-Athena's POV-

I hurried away, practically running on the streets. I didn't want to risk being followed in the air using a grapple, so I dashed through the streets. To avoid suspicion, I slowed to a walk anytime a group of civilians approached. Unknown to Dick and Bruce, the fight had ended rather close to my safe house. I prayed that Jason had chose to go there.

I crawled through my smashed window -- which I still hadn't had the chance to repair -- and surveyed the room. The lights were dimmed, almost completely turned off. Jason leaned against one of my chairs, his hair falling onto his forehead.

"Jay," I said, announcing my presence. He didn't look up. Instead, he wheezed, as if in response. Taking that as a cue, I slowly moved towards him. Not that I could keep myself away for very long. He was like a magnet.

I sighed and settled on the floor next to him. He weakly gripped one of the chair legs. "Jay," I repeated, this time more to snag his attention. My voice was softer and quieter. Quickly, I scanned over him to inspect his injuries. When my suspicions were confirmed, I moved to stand.

His fingers grazed my wrist, trying to wrap around me. The movement didn't have much power or intent behind it, but I still stayed still like an anchor was tied around me. He still hadn't lifted his head, but at least I knew he was alive.

I sat beside him. Jason's shoulder pressed into my armpit as he sagged against me. His chest slowly rose, almost painfully. It was agony for me to see him so injured, but he wouldn't let me help. I inched my hand across his leg to grasp his fingers. I could feel the many dislocations of his joints and knuckles in hand, but I intertwined our hands together anyway.

After what seemed like an eon, I spoke again, "Jay," I was asserting myself now. My voice was still kind, but sharp. I needed to act.

He slid down from his leaning position. I gently grabbed him and lifted him up onto the chair. His head still slumped onto his chest. My heart was racing and my anxiety was out of the world. I smoothed his hair away from his head and lifted his chin up. His eyelids appeared to be heavy, rolling open for a second before slowly closing again. He was passing in and out.

I tugged my com from my ear and transferred it into its robot form. "Run analysis of injuries," I ordered. My robot dashed from spot to spot along Jason's body. Every once in awhile, he'd swat at it like a lazy dog, before falling asleep again.

Once I received a full diagnosis, I slid across the room and pulled out every single medical instrument I could. Medical and first aid kits were popped open with loud, desperate clicks.

Looking over at Jason -- who was still slumped over at an uncomfortable angle -- I decided I needed to move him. With minimal effort, I hefted his body onto my small dinner table. I secured his head underneath a pillow, but his feet dangled off the edge.

I tended to open wounds first. Applying antibiotics and alcohol, I stitched up cuts with fast, stable hands. Now that I was in a groove, I was able to stop all external bleeding within half an hour. I put band-aids over scrapes and wrapped gauze around the bigger stitches.

Moving on, I inspected internal bleeding. Three toes, six fingers, a collarbone, a shoulder, a kneecap, and a hip were all dislocated. It was a wonder Jason was able to get to my warehouse on his own. I popped the fingers and toes back into place without a fuss. The collarbone caused Jason to growl softly. The shoulder and kneecap caused him to wake up and shriek. The hip made him scream and actually flinch and pull away from me.

As soon as I finished with his hip, however, the pain clocked him out again. I knew my time was limited. I gently touched ribs. Five were broken, but none seemed to be puncturing any organs. His tailbone was broken. Several muscles were pulled and twisted, but not badly enough for me to care. I iced his ribs and wrapped them tightly with gauze. I placed an ice pack underneath him for his tailbone and moved onto his face.

He was black and blue. His eye was swollen and red, multiple blood vessels in his eye popped and bleeding. The other one was even blacker. His nose was a zig zag. I glanced over Jason's face, knowing how much pain he was about to go through. Taking a deep breath, I shoved the multiple sections of his nose back into place.

Jason shot up, his arms flailing and shoving me to the ground. He screeched. The sound echoed around in my house, blasting my eardrums from every side. Jason panted for a few seconds. I stood up and met his gaze right before I saw his eyes roll back into his head.

Putting ice over both of his eyes, stitching up his lip, and taping cotton on each side of his nose, I finally went to the kitchen. The reason for Jason's unconsciousness was the fact that his body was so battered, but it had no energy or water to heal itself with. I didn't have an IV, but I guessed that Jason was extremely dehydrated so his body was forcing him to sleep.

I filled a whole bottle of water and slipped in some chili powder. Tipping his head back, I opened his throat and dumped the water in. The water slowly gurgled down until it was all gone.

For about two and a half hours, I sat in a chair, leaning my cheek on the table. I drew circles with my finger into the wooden table, listening to the shallow breaths of Jason Todd. I had given him four bottles of water, but I couldn't get him to eat until he woke up. So, I waited.

"Athena," his voice crackled, sounding like the dying embers of a campfire. I lolled my head slowly to look over at him. Even with two bags of ice on his eyes, I could tell he was staring at me.

I rose to my feet. "You okay?" With anyone else, the question would've seemed lackluster and uncaring. But between Jason and I, it was the perfect thing to say. Neither of us like seriousness, emotions, or over exaggerations. Just the fact that I had done everything I did meant something to him. And to me.

Jason nodded softly and slowly in response. I hadn't realized I had been holding my breath until I let a long sigh out and felt the cool relief of air going into my lungs. I also hadn't realized I had linked my fingers with Jason. They had been tightly knit together the entire time. I didn't even break the connection to grab some food off my counter.

Helping him to sit up, I brought a left over hamburger to his lips. He reluctantly took a bite and swallowed. The room went silent.

"So," Jason said, "who knew Dick could get that jealous, huh?"

Even though I had been so scared for Jason's health and well being, I wanted to punch him. He never took his own injuries seriously. I couldn't believe Dick. Dick was never the brutal type, not even to criminals. He never went that far. Jason was the one known for hurting criminals as Robin, not Dick. Dick was the perfect boy scout. He was what Bruce wanted to become.

But that night, he had attacked Jason. Never had I ever seen him fight so ruthlessly. If Jason even tried to deflect or escape, Dick would strike twice as hard. I wasn't sure if it had anything to do with jealously, but I knew that I was done with Dick's attitude. Next time I saw him, I was leaving him looking like Jason.

I dropped Jay's hand angrily. "I can't fucking believe him," I mumbled, pacing. Jason watched in his sitting position, his head moving from side to side as he followed me. Thoughts of confusion mixed with regret and anger swelled in my head, threatening to crush me under the weight of them.

"Can you stop pacing?"

"How dare he?" I hissed, ignoring Jason, "How fucking dare he hurt you like this? We broke up and he hates me and that's cool, oh, that's cool."

"It's making me nervous."

"And he moves on with his ex girlfriend in what, three days? I was gone for two years and he moves on in three fucking days! And hell, he doesn't even know why I left because if he fucking did--"

"No, really, it's making me anxious."

"--If he fucking knew why I left him behind, he would be god damn killed! But as soon as I move on, its the end of the fucking world. As soon as I try to calm the poisonous thoughts inside me, my new fucking boyfriend has to be beaten almost to death!"

"Athena, you're gonna ruin your floors."

"How is that fair? How is that fucking fair?" I pressed my hands to the sides of my head. My head was hot and throbbing. Every thought in my mind felt like a thirty pound weight being tossed inside my skull. A high pitched ringing was piercing my ears. My heart started to race and my breaths came out in quick, uneven bursts. "He doesn't get to come into my personal life and hurt the ones I care about because he suddenly wants to be jealous. That's not how it works. I shouldn't have to care about what he thinks anymore or what his opinion is on my boyfriend. I shouldn't have to give a shit! But I do! I fucking do!"

"Athena, you're panting."

"I do fucking care!"

"Athena, you're sweating."

"It's my fucking fault!"

"Athena, you're turning red."

"What the fuck is wrong with me?"

"Athena, stop."

"What the fuck is wrong with me?"

"Athena--"

"What the fuck is wrong with me!?"

My thoughts felt like irons, but I couldn't stop them from crawling out of my mouth. The safe house felt like it had shrunk to the size of a box. It also felt like someone had lit the entire room on fire.

Jason was at my side. His cool fingers slid from my wrist up to my cheek. I had put splints on his fingers, but it didn't stop the cooling sensation that radiated from his body. He cupped my face in both his hands, shushing me. I looked up into his eyes and searched for some relief. When I saw raw emotion and caring hidden behind his now yellow irises, I let my shoulders drop.

I matched my breathing to Jason's and our hearts naturally synced rhythm. "What you're saying is valid," Jason reassured, "but you need to calm down. I'm fine. I am."

Seeing his carefree smirk stretch across his lips despite the stitches, I could almost believe him. "I have never seen Dick like that before. It...it...scared me."

"Me too, honestly," Jason chuckled. Wet giggles bubbled out of me, too. I wasn't crying, but I still managed to feel that embarrassed and relieved feeling one gets after sobbing.

"I'm sorry. For everything. It's my fault," I admitted, "I have ruined your entire plan by pulling in my own personal problems. How will we ever get anything done with my ex boyfriend trying to kill you every chance he gets?"

Jason shook his head and stooped to my level, forcing me to look at him again. "You haven't ruined anything, okay? We're partners or as you said...I'm your boyfriend I guess." Jason's voice shook as he said 'boyfriend.' Jason had told me that he didn't have that many serious girlfriends in his life, but I didn't realize just how uncomfortable with it all he had become.

"Your personal problems aren't personal. They're just problems. They matter to me just as much as anything else," Jason continued, "I would hope that if we are to actually do this thing, you would be just as concerned about my problems as I am about yours.

"I know Dick is being kind of...dick-ish right now. He always was kind of a prick. But there's nothing he or Bruce could do that will ruin our plans," Jason grinned widely, "We will rid this city of it's scum. Bruce will be kissing our feet when we're done and Dick will be the one wrapping my injuries instead of, y'know, causing them."

I don't know what it was about Jason. No matter how worked up I was or how badly I messed up, he was always there to make me feel better. My life was like walking the edge of a cliff. Every time I tripped and fell over the side, Jason was there to catch me and walk me back up. I could never stay mad at him for very long and I could never stay sad for very long when near him.

That kind of connection felt special, secret. Anytime we hung out with his friends or when he was on display -- which was rare, but still -- he was always this hard ass. It was like being undercover. No one understood what he did to me. It was something only we understood.

"And you know," I hadn't realized Jason was still talking until he pressed his lips to the flesh under my ear, "once Gotham is safe, we won't have to work so much." His voice was low and deep. It sounded more like a growl. I could feel the hotness of his breath on my ear as it traveled down my neck. His hand snaked around my waist and tugged me tight against him.

"And we'll have more free time," I finished for him. A smirk arose across his cheeks again, reeling me in even more. I hooked my hands around the back of his neck, stretching to my full height. Our lips met immediately, like they belonged there.

Despite how hard he tried to hide it, I could hear the small whimper Jason released when I kissed him. His fresh stitches scratched my bottom lip. I peeked open one eye to see his squeezed tightly in pain. I pulled away.

Jason sighed and held me. He turned towards my work bench. I followed his train of thought. "Let's talk our next move," I decided.

Jason nodded reluctantly. "Yes, good idea."

~~~~~~Soooo I actually didn't have as much time as I thought to update. I tried to make this one as exciting & pleasing as I could so you guys would be happy and enjoy, even though I couldn't update as much. Sorry!~~~~~~~