A/N: Hey, guys. It's 10 PM here. I just got home about ten minutes ago... I'm exhausted, still need to do homework, but here I am, posting this. :3 I'm REALLY sorry it's been so long, but basketball has OFFICIALLY STARTED, so... yeah. It's loads of fun, but it takes up a LOT of my time. :c

LadyFelton1994: I was never gone. XD Just… there.
Kamil the Awesome: Ergh. I don't like writing about the other girls much, but I'll try to add more of her in future chapters.
creamtherabbit77: LOL. They're little "lovebirds", what do you expect? ;)
that dorky blonde: Um… your question is something I'd like to address, so I'll answer it at the bottom. :3 Thank you!
LadyAmazon: Dick doesn't get jealous with other guys, but he gets jealous of a ferret. Go figure.
Princess Sakura2356: Thank you!
animals9990: Thank you!
Panda-Chan8: Thank you! :D NONONONONO. DONNA WILL NOT STEAL DICK. I WILL NOT ALLOW IT (or maybe I will. We'll find out in the future *wink*). Break is ending too soon. Ugh. I hate it. And no, I don't watch Doctor Who. The only live-action TV shows I watch are The Big Bang Theory and Arrow.
piggythelaw: Hahah. Yup. Well, Donna has a right to be cocky. :o They all do.
ywons54: I know, right?!
Xmidniteangel15X: Thank you! Maybe they'll be friends, maybe they'll be rivals. Who knows? *shrugs* Hahah. I don't have a #1 college pick. I'm just gonna go to the best college I get accepted to. I have no motivation in life. OTL
Kelly1432: THANK YOU. Awww. Hahah. Well, if it's one thing I've learned writing this series, is that V's a force to be reckoned with. LOL. Naw, it was just a sidejob for Batman. But if you want, I could have a chapter with the Batfamily and Catwoman. :o
Guest: THANK YOU. HERE'S A REPLY WITH ALL CAPS.
Ayase Yuuki: Thank you! You don't know how happy your review made me feel. Thank YOU!
bluepenquin1998: It's okay. I feel happy that you reviewed at all. :) I don't play video games, but I am doing research on Young Justice: Legacy, so hopefully I can incorporate some elements into it, but no promises!

Q&A:
That dorky blonde asks: Are Roy and Jade going to be a thing in this?
Will they sleep with each other? Oh, yeah. An actual couple? Can we honestly say they're an actual couple in the show, though?

Xmidniteangel15X asks: Is Lian going to be in the story?
Yes. Lian will be in the series, but remember, this is before Invasion, which is still another five years until Roy knows of Lian's existence. Of course I'll have Verena babysit Lian. ;) Maybe even motivate Dick to push for a family with her? ;D

And now, onto the story~

GOTHAM CITY
AUGUST 29, 2011
06:15 EDT

"Morning," I greeted weakly, walking into the dining room. I gave a quick kiss to Dick and pecked Bruce's cheek before gracefully plopping myself into my seat across from Dick. Yup. I was the epitome of grace. Pft.

"You don't look excited for your senior year," Bruce commented, amused.

"I got back late last night," I said, even though the two already knew. "I've had a grand total of seven hours of sleep in the past forty-eight hours."

I could normally function even with the two hours of sleep I had last night, but it was just exhausting.

I was on patrol with Batman and Robin until Wonder Woman called us. She had chased Cheetah all the way to Gotham, and Batman being Batman, didn't like that the Amazon was in our city, even if she was a friend. He had specifically told the Justice League members if they were in Gotham, they had to contact him.

After that, Batman sent me off to assist Wonder Woman. Once I arrived at the scene, I realized Troia was there with her mentor. Well, it made sense. Robin and I were with Batman 90% of the time he was on assignment.

Troia hadn't taken to my presence well and all but got me thrown into a nearby body of water.

Well, I really shouldn't blame her. It was my fault for not sensing Cheetah behind me as I was getting up from dodging a car. Troia was just floating above me and didn't give me a warning.

Let me tell you something about Gotham though: It is not only home to one of the world's richest men, but also home to one of the most polluted cities. Including the water.

... That probably explains why we have the craziest criminals... Huh. Must be the air and water.

Anyway, after we had Cheetah detained, Wonder Woman insisted we follow the authorities all the way to the prison they were going to hold Cheetah in.

That was two hours by car, following the speed limit since we were with the authorities.

Wonder Woman and Troia were flying above us, but I was stuck trailing behind a large prison truck the entire time, and let me tell you, that scenery gets boring.

I just wanted to go home, take a shower to get rid of my nasty smell, and cuddle with my boyfriend. Was that too much to ask?

After Cheetah was detained, I drove to the nearest Zeta-Beam teleporter and ended up in the Batcave in a matter of seconds. I quickly parked and went to shower off the now-dry scent of the murky water I had fallen into.

By the time I got to bed, it was 4:30 and Dick was fast asleep. When I slipped into the bed, he gravitated towards me, and I had a quick one and a half hour nap before having to get up for the day.

"We go to the Cave for training after school, right?" Dick asked Bruce. I turned my head to look at my adoptive father, waiting for his response. As I waited, I scooped some scrambled eggs into my mouth.

"Most likely," Bruce nodded his head. "If I don't tell you anything, then yes. If not, then you'll do what I sent you to do."

Dick and I nodded our heads just as Alfred placed a warm cup of tea in front of me. Yes. Caffeine. A minimal amount, but still something.

"Bless you, Alfie," I said thankfully, picking up the warm cup. I took a sip to make sure it wasn't too hot before taking a bigger gulp.

I quickly finished off the rest of my breakfast before getting up. I brushed my skirt to make sure it was fine before saying bye to Bruce, leaving with Dick.

Alfred was already waiting for us at the entrance of the house, with the back door of the small limo open. Dick allowed me to climb in first before getting in himself.

I sat next to Dick and snuggled against him, taking in his minty scent. He threw his left arm over me, and I shifted slightly to get more comfortable.

"We're officially seniors now," I commented, my head on his shoulder. "We rule the school."

"We kind of already do," Dick pointed out. Yeah, I suppose. Silence fell around us before Dick spoke up again, "Hey… you know how we're planning on leaving when we go to college, right?"

"Yeah? What're you thinking about?" I asked in response. I wasn't looking at him, so I couldn't really tell what he was thinking, but it felt like something involving our other life.

He moved his hand so it rubbed up and down my arm. "I was thinking maybe we should have new identities when we move."

I angled my head so I could look at his chin. "You mean like graduating from our roles as Robin and Black Falcon?"

"Something like that, yeah," Dick agreed. "What do you think?"

I thought about it for a bit. After all, trading your identity wasn't something that was an easy decision. "I like it," I finally said. "Even though Batman doesn't consider us as his sidekicks anymore, I'm pretty sure lots of people still think we are. If we take on new identities and work in another place, we'll gain more independence, and even though I don't care about public opinion, we'll drop the whole 'sidekick' idea too."

Dick made a confirmation hum before pulling me close to him. The rest of the ride was filled with silence as we just took comfort in each other's presence.

When we arrived, Alfred opened the door for us before Dick slid out of the vehicle. He helped me out easily before we bade Alfred a goodbye.

Barbara approached us and greeted me with a hug and waved at Dick. "I saw you guys on TV last night," she informed us. "It was a recap on some party you guys and Bruce went to in… France? Or was in Belgium?"

"Probably France," Dick and I responded at the same time. "Belgium was last month."

Roy, Wally, Dick, and I were actually there on an assignment last week. Bruce, Oliver, and Iris had us admitted to the party they were attending and while the three were at the party, the four of us were searching around for clues involving H.I.V.E., because Slade Wilson's ex-wife, Adeline Kane, was in attendance and I had found some info connecting her to H.I.V.E..

Roy and Wally disappeared to gather information behind the scenes while Dick and I went around, talking to other guests to get to know them, so to speak.

"I can't believe this is my last year with you two," Barbara said, snapping me out of my mental review. I glanced up at her and saw her pouty lips were curved into a small frown. "Then I'll be alone for two years."

"Babs," Dick started, "I doubt you're gonna be alone." It was true. Barbara's dad was a respected man in Gotham, as he was the Commissioner and a large supporter of Batman, so much that almost everyone knew he was connected to the Dark Knight. That alone gave Barbara status. Add in Barbara's smarts and beauty, and you've got yourself the popular girl that is Barbara Thelma Gordon.

"You know what I mean," Barbara refuted. "You guys are my best friends and you guys are leaving for college… and you guys are younger than me!" She threw her hands in the air, sighing heavily. "You guys probably already have early acceptance to some hotshot Ivy League too."

"Actually, yeah," Dick replied. "Columbia."

"New York's not that far," I reassured Barbara. "We'll still be in the same time zones and everything, so we can still call and webcam and whatnot. It's not a long drive, either." Especially with Zeta-Beams, I added silently in my head. "We also have a whole year before we have to go."

Barbara all but grabbed me, extricating me from Dick's hold. "I'm gonna miss you!" she exclaimed. "Who else am I going to have to complain and whine to?"

"It's okay," I patted Barbara's back. "I don't have anyone to complain to about Dick."

"Wh-" Dick looked completely confused. "You complain about me? But I'm perfect!"

"You're an annoying little brat sometimes," Barbara pointed out, patting Dick's head. She frowned. "When did you get to by my height?" It was then I realized just how much Dick had grown in the past year.

He was 5'1" around this time last year, and Barbara was 5'3". Now, they were both around 5'4". I, on the other hand, only grew an inch, so I'm a whopping 4'8".

It made no sense. My mother was 5'7" and Luthor was 6'2". This was really unfair.

We walked to our lockers, which were, conveniently, right next to each other again. Okay, we had requested to be next to each other, and the request was granted, but whatever.

Barbara released me to open her locker, and as soon as Barbara's arm was gone, Dick had his left arm around me. He opened his locker skillfully with one hand, as did I.

We pulled out our French books and I furrowed my brows when I saw Barbara take out her Pre-Calculus one. "Ew," I commented. "Math first thing in the morning?" I personally didn't mind it, but I knew Barbara hated having math in the morning.

As expected, her face contorted in slight pain. "Yeah. This isn't gonna be so great. I'd honestly rather suffer through AP French right now," she paused to gesture to our books, "than take Pre-Cal."

Dick shrugged. "Sucks for you."

Barbara glanced at me in a way that read, 'Can you believe him?' I returned her look with a roll of my eyes. I couldn't give her long replies like I did with Dick, but she got the point.

I gave a heavy sigh when the bell rang. I actually didn't mind learning, but right now, I was tired and wanted to go home, cuddle with Dick and Andrei, and sleep.

Dick and I said bye to Barbara before walking off to our French class. When we entered the classroom, I frowned when I noticed there were syllabi on the desks with names written on them already. Well, crap, assigned seating.

Dick and I split up to find our seats, with me taking the right side of the classroom. I searched through all the names, before spotting "Richard Grayson" on the thick blue syllabus.

"Dick/V, I found your seat," I said just as Dick announced as well. I turned my attention from the paper to my boyfriend, who was, unfortunately, across the room from me.

I tapped the desk that had Dick's syllabus on it and walked to my desk. The back of our hands brushed against each other as we walked past each other and I sat down at the desk he tapped on.

I placed my book on the desk and waited for teacher, Madame Olivier, to give further instructions. I heard the chair on my right side slide out and turned my head to see who it was. I watched as Kevin Nemec, the main running back of the varsity football team.

"Hey, Verena," he greeted me with a nod of his head.

"Hi, Kevin," I smiled in response.

When the late bell rang, Madame Olivier got up to close the door, and beamed at us. "Bonjour, classe! I hope you had a wonderful vacances d'été!" She glanced around the room before stopping at Dick. "Monsieur Grayson, qu'est-ce que vous fait cet été?" [1]

Dick looked thoughtful for a second before replying in fluent French, "En été, je suis allé en Belgique avec Verena." [2]

"Oh?" Madame Olivier questioned. She then turned to me and asked, "Mademoiselle Blake, qu'est-ce que vous avez fait en Belgique avec Monsieur Grayson?" [3]

I kept eye contact with Madame Olivier before replying, "J'ai mangé des gaufres au chocolat avec Dick." [4]

Madame Olivier beamed with pride and exclaimed, "Votre français est parfait! Excellent!" [5] With that said, she turned around and asked someone else what they did in the summer.

I glanced over at Dick and thanked him sarcastically, 'Thanks for directing her towards me.'

Dick simply smiled back and replied, 'You're welcome.' I rolled my eyes and went to retort when I noticed the girl on his left side was looking at him with interest. Well, well, well.

I knew her as Jenny Medina, a girl who had just recently moved to Gotham City. She was sponsored by Bruce to study here, as she was able to win a scholarship to have her schooling paid by him for a whole year.

Every year, residents of Gotham City were able to apply for a Wayne Foundation Scholarship. They would compete against other kids their age that were in the same grade and there were four selected every year. I've lost track of how many were sponsored Bruce, since the numbers grow every year. I only knew about Jenny because Bruce told me to back up Jenny's files.

The rest of the period was just more talking about what we did over the summer and going over the syllabus, which was the same as just as any teacher's. Just before the bell rang, Madame Olivier ordered for us to turn in our summer homework, which was an essay on a French novel we read over the summer, before leaving the class.

I pulled out my essay, which was a basic three-page report, and went to get in line behind the other students after gathering my stuff.

Madame Olivier gave me a small smile as I turned in my essay and I stepped outside, to see Kevin talking to Dick.

"-new girl, Jenny," I caught the end of whatever he was saying. I looked to the girl in question, and saw her looking at Dick from a distance. She didn't notice me looking at her, choosing to look at my partner instead.

It was only when Dick turned to look at her did she blush and look away suddenly, embarrassed at being caught. Well, it wasn't like she was subtle, but okay. I could get it. Dick just had that way with him.

I then felt eyes on me and turned my attention away, only to make contact with icy blue eyes that belonged to the said boy that was the star of both Jenny's and my thoughts. I read the eyes, which asked me, 'Concerned?'

My lips curled in amusement and I shrugged, 'No. Just amused.'

Dick chuckled under his breath before excusing himself from Kevin and walking over to me. I pushed back a falling strand of hair and we walked off to our next class, English.

"This is the complete opposite of how you were when Zatanna first arrived," Dick broached, walking beside me, his fingers laced with my own.

I arched a brow and angled my head to look at him. "Do you want me to be a heinous, jealous girlfriend?"

"I wouldn't say you're heinous," Dick rolled his eyes, like it was stupid. "You're cute when you're jealous. Well… after you get over the whole… y'know…" He trailed off, and I remembered his acidic words towards me moments before I stormed off almost a year ago.

Wow, has it really been over a year?

"Tell me about it," Dick sighed, topic suddenly changing. "Feels like just yesterday we were all in D.C., having a tour before we totally invaded Cadmus." We had mastered the art of talking quietly to each other. To a spectator, it'd probably look like we were… what Wally said, exchanging sweet nothings to each other.

"Roy's gone again, too," I frowned.

Over the past few months, since we found out Roy was a clone, he occasionally disappeared for a few weeks to search for what he claimed was the "real Roy Harper". Of course, I always knew where he was, but Batman said to just let him be, so we did.

Doing the math, though, the Roy Harper that I first met was the Roy Harper that I knew now. There was no other Roy. While we were looking for the other Roy Harper, I began to lose hope.

The other Roy has been missing for a good three and a half years. Did Cadmus still even have his body? Cadmus cloned the subject and then got rid of the original. It was what they did. It was what they were going to do before Conner stormed in.

I wasn't even going to pretend to understand what Roy was feeling, but it worried me. At this rate, he was going to fall into the deep end. He'd fall so deep that -

"Hey," Dick said, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Stop thinking like that."

"I can't help it," I muttered. "I'm a realist, not a dreamer."

"Then you should also know that you won't allow for that to happen," Dick commented. "You won't. I won't. Wally, Kaldur, Ollie, Dinah… None of us will."

During his little talk, we had stopped walking, and he had me pressed lightly against one of the walls. "I'm not as close to Roy as you are, but what happens to Roy doesn't only happen to him. What happens to one person happens to all of us. But he won't get that far."

"How are you so sure?" I challenged. All of us carried a weight that was immense; what could stop us from self-destructing? It was exactly why Bruce had a way to get rid of each and every one of us. Including himself.

"Because it'll hurt you, and that's the last thing he wants," Dick told me. I felt a soft caress on the side of my face and leaned into his touch. "You're too precious for him to lose… For me to lose."

With that, he leaned down, taking everything away in one swoop. When his lips connected to mine, I felt energy flow through me and felt reenergized. His other hand, which was holding his French book, went around my waist and I felt the corner of the book press into the small of my back, but I couldn't bring myself to care about it.

My arms moved to circle around Dick's waist and I pulled him close to me. I held onto my French book, scared that if I released it, I'd lose complete control of my limbs.

"Mister Grayson, Miss Blake, please refrain from acts of affection in public," I heard a teacher scold as he passed us.

Dick and I pulled away slowly and my eyes reluctantly opened. I suddenly realized that I needed to breathe and sucked in a deep breath, exhaling softly. Dick smiled softly at me, his eyes twinkling.

I felt a sharp buzz in the pocket of my skirt and recognized it as the com-phone. Dick and I hastily pulled out our phones, still against the wall and in the shadows to avoid wandering eyes, though we already had some.

I read the message from Bruce: Eight missing girls. Find out why.

As soon as I exited from the message, a bunch of files began to appear on my phone screen: profiles of eight different girls, all residents of Gotham City.

I looked at Dick and we exchanged a look. 'Guess we're not going to the Cave today.'

'Guess not,' I agreed silently, before glancing back down at the files, with pictures of eight different girls staring back at me.

Notes:
[1] Hello, class! … summer vacation… Mister Grayson, what did you do this summer?
[2] In the summer, I went to Belgium with Verena.
[3] Miss Blake, what did you for in Belgium with Mister Grayson?
[4] I ate chocolate waffles with Dick.
[5] Your French is perfect! Excellent!

A/N: I'm SERIOUSLY thankful for everyone who have had the patience to wait for the next update. :| Again, I'm really sorry. But, hey, I did warn that updates will be a LOT slower than Black Falcon's. And ohmahgawd, it just recently hit me that I'm a senior and I'll be going off to college in the fall. NOOOO. I DON'T WANNA GROW UP. Leave a review! :3