Summary: Takes place a few days to a week after the previous chapter

Disclaimer: I don't own DC

It was long overdue for them to go on a group vacation.

As much as Dick and the others loved their respective new teams, they had to admit, they missed their original dynamic. They had spent literal years together, and each considered one another family. Heck, they each used to date someone else in the group.

With Dick's return, Raquel's pregnancy, Wally's passing, and four of them finding their way back to one another, they decided it was time to get together and do something as a group. And what better a way to reconnect than a road trip?

A road trip to one of Bruce Wayne's luxurious resort getaways, no less. A massive estate sitting next to the woods with a beach on the north side. It felt like something out of a corny movie, but here it was.

Dick, Zatanna, Conner, and M'gann were automatically on board. Raquel was hesitant at first thanks to her growing state of physicality, but Zee managed to talk her into it. Artemis had been…distant since Wally, so she was naturally not the most excited for the trip, but in the others' eyes, that was just more reason for her to come along with them. So they could all get back on the same page again and revitalize their pseudo-family. Dick was the one to finally convince her it was for the best, and he wanted to make sure more than anyone that she had a good time.

Kaldur was surprisingly the hardest to convince. Naturally, he felt there was too much to do at home and didn't want to leave the team.

He always did put so much responsibility on his shoulders, much like Dick himself in some ways. The former Boy Wonder sometimes worried his overwhelming burdens would break the Atlantean, much like it broke him.

But after Mal and Barbara convinced him they could cover things while he had his fun, he hesitantly accepted. As much as he tried to hide it, he really did want to spend time with them all and let go of his burdens. Of course, he phrased it as a "team-building getaway", which allowed him to better justify abandoning his duties for a bit, but that was just semantics.

They all had to admit, without Wally it would certainly be less exciting, but regardless…they needed this opportunity more than they knew. And Wally would agree. He would probably have been the first to suggest it.

As everyone poured into the Bioship, who had morphed into a massive red minivan, M'gann smiled and backed out of her new apartment. Zatanna snuggled up to Dick to make herself comfortable, and he grinned softly as the journey began.

Close to 3 hours in, and most of the group was fast asleep. It didn't help that they had started the ride in the evening and it was now dark out.

Everyone was dozing off in different ways. Conner and Raquel were using doors as pillows, Artemis was sprawled out in the back row, Kaldur was somehow sleeping while sitting up straight, and Zatanna was snuggled up to Dick, using him as both a pillow and a source of heat.

The only two who were still awake were M'gann, who was driving, and Dick, who had a hand securely wrapped around his girlfriend.

"I love your new digs." M'gann smiled gleefully.

"Thanks!"

"White picket fence was a nice call. Really nailing that 90s perfect couple vibe." Everyone knew it suited them well.

It was quite literally the backbone of their relationship.

"You know, you're always more than welcome to stop by if you need a place to crash for a few days." Dick smiled.

"Same for both of you. Blüdhaven might not be as nice as that cute meadow house, but it's not all bad once you get used to it."

M'gann smiled softly as she looked through the rearview mirror and saw Zatanna sleeping peacefully in his arms.

"I'm so happy you two are an item again. Don't tell the others, but you both always were my favorite." He blushed.

"Could say the same for you. Sucks that we needed something this bad to bring us all back together, though."

M'gann's smile faded as she refocused on the road.

"Yeah…but I like to think Wally would have wanted this. He was always advocating for us to find happiness, and he kept pestering each one of us to try and repair our relationships."

"He did…and I know he'd be happy seeing all this. Just wish he could have been around for it."

Dick thought back to his final meeting with his best friend and smiled. They had ended on good terms, but sometimes he still wished he could hug him one more time. He turned back to Artemis, who was sleeping peacefully in the back, and smiled.

"She's made progress faster than I ever could have imagined." M'gann grinned.

"She's strong, and we've all been trying to help her get there." Grayson tucked some hair behind his ear.

"I promised Wally I'd look out for her, and I'm just glad I'm not too late."

"We're almost there, you might wanna wake up the others." Dick smiled and nodded, gently parting some stray strands of Zatanna's hair away from her face as he prepared to wake her up.

Dick ran over to where Raquel was reading her book on the shore, wiping himself from the water Zatanna had splashed all over his face at the beach. It stung some of his newer scars, but he ignored the slight pain as water dripped all over his body.

"You planning on joining us?" Raquel chuckled and gestured to her body, which was starting to show earlier signs of pregnancy.

"Not exactly in the proper shape for one of those swimsuits right now. Plus, I wanna finish my book." Dick rubbed the back of his neck and sat down next to her.

"Hey…I haven't really gotten the chance to keep up with you. To be honest, it's been kinda wild recently, but that's no real excuse. I'm sorry." She smiled.

"No worries, man. I've kinda got my hands full myself. At least now we're all finding a way back to one another." Dick nodded.

"So how're things with the fiance?" She sighed.

"We haven't really talked wedding stuff all that much, but things are going…well…if I'm being honest…they're not going the best. You weren't here, but…ever since the pregnancy happened and I told him about it, we've been kinda…distant. I don't know how he feels about it, I'm just kinda hoping we get through it at this point."

Dick frowned and draped an arm over her shoulders.

"I'm sure it's just the realization of him being a dad settling in. I mean, he proposed to you and you've both been going strong for over two years now, right? I don't think this'll be the thing that topples all that. It's probably just nerves or whatever." She frowned.

"Like it was for you?" Dick winced slightly, and Raquel's frown deepened as she realized she may have hurt him. "I-I'm sorry, it was just the n-nerves talking, I didn't mean to-"

"No, n-no, you're right. But for me it was…complicated. And I got past it, thank god, and Zee was willing to give me another chance, so in the end, I guess it all worked out for me. It'll all work out for you, too. I'm sure he'll get past it just like I did, just give him some time." Raquel smiled.

"Thanks." He smiled softly.

"Of course. What're friends for, right?"

Raquel gave Dick a quick hug before he got up and left her to her book.

He walked back over to Zatanna, taking her by the hand and spinning her around to face him as she laughed.

Dick wrapped his arms around her waist while hers went to explore his scarred torso, and he shivered under her cold touch while kissing her.

His arms traced all over her back as she felt his scarred and toned chest. With how often they did this dance, they both knew every square inch of each other's body like the back of their hand. But it never got old.

She giggled into his mouth as his arms stopped exploring her back, and she whined as he broke off what almost started a longer makeout session and pecked her nose quickly.

"You look really nice."

"Don't I always?" Dick kissed her cheek then her forehead then her other cheek then her nose in quick succession, and Zee frowned. "Stop teasing." He cackled.

"Hey, I wanna do way more, but we have kids here." Zatanna laughed.

"So let's save this for later tonight."

Dick approached Kaldur while the others were setting up dinner plans.

The Atlantean had been rather distant all day, currently staring off at the horizon. The vigilante placed a hand on his shoulder, snapping him out of his trance.

"Hey." Kaldur tried to hide how startled he was.

"Mhm."

Dick smiled softly, standing next to him and joining him in staring mindlessly into the sunset.

"You know, we haven't really gotten a chance to catch up yet. Not since before the undercover op."

"What do you mean? We kept in touch throughout that entire mission." Dick shook his head.

"That was business. I mean as people. Real friends."

Kaldur rubbed his shoulder, frowning.

"I suppose we have not. I apologize for that."

"Don't even think about apologizing. It was my fault. Everyone knows how I was after Jason died. I pushed you all away and tried to focus on work and nothing else. And you know better than anyone that being a leader was one of the quickest and easiest ways to do just that." Kaldur frowned.

"Perhaps I wasn't the most open during my tenure as mission leader." Dick draped an arm around his shoulders.

"Yeah, and I never really understood it until it was my turn. Kaldur, you've always been our rock, the responsible one while we all allow ourselves to be kids and have our fun. I don't think any of us really realized how much that honestly meant to us, and how hard it must have been for you. But I do. It took a while, but I finally do. When you took a leave of absence and I became leader, I tried to do it like how you did it, and it nearly ended me. You've been shouldering more and more responsibility with every passing day. Leading the team, spearheading the undercover op before you fully managed to heal from Tula's passing, even now, working in tandem with the League with this meta-trafficking investigation. Hell, when Wally died, I was a complete jerk. I dumped everything on you and left without giving you much choice in the matter, and I never honestly realized what I was asking of you to do, or what a massive burden I was placing on your shoulders."

"You needed time to heal. Wally's passing hurt you more than any of us barring Artemis. I understood."

"But it still didn't make it right. I forced you to take on all the responsibility I should have been on top of, and that went against everything I ever believed in." Dick gave Kaldur a gentle squeeze. "My point is…you don't have to do it alone anymore. Neither of us do. This job, it's too much for any one of us to handle on our own, and there's no reason for us to hurt ourselves trying to go at it solo. We're partners now, and I promise I won't ruin that again. So come with me, let yourself have fun for once. You deserve it probably more than any of us."

The Atlantean turned to face him.

"I cannot ask you to-"

"And I can't let you keep hurting yourself like this when I'm more than capable of helping you."

Dick extended a hand.

"Partners?" Kaldur smiled and shook his hand.

"Partners."

Dick pulled the elder warrior into a fierce hug, grinning. "Good. Not like I was giving you a choice either way, but I wanted it to be a touching type of thing."

Kaldur chuckled and followed Dick to the others.

The team smiled at one another as they gathered around the fireplace, laughing loudly with different snacks in hand. It had been too long since they had something like this.

"S-so, the first time you and Wally met, y-you two stole the Batmobile?" Dick chuckled while the others burst out laughing. Even Kaldur cracked a smile.

"Yeah, it was pretty wild. I mean, I got the grounding of a lifetime afterwards, but it was so worth it." Conner let out a sigh as he started to catch his breath.

"That totally sounds like something Wally would do."

"You think that was good, wait till you hear about the time we spray painted the Batmobile hot pink. Even colored his suit to match." The group was in tears from their laughter at this point, and even their stern leader couldn't hold back a chuckle.

"Wh-what about you, Kaldur? How'd you meet him?" The Atlantean took a bite out of his chicken.

"Well, we didn't do anything as crazy as vandalism, but he took me to a seafood restaurant." Kaldur chuckled. "He then asked if it was offensive to me, and I had to point out that the only thing offensive he had done was gulp down five whole salmon in a matter of minutes." Now it was Dick's turn to laugh, and Artemis was practically on the floor at this point.

"That's Wally for you." Dick smiled and sent a knowing look to Zatanna and M'gann as he watched Artemis laugh.

She was finally opening up more.

"Ok, lemme tell you about Valentine's Day two years ago…"

Everyone was now huddled up together and fast asleep, save for Dick. He turned to his side, parting some stray strands of Zatanna's hair as she lazily groaned and snuggled up to him, somewhere in between awake and asleep.

"This was fun."

"Mm." She hummed in agreement.

"Should do this more often. It feels like it's been forever since everyone's been together, and it was great for Artemis getti-"

Dick's face was turned sideways, and Zatanna needily pressed her lips to his rather roughly. He eased into the kiss, but she pulled away a few seconds later. He smiled.

"What was that for?"

"You looked cute and it was the only way I could get you to shut up."

Dick chuckled, kissing her forehead and closing his eyes.

"G'night, Zee."

"Doog thgin, Kcid."

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