A/N: Time for another chapter! I've been posting some of my one-shots, so if you're interested go take a look.

"Uncle Barry I'm fine!" Wally moaned as Barry checked him for injuries one more time. "Look!" He swung his leg at the knee to prove his point. "See? Fine."

Barry sighed. "I just want to make sure you're ok for a cross-country trip."

"It's only like….1,000 miles." Finally satisfied, Barry stepped back and let Wally hop down off the counter. "Are we leaving now?"

"Yes." He couldn't delay this any further. "Remember to stay right next to me-"

"Or within three feet in front of you at all times, I know." Barry had only gone over it 5 times since he'd gotten up that morning. "Are we leaving now?"

"Yes."

"Woo!" Wally zoomed out of the room, making Iris laugh.

"Loosen up sweetie," she said, putting her hands on Barry's shoulders. "You're too tense."

"I have a reason to be."

"I know. I also know that you're going to protect Wally while you two are in Gotham."

"Uncle Barry!" Wally called from the front door. "I thought we were leaving!"

Barry sighed and smiled. "I should go."

"Yes," Iris agreed. "Before he leaves without you."

"He shouldn't be this excited about going to Gotham. No one should be."

"He's just excited about the chance to help Roy. He has a big heart. Just like his hero."

Barry smiled as he kissed her. "I love you."

"I love you too. Now go, before Bruce yells at you for being late."

Barry let the kitchen and found Wally standing half inside the house and half outside the house at the front door. "Ready Kid?" he asked.

Wally nodded eagerly, bouncing up and down on his heels. "Yesyesyesyeysyesyes-"

"Calm down Kid." He put his arm around his nephew and ruffled his red hair. "Alright, let's go."

— —

Bruce Wayne was not a man who asked for help. 'Help me' wasn't a phrase that existed in his vocabulary. Especially not when he was Batman. He didn't need help from others, especially the Justice League. Most especially, from speedsters. Yet, here he was waiting for Barry to get to Gotham so he could help. Funny how that worked.

"Bruce?" Bruce turned around to find Dick standing in the door of his study. "Is Flash here yet?"

"Not yet. Trust me, you'll know when he gets here." Speedsters had a way of announcing themselves. "Where's Roy?"

"In his room."

"I heard him yell last night."

Dick nodded. "He said he had a bad dream."

"Did he tell you what it was about?"

"No, he never tells me."

Bruce frowned. He would've thought that if Roy could open up to anyone, it would be Dick. The boys weren't super close, but he did trust Dick above everyone else in the Manor.

"Master Bruce," Alfred said, appearing in the doorway. "Mister Allen and his nephew are here."

"Thank you, Alfred, can you show them in?"

"Of course sir."

"Are you sure you're ok with Wally knowing our identities?" Dick asked.

Bruce sighed. "Yes," he begrudgingly admitted.

"Didn't you say speedsters are motor mouths?"

"They are, but after the little stunt you two pulled in Star…I've come to realize Kid Flash is….responsible enough to be given this information."

Dick smirked. "That hurt didn't it?"

"Like getting stabbed." Dick laughed.

"Whoa!" came a gasp from the hall.

Bruce sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. 'Do it for Roy,' he reminded himself mentally. 'Do it for Roy.'

"Mister Allen and his nephew," Alfred said, announcing the two speedsters.

"Robin!" Dick was hit from behind and found himself suddenly tumbling across the floor. He glared up at the red-haired kid smiling at him. "Hi, Rob!"

"Sorry," Barry said to Bruce. He was just as good at the Bat Glare without his cowl. "Wally, get off him."

"I'm not in costume either," Dick reminded him as Wally sheepishly got up. He somersaulted forward to his feet. He smirked at the astounded look on Wally's face. "I'm Richard Grayson. You can call me-"

"Barry he's even tinier without the cape!" Wally said excitedly to his uncle, who put his head in his hands. He pat Dick on the head, seemly oblivious to the mini-Bat Glare he was getting from the boy.

"Alfred, can you take Wally up to see Roy please?" Bruce asked before Dick could break the hand that was patting him.

"This way Mister Wallace," Alfred said. Wally zoomed to his side, beaming radiantly.

"No superspeed inside!" Barry yelled after him. He chuckled nervously and turned back to Bruce and Dick, only to be met with two glares. "I'm sorry, he's just really excited and he hasn't been on a long run in weeks-"

"You need to teach him self-control Barry," Bruce growled as he sat down.

"At the very least get him a leash," Dick muttered as he sat down in a chair. He jumped up, flipping over the back and settling into a cross-legged position. Barry blinked at the way the young boy settled the back of his feet on his knees with apparent ease.

"I swear he's getting better," Barry assured them as he sat down as well in the other empty chair. There was no way he was risking sitting next to Batman. "He's just got a lot of pent-up energy and he really likes you Dick so-"

"He does?"

"That's why he tackles you when sees you and runs around you in a circle and-"

"Barry focus," Bruce said.

"Right, sorry." Barry sat forward and put his hands on his knees. The reason why they'd come. He sighed. "What do you want to know?"

"How do we fix him?" Dick asked. Both the adults gave him a curious look. "What?"

"I'm afraid it's not that simple Dick. Something like this is….very complicated. It's also not the same for everyone and I can only tell you what I've done with Wally. There's no guarantee it will work with Roy."

"How do make Roy comfortable with us?" Bruce asked, trying for smaller, more manageable questions.

"You guys get right to the point. Well, there's nothing you really can do."

"Nothing?!" Dick demanded.

"I mean-" Barry didn't know how to put this. "What're you doing right now?"

"I'm not forcing him to be near me if he doesn't want to and giving him time to adjust being used to me," Bruce said.

"Good, good. That's what you should be doing. All you can do is let him come to you."

"Really?"

"Yes. This is all going to happen at his pace. It's good to push him a little bit, but for the most part, you can only move as fast as he's able to deal with it."

"What specifically do we need to do?"

"There are a few things you can do. One is to get him to talk about what happened. He needs to face what happened and he can't keep it all inside."

"You want us to make him relive his trauma?"

"Wouldn't that make it worse?" Dick asked in confusion.

"Not exactly," Barry said. "It might not be fun, scratch that it's the opposite of fun, but it's very healthy for him to talk about what happened."

"Ok, talk." Dick nodded. "What's next?"

"Coping. Considering everything, I can almost guarantee he doesn't have healthy coping strategies. He needs healthy ways to deal with the problems that the abuse has caused."

"What kind of coping strategies?" Dick asked.

"Um….relaxation, breathing-"

"We can handle panic and anxiety attacks," Bruce said.

"Alright well, you should also try to clear up his mindset on what happened. Wally spent the first few months believing what had happened was his fault. If Roy is anything like him, and I'm assuming Oliver Queen is the type of scum who would put the blame on Roy, he'll need your help to realize that he didn't deserve what happened to him. You need to make sure he understands that. None of it was his fault. If he has a distorted way of thinking about himself or others you need to fix it."

"What do you mean dis-disoren-" Dick frowned as he stumbled over the word.

"Distorted," Bruce said to him. "It means giving a false impression." Dick still look confused. "Barry means Roy might have views of himself that aren't true."

"Exactly," Barry nodded. "If Oliver emotionally abused him, which I think he probably did, then Roy might believe he's bad, damaged-"

"Damaged?" Dick asked.

"It means….." He looked at Bruce for help.

"Dick," Bruce said, more gently than Barry had ever heard him say anything, "damaged means that Roy might believe in some way that he is broken or not well."

Dick blinked. "Why would he think that?" he asked in a small voice.

"Oliver hurt him, Dick," Barry explained gently. "Roy might think that he's broken because he's been through such a terrible ordeal and that Oliver's treatment somehow reflects who he is a person. Do you understand?"

The boy nodded slowly. "I think so. I don't want him to think that though."

Bruce didn't miss the teary look in Dick's eyes. Sometimes he honestly forgot how young his ward was. "We're going to help him, Dick."

"Yes," Barry agreed.

"How do we stop him from thinking that?" Dick asked.

"Well….you won't know for sure until you know what exactly his mental state is-"

"Did Wally think that?"

"What?"

"When you and your wife took Wally in when his dad was arrested, did he think that?"

Barry sighed. "Yes, he did. It wasn't extreme, and I think it may affect Roy more, but Wally did think that he was in some way….broken as a person and that iris and I wouldn't want to keep him because of it." The time he'd held his sobbing nephew as he begging his uncle not to send him away, pleading to be given a second chance, still haunted the older speedster's dreams. "Look I can give you guys a laundry list of things to do, but above all, you have to make sure Roy knows it's not his fault. That he has no reason to be embarrassed and that he's not a bad person because of this. That he didn't deserve to be treated the way he was." He stopped and looked at Bruce. "He especially needs to hear it from you."

"Why me?"

"For better or for worse, you're his father figure now and, as dead as saying this will make me, you're a lot like Oliver."

"He is not!" Dick objected. "He's nothing like Oliver!"

"Dick," Bruce said sternly. He looked at Barry with a slight glare. "Explain."

"I just mean that you're like him in a lot of aspects. You're big, strong….bigger and stronger than Roy is at least. You're also an authority figure, just like Oliver was. You hold everything he needs for survival like food and shelter."

Bruce nodded. Despite his objections, this made a lot of sense. "He needs to talk to us; we need to help his mental state-"

"Help him form healthy attachments. Which means you need to build a relationship with him, Mr. Anti-Social. A healthy relationship with you, Dick, and Alfred will go along way to help him recover."

"It doesn't sound that hard," Dick said.

"It sounds easy now kid, but this is hard stuff."

"How long did it take before Wally was…..better?"

Barry frowned. Dick was doing in a very sneaky way, but the specter easily picked up on what he really wanted to know. "This isn't a thing you can put an exact number to kid. He will get better though. With you guys helping him, I'm sure he will."

'Let's hope so,' Bruce thought, wishing Barry wouldn't get Dick's hopes up. 'I really hope so.'

— —

Wally wouldn't stop looking around as Alfred led him to Roy. "What's it like working for Batman?" he asked excitedly.

"Everyday is an adventure," Alfred replied evenly.

"Do you go into the Bat Cave?"

"I do."

"Is it cool? Is that where he keeps all his gadgets?! And the Batmobile?!"

Alfred raised an eyebrow. So this was the unbounded energy of speedsters. They arrived at Roy's door and he knocked. "Master Roy. May we enter sir?"

"Y-yes." They walked in to find Roy in his usual place, curled up against his headboard on his bed.

"You have a guest sir. Mister Wallace West; also known as-"

"Kid Flash!" Wally beamed. He ran to Roy's side, startling the teenager to the side.

Roy frowned. "You-you're Kid Flash?"

"That's right! Wally West, nice to meet you.

"Roy Harper."

"I know!" He was younger without his suit.

"I shall leave you two alone sir," Alfred said excusing himself. He left the two alone, not convinced the red-haired lightning bolt was the best way to help Roy.

"Why're you here?"

Wally suddenly lost some of his bubbly energy. "Uncle Barry asked me if I wanted to come talk to you."

"Why?'

"Cause I get it. My dad hurt me, the same way Oliver hurt you."

Roy slowly unwound himself a little bit. "He did?"

Wally nodded and climbed on the bed. "See?" He pulled up the sleeve of his shirt and flipped over his arm. Roy leaned forward so he could see. Small dark circles stood out against the pale skin. "He didn't do it a lot, but then he lost his job and he started doing it more. Then….my mom left and he did it more after that."

"When did it stop?"

"It didn't. He broke my arm and I yelled so loud I woke up the neighbors. They called the police and the police arrested him. Then they called Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"So you know you're not alone. I felt really alone when I went to live with Barry and Iris, but they took me to this place where I could talk to other kids like me and I felt less alone."

"I have Dick."

"Who? Oh, Robin. Right. Well, he's great, but he doesn't know like we do."

Roy played idly with his feet. "Do-do you like living with your aunt and uncle?"

"Oh yeah! Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris are great! They never hurt me."

"They don't?"

"Nope. Do you think Batman will hurt you?"

"Wouldn't you?"

"True. He's really scary, but Uncle Barry says he's actually a really nice guy. You'll see."

Roy looked away. "Do you ever think that maybe-maybe it wasn't so bad? Like….you can think clearly now and it wasn't that bad?"

"A couple of times. The lady at the place I went to told me it was normal and that I was going to feel like that, but that it wasn't true."

"It's not?"

Wally shook his head. "I know it's hard to believe. but you're safe here. You're better off than you were in Star."

"What happened to him? Your dad?"

"He went to was a trial and I had to tell the judge and the jury people about what happened."

"You did?" That thought wasn't terrifying or anything.

"Mhm, but you don't have to worry about that. I heard Uncle Barry talking to Aunt Iris last night and he said that they can't turn Green Arrow over the police cause he threatened to reveal your identity."

Roy froze. That couldn't be right. Oliver…..Oliver wouldn't do that….? 'He cares about me,' he thought desperately. 'He wouldn't do that to me.' Roy took a deep breath. "How do you deal with it? Being afraid?"

"I'm not afraid anymore and someday you won't be either. You'll see. It gets better after a while."

"Do you ever feel scared?"

"Sometimes. If Iris or Barry yells at me a lot I get scared. It doesn't last long though."

Roy nodded. "I-I don't know who I trust. I-I feel like I can only trust Dick."

"That's a good start, he's a great guy. You can always trust me too."

"I just met you."

"Not true we met in Star that one time, remember?"

"I know." There was a knock on the door and Barry poked his head in.

"You ready kid?" he asked. "Hi, Roy."

"Who's that?" Roy asked Wally quietly.

Wally grinned as he climbed off the bed. "That's my Uncle Barry. The Flash."

Oh. That was the Flash. Roy followed Wally to the door. "How've been settling in?" Barry asked Roy.

"Good, sir."

"Sir? No one calls me that except…..no, no one calls me that. You can call me Barry." Roy looked away uncertainly. "Anyways, I'm glad you're doing ok. The whole League is happy that you're with us and safe now."

"They are?"

"Absolutely." Roy didn't respond to that.

"This way sirs," Alfred said, leading them back down the hall.

"This place is like a maze," Wally said to Barry.

"I know."

"Can we get pizza when we get home?!"

Barry laughed. "Sure but remember to get some for your aunt. She was furious last time."

The memory made Wally grin widely. "She made you sleep on the couch."

"Do you know how lump that thing is?!" Wally laughed again and Barry put his arm around him. Roy blinked. Oliver's description of Flash suddenly came to mind.

'He's unstable and only cares about himself. He acts as a hero because he wants the people of Central City to worship and praise him.' The words didn't seem to apply to the man Roy saw now. Of course, he knew people could be very different from when you first meet them. Still, though….there seemed to be something genuine in how he acted with Wally. They reached the front door and Bruce shook Barry's hand. He didn't say anything, but Barry just nodded in silent reply. Dick gave Wally a hug, much to Wally and Roy's surprise.

"Bye Wally," he said.

"Bye man!" Wally smiled. "I'll see you next time we're all together on the Watchtower."

"I look forward to it, Kid Mouth."

"Hey!"

Barry chucked. "Let's go, Kid. Bye Roy."

"Bye Roy!" Wally waved to him and Roy raised his hand. Once the door was shut Bruce turned to Roy. It was nice to see the teen out of his room.

"Did you….have a good talk with Kid Flash?"

Roy nodded. "Yes."

"Good. That's….good." There was a moment of awkward silence. Dick looked between the two of them and smiled.

"Come on Roy," he said pulling the teen along behind him. "Let's go play a game."

"Ok," Roy said, following.

"It seems those two will be fine together," Alfred observed.

Bruce nodded. "Don't want to mess this up, Alfred."

"I have faith in your sir. That fact that you swallowed your pride long enough to ask Mister Allen for help speaks volumes about your true intentions."

"I wasn't-" He stopped when he remembered how pointless it was to argue with Alfred.

"I'm sure whatever he told you will be of great use next weekend."

Bruce frowned in confusion. "Next weekend?"

"Yes, sir. I am going to England to see my family and Master Dick has a weekend-long school trip."

Oh no. "I'm going to be alone with Roy all weekend?"

"Yes, sir. Unless you prefer I cancel my trip-"

"No, of course not. You can go. I'll….I'll manage."

"Don't worry Master Bruce you're much better at this than you think."

"If you say so, Alfred."