A/N) Thanks soooo much to those that have stuck with this story this far! The last chapter was intense man, I hope. Anyway here we are, I plan to make this story three or four part, it depends on how far you guys encourage me to go! ;)

Enjoy!

One year later:

"They should be right under you."

"Roger Batgirl, I see em, me and Annie will handle it from here."

"Be careful."

Barbara disconnected the com link, with a tired sigh she pushed away from the glaring computer screen. Five night in a row, no sleep. Well, no trying to sleep anyway, she barley ever got two hours tops any more. Not since Dick skipped out on them all. She bit her lip and headed up the steps into Wayne manor. Alfred probably had a nice pot of coffee waiting for her long nights.

"Hey Alfred." She greeted wearily.

"I assume that Master Tim and Ms. Annie are close to concluding the wayward robbers." The elderly man surmised as she took a big gulp of pure black coffee.

"Yah. Their small time, nothing too big." She smiled slightly. If it wasn't, I'd would be with them. She finished to herself. She didn't want anyone to think that she babied Tim, he was almost fifteen now, but the truth was her greatest fear now was losing yet another close boy. Timmy was her last string to keep from getting cut, and she wasn't going to let that happen.

"I'll see you later Alfie ok," She waved at him, "Let me know if Robin checks in, I'll be back soon." She grabbed her purse and walked down out into the main room, "Bye!" She called pulling the door and shuffling out.

The cold Gotham air struck her face. White gathered in her vision. Barbara sighed, winter in Gotham was her favorite time of year, it always snowed more than anywhere else. It gave her the impression of cool and calm.

It made her think clearly. She hadn't done that in a long while. After Dick had left without so much as anything, something inside her just broke. She'd struggled and cried for weeks, but after realizing that wasn't going to fix anything she gathered herself up and decided to be a strong unbreakable stone for those that where left. Tim, Annie now, Wally, they all mattered more then a boy who'd skip out without a word to anyone. Not even to her.

That night was severely mind shattering. After recollecting her sight she had scanned the information, Jason Todd was a subject of Al Ghuls mad plan. And what was more he was positive, which she gathered through the disk meant he had come out as successful. She swallowed the thick dryness in her throat, which in some sick insane way might have meant that the boy was somehow alive again. She, or Batman, didn't know what to make of it. Or If they should even believe it.

It was too insane to be true. Batman had gone bonkers looking into it the moment he got back to earth. Nobody could approach him, or even go into the batcave while he was there, frivolously, feverishly looking for his missing sons. One that could very well be back from the dead.

He'd gone wild searching for anything that would lead them to the Al Ghuls, he'd gone about it so fiercely and viciously, that the League stopped helping, they realized helping Batman only made things worse when they couldn't.

But everything, all that time and energy, all that hurting and suffering, lead to nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Except maybe more pain.

Dammit, her heart still stabbed just thinking about it. Even if it had been a whole freakin' year!

Nothing, just nothing. Absolute zero. Blank, lost, they hadn't heard from Dick, or Al Ghuls or anything. Just, that's it. It's as if everything had fallen into a black hole and didn't plan to come back out anytime soon.

So she did a sensible thing and decided to stop hoping. No. She couldn't, she didn't, she still hoped, too much, so much, it hurt like hell. But she let those hopes slide during the day, during when the world needed Barbara Gordon second and Batgirl first.

It was the sensible thing to do.

At least that's what she kept telling herself.

She sighed loudly as she made her way up through the dimming street and into an apartment building. She semi lived here. Most of her time was spent at Wayne Manor, especially since Batman had dropped in desperation and left off planet. Again. He'd been disappearing a lot these past few weeks, more stone stiff then ever now. Next thing they knew the League had told them he and Superman were on a top secret mission to somewhere. They wouldn't tell her. Babs hated when they treated her like she hadn't any experience.

She'd found out of course, secretly hacking into their mainframe, Batman was in some far off planet. That's all she got, the rest was in a different alien language, encrypted by J'hon. She left it at that. Things ran more smoothly when she could take charge without fearing what Batman would think.

For the sake of Timmy she had stuck around, Timmy and Annie. She would have left, vanished, gone to live her life somewhere where there was no Batgirl or Batman or Nightwing or anything. But Timmy was truly alone now and Annie, she'd barley adjusted to them after her rescue. Barbara was suspicious of her lack of knowledge at first, but the girl was so sincere and sweet and lost that she banished those thoughts. Within a year though she'd shaped up nicely and was almost entirely knowledgeable about the world and the way things worked. Of course it helped that Tim simply adored her.

That was mostly why she'd stayed and taken charge. The kids needed a guiding mentor, not one that disappears without a trace and another that couldn't crack a smile or else the world would shatter on its axis. She took it upon herself to be that mentor, that rock of refuge that she knew they needed, what she needed but didn't have.

"Ok, now where is my-aha." She scanned her neat room and grabbed a stack of clothes piled into a duffel bag, "I really should just bring my clothes and leave them at the manor." She sighed before turning to lock her apartment.

Back to the dark.

One more quick patrol and that should do it. Flash sped across Keystone, Star, Central, and took a screeching halt in Gotham, right in front of Meg's little diner.

It was sweet little place now. He grinned at it, Meg had bought the place form her old boss and renovated it nicely, it was still small but not shabby, now it was cozy. Wally had asked her why she kept it going. Her answer? You have to make a living somehow on this planet. Besides I'd rather do it by doing something I already know how. Cooking.

He took a deep breath, cold crisp air filled his lungs. He felt content after his daily run. It was a rare thing to feel truly content after recent heart aches.

Dicks disappearance had just added salt to his wounds. First he dumped Wally, then he just up in smoke. It took a lot of words from a lot of people to keep the speedster from running around every part of the earth until he found the stupid ex boy wonder.

But after being told that would be a waste of energy on his part, and besides if Dick wanted to be found he would have told someone and- Ugh! Wally shook his head, no, not now. I won't think about this now. Every time he did his thoughts just zipped in circles, and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't run out of it. It made him feel sick and abandoned. But he wasn't was he? No, Babs felt the same, Tim too, they all did, but they still had others to care about. Meg for example, and Annie, that girl was sweet. Wally had liked her right off, a little lost maybe but still cute and-

"Hey West."

Wally looked up, "Oh Hey Mallory." Mallory Johnson. There was another aspect in his life that drove him in circles. He knew she wasn't normal. She knew he knew, but somehow they both managed to act like neither knew anything, even though he was dying to get to know more. She was intriguing, different. And maybe a little hostile. But for the past year they barley made any progress, at least to him it felt that way. He'd be friendly and warm, she'd be cold and snarky.

It made him laugh actually.

"How's life?" he grinned lightly, leaning on the counter.

She rolled her green eyes, another intriguing thing since he swore they were really pink, "Your such a dweeb. Life's crap, what else would it be." She straightened from her chair and shoved the magazine away, "You?" She asked nonchalantly leaning her chin on her hand.

"Okay. Just stopped by to check on my favorite girl, Megs . . ." After a weird flicker from the small woman his grin widened, "And maybe you. If you wanna be one of my Favorite girls." He teased.

She instantly straightened and scoffed, here comes defensive mode, "As if, hot shot. Get over yourself. She's in the back, I'll go get her so you can make out or whatever." She snapped and slid out of her chair.

The image that she put into his head made the red headed boy grimace, "Um, Yah, no. Not with sweet Megs." Five years ago he would have jumped at that idea, but that was just his stupid hormones. Now, more controlled, he couldn't imagine doing that to the girl.

"Whatever." Mal threw over her shoulder before shoving her way into the bigger kitchen.

Wally sighed, that girl was a piece of work. Sort of reminded him of . . . Artemis. Not all the way but kind of. Aside for the clear size difference and color difference and basic look all together. Maybe it was the fact that they were both so closed off to him. He vaguely wondered what the blond archer was doing now. More importantly, who was she with now? If she was with anyone that is.

He'd long accepted her leaving as a fact of life he couldn't change. And he wasn't going to lie, that irked him. He'd tried more then once to find her. He did. Once. She said she was moving on.

That had hurt. Like hell. But he decided if she wanted to go to a different stage, so would he. Even if it was against his own wishes.

"Never mind she's elbow deep in cookie batter and-yow!" Mallory walked back in, tripped over her magazine that had slipped to the floor and flew towards the counter. Without a second thought, Wally reached out and grabbed her before she could smash her face against the marble counter. She smashed it against his chest instead. At least it was less painful.

"Ow..." She groaned wiggling herself upright.

Wally smirked down at her, his blue eyes flashed bemusedly, "If you wanted a hug you could have asked. I would have complied." He teased coyly.

She gasped and pulled away from him, "Stuff it dork." Her pale face colored anyway, "You're not that cute." She snapped.

"That cute? Wait so I'm at least a little cute to you?" He decided to milk this. He felt pretty good today, that clean run had a pretty nice affect on him, "Admit it. You think I'm cute."

She scoffed at him, "Your full of it you know that." She snapped and turned away, pretending to pick up trash.

Wally thought she was cute.

"You know Mal, you ever going to tell me about your-" Her hand slapped over his mouth instantly, her green eyes turned a dangerous pink.

"Shut up. You don't know anything remember." She hissed, even though she seemed hostile Wally could read her fear in her body.

Pushing her hand off he looked at her calmly, "I know but . . . you got to give me a little credit. I'm not an idiot and besides, I bet you could do a lot of good with those abilities." He finished quietly.

She looked at him, bewilderment flashing in her eyes, "You . . . you don't know what it's like, to be a freak, to be shunned and feared just because . . .your different." She spat the last part angrily, turning away from him.

Different? Wally took in a sharp breath. Damn girl, if you only knew what difference I've looked past. He wished he could say that out loud, but that would be too much right now.

"It's ok Mal." He assured, "Tell Megs I'll see her later. Bye." He turned and walked out, slower than normal.

Suddenly, he didn't feel so good.