Caving In | Titans

Chapter 12 - Put It On Me

Sam hears Jason scream and her entire world crumbles in that instant. Kory rushes over to her, and Sam almost doesn't notice her. The breath is gone from her lungs and a lump forms instantly her throat. Her arms go weak and she swears the only reason she doesn't slip is because her hands are impaled. Kory grabs her though, and pulls her into the window, Dick sliding over to help. Sam sits for a second, letting her hands bleed onto the ground under her as her legs are bent and pulled up to her chest.

She failed.

"Come on." Dick is kneeling in front of her, a hand on her elbow to help her up. "We gotta go."

"I-I-I-I-" Sam chokes on a whine, tears brimming her eyes. "I couldn't...I couldn't save him." She locks eyes with Dick and his heart is broken for her but Jason's alive.

"Someone caught him." Dick's words are slow and Sam thinks he's lying. Jason is human and couldn't survive a fifteen-story fall.

"None of the Titans can fly." Sam's voice is a broken whisper.

"Wasn't a Titan." Dick adds. "Come on." He grabs one of Sam's elbows while Kory grabs the other one to help her up "We have to get out of here." Dick pulls her with him, he's worried maybe she won't follow him if he's not dragging her along.

The three of them, quickly, make their way through the building. Sam still thinks Dick is lying because she understands they need to leave because they didn't take down Deathstroke. He escaped and he's out there. There's no way he's just done. Not with Rose still at the tower. Sam thinks Dick is lying to get them all out of the building and everything is a mix of pain and numbness. It's the worst cocktail ever poured down her throat.

The numbness clouds her bones. It's somehow so painful and painless. That's the thing about being numb. It doesn't always mean pain-free. It lingers and covers her like a black cloud of doom, just looming over her but never doing anything. It taunts her, stalks her. She's felt like this before and it's so hard. It's so painful. It's paralyzing.

They exit the building and Dick is first to start running, followed by Kory. Sam drags her feet as her breathing is ragged. Everything seems to be going in slow motion. She reaches the front of the car that Dick and Kory ran behind and there's Jason. Sam's heart stops in her chest and everything freezes for just a second. Jason gets to his feet and he's okay. Given everything, he is, for the most part, physically okay and Sam has never felt more relieved about anything in her entire life.

She sprints to him and collides into him like a tidal wave at full force, wrapping her arms around his neck. Jason nearly collapses from the impact, the car being the only thing keeping him on his feet. Jason lets out a breath and takes just a second before wrapping his arms around Sam as tightly as he can because he swears she'll disappear if he doesn't.

This hug is the most cathartic thing he has ever experienced and Jason is not a hugger. But, he can't help it right now because Sam is crying into him and she's alive and she's okay and he's alive. And at least right now, she doesn't hate him for him being the reason she was basically dropped from a skyscraper and he never wants to let go of her. He wants to live in his exact moment forever, his eyes closed and his arms wrapped so tight around her, Dick would have to pry him away from her with a crowbar.

Dick looks up from mending the strange man that saved Jason, someone Sam didn't even notice, and looks at Jason and Sam. Sam is on her tiptoes, arms wrapped tightly around his neck while Jason's arms are wrapped around her waist, his hands holding his own forearms. Jason buries his face into the crook of her neck and Dick remembers that night he caught them in the bathroom together. And the night he caught them training and he remembers how Jason told him about Jerry.