So, I took a sick day from school. Sick day doesn't mean get better, sleep, and catch up on homework. No, no, no. Sick day means write my Bethany Ford story, eat as much junk food as possible, and watch Netflix. Took about 3 hours to write this. So here ya go!

Bethany's POV

When I opened my eyes, I was met with high ceilings and soft light coming through big windows. I immediately sat up, my head throbbing in protest. I let out a groan and tried to hop off the extremely fluffy and large king sized bed that I was on. The room started spinning and I started falling to the floor

"Woah there. Easy. Your hangover is still there," A familiar voice said in my ear. Strong arms grasped my hips and lifted me back onto the bed.

"Dick? Where am I?" I asked, rubbing my eyes. My throat was a little croaky and cracked at the end.

He hesitated before answering, "You're at my place. Welcome to the Wayne mansion," He gestured to the large room. He didn't sound so enthusiastic about it.

It took me a second to register where I had heard the name "Wayne."

"Wait, so you're Bruce Wayne's son?" I managed to get out.

He nodded shyly.

"Y-you're… THE Bruce Wayne's son?!" I said even louder.

"Well, technically… no," He tapped his chin, "I'm his adoptive son."

I was silent, my head slowly putting things together. The gears in my brain were slowly turning.

"Did you know that Bruce Wayne gave me the scholarship to get into Gotham Academy?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yes," Dick said plainly.

"Why didn't you tell me you were Bruce Wayne's…" How do I say this?

"Ward. I'm his ward."

"Yeah. Why didn't you tell me?"

He hesitated before answering, "I didn't want to. I wanted you to like me because we were truly friends. Not because you felt obligated to be my friend. Also, I wanted to make sure that you were truly my real friend. Not pretending to be my friend just because I had a rich adoptive father."

I was shocked.

"Dick! I wouldn't do that! How could you think that I would ever even think of pretending to be someone's friend just because they were rich?" I asked incredulously.

"It's happened before," He mumbled.

"Sorry," I quickly recovered, "It's just that… well, you know how I hate meeting new people and you know how I hate having to talk to people I don't like. If I don't like people, I usually just keep my distance. But Dick, I hang out with you and I talk to you because we're true friends and, well, I really like you," Then I quickly added waving my hands in the air in front of me, "As a friend, of course!"

His shoulders slumped a little, like he was disappointed.

"Yeah, sorry. I didn't know at the time." He said quietly.

It was silent for a few moments, allowing me time to think about what happened last night.

"Oh, shit!" I said, clasping my hand over my mouth.

Dick looked at me in surprise.

"Dick, please tell me that I was just dreaming everything that happened last night…" I pleaded. I already knew the answer, but if one person just denied it, then I would as sure as hell believe it.

Instead of saying what I wanted him to say, he said what I already knew.

"I'm sorry, Bethany," He said solemnly. His eyes were angry and his fists clenched the bed spread beneath us.

My hands found my face and I cried. My crying was silent, but my shoulders racked my whole body. Nowadays, it just seemed like whenever I cried, nothing every came out of my mouth. I heard Dick slam the bed under his fist in frustration.

"I should've been there! I shouldn't have left you alone!" He shouted to himself, "I should've… I could've saved you! If only I hadn't left, if only I -"

"Stop!" I cried out and immediately, my arms were wrapped around him. I had seen him angry twice in less that 24 hours, "Don't beat yourself over something you couldn't have prevented! It's not your fault. It's not your fault."

It wasn't his fault.

It was mine.

"Bethany, please stop crying," Dick's voice pleaded. I hadn't realized I had started sobbing again. He grabbed either side of my face with both of his hands and slightly shook me, "Stop, please. I can't stand to see you cry."

"I-It's all my fault! Dick, I'm sorry! I'm so so sorry! I should've listened to you! I should've listened! I was so stupid! Goddamnit! Why?! Why didn't I just listen to you?! Why?! Why did I have to prove anything to you by drinking that stupid coke! Why?!" I cried into his chest and he held me tightly.

He stroked my hair and cooed to me gently. I realized that he had never once said "I told you so." I melted into him and let him hold me up while I sobbed into his chest like a baby. We stayed like that for a long time. Eventually, I drifted off into a light sleep.

I gradually came out of my slumber to feel something warm underneath my head. My head didn't hurt as much anymore. I sat up quickly, face flushing when I realized that I had fallen asleep on Dick's chest. I looked down at Dick. He looked so peaceful and beautiful while he slept. The rhythmic rise and fall of his chest made me want to curl up and continue sleeping on him. But I resisted.

I was already embarrassed enough for crying in front of him like that. No one ever saw me cry. No one.

Dick's eyes fluttered open.

"Bethany?" He groaned.

I looked back at him, his startling crystal blue eyes making me melt. His hair was ruffled messily. I liked it. He definitely knew that I slept on him. Dick knows everything.

"Yeah?"

"You hungry?" His usual smile broke out. I nodded and he jumped up and grabbed my hand. He led me through hallways and past rooms and down a large spiraling staircase.

"Alfred?" Dick called out to a bustling kitchen. A fit old man turned around. He was making breakfast and turned to Dick with a scolding face on.

"Master Dick. You slept in quite too long. You shouldn't -" He abruptly stopped, realizing that I was there. I automatically shrunk behind Dick, still holding his hand, "And who might this young lady be?"

"This is Bethany. Bethany Ford," Dick said, lightly pulling me to stand next to him. He wrapped a hand around my waist and pulled me closer. Realization of what he was doing hit me. He knew that I hated to meet knew people, so he was trying to be comforting and gentle with me. Damn, why does Dick know everything?

"Greetings, Miss Ford," Alfred gave a little bow to me.

"Did she stay over last night?" A new voice asked from the hallway. Dick and I looked over to see a tall, muscular, broad man with lightly slicked back hair and a strong jaw line.

"Yes, Bruce. She stayed in my room last night," Dick replied easily. Wait, Bruce? As in, Bruce Wayne?

Both Alfred and Bruce narrowed their eyes at Dick and crossed their arms. Oh crap. Why did he have to make it sound so wrong?

"No, no, no!" Dick said quickly, "We didn't do anything like… that. I was just helping a friend in need."

"I see," Bruce said, his face softening up, "Hi, Bethany. I'm Bruce Wayne," He strode over to us and stretched out a hand to me. I hesitated before taking it. I don't know why I did it. I guess something was weird about him. He seemed so natural and smiley right now, but I knew there was more to him. I had felt his vibe before, I just couldn't put my finger on it.

"Okay!" Dick said loudly, trying to break the awkward silence, "Bethany and I are going to eat some breakfast and we'll do whatever she wants to do today. After all, it's the weekend!"

"Alfred, can you serve breakfast now? I know that you have cooked something delicious, as usual. Dick, why don't I join you guys for breakfast?"

Dick grumbled something about hovering parents and went to sit down. He patted the chair next to him, motioning me to sit next to him.

Breakfast went on with Bruce asking me a bunch of questions about school and Dick telling him that I was great. In the beginning, Dick would just answer for me, but Bruce started telling Dick to stop and let me answer for myself. He asked about which classes I was taking and if I liked Gotham Academy. He didn't seem fazed about me receiving the scholarship from him.

Now that I think about it, anytime that Dick bragged about all the honors classes I was in, Bruce didn't seem fazed by that either. Not that I wanted him to be. It was like Bruce already knew everything about me.

When the conversation died down and it started getting silent, Dick abruptly stood up.

"Okay, so I'm going to take Bethany out. Thanks Alfred for the breakfast!" He grabbed my hand, making me stand up.

"Thank you, Mr. Bruce and Mr. Alfred," I said as politely as I could.

"Please. Call me Bruce," Bruce said waving goodbye.

"You may call me Alfred instead," Alfred said, clearing the dishes. I felt guilty about leaving Alfred to do all the dishes, but Dick had already started dragging me outside to his car.

It felt weird to be with Dick on the weekend. Usually, I would be scrambling to finish my homework Friday night and then on Saturday and Sunday, I would be training with the Team at the cave. But I couldn't just tell Dick, "Hey, sorry I can't hang out right now. I have to get home, my mom is probably worried about me! Psych! I'm actually from a different dimension, so I don't even have parents right now. And my real mom doesn't give a shit about me and my home is a cave. I have to go train with a bunch of these teenage superheroes so that we can learn to fight together as a team against a bunch of these super villains and save the world. So yeah, bye!" No, Dick would probably take me to Arkham Asylum for the mentally ill. I wondered what the Team was doing…

"We're here," Dick said, interrupting my thoughts. I looked up and realized that he had brought me to this beautiful and grassy park. There were a lot of children running around and parents grilling lunch for their families. It was peaceful and the place seemed like it should have been in a movie.

Huh, funny. Robin once told me that he and Batman fought Mr. Freeze here before him, Aqualad, and Kid Flash teamed up as the original Young Justice Team.

"I usually come here to relax. This place just reminds me of a time before a lot of stuff happened. The park here makes me… reminisce about life before it was changed," He said cryptically. I wanted to ask him what he meant, but he looked distant and deep in thought and I didn't want to keep pressing the matter.

"This place looks relaxing. A friend of mine told me a cool story about this place," I said absently.

He turned and looked at me curiously, his eyes shining, "Really? Who was it?"

"Rob-" I inwardly slapped my face about 100 times. Damn it, why was I so stupid?! I coughed a couple times to give me time to think as I struggled for a random name that would cover my screw up, "Robby. Yeah, my friend Robby. I don't think you know him. He's just a friend outside of school."

He was quiet for a second and then asked, "What was the story?"

"Eh, it's nothing. Just some friendly talk," I said sheepishly, trying to steer away from the subject. I couldn't just tell him that my good ol' pal Robin battled Mr. Freeze here with the aid of the Batman.

Dick sat down and patted the spot next to him for me to sit down, "I don't mind."

Dang it. Why was Dick always so kind. It was frustrating sometimes. I sat down next to him in the soft grass. Why did he want to know about it? He must know that I don't really want to tell it, but he is still pushing the subject.

"Well, Robby said that he was here when Mr. Freeze attacked people in this park a couple months ago. He just told me how the heroic Batman and Robin Dynamic Duo saved the day and blah blah blah," I tried to act nonchalant about it.

I looked at Dick and his eyes were shining. He looked like he wanted to laugh.

"I was there, too!" He said excitedly. Okay, so maybe he just wanted me to tell the story because he was there too.

"Wow. It must have been scary," I said simply.

"Nah," He laid back and rested his head on top of his arm. He looked up at the sky casually, "I knew that Robin would save the day."

What about Batman? He must have just forgotten to mention Batman. I laid back down next to him in the soft grass. We both stared up at the clouds.

"I'd have to say that Robin was pretty awesome," He rolled over and leaned on one arm looking at me. His eyes were sparkling, "You should have seen him. Mr. Freeze had nothing on Robin."

"You must be a fan of Robin," I teased.

"Something like that," He rolled back over onto his back and we continued to daydream.

The rest of the day went on like that. We ended spending a long time at the park. Dick and I teased each other and took a lot of pictures with my phone (He found out I had no pictures on my phone and decided to fill it up). Dick even introduced me to his trolling game. After snagging a couple hot dogs from people, I got an idea.

"Dick, we should play the pick-pocketing game," I said, finishing off my hotdog.

His face suddenly got serious, "No, we don't steal things from people."

"But Dick, we stole these hotdogs," It's not like we couldn't afford them. No, Dick could probably buy all the hotdogs he wanted with his credit card. It was just the thrill that we got when we trolled.

"Yeah, but that's different. The family had over 2 dozen hot dogs and they only had three people. And they were probably going to throw it away anywase," Dick replied firmly.

"Whatever makes you sleep at night," I teased, "But come on, Dick. It's not like we're going to keep the stuff. We just grab stupid stuff out of their pocket, like a tissue or pen or something stupid like that. And then we put it back! I don't steal money. I'm not a robber!" I said defiantely. Seriously, I was quite the opposite of a robber, if you know what I mean.

He hesitated before replying, "But what if we get caught?"

"Then you don't get caught," I said with a wink and a mischievous grin. I walked up to the first person I saw. It was a teenage girl who had fallen asleep underneath a tree. She had a journal in one hand and a pen that had rolled out of her other hand. She must have fallen asleep writing in her diary or something like that.

I snuck up and grabbed the pen and lightly drew a heart in her journal. Then I drew a quick cartoon picture of Batman and Robin. Then I put the pen back down and waltzed back to Dick.

"See? Not so bad. In fact, it's nice!" I said, hands on my hips. He gave me an incredulous look.

"You call that pickpocketing?!" He said, eyebrows raised, "Watch and learn."

He crept up to this couple who was walking a stroller and grabbed a tissue from the man's back pocket. He waved it at me and put it in the wife's purse. He slunk back to me, proud.

We kept going back and forth, trying to prove that we were better than the other. Surprisingly Dick was really good at pick-pocketing. Why was he so good?

Dick had a lot of hidden skills.

So it was a really calm chapter, but don't worry. The next chapter will heat up! Stay traught, fellow YJ fans!