He'd worked fast even though he hadn't needed to; pulled out every trick he'd heard countless times through countless doors that weren't as locked as they should have been. When his targets slunk through the filthy alleys of the filthy city, thinking they were safe, that nothing could touch them because the only thing in the city that ever had was gone.

It wasn't even hard, nowhere near how hard he'd thought it would be. With some hired muscle, and he had plenty to use for the hiring, along with some that weren't exactly hired but with bought loyalty all the same. Plucking a few rats off the street had been easy, getting a handful of 'insurance policies' along with them had been easy too.

No one cared what happened to them, no one important anyway, actually he liked to think there were a few sighs of relief after what he'd done.

Now he stood, surveying the set up, practically shaking with the thought of what it could all lead up to as some of his men set up a camera. Trained the lens on the rows of sniveling pigs bound together in the wide-open space. It took four men to pull the bed across the floor, drawing his gaze and holding it as the heavy, blood spattered metal screeched along the concrete ground, tiny specs of the metal still catching the dim light and gleaming through.

Having it cleaned would be a priority before 'she' got anywhere near it, after everything she didn't deserve to… But then, her blood was the same, he chewed his inner cheek as he thought it over. It hadn't mattered all that much to her, but it might have to 'him' or at least it at seemed to when he'd let her talk to him the way she had.

'His' men, the ones who'd come back to him on their own had already placed a chair in front of the camera and bolted to the ground, now they dropped the 'security guard' of 'that' storage facility into it. Not fighting anymore it seemed, head lolled into his shoulder and breaths ragged and strained through his damp rag. Too bad, that had been interesting. It was what he'd deserved for giving him false hope, making him think there was even the smallest chance the Red Hood was still doing his work.

The lights went off, the camera was ready. The Red Hood slipped his helmet over his head. It was time, the blood didn't matter, nothing else mattered anymore, not until the end. The cameras went on, he drew the canister of frenzy from his pocket, ran his gloved fingers over its surface.

'He' was ready.

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Meeting the parents was supposed to be a normal, if extremely awkward activity in every relationship. Not that Steph was going to be so bold as to classify what she had with Jason as a 'relationship' type of relationship, when he hadn't said anything like that yet, and now she was just over thinking things again. The point was, that Steph meeting Jason's almost mom had been terrifying, murder had been threatened and it was made blatantly clear that she believed Steph was 'not' good enough for him.

It was the quintessential meet the parent's experience.

Now Steph hadn't planned on seeing her mother that night. She and Jason were supposed to get into her house, get the Batgirl suit and 'get out' with Crystal Brown remaining very unaware. Unfortunately, things hadn't gone as planned and Steph had somehow ended up seated at the dinner table with her mom, trying to explain 'why' she and her friend had been trying to sneak into Steph's old bedroom.

Steph could have gotten at least a little enjoyment out of the occasion, gotten something to tease Jason about later on, but alas it was not to be.

"If you're what's been keeping her away here I can see the appeal, it's nice to know there was a more normal reason this time, but mothers worry." Crystal sighed deeply, swirling around the cheap wine in her glass. The correct answer was that Steph lied enough and she didn't want to do it more than she absolutely had to, but also could have risked the bats going to her mom for intell.

Jason's mouth was stuffed with mashed potatoes; the most innocent look imaginable plastered across his stupid face. "I tried to make her visit Ma'am, but she just…"

"He tried to shove me in a one of those big mailboxes in old town, we almost got arrested." Steph cut in, shooting Jason a glare that had no heat in it.

He grinned back at her and scooped up another forkful of potato. "So it's the cop's fault she didn't visit." Jason jabbed his fork into the general direction of the city proper, narrowing his eyes dangerously, it would have been more convincing if he hadn't chosen that moment to stuff his mouth again. "I can find him and beat him up for you."

Crystal chuckled and clapped her hands in front of her face, the crow's feet at the edges of her eyes deepening. "I'm not sure I want to know where you found this one Steph."

"He was a patient at Doc Thompson's clinic for a while." She pretended not to see the way her mother's face tightened ever so slightly at the mention of the doctor. "I snuck him candy and spaghetti-ohs." She didn't miss the light shudder that ran through Jason at that memory, and neither, apparently did her mom.

"You know patients are put on diets for a reason Stephanie." Crystal tsked and shook her head.

"Yeah I know." Steph sighed and Jason washed down the last of his potatoes down with a sip from his as of yet untouched wine glass. "But he asked so nicely, and look at this face." She squished his cheeks together between her palms and turned his head to her mother.

"I'll never be able to eat spaghetti-ohs again." Jason said without dislodging his head from her hands, his shoulders folding in and his mouth turning down in the most exaggerated frown Steph had ever seen.

"Like that'll negatively impact your variety at all." She let him go with a gentle shove and folded her arms in front of her, turning her eyes back to her mom. "He'll eat anything that doesn't kill him, so don't feel too proud he likes your mashed potatoes so much."

"These are the best potatoes I've ever tasted in my life Misses Brown." He said, wide-eyed and earnest as he could possibly have been. Bruce really should have let him do theater. "Sunshine over here's just jealous cause the cake she made me eat almost killed me." He tilted his head to the doorway and the staircase they'd been trying to ascend when Crystal had caught them.

"Yeah, you're laying it on kinda thick now, she already adores you Jay, you can stop now." Steph rolled her eyes and stood up, she wasn't going to get a better chance to grab the suit before her mom roped her into more conversation and they 'were' working on a time limit.

"I wouldn't go as far to say I adore him." Crystal said, gathering up the dishes as Steph made for the stairs.

"Lies." Steph narrowed her eyes at her mom, and then Jason, who at least pretended to look guilty. "I gotta grab some stuff upstairs." She looked back at her mother. "Please don't say anything embarrassing while I'm gone."

Steph heard some more clinking of the dishes and then Jason's. "Here lemme give ya a hand with that."

Crystal made a reply, but Steph was already on the second floor and their voices were too faint for her to pick up unless she really tried.

Her room was just the same as it had been when she'd left it, which was a little cleaner than it had been when she'd actually used it but less tidy than it really should have been. She and Cass had painted the walls a soft pink just a few weeks before she'd moved out, posters of sports teams and other superheroes still covered the places where there had once been cracks.

There were some out of date magazines on a desk next to an even more out of date desktop computer – one of her housewarming gifts from Tim had been the laptop she still used, in hindsight she probably should have asked for a new fridge instead.

The soft, barely discernable voices drifting up from the kitchen and the litter free floors took what could have been nostalgia at visiting her old room and shifted it just enough to make it something new that left her feeling just a little off balance.

She rested her hand on her bed in the hopes it would help her steady herself, ran her hands along the plush, glossy comforter, thinking that if she'd had more time she might have taken it with her back to her apartment. Gotham was starting to get colder and this one was warmer than the one back at her apartment.

With a sigh, she pushed out a breath past puffed out cheeks, Steph braced her hands against her mattress and shoved it partway off the base, revealing a thick sheet that she pulled aside to get at the handles for the compartment built into her bed.

Steph was almost surprised when she opened it and found that the few extra supplies she kept there were still in place. After one final listen for any approaching footsteps – telling her that the voices were still confined to the kitchen – Steph began gathering her supplies out from the compartment.

A Batgirl suit, musty smelling, but unlike all the other spares it was at least completely and within reach, not locked away in the clock tower. There were half a dozen gooperangs, various lock picks, and a grapple gun were all she had of this suit, but she supplemented with something she still had left over from her Spoiler days, which included some stolen smoke bombs and a busted up rebreather that would probably work fine.

She piled the equipment in a gym bad that had been the victim of her boredom when there'd been a magic marker on hand and had thus been covered in doodles. On top of the superhero stuff, she piled some of the more mundane objects she could find around the room just in case someone checked the bag. Magazines, a stuffed rabbit she regretted leaving behind in the first place, some a couple soft, fluffy sweaters and a Gotham Knights cap were all stuffed into the little remaining space in the bag before she forced the zipper to close over it all.

It was no heavier than she'd thought it would be, but not exactly light either, coulda been worse, she coulda slung the strap over her injured shoulder. That was only an almost.

Steph gave the room one last, lingering look at her room before she flicked off the light and made her way back for the stairs. Her mother was talking, her voice becoming easier for Steph to understand now that she was closer.

"… exactly are you plans for my daughter."

Steph stopped walking, her ears now tuning in fully to the sounds coming up from the kitchen, or lack of sounds, because the clinking of dishes had suddenly stopped, her curiosity peeked. Steph knew her mom 'could' be pretty intimidating sometimes; nurses in Gotham had to be. Nurses all over the world probably, now that she thought about it. She'd never seen Jason intimidated before, so it was the only thing she hadn't been able to tease him about. Steph put the bag down to try creeping closer without them hearing her.

"I uh,…" Jason sounded a little nervous, but more like he was trying to figure out what to say. "I'm not sure." He said at last and she heard the think of a plate being set down. "Not gonna be in Gotham for very long, so there really isn't much to plan."

Oh, Steph paused, suddenly finding things a lot less amusing with that reminder, and damnit if she could go just a couple of hours without those kinds of reminders.

"I don't like the idea of someone leading Stephanie on." Crystal's voice had dropped an octave, and Steph leaned over the banister of the stairs to see what was going on. Her mom had her arms crossed a stony glare directed at Jason.

"I wouldn't." Jason draped the drying cloth over his shoulder and got the sponge out to start washing the pot. "Steph knows, we… We talked about it." he paused in his scrubbing of the pot, for just a moment. "She knows." He repeated and put more effort into his cleaning.

After a few seconds of silence, all crystal said was. "That's too bad." And she went back to packing glasses away.

"Yeah." Jason moved the pot out of the soapy water and rinsed off the suds clinging to it. "Woulda stayed 'f I coulda." He said without prompting a tremor running through his voice, and Crystal looked back to him. "Only reason I stayed so long's to see her, and, I woulda stayed." He put the pulled the cloth off his shoulder to dry the pot, covertly brushing his arm across his face in the same motion. "Wish I could stay, she's…"

Steph grabbed the bag again and stomped her way down the stairs, before she heard anymore, this time she 'did' put the weight on her injured shoulder, and she at the sharp pain, but didn't slow down. It was one thing to eavesdrop for something to tease him about, not when he was like…

"You done yet?" She asked when Jason spun around to look at her.

"You just stayed up there so long so ya wouldna have to help." He passed her the cloth with a deep from and narrowed eyes.

"My hands are full." Steph objected, shifting the bag, ouch again, she leaned over to look around his broad frame at the sink. "And there's only one left."

"I'll hold it for you." Jason offered, holding his arms out to her and wiggling his fingers. "Come on, you're being a bad guest."

"But I'm not a guest, you're the guest." Steph said with a frown she was afraid came across as more of a pout.

"Then I shouldn't be going the dishes." Jason took the bag, the strain was gone instantly from her shoulder and Jason ran a hand over the shirt concealing her bandages when he replaced the bag with his drying cloth.

"You're such a gentleman." Steph said dryly and turned before she saw his answering smirk.

He chuckled and leaned against the counter while she dried the last pot. Steph noticed that her mom didn't find the exchange anywhere near as funny as they did and Steph shot the woman a questioning look.

"Your…" Crystal paused looking from Steph to Jason and back again. "Friend was telling me about his plans for after he leaves."

"Yeah, his mom wants him to work for her." Steph tried to sound nonchalant, burying the stabbing pain saying it herself caused to run through her chest.

"She's not my…" Jason sputtered, rubbing both hands against his face. "Stop saying that!" He jerked his arms towards her.

"Sure, so long as you remind Talia of that the next time she tries to shovel talk me." Steph handed off the pot and turned to face him.

"She did what?" Jason asked, his more playful frustration giving way to the stormy anger that clouded over his eyes, making them appear more green than blue, his face hardening.

Steph lifted his arm and dropped it around her shoulders as she pressed her side against hers; giving him a smile so he didn't think it was too serious, before looking back at her mom. "It was the most terrifying phone call of my life."

They left not too long after that. Even Steph's heavily edited version of the story had Jason steaming, he knew enough about the circumstances to piece together the more likely path the conversation had taken. Crystal thought it was cute, that he was protective of her. Steph herself kind of wished Jason could have been angry enough to reconsider going with Talia after all, then immediately regretted the thought.

Steph hugged her mother goodbye, at the door, she promised to visit again soon, a promise she intended to keep even though Crystal's smile was veeeery skeptical. "I wish I could ask your boyfriend to make sure you kept that promise."

"He's not really my boyfriend mom." Steph said. "I don't know if I'll even see him again after he leaves." She tried to smile at the curb where Jason was waiting by the same green car he'd taken her to the planetarium in, flipping through the pages of the same Russian book she'd found under her seat that time.

He was so absorbed in the pages, he didn't notice when Crystal strode over to him too, by the time he looked up, it was already too late and the woman had wrapped her arms around him too. Jason startled looking over Crystals head at Steph, who doubted he'd have been more shocked had her mother pointed a gun at his head in that moment. Steph didn't bother hiding her amused snort at his reaction and his reaction turned to one of the utmost betrayal.

Then Crystal tugged him down gently by the collar of his shirt and said something quietly enough that her Steph didn't hear as she made her way over. Jason didn't exactly stiffen, but he stood up straighter when she'd finished talking and gave her one, solemn nod.

"Don't get into too much trouble now." Crystal said with a smile that deepened the crow's feet at the corners of her eyes, and then she pulled Steph into yet another hug.

"Okay Mom." Steph said at the same time as Jason gave her a sloppy salute and a. "Yes Ma'am."

Crystal nodded and waved goodbye when they finally got into the car and drove off. Steph watched out the back window until the house had completely disappeared from view before she turned back to Jason.

"What'd my mom say?"

"Meh." He shrugged, looking over his shoulder at the gym bag on the bag seat. "Shovel talk. Ya get everything you need?"

"Yeah." Steph leaned over her seat to rest her head against his shoulder, a warm feeling spreading out from her chest when he didn't flinch at the contact as he might once have. "Sorry you got caught up in that, didn't know her shift changed." Mother's 'were' kind of a sore spot for Jason, and Steph felt guilt prickling at her chest that she hadn't considered that until right then.

"It's fine." Jason said, a far off look in his eyes, the smile on his face wistful. "It was…" He took one hand off the wheel to wave it in a circular motion as he searched for the word. "Nice. She's a nurse now, right?"

"Well she was always a nurse; she's just gotten more nurse like." And stopped stealing the prescriptions. She bit down on her bottom lip, then pouted and sat up straight. "I can't believe she 'liked' you, my mom's never liked any boy's I brought home." Well, not when she'd been sober enough to care anyway.

Jason snorted and diverted his eyes from the road for just a second to glance at her, a smile curling at his lips. "Yeah?"

"Yeah, but it's only cause I didn't tell her you dye your hair." Steph reached over and tugged at the white strands hanging over his forehead.

"Ouch, hey!" Jason swerved the car sharply around a corner as he batted her hand away. "How many times do I have to tell you, I 'don't' dye my fucking hair."

Steph gave him the most unimpressed look she could muster. "Jay, I love you, but your hair was 'orange' in Arkham, and then it had the white and then it didn't have the white and now." She reached over, trying to grab at his hair again, but he almost stuck his head out the window to get it out of reach, and then plastered one of his hands over his hair, shooting her a forced glare that Steph returned. "What is the truth?!" She waved her hands in front of her.

Jason huffed, not removing the hand from his hair and side eyeing her every few seconds between watching the road. The he huffed again and leaned back into his seat.

Steph was expecting his reply to be either another denial or the most obvious lie he could think of.

"The white's a Lazarus thing." He said at last, trailing his fingers through the short strands. "Symbolizes a lack of a soul or something." He shrugged and set the hand on the wheels besides his other. "Maybe I just don't like looking at it."

"Oh." Steph blinked at him, then looked abruptly away and fiddled with her seatbelt. "I didn't know that I'm…" She didn't even have the time to actually feel bad about it when her apology was cut short by his absolute failure to hide the grin that was forming on his face.

"You're just being an asshole again aren't you?" She fixed him with a glower.

Jason chuckled through his nose, his shoulders shaking as he rested his head against the steering wheel, shaking his head in denial.

"Oh my God, why?!" Steph was about to punch him for it when a car at the crossroads a head of them loudly honked its horn. "Jason look at the road!" She demanded and his head shot up just in time for him to turn hastily down a side road.

"Shit." Jason tuned sharply back to check that the road was clear, when he'd confirmed that us was, he started messing with the radio, pointedly not looking at Steph, mischief still dancing in his eyes. "It really is from the Lazarus pit though, can't have this…" He flicked at the hair. "When 'm tryna be discreet."

Steph kept her arms folded as they drove on out of the suburbs, trying to develop heat vision and failing miserably when he turned to her with the absolute worst attempt at puppy dog eyes she'd ever seen in her life. Terrible as they were, just the fact that he tried it was endearing.

"Keep your eyes on the road." She huffed at last and leaned her head on his shoulder again.

Jason smiled, and to her surprise, slung an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.

"What about when it was orange?"

"I would never dye my hair orange." Jason said, grinning from ear to ear.

Steph left him with a bruised shoulder for his troubles.

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Shorter chapters, faster updates, we'll see how this goes.