A/N: Christmas is almost here my wonderful friends! I'm so excited! And sorry that this took a while. Finals are coming up and I missed a lot of school so I had a lot of make up work. I also had to write an essay in just two days, which sucked. I had a lot of other stuff to do, but I'm not going to dump my problems onto you so enjoy the story!

8-year-old Dick Grayson had been the ward of Bruce Wayne for a while now. After learning English, he had finally been enrolled in school. Nobody liked him.

During the first week, he had tried really hard to make a friend, but everyone ignored him or called him mean names like 'Circus Freak', 'Gypsy Trash', and 'Charity Case'. He sat in the back corner of his class and sat alone at lunch every single day. It really depressed him.

One day, he had been sitting in the back of his class, his head sitting on his arms. Everyone was walking around and handing each other Christmas gifts. He looked down dejectedly.

Suddenly, there was a card in his vision. He looked up, surprised, to see a young girl standing in front of him.

She spoke shyly, "Hi. I'm not sure if you know my name, but I'm Annie."

He looked up at her with wide eyes, "Hi, Annie. Um, why did you give me this?"

She smiled shyly, "Everyone deserves a Christmas present, and you seem lonely."

He looked down again, "Oh."

"No! No! I don't mean it like that. I… I want to be your friend."

He looked at her curiously, "Why?"

She smiled at him again, "I'm a huge fan of the Flying Graysons and you seem too nice to not have friends."

"Were." he said miserably, "You were a hug fan."

"No." She put a hand on his, "I still am."

The bell rang, "Bye! I'll see you tomorrow!"

She hugged him, making his eyes pop out in shock, and ran out of the room. He stared after her, eyes still wide, when he saw the card again. He picked it up slowly and opened it.

Inside were drawings of circus tents and trapezes in red and green (for the holiday). People were drawn flying on the trapezes and he noticed a little boy swinging with a wide smile on his face.

He smiled a sincere smile for the first time in what felt like forever. He put the card carefully in his backpack and left the classroom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~(BREAK LINE!)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He was sitting alone at lunch the next day when Annie sat down beside him.

"Hi, Dick." He looked at her and then at her friends, who were sitting far away and ignoring her.

"What about your friends?" She shrugged.

"If they don't want to be nice, they shouldn't be my friends." He blinked.

"You're gonna give them up? Just like that? For me?" She smiled.

"They weren't the nicest friends anyways." They sit in silence for a while.

"Thank you." he suddenly said, "For the card. That was very nice."

"I was happy to make you one." He smiled.

"Hey!" She stood up, "After school, wanna come somewhere with me?"

He looked at her, confused, "Where?"

She grinned excitedly, "A secret place! Only I know about it."

"Ok! Bruce won't mind." He grinned. He finally had a true friend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(BREAK LINE!)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After school ended, Dick ran up to the limo with Annie, "Alfred! Can you take us to the park?"

Alfred looked slightly surprised but smiled, "Of course, Master Dick. And who might this be?"

They climbed into the limo, "This is Annie!"

Alfred smiled again and drove off. He arrived at the park, "I'll be back in a few hours. Don't get into trouble."

"We won't!" They jumped out of the car and Annie grabbed his hand. He blushed and followed her as she dragged him to the small woods by the park. She laughed and slowed down, walking peacefully as she swung their hands. He laughed with her and blushed a little more.

"It's just over here." She walked off the trail and brought him to a large rock, "Can you help me move this."

He nodded and together they moved the rock to reveal a large hole.

"Come on!" She jumped down into the hole, "Weeee!"

He hesitated before jumping after her, "Ahhh!"

He landed on his feet but fell over from the impact. He heard Annie giggling and got to his knees. When he looked up, he gasped.

It was… beautiful! There were little specks of sunlight streaming in, lighting the place up perfectly. They were in a cave, but it was full of gorgeous flowers that flourished in the sunlight.

She walked up to him and helped him up, "Isn't it pretty?"

He nodded, "How did you find this place?"

She looked away so that he wouldn't see her sad smile, "I was wandering around in the woods when I found that rock. I wanted to build a throne of rocks. I wanted to feel tall in the world so I thought that that was a good idea. When I picked up the rock, which by the way took me a long time, I saw the hole. I wanted to get a closer look but tripped and fell in. I come here a lot. It's nice."

"And you are the only one who knows about this place?" She nodded.

"No one else has ever come here, and I come here a lot."

He suddenly smiled, "This could be our place. We could come here all the time."

She smiled too, "I'd like that."

They smiled at each other for a while. He suddenly got up and ran over to her, "Tag! You're it!" He laughed and ran off. She laughed too and ran after him.

They played for hours down there until it started to get dark. He stopped running, "We better go back. Alfred will be looking for me."

She laughed, "Only if you promise that you'll come here with me tomorrow."

He grinned, "Of course!"

She laughed again and grabbed his hand. They slowly crawled up rocks to reach the top of the hole and climbed out. She started walking in the opposite direction of the limo.

"Where are you going?" She turned back and smiled again.

"My apartment is right over there. It's easier if I just walk."

"Are you sure? Gotham is really dangerous at night."

"I'll be fine."

"O- Ok." He walked to the limo and got in.

"Where is Miss Annie, Master Dick?" Dick shrugged.

"She went home. Her home is right by here." Alfred nodded and drove back to the Manor.

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They went to their place almost every day after school. They laughed and played inside and didn't have a care in the world. It was on one of these days that Annie fell and her shirt rode up a little, revealing a bruise shaped like a handprint on her back. Dick stopped and stared at it.

"Annie… What is that?" Annie stood up and yanked her shirt down.

"I-It's nothing. I just fell." Dick walked closer.

"You fell on a hand? I doubt that." He lifted her shirt up a little and looked at it, "Annie? D-Do your parents hit you?"

Her lip trembled, "Not m-my mom. Only D-Daddy. But you can't tell anyone! No one can know about this!"

"Annie…"

"No!" She clutched his shirt, "Please don't tell anyone. Please."

He hesitated. Finally, he nodded, "Ok."

She smiled, "Thank you."

They didn't speak about it again after that. They continued to laugh and play, but when she went home, he'd watch after her worriedly. He kept his promise though. He never said a word about it to anyone. Not even when he really wanted to. It was especially hard to keep the secret when he saw new bruises. He never said anything though.

On another day, they were just lying in some of the flowers, staring up at the ceiling, when she turned over to face him.

"I really like you." His head snapped towards hers, surprised.

"I- I really like you too. You were my first friend ever." She smiled.

"I wanna try something." He looked at her, confused.

"Um, ok." She leaned over and lightly kissed him on the cheek. He blushed as she giggled.

"Thank you." She smiled again and got up, "It's time to go."

They climbed out of the hole. She was about to walk off when he grabbed her hand.

"Wait. I wanna try something too." He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. This time, they both blushed. She gave him a watery smile.

"Thank you. You don't know how nice that feels." He smiled sadly at her.

"Trust me. I do." She ran up and hugged him, with him hugging her back, and then she ran off.

"Bye, Dick! See you tomorrow!" He grinned and waved. He walked to the limo that waited for him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(BREAK LINE!)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was later that night, sitting on the couch with Bruce and watching TV, when it happened.

Bruce was flipping through channels, not really wanting to stop on anything.

"Now just add the basil-"

"What is Florence, Italy-"

"Annabelle Marks-"

"Go back!" Dick jumped in front of the TV, "Go back to the news!"

Bruce, who looked confused, flipped back to the news.

"Just a few hours ago, 8-year-old Annabelle Marks, was found murdered in her home. Her father, Frank Marks, had beaten her to death." He winced, "Her mother, Hannah Marks, had died in a car crash when Annabelle was younger, leaving her in the care of her coping father. We have reason to believe that he had been beating her since the incident."

Dick had tears falling down his face as he watched a picture of her show up on the screen. He sniffled and broke down crying. Bruce rushed to his side.

"What's wrong, Dick?" He asked, not knowing what was going on.

"That's Annie! He- he killed Annie!" he sobbed. Bruce's eyes widened, and he hugged him.

"It's not your fault, Dick."

"Yes it is! I knew! I knew that he was hurting her, but I didn't tell anyone! She didn't want me too!"

Bruce hugged him tighter.

He whispered, "She was my first and only friend, Bruce. She was so sweet and happy. She didn't deserve that. She had so much to live for!"

Bruce tilted Dick's chin so that he was looking up at him, "It's going to be ok, Dick. Everything is going to be ok."

He shook and sobbed in Bruce's arms, "Why does everyone I love die?"

Bruce shook his head and hugged him tighter, "They don't, Dick. There are just bad people out there. I promise though that I won't leave you. Ever."

Dick looked up, "Really? You promise?"

Bruce nodded, "I promise."

A/N: I've had this idea in my head for about a year. Maybe a little less than that. I haven't been sure of what to write for this story lately so I decided on this. This was the only one that I was actually motivated to write. I have also been thinking of this one more lately for some reason. I'm not really sure why. Well, merry Christmas! Review!

Love,

Browniesarethebest