Title Navajo Dreams

Author Kim

Summery what if Bruce Wayne raised Roy Harper.

DC owns them.

part 9

Roy rode his motor cycle towards Gotham city, deep in thought, Why couldn't he please Bruce?..It wasn't like he hadn't tried...On the contrary, he had tried with every fiber of his soul...but no matter how hard that was, it was never enough...Why couldn't Bruce accept him the way he was...couldn't he see how much he wanted to be like Bruce..But he wasn't Bruce, he never could be...Bruce was perfection when he worked..Roy was flawed..a failure..He would never be in Bruce's league.

Roy felt tear's prickle at his eye's, but refused to allow them to form...

He wanted Bruce to be proud of him..but all he ever did was disappoint his mentor...He was grateful for Bruce for taking him in when he had no one else...and for a long time he felt like he belonged ..he'd never felt that in his life until he'd met Alfred and Bruce..but lately those old feelings of not fitting in had resurfaced..And now he realized he would never truly fit into Bruce's life...He couldn't, it wasn't possible..he would always fail..He remembered Bruce once telling him that 'we don't choose our family'..If Bruce had been able to choose..Roy thought sadly..he would never have chosen him.

From the corner of his eye Roy saw a black shape dart out on the road in front of him..Instinctively jerking the bike's handles towards the side of the road to avoid the animal, Roy felt the bike shudder as it left the road..Then a sensation of falling and tumbling..his breath left him as time and again his body slammed into the ground. Finally, after what had seemed a very long time, all movement stopped.

Roy lay staring at the sky for what seemed like a forever..trying to comprehend what had just happened...His mind clouded by shock, refused to let his thoughts organize themselves..Slowly his vision darkened, until eventually, the darkness over took him.

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Bruce sat at his desk, pondering the events that taken place shortly before...He hadn't meant for Roy to feel inadequate..that hadn't even entered his mind.

The work they did was dangerous..Bruce didn't want Roy to end up another casualty in the hero world, that's all he had meant..But then..as usual..he hadn't said what he'd meant.

Maybe Alfred was right, the boy was growing up..maybe it was time to let him develop more of his own techniques...If he really wanted to use his bow on patrol..Bruce could live with that..If he had to dance around distracting his opponents by spouting embarrassing quips..he could live with that also. But he didn't want to live with the distance that was growing between them.

Bruce sighed and ran his fingers through his jet black hair, he just wanted Roy to be safe, that was all...He just wasn't good at expressing himself in a way the boy could understand.

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Roy moaned, his eye's fluttered opened...this time he felt pain... he hadn't been aware of it before, but he was now...every inch of his body hurt. His head pounded and there was a buzzing sound in his ears. He tried to sit up..and cried out in pain as the darkness flooded over him again.

Sometime later he felt the pain return..He had no idea how long he had been unconscious for..He lay with his eye's closed, in the hope of easing the throbbing in his head...He shivered..mostly from shock..but also from the cold air that signaled late afternoon..darkness would fall soon, he knew he needed to move..to get help..he couldn't stay here all night...He tried to move his arms, again pain surged through him...he was able to reach up with one hand to fumble with the buckle of his helmet..The other arm he, suspected was broken.

He fumbled with the buckled for what seemed like forever..before drifting down into unconsciousness again.

He stirred ..He must have only been out for a few minutes..it was still daylight..He was aware of a scuffling sound nearby..He turned towards the noise..Only to cry out as another surge of pain hit him.

Suddenly a familiar warm voice came to him..."Don't try to move Master Roy..help is on it's way." Alfred's concerned Grandfatherly face came into view..leaning of him..Roy smiled and relaxed back into the darkness..he was safe now.

End part 9