Terry took a deep breath and walked down the steps, trying to calm the sound of his beating heart. Dick was down already, wanting it to be a surprise when Terry appeared and wanting everything to seem the same between them as it had been since his hiatus.

His footsteps caused both older men to turn and look to the stairs and Bruce's face showed no sign of relief or anger, just cold indifference. "Terry."

Dick smiled. "Hey kid. Long time, no see."

Terry managed a weak smile. "Yeah. I was...a little...."

"Petulant? Stubborn? Invidious?" Bruce mumbled, now glancing at the screen and pressing a few buttons on various cameras around the city.

"Well I know stubborn, and I'm sure I was those other ones too. Look Bruce I..."

Bruce stood, his cane wobbling as he strode across the room towards his cases of costumes without a word. Dick coughed. "Bruce."

"Terry, I think you have somewhere to be?"

Terry looked at Dick, then at Bruce's back. He frowned. "Yeah, I...yeah, let me go change."

Dick watched him leave and waited a moment before whispering, "You couldn't just acknowledge his mistake and make it seem like you gave even a little care about him being back? Why couldn't you just..."

Bruce turned the chair and his eyes were ice boring into Dick's. "Because I know you, Dick. I see you in other people and I know when you've taught someone to act like you. I am not about to sit and watch you throw your influence onto Terry because unlike many others I know, you are the last person I would want to rub off on any apprentice of mine."

Dick didn't look away. "You didn't used to think that way."

"That was before."

"Bruce..."

Bruce turned his chair back and Dick was about to continue his argument when he heard footsteps behind him. It was Terry in all his glory, a Batman to behold. Terry looked at him, then at Bruce, and then at him before turning and leaving without a word.

Dick's fists clenched in anger. He may be over sixty years old, but he felt like he could punch through a brick wall. Both men heard the familiar sound of an engine and Terry was gone, a link suddenly springing to life on the screen in front of Bruce's eyes and Terry's cold, indifferent voice calling out, "Batman out."

Bruce pressed a button and mumbled, "Vigilance, Batman, is the value of a strong leader."

The other link was eerily quiet and Dick knew it would be for the rest of the night, even if Terry were attacked by three thousand Gila monsters and lost a hand in the process. He wasn't about to lay himself out to Bruce.

"I hope you're enjoying your new position, Bruce. I really do. And for the record," he walked in front of the screen and Bruce looked up at him, "I didn't tell Terry to say a damn thing. The kid was himself and he," Dick smiled, "Forget it. Goodnight Mister Wayne. I've gotta call Babs and tell her she owes me a hundred dollars."

He strode off, feeling twenty again, and feeling the freedom of Nightwing in his bones; and the like the night he left Robin behind: He didn't look back.

He sat in the food court watching people walk past and remembering what it was like to be one of them.

The young.

Happy go-lucky in their naiveté, not knowing what was ahead of them and thinking they had every right to whatever they desired. "You know, from where I'm standing, this technically makes you a dirty, old man."

Dick looked up and smiled at Terry standing with a bag over one shoulder but without a smile. "If I were here for that reason, I would've brought my binoculars."

That got a smile and Dick felt a stir somewhere he pretended not to, realizing suddenly Bruce's protectiveness over this kid. Terry smiled openly now but didn't sit next to him, instead noticing his briefcase beside him. "That's pretty schway. Are you like, rich or something?"

Dick scoffed. "Or something. Bruce gave a little severance pay to all of us former...'apprentices'...and I started a little company called Knight, Inc. We...."

Terry sat next to him now. "...make self-defense weapons for the average consumer! I...," he blushed, "...I've seen the commercial."

Dick laughed some and was about to go into a company rant when a feminine voice called out, "Terry! I've been looking everywhere you...oh. Hi."

She was pretty, Dick saw, but she wasn't permanent and definitely had no idea who he was or why Terry would be talking to him. Dick looked at Terry, who blinked before coughing a little. "Oh, yeah. Um, Dana Tan this is Dick Grayson. Dick, Dana."

Dick held out his hand and the girl shook it, bewildered. "Um, hi. Terry, are we...?"

Terry stood and straightened himself. "Yeah, sure. Hey, I'm gonna stop by and check on Mister Wayne later but...."

Dick's eyes darkened. "I'm not staying there anymore."

Terry's eyes widened a split second before recovering. "Oh. Well, I'll see ya then?"

Dick raised a hand in wave. "See ya."

He watched both teens disappear and remembered what it was like juggling women, work, and his real job at night back at Terry's age. None of them stuck around and he was almost half glad for the twist of jealousy that rose up as Terry put his arm around his girlfriend's neck.

Like he was entitled to something more, from either Terry or...Bruce.

He blinked, eyes a little panicked at his sudden revelation. Luckily before he could ponder further his phone rang.

It was Babs. "Babs, dear. Lovely to view you."

Her smiling face came from the tiny screen. "Keeping out of trouble? Did you try and...."

He rolled his eyes. "I have enough trouble handling Bruce and the kid. There's definitely not way I'd let myself be humiliated along the way."

"Dick, what...."

"I'm gonna stop by the precinct later, doll. Okay?"

She frowned. "Okay. Is Terry all right?"

Dick sighed. "I think so."

The phone made a beep, which meant call waiting, and suddenly a name flashed across the screen above Babs' hair: WAYNE, BRUCE 219-455-3432-5533 ACCEPT?

Dick hit DECLINE and heard the disconnection through his eardrums. "Later, doll, all right? I need to get into quiet territory for a while. Hone my skills."

Babs' throaty laughter answered him. "You do that. Maybe I'll join you."

"Maybe. Bye."

"Bye."

click.

He sat at the computer console in fifth period, typing like a mad man and printing everything he could find. It wasn't long before Max found him and leaned over his shoulder to read. "Flying Graysons dead, leave behind one son. Someone we know?"

Terry didn't answer and went ahead to the next page, seeing a continuing story throughout the next four issues of the Gotham Gazette.

"I met Bruce's partner."

Max blinked. "His partner? As in....Robin the..."

"First. Yeah."

"He cute?"

Terry laughed, looking over his shoulder at her. "Well for one thing he's sixty and for another...yeah."

Max giggled into his neck and he blushed. "Terry likes old, rich sugar daddies. I'm gonna tell Dana."

Terry held out his left hand and inside was a silver ring with a purple stone. "Dana already knows."

Max's eyes widened comically and she sat down beside him open-mouthed.

He sighed, putting the ring down on the table. "She...we saw Dick, earlier, at the mall. She asked me who he was and I told her someone I met through Mister Wayne and she got all huffy and started to saw he was 'creepy' and she didn't get why I hung around Mister Wayne all the time because she knew it wasn't just because he needed me and I..." he swallowed, "I got mad and avoided answering, and she just said, 'If I didn't know any better I'd think you like, had a thing for him or something, but he's like a hundred' and I just stared at her and she...she called me a freak and threw this and...yeah."

He went back to the screen and Max swallowed, coming back to herself. "Do you think she'll tell?"

"And risk it getting around the school that she dumped her ex because he was in love with a seventy-four year old rich billionaire? Doubtful."

Max picked up the ring, turning it in her hands. "Love, Ter? You've never said that before."

Terry paused, looked at her a little painfully and whispered, "Yeah,I know," before clicking PRINT one more time.