MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL MY BELOVED READERS! (and to all the particularly non-religious/non-Christian, I still wish you a Merry Christmas because this day is Christmas day and my wishing you a merry one can be construed as nothing more than a wish for you to enjoy your day). As we speak, the Ghost is working hard to roll out as many chapters today as she can as her little gift to you all. I wish you all greatest blessings and prosperity. Thank you for sticking with me. Hey, Night-Weaver369, here's your fluff.

We crossed the field in silence and then waited for a cab to turn up.

He exhaled. "I was worried," he admitted.

I smiled. "I know. Thanks. I'm touched."

"Tell me something. That guy who had that gun pointed at your back, that was The Jason, right?"

"Yup."

"Damn. That's way harsh." I didn't reply for a long moment, not sure exactly what to say after that. "How are you feeling?"

"Well, now I have more questions than I started out with."

"And?" I blinked at him a few times. "Don't you feel betrayed or angry or sad or heartbroken?"

"You can't really be betrayed by someone you're pretty much completely alienated from."

"Hy," he said, disapprovingly. "I know there's more to it than that." I sighed. He knew me so well. It was kind of scary.

"I had a dream—"

"Hy—"

"I'm not changing the topic. Let me finish."

"Sorry."

"So, I had a dream. In the dream, for some strange reason, I was dating Rich—"

"How is that important?"

"Shut up! Whatever. Well, in the dream, Jase had left me to go to a really upper class older people party with just my parents. The guy I was dating—well, we were hugging at least— told me something you told me long ago. He said that I was wasting my time on someone who was stupid enough to leave me behind and that I should let him go. And I agreed with him."

"And?"

I gave him a disapproving look for being in such a hurry and he gave me a sheepish grin.

"I think I might be—" I was interrupted when he touched his communicator and half turned away from me.

"Yeah...I was going to make sure Hy got home first...Do you really need me back that badly?" He looked back over to me.

"Go ahead. I won't collapse or anything," I insisted. I hated missing out on some action but even I knew I was not in any condition to join them just yet. I'd only get in the way and if someone hit me in the head again, I'd get brain damage and become mentally handicapped. Or, my brains would spill out. Neither of those sounded good.

"You sure?"

"Yes, yes. Now go. I'll see you tomorrow after school or something."

"Alright." He turned again. "Okay, I'm coming," he responded to who I assumed was Batman or Kaldur. A taxi pulled up and I got into one and headed home.

I was secretly extremely disappointed that I would have to go home on my own but there was nothing I could do about it. I wasn't his first priority and I knew I would never be. The thought had already come to me and I'd made my peace with it. That was the danger of getting involved with the Boy Wonder and it was much better to be able to occupy some of his time and his heart than to not be around him at all. There were still tiny parts of him that he would give me, little pieces of information he'd share with me. For now, that sufficed. And, as Lady Gaga would point out, relationships couldn't hold their interest if everything was smooth and easy sailing all the time.

Not that our relationship wasn't easy. It was easy to be his girlfriend emotionally. But it was the external factors that were the handicaps, like not knowing his real name, where he was from, what school he went to, details of his family situation, hero duty and so on. But we could deal. We were so far. And if we couldn't, we wouldn't let our broken attempt at romance get in the way of our close friendship.

Once home, I decided to change and barricade myself into my room. I picked up a blouse I had been working on as a surprise for Tanya and continued the embroidery I was attempting on it. I was far too awake to sleep so I agreed to settle for some easy work. I didn't really want to think on the last mission too much. Truly, I was bitter about various parts of it and just didn't want to dwell. My mind was still free to wander so I turned on some Breaking Benjamin and focused on singing along. I tried not to see the irony in some of the songs. They liked to sing about betrayal sometimes. For this moment, it would just represent a cool theme that occurred in the life of others and not me.

Half way through the album, the rain started falling outside and I stared out the window, distracted by the way rain just knew how to be beautiful no matter where it fell. The rain on the roof in combination with the music was calming me and keeping me in a neutral middle ground where I didn't have to care or think about anything too much. I was content letting it dull me.

I stitched and stitched and stitched until it became dark outside and then I continued stitching. When I had finished the embroidery, pleased with how it came out, I started on some handkerchiefs with some excess fabric I had around. Just as I was finishing the border on my second hanky, my phone rang; it was an unknown number. I used the mouse which I had brought over from the computer desk to the bedside table to pause it before I answered.

"Hello?"

"I guess we can't meet tonight, can we?"

"You guessed right, Jason. What the hell got into you? How could you do this? I thought we used to admire the Justice League together. Was it that you were looking at the crooks instead? Have I been wrong about you all this time?" Now I couldn't stop it. He had called and all of it was just falling out.

"Are you upset?"

"No, I'm not fu—" I cut myself off and took a breath to calm down, closing my eyes. I reopened them just in time to see Robin swing into my window and land in my room. I don't know what he saw on my face but it was enough to sober his smiling expression and draw him very quickly to me. He stood next to the bed and put a hand on my shoulder and I felt as if I wanted to break down and cry because he was there to be my strength and I didn't have to force myself to hold on to the titanium armour I wore all the time. I resisted the urge to break down; I was not the type to cry and I would not start now. I started again on my response.

"I find out the person who used to be my best friend is a horrible, dirty traitor who can't contact me for three years except when he's in town to help a bunch of cronies commit some friggin' crime, as if the world doesn't have enough criminals—" My voice cracked and Robin sat and pulled me to lean on him.

"Okay, so you're mad. But you don't understand why I did it."

"I don't think there is any reason in the world that could justify your terrorism."

There was a pause. A breath. "My mom is in the hospital. She's in a coma and she needs surgery."

"I was right. That doesn't justify your actions."

"Hy! This is my mother we're talking about here. You know that, apart from her, I have no one else!"

"You had me, us! It's not even the fact that you ditched me for three years that has me all that mad. In any case, you didn't give me any excuse for that at all. God, Jase, my parents are friggin' doctors! Our families were so close! We could have helped you! You didn't have to get involved in all that crap!"

"You expect me to believe that after all that you'd just welcome me back and help us out!"

"Yes, I do! I trusted you to know me and believe that I was a better friend than to leave you high and dry for some stupid reason like not having seen or heard from you in three years. Your mom needed help! That was enough reason to help. My parents wouldn't have just abandoned both of you to your own devices and neither would I." He was awfully silent. It gave me more than enough opportunity to completely vent. "So, this is what it boils down to, Jase? You never trusted us enough to begin with. And I want to blame your upbringing for this, I want to blame the fact that your dad was a useless son-of-a-bitch for making you a cold, untrusting bastard but I just can't. You knew better, Jase. You knew that not everyone in the world was going to try to screw you over all the time and that there was some justice left in the world. You didn't even try. So you've got no good reason for doing this, Jase. You've got nothing. You know your mother would just die if she found out what you were doing. Are you trying to finish her off?"

"Shut up! Shut the hell up! You don't understand what you're talking about with your picture perfect life. We had to move so many times and had no phone, and no internet or anything while I tried to continue going to school so I could make something of myself. She had to work so hard just for us to get by. Don't you dare even think you can understand the level of shit my mother and I have had to go through over the years! Don't pretend to understand the corner I was backed into when she just suddenly fell ill and I had to somehow find the money to keep her alive! Don't you dare judge me!"

"Then bring her to us now. Get yourself out of this and bring her back to Happy Harbour so my parents can take care of her."

"No way. I'm in too deep already. And I can support her like this."

"But you're doing it so dishonourably!"

"Shut up. I'm helping her with my own two hands."

"Then you're condemned to everything that you get and you're condemning your poor mother as well."

"You don't understand anything! How am I supposed to get out of something like this now? I'm one of them. I want out, they kill me. For once in my life, I'm important. It's not like you and your little superhero fantasy." He was silent for a long moment and I wondered if he was crying or pained or sad or even slightly contrite about what he was doing and which side he was choosing. When he spoke again, his voice was quieter and I could hear the pain in it. "You grew up so pretty, Hy. I knew you would but being away for three years, I was so surprised at seeing exactly how beautiful you are." There was another long pause. "Don't worry about your identity, Hy. I won't tell them who you are."

"I can't promise the same."

"I know that. You'll always do what you think is right. I won't stop you. I guess it just proves you're still the girl I love." Something stirred in me, something that was a cross being warmth and discomfort. He was quiet for a long time again. "I'm sorry things have to be like this, Hy. I want to be there for you again. I miss you. Can't you forgive me, wash this under the bridge and forget about it? Can't you relinquish your little hero act so we can be friends again?"

The picture was becoming clearer. Everything about our relationship was dead, dead, dead. Every word he said just reinforced that.

"No, Jase. I can't do that. The sin is just too great."

"I'll keep my promise about your identity. I won't give up, Hy, and I won't go easy just because it's you. We've got a job to do and I'll do it." I didn't reply. "Goodbye, Hy. Brace yourself." He ended the call and I just stared at the phone for a long moment. Robin took it from me, closed it and placed it on the bedside table close to him. His arms came around me tightly. He just held me to him for several minutes and I leaned into him, holding him just as tightly and taking in his scent as I tried not to get lost and drown in my deep, nervous and unhappy anxiety.

But my world wasn't falling apart. I wasn't struck with grief. I hadn't lost anything. Long ago, I had let that relationship go. More recently had I fully decided to cut that string that still connected us. Because the person who mattered to me now, who really mattered, who had really been there for me, was there for me, who actually cared, was right beside me and holding me as I fully assimilated what had happened, what I had chosen and what was going on and would happen thereafter.

Robin had probably sensed when it was okay for him to speak.

"That was Jason." It wasn't a question. He already knew. I knew that he already knew everything.

"Yes."

"He betrayed you."

"Yes."

"He's staying with them."

"Yes."

"And after all this time, he's come back for what he left."

"Yes."

"But you've already decided to let him go."

"...Yes."

He squeezed me a little tighter and I wanted for him to not let me go.

"Hy?"

"Hm?"

"I'm here." It was so simple, so obvious but so deep, so meaningful and it made all of the difference. He was asserting the difference between himself and Jason. He was promising me.

"I know. That makes the world of difference."

We remained in silence for a long time and I just let him hold me. I needed it and he seemed to want it. All I knew was that when he held me close to him, when we were alone in each other's embrace, I felt safe and secure, no matter what was just beyond, waiting at the door.

"Robin."

"Hm?"

"No shoes on the bed."

"Oh, sorry." He released me and I pulled back. He angled himself slightly sideways to pull off his shoe.

"Ow!" It was so sudden I almost jumped.

"What?"

He leaned towards me, reached towards his backside and produced a needle still connected to the handkerchief by the thread.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" I said, laughing. As a reflex, I rubbed the area where had he been stabbed and only after my hand was back on my lap did I realise what I just did. "Oh, crap, I just sexually harassed you. I'm sorry!"

He laughed an extremely entertained laugh. "We're dating so I guess it's okay."

"It is not okay. I could be labelled as a harasser. It was a reflex, I swear. Not to sexually harass you but you got injured and it was my fault, so I rubbed at the spot and I didn't even realise it was your butt and I swear it was an accident." He just continued to laugh, took my hand, leaned forward and kissed me. "Wow, I should sexually harass you more often if this is how you deal with that."

He snickered. "I was just trying to stop you from rambling. It's really okay. You did not sexually harass me. I know you meant well." I pulled off his shoes for him and threw them off of the bed. "So, is no shoes on the bed your only rule?"

"No, but I know that you're such a good person that it's the only rule I have to say out loud."

"You really do trust me a lot, don't you?"

"More than I think is safe."

He paused. "Care to explain that one?"

I shifted on the bed and went to sit with my back against the headboard. "It's never quite safe to trust someone completely. Even if you feel as if they'll never hurt you and they say that they never will, sometimes things happen that are, well, not out of their control, but difficult to avoid, if you know what I mean. So if you trust that everything will be all fine and dandy forever and that things will always run smoothly, when something goes awry or something unexpected happens, your world gets crushed."

He rested an elbow on his knee and leaned on his hand. "Are you usually this pessimistic?"

I shrugged. "Not too sure. I would say I just take things in stride and try not to expect too much from the world."

"That's pessimism."

I gave another shrug. "So be it."

He moved again, coming to sit next to me and my head rested on his shoulder when he took my hand. Our relationship was not the clingy lovey-dovey type in general but this was one of those exceptional moments when we were completely alone and free to let go of 'normal' and just be 'honest'. I needed to not be alone at the moment and he wanted to be my consolation. "So, what in your mind is one of those difficult though not unavoidable yet hurtful things that you think could happen with us?"

I didn't need to think about it. The thought blossomed in my head as soon as the question was out. "I might have to share you."

"Share me how?"

"As in, if whoever you are behind the sunglasses gets asked to prom with someone who likes you and you feel like it would be un-gentlemanly to reject them, you'll end up being some girl's date. She'd probably be someone who's half way in love with you and, worst case scenario, she might get caught up in the moment and kiss you. Then a whole fiasco starts and you'd probably want to avoid telling me, or maybe you would—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You've given this some serious thought, haven't you? You're already afraid that our relationship is faulty?"

"No. To both questions, the answer is no."

"You have to explain that one to me, too." He chuckled. "And I thought I had a tendency to tie people up with what I said."

"It's your fault for choosing me."

He let go of my hand suddenly and I took my head off his shoulder to look at him. He shook his head at me with a tight smile. He opened an arm to me and beckoned to me with the other hand. "Come 'ere." I looked at him for a second before doing as he said, sitting sideways on his lap. His arms coiled around me. "No, I don't think there's any fault in it at all." I studied him for a long moment. He couldn't possibly understand how my heart was feeling just hearing him say that. My arms laced themselves around his back and I rested my head on his shoulder again.

"I want to tell you something."

He waited. "Anything," he said after a long moment.

"I can't tell you now."

He took another moment to swallow my answer. "I'll wait till you're ready to tell me then. Instead, I want you to explain what I wanted you to explain."

"Well...the thought about you having to go out with another girl came to me very suddenly. But, I don't think our relationship is faulty. I knew that the thing about your identity is a bit of a sketchy situation but I believe, if things are right, the problem will resolve itself in a tactful and graceful manner."

"And after all that, you still trust me more than you think is safe?"

"Absolutely."

He leaned in and kissed my jaw.

"Do you think we're taking this too seriously for teenagers?"

"Probably. But we're a special case and it doesn't change the fact that we feel this way anyway."

We remained like that silently for a few minutes, his hand stroking my back briefly and comfortingly. I had already made up my mind to not let him go if there was anything I could do about it.

"Thanks," he said.

"For?"

"Trusting me so much. Believe me, I want to tell you everything but..."

"I know. The Bat will behead you."

"Yeah. I can ask," he offered.

"No, sweetie. That would involve him knowing and I think we already decided that telling the League and our teammates might stir a problem. We'll wait for them to figure it out."

"I suspect Bats already knows and just hasn't gotten around to talking to me about it yet."

"You've got a point there. Nothing escapes him. I wonder if he'll sit us down in a room and start with the 'I need to talk' approach."

He chuckled. "Somehow I can't really imagine that from him."

"Me either."

He gave me a little squeeze and I kissed his neck.

"Are you okay about the whole Jason thing now?"

"If it will make you stay longer, the answer is no."

"I'm not going to leave if you say yes."

"Okay, well then, the answer is kinda."

"I'm here for you." It was an invitation to talk about it which I would accept.

"He was my best friend and I feel sorta disappointed but, like I said earlier, a person who wasn't there for you can't possibly betray you. Not really. When you came along, I formally made the decision to let him go."

"Am I that great?"

"I don't want to stroke your ego too much so I'm going to say no."

He jabbed me in the ribs and I bit his ear as revenge. Neither of our attacks was effective but we were both laughing. I lifted my head off his shoulder and faced him.

"I can't believe you bit me."

"I'd say I'm sorry but I'm not."

"I know you're not. But if that leaves a mark, I'm going to let you explain it."

"We could say we were play fighting, like puppies, and I bit you."

He laughed. "Sure. That's a perfectly normal and acceptable explanation."

"I didn't bite you that hard."

"I hope not."

He smiled at me and I smiled back. It was so get easy to get lost in him.

He moved a hand to cup my face, stroking my cheek with his thumb. I leaned into his hand, not closing my eyes because it would be a waste of his beautiful smile.

"I heard you wouldn't let Happy carry me." He pursed his lips. "Didn't know you were the jealous type."

"Should I have let him carry you?"

"No. I thought it was sweet."

"I was so worried."

"I'm sorry."

"You're such a hero, aren't you?"

"Well, I won't apologise for that."

"Don't. It's what makes you amazing."

"Well, my best friend is one heck of a role model."

"Try not to scare me next time, okay?"

"I think if I tell you not to worry, you still will."

"How can I not? You're so important to me." I smiled at him and he started slowly coming closer to me.

He began to kiss me in that sweet, soft way that I was used to. When I thought he would end the kiss briefly, I was surprised when less than a second passed before his lips were back on mine. This kiss was less familiar and a tiny bit hungrier. I wasn't opposed to it or scared, but rather, I realised that it was the kind of kiss I wanted to give back to him. It lasted a long, divine moment. Wanting to remain close enough to him, my arms moved from around his torso and came to around his neck. His tongue touched my lower lip which was so sudden that it made me hyper aware of what was going on. I wondered if to stop him but before it was two seconds that his tongue touched my lip, he stiffened and pulled back. From where I was so close to him, I could hear the comm in his ear chirping.

"Ah, sorry," he said, voice slightly rougher than usual and breath a little shorter. He touched the comm, turned his attention away from me and started a series of brief responses with whoever was on the line. From what I could hear, it was the Bat giving him the third degree about where he was and when he would be returning, which was really just a roundabout way of telling him to get his ass back to the Batcave or wherever he was.

When the conversation between them was over, he turned back to face me and pressed a kiss to my lips. "You have to go."

"I'm sorry."

"No, no, don't be. It's fine and I get it."

He kissed me again. "I'm still sorry. We were in the middle of something."

I chuckled. "You should go before he calls again." He attempted to kiss my lips again but I turned so that he caught my cheek. "I mean it. You should go."

"Are you really okay now? I can make up something if you want me to stay a little longer."

I shook my head. "I'm glad you came but I'm fine. Thanks for appearing when I needed you." Reluctantly, he released me and I got up so that he could get off the bed. We walked to the window and when we both stopped, he took my hand and squeezed it before he pulled me tightly into his embrace. He let go after a while but only so that he could deeply kiss me for one last long moment.

"I'll always be here for you. Sometimes heroines need heroes, remember?" I nodded and watched him put one leg out the window. He turned back and gave me a wide smile.

"Goodnight, Robin."

"Goodnight, Hy. Sleep tight."

"You, too. See you tomorrow."

"Yeah. Be safe."

"No more than usual. If you dream of me, they'll be sweet." Then he jumped out the window and disappeared. I chuckled and shook my head.

"Well, you're right about that, Rob. When I dreamt of you, it was a nice dream." I started towards my computer to turn back on the music when it hit me. "Wait. I never dreamt of you. I dreamt of...Richard Grayson...only he was acting a lot like you." I tried to find a link but found none. I'd only seen Grayson on the news a few times or entertainment news and my knowledge about him was extremely limited. I shrugged. "Maybe there was something about him on the MSN homepage and my subconscious dug it up." Accepting that that was probably the best explanation that I could come up with, I clicked play on the keyboard, returned to the bed and to the handkerchief. Before I resumed work, I realised that I was hungry. "Ah, time to go harass my mother and eat something." Happily, I skipped out the door, calling for my mommy in a loud and sugary voice that I knew she would roll her eyes at. Her fault for being so cute. Just her luck that I was now in an extremely good mood.