"it's about time you got here." Zatanna said when Artemis walked in to the bar where they meet every Friday night. "hey,sorry i'm late, today we were informed that the cafe had been bought by someone else and we had to stay after work to meet them." Artemis explained and sat down on a bar stool next to Raquel. Zatanna,Megan, Raquel and Artemis all met at the cafe where Artemis works four years ago, first it was Artemis and Zatanna then they met Megan and Raquel. Artemis ordered a coke and continued talking to her friends who all stopped and were staring at her.
"What?" she asked uncomfortable, Artemis hated it when they gave her that look. Zatanna smiled and said, "Well Artemis as you know your birthday is This weekend and all of us have chipped in and got you a present." Zatanna said and handed her an envelope. "Guys you didn't have to, you know I hate my birthday." Artemis said but her friends insisted she open the envelope, she sighed and opened it finding four plane tickets to Vegas. "Oh My God, you guys are taking me to Vegas." Artemis said with a large smile on her face. The four of them got up and hugged her, when they let go they said, "Now lets go to your place and pack, we leave tomorrow at six-am." Raquel said and the girls left the bar.
Dick walked into the police station and sat as his desk, it'd been a late night last night and he barely got any sleep. Wally was already sitting at the desk and asked, "did you win?" Wally could tell Dick was out gambling last night because he only ever looked this tired when he stayed out all night gambling. Dick was very good at gambling, but that was the problem. When Dick left Wayne manor two years ago after he and Bruce had a fight Dick started gambling, at first it was about twice a month and then he started going every couple of weekends and now he goes almost every weekend. No one knew this yet they all assumed he was only going a couple times every couple of months like he used to, they had no idea about his problem.
"lets just say I'll buy lunch today." Dick said and Wally laughed. "whatever you say man, the boss has a job for us." Dick grabbed his jacket and followed Wally out of the police station. When they got to the crime scene they found the shop owner on the ground with a gunshot wound to the leg, Wally called for backup and Dick ran the back of the shop trying to chase down the guys. Dick silently walked around the building until he heard footsteps running around the corner. He got ready to kick the guy but something hit him in the back of the head and he dropped to the ground. His vision went blurry for a minute, 'these guy are strong' he thought to himself as he slowly got up and contacted Wally letting him know that they got away in a black Nissan SUV but he couldn't read the plate from that far away. "Damn it!" He yelled in frustration, that was the second time he'd let someone get away in the past two weeks, he should've been able to handle it. "Hey an ambulance is on the way, you should get your head checked out man." Wally said to his best friend who shook his head no but Wally still made him get it checked out anyway.
"I can't believe you guys are taking me to Vegas, you have no idea how much this means to me." Artemis said as they were packing their bags and her friends smiled. "Artemis it's your birthday, we had to do this. Every year you get us something great and this year it's your turn." Megan said. "Yeah girl you deserve this, just accept it and stop asking questions." Raquel told her friend. Artemis has always wanted to travel but she has never had the money and she had always thought Vegas would be amazing, the fun never stops. She smiled and continued packing, this weekend was going to be great.
"Listen Dick, don't beat yourself up over this, we've all done something like this before, no one's perfect." Wally said as his friend took another sip of his beer. "Hey what are you doing this weekend?" Dick asked suddenly and Wally shrugged, "I don't know, nothing really. I finished moving out of LInda's place so I guess all i'd be doing would be unpacking, why what do you have in mind?" Dick finished his drink and put the money on the counter, "Well I was thinking that we could go to Vegas, you know you,me Roy and Kaldur. What do you think?" DIck asked Wally who had a large grin on his face, "Dude that's an awesome idea, how long will it take to get there?"
"Around four or five hours, if I take the Private jet it should be a little shorter." Dick said. Everyone new that DIck Grayson was the adopted son of Bruce Wayne, as well as his other adopted brothers Jason and Tim. Dick was first started working at Wayne enterprises before he joined the police force. "That sounds great but are you sure you want to invite Roy after the whole Barbara thing?" Wally asked. Bababra was one of Dicks best friends from when he was younger and she is also his ex girlfriend. She was the one girl Dick was ever really serious about, he had never had a real relationship before Barbara Gordon and she broke his heart when she cheated on him with Roy, Dick hadn't had another serious relationship since then, he only ever had one night stands like he used too before Barbara. Dick shrugged, "yeah, I don't think it'd be the same with all of us, infact I think Barbara can also come to if she wants. I'm kinda over the whole Barbara cheating on me thing." He explained to his best friend who nodded and ordered another drink. "Well if you want i'll call Roy and you can call Kaldur. What time are we leaving?"
"Around seven I guess, so we better get home and pack, and i'll call work as well. See you tomorrow man." DIck said and Wally finished his drink and stood up before shaking Dicks hand and walking out of the bar.
Artemis was the first one on the plane, she hadn't been on a plane since she was nine and she was a little nervous. "Just relax, you'll be fine. If you want you can just sleep the whole time." Zatanna told her friend. Artemis smiled and continued to walk to their seats. "Yeah just try to think about all the fun we'll be having in Vegas in a couple hours." Megan said and Artemis relaxed a little and tried to focus about how amazing Vegas is going to be.
"Wally come on man there'll be heaps of food on the plane, calm down and get in the car." Dick said to his best friend who was carrying about five bags and four of them were filled with food. Roy got out of the car and took three of the bags filled with food and took them back inside, ignoring Wally's attempts to stop him. Roy slammed the door and pushed the red head into the car locking the car doors telling Dick to start driving. Wally was sitting in the passengers seat and Roy, Barbara and Kaldur were sitting in the back. It had been a little weird at first when Roy and Barbara got into the car, it was just the three of them in silence as they drove to get Kaldur, Dick was practically speeding to get to Kaldur's house. "So who's excited for Vegas?" Wally asked and looked all around the car which was still in a slightly awkward silence. "Anyone?" Wally questioned again and looked at Kaldur who just smiled at his friend trying to make him feel alittle better. Barbara was extremely uncomfortable at that moment, She wanted to talk to her best friend but it felt wrong, they hadn't really talked since the day when Barbabra moved out of Dicks apartment.
"So how long do you think it'll take us to get there?" Roy asked and everyone looked at him before Dick said, "About four or five hours maybe." Roy nodded and the car went silent again.
'Maybe inviting Roy and Barbara wasn't a very good idea.' Dick thought to himself and continued driving. It wasn't much better when they got to the jet, all they really talked about was the view and how loud Wally's chewing was. 'This is going to be horrible' Dick thought to himself when everyone slowly stopped talking, 'at least the silence now isn't as awkward as it was before' he thought again. This is going to be a long flight, for all of them.