2nd case.

[dorkwonder]

Hey, we need to talk. Can we meet at your room in a few?

Comments

[secondchances]

[The grimace on her face is enough to confirm that she's not telling the whole truth. She thinks about what Ezio said earlier.

She exhales.]

His family has... ties to the Borgia. Bad ties. [This is like the second time in recent memory that she's been spilling Ezio's business, but it should get him some sympathy.] Lucrezia's father is responsible for the deaths of Ezio's brothers and father. Since then, his life has been devoted to [revenge] making sure that doesn't happen to other innocent people.

[SOUND FAMILIAR?]

Lucrezia and her brother don't know that, though. He's friends with Lucrezia. [Kind... of... that's complicated, but it's easier to explain this way.] If she were to find out about this, she'd be devastated.

[She watches Tim, frowning.]

It's a lot of complicated stuff.

[dorkwonder]

[Tim bites back his anger and grabs onto every ounce of will power he has. Not only has Steph made friends with someone who comes from an extremely dangerous and power hungry family, but she is also friends with someone who does what they do, except he can tell Ezio doesn't follow their no-kill rule. If he did then Steph wouldn't have kept any of this a secret from him.

Anger flashes through his eyes while he struggles to keep it at bay. If he explodes and starts yelling at Steph, chances of her sharing anything else with him are slim to none. Right now, he needs to think like a Titan and not a Bat. Rose and Cass were both trained to kill and experts at doing it. Under the right guidance they were able to hone their skills and use them for good. Conner came from bad blood, but he was one of the most heroic people he knows.

After a long, painful silence, he finally responds.]

Sounds like it.

[secondchances]

[Steph, meanwhile, is using all of her willpower to keep her mouth shut and not crack under that agonizing silence.

He knows. It's easy to figure out what Ezio does, even if Steph doesn't mention the "a" word.]

You can ask me questions.

["Not make accusations" is the unspoken part.]

[dorkwonder]

Which one of Lucrezia's brothers is here, and has Ezio killed anyone at Paradisa?

[secondchances]

Cesare, and no. He's an ally. [He knows her rules.]

[dorkwonder]

Of course. [Grumbles under his breath. Out of all of the Borgias, there are four that he can remember easily, and not for the best reason. Lucrezia and Cesare are two of the four.]

How do you know you can trust him?

[secondchances]

[Well, he and Ezio can bond over not being fond of Cesare.]

I don't agree with his methods, but he's a good person. He goes out of his way to help people. He's had countless opportunities to hurt the daughter of his enemy, but he hasn't. [Not intentionally, anyway.] He's told me about his family, and I've met his sister, and it's not an act. He's honest with me and tells me the truth, even when I might not like it.

[She realizes how that sounds after she says it. Ezio was honest with her, and she was honest with him. They talked openly about things, even if it led to a disagreement--and they handled the arguments. It strikes her as sad that they had mastered in a year what she and Tim couldn't master over many.

It makes her feel guilty.]

I keep an eye on him. The worst he's ever done is beat up cheating husbands.

[dorkwonder]

[Grows quiet as a few more thoughts pop into his head. Like Steph, he's thinking about her relationship with Ezio. She's been friends or whatever with him for a solid year. In that time, he's apparently come and gone a couple of times. From what she's told him, he's been here several times. How much attachment does she have to him? Does she think he's going to disappear again in a few months? Rather than trying to figure it out for himself, he asks her. Might as well get this out of the way now.]

Steph, when you look at me, do you actually see the guy you knew or do you see me as some version of him who might be gone in a few months?

[secondchances]

[She was expecting to be grilled. More questions about Ezio, Lucrezia, Cesare, and their behavior and how it looked, Batgirl being friendly with them.

This question catches her off guard.]

I see...

[What does she see? She watches him for a few moments, quietly.]

I see someone I hope sticks around, even if that's the last thing he wants. I'm so tired of always being the one left behind that I don't care how twisted and selfish that sounds.

[dorkwonder]

[Before he grills her on the two of them, he has to figure out how much he can trust her. If she just sees him as someone who is going to come and go, then she's only going to have so much loyalty towards him. Versus Lucrezia and Ezio, who have been here with her on a more stable basis. He isn't expecting her to betray him in a malicious way, but he needs to figure out how much of this conversation she's going to pass along to them.]

Steph, the last thing I want is just that; for you to be left behind again. Lucrezia doesn't want you to leave, which means she's probably not going to help you leave here. She wasn't happy when I brought up wanting to get you out of this place.

[secondchances]

I'm her best friend. [That speaks for itself. She's not eager to leave her, either, and can't blame her for being unhappy at the thought.]

How do you think you'd feel, if you were me?

[dorkwonder]

I'd feel a lot of things; frustrated, conflicted, maybe even powerless at times. But I wouldn't forget what I'm a part of.

[Doesn't use an accusational tone, because he's not trying to imply that she's forgotten what it's like to be Batgirl. More so, he wants to remind her of who she is.]

How much of this conversation are you going to share with them?

[secondchances]

[It didn't sting until that last line.]

Do you think I trust them more than you?

[She's afraid of both his answer and her answer to that.]

[dorkwonder]

Maybe. [He's not trying to be hurtful, he's just being honest.]

Do you?

[secondchances]

It's hard to compare.

[dorkwonder]

I know, but I think you can still find an answer to my question.

[secondchances]

[She looks away.]

I don't know if you trust me as much as they trust me.

[dorkwonder]

[Sighs. He should have guessed she'd throw something like that back at him. It annoys him, greatly so, but he's not going to get into a fight with her. If he does, the two of them will just run around in circles all night.]

Earlier today, Lucrezia asked me why things didn't work out between the two of us. I told her it was because we over complicated things when we shouldn't have. What I meant was we haven't trusted each other when we should have.

[They had plenty of reasons to not trust each other, but even more reasons to trust each other.]

Whenever we haven't trusted each other, romantically, as a team, or whatever else, it always backfires on us. Whenever we trust each other, we make a good team. If we want things to be different this time around, then we need to trust each other more.

[secondchances]

[Sometimes it sucks how difficult it is to imagine things being different. Steph pushes her hair back with both hands, and then looks at Tim.]

I really want things to be different. And I'm willing to try, it's just--hard.

[History is such a pain in the ass.]

[dorkwonder]

I know. [Tim is full on Titan's leader mode, he isn't going to relent.]

I'm willing to bet every other time I came here, I swore up and down that I'd find a way out of this place. And every time I ended up going back home.

[He's willing to bet whenever Dick and Bruce were around, he went to them for answers instead of her.]

If we want things to be different this time around, then we have to try something different. Maybe in the end one of us will still leave before the other. Even so, we owe it not only to ourselves to keep trying, but to Kara. It's not just about the two of us.

[secondchances]

[Oh, awkward. Steph feels an annoying sting behind her eyes. No, no, no. No getting overly emotional.

It all sounds nice, but she's reluctant to let herself believe it completely. Even if she wants to.]

I forgot how good you are at the speeches.

[dorkwonder]

I've been known to make a few.

[Sometimes it's easy to forget that Steph hasn't really seen him as a member of Young Justice or a Titan. The only time she really saw him in action as a Titan was when he asked her to for support to leave the team.

She hasn't seen him comfort Cassie when she was upset or rally his friends against the odds.]

That being said, you'll have to be patient with me. I'm not use to you pwning me in the knowledge department, so I'm sure I'll have knee jerk reactions.

[Attempts to lighten the atmosphere a little with his joke.]

[secondchances]

I have to admit, it does give one the slightest bit of a power rush. I understand you just a little bit better.

[She manages a smile. She owed it to Tim and Kara to try her best--even if she didn't fully have her heart in it, she would have to try for them. That meant being a big girl, trusting Tim to not freak out over... a number of things, really. It meant being honest.

She was already a lot more honest than she'd thought she'd be. She makes a mental note to clear some things up with Ezio.]

And you said it.

[dorkwonder]

I did.

[He figured she'd appreciate the gesture. Consider it him also offering an olive branch of sorts.]

I'll make you a deal. If I can trust you to ask questions about the two of them, then in turn I'll try and see the good that you see in the two of them. Deal?

[secondchances]

[She swallows down her anxiety and smiles a little more naturally. Trust. She'll trust him with this.]

Deal.

[She offers her fist. Bump it, Tim.]