LUMEN ━━ dick grayson

29 - Reunions Suck

"Can we talk?" Dick asks urgently.

"You're about four years too late, but sure," Dawn replies, her expression soft and smiling. She steps aside, making space for them to enter the apartment. Rachel enters first, followed by Dick and then Aurelia.

As Aurelia passes Dawn, Dawn leans to her and says, "I missed you, you know."

"I know," Aurelia answers, as she gently squeezes her friend's arm. "I missed you too."

And it was true; she really did miss hanging out with kind hearted Dawn. But things were far too different now; they were all different people with different goals. Nothing was and ever could be the same as it had been five years ago.

*

Up on the roof of the apartment, Rachel goes to check out the birds Hank and Dawn keep. By Aurelia's guess, they're doves. Obviously. She stands at the back with Dick and Dawn as they watch Rachel.

"She killed someone?" Dawn asks the other two, sounding rather disbelieving. "She's just a kid."

"Whoever they are, they've got people in the department," Dick tells her. "We needed somewhere safe to regroup and think about what I'm gonna do."

"What about Bruce?" Dawn asks.

Dick almost chokes on his coffee and Aurelia coughs into her hand. As if. As if he would ever. The way he talked about Bruce; something had happened, something to irrevocably damage the father-son relationship. And Dick was far too prideful to ask Bruce for help.

"He's no good with kids," Dick says, mildly incredulous.

Aurelia wants to argue. He raised you, didn't he? And you turned out fine...okay maybe you still have a lot of trauma and he did force you to train quite a lot and...yeah, I guess not so fine after all.

"Cop, huh?" Dawn says after a long pause. The light breeze makes a few strands of her hair flutter. "That's one I never would have figured. For both of you."

Aurelia shrugs, following Dawn as she sits on a spacious, metallic bench. "It wasn't something I was wanted to do. But it just happened."

"Yeah," Dick says as he joins them on the bench, thankfully sitting on the other side of Dawn. "How are you?"

"We're great," Dawn says. "Hank's feeling the life a little. Age waits for no man, and all that."

"How bad is it?" Aurelia asks, very concerned.

Dawn lets out a resigned sigh. "Two fractures, three concussions in the last year and herniated disc."

"Jesus," Aurelia and Dick say at the time. But she doesn't even notice that. Hank's injuries sound horrible, much worse than the ones he got when she was still in the Titans. It makes her worry so much. (Should she just magic a badge that says 'worrywort' and stick it to the front of her coat?)

"We're still good out there," Dawn says. "Really good. But one slip-up..."

"You should quit," Dick interrupts her, speaking in a firm tone. "You both should."

"Yeah, you really should," Aurelia adds, letting some of her worry seep into her voice. "Before things get too severe."

"That's the plan," Dawn says, half smiling. "Soon as we take out these gun suppliers he's obsessed with. One more chance to do some good and he promised he's out."

"You could help us out," She suddenly adds, "Both of you."

"No," Aurelia immediately shakes her head. "I don't wanna do stuff like that anymore."