Robin watched his friends and fellow wards gather around the dining table, all in full blown hero costumes. They were preparing for the night rounds of servaying their respective cities. The team always tried to have a time to get together and enjoy each other's company outside of work, and this dinner was one of many activities they did throughout the week. Like they really needed more time together, they all spent every moment of their free time on Mount Justice, in each others company, anyway.

The Boy Wonder sat in his usual chair, staring at the food in the middle of the table. He wasn't hungry.. lately he hadn't been. He was scaring Alfred with his lack of appetite. Bruce was less verbal with his uneasiness on the matter, more analytical of the whole ordeal as always. He kept a careful eye on his adopted son and fellow crime fighter.

He wasn't sure why he wasn't hungry... There was a kind of emptiness inside himself. That preoccupied his mind far more. He didn't know what it was he lacked, and that fact alone made him angry. He wasn't completely clueless, however. Robin knew he was unhappy. He felt alone, among the large group of his friends. And worst of all was when he saw two of them off together, holding hands and giggling. He wanted to be happy for them, for M'gann and Superboy... Wally and Artemis...For any of his friends that found happiness amongst one another... but he couldn't. Because he himself lacked that happiness. It made him even more angry and depressed. His best friend Wally was the only one to really notice Robin was off as of late, and he had been avoiding the red headed speedster because of his new relationship with Artemis. It only made Robin feel that much more alone, despite Wally's attempts to make the little bird smile.

Robin wanted his emotions to have palpable meaning and explanations, instead they fogged his mind and brought him down further.

On top of it all, he had been having more frequent nightmares of his parents. He had woken up screaming their names as the image of them crashing to the floor below the broken trapeze rig. The sounds of their bodies making impact with the hard stage haunted him since that day years ago. His startling awakening each night aged his worrying butler further, and Bruce had come to his side the first 12 times. However, after a while Robin just rejected the awkward attempts made by his adopted father.

It all had a tiring effect on the young boy wonder, making him slower than usual, reacting a millisecond later than he should be... And he felt weak for being haunted by something that happened to him years ago. At the same time, he wanted to hold on to the pain, to keep his parents alive in his memory. He he hated himself for it.

It was an endless circle he couldn't find his way out of. He wanted to keep his parents safe guarded in his memory, which would cause him nightmares now and then. But this made him imperfect and a sentimental child. If he took that one step closer toward his perceived perfection, he would lose what little humanity he felt he had left. He figured, what monster would try and forget his parents, only to spare himself a little pain? It had to stay this way. He just had to learn how to cope with less sleep.

Robin shook his head and tried to clear his thoughts. He looked up at his friends, seeing their smiling faces. All unaware of the pain and loneliness the little bird was feeling. Robin looked down to his hands, clasped together in his lap. He didn't know what to do. How could he fix something, when he wasn't sure how it was broken? And he had to do it had been taught to be too self sufficient to rely on any of his friends to fix his problems for him. Or for anyone else, for that matter too.

A hand came down on the middle of Robin's back, between his shoulder blades, startling him enough to make him squeak. "What's wrong, Boy Wonder?" Asked Superboy, all sunshine and rainbows.

Robin stared up at the larger male, silent.

"Aren't you hungry? M'gann made all this food..." His smile started to falter some when Robin's expression only darkened. "What?"

"I'm not hungry... thanks." He said,

"Come on man, you look thinner than usual." Insisted the clone.

He grunted in response, pushing his empty plate until it was an arms length away.

"Man..." Superbly was about to plunge into the things he had learned about the human body and its need for food when Robin cut him off.

"Look, Wally can have my share, how about that?" He glanced around at his friends, a few of them taking notice of his fasting, but keeping to themselves.

He wanted to leave... He didn't want to sit there and listen to their stories... He didn't want to be rude either though. He sat there, staring out through the window at his left, his hands locked together in his lap. 'whats wrong with me..?' He asked himself.

Wally watched his young friend, worry clear on his face. He opened his mouth to blurt out some joke to make him laugh when Artemis slid her hand up Wally's thigh under the table, effectively drawing his attention away from the hurting bird.

-

Two hours later everyone was fed and done chatting. It was finally time to get back to business, fighting crime where ever it reared its ugly head.

Robin was glad to be done with the meal. He had sat silently at the table the full two hours, while the girls gossiped and couples sat impossibly close to one another, whispering something back and forth. The Boy Wonder was glad to be free of the stifling environment and be out in the open air.

He sat at the top of a radio tower over looking Gotham City, his com turned off so the voices of his comrades wouldn't bother his mini hiatus. Robin closed his eyes, the air whipping around him, making his cape flare out. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes again, trying to center himself.

Robin noticed a female walking alone on the city street below, shivering and looking lost. Just then a couple of men took notice in her and started whistling and following the blonde. The Boy Wonder leaped from the tower and landed on the rooftop below. He followed the now running girl from the rooftops, looking for an opening to swoop down and catch the guys chasing her.

Suddenly his com flared to life and Bruce was growling in his ear. "Robin, I need your backup. Come now." He said, clearly in the middle of fighting.

Robin wondered vaguely if he had had Alfred hack his com to relay the message. "I can't, Batman, I'm chasing down some bad guys." He said. He picked up the pace and jumped down in front of the girl, dodged her as she ran, and launched himself at the men, landing on the chest of the first, knocking him over and jumping to the second. "Leave her alone, or I'll rip you a new hole." He threatened.

"I'm on my way." He said to Batman through his com, taking off in the direction Alfred told him Bruce was.

-

If Robin had known earlier that Batman was chasing down the Joker when he called, he could have just sent a smoke bomb down on the perps he was following and left sooner. But he couldn't change that now. All he could do was assist in taking down goons to help his father focus on the homicidal psycho maniac wearing his signature purple suit and white makeup.

"You okay here?" Asked the Dark Knight, watching the laughing Joker dodge around a corner out of sight. He was holding off a rather large goon, and Robin knew he wanted to chase after the Joker, never liking him out if sight.

"I'm fine, go!" Cried the bird, distracted in his own fight. He took down three smaller goons within moments and then launched himself at the one Batman had been on previously. Robin easily jumped out if the way of the giant's slow movements and he even managed to hop onto his back and lock his arms over the man's neck, cutting off his air supply.

While still riding piggyback on the man, Robin looked around to see if there were any more people to fight. "Batman?" He asked his com, waiting for a response. Nothing. "Alfred, what's happened?" He asked, hurrying off in the direction he thought the Joker and Batman would be, once the goon was out cold.

"Seems you've overlooked something, bird-brain." Robin's head snapped around in time to see the knee of a colorfully decorated Harley-Quinn come up to his groin. Robin doubled over and coughed, shielding himself from a second blow to the temple. He was knocked sideways off balance and collided with the floor on his left.

"Mr. J wants Bat-brain to himself, he told me I could play with you while they fought. So long as I keep you from them." Said the female, her voice making Robin's skin crawl.

"What's he planning?"

"Don't worry about them. Worry about me." She said, hints of anger at her dismissal clear in her voice. She tried to kick him swiftly in the ribs, but the boy wonder rolled away and got to his feet shakily. He fought with all his will power not to hold his hurting groin.

"Attention whore much..?"

"Brat! I'll skin you alive..!"

"Robin? Harley-Quinn is not supposed to be there... My computers show she's still in Arkham. Be careful." Chimed Alfred in his ear.

"Always." He grunted back.

"Now who are you talking to, because we severed your connection to Batman twenty minutes ago. Is that a little helper back at your stupid mountain? Who is it?" She insisted

"No, your thinking too broad. You two are too small time for the whole Justice League to care about you."

"Oh your dead..! Mr. J is not small time! Neither am I..!"

"Your temper gets the better of you, Harley." Said the shadows, and Robin instantly knew that his partner had lost his trail of the Joker.

"Eeep! Your not supposed to be here..!" She hurried off, too afraid to fight the Batman alone.

Robin groaned and sat back down on the floor, his head between his legs. "Chick doesn't play fair."

"You let your guard down."

"I'm exhausted, Batman." He hissed

"And why do you think that is?"

Robin shot him a dirty look, though of course he couldn't see it under his mask and glasses. "Leave it alone, don't analyze me here." He said, getting back up and stalking toward the Batmobile.

They were silent on the ride back home, Bruce respecting his son's space. Once they were out of their costumes, he spoke up, however. "Dick... Things haven't gotten better.. have they." He asked, watching the boy carefully.

"No." He said quietly, taking his com out. "I don't want to talk about it." He went straight to his room and curled up under his blankets. Dick didn't know what to do. Nothing seemed to be quite the same anymore.

A knock came on his door and then Alfred's voice came, "Master Richard? May I come in..?"

"I guess."

The beloved butler came into his room and sat on the edge of the bed. "Would you like to talk to me? It can be strictly between the two of us..."

"I don't know if you can help."

"I'd like to try..."

"I can't stop dreaming about mom and dad. I can't.. if I could I would stop waking up with all those nightmares... But its not just that... I... I feel lonesome."

"Oh Master Richard..." he touched the boy's head gently, "Why don't you spend some time with Master Wallace? You always seem to enjoy your video games and whatnot."

"He has a girlfriend. She won't let him do anything." Grunted the teen.

"Oh? That's not quite right of her... You should tell him you want to spend time with him. I'm sure he would find a way."

"I don't want a friends company, Alfred. Just leave me be. I'll be fine."

"... As you wish, young master." He said gently, getting up to leave.

"Wait. Can you get me some ice?" He asked, fidgeting to get into a comfortable position to relieve the pain between his legs.

Alfred nodded and left to get the ice for the boy. leaving him to his thoughts.

'Why does Artemis piss me off so much..? She was my friend... And now I just detest her.' He buried his face into his pillow.