Oh, man, this went through so many rewrites, but it's finally done.

I hope you guys are all doing okay, and here's a gift from me.

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They'd agreed to meet up at the Cave, because it had seeemed fitting in a sense. It also allowed them to say hello to Wolf and Sphere. Wolf was pleased to seem them again, while Sphere seemed ambivalent.

It was better than curse words, Dick supposed.

He sat next to Wolf on the floor, running his hands down Wolf's white fur. It was clean once again, and in significantly better shape. Both Wally and Dick had been stopping by the Cave whenever they could, and they ensured that Wolf had a steady supply of food. They'd even set up a station to feed Wolf automatically for when they weren't there, though it had to be improvised because of his how much food a genetically modified Wolf ate.

All of it meant Wolf looked a little less ragged than he had before, but every time Dick and Wally left Wolf still looked scared. Away from Wolf, Wally and Dick had talked about how it hurt both of them, but it wasn't anything they hadn't earned. It would take time to earn Wolf's trust again. The fact that he was even there was a small miracle in itself.

He ran a hand down Wolf's fur one last time, and then stood up to walk over to Wally. His friend was leaning on the counter, green eyes staring at nothing.

"You ready?" Dick asked, nudging Wally's shoulder.

The speedster jolted, and stood up straight. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his dark green jacket.

"Never," Wally answered, "but that's every time."

"Let's go, then."

They took the Zeta to Gotham without another word.

The walk to their destination was short.

Each step made his feet feel heavier.

Dick snuck glances at Wally, who walked with his shoulders slumped. The flowers were clutched tightly in Wally's hand.

He wondered which pocket Wally's letter was in.

The graveyard in Gotham was silent, rows of neat little headstones and plaques and weeping angels stretching on.

It was lonely.

The name and the dates on the headstone didn't seem nearly enough to summarize what had been an entire person's life. It couldn't tell you what they looked like, or what their voice had sounded like, the way they had laughed and the way they had cried.

"Hey, Arty," Wally greeted.

There was no response.

"So I, uh, I brought Dick with me this week," Wally continued, "You know, Rob? He says hi."

"Hey, Artemis," Dick said quietly.

"This idiot got himself Fear Gas'd," Wally confessed, "There was also this massive building explosion-"

"It was not massive," Dick protested, "and I didn't mean to! What about that encounter last week, in Central?"

"Which?" Wally frowned, then his eyes widened. "Oh. Yeah. You'd probably yell at me for that one."

"She'd definitely yell at you," Dick said.

Wally wiped at his eyes furiously. "Yup. Yeah."

Dick looked away, and gave Wally a moment. He wrapped his arm around Wally's shoulders, and Wally leaned against him.

"I'm sorry it took me so long to get here," Dick said. His own vision began to blur as the tears welled up.

He wasn't sure if he was talking to Artemis or to Wally, but Wally wrapped his own arm around Dick's shoulders, pulling him closer. He didn't say anything else, but he didn't need to.

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Avoidance in his family only worked for so long, so Dick wasn't too surprised when he began getting midnight visitors.

It started with Tim. One morning Dick woke up and the younger man was simply collapsed on his couch, snoring lightly. Dick had merely draped a blanket over Tim and gone back to sleep.

Then there was Damian, curled into a little ball with his hand clutching what was likely a dagger underneath his pillow.

Therefore when Dick was awoken by the noise of someone else in his apartment, this wasn't too much of a surprise.

He blinked sleep heavy eyes, taking a minute to remember where he was, and waited a second to see if the noise would go away. When it didn't, he got out of bed with a groan, and tugged his wrinkled pajama shirt into place before checking to make sure he had pants on. From the sounds of it, someone was raiding his kitchen. He heard the sound of his fridge opening and close\ing, then there was the rustle of a bag and a box. He frowned a little grumpily as he realized someone was probably eating the last of his cereal.

It was a little strange to think this was something he was becoming use to, but somehow all of the rest of the Bats had decided that if they couldn't ambush him when he was awake, they'd catch him when he was sleeping. All of them ran odd hours from crimefighting, and crimefighting burned a lot of calories. He wondered who was in his kitchen tonight, and then thought about how maybe he should be more concerned someone unknown was in his apartment. But it was late, and he was tired, having got done his own patrol not too long ago.

He was a little impressed his unannounced visitor was still awake, considering the sun was almost rising.

It gave enough light to the apartment that although the lights weren't on yet but the blonde hair was a giveaway as soon as he walked into the kitchen.

Dick flicked the lights on. He winced as his eyes adjusted with a displeased grunt.

"You're out of cereal," Steph said around a mouthful of Captain Crunch.

Dick had a brief moment to be upset that she was eating the last of his favorite cereal, before he sighed in resignation.

"Hi, Steph," he yawned. "I'm good, how are you? Thanks for stopping by, it's so nice to see you."

"Your place was closer," she shrugged. "Well, it's not exactly you've been around lately. Also, you might wanna buy more cookie dough."

Dick walked to his fridge, and opened it. Sure enough, there was an opened package of cookie dough inside that had a few pieces ripped off.

"Jason?"

"Cass," she answered. "And me. Cass had to leave, but she says high."

She reached around him and grabbed a jug of orange juice. Steph didn't even bother to grab a mug as she screwed off the top and drank it, the jug already almost empty. Looked like he'd have to buy orange juice later. All of them, Steph included, were eating him out of apartment and home. It made him want to apologize to Alfred.

Teenagers.

Dick frowned at her. "No more cookie dough until you have actual food."

She put the jug of orange juice down.

Steph rolled her eyes. "Yes, mom."

"You better finish that," he pointed at her, then at the orange juice.

Steph nodded seriously.

"Sir, yes, sir," she said.

She popped up on top of his counter, and swung her legs back and forth. The mischievous look on her face let him know she knew exactly what she was doing, and it made him hide a smile. Underneath it all, however, there were dark circles underneath her eyes. A large yawn cracked across her face, and quite frankly she looked a little pitiful. Seeing her a little better in the light, he realized she must be exhausted. He was still tired from his patrol, and right now the sun was basically rising.

How was she still functioning?

It took him less than a second to think about it. Tomorrow was a weekend, which meant no school, which meant Steph could stay over. And get some actual sleep, because looking at the teenager in front of him Dick seriously doubted she'd slept for more than three hours this week. It was raising every single one of his alarms. Maybe if he told Babs about it, they could tag team and help encourage Steph to adopt healthier sleeping habits. He knew what it was like to be a teenager and feel the weight of all your responsibilities on your shoulders.

Steph, along with the rest of them, still deserved to rest and have a life.

Dick said, "If you stay for a little longer, I can make you breakfast."

It took a moment for Steph's brain to process the offer.

She blinked, then she smiled. "That'd be good. I'm starving." She paused, before wondering, "Can you even cook?"

"Sh," Dick waved a hand, "Don't listen to whatever lies Babs told you."

"I think you still have a change of clothes here if you want to change into something more comfortable," Dick said. "Spare bedroom's also open. So's the couch."

Steph nodded. "Thanks, I know where it is."

"Duffel bag in the one closet," Dick said anyways.

She waved her hand in a thank you motion.

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His next visitor made only a minimal effort to be quiet in an attempt to be courtesy to any neighbors, but the loud beeping of the microwave offset any attempts to be silent. Dick dragged himself out of bed with a yawn, a little disappointed since he'd been hoping to catch a little longer nap before patrol started. It was only eleven o'clock at night, and he was planning to start patrolling at twelve.

The heavy thud of the combat boots in his kitchen told him exactly who his visitor was this time.

"Are you guys going to make this a regular thing?" Dick asked aloud, flicking on his lights.

Jason sat at his kitchen table. His Red Hood helmet was set to the side, along with his guns, and his leather jacket was draped over the back of his chair. In front of Jason sat a still steaming hot pocket.

"You're going to wake all my neighbors up," Dick continued, "And then they're going to wonder why you're here, and my identity will be blown - do you know you have helmet hair, by the way?"

Sure enough, Jason's hair was sticking up everywhere. He found it highly amusing.

"Owwfhh, hhot," Jason cursed, taking a sip of his coffee.

"I'm going to get robbed one of these days," Dick said, "and I'm not even going to wake up."

Jason glared at him around a mouthful of hot pocket. He mumbled something incoherent.

Dick sighed. "You shouldn't talk with your mouth full."

Jason rolled his eyes.

He swallowed, then told Dick, "You're out of cookie dough. Also cereal."

Dick didn't even bother to check the fridge. He knew Jason wasn't lying.

"Steph ate it last weekend," Dick told him, "All of you are eating all my food."

Jason shrugged. "You have all the best food. And you like having us over."

Dick didn't tell him it was because he purposefully bought their favorites, but he suspected they knew already. All of them were sharp, and good at figuring at the puzzles presented in front of them.

Jason polished off the hot pocket, getting back up and grabbing two slices of banana bread Dick kept in a container on his counter. Dick accepted the second slice of banana bread Jason grabbed for him gratefully.

"Thanks," he yawned.

Jason grunted. "You're looking scrawny."

Dick quirked an eyebrow. "Okay?"

The two of them ate their food, and Jason finished his coffee. Surprisingly, after he finished, he didn't leave immediately.

"Don't you have to go?" Dick nodded towards the helmet.

"Yeah," Jason blew out a breath. "Soon. I'm letting my food digest."

"You mean the hot pocket you inhaled," Dick snorted.

Jason shrugged. "Roy hasn't gone food shopping yet."

That, Dick could believe, but he knew just as with Steph and Tim and Damian, that wasn't the sole reason Jason had shown up here for patrol.

"You don't have to do this, you know," he said.

Jason met his eyes. "Do what?" he said challengingly.

"Check on me," Dick answered. "Come here."

"You're the one who said I was welcome here."

Dick didn't rise to the bait, knowing starting an argument was one of the way's Jason derailed a conversation he wanted to avoid.

"Jason."

It was Jason's turn to sigh.

Jason ran a hand through his hair. He said, "Yeah, Dick, I kinda do."

It was close to a heartfelt conversation for Jason, who somehow managed to make Dick's name still sound like an insult. He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it.

"Thank you," he said, not meeting Jason's eyes.

Jason cleared his throat. "Yeah, uh."

The awkward silence was painful.

Say something, Dick thought to himself.

Like what?

Jason and Dick's relationship was rocky, though they'd started talking again, but it always felt like they were one step away from ticking the other off. They were never as close as Dick wished they were sometimes. But it was going forward in starts and stops.

"I'm not the best at communication," Jason said finally. He made a gesture with his hands, before stopping. "But I just. Well."

He dug at a scratch in the table with his fingernails.

"Jason," Dick raised a hand. "It's okay."

"You don't leave, you know that, right?" Jason looked up. "And I'm, uh, sorry for saying that you do."

Dick blinked, and then he stared, openly gaping a little.

"Jason," Dick said.

Jason abruptly stood up.

"I have to go," he said, and the confidence was back in his voice. "I'll see you around."

Dick shook his head a little as if to clear off some of the haze. Idly, he wondered if he was in the Twilight Zone, or if Jason had been drugged.

But the younger man standing before him was undoubtedly Jason, from the white streak in his hair down to his combat boots.

"I'll buy cookie dough," Dick said. "You know. For next time."

Jason shoved his helmet on, but before he did Dick thought he saw the ghost of a smile.

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Movie night had been Wally's idea, but it was also a chance for them to catch each other up on their lives. Dick wasted absolutely no time in gossiping about the rest of the Bat-family, while Wally often shared his frustrations with connecting with Bart.

Dick leaned with his elbows on the counter, talking to Wally, who was perched on the island in the center of the kitchen.

"So wait," Wally tilted his head."They're just popping up randomly at your place?"

Wally waited until Dick nodded before eating another mouthful of popcorn.

The popcorn bowl was green, and absolutely massive. Wally, of course, had already eaten half the bowl while Dick had snuck a few handfuls. Another bag of popcorn was already popping away in the microwave. It meant the entire kitchen smelled like popcorn, which brought to mind faint memories of when he was younger.

Wolf watched them both from his spot by the couch.

Dick said mournfully, "My poor grocery bill. It's a good thing you got the popcorn."

"Even the tiny little murderous one shows up?" Wally said dubiously.

"Damian's a good kid," Dick frowned at Wally.

Wally raised his hands. "I'm just saying, he's tried to stab me."

"He's tried to stab a lot of people," Dick rolled his eyes. "You're not special."

"Gee, thanks," Wally deadpanned.

"Still," Dick said thoughtfully, "It's good to see them and hear about how they're doing."

"They're worried about you," Wally said softly, "I can relate."

Dick looked away. "It's just a little weird."

Wally scoffed. "You Bats need to work on your communication skills."

He rolled his eyes. "I'll have you know I talk to them plenty. I've even learned some interesting things."

Steph was a chatterbox with little to no verbal filter when she was dead tired, so he learned quite a bit on everything.

"Apparently," Nightwing commented, "We're known for not getting along well among the Titans."

Wally choked on his chocolate milk.

He managed to cough out, "Wait, seriously? Who told you this? We haven't even hung out around the Titans that much."

"Yeah," Dick smirked a little. "You could even say we're infamous for it. Two prominent memerbs, both heroes for a while, who don't really talk and barely interacted when we workled together?"

"Dude, why?" Wally wondered. He winced when Dick shot him look that silently asked Wally if he remembered when they were fighting.

"Maybe the flirting incident with Starfire." He shrugged. "Or all those times we argued and insulted each other. The icy silences, attitudes, and the glaring? It's hard to say, really."

"Okay, I get it," Wally rolled his eyes.

Dick laughed. "Steph's a tattle tale when she's tired."

"Is everyone okay?" Wally frowned. "Bart sort of mentioned something going on between Tim and one of the other Titans."

Dick shrugged. "Tim's not really talking about it. Is Bart?"

"Nah," Wally shook his head. "Hey, have you heard about this Supergirl who popped up in, uh, Nathan City? National City?"

"National City," Dick corrected. He rubbed the back of his neck thoughtfully.

"I have," he said, "but we should let them work out their own problems."

"Yeah, I know." Wally whined, flailing a little with his hands. "But it's just so hard!"

The popcorn bowl came dangerously close to spilling everywhere, and Wally saved it with a small noise of panicked surprise.

Ignoring Wally, Dick said, "I was thinking maybe we could each out to Supergirl and get her in touch with Donna. From the little I've seen in the news, she's good, but a little untrained."

Wally stuffed another mouthful of popcorn into his mouth. "Thaff's uh goo' i'ea."

"And that's not English," Dick noted.

He laughed a little when a disgruntled Wally swallowed the rest of his food and stuck his tongue out.

"Oh, shut it," Wally scoffed.

He prodded him. "But you agree?"

"Yeah, I agree. Donna would make a good sparring partner." Wally said thoughtfully, "Maybe we can ask Supes about it? Or reach out to Ma Kent."

"Steph would be good, too," Dick leaned on the counter. "She's been considering getting more involved with the Titans, but she also has a lot on her plate."

"You talk to Babs about that yet?"

Dick made a noise of assent. "We both agreed she's pushing herself really hard, but she's also stubborn."

"Sounds familiar," Wally said with a pointed look towards his friend.

Dick ignored the less than subtle jab.

"We have a plan, then," Dick clapped his hands together.

Wally looked down at the bowl of popcorn. The microwave beeped as the next bag of popcorn finished. Wally hopped off of the counter and quickly dumped the new bag into the bowl.

"Still can't believe the Titans think we don't get along," Wally said.

Dick shrugged. "To be fair, we weren't really speaking for a while."

"You'd think some of them would've figured out we knew each other before," Wally muttered. He walked out into the living room, and Dick followed.

When they got to the couch, Wally and Dick sat down together.

"Nice Batman sweatpants," Wally snorted.

Tiny little black bats dotted the grey sweatpants, and they were absolutely adorable.

He grinned. "Why, thank you. Nice Flash sweatpants."

Wally nodded with a small grin of his own. Tiny little yellow lightning bolts dotted the red background.

Dick said, "Anyways, I think some of them did figure out we knew each other? Donna I'm almost sure knows."

"Donna knows everything," Wally said cheerfully, "She's delightfully terrifying."

"Point," Dick said.

He reached into the bowl and grabbed his own handful of popcorn.

"You got the remote?" Dick asked Wally.

He popped the popcorn into his mouth.

Wally hummed. "Yeah. How's Lilo & Stitch sound?"

"The first one?" Dick clarified.

Wally nodded. "Yes."

"Sounds good," Dick said. He ate more popcorn.

Wally found it easily, and hit play, but he quickly paused it when he realized there was a popcorn thief.

"Mine," Wally frowned at him, though there was no heat behind it. His voice was dangerously close to whiny again as he said, "You know I have a serious metabolism!"

"Yeah, yeah," Dick waved a hand. "But I also know I burn a shit ton of calories jumping around on rooftops."

"Fine," Wally grumbled, "I guess I can share."

Dick stared at him. "Dude, you've been sharing."

Wally mock glared at him. "One more word out of you and we're watching some else."

"Bring it," Dick narrowed his eyes.

Wally sighed. "I can't, I wanna watch this too much."

"Ha!" Dick said triumphantly.

He grabbed the nearby blue blanket, and pulled it over both of their legs. Wally obligingly lifted up the popcorn bowl. He waited for him to hit play, but he was surprised when he didn't.

"Wally?"

Wally sighed.

"Speaking of the Titans," Wally began hesitantly, then bit his lip. He took a breath, then said, "I think we should tell them about the Team."

He tensed up immediately. Wally seemed to sense that the joking atmosphere had taken a different turn, but he still looked determined to go forward.

It was Dick's turn to sigh. "This been on your mind a lot?"

"Yeah," Wally glanced at him. "And I think you've been thinking about it too."

"I don't know," Dick answered defensively, "I've had a lot on my mind lately, so I haven't really had time to think about it."

"Easy, man," Wally said. "I just think maybe this is something we should talk about?"

Dick didn't say anything, thinking over his words carefully.

Wally gave him time, and waited patiently.

"I," Dick shook his head. "It's been so long. I didn't tell them in the beginning because it never came up?"

It had been too painful to talk about, and he'd never wanted them to feel like replacements. The Titans had their own place in his heart, just as the Team did. When he'd founded the Titans, he'd still been too angry and raw from it all. In the beginning he'd been so angry at being left behind, and angry Batman had tried to take Robin away from him. It had been the sort of anger that left his eyes burning with unshed tears and his face red with anger and his knuckles red from punch the ground in front of their graves.

The anger that would always turn back to grief, because their loss was where it ultimately came from.

It wasn't just that the Team had never come up, it was that he wasn't able to talk about them in the beginning without feeling the urge to cry.

He hadn't ever planned on working with a Team again, nor had he ever expected to find more family among them, but the Titans were incredible. They'd drawn him out of his dark moods, and he learned how to be a better leader for them. There had been countless pizza nights and game nights with them where he hadn't felt whole, exactly, but healed was maybe the better term.

Opening up the wound left behind by the Team meant every time he saw Beast Boy, he thought of what he knew.

Admittedly, the guilt was starting to eat away at him, but this would be opening another can of worms and he wasn't sure how many can of worms he could open at the moment.

"The Titans, they just," a little helplessly, he shrugged. "Happened."

Wally frowned, his voice taking on a different tone as he said, "They deserve to know. About the Team."

"Maybe," Dick agreed wearily, "But I'm not sure if I'm ready to tell them."

It was easier to stay silent. The cynical part of him wondered how long the Team would stay buried, however. If he were completely honest with himself, he didn't want them to stay buried either.

Only, he wasn't sure where to begin. Where did he even start telling the Titans about the Team?

Neither Dick nor Wally were looking at each other, choosing instead to focus on the TV in front of them.

"Okay," Wally said. He let out a breath, and with a thunk his head hit the back of the couch. "Okay, we don't have to talk about this right now. But we will talk later, yeah?"

"Yeah," Dick agreed numbly.

The previously light mood was significantly more subdued, but Wally still hit play on the movie.

"So," Wally said forcefully, "You think Damian could be compared to Stitch?"

Dick looked at Wally incredulously.

"Oh, God," he muttered, "please do not tell him that to his face."

Wally narrowed his eyes. "Watch me. This'll give him a better reason to stab me!"

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Thank you to everyone for all your support and kind words after my Grammy died. Seriously. I really appreciate all of it. Thank you.

I'm back to writing again, and this story will gone on. It feels like more just keeps getting added, but I'm getting there. Eventually. Idk this chapter was a little hard to write, like i said in the beginning it went through so many rewrites, and it took me a bit to get the Jason scene to where i was satisfied with it enough to post. This chapter was also really fun to write.

I feel a bit like I'm running in place sometimes with this story, but I'm going slow with it. Let me know your reactions to this chapter.

And I couldn't really resist the Supergirl reference, mostly because i just binge watched the show. If there's any appearance though of the Supergirl characters, that won't be until far in the future, and it'd likely look different compared to the show.

I'm on tumblr as Ringwraithmd, feel free to find me, also i'm on ao3 now as RingwraithBookworm.