A/N: Bonus points to RiverStorm16 for noticing the opening sentence of Chapter 24. Although you didn't make the fullconnection. Would've been great if you had. Check out the first chapter again. Then reflect.

Disclaimer: I don't own. Again.

"Hey."

Dick did not look up. He did not move. He sat there stoically. A picture frame was in his hands, another on the bed beside him. Who he was missing today wasn't the question. It was who he was missing most at that very moment. He never thought of much else other than trying to move on or reflecting on the past. It was either the future or the past, never in the present. A year ago, if you'd asked him what he thought he'd be doing this time next year, he would've said kicking the Joker down the block and dropping him in a sewer somewhere.

That clearly wasn't what happened.

"Hey, look at me."

His fingers ran around the edges of the picture frame, the edge creating a little dent in his flesh, a long trench-like line along the pad of his thumb. He did not look up. Instead, deliberately, he kept his azure gaze on the picture of his Bruce, reliving the memories that were slowly slipping out of his grasp just as any hopes of going back to Robin were sliding away.

"Look at me." A harsh, mean tone had stolen and replaced Roy's gentle voice; he knew the kid was suffering, he wasn't stupid. It was how you dealt with it that defined you. He was very tempted to snap his fingers in the boy's face or to give him a swift smack on the back of the head, but where would that put him? He'd be just as bad as the others were. "I'm talking to you."

Those baby blues looked up to spill a single tear that stained a wet trail on his pallor cheek. Dick's lips were set in a stony frown, his head hurting from the longing and his fingers twitching from so many days of being completely worthless. Not just days, a whole year. A whole year had gone by since he'd done anything good for the world. He'd imposed on Superman and then Barry and now Green Arrow… He was being so useless! "Not like I matter."

A scowl passed Roy's lips. But what could he do? "You do matter!" He didn't actually say it. The kid played a huge role in everyone's lives. And if Dick didn't matter, then Batman didn't matter, Bruce didn't matter. Sure, Lucius Fox was running Wayne Enterprises and different heroes took care of Gotham now, but that didn't mean the memories of him could be lost.

And if Dick was lost, Bruce was too.

"What's really going on?" Maybe attacking the situation from a different angle would help. That usually worked on the job, what was so different now? A different angle, realistically, should provoke a different response or reaction. Getting a different response would create a way to get to him and get to the heart of the matter.

The boy, still keeping his gaze level with that of his caretaker, let his eyes grow hard. "I was trained to be busy every night, to entertain people, to keep them awake, to be exciting. Bruce directed that training elsewhere and turned me into this." He pointed to himself, this hardcore, emotionless, strong warrior of the night. "He gave me the ability to get over everything. All the hurt went away because what I learned before was being used and my life wasn't going to be a complete waste."

And it clicked for Roy, but he was quiet; he'd become accustomed to Dick not finishing off his speech right away.

"Look at me now, Roy." His jaw was tense, his eyes harder by the second. "I was raised to do something every minute of the day. I was never meant to go to school, I was never meant to live to be nothing. I was raised an entertainer, lived a hero, and now I'm the equivalent of a potato."

"Well, potatoes feed people."

Harper, if he hadn't been on his toes, would've taken a pillow to the face. Although it was better than taking a picture frame to the face, he had to admit.

"Dick, please don't do this to me." He'd tried smiling before that only to see the boy scowl enough to rival his mentor. The Batglare was threatening enough to silence anyone that stepped in its path. Now the redhead's face was painted with disappointment. "I want to help you. I know you need this, believe me. We're in the same boat. I had the same issue." Roy almost took another step into the room, but instead stayed in the doorway and watched the fourteen-year-old on the bed with gentle eyes, trying to break past the hard outer shell he was putting out. "You need to calm down. If the League sees you like this, your chances are shot."

Eye contact broke as shame flooded Grayson's face. His fingers ran over the faces in the pictures, broken memories. "Do you think I still stand a chance?"

Quiet for a long moment, his lips pursed. What did he think? Well, he knew the kid still had the skills to make it in the hero world. He knew he had the determination, no question. It was whether he had his head in the game or not. Was he stable enough to get the job done? And how badly was he mentally scarred by watching his own father die because of that lifestyle?

There were a few ways to answer these questions, none would take too much time. It was just as simple as putting him through training. But doing that meant running the risk of being caught by Ollie. Ollie, not the sharpest knife in the drawer, would let the training slip to Dinah who would give Roy Hell for even thinking about training Dick to be Robin again. For even thinking about it.

But putting him through just a little bit of training would give Roy a good idea of whether his mental capabilities were as strong as before and to see if he could manage being Robin again. It would only be to judge the kid's abilities after a year of being away from his cape and mask. A year. But he'd been trained for… ten years prior to this? Between the acrobatics of his parents and the crime fighting of Batman… He'd had more than enough practice. But retaining it for long periods of time…

The punching bag. That thing had taken a severe beating, not just from Roy's arrow, but from Grayson's punches. The thing had been shaking violently, almost shivering, with each hit and kick. It would've busted had he been hitting it any harder. Sand would've gotten everywhere. He had the physical strength for it, no question. He and Dick had been doing random push-ups sometimes just out of sheer boredom… or at least… that was how Roy had seen it…

"You stand a chance." He leaned against the doorframe and folded his arms across his chest, trying to look confident as he watched the boy's slow reaction to this.

Dick's eyes lit up. It took a few seconds, but they did, the baby blue shining like the sunlight on the ocean. His posture straightened, even if only a bit. His finger stopped rubbing the picture frame's outline. His lips, instead of curling downwards, became a straight line again, but did not smile. And Roy thought he detected even the faintest glimmer of hope in the kid.

"We'd just have to get you back to full power again." He knew the kid had gotten scrawny and smaller. Hell Yeah, he was still all muscle, no flab to be found, but he'd grown soft, no question. "Training you again. Making sure you have the right equipment. Getting you ready to pass League status. We're only human, but we can do it." Roy felt a flicker of a smile cross his face.

Yes, Dick definitely looked excited now. And he even put the picture down beside him and leaned over the edge of his bed, black hair, now longer, falling in his eyes as he reached under and pulled out a bag.

Roy recognized it. It was the one Dick had specifically asked to carry when he moved in. Ollie had been permitted to carry the other two. It was the only one that Roy hadn't helped unpack. His brow knit together as he watched Grayson quietly open the bag and pull out his utility belt and the black domino mask he'd grown up with. "You don't have to worry about my equipment." A faint, wan smile touched his lips and a certain sadness captured his eyes. A certain memory clouded his vision for a moment before passing like a cloud over the sun. "Bruce always told me never to go anywhere without my utility belt."

A/N: I would've expanded on this, but I felt like that sentence was good place to leave off. Review? Next chapter will be up soon. Just not this weekend. I got birthday stuff to do.

~Sky