This is my attempt to answer this challenge Robin posted at Bludhaven-

National Catfish Month
- Fishing stories. A fish fry. Tempest and/or Aquaman stories?

Title- Gone Fishing.

Summary- Dick decides a weekend of fishing is just the thing he needs to unwind, he invites Roy and Wally along...Lian invites herself.

Note- I've loosely set this in cannon somewhere after the events of JLA 11 and Outsiders Five of a Kind 1 (NW and Boomerang jnr issue) so some mild spoilers for those issues.

DC owns Dick, Roy, Wally and Lian as well as other characters mentioned by name in this work of fan fiction.

Part 1 of 4

It's late and Roy's a little annoyed as he checks to see who's buzzing his doorbell. The annoyance fades the moment he see's the dark haired man waiting patiently to be let in-this visit from Dick is unexpected but he's happy to see his best friend. They don't see enough of one another these day's. He pulls the door open and grins at the acrobat "Well, would'ya look at what the cat dragged in!"

Dick grins back gives his friend an affectionate thump on the shoulder. His smile fades a little as he frowns at the week old bruises that have faded to yellow and brown on the archers face. "Man, get a load of you. You're a mess!"

Roy rolls his eyes. "Well hello to you too, Short Pants."

Dicks grin returns. "Oh, yeah. Hello Roy."

The red-head chuckles and waves the acrobat inside. "Get your butt in here Robbie." He leads the way towards the kitchen. "Wanna a beer?"

Dick shakes his head as he crosses the room to lean casually against the kitchen counter. He snatches an apple out of the fruit bowl and polishes in on his shirt before deciding he really doesn't want it, and putting it back. "Coffee?"

"Spoil sport." Roy reaches for the pot that already has freshly brewed coffee in it and pours out two mugs of the steaming liquid…

Dick pulls out one of the stools Roy has at his counter and sits. "Got patrol later, won't do to be slurring my words when I'm trying to be the epitome of the cool, bad-ass vigilante…."

"Or stumbling off the edge of rooftops and turning into a splatter on the pavement." Roy adds with a chuckle as he removes the milk from the fridge and pours some into each mug.

Dick laughs, "That too." He accepts the mug that's pushed towards him and reaches for the sugar bowl. "You look like a building fell on you."

"One did."

Dick nods, "I heard." He spoons the sugar into his coffee, stirs vigorously and then indicates Roy's bandaged right hand. "Healing okay?"

Roy holds the hand up and wriggles his fingers to show it's not as bad as it looks. "Yeah, yeah. Luckily there's no tendon damage." He takes a sip of coffee, winces at the taste and adds another spoon of sugar. "I spent a couple of days at Ollie's. You know, just catching my breath a bit. Having Mia and Connor around for Lian was good…" He chuckles and shakes his head… "…but Ollie…man, he's a pain in the butt."

"I thought you two were getting along pretty good lately?" Dick slides off the stool and follows Roy out to the living room.

Roy sits down in the arm chair and waits until Dick settles on the sofa. "Oh, yeah, we are. I mean he's good…He's just…." He frowns down at his cup. "He worries is all. He stresses the hell out of me with all his fussn, and then, when I get antsy about him crowding me, he tells me I need to de-stress a bit." he takes a sip of his coffee and shakes his head. "I'm telling you, I was glad to get back home."

Dick's quiet for a minute, trying to picture a fussing' Oliver Queen. He remembers there was a time when Roy's mentor could have done a whole lot more worrying about his friend. "So…"

Roy looks puzzled. "So?"

"How's the princess?" Dick asks casually.

Roy's smiles and his eyes sparkle happily as they always do when thinking about his daughter.

"Good…Asleep thankfully. It took me six bed time stories to get her there though. She's been…clingy."

"I'm not surprised." and Dick isn't. Lian's growing up fast. She's almost lost her father before she's beginning to understand just how dangerous the job they do is.

"So, what? You just come to check on me, or is this a business' call." Roy asks, steering the topic towards more comfortable conversation.

"Nope, no business. I came to show you these." Reaching into the pocket of his jeans Dick pulls out two crumpled photographs. He leans towards Roy and points out the cabin that sits nestled under palm trees in the picture. "Bruce bought it a couple of weeks ago." He explains. "The town it's near is pretty small and the cabin is right on the beachfront of one of the more secluded beaches in the area. It's quiet, only the occasional fisherman to contend with."

Roy looks closely at the pictures. "Yeah? Nice."

Dick smiles. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"You have some downtime. I've got no pressing cases at the moment. Figure I've got a few days off coming to me since I don't have the Outsiders wearing me thin…."

Roy's eyebrows rise as what Dick is asking finally sinks in. "Wa-aait a minute. Just wait one dang minute. You're saying we should…what? Go fishing, swimming…relax…take some time out to unwind, like, you know, real people? You. Mister workaholic-never-need-time-off cause I was raised by the…"

"Don't say it." Dick growls, but there's laughter in his voice. "…and yeah, I'm saying I have a couple of days I can spare, and I was hoping to spend that time with my best fiends."

"Friends? You asked Wally too. Cool!"

"Yeah I asked him. He's not going to spend the time with us; he's still getting the family settled in after everything that's happened. However he's going to run down, and join us on Sunday."

"Better then nothing I s'pose. Besides, having an old married man tagging along the whole time might be a drag when we find ourselves some babes.

Dick snorts softly in amusement, drains the last of his cup and reaches over to sit it on the coffee table.

Roy's already decided he likes this idea. "Hmm, babe watching, swimming, fishing …."

"Fishing, YAAAY!"

"Hey! Young lady you're supposed to be asleep." Roy scolds his daughter as she races into the room.

"I heard Uncle Dick talking. I wanted to see Uncle Dick." Lian explains, tucking her toy floppy rabbit under her arm and scrambling up onto Dick's lap. She turns to look at the acrobat expectantly. "Where are we going fishing Uncle Dick? Can I catch a fish too? I like fishies…"

Roy tries to think fast, he pretty sure a five year old girl tagging along is going to curb some of the plans for the weekend that have already begun to blossom in his mind. "Lian…Princess. I'm not sure if…"

Lian's oblivious to anything her father has to say, it hasn't crossed her mind that she may not be going, her eyes are shining happily as she hugs her Uncle. "Daddy likes fishing. But we hafta let the fishies go after we catch them, so Uncle Garth won't get sad. We will let them go when we catch them, won't we Uncle Dick?"

Dick can't help grinning at her, she's so darned cute when she's happy and she's talking in that high pitched animated little voice she gets when she's really, really excited. He hugs her back, and ruffles her hair. "Sure we will sweetheart. Catch and release, that's what everyone does these days."

Roy frowns, still trying to think of a way to get a child free weekend. "Baby girl, you know Aunt Dinah and Sin would love to have you st…."

Lian grows still. "You don't want me to go?" The enthusiasm seems to drain from the little girl, she looks at her father with big brown eyes that are beginning to well with tears.

Roy's heart twists in his chest and the hopes of any kind of weekend dalliance with the fairer sex suddenly dissipates with the sorrowful eyes that look up at him. "I…"

"No, no princess, that's not it…" Dick soothes, he can't bear to hear the sad confusion in the little girl's voice. "Your dad just thought you might want to visit Dinah and Sin instead of hanging out with us boys."

"But I like hanging out with boys." Lian replies, cuddling into Dick's chest and blinking pleading eyes at her father.

"Oh no you don't!" Roy mumbles seriously.

Lian hears, and her reply is indignant and determined with traces of Harper stubbornness. "Yes I do."

Dick shifts the little girl so that he can look into her eyes. He gives her a reassuring smile and makes the decision that Roy is obviously on the verge of making anyway. "Lian…sweetheart, I'm sure you dad would love to have you come us."

The slightest smile twitches at the corners of the little girl's cherubic lips, she's pretty sure that she has Dick on her side with this. She looks over at her father hopefully. "Would you daddy?"

Roy looks over at the faces looking back at him expectantly. He throws Dick a 'you're a traitor' look, before sighing in defeat. "Sure Etai yazi, it'll be fun."

"YAAAYY!!!" Lian squeals in delight, she launches forward and wraps her tiny arms around Dick's neck and hugs tight, "I'm going fishing! Thank you Uncle Dick! Thank you thank you thank you!