Blair kicked high, Bruce just barely ducking in time to avoid being hit. She blocked his next hit with her hand, twirling gracefully when he tried to knock her off her balance. The two had been sparring for almost an hour, waiting for Jason to wake up from the nap he had decided to take almost a whole hour after he originally woke up.
Blair had woken up before him, going in to check on him when he didn't come down the stairs at the time he usually did. When she walked into his room, she saw him crawling back under the covers, his hair wet from a shower. When she asked what he was doing, he replied he was going to watch Netflix until it was time to train. She had joined him and after only one episode of Peaky Blinders, he was fast asleep.
Jason walked into the Batcave just as Blair landed a hard punch to Bruce's side. They had agreed on no face hits due to the fact that he had a board meeting to go to the next day. Bruce held his hand up to signal a time out from training as Jason neared the mat. She turned around, jaw dropping when she saw the sweat and dark bags under his eyes. When he sniffled, she noticed his red nose. He definitely wasn't like this when she left him this morning. "Holy shit, what happened to you?"
"What?" His voice came out muffled as he rubbed his nose on his sleeve.
"Jesus Christ, you sound even worse." Blair winced, studying his pale face. In just a few hours, he went from looking like an ordinary tired boy to the walking dead.
She glanced over at Bruce, seeing him doing the same, "Jason, are you feeling okay?"
"I feel great." Jason shrugged, wiping his nose again. Blair raised an eyebrow as he continued, "Fantastic. Never better. I'm at 100% and going strong."
She took a step off the mat, taking off her training gloves before putting the back of her hand against his forehead, "Oh my God, Jay. You're burning up."
Jason weakly swatted her hand away, "I'm fine."
"No, you're not."
"You're sick."
"I am not." He sneezed, followed shortly by a string of curses under his breath.
Blair narrowed her eyes at his stubbornness, "Yes, you are."
"I can still go out tonight."
"No, you can't."
"Blair, I'm fine. Cut it out." He insisted, but just as the words left his mouth, he started coughing.
Blair opened her mouth to say something along the lines of that is complete bullshit when Bruce cut her off, moving to stand next to her, "Blair's right. You're not going anywhere like that."
Blair turned back to Jason, giving him a smirk. His jaw dropped as he looked up at Bruce, "But-"
"No, no." Bruce held up a hand to silence Jason's protests. "You are staying home. Blair and I will do a sweep of the city-"
"Actually Bruce, is it okay if I sit this one out?" She faked a yawn, stretching her arms. "I'm just really tired and won't be at my best which isn't fair to Gotham-"
"If you want to stay behind with Jason, all you have to do was ask." Bruce fixed her with a knowing look, watching as she immediately dropped her arms and smiled sheepishly as she swayed back and forth on her feet. "Okay, then can I stay behind with Jason?"
"Sure." Her face must have shown her surprise because Bruce hid a smile. "Just this one night though. I need you out there."
"You need me?" Despite how much she had grown in the past year, despite how confident she had become in herself, hearing Bruce say he needed her out in the field still threw her off balance.
"Of course." He answered, like it was common knowledge. Ever since the night at the Mariano's a few weeks back, he had been training her harder, confident she wouldn't break, all while occasionally letting her call the shots when they were out. "Gotham's a big city and you protect it well."
The girl Blair was before would've blushed, glancing down at her feet while saying a quiet thank you. But she wasn't that girl anymore. "I know I do." She smirked, standing tall. It wasn't arrogance, it wasn't cockiness; it was something else entirely. It was pure certainty, pure confidence in herself.
Jason sneezed next to her again, causing her to turn around and start pushing him towards the stairs, "Come on, sicko. Let's get you in bed."
"Quit babying me, I'm fine." He grumbled, allowing her to shove him up the stairs.
Blair rolled her eyes behind his back, "Yeah, yeah, you're a real tough man. Nothing as common as a cold can take you out. You're a man's man. We get it."
Bruce and Alfred's laughter followed them into the house, Blair biting her lip to keep from laughing herself. For once, she wasn't the one that needed to be taken care of. Now it was Jason's turn.
********
Blair was mixing the the last of the ingredients into the pot of chicken noodle soup that Jason had asked for. In just a few minutes after being sent to his bed, he immediately turned into an overgrown child, whining constantly. You would have thought he was dying of scarlet fever instead of suffering from a minor cold. It was almost laughable really.
She dug a blue Gatorade out of the refrigerator, walking into the living room on her way to check on Jason when she saw him walking down the stairs wrapped in at least three blankets. Unbelievable.
"Jason Peter Todd, if you don't get your ass back up those stairs and back in bed, I will forcefully knock you out so you sleep this all off. No cold medicine required." She ordered him, crossing her arms sternly. The last time she took care of someone that was sick, it was Kate and she had Mary helping her. Not to mention Kate just slept it off.
Jason continued walking down the stairs before landing face first on the couch. Blair sighed loudly, throwing her head back and staring up at the ceiling, "Jason!"
He lifted his head slightly, looking at her exasperated expression before burying his face in one of the throw pillows. "No."
"Jason, you are sick and need rest. How are you going to get any rest walking around the house, wrapped in all the blankets from your bed like some human burrito?" Jason mumbled something unintelligible into the pillow. If she wasn't trying to get him to get rest, she would've laughed. "Go to bed, Jay."
"But you're down here." He whined, like it explained and excused him of listening to common sense.
Blair rolled her eyes, "I'm down here making soup for you, you dumbass."
Jason rolled over, staring up at her with his sick eyes, "Then I'll stay here until it's done."
"Why are you like this?" She sighed, setting the Gatorade down on the coffee table. The situation was funny, it was, but she also knew that if he didn't chill out, he was going to make himself worse. The last thing they needed was Jason to come down sick with pneumonia all because he was stubborn. "Just go lay down in your own bed."
Jason shook his head, "No."
"Fine." Blair threw her hands up in surrender, knowing she wouldn't get anywhere if she kept fighting with him. Besides, she had a soup to keep an eye on. "If I go make your soup, will you stay here on the couch?"
"Maybe."
"That's not a yes, Todd." She tapped her foot, waiting for him to just give in.
He didn't. Instead, he sat up slowly, sniffling, "What if I want to see how you cook?"
"You know how I cook." He had watched her make random meals in the middle of the night a thousand times. "This is no different than how I make pancakes."
"Are you saying that soup is a pancake? Because I think you're wrong in that, B." He sighed, stretching out on the couch.
Blair moved to help him situate his blankets while he stared up at her. His head felt fuzzy from his cold, but the one thing that was totally clear was her; the way she wore her hair in a messy ponytail, leaning over him to make sure he was comfortable. He couldn't tell if it was his fever or something else, but he could've sworn her eyes literally sparkled like stars. She was so... Blair. Great. Now his brain had stopped working too.
Blair stood up straight as Alfred walked into the room, "Stay here and lay down or so help me god, I will force feed you your cough syrup like a baby." Jason stuck his tongue out at her as Alfred stifled a laugh with his hand. Blair turned to face him, "Make sure he stays here and doesn't go into the kitchen."
"I don't need a babysitter." Jason whined, trying to sit up again.
"Apparently you do." Blair retorted, shoving him back down on the couch. "Now lay down."
********
Blair stirred the soup, shaking her head as she thought about the whiny boy buried in blankets on the couch. She couldn't help it, she started laughing. So much for Mr. Macho Man.
She added a bit of lemon juice to the soup when her phone started to ring. She looked at the screen, grinning when she saw it was a FaceTime call with Hank's name on the top. She propped the phone up against wall next to the stove, "Hiiii!"
"Hey, Blair-" He trailed off, seeing her standing in front of the pot of soup. "- What are you doing?"
"I'm making soup, what does it look like I'm doing, Hank?" Blair snorted, waving the spoon in the air.
"She's making soup?" A sweet voice came from somewhere off screen. A few seconds later, Dawn joined Hank on their couch with a smile on her face when she saw Blair.
Blair's smile grew wider at the sight of the woman. She waved happily, "Hi Dawn."
"Hi love." Dawn waved back. "Who's the soup for?"
"One of my friends has a cold and this is my way of helping." She shrugged, putting the lid back on the pot before grabbing her phone and leaning her back against the counter.
Beside Dawn, Hank started to fake cough, "I have a cold, I want some soup."
Blair held in a laugh, "You live in DC, Hank. Tell me how I'm supposed to give you soup when you're in DC."
"You could come and visit, demon child. It's been almost a year since we've seen you." A year. It had been almost a year for a lot of things. Hank and Dawn weren't the only ones she hadn't seen in that long.
"You're seeing me now." She shrugged, then she thought about Hank's choice of words. "Demon child?"
"He's just teasing you, love." Dawn said, hitting Hank on the shoulder. "You know he does that."
Of course she knew that, Hank had teased her since she met him when she was thirteen. In fact, the first time they met, he had called her a monkey for the way she was hanging off Garth's shoulders. "Yeah, but usually it's Princess or Wild One. Why demon child?"
"That's what happens when you don't visit for a year." Hank crossed his arms, leaning back on the couch. "The nicknames change."
"That's rude." She pouted exaggeratedly. "I liked Princess."
Hank howled with laughter while Dawn grinned, "Noted."
"So, how are things going for you?" Dawn asked once Hank had quieted his loud laughter, though the smile never left his face. It felt good to make them laugh again, seeing as she hadn't really been able to hang out with them for a whole year.
"Right now? Now, things are good I guess." She shrugged. "Training is getting easier, I'm getting stronger and better."
"And everything else?" Leave it to Dawn to want to know about her personal life, not caring at all about her training. It was one of her best qualities.
"I'm actually okay. I'm happy." That was definitely not something she expected to be saying a year ago. "Happier than I've been in a while."
Both Dawn and Hank wore matching expressions of relief, causing her to realize just how bad things really were with her before. "That's good, love. I can tell, it looks good on you."
"Oh, I forgot to tell you guys, but I took down Victor Zsasz, by myself." She said proudly. "With a sword."
Their matching looks of relief changed into matching looks of shock, as they absorbed her words. Hank was the first to speak after he picked his jaw up off the floor, "Holy shit, kiddo. That's fucking amazing."
"You did this recently?" Dawn asked, her eyes still wide in disbelief.
Blair nodded, "Yeah. Well, I did it like a month ago, but I still did it."
"Dick couldn't even do that at your age." Hank grinned, throwing her a wink and a thumbs up. "You're a badass Princess."
"That's what Donna said when I told her." Actually, Donna started clapping and demanded she virtually drink with her, which she did. That FaceTime call lasted for two hours while they laughed and talked about nonsense.
Hank pouted, "You told Donna before us?"
"Well, to be fair, I can't slip in that I beat Zsasz in the middle of a game of cup pong, Hank."
"I'm proud of you, love." Dawn smiled, nudging Hank with her shoulder. "We both are."
"Yeah, can I tell you something cheesy?" Hank asked suddenly. "You know, without you making fun of me for it?"
"Cheesy? You?" She joked, causing Dawn to laugh.
Hank rolled his eyes playfully, "I was going to say that happiness looks good on you, but forget it."
Blair grinned, "You're right, that was cheesy."
The doors to the kitchen swung open as Alfred walked in, eyes darting between her and the pot of soup on the stove, "Is that soup ready yet? Jason's whining is truly insufferable."
"Alfred, I told you to stay with him!" Blair choked back a laugh. Somehow, Jason had managed to chase Alfred Pennyworth out of the living room. The same Alfred that she used to follow around constantly as a kid, asking questions about everything he did. The same Alfred that had to deal with all the craziness of the Gotham Knights.
"He won't stop whining for you." He threw his hands up in the air. "I couldn't take it anymore."
As if he had been waiting for a cue to walk into the kitchen, Jason appeared in the doorway, still wrapped in his blankets, "Blaaaaaiiiirrrrr, how long is this gonna take?"
"Jason, go lay down!" She exclaimed, momentarily forgetting that she was still on the phone with Hank and Dawn. "You're supposed to be resting!"
"Yeah, but you said you were going to be coming back and you didn't." Lord help her, he actually pouted.
"Because I'm finishing your soup, dumbass."
Jason narrowed his eyes, "You're on the phone."
"And I'll stay on the phone until you go lay your ass back down." She smiled sweetly.
"Come on Master Jason, lets get you back to that couch before Miss Blair murders you on your sickbed." Alfred put his hands on Jason's shoulders, steering him out of the kitchen, not before throwing Blair an "I told you so" glance.
She returned to her phone, seeing both Hank and Dawn grinning up at her, Dawn speaking first, "So the soup is for a boy?"
"Oh, shut up." Blair muttered, well aware that her face had gone fifty shades of pink without even looking at her own image.
"I didn't say anything." Dawn protested as Hank chanted, "Blair has a boyfriend! Blair has a boyfriend!"
"I don't date." She reminded them, though the words fell flat, like she was trying to remind herself instead of them.
Hank nodded, the smirk never leaving his face, "Mmmhmm tell Mr. Sickboy then."
Blair rolled her eyes, "I've got to go make sure this dipshit gets some food and rest."
"Okay, love. I love you!" Dawn waved cheerfully.
Blair smiled, "I love you too, Dawn."
They both turned their attention to Hank, waiting for him to say something. Letting out a sigh, he gave her a smile, "I love you Wild One, stay badass."
"Will do." When she hung up, for the first time in what felt like forever, she didn't feel her heart start to ache. She didn't feel pain, she felt normal, like someone just hanging up the phone with family, knowing that she loved them and they loved her. Knowing that she was going to fine. She was okay. She was more than okay, she was happy.
********
Bruce walked into the house with Alfred after a night out on patrol. From what he had heard from Alfred through the coms, Blair and Jason had fallen asleep already and he assumed that meant they were upstairs, so when he stepped into the living room, he was surprised to see both of them on the couch.
Jason lay underneath a mess of blankets, Blair sprawled out on top of him, her head propped up on his legs, her own dangling over the arm of the couch. It was like she had just plopped down next to him and passed out from exhaustion. "How long have they been here?"
"Since Miss Blair forced him to take cold medicine." Alfred said quietly. "He fell asleep and she went just a few minutes later."
Bruce watched as Alfred covered Blair with a blanket. He picked up the now empty bowls of soup that sat on the coffee table while Alfred made sure she was completely covered. Bruce handed Alfred the bowls when Blair moved and whined in her sleep. The nightmares. He always assumed she didn't have them, as she always acted like she didn't. He was about to make sure she was okay when Jason turned, still asleep, throwing an arm around her and holding her close. Just like that, they fell silent and still.
Alfred glanced over at Bruce, unsure if they should leave the two on the couch. He knew they always slept in the same bed, but sharing the couch while Jason was sick was something else. "Should we-"
"No, just let them sleep." Bruce smiled, turning off the lamp. "Let them sleep."