Dick gripped the phone tight with frustration. "Roy, are you listening to me? This is kind of important."
Roy held the phone to his ear with his shoulder as he continued what he was doing. "Yeah, yeah, of course I'm listening."
Lian was tugging at her dad's shirt. He had been at the good part. "What does the pretty princess do next, daddy?"
"The princess called her friends over for tea." Roy replied as he tried to pry her fingers off of his shirt.
Lian scrunched up her face as she thought about it. "I don't think the princess likes tea, daddy."
Roy sighed and shook his head. "That's right. The princess just told them she was having tea. They were really coming over for cake, and cookies, and other good stuff."
Lian smiled. "Yeah, that sounds better."
Dick was quickly loosing what was left of his patience. "ROY! When Bats calls you asking questions, and you have no idea what to tell him, don't you dare set him on my ass. Now pay attention!"
Roy held the phone away from his head and waited for Dick to stop screaming. "Could you watch your language? I've got a kid here. And who said I wasn't paying attention?"
Dick was only seething a little…not a lot…and certainly not enough to kill his best friend…or at least that's what he was telling himself. "I'm going to tell you this one last time, okay? After that you are on your own when B calls."
Lian had her arms folded over her chest and was giving her dad one of her worst pouts, and yet he still wasn't paying attention to her. "Daaaaddddy!"
Roy turned towards his daughter and managed to cover up his sigh, but only just. She was giving him THAT face. He wasn't sure how long he would hold out against it. "I'll be with you in one moment, okay pumpkin?" Roy didn't think it was possible, but her pout intensified. He mentally shook his head and focused on Dick. "Okay, you were saying? And why am I playing relay between you two anyway?"
Dick sighed. Any other night, this conversation would have been six lines long. It would have been 'Hi…Hi…This is what's going on…Okay…Bye…Bye'. There wouldn't have been any of these unnecessary questions, and he would have been back to work a long time ago. "We aren't speaking right now, okay? No big deal. Eventually, I won't be so angry, and I'll go tell him he isn't right but it doesn't matter. Then we'll move on and pretend none of it happened." There was silence for a moment and then Dick heard laughter, lots and lots of laughter. "ROY! Are you listening to anything coming out of my mouth?"
Roy stopped what he was doing and sat up straight. "I'm sorry. I'm listening, really. It's just, she was giving me THAT face. I had to tickle her. You can't blame me."
Dick rolled his eyes even though Roy couldn't see it. "Uh huh. Can you focus now?"
Roy turned and faced the wall. "Yeah, okay, I'm with you."
XYZXYZXYZ
Roy's cell phone rang a total of one time before he answered it. He didn't bother looking at the caller ID. "Nightwing left a message with you for me about a case." Bruce was in Bat mode, and wanted this conversation to be short. It was bad enough he had to contact Harper for information, but to have to call Roy because he wasn't talking to Dick was just embarrassing.
Roy was still trying to get Lian to go to bed. He loved her, but there were times when he wished he could just slip her a tranquilizer. "Then the pretty princess found the cute little fluffy kitten hiding in the tree."
"Is that supposed to be funny, Harper? My son would never use such a wordy code." Bruce managed to keep the growl out of his voice, but that was about it.
Roy sighed to himself. It was going to be a long night. Between dealing with Lian and the Bat-clan, he had his work cut out for him. "I was talking to Lian."
"Cute."
The word was clipped, and from the Bat's tone Roy knew he was annoyed. He also knew that the only reason he was getting the full-on Bat was because he wasn't really annoyed with Roy. The bat was angry with Dick, and was just using Roy as an outlet, and it was starting to anger him...a lot. "Don't give me that attitude. It might work with criminals and other Bats, but with Arrows it just pisses us off."
Lian took a sharp intake of breathe. "Oh, daddy said a bad word." She wiggled her index finger at him.
Roy turned his attention to his wide eyed daughter. "Yes, Lian, daddy said a bad word. Don't repeat it." He started to pace the length of the room as he went back to scolding the Bat. "And you, don't you dare try to make me feel bad for spending time with my little girl when you have your son calling me to give you information on a case because you aren't talking to him for whatever reason. You know what; I don't even know what he wanted me to tell you because I was telling my kid a bedtime story. So guess what, buddy? You are going to have to deal with whatever fight you are having and call your son. Good night." Roy ended the call and put his cell phone back into his pocket.
Lian smiled up to her father. "Bad, Mr. Batman."
He walked over to Lian, and gave her a tight squeeze. "Yes, very bad, Mr. Batman. You see, honey, that's how Arrows deal with angry bats. I wouldn't be surprised if you have to do something very similar one day."
She hugged him back, and nodded. "I love you, pissed off Arrow."
Roy looked down at her. "What did daddy say?"
Lian shrugged. "Something about being a pissed off Arrow."
Roy shook his head at his daughter. "Yes, but I also told you not to repeat that, you little imp." He started tickling her. "One more story, and then you go to bed, missy."
Lian stopped laughing suddenly. "Aw, do I have to?"
Roy nodded. "Yes, you have to."
The End