Title: Of Bats and Arrows
Author:TheatrChy
Disclaimer: Jimmy and Mary are mine. And Martha too. The rest belong to DC
Notes: This takes place in my AU. Years after "Have Yourself a Batty Little Christmas"
Finally, Tim had a decent break in his day. Walking across the quad his mind darting a mile a minute. His thoughts were juggling his class work, the Robin gig and his hobbies so that he didn't seem so suspect. And then he saw her. She jolted him out of his thoughts, but there on the quad at a picnic table no less sat Cissie King-Jones, Arrowette, or was it the former Arrowette, Tim wasn't really sure. Arrowette hadn't appeared in years, but he wasn't sure if she'd given up on the super-hero business altogether. "She's even more beautiful than she was seven years ago," he thought to himself. "Only one problem. She's never met Tim Drake. Not that she'd probably recognize me anyway out of the Robin costume. Last time she saw me I was much scrawnier," his thoughts continued.
Tim finally mustered up the courage to walk over to Cissie. "Okay, got to be careful here, can't have her thinking you're Robin or something." And with that, Tim successfully tripped over a tree stump and fell flat on his face.
Cissie was startled from her thoughts. She'd been engrossed in this article on new treatments for lung cancer when she heard a very distinctive thud near by. When she looked up and over the table she saw a young man, face down on the ground. "Omigod are you okay?" she asked him and hurried to his side. The boy quickly got up and brushed the grass off of his clothes. His face was bright red. Even so, Cissie took an instant liking to him. "He's cute," she thought to herself. "Uh yeah," the boy said nervously. "Damn tree got in the way." Cissie giggled, and even actually snorted!
The boy extended his hand to Cissie. "I'm Tim, by the way. And you are...?" Cissie shook his hand. "Cissie," she answered. "Cissie King-Jones." Making eye contact wit Tim Cissie could have sworn she'd seen Tim somewhere before. Eyeing him strangely, she asked him, "Have we met?"
Tim panicked. "Oh god! She's got me figured out!" he thought. Instead he said, "Uh, no, I can assure I would have remembered meeting you." Now it was Cissie's turn to blush. Tim gestured to the picnic table. "Mind if we..."
"Oh no not at all," Cissie replied and with that they sat down at the table together.
"You a student here?" Tim asked casually. He knew the answer of course. Even though Arrowette had not made any announcements to Young Justice when they disbanded, Tim was trained by the world's greatest detective. He knew that Cissie had not entered college after graduating from the Elias School. He also knew that Bonnie King-Jones had been diagnosed with lung cancer and that Hudson U had one of the top research facilities in the nation. Nevertheless he listened to Cissie explain this all to him, and tell him that she was working in the daycare center at the hospital to help assuage the costs of treatment and living there.
Cissie certainly did explain this to her new friend, Tim, but then turned the attention away from herself. "What about you?" she asked.
Tim replied, "I'm working on my masters in computer engineering here. One more year to go."
"Wow, really?" Cissie asked. She seemed sad. "You must think I'm such a loser."
"Wha..." Tim was shocked, and felt terrible to boot. He hadn't intended to make Cissie feel inferior in any way. "No, no, no," he took Cissie's hand. "I think what you're doing is incredible, I mean, being there for your mom like that? That takes a lot of courage."
"Who is this guy?" Cissie thought to herself. He'd denied having met her before, but there was still something so familiar about him. And the way he held her hand. Cissie knew that touch from somewhere. It may have not been as intimate before, but Cissie knew she knew that hand. She peered into Tim's crystal blue eyes. "Then again I would remember such gorgeous eyes," she thought. She squeezed Tim's hand and leaned forward across the table. "Would you like to go out sometime?" she asked Tim.
His surprised expression amused Cissie. She caught herself smirking some. "Uh, yeah, sure," Tim answered.
A couple of nights later Tim found himself walking Cissie home after dinner and a movie. She looked beautiful tonight; ever-casual, but beautiful nonetheless. "No one could wear a pair of jeans quite like her," Tim thought to himself. As they walked across the quad in the moonlight there was a lull in their conversation. Cissie subtly slipped her hand into Tim's. Tim smiled, and squeezed her hand. They were approaching Cissie's dormitory.
Doing the standard first date thing, Tim told Cissie what a great time he'd had, blah blah blah. Cissie complied, thinking Tim's polite coyness to be endearing. They finally reached the door to Cissie's dorm. Tim was in the middle of his "goodbye" when Cissie pulled him close to her and kissed him softly on the lips.
For a second Tim froze. Then, he kissed her back. Cissie could swear her heart leapt. She'd kissed guys before, sure, even dated some. But there was something about this kiss, this guy, the way he held her. She felt safe, protected even. There was something so familiar and yet so fresh in his touch. Their kiss deepened until Cissie finally broke it. "Call me," she breathed to him.
"Definitely," was his response.
