A/N: When I wrote the rough draft for this chapter, it didn't look like this at all. When I started writing, I got more and more ideas as I went along and it made me think about more and more things that I could add to future chapters, so… yeah. Thanks again Bramblerose4 for being such an amazing beta.
CO: This chapter is mostly made up of flash backs of things like how Rose and Dick met and how Rose and Wally met, etc. and some of the team finding out secrets about one another that they didn't know about other members. Roy might guest star in one or two of the flashbacks.
Chapter 4: Memories and Voices
Being both a morning person and a night owl, Rose was up at 5:45AM in the training room working on bars and the balance beams. She threw in her own acrobatic twists here and there into the normal routine she and Dick did.
Rose absolutely adored gymnasts and acrobatics and wanted to be one when she was a kid. One would think having the powers of one of the greatest superheroes ever would mean you would want to be just like them; especially if that superhero is also your father. Like most kids, Rose did want to be like her father as a kid, and still does to this day. But there was something about trusting no one but the bars to catch you after a flip, the feeling of your body twisting and turning in ways that would make even the most exotic strippers jealous, and being airborne without powers that makes it so much more interesting.
Before she developed her powers when she was a kid, her parents used to find her on some of the highest places in their house doing tricks and flips off walls and furniture. Her mom used to say she belonged in a circus, being an acrobat, with all the things she did. And she did love the circus.
Like most kids, she loved seeing all the exotic animals, the clowns, the fire breathers, and her favorite, the acrobats. She loved seeing all the cool tricks with the way they moved, memorizing each particular piece in crucial detail so she could practice them later.
Living in both Metropolis and Gotham meant she got to see some of the biggest and best circuses in the world. Though her favorite by far had to be Haley's International Traveling Circus; all for their crown jewels, the Flying Grayson's. She idolized them in every way she knew how; every time they came to either Metropolis or Gotham, she would beg either her father or Bruce to take her to see them. She didn't know at the time she would befriend one of the members in the future.
One of the most memorable nights of Rose's life she had been staying with Bruce, and Alfred told her that her favorite circus had come to town. They had just arrived and Bruce had promised to take her the night before they left because their final performances, wherever they were, were always the best on the final night.
The night before the final show, Batman and Blue Jay, her superhero guise when she was in Gotham, went out on the town to help relieve some of Rose's built up excitement, because she was so excited just to be able to be in the same city as the circus and let anticipation build for when she would finally get the chance to see them. So for the majority of the night they were kicking bad guy butt.
The whole night had been bust after bust, fight after fight, and win after win until Blue Jay got a little too cocky.
She didn't pay attention to one of the muggers and ended up getting shot in the leg. Because she had to wear a blue kryptonite charm as Blue Jay, the wound got worse and worse and she lost more and more blood to the point where she lost consciousness.
When she woke up, she was in her room at Wayne Manor Bruce standing over her. She asked him what happened and he explained what had happened and how her own cockiness got her injured. He gave her one of his usual lectures when she messed up and explained how she would not be able to attend the show the following evening because of bed rest determined by Alfred which, as expected, caused her to throw a fit.
"I am going to go to the show tomorrow night for the both of us," he had said as her eyes began to gleam with the telltale signs of tears. "I know how much this means to you and I believe it is fair I go, so you at least know what happened."
She leaped into his arms and almost crushed him with the force of her hug. "Oh, that would be amazing! Thank you so much, Bruce!"
He squeezed her back just as tightly with a smile. "Anything for you, Rose."
Most people, criminals and the League minus Superman, think that Batman is always a brooding, moody, scary guy and that's all, but when it comes to his kids, he can be the biggest softy out there Rose can defiantly vouch for that.
"But you have to promise me that you will tell me every detail. Big or small. And I'll be able to tell if you're telling me everything or not." Rose said with a look that said "you know how well I can read people, especially you. Don't think I won't be able to tell".
"Down to the last jaw dropping detail," he had promised with a grin.
That was the last night the Flying Grayson's did a show. When Rose found out, she cried almost as long as the only surviving member. That was also the night she met Richard John Grayson, her future best friend.
When Dick first got there, he wouldn't talk to anyone, especially Bruce preferring to spend the time in his room and cry for hours on end. Both Bruce and Alfred tried to bring the small boy food, but the trays would always return untouched. Rose didn't know at the time what it felt like to lose someone and that made her even sadder.
One of the things that Rose couldn't stand was when people were hurt or in pain and there was nothing she could do to help. She would gladly give up her seat or offer a helping hand, regardless as to what she was supposed to be doing because that was just who she was and how she worked.
One night, when Alfred was about to try and take Dick his dinner, Rosalie asked if she could take it instead. Alfred smiled at her and handed her the tray, wishing her luck. And the brunette began to make her way up to the boy's room.
With her hands occupied with the tray Rose had to kick at the bottom of the door with the toe of her shoe.
When there was no reply she knocked again.
"Thank you sir, but I don't want anything right now," a small voice said from the other side of the door.
"Actually, I'm a miss, but you can call me Rose." She hoped he could hear the smile in her voice in order to help reduce his fears.
There was absolutely no sound for a good three minutes and Rose had to put her ear to the door to make sure he was still there, let alone, alive. The door swung open and Rose almost fell over from putting the majority of her weight on it.
She was met with the sight of the bluest eyes she had ever see, aside from her own, and would have hugged the boy, because of the sadness which shone in said eyes, if it weren't for the tray of food in her hands.
"Hi."
"Hi." Came the small voice.
"I'm Rose, but I told you that already." She smiled at her own redundancy. "I brought this up because I noticed that you haven't eaten since you got here."
The boy moved out of the doorway so Rose could come in and place the tray of food down. "I haven't really wanted to see anyone just yet." Rose was actually surprised he even let her in seeing as though he wouldn't let either Bruce or Alfred in. The fact that she was his age and possibly the fact that she was a girl might have also helped.
Rose watched him close the door and couldn't stop herself from simply staring into those eyes again when he turned back around to look at her. There were so many emotions in those dark blue orbs. Ones of sadness and despair and a hint of curiosity, which caught Rose a bit off guard.
"I'm sorry; I'm in your way." She side stepped so she was standing next to the bedside table, where she placed his food. She noticed that even as he moved to pick up the tray, sit down, and eat his food, his eyes never seemed to leave hers. He must not have wanted to take his eyes off her because he didn't know what she might do if he did; that was okay with Rose, as long as he was comfortable, she might have even left if that was what he wanted.
He chewed on the sandwich Alfred made for him and gestured for her to sit beside him with his free hand. She sat beside him and as she did, made a move to turn on the light so he could see what he was-
"No!"
She flinch at his tone and looked back at him, shocked.
"I prefer to keep the lights off at night. It helps me think and keeps me calm." He shyly took another bite of his sandwich.
'You'll fit in just fine with this family.' She thought with a smirk. "Okay," she said instead.
When he was finally finished with his food, they entered a bit of an uncomfortable silence; something that Rose didn't like at all. When she looked up to say something to him, he had already beaten her to it.
"You have some of the most amazing eyes I have ever seen." He was looking directly into her eyes now. "My whole life people have been telling me that my eyes are beautiful, but yours are like… wow."
She immediately blushed at his words, a bit taken aback by them.
"Is that why you have been staring at me since you first saw me?"
This caused the boy to blush. "Yeah." Made sense.
"Would it make you feel any better if I told you that the reason I have been staring at you is the same?" she asked with a hopeful smile.
This caused the boy to laugh.
"Great." And they both started laughing.
"By the way," the boy began, "my name is-"
"-Richard Grayson."
Dick looked at her with a confused expression.
"I always loved you to watch your family perform when you came here and they always announced your names, so I never forgot."
"Oh."
Another somewhat uncomfortable silence fell and Rose thought that she might have upset Dick.
"Did you like them? Us?" Dick asked after some time, a bit of curiosity leaking into his voice.
"Yeah. You and your family are one of the reasons why I want to be an acrobat when I grow up." Her tone showed nothing but pure joy and excitement. "Either in the circus or in the Olympics. My parents and Bruce keep telling me that I belong in one or the other."
Dick smiled, and then frowned. "You call your dad by his first name?"
"Bruce isn't my dad. He's my godfather, but he is like a second father to me." She lay down on the bed with a sigh. "And the old man who kept bringing you food is Alfred, he's like my grandfather."
Dick lay down next to her on the bed.
"If it's not too much trouble on your part," Rose started, all of a sudden feeling very nervous, "will you tell me about your family? I idealize you guys and I would really love to know more about them."
Dick was very silent for a long period of time with a thoughtful expression on his face, before he answered. "What do you want to know?"
"Everything you're willing to tell."
The two talked for hours about Dick's family and all the places they had been. He told her about all the places that he had ever been and all the cool things he saw and leaned at said places. In turn, Rose told Dick about her family and how she was Super-girl and Bruce was Batman.
At first, Dick didn't believe her, but she showed him some of her powers, minor things like hovering and she picked up his bed with some difficulty, because her powers hadn't fully come back yet.
Dick told her that his native language was Romani and Rose told him that hers was Kryptonian. They promised to teach each other one another's language so that if one of them had a break down or something, as Rose put it, they would be able to understand each other. Comfort each other, and have private conversations when they didn't want others to know what they were talking about.
The two spent the entire night talking and when the sun, or what could be assumed to be the sun (because who could really tell in a city like Gotham?), shone through Dick's window, they fell asleep with the promise to be the best of friends forever.
Rose smiled at the memory as she dropped from the bars and cart wheeled over to the showers after training for nearly two hours.
"Man time flies."
She knew she would never be as skilled as Dick, but that never stopped her from practicing. It actually pushed her to practice more.
00000
When she was finished with her shower, she walked into the kitchen and found that it was empty, not that she really expected that it would have anyone there so early on a Saturday morning. She knew that it would be empty when she came in, and she kind of wanted to be alone so she could practice more while she made breakfast. Not acrobatics or even hero training.
Singing.
She didn't like to sing in front of people because she got terrible stage fright; even though she was what Wally likes to call an "attention whore." She had always loved to be the center of attention, regardless of the situation. Like in acrobatics or, when her powers aren't acting up, as Supergirl. No one knew she could sing. Not her parents or Bruce or Dick or Wally. Not even Roy knew. The only person who knew was Alfred, and he actually found out on accident.
She thought she was alone in the manor one night, Bruce and Dick on patrol and Alfred was supposed to be running some errands. She didn't hear him come through the front door or call her name or even when he entered the kitchen, where she had been washing dishes and singing. (She always volunteered to help Alfred out wherever she could when she was there.) She did hear his compliment when she was finished with a seemingly complex run though. He promised to keep it their little secret for as long as she wanted him to. Alfred was really good at keeping those secrets Rose wouldn't even go to Dick or Wally about–which was little. He keeps the majority of the Bat secrets and is the most trusted, outside of the cape and mask.
Even with all that, she had a problem singing in front of people. She laughed at the thought. It was funny how she craved attention while doing acrobatics or even as Super-girl, but she feared singing in front of people. Weird combo.
As she began frying bacon and scrambling eggs for everyone, she turned on the radio, and one of her favorite songs began to play. She sang along.
"Remember those walls I built? Well baby they're tumbling down. And they didn't even put up a fight. They didn't even make a sound. I found a way to let you in. But, I never really had a doubt. Standing in the light of your halo, I got my angel now."
"It's like I've been awakened. Every rule I had you breakin'. It's the risk that I'm takin', I ain't never gonna shut you out. Everywhere I'm looking now. I'm surrounded by your embrace, baby I can see your halo. You know you're my saving grace. You're everything I need and more. It's written all over your face. Baby I can feel your halo, pray it won't fade away."
She sung the second verse, vocalization, and both chorus parts perfectly. She loved to sing and did it almost every time. It was one of the things she knew she would always have, that she knew that no one would ever take away from her.
She mostly sang whenever she felt a certain way; a strong emotion that she couldn't suppress and needed to express, and when she needed an outlet. There was a song for every emotion, so whenever she felt happy or energetic, she would sing and dance to an up tempo song, and when she was mad, sad, or depressed, she would sing a song with heart breaking lyrics. Halo was one of those either or songs. It went either way and could morph to almost any emotion.
By the time the harmony came into play, she had bacon, eggs, sausage, and was just almost done with pancakes.
This was her favorite part of song and she loved singing it. She even put her own little twist on it when she sang it A Cappella.
"Everywhere I'm looking now, I' surrounded by your embrace. Baby I can feel your halo. You know you're my saving grace. You're everything I need and more. It's written all over your face. Baby I can feel your halo. I pray it won't fade away."
"Halo. I can feel your halo. Halo. Halo. I can feel your halo. Halo." She tapped her thigh on the last five beats with a sly smile.
"Oh. My. God…"
Rose immediately spun around to see the whole team staring at her, shock visible on all of their faces, amazement in their eyes.
"Your voice…"
"Is-"
"Oh my god…"
The blush Rose sported went from her neck to the tips of her ears. If she were bald, her whole head would look like a giant beet.
"Ho-how long have yo-" her voice shock with so much fear, nervousness, and embarrassment that she barely got her question out all the way.
She was thankful that her eyes were covered by her sunglasses or else the whole team would be able to see the tears threatening to leave the safety of her eyes.
'They hated it. My voice must really, really suck. I should have heard them coming and now they're just staring at me, probably criticizing me mentally. How long have they been standing there? Listening? I just don't-"
"We absolutely loved it." M'gann suddenly spoke. Her voice sounded rushed, so Rose thought she might be lying.
'Your voice is one of the most beautiful I have ever heard. Like off of a CD. We weren't criticizing you; we just didn't know how to tell you. It's okay.' M'gann put up a telepathic link between her and Rose alone.
"We knew you could fight, but cook and sing?" Wally gestured to the food. "Guess you're just full of secrets, huh SG?"
More than you know Walls.
"Too scared to show off?" Artemis asked in her usual cocky tone. "Can you do archery too? Don't be so scary."
'Always trying to find something wrong with me. I'd love to see you do better, bitch.' Rose thought and M'gann laughed.
Everyone seemed to either laugh or smile, though none knew the real reason why M'gann and Rose were laughing.
"You never cook. What's the occasion?" Robin asked once the laughter died down some.
"I was up and had time and energy to burn. Trained a little, got hungry, and thought I'd cook for everyone. I even made enough to feed Wally and the three kids he must be having." Rose patted Wally's stomach and he playfully pushed her hand away, receiving another up roar of laughter from her joke.
Everyone pitched in with setting the table and moving the food around once the laughter had died down completely. Once everything was ready they all sat down to eat the rare collective meal. Usually the team couldn't eat together due to a mission, someone (Robin/Super-girl) had to leave, or some other reason, so whenever they got the chance, which was usually on the weekends, they took the chance to eat and talk.
They had a large, square table between the kitchen and the common room and it was the only logical place to sit and eat. Kaldur sat at one end of the table and Artemis sat at the other end, across from him. Wally sat at Kaldur's right, across from Supergirl who sat next to M'gann. Next to M'gann was Conner, who was on Artemis' right. And finally, on her left was Robin. The couples sat next to each other for obvious reasons that didn't really bother anyone.
Once everyone was settled and eating something, of course when it comes to food, Wally was the first to say anything.
"Mmm… SG if I knew you could cook I would've had you making all my meals."
Supergirl blushed and smirked at the red head's words. "If you like this, wait until you taste my Cinnabons. I didn't make them this time, but I will for you one day."
It was Wally's turn to blush this time, very faint and barely noticeable except to three other occupants at the table.
Robin smirked and Artemis glared at Supergirl, who was too busy listening to M'gann to notice.
"You have to teach me how to cook and make–Cinnabons?" Super-girl nodded. "I have never heard of those? What do they taste like?"
The brunette opened her mouth to speak, but was beaten to it by another ginger.
"They are like the best things ever! Sweet-wise anyway, but they are sugary and sticky and absolutely delicious." Wally looked like he was having the perfect vision. "You can buy them at this really awesome restaurant called Cinnabon; maybe we can go sometime this weekend if everyone is up for it."
"That's a great idea." M'gann squealed.
Conner grunted and nodded.
"Sounds like a plan." Robin agreed.
Artemis rolled her eyes and nodded.
Supergirl was always ready for just about anything.
"We can go after break-"
"Team, suit up and report to the briefing room in fifteen minutes," Batman's voice interrupted, echoing throughout the cave.
"Well, after the mission now, Kal." Supergirl sighed getting up and moving the dishes to the sink.
The team cleared the table and headed back to their respective rooms to suit up.
Twenty minutes later, the entire team, minus Kid Flash and Robin, stood in the briefing room with Superman and Batman before them. The two boys entered seconds before Batman lost his cool.
With a small Bat glare in each of their directions, the Batman began. "Last night a bunch of chemicals were stolen from Star Labs in Gotham City. I'm not sure who stole them, but there are three criminals who are not in Arkham that could have possibly used them for their own personal gain, whether to sell or make their own drugs or poisons; the Penguin, Scarecrow, and Joker." Images of the robbery appeared on the screen; there was nothing that gave away which of Gotham's crazies could have been behind the robbery.
"Villains should give their henchmen a dress code or something, so we know who is who." Kid Flash voiced his opinion and everyone was inclined to agree. "Makes sense."
"I thought the Big Bads were your top priority. Why are you telling us?" Supergirl stepped forward with her question.
"The League has an off world mission that involves Batman's area of expertise." Superman answered his daughter.
"Normally, I would be handling this myself, but because of this League mission I need this team to keep an eye out for me, collecting data for my return. Normally, I would have Super-girl and Robin go in for me, and it's not that I don't trust you," he added when Supergirl and Robin both let out similar sounds of annoyance. "I want you to have back up. You know how Joker gets with my sidekicks when I'm not around."
Robin looked away and Super-girl winced, both sharing the same disturbing memories of what happened to the second Robin, which caused Dick to return being Robin.
"So this is a recon mission only. Do not engage unless necessary, whether it is Joker or not, and try not to make it necessary." Batman pointed out the last part with more seriousness than usual.
The team nodded and both League members walked to the zeta tubes, back up to Watchtower presumably.
This should be fun.
A/N: This chapter was a bit off to me. Not really coming to a point, and the title wasn't very good because of it. I don't know R&R please and tell me what you thought. Thanks guys.
Chapter 5 coming soon!