Wonderland | Dick Grayson

8

"Hey there stranger" She heard Roy's soft voice say and remove a strand of hair from her face.

"Where's Jason and Dick?" Her voice said, her voice cracking causing her eyes to widen in shock when she realized her throat was dry. "What happened to the kid?" She questioned, her heartbeat racing.

"Calm down, short stack" Roy told her, running his fingers through her hair to try to calm her down like he used to do when they were kids. "You're supposed to take two steps forwards, not two steps back" He said gently.

"Dick?" She asked him.

"He's somewhere up here, try to stay awake though. Hank and Dawn are gonna want to talk" Roy told her.

"I'll try" Ashley said, wincing as her voice cracked again.

"You're doing great kid" Roy told her before pulling out his phone.

"Who knows you're here?" She asked her brother figure quietly. 

"Just Dick, the doc, Hank, and Dawn" Roy sighed. "You're 'dad' didn't bother show up though, but at this point, it's not even really that surprising" Roy shook his head as he made air quotations and looked over the woman.  "The bastard doesn't even care about Thanksgiving or Christmas. Is nothing sacred anymore?"

"Okay" Ashley said, wondering where Roy's anger over holidays had come from. "I assume you're not staying long then?" Ashley asked quietly. 

"I just wanted to make sure you were gonna be okay before I took on the next mission" Roy sighed and moved the hair out of her eyes again and watched her lay her back and look toward the sun that was coming up. "You had a nasty fall and Slade did you in pretty good and no matter how much you annoy me I'm always gonna be close enough to be there when you need me" He said quietly. 

"I wish more people were like you" Ashley said quietly, gripping the man's hand and looking at him. 

"Remember when you were seven?" Roy asked her suddenly. 

"Unfortunately" Ashley sighed. "One of the worst years of my life."

"When Bruce brought you around after I realized Oliver was gonna be with Dinah for the long run, I made you a promise" Roy said to her. "Do you remember it?" He asked her. 

"LIke I branded it onto my skin an hour ago" Ashley replied in confirmation, narrowing her eyes. 

"Good" Roy said. "I haven't broken that promise yet, and I never will."

"I know" Ashley told him, taking his head when he offered it to her.

"Good, because no matter how far away I am, I'll always come home" He reminded her, squeezing her hand tightly and drying her eyes when she started crying.

"You're the best big brother" Ashley said quietly as she cried.

"Love you too short shit."

♠♠♠

Ashley sighed as she lay in the hospital bed that she had in the medical room in the tower as Dawn fussed over her, making sure she was okay before her former friends and teammates made their inevitable departures. "I'll be fine" Ashley told her exasperatedly, trying to speed the process along so it would hurt her less when they left her again.

"What are you talking about Ash? For God's sake, do you not see what happened to you?" Hank asked her angrily. "You got four broken ribs, a bruised lung, a concussion, and a busted head bone" Hank said loudly, throwing his hands up in the air in frustration as he began to pace.

"It's the temporal bone and my ribs are cracked, not broken" Ashley said. "And despite all that I'm fine, or will be fine in a few short weeks" Ashley argued, even though she could barely keep her own head held up, but was unwilling to admit the fact out loud. "How's the kid?" Ashley asked them. "The one that caught us?" Ashley asked.