SO I DELETED AN AUTHOR'S NOTE AND NOW THE CHAPTERS MATCH WITH THE ORDER THE STORY IS IN. That's why it looks like I have less chapters, thanks and sorry.

You know when you guys don't review, it makes me antsy. I end up thinking you guys don't like the chapter… So will someone give me their opinion on the previous chapter? I mean it was the long awaited Damian chapter after all.

Anyway besides that, here's this. I am taking extreme creative liberties with S.T.A.R Labs here, so yeah. I'm taking extreme liberties in general. I hope you all enjoy this. After this one, we're just one chapter away from Rowan getting her marks… You guys excited?

Also… Anyone guess who Lucy is yet? It may or may not be important later.

Please Review!

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The irony of Rowan's first time in what she liked to call a 'hero' situation was not lost on her.

Not soon after their friendship had started, and maybe a week after Tim realized that she knew about his and Damian's secret identities, she received a gift from them. It was the first thing they'd ever given her, and no matter what they did, what they said, she'd always kept it on her. This attachment to the device, of course, had a very good reason.

It was a little thing, really. No bigger than a quarter, and she'd had it for so long now that she hardly even remembered it was on her. The fact that she'd woven a bracelet to hold it to her wrist didn't help her remember its presence either.

No, she only ever remembered she was wearing the tiny alert system when Damian or Tim caught wind of something big going down in Gotham. Then, and only then, did they send out the signal that made the button turned bracelet vibrate and glow a bright red. That alert meant that she needed to get her ass into gear and head home before she was caught in the newest shit storm Gotham's slums had coughed up.

Once she was safe at home, she was supposed to press the button to get it to stop. That apparently sent a signal back to the boys that told him she wasn't out in the midst of whatever was going on. If she couldn't quite get herself home in time, she was supposed to press the button twice which would send back a distress signal.

So far, she hadn't had to use the distress signal.

The tiny device had thus far saved her from getting caught in a weird wave of zombies (that she didn't like to think about), some type of missing street kid scandal (that Damian didn't like to talk about), a reign of terror from a group of villains Batman had beat down, and numerous other incidents that she, along with most Gotham residents, chose to push to the back of her mind so that she could step out of her home without having a panic attack.

So, it was safe to say that she was pretty damn confident that when she took Lucy to the S.T.A.R. Labs technology unveiling event, everything would turn out fine. The company was one of the few she'd heard of who actively shared their progress with the public. (Not that she'd followed too many companies very closely.) They'd had unveilings before, but Rowan had never gone. Big stuff like that was usually a prime target for Gotham's most notorious to go and make a scene; somewhere she didn't want to be. Past events, however, had been left alone so Rowan had figured that taking her younger friend to see cool science stuff would be fun to do. She'd never had to worry about getting into serious trouble before, so when they walked through the doors she didn't have much else on her mind other than to make sure Lucy was having a good time.

The girl had aced her history test, and since it was one of her worst subjects, Rowan had thought she deserved a present. Sure taking her to a history museum probably would have been more on subject, but she knew Lucy would be more into S.T.A.R. Labs. The branch in Gotham specialized in weaponry, and much to Rowan's chagrin, that was something Lucy was interested in. In the simplest of terminology, Lucy liked to fuck shit up. Normally Rowan didn't condone Lucy's more violent tendencies, but everyone deserves to be themselves sometimes and the day was for her after all.

Besides, Rowan was sure they wouldn't leave any particularly dangerous technology out and unguarded for heavy handed kids like Lucy to slip into their pockets.

Once they were through security and in the main entry way, Rowan let out a particularly large yawn and shifted a little, trying to stretch her back. The line had been lengthy, and standing for too long always made her back ache. From what she could tell, it was a side effect of being so top heavy.

"Are you bored already?" Lucy asked, obviously having heard the yawn.

Rowan gave the blonde girl a small smile and shook her head.

That brought the grin back to Lucy's face.

"Good! We haven't even seen anything yet."

Rowan couldn't help but grin back at her, happy that she was happy. Getting the tickets had been easy after she'd told her Gran what she'd wanted to do. The woman may have been elderly, but she was every bit the shark she had been when she was in her prime. When Rose wanted something, she locked on and went for it. The real issue had been getting her Mama to say yes.

Lucy tended to get a little... Insolent when she was surrounded by too many authoritative figures. When they went out, Rowan always tried to make sure it was just them so that she could try and get a handle on the girl's behavior. Her Mama, of course, hadn't been happy when she'd asked if she could take Lucy by herself, without an adult. Rowan had ended up having to pester her Mama for a week and just be generally unpleasant. The woman had nearly been ready to break her nails on Rowan's behind before she finally gave in and agreed to let them go.

She'd really only relented when Rowan had told her that they'd be stuck in little tour groups, and that the tour guide would have to keep an eye on everyone. At the moment, Rowan was trying to find said tour guide.

There were multiple large flat screen TVs arranged throughout the area, and they each displayed direction on how to find one's tour group. Apparently each ticket had a letter, and the elevators to the left of the room displayed corresponding numbers above the doors. You were supposed to find your elevator and take it to your start point, as every group started in a different place. Rowan and Lucy had group 'A'.

She couldn't spot the correct elevator for the life of her, though.

There were just so many people. Now beginning to feel mildly uncomfortable, Rowan grabbed Lucy's hand.

"Hey Luce..." she said softly.

The girl in question, however, simply jumped up and response and pointed into the crowd milling about them.

"I found it!" she said happily.

Rowan followed the direction of the girls finger, and lo and behold the elevator marked 'A' was in her direct line of sight. Before she could even fully register what was going on, Lucy had tightened her grip and was rushing towards the elevator. Rowan let herself be pulled along and nearly lost her breath trying to say sorry to everyone Lucy shoved out of the way.

By the time they were safely in the elevator Rowan's cheeks where scarlet from embarrassment and Lucy's where tinged pink with excitement. Only one of the many buttons in the elevator was lit, and Rowan assumed that the company had put some kind of lock on the others so that everyone ended up where they were supposed to be. She reached out to touch it, but quickly withdrew when a group of three stepped into the elevator, forcing Lucy and Rowan to shuffle back.

Lucy, while of average height for her age, was still was only about the same height as Rowan, which wasn't saying much considering the nearly 14 year old girl was barely five feet and one inch on a good day. As a result, neither of them where very intimidating, so when they went out together they had to be careful not to get stepped on. While the observation mostly figurative, there were a few times where they'd been out together in crowds and people had quite literally ended up stepping on their feet simply because they hadn't noticed the two small girls.

Their diminutive size wasn't something that normally caused them much trouble for the most part, however. At the moment though, Lucy looked as if she was ready to cut everyone down to her size since they'd pushed her into the corner.

"That was rude," she muttered, eyebrows furrowed together in anger.

While Rowan did agree, she did not want to get into a fight with what appeared to be two teenaged boys and a slightly older girl. She was still holding Lucy's hand, so she squeezed it lightly and bumped her shoulder into the blonde's. When Lucy turned and looked at her, Rowan smiled and shook her head.

Lucy rolled her eyes, but took the hint and settled down. Eventually, after one more person came in and the button was pressed, and they ascended at a steady pace. Before she'd been pushed back, Rowan had seen the glowing words on the only lit button: Top Floor.

There where around 50 floors on the building, and the idea of being at the top made Rowan's stomach roll. She could do heights, but only in moderation. 50 freaking floors was pushing it.

Her apprehension only got worse when the elevator finally stopped and they all walked out, Lucy releasing a small squeal when she realized where exactly they were. The outside of the building appeared to be the normal, cookie cutter rectangular glass and steel giant that most corporation buildings seemed to prefer in all aspects accept for one. The thing that set S.T.A.R Labs apart from the more generic buildings in Gotham was the giant spherical structure at the top. Originally Rowan had assumed the thing was decorative, and that the top floor was probably bellow the structure.

When she stepped out of the elevator, she realized that she was wrong, because she was quite obviously now standing inside the ball at the very top of the building. They were all on a platform suspended in the middle of a giant spherical cage like structure that was only about five feet away from the walls. The walls themselves… Where completely clear. She assumed they were glass, but she hoped they were made of something stronger. The slender metal panels that where probably solar panels embedded into the smooth walls gave her hope.

She still didn't like the fact that she was apparently in a giant glass ball more than fifty feet above the ground. Lucy, however, was delighted.

"This is so cool," she gasped before pulling a slightly wearier Rowan closer to one of the walls, where it appeared their guide was trying to gather everyone.

The man wore a polo shirt with the S.T.A.R Lab logo on the right side and a name tag that read 'Arnold' on the left. His smile was wide, his eyes where bright, and he obviously enjoyed his job. That alone eased Rowan's nerves because generally things like this where more enjoyable when the person who was supposed to be guiding you actually wanted to do it.

She and Lucy stopped when they were close enough to hear him, but far enough away to be comfortable. His voice seemed to carry in the open space, so that ended up being about three feet.

Once they were settled, Rowan finally let go of Lucy's hand and texted her Gran and her Mama that everything was okay before settling down to wait for the tour to start. When she let herself breath, she realized just how beautiful their surroundings really where. For once, Gotham was experiencing clear skies and sunlight streamed in through every possible surface. She was nearly blinded by the bright light, of course, but she could still appreciate the beauty.

"You think they're gonna have any big guns?" Lucy asked eventually.

The younger girl was highly energetic by nature, and she hardly ever sat still and quiet. Even now she was spinning in small circles around Rowan, nearly giving her a headache. The bright light was bad enough, but following her quick movements was giving Rowan a headache.

"Probably," Rowan muttered, raising her hand to shade her eyes. Being in such direct sun was actually getting kind of hot, and she contemplated taking off her hoodie and just throwing it over her face.

"Ooooh, what about swords?" Lucy asked, still spinning.

Rowan couldn't help but giggle at the girl's enthusiasm.

"Probably not."

Lucy stopped spinning and pouted.

"Why not?"

Rowan was outright grinning now; Lucy was such a weird child.

"Bladed weapons probably aren't high tech enough for this kind of company. Think a little more science-y."

Lucy's face screwed up as she thought for a few moments, and Rowan took the chance to take in the girl's appearance. Her blonde hair was in pig tails, her nails where bitten down and sloppily painted a bright purple, her t-shirt had a cute skull and bow pattern, her black tights where ripped at the knees from one too many falls, and her favorite pink tutu was still as flawless as the day she'd acquired it. She was a mess and Rowan couldn't have been happier for her. Rowan adored the smaller girl for the simple fact that she loved what she loved and didn't give a flying fuck what anyone else thought about it. Thus far, Rowan hadn't ever seen Lucy without her favorite type of skirt, no matter how many times other people told her the tutus didn't go with the rest of her wardrobe. Lucy was weird, and Rowan loved that. She knew Lucy liked her for the same reason.

"Hey Rowan?" Lucy asked after a few more seconds.

"Hm?"

"Ya think they got any poison gasses?"

Rowan thought about it. The company probably did the unveiling more to attract more buyers than to keep a connection with the community, and she seriously doubted they showed off anything truly dangerous. It just wouldn't be good business. What would be good business, however, was being able to provide the customer with every aspect of the required product, and in this case it was weapons. That meant that if they wanted to stay ahead of the curve, they probably did have some weaponized gases somewhere.

"We probably won't see them," she said with a shrug.

Lucy huffed and crossed her arms.

"Well that ain't any fun."

Sometimes, Rowan wondered where Lucy got all of her disturbing traits from. Then she ended up thinking about Damian and wondering why it was that she kept surrounding herself with malicious people instead. Then she always ended up deciding that she didn't really care.

She was just about to ask Lucy if she wanted to go back to the bakery afterwards to get some ice cream when their guide cleared his throat and called their attention. Immediately Lucy's face lit up, and Rowan could feel a bit of excitement bubbling in her own chest.

"So by now you all have obviously been wondering what exactly we're standing in," he started.

There were about 12 people in their group, and maybe half of them replied in some form of agreement.

"Okay then, well let's get this tour off to an electric start!" he said, a large grin gracing his face.

He pulled out what looked like a small remote from his pocket, and then pointed it at the ceiling and pressed a button. Almost immediately one of the outer rings on the 'cage' did one rotation before stopping. She knew they were safe, but she still took a step back, putting her closer to the center of the platform. Whatever they were in was obviously some type of machine, and she wasn't exactly one hundred percent okay with that.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you are in fact standing in Gotham's largest electrical generator," Arnold began from the front of their little group.

Rowan felt her eyes widen at that, and she could hear the gasps of surprise all around her.

'Perfect. I'm fifty stories above ground in an electrical death ball,' was her first, rather bitter thought.

Okay so she had issues with tall buildings; a lot of people did.

Besides, from the way Lucy was speaking, she figured she wasn't the only one having thoughts like that.

"That is so cool. I bet we'd all get electrocuted to death if this thing got turned on!" the blonde laughed, now nearly bouncing.

Well, Rowan figured most people weren't exactly having thoughts like that, but still.

A middle aged lady next to them had apparently heard Lucy, and she turned and gave them both a horrified look. Rowan could do nothing but hide her face behind her hands as Lucy gave the lady a wide, gap toothed smile back.

After letting everyone soak in his previous bit of information, he began speaking again.

"As you may have noticed, from the streets below it may seem that we light this structure once a week, but S.T.A.R Labs has actually been testing this device as a means of powering the company. If all goes as planned, we should be able to completely self-sustain next year by running the generator 24/7. The shell is made of substance that does not conduct electricity, and is much like bullet proof glass."

Truthfully Rowan hadn't noticed the building lighting its top like a circus attraction. She spent too much time holed up in her room for that.

Sighing, Rowan fiddled with her phone as the man spoke on, explaining each piece of the device. She was listening, of course, but Rowan often had trouble sitting completely still. She didn't have ADHD or anything like that, she just always had the urge to twirl a pencil or do some other mundane thing that kept her fingers busy.

For the most part Rowan did find Arnold's explanation about how the simultaneous rotation of the multiple rings around them created energy interesting, but overall it wasn't her thing. It appeared it wasn't Lucy's thing either because after about five minutes Lucy ended up taking Rowan's phone to play angry birds. Rowan let it happen without much thought, and simply took off one of the beaded bracelets she'd been wearing to twist between her fingers.

She figured that once they were done with the generator, they'd start moving down floor by floor and there had to be something on the next fifty floors that would catch Lucy's attention. Rowan figured there had better be if they were to sit through fifty floors worth of explanations. However even if that turned into a flop, Rowan did still hold out hope that Lucy would find some enjoyment in figuring out ways mostly harmless inventions, such as the generator, could be used more brutally. The girl was weird that way.

As Arnold moved on to talking about how the very plat form they were standing on rotated as well, Rowan paid a bit more attention.

"The center piece we are standing on now is the generator's key piece, and it rotates the fastest. The energy is mostly gathered and contained here, with small amounts being attracted to the metal that keeps the solar panels secured to the shell."

For once, Lucy leaned into Rowan so that she could whisper in the older girl's ear.

"We'd be fried in a second then."

Now mostly relaxed, Rowan simply shook her head and bumped her shoulder against the blonde's. For a second she considered telling Lucy to bite her tongue so as not to jinx them, but then she shook off any ill feelings and went back to looking at their guide. The light behind him was damn near beginning to burn through her eyeballs, and she knew she was going to have to talk to her Mama about getting those glasses that tinted in the sunlight.

They were expensive, but Rowan was blind without her glasses and she didn't much like the idea of being blind with them as well just because the sun wanted to be a bitch and not let her see. Besides, her birthday would be soon and she could always tell her Mama that's what she wanted.

Yawning slightly, Rowan moved her fingers up to the end of the braid she'd chosen to sport that morning. She'd gotten a trim the previous week, and the newly cut strands curled loosely around her fingertips. Her Mama had been talking about putting her hair in box braids lately, and Rowan had been contemplating letting her do it.

'Maybe if I get braids Mama can put some metal beads and-'

Rowan didn't get to finish her thought because every bit of consciousness she had was immediately drawn to the smooth sound of oiled metal turning against oiled metal. Her eyes immediately went to the metal around them and her breath caught as she saw the rings around her beginning to turn.

She wouldn't have been so worried about that had Arnold made any move to use his remote. Hell, she'd have felt better if the man had even mentioned anything about starting up the machine.

But no, to her horror their guide looked as startled as she felt. If anything, he was even more freaked out than the rest of them. She had a hunch that it was because he knew exactly what would happen to them if the generator was fully started with them in it.

"Last time I went to the bank with my Aunt all the windows melted and the bank got robbed. It was weird, and this is weird. I bet we're gonna get robbed," Lucy whispered into Rowan's ear.

Knowing Gotham, Rowan couldn't actually disagree so she shrugged instead. She hoped that wasn't what was going on, however. If this was some villain's attempt at robbing S.T.A.R. Labs, Rowan was never going to take Lucy anywhere ever again. She wasn't even going to take herself anywhere ever again. She just wasn't going to leave the house. Yes, staying above the bakery where she had ice cream and no imminent death sounded pretty nice right about then.

An uneasy murmur began to rise up from the group and like the good tour guide he was, Arnold raised his arms and tried to calm the crowd.

"Everything is fine, but we should all probably head over to the elevators."

Rowan thought getting out of there was a damn good idea, but of course that wasn't what happened.

The previously still platform began to shift and all around her people screamed as the reality of the situation sunk in: they were all trapped in a soon to be rotating electrical conductor. Now Rowan had heard some weird shit; that came with the territory of being friends with a couple of super heroes. However, hearing about something and experiencing it where two very different things.

So for a moment, just a moment, Rowan was completely still as everyone screamed and ran around her. Lucy wrapped both of her arms around one of Rowan's in fear because as much as she loved danger, even she probably knew some serious stuff was about to go down. In a way, Rowan was almost numb because she just couldn't believe that she was caught up in such stupid shit without a parent around. If they survived this, not only was her Mama going to keep her under lock and key, but Lucy's aunt was probably going to kick her ass. Being locked up and maimed by an angry guardian wasn't exactly at the top of the list of things Rowan was okay with.

Then again, neither was dying at 13.

Then the platform reached an angle that simply would not allow anyone to stand any longer and Lucy screamed in Rowan's ear as they both lost their footing and began to slide closer to the nearest wall. After that, Rowan was completely done.

The bowed beams of metal around them where much thicker up close, and Rowan and Lucy where just lucky enough to be able to brace before they hit the still slowly rotating rings and subsequently fell through the gap to the curved shell below.

Rowan didn't have time to even think about the pain that shot up her side after hit said beam, or even the added pain of landing on the same side once she hit the shell because Lucy was still latched onto her and they were sliding again. This time, they were finally heading to the bottom of the horrible ball. People where still screaming, and Rowan could now hear the machine's buzzing as it charged and it was safe to say that even though she managed to have enough sense to grasp onto one of metal catches that that broke the wall's perfect surface and probably where holding something together, she was still terrified.

Her throat constricted and her heart began to quicken its normally steady pace and she gripped Lucy back with everything she had because they had hit the wall and it was most definitely glass. Rowan wanted to scream right along with everyone else, but even in the state she was in she knew it wouldn't have done her any good.

Instead, she tried her best to ignore the fact that she, along with the rest of the tour group, had fallen through the conductor bit of the generator and onto its much thinner glass shell. She didn't give a damn how bulletproof the shit was supposed to be, it could still be broken and she did not want to experience falling fifty stories to the ground and becoming a Rowan puddle.

She couldn't however, ignore the fact that they were much too close to a metal panel for her liking. With the generator's inner cage spinning in front of them, Rowan couldn't risk slipping and touching one of the bars. As the rotations sped up, she could possibly end up losing a limb that way. As she thought about it, she figured that was probably the whole point of starting the generator with people in it. Well that, and fucking electrocuting them.

It was a lovely thought.

Taking a deep, steadying breathe, Rowan turned to Lucy.

"You okay?" she managed to squeak out.

Instead of answering, Lucy reached out and fully wrapped her arms around her. For a second, Rowan thought that Lucy was shaking and so she tightened her grip on the smaller girl.

Rowan then realized that she was actually the one who was trembling when Lucy squeezed her tighter in return and shook her head 'no'.

"Are you okay?" Lucy asked, blue eyes wide with fear.

Rowan knew her expression was similar.

"No," she whispered back.

And then because she was tired, like always, and because she was full of so much consuming fear for both her and her friend, she managed to not notice the fully grown man that had begun to slide towards them.

"Look out!" was all Rowan managed to hear before she was hit with around two hundred pounds of a sliding man and consequently knocked out.

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She awoke to the feeling of strong arms around her, and immediately tried to jerk away. Images of shining domes and spinning beams assaulted her amidst a suddenly raging headache, and her eyes shot open only to be met with blurry images.

"It's okay! You're safe!" a feminine voice assured her.

Rowan had never really been comfortable around anyone, however, and so she did not, in fact, feel safe. The fact that her glasses had apparently fallen off at some point, her head was pounding, and she had no idea where Lucy was didn't help.

Her heart was once again pounding, only this time it seemed to be matching the rhythm of her head. The feeling was intense and seemed to center around a spot at the back of her head, very near the top. She lifted her fingers and gently prodded it, groaning when the tissue proved to be extremely tender.

"Hold on, I'm trying to get you to an EMT," the voice said again.

Mind still cloudy, Rowan tried to focus on that voice and for the first time realized that the person holding her was running. Not only that, but all around them sirens blared and voices begged to be heard.

The trek to the nearest EMT was short, and due to her unfortunate far sightedness, Rowan wasn't actually able to see who had taken her from wherever she'd ended up until they were quite a ways away.

She saw a black cape and shockingly scarlet hair.

"Batwoman," she managed to breath, even as doctors rushed around her to do god knows what.

Secretly, her mind supplied her with information she wasn't supposed to know, but did thanks to two little birds.

'Barbara.'

Then, limbs heavy and mind tired, she blacked out.

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She gained consciousness hours later, in the hospital with her Gran and Mama by her bed side. She felt fine, and was informed that she had simply managed to hit her head pretty hard by an obviously overworked doctor. Poor woman probably needed a break from Gotham. Most people did.

"Okay but if she's fine why'd she black out twice," her Mama asked, probably still worried half to death.

The tired doctor answered back quickly before leaving.

"The first was from the original hit, the second was from exhaustion. Her records say she has insomnia, and that does not help the healing process. Have her take her prescribed sleeping pills regularly for a week, and take her in for a checkup after that. She'll be fine Ms. Chase."

Rowan's Mama looked ready to go after the other woman, but stopped when Rowan spoke up.

"What happened? Where's Lucy?"

The words were spoken hoarsely, making Rowan realize just has dry her throat felt.

Her Gran smiled softly and handed her a much needed plastic cup filled with water. After she downed that, Rose gave her granddaughter yet another cup, and Rowan considered dedicating a whole new religion to the woman. She was obviously a goddess in disguise.

After her Mama started speaking, Rowan considered dedicating a religion to her too. She hit every point all while gathering their stuff so they could leave.

"You guys where all trapped up there as a diversion for some bastard who was trying to get at their weapons. The guy only managed to get as far as the fourth floor before Batwoman and Batgirl caught wind of it. They apparently didn't even need Batman because they had it handled pretty quickly. God, I didn't even know you were in trouble until the hospital called me and said they had my daughter in one of their beds," she paused to rub at teary eyes before continuing, and Rowan felt horrible," I called Regina and she said Lucy was fine because my baby had kept such a tight grip on her, and that she'd taken her home to settle down. That's what we're gonna do now, baby girl. God, I can't believe this happened."

Rowan was just glad Lucy was safe with her aunt Regina, and all she wanted to do was go home.

"Here, love," her Gran said as she handed over Rowan's phone.

Quite frankly she was surprised the thing had survived all that, and her Gran smiled softly at her expression.

"Lucy slipped it into her pocket when you two fell," she gave as an explination.

Rowan simply nodded, and thanked whatever had been watching over her phone. They were surely some brilliant being of goodness.

She doubled thanked them when her Mama informed her that her bag, while pretty messed up, had stayed on her body because of its messenger style. Her snacks had died a horrible death, but her other stuff had been fine.

When she had managed to get out of bed on throw on the clean basketball shorts and t shirt her Gran gave her, she willingly took the elderly woman's hand and leaned into her Mama's side as they walked out.

All in all, Rowan was damn glad it hadn't turned out worse.

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When she got home that night, after a long movie marathon with her Gran and Mama to provide much needed family time, Rowan curled up in her bed with her phone and prepared to read something. Like most nights, she couldn't seem to find it in her to actually sleep.

Not that she even wanted to. She had the feeling that if she went to sleep without something to occupy her mind, all she'd dream of was being shocked to death and falling thousands of feet. Or maybe not, she didn't really want to find out.

When her screen lit up, she noticed that it had been on silent and she'd actually received a text from Damian. Her eyebrows rose when she read it.

'Sorry.'

It was simple, with no explanation, yet Rowan knew exactly what it was for. Damian rarely said sorry, and so she accepted it without fuss. It was the best she was going to get, and truth be told she'd pushed the whole 'lunch incident' as she'd dubbed it, to the back of her mind. Holding grudges had never appealed to her, and she didn't need another thing to make her anxious.

'Its cool' she texted back.

She hadn't expected him to reply at all, let alone for him to do so within the next few seconds. She blinked, and didn't even try to question it. Damian was Damian, and that meant he was slab near unpredictable.

'How was your day?'

It was yet another simple text, but it sent her stomach rolling.

'Fine' she typed, yet she hesitated to hit send.

It wasn't a lie, everything had turned out fine in the end. She didn't know why exactly she felt she shouldn't tell him about being trapped in a giant hamster ball more than fifty stories above the streets of Gotham. It was just a gut feeling.

After a few more moments of hesitation, she followed her gut and hit send. Then, instead of finding a book or fanficton like she'd originally intended, she thought harder about why she didn't want tell her best friend that she may have almost died.

She actually hoped he wouldn't respond, but then her phone vibrated in her hands.

'What'd you do?'

She sucked her lip into her mouth and tasted the mint from the chocolate she'd eaten earlier. She didn't usually go for mint, but it was her Mama's favorite so they'd all had some.

'I took Lucy out 4 passing her history test'

'As a reward?'

'Yeah'

She hadn't had such a steady stream of texting with Damian in a while, and she realized how much she'd missed it, inane as it was.

'What'd you do?'

Rowan bit the inside of her lip. She knew why she didn't want to tell him now: he'd be mad at her for not using her panic button.

But she'd been too panicked to do so. She'd frozen, and then invested all of her thought in making sure she and Lucy didn't hit something too hard during the sphere's rotations. Besides, neither of the only two people who could get the signal where even in Gotham. What would be the point? What could they have done? She knew she'd done the right thing, yet she still didn't want to tell Damian.

'We went and saw some stuff. I'm gonna sleep. Nite.'

It was vague and not really a lie.

'You're tired?'

It was 1 am and even with the time difference Damian probably knew that. She almost never went to sleep until 3, at the earliest. Damian probably had one of his already finely arched brows raised.

'Yeah' she replied.

It was the truth too. She was tired. But she was always tired, so that wasn't new. The only difference between any other night was that instead of staying up until her body and mind finally granted her reprieve, she decided to do something she rarely did: she was going to take her sleeping pills. The stuff she had was prescribed by a doctor because over the counter pills gave her nightmares, but even the prescribed shit gave her headaches. That was why she rarely took them, and was so particular about the natural sleep she did get.

'Well goodnight then.'

After reading Damian's last text, Rowan sighed and let her head fall back into her pillow.

No, the irony of not needing the stupid alarm until they ones who would respond to it where gone was not lost on her, but its meaning was.

After all, no one ever really wanted to acknowledge when they were growing apart from someone.

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Im not used to writing scenes like this, and I hope I did a good job :/ Yall get fluff next, so yeah. Anyway, just know they will get better. It's just going to take a while… Mostly I'm mixing stories, plots, and ideas. I own some Batman and Robin fics and I use them for reference every now and again, but mostly I just use little bits of DC knowledge that I've accumulated. So this isn't set in one specific universe. Think of it as a blend of my awkward mind.