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Kori let her head rest back on the seat. It had been a silent car ride on the way to drop her off. Roy was looking out the window. They had never been in a fight. Kori almost made conversation a few times but it came out as awkward grunts and Roy made a point to ignore them. He hadn't asked about Richard yet, but she was going to be honest if he did ask. When they pulled up to her apartment he didn't get out to open her door. He muttered a quiet "Good night" without looking at her.

Richard looked at the clock. The party should be over and he was waiting on Bruce to walk through the doors. He was a little nervous since he wasn't sure what was coming next, but thankfully he didn't have time to think about it because Bruce walked in, with the new Robin behind him.

"Jason, I assume you have met Richard." Bruce said looking at Richard. The fact that he addresses Jason first.

"Yeah, I met the dude." He said with disgust in his voice.

"I see that Bruce hasn't taught you manners quite yet." Richard retorted.

"I don't think that you are one to bring up manners." Bruce said darkly while Jason chuckled.

"Why did you have me stay if you were just going to gang up on me?" Richard asked getting angry.

"I have been monitoring Jump City, there has been an increase in petty crimes but nothing major has happened." Bruce said, his voice back to business.

"My theory is that those add up to something. There has been a pattern that I've been tracking."

"I agree." Bruce said to Richard and Jason's surprise.

"So does this mean that you're okay that I left?" Richard asked without thinking.

"I'm still not okay with how you left. Have you seen Kori lately?" Bruce's tone was unforgiving. Richard shifted his weight uncomfortably while Jason smirked.

"I talked to her, I'm seeing her tomorrow."

"She is with Roy now."

"I know."

"What do you expect to happen after seeing her tomorrow?" Bruce's tone softened.

"Closure." He paused, "I hate the way that I treated her that night. I have to make myself not think about it."

"I think that we all do." Alfred responded, making his presence by the door known. "Masters Bruce and Jason, your presence is requested." He left the room. There was a moment of silence while Bruce and Richard were searching for words.

" For what it's worth, I am glad you are," he took a breath, " home." Richard was surprised by his tender tone.

"I am too." He responded as they left him alone, back to his thoughts.

Kori didn't sleep well the night before. She had spent so much time suppressing her feelings that seeing him brought everything back. She thought of all the times he would sneak in after a shift to talk to her in hushed tones, she remembered the training that they had when she was allowed to help in the Bat Cave. She remembered the night that he broke down and told her about his parents, where she held him while he cried. She was on the verge of tears at the moment right now. It was her lunch break and she was meeting him. She told Roy that she would be gone for lunch, expecting him to question her, but his angry reply of, "fine" told her that he knew where she was going.

She didn't know what was going to come from this lunch, and what Richard wanted to talk about. She knew one things for sure though, he was going to walk in and whatever brave things she wanted to say were going to melt away.

Richard was just as nervous as the car pulled up to the café. He had stayed up most of the night thinking about what he was going to say. He had envisioned it going multiple ways, from her saying that she still loved him to throwing her hot drink in his face and storming out. As he got out and approached the door he saw her through the window and stopped. She looked so uneasy. Her brow was furrowed as she focused on her drink. His heart fell. She was feeling this because of him, because of what he had done. He took a deep breath and walked inside.

"Hey." He said as he took a seat across from her. She made a slight jump as he brought her from her thoughts.

"Hello." She said.

"I see you still order the same drink." He said pointing to her cup with a nervous chuckle. She gave him a small smile, which made him more confident. "I know this is awkward."

"It is," she said sadly.

"We used to not be awkward." He said before thinking and as soon as he said it he looked down.

"We used to be amazing." She said quietly.

"Before I was an ass." He said with a sad smile. "I miss you." His confidence raising.

"I miss you too." She met his gaze. "So much."

"Kor, I am so sorry." He reached out for her hands and she timidly gave them, "I've had a year to regret that night, what I said, how I've," he ran his fingers through his hair.

"Richard." She said gently.

"No,don't tell me it's okay, because it's not." He decided since he was going back to Jump after this, it was now or never. "You are the love of my life, and in one night I destroyed the most important thing I had because I let my anger take the best of me. "

Whatever Kori was expecting, it wasn't that.

"I'm going back to Jump tonight, but I wanted you to know that. It's been a year of my living in agony, and I can't go back to not even talking."

Kori was silent. She didn't know what to say.

"I'm sorry, I had to say that, you don't have to respond, we can talk about something else. How's work?"

"Work's um, it's good." She said still processing. " It's going great, I've been promoted and I finally feel like I'm writing stories worth telling. It's been amazing." She started to transition from surprised to comfortable."

"You deserve that. I tried not to read the paper over the past year. But when I did I noticed your name more."

"Why did you do it?" She asked, steering the conversation to a more serious idea.

"Why did I do what?"

"Leave. I think I know why but I want to hear it."

"Kori, I don' t know if I can explain it."

"Try." She crossed her arms, her shy demeanor disappearing. Richard took a deep breath.

"When Slade appeared, and when I knew that he had a doorway to find out about you, I had to take control."

"We didn't know how much he knew."

"Exactly!" Richard said passionately, "Knowing that there was even the slightest chance that something could have happened to you. Kori if I lost you, I couldn't," he searched for the words, "I couldn't function. I can't function without you in my world." His head fell.

"But you did function, you left because I was "a distraction". A whole year Richard Grayson. A whole year." Her passion was rising as well.

"I said what I had to, to keep you protected." His eyes matched hers. "I said what I needed to so I could go and find him so you could be safe again. And I didn't function for a whole year. But you clearly moved on."

"Don't bring Roy into this." She said angry.

"When did you start dating him, right after I left? I told you that he was into you." Richard was mad at how their conversation went to reconciliation to accusations.

"Are you serious right now?" She said, tears threatening to fall. "I was going to move to Jump City to be with you. Bruce had asked me to leave my job behind and start over, with you, to help you."

"Wait, what?" He asked, taken aback.

"That night, Bruce wanted me to come to tell you I would move since we all know you would have never asked me."

"Kor, I-"

"Kori, are you okay?"

They both looked up, not noticing how close they were until Roy interrupted their conversation.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She said, faking a smile.

"You were gone a while so I thought I would come check on you, plus we have that meeting in about twenty minutes." He looked apprehensively at the pair.

"Yeah, I'll be right there. Will refill my drink and then we can head over?" She asked, cueing him to leave. Roy hesitated, but he still left.

"Can I call you later?" Richard asked quickly.

"Are you going back to Jump tonight?" She asked.

"Do you want me to?" He looked at her. She met his gaze.

"No." she said quietly and then looked down.

"Come over for dinner tonight, we can finish this conversation." His voice was eager.

"That's not fair to Roy." She said still looking down.

"I have to go back to Jump tomorrow, and if you want, after tonight, I will leave you alone, but Kori Anders, I need us to talk this out." He pleaded as Roy got closer. "Think about it, please." He stopped talking when Roy gave her the refilled cup.

"We really should be going." Roy said.

"Yeah I should be going back too." Richard said standing.

"Well nice to see you again, you are going back, tonight, right?" Roy asked.

"Tomorrow, actually." Roy didn't hide his disappointment.

"Well, since we won't see you, have a safe flight home." He reached out to shake Richard's hand while he reached for Kori's with the other.

"Thanks Roy, Kori it was great talking to you again." He said and left.

Roy and Kori walked back to the building.

"How was it?" He asked, doing a terrible job of hiding his curiosity.

"It was good."

"What was it about?"

"Are we playing a round of 21 questions?" She joked, hoping to lighten the mood.

"I just want to know if I'm keeping my girlfriend or not."

"Whoa."

Kori stopped walking. This was too much for her to handle right now. Roy shook his head.

"I'm sorry. That was low." He said sincerely. " Look, you are the most amazing girl, but I know how this works, I've seen the chick flicks." She looked at him confused. "Kori, I don't like how I've felt the past 24 hours, and I care a lot about you, heck I would say I loved you," she flinched, " but I'm not going to be the jerk that I have been. I want to be with someone who wants to be with me as much as I want to be with them." She gave him a sad look. He kissed her forehead, " we can talk about this later." He said and headed into the building.

Kori stood there frozen. This was not how she planned today would go. She felt guilty for how Roy felt, she felt confusion with Richard. She was in such a mental haze that she didn't even think about what she was doing as she got out her phone and texted Richard, " I'll come over tonight."