A/N: It's Halloween...in January...yay! This is the first of several oddly placed holiday chapters. So eat some candy and enjoy.

When Roy woke up and saw the rubber spider hanging over his face he frowned. "What're you doing?"

"Aww," Dick pouted, sitting back on Roy's stomach. "It didn't scare you."

"Why would that scare me?"

"Spiders are scary."

"I grew up in Arizona. I once found a camel spider on my shoe. Spiders don't scare me."

"What's a camel spider?"

Roy pushed Dick off and grabbed his laptop. He quickly booted it up and sat back on his bed. "This." He turned the laptop around to show Dick. The younger boy screamed and ran out of the room. Roy chuckled and put his laptop away. 'Why was Dick trying to scare me anyways?' he wondered as he got dressed. He happened to get a glance at the calendar hanging on the wall above his desk. 'Oh, it's Halloween.' The holiday brought memories of trick or treating dressed as Robin Hood and sorting through so candy with Brave Bow. His felt an ache in his heart, but a sudden knock on his bedroom door re-focused his attention. "Come in."

Bruce came in and gave Roy a curious look. "Is there a reason why Dick is yelling about a 'monster spider' and asking Alfred if camel spiders live in Gotham?" Roy simply grabbed his laptop and showed it to Bruce. "Why would you show him this?"

"He wants to know why I wasn't scared of spiders. I found one of these on my shoes once."

"That monstrosity was on your shoe, but it didn't give you arachnophobia?"

"There are tons of spiders and scorpions in Arizona. I'm just used to them."

"Well, when you go down to breakfast reassure Dick they only live Arizona."

"Yes, Bruce."

"Good." Bruce left and Roy quickly finished getting dressed. He went down to the dining room where Dick was dressed in his school uniform but looking incredibly traumatized.

"You should've seen it, Alfred! It was huge!" he cried, holding his arms apart for emphasis.

"Still talking about the spider?" Roy asked him, slightly amused.

"Master Dick is very distraught over the existence of this spider," Alfred explained as he gave the boys' their breakfasts.

"Don't worry Dick, they only live in Arizona. You won't find one in Gotham."

"I'm never going to Arizona," Dick decided as he started eating his eggs while Roy chuckled.

'How can a kid who fearlessly faces down men twice his size with semi-automatic weapons be so scared of a little spider?' They didn't see Bruce at breakfast, but they did hear him getting ready for work.

"We're leaving in 10 minutes Master Dick," Alfred warned the boy as he quickly finished his breakfast.

"I'm hurrying!" Dick replied. Once he finished he pretty much hopped out of his seat and ran out of the dining room. Roy looked down at his empty plate, then looked up in hesitation.

"Alfred?" he asked cautiously.

"Yes, Master Roy?" Alfred replied.

"Can I have more eggs please?"

"Of course, sir."

Roy waited until his plate was back in front of him with more food until he relaxed. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, sir. When I return we shall begin your school work."

"Ok." Once Roy finished his second helping he went upstairs, running into Dick, who was leaving.

"Bye Roy!" he smiled, giving Roy a hug. Roy returned it briefly. "After patrol tonight we'll watch a Halloween movie."

"Alright. Have a good day at school."

"I will. Bye!" Dick disappeared down the stairs and Roy grabbed his school supplies. He glanced outside and stopped for a moment. The trees around the estate had turned from green to red, yellow, and brown. He'd never seen anything like it.

'Maybe I can go outside today before patrol if I'm not too busy,' he thought hopefully. He finished gathering up his things and went downstairs to the dining room. Usually, this was where Alfred had him doing his school work. He sat down to wait and started looking over his homework. "Homework" being the work Alfred required him to do on his own so he could get the practice. The morning went quickly, with Alfred teaching Roy about triangles in math, World War 1 in history, atoms in science, and assigned him spelling words for the week. Truthfully, Roy didn't really understand why he needed to study things like spelling and vocabulary, but he was also really happy Alfred was teaching him at all, so he didn't question it. In the afternoon he did his work on his own and Alfred looked it over after he'd done some cleaning. After that, it was homework before patrol. He worked in his room, hoping to get through at least his math and spelling before Dick got home.

He'd moved his desk a couple of weeks ago so that he could look out one of the windows when he was sitting at it. He was half-way through re-writing his spelling words for the week when he looks outside again. Despite it being the last day of October and well into Autumn, it looked a little on the warm side. The usual overcast skies weren't as dark as they normally were. He tried to go back to his work, but he kept looking outside. Finally, after 15 minutes, he couldn't take it anymore. Roy got up and gathered up his papers. He went downstairs to the backdoors and quietly let himself outside. The grass poked him a little bit because he wasn't wearing shoes, but it was mostly soft. Roy found a good place in the expansive backyard and sat down cross-legged. The fresh air helped clear his head and he was actually working a lot faster than he had been inside. He was so engrossed in his work that he didn't notice someone coming up behind him.

"So this is where you have been hiding Master Roy," Alfred said, a hint of amusement in his voice.

Roy jumped, dropping his pencil. "Sorry Alfred, I just really wanted to be outside."

"Well, as long as you're doing your work, I don't think it's a bad idea. Master Dick is home and looking for you."

"I should probably go inside then." He gathered up his work and followed Alfred back into the Manor. He'd barely made it ten feet before Dick came running up to him.

"Look! Roy, look!" He held up a small pumpkin covered in marker drawings. "We did this in art class today."

"Cool."

"What'd you do?"

"Nothing. Just school work."

"Does Alfred do art projects with you?"

Roy scoffed a little. "I'm in high school, Dick. I don't do art projects."

Dick made a face. "That doesn't sound like fun. I'd rather do art projects."

"That's because you're a kid." Dick threw the pumpkin at him, but Roy simply caught it.

"Like I said, you're a kid."

"Just give me my pumpkin back."

"Fine." Roy held the small squash up as high as his arm would allow. "Take it."

Dick scowled. "Give it back, Roy."

"I'm telling you to take it." Dick leaped at Roy, who spun around. The boy jumped on his back, wrapping his legs around Roy's torso.

"Give it back!" Roy laughed as Dick actually started climbing him.

"What're you, part monkey?!" Dick reach up vainly to try and reach the pumpkin, but even when sitting on Roy's shoulder's his fingers could just barely make it.

"Give me my pumpkin back!"

"Never!" Roy tried to walk forward at the same moment Dick leaped up off his shoulders. The two of them fell on the ground, where Roy quickly snatched up the pumpkin again.

"Give it back!" Dick pulled at Roy's arms as the teen wrapped his body around the pumpkin.

"Make me!"

"I'll-"

"Ahem." Both boys froze and scurried to their feet. Alfred was standing in the hall, giving both of them stern looks. "I would greatly appreciate it if you two would refrain from roughhousing outside the gym or the Cave." It was phrased as a suggestion, but his tone and body language conveyed it was actually an order.

"Sorry Alfred," the boys said in unison, which almost made Alfred smile in amusement. He left them alone and Roy held the pumpkin out.

"Here," he said. "You can have it back."

Dick shrugged. "You can keep it, I made it for you anyways."

Roy smiled. "Thanks."

"Master Dick!" Alfred called from down the hall. "I do hope your homework is done or you'll be staying home tonight!"

Dick made a face. "Why isn't he telling you to finish your homework?"

"Mine's already done."

"That's not fair!" Roy followed him upstairs to their rooms. "Why do you always have less work than me?"

"I don't have less work, I just get it done faster." Dick stuck his tongue out at Roy. They departed once upstairs, going into their own rooms. Roy set his pumpkin on his shelf, along with the fossilized arrowhead. He spent the afternoon before dinner watching tv. Dinner was the same as it usually was. Roy was more nervous around Bruce than he had been all day, but he did ask for more food. Dick did his best to try and keep Roy as calm as he had been all afternoon by joking and talking. After dinner, the two of them went down to the Batcave to do some maintenance on their weapons. Dick was still learning how to do full maintenance on his belt, but he could do a lot of it by himself. Roy meanwhile, was checking the arrows he was taking that night to make sure they were working. He unstrung and re-strung his bow with a new string since the old one was getting frayed.

"Hey, Roy," Dick said, choking the sharpness of his bat-a-rangs.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think you could teach me archery?"

"Right now?"

"Not right now, just….eventually."

"I guess I could."

"Really?"

"Sure."

"Cool!" Bruce came downstairs and the three of them suited up. Arsenal was still a little tense on patrol, as he usually was. Things were starting to go pretty well for him, so he didn't want to prove himself incompetent again and frustrate Bruce. The beginning of patrol was very standard. They stopped a couple of muggings, took down a couple of drug dealers, and tailed some known gang members. It made things only slightly complicated that being Halloween, there were tons of kids out. Robin couldn't help himself from pointing out every Justice League costume they saw. They started keeping track, trying to figure out which hero was more popular based on the number of kids dressed as them. It was a couple of hours into the patrol when Robin looked up and flipped off the chimney he was on. "Bat signal's up!" he called to Batman.

"Let's go," Batman grunted. They weren't that far from the police station, so they raced across the rooftops. It took only a few minutes to touch down in the shadows of the police station rooftop. Batman stepped out of the shadows first, taking Commissioner Gordon by surprise.

"Joker escaped," Gordon said, not mincing words. "I got the call from Arkham ten minutes ago."

"How long has he been gone?"

"We don't know. I've got extra patrols near some of his latest hideouts he's used in the past."

"Did Harley escape too?"

"No, she's still there. She's on lockdown."

Batman didn't bother to point out all his villains, the Joker and Harley, in particular, should be on lockdown all the time. "Was there anything strange about his cell when he left?"

"The guards didn't notice anything strange, but that's not saying a lot."

"I'll go to Arkham now and take a look."

"We need to be fast. It's Halloween and there are hundreds of kids trick-or-treating."

"I know." Batman left the Commissioner and Robin and Arsenal followed.

"Where do you think the Joker is?" Robin asked as they glided between the buildings.

"He could be anywhere."

"Will he attack tonight?" Arsenal asked.

"Hard to tell. I want to look at his cell to see if there are any hints about where he might be."

"Are you going to question Harley?"

"I don't have time to play mind games with her. Gordon is right, there's a lot of civilians out tonight, it's the perfect night for one of his plans." They reached the Batmobile and were speeding towards Arkham Asylum only a minute after that. Arsenal had heard about it from Robin and Batman. His mind flashed back to the time Green Arrow had threatened to bring him here when he was pretending to talk to himself to protect Robin from his mentor's wrath. The metal gate at the entrance to the grounds somehow made him feel small. The building behind it, perched on a hill, was dark and ominous; like the castle where an evil wizard lived in a movie. The closer they got though, the more Arsenal's stomach began to shrink. The guards at the entrance didn't even question Batman as he walked in. He and Robin apparently knew the way, since they headed straight for their destination. The halls were narrow and dark, causing Arsenal to stay close to Robin, thankful the boy's bright costume made him easy to pick out. Unlike Batman, who blended into shadows briefly as he walked through them; causing him to periodically disappear and reappear.

They finally reached the cell they wanted and walked in. Arsenal looked around. 'So this is Joker's cell,' he thought. There wasn't anything particularly special about it. There was a metal bed bolted to the floor in the corner, as well as a table and chairs, also bolted to the floor. The three of them spread out in the tiny space, searching the cell for any signs of where he might be. Arsenal crouched down, tilting his head to the side. The lower part of the wall here had 'HAHAHAHA' written on it in what looked suspiciously liked blood. He stood up straight and discovered Batman was examining something. "What's that?" Arsenal asked, walking closer. Upon closer inspection, he discovered the object was a playing card. "A joker card?"

"His calling card," Robin explained. He climbed up Arsenal and sat on his shoulders so he could see the card as well. "There's an address on it."

Arsenal frowned. "How did the guards or Gordon's men miss this?"

"We'll ask them right after they explain how Joker keeps escaping." Robin somersaulted backward off Arsenal's shoulders and landed in a crouch on the ground.

"Isn't the address probably a trap?" Arsenal asked as they followed Batman out.

"Yes," Batman answered.

"Or maybe not," Robin mused, unaware that his answer really wasn't making Arsenal feel any better. "You never know with Joker."

"So, if it is a trap, we're just going to willingly walk into it?"

"Pretty much."

They got to the Batmobile and were soon speeding back into the city. Arsenal didn't really understand why they would be willingly walking into a trap, but he wasn't stupid enough to question it. The address in question was an abounded fairy complex just outside the south-side of the city. There were three buildings surrounding a tarmac courtyard that was so cracked it was practically a collage. "I've alerted Gordon to where we are," Batman informed them. "We need to be efficient, so we'll each take one building. If either of you finds Joker, retreat and alert the rest of us. Do not engage. Understood?"

"Understood," Robin nodded, already pulling his grappling hook out of his belt.

"Understood," Arsenal repeated, pulling an arrow from his quiver. He took the building right in front of him, moving towards it with extreme caution. The door was unlocked, so he took one last look back, only to discover Batman and Robin had already disappeared, and let himself into the building. He quickly activated the night vision mode on his mask. The room he was in was filled with broken textile equipment. He kept his bow drawn as he moved through the room, eyes scanning every corner. His feet moved with easy stealth, slipping silently across the dust covered floor. The only sound was his own breathing, which he evened out to make it silent. Part of him wished there were at least rats making noise. The silence was weighing on his mind. It was so deafening that he needed to calm himself down to avoid psyching himself out.

The first floor was empty, so he moved up to the second. There were five floors of the old factory, so he was only 1/5 of the way through his search. The second floor was a lot like the first one. The large room contained several rows of textile mills, covered in dust or dirty sheets. Arsenal moved through the second floor the same way he did the first one. Moving with caution and preciseness, sweeping every corner and behind every machine with his bow. There was a breeze that blew in through several broken windows, chilling him a little bit. A shiver ran down his spine but he steeled himself against the cold; a tactic he was used to. It occurred to him Joker might know he was there based on the footprints he was leaving in the dust, as faint as they were. There was really no way around it though, so he just had to accept it as a risk in the mission. The scene floor was also empty, so he moved to the third. He entered the third floor, which was somehow darker than the other two had been. It wasn't a problem though, thanks to the night vision feature in his mask. He moved through the room just as cautiously.

"Robin, Arsenal," Batman said over the comms. "Report."

"No sign of him here," Robin answered in a whisper.

"Same-" Arsenal was cut off when he turned the corner around a machine and the lights turned on.

Blinding white light filled his entire field of vision. He screamed in agony, dropping his bow and arrow as he fell to his knees. His hands scrambled at his mask, trying to turn the night vision off. It didn't help that his eyes had closed involuntarily against the blinding light. He finally managed to get it turned off, but spots danced across his vision, making hard to see. Arsenal looked around, reaching for his bow. A sudden sound made him freeze though. Laughter. Cold, maniacal laughter was slowly filling the large space.

"Hahahaha," Joker laughed, seeming to come from everywhere. "Looks like Batsy has a new little friend." Arsenal grabbed his bow, but his vision wasn't yet at 100% and he was still disoriented from being momentarily blind. "I'm was so excited when I heard!" There was sudden movement in his peripheral and someone was instantly pinning him to the ground. "I love meeting new people." Arsenal had seen many pictures of the Joker and studied him in the case files. However, pictures of the Joker didn't really convey the crazy. His unnaturally pale, completely white skin was ghostly in the fluorescent lights. Joker licked his red lips, where so bright against his skin it was like he'd painted them in blood. His green hair was unevenly cut and made him look unhinged in the way sections of it hung down lower than others. The most deranged part of Joker though was his eyes. The gleeful glint combined with a glazed look gave the impression of someone who was very excited about he was doing but disconnected with reality.

"Joker…" Arsenal whispered. Joker was pinning him down, straddling the archer's torso. His knees were pinning down Arsenal's wrists; leaving his hands free to twirl a pocket knife between his fingers. The clown grinned maniacally as he pulled off Arsenal's gloves. The archer tried desperately to throw the clown off, but for someone so skinny, Joker was surprisingly strong.

"Uh uh uh. It's very rude to run away while someone's talking. Just ask Bird Boy, I don't like it when children are rude."

"What-What do you want?"

"I just wanted to meet you." He touched the point of the knife gently against Arsenal's jaw and trailed it down his neck and chest as he talked. "When Penguin was telling us Batman had a new kid….I just had to meet you for myself." He started laughing as he started drawing a line down Arsenal's arm; leaving a thin red line in its wake. "After all, Bird Boy is so much fun to play with. I'm hoping you are as well." Arsenal squirmed again, kicking out his feet to try and throw the clown off.

"Get off!" he shouted, squirming so much that Joker's knife made s sudden diagonal cut across his upper arm. Joker snarled and slapped him.

"Stay still!" He grabbed Arsenal's chin and toyed his knifepoint around the teenager's trachea. "You don't shout like the little bird does. Hm…." He suddenly started smiling again, making Arsenal's heart stop. "Maybe I should just try harder." He suddenly sliced his knife across Arsenal's palm, which got a grunt, but nothing more. It wasn't that he was just trying to seem brave in the face of pure terror in human form, but it also wasn't as bad as some of the injuries he'd gotten in recent memories. Unfortunately, Joker just took this as an invitation to try and get an actual shout of pain from him. He started carving short lines into Arsenal's neck, not quite getting to his trachea, but bringing the knife closer each time.

"You're insane…" Arsenal whispered, realizing he was just stating the obvious. Joker simply laughed, sending chills down the teenager's spine. He suddenly stopped laughing and examined the young vigilante. The smile stayed on his face though. Arsenal noticed that one of his knees and slipped a little bit. Acting in desperation, he jerked his hand free and punched Joker in the face. The Joker was momentarily stunned enough for Arsenal to pull his other arm free. He grabbed Joker's wrist as he was about to stab him, earning him another deep slice along the side of his hand. Grappling to keep the clown from stabbing him, Arsenal was once again struck by how freakishly strong Joker was. He suddenly jerked his arms to the side and managed to get out from underneath the clown.

Arsenal scrambled to his feet and ran, stumbling to the fact that his vision was still suffering. However, he did manage to find his bow a few yards away. 'How did it get over there?!' He ran straight for it, only to be tackled to the ground from behind. Dust got into his mouth and nose, making him cough. Joker was kneeling on his back, crushing his chest. Again, he wondered how someone so thin could be so strong and heavy. Unfortunately, one of his arms was pinned awkwardly beneath him and the other was being twisted behind his back, so he couldn't really get away.

"Clearly Bats hasn't been teaching you manners, Arrow Boy," Joker sneered, twisting the arm a little farther. Arsenal gritted his teeth. It hurt yes, but it was an all too familiar pain to him. "At least Bird Boy can't get away when we're playing." There was a shifting movement and Arsenal could feel arrows in his quiver being shifted around. "What's in here?"

"Don't touch those!" Arsenal didn't want to think about what the Joker might do with one of his electroshock arrows.

"Why? You don't want to share your toys-" The weight suddenly disappeared from Arsenal's back and Joker's voice was gone. He got onto his knees, trying to hold himself up with his shaking arms.

"Arsenal!" Robin shouted, dropping next to him from the ceiling. "Are you ok?"

"I'm alive…."

"With the Joker sometimes that's all you can hope for." Robin helped Arsenal stand, letting the teenager lean on him a little bit. "We heard your comm cut off and got here as soon as we could."

"We?" Robin nodded his head to something a few feet away. Arsenal looked up and saw Batman beating the Joker. The sounds of sirens reached them, causing Batman to stop. He walked over to the boys, giving them a brief look at the now unconscious Joker.

"Can you walk?" he asked Arsenal, giving him a quick look-over to make sure none of his injuries were life-threatening. Arsenal nodded, trying to stand taller on his own.

"Yes."

"Good. The two of you go downstairs and wait for me at the Batmobile."

"Ok," Robin answered. The two of them headed for the door, making Arsenal really confused.

"Wait, we're just going to leave him here?!" he demanded quietly.

"Gordon's men will be up here in two minutes. Besides, Joker's unconscious and cuffed hand and foot. He's not a threat at the moment." They made it downstairs and outside where the courtyard was now full of police cars. Commissioner Gordon waved them over as they came out. "Joker's on the third floor, Commissioner."

"My men are sweeping the building as we speak," Gordon replied. "Are you ok, Arsenal?"

"I'm fine," Arsenal said, trying to his bleeding arm behind himself.

"Uh-huh." Gordon definitely didn't miss the bloody arm, but he didn't press it; knowing from experience that Batman would handle the young vigilante's injuries. He also noticed how pale and shaken up Arsenal was. "Don't worry kid, that's how everyone reacts when they meet the Joker for the first time." Arsenal gave him a strange look. "Guess you're officially one of us now." The Commissioner moved on, leaving the boys alone.

"Come on," Robin said, leading Arsenal over to the Batmobile. He got the teenager in the backseat and pulled a small roll of bandages from his utility belt. "Let me see your arm." He started wrapping the bandages around the injured limb. "Agent A will look at your injuries when we get back to the cave."

"Ok," Arsenal replied quietly. "I didn't engage with Joker, he just….surprised me."

"Batman will ask for the full story once you've been checked by Agent A. Just relax for now."

Relax wasn't really a word Arsenal felt he could understand at the moment. His heart was still pounding and many of his muscles were still tense like he was trying to throw the Joker off. Robin noticed his discomfort and gave his hand a squeeze. He'd been there. He knew. Batman got into the Batmobile, causing Arsenal to jump a little bit. Robin held his hand tighter, trying to convey that everything was alright. Batman was silent as he drove from the factory back to the Bat Cave. The boys were also surprisingly quiet. Normally after patrol Robin was chatty and Arsenal was quieter, but still engaged with him. Right now though, they were both silent, bar the occasional and quiet reassurance from Robin. When they finally reached the cave, Robin helped Arsenal out of the Bat-mobile.

"What happened?" Alfred asked, automatically taking some of Roy's weight.

"Joker," Robin answered, following close behind as Alfred helped Arsenal into the Bat cave's infirmary. Alfred's mouth thinned. Once he had Roy sitting on the examination table he unwrapped the bandages from his arm. The cuts had mostly stopped bleeding, except for the one on the side of his hand.

"Hold still, Master Roy," Alfred instructed. He pressed a wad of thick gauze to the still oozing wound. "Hold that here." Roy pressed the gauze against his hand, gritting his teeth. Alfred then began cleaning the blood off Roy's arm and neck. While he did that, Dick snuck around him and peeled the mask off Roy's face. He frowned when he noticed that Roy's pupils were really small.

"Alfred, are his eyes supposed to look like this?" he asked in concern. Alfred stopped what he was doing long enough to look at Roy's eyes.

"I'll check them after I take care of his injuries." Thankfully, the blood hadn't really dried yet, so it was relatively easy to remove. Once his neck and arm were clean Alfred was able to examine the wounds. "It appears the cuts on your neck are thankfully shallow. The ones on your arm need to be bandaged, but they don't require stitches. Your hand, however," he pulled the gauze away and lifted the appendage so he could examine it. "This one will require stitches."

"I'm so stupid," Roy mumbled as Alfred stepped away to get the necessary supplies.

"Hey," Robin protested, sitting behind him on the table. He'd taken his own mask off as well at this point. "Batman said you can't call yourself that."

"Well?" Batman asked, walking into the infirmary. He pulled down his cowl as Alfred prepared a local anesthetic to Roy's injured hand.

"Only one of the cuts will require stitches," Alfred reported. "He shouldn't be doing any strenuous activity until his hand has healed though."

"How long will that take?"

"Only a couple of weeks."

Roy swallowed. 'Two weeks?!' He waited for Bruce to get angry at him for being so reckless and getting himself benched for so long, but the man simply nodded. Roy frowned in confusion as Alfred gently cleaned his palm with an alcohol swab.

"This is going to pinch Master Roy." Alfred injected the needle, and the anesthetic started to take effect almost immediately. Roy blinked.

"My hand is going numb," he said cautiously.

"It's so you don't feel the stitches," Bruce explained. Roy blinked again. He was suddenly filled with a slightly warm feeling. Alfred was actually making sure he didn't have to feel the pain of stitches. It was a feeling he hadn't felt in a long time. His hand went completely numb and Alfred started stitching the wound closed. "What happened tonight Roy?"

Roy took a deep breath. "I was on the third floor when Joker turned the lights on. I had been using the night vision setting on my mask so when he turned the lights on it blinded me. He tackled me while I was blinded and I couldn't throw him off. He started cutting me and I got an arm free. I punched him and we fought a little bit. Then I got away a little bit, but he tackled me again."

"Once you're better we'll spend more time on getting out of holds and freeing yourself. Understand?"

"Yes, Bruce." Roy looked away as Alfred wrapped a bandage around his hand. He then wrapped it up the teen's arm, covering every cut.

"Look here Master Roy," Alfred instructed. He examined Roy's eyes but found no severe damage. "Your vision should be fine."

"Thanks, Alfred." Roy was given some medicine for his pain and he swallowed them.

"Let's go watch a movie!" Dick grabbed Roy's non-injured arm and dragged him upstairs. "We can't watch a scary movie though. Bruce told me I'm not allowed to watch scary movies."

"What can we watch?"

"Um…." Dick looked through the large movie collection. "There's a Frankenstein movie."

"I like monster movies."

"Let's go then!"

"Where're we going?" Dick was dragging him to somewhere else in the manor.

"The home theater."

"The what?" Dick opened the door and Roy blinked. The room was large with a huge screen and large, comfortable chairs. "Whoa…"

"You haven't been in here before?"

"No…"

"Go sit." Roy sat in a chair and pulled his legs up to his chest. It was large enough that he could do this comfortably. Dick settled in the chair next to him and they started watching Frankenstein.

— —

Later that night, Bruce was up for a while as he had needed to write a report for the night and taken care of several things down in the cave. It was very late by the time he went upstairs, so naturally, the boys were both in bed. He silently opened the door to Roy's room and snuck inside. There was a small light on, giving him some light to see by. The teen was actually sleeping peacefully, his bandaged arm laying on top of the blankets. Bruce pulled another blanket on top of Roy, thinking that he might get a little cold. He was about to leave when noticed Roy's hand twitching from side to side. He froze and Roy started mumbling under his breath. Bruce set his hand gently on Roy's bandaged arm.

"Roy," he whispered, placing a little bit of pressure on his arm. "Roy it's ok…"

"S-stop…" Roy mumbled, arm instinctively trying to move away from Bruce's touch. "Stop, please…."

"It's ok Roy, wake up."

"Please…."

"Roy-" Bruce jerked back when Roy suddenly gasped and scrambled backward against his headboard. Before Bruce could react, Roy was pulling his shirt off. He looked down at his bare chest and tapped his chest with his good hand. "It's ok, it's ok." Roy took several quick breaths. "It's ok, you're safe."

"Did-did I disturb you?"

"No, you didn't. What was your nightmare about?"

Roy blinked, then looked down. "Joker…"

"What happened tonight really got to you, didn't it?"

"It wasn't just him…"

"Oh?"

Roy pulled his knees up to his chest. "Joker was- He had a knife. He-He was writing m-murderer on my chest…" He looked down at his chest again, like he needed reassurance his skin didn't have murderer carved into it.

"Roy-"

"Ollie was there." Bruce went silent. "He was standing there and he was laughing. He was laughing and I was screaming and it hurt and he was just laughing!"

"Roy, calm down. Calm down. Everything's ok."

Roy shook his head. "I don't like it…"

"The nightmares?" Roy nodded.

Bruce rested his hand gently on Roy's. "I think I know someone who might be able to help you."

"Really?"

"Yes. As long as you want to."

Roy thought about it. "I don't want to have nightmares all the time."

"I'll talk to her then."

"Ok."

"Try to get some sleep." Roy laid back down but didn't sleep.

"Bruce?"

"Yeah?"

"Can-Can you stay here for a little while?" Bruce didn't say anything at first, so Roy quickly back-tracked. "Never mind! I just….wasn't thinking and-"

"No, Roy, it's fine. I'll stay." Bruce sat on the floor by the bed. "Try to get some sleep."

"Ok." He closed his eyes, but it took several minutes for his muscles to relax. Bruce stayed there, sitting on the floor until Roy's breathing evened out and he fell back to sleep.