As part of expanding this, I've also re-written part of the previous chapter so you might want to re-read that.

Babs grinned as she touched down on the rooftop where a familiar figure was perched, looking out over the city. "Hey, Boy Wonder. What's shaking?"

Dick looked up at her with a smile and a nod of the head. "Hey, BG. Wanna sit?" He indicated the patch of concrete beside him.

"Don't mind if I do." Barbara dropped down onto the edge, feet swung out to hang down the side of the building, feeling the oddly hollow thunk of the backs of her boots knocking against the brick wall. It was strange, seeing her friend this still. Usually he was a constant blur of movement. Jason was convinced he was ADHD and kept trying to persuade Bruce to get him tested. Right now, he was tense, and ever so slightly hunched in on himself, as motionless as one of the gargoyles farther down the roof. Maybe she'd be able to find a way to work "Bat-Therapist" into her college applications. "Penny for your thoughts?"

Dick gave her a scarily accurate approximation of Alfred's disapproving look that managed to show through the mask. "Why Miss Batgirl! I am offended that you consider my thoughts to be of such trivial value." His British accent was flawless. Just like his "Standard Gothamite" accent.

She snorted and bumped her shoulder against his. "Hey Hotshot, I'm on a budget here." His laugh was genuine but shaky and she knew he knew she'd caught it. "Seriously," she said quietly, nudging him more gently this time. "What's wrong?"

He stared off into the depths of the city and didn't answer.

She could play this game. Fishing time. "So I hear your Team had their first mission. Sort of."

He shrugged, visible only because of the shifting of his cape. His mouth tensed even further though. Gotcha. "So, something to do with the team. Spill kiddo."

He sighed and flopped back onto the roof, staring up at where the stars would be, if you could see stars in Gotham. "It's been more than a week."

She waited as he seemed to struggle with his words for a moment.

"It's been a week and…they are giving nicknames and there is relationship drama and-"

And she suddenly understood what this was about. "And they don't even know your real name."

He nodded. "I mean, KF knows of course, but," he sighed. "You know how he is, it's like he flip-flops between…"

"Between being super-sweet and sensitive and being a loudmouthed jerk?" Babs filled in with a small smile.

"Yeah, that." Dick flapped a hand in the air in a dismissive manner. "It's just, he was flirting with Miss M. and joking about how I wasn't allowed to tell them my name and, I dunno. I guess it just hit me."

He must be more upset about it than he's letting on because his voice is gaining the faintest blur to it that sounds a little like Eastern Europe and a little like South America and a little like everywhere and a lot like the scared eight year old her father brought home with him one night and said would be staying with them for the weekend until they could get him a foster home placement because some jerk of a social worker had thought it acceptable to toss him into juvie hall.

His accent only slips when he's really, really tired or really, really upset. (And even then, only when he's relaxed, with people he trusts and who know the secret.) He's even mostly phased it out of Richard Grayson's speech. She misses it to be honest. Sometimes she thinks he does too.

"Do you think you'll be able to tell them eventually?"

Dick shrugs again. "Who knows? I mean, I've known Speedy since he was Speedy, in both civilian and hero identities, and he still doesn't know who I am."

Babs makes a face behind her cowl. Roy Harper is okay. Fiercely loyal, but he's impulsive and hot-headed and really wouldn't be her first choice to reveal secret identities too. She's with Bruce on that one.

"But Kid Flash knows."

"Yeah, 'cause I told him against orders."

Point. "And your brothers and sister know. And…your little stalker and his tiny girlfriend know." They really needed to come up with code names to refer to Tim and Steph when in costume. "And I know."

Her reward for that was a warm, genuine Grayson smile.

"Yeah. Thanks BG."

She reached out and pulled him into a hug. "No problem Brat Wonder. I'm always here. You know that."

She felt his nod, more than saw it, but the way he clung to her like a lifeline meant even more.

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