There were very few things that could surprise Bruce. However, when faced with Roy hitting an apple from about 50 yards away, surprise was really the only option. Roy gave him a cautious look. "How was that?"

"That was…" Bruce really didn't have words. Luckily, that's why he had Dick.

"That was awesome!" the boy cheered.

"Thanks," Roy mumbled, glancing down.

"You said you can shoot fast?" Bruce asked him.

"Yes."

"Let's see it then."

"How long?"

"How long what?"

"How long do you want me to shoot for?"

"…2 minutes."

"Ok." Roy took a deep breath, then started shooting. He shot arrow after arrow, moving without really thinking. His fingers nimbly jumped from the fletchings on the arrows to the bow, and back again. He ended up stopping before the two minutes were up, but he'd emptied his quiver. Roy glanced at Dick, momentarily taken aback by the astonished look on the boy's face.

"That was amazing!" Dick cheered.

"Thanks." Roy looked at Bruce. "Was that ok?"

Bruce nodded. "Yes, that…that was fine." In reality, it was more than ok. Bruce had known Roy was a good archer, Oliver wouldn't have had it any other way, but not even he had thought that Roy could be this skilled. The teen's skill with a bow was far better than anything Bruce could've imagined. "You're fine."

"How'd you get so good?" Dick asked.

Roy shifted uneasily on his feet. "I….I practiced a lot." His voice got kind of quiet.

"Dick, why don't you go get us some water from Alfred?" Bruce suggested.

"Ok…" Dick said cautiously, looking in-between them.

"What did Oliver do?" Bruce asked while he helped Roy retrieve his arrows. It shouldn't have surprised him that the arrows were all clustered in the bullseye.

"Nothing."

"Roy, I'm not going to get mad at you. I just want to know."

Roy swallowed. "It was nothing, really. It was my fault-"

"You know that's not true."

"He was just training me."

Bruce frowned. "How exactly did Oliver train you?"

Roy fiddled with an arrow, casting his eyes downwards. "It was just a lot of archery. He'd have me shooting in the range for a long time. You know like…hours. If I missed a shot he'd hit me." His shoulders blades pulled back involuntarily. "He'd hit me with a metal rod…on the back. One time he made me shoot for almost three days without stopping."

"At all?"

"Yes. It was ok though. He made me a better archer. I'm really good."

"Roy that doesn't matter."

"Oliver was just trying to toughen me up."

"Roy. Roy look at me." Roy lifted his head. "What Oliver did was wrong. He shouldn't have hit you and treated you that way."

"He was making me a better archer."

"It doesn't matter. It was wrong."

"I am a good archer though."

Bruce hesitated. Normally, he'd let it go, but he didn't want this in Roy's head. There had to be a way to explain to Roy how wrong Oliver's methods were. "Roy, were you a good archer before Oliver met you?" He didn't expect the sadness and hesitation that crossed Roy's face.

"….kind of."

"Kind of? You have a quite a few first-place medals to just be kind of."

Roy suddenly became very interested in the fletching of an arrow he was holding. "I mean…maybe?" He swallowed. "Ollie told me that-that I was good, but that I wasn't you know….that good. I could be a lot better." That legitimately didn't surprise Bruce. "Before that though…I used to think so."

"You did?"

"Yeah…" Roy frowned and shifted his feet a little bit. What did have to do with anything?

"You said that your adoptive father taught you archery, right?"

"Yes…"

"Did he train you the way Oliver did?"

Roy swallowed. "No! Brave Bow would never have laid a hand on me!"

"Ok, ok. Why would Brave Bow never teach you like that?"

"Because…It's not how you teach archery?"

"Is it?"

Roy sighed. "I guess not. But Oliver was teaching me a lot harder stuff and I had to be good to be his partner."

"That still doesn't make it right."

"Really?" Roy gave Bruce a hopeful look; like he wanted validation for his feelings against Oliver's treatment.

"Yes, Roy. I would never train you like that and Oliver shouldn't have."

"….ok."

'Progress,' Bruce thought as Dick rejoined them. 'Slow progress, but progress.' He let Roy drink and rest a minute while the teen reloaded his quiver. "Ok, let's see what else you can do."

— —

After archery and lunch, it was sparring in the gym. For the past few days, Bruce had been training Roy hard. Of course, it wasn't as bad as Oliver's training regime. Bruce never hit Roy when he made a mistake or made him practice for hours and hours without stopping, or even making him train on an empty stomach. It was different, but it was a good different. A different that Roy could feel himself getting used to, even if it was somewhat cautiously. Which was how he approached training with Bruce as a whole. Cautiously. Sparring was still a hard thing for him to get through. Every time Bruce swung at him he had to fight the urge to flinch.

'It's not Oliver. It's not Oliver. It's not Oliver. It's not Oliver,' he repeated in his head, again and again as he forced his muscles to keep fighting back. The fighting still started out slow as Bruce tested if Roy was holding up ok with this. Which Roy could easily tell and he was actually really appreciative of it. It calmed him a little bit to be able to go slower if he needed when it came to someone swinging punches at him. Not only that, but Bruce would also tell him when he was doing good, or at least correct him in a semi-positive way.

"Good hit, but if you pull your back more it'll have more power. "

"You can duck faster, I've seen it."

"Keep your arms close to your body to protect yourself."

Which was a lot different from Oliver, who had much preferred to yell at Roy, insult him, and then hit him. It was never like that with Bruce though, and Roy pushed himself to keep getting better to prove to Bruce that he deserved to be treated well. That he could be not only good, but the kind of good Bruce obviously wanted him to be; which resulted in him practicing for hours when he wasn't practicing his archery. Luckily, Alfred had cut back on Roy's school work to allow him more time for vigilante training. He improved a lot faster than he'd been expecting, but he still kept pushing himself. The better he was, the better Bruce would probably treat him.

Despite pushing himself so hard though, sleep was quickly becoming an impossible act. The nightmares refused to stop, waking him up screaming and shaking every night. So, trying to avoid the experience altogether, Roy decided to just not sleep that night. He said goodnight to Alfred, then shut himself in his room. First, he tried reading, but his brain kept wandering. It had only roughly been a week and a half of his training with Bruce, but his brain wanted to think about what would happen when he was out on the streets of Gotham. He closed the book and closed his eyes, trying to imagine what it would be like to be out there with Batman and Robin. Stopping criminals without the pressure to kill them. He saw himself shooting his arrow at the criminal, hitting him in the hand to disarm him. His fictional-self pulled another arrow as the wound bled. As his mind focused on the blood though, the criminal was replaced with another one. A dead one who had a red arrow sticking out of his neck-

Roy's eyes snapped open and he let out a soft gasp. He swallowed and drew his knees close to his chest. He took a deep breath. Bruce had said that he wasn't responsible for killing that man, but Roy didn't really believe that. He rested his forehead against his knees as he tried to force himself to calm down. "It's ok, it's ok," he reassured himself. "It's ok, Bruce doesn't hold it against me. It's ok." It really wasn't ok, but he needed to calm down somehow. When he finally did, the image from his mind still made him uneasy. His arrows were really sharp. They had to be, but wouldn't that just increase the chance of him killing someone? Roy bit his lip. "If I'm just stopping criminals and not killing them then why do I need arrows like that?" But what other kinds of arrows would he use? "If only I had an arrow that could just knock them out form a distance or-" He blinked.

"An arrow that can stop criminals from a distance," he repeated slowly. His mind started going through things that could stop people and he was suddenly propelled to his feet. "A non-lethal arrow that stops criminals from a distance." He sat down at his desk and pulled out a sheet of paper. It was stupid, yeah, but he couldn't help but wonder…what if it's not? He almost smiled as he got to work. "A non-lethal arrow."

— —

The following morning Bruce was working in his study when Alfred came with a look Bruce easily recognized as 'something is wrong'.

"Have you seen Master Roy?" Alfred asked Bruce.

"….Should I have?" Bruce asked cautiously.

"Master Dick has been in the gym all day, and he claims not have seen Master Roy at all."

"He's probably in his room." Alfred gave Bruce a look. "And I will go check on him."

"A very good idea sir."

Bruce made his way up to Roy's bedroom, trying to remember if he'd said anything or if anything had happened to cause Roy to hide in his room. Nothing in particular came to mind. The past few days Roy had been ether outside practicing his archery, in the gym sparring with Dick. He was actually getting a lot better faster than Bruce thought he would and would soon be ready for the more specialized fighting Bruce had been developing for him. Still, typically when Roy made himself scarce it was after him having a bad reaction to something. Bruce knocked on the door. "Roy?" He opened the door to find the teen looking at himself in the mirror. He had lifted up his shirt and was examining himself. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah." Roy dropped his shirt. "I just….I'd forgotten what I looked like without bruises."

Bruce swallowed. "Ok."

"Did you need something?"

"No, I was just….checking on you. No one's seen you all day…"

"Oh. I was just…nothing."

"Doesn't sound like nothing." Roy's eyes glanced towards his desk, then back at Bruce. Bruce walked over to the desk. "Is this school work?" Alfred had said Roy was getting a lot better at school work and didn't need to work as much now.

"No…"

There were papers spread all over the desk. Bruce examined them and quickly discovered they weren't school work. At least…he didn't think they were. It was a drawing of an arrow. He examined it carefully, picking up the paper. It was definitely an arrow…just different. Small, scribbled notes were scrawled on all over, next to every part of the arrow. The arrowhead was different than one Bruce recognized. It was a cylinder. He looked at Roy, who was watching him carefully. "What is this?"

"I was just… It was…" Roy didn't know how to explain. "I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"It's stupid and it's wasting your time."

"It's not a waste of time. What is it?"

Roy crept closer, lowering his head. "I just…I was thinking that arrows are just….sharp."

"Sharp?"

"Yeah. They...you know….can only hurt people. It-It'd be easy to accidentally kill them if I were to miss…"

"True, but you wouldn't miss."

"Well no, but with regular arrows to stop people you have to hit them in the knee or hand. So I thought…maybe if I had an arrow that could stop someone without having to shoot their knee out…" He looked at Bruce with apprehension. "So that one," he pointed to the paper. "That one is a taser."

"Taser?"

"Yeah. Taser….arrow. It would hit someone and stun them."

Bruce looked back down at the paper in his hand. The cylinder on the end of the arrow was probably the taser. "How would it work?"

"Well…I was thinking that there's a button I push on the side right before I fire it. It would be a time delay."

"Could be cumbersome in a fast fight."

"True. Or it somehow just….activates itself when it hits the person." Roy glanced down again. "I know it's stupid."

"No, not at all. This is….creative." It was more than that actually, it was downright ingenious. Arrows that could stun criminals from long distances. While some criminals certainly deserved to have their knee taken out, Bruce completely understood why Roy might want to have an alternative to something that brutal.

"It was just an idea. I don't….I'm just stupid so I don't know who to actually make it work."

"Roy, I've told you before, you're not stupid. I also know Alfred has been telling you not to talk about yourself like that." Bruce looked at the paper again. "The design is simple enough."

"It is?"

"Yes. Your time delay idea is good, but perfect timing could be a bit of an issue. A sensitive trigger plate in the front of the arrow could work so that it activates upon impact."

"Really?"

"Possibly." He noticed that Roy was looking at him. The teen looked down quickly, obviously trying to hide the fact he'd just been watching Bruce. "This is an….it's not stupid."

Roy blinked and look at Bruce. He seemed genuine enough. 'So did Oliver though,' he reminded himself. The thought sent a shiver down his spine. 'How can I trust anyone? How will I know who's going to hurt me?!' Part of him still wasn't convinced Bruce wouldn't, but it was a much smaller part of his brain than it had been previously. The other, now much bigger part, had noticed that Bruce had yet to hit him for anything. When he'd been living with Oliver for almost 5 months he was getting hit on almost a daily basis. 'This isn't like with Oliver though.' Not yet at least. There was always the chance that he'd once again prove how incompetent he was when on patrol. The silence from Roy somehow unnerved Bruce.

"I'm not mad or anything Roy. Honest." Not that he expected Roy to believe him. "When did you think of this?"

"Last night…"

Bruce frowned, causing Roy to back up a step. "You weren't sleeping?" Now that he thought about it, it had been quiet last night. 'I thought maybe he'd finally had a good night's sleep.'

"N-No…. I'm sorry I just…"

"It's ok, you don't need to explain yourself." Having almost continual night terrors must've been horrible.

"I was just….I was thinking and I thought of that."

"It's a good idea. Is this the only design you came up with?"

"Um…no." Roy slipped past Bruce to his desk and rifled through the papers on it. "I have this one." He handed it to Bruce. "It's a glue arrow."

"Glue arrow?"

"Yeah, like you shoot it at their feet and they can't run away; or especially if it's someone really big and strong."

"Ok."

"This one is a flash grenades arrow. For you know….flash grenade purposes." He handed it to Bruce as well.

"You were busy last night."

"Is it bad?"

"No, not at all. These are very clever ideas that can be very useful."

"Really?"

"Of course. Come downstairs, I can use the Bat-computer to test some of your designs."

"Really?"

"Yes." He handed the papers back to Roy. "Coming?"

Roy swallowed, then nodded. "Yeah. I am." He followed Bruce downstairs to the Bat cave, feeling slightly unsure about what was going on. "Do you really think my designs will work?"

"I think it's possible. If they do we can start looking at the types of materials needed to build them."

"If I have these….trick arrows then I'd be really different from Oliver."

"That's true you would be."

"I'd have an arsenal all my own." Bruce didn't miss the small hint of pride in Roy's voice. It was slight, but it was enough to convince Bruce that he needed to make sure these designs worked. It would do a lot to help Roy's self-esteem and convince the teen he wasn't like Oliver. Roy stood just behind Bruce as he sat at the Bat-computer.

"Let's see how these designs of yours work out."

Roy spent the next few hours helping Bruce. They used a simulation on the computer to test the potential impact and inner workings of Roy's trick arrow designs. Problems like aerodynamics and weight were immediately brought up when the virtual arrows failed to hit their targets, but Roy quickly thought of ways to rectify those such as modifying the shape of the trick arrowheads and adding weight to the arrows to keep them balanced. Much to his surprise, the general designs of his arrows worked well. The flash grenade arrow was the easiest, but the glue arrow wasn't difficult either. The stun/taser arrow was a little more difficult, but Bruce's idea about the sensitive trigger plate seemed to be a good method.

"We won't know for sure until we build them and you actually test them out," Bruce said to Roy.

"We-we can build them?"

"Of course. Do you want to?"

Roy nodded almost eagerly. "Yes. I'd-I'd like that."

"Good. We can build the first one tomorrow if you want."

"Yes, please."

"Sounds good then. I'll have to make sure you have a modified quiver so that none of these go off while they're on your back."

"Yeah, that'd-that'd be bad."

"Have you thought of a way to mark them? So you know which arrow would be which?"

Roy considered it. "I was thinking of marking the fletchings. Like with…dot or something."

"That's not a bad idea."

"Thank you."

"We should go upstairs. I'm sure dinner is almost done and we don't want Alfred to get mad at us."

"We would never want to upset Alfred," Roy said as he followed Bruce upstairs to the study.

"Definitely not. He's the real boss around here."

"I've noticed."

Bruce smiled. 'Maybe we're finally getting somewhere with him,' he thought, almost optimistically. 'Hopefully, we're finally getting somewhere.'

— —

The next day Roy went through his normal routine (schoolwork, archery, and hand to hand combat) but with the added addition of Bruce helping him build the first prototype of his trick arrows. Roy didn't understand the all the ins and outs of mechanical engineering, but Bruce was explaining things in a way that he could understand. For his part, Bruce was pleasantly surprised by Roy's questions. They started out slow and cautious, like Roy thought his questions were annoying to Bruce. So Bruce answered patiently, explaining what they were doing while subtlety trying to encourage Roy to ask more questions. He was also surprised by how quickly Roy picked up on what they were doing. Of course, he never thought Roy was stupid, but after finding out how far behind Roy was on his education, Bruce hadn't really expected Roy to pick up on everything so easily.

"Good job," Bruce said as he guided Roy's hand to bring the wires together. "This will be the main electrical circuit. This is what we need to be activated when the arrow hits the culprit."

"Got it." Roy liked building the arrow. It was really interesting knowing how it all worked and it gave him a warm feeling inside at the prospect of having this advanced arrow that he'd built and designed himself.

"Roy, can I ask you something?" Bruce asked as casually as possible.

"Ok…?"

"How did you meet Oliver?"

Roy swallowed, hand starting to shake a little bit. "He was watching an archery tournament I competed in on the reservation."

"He did?" Bruce gently reached out and stabilized Roy's hand with his own.

"Yeah. He took me out for ice cream and we just….he was really nice, you know? Brave Bow was dying and I didn't really have anyone else."

"You don't have to explain yourself to me, Roy."

"He just….I was just lonely and he was there and paying attention to me. I just….I thought he cared."

Bruce swallowed. "Absolutely none of that is your fault, Roy."

"I was stupid enough to fall for it."

"No. You're not stupid. You had no reason to believe that Oliver was anyone but who he claimed to be. There's nothing you could've done."

Roy frowned. "I just…I just didn't want to be alone."

"I get that. Believe me, I do. So does Dick." Bruce let the conversation drop after that. They focused on the task of buying the arrowhead and figuring out a way to both put it on the arrow and modify the rest of the arrow itself. That part Roy was able to do on his own, no need to even weigh the arrow. Bruce was moderately impressed that Roy could just tell if an arrow was equally weighed just by holding it in his hand. It only served as a reminder that Roy was a much better archery than Bruce was, or could ever possibly be, and was probably one of the best in the world. Of course, that admiration was tinged by the anger of what Oliver had put Roy through to make him this good. The two of them worked until dinner, then after dinner started on the glue arrow. They were half-way done with that when Bruce had to get ready for patrol with Dick.

"How's the arrow coming?" Dick asked Roy, looking at the prototype curiously.

"It's good. Hopefully, it works."

"I bet it will! It'll be awesome!"

"Dick!" Bruce called. "Get ready for patrol!" Dick sighed dramatically and ran off to get changed into his Robin suit. Roy stood up and hung back curiously as they got ready. "Roy," Bruce said, gesturing for Roy to come closer. "You don't have to do it starting tonight, but I want you to start studying maps of Gotham. You need to be familiar with the area."

"Ok," Roy nodded.

"I'll quiz you!" Dick beamed.

"I also want you to look at some cases Dick and I have already closed so you have an idea what our process is. Got it?"

"Yes," Roy said.

"You also won't be surprised by Joker or Scarecrow," Dick added.

Yeah, after Dick's rough first meetings with the Arkham inmates, Bruce had decided it would be best to make sure Roy is familiar with them beforehand. Hopefully, this would make Roy's first few nights as easy as possible for him.

"Come along upstairs Master Roy," Alfred said. "You've been down here all afternoon."

"Ok," Roy said.

"Try to get some sleep," Bruce advised. "You need it." The bags under Roy's eyes are starting to look dark, indicating he was still depriving himself of sleep. 'Maybe Leslie can prescribe something to help him sleep.' Bruce hated to drug Roy and would much prefer to let the teen sleep on his own, but Roy couldn't be going without sleep, especially since he was training to be a vigilante. When you spent the entire night fighting crime, having definitive sleeping hours was vital. There was also Alfred to consider.

"Hey Bruce," Dick said as he put on his mask after Alfred and Roy had gone upstairs. "When do you think Roy will be ready?"

"It's only been two weeks Dick."

"I know, but he's doing a really good job."

"I know, but it'll still probably be a couple more months before he's ready to go on patrol with us."

"That'll be exciting! The criminals won't stay a chance once they see the great archer we've got!" He pulled his cape on and grinned. "Commissioner Gordon will be surprised too."

'He won't be the only one,' Bruce thought, thinking back to the League's first reactions to Robin. 'He won't be the only one.'

— —

After Roy had spent enough time upstairs for Alfred's standards he went back downstairs to the Bat-computer. After watching Dick and Bruce accessing it several times, he thought he'd able to handle it by himself, but it turned out he couldn't. Which Alfred must've somehow known because he was standing there behind Roy when the teen turned around to come get him.

"Do you require some help, Master Roy?" Alfred asked the sheepish teen.

"Yes please, Alfred."

"What is it you are looking for sir?"

"Um….cases. Bruce-Bruce said I needed to study closed cases."

"Of course sir." Alfred pulled up several files for Roy to look over, stealthily keeping Roy from seeing the one with his name. "There you are sir."

"Thank you, Alfred."

"Of course sir."

Roy went over the cases slowly, taking note about the investigation and crimes. The detailed reports covered every aspect of what had happened and kind of surprised him. Bruce's investigations were like actual, formal investigations that a police officer would run. 'It's so different from Oliver.' Not just with how criminals never died when Batman caught them, but Oliver's strategy had laws been: see someone committing a crime, kill them. The closest thing to an investigation they'd ever had was Oliver "interrogating" known gang members or drug dealers to find more of them. A shiver ran down Roy's spine and his stomach heaved a little. Interrogations had always been the hardest to watch. Batman was definitely brutal, these criminals had made terrible life choice by getting on his bad side, but it wasn't as bad as what Oliver had been doing.

'Kind of ironic,' Roy thought as he read. 'Since Oliver was always telling me that Batman was sadistic.'

Roy stayed at the Bat-computer until Bruce and Dick came back from their patrol.

"Hi, Roy!" Robin cheered as he hopped out. He ran over to Roy and practically hopped into the teen's lap.

"Robin," Batman said when Roy flinched. "Get down." Robin hopped down while Batman took his cowl off. "Didn't I tell you to get some sleep?"

"Um….yes?"

Bruce sighed. "Roy-"

"I'm sorry, I was just…."

"You're not in trouble."

"How come he's not in trouble?!" Robin demanded. When he stayed up past his bed-time he got grounded.

"Go get changed, Robin."

"Fine."

Bruce crouched down in front of Roy. "Roy, why don't you want to sleep?"

"I'm just….scared. If I go to sleep I'll have a bad dream."

"I know your dreams are terrifying, but you need to sleep."

"I don't want to."

"Well, you need to." Dick came back and Bruce stood up. "Dick, take Roy upstairs."

"Ok!" Dick beamed. He grabbed Roy's hand and dragged the reluctant teen upstairs.

"I'm not tired," Roy tried to tell him.

"Yes, you are."

"'I'm not."

"I'll be right here," Dick assured him as he pulled Roy to the bed. "Just get some sleep."

Roy laid down but didn't even bother to close his eyes. He simply stared at the dark ceiling while Dick curled against him. 'I'm not going to sleep,' he thought. 'I'm not going to sleep. I'm not going to sleep.' This mantra kept repeating in his head until he fell asleep.

A few hours later, Dick was woken by something hitting him on the side. He moaned and idly brushed at whatever it was. The hitting persisted though, this time moving down to his legs as well. Dick opened his eyes just in time for an elbow to hit his eye. He sat up and scrambled to turn the light on. Roy was tossing and turning in the bed. Dick ran back to him and knelt next to his friend. "Roy. Roy wake up!" He ducked as Roy's fist suddenly swung at him. "Roy wake up!"

"No!" Roy shouted, twisting away from Dick's hands. "Get away from me!"

"Roy's it's just a bad dream!"

"Stay away from me Ollie!"

"Roy it's me, Dick!" He shook Roy's shoulder, but this turned out to be a bad idea, because Roy lashed out. His fist glanced off Dick's face and the boy grabbed the teen's wrist. He grabbed the other wrist as well to keep him restrained. "Roy wake up! Roy!"

"Ah!" Roy yelled, sitting up suddenly. He gasped and blinked away the remnants of his bad dream. Then he realized someone was restraining him. His chest constricted along with his vision. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, please don't hurt me! I won't fight back, I promise!"

Dick quickly released his hands as Bruce came in. "Roy, its ok, calm down," he said as crouched down by the bed.

"I was just trying to help him…" Dick muttered sadly as Roy curled up into a ball.

Bruce sighed and rubbed his face. 'Why is this becoming a nightly occurrence?' He glanced back and found Alfred standing behind him. 'Ok. Two upset kids, two of us.' They could do this. "Alfred, can you take Roy downstairs and get him some water?"

"Of course sir," Alfred replied. He quietly walked over to Roy and placed a gentle hand on his head. "Come along Master Roy." Roy hesitated for a second before unfolding himself and following. Bruce watched them go for a second before he turned to Dick.

"What happened?"

"I didn't want Roy to hurt himself…" Dick sniffed.

"Dick you need to be more careful about how you touch Roy."

"I know. I was just trying to help."

"I know you were." Dick crawled over to him and put his face on Bruce's chest. Not knowing what else to do, Bruce wrapped his arms around the child.

"Why is he like this Bruce? His nightmares are getting so bad he doesn't even want to sleep!"

"I know Dick, I know."

"He thought I was going to hurt him! He thinks everyone wants to hurt him!"

"I know."

"Why would Oliver do this to him?!"

Bruce hugged him tighter. "I know its hard Dick. Roy is your friend and its hard for you to see him like this."

"I just want him to get better."

"He will. It's just going to take time Dick."

"It's been 5 months!"

"I know, I know. It's going to take longer than that though."

"How much longer?"

"I don't know Dick. I do know that Roy will get better eventually."

"You sure?"

"Of course. With a friend like you, how can he not?" He could feel Dick smiling and could've sighed in relief.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" How bad was it that he was getting used to children around him apologizing for no reason? Probably pretty bad.

"Getting upset. Roy was the one who needed you, not me."

"Dick, you never have to apologize. You're a child. Situations like this are enough to give some adults nightmares, let alone a 10-year-old. Besides, Alfred is taking care of Roy. Don't count him out."

"I'd never want to do something like that."

"Heaven forbid." Dick smiled again. Footsteps alerted Bruce to Alfred and Roy's return. He glanced back. Roy looked better if still a little pale.

"I think it's time the long sirs returned to bed," Alfred advised.

"I agree." Bruce stood up so that Roy could lay down. Dick curled up next to him and Bruce covered them both with a blanket. "Try to get some sleep, Roy."

"Ok," Roy mumbled. He wrapped an arm around Dick, allowing the younger boy to cuddle closer. "I'm sorry I scared you," he whispered.

Dick yawned. "It's ok…" he muttered.

Alfred smiled as he watched them from the doorway. "Master Roy does make a nice addition to the family, don't you think?" he asked quietly as Bruce joined him.

Bruce looked back at the boys. He remembered the conversation he and Roy'd had earlier that day. "Yeah, I'd say so."

— —

It was taking every ounce of control Oliver had, which wasn't a lot, not to kill the man standing in front of him. Then again, killing the Commissioner of the Star City Police was probably not a smart idea. "I thought you told me that your best detective was handling the case?"

"He is- was…" Commissioner Lance replied, clearly wishing he was anywhere else.

"Then why are you closing the case if you still haven't found Roy?"

"Well-"

"Is his life not important?"

"Of course it is, but it has been 5 months sir."

"So?"

Commissioner Lance sighed. "Mr. Queen, I know this is hard for you to hear, but the case has gone cold. There are no leads, no evidence. Whoever is responsible, they covered their tracks very well."

"So you're giving up?"

"There's nothing more for us to do. I know this is difficult for you, it would be for any loving parent, but statistically….Roy is probably dead."

"He's not dead!" Oliver had to bit back his anger a little bit. He knew Roy was alive, but he couldn't exactly say why. "You think there's no hope?"

"You should never use hope, but…it might be better for you to grieve."

Oliver sighed and closed his eyes. "Get out. Get out of my home."

"Of course sir. I really am sorry."

Oliver waited until he was sure the Commissioner was gone before he threw something. It didn't give him any satisfaction to see the liquor bottle exploded against the wall. "That god damn kid! How the hell is he able to hide from me?!" He threw something else with another shout. "That worthless, little shit!" He started pacing, trying to figure out what to do next. Oliver hadn't really expected the police to find Roy, but it had been 5 months! 5 months and he still had no clue where Roy was! Oliver hated to admit it, but he didn't know what to do. "I'm not letting the Justice League win." Now it wasn't just a matter of getting Roy back. It was also a matter of making sure the League didn't get the last word. "That kid is causing more trouble than he's worth! I should've left him on that reservation!"

Still riled up, Oliver decided to go downstairs to shoot in the range in an attempt to blow off steam. He almost knocked stuff over grabbing his bow he was so forceful. "I will find Roy. I won't let the Justice League beat me. I'm going to find him and I'm going get back at the League." At the moment, Oliver was starting to regret ever having set foot at that archery tournament.