Chapter 35: The Intergalactic Democratic Republic of Peace

December 4th

Space

Nightwing

Dick paced the length of the room for the tenth time. The alien creature responsible for feeding him had come and gone twice today so he assumed it must've been near evening now. The small, round window in the room told him nothing, as all he could see was the endless expanse of space.

On instinct, he patted himself down again, hoping to somehow find something – anything – he could use to get the door open to his room - or, prison cell, if he wanted to call it what it really was. Perhaps there was something the aliens had failed to discover, something he had hidden in his suit so long ago that even he had forgotten it was there.

He had yet to have any of this explained to him. He had woken up in this room and spent long hours alone. Then, a creature had shown up with something that approximated human food. The alien - a shiny-looking thing with purple skin and a comically large head, in which rested a single, huge eye and nothing else - had been unresponsive to his attempts at communication, and when he had attacked it to escape, the gravity in the room had suddenly shifted, becoming so strong that he was forced against the floor, unable to move.

After the alien left and gravity had returned to normal, he had spent another hour, and half of his gadgets, prying the door open. He had managed it, but he had barely moved down the hallway that lay beyond before gravity had shifted again and he had been immobilized. He had then been stripped of all his things and unceremoniously thrown back into this room.

Dick paced until he reached the smooth, metal wall once more, and in his frustration, he punched it. His teeth were barred in a growl and his eyes narrowed until the white eye holes in his mask were barely more than a tiny sliver.

Why was he here? Who had taken him? For what purpose?

The worst part of this tiny room was the boredom – he had too much time to think. His own mind wasn't a place he liked being, these days.

By his rough estimate, it had been three days by now. Always, he had felt the low hum of the engine as the ship moved through space, and he knew they must have been traveling this entire time.

Three days out into space.

Where was he? How far away was earth?

He tried to stay calm, but really, this was one bitch of a situation. He had no means of backup. He could only assume the others thought he had simply gone away to process his grief. It could be several days more before anyone even started to wonder where he had gone.

Dick walked over to the cot that was his bed and sat down on it, rubbing his hands over his face. He had to think.

At least, his nightmares had stopped. His abduction had given him something else to focus on, a new dilemma to figure out. It was almost a blessing, if it hadn't included the many, many hours where he sat in this room alone.

He lay down and stared at the ceiling. He was unsure how much time passed – another hour or two, perhaps?

Then, the hum of the engine changed character, dipping in pitch. Was the ship slowing down?

He sat up. There was a rumbling clunk and the sound of the engine died down. Dick hopped off the bed and went for the window, looking outside.

His vantagepoint wasn't great, but he could see part of a great structure, by which the ship was now docked. It looked to be a gigantic building floating through space. Further out, he saw several planets of varying sizes. He couldn't recognize any of them – he certainly wasn't in Kansas anymore.

The ship was docked for another half an hour. He watched ships flying around on arbitrarily assigned roads. Then, the door to his room gave a hiss, and it slipped open. He turned, sinking into a battle-ready crouch. It wasn't the alien who usually visited him, but a tall, birdlike creature with a large beak and scraggly feathers. He held a spear in his grip and as he tapped the end of it against the floor, the top crackled with electricity. The order was clear.

"Follow," it spoke, voice coming out like a squawk, and it took Dick a moment to realize it had spoken in English.

He approached the door and the alien moved out of the way, allowing him to exit into the hallway. He thought about making a run for it, or perhaps fight the alien for the electrical spear. But something told him he would do well to simply follow. He had no idea what was going on, and this, at least, offered the potential for some answers.

Or maybe he was being herded into an arena to fight to the death with a bunch of other abductees.. Who knew?

His eyes took in the ship as he was led down hall after hall, and across larger rooms. He got a pretty good idea of the scope of the ship. Aliens of all types milled about. He realized the people owning the ship must have been a very varied culture, or perhaps a partnership between multiple planets.

They arrived at a large docking space. Dick was placed in front of a large port and with a deep groan and a hiss of the hydraulic, the doors opened. Beyond was a whole other world. Where the ship had been stripped of decoration, practicing militant severity and efficiency, the place that lay beyond was something entirely different. Lush carpets covered the floor, and the walls were decorated with golden filigree and sparkling jewels that shone so brightly, no other source of light was necessary.

He was pushed by the alien, and he quickly walked on. His feet hit the carpet and all sound muffled, a great contrast to the metallic clanking and bustling activity of the ship.

This.. didn't look like a death-match arena.

He was guided through a maze of halls. Every time they went up or down a flight of stairs, the colors of the jewels on the walls changed, and he assumed they signified what floor he was on. He memorized their pattern, should he later try to escape.

He got the feeling that he was being led to the heart of the giant building. Every hall curved in such a way that he realized they all must have worked around a large, single room.

They rounded another curve and an imposing, ornate door loomed ahead. At the door stood another alien. As he reached them, they held something out to him, and he realized they were giving him back his things.

.. Because beyond lay a gladiatorial battle to the death?

He slipped his belt back into place, and placed his escrima sticks on his back, before fastening the computer on his wrist once more. This already felt much better.

The doors opened. Inside was a room, too large for him to really gauge the end on the opposite side. It looked like a gigantic, oval opera room. Endless rows of elevated seats flanked the sides, and in the middle was a long, bare floor, where he assumed the people, once they were done sitting in their seats, went to congregate.

This open floor was where he was being led out to stand. As the guard led him down the length of the room, Dick was aware that hundreds of aliens looked at him as he passed, and the lull of conversation stilled the further he went.

At the very end of the oblong room was a large podium, and on it stood a handful of aliens, all different species, all wearing luxurious clothes that signified their importance.

The leaders, perhaps?

Eventually, he was placed in the middle of the floor in front of them, and he had to crane his neck to look up at the balcony they stood on.

The room, despite housing perhaps over a thousand aliens, was completely silent.

An alien stepped up to the edge of the balcony. He was the largest there, and he reminded Dick of Sandman with his gray, pudgy body. The alien was clad in rich, yellow robes that looked like spun gold.

Dick wasn't usually nervous in social settings, and he didn't mind being the center of attention, but as he felt thousands of unknown eyes on him, out here beyond the reach of the Earth, his palms grew sweaty. He had yet to figure out if he was in trouble or not.

"Richard John Grayson," spoke the alien, and Dick realized why he was the one in charge – his voice was booming, echoing across the giant room without any aid.

And the alien knew his name – his full, government name.

What the hell was going on?

It wasn't like Dick didn't have his theories. He had had days to waste in a boring room. He could only assume this was the IDROP. He supposed he was about to find out why they had taken an interest in Earth.

He also assumed they had chosen to reveal themselves now because his team had sealed the rifts. The only thing he was unclear on was why. Why had this alien republic, which had never had any contact with Earth before, decided to meddle in their timelines?

"You stand here today to answer for your crimes against the Intergalactic Democratic Republic of Peace."

His what?

"What crimes am I accused of?" he demanded to know, his voice loud and strong, so it would carry in the vast room.

"You have obstructed the return to your destined timeline and thus doomed the Republic."

Things were starting to make sense. He only had one question.

"How does the fate of my planet have any effect on your Republic? We've never had any contact with you before."

The alien made to answer, but a rush of surprised exclamations ran through the room. Dick looked over his shoulder and saw a fog begin to form behind him. It hovered, a small, bright thing for a moment. Then, it picked up speed and grew immensely, almost covering the breadth of the floor.

He saw two figures in white materialize in the fog, falling into a heap on the floor below. Then, the fog collapsed in on itself, leaving behind the two people that had fallen through it.

It took Dick a second to understand what he was seeing, the naturally skeptical part of his brain denying it so thoroughly that he almost didn't believe it.

Morgan.

He was already running, even as his mind whirred to come up with an explanation. It was a trick. She was from the wrong timeline. He was hallucinating. It was a dream.

But then she sat up, looking disoriented and confused, and he saw the bandage on her wing – the place where she had broken it during her fall - and all of the cuts and scrapes that aligned exactly with when he had last seen her.

"Morgan!" her name tore from his throat, and he couldn't even begin to decipher the mess of emotions that raged in his chest. Fear, doubt, elation, sorrow, guilt, hope – they all fought for his attention, but he simply kept running.

She heard him shout her name, and turned quickly in his direction, her eyes wide and her mouth dropping into an 'oh'.

"Dick!" she shouted back when she saw him, and she stumbled to get up, almost tripping over the long white robe she wore. She ran the last few steps to meet him and then he was scooping her up into his arms, and just from the weight and the way she occupied his embrace, he knew it was really her.

His knees buckled under the weight of his sheer relief, and they fell to the ground.

"I thought I lost you." His voice already shook with the tears threatening to spill as he took in her face. Her cheeks were flush with color and her cool eyes were alert and sharp – she looked so very alive. Everything else drowned out but the sight of her face in front of him, and he ceased to register the room full of aliens, who were all watching the display.

"I did too," she admitted, and she let out a small laugh at the same time as a relieved sob. He smiled at the sound of her voice and gently bumped his forehead against hers. Morgan's hand ran through the stubble on his face that had almost become a beard by now, and she must've been able to tell just from that how much he had been hurting, because she looked down, ashamed.

"It's okay," he mumbled, his nose brushing against hers to make her look back up at him. "You're here."

She closed the inch between them and captured his lips in a kiss that made him see stars. Her smell and taste drowned out all of his other senses and if he had still been unsure before, he knew now there was no doubt that this was her. His fingers dug into the curls at the back of her head, and he wished he wasn't wearing his gloves because he was sure they would've been so soft to the touch.

"Ew," someone said behind them, their voice a joking swagger that Dick knew well. It was enough to make him pull back and he saw as Morgan smiled, looking very pleased with herself.

"Told you it wasn't a dream."

She scooted off his lap so he could see who stood behind them, and Dick found himself frozen, mouth agape.

"Wally?"

"S'up dude," the speedster said. "You got old!"

Dick scrambled up, offering Morgan a hand. Then, he stared at the guy across from him for a shocked second before he rushed over and pulled his best friend into a fierce hug.

Just like Morgan, Wally felt alive and like himself.

"How? Why?"

"When?" Wally supplied, grinning cheekily.

"Later," Morgan said. While the two men had hugged it out, she had been looking across the room, at their audience. "We've got some business to take care of."

Dick looked back at the alien he had been speaking to as if only now remembering where they were.

The three of them exchanged looks, and then they headed back to stand in front of the balcony.

"Morgan Louise Jørgensen," the alien's voice boomed. "We thought you were lost."

"I got better," she glared up at him, her arms crossed over her chest. She looked across the room, taking in the gathered congregation. There was a fire blazing in her eyes and Dick got the distinct feeling she was about to get undiplomatic.

So," she said with a clear voice. "These are the chucklefucks who tried to destroy our planet?"

Yep, there it was.

Dick pinched the bridge of his nose and he heard Wally snort beside him.

The aliens looked at each other, confused.

"I don't – that word isn't in our translation system.. wait a moment," the leader looked unsure for the first time as he started pressing buttons.

"That's not important." She waved a hand dismissively, "What's important is that I just got back down from a chat with the Guy Upstairs, and he's not happy with the stuff you guys have been doing."

Murmurs erupted across the room.

The Guy Upstairs?

"God?" Dick asked, leaning over to whisper.

"What? No, don't be stupid." Morgan looked at him quickly, though her attention didn't stray from the aliens for long.

"Preposterous!" One of the other aliens on the podium stepped forwards. He was dressed in deep purple robes that made his large, red, bug-eyes stand out all the more. "We were given divine blessing to make this republic succeed!"

"But not at the cost of other planets!" she shot back. "He made it very clear that he would revoke the gift he gave you if you kept heading down this path."

Dick couldn't stop looking at her – the urge to touch her, to keep reminding himself that she was alive, was extremely strong, but more than that, there was a fire about her that he felt had been missing for months. He couldn't quite place it. Even her appearances seemed altered, her skin flushed and healthy-looking, and the dark circles under her eyes gone.

He realized what it was, then. The spell was gone. The weight had been lifted off her.

And Morgan definitely had her confidence back.

"And why should we believe you, girl?" sniffed the arrogant bug-man.

"Didn't you see the fog we just came out of?" she reminded him, pointing behind them, though the fog was long gone. "Look familiar? And what about the spell we used to close your little rifts? He was the one that gave it to us. To stop you."

More talking erupted throughout the room.

"So, if you want to stay on his good side," she paused for effect. "Then you had better leave Earth the hell alone."

Wally and Dick exchanged a look and Wally raised his eyebrows to show he was impressed. Dick had to grin. This was the Morgan he knew and loved for sure.

He didn't allow himself to grow distracted - he still wanted answers.

"What I'm still unclear on is why," he said, looking up at the podium. "Why did you try to reverse our timeline? And why did you impersonate the Fates?"

The alien council was quiet for a moment. Where before they had appeared stoic and powerful, they now looked unsure and worried.

"We were told the Fates were the deities of destiny on your planet. We thought their image would surely let you know this was an act of divine will, and not for you to fight."

"You might want to check your sources," Wally spoke up. "You're like two thousand years too late."

"The Fates are not-?"

Dick started to realize these aliens were just as stupid and petty as humans. When he had first arrived, he had been impressed by the lavishness and technology. He had assumed they must have been some kind of advanced society, but watching the council stand, shuffling their feet as they cowered under the gaze of three, young humans, he realized it was all smoke.

"Why did you try to doom our planet?" he asked again, using his most authoritative voice. They had to get answers now, while the aliens were off-balance and unsure. It made them more prone to candor.

"Because of me."

A man who had previously been sitting unseen at the back of the balcony suddenly rose and stepped to the front.

A human.

Or something close to it – he was human, but he wore a pair of large, gray wings on his back that were terribly familiar.

Dick knew him – how could he not? After all, it was-

"Alex?" he asked. Morgan looked at Dick, face drawn into a shocked expression.

The guy stepped over the railing of the balcony and spread his wings, floating down to land beside them. Dick placed a hand on Morgan's shoulder. He was unsure if it was to calm her or him - or maybe it was to stop her from running off.

His hair was shorter now than it had been as a toddler, but still black and curly. He had Dick's build, except he was shorter – something he had surely inherited from his mom. Dick felt like he was watching his own face stare back at him. Except the nose, which was all hers.

"Hi, dad," Alex said, looking at Dick. Then, he turned to Morgan and his expression grew soft. "Hi, mom. It's good to meet you."

"No fucking way," Morgan said, mouth open in slack-jawed shock.

Alex laughed, and Dick wasn't sure what emotion unfurled in his stomach, but even the guy's laugh pattern sounded like Morgan's.

"Not the reaction I had hoped for, but I'll take it."

"Can someone explain?" Wally spoke up. "How are you their kid, when you're older?"

Alex looked up at the alien council and gave them a nod.

"Let's go talk somewhere more private."

They were allowed to leave, and Alex started walking down the long, winding halls. He seemed to sense their impatience, because he began to speak.

"I'm not really from here, obviously. They brought me from the other timeline, to speak to you."

Morgan kept her eyes stiffly on her feet, looking deeply uncomfortable. Dick reached out and grabbed her hand, pressing a kiss to her knuckles. She gave him a weak smile, but she seemed to relax, at least.

"Why?"

"The Republic has the ability to look into the future, thanks to their deity – the guy who sent you here," Alex looked at Morgan, and she dared to meet his gaze. "When Bart Allen traveled back in time, he changed the trajectory of Earth's fate, and that caused a ripple effect. Because of the change, the Republic is going to fall apart within the next eighty years."

"But how?" Dick demanded. They halted in front of a door and Alex pressed his hand to a control pad. It slipped open and he motioned for them to get inside.

Wally hovered by the door.

"Are you coming?" Dick asked.

"I'm sensing this is an, uh, family matter. I think I'll wait out here."

"Don't go anywhere," he cautioned, though he had to be honest - he'd rather not have Wally there. Dick had already guessed what Alex was going to reveal, and he knew this was going to be awkward.

Wally rolled his eyes, but smirked still. "Just because we're technically the same age now doesn't mean you get to boss me around."

Huh. Dick hadn't thought about that.

The door slipped shut. The room looked shockingly like a regular office with a desk, a small couch arrangement for personal meetings, and a wall-to-wall bookcase at the end, filled to the brim with books. Morgan headed for the large windows at the opposite side of the room from the door, and turned towards the two men, her arms crossed over her chest. Dick remained by the door.

"They even had my office made for me, with all of my stuff, so I would feel at home while I visit," Alex said casually, looking around the room.

"Explain," Morgan said, ignoring his attempt at casual conversation.

Alex leaned against his desk, shifting a bit to make room for his large wings – even larger than Morgan's, though Dick supposed it made sense when he was taller.

He looked casual, and crossed his arms over his chest as well, studying the two of them, one by one.

"The night you broke up.. what was the exact date?"

"January fifth," Dick instantly responded, and he watched as shame etched its way onto Morgan's face. He planned to cross the room and tell her it was okay, now. They were past it. He took off his mask, hoping his eyes could convey how he felt. It wasn't like he needed the mask right now.

Alex's next words made him freeze.

"That was the night you were supposed to get pregnant." He looked at Morgan with a little smile and a tired sigh. "With me."

Her mouth opened and closed like she was a particularly confused goldfish. Dick's heart was thundering against his chest.

"As I said, the Republic can look into the future – that's why they're able to keep the peace so well. They see trouble before it starts, and work to prevent it. But this was something they hadn't seen before it was too late."

"Why does an alien republic from across the galaxy care about what kids I produce?"

"Because the kid you were meant to have, would grow up to become one of their best diplomats. I'm told I usher in an era of peace that lasts for a thousand years." He somehow managed to not look arrogant as he said it, simply acknowledging it as truth. "Once my dad realized Earth was lost, we escaped the planet. We ended up in the Republic."

"So, when I broke up with you.." Morgan looked over at Dick.

"I was erased from the future in your timeline," Alex said, nodding. "The day all of the rifts reappeared, that was supposed to be my birthday. The last shot they had, before it was too late."

"Oh my god, I almost doomed our planet because I didn't put out," Morgan whispered, hands coming up to grasp her face in horror.

Dick was at her side in an instant. "You didn't doom anything; the Republic could've thought of literally any other way that didn't have you and everyone else killed." He gently peeled her hands from her face and her fingers squeezed his. He was still just elated that she was here, alive.

Dick turned towards Alex, his gaze serious.

"They brought me here originally to have me stand trial for obstructing their plans. So, what happens now?"

"Because we don't plan on going to jail for trying to save our planet," Morgan added fiercely.

Alex chewed on his thumb.

"Maybe if we can appease them in some way.." he said slowly, mind whirring. "Perhaps if you were to promise that there will be a child."

Morgan looked horrified and she pushed Dick away from her as if the plan was to get her pregnant right this instant.

"I'm not goofing out a kid just because some gross republic wants diplomats! I'm not a breeding cow!"

"Obviously not," Alex held his hands up to calm her. "But perhaps you two could come to some agreement? In the future? I'm not saying it has to be now."

Morgan and Dick exchanged uncomfortable looks. This was a weird conversation to have with the grown up version of your future child – but the fact that Morgan had just come back to life, and the two of them weren't even in a relationship as they currently stood?

Well. Dick could think of better times to bring up the prospect of children.

Alex pushed off the table and headed for the door. "I'll give you some time to talk.. you can come out when you're ready."

Morgan looked about to protest, and Dick had to raise an eyebrow at her. Why was she acting like he was planning to jump her bones the second they were alone?

The door clicked shut behind Alex and she quickly stepped around Dick, heading for the bookshelf which she perused with faux interest. He allowed it – he could tell she needed time. Even as his fingers itched to pull her close again and keep holding her until every last shadow of grief was banished from his mind. Until his body, heart and mind had all fully accepted that she was back. That they had been given another chance.

But as she kept her back to him, shoulders tense and wings taut, he felt doubt start to creep in.

He didn't want to even entertain the notion, but he was unable to keep the thought at bay.

Had she only told him she loved him, and had sex with him, because she knew she was going to die the next day?

No. She had kissed him just now, hadn't she?

"This is mine," she suddenly spoke up, pulling a book down from the shelf and flipping through a few pages. Dick squinted and thought he could read 'Pride and Prejudice' on the cover. "He must've inherited it."

She smacked her forehead against the book and sighed deeply. "This is so fucked."

"Did you mean it when you said you love me?" Dick asked, feeling his shoulders sink into a tense line.

Morgan looked up from the book, her expression shocked.

"What? Of course I did!"

He deflated with relief.

"How could you doubt that?" She was hurt. Dick pressed his lips together, rubbing them against each other as he considered his answer.

"Because right now you're acting like having a kid with me would be the worst thing that could ever happen to you."

She gaped at him. "Because we're twenty-one! Because I'm not even out of college yet – oh my god," she stopped, and the horrified look was back. "I'm definitely going to fail this semester."

"Well yeah, you're legally dead. We had a funeral." His chest gave a stark, painful throb at the reminder, and he had to resist the urge to rub at it, to chase the feeling away. He had to remind himself that she was here, now. She was back.

She frowned at him. "But it's only been like a day?"

Dick frowned back. "Maybe to you," he said. "I'm twenty-two, by the way."

Her mouth fell open.

"How long was I gone?" she asked carefully.

"Three weeks, I think?" he sunk onto the couch, rubbing his face. All of the horror from the last few weeks came rushing back to him. He once again felt the beard on his face, another reminder of the time that had passed.

"Oh," she looked at the book in her hands and put it carefully back. Then, she approached him cautiously, sitting down beside him on the couch with her front facing him.

"I guess it wasn't exactly a picnic."

Dick felt tears immediately rush to his eyes, but he blinked them away, unwilling to talk about it. Maybe someday – but not now.

She must have sensed that he wasn't going to elaborate. Then, her eyes got wide and she jumped up again.

"Does my mom know?"

Dick looked at her with exasperation. "Of course, she does! Do you really think I wouldn't tell her?"

Morgan ran her hands over her hair and intertwined her fingers at the back of her neck, leaning her head back and breathing deeply.

"I never wanted her to go through this, but.." she paused and looked at him. "How did she take it?"

Dick grimaced and looked away. He didn't want to talk about it. The mixture of guilt and rejection he felt bubble up in his chest was just as strong now as it had been when Abigail had told him to get out.

"That bad?"

"We're getting off track."

Morgan looked like she had almost forgotten what they were supposed to be talking about, but then she frowned and she pressed her lips together. She began pacing the room.

"This is crazy," she bit out.

"Why is it so crazy?" he felt a deep note of hurt in his chest. It wasn't like he wanted to be a parent right now either, but he was willing to at least consider it, if it would literally save the world.

"You're asking me to completely uproot my life! I can't keep being a hero if I'm pregnant. And then I'll have the responsibility of a child for the rest of my life."

"We're going to share that responsibility." He got off the couch and approached her, but Morgan danced across the room and back towards the bookshelf. He went on, nonetheless. "And we have friends and family that can help out – your mom and-"

"If you say Bruce, I'm going to throw you out this window."

"I was going to say Alfred, but fair point."

Morgan chewed on her thumb and asked, "Do you even want kids?" her voice had gone small.

Dick found himself shrugging. "Sure. Someday."

She nodded thoughtfully; her eyes glazed over as she stood, lost in her own thoughts.

He took a step closer, and she allowed it.

"Don't you?" he asked cautiously.

She sighed deeply, looking like a balloon that was losing all air.

"I've never really thought about it. But.." she cleared her throat awkwardly. "I-I guess maybe having our kid wouldn't be so bad."

He felt a small smile grow, but that only seemed to make her panic more. She clutched at her curls.

"No, that's crazy, right? We aren't even back together, not really. I just got back from the dead. We've been broken up for a year now. And now we're talking about kids?"

He quickly stepped over and took her hands in his before they could rip out all her hair.

"Wasn't it you who said we had to save the world by whatever means necessary? That it was fate that had sent us to the other timeline?" His voice was gentle but no less serious.

"You don't even believe in fate," she grumbled, annoyed that he was using her own words against her.

He grabbed onto her hands more firmly and stroked his thumbs across them. Playing a bit with her fingers, he looked up into her eyes, his gaze heavy. "I'm starting to."

Morgan's eyes flitted between his, wide from the intensity of his regard. Color rose to her cheeks.

"- I.."

"Morgan, I'm tired of pretending like we aren't supposed to work. I'm tired of the reservations and the caveats and the constant trying to convince ourselves that this-" he let go of one of her hands to gesture between the two of them, "isn't right. That we're doomed to fail. Maybe that doubt is what's been holding us back, but I'm not going to let it anymore. I want you, in every way that you'll let me." Now that he had begun to admit the depth of his feelings, it was the easiest thing in the world, and he found himself saying all of the things he had regretted never telling her when she was alive. Well, she was alive again, and he wasn't going to waste his chance.

"Morgan, I won't lie; You're the most ridiculous, complicated person I've ever met." She stuck her tongue out at him at the statement and he couldn't keep his smile contained from her cheeky gesture. "I'm sure we'll have many more fights to come, but I also know we're a good team. I believe, this time, we can work past our issues. If you promise to stop running away. Yes, you drive me crazy, but not in a bad way; in a good way. I know I wasn't always showing it, but I love you so much. You're exactly who I need – who I want by my side. And I know I need to get better at letting you in; I can see that now. And I promise to work on that, if you promise to work on trusting that I won't bail and trusting that you're good enough. Please stop doubting yourself - you're beautiful, inside and out, and that includes all of the parts of you that are dark and broken."

"Stop, please, it's too much," she moaned, hiding her beet-red face in her hands. He allowed her to work past her mortification at his easy candor and his outpouring of love, but he kept his hands on her, thumb still stroking over her knuckles.

She looked up at him from beneath her fingers. "I love you too," she mumbled from her hiding space. "You're.. the most amazing person I've ever met. I want to spend every waking moment of my life with you and that's scary. It's scary having someone that close and allowing myself to rely on anyone that isn't myself."

"It's okay that it's scary," he said in a low voice, leaning close so he hovered over her. "As long as it's not so scary you run away."

"I've spent the last year without you," she mumbled, redirecting her eyes. "I'm starting to realize even one more day without you is scarier than the rest of my life with you."

He stepped closer again. "So.. Do you.. want to get back together?"

Morgan looked at him with wide eyes, and he saw color rise to her cheeks again. She started grumbling and scuffing her bare foot against the carpet.

"I suppose.. that wouldn't be so bad.." Her tone was very put upon.

Dick laughed and he was unsure if it made her relax or made her even tenser. He reached for her, then, and put his hands on her shoulders, using his grip to guide her towards him. He put his fingers beneath her chin and lifted it up so she would meet his gaze.

"Morgan," he said with a serious tone, though there was a smile on his face. "Will you be my girlfriend?"

He remembered the first time he had asked her that question, and he was sure she was somehow even redder in the face this time around.

Her gray eyes searched his face for something. Whatever she found, it made her smile and she nodded, first slowly, and then eagerly. Fireworks exploded in his chest, and he felt nearly a year's worth of pain start to ease.

He pulled her closer and she eagerly entered his embrace. He pressed a kiss to her temple.

"Finally," he whispered when they pulled slightly back, allowing him to cup her face. "Finally, I'm yours again."

She let out a small laugh, eyes shiny and smile gorgeous.

"And I'm yours."

She got on her tiptoes and pressed her mouth to his, and he pulled her close and slanted his head to reach her mouth all the better.

"I'm never letting you go again," he whispered against her mouth, and Morgan nodded breathlessly.

"Good."

He kissed her again, with more ardor. For a moment, he lost himself and he was unsure how much time had passed before he realized they didn't have the luxury of savoring each other right now. Then, he found the willpower to release himself from the sweet taste of her mouth, and the beautiful sighs that escaped her.

"We still haven't figured out what we're going to do," he mumbled against her neck, which he was trying very hard not to latch onto with his lips.

"When I was in the presence of that time-deity, he showed me glimpses of the future," she whispered, her voice low with desire. Her hands palmed the back of his head, begging for him to kiss her again. He held in a groan at the temptation.

"What did he show you?" he asked.

"There's going to be a child," she admitted. "I guarantee it. I saw myself giving birth."

Dick pulled back and watched her with something akin to awe on his face. She looked back with conflict in her eyes.

"Are you-?" his eyes flickered down to her stomach and then up again. He could see the distracted look of lust and desire melt off her face.

"What? No!" she exclaimed, taking a step back. "How easy do you think that is? You've spent most of your life fighting, and I assume you've gotten your fair share of kicks in the balls by rogues!"

Dick hummed and hawed, scratching the back of his neck. "I'm sure I'm perfectly able to.. deliver."

"I'm not pregnant," she stressed. "But I will be, I guess. At some point."

He hated the worried look on her face and he stroked her hair before resting his hands at the nape of her neck.

"No one says it has to be tomorrow," he said. "Alex said 'in the future'. When we have that child, it'll be because we choose to, because we're ready."

She gnawed on her bottom lip, but she nodded.

"I think I can agree to that."

Dick searched her eyes and he saw trepidation there, but also deep tenderness. It struck him that they were talking about their shared future in a way they never had before – talking about children meant that, at the very least, they expected to stay together and start a family one day.

It was perhaps the most terrifying thing he had faced, but he wasn't scared. Not when it was her.

"So that's it," he pushed his forehead against hers, letting his eyes fall shut. "No more running away. We're sticking together, from now on."

"Yes," she pulled back to smirk up at him and the impish look on her face made his stomach clench with sheer love. "Fearless leader."

He groaned. "I'm not your leader, as you keep reminding me."

"You will be, one day, when you become the leader of the Justice League." She said it with such casual certainty that he beheld her with awe. She smiled and gently tucked his long bangs behind his ear. "And I'm looking forward to it."

She believed so wholeheartedly in him that he felt all his own worries slip away. He pulled her into another hug, and he felt her sigh against him.

Then, he pulled back once more and beheld her in outstretched arms, looking over the long, white robe she wore. With her wings and her blonde hair framing her face like a halo-

"You know, you look like an angel right now."

"Shut up," she grumbled, leaving his arms.

Her flushed cheeks made him grin.

"It's not funny!" she pouted. "I lost my suit, my new belt.. I woke up in this stupid dress."

"We'll have another suit made. And I know Batman had a back-up belt made for you. Dude's paranoid enough."

She nodded. Then, she reached up and placed a small peck against the corner of his mouth. As she got back onto the soles of her feet, he chased after her, craving the comfort of her kiss, but she playfully darted out of his grasp.

"I think we've let Alex and Wally wait long enough, hmm? They're going to start thinking we're making a baby right now."

Dick laughed awkwardly even as he fought to keep in a grimace at the thought, and he relented.

"Let's go."

So, this might be the chapter where I have the most to say, and also where, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get a little personal, because we've come to basically the entire reason for this story existing.

As you might recall, I began writing this story when I was on maternity-leave.

The thing that I didn't reveal was that my daughter was NOT planned, and during the entire pregnancy, I struggled with figuring out how to deal with this giant change, and if I even wanted a child. Then she arrived at it was thankfully love at first sight, and I haven't looked back since. Anyway, during long nights of feeding, I would read my own stories, and I started thinking about this whole theme of "unplanned baby" that I had incorporated in Feathers, The Alternative, and especially Broken Wings. What started as a throw-away line in Feathers about their lives in an alternative reality, became this whole thing.

Except now I'd actually tried that on myself. And I understood the things that came with.

I started writing this story because I wanted – needed – to write a story where that unplanned child was so important that the entire world grinded to a stop when they were erased from the timeline. It was basically therapy for myself, and a love-letter to my daughter.

Now, for the sake of narrative, and also by virtue of me settling into my role as a mom and feeling at peace with how things had turned out, the original intent did shift a bit.

At the beginning of my writing, the intention was for Dick and Morgan to not get back together before her death, but rather reunite in front of the Republic and basically get told an ultimatum along the lines of "You have until tomorrow morning to figure out if you're going to have this child, or if you want to rot in prison" and when they were thrown into a cell to figure stuff out, they'd finally confess their feelings for each other and then get frisky. And the next day, the Republic would be like "Ah, good, we see you've already made a kid" and BAM Morgan was pregnant.

HOWEVER. I realized I didn't want that for them! I didn't want Morgan to go through an unwanted pregnancy because a stupid Republic told her to! That's already the lived experience of a lot of women today. I didn't want her to feel like the choice to have a kid wasn't her own.

So, this became the compromise. They will promise that one day, they'll have a kid together – but it'll be because they want to have one, because they want to start a family.

I feel much more at peace with that choice – I know it's probably not as dramatic, but I feel like I'm doing right by them.

Secondly, now I can reveal that something unintentional happened during the writing of this story, that I was VERY pleased with once I realized it.

The spell basically functions as a metaphor for pregnancy!

Especially at the end, when she's rapidly getting worse, she's getting no sleep, and it feels like her body is too small for both her and the spell, and Dick is forced to stand on the sideline, unable to help other than to offer moral support.

Okay, I think those were all my thoughts. I hope this made sense, and I hope ya'll don't think this twist was lame lmao. To be fair I HAVE planted a lot of seeds throughout the story that Alex was important. If you go back and re-read it, you'll probably notice a bunch of foreshadowing that makes sense in hindsight.

Also, I think there's a scene or two missing in the next chapter and I need to figure out what those are, so the next update might be late while I find out what's missing. However, we're truly in the homestretch now. I think there's only two chapters and an epilogue left?