In this AU, Bludhaven is approximately 150 miles south of Chicago, and Gotham City just on the other side of the river, but the round about way Dick and Elle must travel to get through Bludhaven and around Gotham in order to get to Wayne Manor takes nearly another hour of travel time. Gotham City is comparable to New York City and Bludhaven is only a bit smaller. I'm not sure why I did this . . . Don't ask because I couldn't explain it if I tried, but for a little while I had been convinced that Gotham and Bludhaven were in Illinois and on Lake Michigan.
(In my other Bat-universe, Gotham City and Bludhaven is in New York State. Bludhaven is south of Gotham and closer to NYC. I believe this is closer to canon. But I get confused with all the changes that have been made throughout the decades that I have read, and missed reading, and have spent catching up that I'm lucky that I placed Gotham in America.)
Anyway - Enjoy!
"You ready," Dick asked, holding out his hand.
Elle smiled, hitching her gym bag higher on her shoulder. Dick was serious about her learning self-defense. He was relentless; herding her here and working her until he felt as though she understood his original teachings better, could follow his new instructions with some amount of confidence, and then she had to show him she could get out of each of his holds at least once before he called it quits.
As with the first time here, the adrenaline rush had descended into a carnal one when Dick had followed her into the women's locker room afterwards. Elle was beginning to think that this particular perk was why he always chose to bring her here after closing time.
She knew she would be feeling the effects of her exertions tomorrow; all of them, she thought as the smile turned into more of a smirk. Let's hear it for spiritual bonding! Yeah! She had to admit, it was a lot more fun than the physical blood bond had been.
Her hair was a little damp still after her . . . ahem, their shower. She wondered what the gym's water bill would be at the end of the month. She decided to put her hair up under a toboggan rather than let the cold wind to play with it. She had pulled the knitted hat onto her head. It wasn't like she would get a cold from going without, but even if she didn't get sick, Elle could still feel the bite of the wind and get hypothermia; an oddity of her mixed genetic make-up.
As they neared the glass door of the gym, they could see white flakes drifting down from the night sky in the glow of the streetlights.
"It's snowing," Elle squealed with joy.
Dick laughed. "I take it you like the snow?"
"Oh yeah! Well, at least in theory," Elle told him as she buttoned up her coat. "I'm not usually so far north in the winter months, so I miss seeing it more than not, but it always seems so magical."
This surprised him. "I thought you said that you lived in Chicago before moving to Bludhaven." Chicago was north of Bludhaven by approximately a hundred and fifty miles.
"I usually spend most of the winter in southern Italy," she replied as she started buttoning up Dick's coat for him. "Let's get you warm, shall we? I'd hate for you to get sick again. Do you want to borrow a hat?" Elle thought she had another tucked in her bag. She moved to dig it out, but Dick stopped her.
"I'll think I'll manage," Dick assured her as he turned to lock up. "Besides, I doubt there are any lakes between here and my apartment for us to fall into," he said as he shot her a quick grin.
Dick took her bag from her and used the handles to slip over his shoulders so that he could carry the duffle like a backpack. He took her hand in his and slipped it inside his coat pocket as they started walking the three blocks to his apartment. It was one o'clock in the morning and the streets looked deserted.
The cold spell they had had over the past week had been keeping crime down somewhat, but he didn't expect that perk of the weather to continue. While he hadn't found much to keep him busy as Nightwing lately, tis the season with only three weeks until Christmas, crime tended to rise significantly as criminals took advantage of more shoppers, more merchandise, and more money exchanging hands, and that was just the small time crooks. Drug dealers usually had greater sales during this month as well. Batman was working a case in Gotham City to stop the flow of illegal weapons, and Nightwing needed to keep his ears to the ground. If Gotham had illegal weapons coming through then, more than likely, so did Bludhaven.
His mind was distracted from those thoughts when Elle pulled away from him. The snow was starting to come down harder now; the flakes were getting larger and were the dry, fluffy kind. She stepped into the deserted street and began spinning around with her tongue out, trying to catch the flakes in her mouth. The sight made him smile.
The ground was covered by a thin layer already. He didn't remember hearing about a big storm coming through, but he had been distracted. He wondered how much this one would dump on them, and hoped it would stop before long. As much as he liked the white stuff, he wasn't looking forward to working in it; neither as Nightwing not as BPD officer Grayson. But at least Elle was having a good time.
Elle was having a great time. While she wasn't sure having to tough out an entire season of cold wouldn't get old rather fast, this was her first snowfall in more years than she could remember! She preferred the warmth of the Mediterranean, but she couldn't resist the novelty of playing in the white stuff.
She started humming, and then singing as she skipped around; dancing in the middle of the road.
"Sleigh bells ring; are you listening? In the lane; snow is glistening. A beautiful sight; we're happy tonight, walking in a winter wonderland."
Dick laughed as she danced over to him and grabbed his hands. He glanced around them before allowing her to pull him into the dance. He had to admit this was a new experience for him as well, and he had been putting up with snowy winters for the last eighteen years. Of all the interesting and exciting things he had done since becoming Bruce's ward and eventually his son, never had he danced down the middle of the road, in the middle of a snowstorm, in the middle of the night.
But all good things must come to an end. The snow began falling heavier and faster and the wind was picking up. The snow's texture changed from dry and fluffy to heavy and wet. Soon visibility was beginning to suffer as well. The snowstorm was threatening to turn into a blizzard. They were still a block away from his apartment when their playful dancing had morphed into running; Dick leading the way as Elle followed him laughing. Despite the change in the storm for the worse, it apparently hadn't lost its charm for his girlfriend.
He moved to the side of the road closest to his building in an effort to keep their bearings. You could barely see a thing from the center of the street! In the twenty minutes it had taken them to traverse the three blocks, it had gone from snow flurries to nearly an inch! The wind made it feel like more, however.
"Hurry," he told her, holding her hand. He didn't want to lose her in this. If they became separated, he was a little afraid he might. "We need to get out of this before it gets worse!"
They were forced to slow down the last few feet as the pavement became slippery. Avoiding broken bones seemed to be just as important as avoiding hypothermia. He helped Elle climb the steps up to the door of his building. His hand was shaking and making it difficult to fit the key in the lock. He was suddenly wishing for his insulated suit.
Elle was shivering beside him. Being damp from the shower didn't help and the snow had kept their hair damp . . . Well, his hair and the end of her ponytail. Finally the key slid into the lock and with a quick turn of his wrist and a shove against the sticky door, the two of them practically fell into the building's foyer.
It wasn't much warmer in here. Dick's building superintendent didn't believe in wasting money heating the public areas of the building. They stamped their feet and tromped up the stairs. Dick made sure to stomp extra heavy on the stair tread because he knew that the right wall connected directly to the super's bedroom in his little apartment.
"Dick," Elle snickered in spite of herself. "Stop it! That's mean!"
He grunted. "By keeping the foyer and hallways so cold, it drives up the cost to heat the tenants' apartments. A little disturbed sleep seems like only a fitting revenge."
"I thought you were all about justice; not vengeance," she reminded him.
"Tonight, I'm all about both," he jangled his keys in his hand as he sought out the one he wanted.
It didn't take long despite having several keys on his key ring. He had made sure that each key was unique. One was to his apartment; one to the apartment on the third floor that he rented as a base for his Nightwing gear (unbeknownst to his super); one was to the roof (also unbeknownst to his super); one to his bike; one for his locker at the precinct; one to Tim's apartment; to the manor; to Elle's apartment; and to her POS car. He kept the key to the gym on a separate key ring.
"Hurry!" It was Elle's turn to coax him to greater speeds.
She slid her hands around his waist and under his coat. Dick's breath hissed as her frozen fingers found their way beneath his shirt and onto his belly. He glared at her over his shoulder.
"You beg me to hurry and yet distract me by shoving icicles under my shirt," he complained.
Elle giggled. She stood on her tiptoes and blew into his ear. Dick shivered so hard he dropped his keys.
"Now, see what you made me do?"
Elle merely laughed.
"Yeah, yuk it up, but we'll see how you like it here in a minute," he warned her as he finally pushed open the door to his apartment.
The air in it was much warmer than in the hallway, but it wouldn't feel so toasty soon. He had left the temperature down. As he turned the heat up in the apartment, Elle took off her hat and coat, and she kicked off her snow-covered tennis shoes and draped the wet socks across the nearest heat register. She started bouncing around on her toes in an effort to get more circulation in them. Dick followed suit, removing his coat and shoes as Elle turned on his television and searched out the weather channel.
"The front came in from Canada and will produce blizzard-like conditions and temperatures overnight below zero," she quoted to him. "Brr, and it felt like it, too. We're supposed to get eight to ten inches by tomorrow morning. Gotham City, only four to six."
Dick searched out the hot chocolate and the brand-new bag of tiny marshmallows. As he moved about making them a late night treat, Elle kneeled on his easy chair and held up the blinds as she watched the wind swirling snowy dust devils in the street below, fascinated. She had no desire to drive in the stuff, but while ensconced in the safety and warmth of Dick's apartment, Elle could appreciate the beauty of the storm.
The snow gave a different quality to the morning light. Elle turned her head saw that Dick was still asleep; the blankets down around his waist since they hadn't bothered to turn the heat down when they finally went to bed around two-thirty in the morning. She was tempted to wake him, but instead quietly crept from the bed and padded over to the window.
Her eyes widened in delighted surprise at the wonderland she discovered below. Bludhaven never looked so clean as it did now. A few, fluffy snowflakes still danced down out of the sky, but the bulk of the storm had finished dumping its contents on the city. She never thought her adopted city could look magical, but it did now. She knew it wouldn't last, and suddenly had the desire to put her stamp on the crisp, unmarked blanket of white before the city did its part to turn it gray.
She ran into the living room and found Dick's phone. Looking up the number, she dialed and waited impatiently for someone to answer. Elle glanced at the time; seven a.m. She wondered if it were too early yet. Knowing what Dick's family did for a living, she became conscious of things like that, but the likelihood that Batman and Robin made an appearance last night during the storm was as slender as it had been for Nightwing to do so. Dick had assured her that criminals would have been huddled under their rocks as the rest of the citizens did in their homes.
"Wayne Residence. Good morning, Master Richard."
"Good morning, Alfred," she chirped happily. "Dick's not up yet."
"Miss Arabella! What a surprise! I hope the snow hasn't left you stranded."
Elle pushed her hair back as she continued to marvel at the world of white outside of Dick's windows. "Maybe, if I had someplace I needed to be this morning. I'm sure the city will clear a path between now and the time I might need to go somewhere."
"What can I do for you this morning, then?" Alfred asked politely.
"It snowed, Alfred," she all but squealed. "I was wondering if, when the roads are cleared, that Tim and Damian might come out to play. You and Bruce, too, if neither of you have any plans."
"Oh, well, I would think that you should perhaps ask them yourself. If you wouldn't mind holding a moment." Alfred told her.
"Please, I'll wait," she murmured as she worked plans out in her mind.
A minute or two passed before Bruce came on the phone.
"Elle, what a pleasant surprise. Alfred tells me you would like the boys to come to Bludhaven for the day, is that right?"
"Morning, Bruce. And you and Alfred, too, if you can make it, but yes, that is my hope." Elle went on to explain. "I can barely remember the last snow I've experienced. I thought we all might go to the park for the afternoon. I heard they had some great hills for sledding at Astor Park. Do you think you could make it? Surely with the way the sun is shining now, the roads should be safe to travel on by then."
"I would need to check with Tim, of course, and I'm not sure where Damian is currently. Would it be all right if I call you back in a few minutes?" Bruce asked her.
"I'll be waiting breathlessly by the phone," she laughed.
"I can call you back at this number?"
"Yes," Elle caught herself blushing even though Bruce wasn't there to see it. "I'm at Dick's apartment," she admitted, just before hanging up.
She just stopped herself from blurting out a number of excuses as to why she was there so early in the morning. They were adults, and Bruce understood the bond. It was only a matter of time, after all.
A few minutes later, the phone interrupted Elle's gathering ingredients for pancakes. She scrambled for the phone, getting flour all over the counters, floor, and kitchen table in the process. She shoved a lock of hair out of her face as she hit 'talk', not realizing as she did that she got a swath of flour on her nose and across her cheek and forehead in doing so.
"Hello?"
"It's all arranged," Bruce's voice came through the phone. "We'll make a day of it. I can drive the Range Rover since it has four-wheel drive, so we won't have to worry overmuch about the roads. Alfred will provide a basket of food and thermoses of his famous hot chocolate to bring with us."
Elle's eyes sparkled and she pulled Dick's bag of marshmallows out of the cabinet to take with them. "Do you know how to get to Astor Park?"
"I have GPS in the Range Rover, but we could pick you up if you like," Bruce offered.
"Oh, no," Elle assured him. "That's not necessary. We'll meet you there. No sense crowding everyone."
"Nonsense," Bruce told her. "The Range Rover is capable of seating seven. Even with Alfred, there is only six of us."
"That sounds great," she grinned. "Around eleven? Would that be too early? I don't want you to have to drive all the way back to Gotham City after dark."
Okay, that might have been over the top, she thought, smirking. It wasn't as if Bruce didn't go out every night wearing a bat costume. Still, the Range Rover wasn't the Batmobile. She didn't know the difference in traction and handling. She would hate to be responsible for the Batman getting into an accident while he was off-duty, after all.
"That is sweet of you, Elle, but not to worry. The Rover is made for this kind of weather."
After squaring away the last few details, Elle hung up the phone.
"Who was that?"
Dick's voice coming from right behind her startled a squeak out of Elle and the phone went flying. Dick caught it handily and then burst out laughing when he finally caught sight of her face.
"What?" Elle glared at him, rubbing her chest unconsciously. "You scared the life right out of me!"
"I'm sorry," he apologized as he kissed her lips cautiously, trying to avoid the flour. "Who was on the phone?"
"That was Bruce," she told him; the excitement of her plans overcoming her scare. "He, Alfred, and the boys are coming to Bludhaven today. We're all going to Astor Park for a day of sledding! Bruce is going to pick us up in the Range Rover."
Dick blinked at her, startled. "They're coming here? For sledding? What brought that on?"
Elle blushed and turned back to her pancake batter. "I might have brought it on," she murmured. "I called him up and asked if he, Alfred, and the boys could come out to play."
"Seriously?" Dick paused in getting out some juice to gape at her. "And Bruce agreed?"
Elle smiled at him curiously. "Yes. Why? Is that something unusual?"
"I'm not sure how often he does that kind of thing around the manor anymore now that I no longer live there, but it wasn't all that common to drag him out of the house to 'play' in the snow when I was a kid." Dick explained.
"Really?" Elle pursed her lips in thought. Maybe Bruce was more like her father than she had believed. "He didn't seem put out when I asked."
"Oh, don't get me wrong. Bruce wasn't all work and no play, but it wasn't something that occurred very often. And things like this almost never happened in a public venue unless it was some kind of charity event. Damian doesn't strike me much as the sledding type, and I'm not even that certain that Tim is either . . ." Dick paused to think about it as he took a drink of his juice. "So, yeah, I guess this would be kind of a momentous occasion."
Elle poured the batter, as she considered this, not noticing that she automatically poured mouse ears at the top of each pancake. It was a habit that came from making breakfast with her grandmother during the month or two of winter that she often spent in Italy with her each year.
Dick leaned against the refrigerator, grinning at her 'mousecakes'.
You are something special all right, he thought to himself.
Ooh, a day of sledding with the entire Wayne clan . . . (Well, most of them. Jason is around, but Elle won't meet him for a while.)
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