*Hint: If you want to reach maximum fluffiness in this chapter, I recommend listening to 'Bless the Broken Road' by Rascal Flats while reading*

Chapter Fifty

Intimacy

Adrenalin, sparked by her anxiousness, coursed through Morgan's system as she finished plotting in her destination on the small board next to the tube. It was ready to let her through at any moment.

All she had to do now was step through. And then she'd be back at the Warehouse.

So she'd do that now..

In a moment.

She clenched her fists and squared her jaw. Morgan wasn't a coward. She could easily do this. She just had to pull herself together and quit her whining.

Feeling appropriately pep-talked, Morgan took a few resolute steps into the Zeta tube, finding herself immediately surrounded by the white light.

As always, her mind went blank for a few seconds as everything went dark. And then her sight returned to her and her legs started working again, letting her walk out of the Zeta tube and onto the familiar docks of Blüdhaven. She'd chosen to Zeta to the tube that was at the end of the docks instead of the one inside the Warehouse. It would feel too.. familiar, somehow. Right now, she was an outsider that was returning, hoping to find forgiveness. And she had to behave as such.

So she walked down the docks, hoping she didn't manage to lose her nerve on the way. Her right hand was tugging at her curls as she fretted all the way. Reaching the Warehouse from the Zeta tube took about five minutes. And for Morgan, those five minutes felt like an eternity. Yet, once she reached the Warehouse, she thought time had passed far too quickly.

When she caught sight of the place she'd called home for weeks, Morgan found herself filled with a whirl of contrasting feelings. She wanted to run in and shout for Nightwing, tell him he was right, let him know her wings were still there. But she also wanted to stay outside and wait forever because she was so annoyingly nervous.

Morgan paused for a few seconds before pulling open the front of the building. She knew that she'd have to get inside quickly, or she'd end up losing her nerve and then she'd be standing outside, staring at the grey façade until somebody found her.

It had to be done like a band aid: Quick and painless.

Or just quick. She couldn't guarantee it'd be painless.

As Morgan straightened, her eyes darted around the Warehouse, taking in who was there.

Most importantly, she saw Nightwing standing with his back to her as he worked on the computer. He'd yet to notice her arrival.

She spotted Garfield next. The boy had been sitting by the kitchen counter, about to bite into a large sandwich. Now, he was just staring at her with wide eyes, his body frozen and not noticing that the lettuce in his sandwich was escaping into a small pile on the counter.

Morgan met his eyes evenly and shrugged sheepishly. She didn't know how much anyone on the Team knew. Maybe Nightwing had told them everything. Maybe he'd told them nothing.

Nightwing must've noticed how the room was suddenly completely silent and very tense, because he looked over his shoulder to see what was going on. If possible, the Warehouse got even more silent and tense as the two of them caught each other's eyes. Several seconds passed, in which Morgan shuffled slightly with her feet and bit down hard on her bottom lip with nerves. Instinctively, a hand went up to tug at her curls.

"I'm.." Beast Boy spoke up hesitantly, putting down his uneaten sandwich. "Yeah, I'm going to.. I'm leaving."

He hopped off his chair, neither of the older teenagers acknowledging his presence, and fled the Warehouse, making sure to closethe opening completely behind him.

Suddenly, they were alone.

Despite wearing his mask, Morgan could feel Nightwing's eyes tracing her form, dwelling on her wings.

As if to assure him that they were still there and still functional, Morgan's wings fluttered twice, rising and falling in sync with her breathing.

Seeing as he hadn't spoken at all – heck, he'd barely moved a muscle – since spotting her, Morgan felt like she should break the silence. The air was just so loaded, she couldn't take it for a second longer.

She wet her bottom lip and opened her mouth, praying that the words would come to her. "I.."

They didn't.

But he did.

It was as if that one word was enough to shake him awake. Suddenly, Nightwing was marching towards her with such resolve that she was almost afraid he was going to attack her.

Halfway there, his hand came up and pulled off his mask, letting it fall carelessly to the floor. Eyes uncovered, Morgan could see the steely resolve in those deep blues

She'd expected him to stop a few paces from her, keeping a respectful, personal-bubble distance like always. So when he just kept on walking, Morgan found herself taking a few startled steps back as she craned her neck so her wide eyes could stay on his.

For every step she took backwards, he simply took a larger step forwards until all she could see was him.

Then, once Morgan felt her wings bump into the wall behind her and she'd run out of space to back up in, he grabbed hold of her face with both hands and bent down, meeting her lips with his in a hungry, passionate kiss.

Morgan gasped into his mouth in pure shock before melting against her mentor, responding to his lips instinctively. The last thing she saw before her own eyes fluttered shut was how his brow was furrowed as if he was concentrating very hard.

His thumb was stroking lazy circles on her jaw line as his other hand dug into her hair briefly before traveling down her neck and resting between her shoulder blades. It was right above the base of her wings, and he used it to pull her closer.

Up until now, Morgan's own arms had been hanging limply by her sides in shock, but feeling the goose bumps on her skin as his fingers ghosted over it, she sprung into action, needing to hold onto him in a similar fashion. Much like the first time they'd kissed, she placed a hand against his chest, the top of her fingers brushing against his collarbone, the other arm snaking around his neck, which she used to get evenpull herself to him.

Morgan sighed contently when Dick nibbled at her lower lip, letting her fingers sneak into the soft, black strands of hair at the back of his neck.

Whatever reaction she'd expected from him upon returning, this certainly hadn't been it. But Morgan was not complaining.

Her heart was pounding furiously in her chest as the hand resting at the top of her back slid around the base of her wings and rested right underneath them instead, pulling her to him until her torso collided with his form. As he'd moved his hand, his thumb had brushed briefly against the side of her breast, making the blonde girl positively shiver.

He took a tiny step forward and Morgan felt his knee press against her thigh just as his fingers brushed against her wings. All the insecurities and worries over his opinion on her wings flew out the window at the touch, and she knew he'd done that on purpose. He wanted her to know that whatever she'd been assuming, it wasn't true. This time, unlike their first kiss, the feeling of her wings underneath his gloved fingers didn't wake her mentor up. It didn't make him reel back and leave her behind without a second glance. No, this time, he pulled her closer and kissed her even more eagerly.

He didn't mind the wings.

He didn't mind that the Light had created them.

And Morgan didn't either. Not anymore.

The wings had led her to him. So it was worth it. No matter what, he'd be worth it. The Team would be worth it.

He pulled back briefly, Morgan instantly feeling the loss of pressure and warmth against her mouth, but it was only for a second as he angled his face so it was better positioned with hers before kissing her all over again.

Despite her pounding heart and the sound of the blood roaring in her ears, Morgan felt light and at peace.

But she still knew there were things she needed to say, so she forced herself to pull back slightly, at least to free her lips from his just enough to be able to get words out.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, out of breath. He nodded absentmindedly with parted lips, hooded eyes never straying from her mouth. "I'm so sorr-"

Her apology was interrupted as he kissed her again, using her open mouth as an opportunity to meet her tongue with his.

She was tempted to melt against him again and forget about her worries. And she did just that for a short moment. But Morgan really did need to say her part.

The hand resting against his chest pushed him a couple of inches back as she once again forced her scrambled brain to get back on track.

"I'm trying to apologize and I kinda need those lips for speaking." She tried to sound stern, but the effect was totally lost on her mentor, who cracked a small smile at her phrasing.

"So, apologize." He simply mumbled. Morgan could feel his hot breath on her face and she swallowed hard to avoid giving in to temptation. She realized those had been his first words since she'd entered the Warehouse.

But to be fair, they'd been connected at the lips for most of that time, so he hadn't had much opportunity to talk.

"I'm sorry." She started.

"You said that already." He pointed out, shifting his stance so he was even closer, his mouth brushing against hers as he spoke.

God, it was hard to concentrate when he did stuff like that.

"You were right. About everything. And I was an idiot."

He shrugged and reached a hand up to wrap around the one pressing against his chest. "I forgive you. If you promise to never think about removing your wings again."

She smiled slightly and shook her head. "They're staying right where they are."

He looked satisfied and, in a quick movement Morgan hadn't anticipated, he pulled their intertwined hands away from his chest, letting him swoop down and reclaim her lips.

Morgan realized he'd only wrapped his hand around hers so he could remove the barrier that kept him from reaching her again.

Sneaky bastard.

For the third – and hopefully last – time, Morgan made herself break away. Dick sighed and leaned his forehead against the wall behind her in irritation at another untimely interruption. Morgan silently wondered what on earth had gotten into him. He was usually so composed. And not letting people finish speaking before interrupting them really wasn't his thing.

"And I'm sorry for knocking you out." She added, her apology finally finished.

He frowned at that last part and moved a few inches away. "Damn right!" He exclaimed. "I had the worst head ache all night because of you."

Morgan aimed a small, cheeky smirk at him. "I think we can agree I've been the source of a lot of your headaches."

He chuckled, and Morgan could feel the vibrations from the sound in her own body because they were pressed against each other the way they were. She worried that he must've been starting to develop a serious crick in his neck by now. The height difference was pretty significant, and she wasn't wearing any shoes to help things along.

And then the stupid boy was kissing her again.

Seriously, she was starting to wonder if he was ever going to tire out. They must've been going at it for twenty minutes now. Minus all the talking in between.

Not that she minded. The kissing was awesome.

It wasn't to last forever, unfortunately, as her mentor eventually seemed to think that she'd been kissed thoroughly enough, and stepped back for good, stealing a few last pecks as he slowly pulled away.

Resting his forehead against hers, Nightwing kept his eyes closed for a long time. Morgan didn't move as both seemed content to just stand in each other's presence for a moment, calming down their breathing.

She took a moment to memorize everything about him at that moment. The scent of his shampoo, the taste of his lips that lingered on her own swollen ones, the strength in his fingers as they stayed spread across her back.

That thumb was still drawing circles along her jaw.

Simultaneously, the two teenagers drew in deep breaths and sighed silently.

Dick opened his eyes and found hers immediately as he pulled his head back so they wouldn't have to get all cross-eyed to look at each other.

They shared a small, private smile as Dick tugged a curl behind her ear, and then Morgan rested her head against his chest, holding onto him tightly. She could hear his heart beating against his ribcage, and it made her smile even more. The sound felt strangely intimate, like she was suddenly aware of how alive he was.

He was hugging her back instantly, his large hands grabbing fistfuls of her t-shirt.

As they pulled back again, Nightwing studied her appearance briefly, his blue eyes trailing up and down her body. Strangely, the look made Morgan's cheeks color because it felt just as intimate as when she'd been listening to his heartbeat.

Since she'd been about to go to a surgery when she'd run away, she was wearing a pair of loose grey sweatpants and a seriously oversized t-shirt in a lighter grey.

White socks that were way too big for her small feet completed the very bland outfit. Not the sort of clothes she'd have wanted her mentor to see her in.

But he'd kissed her senseless anyway, so she supposed it didn't matter.

"You're not wearing any shoes." He seemed to realize.

Morgan shook her head.

He frowned at her feet next. "And you're bleeding."

Morgan also turned her gaze down on her feet, noticing that, yes indeed, the white socks had been stained crimson in some places. She hadn't even noticed before now. Certainly hadn't noted any pain. It must've been from when she'd stepped on the broken glass.

She shrugged one shoulder. "Didn't stop to put any shoes on as I literally fled the place with a team of tranquilizer-armed guards on my ass."

Dick rolled his eyes and grabbed her hand. "C'mon. I'll clean the cuts."

Despite thinking that it probably wasn't necessary – she doubted any of the wounds would be very big, considering how she hadn't felt any pain – Morgan let him drag her up the stairs to the sofas. With a hand on her shoulder, he pressed her into a seat, telling her to stay put.

Morgan sighed but leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes. She realized how tired she was. After almost a week of terrible sleep, she really had some to catch up on.

Something told her she'd sleep better tonight than she'd done the last few days. The grief from losing her dad was still fresh, but now she was also determined to not let it control her. If she truly wanted to avenge his death, she should be doing so by going after the Light.

And the best way to do that was to stay healthy and alert so she could do her very best on the Team. They'd defeat the Light soon enough. She had no doubts about that.

Those bastards would pay for what they'd done to her family. For what they'd done to everyone.

Nightwing came up the stairs a moment later, band aids, paper towels, a cotton cloth, a pair of tweezers and a small bottle of clear liquid that Morgan had learned, after countless of injuries, was used to clean wounds to avoid infection. Morgan hadn't ever used the stuff before joining the Team, but the heroes were careful with treating their wounds thoroughly. Nobody wanted to have to sit out on a mission because they had an infected wound, especially when it could've been avoided.

He was wearing his mask again as he sat down across from her, asking her to put her feet on the small coffee table that was between them.

Morgan slowly placed her feet on the table, realizing that she'd forgotten to actually take her socks off.

Her cheeks colored slightly at the sight of the socks. She'd been running through a small stretch of forest, and then Gotham afterwards, in nothing but them, so, combined with the blood, the white fabric was quite disgusting. Not a sight she was particularly wild about Nightwing seeing.

"Oh. Um," She reached forward just as she made to bend her legs, making to reach for the socks.

Before she got the chance to, Nightwing closed his fingers around her ankle and stilled her movement. "I'll get it."

It was absolutely ridiculous, but Morgan blushed crimson when his gloved fingers hocked into the elastic of the sock and slowly pulled it off. Seriously, he was undressing her. Like, it was only her socks, but it was enough to send her imagination spiraling out of control. And with the silence and the gentle movements, he made it seem so goddamn intimate. Or maybe she was reading into it too much.

But it was kind of hard to not read into it when he'd had her pressed against a wall, his arms wrapped around her like an octopus, attacking her mouth just a few minutes earlier.

So she supposed it was okay, if not perfectly logical, to kind of read into the stuff he did around her.

After he'd removed the sock, Nightwing lifted the foot off the table and studied it briefly.

"You've got.." He paused and picked up a small pair of tweezers, squinting his eyes at the sole of her foot. "Hang on, this might hurt."

Morgan bit hard down on her bottom lip to keep from hissing out in surprise and pain when he closed the tweezers around a small piece of glass lodged into her foot a couple of inches below her toes, and pulled it out.

"How did you not notice this?" He questioned, surprised.

Morgan honestly had no idea. "I like to think I've been running on pure adrenaline and anger for days at this point. I can't feel anything else."

He smirked briefly at her before looking back down on her foot, letting the small shard of glass fall to a paper towel on the table.

It was still bloody and Morgan grimaced at it. Looking at the gross sock lying next to it, she also noted that there was more blood on it than she'd initially expected.

How utterly typical of her to bleed all over the place and not even notice.

His fingers brushed along the sole of her foot as he checked any of the other minor wounds for more glass. Morgan closed her mouth firmly to keep from giggling out loud when it tickled.

Suddenly, with his thumb, Nightwing added pressure to a particularly ticklish spot. Moran squirmed in her seat and instinctively wrenched her small foot from his hand, unable to keep the laughter – more like unattractive screech – from bubbling up this time.

He raised a slow eyebrow at her weird reaction. Then his expression turned positively devilish and very pleased when he realized what was going on. "You're ticklish?"

Morgan immediately calmed, and, unwilling to give him that kind of ammunition, shook her head. "Nope. It just.. stung. Yup."

That skeptical eyebrow rose again as he smirked dangerously. Morgan instantly grew worried.

"If so, then you wouldn't mind that I take a look at your other foot, would you?" He asked smugly.

Morgan kept a straight face. "You know, I think its fine. Doesn't hurt at all. Probably doesn't need to get checked at all."

"Oh, but it should. You wouldn't want an infection." He immediately retaliated, wrapping his long fingers around her small ankle. His mask-covered eyes were fixed intensely on hers as he slowly pulled the other sock off. "I insist." He lowly said.

Okay, now he was just sounding dirty on purpose.

Morgan was stuck between being nervous over her foot being in his grasp when he'd just found out she was ticklish, and feeling slightly – slightly, okay? – turned on.

So she held her breath for as long as she could as he checked her other foot, praying that he didn't actually attempt to tickle her.

She calmed down somewhat by remembering that Nightwing rarely did anything childish or silly. And yet, he'd kind of been in a pretty playful mood right then, so she wasn't truly sure if he'd refrain from the torture that was tickling.

In the end, he didn't tickle her.

What he did, however, was much more nerve wracking. Once Nightwing had patched up both feet, he sat, relaxed, just looking at her for a moment. For some strange and really distracting reason, he was still holding onto the ankle of her right foot, his thumb absentmindedly stroking her skin, giving Morgan trouble breathing.

He was so doing that on purpose.

He pulled gently at her foot after several seconds of silence, and Morgan, understanding what he was getting at, shuffled closer. Her butt migrated from the couch onto the coffee table, helped along by Nightwing tugging at her leg to bring her closer. His hand had traveled further up her leg while she got closer, resting in the crook on the back of her knee as he sat up straighter.

The table she was sitting on wasn't very tall, and because he was on his knees, he was still the tallest. But the height difference was much smaller than usual. Maybe an inch or two.

She smiled contently at him and wrapped her arms around his neck just has he leaned forward, resting a hand on the table right next to her.

It was kind of obvious that another make out session was underway. But then the two teenagers sprung from each other as if burned when the Zeta tube below suddenly blared to life.

Nightwing was on his feet instantly, back stiff. He offered her a hand up, which she ignored out of habit.

"What did you tell them about me?" Morgan quickly asked before anybody had the chance to arrive.

"I said you might've left the Team for good. And that you'd found a way to remove your wings permanently, and planned to do it."

"You told them everything?" Morgan hissed.

"They found me while I was unconscious from your attack!" Nightwing shot back. "I couldn't very well pretend that hadn't happened."

He had a point, Morgan grudgingly realized.

Still, this was just bound to be really awkward.

"They're gonna kick my ass the moment they see me!" Morgan worried.

Nightwing rolled his eyes. "Of course they're not."

During their muted and very rapid conversation, Impulse, Barbara, Karen and Mal had stepped through the Zeta tube and into the Warehouse.

Due to their get-up, Morgan assumed they'd just been on a mission. Mal was nursing a sore shoulder, which Karen fussed over. The woman pushed him into a seat and went to their small freezer to pull out an ice pack.

Morgan was tempted to sit back down on the couch and pretend she wasn't there before anyone noticed her. She took a tiny step back as if actually planning to do it, but Nightwing grabbed a firm hold of her shoulder and pushed her towards the stairs. She sent him a glare over her shoulder, but walked down the stairs, Nightwing right behind her.

By now, the four downstairs had noticed them, and Morgan winced when they all looked utterly surprised to see her.

"Um.." She waved awkwardly while descending. "Hi, guys."

The four heroes before her looked at each other briefly as if gauging what the others' reaction was.

Then Bart was hugging her. "Ohmygod, I'msohappyyoustayed." He rambled.

And Barbara quickly followed suit, even though none of the bat-kids were huggers. Now Morgan just needed to hug Tim, and she'd have screwed that over too. Karen and Mal shared a smile before joining the group hug, Mal only using the arm that wasn't hurt.

Despite not actually being much of a hugger herself, Morgan was more than relieved by the hugs. Because, they meant that none of the others were actually so angry with her that they didn't want her back. The hugs gave her the hope that forgiveness wasn't impossible.

Nightwing stood to the side and caught her eyes, cocking an eyebrow at her as if to say 'what did I tell you?'

She could only smile slightly at him, too relieved to be annoyed that he'd been right.

The hug lasted for a few seconds more, and then everyone pulled back – Morgan kind of had to subtly elbow Bart to get him to let go – the blonde shocked that they'd chosen to hug her instead of shout at her.

She must've look genuinely surprised, because Karen rolled her eyes at her. "You look like you expected us to attack you." She accused.

"Well.. I kinda did." Morgan admitted.

Barbara snorted before pausing. Then she reached forward and hit Morgan upside the head. "You idiot!" She sternly exclaimed. "You had us all really worried!"

"I'm really sorry you guys. I'm never going to be that stupid again. I promise."

Barbara nodded, satisfied.

"Your wings are awesome, Morgan." Mal finally spoke up. "And they fit right in."

Bart took over. "Yeah, you'd look seriously weird without them." He informed her.

Morgan frowned at him. "That would just be my body." She pointed out. "You're saying my body looks weird."

He smirked cheekily.

She realized there was one more thing she had to apologize for. "And I'm sorry for knocking out your leader. That was probably not a fun experience."

Barbara snorted. "That was actually pretty funny. You should've seen the look on his face when he realized he'd been knocked out by somebody much less experienced than him."

Nightwing decided to speak up right then, stopping their conversation before it could develop in a direction he didn't want it. "SO, guys, how did the mission go?"

Barbara smirked at Morgan briefly before turning to Nightwing.

"Everything went perfectly. Zatanna's ready. She knows the incantations by heart now. They're going to work."

Morgan was already utterly confused. "What'll work? What incantations?"

Nightwing looked at her. "We're bringing Blue Beetle back." He firmly declared.

Finally, right?

Not a lot of plot, but ya know, the fluff kinda took up all the space. I hope it didn't bore you. (JK, they were making out, how is that going to be boring?)

Fun fact: We've only got six chapters left! TIME TO PANIC.