Chapter 3

We stopped at the police station and got out, meeting Kory at the back of the Porsche. Dick got my cases out and put them in the front truck of the Porsche. Feeling a rush of energy, I turned to see Romolo leaning against the building of the station. I smiled upon seeing the tall black man. Romolo's dark eyes lit up as he smiled and opened his large arms to me. My smile widened even more, and I ran into his arms for a bear hug.

Romolo squeezed me to help ground me as I took a shuddering breath. When we pulled back, Romolo put his heavy hands on my shoulders with a sympathetic smile on his face. His dark eyes questioning if I was okay. I nodded with a small smile, before I took his hand and lead him over to Dick and Kory. They were both looking at us with curious looks.

"Dick Grayson and Kory Anders," I introduced, while gesturing to each of them. "This in my older cousin, Romolo Allesi."

Romolo shook Dick's hand with a little more force than necessary and a blank face. Dick shook out his hand a little and glanced at me, but I just shrugged one of my shoulders. Romolo then took Kory's hand and kissed the back of it. Kory's cheeks looked a little darker at the gesture and smiled faintly. I rolled my eyes and elbowed him lightly.

Romolo gave me an amused look before looking back to the others. "While it's good to meet you both, I have to get going," he said with his thick Italian accent. He then glanced at me. "I'm almost finished with the arrangements, so you should be able to focus more on Rachel."

I gave him a genuine smile. "Thank you, Rome. I truly appreciate it."

Romolo gave me another hug and kissed my temple. "That's family paradiso."

Kory gave him the keys, and, with one last wave, we watched him drive off. When my truck disappeared, Kory turned back around to Kick and I. "Okay, let's go."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Dick said, stepping in front her. "You're not coming."

"What?" Kory objected. "Why?"

"You're not exactly the definition of 'blending in'," Dick admonished.

"I've blended in just fine," Kory countered, glancing down at her outfit.

"I think she looks fine," I put in with a smirk.

Dick gave me a look with narrowed eyes. "I've got the badge and Emma is her sister, We can find out if anyone's seen her faster without you. Not to mention, you're wanted by the police. This is a police station."

"Hold on," I cut in, my brow furrowed in confusion. "Why are you wanted by the police?"

"She broke into your mom's house and injured three police officers," Dick said a little aggravated. "Not to mention burning and killing one of the men from the family that kidnapped Rachel."

"Huh?" I asked, looking between them both with furrowed brows. "How?"

"Look, can we talk about this later?" Dick asked desperately. I could also hear the slight panic in his voice. "Like, after we find Rachel?"

Kory just huffed as she made her way to get in the backseat. She gave us an indignant look from over the car before she got in. "Hurry up."

As she slammed the door behind her, we both turned to walk into the police station. Dick showed his badge to the officer at the desk, and I wanted to roll my eyes at the sight of these 'cops.' They were sitting on their butts, drinking coffee, and eating. Normally, things would be a lot more lively. But I guess there was a lot less to do in the country.

"Long way from Detroit, huh?" the officer asked, looking at the picture of Rachel that we had.

"My little sister," I explained with a worried look. "She had a fight with our mom and ran away. My…boyfriend offered to help me look for her."

I looped my arm through Dick's in a slight show of affection. Dick looked at me with a slight smile, but I could see the confusion in his eyes. But the officer grabbed our attention again by handing back the picture and talking.

"We got a report on this earlier," he told us. "Hunter shot himself. Said something about a tiger in the woods with a girl with purple hair, like this."

"A tiger?" Dick asked incredulously.

"Yeah, a green one," the officer relied, the started to laugh with the officer behind him. "He was drunk."

I was just staring at the officer in disbelief and glanced at Dick. He had a blank serious face on and didn't look impressed by how they were acting. When they stopped laughing, Dick leaned forward a little. "What did you say that hunter's name was again?"

After he gave us the hunter's name and address, we left the station and Dick immediately turned to me. "I'm not gonna pretend that I didn't enjoy hearing you call me your boyfriend again, because I did," he started. "But why did you do it?"

I quirked an eyebrow at him, choosing to ignore the first part of his words. "It would seem weird if a detective were helping out a woman looking for her little sister this far from Detroit. There had to be another reason."

"But why did you say boyfriend?" he insisted.

"Why are you so determined to know?" I countered with narrowed eyes. "Because I'm pretty sure that it was you who left me. If that excuse is so bothersome, then I'll say something else."

I went to storm past him, but Dick grabbed my arm and spun me back around to look at him. Dick's honey brown eyes bore into my ice blue eyes. I could see a swirl of emotion in his eyes. From fear to insecurity, and admiration to one emotion that I couldn't describe. It was one that I would see when we were together, and it was also one that I saw when he left.

I broke our stare and ripped my arm out of his hand. Walking quickly, I went and got into the passenger side of the Porsche. I watched as Dick sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. He got back into the car and drove away from the station in silence.

When we got to the house of the hunter, we all got out and went up to the door to knock. A dog started to bark behind us in the front yard as the door was opened. The man standing there looked aggravated and pissed off. "What do you want?" he growled.

"Need to talk to you about the girl you saw in the forest," Dick answered in a calm tone, holding up his badge.

The hunter was confused as his eyes roamed over the three of us. "What?"

"Did she say anything?" Dick questioned. "Did you see where she went?"

The man looked more annoyed than before. "You know, I already talked to the cops, so you can fuck off." He went to close the door, but Dick stopped him and forced it open. "Hey! You can't do that!"

"I'm gonna need you to answer my questions," Dick demanded in an icy tone.

"You better back off!" he said as he grabbed a shot gun. Dick was faster and took the gun from the hunter's hands. He pushed the hunter inside and the two fought into the front room as Kory and I followed.

Dick had the guy down in front of the coffee table and grabbed his shirt. "Did you see where the girl went?" When the hunter didn't answer, Dick only got angrier. "Answer me!"

"You're a psycho!" the man grunted. Dick pushed him and he grabbed a beer bottle, but Dick caught his arm, bashing the bottle over the hunter's head.

Dick was reacting on complete rage and total instinct. It was like he had tunnel vision and the only thing that he could think about was beating this guy. I had never seen him like this, and I honestly didn't know what to think about it. I only zeroed back in when Kory hit my arm and pointed to the other side of the room. Looking to what caught her attention, I saw a little kid standing there in shock.

"Dick!" I called to get his attention, but he was too far gone. Walking up, I caught his arm as he was about to take another swing. "Dick stop!"

"Daddy?" the boy asked, running forward. "Daddy!"

Dick stepped back to let the kid hug his father. Dick met my uncertain blue eyes, before he scoffed and left the house.

"I would never hurt no girl," the guy said, returning my attention to him. "No kid. The only place out there is the old Caulder house."

"Where?" Kory asked, when it was clear that I wasn't going to say anything.

"It's out on Danny Street," he responded. "But it's all locked up. Ain't no one there."

Kory took out a few hundred dollars out of her pocket and held it out to him. "Sorry."

The guy looked at it, then grabbed it. "Fuck you," he said, before turning his attention to me as I bent down in front of him. "What do you want?"

I reached out and placed two fingers on his forehead, glad that he didn't flinch away. My eyes flashed before I pulled away. His face healed instantly and then I placed my hand on the back of the boy's head. My eyes flashed again. His son leaned back and looked at his father's healed face then hugged him again. I stood up as the hunter looked at me in shock. I just gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry. He shouldn't remember any of this when he wakes up."

Turning around, I walked out of the house with Kory following. Once we were outside, Kory turned to me with fascination in her eyes. "How did you do that?"

"As a part of my powers, I can heal people," I answered evenly. "And erasing people's memories is till rather hard, but it's getting easier." I looked to see Dick standing there, staring off into space and flexing his hand. Walking over, I took his bruised and busted hand in mine. Theis caused him to jump and look at me in alarm. I ignored his eyes as I placed my left hand over his and felt the warmth of my powers flow into his hand. When I was done, I removed my hands and looked into Dick's eyes. I offered a slight smile. "The old Caulder house on Danny Street."

I walked past him and go into the passenger seat. Kory was already in the back and looked as though she was going to fall asleep. I turned in my seat to look at her as Dick got into the driver's seat. "You can close your eyes if you want," I told her, and she gave me a confused look. "We have some time before we get there, and you look like you energy is drained. Recharging is the best thing you can do to help us right now."

Kory nodded, a little reluctantly, and readjusted before closing her eyes. I tuned back around to face the front, purposefully avoiding Dick's eyes. There was a tense silence between us before Dick broke it. "Please say something," he practically begged.

I finally looked over at him, taking in the white knuckle grip he had on the steering wheel and the tension in his jaw. I debated making him suffer in the silence but decided to give a little mercy. "Is that the reason you left?" I asked. "You thought that I wouldn't want to be with you after seeing you like that?"

He looked over at me in shock and loosened his grip on the wheel a little. "You're not freaked out?" he asked in confusion, turning back to the road.

"I'll admit that I'm a little shocked," I answered honestly. "But I'm more upset that you would make that assumption. You also didn't answer my question. Is that why you left?"

Dick sighed. "Not entirely, but yes. I'm sorry."

I rose and eyebrow at that. "What are you sorry about? That you can't control your anger? That you broke my heart? Or that you didn't tell me before? Or that you were wrong about my reaction?"

"All of them," he muttered almost instantly.

I sighed. "Why didn't you aske for my help or any of the others? We would have found a way to help you."

"I didn't want to burden any of you," Dick argued. "It was my problem, and not yours."

"You think that I wouldn't have wanted to help the man I love with one of his problems?" I countered, before realizing what I said. It seemed that Dick realized it too, because he looked at me in surprise, but there was hop in his eyes.

"You love me?" he asked nervously.

"I never stopped," I whispered. In the four years that we had been together, we had never said those three words. We had always understood each other's feelings without words, and on occasion, we would talk about us, but we never said those words. "I just wish that you would have asked for help instead of isolating yourself."

"I love you," he whispered, and didn't take his eyes off the road when I looked at him. "I didn't want to risk you when I didn't know what I would do."

"Listen to me Richard Grayson," I demanded, and I caught a slight flinch at his full name. "No one in this world manages alone. We all need someone in one way or another. You're parents and the circus never did anything alone, they did it as a team, a family. That is something that you forgot about."

There was silence that followed my rant and I could see the tension in Dick's shoulders lift as he took a deep breath. Dick chuckled, that made my brow furrow in confusion. "Nothing like getting a berating from you that lets off steam," he muttered with a smile.

I laughed a little. Every time I had an argument with our friends in the past, it seemed that they would deflate after I finally went off. "We are going to have another talk about this Dick," I told him. "Let's focus on getting Rachel first."

Dick hesitated for a moment but nodded and then reached over to take my hand in his. I could feel his sincerity through the connection of our hands. He gave it a squeeze and smiled at me. I squeezed his hand for an anchor and smiled back at him.

*Angel With a Shotgun*

When we drove up to what I assumed was the Caulder house, it certainly didn't look abandoned to me. In fact, there were lights on and the driveway was cleared. We entered the house, and the lights were flickering, and you could hear static crackling in them. "Hello?" Dick called out.

We walked further into the house and were looking around the best we could with the flickering lights. There was a moment when all the lights went out and I felt an unstable presence behind us. I spun around when I heard, "Get out."

I spun around and spotted a woman with brown hair in a red and white dress standing there before the lights blacked out again. When they came back up, the woman's skin seemed to be melting off. "Get out!" she screamed.

The three of us backed up only to be surprised by a robot and a man in bandages and a pilot's uniform and jacket. We heard screaming from downstairs and both Dick and I recognized it. "Rachel," Dick whispered.

"Go," Kory insisted.

Dick grabbed my hand and pulled me along with him as he ran towards the cream. All of a sudden, I got hit with a massive wave of dark energy. I gasped and stumbled into the wall as we came to an opening. There was a spiral staircase that led to what looked like an old fashioned medical set up. "Em, what's wrong?" Dick asked.

I could only look down to see Rachel with her back to us. The air was charged with her dark energy and a wind swirled around the area. "She's too powerful for me to get close!" I told him, speaking loudly to be heard over the wind. "You need to bring her back!"

"What?!"

"Please Dick!" I screamed. "I've seen that you care about her! You wouldn't be here if you didn't! You need to bring her back! I can't get close without pain!"

Dick glanced between Rachel and me before leaning forward and giving me a peck on the lips. It shocked me enough that Dick was able to lead me down the stairs but left me at the bottom. He walked closer to Rachel, shouting her name.

He finally reached her, and I could barely hear him through the loud hum of energy. "Rachel! Rachel! Hey!"

"You're going to die," Rachel said in a distorted, demonic voice. The sound made my heart clench. "Get out of here, before it's too late."

"I'm not going anywhere," Dick declared.

"I don't wanna hurt you."

"Listen, I was wrong," Dick told her, holding onto her upper arms. "When I told you no one can help you."

"Dick, you need to leave," Rachel pleaded, her voice cracking.

"At the church, when I said you're on your own," Dick continued. "Okay, I was wrong. You're not on your own. Okay? You have me. I'm here. You have your sister. She's here. We're not going anywhere, okay? I'm not going anywhere. Here I am."

He pulled her into a hug and her power faded. She sobbed into his shoulder as he comforted her. "I'm right here," he said softly. "It's okay."

When they pulled away, I took a few shaky steps forward, still slightly off balance with how much energy with which I was hit. "Rachel?" I called.

Rachel looked over to me and gasped. Her eyes widened and she teared up again. Dick gave her a little nudge and she lunged at me. "Emma! You're here!"

I wrapped my arms around her and almost cried myself. We both sank to the floor, both of us holding in sobs. "I'm here," I told her determinedly. "I'm never leaving you again."

I had my sister back.

*Angel With a Shotgun*

We lead Rachel our after helping the man they called Chief. Kory got in the car behind the driver's side, and I stood across from Dick on the passenger side. Rachel looked back at Garfield Logan, the boy that helped her. He started to speak to the others that where there and I looked over to see Dick looking at Rachel.

I decided to use on of my rarely used powers: telepathy. 'That was a good job at committing to something, Boy Wonder,' I teased in Dick's head.

Honey brown eyes snapped to me. There was that emotion again in his eyes. 'I wish that I had done it sooner,' he thought back to me.

I blushed, thankful for the limited light from the house, and turned back to Rachel and Garfield, or Gar as he wanted to be called. "Rachel," I called, and she turned to me. "Get in the car."

Turns out Gar was coming with us. He got in the back next to Kory and Rachel got in next. I climbed into my seat and Dick put the Porsche into drive.