"You know, Nightingale, most birds are more graceful than you," Dick said wryly.
"Shut up, Grayson." She scowled, trying to walk across the pole suspended eight feet off the ground. "Just because I don't train like this every day-"
"Don't hate the acrobat, hate your own skills," Dick scoffed. "You're just jealous of all the publicity and talent I have."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah. When was the last time Tempus got on TV? I'm on the news every morning here." He grinned. "They've even given me credit for your takedowns once or twice."
Jerra shrieked in dismay, falling off the pole, but catching herself, doing a spin and sitting quite graceful at the top.
"Master Richard, Miss Jerra, dinner is ready." Alfred nodded curtly and walked back out of the room. Dick grinned, bowing and motioning for Jerra to get down. She grinned smugly, sticking one foot out to step on his arched back, and lightly hopped to the floor. Dick was pushed into the ground in the process.
"I'll leave something for you to eat," Jerra laughed. "Maybe."
Ten minutes later, Jerra, Bruce, and Dick were all sitting around a table, eating something delicious that had a French name Jerra would never even attempt to pronounce correctly. She made light conversation with Bruce, who was still not all that into having her around, and took her plate to Alfred in the kitchen. He gave her a short lecture on how it was his job to collect plates, and her job to eat what he made, as needed. She smiled and ran off to the training room again, determined to beat the Boy Wonder at his own game.
"You know, Bruce," Richard said lightly. "I think she's finally come around."
Bruce nodded. "I think you should train her, not just give her something to beat you at."
"That's how she trains, Bruce," he grinned, hopping up from the table. "And I thought Artemis would be the team narcissist. Jerra's full of herself." He lowered his eyes. "Jerra still thinks she only has herself."
"Trust comes with time, Master Richard," Alfred said knowingly. "Would you care to bring these to the Training Room?"
Dick pounced on the tray of cookies and dashed off.
"Don't be too concerned, sir." Alfred smiled. "They are just being young." That led Bruce Wayne to another concerning train of thought.
"Jerra! I brought a treat!" Dick called. "You don't get any until you've beaten me at sparring. Good luck."
The girl rolled her eyes. "Yeah. You'll need it." They both grinned, and soon were rolling on the floor, cackling, yanking on each other's hair, trying to pin one down.
Covered in a charmingly large amount of sweat and bruises, the two teens sat on the floor against the wall, moaning from their injuries and the delicious cookies. "I still say I won," Jerra said, mid-chew.
"Nuh uh," Dick countered, sticking a whole chocolate chip morsel in his mouth. "We called it a draw before blood started to spill. Draw. Tie. Fair and square way of saying you still can't beat me." He gained another bruise, laughing painfully. "Ouch, jeez, Jerra, lighten up, I didn't mean it, well, I kinda did, but-Ouch...!"
That night, the two made their rounds in Gotham alone. It was getting warmer, Jerra noted. Summer was almost upon them. "Not too many people killing one another tonight, huh?" She asked. Robin looked back at her, a sly smile on his lips.
"Too busy sleeping, I suppose."
"It's a first."
"It's nice," Robin replied.
"I guess," Jerra sighed. "Defeats the point of going out to stop crime together if there's no crime, Spandex. Why don't we check the outskirts? The industrial area's bound to have trouble—"
"Jerra," Robin grabbed her wrist, as always. "I have an idea. We could just...go out together, no stopping crime."
She froze, staring at him widely behind the mask. "Jerra?" He asked, reaching out to make sure she wasn't having one of her freeze-up moments (the remedy for her fast-aging she and Wally had developed a few months ago; she stops time for herself only, equalizing herself with the rest of time. Science nerds). She blinked and ran off across the roofs, no time travel needed. Robin growled at himself. "I can't believe I just said that." She'd been on the team for over six months, he reasoned. Wally and Artemis got together by then. It was a perfectly okay assumption to think he and Jerra could get along by then. I mean, he thought, we kissed within the first month, then she kinda ran away for a while, but she's part of us now...
"Back to stage one," Robin sighed, walking back to the nearest Zeta beam. He was calling it a night, and definitely not going back to the cave. "I'm going to get her tested for bipolar," he muttered.
"Rob! I thought you were in Gotham for the next few days?" Wally asked, speeding over, ice cream and spoon in his hand, about ready to dig into the brand-new container. Dick gave him a look. "Oh. Hey, what's wrong?" The Boy Wonder sighed, and Wally handed him the spoon and ice cream. "Looks like you need this more than I do, dude." The speedster led him over to the couch. "So, I think it's safe to say that you've got some issues when it comes to your love life..."
Jerra didn't know why, but when her best friend asked her out, the freaking Boy Wonder, Richard Grayson, Robin, whoever the heck he thought of himself, she had to get away. Why she escaped to Wayne Manor, she also didn't know. Jerra was just running on instinct now. Thought was overrated.
"Miss Tempus," Alfred said, mildly surprised, as the black-clad girl brushed past. "Is there something wrong? Is Robin injured?"
"He asked me out!" She yelled, waving her arms in dismay, stalking towards the elevator. "The idiot asked me out! How could he possibly expect me to be prepared for that?! Honestly, I'm gonna kill him later, I really am..." The doors closed to the elevator, cutting off her words. Alfred was left in wonder.
"Young love," he mused, returning to his previous work and shaking his head at the notions of the day's youth.
Batman came out of the elevator a moment later. "There is a girl in a catsuit and mask rambling hysterically and repeating the phrase 'I'm going to kill him' every other breath. Should we be concerned?"
"It seems out protegee asked the young lady on a date." Alfred informed him. "She isn't taking it very well, is she?"
"Not really," Bruce agreed. "Where's Dick?"
"Master Richard is currently at Mount Justice with his teammates, and I do not think he will be returning home tonight." Alfred gave him a look. "She didn't mean to send him away. He's trying to keep his distance from her, too. I don't blame him, with the threats she's making." They smiled, imagining the girl upstairs and her illogical spewing of how she was going to strangle the Bat Brat after he got back from hiding.
"I don't remember signing up for two children, Alfred," Bruce said.
"Nor do I, but fate has strange ways. Now, I think I'll prepare a guest room for our heroine. No sense sending her to her grandfather in this state."
"Miss Nightingale?" Alfred asked lightly. "Care to discuss this matter with me?"
"Not really," she huffed, crossing her arms. Al noted she had her hair pulled back, letting her face show in all its distaste. "Actually, I think I'll just go home now-"
"I think it'd be best for you to spend the night here, Miss Jerra." Alfred said honestly. "We wouldn't wish your grandfather to be disturbed by this...partnership disagreement."
Jerra laughed. "Ha. That's one way of putting it, Al." She followed him as he beckoned her down the hall. "Sadly I didn't come prepared for a night stay," Jerra said. "Do you have anything I could wear? I wouldn't ask if I didn't find this suit unbearable."
"We have spare clothes for you, Miss Jerra. Your grandfather insisted." He paused in front of a closet and dug out a bundle of clothing.
"Well, gee, it's nice to know where my favorite clothes went, Gramps," Jerra scoffed. "He made me do all the laundry in an attempt to 'find it in a pile'. Did I forget he has a sense of humor."
Alfred smiled. "This way, Miss Jerra."
After a few hallways and Jerra trying to lay a map in her mind, they passed an open door. Jerra glanced in and skidded to a stop. "Oh. Is this Dick's room?"
Alfred paused. "Yes, Miss Jerra. Your room is this one at the end of the hall..." Jerra had disappeared into Dick's room. Alfred followed before any damage could be done.
"...He takes great pride in his 'unhackable' laptop," he smiled as Jerra messed with the mouse to get it up and running. After a few keywords and sentences, the computer booted up to a hilarious homescreen picture of the team, including her. She grinned, glancing at Alfred, who seemed a bit stunned, before smiling back. "It seems great minds think alike, Miss."
"He's just an easy guy to hack, once you get to know him," she smiled proudly. "He used the same codes when he's hacking other computers, and I just watched him do it once." She scrolled through all his research and files. "Wow, he takes this gig seriously."
"He refuses to miss a day of crime fighting," Alfred commented. "We've had to use sleeping pills on many occasions. He insists on fighting, even when he's dreadfully ill."
"Really?" Jerra scowled.
"Nothing in his life so far has been so important that he has to miss being a hero," Alfred said smoothly. Jerra scowled harder, deep in thought.
"Oh." She looked up at Alfred. "Is my room already made up?"
"I'll have to put sheets on the bed, miss, but other than that-"
"I'll just spend the night here," she said nonchalantly, plopping her clothes in a pile on the bed. "Not like he's using it tonight, anyway. Don't worry about prepping anything for me." She smiled fondly.
Alfred was unsure how this decision would be seen by Bruce Wayne, but he decided not to disagree. "All right, Miss. I'll be down the hall if you need anything."
"Thank you, Alfred. Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Miss." He closed the door behind him, extremely puzzled by the girl. She did certainly have a knack for random acts.
Jerra passed out in Dick's room as soon as she moved the computer from the bed. Her suit lay in a heap on the floor, the armor making it stick up at odd angles. Heck, she was even having a good dream instead of her usual nightmares-turned-real-life where her parents die all over again, back to back, for her. So when Dick barged in at midnight grumbling about "Stupid Wally, never going to work, she'll shoot me before I even get to her block" and froze, seeing the girl previously mentioned sleeping peacefully, Jerra was not impressed. She moaned, eyes fluttering open, about to hazily attack the offender. Her eyes narrowed in on Robin; cape, mask, and gloves in hand; then widened abruptly. She stuttered for a moment before Dick had the nerve to say, "Hello, Jerra. Funny place to be sleeping, isn't it?"
"I didn't want to force Alfred to make a bed," she snapped. "And neither of your parental figures would allow me to go home. Deal with it."
They stayed in an awkward silence for a moment. "I guess it would be rude to tell you to get out," Dick grumbled. Jerra scoffed indignantly.
"You're so full of yourself, Grayson, I bet you didn't even mean it when you asked me-"
"Of course I meant it, Jerra," he cut in, leaning against the bed to stare her in the eyes, challenging her to disagree (as always). "I'm not the type of person to offer something like that and then care less."
Jerra pushed him away, jumping up from the bed hastily and grabbing her belongings. "Thank God that's your name, Dick, or I'd develop a really acute cursing habit."
"Where do you think you're going?" He demanded, seeing her scoop her suit up and march towards the door.
"I'm going to base!" She yelled back. "If I can't go home, I'll go to the third best option."
"What's second?" Robin asked curiously, forgetting he was supposed to be mad at her. She didn't forget, and growled.
"Ugh, you're such a-There is no second best. Mount Justice is second best. Goodnight."
He blocked the door with his body, arms crossed. "I don't want you to leave Jerra."
"Why not?" She snapped.
"You don't understand my offer," he said slowly. "I'd like to get it through your thick head before you leave."
"Oh, really?" She roleld her eyes. "Move, Spandex. You know, I like the outfit better with the cape. Makes it look less like a unitard."
"Jerra, I love you," he sighed, exasperated. "So stop."
"Yeah, that's likely-Wait. What?"
"I. Love. You. Je t'aime. Te querrio. Ich liebe dich. Don't you get it yet?" He dropped the cape, and her suit clattered out of her hands. "I tracked you down for two months, befriended you, invited you to my team, looked out for you, made sure you were protected, and did everything I possibly could to understand what makes you happy, which, might I add, is freaking impossible, all because I am unbelievably in love with you. And you really don't seem to want that."
Jerra's cheeks had turned bright red, which was never a good sign. "I- you-You love me?" She asked, unsure. Dick nodded.
"I love you, Nightingale." He smiled wryly. "Can you not run away this time?" She nodded slowly. It was progress. "Okay. Since you have issues with too much emotion being too much, don't even bother saying whether you even mildly care for me or not, just-"
"I love you too, Grayson." She murmured, a faint smile playing on her expression. "And have, for a while, at least."
"Then why'd you run away?" He asked.
"Reflex to not knowing what to do," she smiled weakly. "Sorry?"
Dick laughed. "First you said you loved me, now you're apologizing. This just gets better and better." Jerra blushed vibrantly. "Yeah, don't suddenly get bashful, Jerra. This conversation isn't over."
"Isn't it?" She challenged.
"To be continued," Richard hummed.
He pulled her into a kiss.