Chapter 6

Dick

When Rachel woke up, she sat up groggily to see Dick smiling down at her. "Took you long enough." he said, his voice laced with relief. "Uhhggggg... what happened?" she asked. Dick filled her in with what had happened and she winced when he told her that she had to undergo some minor surgery to put the stitches back into place. "When is it?" she asked as Dick sat down next to her on her bed. "It's only a couple of hours after we left school" he said softly. She nodded and nestled into the pillows, pulling him in with her. They lay for a while, and Dick was about to say something when he heard her soft, quiet snoring. He smirked and hesitated, before kissing the top of her head and leaving her room.

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The next morning, Dick got up and ready for another day of school. He knew that as soon as he walked in, people would start asking questions about him, Rache, her dad and all the other stuff they were bound to talk about. He sighed as he left for school. He'd gone in to check on Rache, and when he saw her still fast asleep, he left a note on her bedside, telling her he had left for school and that she was to rest for the day, 'doctor's orders'.

Now, as he walked up to the steps to meet with Barbara, Artemis, Johnno and AJ,(he was the last one to arrive) he braced himself for the questions. First was Artemis, "How come you never told us that you were so close to her?" she asked, folding her arms. Dick sighed before telling her that he didn't think it was that important. Next it was Barbara who asked if they were dating. Dick skillfully avoided answering as Johnno asked his question, "Dude, why were you carrying heavy painkillers around with you all day? Was it because of her?" Dick nodded and Johnno smirked at him, claiming that he 'had it bad' for her. Finally, was AJ, who asked something that Dick was more comfortable to answer,

"So, is she ok? When will she be coming back?" Dick told him that hopefully, she'd be coming back in a day or two, she just needed to recover from the minor surgery, which was true. After all of their burning questions had been answered, the group headed into class for another boring day of school. The first two periods flew by, science and art, which made Dick think of Rachel, she was an amazing artist, then break, which was pretty boring, then maths and finally lunch. They all sat in the cafeteria and ate their lunch pretty quickly, before Artemis started frowning at Dick until he asked what was wrong.

"How did you and Rachel even meet?" she asked. Dick hesitated before answering, "Well, her dad had just moved into a high position at a Wayne firm and we met through our dads," he shrugged, "We got especially close when her dad, you know, and I was worried about her so I kinda just carried around these painkillers… just in case." Artemis nodded, satisfied with her answer, and went back to finishing her meal.

The last two periods went by really quickly and soon Dick was on his way home to see Bruce, Alfred and most importantly, Rachel. When he got to his room, Dick stripped off his jacket and shoes before heading into Rachel's room, quietly in case she was asleep. When he got there, he saw her sitting up in bed, reading, and he grinned before flopping on her bed, not at all surprising Rachel. They chatted about how she was feeling, what he did at school and the lies he had to tell to make sure no one was suspicious. Dick told her how much he hated lying to his close friends and she was sympathetic. He loved spending time with her because of how easy-going and kind she was. She was also really funny and they had a lot of the same likes and dislikes.

"Diiiicckkkk, hey Dick?" Rachel waved her hand in front of his face, "Earth to Dick," she said, suppressing giggles as she looked at his faraway expression. He snapped out of it and grinned at her before they both burst out laughing. After a minute, once they'd both calmed down, they lay on her bed together, in a comfortable silence staring at the ceiling. "So," Rachel began, "I guess the secret's out that we know eachother…" "Yeah…" Dick replied, "But I'm kinda glad..." Rachel shifted to face him and looked at him questioningly, "I don't know… I guess, I like being with you, and talking to you, and I don't care if the school knows, hell, I don't care if the whole country knows, as long as I get to be with you…" he said softly.

He turned to look at Rachel, who was grinning at him, before snuggling into his shoulder and he smirked and put his cheek on the top of her head. Again, they lay like this for a while, until Rachel swore and looked up at Dick, "It's 6:30 already! We'd better get downstairs." Dick chuckled and nodded as they both got up and headed downstairs together.

After dinner, Dick wished Rachel a goodnight and changed into his pyjamas, Bruce said he didn't have to go on patrol tonight, before flopping onto his bed with the biggest grin across his face. Rachel was amazing, and he thought that Johnno was right; he had it bad.