It had been a fabulous couple of months. Dick had noticed Tim spacing out during training. Bruce had noticed too, but wasn't interested as to why. He just wanted Tim focused again. Tim tried. He really did. After a night on patrol, Alfred announced that there were milk and cookies in the kitchen for anyone to appreciate, should they choose. Selina declined and went to bed. Bruce declined and plastered his eyes to the bat-computer screen. The coldness between those two had grown over the years. It was unsettling. With Martha off who knows where, Bruce had thrown more of himself into the Batman gig than he had before. Tim never thought Martha of all people could have had that balancing an effect on him, what with her similar obsession, but Tim wanted her back soon so that maybe they could get the Bruce they knew and loved back. Not wanting to deal with the brooding bat however, Tim and Dick took Alfred up on his offer.

After showering and changing into civvies, Dick and Tim met in the kitchen. Alfred had gone to bed, but they were still afraid to touch anything but the cookies and milk, on the off chance that they mess up Alfred's pristine kitchen.

"You know, Bruce just might kill you if you don't get your focus back," Dick said before wolfing down a handful of cookies.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Tim replied. "I keep trying, I just keep getting...distracted."

"Uh huh," Dick quipped, gulping down a glass of milk. "So who's the girl?"

Tim was shocked, at which Dick smirked. Then Tim smiled. "That obvious huh?"

Dick replied, "Are you kidding? You might as well have a neon sign over your head saying 'Love Sick Puppy.'"

"Hey!" Tim playfully punched Dick. "I seem to recall a certain person whose name shall not be mentioned who had quite the bought of lovesickness involving a certain redhead we know."

"Ha!" Dick quipped. For a moment they ate in silence. Then Dick asked, "You think it's that serious?"

"Huh?"

"This thing you have with this girl? Do you think it's as serious as me and Babs?"

Tim thought for a moment. He was always serious about the girls he dated, but that's not what Dick meant. He had asked if it was as serious as him and Babs. Or Bruce and Selina for that matter. "Well..." He thought out loud. "We have known each other quite awhile."

Dick went all dramatic then. "Gasp! And you mean you didn't bring her home to meet us? How could you?" In response Tim mumbled something. "What was that?" Dick asked.

Tim spoke up, "She doesn't know we've known each other..."

Dick raised his eyebrows. "So I'm guessing she knows about one of your identities but not the other?"

"Heh," Tim explained, "Actually she technically knows about both. Just not that they're the same person."

"So this young lady is part of the 'community'?" Dick asked.

"Yeah."

"Ah."

There was a moment of silence.

Dick continued, "So do I know her?"

"You might have met her. Arrowette?"

"Wow," Dick thought to himself, "Go, Timmy." He said, "I think I've seen her."

"Well, recently Cissie King-Jones met Tim Drake."

"Ah ha." Dick slapped Tim on the back. "Well, Tim, looks like you've gotten yourself into a pickle. I mean, if you're serious about her."

With that, Dick was gone, leaving Tim with his thoughts of Cissie.

Cissie sat in the dark with her laptop on. Her mom was sound asleep in the bed next to hers. She had slept more and more recently. Her treatments were wearing her out. Cissie still tried to spend a lot of her time with her mother. Living with her at the hospital helped. It was taxing on Cissie, though. Working in the daycare center at the hospital alleviated room and board. But then there were the doctor's fees and medicines and...it all piled up, and while her dad helped, he and Bonnie didn't get along, so he wasn't around much for the moral support.

It had been like a breath of fresh air when Tim walked into her life. She remembered how he had so clumsily tripped over that tree root. She wondered if it was just a ploy to get her attention. Cissie was usually oblivious to attention from the opposite sex. Even when she wasn't, her dad and brothers usually scared them off. That thought made Cissie frown. She really didn't want Roy shooting his mouth off at Tim. Or Ollie or Connor for that matter. If nothing else, Tim was keeping her sane through this whole ordeal with her mother's relapse. Hmm...Cissie pondered her attachment to Tim. Perhaps it was the familiarity and comfort she felt with him. Comfort. That was something she hadn't felt in awhile. Last time she remembered feeling comfortable was years ago with Young Justice. Well, before they started having issues.

Cissie reflected on one night in particular. She'd had a terrible fight with her mother and instinct drove her to the Young Justice headquarters. Secret wasn't around which Cissie had found curious but paid it no mind at the time. Red Tornado had said hello, but that was all. Reddie wasn't exactly the one to spill your heart out to. She'd sat in the dark rec room sulking when something startled her. In a split second she'd had her weapon poised for attack...the weapon of choice being the remote control next to her; silly looking, but Arrowette knew how to use just about anything as a weapon. The intruder had been Robin. In full costume as always.

"Oh. Hey," she'd said, blushing, embarrassed that she'd been so shaken by his entrance.

"Hey," he'd replied. They'd stood there in awkward silence. Finally Robin asked her, "Is everything okay?"

"Uh, yeah, fine."

The Boy Wonder had been unconvinced. And just like that Cissie started spilling her guts, crying, purging all the frustrations she'd been harboring for so long. She still didn't remember how they'd gotten on the couch together, Robin holding her tightly to his chest as she soaked his kevlar with her tears. He'd stroked her hair, gently, listening, responding when asked to, but no more. She'd dozed off in his arms, although she vaguely remembered him carrying her up to her room and tucking her into bed. She remembered faintly feeling him kiss her on the forehead as he'd whispered. "I'll take care of you, Cissie."

Cissie looked back on this event. It had been eight years since that night and she still remembered it so vividly. Had Robin been crushing on her? She wondered. She scowled. No matter, after what he did to break the team up. Him and his trust issues. Still...she felt somehow...honored to have seen a side of him most of Young Justice probably never saw. Except maybe Batgirl. Oh well, that was the past. She wasn't Arrowette anymore, although she had continued her training. She actually kind of missed it. She wondered...well, that was neither here nor there. Her main concern right now was her mother. And Tim. He was her rock these days. She just hoped her family wouldn't scare him away.

Tim rolled over in his bed sleepily and felt himself brush up against something, no someone. Someone soft and smooth and...he opened his eyes to see Cissie lying there beside him. She'd come over the night before when he'd returned from Gotham. He felt bad tearing her away from her mother, but then again he knew tensions had always been high between Cissie and Bonnie, even though they loved each other very much. Tim watched his girlfriend sleep peacefully beside him. Last night had been...wonderful. They'd fooled around before and all but finally consummating the relationship had been more exquisite than he could ever have imagined.

Watching Cissie sleep, he finally had an answer to Dick's question. Yes, it was as serious as it was between him and Babs. More than that, Tim realized that he'd fallen for Cissie years ago, since YJ formed. He'd never voiced his feelings, though, he was leader of the team and that would have been...irresponsible as it were. He also didn't think he had a snowball's chance in hell with a girl like Cissie. She was...something else. He knew a lot of people dismissed her as being just some blonde bimbo in a miniskirt, but Cissie was smart and had a dark side to boot. Not so dark as Martha's, but that suited Tim just fine. He'd only been interested in Martha for a very short period of time, which he liked to call his bought of temporary insanity, before realizing that dating Martha would be like dating Bruce with boobs. Blech.

Tim was still amazed that Cissie King-Jones, Arrowette, was lying in bed beside him. He wanted to tell her everything. He wanted to tell her he loved her more than anything, he wanted to tell her who he was, but he...he couldn't. Not without betraying certain trusts. Sometimes he cursed the day he became Robin. In this case, not being Robin actually wouldn't have hindered him meeting Cissie. It was after all Tim Drake she was dating right now, not Robin. Nevermind that, though. What was done was done. There had to be some way around it, though. There had to be some way he could deepen his relationship with Cissie and not betray the Bat clan's trust.

Cissie had floated through her day. After last night with Tim, how could she not. Everyone had noticed the change in her. She would have loved to repeat the festivities of the night before, but Tim was busy with some work he had to do for some of his classes. Cissie was too full of energy to sit in the dorms with her Mom though. At dinner, Bonnie mentioned something about something fishy going on in the area, that might need taking care of. Usually Cissie was annoyed at Bonnie's suggestions that Cissie take up the Arrowette gig again. Tonight though...tonight Cissie thought she could use just that to burn off some of her energy.