By the time I was alright enough to come back into my apartment, Tim was sitting at my counter, sipping a cup of coffee.

Alone.

Ra's and Talia were gone.

"Enjoying yourself?" I shoved my hands in my jeans. The smell of it made me nauseous. Any food did at the moment. Jason stopped beside me, choosing instead to lean against the wall with his arms crossed.

I wanted him nearer than that.

"I was just letting you and Jay have some quality time." Tim shrugged. "Plus I needed an energy boost." He nodded toward his cup, hunched over the counter.

"Where are the Al Ghuls?"

"Oh them? They won't be bothering you again tonight." He said it so casually, like he was commenting on the weather.

"Timberella here found some rather good blackmail." Jason smirked. "I couldn't be more proud."

Tim rolled his eyes, though his cheeks colored and he ducked his head. "Whatever. We've scared them off for now and that's the only thing that matters."

"What's strong enough to deter Ra's Al Ghul?"

Instead of answering Tim drank from his mug and Jason shrugged. "Don't worry about it Princess."

"I'll stab you."

"Oho I'm so scared." He held up his hands in surrender. "You gonna come at me with a toothpick?"

"Fuck you, Todd."

"Promise?" Jason wiggled his eyebrows.

"Gross." Tim's lip curled in disgust.

Jason rolled his eyes. "Oh please, we're all adults here. What's wrong with a little harmless flirting?"

"The issue with it, Jay, is that you said it in front of your brother." I moved into the kitchen, grabbing a water out of the fridge to hopefully soothe the fluttering in my stomach.

"So you're not denying you like it. Noted." He grinned.

He also didn't correct me when I called him Jay. Maybe Clark had been right, maybe Jason did have a crush on me. But it didn't bother me as much as I thought it would, Jason Todd was a fucking sight to behold.

"Back to the matter at hand." I cleared my throat. "Slade's still loose somewhere, personally I'll be sleeping with an eye open."

"Your apartment has some of the best security in the world, as of right now." Tim tapped on his phone. "Which means you don't have to, or you know, you could always come back to the manor and hide out in the cave."

"When did that happen?" I hadn't installed any security, the only thing I could qualify as any kind of safety measure are the watch and bracelet on my wrist.

"It was part of the reason I came here." Tim pocketed his phone. "When you ran off, I contacted the cave and we figured out what you were trying to do."

"So now what, I sneeze wrong and suddenly I have the Justice League knocking on my door?"

"Not the League, no. We're still not on good terms with them." The youngest drained the last of his coffee. "But any Bat in Gotham and Clark will be here as soon as we can. Though the security system is designed to recognize your genetic 'fingerprint' so to speak. Slade doesn't have the other half of your DNA and the sensors will pick that up."

"I'm also gonna be hanging around for the next little while." Jason set his hands against the edge of the counter. "I'm not leaving you alone in a city with only Superman to protect you again, plus I don't really have any obligations in Gotham at the moment, so that helps."

I was about to argue that I could protect myself, but by the look Jason gave me, he already knew what I was about to say. "Fine."

Tim yawned, checking the watch on his wrist. "I should really head back, I have to patrol before I can go to bed."

"Why don't you just stay here? If B says anything, I'll just convince him what a good idea it was." I set my water bottle down. Now that I was really looking at Tim, he was pale, sweat had broken out on his hairline. "You know what, yeah. Go lay down on the couch and I'll get you a wet washcloth."

Tim tried to protest, but Jason was already on it, ushering the nineteen year old to my sectional.

"How long were you gonna wait before you told anyone you were sick?" I wrung out a rag before joining them, Tim was already laid down and I sat beside him, laying the folded washcloth across his forehead.

"I'm not sick." He protested weakly. "Just a little tired is all."

"Tim, honey. You have a fever." I turned to look at Jason. "Why didn't you see it?"

He shrugged, a defense at the tip of his tongue. "He was fine when we left."

That didn't make any sense.

Wait.

I rushed toward the coffee, dipping my finger in the powdered mixture to taste before abruptly spitting it out. "Poison."

This had no doubt been Slade. Except he didn't know that I didn't actually drink coffee very often, I mainly kept it around for sleep deprived Bats that always seemed to show up on my doorstep.

So that meant he knew where I was and hadn't made a move yet.

Why?

"How did someone poison your coffee?"

"Doesn't matter, we need to get out of here, now." I grabbed at a pen and paper, writing down the plan of escape, I showed the only standing bat. Jason nodded, scooping his younger brother up and throwing him over his shoulder. "Be careful, he might throw up."

"Do you have a better idea because he's heavier than he looks."

"Just- be careful. The poison is really only meant to take you down, makes you very ill, but it can't kill unless consumed in large quantities."

"Sounds like a shit poison."

"There are many ways to use poison." I rambled, going into my room, shouting to continue the conversation while I got my essentials. "Killing someone is only one of them, you should go on ahead though, I'll catch up."

I didn't actually know if Jason followed the suggestion, I was more afraid that Slade knew where my apartment was and was just waiting to pounce, maybe even listening in on our conversation.

"But all poisons have the same end game. Take enough and it'll kill you." That damn voice chilled me to the bone, freezing me in place.

Slade Wilson was sitting at my desk, draped in shadow.