Everything was calm, quiet, very, very quiet. It shouldn't have been. The last thing he remembered was panic, trying to scream, but he couldn't being held down, and Bruce… the pinch in his arm. This was all wrong, adrenaline flooded Jason's system like a tsunami, forcing him out of his doze and into wakefullness in an instant. His body was so heavy, sore and so tired it rebelled against even the notion of moving of breathing, it was pushed aside as inconsequential, something to be worried about some other time.

Someone was talking, but Jason didn't so much as note their tone, he located the source of the pinch in his arm, ripped the tubes injecting... something into his veins, yanking them out, he tossed the IV line aside, a line of blood now trickling bright red against the too pale hue of his skin.

"Jason." Hands gripped his head, held it like a vice, keeping him in pace, from finding out what the fuck was going on.

He struggled, again forced his body to do more than it was capable of, he threw his weight into his assailant, freeing himself but also sending him careening over the edge. Steel dug into his wrist, yanking at his arm painfully, i didn't stop him from going down, wooden floors rising up to meet him. Arms wrapped around him and pulled him back up before he could, held him again, this time against a broad chest. They didn't let him go.

"If you don't calm down, I'm going to sedate you again." The voice warned, but it was hard to take it seriously, drowned out as it was by the blood rushing by Jason's ears.

Jason peered over the form holding onto him, he didn't know where he was, the soft, peach lighting too dim for him to try and figure it out. He couldn't see, her. She'd been right there in his arms, he'd been holding onto her, and then… something… someone had taken her from him.

"Sunshine?" He called out, the word emerging as a croak barely louder than a whisper. He knew somehow that he could have screamed it with a megaphone and she wouldn't have answered, where was she? He couldn't… Jason fought against the thing holding it, desperate to be free of it so he could go and find her, because he'd promised, he wouldn't leave her, he needed to find her, now.

"You're going to pull your stitches again."

"Buzz off." Jason spat out with another embarrassingly weak shove that did absolutely nothing.

"Bruce." Another voice joined it.

Fuck it, it had been Bruce, Jason realized only when the man moved back as if he'd been physically pulled aside, but not by Jason, because Jason was more pathetic than a fucking word.

"You're okay." Light flooded the room, one whole wall of fabric moving aside to reveal an overcast sky, Gotham's skyline struggling to peek up at him where the wooden panels of the flood met the glass of the window that had taken the place of what Jason had thought was a wall. "You're in the Wayne Tower penthouse." Dick turned a raised hand to the view, displaying his proof.

"Where's Stephanie?" Jason tugged on the cuffs linking his right arm to the headboard of the bed he'd woken in, the wrist it held was already red and raw, just a little more and he might get it bloody enough to slip out.

"She's safe," It was Bruce who spoke now, "and she got treatment in time that she'll make a full recovery."

"Oh." Jason had more to say, he would have said more, but that adrenaline rush that had fueled him before was leaving him as fast as it had come, taking with it his mastery over his rebellious body. He turned his head to where Dick was still by the window, and when he didn't contradict Bruce, Jason felt that last drop trickle away.

Bruce said something else, but Jason couldn't listen, couldn't shove him away and tell him to leave him alone when Bruce took the arm Jason had ripped the IV from and wiped away the blood smeared along it. He was still talking when Jason felt consciousness slip away from him too, Jason tried to put what strength he had in those last moments into raising that hands middle finger in response, and then everything was gone.

ooo

The next time he dragged himself to coherence, Jason was sure he was dreaming, because it was Talia's little kid glaring down at him, holding one of Jason's birthday knives in his pudgy little hand.

"Where did you get this?" He demanded in his high voice, like he thought he could be threatening.

"S'mine." Jason tried to reach for the knife, but the child pulled it back.

"I know that, but why did my moth… who gave it to you?"

Jason squinted at him, he'd heard the words, but… they weren't fitting together like they should have. "Steph…?" he turned, looking for what he knew wasn't there.

"Pay attention!"

Jason didn't, he slipped back under.

ooo

Jason woke a few more times but all he remembered of them were more confusion and desperation, maybe even screaming, and a question that wasn't answered by any of his guard rotation. Vaguely, he remembered tasting blood, thought he might have bitten someone.

"Ha." The amused snort was the first sound he'd made that came out halfway normal. It also sent a spike of pain running through his very dry throat. Ouch. Make that a definite on the screaming.

Again, the room was just him and one of Bruce's little soldiers keeping an eye on him, said little soldier was rushing from the room, calling for Bruce before Jason could care to guess which one it was. His wrist, now lacking the cuff was wrapped in soft bandages, and someone had gone and stuck a Green Lantern bandaid over the IVs exit point. Bastards.

Jason had just peeled it halfway of - not an easy task with his fingers about as maneuverable as soggy bread sticks - when Bruce walked in again.

"How are you feeling?" Bruce said, he was holding a box with a familiar design, his tone gravely serious.

"Stephanie?" Jason asked.

"In a minute, right now…"

This time, when Jason went back under, it was out of spite, and most assuredly succeeded in flipping Bruce off before he did.

ooo

"Awake again?" It was Dick this time, flipping disinterestedly through the channels of the TV Jason hadn't noticed before. "You gonna faint if I call Bruce?"

A favorable option, Bruce was very low on the list of people Jason wanted to see right now. The image of the man standing over him, holding him down as he was again drugged into oblivion fresh in his mind. Jason forced the image out, looked to his arm and noticed that the Green Lantern bandaid had been replaced by a Flash one, someone here certainly thought they were very funny, Jason ripped it off too leaving the purpled bruising on his skin bare.

"What?" He croaked out against his throat's protests and blinked up at Dick in a way he might have were he trying to come off as innocent if he could have for one second believed that Dick could have for one second believed that. The bandaid was stickier than he'd thought, and it took some flicking to get it off his finger. Childishly antagonizing them wasn't going to get him anywhere, he just couldn't help himself.

"Thirsty?" Dick cocked his head at the glass of water next to him.

Sure, but wanting to be aware of what was going on around him took precedence over that, and Jason wasn't particularly looking forward to being drugged again. The window was still open, the skyline still trying to be visible from the highest point the city had to offer, Jason would have bet if he could have willed himself to move over to it, he'd be able to pick out the apartment building he'd spent too many nights in since he'd started spending time with…

"You're not asking where she is this time?" Dick asked, "It's been pretty much the only thing we could get out of you every time you woke up."

Yes, thank you Dick, Jason knew that, he'd been the once asking. "You gonna tell me this time?"

"You gonna plan your escape the second I do?"

"Yeah I'm gonna jump out the window and fly to her on my ghost wings." He raised his voice an octave higher than he should have and it sent him into a short, painful coughing fit, because of course it did, and of course they weren't going to tell him anything. For that he'd need some kind of leverage, and right now he was helpless with absolutely nothing to use against them, not even the threat of an escape attempt. Jason braced his weight on his elbows and tried to sit up, tired of people hovering above him every time he opened his eyes.

Dick made one move forwards and Jason froze, but was just shifting to cross his legs before settling back into the armchair, and watching on dispassionately instead. God, Jason let out a breath, puffing out his cheeks as he did so, he'd thought for a second there Dick was going to try and help him, like he didn't feel pathetic enough already. There was an abundance of pillows at his back, and Jason managed to get himself propped up against them on his own.

"What do you want?" He sighed

"You to drink something before you shrivel up like Alfred's fruitcake." Dick replied, not looking away from his continuous channel flipping, going too fast for Jason to pick up what was flashing across the screen.

"Cute." Jason rolled his eyes. "Where's Bruce?" Infuriating as he was, at least Bruce was more likely to cut to the chase and Jason could find out why he was in the penthouse instead of a guarded hospital room, maybe use that why to make them let him see Stephanie again.

"I'll go get him." Dick wasn't above rolling his own eyes back at Jason as he got up with a huff that could have been of disapproval, if Jason had thought Dick thought he'd care what Dick disapproved of. "Don't go back to sleep while I'm gone."

If he hadn't wanted to find her so much it hurt, Jason might have gone to sleep again out of spite… again.

It didn't take long for Dick to come back to the room, Bruce trailing in after him, a box in hand, Jason caught a glimpse of only a hallway, no exits in sight, before the door shut after them.

It was too late to make himself look any more aware than he already was, sitting up straighter and loosely folding his arms behind his head in a way that pulled at his stitches and showed a confidence he didn't feel. "Hey old man." He grinned at Bruce and waved his fingers at the chair Dick had only recently vacated in offer. "No lurking in the corners this time?"

Bruce looked at the chair like it was a growling dog looking to snap at him, which was kind of funny, because it was Bruce's chair, what in Hell did he think Jason could have done to the thing in the half a minute it had taken Dick to go and get him? Jason thought it took even longer than that, of Bruce looking between the chair, Jason, and Dick who'd set himself to watch from the corner nearest the door, for Bruce to sit down.

"Talia," Bruce cleared his throat, and held the box he'd come in with out to Jason, "I haven't opened it."

Yeah, that checked out, the last time Bruce has paid Jason a visit in Arkham had also been because of Talia. Jason wondered what she'd done now, how it was affecting Bruce this time. He made a mental note, again, to not antagonize Bruce too much, he wasn't up to those stitches holding his gut together ripping out again. Eventually it wasn't going to stitch back together at all.

"And?" Jason eyed the box, it's familiar design, the one holding his knives had been similar, as were most of the ones she often used for her gifts, if they were small enough to fit in decorative boxes.

"She told be to give it to you." Bruce moved the box closer to Jason, waited expectantly.

Unable to keep the tremble from his weak, heavy arms, Jason unfolded them from behind his head to accept the box under the intensity of Bruce's watchful eyes. He made himself study the box, if for no reason other than that he needed something else to focus on. It was the same kind of box. The wax sealing around the seams perfectly in place, proving it hadn't been tampered with.

"Ah, you got to talking, huh?" Jason swallowed, his already dry throat practically shriveling up. Whether or not that was good news depended on so many variables, and if she'd wanted what he thought she'd wanted out of a meeting with Bruce, then Jason had even less time. He ran his thumbnail, along the seal, then entered the usual combination on the little lock, unlatched the latches in the correct order, and… crackers with a little metal flask, all packed neatly inside. He could see what she'd been going for with this. "So, when's she picking me up."

"Over my dead body." Bruce said, "I wouldn't… I'd never let her take you." His body was coiled like a snake about to lash out, he was holding his clasped hands tightly in his lap, as if it was a challenge to keep them that way.

Jason bit his tongue to keep from the comment on the tip of it from making it out. So, not good news then. Jason unscrewed the top of the flask, and carefully filled it with the amber liquid inside, watching Bruce's tense form closely out of the corner of his eye as he did so. The tea was obviously cold, but that was the last thing on Jason's mind when he swallowed it down, thankful above all else that he finally had something to drink. The strong, spicy taste was just a bonus.

"Then what do you want from me?" Jason plucked out a couple of the thin, flaky crackers.

"Why did she think I would?" Bruce asked, he looked at the crackers like they were poison, maybe he thought they were, but he didn't try to stop Jason from crunching down on them.

Jason was of the opinion that Bruce already knew the answer to his own question, that he was only waiting on Jason to confirm it. "What's it worth to you?" Jason selected another cracker from the batch. He would have preferred the meat pastries, or cookies, but she couldn't have known how long it would have taken him to get them, Jason himself had no idea how long he's been out of it, and crackers had a longer shelf life than most else she could have packed. He was grateful to have gotten anything, ulterior motives or no.

"This isn't a negotiation." Bruce growled, and Dick moved three steps closer.

"Bruce."

"It's not?" Jason cocked his head to the side and stuffed the cracker into his mouth, chewed slowly and washed it down with another sip of cold tea, again watching Bruce's barely concealed reaction to both before he spoke again. "How're you gonna make me tell you then?"

"You're wearing her uniform, using her networks, her equipment, you're…" The glare he gave the box this time was positively livid. The struggle to keep himself in the chair was easily observable. "I don't need you to tell me."

"So why ask?" Jason poured himself some more tea. "Great detective," Jason scoffed, "asking questions he already knows the answer to." He watched Bruce over the rim of the cap as he drank.

"Because I need to know if you know what you've gotten yourself into! What do you want from me, Jason?" Bruce asked, pressing a hand over his eyes for a handful of moments.

"Since you asked." Jason screwed the cap back on the flask and set it back in the box, before stuffing that under his pillow, better to ration what he had in there, he didn't know how long he was going to be here for. He waited for Bruce's eyes to be visible so he could fix them with his own. "I want to see Stephanie."

"You're not leaving this penthouse."

"Yes I am." Jason couldn't help the dark chuckle that slipped out. Bruce wasn't going to risk that much just to grill Jason and Talia, for all he knew, Jason didn't really know anything and was just trying to rile him up like last time. "But for what it's worth, good luck with that."

"I'm trying to protect you." Bruce was on his feet in a flash, another and Dick was just a step away, and yeah, Jason didn't know what the fuck was up with that, but he was done wasting the brainpower on trying to figure out why these people were the way they were. "I don't want to fight you on this, Jason, I'm begging you, just let me protect you."

And just like that, it wasn't Arkham anymore, it was the rooftop across from the GCPD, and Jason didn't have a laser pointer to distract him this time. "Let me see Stephanie." Jason's throat was dry again, but the flask was already put away.

"It's too dangerous." Bruce said with a shake of his head.

"No it's not." Jason pressed his forearm against his eyes and sank down into the pillows, "I'm tired." This was exhausting, he was exhausted, all he wanted was to see his Sunshine, to know she was okay, and tell her he hadn't left her, but no, they all had to be so fucking exhausting.

"If you talk to me, I'll call Stephanie and let you talk to her." Bruce acquiesced after a few moments. Jason moved his arm to gape at the man, sure he'd heard wrong, or imagined it, but Bruce was still standing over him, looking down expectantly.

"I want to see her." Jason insisted, he knew he was pushing his luck, but if there was even a chance…

"A video call then?" Dick tacked offered, startling Jason who hadn't expected Dick to address him at all with Bruce in the room.

"Fine." Jason bit out the word. It was something, it was better that nothing, even if he had to speak to her with them watching, it was still something. "But the call first." Jason sat himself up.

"Fine." Bruce bit back, he got his phone out from his suit pocket and Jason held his breath as the dial tone rang… and rang… and rang.

Eventually, Bruce canceled the call, and dialed again, Doctor Thompkins this time, Jason could have picked out her tiny voice on the other end and known even if Bruce hadn't called her by name, and she was not in a good mood. "Yes Leslie, I understand, I just needed to…" Then there was some incomprehensible yelling and the long beep signalling that Bruce had been hung up on.

"She's sleeping." Bruce sounded apologetic enough that Jason could believe he at least wasn't lying about that. It didn't stop Jason's heart from sinking deep into his chest. "I'll try again later. In the meantime we still need to talk about…"

"No." Jason said, letting himself fall down and turning away from Bruce. "Not until I speak to her." He wasn't giving anything up until he did, no matter how inconsequential the information Bruce wanted.

"You don't have to talk, will you at least listen?" Bruce asked, the chair creaked when he settled back into it.

Jason's response was to bury his head under the nearest pillow.

"You're acting like a child."

Jason flipped him off. What was Bruce going to do, ground him? Jason would be gone in a week, tops, if Bruce got another word out of him in that time, it would only be after Jason had said one to Stephanie first.

"Fine." Bruce said, the word tired and resigned this time. "Get some rest, Jay."

If he'd had any more strength, Jason would have lashed out at Bruce for calling him that. As it was Jason was too tired for anymore fighting. He'd sleep, and maybe when he woke up again, she would have too. Jason shut his eyes, and despite his tumultuous emotional state, it didn't take long for Jason to fall asleep, he hoped that maybe he'd dream up something better. He didn't.

ooo

Jason didn't come awake on his own this time, he was yanked from his not at all restful sleep by hands jostling his shoulder and an harsh, whispering voice in his ear.

"Get up," Dick demanded the second Jason's eyes landed on him. Dick swept the sheets off the bed and tossed a bundle at Jason. "Put that on, it's cold outside and you're not in the clear yet."

"What?" Jason let the bundle unravel in his hands, a sweater, pants and socks, he must of taken too much time staring at the clothes, because Dick let out a frustrated huff and snapped his fingers in front of Jason's face.

"Bruce is on a patrol, but if you want to see Stephanie without a fight, we have to go now."

Stephanie. Jason didn't question it, he pulled the clothes on over the pajamas they'd dressed him in earlier, took just those handful of moments longer to locate and retrieve Talia's box. "Okay."

He didn't need to worry about being able to walk, as soon as he was on his feet, Dick was half carrying him out of the door. He didn't ask any questions, refused to risk the very high chance of Dick changing his mind. Refused even to think to loudly on how this was a trap, how it had to be, because the chances that it wasn't were…

Jason refused to think about anything but what he did let himself hope would be their destination, and soon, they were on the road. An eternity later, they were pulling up across the street from Doctor Thompkin's clinic.