Gilded Lily- Jason Todd x reader

Flicker of Hope

The next morning the media was all over the case of the missing girl. The news that she'd been recovered spread like a wildfire, rumors and half truths slithering from person to person like a serpent.

Y/n sat in the police station in one of the lounge rooms alone. She hugged her knees resting her chin on her arms. It was quiet. All she could hear was the gentle ticking of the clock on the wall and her shaky breaths as her shoulders rose and fell. The room was cold and dimly lit by the sunlight that snuck through the overcast skies.

Y/n sniffed and shivered, hugging herself tighter. She was trying not to think about what had happened. She was trying to force the memories back and ignore what was happening to her. She tried to ignore the queasy feeling she'd get in her stomach when she thought about what was next, where she would go.

Y/n stuck her hand in her h/c hair, ruffling a few pieces out of their natural part.

She felt her grasp on her thoughts slipping as her head became a whirlwind of panic, confusion, sadness, anger, fear, anxiety, uncertainty, despair, unease and distress. She felt like she could get motion sick just from the thoughts in her head. She could never grasp at a single thought. It would slip away before she got any kind of closure or sense of relief.

She was spiraling out of control. She bit her lip and tugged on her hair, desperately trying to get a grip, tears streaming down her face, and a splitting headache forming. She felt like she couldn't breathe, like sandbags were weighing down on her ribs.

It came on quickly and without warning. All she could do was lay down and curl up on the couch until it passed.

And it did. It went just as fast as it had come and it left her feeling empty and numb. It was a cold numbness that was unlike anything she'd ever felt before. She just laid there.

Hours passed and finally Y/n heard the sound of the door handle opening. Jim walked in holding a chocolate, doughnut with vanilla icing stuffing, a concerned yet bright grin on his face.

"I have some news, kiddo."

Y/n sat up and took the doughnut as a feeling of peace and relief washed over her. It was always the little things like flowers or sweets that would bring Y/n back to the brighter side. The little pleasantries of life were what grounded her when she slipped off into space. She couldn't explain why, though. Perhaps they just reminded her that not everything is bad.

"There's a man that's wanting to meet you. He's hoping to give you a home." Jim placed his hand on Y/n's. She followed his hand up his arm to his face with her eyes. She froze for a moment, thinking it over before deciding that it wouldn't be horrible to have somewhere to belong even if it was temporary.

"Would you be interested in meeting him?" The commissioner gently asked.

Y/n paused for a moment more before nodding.

"That's my brave girl." Jim tucked a piece of her heart behind her ear as he stood to leave the room. "He should be here within the hour."

"Within the hour" started to feel like an eternity. Y/n sunk down into Barbra's old sweatshirt and sighed. She felt drained.

She laid back down on the couch and raised an arm in the air, inspecting her bandages. She sighed again, letting gravity take her arm back to her stomach. Her other hand traveled up to her forehead, picking at the fraying fabric of the bandages on a cut above her eyebrow. Her stomach churned with worry and she rolled over on her side, curling up in a ball.

The door suddenly opened followed by three sets of footsteps. Y/n looked over her shoulder to the doorway to see who it was.

The Police Commissioner stepped in followed by a man seemingly in his late twenties to early thirties who was well dressed but wore the neckline of his shirt messily. The man had a young boy with him about the age of 17, maybe 18. He too was well dressed but he wore a speckled tie unlike his tieless partner.

Gordon gently spoke up,

"Y/n this is Mr. Bruce Wayne. He's here to talk with you about being your foster parent for a while."

Y/n laid her head back down and silently sighed, before dragging herself upright to a seated position.

"He's here with his ward, Richard Grayson."

Dick waved, smiling brightly.

Y/n smiled weakly in response.

"So Y/n what do you think?" Bruce asked her gently, "Would you like to live with us?"

Y/n gripped the bottom of the sweatshirt and froze for a moment.

Would this really work? She wondered. Would she be able to trust another adult? Would she be safe? Would she be happy? Would they like her?

At that moment she remembered the conversation she'd had with Robin the night she'd been taken to Gordon.

"How are you brave enough to run in there like that?" She'd asked him, "How're you not scared?"

She remembered how he had gently smiled and taken her hand.

"I am scared. Every single time. It's a leap of faith, Y/n. You'll never know if you can fly unless you take the risk of falling."

Y/n's grip loosened and her shoulders relaxed. She looked up with a new found courage.

"Yes."