A/N: Finally done with this. This has been in the works for almost two months now and I finally am kinda satisfied with it. Thank you for reading and please review!
Someday
Dick didn't realize it until the day that Artemis was graduating.
It took seeing her in that graduation gown to realize that they weren't going to be Gotham buddies anymore—she was going off to Stanford in the fall. He was still going to be stuck in Gotham completing his senior year at Gotham Academy. She was going to be all the way across the country and he was…stuck.
There weren't going to be anymore study dates—"I hope you know I'm just using you for your brains, Grayson"—nor would there be anymore midnight rendezvous to the diner that was a block away from her house—"I'm also using you for your money." He wouldn't get to listen to her ramble on about something that seemed to catch her attention at school and annoy her. He wouldn't be able to let her steal the whip cream off of his milkshake just so nonchalantly—he actually really liked the fact that she was comfortable enough to just steal his food.
They wouldn't be Gotham buddies anymore.
No, she would probably forget about Dick Grayson in time and Robin—no, he was Nightwing now—well, they were just her work associates. They wouldn't hold any special memories together. Not while he was Nightwing. Not while they were apart of the Team.
But that was the only way he was going to be able to see her.
And for some menial reason, that just really bothered him.
He didn't want Artemis to interact with Nightwing, he wanted her to interact with Dick Grayson.
Because Nightwing wasn't the idiot who decided it would be a fun idea to fall in love with his best friend's girlfriend—no, Dick Grayson was the one who decided that it was be ideal for his high school career to put his friendship aside and fall for the blonde girl.
Dick Grayson wasn't always the smartest, but he had good intentions.
"…Dick?"
Dick just stared up at his father/mentor/guardian/person who feeds him and lets him jump off building, "You're letting Artemis go to Gotham Academy, but you're not letting me interact with her in any way…? Right." Dick clarified and resisted the urge to act up in some way that would get Bruce even more testy than how he was right now, which Dick really didn't need.
"Correct. I do not understand what is so hard to comprehend."
Dick could almost feel his teenage angst wanting to act up when Bruce was just so oblivious like this. "Artemis. Artemis Crock. A girl, who just very happens to be on the Team along with me, is going to be going to Gotham Academy, a school where I happen to go to too. On normal circumstances, we would be best friends. We would goof off and be awesome, but you don't want us to."
Bruce just raised an eyebrow, "Correct."
Dick shot a look towards Alfred, but the Butler looked more at ease with Bruce's sudden hardheadedness. He's had to deal with this since Bruce was a freaking kid, of course he's used to Bruce's personality issues—traits.
"Wouldn't it be more…prudent for me to help Artemis get used to a new school?"
"She needs to find her own bearings in Gotham Academy without your help. She doesn't need Robin babying her."
Dick huffed and turned around; stomping out like the teenager he was—the teenager who had just found a loophole around the rules of his guardian.
Robin wasn't allowed to baby Artemis, but Bruce never said anything specific about Dick Grayson babying Artemis.
(Dick likes to think back at this moment as when he when he split Robin from Dick Grayson, or at least in how he perceived Artemis)
Artemis nearly fell out of her seat when Dick Grayson moved his desk so it was practically on top of hers. She turned her head to look at the kid, her gray eyes narrowing at the odd kid, "Um, what are you doing?" she asked.
The kid smiled at her, "I thought we could be French partners."
She raised an eyebrow at him, "I don't think we have permanent partners in this class."
"Maybe we could just be another type of partners?"
"How old are you again?"
This kid slumped back in his seat, "That kinda hurt."
"That's the point of an insult."
They stared at each other for a moment before Dick offered his hand, "Dick Grayson."
She took it, "Artemis Crock."
"So about that partner thing..."
"This makes absolutely no sense, Dick."
He looked up to see Artemis not even paying attention to the food that had just come and instead she had a pen in her mouth, chewing on the tortured cap as she tried to figure out her geometry homework.
Dick, on the other hand, was quite absorbed in his food and eating. He whipped the ketchup off the side of his face with his napkin and peered over the table to see the problem she was staring at. He took a sip of his milkshake before he answered her, "You have to divide the hexagon into smaller triangles and use the ABC formula to figure out the area of that to figure out the other areas."
She looked up at him with her brow together, "What?"
He smiled, "Make little triangles…"
She rolled her eyes, but obliged, "Okay."
"Now do the AB sin C formula to figure out the triangles' area and then the hexagon's area."
She finished the problem and went to go start on the next problem when Dick snatched the pen out of her hand; "Hey!" she protested trying to grab it back. He put it down his shirt so she wouldn't get it.
"I hope you know, I will reach down your shirt to get my pen," she warned.
"I paid for this food and you are going to eat it now."
She narrowed her eyes, "Who said you were paying?"
"Me and my wallet of infinite money."
"No way, Grayson."
"Yes way, Crock."
She glared at him, "This isn't an argument—I'm paying."
Dick smiled, "Fine."
She had a winner's smile on as she finally took a big gulp from her milkshake. She took a dollop of the whip cream on top with her finger and placed it on Dick's nose. "Rule one, Grayson. I always win."
He just couldn't wait to see her face when she figured out he placed a fifty dollar bill in her purse.
He was a fifteen-year-old boy. This was normal. His hormones were racing, what did he really expect. Not this. The dreams were almost reoccurring; replacing all of his other dreams until everything he dreamed about we're centered around the green archer—the young and pretty one not the old and bearded one. They happened more than Dick would like to admit, to be honest. He knew it was supposed to be normal, but it felt like an obsession. Almost every thought, every dream could be related back to her.
Not that he minded it.
It's just that the dreams were sometimes distracting to him. If he were to look at Artemis and notice that small arch in her back he would think back to last night or perhaps even farther back to a dream where it had centered around that. It distracted him from the mission sometimes, and he wasn't really in the mood to explain to Batman why he'd much rather stare at the archer than at some thugs.
Although, in all honesty, that was pretty self explanatory to just look at her.
And Dick, well, he tended to day dream when it really came down to it.
They were in one of the entertainment rooms of Wayne manor. They had been watching a movie that had turned silent and was now on the dim title screen waiting for their next request. However, they were a bit busy.
Dick had Artemis pinned underneath him. He trailed his nose across her collarbone and up her neck. His face would hover above hers for just a second before he would lean down and bite at her jaw. It always produced a moan from Artemis. She was sensitive there—or at least he dreamed that she was. He would then move down to her neck and work at that. Rotating between soft and hard kisses and bites on her neck always drove her insane.
The flush that would spread across her skin. Dick loved watching her skin prick up and then flush after the bites.
She let out another moan and clutched onto his shirt. He would be lying if he said that when she pushed her hands underneath his shirt and scratched at his chest didn't turn him on, extremely. He let out a moan and bit down hard on the juncture between her shoulder and neck.
"Dick."
Dick smirked and placed a kiss there. She was saying Dick not Robin. She loved Dick and Dick loved Artemis, and to hear the obscene ways she can say his name. He loved it when she said his name. If anything, that was the biggest turn on—although, he has to admit there are quite a bit of other kinks that are quite favorable, but to hear her say his name…
Maybe that's why Dick usually ended up being rough in his dreams. To hear her say his name over and over again. To pant it. To scream it.
Yeah, Dick could get used to that.
"Grayson…" he lifted his head to stare at her as she bit at her lip.
"Yeah, Art?"
"As much as I love you working on my neck—can you just fuck me already?" her hands gripped even harder into his shoulder's than before and the added pressure—the added pain makes it feel more real.
He liked it.
He chuckled, "You're so pushy."
She rolled her hips up into him and let out a shaky moan, "I wish you were more pushy."
"Robin?"
Oh God. That one was not in his head.
His head snapped up to look at the source of the voice. Wally was staring at him like he was crazy and Dick knew that his cheeks had to be turning to a darker red.
"Rob…why are you staring at me like that?"
Dick honestly never thought that he would be that one guy hanging out with three girls.
And then he met Bette, Babs, and Artemis.
"Can't you guys have your own sleepovers at maybe your own houses?"
Bette gave him a look that basically said that to shut up and never speak again because this is her territory, "We don't have huge ass houses like yours," she answered and continued to paint her toe nails red.
"Yeah, you do—or at least Bette does."
Babs hummed from the position on Dick's back. She was sitting on top of him, painting her toenails because apparently the couch was too whatever—as Babs had described it—and she would much rather sit on Dick's spine because that's the most comfortable place in the Wayne household.
The only good thing out of this was the fact that he got to rest his head on Artemis' lap, and that, was the best perk.
He watched as she fixed Bette's hair and tried to pull the curly mess back into a fishtail braid. It wasn't working, so far and he could tell because as Artemis got slightly more frustrated she would move around a bit more, jostling his head. She let out a huff, "And I thought my hair was difficult," she muttered trying to pull out another tangle in Bette's hair only to create five more. She let out a sigh and reached for the comb to try again.
"You could always just go and braid Dick's hair," Bette suggested.
Dick dug his face into her leg, nuzzling it, "I'm good."
Artemis smiled, "We could always just put a bow in your hair."
"He'd be such a manly man," Babs teased.
"Why do I even let you guys over anymore?" Dick whined
"You just like it when we want to go in the pool," Artemis turned and flicked him in the nose.
He let out a whine, "Stooooop."
Barbara bounced up and down a bit on Dick's back making him groan, "Stop whining, Grayson."
"Yeah, Grayson."
"We're making you sleep on the floor."
"Why are you guys so mean?"
Artemis smirked and stopped braiding Bette's hair to start on Dick's, "Just think of it as revenge for putting our skirts in the dryers the last time we came over."
"Anything for you, Art."
This was so worth the shorter skirts.
Dick Grayson slowly chewed his food as him and Bruce sat at the table. The table felt empty. Even though the table was like this everyday, Dick could not get used to the huge table with just the two of them at it. He wished that some of the servants or at least Alfred would sit at the table with them, but they don't. Dinner was supposed to be a family affair. It's hard to call it family when it's just the two of them. Just eating. Not talking.
Dick looked up to see that Bruce wasn't't even paying attention to him; the older man is gazing at his own glass. Bruce swirled the water around. He wanted to say something to Dick. He just didn't have the guts to do it.
Or maybe it just wasn't the right time.
The atmosphere was wrong or something. There were a million excuses and ways to avoid a conversation, and they exhausted them all during the formal dinners.
Another excuse was happening.
Both of the men heard the footsteps approaching the room. They were experts in stealth—of course they heard them. It was most likely Alfred telling them that there was a new episode of Storage Wars on the DVR if they wished to watch it. This was a normal occurrence that they would just brush over, but this time was different. Another pair of footsteps—bare feet—was heard with the first pair. Both of the boys seemed to perk up to see who else was with Alfred. Dick peeked over his chair to see the two enter the room.
Artemis Crock entered the room with Alfred at her right; "I assure Miss Crock that you being wet will not cause any trauma to anyone." Artemis was soaked to the bone. She had a towel draped around her shoulders, but it didn't stop the dripping.
"I could of just stayed at the entry until I dried off," she protested. Her usually rough voice was even rougher like from misuse or distress. It was distress. Dick could see from his seat that she wasn't only wet, but she looked annoyed and tired.
"Master Richard, someone is here to see you," Alfred finally announced even though it was quite obvious. Dick sent a look to Bruce before getting out of his chair to see Artemis. He tried to ignore the obvious glare on his back.
"What's up, Arty?" he asked even though what's down? would be a more appropriate question. Her eyes were bloodshot. She sniffled a bit and the last thing Dick remembered was that Artemis was just fine at school this afternoon. Something was definitely wrong.
Artemis eyes landed on the table he had just left, "I can go if you guys are having dinner. I didn't want to interrupt your dinner. I didn't want to interrupt—" she paused and looked away.
Yeah, something was definitely wrong.
"Hey, it's fine. What's wrong?" he asked.
Her eyes again cut between Dick and the table before she answered, "I just wanted to hang out—is that okay?" Definitely not okay—Artemis never wants to just hang out. There's always something else.
He ignores the side of him that wants to press the issue of what was going on with Artemis. He decides that right now she's in the mood for the fight or flight tactic. If he pushes too hard, he might scare her away. "Yeah, sure. Wanna watch a movie?" he asks.
She looks visibly relieved, "Yeah, did you have anything in mind?"
Dick tried to ignore Bruce mentally repeating into his head. You're not supposed to get close to her in civilian form. I allowed her to go to your school for you to watch her, not to befriend her. Do not get close. He grabbed onto her hand and pulled her into one of the many entertainment rooms. He sat in front of the TV and pulled out a box of DVDs, Blue Rays, and VCRs and started rifling through them. He waited for her to make a sarcastic comment, but nothing comes from her. He wanted her to be snarky, but she's obvious lost in her own thoughts. Yeah, something was wrong.
"Jurassic Park okay?" he asked.
She stared at him for a while as if she wasn't exactly sure if he were speaking the same language. "Yeah, I like dinosaurs and stuff."
He raised an eyebrow at the lame answer, but popped the DVD into the player anyway. He pulls her back and they sit on the couch. She doesn't even bother putting distance between them. Her legs were rubbing up against him until she pulled them up and rested her head on her knees.
Dick started the movie, but wasn't really watching it—he was more into watching how Artemis was reacting. Her face remained mostly neutral as the TV lit up her face.
"Artemis?" he asks.
She peaks out of the corner of her eye and tries to look more engrossed in the movie. "Yeah?"
"What's going on?"
"Well, the kid is stuck in the tree."
"Not what I meant."
She sighs and digs her face deeper into her knees, "Family stuff."
Dick doesn't want to seem as interested as he is, but he is. He knows about her family. He knows about her dad, sister, and mother. She didn't know that, though. Why was she talking to him? "Elaborate?"
There's a moment when he thought she was going to get up and leave. She pulled the towel a bit tighter around her neck. "My Dad and Sister came home today," she answered plainly, just hoping that that would explain everything that he needs to know.
Oh. He wants to comfort her because he knows why that would both her, but he was Dick Grayson not Robin. Robin knows about her family. Robin knows about her past. Robin knows why she's so bothered by all of this, but he's Dick Grayson. He's just Dick Grayson right now and that's what Artemis wants. She wants to talk to Dick Grayson. She could have easily gone to M'gann or Zantanna.
Or Wally.
But she came to Dick to talk about her family issues and for some reason that just made him stagger a bit in awe—although, for a split second he just thinks why?
"Didn't you say they're not around a lot?"
She pauses and just stares at him, her mouth slightly open. Then, it comes out like a volley of story after story. She tells him everything—about her family, about her Dad, about what he does, about her mom, about her sister, about how she escaped that life, about how she just doesn't know what to do.
They had come over that evening—her sister and father that is. They intended to have a talk. About what, she didn't know. It was just pure panic of seeing them again that caused Artemis to run out the door and take a bus to Wayne Manor.
And then here she was, explaining her entire life to Dick Grayson.
And then there he was, keeping crucial secrets about his life from her.
Here she is, telling him all about her past about all of her secrets and regrets and about her family that she is so insecure about and he still can't tell her about his one secrets.
Is it wrong that he wants to keep Dick Grayson and Robin separate when it comes to Artemis? Is it wrong that he wants to keep her in the dark even longer?
Dick suddenly feels very aware of the present that's upstairs in his room, sitting in the top of his closet collecting dust. As it has been for the past year. Maybe it was about time to…
No.
This was her moment. He wasn't going to steal it from her. He was just going to comfort her because that is what she needs.
"—is it wrong?" she asks. "For me to have a family and completely reject them and then people like you don't have a family and you can't do anything about that. Is it wrong?" she asked him.
He looked back at her, her face twisted up as she thought about the situation at hand. Dick was pausing for too long, but he was still caught up on her. She's going through all of this emotional trauma and she's think about him? "No, Art. It's not wrong. If you have a bad family then it isn't your fault that you don't want to get messed up in it."
She let out a shaky sigh, "But my Dad loves me…" He cocks an eyebrow at her, a silent ask for her to elaborate. "He cares about me; it's why he pushed me hard and I think he just wants another chance in my life, but…"
"You don't want to give him another chance?"
She didn't say anything and just pulled the blanket tighter around herself.
Dick never thought about families.
The topic in general just brought up too much bad vibes from his past for him to deal with, so he never really thought about having a family. He didn't want his kids to deal with the same thing he had to deal with when he was younger.
Vigilantes and kids just don't work together.
Take Batman, for example.
Then, Artemis prompted him with one of the sleepovers that Bette, Babs, and Art would have at the Manor. Artemis laying in one of the lounge chairs by the side of the pool while Babs, Bette, and Dick were in the hot tub. Dick was not really listening so much as admiring Artemis in a bikini until she finally decided to start a new conversation.
"I want a kid."
Both Babs and Bette's chatter stopped. They looked behind them to look at Art to see if she was serious or not. There wasn't a bit of joking on her face. She raised a brow at them, "What? So what my parents were kinda sucky. I want to do what they didn't and raise a kid right."
That's all Dick needed for his dreams to change.
The first thing Dick woke up to was a pillow to the back of the head. He turned his head slightly only to be hit another time, "What?" he grumbled.
Another hit, "You suck, Grayson." Another hit.
"Why?" he groaned and flipped himself over and propped himself up in the bed. The blonde that insisted on beating him with a pillow did not help much with the morning grogginess.
She threw another thing at him this time, but it landed on his stomach. "What's…Oh."
He stared down at the little stick in his hand with the pink plus sign almost glowing. His face flushed slightly and he looked back up at Artemis, "You're pregnant?"
She smacked him in the face again, "You got me pregnant! Not even a year into this marriage and you already knocked me up. Nice going, dipshit." She crossed her arms over her chest and just looked at Dick…waiting.
"You're pregnant."
She just narrowed her eyes at him, daring him to say something even stupider—if that was possible. "Yeah, I've had morning sickness for the past two week and I always thought it was your cooking to blame."
He grabbed onto her wrists and pulled her into his lap. She obliged and wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed their foreheads together. His hands settled to wrapping around her waist pulling her closer. His hands were almost immediately knocked away, "No way, Grayson. You're hyperactive sex life got us into this mess and if you think—"
"Do you consider the baby a mess?" he asked.
Her cheeks flushed a bit, "Well, not really, but I swear to God, Dick, if I don't fit into my costume after this pregnancy I'm gonna skin you alive."
He just snorted, "Whatever, we're having a baby and that's all that matters."
"We're having a girl, by the way," she informed him, matter-of-fact.
He raised an eyebrow, "And since when do you get to decide that kind of thing?"
"If Tim can get attractive by sheer will power then I can have a girl by sheer will power."
"—so I got into Stanford," Artemis started after Dick sat down.
Dick had to blink a couple of times before he could register exactly what she said, "You got into Stanford?"
Of course, she automatically took that the wrong way, "What do you—"
Dick just laughed, "Sorry, I, uh, just can't believe that you're going to college and I'm just gonna be stuck…here."
And it hit him.
Dick was going to be stuck at Gotham Academy for another year while Artemis went off to college across the country
Artemis wasn't going to be here.
Dick Grayson was just going to be that kid who went to Gotham Academy.
Artemis wasn't going to be available to go on impromptu patrols with him. Artemis wasn't going to be able to go to the library and help him with his online Vietnamese class. Artemis wasn't going to be able to just come over to his house and just sleep over without any plans. Artemis wasn't going to be able to go on study (dates) with him anymore. Artemis wouldn't be suspicious of how he happened to be in all of her classes.
No, Artemis was going to be gone.
Dick hadn't felt this sort of pang in a long time. It felt sudden, like it was just a bee sting and as time went on it just kept on getting more progressively worse as he thought about it. The more he thought about it, the more he dug his fingernails into the palm of his hand.
He wasn't going to be Dick Grayson that annoying Freshman-Sophomore-now-Junior. Artemis was now in college and he was just stuck at Gotham Academy.
Artemis snorted, "I'm not exactly thrilled to be going to college, Dick. Have fun at Gotham Academy while it lasts. I wish I could stay," she admitted and swirled her milkshake around.
"I could have Bruce pull some strings to get your records reworked so it looks like you were always apart of the class of '14," he offered.
She laughed, "Uh, no. I mean, as much as I loved GA, there's no way I'm sticking around for another year."
"Loser," he snorts out and she laughs at him. And he just loves that he can make her happy. He generally loves making anyone happy, but to see her smile at him and to know that he caused that smile.
It's something different.
Way different.
"You're just upset that I won't be able to babysit Jason anymore."
"No. I'm gonna miss you at GA."
"I'm sorry that I don't like school like a certain mathlete."
And he won't be able to joke around with her like he used to, and this all felt too sudden even though this has been constantly on his mind for the past couple of weeks. It was like this dinner, which was supposed to be just a nice little dinner, was just made to reopen and rub the wound raw that Artemis was going to be gone. Not only gone, but she was going to be across the country gone.
This summer.
Only this summer.
He has to make it worth it.
There was a conjoined party at the cave for both Artemis and Wally graduating. M'gann thought that it was a great idea to have the party there at the cave with everyone—it was very similar to the one that Conner, M'gann, Mal, and Karen had had the year before when they had graduated. It was supposed to be a surprise, but they always knew about it.
M'gann wasn't the best at keeping secrets.
Dick watched as both Artemis' and Wally's faces lit up when the room lit up and showed the party. Immediately, the room exploded in chatter and everyone started congratulating the pair about making it through high school—ha, good luck with college.
Dick clapped them both on the back before him and Wally shared a look and Wally picked him up and slung Dick over his shoulder.
"I caught the baby," he teased.
Dick let out a whine, "Wally, put me down."
"No, I have to show everyone that I'm a real man."
"You aren't a real man until you graduate college, dude."
"I'm more of a man than you."
"Debatable."
Wally threw him on the ground and smiles down at him, "Don't worry, you'll be a man next year, dude."
Dick rolled his eyes and got up on his own watching as the speedster's notorious attention span was tracted to the cake on the other side of the room.
That left him and Artemis standing next to each other.
Dick hand immediately slapped to the back of his neck as he rubbed it, "Hey Art? Can I go give you my present? It's in my room," and oh God, he hoped she didn't notice the huge blush that's starting to cover his cheeks. He tugged on her sleeve and felt like just a little kid while he did it. God, he felt like a little kid for a lot of reasons, the giddiness being one of the reasons.
She sent him a smile, but shook her head, "Can't Robin. Me and Wally have an announcement to make."
He stepped back a bit and watched as Wally zipped past him and put his arm around Artemis, "Me and Artemis have made the decision to move to Palo Alto this next week to get settle before school, and it's been a hard decision, but we're going to leave the Team while we're at college."
Maybe it was the fact that she called him Robin or maybe it was the fact that he was not expecting this, but he let his reflexes kick in.
Dick made a bee line for the zeta beams.
He doesn't go through the front door. He doesn't want to have to deal with seeing Bruce give him that skeptical look and see Alfred with his worried look and perhaps worst of all, Jason's look like he knows exactly what happened.
He feels stupid.
He did all of this work to reveal who he was to Artemis and he was just stupid. For some reason he thought that maybe this would change something, anything. Nothing ever changes.
Unfortunately, going through the window of his bedroom doesn't put him past Jason. Jason's sitting on his bed playing Dick's PSP and what looks like a game file that he probably saved over. "You trying to sneak someone in or was front door just too hard?" Jason quipped still absorbed with his game.
"Out."
Jason let out a sigh and pulled his headphones out and turned to look at Dick. He raised a brow, "Why are you crying?"
Dick didn't even notice, "Just go, Jason."
Jason's lips twitched up a bit, "What? No nicknames? It was Artemis wasn't? Finally realized, oh fuck she's in love with my best friend?"
Dick sighed and flopped down on the bed.
"Whoa. That's exactly it isn't it? Did you give her that present thingy that you've been keeping in your closet for the past year and she completely rejected you?"
Dick sighed and rubbed at his temples, "Didn't even get that far."
"You didn't pull out the Grayson charm?"
"I was Robin."
"Dude, she knows both of you. I don't think it matters who you are."
"But Dick Grayson likes her and Robin can't."
"Since when did you have multiple personality disorder?"
He leaned forward and rested his head between his knees, "I don't know. It's weird. I just thought that maybe I wouldn't have to have that line anymore—"
"And she's fall in love with you, right? I can see how that was Dick Grayson and not Robin."
"Not helping."
Jason rubbed his back, "Isn't she supposed to come over later anyway? Just give her the thing then."
"She's leaving at the end of the week to be with Wally and she's leaving the Team and it just…"
"Doesn't feel like the right time?"
"I need to wait."
"Eh, whatever. Oh and I saved over your Daxter profile on accident."
Artemis called him later that night and explained that she can no longer come over and Dick isn't too surprised. She's moving later that week. She's probably stressed out of her mind and she's even explaining how stressed out she is about everything. He's listening to her rant on and on about how hard it is to buy a house in a different state.
"Oh god, it's almost three in the morning," she groaned and he can almost see her slapping her hand over her face. "Sorry Dick, I shouldn't have wasted your time."
"It's no problem, Art…and Art, come back to Gotham, soon. For…me?"
He knew he said something wrong when the pause goes on too long. She understood what he meant by that statement. She knew. Maybe not about the whole Robin and Dick debacle, but at least she knew something.
He heard her take in a deep breath from the other line, "I—Dick. There's Wally and—I can't. Dick I—maybe someday."
He thinks he's gonna hold her to that.
It's the months—years that make Dick think.
It makes him think how there may never be that day. That he is probably just a stupid kid that is too stuck in the past to move on. He thinks that maybe it was just his teenage hormones running rampant and that they just decided that Artemis was the perfect candidate to unleash them on. And then he thinks. He lets it sit.
Then Dick decides that that's a load of crap.
Dick is at a time and age where he can separate his hormones from actual feelings—although some people feel that is quite questionable. He is eighteen. He's at a time where he needs to have everyone figured out—or at least someone like himself does.
He figured out the whole Nightwing thing over a year ago.
It isn't hard. All he has to do is remember to clarify that hormones and other stuff didn't drive his mind. He can acutely remember other things too. Other quirks. How when she's stuck on a certain problem in math her left brow rises just a bit more than the right. How during class she chews on her lip way too much and is why her lips were always plump. How she quickly diverts the teacher's attention away from her and onto anything else.
He remembers her. He remembers that he just didn't like her for what she looked like. He remembers everything about her because in all those three years at Gotham Academy he and enough time to figure out who Artemis Crock really was. He knows who she is and can't wait to learn even more.
He feels like a sap, but he can't wait to see her.
This really shouldn't feel like just a sparring secession, but it kinda does. As Artemis tries again and to try and hit him he just kept on dodging away like he always does. Like he did in Gotham on the rooftops when they'd play tag. Like he'd do to piss her off when she was supposed to be demonstrating a new move that Black Canary told her to do.
Was he smirking?
Only she could bring out the little dork that was Dick Grayson while he was fighting as Nightwing and she was Tigress and supposed to be undercover and this was all supposed to be serious but he just couldn't stop smirking.
He watched as her eyes narrowed and she was thinking the exact same thing and how this was just like them sparring. She was getting annoyed, and it was strangely adorable to watch and—
Dick would have continued to tease her and annoy her. Dick would have allowed her to hit him to take out her frustration. Dick would have been for her, but he wasn't supposed to be Dick right now. He was supposed to be Nightwing. This was Nightwing's plan. Dick would have never put his friend at risk like this, but when he was Nightwing. Well, it was a necessary risk. And a small part of him is chiding him at when would it ever be okay to allow Artemis to risk her life.
And then there's the other part saying that the mission is more important—and the inner argument continues back and forth bickering. Dick can only wonder how he got this messed up in life and inner commentary always bugging him and—
He really should have been paying attention. She managed to kick him in the face and it dazes him enough that she managed to spin him around enough that if he were Dick Grayson right now she would have made a joke about him being a ballerina instead of an acrobat.
She makes that joke way too much.
He really should be paying attention to whatever the plan was—is, but now, now all he can think about is how Artemis is pinning him to the ground and how much he loved the costume that he designed. He looked up at her and let out a little puff of air as she pressed down into his chest and this was just too much like how some of his dreams started.
He just smirked at her from below her.
He really was enjoying this too much.
Artemis doesn't expect a lot when she finally gets home after being gone for so long. It's nice to see her Mom still rolling through the tiny apartment. Still barely living off of the disability fund and the spare money that her Dad would send them. Still keeping the place together, though, and that's all that Artemis can ask for.
The dinner with her mom is long overdue. Just being able to sit at their uneven table and listen to her mom chatter on and on about how glad she is that Artemis is taking a break for a while and staying with her. The guilt of leaving her mom arises a bit in the pit of her stomach, but to see her mom smile like that again while serving the macaroni. It's suddenly okay.
Everything's okay.
The mission may have not been as planned out as they had hoped for it to be, but all in all, it worked. That's all that Artemis could really ask for.
Her mom called an early night after watching nearly seven episodes of House Hunters International and said that she would see her bright and early and they would go to the Farmer's Market.
It's been a long time since Artemis has seen her mother so happy, and it's good.
Her room feels a bit too small. Compared to the condo that she had in Palo Alto. It feels a bit wrong with the two twin beds, but at the same time it feels so familiar that she even welcomes the slightly moldy and dusty smell that's common of the whole building.
She nearly plops down on her bed because that sounds like the best idea she's ever had, but there's a binder on her bed—no it's album, like a photo album.
It looks like it's been handle quite a bit with the way the spine already has a crease in it and she hasn't even opened it. On the cover is a pineapple shaped sticky note with a huge N written on it.
Nightwing.
Of course.
She smiles and lies down on her bed and starts flipping through the book. Each page has pictures and pictures that she didn't even know Nightwing was taking at the time. There's pictures from a sleepover that her and Zatanna had, pictures of M'gann and her making various baked goods, her and Batgirl trying to see who can stand on their hands the longest, her and Conner attempting to bathe wolf, her and Robin—the second—sparring, her and Nightwing in an intense game of Mario Kart, and there more. Every page she flips through has even more pictures of her and the Team.
Then there's her, Bette, Dick, and Babs.
Which, you know, is kinda weird considering Nightwing had to have stalked her to get pictures like that, but there's more. Like…
…like he had been with them when he had taken the pictures.
Artemis could now see the slight shake of the camera that had sent it off balance in one of the pictures and another that had a distinct fingerprint on the lens. There was one where he had gotten so close to Art that he had just got her eye. Then, there was the final picture.
A simple picture, by all means. A picture of her and Dick. The first day she ever met him. The annoying little freshman. She grinned at the memory because that's what started the whole photo obsession that Dick had with taking photos with her…in them.
Dick was always taking photos with his camera.
Dick.
Dick Fucking Grayson.
The caption under the photo read a simple phrase. She can even hear his voice say it. The slight quiver with his pre-puberty voice at the end of the sentence because he was just so damn excited about this. About the picture.
We'll laugh about this someday.
He's been planning this since Freshmen year of high school. That had been almost six years ago and he was still hung up on that simple phrase. He still had that picture of her after so many years. He's still thinking about her.
The next sentence underneath the first caption makes her feel even more sick than before.
Too bad we didn't get to laugh together.
The guilt rolled in her stomach. Dick wanting to show her this book since she graduated—perhaps even before then because this was the present.
Artemis stood up too fast and almost fell over. She grabbed the photo album and jumped out her window without even grabbing a coat. The fire escape up to her roof is a quick climb and there she just sits and waits. Dick's done enough waiting for her, she could at least wait for him, for once.
It doesn't take long before she hears the light steps of a Bat behind her. She gets up—dusting the rubble from her butt—and turns to face Nightwing. She doesn't bother trying to read his face as he stares at the album in her hands. She gives him a crooked smile once he finally looks up at her.
"We'll laugh about this someday, huh?"
"I don't like this."
Artemis smirked and put her arms around his neck, "Of course you don't like this. You don't like anything. You're the goddamn Batman," she teased playing with his cowl that was pushed back at the moment.
He smiled and nuzzled her neck, "She's too young."
"She's eleven. That's two years after I started training with the Shadows and three after you with Batman. She's old enough, Dick."
Dick sighed and let go of his wife, "Where is she?"
Artemis smirked, "Primping, isn't that what birds do?"