no rest for the wicked [jason todd]

forty four

"YOU'RE A SICK SON OF A BITCH,"

Dick rasped out in the most intimidating voice he could muster when Slade finally pulled the gag from his mouth. They were halfway to God knows where and Slade hadn't said a thing, choosing to turn up the radio, while Dick was chained up in the backseat. He was given a mild sedative to keep him calm and it hadn't worn off yet. His limbs and his eyes were still fairly heavy at the moment -- he was inches from passing out.

"You wish," Slade said, "if anything, you're gonna wanna blame your friend's mom for this whole fiasco. I wanted to be nowhere near your sorry ass again, Boy Dumbass."

Dick tiredly lifted his head but it clued in after a moment. "Amelia," he managed, "you mean Amelia, Tye's mom -- Oh God, oh God, Tye..." His eyebrows pulled together and he tried to struggle but he was so damn tired that nothing wanted to work for him. "Slade, fuck, if you've got any semblance of a heart in that godforsaken empty black hole of a ribcage, let me go find her."

Slade paused and gripped the steering wheel a little harder, knuckles practically turning white at this point. "Calm yourself," he said, "God, Grayson, have you ever heard of this shitty thing called a plan? I don't think you dumbass bat kids ever dealt with one but I do."

"Wh-What? Why? What do you care about Amelia? Or Tye for that matter?" Dick's jaw clenched down and he stared into the mirror, trying his hardest to earn Slade's gaze for even just a moment. He wasn't lucky enough for that though, the guy's eyes were drilled straight into the road and he couldn't care for a second that Dick deserved an answer. Not only was Tye in trouble, but his niece or nephew... 

"I like to think I dedicate enough care to all my kids equally, but I mean... Rose and Joey were my main priority while they were growing up," Slade said, and he paused briefly, turning toward Dick now in the mirror. "I didn't know she existed, you know. Amelia never told me."

Dick was frozen and shifted slightly in the seat, craning his head up. It didn't make sense, it really didn't, but he wasn't going to brush it off immediately. Slade had to have been kidding around though, Dick knew about Joey and Rose, but Tye couldn't have been... Tye couldn't have been related to him, Dick had heard about Tye's father, he was dead now.

"You're kidding," he said after a moment, almost in disbelief, a laugh spilling from his lips now. "Tye, my Tye, our Tye, the cute little white-blonde girl who absolutely loves dogs and take-out Chinese food? She can't be related to you."

Slade was silent for a long moment as they drove through the streets, the dark sky making the trees loom over the car, daring them to look in just too far to see monsters of nightmares. He took a deep breath and he didn't know how else to explain it, didn't know how to tell Dick it was a mistake and a fuck up, but that he'd kept an eye on her. He didn't want to say he'd been so angry Amelia had raised her in Gotham, so angry that she'd gone into policing and met Jason.

He didn't know how to say she was his daughter without having to explain why he wasn't there for her.

He should have been, he knew that. After Amelia 'died', he should have swooped her up and protected her, but he didn't. He let her get into trouble, he let her meet scummy people and trip up every other moment, but he felt like that made her who she was. If he had swooped in, would she be the same amazing person she'd grown up to be?

He took a deep breath and he stared ahead to look for any signs telling him what street to turn down, and he realized at the last minute, so the tires screeched when he turned them.

Dick seemed to be used to awful driving and leaned back, still trying to process what Slade had said. Maybe it made sense with her temper, her adaptability, her smarts -- maybe it did make sense, but he hated the idea that Slade got to involve himself in her life now. He was angry as hell about that.

He took a heavy breath now, snapping, "So when are we going to get her?" 

The older man seemed just a tiny bit surprised and briefly glanced back at him through the mirror, his knuckles turning white around the steering wheel. "Patience, birdie," he told him, "she can handle herself for a couple of hours or days while we work on the plan. Roman's not an idiot, but his hiding places aren't genius."

"Did Amelia tell you about her condition?" Dick asked now. 

Slade paused and his eyebrows pulled together as they approached a shitty-looking warehouse, driving up the long dirt road to get there. "Her condition? A medical condition?" He asked finally.

"She's pregnant, Slade," Dick replied sharply.

The tires screeched again, crying out as Slade came to an abrupt stop that rocked the car. The man in the front seat was leaning toward the steering wheel now, his eyebrows raised and his mouth opened slightly. He seemed surprised, and maybe the twitch in his lips was anger manifesting, but his face shifted into a calmer one moments later. "She's what?" He asked, voice dangerously calm and cautious. "She's what, Grayson?"

Dick took a deep breath and shifted to look out the window, blowing a strand of hair out of his eyes. "She's pregnant, there's a baby in her, why else do you think I'm so desperate to save her? I know she can take care of herself, but if Roman knows about that fucking kid-- She's absolutely screwed, Slade."

The older man took a deep breath too and stared up toward the warehouse before he put the car back into drive. "Guess we'll make a plan on the way to get her then," he muttered now, stretching out his fingers on the steering wheel, "you know how we can contact Hood? He's gonna wanna find her too, isn't he? We need all the help we can get if we're gonna be improvising this badly."