Blair woke up the next morning to the sound of her phone ringing in her ear. Popchik was asleep at the foot of her bed, opening his sleepy eyes at the sound. Sighing, she reached over to answer it without even looking at the Caller ID, "Hello?"
"Happy birthday cover girl!" A familiar voice laughed on the other end of the line.
Blair sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes, "Donna? What are you talking about?"
"Oh, you haven't checked the news have you?" Donna asked, all the amusement and excitement leaving her voice.
"I just woke up, no, I haven't checked the news." She yawned, her brain not clicking right away.
"You might want to do that quickly before Dick finds out."
Those words snapped her awake, a familiar sinking feeling in her chest, "Finds out what?"
"Turn on a TV or open a webpage."
Blair walked over to her desk, opening up an internet browser on her laptop. The first story to show up was one with her name in the title, causing her to gasp loudly as she scrolled through the article. The first picture to appear was one of her holding Jason's hand as they tried to walk past the paparazzi, the second being Jason attacking the photographer that had grabbed her.
"Blair Wilde's Wild Night Out with New Bad Boy Boyfriend?!?" She read out loud. "What the fuck?!?"
"Yeah... that's trending." Donna informed her.
Blair put her hand to her head. It was only 10:30 in the morning and she was already stressed. What kind of 20th birthday was this going to be? "No, no, that's not what happened."
"What did happen?" Donna asked, zero judgement in her voice. At least it was Donna that was breaking the news to her; she had never once judged Blair and she always let Blair explain the situation before she made any conclusions.
"Jules planned this night out for my birthday and the paparazzi showed up and this guy grabbed me so Jason threw a punch. That's it." Blair explained, sighing loudly. As if sensing her stress, Popchik jumped off her bed, nudging her leg with his nose.
"Who's Jason?"
"A friend! That's it!" She exclaimed, her heart beating fast. If she had to explain that one more time, she might take a swan dive off the Gotham Bridge.
"God, I forget that Blair Wilde is a famous socialite. I guess when you've seen her break a vase in the Titans Tower while playing football with Hank, that kinda goes away." Donna teased, trying to make light of the situation. "Just get Bruce to get rid of it. Have him call Clark or something."
"It's in The Daily Planet?!?"
"Mmm and Catco Magazine." Blair started to pace her floor, Popchik gazing up at her in confusion. "Don't worry about it, it'll be fine. Besides, it's not like it's a picture of you making out with the guy."
Blair thought back to the night before when her and Jason were on the dance floor, how close they were, how his hands ended up in her hair, right before they were interrupted by the flashing camera lights outside, "Which totally didn't happen!"
"Hey, relax. Don't overthink it. Just enjoy your birthday." Donna said assuringly. "You only turn 20 once, right?"
"Yeah and my 20th birthday started with a headline that was heard around the world!" She exclaimed, falling back on her bed. Next time Jules suggested going out, she was going to lock her in a closet.
"It's not that bad, remember when Dick stole the Porsche when he was 13?" Donna reminded her. Of course Blair remembered that, she still had the newspaper clipping of it tucked inside of her journal to laugh at any time she felt like crap.
"Yeah, at least it wasn't that." She agreed. A beeping cut through Donna's laughter. "Hold on, I'm getting another call."
"Maybe it's Dick, ready to come and beat the crap out of this Jason kid." Donna laughed again.
Blair checked the Caller ID, before putting the phone back to her ear, "No, it's Kara. I should take this, maybe she can help."
"Maybe. Anyway, happy birthday puppers." Donna said, dragging out her old nickname.
Blair smiled despite the situation, "Thanks Donna. Wish you were here."
"I know, but we can't all get what we wish for." Wasn't that the truth. "Have a happy birthday, Blair. You really deserve it."
Blair hung up the phone before picking up Kara's call, "Hey, Kara."
"Hey, Blair. I'm sorry about the article." Kara Danvers' kind voice came through the other line. "If it helps, Ms. Grant fired the photographer that got a picture of you guys and she's having the head of the celebrity news take down the story since it wasn't credible."
"That actually does help." Blair admitted. She had always loved Cat Grant, but now the woman had made it to the top of her list of heroes. "I can't believe it still ran, I thought she ran a tight ship over there."
"Well, when the good rich kid goes out for the first time since she was 16 and one of her friends punches out a photographer, no one thinks of going to her before running the story. They just think she'll okay it." Kara explained. "I've called Clark and he said he'd handle the Daily Planet."
Blair sighed, throwing her arm over her eyes, "This is going to be so bad, I'm surprised Dick hasn't called yet."
"Well don't jinx it." Kara warned. "To make up for it, I asked if I could run a birthday tribute to you."
She perked up at that, "What did she say?"
"She actually liked it. She gave me the go ahead right after she declared you off limits to anyone, but her and me." Blair grinned at that. She was now one of Cat Grant's personal favorites. She felt honored. "Since I know enough about you, I don't have to interview you unless you want."
She was about to answer when her phone beeped again. Reluctantly, she took the phone away from her ear to read the Caller ID. Kara was right, she shouldn't have jinxed it. The phone flashed Dick's name and she sent it to voicemail before putting the phone back to her ear, "I have to go talk to Bruce and see if he can get the stories to stop running."
"Okay." Kara agreed. "Hey! Happy birthday!"
"Thanks, Kara."
"Maybe I'll swing by later tonight or tomorrow, whichever is good for you." She offered.
"I have a dinner with my uncle tonight, so probably tomorrow." Blair suggested, an idea coming to her mind. "I'll invite Kate and Barry if he's not busy."
"That sounds great!" Kara exclaimed happily. "Bye! Have a great 20th!"
********
Blair continuously banged her fist on Bruce's door, waiting for him to open the door so she could fix the problem in her hands, "Come on, Bruce! Don't make me get an axe and break down this door!"
The door swung open, causing her to almost fall at his feet. She stood up, giving him an innocent smile as he rubbed his tired eyes, "What?"
"Can you please get rid of this?" She shoved her phone in his face, just as it started to ring again.
"Get rid of Dick? I think that ship has sailed." Blair groaned in frustration, sending him to voicemail again while Bruce looked down at the notification screen, "Three missed calls from Dick Grayson. Two from Hank, one from Dawn, oh look, Barry."
"Bruce, please pay attention." She sighed, opening the Gotham Gazette article again. "This, I need you to get rid of this. Kara has already gotten the one at Catco taken down and she said she would be talking to Clark about the one at the Daily Planet. I need you to do this for me."
Bruce took the phone out of her hand, an amused glint in his eye as he studied the headline and the picture, "Ah, Jason knocked out a photographer. Oh, and now you two are dating. Now I know why Dick is calling you again."
Blair took the phone out of his hand, ignoring the music of her ringtone as she stuck it in her pocket, "Bruce, please? You're my godfather, sworn to protect me, so protect me!"
"Alright, alright. I'll make a few calls and get the articles down." He assured her. Her phone stopped ringing, leaving them in silence. Bruce gave her a knowing look before saying what she was already thinking. "That's not going to stop Dick from freaking out. He's already seen it."
Blair wrapped the jacket she was wearing tighter around herself, as if she could shield herself from the storm headed her way, "I know, I know."
"Don't you have a barbecue to get ready for?" Bruce reminded her, eyeing the jacket she was clinging onto. "I assume you aren't planning on wearing your pajama pants and Jason's jacket there, are you?"
Blair dropped her arms as the sleeves of the jacket fell, covering her hands, "Uhh... no... I mean, this isn't... well... I'm just gonna go."
"Take Popchik with you!" Bruce called after her, an amused smirk on his face at Blair's flustered wave. "He could use the fresh air."
********
Blair knocked lightly on Jason's door, still wearing his jacket over her pajamas. She waited a minute for him to open the door before opening it herself and walking in.
Jason was still asleep in his bed, laying flat on his stomach. Blair watched as Popchik jumped on the bed, climbing on his back to lick his face with an amused smile on her face. Jason rolled over, putting a hand on the small dog's head, "Ah, Popchik, hey buddy."
"You just called him buddy twice. That's what his name means in Russian." Blair laughed, catching Jason's attention. "Also I wouldn't go on any news sites until the end of the day if I were you. So I'm just gonna take this." She walked over, taking his phone off the nightstand.
Jason sat up, grabbing her wrist with his hand as she went to hide his phone in her pocket, "Why? What's in the news?"
"Nothing, just some silly gossip." She lied, eyes focused on the phone.
"Then it won't be a big deal if I look, will it?" He raised an eyebrow, twisting his phone out of her hands.
Sighing, Blair sat down on his bed pulling Popchik into her lap, "I guess not."
Just as Jason was ready to unlock his phone, hers started to ring again. She reached into the jacket pocket to turn off the ringer, Jason looking at her in surprise, "Phantom of the Opera. You changed it."
"You know Phantom?" Blair looked up, eyes wide.
Jason smirked, "I have layers."
"God you sound like Shrek." She shook her head, though she couldn't help but smile. "But this is what my ringtone used to be, I just changed it for a change of pace."
"Who's calling?" He asked as she turned the ringer off and set it on the bed next to her.
"No one." Jason gave her a look that easily read "you have got to be kidding me." She shrugged her shoulders, deciding to direct his attention elsewhere, "You said you were gonna check the news?"
Jason took the bait, immediately opening up the news app on his phone while Blair nervously stroked Popchik's fur, trying to distract herself as he read the article. She waited silently for him to say something, unable to drag her eyes away from him.
He let out a bewildered laugh, "Wow. You weren't kidding when you said they latched onto whatever story they can get on you."
"I'm sorry, this is all my fault." Blair put her head in her hands, suddenly wishing she had just answered Dick's phone call instead. "I should've fought harder to stay home last night—"
"Hey, it's fine." Jason tossed his phone to the side, shrugging. "I mean, it's not my best angle, but it's not that big of a deal."
"You don't have to do that."
"Do what?" He asked, snapping his fingers to get Popchik's attention. "Really Blair, it doesn't bother me."
"People are going to start digging, trying to find out who you are." She reminded him, letting Popchik out of her lap for Jason to play with. "Bruce is killing the story here in Gotham and Kara and Clark are helping out from their own areas, but it's still out there."
"It's fine with me. If Bruce kills the story, we don't have anything to worry about right?" When Blair nodded, he continued to speak, trying to ease her mind. "Really, it's okay. Let them attack me, at least they're focused more on me than you."
"You didn't read the comments, did you?" Blair fell back on the bed, much to Jason's amusement.
"Not really, but hey, you're Blair fucking Wilde. Fuck them. You know who you are, they can't take that away from you." He placed Popchik by her face.
The dog snuggled close to her as she thought about his words. Did she know who she was? She wasn't too sure that she did anymore. She was always something to someone; a little sister to the Titans, an orphaned daughter, a niece to the commissioner, Batman's partner. Her entire life she had lived for someone else, maybe that was what was so difficult now. She was learning to live for herself.
Her phone started to vibrate next to her and she didn't even have to turn it over to see who it was. Jason cleared his throat, gaining her attention again, "I'm going to assume that the person blowing up your phone is Dick?"
"Yes, all morning." She groaned, covering her face with her arms.
"Why haven't you answered?" He asked curiously.
"He's just going to freak out on me." She sighed. "I don't feel like dealing with it right now."
"You answer or I do." Jason said, reaching for her phone. "The longer you wait, the worse it'll be."
Blair groaned, rolling her eyes as she grabbed the phone out of his hands, "Fine. I'll answer, but you can take Popchik and go fix your hair. You're a mess."
Jason smirked, picking up the dog and walking into the bathroom. Blair waited for the door to close before taking a deep breath, answering the phone as it rang.
********
"It's about time! I've been calling all morning!" Dick's frustrated voice came through the speaker, making Blair flinch.
"I've been busy..." She trailed off, not thinking of another excuse as to why she was blowing him off all morning.
"Who's the guy and why are you hanging around with people like that?" He snapped right away, not giving her a chance to even come up with an explanation in the first place.
Blair felt anger rise in her chest at his accusations, "He's a friend, what the hell Dick?"
"What do you mean, what the hell?"
"I mean, when Donna called about the article she at least made sure I was okay and wished me a fucking happy birthday." She snapped. "Hank, Dawn, everyone wished me a happy birthday and made sure I was okay before they asked about the article."
"Blair—"
"No, do you really think that I'd hang out with someone who would do some shit like that without a reason?" In fact, since when did he have the right to lecture her about that in the first place? He left. "You didn't even ask what happened, you just asked who the guy was. Did you know that the photographer that he was swinging at had grabbed me? No, you just started in like you were going to lecture me."
Jason heard her voice get louder from his bathroom, walking out to see her pacing the floor, her phone clutched angrily in her hand. He had seen her angry before, mostly at him, but he had never once seen her angry at Dick. It was almost like the man could do no wrong... until right then.
Dick didn't miss a beat when he responded, just as frustrated as he was when she answered, "When I wake up in the morning, ready to call you and see your name in the headlines—"
"You should at least ask if I'm okay! You shouldn't automatically assume anything! On top of that, you should know me better than that!" Blair yelled into the phone, her heart feeling like it was about to explode from the anger and pain she felt.
Dick was silent for a moment, a silence that felt too long for her, "You're right, I'm sorry, it's just been a long time since I've seen you—"
"And whose fault is that? No one told you that you couldn't come home. You made that decision. You know, when Dawn and Hank stopped coming by for my birthday, I figured it was okay. It hurt but it was okay. I still had Kate, I had Donna, Jim, you. Then Donna didn't come the last two years because of work but that was fine. It was work and she always called. I was fine because I had you and I knew that there was no way Big Brother Dick would abandon me on my birthday. Guess I was wrong."
Jason leaned against the doorframe between his room and the bathroom, eyes wide as Blair exploded. It reminded him that though she had been nothing but smiles for the past few months, there was a hidden storm of dark emotions in her that she had pushed to the side.
"Blair, if I could be there I would." Dick said quietly, like it made everything better, like it would suddenly make sense to her why he had completely forgotten who she was, like she was just supposed to smile and be okay with it. Well, she wasn't.
"If you wanted to be here, you would be." She retorted, her voice cracking at the end of her words, causing her to silently curse herself for allowing her emotions to get the better of her as she sat down at Jason's window seat, staring out into the tree branches.
"I'm sorry, I really am."
"Here's the thing about apologies, Richard Grayson," She snapped, tired of the excuses and tired of the empty promises. "When you have more than one thing to apologize for, a simple 'I'm sorry' won't cut it. Just this phone call alone was at least five different offenses."
"Blair—"
"I have to get ready so I can meet my uncle for my birthday. I have to go." She wiped her nose with her jacket sleeve, everything just feeling broken.
Dick's voice came out in a pained plea, "Fuck, Blair I'm really sorry."
"Yeah, well so am I." Blair ended the call, throwing her phone in the corner as she pulled her knees up to her chest, her eyes stinging with angry tears.
Jason slowly walked over to her, leaning against the wall, "Hey, not a great talk?"
Blair let out a frustrated laugh, lifting her head from her knees, looking out his window again, "Doesn't even begin to cover it."
Sighing loudly, she stood up looking around his room for her phone that she threw. Jason watched her move aside a stack of comic books in the corner to get her phone, her face still flushed from her argument with Dick. She had yet to look at him the whole time.
He broke the silence, "Are you—"
Blair cut him off, moving forward and hugging him, her face buried in his chest. She let out a small sob, unable to hold it back anymore. She was just so frustrated and tired of it all.
Jason wrapped his arms around her, not sure what to do. It was only 11:15 and the day was already a mess. "Hey, hey, this is your day B. Don't let Dick or anyone else ruin it."
Blair stepped back, wiping her face with the oversized sleeves, taking a deep breath, "You're right, you're right, I still have to get ready and so do you. We have a dinner at my uncle's house tonight."
Jason scrunched his nose up in indignation, his hands still on Blair's waist. He had completely forgotten about the dinner with all the drama that had happened in the thirty minutes he had been awake.
"What?" She raised her eyebrows. "You can't get out of this, Jay."
Jason sighed loudly, "I know, just, cops."
"Yeah, we need to have a talk about that eventually." She smiled softly.
"Eventually." He agreed, then he looked at what she was wearing. He didn't know how he didn't see it before, but there in his bedroom was Blair Wilde with her hair in the world's messiest ponytail, pajamas, and his jacket. The sleeves were big enough on her that they hid her hands, something she was playing with at that very moment. "Are you wearing my jacket?"
"Yes, and you're not getting it back either. It's pretty comfortable. Consider it a birthday gift." She grinned, clapping her hands for Popchik as she turned to walk out of the room.
"I got you a dog!" Jason called as she started to close the door.
"And I love him! Thanks!"