Hello! Sorry for the long stretch of silence! Busy life! I will update soon Thank you for all the messages!

Disclaimer- I don't own any of these character

Richard knew where every security camera was in the manor. He knew that Bruce was probably aware of his exact location. He took another drink from a tray that was passing him, while replacing it with his empty one. He was grateful for all the years in his adolescence where he taught himself not to feel, because if he didn't have that self-control he would be a mess. He was looking forward to seeing Alfred again, even though he knew he would feel guilt for how he left. He wasn't looking forward to seeing Bruce. Over the past year that had been no communication with his surrogate father. A perk of being head of a company was that there were other people to do the communication for you.

He tried so hard not to think about her seeing her. He had practiced what he would say to Alfred, and how he would react to Bruce, but he wasn't sure if he could trust himself to look at her and not fall apart. He had chosen this corner to stand in because he was able to see everyone who entered and it was a quieter room. If she were here working she would need to be in the crowd.

"Coward." He muttered to himself, although he didn't care enough to do anything about it. He had four hours until he could leave, go back to his hotel and find a way to avoid coming back to Gotham again.

"So have you seen him yet?" Jason asked Kori as someone walked away from an interview with her.

"No." Kori replied. Jason was uncomfortable at these events so he clung close to Kori. He adjusted he bow tie again, letting a curse out as he fidgeted.

"Well when I see that son of a-"

"Language." Kori stopped him.

"Right, sorry. Well when I see him I am going to give him a piece of my mind. Aren't your friends here tonight too? They can help."

Kori sighed. Out of tradition Bruce invited Victor, Garfield and now Rachel. They had already warned Kori that they were not going to hold back when they saw him. The only one who was wasn't constantly bringing up the topic of hating Richard over the past 24 hours was Roy, although his grumpy disposition spoke for him. Kori wanted to finish their assignment and leave. She didn't know if she wanted to run into Richard or not. Instead of focusing on how she would respond to him she focused on her work, and avoided her friends and Roy if possible. Her phone buzzed in her hands.

"I need to find this person and get a statement. My editor's orders." She showed Jason her phone and he scanned the crowds.

"Dude is heading in the other room. I'll go with you."

" Your tracking skills are getting good." She laughed.

"Tell that to Bruce." Jason said with a scowl as they crossed the room. As they stood in the doorway preparing to walk up to the man Jason stiffened. "I'll be back." He growled. Kori knew what that meant as her heart dropped into her stomach and she felt her pulse quicken.

"Jason, please."

It was too late because she followed Jason's eyes and made direct contact with who he was staring at.

Richard's eyes grew wide as he stared into hers for the first time in a year. He froze and wasn't sure what to do, but that didn't matter because whoever was next to her started in his direction, with her following. Upon looking him up and down Richard identified him as Bruce's new ward.

"So you're the guy who was dumb enough to leave." Jason said in an arrogant voice as he puffed out his chest. Kori was close behind him.

"So you're the guy who is dumb enough to take my place." Richard responded. He could tell this kid was taken back by his response because the edges of his lips curled up before he had enough self-control. 'Bruce must not have broken him yet,' he thought.

"Look, I don't know who you think you are, coming back here-"

"A Wayne Enterprises Employee obligated to attend."

"You can't just-"

"We are sorry for bothering you. Let me get this interview and then we can leave." Kori said avoiding Richard's face.

"How are you?" He blurted out. So much for self control.

"How is she-" Jason started.

"I am fine, thank you for asking." She was so quiet, and still avoided his gaze. His heart felt like a weight in his heart because he knew that he had done that and deserved it.

"Could we talk, for a second" He asked. Kori nodded. "Alone?" She nodded again. Jason stormed off and Richard caught the word "Bruce" as he huffed away. There was silence.

"How is Jump City?" She asked quietly. He let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding in.

"It's alright. Keeps me busy."

More silence.

"That's good. You left to be busy." She said meeting his gaze. Her words stung.

"I did." Silence. "How's, Gotham?"

"Everyone is fine." She knew what he was asking about. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of filling him in on how Bruce and his friends were.

"I'm glad to hear it. The kid seems like a handful."

"He's transitioning."

There were so many things they both wanted to say. Richard wanted to reach out, to touch her. To feel her, but before he could act on it Roy walked up.

"Hey babe." He said putting his hand on the small of her back. "Jason said you needed help interviewing something that Boss Man texted about."

Richard's felt his stomach drop as his breath accelerated. Kori's eyes dropped to the floor. Roy didn't move his hand as Kori fidgeted.

"Yeah, he wanted a statement, then I was going to leave."

"Great, let's get it and we can grab real food. Oh, Richard, nice to see you." He said reaching his hand out for a shake.

"Roy." He nodded as he returned the gesture. In the midst of his pain he felt a small twinge of joy and he saw Roy tremble at the strength of his hand.

"How is Jump City?" His hand was still on Kori.

"It's going well."

"So glad to hear that man. Well, Kori and I are going to finish and then head out, so great to catch up." Roy said as he began to steer Kori away.

"How about you go talk to him, and I'll catch up with you and then we can leave." Kori said taking a step away. Roy didn't look to happy about it, but after Kori took another step back he obliged. "I'll be right there." Roy looked angry and he walked away.

"Kor-"

"Richard Grayson, you may think that you can just waltz back in here and ignore your past life here, but you can't. You wrecked Bruce when you walked away like that. You broke Alfred. You abandoned your friends. You destroyed hearts leaving the way you did. I don't care how much you wanted to destroy Slade. You need to find Bruce, find Alfred, and find Victor and Garfield before you leave and apologize." Her anger was evident and she stared him down while speaking. " I expected a lot more from you."

"I'm sorry." He said, not giving her the response she was expecting by the look on her face.

"What?"

"I'm am sorry. I do want to talk, please."

"I can't tonight."

"How about tomorrow, before I leave?"

"I don't know." Her voice was quiet.

"Why?" He prodded.

"I don't know if I can handle it."

He reached out to grab her hand, "I owe you an explanation. Kori, I never stopped thinking about you."

"I'm with Roy." She said automatically, taking her hand back.

"Kor- please."

"Alright." She said hesitantly.

"I'll text you." He said quickly as he saw Roy who was approaching and by the expression on his face he was watching the whole time.

"Let's go thank Bruce and leave, we have work to do." He said grabbing Kori's hand, " Nice to see you Grayson, we probably won't see you anytime soon, so safe flight home."

Richard watched them leave. He didn't think he would ever stop loving her. That interaction brought him more life that he had in a long time.

"You were a fool to leave." Bruce said coming up behind him. Richard sighed.

"I know."

"Now is not the time to catch up. How late are you staying?"

"I can stay until after."

"Good, we have a lot to discuss."