no rest for the wicked [jason todd]

twenty seven

FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE,

Tye got called into work before they could do the whole mini-golf double date. It was for the results of the promotional exam she'd taken for becoming a detective, and when she stepped into the station, Gordon was standing at her desk. He had a tight smile on his face, a file of papers and glasses resting on the bridge of his nose. He looked tired, but she swore he always seemed to be tired. "Officer Melrose," he said, trying to look professional as he pushed his glasses back up, "I have the results of your exam."

She practically held her breath as she stepped up to the desk, passing him the weakest smile she could. "Yeah," she said, "gimme the bad news first, Doc. How many weeks I got to live?"

"You're being promoted," he told her. Her hand reached back to hold the edge of the desk where her things were, eyebrows raising slightly. If she ever felt faint lately, it was nothing compared to how she felt now. "Homicide. You report up there tomorrow morning," he said and handed her the file, continuing, "I'm really proud of you for this, kid. You deserve it."

Setting the file down, Tye looked toward her desk. "I'm... Gonna have to pack this up," she said suddenly before looking back up at him, a smile on her lips. "Thank you, Jim. I know you didn't decide the results but -- I wouldn't want to hear it from anyone but you."

Jim pat her shoulder now, giving her a smile that seemed warmer than the one before. "I'm glad you and Barbara get along," he told her, "because I've practically started thinking of you as a daughter, Tye. I'm really, really proud of you. I know you came from a rough start but... Things are really looking up for you. You've got a really bright future ahead of you now."

Once he'd gone back home, she presumed, she phoned up Dick and smiled as she reached for a couple bobble-heads off of her desk. She paused, holding one of Nightwing, and wondered faintly if Dick had ever seen it. He would have gotten a kick out of it. "Dick," she said when he picked up, "you'll never guess what just happened, really, I can hardly breathe right now. I've never been more excited to come in for work tomorrow!"

Dick laughed now, but he didn't even ask. Suddenly, Tye narrowed her eyes. "You little cheater!" She accused, "You knew and you didn't tell me?"

"Montgomery told me to keep it a secret," he told her gently on the other side of the phone, "don't whine. How were they not going to tell me when I'm going to be riding with a rookie? C'mon, Melrose, you can't just tell people that you're going to be spending a ton of time with them. It's gotta be a surprise!"

Her lips pressed into a smile. "I'm gonna be stuck with you?" She complained lightly, tucking the last of her pens into the box. She shut off the desk lamp and then yawned, waving a hand over her mouth. "Great, not like I don't see enough of you, Grayson. How's the mini-golfing going? Barb kicking your ass?"

"Your, uh, boyfriend," Dick whispered, trying to muffle his laughter "is literally in the last place. We invited Tim and he's kicking our butts. This was a big mistake."

She heard Jason yelling something in the background and all of the sudden, the speaker of the phone made noises of shifting. Then, she knew from the laughing, Jason had taken Dick's cellphone for a second. "Hey, Tye," he said, dragging her name out, "you gonna meet us here in a little? We're heading out for dinner afterward. You, me, Timmy, Barb and Dickiebird."

"Sure," Tye agreed after a moment, reaching for her box, "I'm just gonna bring some of my things to the apartment and then I'll see you guys there, okay?"

He laughed slightly, muffled by his hand or whatever else may have been near the speaker. She wondered what he looked like right now, tried to picture the way his nose scrunched up when he laughed, the way his eyes closed. She bit down on her lip slightly, drawing it into her mouth. Finally, he said, "Okay, babe, I'll see you soon."

Babe.

She formed the word with her lips silently, testing it, and couldn't help the smile it brought to her face. "Yeah, babe," she replied in a soft voice, trying not to show the excitement the word had brought out in her, "I'll see you real soon."

Suddenly though, she heard shouting. Gun shots. Her heart nearly caught in her throat, but she could hear rustling before Jason took an audibly deep breath. "No," he said oh-so quietly now, "it'll be a while. Gunmen. Innocent civilians. We're going to try and evacuate as many people as we can. Don't try to come here. Please, Tye. I gotta go now."

She heard another gunshot go off and suddenly she heard the phone line go dead.

She did the exact opposite of what he said. Grabbed all of her things, shoved them into the car and drove off in the direction of the mini-golf place.

She arrived the same time as an EMT, and parked her car a little while back. She hopped a fence, gently moving around to try and spot the culprits. It took her a while but she found the structure in the middle of everything. Peeking through the window, she scanned what she could see. Three hostages. One looked to be Jason, actually, but he seemed to be playing it cool. She tried to get a good look of the man holding the gun to Jason's head but her breathing nearly stopped.

She knew that man. Luis Fontaine. He ran some high-level shit; arms deals and drug trafficking. More than the crime ring he'd thrown himself in though, Tye knew him by something a lot more simple.

Luis was the first man she'd known that hadn't been a total scumbag toward her. He was practically her uncle, and the man behind him was another recognizable figure. Dark hair, dark eyes and a menacing slit through his brow. He was wearing steel knuckles and a little blood was by his lip, but nothing seemed more intimidating than the assault rifle he had in hand.

She knew his name too. Her ex, an enormous dickwad that turned her into the police to keep his ass out of prison. Jonny Harrelson.

He saw her, turning the gun toward her, but Luis raised a hand.

He smirked, waved toward the door and Tye obeyed for one simple reason. The gun to Jason's head. She got into the building, and when the door slammed behind her, Jonny quirked a brow. "Ah, princess," he said, "we got a fun deal for ya."

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ur welcome for this. ;)