Hello guys... my first story here! YAY! Please be gentle. Since I'm not a natural English speaker I'm in a neddng of a BETA reader...please!? Well, nothing more to say so...Enjoy the reading!

Disclaimer: The characters do not belong to me


What was he going to do now? What was he going to do without her? She was his best friend, his wife, his life. With her flaming red hair and those beautiful bluish green eyes that shined like the sea. She was just perfect for him and both of them love each other with the passion of a violent fire that was, now, completely consumed. They had gotten married two years ago, both of them completely in love and expecting a wonderful life together. But now…

She was gone…She was dead. Why?

Deadly pale in a hospital bed, fragile as a faded flower, her eyes were closed and her lips were dried. Her red hair was all spilled around her head on the white mattress. Her body didn't look like a corpse; it had the perfect form and size, and the white tone was the only sign of life leaving her body.

It had been too unexpected. Her death had been so quick and silent that not even Bruce could have seen it coming. But Bruce wasn't her husband, Dick was. And Dick didn't know what to do…

"I'm sorry Mr. Grayson, we did all we could…but her heart…we couldn't." A white dressed doctor was telling him that his wife was now dead. With a sorry look in his eyes he was telling him that the love of his life was gone.

Dick could barely stand on his feet…Barbara…she was dead, dead by a silent infection that made her heart stop. Why? Barbara…

A silent tear rolled down his face from his eye, followed by more tears that landed on Barbara's chest.

"Please…you can't do this, sweetheart," said the young men in a soft whisper filled with agony. That was agony; that was the feeling that his soul, mind and body were experiencing. Agony and pain…as when his parents died…was all the same all over again. But now, instead of his parents, it was the women he loved. Barbara Gordon or, as she was called the last two years, Barbara Grayson…Richard Grayson's wife…

Slowly and tenderly he ran his fingers over his wife's eyelids and cheekbones.

"Please, sweetheart, I need you, I-I can't do it alone. Babs, please wake up." He knelt at her bedside, tenderly rubbing her hand. Richard expected that in a second she would open her eyes, and then with a careless smile she would have said that all of this had been a joke-a cruel joke-, that she was fine and that they could go home to take care of their… "Babs, we need you, please." He couldn't take it anymore, broken sobs escaped his mouth while he hid his face in her chest.

The nurses that were there, reduced to tears and sobs thanks to the shattering picture of the young man, begging his dead wife to wake up.

"We have to call someone else." One of the nurses began to whisper, but was cut off by footsteps that announced the arrival of people coming toward the room.

A tall and well-built man appeared at the doorway, with two younger boys who followed closely behind him. The Nurses and doctors recognized them instantly: Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake and Damian Wayne; Grayson's family. But Dick was too busy crying into his wife's chest to realize that they had arrived.

The moment Bruce saw Dick, he knew. Dick hadn't looked so broken since the deaths of his parents…and now, Barbara's death.

"Dick…" Tim got nearer to comfort his older brother while Bruce asked the doctors what had happened. Damian stared at the horrible picture, with thinking eyes and a lump in his throat. He had never seen Grayson so broken before.

"She…contracted a silent acting virus that eventually caused her heart attack, but we are not sure about what kind of virus it was, we won't know until the autopsy. We tried to stabilize her all night, but her heart couldn't resist any longer. I'm sorry," the doctor said to Bruce and then he continued explaining the medical terms and possibilities. Richard didn't hear any of it, the only thing that he knew was that Babs was now dead, that the one who had been the love of his life was gone and was never coming back, that all those nights making the city a better place were nothing when it came to an illness. A virus had taken her away, something he couldn't control.

"Did she have some other relative besides Mr. Grayson?"

"No, her father died a year and a half ago and her mother died when she was a child. Richard is the only one." Bruce said, because it seemed that Dick wasn't capable of articulating a word at the moment.

But in Richard's mind there was someone, someone who wasn't in the truth of Bruce's statement. But not even Bruce knew about that human being. Anyway he still couldn't contact that someone; someone who was too small and young…

"Tim, get Richard to the manor, I will do the arrangements for the funeral and- "

"I can't go to the manor, Bruce. I have to stay here with Babs." Dick argued with a broken whisper looking at the billionaire.

"They are going to take her to the autopsy lab, Dick; you have to wait for them to give her body for the…funeral." The mention of that word made Richard's heart jump. He shut his eyes closed and began kissing Barbara's hands.

"Then I'll be staying here, until I have to leave." His voice was so broken and low that even Bruce had to listen carefully to understand him.

"Dick, come with me," Tim said in a low voice "we have to wait outside so they can take her." The young boy grabbed his brother's hand and guided him out of the room, but before that, Dick kissed Barbara's cheek softly and whispered a painful "I love you".

They reached the waiting room, with Damian following closely behind. Tim seated Dick in one of the armchairs and seated himself on the one next to him. Damian stood next to Dick, trying to think of what to say him...but nothing came to his mind that could fade a little of the pain that the older of them was feeling in his soul.

Richard was completely shattered, to say the least, wondering why all those things clouded his life. What the hell had he done to deserve this? He wasn't a bad person, he tried to work hard for her, he tried to make the world a better place, he tried to make her happy, he tried his best. But life had other plans for him...for her. Barbara was a good woman, his first love, his best friend, his angel, his all. And now he was dealing with another death in his life. First of all his parents, then Jason (even if he returned from death, it hurt like hell when he died) and now Babs. Why...?

"You've been here all day." Tim cut his train of thought. "Do you want something to eat, some coffee?"

Dick shook his head.

"I'm not hungry." His phone rang suddenly, getting it out of his pocket, he pressed the green button.

"Hello?...yeah it's me, Jay..." Tim abruptly took the phone away from Dick's hands and put it to his ear.

"What do you want, Jason?" said the boy roughly, ignoring the warning look Richard was giving him.

"Well hello, Replacement, could you, please, give the damn phone back to Dickiebird? I need to talk to him."

"He's not in the right condition to talk to you right now."

"The hell he isn't..." After a little pause Jason got the message. "It's Barbara, isn't it? How is she?"

"She's...wait, how do you know about her illness?" Tim's detective mind began to work and Richard tensed visibly beside him.

"Dick called me last night; I'm taking care of the- that's not the matter, Drake. How is Barbara?!" Jason's voice got an annoyed tone that was part of his character. Richard got the last sentence and took his phone back from Tim's hands. Tim frowned thinking of what Jason had said 'taking care of something...someone?'

"She's gone, Jay." His hands were trembling when he announced it and more tears escaped his eyes.

Silence came from the other end of the line and then the sounds of footsteps and keys.

"I'm on my way, I'll take your car." Jason's voice was deadly serious and Dick frowned a little.

"What about-"

"I'll call Wally and Artemis, don't worry about it." Then he hung up.

"What did Todd say?" Damian, who had been quiet the whole time, asked.

"That he's coming…"

Bruce entered the room in that moment, looking grim and sad, as much as Bruce could look grim and sad. He sat next to Richard and put his hand on the younger man's shoulder, trying to comfort him, but still knowing it was useless. There was no amount of physical contact that would let him escape the pit of pain he was in.

"How can I go on, Bruce?"

That question…that single question, the one that everyone else in the waiting room had asked themselves at least once in their lives. How do you answer that? He couldn't lie to him…What should he say? Losing your parents is painful, but losing the person you have loved so much, the one you chose to spend your whole lifetime with, that had to be agonizing and shattering. It sure was.

"We'll be here for you, you'll get better. She would've wanted it that way, Dick." Said Bruce squeezing Richard's shoulder, 'and you have someone to look after, even if you want to keep it a secret, you can't keep secrets from me, boy, and it hurts me a little, but you'll show it when you're ready' he thought with a sprinkle of bitterness.

"I can´t Bruce…" And there he lost it, tears streaming down his face to the ground with broken sobs leaving his mouth. He tried uselessly to hide himself in his arms, but a gentle embrace got in the way. Bruce was hugging him…What does it matter, now? The only embrace he wanted was the one of Barbara's thin arms. Still he clung himself to that hug like he held onto a rescue table in the middle of the ocean, that hug and the 'someone' waiting for him in the apartment. A person who belonged to him and her.

He buried his face into his adopted father chest, then Tim touched his back gently and he embraced him, letting Bruce go.

Jason arrived five minutes later (breaking a few transit rules in the way, of course) and what he saw left him speechless. Richard, the ever so happy and bright Richard was crying his eyes out into Tim's arms while Bruce had an arm placed around his back, drawing circles on it to calm down the young man.

The only one not having physical contact with him was Damian, who was currently sited in an armchair two seats away from the other three; awkwardly Jason found his way next to Damian while the young boy stared at him.

"How much time since…?" He asked not bordering on put an annoying nickname at the end

"Forty minutes or so...he has been like this since we arrived." The grave tone of the "child" voice was unforgettable. "Why are you here?"

"He is my brother, whether you like it or not...I have to be here with him, as well as you."

"I didn't refer to that, Todd, what I wanted to say was: how did you know? We got a call from the hospital, not from him, and you already knew something was wrong when you called him."

"It's not my place to explain that and I doubt that the one who has to do it is in the right condition to do so." Jason frowned, this shouldn't have happened. Out of the four of them, Dick was the one who had the better chance to live happy ever after with his wife, Barbara was a strong young woman, in her early twenties, this wasn't supposed to happen to her.

"Jay?" A trembling voice got Jason's attention. The green eyed man raised his gaze to see his older brother watching him with puffy red eyes.

"Hey…Dickiebird, how are-"

"How is she?" Dick asked urgently, his blood-shot eyes filled with concern.

"Artie said she would take care of her and won't let Wally even close to her." Jason said with a slightly amused glance to the blue eyed man. He ran a hand through his dark hair, the streak of grey in his hair clearly visible against his forehead.

Tim, Damian and Bruce looked at the two men expectantly. Even when Bruce´s look was feigned.

"Who are you talking about? Who is "her"? Tim asked while Damian gave his father a narrowed look.

Jason's eyebrows raised in amusement. They really didn't know about…

"Damian, Tim…Bruce. I…have a daughter. We…me and Babs…" Dick couldn't express himself correctly, but they got the general idea of his statement.

Dick and Barbara had a daughter…and they weren't aware, until that moment.


What do you think? Please let me know in a review!

Thanks for reading

-Aurum