It is chilly, dull, and raining. Today is the funeral for Mary and John Grayson. Very few people are in attendance on this day, which is fairly understandable.
In attendance, however, is Richard John "Dick" Grayson and Bruce Wayne.
Richard stands in front of both caskets, staring at the polished wood. He says nothing and barely notices as Bruce joins him, bowing his head out of respect for the now-dead. Before any of them can comprehend it, Richard speaks.
"Thank you, Mr. Wayne," he says in a quiet voice. "I, uh... I heard you paid for my parents'..."
Bruce's lips quirk upwards just the tiniest bit into a sad smile. He crouches, wrapping an arm around Richard's shoulders. He notices the tending of the little boy's shoulders but he continues to maintain contact, hoping to make Richard understand that he meant no harm.
"Your parents were good people," he says.
"They are."
They lapse back into a surprisingly comfortable silence as the caskets begin to lower into the ground. It gives the billionaire a sense of déjà vu as he watches. He almost misses a soft whisper coming from the child.
•••
Bruce unlocks the car and twists in his seat to look at his boys. He stares right at Gardner, smiling only slightly. "Come on, Dick. Alfred should have a small meal prepared and I'd like you to eat before I run a blood test."
Gardner nods, reaching over to unbuckle his seatbelt. He bites his lip and then smiles sheepishly. "I guess I'm kinda hungry."
"And I find that I'm not," Damian says. He unbuckles his own seatbelt and opens the passenger door, climbing out faster than Gardner could comprehend. "Don't expect to see me at all tonight."
"And what about tomorrow?" Gardner asks innocently.
"I believe you'll be gone by morning," is the cold reply he's given. Damian practically exudes a deep sense of disdain towards the teen. He walks toward the door with his own key in hand.
Tim slides out of his seat after opening the door and he holds it for Gardner, giving him a tight smile. "Don't mind him, Dick," he says. "Damian just..."
The dead ringer purses his lips, looking down at the ground. His eyes are hidden but swirling inside them is a vortex of inner turmoil. "I get it. It's fine, really."
Terry frowns but he walks up behind Gardner placing a hand on his shoulder and puts a smile on his face. "Come on," he says. "I want to see the look on Alfred's face when you walk in there."
"Let's hope he doesn't get a heart attack," Gardner quips, walking forward. "That wouldn't be astrous at all."
They all head for the door. Gardner's the one who places his hand on the handle and he peers over his shoulder to look at the older men. They all nod, encouraging him to push the door open since it was probably still unlocked thanks to Damian. He nods and with one quick deep breath, he throws the door open and steps inside. He looks left and right and he's clueless on where to go until Tim starts nudging him towards the dining room where the older male thinks the butler is.
And, thankfully, Alfred did not have a heart attack when Gardner walks through the door. He does, however, almost drop the precious china he's setting out. Even with the warning given to him by the two speedsters, he's still startled to see the teen.
"Master Richard," he says, trying to contain his shock. He regards Bruce and the others with an inquisitive look. "Forgive me for asking but are you sure it's him?"
"It's me, Alf," Gardner says, trying to ignore Wally and the other man who sit at the dining table. "Yeesh, everyone's too paranoid for their own good, huh?"
Alfred gives a small smile. "Welcome home, Master Richard. You've been greatly missed these past two years."
Gardner nods. "So I've been told," he says. "I'm pretty overwhelmed right now. Usually, I'd be whelmed but being back is just... wow."
It's Bruce's turn to place a hand on Gardner's shoulders. "We'll be testing his blood in the cave but I'd prefer that he eats a little first." He looks down at Gardner just as Gardner looks up at him. "I'm inclined to believe it is Dick."
Barry nudges Wally, grinning as he looks towards Gardner. "Glad you're back," he says.
"Glad to be back, Barry," Gardner says, forcing himself to look at the speedster. It's a rather challenging task but he manages to look over at Wally and smile. "Hey, Walls."
"D-Dick," Wally stutters out. He feels the urge to bite his nails. Instead, he drums the pads of his fingers on the wooden surface he's seated at. Inside, he's dealing with an onslaught of confusing emotions. If he didn't know any better, he would think that Dick really is back.
And he wishes he didn't know any better.
"You okay, dude?" Gardner asks, furrowing his brows. "You don't look too hot. You look kinda..." He trails away, gesturing with his hand as if he can conjure up a word just like that. Obviously, he doesn't and ends up floundering.
His fellow teen nods slowly. "I'm just... It's good to see you again. I kinda missed you?"
"And I kinda missed you too," Gardner replies, forcing himself to smile. Then, he frowns and looks between both speedsters suspiciously. "Why are you here?"
The billionaire of the house looks to the supers. "There was an unauthorized transportation from Keystone to Gotham," Bruce says. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"
"An unauthorized what now?" Wally asks, looking flabbergasted. "From Keystone? Keystone? You're not saying that..."
"As much as I would like answers, I would prefer to get them when you're all seated with a meal in front of you," Alfred says. No one bothers to protest.
Everyone moves, picking a seat. Gardner gravitates closer to Wally, plopping himself down in the seat right next to the other teen. The rest of them are seated wherever's closer. Of course, Damian came through with his words and is nowhere to be seen. If anyone's willing to fetch him, they don't say.
Alfred leaves the room empty-handed and returns with a metal cart. Settled on top is what the man's prepared as a small meal. Had this family been a non-crime fighting family, he would've condoned eating past eight; however, he's far too used to preparing small meals late at night even if there hadn't been much fighting done that day.
"Tonight's meal happens to be one of the Austrian dishes Master Terrence has recommended. I do hope it's to your liking," he says. When he puts a fair amount of food on Gardner's plate, he smiles. "I'll have cookies ready before you retire for the night."
Gardner nods gratefully. He's been doing that a lot—nodding, that is. He just doesn't know what to say and he's feeling more than overwhelmed. Letting out a small, breathy laugh through his nose (his throat still tickles), he steals a glance at Wally. The older teen is focusing on the food on his plate.
The doppelgänger doesn't see the speedy glances Wally keeps giving him.
For the first ten or so minutes, the meal is silent aside from the clattering of spoons and forks and knives against the plates. Then, Bruce speaks.
"So, Dick, what have you been doing these past two years?"
Looking up from the delicious food, Gardner places his knife and fork down. He shrugs. "At first, I had no idea what was going on. I had trouble... remembering? I must've hit my head way too hard when I hit the ground," he says, laughing mirthlessly at his own joke. "I woke up and I was all patched up and my uniform was laying on the floor next to me but I was wearing someone else's clothes and I was delirious so I didn't think anything of it. I guess I just... bolted? I found myself in Keystone, someone helped me get back up on my feet, and it went from there. I just lived my life as a new person."
Tim raises his brows. "You couldn't remember? Anything? Nothing at all?"
"If I did, my first thought would be to come back to you guys," Gardner says in a dry voice. He looks down. "I wanted to go back but I didn't know what I wanted to go back to, you know?"
Terry nods thoughtfully. "So, why are you back now?"
"I saw a newspaper," he admits, not lying by much. "At first, I was just curious. I looked up Richard Grays—er, me, I guess, and I started wondering if—hey, maybe it's me! I only came tonight because I just wanted to see if Pops would recognize me. I mean, I spent a few days thinking and I found myself remembering the little things and, of course, the big things. Tonight confirmed it for me and here I am?"
Barry frowns. "All this time, you had been in Wally's city," he says. "Part of my territory. I... Dick, I'm sorry I didn't find you any sooner."
"Yeah," Wally adds, trying to smile. "Me too."
Gardner smiles back at them and decides to look over at Bruce. He doesn't miss the storm in those eyes. He swallows. "You okay there, Bruce?"
"Someone knows you're Robin," Bruce replies. "And has known for two years."
The atmosphere changes quickly. Hoping to rectify the situation, Jason pipes up. He looks a little unsure of what to say though. "Well, two years is a long time. Whoever knows would've done real damage by now if they were a deranged fucker."
"What if they did but we don't know...?" Tim says, narrowing his eyes at what's left of his meal.
Barry bites his lip and looks at all the members. "Surely someone would've done something major by now, right? I mean, if you know Robin's identity, it can't take much to figure out Batman's. And you know how many would kill to know who you are."
That must have been a bad thing to say on Barry's part. Bruce scoots his chair out, not bothering to care if he scratched up the floor with the force. He brings a fist to his mouth and clears his throat. He levels them all with a pointed glare. "I'll be downstairs," he says. Then, he looks at Gardner. "I expect you down there in the next half hour to run some tests."
Gardner can only nod before Bruce turns swiftly and walks out of the dining room. Once again, the atmosphere is tense and not as happy as it had been earlier. Now, it seems, the "return" of "Dick Grayson" is not the most momentous of occasions.
Barry speeds off after the man, saying something about how he'll fully explain why he and Wally were in Gotham.
"I'm going to my room," Gardner says abruptly, standing up and pushing his chair back. He winces and gives a quick apology. He looks down at Wally. "Walls, you coming with?"
"Of course!" Wally says in a voice that's much louder than necessary. "Since you're back, how about we start up the gaming system? How does a quick one v. one sound?"
"Astrous." Gardner just snatches the speedster's wrist and pulls him along.
•••
In a hushed and angry whisper, Wally says, "Dude! We need to get you out of here!"
Mere seconds earlier, Gardner had found his way to the room he said he'd be going to. And only moments before those words rushed out of Wally's mouth, he closed the door and locked it, flicking the lights on.
"I'm being serious," Wally grounds out when he notices Gardner rolling his eyes. "You may have fooled Bruce but as soon as he runs those tests, the jig is up. You—how did you even fool him up to now?"
Gardner scowls, producing a Bat-level glare. "Keep your voice down, Wally. You gave me those flash cards, didn't you? They held practically all I need to know."
"Those were just so you could fool Mr. Haly if he asked you anything about Dick's life," Wally retorts angrily. "You may have the face and voice and all that but you aren't him."
Immediately, Gardner recoils. He looks smaller as the animosity on his features melts away into an unfamiliar expression. He's quick to stand straighter and school his features. "Look, West, I... Wally, there's something about Grayson's disappearance that—"
"I know, I"—Wally sighs and runs a hand through his hair, leaning against the closed door—"know. If there wasn't, Rob would've..."
Gardner doesn't like the way Wally's staring at him after trailing off. It's as if he's a curious specimen that the older teen's trying to investigate in some high school science lab experiment. Adding to that, Wally looks kind of... betrayed?
"From what I'm getting at," Wally says, "you know a lot about when Dick disappeared. You implied that he was Robin when he went missing. How did you know that? I don't think I've told you. It doesn't make sense. You don't make sense."
The blue-eyed boy takes a step back as his features morph into a confused affect. "What are you trying to say?"
Wally steps closer, breathing in Gardner's personal space. "I'm trying to say that maybe you actually are Dick."
Gardner stops breathing.
"Are you?"
Oh my, it was really hard writing this. I know, I know... their reactions to "Dick" being "back" are kind of subdued but let's blame it on shock and trying to look tough. ;)
Your reviews kind of motivated me to get a chapter out as soon as possible. :) It's a little rough but it's a chapter. You can probably tell that I struggled. You know, gotta take care of those continuity errors and loopholes and the whole shebang. Still gotta cover a lot of those. That's the price to pay for not thinking this through. :P
PsychedelicCat, I'm pleased to know you found that last chapter exciting. As for Gardner and Wally's "reunion", I was going for conflicting emotions on Wally's part. Then, when they were alone I was going for some negativity. Maybe you can figure out why I was going for that. XD
As for AlecGateway, I hope this update was pretty decent. :P Still love reading your reviews, I gotta say. Getting Gardner out of trying the trapeze was me torturing my readers. ;) And I hope this cliffhanger was frustrating. Making my readers suffer is my way of showing I love them.
Psych, haha, thanks for reviewing. :) My favorite/least favorite classes? Honors Biology is great but (surprisingly) Honors Algebra 2 isn't as bad as I thought. I actually kinda really like it? Oh! My least favorite class has to be chorus. And, if you knew me in real life, you'd have thought I was joking. XD I think my teacher has it out for me. Eep. Anywho, I like your thinking. I do love a good angst fic where Dickie has to suffer. I love reading fics where characters suffer. I'd write one but I suck at conveying emotion through my writing. :P
And GenderBender25, haha, thank you so much! I've been writing since... fifth grade? I didn't start writing fanfiction until sixth grade...? I actually was a terrible writer. I'm not being humble or anything. I had terrible grammar and punctuation and I just—eep. And, Red X, eh? Gotta love Red X, ya know?
Oh, so, just so you know, the reason Dick's room was unlocked was because Alfred was cleaning and couldn't bring himself to lock the door. Kapeesh? XD