"Dick here. I'm not able to come to the phone right now. If it's an
emergency, you know how to reach me."

The shrill beep of the voice mail echoed through the room. It had
been two weeks since the fight and with each unanswered phone call it
became increasingly clear that Roy had single-handedly ended his
friendship with Dick. He didn't bother to leave a message this time.
Clearly, Dick wanted nothing to do with him.

"Daddy?" a small voice interrupted Roy's thoughts.

"Yeah, sweetie?" Roy turned the bedside lamp on, revealing his
daughter clad in the Wonder Woman nightgown Donna had gotten her, and
that she was steadily outgrowing.

Lian blinked and rubbed her eyes at the sudden increase in light. "I
had a bad dream."

Roy patted the bed; Lian took the cue and bounded up onto the bed.
"I'm sorry, sweetie. You wanna talk about it?"

Lian thought for a moment. "No."

"Okaaaaaaaay. You want a glass of water?"

"No."

Roy sighed. "What can I do to make you feel better?"

Lian gave Roy her best puppy dog impression. "Can I stay with you
tonight?"

Roy smiled. "Sure, Etai Yazi."

Lian grinned and dove under the covers. Roy turned the lamp off and
after a brief tickle fight, which ended as soon as Roy aggravated his
cracked ribs, father and daughter settled in for the night.

"Daddy?" Lian called out sleepily through the dark.

"Yeah?" a sleepy Roy responded.

"When is Unca' Nightwing coming back?"

Roy's heart clenched. "I don't know."

"I miss him."

"I know, sweetie."

"You're happier when he's here."

Roy lay in silence, absorbing the insight a three year old had just
administered.

"Night, Daddy."

"Night, Lian."

Lian drifted off to sleep, but sleep was not to come for Roy. He lay
awake 'till dawn, but then the time for wondering was gone. A new day
had begun.

*

*

Dick couldn't sleep. Since his fight with Roy, his whole world had
turned upside down. That same day, feeling he had driven the love of
his life away, he'd gone to the clocktower. Barbara had been
surprised to see him. Without saying a word, Dick had picked her up
and kissed her passionately, carrying her to bed. Since that night,
he'd spent every night there with Barbara. He quit his job at the
police department in Bludhaven. He still had his apartment there but
hadn't set foot in it in over a week. All his clothes and vital
belongings were with him in Gotham.

Dick sighed. He turned his focus from the ceiling to the woman
sleeping next to him. Barbara was a good woman, and passionate too
when she let herself. And Dick did love her very much. She'd been his
first kiss, his high school sweetheart (before Bruce had interfered),
the first person he'd ever had sex with. He knew he'd come to her
because she was comfortable, but Roy had stolen his heart years ago.

It had taken him awhile to realize that the reason Roy annoyed him so
much was because he was in love with Roy. He was in love with a man
he couldn't have. Since that realization, his love life had been...
tumultuous at best. His on again off again affair with Barbara, his
fiery romance with Kori, his relationship with Joe. Not to mention his
entanglements with Emily, the alleged Black Widow, and Meggie, an
abused girl turned murderer. Last but not least was his brief fuck
buddy arrangement with Garth, until it had become clear that Garth was
falling for him. There were other faces and names he couldn't
remember filling his sheets, but thinking back over them all, Dick
realized he was trying to fill the empty hole in his heart. A hole
called Roy.

Dick gazed at Barbara's sleeping form, brushing a piece of hair off
her face. It was time to stop pretending. He loved Barbara; even if
it wasn't in the same way he loved Roy, he loved her. It was time to
do the right thing.