Chapter Text
That same voice had been haunting Jason’s night again. He’d fallen asleep cuddling Alex, holding her tight in his arms but an intense headache had struck him and he woke up far from her on the bed, feeling drowsy and in pain. He got up and walked to the kitchen, dawn was almost breaking. He took a glass of water and some painkillers and watched the Gotham skyline, the reflection of pink clouds on some of Gotham’s skyrises. Alex was used to Jason getting up in the middle of the night by now, he had bad dreams that would wake him in a sweat. He’d also been struggling with headaches that were especially bad at night. She understood, she too had dreams that would loom over her during the day. The issue is Jason wasn’t having his usual nightmares, nightmares about the Joker, about the torture, about the year on the streets… His dreams were confusing images, flashes and colors and sounds that felt good until they didn’t. He would wake overwhelmed and in pain. He didn’t share that with Alex though, he didn’t understand what was wrong with him and it scared him.
He came back to bed, pulling Alex towards him. She slept heavily most nights. He caressed her arms and neck, running his fingers up and down the curve of her shoulder. She eventually woke up, smiling at him and changing positions, so she would now be laying flat on her back. She was naked, she’d fallen asleep naked most nights the past week. It was summer in Gotham and she’d seen no point in putting pijamas on that would be quickly torn off her body by Jason. He continued tracing the lines on her body. She moaned softly and he cupped a breast gently, taking a handful and stroking her nipple.
“You know, I like the line between your belly and your thigh…” – He finally said, letting go of her breast and tracing some of the lines on her torso.
“... You mean my…-” – Alex responded grinning, opening her eyes slightly.
“No! I mean, yes I like that too, a lot… But I mean this line right here…” – He traced a line that started under the breast he’d just held, moving down her obliques and finally outlining her crotch, leading down the inside of her thigh. It was one of the longer unbroken lines he could spot, and it outlined her frame beautifully.
The past week had been a breath of fresh air for Alex and Jason alike. He’d practically moved in after her birthday and the two spent most of their days together at Park’s teaching and practicing, the workouts neverending with nights filled with a complete and total surrender to one another.
Jason and Damian were helping Alex control her strength. She had no issue controlling it when it came to day to day life, she wasn’t shattering glasses just by picking them up. It was when she had to employ some of it, to make an effort that things got a little… Intense. She was doing better thanks to the two, and feeling less stressed overall. Jason’s presence had turned out to be a bit of an issue when it came to her plan with the Red-K though.
She’d managed to only do one small experiment since stealing the Red-K, and it had sadly been enough to dissuade her from using it on Park for now. She’d made a small cut on her leg and immediately injected a small drop of Red-K to observe whether it helped her heal faster, whether it could help Park. The results were… Mixed. The cut had healed remarkably quickly, but the pain had been next to unbearable. She’d spent hours sitting on the floor of the shower, cold water running to try and soothe her burning body. She felt stupid, naive and most of all afraid. She’d felt hope she could help him but the reality was whatever the doc did to her was much more complicated than she could’ve anticipated. If she wanted to do this she’d need help… Help from Tim, help from Batman… Distracted, in love and busy, Alex found no more time to entertain the idea of using the Red-K on Park unless she got the help of Gotham’s finest first.
-
The tunnel was dark and smelled of mildew, Robin was walking as quickly and quietly as he could.
25 seconds fuck…
He found the ladder and the hatch and opened it, jumping out.
Don’t stop moving. 2 minutes to get up.
The abandoned commercial center looked spooky at this time of night. Abandoned displays with mannequins that followed your every movement, abandoned playgrounds and drained water fountains. Tim remembered coming here when he was a kid, going on the merry go round close to the food court with his mother.
Don’t. Stop.
He made his way up to the upper floors, no shops there only offices. Black Mask had been using the building as a temporary storage space for a new drug he’d been facilitating into Gotham. It reeked of the Dodges all over again but he wasn’t sure how just yet. The production of Little Death in Gotham had been halted, thanks to Gotham Girl and Robin, but Fang was not the mastermind behind the creation and distribution of the drug, her family was and her family was not in prison.
Robin prepared the smoke pellets and his staff, there would be fighting. He hid for as long as he could, but the closest he got to operations, the more security men popped up. He stealthily took some out without notifying the others. He was just outside the main room now.
Robin came in through a window, breaking it with explosives and a knee kick, landing in the middle of the room full of thugs, surrounded. He whistled. The men stood around him for a moment, hesitating to attack, there was a lot of valuable product in the room, a fight would lead to more trouble than usual. The Dodges didn’t fuck around.
Like a line of dominos falling, men started dropping. Confused and afraid, the men started scattering. Robin fought too, detaining as many of the scared men as he could. It was flawless, ropes and chairs and crates were moved around as if by a ghost, getting in the way, and detaining, and making men fall. It was fast and somewhat quiet if not for the screams of surprise of the men being hit by invisible and painful kicks. Silence. It was over.
“What do we have here?” – Asked Robin opening up one of the crates, Gotham Girl appeared next to him, he was seeing her for the first time since they’d split up hours before.
“It’s a mix, Little Death and some other new drug… They’re moving it fast, this stuff arrived only a couple hours ago and was going to be leaving the building in the next 40 minutes or so.” – She said stretching, it had felt good to fight just now, but she was stiff, she’d been sitting in that room observing the comings and goings for over an hour.
“Nice job Gotham Girl.” – Said Tim.
-
It had been a good night of crime fighting. Gotham Girl was different, more willing to follow Robin. She’d enjoyed it, her new powers took some stress off of fighting, she could always disappear and run if things got too much. It was an unfair fight though, she knew it and it bothered her a bit, but life in Gotham was unfair.
“Heading home?” – Alex asked at the top of the skyhigh parking garage where she’d parked her bike. It was time to go back home, just one long swing and she’d be at her penthouse.
“His I think, it’s not that late… He might still be up to be fair.” – The two stood awkwardly facing each other. It was their first night out as Robin and Gotham Girl in almost a year. It had gone well, despite Robin’s fears that Alex might not yet be ready to fight after her kidnapping.
“That’s nice… I think I’m gon-” – She didn’t finish her phrase, a familiar feeling creeping up. She heard a sneeze very close to them.
Alex and Tim prepared themselves, with their backs to one another they watched around them for the source of the sneeze.
“You idiot you did it again!” – Cheeto and Goliath bickered and revealed themselves.
“Are you kidding me? You again?” – Alex said putting her guard up.
“Hey Gotham Girl, ugh, listen this don’t need to get nasty yeah? Dodge Senior… He just wants a word with you… We can all just go easy peasy yeah?”
“Like hell…” – Robin used his staff to bring cheeto to his knees faster than he could react.
A fight broke, Robin kept himself busy with Cheeto who despite being terrible at dodging hits or anticipating them was surprisingly resistant. Alex’s main goal was to keep Goliath as far away from Tim as possible while trying not to get hit by him. She dodged a few hard punches by the massive unit and was able to give him a good few lower kicks, hitting his thighs and knees. The mass of a man howled in pain, confused. Goliath reacted with anger, but he didn’t direct it at Gotham Girl, instead he turned his anger to Tim. Cheeto escaped Tim’s grasp and ran towards Alex. They were switching, trying to make this an unfair fight.
Robin held his own for some time, dextrously dodging Goliath’s powerful but slow hits until he didn’t. Goliath picked him up and threw him to the ground, Tim’s staff clanking on the ground and rolling away from him. He’d bit his lip when falling, Alex saw him fall and saw him spit blood.
NO!
Tim saw flashes of Gotham Girl. She got rid of Cheeto in one clean movement, kicking him so hard Tim thought he might fall of the building. Goliath had been holding Tim down but let go after a sequence of hits Tim couldn’t see made the giant release him and focus on his new opponent. Gotham Girl reappeared and attacked Goliath with no hesitation. The mammoth couldn’t keep up with her speed, her strength enough of a match. Alex didn’t hold back, hitting him where it hurt, finally hooking her leg around his neck, holding it tightly between her thigh and calf, sideways as if preparing for a side kick. She couldn’t hold back, she saw flashes of the nightmares she’d had under the fear toxin, flashes of dead Tim… There was a crack. . The giant fell, and Cheeto was unconscious.
“What the fuck?” – Robin exclaimed exhasperated, he couldn’t believe what he’d seen, Alex had just killed someone with no hesitation.
“He’s fine! He’s fine! Don’t worry about him, are you okay?” – She ran up to Tim, reaching for him but he pushed it off of him.
“I knew it. I knew you were too dangerous…” – Tim said looking away from Alex.
“I… He’s super enhanced, he came back from a bullet to the head! He was going to kill you! What are you going on about?!” – Alex had tears in her eyes.
“How could I let you train with Jason and Damian!? That was stupid…”
“ Let me? Where have you been?!” – Alex felt betrayed. Next to her, Goliath squirmed, starting to move an arm. Neither of the two noticed.
“No I didn’t mean… Ugh… Just that they’re not the best at restraint and that’s what you need right now…” – The clarification only made it worse, a Tim Drake talent.
“What I need right now… Is to be restrained from flinging your ass off the building!” – She walked away from him towards the ledge that led to her apartment, next to her parked bike.
Tim followed behind her, his back turned away from Cheeto and Goliath. He reached for her shoulder and she turned. Behind him she saw goliath move, he had a device of some sort in his hand and pressed a button. Tim was saying something but Alex didn’t hear him, all she heard was a soft beep coming from her bike next to them as Goliath pressed the button. She had little time to react, embracing Tim hard and trying to push him away as her bike exploded, a wave pushing the two away and lifting them off their feet. Alex held tightly onto Tim and shouted;
“Go limp!”
The two rolled away, debris scratching them. Alex held on tightly to Tim for as long as she could but the power of the explosion was too much and they eventually disentangled. Alex let go off Tim and he managed to strike a landing, being relatively unharmed by the explosion. He landed on one knee, balancing himself and was trying to straighten his vision when he saw Alex land clumsily, hitting her back on a parked car so hard it left a dent. She laid motionless, the sound of dozens of car alarms going off. Tim rushed towards her.
“G?! Gotham Girl?!” – He shouted at her, holding her face to try and get some reaction off of her.
Too much. – She thought – I won’t… I can’t think… Home, bed, safe…
She came to slowly, struggling to organise her thoughts. She had hit her head multiple times as they’d rolled, protecting Robin’s instead but the last hit against the car had made her see stars. The sound of the alarms only made her confusion worse. Tim tried keeping her down but she wasn’t listening. She turned invisible and pushed him away with ease, focused only on getting home. Tim followed what he could of the red smoke before it dissipated, seeing the line of her hook swinging across the sky heading towards her apartment. He followed.
-
Jason was having another one of the strange dreams. That same familiar voice called to him. He saw a garden, a beautiful garden he’d known before and felt continuous waves of ecstasy. He needed to go there, he needed to make his way back.
The dream was interrupted by a loud crashing sound coming from the living room. It sounded like glass and wood breaking. He sat up, wondering if it had been a part of the dream. As he stood up he heard another sound, a male voice screaming “Alex!”, Jason ran.
Alex had made her way back to the roof of the penthouse but hadn’t been able to slow down, landing hard against the glass and breaking it. She’d fallen in, landing with her body half on the couch and half on a small side table that shattered against her weight and the speed of the fall. Jason walked in the room to find Tim dropping in and landing in between him and Alex. Jason pushed Tim to the side rushing towards Alex, who was laying motionless.
“What the fuck happened?!” – He asked angrily.
“There was an explosion, we were fighting these two guys Cheeto and someone else and then there was an explosion…” – Tim’s thoughts were also scrambled. He wasn’t as hurt as Alex but he still could feel the effects of having been attacked by Goliath and the subsequent explosion.
Jason was listening to Tim as he dropped to his knees by Alex. He was focused, checking her vitals. She slowly came back to and mumbled repeatedly “ My room, the safe… I need my room… I need to go to my room…”. Jason ignored her wishes. Tim was still talking, he moved towards Jason and tugged at his shoulder. He was urging Jason to hurry up but Jason was trying to focus, annoyed at Tim, annoyed she’d gotten hurt with him. It shouldn’t have happened. Robin should protect people.
“Tim, shut up !” - His voice was deep and strained. He forced her eyelids open and examined her pupils. One looked small, a tiny dot on a red sea. The other was so dilated he could not see the red at all. – “Car!” – He yelled at Tim as he scooped Alex up in his arms and made for the elevator. Her body was heavier than normal, she could barely hold her head up. Tim ran behind him and grabbed a car key by the door. They had no time to waste.
Jason got in the backseat with Alex and Tim drove away to the Batcave as fast as the red 67 Impala would get them. Kate had a thing for red cars. The streets of Gotham were mostly empty at this time of night. It was silent in the car except for Alex’s ramblings about going to bed. Jason was having to constrain her, his arms around hers forcing her to stay down. She’d gotten a burst of energy once in the car. He was struggling, even in this state she was almost too strong for him to contain her. Tim looked ahead, focusing on driving, his vision still somewhat unclear.
“Oracle is Batman in the Batcave?” – Tim asked over his comms, luckily the explosion hadn’t damaged them too bad.
“We need him. It’s Gotham Girl, she’s hurt. Hospital?! You know we can’t just… Just tell him!”
They were about 3 minutes away from the Batcave when Alex stopped fighting, going limp and her head heavy against Jason’s chest.
“Tim! You need to go faster! Tim please! Please go faster…” – Jason pleaded from the back seat, his voice strained. He was crying.
Tim had never driven into the Batcave like that. Fast and precise he turned every corner like a racecar driver in the ungainly impala. He parked with a loud screech and the car had barely stopped when Jason jumped out of it carrying Alex’s limp body. Bruce had been waiting for them, dreading the extent of the injuries he’d find. He hadn’t stopped to think Jason would be with her. Jason was carrying her much like Batman had carried Jason out of the wreckage all those years back. She was unconscious, blood dripping from her head. Jason’s eyes were red, his lips swollen, he was crying. He ran up to Bruce, handing her over to him.
Don’t. Don’t let your emotions in, not now. She needs help. Batman always answers when Gotham needs help.
Bruce took Alex to a side room in the cave, the ‘doctor’s office’ as Jason had once called it. Jason and Tim followed.
“Tim! You need to help me monitoring her vitals.” – He took off her eye mask, there was a large blood stain on her forehead but only a small scrape remained.
Good… She’s healing… Not fast enough though…
Tim stood in front of the many screens Batman had urged him to watch, shaky but determined to help. Her vitals popped up on screen as Batman hooked her up, it didn’t look good. Jason stood aimlessly. He was shaking, his hands and the white t-shirt he’d been wearing to sleep covered in her blood. He had no shoes on, wearing only a white undershirt and a pair of flannel pants. Batman unzipped part of her suit, Batwoman had designed it well, knowing exactly where openings were needed most in emergencies. He revealed her arm and part of her chest and torso, she was bruised up badly.
Internal bleeding, concussion…I should’ve been faster, called her in earlier… It will have to work.
Bruce pulled up an IV bag from a locker in the corner of the room and hooked her up to it, the liquid bright red, almost shimmery.
“Is that…?” – Tim asked reticently.
“Focus on the screen. I haven’t been able to determine the correct dosage for a case like this. You remember what Clara did, I will need to adjust the drip as we go. I’ve refined and diluted as much as I could but we need enough to bring her back as fast as we can.” – He looked at Jason after uttering the last sentence, regretting his choice of words. The boy was distraught. This was hard to watch but he knew he wouldn’t leave if he asked him to, he needed to make sure she would be ok, and Bruce had to make sure she was.
Alex had no reaction to the Red-K at first, the dosage too low. She showed signs of lucidity as they increased the amounts, slowly, Tim watching graphs and numbers with unbreaking concentration, his legs bouncing nervously. Her forehead dotted with sweat, Bruce watched closely. He could see the red streaks on her skin slowly turning more vibrant, they would be reaching a dangerous spot at any moment.
She came to for a moment, barely opening her eyes. She coughed and peeked at Bruce towering over her, one hand on the drip and another on her shoulder, expecting to have to hold her down any second now.
“Shit… Cleto was right!” – She whispered, only Bruce heard her.
“Alex? Are you in pain?” – He asked moving closer to her, he needed to find the right dosage of the Red-K but he did not want to risk putting her through the torture she’d been in before.
“Just a little sting… But I don’t want to feel it anymore… I want to sleep now…” – She had her eyes closed, the light hurting them. Bruce reached over and opened them, checking her pupils, they looked normal.
“Tim mark this dosage. Her skin is healing and her eyes are back to normal. Bruising on her side fading. I will give her a sedative, we’ll keep it like this for 15 minutes and then reassess.”
“Ok.” – Tim said, finally allowing himself to look over at Alex. He hated it that the last words they’d shared had been so… Messy… She was only protecting him… She was still getting used to her new strength… He’d let his fears cloud his judgement. Despite everything, all his accusations, the only one who had gotten truly hurt that night had been her… He felt sick.
Alex was finally stabilised, healing fast thanks to the Red-K. Bruce stepped away from her for a moment and walked over to Jason. He pulled up a chair and offered it to his son, who sat down without arguing. Bruce laid a hand on his shoulder, Jason didn’t look at him.
“She’ll be fine.” – Bruce said, Jason finally looking up at him. They stared at each other for a moment, much exchanged in the heavy silence. Bruce returned to his position next to Gotham Girl. She was recovering but the night wasn’t over yet.
Damian walked into the room quietly and went straight to Jason. He leaned over him, whispering something in his ear. Jason was still shaking, his breath inconsistent, but smiled at whatever Damian said to him. Damian proceeded to sit down next to Jason, on the floor, his head leaning against the side of Jason’s thigh. Bruce observed the two, it was the first time he saw them together. They looked comfortable with each other, brotherly. Damian knew Jason well, better than Bruce knew… Better than Bruce did, he could tell. Whatever he said to Jason, or maybe his presence itself, seemed to calm him down significantly.
-
Alex didn’t know how long had passed. She woke up slowly, feeling a pull to fall back asleep. She struggled to remember what had happened. Bruce Wayne was sitting next to her, his hand on her wrist checking her pulse. Batman ever so vigilant, double checking everything himself, never fully trusting anything other than himself. She looked around without moving her head and she couldn’t see anyone else, a rush came through her, she wondered if Tim was ok. She lifted herself and called for Tim, her voice weak.
“Tim is fine, he’s just outside with Jason and Damian… Rest.” – Bruce said urging her back down.
“I… I feel fine…” – She said looking at him and the red iv bag hanging next to her bed.
“Good. It worked. I was afraid… Afraid it wasn’t ready yet but it worked.” – Bruce said sitting back down and resting his chin on a fist and looking at Alex, his face was hard to read. – “Alex. Did you steal Red-K from Luthorcorp? Is that why you went back home after the explosion?”
Ugh… Best detective in the world isn’t he?
“Yeah… I’m sorry…” – Bruce interrupted her.
“It wouldn’t work, Alex.” – She stared at him, tears forming in her eyes. She couldn’t say anything. – “You’re… You’re different. The Red-K the doc experimented on you with altered your body, it alongside many other compounds did, including the fear toxin to trigger it. It wouldn’t work.”
“What… What about this one? It healed me now didn’t it? It’s, I was going to die I know it, I could feel it… I… Can’t this…?” – Bruce reached for her hand and held it tightly.
“It would only cause him pain, Alex. I’ve been investigating the Red-K for you, I knew there was a chance it could be used to heal you . Your body is different now. I… I don’t know to what extent yet, but the Red Kryptonite interacts with your system differently than it does a normal person’s.”
“I just wanted… I just wanted to help Park… He’s my… He’s…” – She didn’t finish the sentence, breaking down into tears and sobbing hard.
Jason and the others heard her from the main cave, running back inside. Jason walked up to her, tripping on the wheel of the bed on his way but not letting it stop him. He sat by her on the bed and held her tightly. He didn’t know why she was crying, he didn’t know what had happened before she’d fallen from the sky into her living room, all he knew was that he was relieved Batman had saved her.
-
“What does that mean?” – Bruce asked for the second time, annoyed.
Damian was feeding small crickets to his pet gekko.
“It means I’m not in the mood and I don’t know where the suit is.”
“I heard you the first time, I am asking you to clarify what you mean by ‘not in the mood’ and what happened to your suit.” – Damian had been more reclusive than usual the past week or so. When asked if he’d join Batman on patrol tonight he had responded that he didn’t know where his suit was and hadn’t elaborated any further. Bruce wasn’t sure what was happening, Damian had been difficult in different ways before, but he’d never turned down patrol. He’d always been so eager to come out and work with Batman, they’d had a good run not too long ago… But he’d distanced himself as of late and now the suit was gone…
“Did something happen to you? Did you get hurt and you don’t want to tell me?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“Damian, I am your father. What is happening to you?”
“Oh deep voice and mean look! I pass, I’m not some street thug you can intimidade.”
“I… I am not trying to intimidade you. I am trying to remind you that I am your father too, I care and I want to know what’s happening to you. You don’t want to go out with Batman, fine! But what is happening to you? I’ve barely seen you lately.”
“I’ve been busy with Alex.”
“And Jason.” – Bruce retorted.
“That’s irrelevant to you.”
“Damian! He’s…” – He wanted to point out all the reasons why Jason was not trustworthy, but held his tongue. Many of the things he’d say could be applied to Damian, past and present.
“I just… Take Tim… I don’t want to be Robin tonight.” – For the first time in the conversation he’d turned to face Bruce. He looked so much like Talia then.
“Fine. This… This isn’t over. Find your suit!” – Bruce said as he left the room.
Bruce stomped away from Damian’s bedroom walking down the long hallway lost in thought. He was so deep in his own head he almost didn’t notice the figure standing in the middle of the room with the door half open. Jason’s room. He stopped and took a step back, finding Jason holding up a book and reading its back in the middle of his once bedroom.
“I thought you had taken Alex home hours ago.” – He said stepping into the room.
“I did but she wanted to stay with her dad tonight so I took her there and came here.” – Jason had been in his room for a while, he’d overheard the conversation between Damian and Bruce while looking through this time capsule of his life. His room looked… Exactly the same. – “You know… He gave me the suit.”
“He gave it to you?” – Bruce asked crossing his arms.
“Yeah… It’s not my place but… No, fuck that, it is my place. He doesn’t need you to throw quarters at him to get him to do a Robin dance right now. You already have a son who wants to be Robin, let Damian be.”
“Damian has wanted to be Robin since he came to me. He even fought Tim over it many times.”
“Yeah but that was different.” – Jason sat on the edge of the bed, Bruce wanted to ask him not to but then remembered… It’s his bed …
“How so?” – He was on edge, this was a strange conversation to have in Jason’s room, with Jason.
“He’s been trying to prove himself to you ever since he got here, trying to prove that he is the best but he can never live up to that idea of who he has to be to be your Robin because it’s not one person he’s trying to be more like, it’s three or more… I’m not sure I lost count, missed out on a lot. You notice how much he changed after you were gone? He wasn’t trying to prove himself to you for once, he was Dick’s Robin… That was different.”
Bruce pulled up a chair and sat down rubbing his eyes. It had been a long day.
“Have you ever stopped to think he has never been expected to just be himself? Ras and Talia raised him to do never to be. He comes here and your sons are Robins, what else would he think? What else would he do other than become the best Robin to be your son? He’s never known any better.”
“That…”
“And another thing! He doesn’t need Batman right now. I see you trying to reach out to him, shake the costume and promise some good old father-son time beating people up. That’s not what he needs! He needs Bruce right now, he needs a family, he doesn’t need any more training. All he wanted to do was please you, but things changed when you were gone. Damian saw a door opening, he was someone else for a while but now you’re back and Dick’s gone.” – Jason was heated up, walking around while gesturing wildly. – “You making us Robin was the best and worst thing you’ve ever done to both of us.”
“Jason.” – Bruce tried to interrupt his rambling son.
“No, stay there and listen. I was looking for a family, for support. I was living off the streets with no idea where my father was and Batman showed up and put me in that car and called me Robin. I met Batman first! What if I had wanted to be something else huh? What if I was never meant to be Robin? I didn’t have Dick’s talent, his stamina, his skill. I could throw a hard punch cause I’d had to to survive, that’s different. What if Damian wants to be someone else now? What if he’s finally realised that he doesn’t need to be Robin to be your son? You call on him, give him the suit and then bench him and the cycle repeats again and again. That’s fucked up. All he wanted to do was please you for years, to do you proud… Who wouldn’t when your dad is Batman.” – He stopped, he seemed to be done with his rant.
“How do you know all this?” – Bruce finally asked.
“Damian talks when he’s with Alex, a lot. He feels safe at Park’s I think, safe to just be Damian, not Robin, not the son of Batman, not the son of Talia or an Al Ghul.” – Jason sat back down on the edge of the bed, creasing the sheets.
The two sat in silence for some time.
“I didn’t think you’d kept it like this. Even the snickers bar under the bed I saved for after patrol that I never got to eat is still there.”
“I couldn’t not.”
“Even after I came back and stalked you and put you through all that madness?”
“Yes.” – Bruce got up and sat next to Jason on the bed.
“Even after you learned I was alive?”
“Yes. You still died. That hasn’t changed, Jason. My son still died.” – Jason looked at Bruce with welling eyes. – “I never expected to be back in this room with you, I couldn’t take it down Jay… I never will.”
“I’m sorry I… Shit, I’m sorry Bruce. I fucked up, I feel so… I feel ashamed of everything… It made so much sense then, I was so sure of everything… I fucked up so bad I didn't think I could ever come back.” –Jason struggled to look at Bruce.
“You don’t have to apologise to me, but I… I am relieved to hear that. That anger… I understand it. The parenting advice on the other hand…” – The two laughed.
“Think I can take this book with me? I’ve read through all of Kate’s and my back is still fucked, I can’t do much else…”
“Of course you can take it, it’s yours… They all are… Tell me about your back.”