no rest for the wicked [jason todd]

thirty nine

IT WAS FOUR IN THE MORNING

and Tye had woken up again only to throw up. If anything, this was her least favourite part of the whole ordeal. The number of times she'd been sick since Christmas was unbelievable; she didn't remember the last time she'd even had the flu that lasted this long and made her feel this awful. Each and every night she woke up though, it always dragged her boyfriend out of bed to check on her.

She knew how lucky she was to be able to say her boyfriend tied her hair back and got her water every time she was sick, but she felt a little unlucky about it all too. Jason was softly rubbing her back and mumbling encouraging words to her while she practically emptied the contents of her stomach, gripping onto his shoulder. "I feel absolutely awful," she mumbled to him, "this better go away soon or I'm going to kick this kid's ass when they're born, Jay."

"Obviously," a voice said from the entrance of the bathroom door. Jason's muscles tensed and he turned right over to look at the intruder, standing to his feet.

She groaned softly, leaning against the toilet seat. "Don't beat her up, Jay," she mumbled, "it's my asshat of a supposedly dead mother who just broke into our apartment, no worries. She's just an assassin and all that." She turned weakly and lifted her eyes toward the woman, giving a little sigh. "Why'd you break into my home, Amelia? I don't need this shit."

"Fuck," mumbled Jason, his eyes narrowing. He pointed toward her menacingly and then used his thumb to move toward the door. "You should leave, it's the middle of the night and she's right, we don't need this shit right now, as you can see."

"You're pregnant," observed Amelia, leaning against the doorframe. Her eyebrows were pulled together and she stepped close but Jason blocked her. "She's my daughter, you can't—"

Jason glared at her firmly. "She's not your family, she's mine. Why don't you do us a favour and get the hell out now?" He took a step toward her and Amelia took a step back, her hands moving up to take a defensive stance. So, using that, Jason grabbed her arm and led her to the door, all but pushing her out.    When he returned to Tye's side, he leaned down, softly rubbing her back.

"Thought she was dead... What'd I miss?" He asked softly.

"Came, told me I was in trouble — that this Roman guy was after me, you know. She's part of this league thing Dick was talking about." She closed her eyes, pressing a hand against her forehead as she sat up. "I need some mouthwash and a long, long nap." She pushed up and then flushed the toilet, briefly glancing to her boyfriend tiredly. "You can go to bed, Jay. I'm just gonna do this." She waved toward the sink.

He smiled softly and rubbed her arm, pressing a quick kiss to her forehead. "I love you," he said softly, reaching around to rub her back. "Be careful, Tye. We'll talk more in the morning."

She watched him leave and curiosity filled her when she noticed him grab a notebook. He wrote some things down and then shut it before he laid down in their bed. He covered his eyes with a forearm and seemed to be waiting for her. She paused, turning back to rinse her mouth a couple of times. She rinsed her mouth with mouthwash as well before she brushed her teeth, heading into the bedroom.

"Jay, what'd you write?" She said softly, moving a hand to tap her fingers along his chest. "Did I say something wrong?"

He didn't reply and she finally realized he was fast asleep. She sighed, pulling her hand away and leaning her head against the pillow. It didn't take her long to actually fall asleep after that, and maybe because she wanted time to forget about all this. Maybe she wanted to pretend this part was all just a bad dream.

When she stirred in the morning time, she was actually surprised to still feel the weight of Jason next to her, an arm was thrown over her. She knew he wasn't sleeping, rubbing a thumb against her forearm, but hey, it was the little things that made her laugh. She was sure it was weird, being pulled from a peaceful sleep just to laugh softly, and she knew he heard her. His hand paused and she heard him exhale out of his nose.

"That was kind of scary," he admitted with a small chuckle, "you just woke up and laughed? Wow, babe, I love that for you but uh, it kinda scared me. Okay, definitely scared me."

She turned tiredly and kissed his nose. "Yeah," she mumbled, "did I?"

"You think you can still dance?" Jason asked instead, pushing some of her hair back with a teasing smile. She sat up and hit his shoulder, burying her face into her hands. "Hey! C'mon, babe, just asked a question. Don't pout at me, you know I hate when you pout."

He slipped out of the bed and rounded it, offering her a hand. She reached and grasped on, pulling herself close to him. She pressed a chaste kiss to his lips and then pulled back, running a hand up his chest to rest on his shoulder. "Jay, babe, I'm not doing any sort of dancing for you in my entire life," she told him firmly, "c'mon, let's start the coffee machine and then brush our teeth, cool?"

He smiled briefly and walked her out of the room. When they got into the kitchen, Tye's eyes gently moved to where a book was laid on the counter. She briefly touched the cover and glanced to her boyfriend, understanding that it had to have been his. "Are you reading a book about parenting?" She asked softly, an eyebrow-raising. "That's so sweet."

"No, no, it's not mine," Jason said, pulling the book out of her reach. "Tye, don't you dare make this a big deal."

Tye made a noise that sounded like an 'aww', blonde strands of her hair falling into her eyes. "Aw, wait, Jason, this is actually adorable, but trust me, I'm just as scared as you are."