III: Elsewhere

Sun Point, Donna called the place where she led him. When they arrived, Dick understood why. A promontory of smooth rose quartz jutted eastward over the ocean. A double handful of Amazons gathered at the juncture where rocky outcrops became quartz, looking over the point of the headland toward sunrise. As they drew closer, Dick saw the asterism in the quartz, a single bright star that twinkled and gleamed in the crystal's depths.

Donna exchanged quiet greetings with the other Amazons, and Dick forced his attention away from the quartz long enough to do the same. After only a day, he was already picking up simple phrases in Themysciran Greek, and though he was certain his accent was horrible, the women seemed to appreciate his effort.

Still, Dick knew it was a distracted effort at best. His gaze would not be diverted from the crystal for more than seconds at a time before it returned as if compelled. His suspicious nature suggested that it might be a trap of some kind, but reason rejected that idea immediately. This was Donna, and Themyscira, and what kind of trap could await him here?

"I am glad you came, Dick."

Once again, Dick turned from the star crystal that held his attention like a candle flame attracted a moth to smile at the oracle Menalippe. "I hope I won't give offense unintentionally. I have no idea what to do."

"Stand with us," Menalippe said. "An open and respectful heart will suffice."

Dick nodded, and his gaze drifted back toward the quartz. Donna's voice called his attention to her. It shouldn't have taken that much willpower to look at her.

"Christian and Muslim prayer is for invocation or supplication - 'God, please do this' - or sometimes gratitude - 'thank you for doing this.' Our prayer is more for propitiation - 'God, please don't mess with us' - and our gratitude is 'thank you for ignoring us.'"

Dick chuckled. "If the mythology's correct, your gods do have a habit of meddling in lives." Again, his attention wanted to rest on the quartz instead of the women he spoke with. "Is it permitted to walk out onto the point?"

Donna looked surprised by the question, and glanced at Menalippe. The oracle smiled gently.

"Please," she said. "Explore as you will. But when sunrise comes, face east."

Dick inclined his head in both thanks and acknowledgment and gave Donna's hand a slight squeeze before stepping carefully onto the quartz.

The stone felt warm beneath his feet, as though it had baked in the tropical sun all day. Which, Dick reminded himself, it would - but not until day actually arrived. This warmth had lingered overnight. Unusual, but perhaps not for a sacred place. Dick had little experience with those.

Some instinct made him turn eastward just as the first line of sun breached the horizon. Behind him, the Amazons began to chant. Single notes plucked on lyres added a counterpoint to the women's voices, and Dick found himself wanting to join the chant, but his command of Greek was insufficient for the task.

Dick squinted against the light, and then realized that the crystal on which he stood had also begun to glow. The asterism shone at least as bright as the sunrise, and was beginning to heat up as though with the fires of the sun itself. Every instinct Dick had ever trusted urged him to back away, off the rosy quartz, before it grew bright enough to blind him or hot enough to roast him where he stood.

Would such a move offend or insult the gathered Amazons? Dick didn't know, and self-preservation fought long-bred courtesy between heartbeats. Self-preservation won, but when he tried to move, he found himself immobilized. Panic edged his thoughts, forced down by strength of will. He'd been in worse situations and survived. The chanting receded as sunlight spilled over the ocean and raced straight toward him.

Before Dick could fully register the near-blinding reflection skimming across the ocean surface, the star beneath his feet exploded in light, surrounding him even as the sun's rays enveloped him.

He braced for some burning sensation, but instead of being seared, Dick felt searched, examined to the core of his being. No sense of judgment accompanied it, he thought. Instead, it carried a more detached feeling of, "So, who and what are you?"

All the answers to that question raced through Dick's mind. Romany circus boy. Acrobat. Orphan. Ward and later adopted son of Bruce Wayne. Detective. Former partner of Batman. College dropout. Vigilante. Nightwing. Batman, for a time. Former leader of the Titans, the Outsiders, and the Justice League. Circus owner. Former bartender. Former cop. Member of the Board of Directors of Wayne Enterprises and the Wayne Foundation. Friend. Brother in all but blood. Lover. Warrior. Others he couldn't put words to, but the identity and the association remained.

The searching feeling faded even as the light around him dimmed to more normal levels. Before him, stretching from the tip of the promontory where he stood, a stairway of light ascending toward the heavens took shape.

Dick's curiosity led him to accept the invitation, or at least to test it. He stepped forward, his right foot probing the stairwell. It felt solid, and he rested more of his weight on it. When it supported him, he took another step and then, more confidently, another and
another.

A piece of the sun broke off and approached him.

As it drew nearer, the sliver of light stretched and morphed into a man with curly hair that touched his shoulders wearing only a chlamys woven in fiery yellows and reds.

"You are the son of Mary Grayson."

It wasn't a question, but Dick still felt the need to respond. "Richard John Grayson. You're Apollo."

The other man - no, the god - nodded once. "I had not expected to meet you this side of Elysium."

"I never expected to meet you at all." Dick hoped his bravado covered the surprise he felt at the assumption he'd join the Greek heroes in Elysium when he died. But what else would a Greek god say?

"No?" Apollo raised one eyebrow. "Then why did you come here, if not in response to my invitation?"

"I don't recall receiving an invitation." Dick chose his phrasing carefully. The Greek gods were far more capricious than most, and prone to take offense on a whim. Apollo, Dick thought, was less subject to that tendency than, say, Hera, but better to err on the side of caution.

"Inscribed in your mother's book."

"Why did you write in her journal?" So that's why Menalippe offered to guard it, he thought. It must be a holy relic to them.

Apollo smiled slightly, an uptick of the lips similar to how Bruce used to smile, except that Dick sensed genuine amusement from Apollo. "How else to leave a message for a son I did not want anyone to know about?"

Son? No. It couldn't be, not least because, "My mother loved my father. She would never have cheated on him. Not even with a god."

"That is one reason her prayer was answered," Apollo said. "Which I did not do lightly. She was a good woman - and her husband a good man, so the only way to answer her prayer was through subterfuge."

"You slept with her - looking like my father." It made a certain sense, Dick thought, though his stomach twisted with the knowledge that John Grayson was not his actual father.

"As you say, she would not have cheated on him. But her prayers rent the halls of Olympus itself. I could not but be moved by them - and, being moved, I could not but answer in the only way I could."

"It wasn't just a dalliance for you?"

Apollo's expression told him just how rude the question was, but Dick met the god's eyes without flinching. It mattered to him, mattered deeply, and the god could at least do him the courtesy of answering truthfully.

"No," Apollo said. "It wasn't. I heard her prayers, but we do not intervene in mortals' lives nearly as much as we used to. I considered long before deciding, studying her, watching her. I cared for her."

Dick studied Apollo - For all the good it'll do. Do gods have the same tells as humans? - trying to judge the truth of his words.

Apollo smiled slightly, as though reading his intention. "I am lord of truth. I do not lie."

No, he didn't, Dick decided. At least not in this case. Dick didn't like admitting how relieved he felt to know that Apollo had cared, however little, for his mother. It made the whole situation ever-so-slightly-easier to bear. His mother hadn't been a tool or, worse, plaything in the hands of an unthinking, lackadaisical god.

Dick let out a breath, releasing his concern for his mother with it, and refocused on why he'd originally come to Themyscira. "Why am I aging so slowly and healing so quickly?"

"Just as I am lord of truth, I am also lord of healing."

"You've been healing me?" That wasn't the answer Dick had expected.

Apollo laughed. "No. But as my son, you share some of my attributes."

That would bear thinking about, Dick decided. And, perhaps, testing. But those were matters for later, after he'd learned what else Apollo had in store for him at this meeting. Dick summoned a grin. "At least I haven't been taking up your time with taking care of me."

"What do you do that requires you to be taken care of?"

"I …" Dick paused. How could he explain what he did concisely? He wouldn't claim to be a super-hero; he had no super-powers. Then he recalled one of Commissioner Gordon's old nicknames for Bruce and he had the answer. "I'm a crusader. I crusade for justice. Sometimes, I get in fights with the bad guys."

"Do you win these fights?"

"More often than not. But win or lose, I do get banged up sometimes."

"So you do not waste the gifts your heritage has given you."

"I didn't know their source, but I've tried to use them well."

"Then I am proud of you." Apollo rested a hand on his shoulder, and heat spread from that point of contact to suffuse his body before fading almost instantly. "And I will grant you one request, if it is in my power to give. More than that might draw too much attention to you."

Dick raised an eyebrow. "You're one of the better-liked gods. What enemies do you have?"

"True that I have no rivalry as Athena does with Poseidon, but any attention drawn to you makes you a pawn. That would not suit you, I think."

"I'm nobody's pawn." The response was automatic, but no less true because of it. Apollo nodded, apparently understanding, and Dick focused on the god's words. One request, Apollo had said, and Dick knew enough of Greek myth to know that he needed to be extremely careful what he asked for, because he'd get it in a way that he wasn't expecting. "I'd like to consider what request would be most appropriate. Is this the only place where we can talk?"

"I can visit any shrines where I am worshipped."

Which meant, Dick realized, that the practical answer to his question was yes. He hoped the Amazons wouldn't mind his occasional visits to talk with Apollo.

"I can visit you in dreams, as well," Apollo added. "It is not direct communication such as this, but it is possible."

"I look forward to talking with you again." Dick hesitated, then said what was in his heart. "I may never think of you as my father in an emotional sense. That role has been filled twice over. But I'm glad to know the truth, and I'm glad to know you. I hope we can be
friends."

"Friends." Apollo appeared to mull the word over. Then he smiled. "That is far more than some have offered. My gratitude to the men you called father for giving me such a fine son."

A silence that Dick didn't know how to fill lingered almost a moment too long before Apollo added, "And I hope the knowledge that I had no hand in raising a fine son will keep me humble."

"Probably not," Dick said without thinking. "You are a god, after all, and none of you are exactly known for humility."

Apollo's light dimmed as his expression darkened, and Dick wondered if he'd have to use his one request to keep the god from killing him, son or no son. Would the god even honor that request?

"You speak truthfully," Apollo said finally. "If perhaps too bluntly."

"I've always been direct. I'll try to be more tactful, if you prefer."

Silence stretched again while Apollo considered that, and Dick took the moment to look around. Bruce would have chided him for not minding his surroundings, for being too caught up in his conversation with the god to register details that might prove important - such as the stairway being barely wide enough for him to stand comfortably on. He'd grown up walking on tightropes, so the stairs were no challenge. Unless, his subconscious reminded him in Bruce's voice, you have to fight on them.

Dick glanced down and frowned when he saw that Themyscira lay so far below that he could barely make out buildings, much less people. He'd only taken a few dozen steps, hadn't he? He'd count when he returned.

"No." Apollo's voice brought him back to the moment. "Let us be honest with each other. It is the way of friends, is it not?"

"Yes, it is." Seeing Themyscira had reminded him that, "I left a friend on Earth when I came to talk to you. Donna can't see us, can she?"

Apollo shook his head.

"She's probably worried. No, scratch that - she is worried." He'd been worrying for Donna, and she for him, most of his life. Now, though, there'd be a new layer to her concern. He hoped.

Apollo looked down at Themyscira far below, then back up at Dick, smiling. "Worried, aye, and ready to storm Olympus itself for you."

"That's Donna." Dick chuckled.

"Return to her," Apollo said, "and reassure her that you are well. We shall speak again."

Dick started to turn, then paused. This time, it was his conscience speaking to him in a voice that sounded uncomfortably like Alfred's.

"Does something trouble you?" Apollo asked.

"I hope I don't come across as ungrateful," Dick said after a moment. "It's just surprising, and I haven't absorbed it all yet."

"I look forward to speaking with you when you have absorbed it all."

It was a much politer dismissal than Bruce had frequently given, but it was still a dismissal. Dick nodded and turned back down the stairs.

Two steps later, he was on Themyscira.

=X=

"Dick!" Donna's cry barely registered in his ears before her arms were around him. Dick's arms wrapped around her reflexively. "Are you all right?"

"Fine," Dick answered, though he wasn't certain that was entirely correct. His entire worldview had just changed, and his stomach was still reeling from the sudden return to earth.

Beneath his feet, the rose crystal felt barely warmer than the air around him. He stepped off the crystal and swayed on his feet for a moment. Donna steadied him, concern etched in her expression.

"Just getting my land legs back," Dick quipped.

"Let's go get you some breakfast. The others can welcome the day."

"I want to stay for all of it."

It wasn't an order like he'd given when they were in the Titans, but Donna closed her mouth on the protest he was certain she was about to make, and instead turned them both to face east and the rising sun.

Dick frowned. The sun should be well and truly up by now, shouldn't it? But no, not even the line of sunrise on the horizon was visible.

"Donna - how long was I gone?"

"A whole day." If he hadn't known her so well, he would've missed the slight tremor in her voice.

His arm tightened around her. "I'll tell you all about it."

"You'd better."

Then the first notes of the lyres sounded, and Dick realized that he knew the hymn, the notes and the words, and he chanted with the Amazons, his baritone a lower counterpoint to the alto and soprano voices around him.

Come now, Amazons,
And gather at the craggy sacred place.
Repose on the crystalline mountain top
And celebrate the Pythian Lord
With the golden bow, Phoebus,
Whom Leto bore unassisted
On the Delian rock surrounded by silvery olives,
The luxuriant plant which the Goddess Pallas
Long ago brought forth.

The last notes of the paean died away, and Dick felt more energy than he had when he stepped off the quartz ledge. Perhaps the hymn had somehow invigorated him as well as the god who was his father? And if so, what did that make him?

Demi-god. His encyclopedic mind gave him the technical term. The self he was comfortable being shied away from its implications.

"Dick?" Donna's soft query rescued him from those implications. "How'd you learn the hymn?"

Donna wasn't the only one wondering about him, Dick saw. He heard the gathered Amazons speaking in low tones, asking what had just happened, who this outsider-barbarian might be that Apollo had deigned to visit him. And then he heard Menalippe reassuring them that all was well.

And then he realized that he understood their words, not just their meanings.

"Apollo taught me." It must have happened when the god touched him, Dick thought, and that made him wonder what other gifts the god might have given him at the same time.

"It must have been some conversation - you just spoke Greek."

"I'm thinking in it, too, to a point."

"Dick, what happened up there?"

What happened? My life turned upside-down. Again. "I'll tell you everything, I promise. But not now, okay? I need to think about it."

Donna looked as though she were going to protest, but then nodded. She'd always been the one who knew when to press him and when not to, and now she chose the latter. Just another reason he loved her.

"Anything I need to know about the island? Anything poisonous? Dangerous predators?"

"You mean besides my sister Amazons? No, nothing to worry about. Except there are sometimes jellyfish off the north coast."

"No swimming off the north coast. Got it." Dick reached up to stroke her cheekbone with his thumb, then cup his hand around her face. "Thanks for not pushing."

"It's only temporary."

"I know." He leaned forward to kiss her lightly, then turned to follow the coastline southward.

=X=

Well, Dick mused, he had the answer to why he wasn't aging. It wasn't what he'd expected, but it was an answer. So why didn't he feel the rush of satisfaction he usually felt when solving a case?

When he'd left Sun Point, Dick turned south, following the shore of Themyscira clockwise around the island. He'd climbed a few outcrops and had to squelch the urge to give a Tarzan-like yell when he'd swung across an inlet. Dick hadn't had that urge since the first time he swung on a jumpline.

Then he walked along a sandy beach, water spilling over his feet before returning to the sea. The rhythmic advance and retreat of the waves wasn't the city noise he was used to, but it served the same purpose, providing background noise that kept one part of his mind happy so the other could consider questions and eventually propose answers.

Unfortunately, no answers were forthcoming even when he completed his circuit of the island and turned back toward the city. A yellow building with a colonnaded entrance drew his attention and his footsteps.

Dick stepped into the cool temple, allowing his eyes to adjust to the dim interior for a moment before padding to the statue of Apollo bathed in a slice of sunshine through a high window. He'd first gone back to Sun Point, but changed his mind before taking a place on the rose quartz promontory. That would be too direct a contact for what he was feeling now.

Now, Dick simply wanted to feel his father's presence, in the same way he'd sometimes gone to the Batcave just to feel Bruce's presence, his spirit, lingering there. Surely it was his own mind suggesting those feelings, but it was the one false comfort he indulged in.

He approached the life-size statue in silence, gazed up into its eyes that had been painted a turquoise blue. The god gazed back, imperturbable.

A whisper of fabric against fabric made him glance over his shoulder. "Hi, Do-"

It wasn't Donna who approached him, but her mother, the queen. Hippolyta nodded a greeting as she came to stand beside him. "Io sculpted that not long after we came to this island," she said. "From the moment she finished it, she has tried to convince us to let her sculpt a statue more fit for Phoebus."

"It's a good likeness," Dick said. "The eyes should be bluer, more cobalt or sapphire than turquoise, but otherwise it's very close."

"Speculation on what he had to say to you runs rampant." Hippolyta must have noted his horror at the thought, for she added, "It is not our way to pry into such things, but we are only human."

"Menalippe knew before I did. I expect all of you will know soon, but I want to talk to Donna about it first."

"You and she are close?"

There it was, the what are your intentions toward my daughter? interrogation. It came sooner than Dick had expected. "I've known her since I was twelve. She's been my best friend, confidante, partner. I like to think I've been as much for her."

"You list things she has been. What is she now?"

"All of those, still. We've been through hell and back together more times than I want to count. There's no one I trust more."

Hippolyta studied him for a long moment. "Both of my daughters have chosen well."

Both? Dick decided not to wonder. "Knowing them, are you surprised?"

"No," Hippolyta answered, "but it is still good to have my faith rewarded. I hope you won't mind a family meal tonight, Dick."

"It's my honor to be included in your family."

Hippolyta nodded, then dropped a handful of flower petals onto the base of Apollo's statue with a murmured prayer. "I believe you'll find Donna on the martial field."

"Thank you," Dick said as the queen left. Then he rested a hand beside the flower petals. "All I have to offer right now are thanks for giving my mother what happiness she found in having a son. I'll offer more later." He repeated the words in Greek, then followed Hippolyta's footsteps out of the temple.

=X=

The martial field was actually a stadium, Dick discovered. Raised seating surrounded a large open space that could have held a football field or a baseball diamond. Today the stands were empty, and only a dozen women had gathered on the field, apparently for wrestling practice. All of them were naked, he noted, ready for their turn.

As he approached, Donna and a red-haired Amazon he didn't recognize were circling each other. Philippus, captain of the queen's guard, barked a command in Greek, and the redhead closed on Donna. The two women grappled, and after a moment, Donna had the redhead pinned. Dick smiled, approving. He'd taught her that hold during the first year the Titans were together.

"I yield," the redhead said, and Donna let her up. The two women embraced briefly, and then the next Amazon approached Donna.

Philippus glanced at him when he paused beside her. "Does watching this excite you?"

"Does it disappoint you that it doesn't?"

"I didn't know a man ever lived who didn't find naked women in each other's arms exciting."

"Depends on what they're doing in each other's arms. I do know the difference between sparring and sex."

"Are you proficient in both?"

"I haven't had any complaints. On either."

"Join us? Unless you think we'll have complaints."

Dick wanted to talk to Donna, not spar with an endless stream of Amazon warriors. How could he refuse Philippus's suggestion gracefully? He watched Donna's opponent try to twist out of Donna's grasp and found a reason. "I don't know your style of fighting."

Donna held her opponent fast and called, "Come on, Dick, you and me. It's been a long time since we played war games."

"It's been a long time since the Titans were together," Dick replied. It felt oddly natural to remove his belt and chiton for the bout. The influence of his paternity must be stronger now that he knew the truth.

When he started to remove the cup, Philippus said, "Most men want to protect that."

"There's not a cup in the world strong enough to withstand a direct hit from her, and I'd rather not have chunks of plastic embedded in my body, thanks." Dick didn't add that he trusted Donna completely. If Philippus had eyes, she'd see that soon enough.

"Who's attacking?" Donna asked as he took his place opposite her.

"Let's decide the old-fashioned way." Dick held out his hands for Rock, Paper, Scissors.

"Scissors cut paper. I attack," Donna said.

"You used to always go with rock."

"Tied with you too many times."

Before she'd finished her sentence, Donna lashed out with a right cross. Dick dodged, and then he was lost in the movements he knew so well. Feint, strike, parry, kick, no pattern, keep your partner off balance. He'd done this dance, or variations of it, since he was ten, though never before had he done it naked.

"I thought only Greek men competed naked," he said, slipping out of Donna's grasp. "You Amazons holding out on the rest of us?"

"Mostly only Greek men competed at all." Donna lunged for him, and he somersaulted beneath her reach and past her.

His foot connected hard with her thigh. "Just thinking the Olympics would draw lots more fans if everyone competed naked."

"A photographer's dream. Even more than you are." She vaulted into the air, and Dick appreciated again that Donna only ever held back just enough to keep from actually damaging him. Her enhanced strength and speed made for the best workouts he'd ever had.

"I didn't know you were into the kinky stuff." Without his Nightwing gear, he couldn't easily attack while she hovered, so he waited and watched for her next move.

Donna dove for him, fast, intending to literally bowl him over. "Photos are not kinky."

He rolled with it, catching her wrists and throwing her backward over his head as he did. "Depends on what's in the photos, doesn't it?"

"Those photos are for private viewing only." She recovered and closed to grapple.

"Going to have to arrange one."

Donna had been on Themyscira too long, Dick decided. She was reverting to the Amazons' standard fighting tactics - which, despite his earlier declaration to Philippus, he knew well. He'd been the one to guide Donna out of those tactics when she was younger, and Diana had never fully left those tactics behind.

Which meant he had one chance, the slightest of openings he'd seen once while studying films of Bruce and Diana sparring at the Justice League headquarters. It required an improbable twist that would leave his arm in traction for a week if he failed, but Donna wouldn't expect it and shouldn't be able to counter it.

"Rather arrange a private -" Donna began. Dick ducked, twisted, grabbed her wrist with one hand, elbow with the other, and dug fingers into her ulnar nerve. "-show-oof!"

Dick adjusted his hold slightly, dug in harder, trying to press nerve against bone. Donna might be an Amazon, but she still had human nerves, and nerve holds were the single best way to immobilize her.

"It hurts."

"Like a deep massage - isn't that what you said once?"

"I mean it hurts."

He let her go immediately, and she knelt there, rubbing her wrist.

"Donna?" Dick squatted beside her. "My ego's not that fragile."

"My wrist apparently is." She didn't seem angry, only surprised.

He took her arm in his hands, began to massage it. "I'm only human. I'm not strong enough to hurt you. Not really."

"You weren't," Donna corrected quietly. "What happened, Dick?"

That, he thought, was an excellent question.

=X=

Dick silently followed Donna to a lagoon on the northwestern side of the island. It had a grotto, she said, where they could talk privately as they washed off the sweat from their workout. All the things he'd wanted to talk with her about faded to the background in light of the revelation of his new strength. He now had to learn how to use that strength. And he couldn't stop wondering what other new abilities he might have.

He dropped his clothes on the ground and followed Donna into the lagoon. The water was warmer than the ocean he'd walked in before, but still cool on his skin as he dove under the surface. Beside him, Donna did the same and for a moment Dick simply enjoyed watching her movements, graceful and strong at the same time.

Then Donna broke the surface, and Dick's stomach clenched. When he surfaced, she'd want to talk, to know what had happened, and he didn't know how to begin, much less what to say once he had begun. So he remained underwater, leaking oxygen from his lungs as slowly as possible as he swam lazy circles around her.

Finally, breathing became a demanding necessity, his lungs aching, and Dick kicked toward the surface, gulping air as soon as he felt the breeze on his face.

Donna trod water until he was breathing normally before asking, "Are you done avoiding the conversation?"

"I have a choice?"

"Not really."

"Then I'm done."

Dick swam toward shore, sat in the shallows with water lapping against his chest. Donna swam closer but chose to remain in slightly deeper water, floating. Now that she'd gotten his agreement, she was silently encouraging.

There was no way to ease into the discussion, Dick decided, so he plunged in. "Apollo's my father."

"That's ni - what did you say?"

"Apparently, my parents were having trouble conceiving, and my mom prayed so hard that Apollo answered." It was indicative of just how strange his life had been that the words sounded normal to his ears.

Donna recovered quickly. "That would explain the strength, then. All the demigod heroes were stronger than normal, Heracles being the strongest of them all."

"It also answers my original question, but at the same time raises a whole bunch of others."

"Like what?"

"Like what other abilities do I have?"

"The demigods were all stronger, faster, and braver than regular people. And they can enter the realms of the dead and mediate between mortals and the gods."

"Is that all?"

Donna laughed. "Isn't that enough?"

"Of course," Dick assured her. "It's just - I heal as quickly as I ever did. Apollo said that's because he's lord of healing. What else might I have, too, because of him?"

"Well." Donna swam closer, sat next to him. "Apollo is lord of truth, so you might have some sensitivity to that. And he rules prophecy and music - don't I remember you playing the guitar?"

"A long time ago. And if I can skip the prophecy thing, so much the better. But what I was wondering is, what are the implications of the healing? Am I - immortal?" Before Donna could answer, he said, "No, I can't be. He said he hadn't expected to see me outside of Elysium."

"Certain demigods had other abilities. Heracles, of course, eventually joined his father on Olympus. Which isn't what you asked." Donna wrung water from her hair. "The answer to your question is, I don't know. It may be that you won't die of natural causes, but you can be killed. He didn't say?"

"I didn't ask. I was a little overwhelmed."

"You? Overwhelmed? Say it isn't so." Donna's voice was light, teasing, and Dick laughed in response. Then she studied him. "Is that bothering you, that you might live a long time without aging?"

"The same way it bothered you," Dick replied.

"Touche… Would it help if I said you'll get used to it?"

"Do you?"

"I don't know."

"Then no, but thanks for the offer." It was natural to pull her closer, to have her lean against him, both comforting and comforted. "I suppose I'll have to ask him, next time I talk to him."

"You're going to talk to him again?"

"Of course." To his own ears, Dick sounded as surprised as she had. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Like I said earlier, our prayers and rituals are to keep the gods from noticing us, not to invite their attention. Why would you invite his attention if you didn't have to?"

It was a good question, and Dick considered it carefully. In the end, there was only one answer he could give, "Because we're family, and I think he needs that."

"Because the Olympians aren't enough of a family?"

"Because they're not really family, not like the Titans were, or my Gotham family. The Olympians are all dysfunction, no function. He needs a functional family." He paused. "And maybe I do, too."

"I'm sorry I left you." Donna's voice was quiet and sad, and he pulled her into a hug.

"You did what you thought you had to do," he told her softly. "And I understood. Even though it hurt, I never blamed you for it."

"Never?"

"Never. In fact, I almost didn't come here. I didn't want to hurt you."

Her arms tightened around him. "I'm glad you came."

Dick pressed his lips against her neck and rested there for long moments. She wasn't going to like what he said next, and he wanted to cherish this closeness before he broke the mood.

Her fingers slipped into his hair, and she scratched his scalp lightly, and he had to speak before she went further. "Some of the questions aren't as easy as what's going to happen to me."

"What questions?"

Dick let out a breath as he straightened to look at her directly. "Are we choosing each other because we're - safe? Because we think we'll have more time together?"

Donna was silent for long moments. Dick wanted to believe that was a good thing, but her expression was unreadable. Finally, she gave him a soft smile. "We've loved each other for almost ever, haven't we? We've just never chosen which particular nuance of the word we meant."

"And you think it's time we do?"

"I don't want to rush the choice, Dick. Because whatever nuance we choose, it'll have echoes for a long time. I want them to be good ones."

"They will be."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because we do love each other. We've already gone through more than most people would in ten lifetimes, and we still love each other. Whatever nuance we choose."

Donna relaxed against him. "Thank you."

"I think the choice is a process more than a one-time thing," Dick said carefully, absently stroking her back. "We'll refine it over time."

"So we don't have to choose right this minute."

"Not if you have something else to do right this minute."

"Oh, I can think of lots of things to do right this minute." Her hands cupped his shoulders, stroked down his arms.

"Who am I to stop you from doing them?" Dick grinned as she pushed him gently down against the soft earth. Whatever they chose to be now, it would be okay.

=X=

"If we keep this up," Dick murmured a long time later, "we'll both have sunburn in inconvenient places."

Donna chuckled and snuggled deeper into his side. Dick wrapped his arm around her, enjoying the closeness and the soft scent of her hair. At some point, they'd have to join Hippolyta for dinner, and he wanted to talk to Io the sculptor, but for now he could savor this new but oddly familiar quiet with Donna.

"Stay with me a while," she murmured.

"Tonight? Of course," he teased, then flinched when she found a ticklish spot under his ribs.

"Ha, ha. I meant while you deal with things." Including our choice. The words were unsaid, but Dick thought them as obviously as she did.

"It's a very tempting offer." Dick smiled when his fingers brushed sensitive skin and she gasped. "I want to. Really."

"But?"

"But there's only a week before Damian's wedding, and I promised I'd be there."

"Damian's getting married?" Donna rose up onto one elbow to stare down at him.

"Yep." He grinned. "Feisty courtship, too. Took a few years."

"Who'd marry him?"

"Lian."

"Lian - Harper? Roy's daughter?"

"You know your face can freeze like that. Yes, Roy's daughter." Dick tugged her back down. "It was funny, actually. Damian started out like the snot he's always been. I've been trained for years, blah blah blah. Lian cut him off with, yeah, but my mom would kill you before you knew she was there. And we won't even talk about my dad and ranged weapons."

Donna laughed. "That must've been fun to watch."

"It was. Not so much when she had to tell Roy she was pregnant and who the father is. I had to convince him not to kill the little snot."

"If only for the baby's sake, right." Donna's voice had taken on a note of sadness. "I miss her, you know? I miss being Auntie Donna."

"Then come with me."

"What?"

"To the wedding."

Donna's eyes lit, but her expression faded almost immediately. "I don't know, Dick. We got pretty distant, there at the end."

"But you're Auntie Donna. I'm sure she'd love to see you, especially on her wedding day."

"It's been so long… fifteen years. More."

"No time like the present. Look, Donna -" Dick tilted her chin up so he could look into her eyes - "I know more about distant relationships than most people, and I know it's only too long if you let it be."

"I'm hopelessly out of touch with modern fashions."

"So you go shopping when we get back. Are you done making silly excuses?"

"I should say no, just to see how many you can refute."

"All of them."

Donna laughed. "You probably could." She let out a breath. "Okay, I'll be nervous, but I'll go."