Blair swung hard, ignoring the pain in her arm. The best way to manage pain was to work through it, and that's exactly what she planned to do. However, the person she was swinging at, didn't seem to get the memo. Jason caught her fist with his hand before it collided with his face, giving her an amused, lopsided grin, "Someone seems a little angry."
"I'm not angry." She lied, elbowing him in the jaw, just hard enough that he released her fist and stumbled back a few steps. "Yeah, well that love tap you just gave me says otherwise."
Blair rolled her eyes, "We're training. What was I supposed to do?"
Jason shook his head, getting back into a fighting stance, but he didn't let it go, "Want to talk about it?"
"What's there to talk about?"
"Maybe the fact that your cousin was shot at yesterday?" He exclaimed, eyeing the bandage wrapped around her bicep where the bullet had grazed her the day before. "Or the fact that you took the bullet for her?"
Blair dodged one of his punches, blocking another with her forearm, "I didn't take a bullet for her, it grazed my shoulder." She landed a hit to the side of his head, knocking him to the side. "Two different things."
"You jumped in front of her." Jason said, catching her wrist as she went for another swing. "You got hurt. You shouldn't even be training right now."
Blair glared at him, kneeing him in the stomach in retaliation. She was fine, she just wanted to move on. The more she focused on the injury on her arm, the more she had to think about why she had gotten it in the first place; someone was trying to kill Barbara.
"Ow!" Jason groaned, doubling over in pain, shaking his head as he squinted up at her. "That was fucking rude, I was just making an observation."
"Did you observe that I'm obviously fine?" She smirked, stepping back to let him catch his breath. "You okay?"
"Yeah. Totally fine." He breathed, standing up straight. "You have no pent up emotions at all." Blair rolled her eyes, sticking her tongue out both in an attempt to lighten the mood and as an apology for the knee to the gut. Jason just shook his head, stretching his arms out, "A child."
Blair smiled, lowering her voice, "No."
Jason stopped stretching, unable to hide a grin, "Had to make it a Vine reference didn't you?"
"This conversation was getting too heavy." She shrugged, nonchalantly. "So yes, I had to make it a Vine reference."
Seeing her momentarily distracted, Jason took the opportunity to spring into action. Before she had a chance to move, Jason had knocked her off of her feet, pinning her down on the ground with a smirk, "You're not on top of your game today, babe."
Blair raised an amused eyebrow, "Aren't I?"
"Wha —" Before he could even finish his words, Blair pressed her lips to his. The action caught him by surprise, but it didn't take him long to lower his guard, kissing her back.
Once he was completely relaxed, Blair flipped him over, pinning him down on the mat with a satisfied smirk, "I think I'm completely on top of the game."
"If the game is me, I agree." Jason grinned. "One hundred percent."
Blair laughed, kissing him again. Somehow, the stress of everything she was under just disappeared when he smiled. When she kissed him, it might as well have just been the two of them alone in the world for all she cared. Everything else could wait. She wanted to stay in this little bubble with him forever.
"Oh come on," River's exasperated voice came from above them as he entered the cave. "Get a room!"
They broke apart, both looking up to see him walking down the stairs with a hand over his eyes dramatically. Blair rolled her eyes, half expecting him to trip over his feet and fall down the stairs. "We have a room, you're in it. You know, seeing as we live here and you don't."
Jason laughed, still laying on the ground with Blair on top of him. River peeked through his fingers, shaking his head when he saw Blair flicking him off with an innocent smile, "I don't get paid enough for this shit."
"You're getting paid?" Jason exclaimed in disbelief.
"Well, yeah." River shrugged, skipping the last two steps on the stairs before dropping his backpack by the computers and plopping himself in the chair. "Cleaning up after three vigilantes all night long and hacking into federal databases is a lot of work."
"We don't get paid." Jason looked up at Blair. "Why don't we get paid?"
Blair bit her lip to keep from laughing, which only made him want to kiss her again. Finally, she spoke up, unable to keep the laughter out of her voice, "Jason, you get an allowance."
"And I'm on the 'Wayne Internship' so my brother doesn't think I'm doing something sketchy with my time." River explained, making air quotes around the words "Wayne Internship" with his fingers.
Jason furrowed his brows in confusion, "Since when do interns get paid?"
"Since I told Bruce that unpaid internships perpetuate a system of free labor that could be compared to slavery when I was thirteen." Blair shrugged, standing up and pulling him off the ground with her. She never understood why unpaid internships were a thing.
When she first heard about them, she had immediately called Bruce to ask if he paid his interns. At the time, he wasn't, but after an hour long debate in which she promised to make a PowerPoint about the advantages of paying interns, that quickly changed. Bruce said she had a business brain, but Blair only cared about the people putting in so much time and effort for "experience" without the pay.
River nodded, "Wayne Enterprises is one of the only corporations that pays their interns fifteen dollars an hour."
Jason blinked, glancing back and forth between them, "You're getting paid fifteen an hour to sit at the computer all night and put a bandaid on someone's cut?"
"Actually, I'm getting paid seventeen-fifty."
"You're not even an intern!" Jason whined, loudly much to the amusement of everyone else in the cave.
Blair snapped her fingers under his nose with a small, amused smile, "Quit being an asshole and focus. We're supposed to be training."
"Yeah," River said, twisting the chair from side to side. "Something I honestly wouldn't recommend—"
"I wouldn't go there, man." Jason interrupted, making a cut-it-out motion with his hand. "She'll punch you in the face or knee you in the gut just to prove she's fine."
Blair gave him an exasperated look, "It was a part of training!"
"It hurt."
"I'm leaving you." She started to walk away, but didn't make it but two steps before Jason grabbed her by the waist, pulling her back to him. "You can't leave me, you'd be lost without me."
"Try again."
"I'd be lost without you."
Blair reached up, kissing him on the cheek, "You really would."
River pretended to gag, "You two are so gross."
Blair blew a kiss in his direction before flicking him off for the second time that day. River smiled sarcastically, returning the gesture without a moment of hesitation.
Jason watched them in amusement, finding it hard to believe that just a few months ago, he was jealous of any interaction they had. It seemed kind of stupid now. "This is the bullshit I..." He trailed off seeing Blair turn around to look up at him. "Never mind."
River leaned forward in his chair, waiting for Jason to continue while Blair grinned, already knowing exactly what he was going to say, "The bullshit you what, exactly?"
Jason let go of her waist, walking to the weapons case to pull out the training staffs, "We've got training."
"I think training can wait five seconds," Blair shrugged, grin never leaving her face as she glanced over at River for backup. "Don't you think, Riv?"
"Oh, as your unofficial doctor, I think it's required."
Jason grabbed a staff, pointing it in their direction, "You two think you're so fucking funny don't you?"
Blair and River exchanged a glance before nodding, "Yeah, I'd say so."
"I think I'm adorable." Blair said, batting her eyes.
"Come on, Winchester." Jason said, tossing her a staff that she caught with ease. "You were just complaining about wanting to train not even ten minutes ago."
Blair stuck her tongue out childishly, causing River to start laughing. Jason looked over at him, "You're supporting this behavior, 'doctor?'"
"Of course he is." Blair answered for him, making River laugh even harder. "I'm fucking hilarious."
"I'm about to show you hilarious in a minute."
"Oh, bring it on Bird Boy." She challenged, urging him forward. Not needing to be told twice, Jason ran at her, throwing her over his shoulder with almost zero effort. "Hey!"
"You said to bring it on. I brought it!" He laughed, spinning around in a circle while she yelled and shrieked at the top of her lungs. "Jason Todd, if you drop me, I will break up with you!"
Jason stopped spinning, setting her back on the ground just as the doors to the elevator they never used opened, Barbara wheeling her chair in. Just like that, the entire atmosphere of the cave changed. Barbara looked over at Blair and Jason, still holding onto each other in confusion, "I thought you guys were supposed to be training?"
"And I thought you didn't want to come down here anymore." Blair shrugged, picking up the staff she had discarded when Jason had grabbed her. "I guess we were both wrong."
River spun his chair around to face the computers, suddenly all business. Jason couldn't blame him. If he could, he would definitely try to excuse himself from the situation, but he was stuck where he was.
"I just came down here because I got bored upstairs." Barbara responded, ignoring Blair's flippant attitude.
Blair twirled the staff in her hand, refusing to look at her, "Talk to Alfred."
"He's resting."
Jason rested his own staff on his shoulder, turning to look at Barbara in confusion. River turned his chair around slowly as Blair stopped playing with the staff in her hands. Alfred? Resting? Since when did Alfred rest?
"What do you mean he's resting?" She asked when no one else spoke up.
"He's not as young as he once was, Blair." Barbara said, rolling her chair next to River's. "The man needs rest more often. What did you think he does when the two of you are training for hours on end?"
The group grew silent, taking time to think about Alfred resting upstairs. It was something they never thought they'd see or hear about. Alfred was Alfred. He didn't get sick, hell, he didn't even seem his age. Hearing that he was resting as elderly people his age usually do was a shock.
"I've never actually thought about it." Jason admitted. "I've also never actually thought of Alfred as old."
"Which is ironic as you called Bruce an old man when he wouldn't let you drive the Batmobile." Blair reminded him. And that just happened a few days ago.
"Bruce is old." He shrugged. "Alfred is Alfred. I'm pretty sure that man is an immortal god."
Blair laughs, smacking him in the side with her staff, "Get in position, mortal boy."
"Hey, we don't know if we're mortal until we test the theory." He pointed out.
Blair used her staff, knocking him off balance before knocking him to the floor completely with a grin, "Then let's test it."
Jason jumped back to his feet, immediately launching into attack mode. Barbara watched as they sparred together, matching each other blow for blow. It was like a dance, a very complicated and dangerous dance.
"Wow," Barbara said quietly, watching as Blair easily deflected Jason's attacks. "She's gotten so much better than she was when I left."
River glanced over at her in disbelief, "Better? She got better?" Barbara didn't say anything, keeping her eyes on the two sparring in front of her. "I might have only known her for a year, but I've known about Knight Wolf since I was fifteen. She's always been great."
"I know—"
"Do you?" River asked defensively. "I mean, no offense, but you've been gone for two years and from what I've heard, you didn't believe that before you ditched town."
Barbara finally turned her head to face him, "What all did she tell you?"
"She didn't tell me anything." He responded. "She didn't have to. Everyone here knows."
Barbara bit her lip, shifting her gaze back to Blair just as she slammed Jason's staff into the ground with her own before smacking him in the face and knocking him off of his feet. She had managed to build herself an entire family in this life. One that cared about her enough that they would defend her honor even to her cousin. Then there was Jason.
Never in all twenty years of Blair's life, did Barbara ever see her look at someone the way she looked at him, the way she was looking at him right now. Before she had joined Bruce and Dick on the streets, she would have a crush here and there, even a few months after, she would have a fling or two, but after Garth died, all of that stopped. A few months later, another friend of hers died, and just like that, so did all of Blair's feelings.
She only ever talked about it once, but it was clear then; Blair was never going to fall in love with anyone, boy or girl, vigilante or not. It just wasn't worth the risk, she had said. Barbara didn't blame her. But here she was, head over heels for the new Robin. Barbara had never seen her so happy in her entire life.
"She really likes him, doesn't she?" She asked quietly, not really expecting a response. She most certainly wasn't expecting River to start laughing. "What?"
"Blair likes me. She likes Jules." He said, shaking his head in amusement. "She loves him. There is a huge difference."
Blair stood above Jason, holding out her hand to pull him to his feet. Jason took her hand, but instead of allowing her to pull him up, he yanked her back down to the ground with him, laughing the whole time.
"Hey!" She exclaimed, landing on top of him on the mat.
"You didn't call time." He laughed.
"Time, asshole!" She yelled, smacking his chest and sitting up. "Time!"
"Little late now." He grinned, leaning forward to give her a kiss. Blair shoved his face away before he could even try. "Hey!" He pouted. "Don't you love me anymore?"
"No, you're a shithead." Jason grinned, kissing her anyway. Blair smiled when he pulled back, smacking his arm, "You're still a shithead."
Jason winked just as Aladdin's Overture filled the cave. River leaned over to find the source, seeing Blair's phone flashing up at him, "It's your uncle."
Blair stood up, rushing to grab her phone from River's hand while Jason remained on the floor. Barbara blinked in confusion as she put the phone to her ear, "Was that Aladdin?"
Jason grinned, knowing that if he were to call, his ringtone would be Prince Ali. It had been since before she had skipped town with Dick. Blair waved Barbara off to answer the phone, "Hey, what's up?"
"We need to talk." Gordon said, his voice eerily calm. "Can you come down to the station?"
"Uhh, sure." She agreed hesitantly, glancing over her shoulder to see everyone watching her. Something didn't feel right. "What's going on? Does this have anything to do with yesterday?"
Gordon didn't bother to give her a straight answer, "Just come down here and we'll talk about it then."
"I'll be there in an hour." She promised, about to say goodbye, but Gordon hung up before she had the chance.
Blair stared at her lock screen, a picture of her, Jason, River, Matty, and Jules hanging out at the bonfire before she left town. Something wasn't right. There was no way to tell what he was thinking because his voice was almost unreadable. No emotion at all.
"What happened?" Jason asked, looking at her in concern.
"I'm not sure." She admitted. "I have a weird feeling about it though."
Barbara rolled her eyes, "It's just dad—"
Jason cut her off, knowing better than to blow off Blair's hunches, "Weird how?"
"I don't know." She shrugged, flipping her phone back and forth between her hands. "I feel like whatever he's going to say, it's not going to be good."
"Maybe he has a better lead on what's going on with Penguin." River offered.
"Maybe." Blair agreed, but it didn't feel right. "I'm going to go get dressed so I can meet him." She walked over to Jason, kissing him on the cheek before talking quietly, "Keep an eye on Barbara for me. And be nice."
"I'll be nice if she is." Jason swore, glancing at Barbara over Blair's shoulder. "Can't promise anything else."
Blair shook her head, "Good enough for me, I guess. I'll see you in a little bit."
"Be careful."
"Always." Blair winked, heading up the stairs.
Jason turned to face River and Barbara again, seeing them both watching him, Barbara with more intensity than River. Probably because he had just been making out with her cousin half an hour before. Clearing his throat, he jerked his head to the mat, "Come on, Riv. You're up."
********
Blair stood outside Gordon's office, not sure what she was about to be walking into. She had the entire ride over to think about the way he had spoken on the phone. It was like every word had been rehearsed a dozen times before he had finally said them. It wasn't like him. She didn't know what to think.
Finally, she rolled her shoulders back, pushing open the door. Whatever it was wouldn't be taken care of if she just sat outside the door all day. When she walked in, her uncle had his back to her, just staring out the window at the city. It was actually scarier than she wanted to admit. "You wanted to see me?"
Without turning around, he responded with a simple, "Close the door."
Blair didn't hesitate to follow his orders, pulling the door closed. If he was about to start yelling at her, she honestly preferred the door to be closed. She didn't need the entire police force hearing her business. "If this is about yesterday —"
"Just sit down."
Blair took a seat in the chair in front of his desk hesitantly. Gordon was still standing with his back to her, making her feel extremely nervous in ways she couldn't begin to describe. Seeing that he wasn't going to speak, she spoke first, "What?"
"Some things just aren't adding up, Blair." He said, finally turning around to face her, though she really wished he hadn't. It felt like he was looking straight into her soul, and for whatever reason, he was not impressed with what he saw.
Sitting up straight, she kept her voice light as she asked, "What things?"
"Sometimes I won't see you for days and you'll show up with fading bruises or cuts that you didn't have before." He started, lowering himself into his own chair. With each word, Blair could feel her heart racing faster. He knew. He knew and he was going to be asking. "After Crane was returned back to Arkham, I didn't see you for a week, and when I did, you had cuts on your face you got from 'falling out of a tree.'"
"I did fall out of a tree." She lied. "Has it ever occurred to you that I'm just naturally clumsy?"
"It did, but I've seen you scale trees from the time you were a little girl without any issues." She really wished she had come up with a better lie back then, but in her defense, she was exhausted. She hadn't slept in days. "I've also seen you balance on the railing of the fire escape outside your bedroom window and swing back inside without a problem."
Blair shrugged, pretending not to care, "So what? What are you trying to get at here?"
Gordon leaned forward on his desk, "What did you and Barbara fight about before she left?"
"Nothing." She said, wondering why that was suddenly brought up. She didn't even know he knew they had fought. "I don't even remember it was so long ago."
He didn't even give her a chance to breathe before he moved on to the next question, "What were you doing all those weekends in San Francisco?"
"Oh my god, what is this?" She exclaimed, crossing her arms over her chest. "An interrogation? I was visiting Dick. You know this."
"You jumped in front of that bullet like it's something you've done a hundred times before." He continued, ignoring her answer, like she didn't even speak. "You saw the gun before anyone else did, like you were scanning the crowd —"
"I was just lucky—"
"When you left to visit Dick this past week, Knight Wolf suddenly took a sabbatical." There it was. The implication that she was Knight Wolf. He knew.
Blair started laughing, trying to diffuse the tension and throw him off the trail. "So you think I'm Knight Wolf now?" She laughed again. "Seriously, Uncle Jim. Everything you said? All just weird coincidences, that's it."
Gordon didn't even blink, just continued to unload all of his evidence on her, "When Dick was in San Francisco, you know who else was in San Francisco with him?"
"You mean other than me and his roommates?"
"Robin."
Blair shook her head, "Uncle Jim, you can't seriously believe—"
"Don't lie to me, Blair!" He yelled, slamming his hand down on the desktop, causing her to jump in shock. There was no getting out of this one. No matter what lie she told, no matter how great of a lie it was, he wasn't going to believe her. He knew. "I'm going to ask you point blank. No lies, no distractions from the question, nothing but truth and facts."
"Technically truth and fact are the same thing." She said, unable to help herself. She was in one of the worst situations imaginable, but still had to crack some kind of a joke. It was the only way she was going to keep from yelling. Gordon fixed her with an unamused stare until she finally asked, "What do you want me to say?"
"I want to know if you are Knight Wolf and I want you to be one hundred percent honest with me." Finally. A clear question.
Blair took a deep breath, twisting the ring around on her finger before looking him directly in the eye, "Yes. I am." She spoke clearly, without breaking eye contact as she added, "And I'm damn good at it."
Gordon sat back in his seat, almost like he didn't believe her, or that he didn't think she would actually tell him the truth. Blair stopped playing with her ring, her hand going to the necklace at her throat when he finally spoke again, "How long?"
"Well," She sighed, dragging the shooting star pendant along the chain. "That depends on where your starting point is."
Gordon blinked, "How long do you count it?"
There were definitely different points in time that could've been considered the start of her Knight Wolf career. When she was nine and first held a knife, when she was ten and found the Batcave, when she started working at the computer at thirteen... finally, she settled on, "I started officially training when I was fourteen—"
"FOURTEEN?" Gordon practically yelled, cutting her off before she could even finish her words.
Blair just rolled her eyes, "I was learning how to defend myself at ten. It's really not that different."
"Learning to defend yourself is completely different than becoming a child vigilante!" He exclaimed, loudly. It was starting to be a problem, really.
"Why? Because I'm applying what I learn to keeping the world safe?" She snapped at her usual volume, hoping it would bring his attention to how loud he was being. "How is that any different than what you do?"
"Because I'm a full grown adult, Blair!"
Obviously, he didn't get the memo to be quiet. Blair stood up, shaking her head. Of course he wasn't making this easy on her, "Get up."
Gordon looked up at her, almost like he didn't quite believe she was the one ordering him around, "Excuse me?"
"We aren't talking about this here, not when you're going to yell about everything I say." She said, fixing her jacket before she started walking back to the door. "There's a reason that my identity is a secret, so if you want to talk about this, we aren't doing it here."
Gordon hesitated, almost like he didn't want to know anymore dark facts about her secret life. She couldn't really blame him. Knight Wolf had seen and done so much more than any of Gotham PD could say.
"Do you want to have this talk or not?" Blair asked, stopping in front of the door. "Because if I walk out of this office without you, you'll lose the one chance you have to learn anything about it."
Gordon stood up, grabbing his jacket off the hook on the wall before following her to the door. Blair just shook her head, muttering under her breath, "That's what I thought."
********
For the first time in a long time, Blair felt like a child and not in a fun way. She had taken Gordon's keys before they left the police station as she didn't drive herself, but the entire ride from there back to Wayne Manor was eerily silent. She kept expecting him to yell or lecture her, but nothing came. He just stared out the windshield in silence.
When they finally pulled up to the door, Blair put the car in park, wasting no time in getting out as quickly as she could. The silence was starting to feel suffocating.
Gordon followed her into the house, following her all the way to the grandfather clock in the living room. She started to move the hands on the clock to specific points on the face while he looked over her shoulder, "What are you doing?"
"Something I'm already regretting." She grumbled, stepping back as the clock moved to reveal the entrance to the Batcave. Once they took those final steps in, there was no going back. All she could do was hope that it would turn out okay. Who was she kidding, life never worked out like that. "Doing this might actually ruin my entire life, but you want answers so I'm giving them to you."
She stepped into the cave, not waiting to see if Gordon followed her. Voices from down below carried up the stairs, not helping calm her nerves at all. She was about to drop a bomb on all of their lives. She was about to ruin her own.
"What kind of punch was that?" Jason's loud voice carried up to her, followed by his laughter. "That sucked!"
Shortly after, River's joined in, "I'm training to be a doctor, not Batman's sidekick."
"Well, Jason has a point. You do need to learn some of this." So Barbara was still in the cave. Great. Just great. "I don't know how or why you're a part of this team, but you are so you need to learn how to defend yourself."
"Hey!" Jason exclaimed, defensively. If Blair wasn't about to wreck everything, she would've smiled at the fact that he was jumping to River's defense so quickly. "He—"
"He's here because Alfred needs help." That voice almost made her stop dead in her tracks. Bruce was home and in the cave. He was about to disown her. "It's that simple, Barbara, not that you need to understand the reasoning behind what I do. Not anymore."
Blair turned the corner, leaning over the railing and clearing her throat to get everyone's attention. Everyone stopped arguing to look up at her. "So we have a problem."
Avoiding everyone's gaze, she just focused on Jason as they looked at the man behind her. She could tell that Bruce was pissed, that River was ready to run, and Barbara was regretting all of her life decisions without even looking at them.
Jason's jaw dropped, meeting her eyes again, saying what everyone was thinking, "Oh shit."
A/N: If I could make video edits, I would have so many of this fic on my TikTok. Anyway, I deleted the author's note that came before Chapter 67, do with that what you will, but we're getting to really interesting stuff soon.