A/N: I debated with myself about writing a Candle piece, partially from the negative comments I would receive. Then I remembered. I'm not doing this for the reviews. I'm doing this for the people who are left behind. Killings like this are senseless and we cannot fully understand them. When I write something, it's not me who is writing sometimes. It's the muse inside guiding me to write the piece how the characters might deal with the situation. Because some were police officers my muse felt like this would hit close to home for Dick, and with is spirit, he might also see the other side as well. I added Tim.

DTDTDTDTDT

The 14th Candle

Dick Grayson let his arm fall as he lit the last candle on the rack, the 13th candle. Silent tears fell once again, as he remembered each and everyone who died. He felt a presence behind him.

"They could have been my friends at the BPD," he stated without turning around, emotion apparent in his voice.

"How long have you been doing this?" Tim asked.

Dick didn't answer at first, gathering his thoughts. "Bruce and I started doing this when I first came to the Manor."

"I didn't know you and he did this."

"We wouldn't do it very often, but each candle we would light would represent so many lives lost in the course of . . . For a while Bruce stopped. He said if he thought about those that were lost it would make it hard for him to be Batman. I kept doing it so I could remember why I was doing this, to save lives, but sometimes . . ."

"But why 13?" Tim asked.

"Because each person who lost their life . . . I . . . I might have known them. Some of them were police officers. "

"Police lose their lives every day," Tim pointed out.

"Not like this," Dick replied. "If there was one thing that Batman taught me, you honor those who lose their lives in the course of those doing their duty. We take for granted those in uniform . . . and I mean those who are in the military or who are police officers, they are just as much heroes as those who wear a mask. In fact more so."

"How?"

"Because they do it without that mask. Do you remember why we wear the mask?"

"So no one will know who we are," Tim replied.

"It's to protect our families, Tim. Criminals, if they knew whom you were they might go after your family. It's to protect their identity as much as it is to protect yours. But when it comes to a police officer, they put their lives on the line every day without that mask."

"But what happened today . . ."

"I know, Tim. It's senseless, but I cannot help thinking that the person who did this wasn't really a bad person." At the same time, Dick pulled out a 14th candle and placed a little bit aside from the rest.

"You're lighting a candle for . . ." Tim was puzzled.

"Yeah," Dick said. "The man had to be hurting so badly that he was blinded by that hurt. This candle is also for each of us."

"How so?"

"Bruce witnessed his parents being killed. So did I. You may not have seen the death of your mother, but you saw what Captain Boomerang did to your father. Can you with absolute certainty say that you could not become like that shooter today? Bruce could have, that much I know. There has been so many times where he held himself back. With Jason's death, he came very close. That's why I left for a short time. I had to before I would have done the same thing."

"You?" Tim was surprised by that confession.

"Bruce worked with me because I was filled with so much anger, I wanted to kill Zucco, but if I had, I would have been no better than him. The guy who killed all those people . . . He didn't have someone he could talk to. The anger that must have been inside . . . "

"I can see what you're saying,." Tim stated. "But to light a candle for him . . . I don't know if I could do that."

"He's just as much a victim as they were, maybe more so . . . because he was suffering. He probably wanted to die . . ."

"But he took so many lives . . ."

" . . . I know. That wasn't right," Dick stated. "And those lives cannot be returned. All I know is what I feel for myself. I just can't see the dark side of this. I need to see some hope. At lease he isn't suffering any longer."

Tim shook his head. He didn't know if he could light a candle for a man who massacred. It didn't seem right. All those lives lost. Tim looked up to see a single candle set apart from the others.

"Who is that for?"

"I think you know," Dick said.

"But he's not dead."

"No, but he's not here either. It's to bring him home."

"Shouldn't that candle be with the rest?"

"Like you said, he's not dead. That's actually for hope. Hope that some day, we won't be needed any more. Until then . . . let's go. It's time to go to work."

End