A/N: Ok, here's chapter two, guys~ Thank you all so much! :D This is my most reviewed story yet! :P Responses to guest reviews are on the bottom. ^.^

Chapter Two

Crosswords

"People think dreams aren't real just because they aren't made of matter, of particles. Dreams are real. But they are made of viewpoints, of images, of memories and puns and lost hopes."

-Neil Gaiman

It was nagging at him. He couldn't seem to get those darn dreams out of his head, especially that last one. There seemed to be some sort of weight to it that he couldn't decipher. It was there, but refused to come to the surface. It was making it extremely difficult to concentrate.

He let out a frustrated sigh and- with care –pushed his laptop aside. He rubbed his hands down his face and then through his hair. These dreams were becoming a major inconvenience. He needed to put these mysteries to rest now.

He made his way down into the batcave. When he finally reached the main area, he was glad to see that it was just Dick down there, sitting in front of the computer. Tim couldn't help but raise an eyebrow slightly when he saw a game of solitaire on the screen and not research.

"Hey Dick" he greeted as he walked up to him. He watched as Dick jumped ever-so-slightly and quickly minimized the game of solitaire and opened up a window of what was most likely a random newspaper article. Tim managed to withhold his amusement as he sat down on the desk to Dick's side. Dick looked to him, giving Tim his signature grin.

"Hey Tim, what's up?" He leaned back in the chair nonchalantly, something Tim had only ever seen Dick accomplish in the cave.

"I, um, want to ask you some questions." Dick was really the only person he felt comfortable talking to about this. He couldn't talk to Damian, for obvious reasons, and he didn't feel it was the type of thing you talked about with Bruce. Besides, Dick seemed like the least likely to question his sanity.

Dick nodded. "Sure thing, fire away."

"Was Barbara ever blonde?" He should've started out with a different question, or just not have asked that one entirely. He regretted it the instant he saw the look on Dick's face.

"Uh… no. At least I don't think so… I'm pretty sure I would remember if she had been." He looked almost disturbed by the thought.

Tim blushed slightly, feeling the need to explain himself. "I've just had a couple dreams lately about a blonde Batgirl…"

Dick cocked an eyebrow, becoming amused. "Is that some fantasy of yours?"

The blush deepened and Tim spluttered. "W-what? No… No! I don't know why…" He trailed off as he saw Dick's body shaking, unsuccessfully trying to contain his laughter. Tim sighed and went on to the next question.

"Did I, or us, ever know someone by the name of Stephanie?"

Dick, luckily, had the ability to just roll with weird questions. "No, I don't think so." He gave Tim a slightly concerned look. "Since when are you one to have any memory issues, Boy Genius?"

Tim shrugged and averted his eyes. "It's not that exactly…"

Dick swiveled around in the chair, doing a three-sixty before stopping it and facing the computer. He brought up the computer's search engine. "Stephanie what? Maybe we can search for her and see if it triggers anything?"

Tim's brow furrowed as he tried to recall what her last name was. He was sure that he knew it in the dreams, but it had never been outright spoken. It was odd, feeling like he knew something which he really didn't. "I don't know, Dick. I mean she's blonde, blue eyes, and about the same age as me…" His eyes roamed the cave as he searched his mind, before suddenly focusing in on the jagged walls of the cave, a slight brown hint to them. "Brown, try 'Stephanie Brown.'" The name flowed effortlessly off his tongue and he had the urge to say it again and again.

He watched Dick's hands hesitate, the young man's brow furrowed slightly. "You're right. That does sound familiar. Insanely, actually." Tim couldn't help but be slightly glad that he wasn't the only one annoyed by a lack of memories of this person.

Dick typed the name into the search engine and it took but a millisecond for a list to appear on the screen. It turned out there were quite a few "Stephanie Browns" in the world.

"Narrow the search down to Gotham only" Tim suggested, after a moment of the two just staring at the list. Dick did as instructed and the computer quickly narrowed the results down to one. Tim hadn't realized he was holding his breath until Dick clicked on the name and the profile came up. Tim's eyes immediately went to the picture. That was her. She was real. And she was just as beautiful as she was in his dreams.

The world around him seemed to fade away as he flashed back to a dream he had had about a week ago.


"To recognize a wrong and be sorry for it. Ten letter word."

Robin glanced at Spoiler. Her mask was off and she was laying down on her back on the roof, a pen in one hand and a book of crosswords in another. She absentmindedly put the top of the pen between her teeth as she tried to conjure up an answer. Robin turned his eyes back to his binocular, trying to ignore the fact that he was suddenly jealous of a stupid pen.

"Repentance."

"Aha!" She suddenly proclaimed, throwing the hand holding the pen into the air as a fist. "I got it. It's repentance."

He sent her an amused look fully aware that she was doing that on purpose. She just gave him a cheeky grin before writing the word down. She then moved onto the next one. "Synonym for flawless. Seven letters."

Robin opened his mouth to answer her, when he saw the shipping truck pull up. He recognized the license plates. "There're our guys. Get ready."

Spoiler quickly responded, setting down the book and pen and grabbing her mask. She slipped it on and pulled her hood up as she went to kneel beside him. Her eyes narrowed. "How many do you think there are?"

"I see three in the front. They've probably got four in the back with the shipment." The doors to the truck opened and three men came out from the front. The back doors then opened and four men jumped out. Spoiler snorted lightly.

"Tell me, Boy Wonder, how does it feel to always be right?"

Robin's lips twitched as they both got out their grapples. "Pretty nice, actually." He could tell she was sticking her tongue out at him underneath her mask.

They both shot their grapples out, swinging off the roof and toward the thugs who were currently unloading their shipment of drugs. At precise moments, they each released their grapples, flying toward the ground.

Spoiler's feet connected with a thug and he let out a grunt as the force of her weight brought him to the ground and the box flew out of his hands. He was knocked unconscious as his head slammed into the concrete. Spoiler used the momentum to transition into a roll.

One thug approached and took out a gun. She managed to dodge it just as he pulled the trigger. She shot up, her fist slamming into his chin and her foot kicking the gun out of his grip. She then spun around, her elbow connecting with his temple and causing him to stumble toward the wall. She then ducked down and swept his feet out from under him. The thug fell back and his head hit the wall, knocking him out.

Robin, who had looked over at the sound of the gunshot, turned his attention back to his own fight at hand. He took out his staff and expanded it to its full length, giving the four thugs that surrounded him a steady glare.

"Who's first?"

The men all exchanged a glance, before one of them charged at Tim, extending his hands as if he was trying to grab him. Robin put his staff out in front of him, practically shoving it into the man's hands and bringing him to a halt. Before the thug had time to react, he kneed him in the gut and then sent his foot into his groin. The man gasped, released the staff, and bent over to cradle his throbbing delicates. Robin then swiped his staff to the side, hitting the thug in the side of his head and efficiently knocking him out.

The rest of the fights went in a similar fashion.

Robin watched the last of his opponents fall to the ground unconscious, before looking up and watching as Spoiler finished off the last guy with a roundhouse kick. Tim couldn't help but grin slightly as she walked up to him, clapping her hands together to get the nonexistent dust off them. He could tell she was grinning wryly underneath her mask.

"Well," she commented, "I've certainly enjoyed this date."

Robin wrapped an arm around her waist to pull her closer. "Perfect."

"Huh?" She blinked.

His grin turned slightly teasing. "Perfect. It's a seven letter synonym for flawless."


"Aha! I got it." Dick's exclaimed, clapping his hands together once and unknowingly startling Tim out of the daydream. Tim blinked.

"What?"

"I figured it out; why her name is so familiar."

He raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"She's the daughter of Cluemaster. Y'know? That wannabe Riddler? You and Bruce stopped him and threw him in the slammer a couple years ago."

Tim nodded, remembering. "Only a couple years, huh? Sure feels like longer than that."

Dick nodded in agreement. "Tell me about it."

There was a moment of silence before Tim decided to get back on track. "Anyway, do you think I can take a look at this file?"

Dick eyed Tim, a hint of amusement in his blue eyes. "Y'know, if you're interested in this girl and want to get to know her, you can always just meet her, instead of reading some computer file about her like some creepy stalker."

Tim blushed again and opened his mouth a couple times before words finally came out, indignant. "I am not!"

Dick just waved his hand and got up from the chair, his body language completely nonchalant. "Whatever you say, lover boy."

"I'm not… it's not… Argh!" Dick was already gone. Tim threw his hands up in the air before running them through his hair in frustration. The only reason he was interested in this girl was because she kept appearing in his dreams and he didn't know why. She, and this whole situation, was a mystery that needed solving. That was it. Besides, he kind of liked Cassie.

Right?

Gah, it was all so confusing! He hated being confused. He wasn't used to it. Besides, dreams weren't real. They shouldn't have that much effect on him. They weren't even nightmares. Nightmares he could understand the emotional toll of, since he had them himself. But none of these dreams were bad so far. They were all fairly easy and often lighthearted moments. Especially the ones that seemed to happen in earlier times. Those were ones that often stuck out to him, because he was Robin in those. Despite most of the public's belief, he had never officially been Robin. When he really thought about it, he wasn't sure why. But that was a thought for another day. One mystery at a time was preferable.

A/N: I hope that fight scene kind of made up for the failure of one in the last chapter, although I may have gotten a little lazy near the end of it. ^^" And I know this is short, I'm sorry. Things'll definitely get moving in the next chapter. ;) Oh and by the way, you'll probably notice me poking some jabs in the reboot occasionally. They may be subtle, they may not be. :P Alright, enough of my babbling, onto guest response. ^.^ Review, please.~ ;D

BmS: I know right! But never, say never, right? ;) Anything could happen. ^^ (I'm the forever hopeful, type xP)

Confused: o.o Um... no, I'm pretty sure they didn't... if they had it would probably be all over the place and I would've heard of it. xP There's a possibility I'm wrong though. And if they had, then... I don't know what to think. :P (Assuming you're talking about Cass, as in Batgirl, and aren't referencing Wonder Girl. Easy mistake when they have such similar real names. :P)

guest: (I gotta put what you said, 'cause there are other people using this name; "i love the begining. there's not enough tim/steph fics on here. anyway great job. i can't wait to see the next update. when will tim be able to see stephanie for real?") I know right? xD I kind of thought hardly anyone would review, 'cause I thought there weren't a lot of TimSteph shippers here... guess I was wrong. :P Or maybe the fact that I posted a link to it on Tumblr has to do with it. xP And as for when Steph is coming; just wait and find out. -waves hands mysteriously.- :3

guest: ("please try update soon. when i start reading something good i just can't stop till it's completely done. great job so far.") Thank you! ^.^

anonymous: People actually have! :D I was quite surprised (in an extremely good way) by all the response! xD And thank you! ^.^

guest: ("when are you planning on updating?") Whenever I have the time/muse. ;)

Aprillis: (I know you're not a guest, but you have private messaging disabled, so I thought I'd respond to you here ;P) I know right? . I was a total puddle of feels while writing this. xP And I knoooow ;_; the reboot seems to want to take away many good things in life. Um, I don't think there's gonna be a sequel to this, but I'll have to see where it goes. Right now I'm planning on it being a rounded story, complete with a resolution and all that. But who knows what I'll be thinking in the future. xD And thank you! ^.^