The Other Woman

A.N.: No reviews on the last chapter. Am I losing my touch? Oh well; enjoy, anyway!

A hand shook his shoulder, and Dick was shocked to find himself standing at his bedside window, staring out at the bright morning as an emerald forest and silver fur melted away. He sneezed when cologne stabbed his nose, making his already stinging eyes water. He could hear, though he usually ignored it, two heartbeats in the room: Bruce's steady rate and his oddly pounding one.

"You were howling, again," Bruce said, stuffing his hand back into his pocket. His face was cautious, eyes and mouth drawn into severe lines. "Everything alright?"

He nodded, getting out a surprisingly hoarse, "Sorry," as he rubbed his rough throat, blinking against the harsh light.

"Who were you trying to call?" the man asked, looking out the window, himself. Dick furrowed his brows at the man.

"Who says I was calling anyone?" Bruce shrugged.

"Wolves howl to signal their position to another pack member. So, if you were howling, then there's another wolf in Gotham. Do you know who it is?"

"Or," Dick snapped. "I was asleep, and it was just a dream. You ever think of that, World's Greatest Detective?" Bruce glared for a moment.

"You might want to call Barbara, later," he added. At the sharp look his ward gave him, he tacked on, "You don't have to tell her anything if you don't want to, but she is worried. She even asked about you, the other day. So, unless you want her to pay a visit, I suggest you check in with her, sooner than later."

Dick nodded, yawning as he made his way back into bed. "Alright, I'll call her later on."

"Sweet dreams," Bruce replied, a hint of wry humor in his voice. He turned back towards the door, shutting it quietly behind him.

"Good luck with your board meeting," Dick answered, facing the ceiling. Footsteps died down the stairs, leaving Dick to listen idly to his heart.

This had to be at least the fifth dream about Aurora he'd had in the three days since the full moon. All five had been intensely real and none of the five had been or would be mentioned to Bruce, if he were lucky.

"I'm hung up over a wolf," he realized, slight panic settling into his stomach.

However, even as he tried to wrap his mind around how he'd get over a long-distance, interspecies crush, sleep claimed him, and he was whisked away to the deep forest once again.

A musty smell filled his nose as he woke up, again. It was, to his surprise, light and pleasant, something he didn't immediately choke on. Joining it was the faint smell and squishy sound of Alfred making a tuna salad (significantly less enjoyable).

He opened his eyes and located the source of the smell and second pulse in the room.

"Have you been watching me sleep?" he groggily asked, only half-joking. He dragged himself up, glad he'd put on a shirt that morning. He wryly noted the fact that it was only noon.

Barbara smirked. "Only for the last ten minutes; you're just too cute!" She chuckled, under her breath. "All joking aside, Alfred said you were sleeping. I just didn't want to wake you."

"Thanks," he yawned. Relative silence settled between them, save for their own heartbeats. He had no idea why sounds had suddenly become so much more intrusive, but it was like he could no longer ignore those types of noises. It would certainly get old quick.

"What do you have?" Barbara chirped, making him flinch and derailing his train of thought.

"What's wrong?" she said, thankfully in a hushed tone.

"Loud," he replied. "The...condition I have; it increases some of my senses. Disrupts my sleep cycle, too. That's why I've been sleeping all day: I can only stay awake at night."

"Oh," she whispered. "Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you. Or wake you." He shrugged, a small smile on his face.

"What brings you here?" he asked.

"I just wanted to visit. I mean, it's only been two months since we've even seen each other," she quipped.

"I'm sorry," he said, looking at his comforter to avoid her sapphire eyes. "I meant to call you, today, but…" He shrugged again, shaking his head at his stupidity.

"I forgive you," she murmured, a light-hearted smile on her face. She climbed onto the bed next to him, unaware of the fact that by doing so, she was making Dick's head spin as he drank in her scent of soap and books.

"So," she said, breaking his thoughts, again. "What disease causes sleep disturbances and intensifies - which senses?"

"Sight, hearing, and smell," he listed off. Barbara hummed in thought, leaning into his side. He wrapped an arm wound her, absently stroking her arm.

"You know," she giggled. "Increased sight, hearing, and smell, plus being nocturnal… It kind of sounds like you're a werewolf!"

He forced a laugh. "Yeah, it kind of does." He cleared his throat and lied through his teeth. "In actuality, what I have is an entirely new thing they're calling 'Grayson's Disease.' Apparently, it's some kind of virus. Incurable."

"Can't your body fight it? Has it been?"

"Hmm-mm." He shook his head. "Doctors are pretty much scratching their heads, but the one thing they can agree on is that it's definitely chronic; I'll have it the rest of my life."

He grappled with that for a moment, the reality somehow only setting in now. For a reason he couldn't really identify, he had figured this whole time that the condition was temporary. That they might be able to find some miracle cure, or maybe Ra's would show some shred of mercy and let him use the Lazarus Pit.

Now that he'd said it aloud, those things seemed a million miles away. Moments of mercy or pity from Ra's Al Ghul were few and far between, and miracles were thin on the ground. He was well and truly stuck.

"So," Babs said, breaking the silence. "Not a werewolf, then." He pulled on a wry smile, shaking his head.

"Definitely not a werewolf," he chuckled.

She twisted around in his hold, her chest to his side. "So, therefore, this doesn't have any effect," she murmured cheekily, reaching up and ruffling the hair behind his ear, her nails scraping his scalp and sending shivers up his spine.

He sighed, melting into the sensation, and the wolf doing the same. "That actually feels really good," he moaned, eyes slipping shut as he slid back onto his pillow. Unconsciously, he leaned into her fingers, on the edge of falling asleep, again.

"What about this?" She moved her hand down to his abdomen, slipping under his t-shirt and digging her nails harshly into his stomach. Another moan escaped him as he tipped his head back, brain completely short-circuiting.

He heard, rather than felt, his leg begin to jerk rapidly, his bed creaking with the motion. What he did feel was his head going light and dizzy. Whether it was from the scratching, her scent, his exhaustion, or a combination of the three, he had no idea. He just knew that he would probably pass out if she kept this up.

All too soon, though, she pulled her hand away and his leg stilled. She slapped his chest, giggling infectiously as she laid next to him. Sure enough, he found himself laughing too, glad that she thought the werewolf thing was only a joke.

"So, what do you do to keep yourself occupied?" she asked, slipping her folded hands under her head.

"You know the woods a mile or two away from here?"

"No, but go on."

"Well, I go for walks, there, sometimes," he truthfully explained. "Not exactly labor-intensive walks - the symptoms get worse as my heart rate elevates - but I like to explore."

"What about your senses?"

He shrugged. "You get used to it, I guess. The smells used to bother me, especially. But after a few weeks, I just stopped noticing."

"Hmm," Barbara replied. She left it at that, rolling over and slinging an arm over his abdomen with a sigh. "I'm just gonna nap here," she said.

"Go home and sleep," he laughed, gently shaking her. She groaned but didn't move. He gave up, feeling sweet sleep creep back up on him.

He vaguely heard Batgirl say something about Mal taking up a superhero name and the team needing a new ops manager. He couldn't make most of it out; his exhaustion was pulling him deeper and deeper. He was pretty sure she'd asked him a question, to which he lazily agreed before finally falling asleep.

A.N.: Remember how Wally calls Dick a dog? That just took on a whole new meaning. Next chapter, Nightwing returns to the cave! Let me know how you'd like that to pan out.

Should the team be mad at him for leaving? Sympathetic? Who do you think finds out first, and how? Let me know all of that, as well as what you thought of the chapter, in a review, and I'll be glad to write it! Also, give my latest story The Wolf at Night a read and please review on that. Second chapter is in the works, so I'd really like some feedback.

Until next time, thank you for your time and GOD BLESS!