heart beating against her before he pulled away. "Talia's here, and she…"
"Yeah she already dropped by." His voice was quiet, softer than she could remember it being before. "You're shivering." He brushed aside a few wild strands of hair, then pressed his palm against her forehead. His thumb brushed against the cut in her neck, and his eyes hardened for just a second before he went calm again. She would have laughed if the tension in her chest had melted away even a little more. "Come on before you die of pneumonia and I have to haul your ass to the morgue."
Curled up on a couch, that was so soft it was criminal, sipping on a novelty mug of spicy tea while she watched the steam rise off another mug on the nearby coffee table, Steph tried to bring her thoughts to something resembling normalcy again.
The familiar teletubby blanket she was wrapped in smelled like almost like the vanilla fabric softener she used, and she could have smiled at the image that popped into her head of Jason doing laundry. She would have pulled it more tightly around her, but the borrowed clothes she was wearing smelled of something else entirely and she didn't want to block out the scent.
"If I knew you'da reacted that way I'da put on a shirt before I got the door." Jay dropped a few things on the table, a cocky smile on his face before he stepped behind her and put a jeweled silver stick in his mouth, muffling his next words. "Or got rid of the pants…"
She was surprised when she felt his hands carding through her hair, but found herself leaning into the touch, brief as it was when he gathered the strands to a loose ball at the top of her head and speared it through with the stick to hold it in place.
He leaned over to look at her face with a small frown on his. "Lean back a little." He settled next to her as he poured antiseptic onto a cotton swab.
She complied, but flinched back when the burning liquid came into contact with the cut under her chin.
Jason laughed at that and waited for her to settle back before he continued. "Got a little something extra in here case your new friend had the Society's patented sleep tonic along."
"Do you have more?" She asked as he cleaned her cut, the burn giving way to the icy cold of the what she guessed was a numbing agent to the solution. "Cass got poisoned and we don't have the exact antidote, so…"
"F she's not dead it'll be outta her system 'fore you get any to her. Not made to kill." He tucked some strands of hair that had escaped the clip behind her ear. "You wanna tell me what's got you all worked up?"
Steph wanted to tell him about the depressing 'party' at the penthouse, and Talia killing of the people who knew she'd visited him, but if he'd already seen the woman , she had no doubt he already knew what she'd been up to, at least mostly. So she just shook her head and turned her attention to glossy wooden box he'd set on the table along with the medical supplies.
"That another head? Cause gross, I don't wanna know." She said.
"Nah, figured since you're here, I'd show you why Talia came over. Y'know, before you ask if we're plotting to take over the nail polish industry." His fingers brushed along her throat, calloused fingers tips rough against her sensitive skin as he pressed a series of bandages against the cut.
She remembered how he'd been back at Arkham, how terrified she's been at him, knew how she would have reacted if he'd gotten those hands anywhere near her throat.
She remembered him being too weak to walk, weighing so much less than someone his height should have, holding him down so Leslie could get the medicine in him that would save his life.
Most of the time she'd known him, she'd been either afraid of him or for him. She couldn't remember when that had changed.
He tilted her head back a little more and slid his fingers along her throat, fastening the bandages in place with medical tape, his face set in a look of intense concentration. Noticing her eyes on him, his widened and she licked his lips before smiling and turning away quickly to gather up the supplies.
"So what is in the box?" She asked, reaching one hand hovering over it in a quiet request for permission.
He waved his antiseptic covered fingers and got up. "Gotta was this crap off my hand real quick." He went over to the kitchenette, and Steph had never been so grateful to be in a studio apartment when it meant he was within eyeshot of her the whole time. "You wanna watch a movie or something while your clothes dry?"
She picked up the box and slid it open, revealing the pair of knives with wavy blades, and was that real gold embedded in the red hilts? The metal had been dulled so it wouldn't glint, but a gentle press with her fingertips revealed that it 'was' real.
Jason got back, drying his hands on his sweat pants as he dropped down onto the couch besides her and lifted one of the knives, so careful she would have called it reverence had he been anyone else.
"They're kris flame daggers." He explained, smiling as he turned the weapon in his hands. "No idea what these are made of, but they make other knives look like kiddy spoons. Used to have one, but I stabbed a monitor in the head now it's in a universe that stopped existing."
"Can you go a day without referencing killing someone?" Steph reclaimed her cooled mug of tea and took a sip.
"He didn't die, fucker's immortal, didn't even slow down, but man was it cathartic. Miss the knife though, 'nother reason not to go multiverse surfing." He slipped the knife back into it's box, his fingers lingering on the metal just a second longer than they had to.
"I want that story." Steph shut the box and put it back on the table with the same care she would have one of Tim's ancient action figures.
"Maybe some other time." He scratched the back of his neck, eyes shifting away from her.
"She really did just visit you for tea, didn't she?" Steph said softly, running a fingertip along the rim of her mug.
"Yeah." His eye's softened in a way she'd never seen before, but the second it took her to feel something about that was all it took for him to wipe the expression off his face and throw both arms over the back of the sofa, letting out an irritated huff. "An harp on my life choices." He turned to face her, a mischievous smirk on his face that lit up his eyes, making them seem more green then blue against the pale fabric of the couch his head rested on. "She found out about our joyride."
"Did she know we were drunk?" Steph curled up against the back of the couch to rest face just close enough to his that she could feels his breath prickling against her cheek.
"You were drunk." He scoffed, leaning forwards to pick up his mostly cold mug of tea and drain it down, she thought she saw a bit of red creeping up his neck. "She also had a few things to say about my eating habits."
It was almost funny, the idea of Jay sitting, petulantly sipping on tea while Talia scolded him about underage drinking and junk food. No, it was funny, then why wasn't she laughing?
Before she knew what she was doing, Steph found herself clutching the edge of Jason's shirt, reminding her that he was still there, that he could take care of himself and she didn't have to worry about someone coming along and taking him away from her.
Then she thought again of that depressing get together that was supposed to be a party. That should have been happy, maybe could have been, if he'd been there, if there wasn't the very real chance that they 'would' take him away if they found him.
The idea of Talia scolding Jason turned into Alfred, while he baked cupcakes or Dick while Jason rolled his eyes and paid no mind.
Her hands curled tighter in the fabric of his shirt, and that small frown was back on his face. Her mind scrambled to come up to with a reply to the last thing she said, a joke, anything, but there was something blocking off her throat, keeping the words from coming out.
It wasn't fair. Ever since she'd been a little girl wondering why Daddy wasn't home and Mommy was always sleeping, Steph had known not to expect fairness in the world. She felt like a child again for thinking it, but the thought wouldn't go away.
It wasn't fair that Talia got to show up at Jason's home, and be allowed in, to bring him tea and gifts and unwanted life advice. She was an assassin and she's put a bounty out on her child and hurt so many people and worked with people who'd hurt more.
Bruce and Dick and Alfred and Babs, they deserved those things. They were good, and they tried so hard to help people, all of them, but there were boxes sitting at the penthouse while Jason smiled at the one on front of him.
His brows were furrowed now, eyes having lost that glint they'd had before. Steph cradled her mug close to her chest and tried again to speak.
All that came out was a high pitched, shuddery breath. The sound made Jason jump like a gun had gone off at his ear.
"You know, if you really want the shirt off, you still have one IOU left." "all you have to do is ask."
"Y, you said that would take two." She sniffled, trying to put some levity into her voice, she fought the desire to bring her knees to her chest and curl into a ball on his sofa.
"It's two if you want it all off, one gets you halfway there." He rested his chin on the palm of back of his hand, cocky grin in place. "Since I like you, you get to choose which half."
"Why would I want to see either half?" Steph hoped he'd ignore the way her voice cracked as she brushes away the liquid pooling in her eyes with the blanket.
Jason fakes a choking sound and crossed his arms. "If you're gonna be like that, it's back to two." He held up two fingers. "After all the work I put in, you know how many fucking protein shakes i…
"You're really a drama queen." She pressed a hand over his mouth and chuckled, leaning her head against his shoulder, feeling the heat radiating off him the way she had when he's held her at the door. "I was at a party today."
"Yeah you told me yesterday remember." His voice was soft, hands fiddling with a T.V remote he'd taken off the end table. "Don't see what that's got to do with you insulting my muscles."
"It was your party Jay." She caught a sob and turned it into a breath. "And it sucked, there was no music, or games, or anything, you should have been there, we coulda livened it up, huh?"
"When they find me they'll have a very different party, don't worry I'm sure that one'll be a fucking riot." He snorted and looking up got her a glimpse of the faraway look in his eyes.
She shook her head against him and sniffed. "There were great cupcakes though, but nobody was eating them ,and Alfred just kept making more, and Babs was…" Her throat closed up around the rest of her words and her hands balled up the fabric near her face.
"What do you want me to do Sunshine?" His voice was quiet, resigned, not a trace of sarcasm.
She knew she wouldn't ask him to do anything because there was a facility in Central City and the memory of a boy in a dying heap on the floor and those, and strong, healthy, 'there' arms wrapped around her and she couldn't lose that.
Stephanie didn't know how to answer, so she didn't. She stopped holding back her tears and they poured out, and sobs clawed their way past the blockade at her throat. Before she could stop herself, she was bawling into Jason's shirt, mortified, but unable to stop.
Jason didn't try to joke, or make conversation. Soon she felt arms wrapped around herm gingerly at first, like he wasn't sure what he was doing, but they soon tightened and he folded over her, tucking her head against his ribs.
She pressed herself further into his hold and it tightened just enough to be secure.
She was selfish, she was too selfish to let him go, too selfish to let them have him if there was a chance she wouldn't, because he had a hand stroking the short hairs at the nape of her neck and she'd just realized that she would have done anything to keep him there.
So she asked if they could watch a movie instead.
o
o
o
After a while, her sobs died down and she lay still in his arms, staring blankly at the screens as it cast it's bluish light against her tear stained face. His thumb brushed against the bandages at her throat and he was again reminded that Talia would be getting a phone call sooner than expected.
You didn't throw a knife at someone's throat unless you wanted them dead, and while it could be that it had happened before she'd had a chance to relay the order, he couldn't take the chance.
She shifted and he forced himself to calm down, it would be counterproductive of him to be anything but calm right then unless he wanted to set her off again.
It wasn't Talia that had sent Stephanie to him on the verge of a panic attack, or thrown their guilt in her face until she couldn't handle it anymore.
Jason wanted to let them know he was up and kicking, show up with something big, something explosive, remind them why they'd all hated him in the first place, make them bleed for the stupid fucking hero complexes that made them think they had the right to…
One pale hand reached for the table he'd pulled up to the couch at the meat pastries he'd set on it, s flicker of a smile curving on her face at something on the screen. Just a glimpse of her usual brightness, and she was bright enough to burn. He wondered if, when he moved his hand away from the nape of her neck, some of that brightness would have rubbed off on him, would he leave behind dark smudges?
He was just tired enough to consider checking when her cellphone buzzed on the table and she tiredly unlocked it. He didn't look at the screen, but he heard her type out a reply and with every tap he could practically feel her growing dimmer.
Maybe it wasn't their fault after all, not all the way at least. If he had been strong enough to leave Gotham behind when he'd walked out of the clinic, she wouldn't have his secret to weigh her down in the first place.
For now, she'd chosen him over them, and she was suffering for it. She didn't need him purposely casing more trouble.
"Jay, I'm sorry I insulted you muscles." She yawned, and tilted her head just slightly to look up at him. "They're very nice."
He threw and arm over his face, mouth unwillingly curving into a smile that could have almost matched hers.
"Jay?"
"Hm?"
"Happy birthday."
For the first time, someone had chosen him over them, and he didn't know how to feel about it.
oooYes, I know Stephs birthday is just a few days before his, but shhhh.Also, apparently with me the ammount of mushiness in a chapter is directly proportional to how long it takes me to write. That's my only excuse.