He noticed the beeping first. It was incessant, mostly the same beat with a slight murmur throwing off the rhythm every few seconds. It was just a little too fast to be a heart rate monitor and frankly in his half-awakeness it was starting to piss him off.

Then he noticed the scent. Spicy and vaguely flowery. Way too familiar. He managed to open his eyes and then she was just there, sitting at his bedside.

"You're awake." She didn't look up from her notes.

"I guess I am," he said before his lips pulled into a smirk without his permission. It was only when he tried to sit up that he noticed his wrists strapped to the cot.

"Are the restraints really necessary? Not that I really mind you tying me up—"

"The injury on your hand was bad and didn't need you rolling onto it." She still didn't look up. "Plus we couldn't have you running away." A hint of playfulness leaked into her normal no-nonsense tone.

She still didn't look up, but that just gave him a chance to look at her. And god, she looked good. She always looked good. Same cream peach skin. Same ridiculously red hair. The glasses were new … so were the bags under her eyes.

"It's been a long time, Barbie."

"Bit of an understatement, don't you think?" Her eyes flitted up to him. "Five years can be a lifetime."

"You have no idea."

"I think I do." Her hands went to her wheels, moving the chair back and forth a little for emphasis. It made his jaw hurt. He knew about it, of course. He looked up everyone when he came back, knew what the monster had done to her. Hell, he thought of it while he was beating the shit out of that bastard. Didn't make it any easier to see in person.

"You lost a lot of blood," Barbara said, "and your wound was starting to get infected." Leaning forward slightly, she carefully pulled the bandage up from his hand, her fingers grazing his wrist. "You really should have seen that move from Bruce coming."

"You saw that," he managed despite his mind heavy from the sedatives and the aftermath of her fingers on bare skin.

"I did."

"You know I'm Red Hood."

"I do."

"And you found me."

"You weren't that hard to find, Jay." And she pulled out that sad smile that he always hoped she saved just for him.

He was a moment away from asking how, how in the hell did she know so damn much, but the beeping of the machines came back. They came from huge computer systems on the platform behind Barbara. And things clicked.

"You're the Oracle?" he asked. "The Oracle?"

She smirked. "I have my eyes on the whole city … you think I didn't see you run away from the explosion?"

He wasn't sure how many days it had been now. He remembered the explosion. He remembered making it back to his other hideout. He remembered making it through the day in half-consciousness and a hell of a lot of pain before the night fell again. And he remembered a flash of dark purple.

"So the brunette with the tranquilizer arrows—"

"Works for me," she nodded. "On my team."

He nodded, halfway listening and halfway still trying to accept that the object of his schoolboy fantasies could cripple every corporation on the east coast with the push of a button, so he barely processed her next words.

"How'd you like to do some work with me?"

He blinked. "Say what now?"

He could tell she was struggling not to flat out laugh at him. "I could use some help around the clocktower. You're going to be out for a while with your hand like that." She touched his wrist again and those fluttery feelings came back. She didn't seem to notice. "I know you have a thing about stopping the bad guys and we definitely do that here. Plus I'm open to letting you stay here for as long as you're working with us and I know this is better than the hole you were living in."

He took exception to that, but didn't think it was worth arguing. "What do you get out of it exactly?" he asked.

"Besides shutting Zinda up about getting some eye candy around here?" Barbara said more to herself before looking back at him. "Jay, you have your own special skills. You're smart. You understand the criminal world. I don't actively hate you."

"You sure do know how to make a man feel good—"

"And I trust you."

Shit. Didn't see that coming.

"You sure about that?" The words came out quieter than he would have liked. But he needed to know for sure. If he was going to do this, he needed to know.

She nodded and undid his restraints. "I do." She pushed her chair so she was right up against his ear. "But you should know that if you betray my trust, I will destroy you."

Okay, that should NOT be as hot as it is, he thought as she turned to make her way towards her monitors.

"You know," he cleared his throat as he sat up on his elbows, "I'm not sure Bruce will appreciate you hiring the fuck-up."

She looked over her shoulder and smirked.

"Probably, but what makes you think I give a damn?"

Jason bit his lip as she kept moving. He liked when she got a little cocky. Power looked good on her.

Prompt: "First Meets" (for Jaybabs week on Tumblr)