Alright...Let's see how this chapter goes.

Such a Stream of Conciousness...Oh man this may be bad.

It was silent in the apartment while Dick changed into loose, black scrub pants. When he came out of his room, he found the two young heroes pretty much where he'd left them; on the couch, sitting near each other, Conner watching him with what looked like distrust. Not that Dick was going to blame him for it though. He'd expected it as soon as he'd seen Conner's future-self.

He could tell his grammar was going to have problems very soon. Damn, he hated time travel.

"You two do realize I said you could raid the fridge," he chuckled.

Conner – god, it was tempting to call him Mini-Conner for some reason – glared at him for a second before turning his attention back to Robin. Dick followed his gaze and watched as his past-self shook a bit and avoided looking at him. He scoffed softly and moved smoothly towards the kitchenette and pulled out a tray of lasagna.

"You two have to eat," he murmured.

"Who are you?" Conner growled.

"Superboy!" Robin hissed, a hand on the boy's broad chest. "Don't!"

"I'm not going to tell who I am when I think my scars say everything – not to mention that conversation I just had with your future-self," Dick muttered as he grabbed some plates and some utensils. "Now, let's get something straight right now. I'm not really in the mood to babysit past-selves but you two need to get home and I just happen to have friends who deal with people who travel through time."

"How about we just find our own way back?" Robin asked. Dick sent him a glare as he popped the food into the microwave. The buttons yipped at him as he put in a time and the machine whirred as it did its job.

"Think about it," Dick muttered calmly. "You two are in the future. You don't know how far in said future you are, you don't know the things that have changed, and you certainly don't want to know too much because knowing you two something will happen and you'll blab everything to Wally and them and that'll change this time into something else and personally, I'm not having it. You're staying within my damned sights."

Conner shot across the room in a second and pinned the man against the fridge by his neck, blue eyes blazing. Robin yelped at him to stop but Conner held him back with his free hand. Dick continued to look at him impassively.

"Who are you?" Conner roared.

"Dick Grayson," Robin yelled. "He's Dick Grayson for the love of god now let him go Conner!"

"Yeah Conner," Dick snarled back, his face showing no emotion. "You go through all the trouble of saving my ass back then and now you're gonna strangle me? That's nice to fucking know."

Something weird happened then. In a heartbeat – Conner swore that was all it was – Dick brought a knee up in between them, kicked him away, and then proceeded to pin him against the counter with one arm while holding Robin by the collar of his uniform as a precaution. He released his hold a bit on Conner as he leaned to whisper in his ear.

"I can kick your ass without Kryptonite," he hissed. "You wanna know why? I have hardly anything to live for, I know you never want to hurt the weak, and I was fucking trained to kill before I learned to get over the death of a loved one. Don't fucking tempt me."

He shoved away from the clone, gently pushed Robin away and proceeded to put dinner onto plates and serve them onto the counter. Conner watched him with grinding teeth and huffed breaths as he moved about. Robin pulled at his arm and dragged him to sit on a stool provided, muttering at him to shut up and eat. Dick, stabbed at his food in irritated silence, watching them through his peripherals.

Something curled in Conner's gut that made him feel he could trust this person, even though he'd already made it apparent that he was nowhere near being the friendliest person he could know. Besides, something about how he'd treated Robin seemed to have struck a chord with Conner; neither one of them would hurt him so this guy couldn't be all that bad. Only really shitty people would harm Robin in Conner's opinion.

The phone began yelling about the time Conner stuck his last bite into his mouth. Dick was washing his plate as well as Robin's plate when it started going off. Of course, he looked about ready to kill whoever dared to call him but he answered politely as one could after drying his hands. His eyes glowed with a fire though when he recognized the voice on the other end.

"Fuckin' typical," he hissed into the phone that he held in his left hand as he tossed the towel as hard as he could with his right. "You only give a shit when I'm hurt…Well I'm obviously fine thanks for asking…Just a second," he muttered, his harsh tone getting softer as he went on. He pulled the phone from his ear and gave the two boys a look before moving towards his room to talk to whoever it was on the phone.

"So…we're in Dick Grayson's new home in Blüdhaven?" Conner asked softly. Robin nodded with a slight shrug. "So what do we do now that he wants us to stay in sight?"

"We try to not piss him off first off," Robin murmured softly. "Did you forget that he pinned you already? Something tells me he can do a hell of a lot worse."

"Right," Conner murmured. "We should be patient and see when we can get past him?"

"Maybe…I don't know, something feels wrong about this situation. I can't put my finger on it though."

"Thank you Alfred," Dick stated as he reentered the room with a sigh. The phone beeped at him as he hung up, hissing when he shifted his shoulder. He glanced at the two boys. "I guess I should find you two some clothes huh?"

"I'm sure we'll be able to handle just having uniforms thanks," Robin said quickly, spinning on the stool to face the blue eyed man.

"Nonsense; you're getting clothes," Dick muttered as the phone jingled again. "Hello? Amy…I thought you were undercover…Hang on a second." He looked at the boys again and they quickly waved him off. "Amy…Yes I have company…Tim…you know him…My foster brother Ames…Yes…the third one of that fucking name. Thanks! I really needed to remember that part of my life!"

The door clicked shut with what the boys couldn't help but notice was amazing self-control. Conner however did not miss how both of them gave him a questioning look at Dick's words. Conner couldn't help but realize that this Amy person seemed to know something she probably shouldn't about this person and he suddenly wanted to know about it.

"No! I was on Duty Amy! I got shot in uniform alright!" Dick was hissing.

"Well shit Dick I'm sorry," a female voice hissed back through the phone. "Damn…so you're okay right? Nothing permanent?"

"Nope…Just a shoulder wound…I'll be out of commission for a little while…"

"Bullshit," Amy chuckled back. "You'll be fine…knowing you, you'll be alright."

"Well thanks Amy…I appreciate it," Dick murmured back. "Look…Could you do me a favor?"

"What is it this time?"

"Look up a name for me will you? A William Mallory."

"That name's in Gotham, not Blüdhaven. Why should I look him up anyway? Even you know he's reformed to the point of nausea."

"None of them reform completely Amy. None of them," Dick said. He let out a sigh then. "Besides Rohrbach, you know how my lifestyle gets me into trouble. Just look him up alright?"

"I'll see what I can do. I am undercover after all."

"Hey, a cop just got shot. I notice it's Blüdhaven but even the crooks here are wary when that shit happens in their back yards."

There was a soft laugh. "Alright. I'll see what I can find! See you!"

"Bye Amy," Dick said, his tone softer and with a smile.

"Con," Robin hissed. "Stop listening in on his conversation."

"I can't be the only one here that's curious about what he said," Conner replied as he listened to Dick sigh and hiss in pain as he sat on the bed. He sounded tired.

"Conner," Robin sighed as he slipped off the stool and wandered over towards the couch. "We shouldn't get into his personal life."

"Shouldn't we try to make sure about his intentions though?" Conner asked. "He seems to know a lot about us, he can fight – admitted to being trained – and he's asked an undercover cop to look someone up already after being shot."

Robin gave him a dark look. "He also admitted to being able to fight you without help. Maybe, we should stay on his good side while I try to find a way out of this."

"How long will that take?"

"Not long," Dick muttered from the doorway as held out some clothes. "These should all fit Robin. You on the other hand will have to put up with wearing a hoodie; not that I'm all that sure that I even have one that'll fit you."

The clothes dropped to the couch and Dick wandered away again to search for something that might fit Conner's rather broad frame. Robin stared at the clothes a bit apprehensively. He didn't see any sunglasses on the pile so he began wondering if he really should bother. Besides, what if they just jumped back to their own time spontaneously and he didn't have his uniform? Bruce would kill him and he wasn't even sure whether or not Conner had begun to realize what Dick had been saying as much as he had.

The phone rang again.

"What now?" Dick growled as he picked it up and glared at the number. "Fuck….Hey Barbara." He held the phone away from his ear as a very high pitch screech shot out from it at him. Robin tried to not wince. He knew that voice, even if it was older than he remembered. "Thank you. Now I can't hear any more out of that ear…Shit, you and Alfred are horrible you know that?"

Robin poked the clothes with a questioning finger as if they would grow legs and arms and teeth and attack him if he got too close. As Dick continued to yell and argue with his caller, he dug out a rather ratty old sweatshirt that he tossed to Conner without a second glance. Conner slipped it on, thinking that it was gladly cleaner than his combat boots.

"You broke up with me remember?" Dick was muttering when he walked through the apartment again and jerked a thumb towards his room as he looked towards Robin. He lifted the phone from his ear and placed it against his shoulder. "Seriously? Change in there…" The phone was back to his ear in seconds. "Barbara…no, I am not going to visit for a few more months…My usual partner's undercover for fuck's sake!"

Robin glanced towards Conner as he picked up the clothes a bit reluctantly and dragged his feet towards the bedroom as Dick dove into what looked like a private office. The door shut and Robin gave Conner a signal before disappearing into the bedroom. Within seconds, Conner was carefully riffling through Dick's mail and bookcases.

He didn't find much; Dick seemed to be a stand up kind of guy.

He paid his bills, his bank account wasn't bitching at him, and he had a couple of postcards from around the world from a few names Conner recognized. Wally and Artemis had wished he'd been present somewhere in Europe while Megan – wasn't really all that hard to find another name from that one – and Zatanna wished he'd been in Japan with them.

There were a few other names – Tim, Barbara, and Alfred Pennyworth – sending him letters too but those were old and obviously read over and over, the envelopes used as storage places. The books were all classics and books on countries and whatnot. There were a few signs also that he'd been interested in battle techniques and weapons but he was a cop so it made sense he looked those up from time to time.

He backed up a bit to look over the pictures surrounding the shelves and walls. There were plenty of pictures with several other people in them, most with a certain boy within them. The pictures could take him through the boy's life from maybe four up to College graduation. There were a couple of differences though; as soon as he was maybe ten, the people about him changed dramatically. It went from possible family members and strange circus members to a butler, an African American man with kind eyes, and a fiery eyed red headed girl.

Conner cocked his head in confusion at that realization. The person's family had changed at some point. Why? There had to be a reason for that to happen right?

Robin slipped out of the bedroom in the civilian clothes, looking almost like he usually did in jeans and a tee shirt save for the fact that hoodie was a bit big on him. He rolled up the sleeves as he waltzed over to Conner's side.

"What'd you find?" he asked.

"This kid," Conner pointed as he spoke, "had a change in families. Look, I know that butler – he works for Wayne. There's Lois Lane there too."

Robin nodded slowly as he gazed over the pictures and then glanced towards the far wall to find a double picture frame.

"There's the change," Robin said as he pointed, his voice clogging. "On the left is the original. On the right the new one."

"Bruce Wayne with Dick Grayson and his butler," Conner murmured. "So…the Grayson's were circus folk?"

"Yeah…Trapeze Artists. They could do stunts without a net…as long as the equipment was well taken care of."

"Was it?" Conner asked carefully.

"It was until the day they died…" Dick said from the doorway, blue eyes watching the boys carefully. His voice was clogged the same way Robin's had been and Conner instantly decided to know that it would be best to not say anything. "You already know about Zucco though so I won't go into my shitty story."

He pushed off the doorjamb and wandered over to them, waving the phone back and forth, tapping his good shoulder with it gently as he thought over something. He glanced at the boys.

"I'll tell you what," he said calmly. "If my memory serves, I think I'll be able to get some information on how to get you two home but you're going to have to be patient. I'm only a detective after all. I only have so many contacts."

Conner glared but Robin placed a hand on his arm gently. He couldn't help feeling like Robin was backing away from what he'd said earlier.

"Fine," Robin muttered. "But you have to make sure to not tell anyone we're here."

"Hypothetical questions only unless necessary," Dick confirmed easily with a smile – one that nagged at Conner's thoughts for a moment before he placed why it looked familiar; it was Robin's smile, his kind one.

"Fine," Robin said.

"Fine," Dick replied.

"Whatever," Conner growled.

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