p class="p1""And that Lilly, is how long it takes to reach the top floor when you press all of the buttons on the elevator." Reaching down and grabbing her purse and grocery bags off the bottom of the elevator carpet. The youngest joyfully squealed at the conclusion of her experiment, and Blake shoved her off the lift and dramatically breathed the hallway class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""Freedom!" He cried before bending down to kiss the ground in excitement. Lilliana chuckled as she dug her key out of her purse and fitted it in the lock of the only door in the hallway. She juggled the bags in her arms to she expertly used her foot and shoulder to maneuver to door open, as the small children ran past her engaged in a game of life or death tag. The top of Blake's head hit the bottom of one of the paper bags, tilting it out of Lilliana's arms. In her attempt to catch the bag, she dropped another two. She knelt down to grab all the spilt contents of the bags, and began to scoop them into the crumpled paper. Picking them all back up, Ana struggled her way to the counter, and plopped them on the island. Glancing into the living room from the kitchen, she saw the twins on the couch pouring over newspaper articles- she assumed they were about the two protectors of Bludhaven. She began to empty the bags and put everything in their respective places, running through her night in her head. She looked up as she heard Blake holler, and saw Lucy climbed on his back like a little monkey, pulling at his class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""Hey!" She tossed the milk in the fridge and elbowed the door shut, as she began to move to detach the two. She hadn't made it halfway before Dick came swooping around the corner grabbing Lucy up and giving her a light toss in the air. At the same time, he produced a Nerf gun out of nowhere and took a shot at Blake, Lucy still tossed over his class="Apple-converted-space" /spanThe sight of Dick running around with the kids brought a smile to her face. Grayson's eyes darted up from his mock fight, and flashed a toothy grin at the blonde standing in the kitchen. Lucy was in a fit of giggles as Dick gently tossed her on the loveseat next to the twins who where attempting to hold down their papers from the gusts of people running past. To anyone outside of Lilliana's situation it would have been a lovely sight, it would seem to be a young couple playing with younger siblings in a moment of joy. From the blonde's perspective, it was almost a nightmare. She had an outsider in her home. Although her would trust him with her life, she wouldn't trust the kid's life with him. She cringed at the realization, but she also had realized she didn't trust anyone with their lives besides herself. Dick was so close to all of their secrets by being in the house, even if he hadn't come to find them yet. James tapped her arm, pulling her out of her class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""Ana, we got it!" Turning she grabbed the boy's shoulder and finished putting the groceries away. She raised her eyebrow and smiled at her brother, prompting the young boy to continue. "They are cousins from Iceland who trained in martial arts, and they were abandoned here when their guardian forgot them at the airport." Lilliana paused for a moment and stared at James. Behind him, his twin approached and patted his shoulder./p
p class="p1""Yeah that does sound ridiculous B." Mallory bunched her face in annoyance. Black rolled his class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""It was your idea Mal."span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""Your just gonna toss her under the bus like that?" Ana put her hand on her hip, closing the pantry. "Now what did Papa always tell you?" She watched them both roll their eyes with a class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""Family sticks together." The two spoke in class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""Forever and always." Ana glanced at Dick still playing with the youngest Monroes, before turing her eyes to the twins and spoke in a hush, "Gina?"span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""She's been upstairs all day." Mallory began./p
p class="p1""And we've kept him downstairs." Blake finished. Ana sighed in class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""Good job, now go back to being kids." They turned back and fell into another conversation, attempting to mix up their theory on the vigillanties. "And for heaven's sake, please stop finishing each others thoughts!"span class="Apple-converted-space" /spanShe turned around and glanced at her watch, noting the time. Taking advantage of the young ones being busy with each other, she began to continue her daily tasks. Popping over the dishwasher she began to unload the machine, piling up her arms full of glassware. Her heels clicking around the tile flooring she was methodically putting the dishes in their proper homes. Going back for another trip, she again loaded her arms up and stood so repeat the action. Instead she ran smack into Dick, tragically looking a glass mug in the collision. Luckily for the glassware, the Dick Grayson was able to save the other few pieces that snuck their way out of Ana's grasp. Quickly finishing the dishes, she had turned around to find Dick loading the dirty plates and utensils in the machine. "Oh you don't have to do that." Reaching into the small nook between the fridge and the counter, she pulled out a broom and dust pan. span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""I'm perfectly capable of helping out." He watched her sweep up the broken pieces of the demolished dish, and dispose of the shards. He leaned on the counter, staring intently at his best class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""So you have any dinner plans for these youths or should I make a reservation for a candlelight dinner for…" He trailed off as he ran a quick count in his head and on his fingers, "seven?" He smiled his typical cheesy smile. Lilliana cocked her head to the side, and chuckled./p
p class="p1""I ordered pizza already, it should be here soon. Also you missed Nick." Lilliana gave the rest of the kitchen a quick sweep while she had the broom class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""Eh, I figured he didn't count." Dick pulled out his phone and send a quick text. Noting his phone, Ana quickly took the chance to get the man out of the apartment, away from her class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""Thank you for watching the twins. I don't mean to keep you." She gave a light point to his phone. "Isn't Jason coming into town tonight?"span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""I told you it's no worries. I don't have anywhere to be, the renegade isn't coming until tomorrow."span class="Apple-converted-space" /spanDick ran his fingers through his hair, fluffing his thick black locks. "Besides you owe me pizza." He class="Apple-converted-space" /spanLilliana couldn't say she was glad he was staying, it gave him longer to catch on to the strangeness of her house, but she wasn't disappointed either. As long as she had known Dick, she was constantly torn between wanting to have a normal relationship, and be a normal young adult. But whenever she had reasoned with herself that should could do everything, something came around to remind her that she would never be a normal adult, not with her family or her night job. Dick had always been so kind about her choice not to pursue a relationship, and always remained by her side as a friend. She would never blame his for his flirtatious joke, after all he was her best friend and always knew when to stop. Ana always loved the time she spent with Grayson, and truly did love the giant man-child, she would trust him with her life and all of her secrets if it was her choice. Yet, it wasn't her choice, nor her life. It was the kids lives that were at stake if someone were to figure this whole scheme out that she had constructed over the years. Luckily, a buzz on the call button saved her from having to respond. "I'll go grab the pizza." Dick hopped off the bar stool and headed for the door./p
p class="p1""My wallets in my purse!" The blonde called out and Dick looked over his shoulder, with an eyebrow class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""When do I every let you pay for food?" The batboy grabbed to door and pulled it open, closing it on his friend yelling after him. It wasn't more than a few seconds after the Monroe's heard the elevator ding shut, that they all gathered in the kitchen. The children extremely curious about the raven haired boy./p
p class="p1""Dick's awesome!" Black mock shot his Nerf gun at the siblings./p
p class="p1""He is so smart!" James clutched his notebook, which had new side notes of the vigillanties in Grayson's class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""He helped us find new sources to look at!" Mallory pushed up her glasses in excitement./p
p class="p1""Are you two dating?!" Lucy looked up at Lilliana with doe like eyes. Pressing the heel of her hand into her forehead she cut off their overlapping chatter./p
p class="p1""No, and that is not important right now. What's important is that we make sure everything is smooth tonight. If I have to go upstairs, you guys have to keep Dick busy." The youths nodded their head. They children thought that Gina was just an eccentric quack, which she was. They weren't aware of the extent that their aunts situation was, they just knew that it was their family secret. "Now go grab plates." It was only a few moments later that Dick came bounding back into the apartment with pizza boxes balanced on one hand. Lillianna dug in her bag and pulled out her psych class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""Okay Kiddos. Who wants what?" Dick set the boxes on the inland and began to dish out slices to the younger people. Once Dick made sure that they all had their food, he turned to Lilliana, who sat on a barstool tapping her foot in the air. She sipped on a glass of water, her rose lipstick clinging to the glass rim, as she flipped through the pages of the textbook. "And for you?"span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""Uh, whatever is left is fine." Lilliana didn't look up as she responded, instead began scribbling notes in her notebook. Glancing up when Dick held out a slice of pizza, she thanked him before folding it in half to eat. While the little ones at the the dining table at their food and hollered about random things, Lilianna and Dick sat at the island. Finishing her her assignment Lilliana closed her book, and finished off her water. The kids finished their pizza and dropped their plates in the dishwasher, as Liliiana began to wipe up the table, cleaning from the meal her family had just demolished. As the kids began to go their separate ways and Lilliana was cleaning the kitchen and straightening up the living room, she began to think more of Grayson. He was acting so well with all of the kids, they could get rambunctious quite often. The twins would become immersed in their research for hours only whispering to each other, yet he was able to get them to step away from their laptops and research to get them to look at the whole picture. Blake had so much energy, that he would run around for hours. Many frames and vases had fallen victim to his play fights. Dick played with him, saving all of the fixtures from the menace. And then Lucy. Being the youngest, she never really knew their parents, and Lilliana felt the need to give her some extra attention as Lu was always at her heels. The young girl looked up to Lilliana the most. With thought of the little one, the blonde glanced over and felt her heart melt. She stood straight up, and bit her lip absent-mindedly. Grayson sat on the floor with a fake teacup in his hand. Lucy was running around with a plastic tiara on her head, her hair pointing in every which direction. She watched them play at the make believe tea party. Dick glanced over and caught her eye, flashing a goofy grin as he raised his teacup. Having been caught staring, Lilliana blushed and turned away tucking her hair behind her ear. Lilliana began to think that, well, maybe this could class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p2" /p
p class="p2"_/p
p class="p2" /p
p class="p2"Reveiw and let me know what you think!/p
p class="p2"XOXO/p
p class="p2" /p
p class="p1""Freedom!" He cried before bending down to kiss the ground in excitement. Lilliana chuckled as she dug her key out of her purse and fitted it in the lock of the only door in the hallway. She juggled the bags in her arms to she expertly used her foot and shoulder to maneuver to door open, as the small children ran past her engaged in a game of life or death tag. The top of Blake's head hit the bottom of one of the paper bags, tilting it out of Lilliana's arms. In her attempt to catch the bag, she dropped another two. She knelt down to grab all the spilt contents of the bags, and began to scoop them into the crumpled paper. Picking them all back up, Ana struggled her way to the counter, and plopped them on the island. Glancing into the living room from the kitchen, she saw the twins on the couch pouring over newspaper articles- she assumed they were about the two protectors of Bludhaven. She began to empty the bags and put everything in their respective places, running through her night in her head. She looked up as she heard Blake holler, and saw Lucy climbed on his back like a little monkey, pulling at his class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""Hey!" She tossed the milk in the fridge and elbowed the door shut, as she began to move to detach the two. She hadn't made it halfway before Dick came swooping around the corner grabbing Lucy up and giving her a light toss in the air. At the same time, he produced a Nerf gun out of nowhere and took a shot at Blake, Lucy still tossed over his class="Apple-converted-space" /spanThe sight of Dick running around with the kids brought a smile to her face. Grayson's eyes darted up from his mock fight, and flashed a toothy grin at the blonde standing in the kitchen. Lucy was in a fit of giggles as Dick gently tossed her on the loveseat next to the twins who where attempting to hold down their papers from the gusts of people running past. To anyone outside of Lilliana's situation it would have been a lovely sight, it would seem to be a young couple playing with younger siblings in a moment of joy. From the blonde's perspective, it was almost a nightmare. She had an outsider in her home. Although her would trust him with her life, she wouldn't trust the kid's life with him. She cringed at the realization, but she also had realized she didn't trust anyone with their lives besides herself. Dick was so close to all of their secrets by being in the house, even if he hadn't come to find them yet. James tapped her arm, pulling her out of her class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""Ana, we got it!" Turning she grabbed the boy's shoulder and finished putting the groceries away. She raised her eyebrow and smiled at her brother, prompting the young boy to continue. "They are cousins from Iceland who trained in martial arts, and they were abandoned here when their guardian forgot them at the airport." Lilliana paused for a moment and stared at James. Behind him, his twin approached and patted his shoulder./p
p class="p1""Yeah that does sound ridiculous B." Mallory bunched her face in annoyance. Black rolled his class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""It was your idea Mal."span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""Your just gonna toss her under the bus like that?" Ana put her hand on her hip, closing the pantry. "Now what did Papa always tell you?" She watched them both roll their eyes with a class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""Family sticks together." The two spoke in class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""Forever and always." Ana glanced at Dick still playing with the youngest Monroes, before turing her eyes to the twins and spoke in a hush, "Gina?"span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""She's been upstairs all day." Mallory began./p
p class="p1""And we've kept him downstairs." Blake finished. Ana sighed in class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""Good job, now go back to being kids." They turned back and fell into another conversation, attempting to mix up their theory on the vigillanties. "And for heaven's sake, please stop finishing each others thoughts!"span class="Apple-converted-space" /spanShe turned around and glanced at her watch, noting the time. Taking advantage of the young ones being busy with each other, she began to continue her daily tasks. Popping over the dishwasher she began to unload the machine, piling up her arms full of glassware. Her heels clicking around the tile flooring she was methodically putting the dishes in their proper homes. Going back for another trip, she again loaded her arms up and stood so repeat the action. Instead she ran smack into Dick, tragically looking a glass mug in the collision. Luckily for the glassware, the Dick Grayson was able to save the other few pieces that snuck their way out of Ana's grasp. Quickly finishing the dishes, she had turned around to find Dick loading the dirty plates and utensils in the machine. "Oh you don't have to do that." Reaching into the small nook between the fridge and the counter, she pulled out a broom and dust pan. span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""I'm perfectly capable of helping out." He watched her sweep up the broken pieces of the demolished dish, and dispose of the shards. He leaned on the counter, staring intently at his best class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""So you have any dinner plans for these youths or should I make a reservation for a candlelight dinner for…" He trailed off as he ran a quick count in his head and on his fingers, "seven?" He smiled his typical cheesy smile. Lilliana cocked her head to the side, and chuckled./p
p class="p1""I ordered pizza already, it should be here soon. Also you missed Nick." Lilliana gave the rest of the kitchen a quick sweep while she had the broom class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""Eh, I figured he didn't count." Dick pulled out his phone and send a quick text. Noting his phone, Ana quickly took the chance to get the man out of the apartment, away from her class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""Thank you for watching the twins. I don't mean to keep you." She gave a light point to his phone. "Isn't Jason coming into town tonight?"span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""I told you it's no worries. I don't have anywhere to be, the renegade isn't coming until tomorrow."span class="Apple-converted-space" /spanDick ran his fingers through his hair, fluffing his thick black locks. "Besides you owe me pizza." He class="Apple-converted-space" /spanLilliana couldn't say she was glad he was staying, it gave him longer to catch on to the strangeness of her house, but she wasn't disappointed either. As long as she had known Dick, she was constantly torn between wanting to have a normal relationship, and be a normal young adult. But whenever she had reasoned with herself that should could do everything, something came around to remind her that she would never be a normal adult, not with her family or her night job. Dick had always been so kind about her choice not to pursue a relationship, and always remained by her side as a friend. She would never blame his for his flirtatious joke, after all he was her best friend and always knew when to stop. Ana always loved the time she spent with Grayson, and truly did love the giant man-child, she would trust him with her life and all of her secrets if it was her choice. Yet, it wasn't her choice, nor her life. It was the kids lives that were at stake if someone were to figure this whole scheme out that she had constructed over the years. Luckily, a buzz on the call button saved her from having to respond. "I'll go grab the pizza." Dick hopped off the bar stool and headed for the door./p
p class="p1""My wallets in my purse!" The blonde called out and Dick looked over his shoulder, with an eyebrow class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""When do I every let you pay for food?" The batboy grabbed to door and pulled it open, closing it on his friend yelling after him. It wasn't more than a few seconds after the Monroe's heard the elevator ding shut, that they all gathered in the kitchen. The children extremely curious about the raven haired boy./p
p class="p1""Dick's awesome!" Black mock shot his Nerf gun at the siblings./p
p class="p1""He is so smart!" James clutched his notebook, which had new side notes of the vigillanties in Grayson's class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""He helped us find new sources to look at!" Mallory pushed up her glasses in excitement./p
p class="p1""Are you two dating?!" Lucy looked up at Lilliana with doe like eyes. Pressing the heel of her hand into her forehead she cut off their overlapping chatter./p
p class="p1""No, and that is not important right now. What's important is that we make sure everything is smooth tonight. If I have to go upstairs, you guys have to keep Dick busy." The youths nodded their head. They children thought that Gina was just an eccentric quack, which she was. They weren't aware of the extent that their aunts situation was, they just knew that it was their family secret. "Now go grab plates." It was only a few moments later that Dick came bounding back into the apartment with pizza boxes balanced on one hand. Lillianna dug in her bag and pulled out her psych class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""Okay Kiddos. Who wants what?" Dick set the boxes on the inland and began to dish out slices to the younger people. Once Dick made sure that they all had their food, he turned to Lilliana, who sat on a barstool tapping her foot in the air. She sipped on a glass of water, her rose lipstick clinging to the glass rim, as she flipped through the pages of the textbook. "And for you?"span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p1""Uh, whatever is left is fine." Lilliana didn't look up as she responded, instead began scribbling notes in her notebook. Glancing up when Dick held out a slice of pizza, she thanked him before folding it in half to eat. While the little ones at the the dining table at their food and hollered about random things, Lilianna and Dick sat at the island. Finishing her her assignment Lilliana closed her book, and finished off her water. The kids finished their pizza and dropped their plates in the dishwasher, as Liliiana began to wipe up the table, cleaning from the meal her family had just demolished. As the kids began to go their separate ways and Lilliana was cleaning the kitchen and straightening up the living room, she began to think more of Grayson. He was acting so well with all of the kids, they could get rambunctious quite often. The twins would become immersed in their research for hours only whispering to each other, yet he was able to get them to step away from their laptops and research to get them to look at the whole picture. Blake had so much energy, that he would run around for hours. Many frames and vases had fallen victim to his play fights. Dick played with him, saving all of the fixtures from the menace. And then Lucy. Being the youngest, she never really knew their parents, and Lilliana felt the need to give her some extra attention as Lu was always at her heels. The young girl looked up to Lilliana the most. With thought of the little one, the blonde glanced over and felt her heart melt. She stood straight up, and bit her lip absent-mindedly. Grayson sat on the floor with a fake teacup in his hand. Lucy was running around with a plastic tiara on her head, her hair pointing in every which direction. She watched them play at the make believe tea party. Dick glanced over and caught her eye, flashing a goofy grin as he raised his teacup. Having been caught staring, Lilliana blushed and turned away tucking her hair behind her ear. Lilliana began to think that, well, maybe this could class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p2" /p
p class="p2"_/p
p class="p2" /p
p class="p2"Reveiw and let me know what you think!/p
p class="p2"XOXO/p
p class="p2" /p