Chapter 4
2 MONTHS LATER…
Robin walked up the steps to her porch a bouquet of flowers in his hand, he knocked pleasantly on the door, it was opened almost immediately by a very frail looking Mrs. Abigail, her appearance shocked him for a second, but he held out the bouquet anyways, she took them with a smile.
"Thank you, Dick" she said softly and smiled broader as he held out a bag of cookies, she opened the bag and tasted one, gesturing him inside "blech!" she gagged "too much salt!" he chuckled
"Again?" she gently placed the cookie back inside the bag. The remaining clean house, sparkled as she threw open the curtains. She noticed him looking around
"You did a good job" she said sitting down weakly in her chair, motioning to the house, "It's better than I ever remember it being" there was a silence, not awkward just thoughtful, as the soaked up their surroundings and enjoyed the company of each other
"I haven't seen you in a coupled of weeks, sorry, I've been busy"
"Batman running you ragged?" Robin laughed, and looked at his clasp hands
"You don't know the half of it" she moved her head from side to side softly
"So tell me…how's school?" he sat heavily on the oriental couch across from her and smiled warmly
"Its ok" silence "but how are you?" she weakly waved away the question and laid the flowers across her lap
"When I was Bruce's grief counselor I learned a lot of things" she said looking up at him "there is no feeling good so to say, there is no feeling bad so to say, he'd come in some days weeping his eyes out, some days it'd be like he didn't even know his parents died-"
"What did you say to him?" Robin asked playing with the fringe on the armrest
"I told him to talk" she said with a chuckle "not to keep it bottled up inside-" she looked up at him again expectantly "not to pretend as if they were still here, and if he was tough enough to take it on alone" Robin glanced at her,
"You told him not to run away" Robin said softly, the old woman folded her wrinkled hands
"I told him that salt is good in moderation, but when too much…it becomes bitter and unbearable…" she smiled "the grief he felt was too bitter for him to handle, after I told him that he disappeared"
"Disappeared? To where?"
"Don't know, but when I heard the news about the Batman early on, about the darkknight I knew it was Bruce…and instead of waiting for him to come to me…I went to him"
"Was he happy to see you?" Robin asked
"Not at first" Mrs. Abigail admitted with a laugh "but were you happy to see me when I called about my cat in my attic 5 months ago?" Robin shook his head softly, ashamed.
"But you kept coming back…as did I with Bruce"
+++++++++++YOUNG+JUSTICE+++++++++++
The room darkened as a cloud passed over the sun, Robin sipped the tea he had made for Martha and himself, enjoying the silence.
"You look so weak" Robin said with a blush "no offense" she wrapped both hands around her tea and smiled
"None taken my dear" she sighed "and I look weak because I am" she used one hand to pull a blanket over her lap; Robin walked over and helped her snugly wrap it around her shoulders.
"Are you sick?" Robin asked sitting on the carpet at her feet, the old woman looked out her window as the cloud finally passed by completely letting the sun shine across the room.
"Do you know why I kept calling about a noise in my attic?" she quickly added "I knew it was Oscar" the cat stretched in the ray of sun basking his body, Robin shook his head his brow tense in thought "I was lonely" Martha admitted "you two were the only ones I could call to keep me company"
"What about your friends?" Robin asked "I see you talking to the woman next door through your window, what about her?" the blanket slipped a little as Mrs. Abigail set down her tea,
"She's gone sweetie, passed away about a month ago…all of my friends are too old, or too dead to come out of their homes…Bruce is all I have now" she reached down and brushed the teenaged boy's hair from his face "and you"
"You're like a grandmother to me" Robin said holding her hand in both of his "the one I never had" she smiled, worry etched in her old face
"What's wrong?" Dick asked at her obvious discomfort
"All this time I was trying to get you to like me" she said pulling back her hand "and now I wish you didn't" Robin pulled back in shock
"It wasn't an easy task" he joked "but, why, why not?" she tucked her hands under the knit blanket
"I'm getting so old, Dick, all I wanted was to know someone would grieve when I died, it's unfair to want you to grieve, but then again it makes me feel…loved, to know I'll be missed." She furiously wiped at a tear "and now that I love you, and I do, Dick, I do, you're like my grandson…now I don't want you to be pained, I wish I was lonely again"
"What are you saying-?"
"I used to want to die, I was so ready, but now that I've met you, I just want to live, I- I'm so scared, I just want to live" Robin sat silently as she wept; he stood and embraced her as she tried to keep the sobbing silent.
"You know, a dear friend of mine once told me it's bad to keep your sadness bottled up inside…" and with that she wept into his arms.
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YOU KNOW WHAT I'M GOING TO ASK…REVIEWS POR FAVOR.
-envelopes and cypress trees
