Mosaic
By Neemers
Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine.
Dick was back in Gotham, and had settled down for a long talk with one of his best confidants, a rival to even Alfred.
"You know, I always thought that all those "life is..." statements were always so stupid, but now I find myself using one inside my own head. The batclan is a mosaic. Outsiders seem to get it a little bit. They see how we work together off of each other's strengths and feel our hardness and sharp edges. But that's not the end of it.
"When people first made mosiacs, it wasn't becuase the clay was made for that. It was because the pot was broken and couldn't go back. That's us. Broken. Bruce and me when we lost our parents, JP by the System...the others are more subtle.
"Looking back, I wonder if that's part of the reason Bruce tried to get rid of Babs as Batgirl. Because she was whole and he didn't want to see her broken. You remember her like that, don't you? You should, after seeing her first flight. And then those bullets...
"For Cass and Tim it was parent troubles, at least partly. Tim's family came back, but I think he's still more confident of the family that took him in when it had no obligation to him.
"Helena and Steph...seem to be fighting out against the system they were raised under. Perhaps for them, it's redemption. Sins of the fathers and all that. I don't really know them well enough to say for sure.
"Alfred has a family that he bleeds for. With Alfred I don't know what happened to break him. Ocasoinally that gentleman's gentleman facade slips, and I see the pain beneath. I don't know if that came before or after the rising of the Bat.
"Harold was broken by the Penguin, but he has a home now. I'd like to think that he's healing.
"That's us: a mosaic. All shattered beyond any hope of returning to what we are, but together we are whole. And the glue that binds us? I don't know. I think it's a combination: trust, loyalty, determination, but most of all that L word that Bruce will never say.
"Thanks for listening to me ramble on. You're always so good at that. It feels good to get it all out."
Dick swung off into the night, while behind him the gargoyle where the first Batgirl flew for the first time continued its silent vigilance of the city.
By Neemers
Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine.
Dick was back in Gotham, and had settled down for a long talk with one of his best confidants, a rival to even Alfred.
"You know, I always thought that all those "life is..." statements were always so stupid, but now I find myself using one inside my own head. The batclan is a mosaic. Outsiders seem to get it a little bit. They see how we work together off of each other's strengths and feel our hardness and sharp edges. But that's not the end of it.
"When people first made mosiacs, it wasn't becuase the clay was made for that. It was because the pot was broken and couldn't go back. That's us. Broken. Bruce and me when we lost our parents, JP by the System...the others are more subtle.
"Looking back, I wonder if that's part of the reason Bruce tried to get rid of Babs as Batgirl. Because she was whole and he didn't want to see her broken. You remember her like that, don't you? You should, after seeing her first flight. And then those bullets...
"For Cass and Tim it was parent troubles, at least partly. Tim's family came back, but I think he's still more confident of the family that took him in when it had no obligation to him.
"Helena and Steph...seem to be fighting out against the system they were raised under. Perhaps for them, it's redemption. Sins of the fathers and all that. I don't really know them well enough to say for sure.
"Alfred has a family that he bleeds for. With Alfred I don't know what happened to break him. Ocasoinally that gentleman's gentleman facade slips, and I see the pain beneath. I don't know if that came before or after the rising of the Bat.
"Harold was broken by the Penguin, but he has a home now. I'd like to think that he's healing.
"That's us: a mosaic. All shattered beyond any hope of returning to what we are, but together we are whole. And the glue that binds us? I don't know. I think it's a combination: trust, loyalty, determination, but most of all that L word that Bruce will never say.
"Thanks for listening to me ramble on. You're always so good at that. It feels good to get it all out."
Dick swung off into the night, while behind him the gargoyle where the first Batgirl flew for the first time continued its silent vigilance of the city.