Archive of Our Own

“This is entirely your fault, Drake!”

“How is it my fault? You're the one who decided to stop for the cat–”

“The kitten was in peril!”

Steph buries deeper into the soft blanket she's found herself wrapped in. She doesn't recognize either of the voices arguing nearby. She doesn't recognize this blanket either, but it's less scary than angry grown-ups. Or almost grown-ups. Maybe one grown-up and one big kid. Steph isn't going to look to find out.

“Hey,” says a third voice. “Instead of arguing about who's to blame, why don't we check how she's doing now?”

Steph grips tightly to the blanket as it's peeled back from her face.

A man with dark hair wearing a blue shirt smiles at her.

“Hey! You're awake!” he says. “How are you feeling?”

Steph keeps quiet. She doesn't know this man. She doesn't know the other man or the big kid behind him. She doesn't know where she is. The room looks like a Disney princess movie but real. 

Steph didn't know places like that could be real.

“It's okay,” the man says as he sits back on his heels. “I know it's probably a little bit scary, but we're here to help.”

Steph's mom always tells her not to talk to strangers.

So Steph shakes her head and shrinks further back into the sofa.

“You're scaring her, Dick,” says the other grown-up.

Steph is pretty sure “dick” is one of the words that mom always shouts at dad for using. The ones she says Steph should never say.

But the man in front of her doesn't get angry. He just smiles sadly and stands up. The two grown-ups and the big kid speak quietly to each other for a bit. Then the second grown-up approaches Steph.

“Hi,” he says softly. “I'm Tim. Do you know where you are?”

Steph says nothing. She just stares at “Tim”.

“Or maybe you could tell us your name?” he asks after a bit more silence.

Steph shakes her head. She's not telling them anything.

“Tt,” says the big kid. “This is a waste of time.”

Suddenly the door opens and another, bigger man strolls in.

“I called B,” he says. “Explained the situation as much as I could. I dunno how much help he'll be. The old man is panicking.”

For the first time since she woke up here, Steph relaxes a little. This new man reminds her of her neighbor, Joe. Joe looks big and scary, and dad says he fought in a war, but he always smiles at Steph and one time he got her a band-aid for her knee when she fell on the sidewalk outside their apartment building.

Cautiously, Steph unravels herself from the blanket and stands next to the new man.

She looks up at him. She has to look up a long way. It makes her feel safe. This man could probably even beat up Steph's dad, he's so big.

“Hi,” he says, surprised.

“Hi,” Steph whispers.

“I'm Jason,” he says as he crouches down. “It's nice to meet you.”

“I'm Steph,” Steph replies quietly. She doesn't want the others to hear her. “Why do them guys talk so fancy?”

Jason laughs.

“They just grew up different from where we did, Blondie.”

Steph glances over at the other three again.

The man in the blue shirt waves at her and Steph turns and grabs hold of Jason's arm. “I don't like ‘em,” she decides. “I wanna go home.”

Jason sits with Steph on the sofa until another big man comes in.

“Hey, B,” he says, and starts to stand up.

Steph grabs for his arm. He can't leave her.

“I'll be right back, Blondie,” he explains. “I've just gotta talk to the old man for a minute.”

Steph frowns.

“I won't even leave the room,” Jason promises.

Steph nods.

The four men and the big boy have a whispered conversation by the door. Jason comes back after a while and crouches next to her.

“Okay, Steph,” he says softly. “Your mom and dad aren't home right now so we can't take you home yet.”

Steph tilts her head but nods slowly. Sometimes Dad has to stay in jail for a bit and Steph's mom has to go to work. Or she gets one of the neighbors to watch Steph so she can take her medicine that makes her happy.

“You can either stay here, with Bruce,” he nods toward the man smiling at her from the door, “and I'll be here too, or we can go back to my apartment.”

Steph doesn't want to stay here for even a second longer.

“Apartment, please,” she whispers.

Jason gives her a sad smile as he stands up. “Apartment it is!”

Bruce gives Jason a big plastic bag full of what looks like a bunch of clothes, before Jason takes her hand and leads her out to his car.

Steph watches out the window as the big fancy house gets smaller and smaller. She relaxes a little bit. Wherever Jason’s apartment is, it's gotta be more normal than the Disney movie place they just left.

“Whoa!” Steph gasps as she steps into the apartment. “You got so many books, Jason!”

Steph runs around the living room. There are books on every shelf and every table and there's even one on the sofa with a bookmark poking out of it.

She clambers onto the sofa and picks the book up. She stands tall on the seat as she examines it. “Jason, is this a kissy book?” she asks, scrunching up her face. The cover has a man and a woman on it and they're hugging each other.

“It is a kissy book, yeah,” Jason confirms.

“Bleh!” Steph drops it back on the sofa. It bounces a little as it lands. Steph starts bouncing too. “Kissing’s so gross. I ain't never gonna kiss a boy!”

Jason snorts like she's said something funny.

“I mean it!” she says as she jumps back off the sofa. “Definitely not on the lips. Yuck!”

Jason starts pulling things out of the bag Bruce gave him.

Pajamas. A toothbrush. A plushie pony.

“Why's it all purple?” Steph asks, peering over to look.

“Don't you like purple?” Jason replies.

Steph pokes around in the bag. Purple shirts. Purple underpants. Purple. Purple. Purple.

“Purple’s okay,” she says. She puts her finger on her chin as she thinks. “It's my second fav– No. My third favorite color.” She nods firmly. Definitely third. “Blue’s my second favorite and pink is my best favorite.”

Jason nods back at her. “Well, all I have right now is purple. Do you think you can live with that for a night?”

Steph sighs loudly. “I s’pose it’ll work,” she huffs. “But I'm making a mark in my head, Jason!”

He chuckles. “That's fair. C’mon,” he says. “Let's go get your teeth brushed and we'll get you into bed.”

As soon as Steph wakes up, she climbs out of bed and tiptoes into Jason's living room. Jason is sleeping on the sofa.

Steph goes all the way up to him and pokes his face.

Jason sits up so fast he almost knocks Steph over.

“Jason!” she scolds.

“Sorry, squirt,” he yawns. “You okay?”

“I need breakfast,” Steph tells him.

Jason frowns and picks up his phone from the table. “Steph. It's five in the morning.”

“Yeah,” Steph says, not seeing the problem. “Morning is breakfast time!”

“I think we need a bit more sleep before breakfast,” Jason says as he lies back down.

Steph huffs and sits on the floor with her back against the sofa. “Jason! I'm staaaaarviiiiing!”

“Hi, starving, I'm Jason,” he mumbles into his pillow.

Steph sighs and gets back on her feet. She paces back and forth in front of the sofa. Then she stops next to the wall.

Her friend Tina can do handstands. Steph asked her once how she got so good and Tina showed her how to practice using the wall.

Steph crouches down and puts her hands on the floor next to the wall. She bends forwards until her head is touching the ground. She kicks her feet off the floor and…

Topples into a pile of Jason's books on the nearby table. They all clatter to the ground with a giant crash.

Jason sits straight up again. “Are you alright, Steph?”

“I'm sorry!” Steph squeals. “I didn't mean to!”

Jason rubs a hand down his face. He sighs. Then he says, “As long as you're okay, it's alright. That's what I get for leaving you hungry, you little gremlin.”

He smiles at Steph and she giggles.

Jason yawns again. “Let's get you some breakfast then.”

After having cereal for breakfast (gross), Steph goes back into the bag of clothes. Jason said she could pick what she wanted to wear.

“Ugh. Purple,” she mutters. But one of the shirts has Batgirl on it. So it's not all bad.

At the bottom of the bag is a pack of sparkly hair ties and a brush.

“Jason!” she cries.

“Everything alright?” he asks as he pokes his head into the room.

Steph holds up the brush and the hair ties. “After I put clothes on, you can braid my hair!”

Jason nods slowly. “Alright, Blondie, but I need you to know I've never braided hair before.”

“That's okay,” Steph says as she takes her pajamas off. “I'm sure you'll do a good job.”

“Ow! Jaasoooon!”

“Sorry, Steph.”

“You're pulling it!”

“I'm trying really hard not to.”

“Try harder not to!”

Jason has to try three times to braid Steph's hair before he finally holds her up to the bathroom mirror so she can look.

Steph turns her head a couple of times. The braid is all to the side and bits of hair are already going into her face. She pushes them back as Jason puts her down.

“Well,” Steph says, putting her hands on her hips. “It's not very good, Jason.”

She pats his arm. "But it's just your first time," she says. "I bet you'll get real good if you practice more.”

Jason smiles at her. “I'll definitely get better if I have a hair expert like you to teach me.”

Steph nods. He's going to need all the help he can get.

After he tries to braid her hair, Jason puts PBS on the TV and tells Steph to let him know if she needs something.

Then he falls asleep on the sofa.

Steph rolls her eyes. They've been up for hardly any time. How can Jason be tired already?

Count von Count is dancing around his castle with his bats when the doorbell rings.

“Jason.” Steph pokes his legs.

“1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, doing the batty bat!”

The doorbell rings again.

“Jason!”

Jason startles awake. “Hmm?”

“Someone's at the door,” Steph says.

“Right, yeah,” Jason replies through a yawn. “You wait here. I'll go see who it is.”

Steph's just getting back into the show (“Batty batty batty batty batty batty batty batty batty bat”) when two women walk into the room.

“This is my sister, Cass, and our… friend, Zatanna,” Jason introduces them. “I've got some stuff I need to talk to Zatanna about, Steph. Is it okay if Cass waits with you?”

Steph gives Cass an assessing look. Her hair is in two little braids and she has a shirt with a cat on it. “Yeah, that's okay,” Steph decides.

Cass sits down next to her.

“I like your braids,” Steph says.

“Thank you,” replies Cass. “I like yours.”

Steph scoffs. “It's okay. You don't have to lie,” she tells Cass. “Jason did it but it's only his first time so it's kind of bad.”

Cass laughs. “He tried very hard,” she says.

“He did,” Steph agrees.

On screen, Ernie tap dances through his bedroom with some sheep while Bert complains about the noise.

“I made a noise while Jason was sleeping,” Steph says.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, but he wasn't grumpy like Bert,” Steph explains. “He just got up and made me breakfast.”

Steph pushes the hair out of her face again. It keeps escaping from her braid.

“Then he did my braid, but he might have to do it again because it's all messy,” Steph huffs. “And probably we have to go grocery shopping today because Jason didn't even have any Pop-Tarts so I had to have cereal which is super gross cuz it always goes mushy.” Steph makes a face and Cass nods.

“Mushy cereal is no good,” she says seriously.

“Right!” agrees Steph. “And besides Jason is gonna get me new clothes today because that man Bruce only bought me purple clothes and that's only my fourth favorite color.”

“Fourth?”

Steph looks up. Jason and Zatanna are coming back into the room.

“I thought you said purple was your third favorite?” Jason asks.

“I did,” Steph says, pushing her hair back again, “but I forgot about orange and it's my best best favorite.”

“Of course,” Jason nods.

“You're gonna have to do my hair again, Jason,” Steph tells him. “I can't work with this.” She gestures to her falling apart braid. “Maybe Cass can help you! Her braids are real good.”

Cass nods at Jason. Jason sighs.

“Alright then,” he says. “Let's get the brush back out for round two.”

It only takes Jason two tries to get Steph's braid right with Cass helping. Then he does take Steph grocery shopping.

“Okay then, gremlin,” he says as they grab a cart. “What things do we need? I'm thinking Pop-Tarts, fruit, maybe some cookies to keep us going through the afternoon…”

Steph nods. “And apple juice,” she adds. “That's my favorite juice.”

“I'll add it to our list,” Jason says, typing something on his phone. “And what should we have for dinner? I think I've got stuff for mac and cheese, but if you'd rather have pizza or chicken nuggets we can get those instead.”

Steph stops walking suddenly. “Huh.”

Jason stops too. “Steph?”

“Mom always says ‘This is what I made. You can take it or leave it,’” Steph explains. “Except when she's had her medicine, sometimes she forgets to make dinner and then I go to Mrs Chen’s apartment and she gets me McDonald's.”

Steph takes Jason's hand again. “I thought nuggets were just McDonald’s food.”

Jason smiles down at her. “Nope, we can make ‘em at home.” He pushes the cart down the first aisle. “Why don't we get some and you can tell me if they're better than McDonald's nuggets?”

Steph nods eagerly.

Jason is the best.

Not only do they get nuggets at the store, Steph finds nuggets shaped like dinosaurs. Jason makes them both some for lunch, while Steph sits at the table and colors in her new princess book.

“Who's this one, Jason?” she asks, frowning.

Steph knows all the Disney princesses, but she can't tell who this one is supposed to be.

Jason peers over her shoulder. “That's Moana,” he says. “She's new.”

“I didn't know they made a new princess movie,” Steph says as she picks up a blue pencil for the sea. “Mom says theaters are too expensive but sometimes when we go to the store they have movies in the special bin and then I get to choose one for at home.” She puts the blue pencil down. “What color is Moana's shirt?” she asks.

“Red,” Jason replies, sitting down at the table with her.

“The movies in the bin aren't expensive so that's okay,” Steph explains. “Mom needs to make sure she has enough money to buy her medicine.” The red pencil goes back in the box. “What color’s her skirt s’posed to be, Jason?”

“Uh…” Jason pulls out his phone and types for a bit. “Looks like it's kind of cream. With a red bit.” He turns the screen around to show Steph and she nods, picking the red pencil up again.

“Maybe we could watch Moana after lunch?” Jason suggests. “I think you'd like it.”

“It's not too expensive?” Steph asks.

“My brother already got me a copy so we don't have to pay anything,” Jason says.

“That sounds like a good plan, Jason!” Steph agrees. “Now.” She puts the red pencil back down. “When are my nuggets ready?”

That night, Steph puts her new pink pajamas on and lets Jason brush her braid out. He hardly even pulls her hair at all this time.

She brushes her teeth and Jason grabs her, swinging her up onto her shoulders as she squeals.

“Moana! Make way, make way!” he sings and Steph laughs all the way through to the bedroom.

“You're not the chief,” she tells him as he lifts her off his shoulders again. “You're Maui.”

Jason just nods and puts her down gently on the bed. “You're welcome!”

Steph laughs again as she gets under the covers. Jason hands her the plushie and makes sure she's all tucked in.

“And I'm just outside if you need anything, alright, Blondie?” he says.

Steph nods. “Jason?” she asks.

“Yeah, gremlin?”

“Can I stay here forever?”

Jason's hands go still where they're tucking in the corner of the sheets.

“Because you're way funner than my dad,” Steph explains. “And you don't forget dinner like Mom does.”

She thinks for a bit. “And if I stay here, you get to practice your braiding more!”

Jason smiles at her. “Steph,” he says, “you can stay here as long as you want.”

Steph grins at him. “‘Night, Maui.”

Jason chuckles as he heads back out of the room. “Goodnight, Moana.”

And even when he closes the door, Steph can hear him humming “You're Welcome” as she drifts off to sleep.

Steph is on Moana’s boat. The waves rock her gently back and forth as she looks for Maui's island.

“There's a storm coming,” says a voice behind her.

Steph swings around to find a lady standing at the back of the boat. She's all glowy like Moana’s grandma and she's wearing a hood and a mask. Everything about her is purple.

“Are you a ninja?” Steph asks as the wind picks up.

The lady laughs. It sounds familiar, but Steph can't think where she's heard it before.

“No,” she says. “But I know a few.”

The next wave makes the boat twist in a way that makes Steph's tummy feel funny.

“Who are you?” she asks.

“I'm with you,” the lady says, so quietly Steph almost doesn't hear her.

The ocean roars and a giant wave crashes over the boat. Steph tries desperately to grab onto a rope. The purple lady stretches her arm out but she's too far away for Steph to reach.

Her head goes under the water and–

“Jason!” Steph screams as she sits up in her bed.

The door opens almost instantly. The light goes on as Steph sniffles.

“Are you okay?” Jason asks as he sits gently on the edge of the bed.

Steph shakes her head. “I had a bad dream,” she says.

“Do you want to tell me about it?”

Steph shakes her head again. It's already fading now that Jason's here.

“Can you stay here for a while?” Steph asks.

“Of course, Blondie.”

Jason lets her get settled back down and rubs her back a few times.

“Thanks, Jason.”

“You're welcome,” Jason sings and Steph giggles as she closes her eyes.

Nothing can get her with Jason here.

In the morning, Jason makes Pop-Tarts for Steph, which is much better than mushy cereal. He sits at the table with her and frowns at his phone.

“Watcha looking at?” Steph asks.

Jason turns his phone around to show her. It's a video of a bigger girl with a lady doing her hair.

“My friend, Roy, has a daughter,” he explains. “I asked him how he learned to do her hair and he sent me some videos.”

Steph nods happily. “That's a very good idea, Jason,” she says.

“I don't think I'm up for anything this complicated yet.”

Steph watches as the lady on the video crosses the girl’s braids over before twisting them into buns. It does look like it would be a bit much for Jason.

“But some of these look like they're within my skill level,” Jason finishes. “And we've got all those sparkly clips you chose at the store yesterday.”

Steph grins at him. “You're going to be so good at hair soon, Jason.”

“Thanks, gremlin.”

“You're welcome.”

Jason puts Steph's hair in a ponytail on the side of her head this morning. He lets Steph choose which clips to put on the other side of her head to stop it falling down, so she chooses blue ones with sea shells.

“They're not the right color,” she says with a frown, “but I think shells are best for being Moana.”

Then Jason takes her to a park near his apartment. Steph's sure she's been here before, but there's new slides and the swing set isn't broken like it used to be.

Steph is showing Jason her best cartwheel practice when he stands up suddenly. “We need to leave,” he says.

“We've hardly been here any time, Jason!” Steph complains.

“I know, Blondie. I'll take you somewhere else fun,” Jason promises.

Steph doesn't want somewhere else. She wants to stay here.

She stomps her feet. “I'm not done playing yet, Jason!”

“We need to leave,” Jason says.

Steph sits down on the grass. “No!”

A snowflake lands on her knee. Steph stares at it for a second. It's summer. Where did it come from?

Jason grabs Steph and lifts her up like she doesn't weigh anything. Steph hits his shoulders. He doesn't even flinch.

“I don't want to go!” Steph screams.

Jason doesn't say anything, he just runs.

Steph takes a deep breath so she can shout some more. This is so unfair!

The breath catches in her throat. The air is so cold. The grass is crunching under Jason's feet. Steph looks over Jason's shoulder at the park behind them.

Batman and Robin are fighting Mr Freeze right next to the swing set.

Steph grabs Jason's shoulders tight.

Maybe it is time to go after all.

“The library, Jason?”

“Yup.”

Steph gives him her best unimpressed look. “You said you'd take me somewhere else fun.”

He puts a hand on his heart and gasps. “The library is fun.”

Steph rolls her eyes. “You don't need no more books!”

Jason laughs. “First of all, Gremlin, you can never have too many books.”

Steph huffs and he laughs again. “Second, I thought we could look for books for you.”

Books for Steph?

“Well,” she says. “That's different. Where are the picture books?”

“This way,” Jason says, taking hold of her hand again.

“You can help me pick,” Steph suggests. “You got lots of books so you probably will do a good job choosing.”

She thinks for a bit. “But no kissy books!”

“Wouldn't dream of it, Blondie.”

Good. Kissing is still gross.

Jason drops Steph's hand as she runs over to the shelves.

“I want a princess book, Jason,” she tells him. “But not one where the prince has to save her. Those usually have gross kissy bits.”

Jason nods. “Plus, the princess should get to save herself sometimes,” he adds.

“Yes!” agrees Steph. “Girls don't need stinky boys to save them.”

She pauses a second as she reaches for the first book on the shelf.

“You're not a stinky boy though, Jason. You're a nice one.”

“I think that's the best compliment anyone's ever given me.”

They read lots of books in the library before Steph settles on The Princess and the Pony. When Jason reads it he does funny voices for all of the warriors in the battle and he makes fart noises for the pony that make Steph laugh so hard she feels like she can't breathe.

Steph gets to carry the book back to Jason's apartment.

Except they have to go the long way around because the park's closed now.

“Stupid Mr Freeze,” Steph fumes. “He's lucky we ran away, Jason!”

Jason snorts.

“I mean it!” Steph cries. “I woulda given him a piece of my mind!”

“I bet you would have,” Jason agrees.

“How much longer do we have to walk?”

“We're about halfway back.”

“Only halfway?” Steph groans. “Jason, my feet are so tired they're gonna fall off!”

Jason rolls his eyes and shakes his head. “Not much I can do about that, gremlin.”

“You could carry me and give my feet a nice rest,” Steph suggests, very sensibly.

“I think I did enough carrying on the way to the library,” Jason replies.

Steph frowns as they walk a bit longer. Her feet are sooooo tired. Walking is taking forever. They'd go so much quicker if Jason carried her.

“Can we play a game on the way back?” Steph asks.

“Sure thing,” Jason says.

“Can we play The Princess and the Pony?”

Jason shrugs. “Why not?”

“Great!” Steph says. “I'll be Princess Pinecone and you can be the pony.”

Jason makes a fart noise as he nods.

Steph giggles. “And now it's time for the pony to give Princess Pinecone a ride back to the castle!”

Jason starts laughing almost as hard as Steph laughed at the library.

“Alright, you got me,” he says. “Climb on, Princess.”

And he crouches down so she can ride piggyback the whole way home.

Once they get back to Jason's apartment, Steph clambers onto the sofa with her library book and says, “And now it's Moana time.”

“Again?” Jason asks.

Steph nods. “I only watched it once, Jason,” she explains. “I need to watch it lots so I know everything ‘bout Moana.”

Jason shakes his head a bit, but he says, “Alright. We can watch Moana again, but we need lunch first. I've seen what happens when this gremlin gets hungry!”

Steph giggles. “Can we have Moana lunch?”

Jason thinks for a bit. “I think I can manage that,” he says. “You wait here and I'll tell you when it's ready.”

Steph looks through The Princess and the Pony while Jason comes and goes. He grabs her pencils and a sheet of paper from the coffee table but when Steph asks him why he needs those he just says, “You'll see.”

Once Steph has looked at all of the pictures in her book twice, Jason calls her into the kitchen.

He's made her peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but they're made into rectangles (without the crusts) and they each have a little stick poked into them with a bit of paper that looks like a sail. There are goldfish crackers on the plate next to them.

“Is this Moana enough?” Jason asks.

“Jason, this is so good!” Steph cries. “It's like Moana’s boats on the sea!”

She looks closer at the sails. They even have the red spiral on them. “This is the best lunch ever,” Steph decides.

“I'm glad you like it, Blondie,” Jason says. He joins her at the table with his own plate. He just has a sandwich and it's just boring and normal. Steph frowns.

“You made me a good lunch and made you a boring lunch,” she says.

“That's alright,” Jason replies. “Grown-up lunches are usually boring.”

Steph shakes her head. “Not today. Today we're both having Moana lunch,” she says.

She carefully takes one of the sails off one of her sandwiches and reaches across the table to stick it in Jason's sandwich. Then she takes a few of her goldfish and drops them onto his plate.

“That's better,” she says.

“Thank you, Steph,” Jason says with a smile.

“You're welcome!” 

Steph has blue pajamas tonight. Jason brushed her hair before bed and didn't pull it once. He's getting so much better.

Jason tucks her in and asks if she needs anything else.

“Jason…” Steph hesitates. “Could you read me The Princess and the Pony again before I go to sleep?”

“Of course I can,” Jason replies. “Let me go grab it.”

They've read it twice since they got home. Once after Moana and once after dinner. It's just so much fun reading it with Jason that Steph can't help asking again.

When Jason brings back the book, Steph says, “I like when you read books to me, Jason.”

“I'm glad,” Jason replies. “I like reading them to you.”

“Really?” Steph asks, surprised.

“Really.”

“Oh.”

“Everything alright, Blondie?”

“My dad always says ‘Stephanie, I've got better things to do than read bullpoop stories with you.’” Steph explains. “‘Cept he doesn't say ‘poop’, he says a word Mom says I shouldn't copy.”

“Well,” Jason says, “I'm not your dad. I can't think of anything better than reading stories with you.”

Steph grins at him. “That's why you're the best, Jason.”

She pats his arm. “Now, tell me about Princess Pinecone.”

The purple lady has a cozy sweater on tonight, just like the warriors at the end of Steph's library book. It has a cat on it. She still has her hood and mask on, though.

“Hi,” Steph whispers.

“Hi,” the purple lady whispers back.

They're not on Moana's boat this time. They're in Steph's bedroom. She can hear Jason humming “You're Welcome” outside the door. Which is weird because Steph is pretty sure Jason hasn't ever been in her apartment.

“He hasn't,” says the purple lady.

“How'd you know my thoughts?” Steph asks, sitting up and pushing her hair out of her face.

“I know lots of things about you, Steph.”

“And I don't know nothing about you,” Steph says. “So that's not fair.”

“You will,” the purple lady replies.

Jason's humming has stopped. Steph decides to ignore the purple lady and gets out of bed to check on him.

“You don't want to open that door,” the purple lady tells her.

Shows what she knows. Steph will always want to see Jason.

“And telling you not to do something has never worked anyway,” the purple lady says softly.

Steph throws open the door. It's not Jason on the other side.

Her mom sits on the sofa with that fuzzy look she always has after she takes her medicine. Dad comes storming in from the other room.

“For fuck’s sake, Stephanie!” he shouts, and Mom slowly turns her head to look right through Steph. “It’s bedtime. Stay in your fucking bed!”

Steph stumbles backward and closes the door as fast as she can without slamming it. If it slams, Dad will get mad and come in to keep yelling at Steph.

“I told you,” says the purple lady, sadly.

“I don't want to be here,” Steph says, through tears. “Jason said I could stay with him as long as I wanted.”

“I know,” the purple lady says. “I know.”

Steph tiptoes out of the bedroom and is relieved to see Jason still sleeping on the sofa.

She goes all the way up to him and climbs under the blanket next to him. There's not much space, but that's okay. It's still the safest place for Steph to be.

“Everything alright, Gremlin?” Jason murmurs. His eyes are still closed, but he isn't grumpy about Steph waking him or about her getting out of bed.

“Did you mean it when you said I could stay as long as I wanted?” Steph asks.

“Of course I did,” Jason replies. “I'd never lie to you about something as important as that.”

“Jason, can you be my dad?”

Jason is completely silent for a moment.

“My dad is mean all the time,” Steph says as she starts crying again. “And Mom doesn't do nothing about it!”

She clings onto Jason as she sobs.

“I promise you don't ever have to go back there, Steph,” Jason says.

And Jason would never lie to her about something that important. So Steph sniffles and dries her tears on his shirt and drifts off to sleep.

She doesn't even notice that he didn't answer her question.

Jason lifts up the bananas he bought during their last grocery trip as Steph eats her Pop-Tarts.

“These look like they're a bit mushy now,” he says, making a face. “How'd you like to make some banana bread today?”

Steph chews her Pop-Tart as she thinks it over.

“Does it have to be banana bread?” she asks. “Can we make them into cupcakes instead?”

Jason opens one of his cabinets and takes a look at the contents. “We'll need to make another trip to the store,” he says, “but we can definitely make cupcakes.”

When Steph asks if they can get sprinkles for their cakes, Jason lifts her up to the shelf and tells her to pick the sparkliest ones they have. Then he grabs something else from the same shelf and won't show Steph. He says it's a surprise.

At home, Jason helps Steph carefully measure all the ingredients and lets her lick the spoon after.

Steph colors in some more of her princess book while the cakes cook, then Jason frosts them once they've cooled and Steph pours sprinkles on.

She's worried at first that she might use too many but after she sprinkles a tiny bit on the first cake, Jason says, “We're going to need more than that, Gremlin.”

He's doing something at a separate counter but keeps moving to hide when Steph tries to see.

Eventually, once every part of every cake is covered in sparkles, Jason asks Steph to go and wait on the sofa and he'll bring the cakes through.

“Ta-da!” he announces.

Steph gasps. Jason has stuck little fondant eyes onto the same kind of sticks he used for Moana's sails yesterday. Now that each cupcake has a pair of eyes sticking out, they look like…

“Tamatoa cakes!” Steph cries.

“The shiniest cakes I've ever seen,” Jason says. “Now I just need a taste tester to see if they taste as good as they look…”

“Oh! Me!” Steph says. “I'll do it!”

Jason passes her a cupcake and she carefully peels off the wrapper and takes a bite.

“These are…” Steph says, and pauses because this is a big moment, “the best cakes I ever tasted, Jason!”

Jason takes one for himself and bites into it. “I think you might be right, Blondie,” he agrees.

“It's cuz you and me are the best bakers,” Steph tells him in between bites.

“We make a great team,” he replies.

Steph nods. They are the best team.

They eat a couple more cakes each as they watch Moana again that afternoon.

Steph is on Moana's boat again. The pony from her library book is sitting next to her. Steph pets his head and he farts. She giggles. The laughter is echoed behind her.

Steph isn't surprised to see the purple lady again. She's sitting on the edge of the boat with her pants rolled up and her feet in the calm ocean water. She still has her mask on, but her hood is down, and her blonde hair is in a neat braid with seashell clips.

Steph sits next to her and puts her feet in the water too. The pony stays where it is.

“Are you going to show me the way?” Steph asks her.

The purple lady points to her right. “Maui's island is that way.”

“Thank you!” Steph says and starts to get up.

“Or…” the purple lady says, “you can go that way.” She points to her left. There's a big storm on the horizon that way.

“What's that way?” Steph asks. She doesn't want to sail into a storm, but maybe if it's something really good…

“Home.”

Steph makes a face at the purple lady, and she laughs again, but quieter this time.

“Why would I go that way?” Steph asks. “I don't wanna go through a storm to go somewhere bad.”

The purple lady shrugs. “You'd be surprised.” She looks down at her knees. “We have a habit of making things hard for ourselves.”

Steph is quiet as she eats her Pop-Tarts the next morning. She just shrugs when Jason asks her if she wants him to do her hair, so he just brushes it for her and lets her choose a headband out of the bag. She picks the purple one.

It feels right today.

Jason is just giving Steph some options for the day when the doorbell rings.

It's Cass and Zatanna again. Steph waves at them both before Zatanna and Jason go into the kitchen to talk.

Cass sits down next to Steph.

“Sorry I'm so quiet today,” Steph says after a few seconds of silence.

“Sometimes it is good to be quiet,” Cass says. “It's good for thinking.”

Steph nods. “I had a weird dream, Cass,” she tells her. “It wasn't a nightmare or nothing. It just makes me feel funny.”

Cass nods.

Zatanna and Jason come back into the room then. Zatanna smiles at Steph and asks, “Stephanie, have you been having strange dreams while you've been at Jason's apartment?”

Steph nods. “Did you tell her, Jason?” she asks.

Jason shakes his head.

“I think something might have happened to you before you came to stay with Jason,” Zatanna explains. “It might be what's giving you strange dreams, and sometimes you might have thoughts or feelings that are a bit confusing.”

Steph frowns at her.

“I think I can fix what happened, but only if you want me to,” Zatanna says. “You can think about it as long as you want, and Jason can let me know what you decide.”

Then she and Cass leave again.

“Jason, is Zatanna really your friend?” Steph asks.

Jason nods.

“And you trust her?”

“I do,” replies Jason.

Steph frowns. She thinks for a bit. “Do you think I should let her help me?”

Jason sighs and thinks for a second, tilting his head from side to side. Then he says, “I think she's right that something happened before you woke up at B’s place, but it's not a choice I can make for you.”

Steph nods. “I gotta think about it, okay?”

Jason nods back and smiles. “Take as long as you need, Gremlin.”

He picks up Steph's library book. “Did you want to read about Princess Pinecone while you make up your mind?”

Steph grins. “Yes!”

Steph pats the pony on the boat as she steps off onto the beach of Maui's island. She walks barefoot in her purple pajamas across the sand, leaving footprints among the seashells.

There's a noise from one of the caves on the beach. Steph pokes her head in.

“Maui?” she whispers, her voice echoing.

But as her eyes adjust to the dark, she can see it's not Maui. It's the purple lady.

She's fighting a man in orange with a long blond ponytail. Even with the mask covering the bottom of his face, Steph recognizes her dad. He looks super mad.

The purple lady punches him right across the face and he falls down. Then she turns and starts walking towards Steph.

“Is he dead?” Steph asks her.

“No,” the purple lady replies, pulling her hood down. Her hair is in a ponytail today, with a seashell hair tie.

They walk back to Steph's boat together. Steph can see the pony’s hoofprints leading away in the opposite direction.

The purple lady takes her mask off.

Steph gasps. “You're me!” she cries. “But all old and a ninja and stuff!”

Ninja-Steph laughs. “Hey!” she says. “I'm only eighteen! That's not that old.”

Steph disagrees. That's way older than five.

“You have a choice to make,” Ninja-Steph says.

“Is Zatanna trying to make me big again?”

“If that's what you want.”

They sit down on the boat together. Steph's feet splash in the shallow sea.

“You could stay little, if you wanted,” Ninja-Steph suggests. “Jason and Bruce and all the rest of them would make sure you had a happy childhood. A safer one than we had last time around.”

Steph thinks about it for a bit. “What would happen to you?” she asks.

Ninja-Steph shrugs. “I'm not sure. After a while, it would probably be like I'd never existed at all.”

Steph frowns. That doesn't sound good. She looks out to the horizon and the gathering storm clouds there.

“But all the bad stuff with Mom and Dad still happened,” she says. “Pretending it didn't wouldn't make it go away.”

“Ah, Mini Me,” Ninja-Steph sighs. “We always were wiser than anyone gave us credit for.”

She smiles at Steph and Steph smiles back. Steph reaches up to start getting the sails ready and then asks, “Did you really beat up Dad?”

Ninja-Steph nods. “More than once.”

Steph grins. “We don't need no stinky boys to save us.”

“We can save ourselves,” Ninja-Steph agrees.

“Looks like we gotta sail into the storm,” sighs Steph, struggling to push the boat back into the water.

Ninja-Steph jumps down to give the boat a shove and helps Steph back onto it. “That's what we're best at, Mini Me. We've got this.”

Steph is quiet again the next day, but she eats her Pop-Tarts like normal and asks Jason if he can give her hair “like a princess.”

“That's a tall order, Blondie, but I'll see what I can do,” Jason says. He flicks through videos on his phone. “How about this?”

The lady in the video says the hairstyle is called “half-up space buns”. Steph nods at Jason. “We should use the purple hair ties,” she says, and Jason nods as he gets the brush out.

Steph chooses a purple overall dress and the t-shirt with Batgirl on it today. It helps her feel brave. It's time to face the storm.

“Jason?” she says as he finishes her hair.

“Yeah?”

“Will you come with me when Zatanna helps me?”

“Of course,” Jason agrees. “Do you want me to call her and let her know you've decided?”

Steph feels a bit wobbly inside, but she nods even as tears gather in her eyes. “It's been real nice staying at your apartment, Jason,” she says, “but I think I gotta be big me again.”

She sniffles and Jason pulls her into a hug. After she's calmed down and he's made sure that this is what Steph really wants, he calls Zatanna.

Jason takes Steph back to the weird Disney-looking house and holds her hand as they go through a secret tunnel into the Batcave.

Now that she's here, Steph can kind of remember it. When she sees Bruce smiling at her, she sticks her tongue out at him. She doesn't need Batman now or ever.

He nods and leaves, so it's just Steph, Jason and Zatanna in the echoey cave.

Zatanna asks Steph to stand very still in a space she's marked out. She raises her hands to start casting a spell. Steph catches Jason's eye…

“Wait!” she cries.

Zatanna puts her hands back down.

Steph runs up to Jason and hugs him. “Jason?” she asks.

“Yeah, Gremlin?”

Steph looks up at his face. She has to look a long way. “Will we still be friends when I'm big again?”

Jason chuckles softly. Steph thinks she can see tears in his eyes. “‘Course we will, Blondie. Who else is gonna let me practice my braiding?”

Jason wouldn't lie about something this important. Steph sighs, relieved, and nods at Zatanna as she stands back in the correct place.

The magic crashes over her like a wave.

Eighteen-year-old Stephanie Brown stands on the doorstep of an apartment in Crime Alley, with a full bag of McDonald's (including the 20 piece McNugget box), and an overnight bag on her shoulder. She takes a deep breath and knocks.

It feels like she waits for hours but in reality it's probably only a minute or two.

Jason Todd opens the door. “Blondie?”

Steph pushes her way past him through to the sofa and dumps her bag on the floor. “Put Moana on, would you?” she says, much more casually than she feels, and starts rummaging in her bag.

“What are you doing here, Steph?” Jason asks.

“You told me I could stay here as long as I wanted,” Steph tells him. “So I brought takeout and…” She pulls her hairbrush and a pack of hair ties out of her bag. “Braiding supplies!”

Jason snorts and picks up the remote. “Gotta keep up my practice.” 

Steph sits down in front of the sofa and passes the hairbrush back to Jason as he sits down.

“Thanks, Gremlin,” Jason says quietly.

“You're welcome!” Steph sings and he bats her softly on the head with the brush.

“You're taking the sofa this time, though.”

“Jaaaasooooon!”