Right. Chapter 29! Wow, never thought this story would be this long, although this chapter is short-ish... anyway. Not too much happens in this chapter, but hopefully next one will be a bit more exciting. I really just want to post this, so I'm not going to write much up here. Happy reading!

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing

It was a seemingly ordinary day in a seemingly ordinary park. Children were running around like lunatics, mothers were gossiping, and fathers were trying to look like they were paying attention to what their wives were saying. Two young redheads were sitting at a picnic table enjoying some hotdogs near where a vaguely shifty-looking man was sitting. Two men entered the park not far away from this area, a young man and a man who could be mistaken for his father, although they weren't related. No one in the park knew just how important the rest of the evening was going to be.

Wally and Barbara had lost all hope of finding Dick that day. They were just putting of the inevitable at that point, trying to stall as long as they could so they didn't have to inform a worried father that his son was still missing. Neither of them were looking forward to that task.

Wally was demolishing his last hotdog when Barbara spoke up. "Guess we should call B, tell him that we didn't find anything." She said quietly. Wally paused in his eating. "We can do another quick round of the city." He suggested. "Maybe we'll find something."

"No, we won't." Barbara blinked back tears. "We won't find anything. It's been so long… I'm starting to think we never will."

It had been almost three and a half month since Nightwing was kidnapped. Three and a half agonizingly long months.

Wally sighed, but didn't contradict Barbara. He would never lose hope, but the search was losing steam. They needed a breakthrough, soon.

The two sat in silence for a little. Out of the corner of his eye, Wally saw two men wearing sunglasses approach the shifty-looking man. The elder of the two newcomers shook hands with the man. They spoke lowly for a moment and then the elder man turned to his younger companion and told him something that resulted in the young man moving to a bench a little distance away as the two men resumed talking.

Barbara, facing Wally across the table, had a better view of the two. She narrowed her eyes at the younger man. Something seemed familiar about him. She noticed him looking around the park, observing his surroundings. His gaze lit on their table for a fraction of a second before he moved on. She noticed him studiously avoiding looking at their table in the minutes that followed, although he continued sweeping the park.

"Wally." She whispered. "Get up and throw your trash out."

Wally blinked at her. "Babs?"

"I want you to look at that man behind you without drawing attention to yourself." She hissed. "As in, not turning around and gaping."

Wally did as he was told, getting a better look at the young man as he deposited the hot dog wrappings in the trash can. "He does look familiar." He murmured when he returned to the table. "But the man he came in with doesn't."

"No." Barbara agreed. She glanced up for a second to see the young man looking at them. He looked away after a few moments. Barbara noticed that the man he came with had glanced at the younger man at almost the same time, like he was checking up on him. Barbara's eyes narrowed. The younger man was obviously interested in them, but didn't want to draw the other's attention to them. She voiced her thoughts to Wally. He shrugged.

"Maybe he's lonely?" He suggested, not really believing that. There was something about the young man…

Barbara noticed him looking at them yet again. He seemed slightly exasperated. Wally and Barbara's eyes widened at the young man began to whistle a familiar tune. A tune only one person knew.

"Dick." She whispered.

Dick figured that it was just his damn luck that Wally and Barbara were in the park at the same time that he and Slade arrived. He also figured that if his luck held, he would be recognized soon enough. As he continued his routine sweep of the park, he tried desperately to avoid looking at the two of them while making it seem like he wasn't actively trying to. Slade was watching him, even if it didn't seem like it, and Dick didn't want to tip him off.

He snuck another glance at his friends. He saw them glancing at each other and whispering together and Wally's not-very-subtle attempt to get a good look at him. He hoped Slade wouldn't notice anything about them. Spending so much time with Slade made Dick realize how the heroes really weren't good at sneaking around in the shadows, especially when they weren't in costume.

Dick knew they were suspicious, but amazingly they hadn't recognized him yet. Now, he wasn't sure if they would. He had changed a lot; sometimes he didn't even recognize himself. The question was, did he want them to recognize him?

He let out a deep breath and looked closely at his friends. He blinked and narrowed his eyes slightly. They looked… bad. They both had dark circles under their eyes and both looked pale and tired. They were both obviously worried and depressed. Dick could only imagine that that was because of him. He knew how seriously the heroes were taking the search, but he hadn't realized what a toll it was taking on his friends.

That was all he needed to realize. He couldn't put his friends and family through that kind of pain for any longer than he already had, no matter what he wanted. Ultimately, they would be hurt more if he turned his back on them than Slade would be. At least if he was a hero, he didn't have to fight against Slade if he didn't want to. If he sided with Slade, he would have to fight his family. It wouldn't be possible not to; all of the heroes were a part of his family. And villains had to fight heroes.

Now, the question was how to get their attention without tipping Slade off that he knew them. He started to casually whistle a tune while he thought. He noticed Slade glancing at him and then turning back to his meeting. Obviously, he didn't see whistling as anything harmful. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Barbara and Wally stiffen and look at him again. He paused his whistling in surprise, running through the last few moments in his head to figure out what could have resulted in that reaction. He started whistling again as he thought.

He blinked. Oh. Right. He was whistling the tune of an old Romani song his mom had taught him. Only a few of his friends could recognize the tune, which was why he didn't really think about whistling it near anyone. Of course, Barbara and Wally were two of the few people who would always recognize the tune.

Well. It looked like he wouldn't have to think too hard after all.

Barbara couldn't believe it. An entire day of combing the city and Dick just turned up chilling in the park when he was supposed to be a prisoner somewhere. It was so very him.

Hands shaking, her gaze never leaving Dick, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed Bruce. He picked up almost immediately.

"What is it?" He asked. He hadn't expected Barbara to call again; she had already called him about half an hour ago when their search had born no frut and they decided to take a break in the park.

"He's here, Bruce." She whispered, not able to bring herself to speak louder. "I'm staring right at him. We found Dick."

She heard a clatter as Bruce dropped the phone. He quickly picked it up again, asking "where" is a voice shaking with emotion. Barbara told him where they were and she could hear him relaying the information to Clark.

"Clark will be there in two minutes." Bruce told her. "He'll tail them, but get a tracker on them if you can- without tipping Slade off. Call me if Dick moves before he gets there." He then hung up, no doubt to make more plans.

She looked up from the table and saw Dick looking straight at her with a small smile. He nodded minutely before returning to ignoring them. Apparently, he didn't want to tip Slade off either. Wally was vibrating with excitement and Barbara could feel tears coming to her eyes.

They had finally found him.

Soon, he would be home.

So, there heroes are now going to try and stage a rescue. Yay! And yeah, Dick pretty much chose the heroes. Hope you all like the reason. Sorry if it's sappy.

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