Roy reached out and grabbed his cell phone after two rings before he was actually consciously awake enough to know that that was what he was doing. The phone rang a third time while he was holding it, and without bothering to sit up or turn on the light to see who it was, Roy flipped the phone open to answer it. "Yeah?"

"I'm sorry."

The moment Roy registered the words, he was up, and stumbling around his room in the dark for clothes. "Tim? Is that you? Where are you? Sorry for what?"

Tim's voice was just above a whisper. "Yeah, it's me. I'm fine; don't worry about where I am. I'm sorry for knocking you out."

It took Roy a moment to understand what Tim was talking about. "What? Oh that--don't worry about that. Now tell me where you are."

"Why?"

Roy held the phone up to his ear with his shoulder as he fought to put on his shoes in the dark. "Because I'm coming to get you."

"Why?"

Roy sighed to himself. "Because you still owe me one for knocking me out, and I intend to make you pay for that."

"But you said not to worry about that."

Roy rolled his eyes even though Tim couldn't see it. "That's because I intend to force you to repay me for it."

"I can wire money to your bank account if you want. You really don't have to actually see me."

Roy felt an overwhelming urge to sigh again, but resisted. "And what if I want to actually see you?"

"That…doesn't actually make any logical sense."

Roy didn't know what to say to that for a moment. "Yeah, well, I'm not a Bat. I don't have to make logical sense."

"How do Arrows ever accomplish anything then?"

Roy nearly laughed at how serious the kid was being. "We manage, so will you at least meet me somewhere?"

"I…where do you want to meet?"

Roy nearly sighed in relief. "Anywhere you want, kid."

"Coffee shop...two blocks from your place...three hours from now." Tim paused for a moment before adding, "Please don't involve Dick."

Roy almost felt bad that he really had had no intention of talking to Dick about this. "Whatever you want, Tim."

"Thank you." Before Roy could respond Tim hung up.

***

Two blocks over, exactly three hours later, Roy sat at a table in the corner away from the door savoring his coffee--which, in his opinion, was not enough caffeine to really get him started this early in the morning. He had chosen the table furthest from the door for a reason, even though he knew that if Tim wanted to flee there really wasn't any way he could stop him--his last encounter with the boy had made that all too clear; but he figured that the farther away from the door he sat the more time he might have before Tim managed to get away. Roy was just about to take the first sip of his coffee when a small figure dressed all in black slid into the seat across from him. Roy stared at him for a moment just taking in the sight of him. Tim looked thinner, paler, and definitely more bruised than the last time Roy had seen him. Tim's eyes were sunken in, and he looked exhausted, and well…ill. "Well, kid, you look like hell."

Roy watched as Tim's hand shook when he brought the cup up to his mouth in order to take a sip of his own coffee before answering. "Thanks for noticing."

The two of them sat in silence for a long moment until finally Tim spoke again. "You didn't tell Dick."

Roy was caught off guard by how surprised Tim sounded. "You asked me not to."

Tim just stared at him blankly. "That rarely makes a difference to people."

Roy made a mental note to have another little talk with Dick later. "So, let me guess, you showed up at least half an hour early and waited to see if I was alone."

Tim nodded as he took another sip of his coffee. "I am a Bat after all."

Roy still couldn't get over how terrible Tim looked. "Have you been eating? I'm not even going to ask about sleep, because like you said, you are a Bat after all."

Tim's hand shook again on his coffee cup. "Yeah, I've been eating."

"Then why do you look so bad?"

"I've been sleeping wherever I can to avoid…" Tim trailed off, remembering that he was in the presence of one of Dick's best friends.

"You know, I have a couch that you could crash on for awhile."

"No, that's not necessary." Tim spoke firmly, even though he wasn't looking at Roy.

Roy wanted to massage his temples, but decided to just grip his coffee cup tighter instead. "Tim, if you're worried about me calling Dick, or tranquilizing you, or running tests on you, or whatever else you bats have a tendency to do to each other, I won't. It's not an issue. I would just hate myself if something happened to you and I could have prevented it."

Tim was silent for a moment while he just stared at his coffee before turning his gaze back to Roy. "You really mean that, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do."

Tim stared at him confused. "That's really quite baffling actually."

Roy wanted to laugh, but had a feeling it would be a bad idea. "Kid, I think you need to spend less time with other Bats."

"Who do you think I've been avoiding?"

"Well, lately, it's seems like everyone…not just the Bats."

"I'd apologize, but…"

Roy held up a hand to stop him from continuing. "But you don't actually care...yeah, so I've heard you say."

Tim shook his head. "Actually, I was going to say I'm not sorry for that. I mean, I think I needed some time alone."

"And now you don't?"

Tim's eyebrows knitted together at that. "I don't know. I had originally planned to just apologize to you and leave it at that, but then you seemed really determined to see me, and well…I figured I owed you at least that much after…everything."

Roy raised an eyebrow at him out of confusion. "Everything? What are you talking about? You only knocked me out. And really, let's be honest here, some of my best friends have done worse."

"I was talking about taking everything out on you, and then knocking you out."

"Tell you what, you come spend a few nights on my couch until I feel certain you aren't going to pass out in the middle of the street or something, and we'll call it even."

Tim bit his lip uncertainly. He knew that the longer he remained this close to anyone within reach of Dick, the shorter the amount of time he had to actually deal with things; but he was so tired, and Roy really did seem sincere. "You promise you won't contact Dick?"

Roy really wasn't comfortable with the kid looking that worried about that prospect, but it wouldn't be the first time that he had avoided or lied to a Batman for an ex-Robin. "I promise I won't do anything you aren't comfortable with…well, besides shoveling food down your throat. You really don't get a say on that one."

Tim gave a small smile as he nodded once. "Okay."

Roy smiled in return as he led Tim back to his place. Roy wondered why fixing broken Bats always fell to Arrows, but simply accepted it as part of being this close to them.

The end