She was alone at the rooftop, leaning against the railings, eyes wandering aimlessly over the wide expanse of Gotham. A cigarette dangled from her fingers, by the looks of which it seemed as if she had been smoking for a while now.

Her head was crammed with everything that had happened earlier that day and she had no idea how to respond to it. And since those cramming thoughts were suffocating her from the inside, she had decided to go to the roof to clear up her mind.

When she had returned from work, she was surprised to find a man she had never seen before, dressed fully in a formal suit, waiting at her doorstep.

He had introduced himself as Daniel Sanders, the caretaker CEO of her father Jack Drake's firm.

Apparently, the nearly bankrupt Drake Enterprises had regained their shares in the stock market and was eventually getting stable. She was surprised how the firm was still up and running to which he had replied that he visited Jack often regarding the vital decisions taken for the firm. So even if Daniel was the caretaker CEO, the real power still laid in Jack's hands.

And on his recent visit when he had informed Jack of the elevating condition of his company, he had asked him to transfer the post of CEO to Sayuri since she was the most rightful candidate for the post and there would be no further objections from the law regarding that either.

Sayuri had been shocked, to say the least, but Daniel assured her that the particular topic had been under discussion ever since she returned to Gotham. Jack couldn't be out himself for another five years, but he wanted his daughter to take over his company in his place.

He himself thought that it would be for the company's benefit if she accepted. But Sayuri knew the post came with great responsibility so she had asked for some time to think from him. She had told him that she would meet her father first and then let him know of her decision.

And now that he had gone leaving her in a dilemma, she had looked for the easiest escape thus she went to the rooftop, rethinking the offer. She needed some time to herself to figure it all out.

Sayuri wasn't a habitual smoker either. It was just a habit she had picked to calm herself down whenever she felt too overwhelmed or anxious.

And in such a state when she was clearly uncertain of what to do next, a few hours of smoking seemed like a temporary exit route to her.

The cigarette in her hand had almost finished but she didn't notice as she was lost in thought, wondering why would her father want her to take up such a big responsibility. She had no experience nor qualification to be a CEO except for the fact that she was the daughter of the company's owner.

"Want another one?"

She was shaken up by a rather familiar voice and looked up to see Jason perched up on the railings beside her.

He was in his Red Hood suit and his helmet was held under his arm. Though he was holding out a newly lit cigarette to her.

Knowing that it was dangerous to be so lost in thought that she hadn't even realized how long he had been there, still she took the cigarette, throwing away the previous one.

"Now that's worse than I expected," he remarked, lighting up his own cigarette and taking a long drag from it.

"What could be more worse than your presence here?"

"Haha, downright hilarious," he rolled his eyes sarcastically, "I meant you. You're worse than I expected."

"Excuse me? Just because I didn't throw you down these railings, doesn't mean you have the right to say that to me."

He knew she was feeling slightly edgy, "easy there, Sayuri, I thought you could take a joke."

"Normally I would but right now, I'm not so sure."

He nodded, leaning back a little, "yeah I figured that much."

"So what are you doing here?" She asked just so the conversation wouldn't get any more awkward than it had done so already.

He shrugged, "patrol night, that's what. It's really a no fun night today though, no criminal wants to come out and play tag, and since I was positioned in the neighborhood I thought I may as well drop by to say hi."

She smiled at him slightly, "and in all the things you've said until now, you forgot to say hi. How convenient."

"Oh forgive me for my lack of conduct," he spoke up dramatically as he held out his hand for her to shake, "Hi Sayuri, how are you doing?"

Her smile widened as she returned the handshake, "very well thank you. How about you?"

"Awesome as always," he winked though it didn't take him long to get serious again, "but it seems to me that you're not doing as awesome."

She shrugged off the remark and waved his concern aside, "nonsense."

"I know you don't smoke yet you've clearly puffed out more than three cigarettes by now," he elaborated pointing over to the crushed cigarette butts on the floor, "and I know given normal circumstances, you would have thrown me off the roof before I even had a chance to properly perch up on the railings. But shocker alert, you didn't even notice me for a whole five minutes."

"I was just... Thinking."

"See, another shocker alert."

"Hey!" she widened her eyes as if mildly offended.

He held his hands up in surrender and almost lost his balance such that he would have tumbled down if she hadn't steadied him in time, "yeah, that did come out wrong. Apologies for that."

She thought about asking his opinion on the issue, "Jay, do you have a minute?"

"Sure, hit me with whatever news you've got."

"My father wants me to take over his company in his place," she answered, "the caretaker CEO of Drake Enterprises visited me today and told me all about it. They want me, a person who has had no experience nor qualification regarding finances or the stock market, to lead a company who's major portion is just that. I have demanded some time to think and that's precisely what I was doing when you dropped by."

"Oh..." He nodded, "sounds pretty sketchy to me."

"Exactly," she agreed, declining another cigarette that he offered, "what would you have done in my place?"

Jason looked at her with wide blue eyes as if in disbelief, hand placed dramatically on his chest, "you're asking me for advice?"

"Yeah, what's wrong in that?"

"Clearly a thousand things which would take hours if I started telling you each one of them right now."

"Forget those thousand things and just answer me this," she spoke, "what would you have done if someone asked you to be the CEO of a firm?"

Hid brows furrowed as if seriously considering the situation, "I would have taken up the offer. In an instant."

"Why?"

"I mean, CEOs are billionaires right? I wouldn't have to worry about money again, say goodbye to no food for days and sleeping on the streets. Seems like an ideal situation."

She looked at him closely as if trying to judge whether he was serious or not, "but this very offer seemed sketchy to you a couple minutes ago."

"Ah, I meant sketchy for you, not the other way round."

"And what's with all this no food and sleeping on the streets thing?"

He sighed dramatically, "if only you knew, sweetheart... Anyways, let's leave it there."

"I mean I know you and Bruce have issues much more often than the rest, still I don't think he would ever kick you out of the Manor on an empty stomach."

It took him a minute to process what the she had said and soon after he burst out laughing, "oh no no no, that's definitely not what I had meant. I was just referring to my life before I became Robin."

"Oh..."

"And since that's a closed chapter so I'm certain I won't be elaborating."

She nodded, "yeah that's fine. I don't want you to either."

"Good. Past stories are always a hell lot of unamusing and not worthy of being recalled. I know you, of all people, would definitely agree with that."

She had to admit though that he was right in saying that.

"As for your current crises," he resumed, "what do you think is wrong with the offer?"

"I'm not fit for that post."

"Honey, this is Gotham and no one here is ever fit for their post. They are either too qualified or too shitty at what they do. It doesn't matter. Like look at me, for example. I'm a vigilante, I'm supposed to fight crime. But at the same time I'm referred to as the scourge of the underworld, and also as one of the most dangerous people in Gotham; Red Hood, which apparently makes me shitty at my job. But do I look like I care? Noooo. Because it doesn't matter."

She took in a deep breath, "but still... Mr Sanders said that Dad had recommended me for the post. And I don't get why he would do that."

Jason shrugged as if quite unimpressed, "why would he not? You're his daughter, he owns a firm but can't run it so who else can he trust with to do so in his place? You."

"But Jay..."

He placed a finger on her lips as if shushing her, "do not interrupt. So as I was saying, your father wants you to take the reins because he thinks you would be capable of that. And also because he would want you to have a better paying job than the one you already have."

She pondered on his words but the way he had put it made it seem as if Jack had done it out of care for her. But she found the whole idea rather absurd.

"Or on the other hand, your father's taken a political strategy," Jay mused and by the expression on his face it was clear that he was enjoying each second of giving his expert opinion, "maybe he wants you to be the CEO because if you accepted his offer, it would make you the youngest female CEO in our city. And that would definitely bring a lot of publicity and positive acclaim with it. So maybe your father wants to re-establish the company's status and has to start off by changing their image."

She was surprised at how accurate Jay's assumption had been, "oh I see... You're right though. That could be the case."

He shrugged nonchalantly, "of course, I know I'm always right, no need to remind me. Or according to another possibility, maybe the caretaker CEO had gotten fed up of leading the company so he approached Jack to shift all the burden on your shoulders (sounds like something I would do if I were in his place, to be honest). In that case if something did get screwed up, he wouldn't be blamed for it and neither would you because you have two valid reasons: a) you're Jack's daughter so no one would speak up against you and b) you don't really have any experience so it would be futile blaming you for anything."

She was looking at him as if in awe, "quite impressive, Jay. You are actually really smart despite the impression you initially set on people."

"And I would simply assume that was your attempt at complimenting me," he gestured as if lifting an imaginary hat from his head, "anyways, I'm glad to be of some help. Now kindly pay up." Noticing the surprised look on her face, he added, "I charge 50 bucks for my consultation services."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Ha, just kidding," he spoke laughing uncontrollably, "you Drake siblings look so adorable when surprised, it's worth taking a picture."

A smile flickered on her face as well because even though she had been feeling down earlier, Jay had managed to cheer her up. "Looks like you've already tried surprising Tim then."

"And the results were quite amusing, but that's a story for some other time," he replied, flashing her a brilliant smile before putting back his helmet. His voice came out muffled and reverberated, "duty calls, gotta go. Oh and one last thing before I leave, if you decide to follow my advice and end up in trouble afterwards then I won't be responsible for it in the slightest. So don't even think of blaming me for anything."

And with that he jumped off the railings swinging from his rope, agilely leaping from one building to the other until he vanished from her sight.

***