Through the darkness that clouded his mind, he could hear something, and when he looked hard, he could just make out a shadowy figure. He wasn't sure what it was doing there, or where it had come from his body protested and his mind wrestled with the fog that threatened to make him slip into darkness.

The figure approached and pushed him, he felt himself fall to his knees. The figure leaned over him, and when it rose and moved away he could see it had somthing in it's hand...Sticks?...No...Arrows.

It moved to stoop over another dark figure that lay crumpled on ground, he felt he should know who the other figure was, but the fog in his mind wouldn't let him recall the information. He couldn't see what the ominous figure was doing, but he sensed it was wrong. The figure moved away...through a doorway, he forced himself to rise, and follow. His mind felt as though it was floating behind him, his body fighting to give in to the weakness that assailed it. Wait...He could hear her...She was sobbing...His heart beat faster as he realised the figure was leaning over her. He tried to force his muscles to respond, but they refused. "No...Get away from her" He heard himself yell, his voice sounding as though it was coming from a great distance away. "Get away from her you bastard."

Roy's eyes flew open at the touch of a hand on his shoulder, he sat up, startled. It took him a minute for his mind to adjust, before realising he had fallen asleep on the sofa in the living room.

Connor had been leaning over him, it was his hand on his shoulder that had woken him.

"Are you ok?" Connor asked. "I heard you talking in your sleep...Dreaming, I didn't know if I should wake you or not."

Roy stared, his heart beginning to slow to it's regular pace from the rapid beating the dream had pushed it to.

"Umm...Yeah...It's ok...Talking in my sleep? What did I say?" he asked groggily.

"Well actually, you were yelling, telling someone to 'leave her alone' " Connor said. "Who were you dreaming about?...It sounded pretty rough."

Roy blinked, trying to recall the dream, but all that remained was a feeling of dread, and panic it had left behind. "I...I can't remember...It..It's gone." he stammered

"Just take a minute to think about it Roy, it might come to you.Was it about Lian?" Connor asked, he didn't want to push Roy, but he had the feeling this dream was important.

Roy frowned, thinking hard, "I don't remember." He said, his voice rising in frustration.

"Maybe it was about Cheshire, Roy...Maybe the dream was about what happened." Connor added.

Suddenly Roy felt all the pent up anger and frustration he had been surpressing explode to the surface as he had feared it would. " I TOLD YOU I DON'T FUCKING REMEMBER." He screamed, springing to his feet and shoving Connor hard.

Caught off guard, Connor stumbled backwards, falling over the coffee table, as soon as he hit the floor he sprang back to his feet and assumed a defensive position.

Roy stood, his face flushed with anger eye's blazing and fists balled, ready to strike again.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN HERE?"A female voice yelled from the doorway.

Roy spun around to see Dinah standing there, despite the firm tone in her voice only concern showed in her expression.

"WHY CAN"T YOU ALL FUCKING LEAVE ME ALONE." Roy bellowed, before storming off in the oppersite direction towards the kitchen which was the only other entrance to the room.

Connor let out the breath he hadn't realised he was holding, he was very glad Dinah had appeared when she did, he didn't want to end up in a fight with Roy especially when it was obvious Roy wasn't thinking clearly. Not that he was afraid in any way, other than damaging Roys obviously fragile emotoinal state even more, but both he and Roy knew that whilst Roy was a better archer and marksman, Connor's skills in hand to hand combat were far superior to Roy's, and he had no desire to use those skills on someone whome he considered a part of his family.

Dinah stood for a minute staring after the red headed archer, stunned by the outburst. Turning back to Connor she asked quietly, "What was that all about?"

Connor explained what had just happened before adding "He told me he didn't remember the dream, I felt it could be important, I pressed him to try harder to remember...I should have listened to him, I knew how stressed he's been and I should have backed off." he paused before adding. "I'll go and apologise."

"Oh no you won't Kiddo...Leave him to cool down for awhile before following him into a room full of easily thrown sharp objects, or you could find yourself dodging flying knives and forks in the state that he's in at the moment." Dinah said. "Let me handle this, you just wait for him to approach you when he's ready don't try to broach it with him untill then...Don't worry...I know Roy, he won't let it go forever, Once he calms down, and realises he over reacted he'll talk to you about it.

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Half an hour later, Dinah entered the kitchen. She was very glad Ollie had taken Lian out for the day, and even more releived she had stopped by to visit.

Roy sat at the table with his back to her as she entered, he had both arms crossed in front of him on the table, his head down and resting on his folded forarms. Dinah approached and reached out to run a hand gently accross his shoulders whilst at the same time taking a seat next to him.

"I'm a bastard" Roy said sitting up straighter.

"No...No your not, your reacting the way most people would in you postion." Dinah said, still keeping her hand on his shoulder, but leaning over and resting her forhead on Roy's upper arm.

"I totally over reacted, I knew he was only trying to help...I could feel it building for awhile now, I knew I was gonna lose it eventually..."

"It could've been worse Boyo...Lian could've been here but she wasn't, so I guess if you were gonna lose it, now was as good a time as any...Connors a big boy he understands."

Roy gave a half hearted chuckle. "Just as well you came in when you did...Connor would've wiped the floor with me."

"You do have a way of biting off more than you can chew somtimes Red...How many times has that temper of yours got you in deep?" Dinah added lightly.

"Too many times Dinah, more than I could count...Man I hope Lian doesn't inherit that trait from me."

Dinah laughed. "I wouldn't worry about that Boyo, she's already smarter than you."

Roy chuckled again. "Poor kid, she got herself a hell of a deal in the parenting department."

"I don't know...she could have done a lot worse than having you as her father." Dinah said firmly, rising to go make some coffee, before continuing. "This is big Roy, bigger than you...You can't be blamed for feeling out of control at the moment if I'd been in your position I would have probebly decked Connor, not just pushed him and stood there glaring at him. The fact that you didn't follow through before he even hit the floor show's you were still trying to keep some kind of control...Don't keep taking this all on board yourself Kid it's not working for you, it never has." She paused as she handed him his coffee, before adding. "We want to be here for you we want to help don't keep pushing us away Red we're your family...I know we're a pretty rag tag bunch but all we really have is each other...Ollie doesn't know how to reach you, what to say or how to make it easier for you, we're all feeling pretty much the same way Boyo."

Roy sighed 'I don't know what I need...Beside having this whole nighmare over, I don't really know how to express what I'm feeling..." he stopped, rubbing a hand across his eyes and holding it there for a moment.

"You can stop beating yourself up for a start, you said you've felt ready to explode for awhile now don't let it get that far if your feeling angry say so...you are allowed to feel things you know...Don't bottle it up inside and withdraw from us of course we're going to feel concerned. You get all mopey and quiet and we're all supposed to look the other way? Does'nt work like that, your gonna have Connor or Ollie or any one of us start asking questions, 'cause we want to help...But if you say 'Hey gang I'm in a pretty foul mood today cause I'm in a situation I can't control so a little space please...Oh and if someone wants to meet me in the gym you can help be blow of steam by trying to kick the crap out of me on the practice mat, that'd be handy too.' then we will all know where we stand and you can avoid some of what happened between you and Connor happening again." Dinah sighed than sat back, she hoped she was helping, it wasn't easy to find the right words.

Roy leaned back, he had been keeping his feelings to himself, he wasn't great at expressing himself emotionally, never had been. But Dinah made it seem so simple."So I just say, I'm pissed, so keep clear? And Connor will stop trying to fix things and Ollie will stop plying me will bowls of chilli to cheer me up?"

"Well maybe not completely, but if they don't I'll help you kick their butts myself."

Roy smiled, a genuine smile that made his eye's sparkle. " And if I need a sparing partner to blow off steam, I just have to ask?"

"Anytime Boyo, just say the word."

His eye's sparkled mischeiviously "So if we spar will you wear your old costume...the one with the fishnet stockings?" he asked raising his eyebrows up and down cheekily.

Dinah laughed "You cheeky sod...In your dreams Kiddo." she said giving him a smack on the back of the head but happy to see a glimmer of the old Roy back.

---------------------

Later that afternoon Dick arrived to visit Roy, after a breifing by Ollie on what had occured that day, Ollie suggested they both go into the living room to talk. Ollie wanted to hear Dicks update on the case, and as Ollie had been surprised to find Roy and Connor both busy downstairs fletching arrows, he didn't want to interrupt them... It was the first time in weeks Roy had even picked up an arrow.

Lian sat at the kitchen table coloring in as the two men discussed what Dick had found at Roy's apartment in hushed tones so Lian wouldn't hear.

"So you really beleive there was another person involved in this?" asked Ollie

"Looks that way." Dick stated

"Hell kid it more that looks that way...Like you said, ain't no way Roy would have taken Lian out the window." Ollie said.

Dick spoke slightly louder this time, he needed Ollie to understand that things weren't quite as simple as they appeared. "There are other senarios that could have occured, maybe Cheshire took Lian and called Roy because she wanted to face him, maybe she set the whole thing up, we can't rule out Jade taking Lian to the warhouse..."

A small voice came from the doorway "But Mommy didn't take me there, the man did...he was Mommy's freind."

The two men stopped and turned to look at the little girl, they hadn't heard her approach and weren't aware she was listening.

"What man sweetheart?" Dick asked gently.

Ollie gave Dick a glare, then rose and walked over to pick her up. He was about to reassure her, expecting her to refuse to say anymore, but was surprised when she mumbled a reply.

"The man...Like Grandpa Ollie...But with white hair." she murmered.

"Dick froze, a look of shock on his face as suddenly the peices of the puzzle began to drop. "Lian...This man...This freind of Mommy's...Did he have a beard like your Grandpa Ollie?"

"Yes, and a patch on his eye like a pirate...only he wasn't mean like a pirate, he was nice...He said Mommy wanted to see me and Daddy would come after he'd finished sleeping." Lian replied

Dick and Ollie stared at each other, both coming to the same conclusion. "Slade" they both said at the same time.