no rest for the wicked [jason todd]

forty nine

WHEN JASON GOT UP THE NERVE TO PROPOSE,
Jamie was barely starting to walk. They were moving into their new house, something big enough for all of them and she'd brushed a whole paintbrush full of paint onto Tye's stained overalls at the leg, and suddenly, she couldn't stop laughing into his cheek. She swooped down to make sure Jamie didn't shove the brush into her mouth and put it back in the paint pan, pushing back her daughter's dark hair. "Guess you've got something on your hand," she mumbled, pushing Jamie's little fingers back to see the lilac paint staining her hand.

When she turned back to mention something to Jason, she was surprised to see him on one knee, holding a velvet box. "You wanna put something on your hand?" He asked softly.

She held Jamie close to her chest, shaking slightly as she looked down at him.

He smiled softly, still holding the box. "Tye Melrose," he told her in a soft, nearly hesitant voice. "I know the night we met, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. I know we had a rough start and a rough everything, and I know this wasn't how you saw your life going, but..." He trailed off for a moment and inhaled. "I love you, and... I mean, fuck, I had to ask Slade about this now and I've never seen someone look like they really wanted to kill me that much again, but... Will you marry me?"

She turned and pressed a soft kiss to Jamie's forehead, trying not to cry as she stuck her hand out now, hand trembling. "I wanna put something on my hand," she told him, "asshole."

He gently slid the ring onto her ring finger and pocketed the box, standing back up to pull her into a soft kiss. "Language," he warned her in a gentle voice, "don't teach our daughter bad words, c'mon."

"Roy said fu--" She broke off, laughing softly as he wiped the tears from her cheeks. "Okay, okay, you big baby. I'm not gonna say anything, I--" She looked down toward Jamie, to the ring on her finger, and she hesitated. "I didn't think life was gonna turn out this way when I met you, Jay, but that's not a bad thing. I didn't think I was gonna... Fall in love, gain a parent, a family--"

He smoothed her hair back, pushing it from her eyes. "S' what you deserve, princess," he told her, gently glancing down to Jamie. "And you, princesa."

"Why didn't I know you spoke Spanish?" 

"Never came up, I guess," he told her, wiggling his eyebrows as he leaned in, breath hovering next to her ear. "Por qué? Té gusta?"

She turned to the side slightly, raising her eyebrows. "Pardon my French," she said with an embarrassed voice, still holding Jamie close to her chest even as she gurgled and babbled curiously, "but I have no idea what the frick that means, Jay." 

He snorted, reaching out for Jamie and raising her in the air. She squealed and looked down, kicking her feet as she babbled more foreign sounds. She was definitely going to be a Daddy's girl, they could already tell that much so far. She loved him even just a little bit more than she loved Tye so far.

He couldn't wait to hold her for the rest of his life, teach her how to speak her first words, teach her how to drive a real car -- one with a fucking stick shift, not an automatic like Tye drove. He couldn't wait to see her grow up one day, but he didn't want to see her go. She was so tiny in his arms, so little even with those chubby limbs outstretched in glee. There was only one thing he loved just as much.

Tye, standing with him, having cut her blonde hair up to shoulder length now, bright blue eyes gently watching him raise their baby in his arms. 

He didn't deserve this shit. He didn't deserve to die either, and fuck Bruce for that shitty part, but... He got a second chance and he'd been so absorbed fighting everyone since he'd gotten away from the Grim Reaper that when he found her, he felt like he was finding out how to live again. When he met her, she pulled him back into a family he didn't even know he wanted, Jesus, and.... He was so damn lucky for that.

The knock on the door slammed him from his sappy thoughts like a bus. He held Jamie close to him as he headed to the door, opening it to two tired looking teenagers. Tim, holding a blonde girl by the shoulders. A blonde girl who positively looked like she was about to cry when she saw Jamie in his arms. "This is Stephanie," Tim told Jason carefully, his voice so cautious, teetering into something new. A tone he hadn't quite used with Jason.

"Hi blondie," Jason said, his eyebrows raising.

Stephanie sniffled and tried to look past him for someone, and God, he wished she didn't look so broken.

"I need Tye's help, I called earlier," Tim said, and despite the fact he shouldn't have trusted the kid that replaced him, he opened the door wider and allowed the two of them in, shutting the door behind them. "Princess, you've got two visitors."

Tye came out into the living room to greet them and was oddly not surprised to see Stephanie standing there, shaking, "Jay," she said carefully, "you go finish the room? Or take Jamie outside, I gotta..." She trailed off, reaching for Stephanie's cheek gently and cradling the young teenage girl's head in her hand. 

"What's wrong with her? She ain't a cancer kid," Jason told her firmly.

"She's pregnant," Tim shot back to Jason, his jaw shaking slightly as he looked toward Stephanie. The poor blonde girl who didn't even want to step away from Tye when she pulled her into a hug, and even when Jason heard that, he didn't believe it. Fuck that, she was too young, and Tim wasn't dumb enough--

Unless it wasn't Tim's, his brain rationalized. Maybe they weren't dating.

"Who is she?"

Tim clenched his jaw. "My girlfriend," he said, "but it isn't... It's from before."

"Shut up," Stephanie mumbled from in Tye's arms, pulling back to wipe her nose now. "Shut up, Tim. I can explain myself."