Snow fell lazily from the overcast sky above as Ann looked out her window sitting on the window seat in her darkened room. The clock read midnight and the young girl found that she could not sleep for her her brother was not yet back and this marked the first birthday they would spend without their parents. If Alfred opened her door now he would find her perched on the windowsil of her large open window she'd probably experience a rather long lecture that made her giggle at the thought.

"Sleep is overrated anyway specially when one is accustomed to the night." she muttered quietly. "Nothing will ever be the same."

"No but at least we can carry on." came Dick's voice from behind her. "You know it's freezing out and I'm sure Alfred would love to see you freezing your butt off."

"You're one to talk, Short Pants."

"I- Hey our costumes are the same so you can't say that."

"Says you."

Sticking out her tongue at him, she rolled across the floor as her brother launched toward her trying to grab her. Laughing Ann jumped onto her bed to get some distance between them so he wouldn't get any ideas or be able to grab her in any way.

"How was tonight anyway?" she asked keeping herself ready.

"Same as ever though it's be funner if you were out there too." Dick answered leaning against her bed. "Oh and I saw that kid, Jason, while patrolling."

"Really?"

"Yeah he was looking around some dumpsters then took off. I asked if we could follow him but Bruce said no so I don't know where he went after that."

Ann looked toward the window wondering how Jason was doing and wishing that there was something she could do to help him. They stayed in silence for a few minutes before Dick joined his sister on the bed both laying down just as the door quietly cracked open.

"Wish we could bring Jason here." Ann whispered suddenly tired.

"Yeah I know." Dick muttered back.

The sun rose reflecting off the snow on the ground bringing forth a somewhat sunny day for the normally gloomy city of Gotham. Even in winter, Gotham was dark and gloomy though this could compare to that of the emotions of two children just waking up. Turning onto his side, Dick woke slowly looking toward the window of his sister's room feeling like never getting out of bed even if it wasn't his. Beside him Ann shifted onto her side a pained expression on her face as he watched her quietly and sadly. Today was a happy yet also depressing day for them because they wouldn't be with their parents though they'd have Bruce and Alfred. Placing a hand on Ann's shoulder he gently shook her until she blinked at him slowly waking up.

"What time is it?" she asked quietly.

"Don't know." Dick yawned sitting up. "Surprised Alfie hasn't come in."

"Musta at some point. Window's closed."

"Oh."

Looking again, he realized that she was right but neither could think of anytime during the night when Alfred had come in and closed the window. Shrugging Dick got himself to roll out of his sister's bed and stretched checking the clock for the time. He was surprised to see that it was nearly ten in the morning meaning that they had slept in which was something they barely did anymore. Glancing back, Dick grinned as his sister burrowed back into the blankets so she was just a lump in the bed now.

"Come on Ann." Dick said jumping back onto the bed. "We can't stay in bed all day."

"Watch me." came Ann's muffled voice.

"Fine."

Dick left the room closing the door behind him in order to get ready to face the rest of the day that was coming for him. Once the door was shut, Ann threw the blankets off herself and sat up looking around her room uninterested in anything.

"This should be a fun day." she muttered getting herself out of bed. "I wish you both were here."

Taking a moment the little girl began to get ready for the day wondering if her brother felt the same way that she did as she looked out her window. Down the hall, Dick sat in the middle of his room on the floor, blue eyes staring at the wall without truly seeing anything. There were so many emotions running wild within him that he tried to keep in check because now everything had changed.

"I'm not the same as before." he thought. "We're not the same."

Getting up, he began to get himself ready slowly trying to not think about what the day meant or what would happen. He was both happy and sad about today but there was something that he needed to be sure of about the day. And that was to be sure that Ann had a good day no matter what he had to so to make sure of it or how he felt.

"Master Richard breakfast is ready and waiting for you." came Alfred's voice through the door.

"Thanks Alfie." Dick called opening the door with a smile. "Is Bruce around?"

"Master Bruce has some business this morning. He said that he would try to be back some time later in the afternoon."

Dick nodded following Alfred down the hall until they came to Ann's door which stood ajar with silence coming through. Alfred knocked before opening the door to find an empty room, the window wide open once again.

"Master Marianne?" Alfred asked entering the room.

"Here Alfie." came the girl's voice.

Turning they found Ann coming out of the adjoining bathroom in dress pants and a nice shirt with a smile on her pale face.

"It is ten degrees out and I daresay that you will freeze yourself solid in here." Alfred told her as he strode over and closed the window. "Breakfast is ready and waiting downstairs."

"Alright Alfie." Ann said quietly.

"Told ya." Dick whispered smiling.

"Shut up."

Grinning the twins took off running, racing one another to see who could get downstairs the fastest without breaking anything. Ann performed a flip onto the banister as Dick somersaulted to the stairs running down them as his sister slid down. They laughed as the hit the bottome, Ann rolled as Dick continued to run gaining the lead on his sister.

"I say." Alfred said as the two ran passed vaulting into their chairs.

The butler couldn't help but smile at the twins' antics though he did not agree with what they were doing fearing that something would be broken. Yet these two had done wonders in their short time in the Manor bringing Bruce laughter and joy. He left them to their breakfast hoping that they would be able to sit still long enough to at least do that.

Two hours later, the twins found themselves in the gym practicing and working on their individual skills. Each one though similar was different in many way especially when in the field that other seemed to overlook most of the time. Dick was becoming more of a hacking daredevil acrobat while Ann being smaller stuck to her acrobatics and training in weapons so as to have some advantage against larger opponents.

"Hey Annie, wanna play a game?" Dick asked breaking the silence.

"Are you gonna be a cheater?" Ann asked back looking at her brother.

"I never cheat."

"Do too."

They stuck their tongues out at one another before they giggled uncontrollably as Dick started chasing after Ann. The little girl flew around the equipment keeping at a distance from her twin so that he couldn't catch her. This was a game of Cat and Bird as they thought of it because they flew through the air instead of running around just on the ground.

"Can't catch me, Dickie!" Ann exclaimed as she jumped away from him.

They played this game while laughing the whole time neither thought of what the day meant or what it could have in store. Neither noticed the door to the gym open or close admitting someone who moved to the shadows crossing his arms over his chest with a grin.

"Not fair!" Dick shouted stopping on top of some weight equipment. "You're cheating Annie"

"Am not." Ann called back to him. "You're just slower."

Both twins jumped turning to look at the figure who was watching them when he began to laugh at their antics.

"Roy!" they cried flying toward the teen.

"What are you doing here?" Dick asked releasing Roy from the hug.

"Ollie thought it'd be a good for me to get out so I came here." Roy told them as Ann finally let him go. "You two alright?"

The twins looked at one another before Dick answered, "We're good just trying to stay occupied."

"I can see that. What kind of game was that?"

"Cat and Bird." Ann replied quietly with a grin.

Roy nodded then grinned, "Can I play?"

Sharing another look the twins smiled, "Alright but your it."

Ann disappeared as Dick talked with Roy explaining the rules to the games that they played, wanting to hide before the boys were ready to go. Once that was done they began playing, playing the games with Roy for what felt like hours as the older boy got into the games.

"Masters Richard, Marianne, and Roy." came Alfred's voice from the door. "Master Bruce and Oliver have arrived and dinner is served."

"We'll be there in a minute." Dick told him. "Thanks Alfie."

The butler nodded looking at the three before he left, Ann turned to her brother and friend who may as well be an older brother to her now.

"Shall we go?" Roy asked looking between the twins.

"Maybe the two of us should change." Dick answered looking at himself then at Ann.

"Probably a good idea."

The twins took off toward their rooms quickly changing into better clothes from their training and gym outfits. They each took a few minutes dressing in black jeans and good shirts before heading down the stairs to the dining room.

"Surprise!" several voices yelled as soon as they entered the room.

Dick and Ann both jumped looking around at all the different faces and the large cake sitting on the table with different dishes of food. Bruce stood with Oliver Queen and two other men talking though watching them out of the corner of his eye as they moved toward him. Neither twin had expected this yet it was somewhat welcomed as it made that feeling within disappear for the moment.

"Bruce.." Dick said looking up at the man, Ann hiding slightly behind him looking around.

"Dick, Ann I'd like you to meet Clark Kent and Barry Allen." Bruce said pointing to each man in turn.

Barry greeted them with a smile and an enthusiastic wave while Clark gave them a tight grin and narrowed eyes. Ann could tell that he was uncomfortable for some reason but didn't voice her thoughts as a boy with red hair came up beside Barry.

"Bruce you've met my nephew Wally West." Barry said cheerfully. "Wally how about you, Roy, Dick and Ann go raid the food table."

"Will do Uncle B." the red head said smiling. "Come on Roy boy."

Roy shook his head at the younger boy as he just walked away shrugging to the twins as they moved to toward the table. Dick walked beside Wally talking with him about everything and anything he could think of just to see what the other boy knew. Ann stayed close to Roy just listening to her brother when someone else joined their little group quietly.

Ann turned tensing slightly as she turned to see who was there, surprised, "Kat?"

"Hey Ann, Happy Birthday." her friend told her. "Who's this?"

"Thanks. Kat Warren this is Roy Harper. Roy meet Kat, my friend from school."

"Nice to met you Roy. Wait... Harper … didn't Oliver Queen take you in?"

Ann shook her head as the two began to talk about things and slipped away from the group as stealthly as possible. She was glad for the party but the large group of people was something that she was not a fan of plus she felt the need to escape.

Pulling on Roy's sleeve to get his attention she told him, "I'll be right back."

"You ok?" he asked watching her.

"Yeah."

Without another word she left the room with all the people and headed back upstairs to her room just for a few minutes. Going to her own personal bathroom, she looked at herself in the mirror and sighed quietly. She felt cold though it was warm as could be in the mansion and just wanted to go back to bed.

"Annie?" came her brother's voice from the door.

"Y-yeah?" she called to him wiping at her face.

"Let's head back to the party."

"Give me a minute."

Dick stood outside the bathroom door waiting on his sister to finish doing whatever she was doing in there. He had seen her leave and after a few minutes had decided to go after her leaving Wally with Roy and Kat. The numbness that he had been feeling all day was still there but he knew he coldn't do anything about it.

"Dickie?" Ann asked quietly. "You ok?"

"I'm alright." he answered.

"No you're not."

They looked at one another knowing that the other was feeling something and not showing it to anyone else not even the other.

"You're one to talk." Dick told her as he opened her door. "Now let's get back. Bruce said something about a surprise later and there's still the rest of our party."

"Then let's go brother of mine." Ann replied with a small smile.

The twins silently rejoined the party and enjoyed themselves getting to know Wally who became one more friend in their small group. Their little group were the only kids among all the adults a their party but it didn't bother them at all. The day wore on and soon everyone was leaving along with Roy and Oliver who were the last after giving the twins their presents. After a short goodbye, the twins grinned looking back at Bruce who seemed to be waiting for them.

"Suit up." he said watching them. "Both of you."

Ann's mouth dropped open, "I can go on patrol again?"

Bruce nodded as Dick smiled at his sister who threw herself at the man hugging him quickly before cartwheeling away. Instead of the duo, the trio were going out; the Bat and his two little birds of Gotham.