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BROOKLYN'S POV
Jake finishes his last song by the time Mr. Hall is at our table for us to order.
"You must be Brooklyn's friends," He smiles warmly.
"We are," M'gann confirms with a smile, "I'm Megan," She introduces herself before she goes down the list of people, everyone nodding and smiling at him.
"Hopefully you guys are keeping her out of trouble," He says jabbing his thumb to be before he whispers, "this one is a little trouble maker." He grins.
Everyone laughs, causing me to smile a little sheepishly because he has no idea.
"I'm kidding, Brooke is an angel," He waves his own comment away, "Always has been the sweetest."
"Okay, I think that's good enough," I cut him off, not really wanting to discuss how I grew up.
"You are stopping me before I can get to my stories of you," He points out disapprovingly.
"I know," I say, causing the table to laugh.
"Actually, I would love to here some stories of baby Brooke," Wally smirks and a few others voice their support, Dick being one of them.
I swiftly kick both Wally and him under the table, and they try their best to pretend it didn't happen, wincing ever so slightly.
"Are we talking about Brooke?" Jake asks, coming up behind his dad, "You were so cute when you were little. Your little pigtails."
"Hey," I warn him, causing him to smirk as he moves a chair in between Barbara and I. Barbara and Zatanna sit up straighter at this.
I shift in my seat a little as Dick grabs the bottom of my chair and pulls me closer to him.
Jake doesn't fail to miss this, sending me a knowing look before he waits after his dad gets everyone's orders and walks away.
I guess he is still trying to push Dick's buttons because the next thing he says is, "Fine, you are still cute."
I roll my eyes, "Jake, everyone, everyone, Jake."
"Nice to meet all of you," He smiles and I swear Barbara and Zatanna share a look.
Now it's just a guess at who gets him.
"So, you've known Brooke for a long time?" Mal asks.
"Yup," He nods, "Her brother and I were best friends. I think we hung out every day when we were 13." He says, looking to me for confirmation.
"Probably," I shrug, not really remembering much of the specifics. I remember struggling to balance my life as Catgirl with hanging out with them and with Hayley when we were friends. "Actually, he and my brother are the reason I am so good at go-cart racing."
"No way," Jake says, his eyes lighting up as he looks at everyone, "You guys challenged her in racing?"
"We didn't realize she was so seasoned in it," M'gann jokes, "We should have known."
"Honestly, I'm not sure how she used to do it, she would beat us no matter what," He says, shaking his head in bewilderment.
I shrug, smiling lightly.
Dick puts his hand on my thigh, grabbing my attention, and I almost laugh because this doesn't go unnoticed by Jake.
He drops it though, looking to the others as he says, "So, how long have you guys known Brooke?"
"Just a month or two," Artemis says as everyone looks at each other for the answer.
"It seems a lot longer than that," Conner says.
It's only then that I realize Conner and Jake have a lot of the same traits as they sit here with me.
Maybe that's why I took such a liking to Conner other than for the obvious reason; he helped me after finding out I wasn't lying.
They are both a little more quiet when you first get to know them, Jake is slightly more talkative though, and they both are a little overprotective.
And both are willing to side with me in order to make Dick upset.
"It does," I agree with him, before Mr. Hall comes back with our food.
"So, Brooke, are you going to get up and sing for us?" He says again, thinking that my friend's support with change my mine.
I nearly choke on my drink as my eyes widen. I cough a few times before I shake my head, "Sorry, next time, I promise."
"Come on," Zatanna smiles, "I didn't even know you could sing."
"I can't," I shake my head, shoot Jake a look to shut up as he tries to open his mouth.
He closes it and looks to his dad, "Next time sounds great."
Mr. Hall narrows his eyes at me but allows it, before he turns away.
We eat our food, Jake talking with a few of them when they ask questions, him asking them questions and so on.
By the time we get done eating, I've learned a lot more about everyone thanks to his questions.
"Alright, I feel like I could definitely beat Brooke at darts," Wally cracks his knuckles, causing me to raise an eyebrow at him.
"Oh you are on," I accept his challenge, getting up. "Anyone else?" I ask, looking down the table.
Almost everyone gets up, aside from Artemis, Conner and Dick, who tell us they're i'll watch from here.
I frown, but realize Wally is sending Dick a wink, realizing they set this up, probably to talk to Jake.
I smile lightly and shake my head at them before I follow Wally.
"Get ready to lose, West." I taunt.
"You're on!"
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DICK'S POV
"Wally is definitely going to lose," Artemis nods after everyone leaves.
"Oh definitely," I agree, causing us to laugh a little.
Jake looks to me, smiling, catching me off guard.
"I have a confession to make," He says, causing me to raise an eyebrow at him. "I heard you gave Brooke a hard time at first, so I purposely tried to flirt with her to make you jealous tonight."
Oh.
"This just got interesting," Artemis comments under her breath.
"Oh," I say, rubbing my neck, "Umm-"
"So, sorry for that," He grins, "And you don't have to worry, I don't like Brooklyn. Not like that anyways. I did for like a week when we were kids, but her brother threatened me and I got over it pretty quickly." He informs me with a laugh.
I laugh too, before I grin, "Well, I guess I just appreciate your protectiveness over her."
He looks to where the group is and his expression softens, "I sort of feel like it's my job. I would hate it if anything happened to her. Her brother are I were best friends, so when he died..." He trails off, his expression falling grime.
"You took it on yourself to be her brother figure," Conner finishes for him as he moves closer to us.
"Yup," Jake confirms before he looks to me, "But from what I can tell, you make her pretty happy, so you have my stamp of approval. For now," He adds, making us laugh.
"I'm pretty sure she would kick my ass if I ever messed up," I admit, causing him to laugh.
"I am sure she would." He leans back in his chair. "But I am glad she found a group like you guys. After he passed away, she changed," He says, "It was really hard on her, but she looks more like herself than I have seen her in years."
"We didn't do much," Artemis smiles, "She fit right in and she has definitely made our lives more interesting."
That's an understatement.
We fall into a silence before I finally ask the question that has been on my mind since he brought up her brother.
"What was he like?"
Jake doesn't need me to clarify. He knows who, and he doesn't even look to us as he nods to the group of people, "Was your boyfriend's name Wally?" He asks Artemis, and looks to her after a few seconds.
"Yeah," She says slowly.
"He was like him," He says with a small smile, "From what I can tell. I mean, Brooklyn saw him more serious because he was protective of her, but the jokes and the mannerisms... he reminds me of Ben."
Artemis, Conner and I share a wide-eyes look as we look back at the two, watching Brooke beat him as she jumps up and down from winning and he shouts, "Best two out of three!"
"She probably doesn't even realize," Jake says, causing us to look at him again. "Like I said, she got to see more of his serious side, the side that wanted to take care of her or the side that went to her for relationship problems, but I saw his joking side all of the time. She saw glimpse because of how much we hung out, so if you told her this, she would understand, but I don't think she knows." He explains, causing us to nod.
It makes sense. Wally and Brooke have always had a sort of sibling relationship with the teasing they do. It just means a little bit more now that we know this because it means she probably sees him as a brotherly figure.
I wondered if she did that for Conner too. He was protective over her during the Rogue thing, when I should have been but I wasn't. Even today he was willing to side with her to make me a little jealous. Almost like how Jake did.
"Thank you for watching over her," I say as I look to Jake.
He smiles and holds his hand out for me to shake. I do as he says, "Thank you for doing the same."
I didn't do the best job when I first met her, but I can't explain that too him. I do promise do do my best from now on though.
I just need to keep her safe from Ra's al Ghul. I just need her to stay safe.
Tonight rocked her to the core. I didn't have to ask Damian to know. Or M'gann, though M'gann said her thoughts were loud and full of emotion.
I could tell as soon as she walked away from the assassin she was fighting.
And I could tell when I was holding her, when she refused to let go of me, needing to feel my touch to feel safe.
My eyes find her, and my chest swells with emotion. I would do anything to keep her safe.
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BROOKLYN'S POV
Wally and Artemis drop Dick and I off at my apartment, them waving good-bye before they go to turn in the rental they have for the night.
It's only when I see the building that tiredness really hits me. It has been a long day, and one full of so many unknown things that I am both emotionally and physically exhausted.
I just want to blink and be in my bed, but I know that even when I get there, I won't sleep.
I will worry, not about me, but about everyone that I care about. And everyone that cares about me.
But if I actually do sleep, it's not all rainbows and unicorns. It's imagining myself become that person the Ra's wanted me to be. A trained weapon at his will, a broken person but a fighting machine. I don't want to be a broken person.
"I want to say sorry about earlier," Dick sighs, rubbing his neck.
It makes me a moment it even remember what happened. He tested me.
"It's okay, you don't need to apologize. It probably wasn't even your idea, my money is on Damian." I shrug and keep walking, him keeping up with me.
"It was, and a little bit of Jade's. They thought it would help, so I said yes." There it is, that 'help'.
When will he see that I don't want that kind of help? I want to sleep, and to believe that everything will be okay, why isn't anyone helping me do that?
We get to the apartment, climbing to the window to open it. At this point I am so tired that I can't think straight, or see for that matter. My eyes won't stay open as my muscles get hit with the soreness from this week and from today. And it's been over a week since I have had good sleep.
Dick puts a hand on my waist as I stumble trying to get through the window.
Without saying anything, he helps me in, and climbs through himself. I fall on to the bed and close my eyes, not able to even think anymore.
I can see his shadow on my eyelids, bending down and kissing my head, before backing away and to the window.
"Stop." I say, my mind feeling fuzzy and my eyes shut.
"What?" He asks, coming back to my side.
I grab his hand, my eyes opening as I look up at him before I pull him onto the bed.
"Brooke... what is it?" He asks, brushing my hair out of my face.
"I can't sleep," I say without caring if he knows I've had nightmares every since this started. "Stay, please." I beg, my eyes threatening to close again. "I can't sleep." I mutter.
He sighs as my eyes shut. He closes the window from what I hear and then I feel him lay down next to me, whispering, "Of course."
I move right next to him and put my head onto his shoulder. He puts an arm around me and runs a hand through my hair, stroking it lightly, "Go to sleep, I will be here." He mutters in my ear, promising to stay.
I nod, and feel his body heat next to me. I feel safe in his arms, I realize again as I relax, my mind slipping away into darkness.
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A/N:
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they kill me.
also you find out just why wally and brooke get along so well. and conner and her! i think this makes there relationship that much better. definitely more meaningful.
what did you think?
favorite part?
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thanks for reading, don't forget to vote & comment !!
xoxo, author