Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice! I only own my OC's! All rights go to their respective owners!

Gotham City

August 25th, 12:30 am.

Chapter 2: An offer.

"You want me to do what?!" Jackie exclaimed as she sat down at the kitchen table, listening to what Batman had to say; he wanted her to join a team of young superheroes to help protect the world.

She rested her head on her hand as a major headache started to form. "I know it would be difficult for you, concerning your past, but I can assure you that the Team are nothing like those that hurt you," Batman assured as he stood on the other side of the table.

"How do you know that?" she asked in a mumble. "I understand you know Robin, but the others?"

"I'm in charge of assigning them missions and have seen what they can do," he answered. "I know they wouldn't hurt you, not intentionally."

She shook her head. "I don't know, Batman; I don't work well in teams because-"

"Because you don't trust others," he finished for her.

She sulked down in her seat and sighed. "That's basically right."

"Miss Holloway, I'm offering this position to you, so you can start over; to have a second chance at being yourself around people."

"And if it doesn't work out?"

He was silent for a few seconds until he replied, "I'll make sure no one from the League, including myself, and the Team never bothers you or your mother ever again."

Jackie didn't know what to do. A piece of her told her that she shouldn't take the risk to prevent herself from getting hurt or let down again. But another piece of her told her that she should do it, like Batman said, to start over. Her head throbbed in pain as she considered the pros and cons to take the offer or not.

"I'll give you three days," Batman spoke up. "Then you can tell me your decision."

She nodded and looked up to see him gone. She felt a cold breeze and looked over at the window to see it open, making her realize that the Dark Knight had jumped out of it. She sighed and walked over to the window and closed it, then locked it. She leaned her head against it for a few seconds before heading over to her grandmother's jar to find out if she could save it with some super glue.

After an hour, she was halfway done fixing the jar but stopped when she heard the front door unlock and open. She grabbed her baseball bat and heard the door close as she made her way to the archway of the kitchen. She stayed behind the wall and readied herself to hit the intruder as she heard their footsteps walk towards the kitchen. She lifted the bat above her head and swung once they walked through the archway, but quickly diverted the bat when she saw who it was. The bat hit the floor and the intruder yelped as she turned around and noticed Jackie.

"Jackie," her mother exclaimed as she lifted a hand to her chest. "Don't scare your mama; she's too old to handle those kind of tricks."

Jackie groaned. "It wasn't a trick, Mama. I thought you were an intruder," she claimed as she propped the bat against the wall.

"Oh," her mom, Jennifer, sighed.

"What are you doing home early, Mama? You should still be at work."

"I know, but my boss let me off early. She said that I looked like I needed some rest."

The blonde-haired teen knew her boss was right; her mother hasn't been sleeping lately because of the nightmares she's had. She knew the nightmares were about their past because of her mother's loud screaming in her sleep and knew she should see a therapist, but Jennifer refused, claiming she could handle herself even though it was clear that she couldn't.

"What are you doing out of bed?" Jennifer asked, bringing Jackie out of her thoughts.

"It's a long story," the teen replied as she walked back over to the broken vase to continue gluing the pieces back together.

"Oh dear," her mother mumbled. "Did you break the vase?"

"No, Batman did." Jackie looked over at her mother to watch her expression only to discover she didn't look confused, surprised, or angry; instead, she smiled.

"Oh? What did he say?" Jennifer asked.

"You don't think I'm crazy?" Jackie asked, confused.

Her mother shook her head. "No, I met him a few nights ago."

"You did? What did he want from you?"

"He wanted my permission to ask you to join a team of young superheroes."

Jackie stared at her mother with astonishment as she set down a piece of pottery back onto the counter. "You said he could?"

"Of course I did!" her mother exclaimed as she dragged her daughter over to the kitchen table to sit down. "You deserve to be somewhere where you can be yourself."

"Be myself?"she asked. "But we're talking about a team of young superheroes here, meaning if I join them, I'll be fighting battles with criminals, and I could get hurt!"

"Oh, baby doll," her mother whispered and held her daughter's hand. "Getting hurt is a part of growing up. Don't get me wrong, I don't want you to get hurt either but there's nothing I can do to stop it. I want you to be surrounded by people who can relate to you and help you."

"But, what if-"

"Stop! No more second-guessing yourself," Jennifer whispered sternly. "You deserve to be happy and to be yourself, and I believe this team can provide that for you."

Jackie sighed. "You want me to join," she stated, although she meant for it to come out as a question.

Her mother nodded. "I do, but I won't force you to if you don't want to," she replied and stood up. "Just know that all I want is for you to be happy."

The teen watched as her mother kissed her forehead and left the room, leaving her to think about that offer. She knew that her mother knew she would be sending away her daughter to fight the bad guys and was risking the chance of ever seeing her again, but she said she wanted her to be happy. She sighed deeply knowing she had a lot to think about.

"Don't worry about the vase either, sweetie!" her mother yelled from her bedroom. "I'll take care of it tomorrow!"

"Okay, Mom!" Jackie yelled back and walked over to her room. She flopped down onto her bed and pulled the blanket up to her chest as she tried falling back to sleep, but her thoughts on Batman's offer wouldn't let her.

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