The Knowhere Girl

[31] Free to Be You and Me

[Jason Todd]

Jason considered what Blue did to be in the top ten brutal ways to kill a motherfucker. And man, did it make his day, because some of the weight on his shoulder had been lifted. He felt a shift in his gut, something untwisting, something finally letting go. And it was as if people across the globe, even those thousands of miles from Gotham City, who never encountered him-breathed a collective sigh of relief with Jason. As if a terminal disease that had invaded the very cells of the human race had been eradicated.

And if anyone mourned his passing-those tears were shed in private.

They barely made it through the door of Jason's closest safe house when Blue collapsed of the floor, utterly exhausted and beginning to shake. She was fighting for her life, and, against impossible odds... she was winning. He gathered her in his arm, cradling her to his chest.

He sits them down on the couch and pulled of his helmet and let it drop with a clatter to the ground.

"Are you still with me, Blue?" His hand hovered around the back of her head.

"I never lost faith in you, bub." She looked up at him, her eyes watering and her hair matted. Her eyes scrunched shut for a second, like she was fighting against something in her head. "I don't hate you."

She didn't hate him.

Jason hadn't known what would happen before that video. He loved Blue and she must've known that, there strapped to a chair in a basement, as the Joker tortured her black and blue. Blue was Jason's world, and she must have known that, she must have felt it somehow, because that was how love worked.

She didn't hate Jason.

In the months she was missing he'd replaced Blue with the guilt and the shame and the blame. They'd become part of him, a limb, an organ, a chain around his neck. Jason thought he needed them to live, but he didn't, because it wasn't his fault, and he didn't need them anymore. Because she didn't hate him. But he could never forgive himself for letting it happen in the first place.

His hand landed in her hair. He allowed his fingers to weave into the mess, becoming tangled in the labyrinth. "Well I'm not Red Hood for shits and giggles. Defeating the bad guys and saving the damsel in distress is part job description."

"If I recall correctly, I'd already saved myself and defeated the bad guy." She nuzzled into his hand. "But you get kudos for trying."

He took his hand out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Just as long as this doesn't happen again."

"I missed you."

You'd miss everything in a place like that. He cupped her jaw. "Never listen to me when I say 'run off into the woods' again. I'm an idiot, Blue. A fucking idiot."

"I know you are; I like that in a man." She bit her lip, and for a second that spark returned to her eye. And he was so happy to toss back a retort.

The sweet moment was broken when she doubled over and coughed into her hand with a horrible wet hacking sound. There was a horrible moment Jason couldn't do anything but watch before she sat back up and wiped off her hand on the hospital gown, adding a yellowish fluid to the blood stains. A deep red stain started to blossom from her ribs.

"Busted my stitches," she grunted.

"I got you." His hand dug through his belt and unclipped the first aid kit, bringing it out. He'd done this enough to know the drill. He reached for the gowns knot behind her neck. "Can I take this off?"

"Trying to take advantage of an injured girl like me?" She tried to smile, but it looked more like a grimace. "Shame on you, Jay."

"Doll," he warned.

"Yes, but just the top half, okay?"

Jason nodded and undid the knot, exposing her chest. It was wrapped in bandages, blood seeping through them, but below that there was hardly an inch of skin that was that colour it was supposed to be. All black and blue rather than it's normal tan. Stiches held together large gashes. As he unwrapped the bandages, it revealed two bullet wounds and a large cut where and incision was made. It was bleeding.

"Bye-bye bikinis," Blue muttered.

"Yeah, I bet you look horrible in them." Then he looked at her properly, a certain kind of awe taking over him. She looked like hell ate her and spat her out, but she still had her sense of humour. He felt himself give into her, and he fell for her just a little more.

She snorted and held his shoulders as he reapplied the gauze and bandages around to her chest.

Blue let her head loll back, looking at the ceiling. "I killed a man today."

"I know. It was fucking awesome." He glanced at her face. "I killed 'bout... eh. Didn't care to count while looking for you."

It wasn't like he could say anything against murder, so long as it was a bad guy. As far as Jason was concerned, everyone in Arkham fit that bill.

"It was a doctor."

"Was he bad?"

"Yes."

"Then I don't care." He huffed. "I've got enough bad names without adding hypocrite to the list."

The back of her hand brushed against his cheek. "I like your names. Both of them."

"Like it enough to wear it?" It slipped out without him thinking. He didn't even have the hood to cover the reaction to his own words. He wasn't ready for that, and knew she wasn't either.

Once there's no signs that she killed the Joker, he'd move back into another safehouse. She'd returned to the manor and go back to college. Then, Jason Todd would worm his way back into her life the normal way: a sword (an alternative he knew she'd prefer to flowers), movies, dates, the works. (...That's what you're supposed to do, right?)

Take it slow. Toe the waters. Let her recover. This the first serious relationship for both of them, and they needed to figure it out together.

Jason almost panicked while he waited for her to speak. Normally by now he would have received some foulmouthed smart remark, a joke to veer them safety. He used every trick he knew to read her body language. His mind raced with the possibilities-was she just tired? Repressing darker emotions for his sake? What if she was angry at him for not finding her sooner?

"Jason Stallone sounds better," she said. "Gwen Todd just doesn't sound right."

He shakes his head; Jason Stallone did sound better. He finished wrapping her bandages and redid the gown. "C'mon, let's get you to Alfred."

Meme of the day