A/N: Here's the next chapter! Just so you know, we're about halfway through the story. (I know its long.) Read on and enjoy!

"Do you have to go?" Roy asked Dick. He was sitting on the boy's bed, watching him pack a bag with clothes.

"Yes Roy, I do."

"I don't want you to go."

Dick smiled. "Roy I'm only going to be one for three days. Not even. I'll be back Sunday night."

"I still don't want you to go."

"You're going to be fine."

"Alfred won't be here either though."

"You'll be fine Roy."

Roy honestly didn't think so. The prospect of spending the entire weekend alone with Bruce wasn't exactly comforting. 'What if I do something wrong? No one will be here to protect me.' True, Bruce hadn't hit him yet or tried to, but that could be because Alfred and Dick were always around as witnesses. If they weren't here would that finally make Bruce hit him? "Do you really have to go?"

"I'll be back on Sunday."

"Promise?"

"I promise. It's only three days Roy."

'A lot can happen in three days.' Dick finished packing his bag and closed it. "Come on," he said, holding out his hand. Roy took it and Dick grabbed his bag. The two of them went downstairs where Alfred and Bruce were waiting in the foyer.

"Please try not to burn down the kitchen while I am away Master Bruce," Alfred said, giving the younger man a look.

"I swear your kitchen will be exactly as you left it," Bruce promised, putting his hands up in surrender.

"See to it that it is sir."

Dick smirked. "Don't worry," he whispered to Roy. "Bruce's cooking is edible 75% of the time."

"I heard that," Bruce said, glancing sideways at Dick.

"Sir, could you assist me in bringing my bags to the car?" Alfred asked.

"Of course Alfred." While Alfred and Bruce were gone Dick gave Roy a hug. Roy flinched back and tried to push him away. Bruce came back and saw the exchange.

"Do try to bond with him sir," Alfred said. "You must show Master Roy that you're not going to treat him like Oliver Queen did."

Bruce nodded, remembering what Barry and told him the week before. "I'll try Alfred. Dick, are you ready?"

"Let's go!" Dick stepped away from Roy and headed for the door.

"See you in a week Master Roy," Alfred said.

"Bye Alfred," Roy said quietly.

"See you in a few days," Dick waved.

"Bye Dick." He watched the two of them leave and his eyes traveled to Bruce. The man didn't miss the fear in the teen's eyes.

"I'm taking Alfred to the airport and dropping Dick off at the school," he said. "I'll be back soon."

"Ok." Roy backed up a couple steps and Bruce followed Dick and Alfred out the door. Once he was alone Roy retreated to his bedroom. He squirmed his way under his bed and laid there, watching the door. 'I hope this weekend goes by fast.'

— —

Roy didn't really keep track of time while he was under the bed. After a couple of hours, he dared to come out. He crept over to the door and opened it a crack. The hall was completely deserted. There was no sign of Bruce. He closed the door again and sat quietly on the floor, watching tv. Normally in his bedroom, he was able to relax, knowing that he was at least safe in there. At the moment though his heart was pounding and all his muscles were tense. He couldn't really comprehend the show he was watching. It was all noise to him. Even so, he sat there watching it for a while. At some point, his stomach started growling.

"Shh!" he hissed, shushing it. He wrapped his arms around his knees. Alfred was always telling him if he was hungry to ask for something to eat. "No." He shook his head. "No, I'll stay here. I have to stay." If he stayed out of Bruce's hair then it would minimize his chances of getting hurt. So he stayed quiet and let his stomach growl. A few hours later there was a knock on his door.

"Roy?" Bruce asked. "It's time for dinner."

"O-ok." Roy got up and shut the tv off. He opened the door to find Bruce standing outside.

"Come on, my cooking isn't as bad as Alfred and Dick say it is. Promise." Bruce tried to smile, but it just seemed to make Roy more uneasy. He turned away and let Roy simply follow him to the dining room. The teen sat down and Bruce set his plate down in front of him. "Enjoy."

"Thank you, sir."

'So we're back to sir?' Bruce thought glumly as he sat down as well. He watched Roy from the corner of his eye as they ate. Roy ate silently, never taking his eyes off the plate. As they ate, Bruce remembered Alfred's advice to use the opportunity to let Roy get more comfortable around him. He cleared his throat and Roy froze. "I was thinking that tonight you and I could….uh….have some bonding time."

Roy's breath hitched. "B-bonding time?"

"Yes." He frowned. Roy looked terrified. 'What did I do? How did I mess it up already?' Bruce tried to think of something to put Roy at ease. "We can have some fun-" That only made Roy looked more scared. He tried to think. What did Dick like to do? "We could….watch a movie." Roy gave him a suspicious look.

"A movie?"

"Yes. Any movie you want."

"O-ok." Roy really didn't want to have "bonding time" with Bruce, but he wasn't stupid enough to say no. Dinner seemed to drag after that. When he finished he didn't dare move in case Bruce wanted something from him.

"Why don't you go pick a movie and I'll make some popcorn."

"Yes, sir." Roy left and Bruce sighed quietly.

"I've been at this for 15 minutes and I'm already messing it up," he muttered to himself.

Roy meanwhile was looking at the DVD collection, trying to calm down enough to focus. Even this was new to him, since whenever he and Oliver had watched tv together Oliver had picked. He ran his finger idly over the cases, trying to decide what could distract him enough. He froze momentarily when he found Robin Hood. Oliver's favorite movie. He jumped down to the next shelf. Truthfully, it was a movie Roy really enjoyed as well. Even though it made him sick because of how much it reminded him of his (former) guardian, part of Roy still liked it. Still, he couldn't really look at it right now. He eventually settled on a James Bond movie that he used to watch with Brave Bow a lot. He turned around just as Bruce came in with popcorn and drinks.

"Did you find something?" he asked. Roy handed him the movie silently and Bruce smiled. "I'm impressed, Dick never wants to watch these."

"I used to watch it with my adoptive father." He immediately clicked his mouth shut. The last thing he needed was to give Bruce information to use against him.

"He must've had great taste." That caught Roy off guard. Roy sat down while Bruce put the DVD in. He dimmed the lights and joined Roy on the couch. He didn't miss how Roy sat as far away from him as possible. It was very different from Dick, who cuddled up to Bruce every chance he got. 'Roy also doesn't like me,' Bruce reminded himself. 'He doesn't trust me.' The movie started and Roy tried to focus on it instead of Bruce. It got easier as the movie went on. He hadn't watched it in so long. It made him smile briefly at the jokes and silently mouthed all of his favorite lines. If he ignored Bruce, which he tried really hard to do, he could pretend he was back on the reservation, sitting on Brave Bow's faded, 50-year-old couch, using bad British accents as he and his adoptive dad quipped the lines from the movie at each other. Bruce glanced at Roy about three quarters of the way through the movie and was shocked to discover the teen looked marginally relaxed. He even looked like he was enjoying himself. He didn't touch the popcorn, but Bruce decided not to push it. Everything was going pretty well so he didn't want to mess it up.

As it turned out the universe was capable of messing it up for him.

Near the end of the movie Roy reached out to grab his glass, but accidentally knocked it off; spilling the drink all over the carpet. His chest constricted and his heart started trying to bruise his ribs. Bruce heard a gasp and paused the movie. "Roy are you-" he saw the spilled drink and sighed. "Dammit." He got up and turned the light on, only to discover Roy was curled up in a tight ball against the arm of the couch, watching Bruce's every move.

"I'm sorry," Roy said in a tight vote. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean- It-it was an accident."

Bruce did his best to keep his face neutral. He was irritated, but he knew he couldn't let Roy see it. "Roy-"

"Please, please-" Bruce reached out to try and calm him down but that only made Roy whimper. "I'm sorry! It was an accident! I'm sorry I'm so clumsy!"

"Roy. Roy-"

"Please don't hit me, I'm sorry!"

"Roy!" Roy froze and Bruce swallowed his guilt. He hadn't wanted to raise his voice and he was pretty sure it'd probably just made things worse, but he'd needed to get Roy's attention somehow. "It's ok. I know it was an accident."

"I'm sorry…"

"I know, it's ok. I'm not going to hit you." As if to prove his point Bruce kept his hands where Roy could see them.

Confusion quickly took over Roy's face. "You-you're not?"

Something akin to horror or anger built up in Bruce, but he pushed it down to try and deal with this. "No, I'm not. It was an accident. I'm not mad."

Roy's eyes flickered down to Bruce's hand's briefly. They weren't clenched into fists or tense. His eyes flickered back to Bruce's face. No aggression. No anger. "I really am sorry."

"It's ok."

Roy swallowed. "Can I- can I go to bed?"

Bruce nodded. "Yeah, go ahead." Roy got up. "Sleep well, Roy." He didn't miss the way shocked passed over Roy's face momentarily.

"Thank you, sir. Good night." Roy quickly left the room. Once he was in the hall he ran to his bedroom and made sure the door was shut. He got undressed with shaking hands and crawled up onto his bed. 'He didn't hit me,' he thought as he stared out at the dark room. 'He didn't hit me.' He shivered. 'He's still being nice.' That surprised Roy. Oliver had stopped being nice after three weeks. He'd been here more than a month and Bruce was still being nice to him. 'He probably won't for much longer. I ruin everything, he won't for much longer.'

Downstairs, Bruce cleaned up the mess to the best of his ability, but he wasn't Alfred. After that, he checked on Roy and found the teen passed out on his bed. Bruce covered him with a blanket before leaving. He went downstairs to the gym and found his way over to the punching bag. He let his anger from earlier return and started pounding on the bag. He saw the terrified look in Roy's eyes in his mind and he punched harder. Roy had expected Bruce to hit him. Expected! As if there was no other way he deserved to be treated! Not only that, but he'd looked surprised when Bruce was kind to him afterward! Bruce kept punching, pretending that the bag was Oliver Queen's face. No matter how hard he punched though, he couldn't get Roy's terrified look out of his mind.

— —

The next day went marginally better. The standard was already very low, so when Bruce got up the next morning he resolved that he wouldn't upset Roy that day. He stopped by Roy's door to see if he was up. "Roy? You awake?"

Roy jerked awake, suddenly disoriented. "Uh…yeah…."

"I'm going to make breakfast."

"O-ok." Roy sat in his room, wondering if he would get breakfast too. Then he remembered what had happened the night before and decided he probably wouldn't. "It's your own fault," he muttered to himself as he got dressed. He then sat down on the floor with a book he'd started reading. He resolved he'd stay away from Bruce as much as possible. He had only made it a few pages before Bruce knocked on his door again.

"Roy come eat."

"Yes, sir." Roy got up and slowly opened the door. He followed Bruce downstairs and sat down in front of his plate. "Thank you, sir."

"You don't have to call me 'sir' Roy," Bruce said as gently as he could while he sat down.

"Sorry."

Bruce took a deep sip of his coffee. He'd been worried about Roy when he didn't come down and decided to broach the subject that had been bothering him since Roy's first day with them. "Roy, did Oliver withhold food from you?"

Roy swallowed. He hesitated, then reminded himself he needed to behave. "Y-yes. It was my fault though I was always misbehaving."

There was that murderous feeling again. Bruce focused on his hand so he could un-clench his hand from his fork. "Roy nothing you do can justify him starving you."

"Ollie was just…" Roy's brain stalled for an explanation. "It wasn't all the time. Just sometimes. He-he would leave out the food so I could eat for breakfast and lunch."

"He left it out? You didn't get it out yourself?"

"No, he-he kept the pantry and fridge locked."

Bruce stopped. "He did?"

"Yes. He didn't want me stealing food."

The fact that Oliver considered Roy eating food in the place he lived "stealing" spoke volumes about how the man saw taking care of Roy. "I'm going to guess he didn't let you have snacks either?" Roy shook his head. That explained a lot. A thought occurred to Bruce. It wasn't a good thought, but he felt he needed to know. "Did he ever make you go on patrol without feeding you?"

"Sometimes. It was ok though."

"No Roy, it isn't." Roy didn't look at him. Against his better judgment, Bruce reached out and put his hand gently on Roy's. The teen flinched and looked at him in fear. "It is not ok that Oliver made you go out and fight crime on an empty stomach." No wonder he was so thin. "Do you understand?"

"I-uh…."

Bruce moved his hand and sat back. "Take your time." Roy went back to eating but didn't say another word to Bruce for the rest of the meal. Once he was done he asked if he could go and left the room was his shoulders slumped. Bruce watched him go with a twinge of sadness. He'd never noticed before now, but Roy walked like the world had beaten him down. 'I never thought I could want to kill someone this much.' Once he finished himself, he cleaned up and did the dishes. He was heading to the gym when he briefly passed the back doors and found Roy sitting in front of them. Roy hadn't noticed him, so he stopped and watched him. Roy was sitting cross-legged on the ground, staring out the glass doors. This side of the Manor faced away from the city, so he was staring at the rest of the property. It was an unusually sunny day in Gotham and the view Roy had was nice. "Like the view?"

Roy jumped. "I-I didn't see you there."

"That's ok. Do you want to go outside?"

Roy quickly shook his head. "No, no of course not. I'm fine."

Bruce didn't believe that, which was why he walked over and opened the doors. The warm, late-spring air hit him and Roy visibly relaxed. "We don't get many days like this in Gotham. Gotta enjoy them while you can." He smiled, but it didn't put Roy at ease. "If you do go outside make sure you put some shoes on. Ok?"

"O-ok." Roy watched him go, then stared at the open doors apprehensively. He was suddenly 12-years-old again staring at a set of open glass doors. He was 12-years-old and he hadn't been outside in months, after spending most of his life outside shooting a bow. He was 12-years-old and being slammed against a wall and slapped because he was disobeying his legal guardian. He jerked back, bringing himself back to reality. "It's ok. It's ok. It's ok." He crept a little closer to the door. If Bruce was going to give him the same test that Oliver had, then Roy was determined he wouldn't fail it this time. He sat in the doorway, not outside, and enjoyed the fresh air. It was a little cold here, colder than Star or the reservation had been at least. It was refreshing though. Roy enjoyed it.

That was where Bruce found him a lunchtime; realizing that Roy wouldn't eat without express permission. Again, Bruce was hit with a sudden sadness. It seemed like Roy loved the outdoors, but Oliver had never let him leave the house. 'How much can Oliver take from him?' The answer was apparently everything. Lunch was a silent affair. Roy didn't say anything and Bruce decided he'd pushed the boy enough for one day. After lunch, Roy brought a handheld video game that Dick had picked out for him downstairs and played it in the open doorway. Bruce left him alone for the day, training in the gym and doing work in the bat cave. He wished he could go on patrol, but the rational part of his brain argued he shouldn't leave Roy alone. Besides, the city hadn't burned down and no one had broken out of Arkham yet that week.

Dinner went pretty much the same way lunch did. Roy was silent and still calling Bruce sir whenever he had to talk to him. Bruce decided against more bonding, remembering how horribly it had gone the first time. He didn't really think just watching movies with Roy was going to convince the teen he was trustworthy anyways. He spent most of the evening in the Bat Cave working and tweaking his and Dick's utility belts. He was planning on bringing Robin out on patrol with him that week. Green Arrow's assault on their cities hadn't stopped, but the League was doing a better job of keeping their citizens safe. Plus Oliver had yet to come to Gotham, and Robin would never be more than five feet from Batman at all times. In true Bruce Wayne fashion, he worked until late into the night. By the time he actually checked the time again he discovered it was a little past 3 in the morning. 'If Alfred was here he'd have my head,' Bruce thought with a small smile as he made his way back up to the Manor. He decided to check on Roy again before he went to bed.

Bruce opened the door silently to find Roy sleeping, but he was tossing and turning. His arms and legs were twitching and Bruce could just barely make out the fear on his face. He opened the door a little wider.

"Mmm…." Roy mumbled. "N-no. No stop." Bruce froze. Oh, this wasn't going to be good. "No. No, Ollie, please! Please!"

Bruce turned the light on, and made his way over to the bed and sat on the edge of it. "Roy," he whispered, gently shaking the teen. "Roy wake up."

"No! No, stop, please! Please!"

"Roy, it's ok. It's just a dream."

"Please!" Roy sat up suddenly and Bruce put a hand on his knee.

"Roy, it's ok. It's ok, you're safe. It was just a dream-"

"No!" Roy sobbed. He shook his head. "It wasn't just a dream! It happened!"

Bruce frowned. The nightmare wasn't a dream it was a memory. "What happened?"

Roy, having calmed down a little bit, gave Bruce an uncertain look. "I-"

"I won't judge you. I just want to know what happened in your dream."

Roy pulled his knees cover and hugged them. He buried his face in his legs for a brief moment. "It-it was about the time I-I ran away when I was 12."

"You ran away before?"

"I tried." Roy looked down. "I was just….I was scared. I was scared and I wanted to be- I packed a bag and grabbed my lo- stuff and left. I was trying to figure out how to climb the wall when Ollie…. When he found me."

"What happened next?"

Roy shivered and his grip on his blankets got tighter. "He grabbed me and dragged me back to the mansion. He threw my stuff and-" He took a breath. "He started yelling at me. He said I was ungrateful for what he'd done for me and that I was-"

"You were…" Bruce prompted gently when Roy didn't continue. Roy exhaled a shaky breath.

"I was worthless and stupid. He said no one else would ever want me and I was lucky that he'd taken me in. Then he started….he started punching me and kicking me." Bruce clenched his fists. "He kept yelling, telling me that I needed to listen and behave. He choked me and started hitting me with-with something…." In reality, it had been his own longbow. He was still surprised Oliver hadn't broken it. "He dislocated my arm. He told me not to run again. Then he-he locked me in a closet."

Bruce blinked. "He looked you in a closet?"

Roy nodded. "For two days."

"Straight?" A nod. "No food or water?" Another nod. Fury wasn't a word strong enough to describe how Bruce felt.

"That-that was it." He glanced at Bruce. "I swear I won't try to run. I know better now."

"Roy….no….just…" Bruce took a deep breath. "Roy, I don't want you to be scared of me. What Oliver did was wrong-"

"No, it was my fault for running away!"

"No, Roy. It wasn't. You didn't deserve to be treated that way. No child does. Do you understand?"

"I-I was bad. I disobeyed him-"

"Roy you didn't deserve it. You don't deserve to be beaten, no matter what you do wrong." Roy looked away and Bruce sighed.

"I'm sorry I woke you up."

"It's ok-"

"I won't do it again."

Bruce stopped. He was starting to recognize the words Roy used when he thought he was in trouble. "Do you think you're in trouble?"

Roy nodded. "Ollie would get mad if I woke him because of a nightmare."

"He would?"

"He would slap me and tell me to stop being weak. It wasn't so bad."

Bruce briefly wondered if there was something more severe than murder. "I'm not mad. I help Dick with nightmares all the time."

"You do?"

"I do." Roy looked exhausted and Bruce decided the thing he needed was sleep. "Why don't you go back to sleep, ok?"

"Ok." Roy laid down and Bruce covered him.

"Good night Roy."

Bruce was about t run the light off when Roy suddenly said, "Bruce." Bruce looked at him. "Thank you."

Bruce nodded. "You're welcome. Sleep well." He turned the light off and closed the door behind him. He allowed himself a single moment to enjoy the fact that it was the first time all weekend Roy had used his name. Then the moment was gone and he allowed his anger from earlier to creep back in. Bruce made his way down to the bat cave, wanting to get far away from Roy so the boy couldn't hear him. Once he was down there he grabbed a random piece of machinery and threw across the cave with a yell. "God damn that bastard!" he shouted. His hands were shaking and his mind was already figuring out the fastest way to get from Gotham to Star and end Oliver Queen in the most painful way possible. Unconsciously, he took a couple of steps towards his Bat suit. He clenched his fists and forcibly stopped himself. Then he forced himself to back up. His hands were still shaking. He took deep breaths, trying to focus on literally anything else. "Not the way," he growled lowly. "This isn't the way I do things." He was practically deaf to his own words. all he could hear was Roy telling him about how he'd been severely beaten then locked in a closet when he was only 12. 12. Years. Old. Bruce kept breathing, trying to stop his hands from shaking and get the tension out of his muscles. "I can't kill him. I can't kill him." It took 20 minutes before he could think straight. Some of the tension left his muscles, but his hands were still shaking a little bit.

Bruce went over to the Bat computer and had to take another 10 minutes to get his hands to stop shaking. Once he could actually type, he opened the file on Roy. It was full of pictures taken from security cameras, as well s the ones taken there in the cave, videos of Roy on the street and being beaten, and all the previous information Bruce had been able to dig up on him; not that it was a lot. He started typing, methodically writing out the story that Roy had just told him. He wasn't completely sure why he was doing it. These accounts weren't crucial to proving Queen's guilt. He just couldn't listen to what had happened to the teen and forget them though. 'Maybe it can be my punishment,' he thought bitterly as he finished. 'So I'll never forget what happened to him because of my inactivity.' He did know he was partially responsible for what had happened. He'd suspected what Oliver was doing only two months after he'd taken Roy in, yet he'd sat back and done nothing to stop it. He opened the part of the file that contained Roy's social services file. It was longer than Dick's had been, but still pretty small. He sat back and went over it again. Orphaned twice before age 13. Bruce couldn't imagine going through a pain like that twice. There were two photos in the file. One was Roy's school picture from before he'd left the reservation. Bruce tried not to look too long at the mischievous smile and care-free eyes. The next photo was of Roy when he was a little older. He was holding a bow in a shooting position while an older Native American man pointed at something that was off camera. Roy was smiling widely with excitement.

The before and after of Roy's life was shocking. Bruce had been guessing that Roy had been a lot like Dick before Oliver took him in. He closed the file, getting rid of the pictures. He couldn't stand to look at them. They only reminded him of how terrible the world had been to Roy. How deeply he'd failed by not acting on his theories sooner. He closed his eyes and rubbed his face. 'I've really messed up this time. God, I've really messed it up this time.'

— —

The following morning Roy was slightly less tense than he had been. He didn't really look at Bruce or even talk to him, but he was able to be a little less tense during the day. He spent the afternoon after lunch fiddling with the bows Bruce had gotten him. He adjusted them so the draw weight was where he needed it and took some practice draws, firing invisible arrows. It felt nice that his shoulder no longer hurt when he pulled the string back. He still felt a twinge of pain in his chest, but it wasn't as bad as it usually was. Living in Gotham the past month had allowed him to recover from his injuries that he'd never really had. Oliver had always been giving him more injuries before the old ones could heal properly. Roy walked over to his mirror and lifted up his shirt. Some of the bruises had healed completely, while the darker ones looked more yellow and red. He let the hem of his shirt down and lifted his head a little bit. The handprints on his neck were fading as well and didn't look nearly as intimidating. He shifted uncomfortably and turned away from the mirror. He hated to think it, but Roy actually kind of liked living in the Manor. He was never hungry and he was given time to heal. Hanging out with Dick was a plus too, considering how lonely he'd been after going to live with Oliver. Alfred was pretty cool too. His cooking was awesome and he was nice enough. If Roy was honest with himself, he liked living there.

"What am I doing?" he muttered, throwing himself down on his bed. He stared up at the ceiling. "I shouldn't get comfortable here. Oliver cares about me, I'm going back eventually." He desperately wanted to believe it. He wanted to believe that Oliver really did want him around and cared about him the same way Bruce apparently cared about Dick. "Dick said if he changes I can go back. If Bruce thinks it's safe I can go back." Before he could lose the nerve, Roy left his room and went looking for Bruce. He knocked on the door of Bruce's study.

Bruce blinked. "Come in." Roy shuffled in nervously and Bruce waited for him to say something. He didn't say anything for a minute. "What can I help with Roy?"

"Um…" Roy rubbed his arm. "Can I-" He swallowed. "Can I ask you a question, sir?"

"Of course."

Roy shifted, keeping his head down. He moved a little closer to Bruce. "Do- Do you think Oliver will ever change? That it'll be safe for me to go back?"

Bruce really, really wished he didn't have to have this conversation. So he avoided the question. "Are you not happy here Roy?" Roy's head snapped up and fear filled his eyes.

"N-no it's not that! Of course not!"

"Ok, it's ok." Maybe that question hadn't been the best one to ask. "I just want you to be happy." Hopefully, that was better.

"I was happy in Star."

Or maybe not. Bruce tried to figure out how to go about this without scaring Roy again. "Why do you think that?"

"Um…" Roy honestly didn't know. "I- Because I had to be. Ollie- Ollie is my guardian. Star was my home. I-I'm feeling a lot better and maybe it wasn't so bad-"

"Roy I know this has been a lot for you to process-"

"Please just tell me if Ollie can change."

"Change how?"

"…..Would he ever stop killing?"

Bruce sighed. "I don't know Roy. It would probably take a major change of heart for him."

"Maybe I could change him. If-if I'm there then maybe I can find a way to make him stop." Bruce highly doubted that. "I just- Will it ever be safe for me to go back?"

Bruce swallowed. "No Roy. It won't be." He was expecting resistance. He expected Roy to default back to his 'Oliver cares about me' mindset, but he didn't. He just nodded. He nodded and Bruce didn't miss the look on his face. "Roy-"

"Thank you."

"Roy wait." Bruce got up as Roy froze. He went over to the teen and reached out to put his hand on his shoulder, only to stop himself at the last minute. He stood there awkwardly with his hand hovering over Roy's back. He dropped his hand. "Roy-" He knew he should probably say something here, maybe try to reassure him in some way, but Bruce was at a loss for what to say. Roy looked up at him. "I-" He stood there awkwardly for another moment before muttering, "It'll be ok." It was weak. He knew it was. Oh well. Words weren't his strong suit. Roy didn't say anything either. He just turned and walked out. 'Good job Wayne,' Bruce thought to himself as he went back to his desk. 'You handled that well.' He sighed and rubbed his eyes. He was terrible at this. Just horrible. As if Roy hadn't already suffered enough. Emotions weren't something Bruce handled well. His favorite way of doing things usually involved punching, but the person he wanted to punch was thousands of miles away.

Roy meanwhile went sat next to the door again. He noticed that one of them had been left opened and leaned against the closed one. He kept his body curled up. It was overcast today. He'd noticed it was overcast a lot in Gotham. He was alone, so he started to relax a little. A breeze blew against his face and he closed his eyes. It reminded him of a time last year when he'd snuck onto the terrace. Oliver had apparently forgotten to lock the door. He sat just outside it, smiling as the warm summer sun heated his face while the slightly chilled breeze simultaneously cooled his face. It was the most relaxed he'd felt in months. The peace and tranquility made him so content he was practically asleep when his body was suddenly dragged sideways.

"Ah!" his head smacked off the terrace and stars appeared briefly in his line of sight.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Oliver yelled from behind him.

"I- ah!" His face was pushed into the stone by foot on his head.

"I asked you a question!"

"I-I was just sitting! I wasn't far from the- ah!" A foot kicked him in the side with so much strength he felt a rib crack.

"What did I tell you about going outside?!" Hands grabbed him and dragged the stunned Roy to his feet.

"I'm sorry!" he shouted as he was dragged back inside. "I'm sorry-"

"Roy."

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"Roy!"

"I won't do it again!" Pain was flash down his back, making his shoulders blades pull back instinctively.

"Roy, it's ok! It's ok you're safe!"

"I'm sorry! Please don't hurt me!" Hands were on his shoulders and he tried to shrink out of the grip, but to only got tighter. "Please, I'm really sorry!"

"Roy you're safe! You're in Gotham!" Roy blinked. He could see two arms by his head. He couldn't breathe! Oh god, he couldn't breathe! Oliver was choking him! His hands flew to his throat, but two more hands pulled them away. "Roy look at me! Roy focus on my voice! It's ok! You're safe! No one is hurting you!" He honed in on the voice. "Breathe slowly." Slowly? He couldn't breathe at all! "In. Out. In. out." He tried to do what the voice said. His breath was shallow and felt like it was only reaching less than a 1/4 of his lungs. "In…. Out….. In….. Out…. Try to take deep breaths." Roy did his best, but he still couldn't get air all the way into his lungs. "You're doing really good. Keep breathing. In…. Out… In…. Out…." He kept breathing. As he did things started to come into better focus. He was in Wayne Manor. Oliver wasn't there. Bruce was crouched down in front of him with worry etched all over his face. "Roy? Are you with me?"

"I- I don't know…"

"It's ok," Bruce assured him.

Roy opened his mouth again, only to realize that Bruce was hiding his wrists. He shrunk back, curling up a little bit. "Please don't hurt me."

"Roy-"

"I'm sorry. I won't bother you again, I swear!"

Bruce frowned then realized he was still holding the teen's wrists. He released them and Roy instantly curled into a ball. He reached out to reassure him, but that only got a frightened whimper from him. Bruce pulled his hand back quickly. "Roy, I'm sorry. I'm not going to hurt you. I was just trying to keep you from hurting yourself."

Roy wrapped his arms tighter and pulled his legs closer to his body. "I'm sorry…"

"For what?" Roy buried his face in his knees briefly before looking at Bruce with terrified eyes.

"For disturbing you…" His face disappeared into his knees again.

"No, no, Roy you didn't disturb me."

"I-I didn't?" He peeked up at Bruce a little bit.

"No, you didn't. It's ok." Bruce didn't know what to do. If it was Dick he would've hugged him, but this wasn't Dick and Roy hated being touched. "Are you ok?"

"I-I think so." Roy's voice was muffled by his legs. He took a shaky breath.

"Roy, what happened?"

"I-I don't know." Roy lifted his head a little more. "I-I was sitting and then I was 13 and-"

"Breathe," Bruce interjected, hearing the teen's breath picking up. "In… Out… In… Out… Good. What do you mean you were 13?"

"One-one day last year Ollie forgot to lock the terrace doors. I-I just wanted to enjoy the sunlight I swear! I just wasn't thinking and it was really stupid and-"

"Roy slow down. It's ok. You're not in trouble. What happened?"

"O-Ollie came home and I didn't notice. He-he saw me sitting outside and he…" Roy buried his face again. His grip on his jeans got tighter. Bruce could barely hear what he said next. "He grabbed me and slammed my head into the terrace-" Of course he did. "He started yelling at me and he was kicking me." He had to stop for a minute before he could continue. "Then he was choking me and yelling at me more-"

"What did he say?"

"That I was bad. He told me I was a b-bastard and I had to obey him." Bruce could see the slight tremor that was going through Roy's spine. "Then he locked me in a footlocker."

"….he did what?!"

Roy flinched back and Bruce had to quickly rein in his anger. "He-he locked me in there for a day and it was so dark and small…" The words stopped as he broke down crying. Once again Bruce felt like a fish on dry land.

"So…sitting next to the door reminded you of that?" Roy could only nod. Bruce frowned. "Like you were reliving it?" Roy nodded again. Flashback. It didn't make Bruce feel any better. Flashbacks were a sign of something worse under the surface. Roy just kept crying and it just made Bruce feel more inept. 'God I wish Alfred or Dick was here.' Either of them would've known what to do to comfort Roy. He was Batman. He didn't like situations where he didn't know what to do. In the end, he settled for sitting on the ground next to Roy, trying to reassure him. "It's ok Roy. It's ok. You're ok. You're safe. It's ok." He kept up this mantra for close to an hour before Roy calmed down. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve and sniffed.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" He apologized so much Bruce, unfortunately, wouldn't have been surprised if he apologized for existing.

"For crying. I know it makes me a wuss."

"No, it doesn't."

"Ollie said-"

"Oliver," Bruce interrupted, stressing the man's full name, "was wrong to tell you that." Roy looked away uncertainly. Bruce looked at his watch and sighed. "Come on. I should start dinner or we'll both starve." He didn't have any grand plans to explain to Roy how messed up what Oliver had done was, but he didn't feel comfortable leaving Roy alone after what had just happened. So he settled for the tense silence between them as he started making dinner. Roy sat at the island, resting his head on his arms. Normally silence was something Bruce excelled at; reveled in. At the moment though the silence wasn't just silence. It was tense with Roy's frayed nerves and Bruce's inability to calm him. That inability was so prevalent that Bruce decided to do what he did best: avoid feelings. "How long have you been an archer?"

"Huh?" Roy lifted his head up, giving Bruce a look that was a mixture of suspicion and confusion.

"When did you first learn archery?" Small talk Bruce Wayne could handle. It was one of his best skills as a billionaire businessman. It was a weak question, but he would take anything to get Roy's mind off what had just happened.

"Uh…..when I was 5."

"Who taught you?"

"My-my adoptive dad."

"He was an archer too?"

"Yeah." Roy buried his face in his arms and Bruce took this to mean he didn't want to talk.

'Excellent work Wayne,' Bruce thought. 'You've done nothing to help and he's had a panic attack, a nightmare, and a flashback over this weekend.' Yeah, he was doing a great job. The important thing was that there were only a few hours until Dick was back from his school trip. At least when he finished the food he had the satisfaction of knowing Roy wasn't starving. "Here you go," he said placing a plate in front go him. "It's….mostly not burnt."

"Thank you."

Bruce deiced to just lean against the island while he ate. He tried to smile at Roy. "If Alfred were here he'd chew me out for not sitting at the table. Its ok though, we'll just keep it between us." Roy looked down at his plate and didn't say anything. Bruce gave up on conversation and decided to let Roy enjoy his meal. After nearly half an hour Roy stopped eating. He kept twirling spaghetti with his fork, but only put a few individual strands in his mouth. Bruce frowned. "Roy aren't you hungry?"

"I'll eat."

"You don't have to eat if you're not hungry."

Roy set his fork down. "I'm just tired. Can I go lay down?"

"Of course. I'm leaving in a couple hours to pick up Dick."

"Ok." Roy slipped out of his chair and quickly shuffled out of the room. Once he got upstairs, he laid down on his bed. He was too exhausted to even get under the covers. It was weird because he hadn't done anything all day, but he still couldn't muster up the energy to do anything. He just felt drained. So he curled up into a ball and stared at the wall. There was no chance he wanted to sleep since sleep equaled nightmares. His mind was more or less blank, trying to avoid his memory from earlier and the ensuing breaking down in front of Bruce. He was incredibly out of it so he didn't keep track of time, but when his door cracked open he shot up like a spring.

"Roy?" Dick asked quietly. Bruce had warned him Roy might be sleeping, and if he was not to disturb him.

"Hi, Dick." Despite his lethargic state of mind, he couldn't help the relief that he felt when he saw his young friend.

Dick grinned and ran to his bed. He somersaulted on and sat himself down in front of Roy; all seemingly in one move. He frowned. "You ok? You look….weird."

"I'm fine. How was your….trip?"

The grinned returned. "It as awesome! Have you ever slept over at a museum?! It's so cool! I got to sleep next to the T-Rex skeleton and it looks so cool in the dark! We got to watch the stars and planets too! We looked through this gigantic telescope! Oh! I almost forgot!" He reached behind himself to pulled out what looked like a rock. "Here."

Roy took it cautiously. "You got me a rock?"

"Flip it over silly." Roy turned it over. On the other side was an indent in the rock shaped like an arrowhead. "A fossilized arrowhead! I made it myself!" Roy examined it. It looked pretty legit. "Do you like it?"

"Yeah. I love it." He really did. He hadn't gotten a gift this personal since Brave Bow gave him his longbow over three years ago.

"Really?"

"Absolutely. It's great!" A small smile quivered on Roy's lips, which Dick didn't miss. It made him grin even more.

"I'm glad you like it." Dick leaned ford to hug Roy, but the teen pulled away. "Do you not like hugs?"

"What?"

"When I hug you, you get all….jumpy and stuff."

"I- I just-" Roy didn't want to tell him the truth. Dick was just so innocent and happy; Roy didn't have the heart to tell the kid he wasn't used to touch that didn't end with pain. "I'm just….not used to it I guess."

"Not used to it?"

"Yeah Oliver…..never hugged me so I guess I'm just…."

"He didn't?" That kind of made sense. Dick furrowed his brow. "But then…you haven't been hugged in two years?"

"Um….yes…?" A look that was either horror or shock cross Dick's face. Without warning, he practically leaped forward and wrapped his arms around Roy. "Geez! Dick-" Roy stopped. Normally at this point, Dick would let go. Instead, he just kept himself latched onto the teen. Roy sat there awkwardly until Dick finally let go. "What was that about?"

"We gotta make up for lost time."

"Huh?"

"I'm gonna hug you every day."

"Dick?" Bruce's voice came from the hall. He poked his head in. "I told you not to wake Roy up."

"I didn't! He was awake!" Dick protested.

"I-I was," Roy said, trying to keep Dick from getting in trouble.

"Alright." Bruce looked at Dick. "Its time for you to go to bed."

"Awww! Can't I stay up a little later?" Dick asked.

"No."

"But-"

"Bed Dick."

Dick sighed dramatically. "Fine." He got up and gave Roy a smile. "Good night Roy." He left and slipped past Bruce, who ruffled his hair.

"I'll be right in." He looked at Roy, who pulled himself against the headboard. "Did he disturb you?"

Rot shook his head. "No."

"Ok. Uh…since Alfred's with his family you're going to be alone tomorrow."

"Ok." Alone was good. Roy liked being alone.

"Alright." Bruce left and went to Dick's room. He found the boy brushing his teeth in his bathroom. "Don't forget the back ones."

"Hey, I've never had a cavity."

"Good, let's keep it that way."

Dick grinned as he finished. He gave Bruce a hug. "How was your weekend with Roy."

"We're both alive and I think that's all I could've hoped for."

"Oh. Well, don't worry. He'll warm up to you eventually."

"I hope so. Bed."

"I know." He gave Bruce another hug and Bruce returned it. "Night Bruce."

"Night Dick." He didn't tuck Dick in, he'd told Bruce he was "too old" for that now, but he did wait until the boy was settled to turn off the light. He shut the door quietly and went back over to Roy's room. He found Roy sound asleep on top of his blankets again. Bruce grabbed a blanket from the floor and thew it over Roy, covering him up gently. He smoothed out his red hair. "Sleep well, Roy." He turned away, pausing for a moment when he saw the fossil arrow Dick had made propped up on a shelf. He shut the light off and left, hoping Roy would sleep soundly through the night.