catgirl ! crushed (nightwing)

«chapter eight: friends»

None of the others knew that of course, but I could tell they loved it when they would come back from patrol. They were almost like how Bruce and Dick were. They balance each other out.

And Dick knew that if he couldn't get to him, if he couldn't make Damian understand, I could.

Damian and I met at the lowest point in my life and has been with me ever since. I was surprised he even cared if I lived. He chose to live with Bruce after his Grandfather was 'killed' at the Light's summit which was crashed by the Team.

When his Grandfather was saved and he was planning on using me again, Damian insisted on living with Bruce and Talia agreed he could learn from him.

She didn't realize he was coming to warn me. I didn't know either, I didn't know he cared. But he said I showed him humans are different from the world he was shown. That he believed in me and while he didn't understand my need to not kill anyone, he wanted to.

"He is getting better," He says after a long pause, snapping me out of my thoughts. He glances to me, the sun shining over us, making his eyes seem so light they almost look icy. "He is even starting to make friends at school."

I smile at that. A few months before I left we both took him to school. It was his first time going to public school and he was grumbling almost the whole drive.

Dick took an obnoxious amount of pictures of him, insisting they were for memories, but I knew he also wanted to push Damian's buttons a bit like any older brother would.

"I never thought we would see the day," I say before realizing I shouldn't have used 'we'. It's a force of habit.

I know he notices too, the muscle in his cheek twitching, but he doesn't try to correct me.

"How are the others?" I ask, taking my eyes off of him to look at Wolf and Lily.

She is putting leaves and flowers in his hair, him letting her do it without a second thought as he watches Dick and I from their spot.

"Tim is good. Sleep deprived and working hard. So basically the same," He says almost as a joke, but his tone isn't quite right for it. "Jason is... Jason. Hazel keeps him from getting too bad."

"I bet," I smile at the memories I have with both of them. They seem like the perfect match.

He waits to see if I am going to say anything else before he says,"Alfred is good. The best of us like always. Hazel and Katie are good as far as I know. Barbara recovered and is doing great now," His words cause my eyes to fall to the ground.

I was there when she had her accident. I remember the fear in me, in everyone as we tried to help her.

I remember the anger I felt after we realized who Cassandra was and how I wanted to go after Ra's al Ghul for it. And I remember Dick and Barbara refusing to let me, refusing to let me kill him but in that moment I wanted to.

I didn't know he wasn't the one that gave the order, and I'm not sure if I even cared. He hurt one of my friends. One of my family. And I was angry. So angry. And so scared. Because Barbara was hurt permanently, and I felt helpless and scared that someone else would get hurt.

"Stephanie and Cassandra are the same. Steph is corrupting her a bit with the help of Katie." He says and does smile a bit at this, shaking his head slightly. "And Bruce is Bruce. Always focused on the mission and keeping everyone safe before he focuses on himself." He pauses, his smile fading before he looks to the ground and then looks away from me. He takes a deep breath before adding, "Biscuit is good too. He misses you, but..."

My head snaps to his, my eyes looking at him and I wish he would look at me.

He kept Biscuit. I assumed Biscuit would have gone back to Selina or he would have given him to Damian. But he kept Biscuit. He kept my cat.

Despite it being such a small piece of information, it hit hard. Like maybe there is a chance I could fix this, that we could be we again.

I open my mouth to say something, anything, but close it as Lily runs up to us, Wolf following her.

She smiles up at us, her eyes looking between us before she takes both of our hands and starts leading us back to the house.

"Lily?" I ask, causing her to pause. I pick her up and put her on Wolf, petting him for a moment before I say, "Why don't you get a head start and we will be right after you?"

Dick tenses beside me, but I only watch Lily, who nods and Wolf starts walking ahead.

I turn back to Dick, be he is looking anywhere but at me when I say, "Dick-"

"We should go inside too." He says cutting me off, his eyes settling on the house as he walks past me, not waiting for me.

I clench my jaw as I watch him go, not bothering to stop him. He has probably said more to me today than he has wanted and I don't feel like fighting again.

I turn back for a moment, looking out over the fields, hugging myself. A light breeze blows my hair slightly, and I close my eyes for a moment, welcoming the silence and peace.

When it stops, I open my eyes again and turn to walk back to the house.

________________________________

A/N:
they needed to talk a bit. it wasn't everything they needed to say, but i don't think they would have done it any other way than this. too much history and ties to each other to not care about this stuff. dick and lily thooo
____

thoughts on everything that was revealed so far? any theories?
favorite part in this chapter?

_____________
thanks for reading, don't forget to vote & comment !!

xoxo, author