Bang, bang, bang. The lovely sound of my door being practically broke down is how I'm being woken up this... morning? Afternoon? I have no idea what time of day it is.

"Alison!" A voice calls out to me, too loud for the headache I already have, as the person opens my door.

I groan and peel my eyes open, which I quickly regret, squeezing them shut again due to the sun streaming through my window. Damn I miss my blackout curtains, too bad I tore them off during one of my fits.

"Um, hello?" The same voice speaks again, this time more annoyed. "You look like shit." They laugh.

I huff, forcing myself to raise up, an arm sliding off my shoulder as I do causing my eyes shoot back open. I quickly look to my left to see a female sound asleep. Oh, right. I start to chuckle as last night starts coming back to me. So that means....I lean forward to find a second one snoring.

"A threesome? Really?" I finally look over to find Jason Todd standing in the doorway, arms crossed, foot tapping, with an amused expression written on his face.

Since he's been living here for about two years now he's been a fun pain in the ass. After actually talking to each other, I discovered he was more than a rebellious, immature teenager and he discovered I was more than a bitchy mess and then we actually became close over time, much to everyone's surprise. It took our stubborn asses time, but we're like siblings now.

"Not so loud! I have a hangover." I rub my temples. "But hey, don't knock it til you try it." I smirk. I, technically, didn't actually have a threesome though. We just came back here to drink even more than we did at the club, made out some, then passed out. But what's the fun in telling him that?

"Is that invitation?" He jokes.

I weakly throw one of my pillows at him, which he easily dodges.

"GROSS! What do you want?" I grumble.

"Bruce wants to talk to you." He finally informs me the reason he is here. He then hurries out before I bite his head off.

Great. I have a feeling it's not gonna be a nice chat.

I slowly get out of bed, crush three aspirins into my champagne, chug it down, then glance in the mirror. I grimace. Jason was right, I do look like shit. My makeup is very smudged and my hair is matted and frizzy. I pull myself away and get dressed relatively fast knowing better than to keep Bruce waiting.

As I head out of my room I'm greeted by Alfred. Alfred Pennyworth is our butler and like a grandpa to me. He pretty much raised Bruce since Mr. and Mrs. Wayne were killed when he was twelve. Alfred was all he had left.

"Miss Kyle." He nods to me. "Do I need to, um- set out extra plates?" His eyes move towards the two still in my bed.

Oh shit, forgot they were there. "No need, just make them leave for me, will ya? I gotta go talk to Bruce."

"Here's these before you go." He holds out an oh so familiar pill bottle. I stare at it for a moment before begrudgingly grabbing it. "Best of luck." He raises his brows, heading into my room to deal with the company.

My hands shake slightly causing a rattling noise. Yeah, no thanks, Alfred. I toss to the side and head down to the Batcave, home of the one and only Batman. Batman is the hero-vigilante here in our town of Gotham. Bruce has been doing it since he was around my age, badass if I do say so myself.

As I arrive his back is turned, looking at all of the monitors he has down here. He knows I'm here, but I clear my throat to get this show on the road.

"Ah, Alison." He finally turns around.

"Jason said you wanted to talk to me." I cross my arms, letting him know I am not happy about this.

"Yes." He sighs, avoiding eye contact. "I think you need some time... away." 

"What?!" I raise my voice. "That's ridiculous! Why?"

"Why? Alison, this behavior of yours isn't healthy anymore. I thought you've been slowly getting better since the event that took place." He purposely avoids saying what it is out loud. "And I backed off and gave your space, but it's gone on long enough. Alfred tells me you're not taking your medicine, you've stopped going to therapy, you take Jason out with you now- I've got to step in at some point. I'm sorry."

"You're one to talk." I scoff. Who does he think he is? Trying to lecture me on healthy pass times. "I'm fine." I grit through my teeth. If you say it enough it eventually becomes true, right? 

Deep breathes.

He looks up at me in disproval. "If you keep this lifestyle up it's going to catch up to you and get you in trouble when you're out there."

He is referring to what we do. Just as he is Batman, I am Tamer. I have my own uniform, mask, and tools. Batman, Robin, which is Jason, and I protect our city of Gotham. I have the best job in the world, and he's trying to take it away from me.

"You're not gonna make me quit." I stand my ground, five seconds away from exploding. 

Bruce chuckles. "I never said quit. I think a break from here would do you some good."

I eye him up and down. "What did you have in mind?"

Bruce opens one of his drawers and pulls out a file. "I caught word there may be a break through in the case." He says. He can't mean the case.

"Thought we hit a dead end." I speak bitterly.

"You know there's always something brewing." Bruce chuckles. "Right now it's just talk, but one of my contacts pointed me in the direction of Detroit. Go there to gather the information we need, but remember this is also to clear your head, have a semi-break. Think of it as a vacation." He smiles. "How's that?"

"Better than trying to make me do nothing." I huff.

"You're so stubborn." He roll his eyes and hands me the file.

"Learned from the best." I smirk, taking it.

~ ~ ~

Updated Author's Note: I can't believe there's not an AN, but I think this was before I did those all the time now lol. 

Anyways, hellooo!! Going through and editing this book a bit, just a few touches that needed fixing and adding some songs to the playlist. I've been itching to get back to this book, of course right when I'm about to start my last fall semester lmao. But here we are, I missed this book and Alison so much!!

Hope y'all enjoyed <3