Author's Note: Wow. I'm really impressed, you guys. I really expected this story to take a while to get attention, but you proved me wrong. I thought that because this is a sequel, it wouldn't attract much attention in the archives, and I assumed that it would take the people who were following my last story a while to find it, considering how few people put me on author alerts. But I'm delighted to say that the following is picking up fast (even faster than Connections, I believe). So thank you for proving me wrong. I hope that you guys liked the last chapter, and that this one will be even better.

By the way... I forgot to mention that this will incorporate the events of the Under the Red Hood movie; but only to a very small extent.

Clark Kent pulled into the chapel parking lot and stepped out of his car. He closed the door very carefully, try to avoid damaging it. He looked at his watch. '8:00. Right on time.' He thought to himself. He slowly approached the building, stopping at the door. He shook his head for a moment. This was a day that he'd never thought would happen. The reality of it was almost staggering. He took a deep breath, bracing himself for what he would see inside.

He pushed the doors open. The room was almost empty; the chapel was beautifully decorated. The few who were there were dressed in their best clothes. He stepped inside, and moved to talk to a short, dark haired woman. He tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention.

"Hello, Zatanna."

"Superman! Or... You go by Clark too, right?"

Clark smiled and nodded before getting to the point.

"Where's Bruce?"

Zatanna stood on her tiptoes to whisper in his ear.

"He's in there." She said, pointing at a door of to the side of the room. "As a matter of fact, I think it would be good if you went to talk to him. But be careful. He's way out of his comfort zone."

Clark nodded, and walked over to the door. He knocked gently, but there was no answer. He knocked again, harder this time.

"Bruce? You in there?"

Still no answer. Clark tried to open the door, only to find that it was locked. He sighed, and pushed down a little harder on the handle, breaking it in the process. The door swung open.

Bruce Wayne stood in front of the window, intently staring at the grass outside. He was dressed in his finest tuxedo. Clark approached him from behind.

"Bruce?" He began cautiously. "Are you alright?"

"Fine."

"Alright... I was just wondering how you were doing. Zatanna seemed a little worried..."

"Fine."

Clark narrowed his eyes. "Bruce... Are you sure you're alright?"

He grabbed Bruce by the shoulder, and turned him around.

The sight that met him was one that he'd been sure that he'd never see. Bruce's eyes were wide, and his pupils were fully dilated. His face, normally just a bit pale, was completely void of color. His breathing was heavily, and appeared to be very strained.

"Clark..."

"Bruce... What's wrong?"

Bruce shook his head. "It's nothing... I'm just..." His voice trailed off.

"Come on, Bruce. Talk about it. Maybe you'll feel better." He surveyed Bruce quickly. "And it looks like you really need it..."

Bruce tried to tighten his resolve, but to no avail. The words came out of his mouth before he could stop them. "I can't do this..." He mumbled.

Clark's eyes widened. "What do you mean."

"I can't do it... I just can't..." He bowed his head in shame.

"Why why on Earth not?"

"I don't... I don't know. I just... Can't." He said, burying his head in his hands.

Clark pulled over a chair, and pushed Bruce onto it. He knelt down to look him in the eyes. "Look, Bruce. You have to do this. No matter what you want to tell yourself, this is the best thing for Diana. And for you. Where's the Bru... Batman that I know? Where's all that courage? Bruce, you're a thinker. And you're great at it. But sometimes, you can't think too much. Sometimes you have to act. I know that you know the right thing to do, because you always do. So I'm counting on you to do the right thing tonight." He patted Bruce on the shoulder. "You get me?"

Bruce looked up. "You're right."

Clark turned to leave and give Bruce his space, but was stopped by a hand on his arm. He turned to face Bruce again.

"Thanks, Clark. You're a... You're a good friend."

"Anytime, Bruce. Don't mention it."

"I won't."

Clark smiled as he turned to leave. He walked back out to the main room to find Zatanna waiting for him. "Well?" She asked expectantly.

"It looks like we've found the one thing that the Big Bad Batman is afraid of."

"And that is...?"

"Commitment."

Meanwhile, Diana prepared herself. She took a look in the mirror; she had decided against her ceremonial amazonian armor in favor of a more traditional dress. She wasn't quite sure what to make of it; she couldn't remember the last time her legs had been covered completely.

"You look fine."

Diana's warrior reflexes kicked into action, and she whirled around. She saw a tall man leaning against the door. Like every other man in the building, he was wearing a tuxedo. His hair appeared to have been combed, but it was still unruly and sticking out in strange places.

"Who are you?"

The stranger slapped his forehead. "Geez! I'm sorry!" He stuck his hand out. I'm Dick Grayson."

The name clearly rung a bell in her mind. "Wait... You're Bruce's foster son?"

"Guilty."

"He did a good job with you... I didn't hear you come in."

"I guess that you could say that." An awkward silence arose for a moment before Dick spoke.

"Anyway... I came because I need a favor."

"I'll do anything that I can."

"Good... But it's not going to be easy. I guess I'll just cut to the chase... Batman needs a new Robin."

Diana looked at him in surprise. "I'm sorry... But what do you mean?"

"I mean that since he lost Jason, he's been off his game... And it's gotten worse since Jason came back. Having him as enemy has been really hard for Bruce. And I think that having a new Robin will take some of the strain off of him."

"So... You're saying that you want to be Robin again? Bruce gave the impression that you were happy as Nightwing..."

Dick laughed heartily. "No, I could never go back to that. I've found a new guy. Sort of an old friend. He's very athletic, but he completely needs training, Which Bruce'll love. I was going to introduce them soon... But That's where you come in. He's not going to like the idea, and he's going to reject it. You know how it goes."

Diana nodded; she knew very well. It had taken years of working together before Bruce had responded to her advances at all, and even then he reacted with dismissal.

"So. I'm going to need you to to help him warm up to the idea. I'm hoping that just having you around might loosen him up a bit, but it could still take some doing."

"... Are you sure that you can convince him? He has to be the most stubborn man on the planet."

Dick laughed again. "I worked with Bruce for years. The man raised me. I know how he thinks. I can get in his head. It's all about knowing what buttons to push. But..." His face reverted to a serious expression. "If I do manage to convince him... Then I need you to make sure that he doesn't ride him too hard. That's the mistake he made with me. Batman has his burdens... But so does Robin."

Diana nodded understandingly. "Thats sounds good. I'll help you in any way that I can."

Dick nodded and turned to leave, before Diana spoke. "Wait a minute... After you decided to become Nightwing... Why didn't you join up with the Justice League? You would've made quite an addition, and from what I've heard, you're a much better team player than Bruce. He told me that you made quite a name for yourself as a member of the Titans... So why not the Justice League?"

Dick thought for a moment. "That's a good question... It's hard to answer it, though. I guess that I just got sick of it. As I'm sure that you'll find out, working with Bruce isn't easy. You have to be able to stick up for yourself. I wasn't very good at it. And I guess that that just put me off working as part of a team. What you have to understand, is that I was Bruce's partner for many years-"

Diana shot him a strange look. He glared back at her.

"Why the hell does everybody always think that? Don't answer, I know why, It was the goddamn shorts. Always the goddamn shorts... Anyway... Working with Bruce really tired me out. I figured out eventually that enough was enough, and that I had to try going solo for a while, and see what I could do on my own. Working with the Titans... or Batman... It's hard to measure up. Whenever you get something done, it feels like it was always somebody else who did it. I felt that I had to get away from that. Unfortunately... It didn't quite work out the way I planned. I changed my name, and moved to a new town... But people still think of me as Robin." He laughed a little. "But you don't need to hear about my problems. Just enjoy yourself today."

"Thanks, Dick."

He left the room as silently as he'd entered, leaving her to ponder his request.

Bruce stood at the altar. His years of practice had allowed him to conceal his emotions, but he hadn't managed to truly silence them yet. Which was unfortunate, because he was only a couple steps away from a major breakdown. It frustrated him that he was letting his emotions get the best of him, but there was nothing he could do. For the first time in a long time, he felt helpless. There was nothing in the world that he hated more. But there was no prospect of escape. But... Then again he didn't really want to escape. But his contentment with being trapped only frustrated him more. As he delved deeper and deeper into these feelings, he remembered Clark's advice about thinking too much, and realized that his own thoughts were beginning to confuse him. 'What the hell did I get myself into?'

His musings were interrupted by a nudge from Dick, who was standing at his side in the best man's spot. Bruce realized that he'd been staring at the floor for the past few minutes. He forced himself to snap back to reality. He looked up, and saw Diana standing at the end of the aisle, wearing a flowing white gown. He felt his stone-faced facade crack as his jaw dropped a little. After that, everything was just a blur to him. He wished that he'd been a bit more coherent during the ceremony, but he counted himself lucky that he managed to recite his vows without passing out. While it was a happy day for Bruce Wayne, but in many ways it was the low point of his career as Batman.

The party that ensued after the ceremonies lasted until dawn. The group was small (being limited to those who knew Batman's secret identity), but they still managed to have a good time. Notable occurrences included John Stewart, the Green Lantern loosening his inhibitions and dancing with Shayera Hol (with whom he still maintained what he called a 'platonic relationship'), and Wally West, the Flash, who had obviously had a bit more champagne than he was used to drunkenly rambling to Clark and Zatanna, who were half listening. His speech was slurred but incredibly fast, making him nearly unintelligible. "I mean... I mean... How's he do it? I mean he's Bruce Wayne then BAM! he the freakin Batman. Wha... Wha's up with that? Imean come on... How's he get the chicks? Really? I mean it. I'm the fastest man alive. But I can't get a date... 'Cause the freakin BATMAN has 'em all. I'll... I'll tell ya... BATMAN, that's who." He mumbled before collapsing on the table in front of him.

After the ceremony, friends took to the mic to deliver their tributes to the new union. The first

"You sure can throw a party, Bruce."

"It's a specialty." He responded from the crowd.

"I've got to admit, it sounds pretty funny hear you say that." She purred lightly. "Anyway... Today is a sad day for the ladies of Gotham... The day that both Batman and Bruce Wayne finally got off the market."

"SERVE'S 'IM RIGHT! ... Being of the market an' all... Damn Batman..." Wally mumbled, lifting his head for a moment, before falling again.

Everybody laughed for a moment before Selina continued her speech, finishing with a toast.

By the end of the night, Bruce had calmed down considerably. By the time the limo arrived, both Bruce and Diana were exhausted. They entered the limo, and Diana sat on Bruce's lap, and watched as the rest of the wedding guests waved them off.

"So..." Diana began as she turned to face Bruce. "Do you have plans for a honeymoon?"

"Yes. But not yet. We have business." Bruce pushed a button on the ceiling of the limo, activating the intercom. "Alfred. We need to make a quick stop at the manor, and then we're headed to the airport. I have an old friend coming to town tomorrow, and I don't want to miss him."

Alfred's voice issued over the intercom. "Of course sir. Should I pull into the Batcave?"

"No Alfred. This is a job for Bruce Wayne, I think."

"Very well, sir."

Bruce and Diana briefly stopped at Wayne Manor to change clothes. Bruce put on one of his more casual business suits, and Diana changed into her street clothes. In a matter of minutes, they were off to Gotham Airport.

Bruce's connections easily allowed them to get close to the runway that the private jet would be landing on. About fifteen minutes after their arrival, the jet appeared on the horizon. It screamed down onto the landing strip, screeching to a halt about twenty yards in front of them.

Bruce and Diana watched as the door of the jet opened. An airport employee brought over a set of stairs so that the jet could get down. From the shadows emerged the figure of and old man; his hair was grayed in parts, and there were deep shadows under his eyes. As he began to slowly walk down the stairs, another figure appeared behind him. This time, a strikingly beautiful young woman appeared. She was wearing a purple catsuit, and her dark brown hair covered one eye. As she emerged from the plane, she noticed Bruce. She looked at him thoughtfully for a moment before speaking in a thick accent;

"Beloved?"

Bruce felt his blood run cold. 'Oh, shit.' He thought to himself.

Author's Note: DUN DUN DUN! And the plot thinnens!

Well... It isn't as soon as I promised, but it's about three times as long as I planned. Anyway... As I was writing this, I realized that the way that I was introducing characters made them seem like OCs. Rest assured that I'll avoid using OCs, just because that's my policy. Some people can flawlessly integrate them into a story, others... Let's just say 'can't'. I have a feeling that I would fit into the latter category. So I'll just try to stay away from that for now. Anyway, I'm sorry that this chapter is late. I kind of just kept writing. So it ended up being really long. I know that the characters seem out of character, but it was kind of intentional. I was experimenting with having characters react to being in radically different situations. I think it came out alright, most of it was just a bit of a joke to make the story flow a bit more. But there'll be a bit more introduction into the the plot. It's going to get weird. The only word that I can use to describe what I have in mind is 'mindfuck.' So be ready. I might sleep in a bit tomorrow because it's my last day of freedom before going back to work (25 hours in four days seems like a lot when your job is to walk around a parking lot gathering grocery carts). But no worries, I'll be back tomorrow to shed some light on this mysterious man and woman, although I'm sure that many of you DCAU fans already know. So I'll be back then. By the way; today's hit count was the highest one yet; I haven't been able to get that many hits since the day I posted 'Connections.' You guys are the best, which is why I stayed up until 3:45 AM to finish this for you. Thank you all so much for all of your support.

So... What the hell was up with those shorts anyway? Seriously.