"Master Bruce? What has got you so down?"

Bruce purses his lips, heaving a small sigh. His eyes slide over to the polished older man, drooping just a little. "I need to plan another funeral," he says.

Alfred swallows, frowning ever-so-slightly. "Another one?" he asks, standing a little straighter. "Whose, if I may ask?"

"Remember Richard? The little boy I told you about?"

"The one whose police call got intercepted by the Batman," Alfred says, nodding minutely. "Has anything occurred at the show? I believe you've come home just a little earlier than I expected."

The billionaire runs a hand trough his hair, roughing it up just a little bit. "His parents... they fell."

"Fell?" Alfred echoed, his eyes widening at the implications.

"Something must've been wrong with the trapeze," Bruce says because he's trying to convince himself that there wasn't any foul play involved even though it is a possibility. "Just as Richard was about to join in, his..."

•••

His heart is racing, thudding, pounding. Well, yes, at first he had not been completely into the idea but he did warm up to it. Now, however, he wants to run away. Again? Really, did he ever actually run away in the first place?

What do I say? he thinks as someone steps forward. He finds that his blue eyes are cast downwards. Nothing is said as the hat is pulled off and the hood pulled down. Then, the glasses are slid off by cold hands that make Gardner hide a shiver.

Blue eyes slowly scale upwards to meet the green eyes of Damian looking down on him.

"If this is an imposter, he's certainly a good one," the blood son remarks with a smirk. Then, his eyes narrow as he holds out a hand.

Without thinking, Gardner launches himself forward and wrap his arms around where he could reach without jumping. He ignores the hand jabbing at his insides, choosing to turn his head so he could have breathing room. A second later, he speaks.

"I'm sorry I took so long," he says in one rushed breath. He tightens his hold, fisting his hands on the cloth of Damian's black turtleneck. "I'm sorry, really, I... I don't know."

"Don't touch me," Damian snaps, pulling away. There's a flash of hurt on Gardner's face before it's covered by an expression of guilt and then a blank canvas. Immediately, Bruce steps up.

In a stern voice, he says, "Damian, don't be rude."

Upon hearing that, Gardner swallows. He looks over at Bruce. "You believe me, right?" he asks quietly, acting hurt. When Bruce says no words and does nothing but stare at him, Gardner backs away with his eyes now trained on the ground.

Even though he shouldn't feel it, there's a stab of hurt when he had gotten nothing but the calculating and suspicious stare.

"Put him on the trapeze," Jason suddenly says, his eyes narrowing. "After all, once a Grayson, always a Grayson, right? You can take the brat out of the circus but not the circus out of the brat. I bet it's just some ass looking to make some money or something."

Gardner inhales sharply through his nose. Then, he looks up and gives a curt nod. His eyes lock with Jason's and they both engage in their own little silent conversation. Out loud, he says, "I'll do it if it means you'll believe me."

I'll do it, he thinks, even if it's a risk I'll have to take.

•••

Artemis stands outside the building she and her mom reside in, waving as the car rides off into the distance, carrying Bette away from the not-so-picture-perfect neighborhood the heroine lives in. After another minute of staring down the road, Artemis slips inside, locking the door behind her. She climbs the stairs and finds her mom sitting in front of the television, her head lolled over to one side.

She stands in the doorway, leaning against it with a small smile on her face. She figures that her mother must've fallen asleep while waiting for her to come home. One glance at the clock tells her that it's almost eleven and she had promised to be home by ten-thirty at the latest. With a sigh, she reminds herself to apologize profusely.

Walking over, Artemis sees the gentle rise and fall of her mother's chest. She leans down, pressing a kiss to a bare cheek and then she places a quilted blanket over the sleeping woman and lowers the volume to a low hum.

And then, as she's headed for her room, she realizes just why the boy from earlier seemed familiar.

He reminded her of Robin.

"There's no way that..."

It suddenly hits her. She remembers that she had absolutely no idea who had been under that stupid domino mask. And, when she thinks about it, the disappearance of Richard Grayson and the sudden retirement of the fifth Boy Wonder, Robin, had been too close to each other to be more than just a coincidence.

"Richard Grayson... didn't he used to be part of a group of acrobats in Haly's?" she asks herself, closing her bedroom door behind her. She brushes a hand through her hair, messing it up. "That would explain why Robin was so... flippy."

And now, those cryptic words from two years ago start making sense.

"We'll laugh about this someday," she mutters, lips twitching at the corners. "The little brat he—"

Her eyes widen and her jaw drops just a little bit.

Robin's back, she thinks. Wally needs to know this.

Her hands immediately fly to her pockets. Her left hand emerges with a sleek piece of technology gifted to her from Bruce Wayne (not delivered in person, of course) for getting high marks. She almost drops it (thankfully she didn't because the last time she did, her mother gave her a lecture on being more careful about such expensive things) and she finds Wally's name in her contacts.

"Uh... Artemis? Do you have any idea what time it is here?" A yawn. "Why are you calling me anyway? You haven't done that since—"

"Wally," she says, cutting him off. "Was Robin's secret I.D. Richard Grayson?"

A pause. "You do realize that his I.D. is secret for a reason, right? Otherwise it wouldn't be a secret I.D.."

She swallows down an insult. "I know that you know his name," she chooses to say. "It was pretty obvious since you two were practically inseparable. So, tell me, was he or was he not Richard Grayson?"

Another yawn. "Why do you want to know anyway? Jeez, it's just like you to interrupt my sleep. To think, I actually went to sleep early for once because I thought I'd be able to snooze through the night uninterrupted."

"Okay, fine, you wanna keep playing dumb? I just thought you'd like to know that Richard's back," she quips, dropping her voice to an angry whisper so she doesn't wake her mother. "You know, since he's Robin."

"Wait, what?"

"God, you never listen, do you?" she asks rhetorically, rolling her eyes. "This is exactly why we ended."

Silence. Then, an annoyed voice. "And I thought we ended because you thought I was emotionally compromised or some other bull idea."

She wouldn't admit it out loud but she was very close to yelling some sense into Wally West through the phone. Instead, she sighs through her nose and speaks. "That's because you were," she tells him. "You were pretty depressed when Robin apparently went into an early retirement and I took advantage of that but I broke it off when I realized that you would never like me the way I liked you."

"I was not depressed, Artemis."

"Yeah," she says. "You were. You were so down because you knew that Robin wasn't in retirement, he disappeared and no one knew where he was or what happened to him."

"..."

"You're not gonna talk?" she quips, frowning. "Fine. Have it your way. Bruce Wayne knows that Richard's back, by the way. Night."

Wally doesn't reply. He does, however, hang up.

"Just thought you ought to know," she snarks, dropping her hand. She ambles forward to her bed and changes into the set of pajamas she already set out. A few minutes later, she passes out on top of her sheets.

•••

When Wally hangs up, he immediately panics. This is a very bad and very dangerous situation. It's a situation they didn't need to get into in the first place. No, the possible repercussions could have been avoided had Wally not gotten such a horrible burned into his brain.

"Bruce knows that Dick is back," he says. "Wait, no, not Dick but Gardner. I—ugh!"

Then, he gets an idea. If he tells Barry about Dick being back, maybe the older hero will run over to Gotham with him. Then, Wally can think up a plan to get Gardner out of there without arousing suspicion. That'll work, right?

His phone is whipped out in less than a second and he calls his uncle in less than two. There's only a moment between initiating the call and the call being answered. Wally breathes a sigh of relief, hoping that everything will be well and good.

"Hey, kid, what's up?"

"Dick's back," Wally says, lying through his teeth. He swallows. "At least, that's what Artemis called to tell me. It's a long story. She's convinced that Dick was Robin but I swear I didn't confirm it."

"He is? Seriously? Okay, get dressed but stay in civvies. We'll zeta down so just meet me at Gotham. I'll deal with your parents later. Oh, and Bruce, too."

Wally smiles, nodding into the phone as he walks over to the closet to grab a clean shirt. "Thanks, Barry," he says. "It means a lot—as sappy as that sounds."

"Heh, no problemo, kid. You've been waiting too long. Make sure you tell him, 'kay?"

Eyebrows shoot up. Before Wally can question the words, Barry hangs up. Wally curses the super-speed of his uncle and his frazzled mind, letting his phone slip through his fingers. He prays that it didn't have a cracked screen now. He just fixed it a little less than a month ago.

He sighs, using his speed to change and then he's out the door moments later.

•••

"You sure you can actually do this?" Jason asks, his tone mocking Gardner. "I bet you can't do a simple flip on that thing."

Everyone watches Gardner as he stares at the ladder. Then, he unzips his jacket and drops it to the ground. One hand latches onto one of the rungs and he nods. He turns his head to the side, glancing at them all with one blue eye.

"Course I can," he says. "We Graysons don't just flip, we fly."

Heyo! I'm so sorry it's been so long since I updated. :/ I was getting used to school, you know? I'm actually on the bus as I type this. I'll edit this later so I can properly thank you all for your advice. :)

Edit: All righty-dighty, shadowswithouthope, thanks for the advice! I'm considering on joining a club. Sadly, there's no writing club. Smh. Psych, thank you for your advice! I felt a little better after reading it (and everyone else's words). :) High school wasn't as bad as I thought and I'm doing my best not to procrastinate. :P And, MusicLyric, good luck with your classes! And, of course, to other freshman (in both high school and college) and anyone attending school in general.

Edit 2: Also, so Artemis and Wally did briefly date after Dick disappeared. She broke it off because she realized something. ;) There will be hints of slash but romance won't dominate my story. :P

And just a btw, Performance did not ever happen for the sake of plot purposes, okay? If it did happen, Artemis would be 100% certain that Robin is Dick.

Oh yeah. Just a btw, the reason the trapeze is set up is because this show is dedicated to Dick. Plus, it's a habit. :)

So, erm... review please?

Edit 3: This story may be posted on AO3 under the username of astorii (my original account name).