So this is the beginning of my story continuation of 'A Promise Made', but I've decided to also make a set of one-shots with basically the same idea in with 'A Promise Made'.

Disclaimer: I do not not not not not not own nothing but nothing of nothing. Confused? Translation-I own nothing!

Enjoy!

One nervous but determined Richard Grayson stood in front of the starch white door of a pale yellow house with a decent sized deck. People passing by caught a glance of the boy and had to do a double-take at the sight of the Bruce Wayne's young charge. To them it was quite the sight. Here he was, the richest man in Gotham City's ward standing without any embarrassment in front of a simple, rather small, two-story house in the middle-class neighborhood of Star City.

The young teen, however, ignored their gawking faces, much to their greater surprise. Most rich kids and even adults loved to bask in their awed looks and act like they were far too super for anyone below their level.

But there he stood, still in his school uniform after another day at Gotham Academy, about to knock on the door of the house belonging to one Dinah Lance. Why he was there only he knew and honestly they couldn't even guess. So there he stood, about to knock on the door of the house belonging to one Dinah Lance. Of course even if someone actually was brave enough to ask him his reasons for being in a lower-class neighborhood than his own, he couldn't tell them. Not the truth that is. That'd practically be suicide.

The 13-year-old boy who was secretly Gotham's very own hero, Robin, the Boy Wonder, took a deep breath, and, squaring his shoulders, knocked three times on the door. The sound carried loud and clearly through the wood and into the place beyond it. Shortly after, the teen hero's trained ears picked up the light shuffle of footsteps on the other side. He waited expectantly for the door to open, and when it did he found himself looking -slightly up- into the face of Dinah Lance, aka Black Canary. She looked a little surprised to see him but the surprise in the blue of her eyes was quickly replaced with a warm that was reflected by the soft smile that spread across her lips.

"Dick? What are you doing here?" She asked not unkindly. She was actually rather pleasantly surprised at the boy's unexpected appearance. He was practically the son she never had, so it was always great to be visited by him when they weren't in training and didn't have to have a strictly professional mentor\student relationship. Dick shrugged and shuffled his feet just the slightest bit as if he were uncomfortable just standing there.

She stepped back and opened the door wider to let him in. Richard, or rather Dick, cracked a small smile and followed her into the houses entryway where she promptly closed the door, effectively blocking out any gawking neighbors' view. Inside, Dick slipped off his school's dress code-required fancy -and rather expensive- jacket and shiny black(very uncomfortable and confining)dress shoes -also school dress code required.

Dinah started walking away towards the living room stopping once to look at the black-haired boy behind her, then she turned and began walking again. Catching the silent message to follow, Dick followed after her. By the time he had reached the comfortable and well designed living area, Dinah had placed out a plate of cookies and hot chocolate and was comfortably sitting on a dark red sofa. She smiled at him and patted the cushion next to her own. Once again, he accepted the invitation and tiredly plopped onto the plush cushion.

They sat in silence for a few moments. Both heroes feeling that there was something hanging in the air that needed to be said soon. The blonde woman looked at her companion. She could tell that he was tired, exhausted really, just in the way he walked and how he had practically sagged onto his seat when he had sat down. But she could also see something else.

Now, Dinah had known the boy for a long time, just over four years in fact. During that time they had spent a lot of time together, talking, laughing, training, just sitting around, the occasional mission with Batman, heck, they even dealt with each other's injuries occasionally, and as such, she knew quite a lot about Dick. And right now she knew that her surrogate son had something he wanted to tell her and discuss with her, but didn't know how or if he should just come out and say it.

She decided to help him out. "So what is it you want to talk about?" If he was surprised by her knowing what he wanted he didn't show any more of a hint than a slight raise of a dark eyebrow.

The Boy Wonder looked closely at her than sighed and ran his fingers through his neatly combed hair effectively ruining the 'slicked back Richard Grayson hairstyle' and making it more of 'messy spiked up Dick\Robin hairstyle', his more preferred hairstyle. He leaned his head back against the sofa's headrest and closed his eyes. Seconds ticked by as he tried to think of how to start off, then he opened his eyes and locked his beautiful crystal blue eyed gaze onto her own cerulean blue eyes.

Finally, he opened his mouth and spoke, "I want to help you with the others."

The woman secretly and more commonly known as Black Canary looked at him confused. Dick noticing this, sighed, "I mean I want to help you talk with the rest of the team about what happened with the whole… 'mind-training exercise gone traumatizing wrong' thing." Dinah opened her mouth to refuse but was cut off when the teen hero raised his hand in a manner that warned her to be silent.

"I know what you're gonna say." He rolled his eyes exasperatedly then closed his eyes, leaning back again, "' You had the same experience as them. You were and still are as traumatized as they are.' Well, you're wrong." She felt her mouth snap shut as she kept silent.

Dick took this as his cue to continue. "I told you that I was traumatized by the whole thing when you had that whole 'psychiatric' thing going on, like, two days ago. I also told you that I didn't want to be Batman anymore. All that stuff I said was true. I had led my team to their deaths when I was in charge; I let my team down. Well, when I walked out I had this- this mental debate in my head. I was thinking that maybe I shouldn't have told you all that I did."

He took a deep breath and spoke his words carefully, thinking deeply as he continued to speak as if no one was there, as if Dinah wasn't listening closely to his every word, "But then I sat by my team in the living room. I-I saw M'gann looking so depressed and guilty as she walked by. Then I felt like something just snapped in my mind, like… like something was trying to push out all of my doubts and guilt and-and-and hatred for myself. So I grabbed M'gann's hand before she passed by me and gave her a smile… and she smiled back…" He gave a smile at the thought of it, "That tiny smile… and the thought that I had been its cause, that I had helped my friend smile even when she was so depressed… I-I don't know, it just sort of… sort of opened something inside me, y'know? It was like my own problems were pushed out of my mind and suddenly all I could think about was how I could help my friends that I had let down. How could I make it up to them?"

Dick finally opened his eyes and focused them on the older hero's surprised face.

"Then I promised myself, Dinah, that I would make it up to them. That I would help them deal with what happened and learn from it. They -we- won't forget it, I know that. I've had more than my share of personal experiences with tragedy and trauma…" the boy added quietly, but his voice grew stronger as he continued, "But we can still move on. And I want to help them with that. I-It's the least I can do…" Dick broke off as he waited for the stunned Black Canary to make a move or say something.

Finally, after what seemed to Dick like forever, Dinah shook herself out of her reverie. She smiled a broad, proud smile as she looked at the determined face of the teen.

Wrapping her arm around his shoulders, she pulled him close to her side and continued to smile even as he gave a weak, small protest at the unexpected movement. Shaking her head she pulled him in tighter for a hug and said, "Okay, Dickie, okay. You can help... If you come talk to me when I say you have to or whenever you want or need to. Got it?"

The teen muttered a mock-grudging 'okay' then gave a joyful smile and let out a cackle before he leaned slightly more into Dinah's embrace, relishing the feeling of the hug from the woman for as long as he possibly could.

In her mind, Dinah was still in wonder from just how deep and moving his new confession had been. She shook her head a bit as she felt him lean into her arms just the slightest bit. He never failed to surprise her.

Boy Wonder indeed.

I hope you enjoyed Chapter 1 of 'A Promise Kept'. Please review.

Also does any one have any ideas for the one-shot continuations that will be in my other story 'A Promise Made'? Just something about Robin helping them cope with the events of 'Failsafe'. Thanks!