INSIGHTFUL ⇛ Tim Drake [ currently on hiatus ]

5.

"Thank you." I mutter, switching my gaze to our hands. They weren't as cold anymore and my fingertips have just begun to regain their natural color.

"My pleasure," Tim's eyes meet mine and he gives me a heart warming smile.

"Hey, where'd you go? At the park, I mean." I ask as we walk at a decent pace. Not fast, but not slow. "When-"

"Yeah, I'm really sorry about that by the way. I wanted to get back to you guys but I wasn't allowed anywhere near the scene." He cuts me off, pulling his hands away from my own. He scratches the back of his neck with his right hand.

"That's alright, Tim. There's no need to apologize."

"I felt it was necessary." He shrugs.

We walk in a comfortable silence for the next ten or so minutes before I'm standing by the entrance to my home. Tim halts beside me, squinting slightly due to the rain.

"I'll see you later, Tim." I smile at him through the droplets of rain dripping down my face. Tim nods.

"I'll text you when I can, yeah? We still need to work on that science project."

"Right." I say, smiling and turning to enter my house. Tim doesn't leave until I'm inside, his hands still buried in the pockets of his drenched blazer.

"Who was that?"

"Nobody."

"You're lying," My mother says, swiftly making her way over to me. She stands in front of me, a hand on each of my shoulders. Mom grips them tightly, a large and toothy grin plastered onto her face. "Who was that boy?"

"He's a friend I've made, Mum." I chuckle at how excited she is, her eyes wide with curiosity.

"Tim Drake, am I right?" Dad's voice is is filled with just as much curiosity as my mother's eyes, the slightest smile gracing his lips. "I saw him from the window. One of Wayne's boys - always in the news those kids."

"Anywho, how was your first day at Gotham Academy?"

"It was good, Mum," I mutter. "Though, I ran into a few of the Joker's men while I was at the park with Tim and another friend."

"What?! Are you alright? Did they hurt you?" Mum's hands leave my shoulders, roaming around the rest of my body in search for some sort of newly added bruise or injury. "How did you get away?"

"I'm fine. None of them even touched me," I reassure her. "Red Robin was at the scene before they could even lay hand on me."

"Thank god for that boy." My dad mutters, running a stressed hand over his face.

"That's the second time this week, Carl." Mom finally lets go of me as she speaks to my Dad, her eyebrows furrowing as she takes a step back.

"I know, Mom. They're probably locked up at the G.C.P.D. by now."

"Come straight home tomorrow, alright? Just so we can keep an eye on you." Dad places the magazine that was in his hand on the ornament table beside him, reaching over to me and pulling me into his side.

"Sure." I mutter, responding to his show of fatherly affection by wrapping my arms around his neck. If I'm allowed to be honest, my parents are my best friends. Sure, I had a couple friends at Gotham High who were very very close to me - and they too deserve the title of my best friend as well as my parents - but nothing can match up the relationship I have with my parents.

"Go finish your homework, sweetheart. Change into some dry and warm clothes too."

I nod, pulling away from his arms. I give both of my parents a quick kiss on the cheek before running up to my room.

I open the door, expecting my room to be empty of human life but it's not. Standing by the window is Red Robin, his arms crossed as he watches me enter my room. I don't freak out, I trust him enough to know that he won't hurt me. His lips are in a straight line, his attention fully focused on me. 

"The Joker's men, they said he wanted you alive."

"Hello to you too," I mumble, my eyebrows raised slightly as I dump my schoolbag lazily down on the floor with a loud thud. I quickly but quietly swear, remembering that my laptop was inside my now drenched and mistreated bag.  "I have no idea what they meant, if that's what you're here for."

"Yes. And you're lucky I'm here, Penelope." His smirks. "Batman wanted to speak to you himself but I volunteered to give you the easier and less terrifying option."

"Thought you guys didn't work in daylight." I joke, referencing to his earlier brawl with the Joker's henchmen and his meeting with me yesterday.

"We make the occasional exception."

He smiles a genuine smile, one that is somehow familiar to me. I don't pay much attention to it because it's gone just as soon as it had come.

"I'm under orders to keep an eye on you, Penelope. Batman doesn't think it's anything important but it's unusual for him to chase someone he didn't get to kill," He says. "I don't think he's ever kept any victim alive for so long and if he wanted you dead - or if you aren't of any importance to him, you would already be dead."