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“You will be enrolled at Gotham Prep, paid for by me, I will pay for your college, a car when you get your license, once you graduate, I will purchase you a home, you will also receive a stipend of 250,000 dollars a year until your death.” Steph was a little too stunned to speak.
It all started with her going out as Spoiler, she was found by Batman and suddenly he was offering to change her entire life.
“What’s the catch?” Steph asked, knowing this was too good to be true.
“You marry my son, Jason.” Mr. Wayne said with a firm tilt to his lips. An arranged marriage? Archaic. What if the guy was a beast? Or like thirty?
“Jason has recently passed, I don’t want him to be forgotten, or alone in the afterlife.” Mr. Wayne was barely opening his mouth to share that piece of information.
Ghost Marriage, it wasn’t a common practice these days, only the very wealthy had the money to purchase spouses for their deceased. Steph would marry a ghost, become a Ghost Bride, normally she would be allowed to take lovers, though the marriage would be legally binding and she could never have a living spouse.
The deal was very good and Steph was highly tempted, her life without this marriage would be public school, college only if she got a scholarship, big if, and poverty.
“Rules?” Steph asked, mouth operating without her permission.
“You visit his grave weekly, cleaning and bringing flowers, and sit with him for at least thirty minutes, preferably talking so he can get to know you. You stay in Gotham for school, you may have lovers if you are discreet, if you want children, you arrange it through the family. Any time away from Gotham spanning more than a week must be approved by myself or an appointed representative.” It was a good deal, a great deal, Steph would be a fool not to take it.
“Why me?” She asked, Mr. Wayne hardly knew her, only what he knew of Spoiler and a cursory background check.
“You have a fire in you that Jason would have adored. I think you two would have really hit it off.” Bruce told her with a shrug.
“Can I have a few days, I need to tell my mother, and think it through.” Steph said, while she was normally a jump in head first kind of girl, this was her entire life she would be bargaining away.
“Of course, Miss Brown, take your time, I have your copy of the contract here, read it over, share it with your mom, get a lawyer if you want.” Mr. Wayne said, pulling out a file from his desk drawer and handing it to her. Steph rose to leave, wondering if she was making a huge mistake not accepting right now.
“250,000 dollars!” Her mom shouted loud enough to get a bang on the wall from their neighbor. “College, a car, a house, and all you have to do is spend thirty minutes a week sitting in the graveyard? There has to be a catch.” She said warily, her mom had been around long enough to know that if it looked too good to be true it probably was.
If there was a catch Steph hadn’t found it yet, she’d poured over the contract reading all the fine print several times, but it had only been what Mr. Wayne had said.
“What about your love life, don’t you want a real husband and children one day?” Mom asked.
“A husband who might never provide me with any type of stability? Children I can’t afford to feed? Mr. Wayne said I could still have children if I wanted, the contract only specifies that I use their approved place to find a DNA sample for, you know, the guy’s part.”
“Stephie, you’re a smart, determined, wonderful young woman. I want to encourage you to work hard, get a scholarship, and do this on your own.” Her mom said, gently brushing Steph’s hair away from her face, “but you’d, we’d, be damn fools not to accept this offer. I’ll call a lawyer, let them look it over just to be safe. Normally baby I’d say follow your heart, but sometimes you really have to follow your head.” Steph nodded, happy with her mother’s acceptance. The longer she’d had the contract the more she’d wanted to sign it.
Steph knew one day she might fall in love, she might regret this decision, but the idea of being a wealthy woman with a slew of heartbroken lovers in her wake was amusing in the moment.
Plus, she’d been researching Mr. Wayne’s son, Jason, and he seemed like her type of guy. She’d only been able to find out things from old newspapers archived at the library. He seemed like a brave kid, who had been put through the ringer and kept on going. Someone who once out of his bad situation had focused on doing his level best to make the most of his chance. She knew he’d been Robin, that he’d had a thirst for justice for the people of Crime Alley. What else did she really need to know?
Two days later they’d gone to see the lawyer, he offered to negotiate for more money, Steph let him put in a clause that adjusted the money for inflation but otherwise left it alone, wanting to seem savvy but not greedy. Four days after the initial conversation with her mother, she and Mr. Wayne sat in the same lawyer’s office and signed the contract.
On Steph’s fifteenth birthday she’d be married. Young, maybe, but why waste time when it’s a Ghost Marriage, she’s heard of Ghost Bride’s being as young as seven, it’s not like there was any consummation. And it was rumored that a soul needed an anchor in the afterlife, so the spirit wouldn’t return and cause havoc, Steph would, from now on, be Jason’s anchor, and when she died Jason would be hers.
The wedding was just as beautiful as Steph had always dreamed hers would be. Her gown was just as frilly as she’d wanted, with purple flowers embroidered on the train. Mr. Wayne – Bruce as he’d asked to be called, paid for everything. The purple orchids in their marble containers, the seven tier wedding cake, and the guest list of Gotham’s elite were all handled by the groom’s family. Steph and her mom and distant cousin had nothing to do but show up.
Her mom walked her down the aisle where a picture of Jason awaited, he was cute, freckles and dimples and wild curls. The type of boy she’d want to date if, you know, he was alive. She said her vows and Jason’s big brother, Dick, swore in for Jason, as was tradition. Dick hadn’t seemed happy about the arrangement at first, but had calmed down after a long discussion with Steph and her mom.
Steph signed the marriage license and Bruce signed for Jason and that was all she was legally married to a dead teenager. All that was left was the dancing, photos and cake.
It was a lovely evening, though Gotham’s elite seemed a little miffed to have been snubbed, as Bruce’s chosen bride wasn’t from their echelons. Some were a little cold to her, others welcomed her into their fold eagerly, Steph wondered why. What was their plan or scheme? She tried just to have fun, it was her wedding after all.
The clouds overhead promised yet more rain, it had been pouring for nearly two weeks. The first week Steph had kept her end of the bargain and sat by Jason’s grave with an umbrella, the storms had been so bad that the groundskeeper had been forced to put in new sod around Jason’s grave as the storm must have torn it up. The second week however Bruce had asked her to come by the manor instead of the graveyard.
It was a nice time, Alfred made her cocoa and cookies and Bruce regaled her with tales of Jason’s short time with them. She had asked to see his room and Bruce looked shamed faced.
“I had it all thrown out or given away, I couldn’t look at it. I tried to pretend I’d never had a son, rather than lost one.” Steph figured that action had contributed to him paying her, a way to make amends to Jason’s spirit. She wasn’t sure she really believed in ghosts, there was some evidence but mostly circumstantial, but she was sure that throwing out all of a person’s belongings and pretending they never existed was a good way to summon one.
That started a tradition, whenever the weather for the week was going to be too bad for Steph to be out in, Bruce would have her over for story time, Sometimes Dick would join them, and even rarer Alfred would sit and share his own stories. She actually found herself enjoying hearing about the brash, intelligent, courageous boy she’d married. Steph decided that the world was cruel for taking him so young, they would have been a pretty awesome couple in the flesh too.
Steph had been married now for two years, she’d be graduating soon- from Gotham Academy, a place that would have been so far beyond her means without her wedding contract. She was a little salty about the never leaving Gotham clause now that she was closer to graduating, she’d been given offers from a few out of state universities, but her contract specified that she had to go to college in Gotham. Which meant Gotham University or Gotham Tech.
She was going to GU, premed, she’d wanted at first to be a nurse, then realized with Bruce footing the bill she could afford to stay in school long enough to become a doctor. Not that there was anything wrong with being a nurse, but as a doctor she could open her own practice, like Dr Thompkins, Leslie helped the people of Crime Alley, and Steph wanted to do the same.
Plus, the more medical expertise she had the more she could help the Bat Gang when they got injured. The family had expanded over the years, Cassandra and Tim had joined up. Steph still went out as Spoiler on occasion, not as often as she thought she would when she was first starting out. But enough to keep her name out there.
Today was a Saturday and she was chilling with Jason, or she would have been if someone else wasn’t there.
“Who are you?” She asked, borderline rudely of the man kneeling over Jason’s headstone, he had placed a pack of cigarettes on it. When he looked up she gasped, Jason?
The guy, somewhere between eighteen and twenty-two, was a carbon copy of the pictures Bruce kept around the house. Dark curls, teal eyes, the same nose, and he was scowling just as Jason had been in some of the gala pictures she’d seen. The only difference was a strange white streak in his bangs.
“Who are you?” He volleyed back, not answering.
“Stephanie Brown, Jason’s wife.” She said, raising her chin in defiance. The guy dropped his mouth open in shock.
“I-he has a wife?” The guy stumbled out the question, looking like he’d like nothing more than to sit in shock.
“Ghost Bride, his father didn’t want him alone in the afterlife.” She explained, hoping the guy would get some color back soon before he passed out.
“Hmm, didn’t think he cared enough for all that.” He muttered, ruffling his hair appearing to try to regain some composure. Steph bristled at the insinuation that Bruce didn’t care about his son.
“What would you know? Who are you anyway, you never answered the question.” Steph shot back at him, his face twisted into an even grumpier expression.
“Peter, Peter Todd, Jason’s cousin on his real father’s side.” The guy said, pugnaciously, the tilt to his chin was so familiar, man the Todd family genetics were very tight.
“How come I’ve never seen you before?”
“I haven’t been in Gotham for a few years, school.” Peter said, “visiting Jay was the first thing I did once I got back.”
“Why the cigarettes?” Steph asked, curious about the odd choice of gift.
“They’re his brand.” Peter said with a shrug, “not that he was ever very chosey.”
“Jason smoked?” Steph asked, Bruce had never mentioned it, maybe he hadn’t known.
“Yeah, smokes were cheaper to barter for than food on the streets, and they take the edge off hunger.” Peter explained, once more her heart broke for the tragic life of Jason Todd.
“It’s nice of you to bring him something.” Steph said, smiling softly in the face of Peter’s scoff.
“He’s family.” He said like that explained everything, then turned to leave.
“I guess I’ll see you around,” Steph shouted at his retreating back.
“Don’t count on it!” He hollered back as he disappeared into the headstones.
Jason meant it too, he wasn’t going to run into her again. So, Bruce had bought him a cute blonde to assuage his guilt. Big deal.
Shit! Did Ghost Marriages still count as legally binding when the person’s not actually dead? He needed to research this. Because absolute bombshell or not, he wasn’t in the market for a wife. Time to head to the library’s law section.
“Fancy seeing you here,” Steph said to Peter as he dropped down beside her at Jason’s graveside a week later.
“Yeah, well, I feel like as Jay’s closest family I should vet you,” he said, peering at her curiously from under that white stripe. She wanted to bristle, who did he think he was? Instead, she shrugged, leaned back and gestured for him to continue.
“Why’d you agree to marry a ghost?” Very typical first question, one she’d been asked before, this time she decided to be honest.
“I couldn’t afford to turn down Bruce Wayne, my family might not be on the streets but we’re not really comfortable, it’s just me and mom, without his money I’d have to skip college, get a job, lose out on my dreams.” She stopped for a second, “I don’t regret it, I’ve gotten to learn a lot about your cousin through Bruce, Alfred, and Dick, he seemed like a pretty cool guy. I could be stuck with a lot worse in the afterlife.” Peter just nodded like that’s what he’d expected.
“Where’s your dad? You said it was just you and your mom.” Peter asked, Steph got the feeling he already knew the answer from the gleam in his eye.
“That’s a little invasive, but whatever, it’s not like you couldn’t find out from the papers. My dad is a C-list rogue, Cluemaster, he’s in jail.” Peter nodded again, verifying that he had in fact known that.
“My- Jay’s dad was in and out of jail too, he wasn’t even a rogue, just a thug.” He said, tentative as if she’d judge someone for that.
“Another thing we have in common then.”
The question flowed after that- where did she go to school? What was she going to do for college? What were her long-term plans? Did she have a boyfriend? On that one she put a stop to it.
“Tell me something about you, I don’t know anything about you,” she demanded.
“Not much to tell, went to trade school, work construction,” she believed it, he was a big boy. “Came back to Gotham to be close to family, and finish some business,” that almost sounded ominous.
“Do you have any stories about Jason? I got some from the Wayne’s but I bet you have the good dirt.”
“Uh, yeah, I can tell you some stories I guess. They ever tell you about Jay’s first time boosting tires, it’s hilarious.” Steph shook her head, and settled in to learn new things about her husband.
Well fuck…
Looks like he was well and truly stuck with his pretty little wife. There was a precedent, a man’s family had performed a Ghost Marriage after he’d been declared dead after being missing for seven years. He was found with amnesia, and in the end the contract was only breakable from the wife’s side, and as she was being paid big money she’d refused to get a divorce.
He'd broken into Bruce’s lawyer’s office and read the contract, sure enough Steph was the key to breaking it. Maybe if he was declared alive he could take the contract to the courts and have it declared void. But that may mean Steph was on the hook for paying everything back. While he didn’t want a wife, he didn’t want Steph to go into that much debt and ruin her life, she was pretty cool. Plus, being declared alive in the courts by itself would take a year if not more.
Looks like he was stuck unless he acted like enough of an asshole that Steph would demand a divorce, that was an idea.
An idea that didn’t work, he showed up every time Steph went to the graveyard, and at first had been determined to act like a jerk. Steph, however, was so… Steph-like, that it was hard to be mean to her. She was sweet and sassy and honest, she never minced words, she seemed to genuinely like both young Jason Todd, and him as Peter. She laughed at his stories and commiserated with others.
Jason found himself looking forward more and more to his meetings with Steph. Oh shit! Was he falling for his own wife?
“What do you think about Bruce?” Peter asked her, she was curious about why he’d care but decided to answer his question rather than interrogate him right away.
“I think he’s got too much money, and not enough emotional intelligence. I think he can be incredibly kind and incredibly cruel, often almost at the same time. I think he loved his son-” Peter scoffed, she knew already that he had a problem with Bruce, just not why. “He does, he just has no idea how to show it. For real, he had what? Eight years with parents then he was raised by an emotionally distant butler for an emotional role model. He destroyed his relationship with his first son, and from what I’ve learned he was on his way to doing the same with Jason. I think he loves deeply, he just doesn’t have any idea on how to express himself.”
That was far more on Bruce than she intended to say, of course, she’d given the man a lot of thought, she’d seen how his actions hurt Dick, who came around more now but was always just out of Bruce’s reach. She saw how he was with Tim, distant, demanding, stubborn and unavailable. She imagined that he’d been similar with Jason, maybe not as bad, but he definitely hadn’t been the picture of emotional health.
“He could see a therapist, fix himself.” Peter said grudgingly, like he was looking for a reason to hate on the man that, to her knowledge, he’d never met.
“Yeah, I’ll let you suggest that.” She said with an eye roll.
“What do you think about Dick?” He asked next.
“Why the sudden interest in my opinions of the Waynes?” She asked in response.
“I want to understand the people Jason spent his last years with.” He said, picking at the cuffs of his flannel shirt and avoiding eye contact. She decided she wouldn’t give him any information that might hurt the Wayne clan, just stick to basics and Jason related topics, he was acting shifty.
“Dick is complicated, it seems like he wants to be a part of a family but always stops himself before he gets too close.” It was true, Dick held himself apart, it was hard to recognize at first, beaming smiles, head pats and hugs easily disguised the fact that he shifted away from contact he didn’t initiate, and that he never held a conversation deeper than what school work was being done, with her or Tim. The only time he really had any conversation with Bruce was Bat related stuff. “I’m not sure how Dick felt, or feels about Jason, he’s a hard nut to crack. I think he feels guilty for not being there, and is trying to make up for it with me and Tim because he is beating himself up about his first little brother.”
“Hm, he was- I mean it’s not like he had anything to do with Jason’s death, from what I heard he wasn’t even around for like a month afterwards.” Steph knew Dick had been in space for Jason’s death and funeral, but couldn’t say that.
“Yeah he’d been traveling with friends, he didn’t know Jason had died at all until nearly a month later.” Steph said that was a pretty good cover for space travel.
“And the replacement son, what about him, is he traumatized and grieving too?” Peter nearly spat, he seemed to have a lot of animosity towards Tim, she was assuming that’s who he meant. He seemed angrier at the idea of Tim than any of the others.
“First off, he’s not a replacement, Bruce barely treats him like a person much less a son. Though it’s gotten better lately,” And Bruce was really good with Tim when they were in costume, it just didn’t translate to civilian life, she couldn’t divulge that though. Also like most kids their age Tim just talked to her about Bruce when he wanted to vent, she had a pretty one-sided view of their relationship. “No one could replace Jason, not to Bruce. And Tim’s fine, a little dorky sometimes, mostly he’s a normal teenager, goes to school, skateboards, hangs out with friends. His mom’s dead and his dad’s in a coma, so he’s not in the best headspace lately but otherwise he’s just some guy.” Steph held back the part where she had once had a crush on him, that had faded, and she knew Peter wouldn’t welcome the comment.
“Before you ask, Cass is just plain awesome and I won’t hear a word otherwise.” Steph said, crossing her arms over her chest.
Peter nodded, looking thoughtful. “What about Jason, you ask for a lot of stories, but I don’t know what you think about your ‘husband’.” He used finger quotes around the word husband.
“I think Jason was a special guy, and if he lived he’d have become something amazing. You know all my info is second hand and people rarely speak ill of the dead, but the Jason I’ve gotten to know loved Gotham especially Crime Alley and truly wanted to help others and improve people’s lives.” Steph’s voice was rising, getting more and more impassioned. “He had a shitty life and wanted to save people from going through the same as he did, Bruce said he was smart enough to become a doctor, lawyer or even run as a politician.”
“He did?” Peter interrupted.
“Yes, Bruce said that was Jason’s greatest triumph, catching up on everything he missed while homeless and not missing a grade, his scores were perfect, Bruce said he was very gifted.” Steph told him.
“Huh, didn’t expect that.” Peter admitted with a shrug.
“What, you thought Bruce would say he was a dumb street rat or something?” Steph challenged.
“Or something,” Peter said with yet another shrug.
“You’re such a pessimist.” Steph teased giving his shoulder a shove.
“Someone’s gotta be.”
Bruce said he was smart. Bruce didn’t regret him or think he was just some hanger on trying to get a leg up. Part of Jason felt relieved and the other part was even more pissed off. If Bruce loved him so much why was the Joker still alive?
The things Steph said made sense, and he decided he needed to give them a bit of thought before he did anything else.
“Stephanie, I am disappointed in you.” Bruce told her one evening when she’d come over for dinner as requested. She hated to admit it but those words made her stomach sink. Was this because of the B she got on her Trig test?
“Why? What did I do?” She asked, nervously twirling her hair.
“I know you are allowed to have boyfriends under the contract, and I don’t care but bringing them with you to Jason’s grave is tactless.” Steph tilted her head at Bruce’s words, what boyfriend?
“B, I don’t have a boyfriend.” She hadn’t since she got married, there had been some interest from a guy named Dean, but he’d just been after her newfound cash. So she’d sent him packing after one date. The only other boy she’d even had a crush on was Tim, and there was no way she was going to go after Jason’s newest brother. She often wondered what would have happened if she’d met Tim first instead of Bruce. Would she have fallen for the new Robin, instead of the old one?
“The security cameras have been picking up a man with you at every visit.” Bruce countered.
“Security cameras?” Steph asked, did he not trust her to show up or something?
“I installed them three months ago after the groundskeeper alerted me to some vandals in the graveyard, I wanted to make sure no one disturbed Jason’s rest.” Bruce explained.
“Okay, anyway that guy is not my boyfriend, it’s Jason’s cousin Peter, the kid of Jason’s dad’s brother.” Steph explained, Bruce’s eyes got slightly wider, barely noticeable, unless you were looking.
“Steph, Jason doesn’t have a male cousin, and Willis Todd didn’t have a brother.” Bruce told her, but that didn’t make any sense. Peter looked too much like Jason to not be related to him.
“Are you sure, because Peter could be Jason’s twin. And he knows a lot about Jason, has all these stories about them as children.” Steph explained, maybe Bruce had missed something.
“I did extensive research into Jason’s background. I even spoke with Willis’s mother. She had two children, Willis and a daughter, the daughter had one child, a girl named Faye.” Bruce said, looking agitated.
“Then who the hell have I been talking to?” Steph asked, getting a little panicked. Was it some imposter trying to worm his way into the Wayne family through her? Was he just some garden variety psycho who is taking advantage of his looks to fuck with her? Who the hell was ‘Peter Todd’?
“That’s what I’d like to know.” Bruce said, before turning to pace a little bit. “He always shows up right behind you, I want you to go at your normal day and time, I’ll be hiding nearby, when he shows up I want you to leave while I confront him.” Bruce said, laying out a plan.
“No way, I deserve to know who he is- I’m the one he’s been conning.” Steph protested.
“Stephanie, we have no way of knowing if he’s dangerous, he could have a weapon or training, I want you safe and out of his reach, no hostage situations.” Bruce said patiently and she could see where he was coming from, but she wasn’t giving up.
“Okay, I’ll get out of the way, but I’m not leaving all together.” She offered, he sighed and nodded.
“I’ll take what I can get from you.”
It had been weird since returning to Gotham. He had a plan, a great plan, but he’d not gotten anywhere on it, aside from a little bit of surveillance. He’d gone to his grave first, and there he’d met Steph. She didn’t give him some clichéd realization that he just wanted to be loved or some crap, he already knew how needy he was, thanks. But she’d reminded him of the boy he’d been, and then he started thinking about how much that boy would hate his plan.
On one hand, fuck that kid, all being him had ever gotten Jason was dead. But there on the other hand, Steph seemed so sure that kid was kind, just, passionate and determined, and a good kid that he should be proud of having been. And Jason was torn, really torn on what to do now.
Okay, he could go kill the Joker, there was literally very little stopping him, sneaking into Arkham wasn’t hard work, a bullet or three to the brainpan and he was free. But that wasn’t what he wanted. He wanted the validation of Bruce doing it for him. Proof he was loved, missed, mourned.
But wasn’t Steph that proof?
Bruce most likely wouldn’t kill the Joker, he’d had years to do it and hadn’t. What would happen was that Bruce would find some way out of the situation without giving Jason even a crumb of satisfaction and probably save the Joker along the way. He really couldn’t stand seeing that thought come to life.
So where did the plan stand? Where did he stand? He knew he couldn’t go back to the manor, play happy families, and suck it up. But he was also losing the stomach for all the death and violence of his plan. What would little Jason think? Why did he care so much? There was a small part of him that wondered what Steph would think of him, he didn’t like the thought of letting her down or tarnishing the image she had of him.
Fuck! He needed to rethink everything didn’t he? Maybe seeing Steph today would help clear some things up, he laughed ruefully at that thought, probably not.
Steph stood by Jason’s grave, not getting settled like normal. She needed to be on her feet so she could get away like Bruce had asked, she hoped it didn’t tip ‘Peter’ off that something was up.
“Hey Steph, everything okay?” Peter’s voice came from behind her. She turned and damn it, he must have seen something on her face, because he immediately tensed up and started looking around, as if for an enemy. “What’s going on?”
Steph knew she was supposed to leave now but she couldn’t help one last question. “Who are you really?” She asked, suddenly hit with the sadness of the discovery that ‘Peter’ was a fake. They’d spent weeks together talking and bonding, she liked him.
“You know who I am, what’s going on Steph?” He was getting skittish, then he looked over her shoulder and froze. She took that as her cue and backed up until she was even with a tree a few feet away, she could still hear but was out of grabbing range.
“Who-who are you?” Peter asked the approaching Bruce.
“I think you know the answer to that, the question is who are you?” Bruce said in rebuttal.
“Peter Todd,” he said, sticking out his chin pugnaciously.
“There is no Peter Todd, not in Jason’s family, and not that I could find with your picture in the DMV database. Who are you?” Bure demanded again.
“I’m leaving is who I am.” Peter said before spinning on his heels, Bruce reached out and sliced his wrist shallowly.
“What the fuck?” Peter yelled, clutching his wrist.
“You bleed so not Clayface, maybe a clone then.” Bruce theorized at the sight of the red dripping from the wound.
“What the hell, Clayface? A clone? Really reaching there aren’t you old man.” Peter said, huffing in anger.
“Jay- Jaylad?” Bruce asked and Steph gasped, could it really be him, Jason. She guessed a well trained clone was still a possibility. Peter looked at him with wide, glassy eyes, then caught her gaze, she watched his expression close off and he sprinted away, Bruce too shocked to stop him this time.
Fuck everything, Jason thought uncharitably, game on. The confrontation with Bruce had left him shaking and sick. He didn’t realize how much he’d been relying on Steph to get him through a week until he’d gone three without her hiding out. He needed to do something, anything. He couldn’t hide anymore, Steph said Bruce loved him when he was a boy, let’s see if he loved him now.
The plan was a go.
She’d been going out as Spoiler more and more, searching for ‘Peter’ or Jason, or whoever he was. Bruce had the grave dug up, Jason wasn’t there. There was a hole punched outwards. Steph didn’t know what to feel. Being married to a ghost was one thing, being married to a zombie was something entirely different.
It didn’t help that patrols had been exhausting with a new player hitting the streets, so far Red Hood had just helped out in Crime Alley, stopping muggers and rapists, but Batman didn’t trust anyone with the Joker’s old alias. Tonight she was following the word on the street, which was something hinky was going down at a warehouse in Crime Alley, someone had seen a body being dragged in. Spoiler was on the case.
She crept into the roof access door, and made her way silently to the catwalk around the main area of the warehouse. She did a quick count, there were eight bound bodies unconscious on the floor and a man in a red helmet in the middle staring.
She watched as he picked up something from a duffel bag, a gun. She was about to interfere when he screamed and threw the gun.
“Fuck!” He shouted again grabbing the sides of the helmet. “Why can’t I do this?” He continued to yell. “Aargh,” he shouted, then kicked one of the unconscious bodies in the leg.
Spoiler made her way down, carefully and quietly.
“Hey there, it doesn’t look like you’re having a good time here.” Spoiler said and the red helmeted man spun at the sound, hand going to a knife at his belt.
“Who are you?” She noticed the mechanical taint to the voice when she was close.
“I’m Spoiler, and I can help.”
“I don’t think you can, I have a plan, I just have to execute it.” The guy, who she was assuming was Red Hood said.
“Well what’s the plan, maybe we can spitball ideas here,” She was trying to distract him, keep him talking until Bruce arrived, she had hit her emergency beacon when she first spoke.
And then he did something crazy, he actually divulged his plan. Take the heads of these eight guys, start a gang war, get the Joker released, make Batman kill him. Okay the guy needed more help than she could give that’s for sure.
“But the plan is all fucked, I can’t kill these assholes. Like I think I’m gonna puke just holding the gun. My wife messed everything up.” He said out of nowhere, well that was good, she really didn’t want to go toe to toe with a maniac that wanted to chop off eight heads.
“Sounds like you need to talk to your wife, buddy,” she advised.
“She doesn’t know I’m alive,” Red Hood said. The mechanized voice sounded pathetic.
Steph was getting the craziest idea.
“Jason?” She asked softly, not wanting to spook him.
“Aw hell, Steph?” She nodded, “I should have known you’d be a cape too.” He said, then reached to the back of his helmet and released a clasp. Yeah it was ‘Peter’ with a red domino over his eyes. She nodded. Okay, so her husband was a zombie with mass murdering tendencies. She could deal with this.
“I think maybe you should let these guys go, honestly your plan seems kinda stupid and overly complex.” Steph said, hoping it wouldn’t set Jason off. If there was any piece of the boy he had been inside him she’d be just fine.
He laughed, at first it was a rueful chuckle, but it developed into a full bellied laugh.
“Oh god, it is, isn’t it?” He choked out between bouts of laughter. “I thought about just shooting the Joker, you know? But that didn’t seem satisfying, who the hell am I becoming?” She wasn’t sure that required an answer.
“I think… I think I’m done, I don’t want to do this anymore. I don’t want to be this person.” He said after he collected himself.
“Maybe we could just go somewhere and talk, after you let these guys go.” Steph suggested. Anything to get him calm and not murder focused. Plus, she was feeling more confident by the second that the Jason she knew about was still in there.
“They’re still drug dealers and mob lieutenants, just because I’m not going to decapitate them doesn’t mean they should go free. Let’s just call GCPD.” He said, running a hand over his face.
“Thank god,” came a voice from the floor, one of the drug dealers had woken up and was shaking, either from fear or relief, she couldn’t tell which.
That was about the time Batman burst through a window.
Things didn’t miraculously get better overnight. Jason and Bruce argued and fought more than they talked, but they were getting better, they hadn’t devolved to punching in weeks. Steph was willing to take it.
The Joker’s cell had been upgraded to a level even Steph thought was a little draconian, but it’d be a cold day in hell that he managed to break out. It didn’t really appease Jason but he accepted the compromise with some grace.
She’d asked Jason if he wanted her to break the contract, he’d told her to keep taking the old man’s money for as long as she could, he wasn’t even dating, much less trying to get married. She thought that was sweet of him. Bruce didn’t even ask her, Jason made his opinion about Steph clear and Bruce was willing to let things lie in that particular arena.
She did miss going to Jason’s grave, and talking with him, sometimes she went anyway, just to get some things off her mind, sometimes Jason joined her, they talked about current events these days. Jason was getting his GED, he wanted to go to college. She was going to start in the fall, things were going well, all in all.
Jason was nervous, he’d passed his GED tests with flying colors, and though he’d resolved to ignore it, Bruce’s money probably helped him get into Gotham University. Things were looking up, mostly. He hadn’t made much headway with Bruce, it was just too tender, the wounds still open. But he’d spent some time with a contrite Dick, doing his best to talk the idiot out of his guilt. He even had a few conversations with the Drake kid, small talk but something.
The only thing that was really concerning him, that was making him nervous, was the decision he’d made last night.
He was going to ask Steph out.
His main concern was that she’d say yes because she didn’t want to lose the contract. He thought he knew her well enough to know that she wouldn’t really give a fuck, but it did eat at the back of his mind a little.
He couldn’t even believe he’d come to care about her so much, this girl Bruce had literally found on the street. He figured he should just be grateful Bruce hadn’t gone with some vapid debutante. Steph was anything but, she was smart, street and book wise, she was kind, and funny and sarcastic in the best ways. It didn’t hurt that she was gorgeous and never backed down from a challenge. Aw hell, he might actually be in love with his wife.
Hopefully she was falling in love with her husband too.