Woo! Hopefully i continue to regularly update. :D

If you haven't listened to Sara Bareilles' "Once Upon Another Time" please do. It was the song that the first story was based on and it is referenced in this chapter. it's also beautiful. :)

L.L.A.P

~Laces

Chpt.7

"Has anyone been able to locate my goddamned cousin!" Marco shouted as he threw a stack of papers across the room in his fit.

"Well… sir, the last we heard of from our resources tells us that she's in Gotham." Informed one of his men and Marco glared at him.

"Oh. Gotham. Is that all? Well, finding her should be so easy then." He said sarcastically. The dark haired man stood from his desk and punched the other man in the face. "Gotham is a big ass city with thousands of people in it! We are looking for one girl. One stupid girl whose specialty is hiding from people looking for her!"

Taking in a deep breath after kicking the man on the floor, Marco sat back down at his desk and took on a more brooding manner.

"Now, is there anyone that she could run to? She was getting married, right? Maybe her husband is in Gotham."

"Actually sir, another gang killed Ruari's fiancé, who was a female." Informed another man and Marco rolled his eyes.

"Yes. I forgot how disgusting Ruari could be." he let out a long sigh. "So, her bitch is out of the picture thanks to some other gang." Marco shook his head. "Alright, so get word out there that if any gang tries to kill Ruari, we'll kill them. Also, put a price on any information about Ruari. If someone finds out anything, we need to be the first to hear about it."

Marco closed his eyes and hummed a bit in thought, which all his men were used to, and none of them were about to break his concentration.

After a few bars of Singing in the Rain, Marco stopped humming and sat up in his seat with a devious smile.

"We should also hire a bounty hunter. And I know just the man."

"But sir." One of his men stated. "That is a lot of money. Is finding your cousin really this important?" Marco's eyebrows furrowed in anger.

"Were you not paying any attention?! Ruari's intelligence is worth billions. She has more dirt about things than we ever will and we need her to give it to us."

"But what if she doesn't? According to some of our recourses, she doesn't respond well to torture." The other man stated. Marco chuckled darkly, shaking his head.

"I know my cousin better than most people. There are ways other than torture that will make her talk. Now, if you excuse me, I have a man to call."

~*~*~*~At Wayne Manor~*~*~*~

"So why'd you kill Opal?" Tim inquired and Ruari sighed. Ever since she admitted her pen name to Tim, he had been asking questions about the books she wrote.

"Because it was important to the plot and because I could so, yeah." Ruari shrugged.

"But she was one of my favorite characters." Tim pouted and Ruari just laughed.

"You know that you aren't the first one to complain about this to me."

The two of them were in the living room of the manor. Ruari was sitting on the ground since the couch was just too soft for her, and she was making origami turtles. Why turtles and nothing else, she never really knew, but she had been doing it since she was little and it was something to help relax her.

Meanwhile Tim was on the couch with one of her books, questioning things about it to her.

"Is Eren really asexual? Because part of me wants her to really get with Rein, but she seems so scared of her feelings that…" Tim trailed off as the words died on his lips.

Ruari was finishing up about her twentieth turtle and looked up at Tim to see why he stopped talking.

Tim was staring at someone in the doorway and when Ruari followed his gaze, she smiled. Jason was back.

However Jason wasn't smiling as he looked at Tim, and it was obvious that Tim wasn't smiling back as every muscle in his body seemed to tense.

Ruari could practically feel the tension emanating off of the two.

"Jason." Ruari smiled at the man, breaking him out of his intense stare off with Tim. "I made some origami turtles. Do you think we can draw some masks onto their faces and make them our own ninja turtles. Except give 'em different names like Pablo and Frieda and Georgia and Andy and Vincent."

Jason chuckled a bit.

"Sounds like fun." He nodded, approaching them, and Tim quickly stood from the couch.

"I should leave you two to do that." Tim said quickly.

"There's no need for you to leave, Tim. I have, like, twenty turtles. There's plenty to go around." Tim looked from her to Jason, then shook his head.

"No. I'm good. I actually have some things to do. But I'll talk to you later." With that, he nearly ran out of the room.

Ruari looked over at Jason, who was smirking a bit.

"What did you do to scare him so bad?" she inquired and Jason just shrugged.

"Timmy and I have never been much on good terms."

"And why is that." Ruari pried.

"Well, it's a long story, but I suppose that the shorten version is that I was a bit upset because he kinda replaced me doing this thing, so I was angry at him and I may or may not have tried to kill him several times." Jason informed, his voice calm as if him trying to kill his brother was nothing new, and Ruari's eyes widened.

"You tried to kill him!"

"I said may or may not have. Besides. It's different now. I wouldn't hurt him too badly." Jason smiled and Ruari gave him an unamused look.

"Does Tim know that?"

"He doesn't have to. I'm perfectly content with him being afraid of me." Jason smirked and Ruari rolled her eyes.

"You can be such an ass."

"Excuse me. I bought you some clothes and a laptop, all of which are in the guest room you're staying in. Not to mention that I also got you a few special things too. Are those ass-like qualities?" he questioned and Ruari sighed, but couldn't help smiling at him.

"No. You don't act like an ass to me. You just act like an ass to a lot of other people." She mumbled and Jason wrapped an arm around her, dragging her closer to him in a half hug. Ruari never told Jason this because she figured he already knew, but she loved it when he would give her a half hug. It was just so comforting and easy, not to mention that Jason was like a bear so when she would lean against him, it felt like leaning against a slightly pudgy here or there but well-muscled wall.

"Which is why you should be happy that I consider you a friend." He smiled, ruffling her hair, but then looked at her more seriously.

"How are you feeling?"

"A bit… better. I mean, a while ago I wasn't feeling too well, but Tim really helped out." Ruari informed slowly, looking at the ground.

"He helped out, huh?" Jason questioned. He didn't sound angry, just genuinely curious.

"Yeah. He just talked to me and got my mind off of things. It was nice." Ruari informed with a small smile playing on her lips.

Jason nodded his head, then looked down at the paper turtles and the various colored markers out on the coffee table.

"Alrighty, well these ninja turtles aren't gonna name and color themselves." He grinned, and Ruari laughed.

"Maybe you can give the Georgia O'Keeffe turtle a skull mask. I feel like that would be pretty cool." Ruari smiled.

"Yeah, and the Pablo Picasso one could be in a screaming pose."

The two of them laughed as the drew on the paper turtles.

~*~*~*~Later~*~*~*~

Tim was in his room, typing away at his computer and hacking into various things. You wouldn't know if they were important things or just things to hack into for fun, but whichever it was, Tim seemed fairly content doing it.

There was a knock on Tim's door and the teen absentmindedly stated,

"come in."

He looked up from the computer, expecting Dick, since the man loved to drop in and joke around, but to his surprise and horror, Jason was standing in the doorway.

"Jason." He whispered and the man nodded.

"Replacement." He said calmly.

"Where's Ruari?" Tim inquired, slowly standing from his seat at the computer. He hadn't expected Jason to leave the young woman's side.

"She's in her room sleeping. She dozed off when we were drawling on the turtles." He shrugged as if what just happened was an everyday occurrence. "She also told me that you helped her out."

Tim stared at Jason, waiting for an insult or a drop kick, but when all Jason did was look at him, waiting for an answer, Tim nodded.

"Yeah, I just tried to get her mind off things. She was really distraught about everything." Tim informed. "I found her sitting in the hallway with her head in her hands. I mean, she wasn't crying, but she looked so hurt." Jason frowned at the statement.

"Yeah, this entire thing hit her pretty hard." Jason let out a sigh. "Anyway, I wanted to say thanks for helping her."

Tim stared at the man in disbelief.

"What?" he questioned, pretty sure that he just misheard what Jason said.

"Thanks for helping her when she needed it." Jason stated again. Tim stared at the man for a moment, then said,

"Let me get this straight. You, the man who has tried to kill me on multiple occasions, is thanking me for helping out someone?"

"Jesus, you act like I don't have a grateful bone in my body." Jason grunted. "Look. Ruari's important to me, and I just want to thank you for taking care of her for a bit."

Tim was still surprised from the statement of thanks.

"What is it about this woman that can actually make you act like a human being?" he questioned and Jason crossed his arms over his chest.

"Listen baby bird, I've always been human. I'm just trying to change my attitude a bit. It has nothing to do with her." Jason stated as he made his way out of the room, but then stopped before closing the door.

"By the way, I am not an ass to you. I've been way nicer and if I wanted you dead now, you'd be dead, so stop freaking out when we're in the same room together." With that, Jason was off, leaving Tim confused.

This was the first Jason had actually talked to him without trying to either murder him, harm him, or threaten him.

Tim honestly didn't know what to make of it.

~*~*~*~All the while in Ruari's Room~*~*~*~

Ruari woke up in the bed in the guest room, and she was confused at first, but then remembered dozing off while making turtles.

Jason must've brought me here. She thought, smiling fondly at the thought of the man.

Sitting up from the bed, she looked over at the pile of bags that Jason bought her.

Guess I should start putting some of this stuff away. She thought. She honestly wasn't completely used to staying in one place for long.

She would unpack some things but other things would stay in suitcases and sometimes she lived out of the suitcase, rummaging through it for clothing or other items and not bothering to unpack the rest.

She had just started to unpack more when she was living with Sam. However, even when Sam was killed, she still wasn't completely unpacked.

Reaching into one bag, Ruari's fingertips brushed against something rough and leather, and she pulled out a leather jacket. she chuckled a bit at the jacket. Jason didn't go out and buy it, this was one of his, meaning that it was huge on her. However, Jason had made a habit out of giving her his jacket every time he visited her. It made Ruari smile.

She then found some t-shirt and jeans, along with several warmer jackets since winter was right around the corner, and a sweatshirt that said 'SHIPSBURG' across it.

Ruari chuckled, running her finger over the stitched wording. Shipburg was the college that Ruari had intended on going to before her life became hectic and college wasn't much of an option.

Jason really did know her too well.

Yet, she wasn't worried about how well he knew her. Because despite the fact that he knew her inside and out, she was the exact same with him.

Packing away the clothes, Ruari then came across a laptop and smiled. It was a Toshiba with windows and a good writing program, which was all she needed.

She packed away some shoes that Jason had bought her, which were sneakers, black boots, and cowgirl boots (her personal favorite).

That should have been it, since that was all she really needed. Clothing and a laptop.

However, there were several more bags.

One of them Ruari found was a bag of the candy Cow Tales. An entire bag.

Does Jason want my teeth to rot? She wondered, but still chuckled at the memories the candy held.

Ruari remembered how Jason made fun of her for it being her favorite candy, but once he tried one, he immediately apologized.

Another bag had several of her favorite books, new and old. The Outsiders, Harry Potter, Clockwork Angel, Catcher in the Rye, and more.

A smaller bag held an assortment of lacey underwear, which Ruari just rolled her eyes at (despite the fact that she was going to wear them).

And the last bag held several cds and a small radio.

Ruari found herself blindly taking out a cd and putting it into the radio to play it. With one hit of a button, the music started playing.

"Once upon another time

Somebody's hands who felt like mine

Turned the key and took a drive

Was free

Highway curve, the sun sank low

Buckley on the radio

Cigarette was burning slow

So breathe

Just yellow lines and tire marks

And sun-kissed skin and handle bars

And where I stood was where I was to be

No enemies to call my own

No porch light on to pull me home

And where I was is beautiful

Because I was free."

Ruari listened and trembled a bit. The song hit home pretty hard, and she wanted to punch Jason for picking music that would make her feel so raw. However, the music felt therapeutic. Almost like it was what she needed.

"Thanks Jay." Ruari whispered smiling at everything. "I don't know what I did in a past life to become so lucky and so fortunate, but I am entirely grateful."

"Once upon another time

Before I knew which life was mine

Before I left the child behind me

I saw myself in summer nights

And stars lit up like candle light

I make my wish but mostly I believed...

In yellow lines and tire marks

Sun-kissed skin and handle bars

And where I stood was where I was to be

Once upon another time

Decided nothing good in dying

So I would just keep on driving

Because I was free."