A/N: Thank you to my lovely reviewers and everyone who has shown interest in this story! I hope you enjoy this chapter! (I realize that some of this chapter relies quite a bit on knowledge of recent comics, and I apologize, but I didn't want to weigh it down with recaps. After this, it won't be doing that, but I need to set this up for the main part of the story.)

He'll kill Grayson if he ever sees him again. He'll take a knife and shove it straight through his chest, but even then there's no way Grayson could ever understand what this betrayal feels like. He'll make it painful, though, when he does it.

It will hurt.

Grayson had better not come back.

Bruce still can't do anything but watch. He tries to reach out, but maybe he and Damian are a little too similar and a little too stubborn to let things go.

Things get worse.

NoBody.

Hearing his son breaking, in more ways than one.

The look on Damian's face when he kills Morgan.

Where did I go wrong? he wonders as he gathers Damian's body into his arms. What did Dick do that I can't?

He knows that Damian was Dick's Robin first, that there was a bond there—a strong bond, however quickly it snapped.

He knows he may never have that kind of bond with his son because of his own mistakes, but he'll try.

Once he's able to fix his own relationship with Damian—because he will, he has to—he'll have to address the other problem as well.

Damian can't work like this. Damian can't live like this.

Damian can't really describe the sensation he feels as he listens to his father's recorded voice. If anything, he supposes it reminds him a little of how Grayson would make him feel, even though his father is so much more dignified and reluctant when it comes to this sort of thing. Damn it, he told himself he wouldn't think about Grayson.

He gets up and goes to find his father. He's not sure what he'll say exactly, but he'll figure that out later.

He's tired of so many expectations.

He's tired of pretending.

He's just so, so tired of being alone.

Dick starts letters sometimes. He never gets very far, though, and there are plenty of things to keep him distracted and give him an excuse not to write.

The farthest he ever got in a letter was Hi, Damian! I hope you and Bruce are doing well. I've been really busy with the job, and the circus. I miss

And then he stopped, because what right does he have to say I miss you to the one person who's absolutely furious and shattered by his decision to leave him behind?

The letter ended up in the trash can with the first six attempts.

He'll try again later.

They've reached something like an understanding, however shaky and uncertain it is, and Bruce is glad. Damian's still learning, and he's still struggling with Dick's sudden departure, but he's opened up just enough to let Bruce take a place in his life as well.

It's a start.

Their work keeps them busy though, and there isn't time for personal lives when the Court of Owls is there to threaten Gotham.

Bruce sees Dick sometimes, but never mentions Damian. There's too much else going on, and Dick has enough problems to deal with without being reminded of this one. He knows for a fact that Dick times his visits so he never has to run into Damian, but he won't mention it.

So Bruce watches Dick and Damian exist on separate planes that he's not sure will ever truly be able to merge again.

Damian doesn't let his personal thoughts invade his mind, not now, not when his father needs him to be ready for anything. He'll protect their castle with everything he has.

He knows Dick would—is doing that too.

But he doesn't think about Dick.

Dick tries not to think too much. He runs and flips and swings and jumps and lands and starts over again. He loves the simplicity of movement and touch, and how he doesn't have to focus on anything but his next action. He loves that he's free here, but he also knows that as soon as he touches the ground again, the real world will come rushing back at him.

He's not unhappy with his current situation, but he's not exactly happy either. If anything, it seems like a transitory and fleeting stage.

It's strange, when you discover something about yourself, the person you were meant to be. It's like looking backwards and noticing that maybe your life hasn't really been your own this whole time and there's nothing you can ever do to change that. He'll keep moving forward though, because Richard Grayson is all about momentum, the constant fluidity of one movement to the next, and he won't let anyone take his flight away from him.

He lives his own life.

But he's always needed his family around him, in some way or another. He's always had someone—his parents, Bruce, Alfred, the Titans, Jason, Tim, Damian, so many people—however bad things were, however messed up their relationships were sometimes, they were there. He might like working solo, but he didn't like living solo.

So his home in Gotham still beckons him every night. No matter where he is, he always finds himself going that direction with a smile on his face and an exhilarating rush of adrenaline until he realizes that going back isn't right and staying away isn't easy.