Goodbye to a Fallen Warrior – Chapter 9
Richard P.O.V.
As I walk out of the zeta-tube, I see three figures standing near the computers awaiting my return. I wasn't surprised that one of those figures was Bruce, but I was surprised to see Hal and Tim. What was Hal doing? I sigh, this can't be good, I can feel one of my stress headaches coming on, the type you get when you know you're about to get your head supremely bitten off.
"What time do you call this? Do you know how worried we were?" of course little Timmy's the first to snipe at me.
"Cool it baby bird, I've had a long night" I sigh.
"So we heard from Hal, who heard from Barry, who heard from Dinah" I look up at Bruce, he had the scary 'You are totally in deep shit' look on his face "Do you see the problem with that Dick? You should have told us straight away, Tim and Alfred were worried.. I was worried"
"I'm sorry Bruce, I was so side tracked by Wally I completely forgot to get in touch" I say, a look of guilt adorning my face.
"That's another thing Dick, why was Wally there? You know how dangerous Jason is at the moment, Wally could have been seriously hurt" Bruce says again in his strict tone.
"It wasn't intentional, he followed me and by the time I noticed he was there it was too late to do anything about it. You know I would never do anything to intentionally put Wally in danger, not when we've just got him back"
"we get that your sorry Dick but you went against protocol, you know that you're supposed to contact Batman straight after a mission, no matter what happened. That's something I would do, they were very worried" Hal jokes.
"Hal. Leave" Bruce orders.
"Sir, Yes sir" he salutes "Good Luck Dick" with that he disappears through the zeta-tube. Bruce turns back to me, I gulp, and this isn't going to be good.
"Dick go get a shower and change clothes, then meet me in my office, we have a lot to talk to about"
I was right, not good, I'm in so much trouble. I just simple nod, and begin to walk out of the cave. Suddenly I'm stopped by a baby bird hugging me "I'm glad you're ok Dick" I smile down at him and hug him back.
"Sorry for worrying you Tim" and with that I let go and continued the walk to my room. I reach the top of the stairs, I look up to see Alfred stood at the top holding a towel.
"Welcome Home Master Richard" he says, as he passes me the towel.
"Thanks Al." I say with a smile. If there was anyone I could count on not to judge me, its Al. He's like the kind Grandpa who gives you sweets even when your dad says you can't have any, or the kind of grandpa who will always trust in your judgement, let you make your own mistakes and trust you to learn from them. "Sorry for worrying you, it wasn't my intention"
"I know that Master Richard, which is why I'm not mad" but I bet he's disappointed " the shower in your bathroom is set to your preferred settings, I will have a cup of Hot Chocolate and pizza waiting for you when you're finished"
"marshmallows in the Hot Chocolate too?" he raises one of his eye brows, I give him a cheeky grin "Thank Al, you're the best"
"So I've been told Master Richard" he says as he begins walking down the stairs. I chuckle to myself, I then turn and enter my room. I walk over to my bed and take my clothes off, and throw them into the washing basket. I then walk into my bathroom and have a much needed shower.
It's an hour later when I make my way down stairs, as I reach the bottom step I see Bruce waiting for me. This can't be a good thing, though he is a little less scary when he isn't batman. He looks a lot like I would picture a disappointed dad would look, he even has a thrown that would make a baby cry. I gulp, yup I'm in trouble.
"Come let's sit in the lounge, Alfred has left your food in there" he says as he turns to walk into the lounge. I quietly follow him, I feel like a kid that been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. We both sit on the couch, I grab a piece of pizza and begin to eat. "Before we talk about what happened yesterday, we have to talk about your complete disregard for protocol" I open my mouth to say something but Bruce put his hand up, stopping me "I'm talking. I don't care how worried you were about Wally, as soon as Dinah took Wally into the recovery room, you should have called your commander who gave you the mission. That is proper protocol, but you didn't follow them" Damn it all, he's right "You let your feelings for Wally cloud your judgement, and that is also a weakness Jason now knows, which could potentially not only put your life in danger but Wally's as well. You know that Jason will do anything to mess with you, and you gave him the perfect weapon to do so" my eyes widen, damn it I'm an idiot. How could I be so stupid, I keep putting Wally in constant danger. Tears appear in my eyes, I feel a hand on my shoulders, I look up at Bruce "now I'm talking as your Dad. Alfred, Tim and I were so worried about you when Hal told us what happened, please for your family be more careful"
"I'm so sorry Dad" he gave me a soft smile "I'm not hungry anymore, I'm going to go train" without waiting for a reply I go to the gym, I'm really out of shape. I walk into the gym, and change into my training gear. I need to get stronger, I need to be strong enough to protect to protect the ones I love, I need to protect Wally. I am not afraid to do all I can to stop Jason before he hurts Wally, I have to make my mind stronger not just my body, I have to protect myself from Jason's taunting, and that is my biggest weakness.
Wally P.O.V.
The best thing about being a speedster is the rapid fast healing, apart from the major headache, I'm fully healed. However I think the headache is mainly caused by my best friend, how could he feel that way about me? I don't understand it, then again in reply to that, how do I feel about Dick? So many questions, what should I do? I look around to see the beauty of Central City Park. After I got the all clear from my sexy, hot doctor, I needed to go somewhere to clear my head. Normally I'd go and see Dick, seeing him usually helps, but this time he's the problem, I had to ask someone else to come talk to me. I hear someone call my name, I turn around and see my Aunt Iris walking towards me. I smile and wave to her, she runs towards me and pulls me into a strong hug.
"Hi Aunt Iris" I say the best I can, as she's currently squeezing my windpipe a bit.
"Wallace West" she says with an angry expression, oops she's angry "How dare you not come and see me as soon as you got back, I was so worried and heartbroken" ah crap, I didn't realise that I hadn't been to see her when I got back, a lot has happened, her frown changed to a smile "I'm just glad you're alive, and that your safe." I pull her into another hug.
"I'm sorry Aunt Iris, I didn't mean to make you worried" she pulls away and smiles "but there is something really important that I really need to talk about" I say with a serious look on my face. She nods her head and looks to her left.
"How about we go to the café across the road, have a coffee and have a chat" she smiles, I nod my head in agreement. We both stood up and began walking toward the café. It only took a few minutes, we got there and my Aunt Iris told me to get a table whilst she orders our drinks. I chose a booth near a window, it had an amazing view of the park.
I must have got lost in thought, as my Aunt Iris has returned and is placing two cups of coffee on the table. She then sits down in front of me.
"So go on Wally, what do you want to talk about?" she says with a smile.
"I've just found out that my best friend is love with me" she looks at me with a shocked expression "I know I can't believe it, who would have thought that the boy wonder was in love with me"
"I'm not shocked that Dick is in love with you, I'm surprised that your only just finding out" she says with a small smile.
"What? You knew too? Why didn't you or Uncle Barry tell me?" I say, with a slight betrayed look on my face.
"It wasn't our secret to tell" she says with a little giggle "so how did you find out?"
"I might have just lay there, relaxed and he said 'I'm glad you're ok, I love you' then he fell asleep" I say with a sigh.
"Wally.. That's not fair on Dick, he probably thought you were asleep and said that to you" she says with a slight look of disappointment on her face.
"What should I do?" I ask, feeling slightly guilty.
"I think you should tell him that you know"
"I can't do that Aunt Iris, at least not right now"
"why not?" she asks with a confused thrown.
"I can't confront him about how he feels, when I'm not even sure how I feel about him" she has a small smile on her face.
"And how do you feel about him?" she says obvious intrigued.
"I thought I knew, I thought he was just my best friend and that's all we'd ever be. However now everything has changed, I've started seeing him in a new light" she gives me a look, to encourage me to continue "There's little things that he used to do then I never thought much about, but now I find them really adorable. Think back to when we were younger, that creepy laugh Robin used to do for example, I used to find that creepy. Now I find it adorable and maybe a little sexy. Like Dicks eyes, I mean I've always thought he had nice eyes, but when I woke up this morning, I saw him walk out the bathroom and he looked at me, it the first time I realised how breath-takingly beautiful they are. I don't know what the hell is happening to me"
"well first, this whole situation is adorable" I frown at her "and second I think your finally realising what me, your Uncle Barry and Bruce have known for a long time"
"And what's that?" I say, slightly dreading what she's going to answer with.
"You're in love with Richard Grayson, and it terrifies you" my eyes widen.
"No I'm not, I can't be, I'm not gay" I reply stupidly.
"You don't have to be gay, it just so happens to be that the person you have fallen in love with is Dick. Listen your confused at the moment, what you need to do is go and see Dick and you need to talk to him and then see how you feel" she was right, I just need to go see him then maybe then I will know how I feel, maybe. I stand up and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Thanks Aunt Iris, I knew you were the right person to talk to about this"
I didn't wait for an answer, I exit the café as fast as I could and stated running in the direction of Gotham City. It's time to see a man about a bird.