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'You sure you're okay?' Dick asked Rachel.
'Yeah, I just... I feel empty. Like there's something, you know... missing. But it... it's so big that I can't feel it all at once,' she admitted with a shrug of her shoulders.
'I want you to rest. Okay? We don't know what happened to you, and until we do...'
Rachel shook her head and muttered, 'It's my soul-self. It's just gone.'
Tim questioned her, 'How can your soul be gone?' But she didn't have an answer for him.
Conner walked into the room and asked, 'Who the hell was that? She just took us all out. It's like, we didn't stand a chance.' He sat down on the couch next to Krypto.
Dick attempted to settle everyone's nerves by saying, 'Look, we're all here, okay? We're all alive. That's all that matters. Somehow, what Kory did drove her off, which means she's not invincible. We're gonna find out who she is, how she fights, what her powers are. The next time we see her we're gonna be ready. Okay?'
Everyone nodded in agreement as Eleanor signalled for Dick to follow her. He quickly jumped to his feet and followed her outside where she began pacing the front of the RV. Dick watched her closely as she wrung her hands together.
She was talking to herself quietly, shaking her head and placing her hands on her cheeks. Time ticked by, and Dick was growing impatient. She had been attempting to say whatever it was she was going to say, for the last five minutes. Each time he tried to grab her hand, she would ignore him and continue pacing.
Inside the RV, everyone was waiting for the young couple to get back inside and out of the cold and wind to hear the next part of the plan. What could have possibly been so important?
'Eleanor? We've been out here for ages, what's going on?' Dick asked her, his hand finally latching onto hers with an iron-tight grip. He managed to stop her in her tracks. 'Just talk to me, tell me what's going on.'
Eleanor pursed her lips together. It was now or never.
'I'm not sick,' she said quietly.
'Okay. That's good news. What did the doctor...'
'I'm not sick, I'm pregnant,' she stuttered out, feeling Dicks hand slip from her own. She fumbled around her back pocket and pulled out the test. She handed it over to him with trembling hands. 'I found out just after we left Gotham.'
'But you said you can't have kids,' Dick said in shock, staring down at the test in his hands. 'You told us yourself.'
'Well, that's what I thought... Please don't be mad at me, I'm so sorry Dick,' she muttered as she covered her mouth with her folded hands. 'I should have told you as soon as I found out but we've had so much happen lately, I haven't had the chance.'
Dick looked at her with wide eyes and his mouth agape.
'Oh...' He said, looking down at her stomach.
He lifted her jumper and moved to look at her from the side, inspecting her stomach at every angle. He stood back up and puffed his cheeks out as they met each other's eyes. Unsure about what he saw, he looked back down at her stomach once again and quietly swore. It did look a little bigger now that he had paid some delicate attention to it.
Eleanor pursed her lips together and let her line of vision fall to the floor, trying everything to avoid looking at the disappointed look on Dick's face.
'We don't have to talk about this right now,' Eleanor muttered and attempted to walk away, but Dick grabbed her hand and said her name. 'No. No, you clearly don't want to talk to me about this...'
'Will you stop and listen?' He asked as he spun her around to look at her. He tucked the test into his jacket pocket. 'This is not the news I was expecting, but it doesn't mean it's not exciting... And while you have a way with timing, I'm not mad at you so don't be thinking that, okay?'
He let a small smile shine through his stern expression, easing her churning stomach ever so slightly.
'Do you know how far along you are?' He asked her, pulling her closer to him.
Eleanor shrugged her shoulders and muttered, 'My best guess is nine weeks, ten maybe.'
'Jesus,' he said, gently squeezing her hand. 'You've been pregnant since Gotham huh?'
'Yeah,' she said, followed by a sigh. 'I just really don't want to talk about this any more.' As her eyes began to water, Dick pulled her into a firm hug. 'I'm sorry.'
'Don't apologise. Let's just get focused on one thing at a time. Have you seen a doctor?' He asked, pulling away and brushing her hair behind her ears.
Eleanor shook her head.
'I'm going to go see one when I go and see Bruce.'
'Fuck... I forgot about him.'
What on earth were they going to tell him?
'Dick, Bruce told me something... And I think it's going to put him in a bad place. I don't want Zoe staying there anymore, so I might go and get her,' Eleanor explained, thinking about how much damage the family of Al Ghul's could dish out.
Dick questioned her by asking, 'What did he tell you?'
Eleanor laughed in disbelief before saying, 'I don't believe it myself but apparently he has another kid.'
'What?' Dick asked, his brows furrowing deeply. 'Like he adopted another one or something?'
'No as in I have a brother,' Eleanor muttered, squinting up at him through the harsh light coming from the cloudy sky. It just made everything so much brighter. 'His name is Damian. He's ten.'
Dick laughed in disbelief and shook his head.
'It could just be someone trying to get money...'
'Tahlia Al Ghul is his mother,' Eleanor said, watching as Dick ran a hand over his face. He looked at her with wide eyes as she nodded her head and muttered, 'Yeah, tell me about it.'
From behind them, they heard, 'When you two have finished your gossiping session, we would love to hear the next part of the plan!' Gar stood there with a wide smile, poking his head through the small crack in the open door.
'We'll be in in a minute,' Dick said to him, offering a small smile. He nodded and retreated into the RV. 'So we have a witch on the loose, Lex Luthor is dead, Rachel lost her powers and now we have a baby on the way...'
Eleanor nodded, pursing her lips into a thin line, muttering, 'It's really shit timing...'
'Well I want you looked at by a doctor pretty soon, then we can go from there and figure it all out.'
'What is there to figure out?' She asked, furrowing her brows. Dick shrugged and her face morphed into fear. 'You don't want to keep it?'
'What? No! No, no, no! Of course, I do,' he said, grabbing her shoulders as she sighed in relief. 'I'm just thinking about you and everything we're up against. I don't want you coming anywhere near this magic shit. It's dangerous...'
'Oh Grayson, do you care about me?' She teased as he laughed and looked away. 'I love you...'
He looked down at her and smiled at her.
'I love you too,' he said, pulling her closer and pressing a kiss into her cold lips. Dick glanced over his shoulder and sighed in thought. 'Okay, fuck it,' he said to himself before rolling his shoulders and taking a small step back, letting go of her. 'I had this planned this a bit differently, but...'
Eleanor's eyes widened when he lowered himself onto one knee. Her heart lunged into her throat and she felt her heart thumping against her chest like it was trying to break free. Her pulse pounded in her head.
'What are you doing? Get up,' Eleanor said, grabbing his hand and attempting to pull him to his feet in a panic.
'Eleanor Lynn...'
'No! No, get up!' She exclaimed. 'Dick, honey, one thing at a time okay?' She asked as she took his hand in both of hers. 'I love you and you are so sweet for this, but please, one thing at a time. We will get there, I promise, but please let's just... Baby first, okay?'
He looked up at her and fought the smile on his lips upon realising she was probably right.
'Okay... Okay, alright,' he gave in and stood up, watching as Eleanor bent over and brushed the dirt from his pants. He grabbed her hand and forced her to look at him. 'I love you.'
'I love you,' she murmured and let him push a kiss into her hand. 'Now, let's go inside, I'm freezing.'
'Come on then, let's get you warmed up,' he said, taking her hand in his as he began guiding her back toward the RV.
Eleanor was in astonishment at the way Dick took the news. And a surprise proposal was nearly enough to send her into cardiac arrest. She knew Dick was relieved she didn't have some underlying disease or sickness and was being honest with him finally, but she didn't know if there would be a delayed reaction to the news. A panic attack, a meltdown... Who knew what would happen?
Stepping into the RV, Eleanor gave everyone a small smile, still not letting go of Dick's hand.
'Are you guys okay? What was all that about?' Tim asked in worry, his arms crossed over his chest.
Dick looked at Eleanor, who nodded her head. There was no point hiding it from them. It was only the boys that didn't know.
'Eleanor's pregnant,' Dick said with a small smile.
The RV erupted into cheers, some of surprise, some of relief they didn't need to keep such knowledge to themselves any longer. Gar was the first one to pull Eleanor and Dick into a firm hug, his laughter being the loudest of the bunch.
Tim placed a kiss on Eleanor's cheek and Conner picked Dick up in a large bear hug before gently hugging Eleanor, who laughed at his mannerism.
'I knew it!' Conner said as Eleanor patted his chest. She knew he knew. 'I knew it...'
'How come you two aren't freaking out right now?' Gar asked Kory and Rachel.
Rachel, who offered a warm smile said, 'We've known for about a week.'
They all looked at Eleanor. Even Dick looked slightly offended, and then he seemed to put two and two together.
'Sorry, it was a girl's only thing,' she said quietly through a smile. 'But the secrets out so, no more worrying that I'm dying from some rare illness or something, okay?' She gave a pointed look to Gar, who laughed nervously.
Gar bent down to Eleanor's belly and muttered, 'Well little Titan, you've definitely got a cheer squad out here waiting for you, that's for sure!'
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