Chapter Sixteen

Wolf in Sheep Clothing

Once they'd gotten home and Morgan had stepped into her bathroom to take a brief shower, she stopped in front of the mirror to access the damage done to her face. Her cut has stopped bleeding, but it was still swollen and red, a nasty thing cutting down the middle of her lower lip. Her left cheek and jaw had already blossomed into a colorful purple, which she knew would fade into a rainbow of blue, green and yellow tones with a few days' time.

"Esmeralda's gonna kill me." She muttered when she studied her wrecked face and her extremely chipped and ruined nail polish. The other girl had gushed about how she was going to make Morgan a real catch this Friday and now Morgan looked like she'd fallen down a flight of stairs.

Maybe this'll scare Darren off. Morgan smirked at the thought.

She was in pretty high spirits. The night had gone great and she'd found herself actually enjoying Nightwing's company. They'd totally gotten along and almost, dare she say it, bonded?

He'd even complimented her for how she dealt with those goons.

Morgan took a step back to study her full stature. Untying her hair and starting to untangle it from its braid, she remembered how she'd been called 'female Nightwing' twice that night and her brow furrowed in silent confusion.

She looked at her reflection and immediately realized why.

Her costume..

The darkly colored suit with the lighter wing-formation on the chest was an almost exact replica of Nightwing's own costume, sans the color scheme.

Her mouth dropped open in horrified realization and her hands stilled their work on her hair.

Thinking back, Morgan clearly remembered Nightwing suggesting the wings on her chest. He'd also been the one to suggest using dark colors for camouflage.

He'd done it on purpose, the little shit. He'd purposefully manipulated her into designing a suit that made her look like a feminine, Nightwing knock-off.

She immediately felt her former dislike or her mentor flare up again, ignoring how satisfied with the patrol she'd been a moment before. How could she not have noticed before?

Thinking even further back, she remembered Robin's reaction to seeing her in costume for the first time. He'd started to say something about her looking like – and then Nightwing had stopped him.

Letting out a frustrated and slightly embarrassed sigh, she pushed the thought away and stored it for later. She'd ask him about at some other time.

Removing the tight suit from her body, Morgan vowed to confront him about it soon and stepped into the shower.

January 19th

Morgan dropped her heavy schoolbag with a thud and collapsed face-first – making sure to not land on her bruised jaw – onto her bed, groaning slightly to herself.

Her day had not gone particularly smoothly and she was utterly exhausted. And it was a far cry from over yet, she realized with a mournful noise.

Due to their late-night patrol the day before, Morgan hadn't gone to bed before two AM. She'd managed to cram in four and a half hours of sleep before she had to get up at six thirty to get to school. Tuesday was the worst day of her week because she had classes non-stop from eight to three, all her least favorite subjects.

And her lunch break had been spent dodging questions from her two friends.

When Esmeralda had seen her bruised face, she'd practically shrieked in horror and demanded to know what had happened. Then she'd seen Morgan's nails, polish chipped and utterly ruined, and launched into a stern lecture on taking care of yourself and your body.

Rachel had sat silently on her phone through the whole thing, neither saving Morgan nor helping Esmeralda.

Then at the end of her lecture, Esmeralda had taken pity on Morgan and had expertly covered the bruise on her jaw with foundation.

Morgan had gone through the rest of her day feeling itchy and confined, not at all used to wearing that much makeup.

And then, of course, Darren of all people had showed up and offered to walk her home, resulting in a mortifyingly awkward scene in which she attempted to decline his very persistent request. Obviously, she couldn't let him walk her to the Zeta tube she used to beam home to the Cave. That would just raise horrible questions she'd rather like to avoid answering.

She'd been lucky. One of his friends had called out to him and as soon as he turned his back on her, Morgan had booted it out of there and run most of the way to the nearest Zeta tube.

Morgan knew that being a superhero meant having to constantly lie to a large portion of the people in her life. And yet, while she knew it should've bothered her, it didn't really when it was just people like her school friends.

She'd arrived at the Cave sweaty, out of breath and utterly exhausted.

And now she'd collapsed on her bed, determined to get in a few hours of sleep before Nightwing came and sparred with her. A small voice in the back of her head reminded her that skipping dinner was a bad idea as she'd promised to eat properly but she reasoned that skipping once wouldn't be the end of the world.

Not moving from the kind of uncomfortable position on her bed, Morgan felt her eyes slip shut as she left the waking world.

"Anyone seen Morgan?" Nightwing walked into to the kitchen and was met with the sight of the Cave's other five residents eating dinner, but no blonde. Each of them denied, shrugging. Connor looked up and seemed to scan the room but Nightwing knew he was using his x-ray vision to locate the girl.

"She's in her room." He answered after a short while. "I think she's asleep."

Nightwing nodded. He stood in the doorway, contemplating his next course of action. Should he let her sleep? She'd been out pretty late last night and was bound to be tired. Or should he wake her up and proceed with their usual sparring?

"If she wakes up.." He paused, reaching a decision. "Tell her to go through her usual solo-training. I won't be there to spar with her tonight."

"Roger that." Garfield stuffed a potato in his mouth, muffling his words.

"And make sure she eats." Nightwing sternly added.

He turned on his heel afterwards and left the way he'd come. He knew she'd have to get used to being in a constant state of slight sleep deprivation, but he'd let her slack on training just this once. He'd seen her fight yesterday and had to admit she'd gotten better much quicker than he'd expected. She couldn't hold her own against him at all yet, obviously, but she'd dealt with those five men pretty effectively.

Missing training just this once wouldn't kill anyone.

With that thought in mind, he left the Cave, arriving in Gotham a moment later via Zeta tube.

Since Morgan had first joined on the Team, Nightwing had given his former mentor weekly updates on her. He knew Batman hadn't trusted her much in the beginning – neither had Nightwing for that matter – but after Nightwing had discovered her hidden power and she'd stopped acting like she was hiding something, his trust in her had greatly improved, which had influenced Batman's opinion.

He was on his way for one such update, though he secretly thought it was unnecessary by now. The girl was developing into a fine addition to the Team and the others trusted her fully, which was good enough for him for now.

Batman, however, was nothing if not distrustful and Nightwing knew the updates were mainly for his adoptive father's peace of mind than anything else.

Dick had to admit, he was the kind of person that would meddle. He was a superhero and a detective, it was part of the job. But he also liked to think that he knew when to stay out of people's business. He liked to think that he could draw the line between when his meddling was necessary or not.

For example: Someone on his team having a dispute? Meddle. Someone on his team having a dispute – Who also happens to be in a relationship? Don't meddle.

(He'd learned that the rough way back when Connor and M'gann had started having couple trouble.)

So, he totally knew when to stay out of stuff that didn't need his interference.

Which was why he really hated when he found himself in a situation where he wasn't sure if he should be meddling or not. He hated when he couldn't tell if his meddling would do more damage than good.

So, when he spotted that 'Missing' poster of Morgan on a lamppost in the poorer parts of Gotham, he'd stopped, looked at it, and proceeded to curse inwardly for at least ten seconds straight.

Of all the lampposts on all of Gotham, I happen to walk by this one.

The poster claimed that Morgan had gone missing on the eighteenth of November and that her mother was looking for her. It stated a few things about Morgan, like her height, age and looks. The mothers phone number was hanging in small strips at the bottom of the paper and, after a moments deliberation, Dick plucked one of the offered strips off, pocketing it in his jeans.

He ran a hand through his hair and closed his eyes as he let out a weary sigh, wondering why his life always had to be so unbearably complicated. Why he always had to be faced with impossible choices.

Morgan's mother was looking for her.

And now, Dick knew, he was suddenly faced with a new and unexpected responsibility in regards to his trainee. And he didn't need any more of those. He already regretted not telling her about her dad. He didn't want to keep this from her too.

With knowledge came responsibility and all that.

His first instinct was of course to tell her as soon as possible, but as leader of his team, and her mentor, he needed to take a step back and properly think the situation through.

He needed to think about what was best for the Team.

But first and foremost, he needed to think about what was best for Morgan.

He knew she missed her mother. He knew she was torn up about the way they'd parted. But would telling her really be for the best? What if it ended badly? What if Morgan had already made peace with never seeing her mother again and this would only rip open an old wound? What if Morgan and her mother met again, only for her mother to say that she didn't want to have anything to do with Morgan? What if she disapproved of Morgan's new life and it would make Morgan doubt the path she was on?

That could literally endanger the girl. If she became so insecure about the hero gig being the right thing for her that she messed up on a mission and got herself, or someone else, killed.

Dick contemplated telling Batman and asking for his advice, but he decided against it. This was something he would deal with on his own.

He'd only left the cave half an hour ago and had decided to go for a walk in Gotham before heading for a Zeta tube to take him home to Blüdhaven, when he'd stumbled upon the poster.

Dick squared his shoulders and marched on, his mind no longer on homework and dinner, but rather what he should do about Morgan's predicament.

Once he'd taken the tube and arrived in Blüdhaven, he had reached a decision. He'd tell her about her mother searching for her, but not yet. First, he'd test the waters. He would attempt to approach the subject of her mother and see how Morgan reacted. Gauge if telling Morgan about her mother's search would benefit Morgan in any way.

Satisfied with this decision, Dick nodded absentmindedly to himself as he unlocked his apartment door and stepped inside.

Of course, now he just needed to figure out how he'd manage to touch upon the subject of Morgan's mother without making her clam up like an oyster, like she tended to do every time he tried to strike a conversation about anything even remotely personal.

The only times he'd managed to get anything personal out of her was when she initiated the conversation herself, like when she'd told him about meeting the homeless man outside the university.

He'd just have to create a quiet moment like they'd had on that rooftop last night.

Now that Nightwing thought about it, he had a lot of unanswered questions about the girl that he was currently mentoring. Some that she couldn't answer herself and some she could.

Dick realized it was high time he actually spent some time getting to know the girl he was training.

Vowing to work on something after the winter ball – which he had to go to a tuxedo fitting for tomorrow, uuugh.. – Dick put Morgan from his mind and focused on his homework instead.

January 22nd

Morgan found herself being pushed into a swivel chair in front of a large, white and pink vanity. The vanity was old fashioned and looked expensive, the table filled to the brim with makeup of every sort. Eyeliners, mascaras, an ocean of eyeshadow, lipstick, foundations and some things that Morgan didn't even recognize cluttered up the space.

Rachel threw a blanket over the three-sectioned mirror as Esmeralda turned Morgan around in her chair so the other girl could properly access her face.

"You'll be so beautiful when we're done!" She gushed.

Behind her, Morgan felt Rachel tug at her large mane and she jumped in her seat, looking behind her at the darker girl. "What are you doing?"

"Girl," Rachel said with an attitude. "You agreed to let us fix you up exactly as we wanted with no complaints. I'm going to do your hair."

Morgan scoffed. "Good luck with that."

"I used to have curls too, you know, before I got my dreadlocks." Rachel pointed out confidently. "Even smaller than yours. I'm of African descend after all. I know how to deal with curly hair."

"Which is why we both agreed that Rachel would do your hair and I'd get to play with the makeup." Esmeralda explained.

"Why'd you cover the mirror?" Morgan asked. She was going to keep asking as many questions as she could to delay her inevitable fate.

The girls had already redone her nails.

They had been camped out in Esmeralda's huge room since the afternoon the day before. After school on Thursday, they'd gone dress shopping. Morgan had found that she'd had a surprisingly good time with the two girls. Esmeralda and Rachel had bought their own dresses weeks ago so all of their energy was focused on getting something fitting for Morgan.

They'd dragged her from one highly expensive shop to the next, Morgan acting their personal dress up doll. Morgan had secretly rued the moment they found a dress they decided was 'the one' because she couldn't afford buying it. Obviously, she still had the credit card she'd gotten from Nightwing, but she didn't know how much money was on it and, besides, she wasn't sure shopping for expensive dresses with it was what Batman had had in mind. She barely used the card at all, she wasn't about to spend two thousand dollars on a dress with it.

So, when they'd entered their fifth shop and the clerk had produced a long, silky, dark blue dress with off-shoulder sleeves and a sweetheart neckline that made her small boobs look much more impressive, Morgan just about panicked.

The dress looked absolutely beautiful on her, hugging her small upper body tightly and flaring out slightly over her hips, falling to her ankles in a shower of deliciously soft, midnight blue.

She hadn't expected to ever be into this sort of thing, but Morgan found herself falling in love with the dress the moment she saw herself wearing it in the mirror. The back was even low-dipped, making it easy for her to put it on without damaging her wings or the dress in the process. The off-shoulder sleeves charmingly settled around her upper arms, her shoulders and arms otherwise bare. Somehow, the dress managed to stay up despite her unimpressive bust. Usually she'd never go for a dress that didn't have sleeves to hold it up but it fit like a glove and Morgan wasn't afraid it'd slip if she wore it.

The two girls impatiently waiting for her to put it on started cheering happily when she stepped out of the dressing room, Esmeralda even squealing in delight. "It's perfect!"

Morgan smiled sadly because she agreed wholeheartedly. Now that she'd tried it on, she couldn't even imagine wearing another dress for the winter ball.

She'd have to, though. The dress was too expensive.

"Go take it off quickly so we can buy it!" Rachel ordered, already starting to push Morgan back into the changing room.

Morgan stood firm, needing to explain her predicament before it was too late. "Guys, it's a really pretty dress, but I can't afford." She admitted. "Scholarship student, remember?"

Esmeralda smiled even wider. "Don't worry about it. Rachel and I already agreed that if we found the perfect dress, we'd buy it for you. We know you haven't got a lot of money and we want to give it to you as a gift."

Morgan found herself unexpectedly touched. A small part of her screamed that it was charity and she wasn't their charity subject, but an even bigger part knew that it was because they were her friends and they wanted to do something nice. She smiled slightly at the two girls. "Thank you."

And now, because they'd bought her that perfect dress, Morgan found herself unable to say no when they said they wanted to do her hair and makeup. She could tell Esmeralda was really excited to do it and Morgan didn't want to disappoint her. It was, however small a thing, a way for her to return the favor.

Because, seriously, how could she go 'You can buy me the fancy and expensive dress but I don't want you to do my makeup even though you really want to'? That was just unfair.

She figured Esmeralda kind of considered Morgan her personal Barbie doll, which Morgan did find kind of annoying, but she let her. Just this once. And she would admit that she was kind of curious what she'd look like once Esmeralda was done.

A stinging pain suddenly erupted near her left eyebrow and Morgan jumped in her seat. She'd been told to close her eyes for now so she had no idea what was going on. "Ow!" she exclaimed accusingly. "What are you doing?"

"I'm plucking your eyebrows. Haven't you done that before?" Esmeralda sounded genuinely surprised.

Well, no, you guys are the first girly friends I've had since I was thirteen and I have no idea how to do any of these things, "Of course I have, I was just caught off guard."

Morgan bit the inside of her bottom lip to keep from making any more noise as Esmeralda kept going at it.

Behind her, she could feel Rachel drag something through her hair. "Is that a brush?" She inquired. "Are you actually attempting to brush my hair? You know it'll frizz horribly, right? Won't look pretty at all."

"Shush." Rachel cut her off. "I know what I'm doing."

"Morgan, relax." Esmeralda encouraged. "We both know what we're doing. Trust me, by the end of tonight, Darren won't be able to keep his eyes off of you."

Morgan rolled her eyes behind her closed lids. The last thing she wanted was for Darren to undress her with his eyes all night, if she was to believe Nightwing's words of warning.

"Or," Morgan could literally hear the smirk in Rachel voice. "Dick Grayson won't be able to either, if you'd prefer that."

"I swear to god, Rachel." Morgan quickly growled out. "I do not have a crush on Dick Grayson."

Just because she'd gone up to the boy and shouted at him on her first day, it apparently meant instant attraction. She didn't get it.

Esmeralda giggled. "It's okay, Morgan!" she soothed her. "Practically everyone in our year has been there."

"Hell, I'm there still." Rachel admitted. "And I believe Esmeralda is too."

"Mhmm." Esmeralda agreed. She'd started applying eye shadow to Morgan's lids by now.

The two girls had finished their own hair and makeup before turning their attention to Morgan, claiming they wanted to make sure they had lots of time to fix her up.

Morgan was secretly glad. She'd rather not have to sit and be afraid to breathe for fear of ruining her lipstick or hair or something while the others got ready.

Morgan wasn't sure how much time had passed when Esmeralda pulled back and declared that she was done. "You look so pretty!" She squealed. Morgan was damn curious to see what she looked like but she wasn't allowed to look in the mirror until Rachel had finished her hair.

Her eyelids felt thicker with the eye shadow resting on them, her lips unused to the sensation of lip gloss. Esmeralda had claimed she had 'naturally red lips' and wouldn't need any lipstick, only a coat of gloss to make them shine. The thin coat of blush on her cheekbones felt foreign too and Morgan had to constantly remind herself to not touch her face and accidentally smear it.

Since Rachel had started working on her hair, Morgan had been sitting with her heart lodged in her throat in paranoia. What if Rachel accidentally brushed against her wings and felt them?

She'd sat with her wings folded as tightly to her back as possible, praying that Rachel wouldn't discover them. Morgan was wearing the charmed pendant that hid her wings, but Nightwing had warned her that just because they were invisible didn't mean they weren't there. Rachel discovering them was still a risk.

Once, Morgan could feel her hand briefly brush against her right wing, but the other girl didn't react at all, so she assumed she hadn't registered it.

"Aaaand done!" Rachel announced proudly and took a step back to study her handiwork.

"Ready?" Esmeralda cheered excitedly, grabbing hold of the blanket covering the mirror with one hand.

Morgan nodded soundlessly.

The cloth was removed in one quick, swooshing motion and Morgan was finally allowed to see herself.

The bruise on her cheek had been covered with foundation and her cheeks were rosy, cheekbones more pronounced than usual. The mascara and eye shadow made her eyes seem larger, the grey irises intense.

It was unusual and didn't feel quite like her, but Morgan almost liked the look. She looked like she actually fit in at the school. Morgan was sure M'gann would describe her as looking 'glamorous'.

Morgan's attention wasn't on her makeup for long, though, as her hair quickly drew her eyes.

Instead of her usual big, unruly mane, Rachel had straightened it completely. Morgan almost dropped her mouth in shock and she stood up so she could eye her hair as it spilled over her shoulders and down her back in a smooth line. It was longer than Morgan had expected it to be, having never seen it straightened before. It reached her lower back. She watched it fall smoothly around her wings and wondered how it fell in the eyes of the two girls that couldn't see her wings.

Her entire look was completely transformed and it made Morgan uncomfortable. As a hero, her wings were her trademark. They were what made her noticeable. As a normal human, her hair was her trademark. And they'd changed that.

"Aw, look Esmi." Rachel remarked. "She's speechless."

"Go put on your dress!" Esmeralda commanded. "Go, go, go!"

The two other girls grabbed their own dresses, intending to put them on once Morgan finished up.

Morgan grabbed the bag with her dress and shoes in them and stepped into Esmeralda's bathroom.

"We'll pick out jewelry for you afterwards!" Esmeralda shouted after her as the door slid shut behind Morgan.

Oh no. Morgan stopped in her tracks after locking the door.

There was no way Esmeralda would let Morgan wear her orange pendant with the dress.

But if she didn't wear it, her wings would be visible for the entire world to see.

Morgan's mind started racing as she mechanically pulled the dress out and started shedding her clothes. She contemplating locking herself in the bathroom and simply refusing to go to the ball altogether.

Then she realized that that would be an incredibly stupid solution to her problems.

She took the pendant off and immediately felt the familiar hum in her wings as the charm disappeared. Slipping on her dress, Morgan tried to see if she could somehow hide the pendant in her cleavage or something. No such luck.

She was prepared for a full-blown round of panic when another idea entered her mind. Morgan had to wear the pendant for the charm to work, but did it have to be worn around her neck specifically?

She undid the clasp and pushed the material of her dress up, wrapping the black cord around her knee twice before redoing the clasp.

The moment the small lock clicked into place, Morgan felt the hum in her wings again and she knew her desperate plan had worked. Sending a silent thanks to her mentor for the brilliant design, she made a mental note to thank him properly if she saw him tonight.

As she readjusted her dress, she felt the pendant slipping down so she unclasped it and moved it up further, the necklace now tightly hugging her thigh. It wouldn't escape this time, but Morgan worried that it would get pretty uncomfortable with time.

As if her poor feet wouldn't be uncomfortable enough as it was, in those high heels.

Morgan had spent hours walking around in them, first at the Cave and then later in Esmeralda's room. The two girls had helped her grasp the proper technique and at the end of the night, Esmeralda had declared that she looked like she'd never walked in anything else.

She was faking the confidence epically, but it was only for one night so she'd have to make do.

She walked out of the bathroom in her dress, accepted the compliments Esmeralda threw at her while Rachel changed, and half an hour later, the three girls were ready to go.

Esmeralda's dad had rented a limousine for the three girls – which Morgan unintentionally spilled a glass of coke in, the expensive rug ruined.

While it hadn't been on purpose, she couldn't bring herself to care.

She might've looked like a rich kid at the given time, but Morgan hadn't forgotten the image of that old homeless man. She knew that she could play at belonging at Gotham University, but she would never really belong. And the fact that the first thing she did when in the expensive car was accidentally ruin some of it, only made this point even more glaringly obvious.

She looked like a rich kid, yes, but that was more of a wolf in sheep's clothing than anything else.

So not a lot happened in this chapter - except for the beginning of the mommy stuff - but don't worry, the next chapter is gonna be great! It's one of my personal favourites, tbh. The last chapter and then the next chapter are my best so far, in my own opinion.

Eh, I suppose it's for the readers to judge.

Fun fact: I obsess so much over dates in this story. Compared to Guidelines where I just sort of went 'Eh, we're somewhere between march and may - i think', the dates in this story are all planned to a tee. Like, I constantly use the calendar on my computer to make sure that I've got the date and the specific day right. So when I go 'this tuesday, the 1st' or something like that, I went and checked to make sure that the 1st is, in fact, a tuesday. It's probably a waste of time, but I still think it's important.