Barbara lay in bed, groaning. She had one hand covering her face and the other hand covering gently rubbing her stomach. She groaned again, as pain shot through her core, forcing her into the fetal position. The feeling of tears swelled behind her eyes, and she was also angry for some reason.

Barbara Gordon was on her period.

And she was hating it.

When she was in high school, during this awful time of the month she would go over to the Manor and either work out or have a movie marathon with Dick and eat ice cream. And even though she never told him, he always seemed to know. He said he had a sense. And it was nice not having to discuss it and just being forgiven for her strange behavior during this time. But Dick was dating Kori now, and he lived in Bludhaven, and that was too far of a drive for Barbara to make just for a movie marathon with some ice cream.

She'd thought about calling Jason.

But hanging out and not having sex made it seem more like they were dating, and while Barbara was okay with that, she wasn't necessarily okay with it. She wasn't really sure how she felt. She liked him but she couldn't date him. He didn't ever bring it up so she assumed he was cool with this casual sex and the occasional hanging out thing. And this was not the week to discuss her feelings with the former Boy Wonder. So she just didn't call him.

Bette was busy, as were Artemis and Steph. So she lay here, in complete agony, alone. Maybe that's why she was angry. Because she was lonely and sad and simultaneously too stubborn to do anything about it.

And suddenly there was a weight on the bed. Barbara shot upright, moving swiftly backwards and bringing both fists up to protect herself. That is, until she saw who it was.

"Hiya, Barbie Girl," Jason Todd sat at the foot of her bed, holding two grocery bags and one brown paper bag. "How are you feeling?" He smiled that smooth, Jason Todd grin of his and placed his bags on the hardwood floor.

Barbara's momentary panic was fleeting, to be replaced by relief, which was replaced by anger. She slapped him repeatedly on his shoulder. "What the fuck are you doing in my bed?! With no warning?!"

He laughed, which only seemed to irritate her more. "Look, I have been texting you all night asking if I could come over and you weren't responding, so I assumed the worst."

Barbara scowled. "You assumed the worst, yet you stopped to go shopping on your way over?"

"Preparations for the worst, my dear," he explained, picking up his grocery bag of goodies. "You see, the worst is that it's that time of the month, and judging by all the evidence, I was right. So I came prepared." He dug around in the bag for a moment, and pulled out a small carton. "I got your favorite ice cream, and Chinese takeout, and I figured we'd just chill."

Her scowl fell, falling to an utterly shocked expression. She examined the carton he had just handed her. Chocolate chip cookie dough. Her scowl returned. "Jason, you ass!" she shouted. "This is your favorite kind of ice cream!"

He made an 'Oh!' kind of facial expression, and shuffled through his grocery bag some more. "I got my favorite, too. Here's yours." He handed her another carton, and she passed back his. Upon examination, she found that this one was indeed her favorite kind, mint chocolate chip.

Barbara and Jason sat on the couch of her apartment, watching V for Vendetta, Jason's favorite movie. Barbara was shoveling fried rice into her mouth faster than Jason had ever seen her eat. She did, however, lay down her fork, biting her lip nervously.

"Hey, Jay?" she asked, her voice slightly high pitched, a classic Gordon sad tone.

Jason continued watching his movie, eating his sweet and sour chicken as though nothing was wrong. "Yeah?" he asked around the mouthful of partially chewed chicken.

Barbara placed her takeout container on the glass coffee table. "Can you answer two questions for me?" she asked. Jason looked at her. She looked nervously beautiful sitting there on the couch next to him. Her hair was in a messy bun, she was biting her lower lip and giving Jason the doe eyes that she knew were his weakness.

"I probably can, and if you're real nice I will," he answered, placing his food down on the table next to hers. He turned his body on the couch so that they were facing each other. "What's on your mind, kid?"

Barbara looked at him, choosing to ignore that he called her kid even though she was vastly older than he was. "I have two questions," she started.

"Well spit them out. Trying to watch a movie here," he said, grinning. She knew he was being sarcastic, but she was mildly irritated nonetheless.

"You know we're not having sex tonight, right?" she asked.

His grin grew until it stretched all across his face. "Of course, Babs. I already earned my red wings," he reassured her.

Barbara was both reassured and completely repulsed. Not to say she, too, hadn't done that, but she couldn't even imagine the kind of girl Jay would've done it with. As far as she knew, he'd only ever had a handful of girlfriends. "First of all, ew," she said, shivering a little bit. "And second of all, if you're not planning on boning me, why did you come over tonight?"

Jason thought about this question, she could see it in his eyes. He looked genuinely confused, and Barbara wasn't sure if he was confused about his answer or about why she even asked. "Why wouldn't I?" he asked, and Barbara breathed a silent sigh of relief. "You know, we did used to hang out without having sex. Almost every day, if I remember right," he said. "Just because we're screwing, doesn't mean I don't still like hanging out with you. Like, without sex."

She couldn't fight the smile growing on her face. "I mean, lately, since you came back, we haven't really hung out without it. So it was just kind of weird," she explained.

"Barbara," Jason said, cutting her off. "I love hanging out with you. I love fucking you. I see no reason why I can't do both, and I also see no reason why the two must be mutually exclusive." He grabbed her hand, forcing her to look deep in his eyes. "And since this is a difficult time for you, I am here with anything you need. Food, backrubs, foot rubs, laundry. You name it, and I'll get it."

Barbara couldn't believe what she was hearing. "That sounds awful couple-y, don't you think?" She asked nervously. Jason was being incredibly sweet right now, and she didn't want to say the wrong thing and ruin it.

Jason looked confused once more. "Isn't that basically what this is?" he asked. "I mean, we fuck, we go to dinner, we go to movies, we fight crime together. Whenever there's a Wayne charity event I'm your go-to date."

Barbara was mildly taken aback. Jason Todd thought they were dating, he thought she was his girlfriend and he was her boyfriend. Even stranger, Barbara wasn't sure she was okay with the labels and everything. "Jason Peter Todd," Barbara said, trying to sound casual and mask her inner freak-out. "Are you asking me to go steady?"

Jason laughed. He recognized the panic in her eyes, if only slightly. "Barb, if you'd rather not put labels on it, that's okay. I respect that," he said, chuckling quietly. "But, I don't really plan on seeing anyone else. And labels don't scare me. I care about you, and we have sex, and I don't care who knows it."

There was a glint in his eye that proved he was being serious. Barbara didn't say anything, she simply smiled and crawled across the couch to snuggled into his side. He draped one arm around her shoulders and turned back towards the movie. Turning his head downwards, he kissed her forehead. "So," he whispered. "Am I getting laid tonight or what?" Barbara slapped his tummy and he burst into laughter, mumbling reassurances that he was kidding.