"He isn't coming," Barbara said to the group standing at the base of the stairs. They were attempting to make small talk amongst themselves; something none of them were very good at.

"What?" Tim asked, whipping around to face her. "What do you mean he isn't coming?"

"He can't just abandon us like that!" Damian yelled. "We are the only family he has. We're the only family he's ever had. He can't just choose not to be here. Not when all of us are relying on him."

Damian's face fell. It seemed as though all the times Dick and he had spent together all those years ago meant nothing. At least, they meant nothing to Dick. Damian on the other hand, Damian could never forget what Dick had done for him. Dick saved him. Dick saved him long before Bruce ever did.

"Alfred seems to think it has something to do with the last time they saw each other. I guess it was a lot worse than we thought," she said.

Barbara could remember the day she asked Bruce about Dick. She was so used to seeing him at the cave, to hearing about his life, or being asked by Bruce to go to Bludhaven just to check up on him, but one day, it all just stopped. Bruce didn't ask about Bludhaven, or about Dick, or about anything at all, really. It was almost like it didn't matter anymore.

When Barbara asked Bruce about Dick, all he could tell her was that they had lost touch, and Barbara knew better than to press him further. They never knew just what had happened between them.

"I can't imagine that Bruce wouldn't just forgive him," Tim said, seeming to forget who his father was.

"You know Bruce," Barbara said. "It's been 9 months. He knows how to hold a grudge."

"But what good will a grudge do now? Father is literally losing his mind, and Grayson might be the only one of us who can reach him now."

It was a hard pill for the three of them to swallow. Dick was the first one, and in their minds, the only one with the bond strong enough with Bruce to pull him off the edge. None of them had that same ability. Dick had Bruce in the palm of his hand, and they all knew it. It all fell on Dick, and he wasn't even here.

"Your lips to God's ears, Damian, but I've tried my best. I don't know what else I can do to convince him. He's as stubborn as Bruce."

"Ain't that the truth," Tim said. "He never used to be this way. I guess life under Bruce's thumb affected him more than it affected any of us. He never really was the same after he left. It was like Dick finally had permission to be who he wanted to, and he just lost it."

Barbara pondered Tim's words. "I can't imagine it was easy. He was the first one after Jason. Bruce had to have been unbearable. I can't even imagine how much Dick went through."

"And Bruce too," Tim added. "Bruce went through a lot too, and he didn't give up on Dick. Dick gave up on him. Dick left him when he needed someone the most. I don't know how you forgive someone like that."

Barbara sighed. "The same way we all forgave each other for walking out on him too. We all did it, Tim, just Dick's timing stung a little more than the rest of us. But it's not okay to pretend that Dick was the only one who hurt Bruce because it's not true. We all did."

"Do you think he knows?" Damian asked.

"Knows about what?" she returned.

"About Todd."