Kristen's Pov
It's been three days since he left. No one knows where the hell he was, except for the fact that he zeta-ed to Gotham. From there, who knows?
Whatever was going on between him and Batman, it's been happening for a while now. Or so Garfield has told me. I wonder what happened, and why Batman was being more, well Batman-ish that usual.
I finished my laps touring the building and went down to the kitchen to see what I could eat. It was about 4:30 in the morning, so no one was awake except for Malcolm, Artemis, and Kaldur. But I haven't run into them.
I wasn't able to sleep, like at all. It wasn't the nightmares, but I guess was scared of having them. Nightwing was right. This whole restless nights thing was really messing with my head. But you know, practice makes perfect. And a little extra training wouldn't hurt anyone.
After grabbing a protein bar, I made my way back to my room so I could freshen up a bit. Quietly munching on my food, I tiptoed down the hall. But I stopped in my tracks when I noticed it wasn't the way I left it. The door was open just a crack.
I didn't have any weapons, and I didn't have my mask on. Damnit.
I reached for the door handle, ready to attack any intruders. I swung open the door and did a tuck and roll to the foot of the bed. When I stood up, I almost fell back over.
Sitting on my bed was Nightwing, the bastard himself.
"Where the hell have you been?" Surprisingly, the question came out calm and controlled. Instead, I put my hands on my hips and cocked my head to the side. He looked up, confused at first, but when he saw me, he burst out laughing. "And what's so funny?"
"Your face!" He doubled over in a fit of laughter, and it was kind of hard not to join him.
I held my breath in order to keep a straight face and sat at the edge of the bed facing him. Slowly, he got control over his giggles and controlled his breathing.
"Seriously. We couldn't find you. What happened?"
He didn't respond. That was a bad sign.
"You know you can talk to me, right?" I reached out and put a hand on his shoulder, but he pulled away slightly. Ouch.
"Nothing happened, Kris," I knew in my heart that was a lie. No matter the fact that he executed it perfectly. He looked down. "But I know. Um, thanks."
There wasn't another word. We just sat there, actually in comfortable silence. I laid horizontal across the bed in front of Nightwing, while he sat there, twiddling his thumbs. At least, it was comfortable for me.
"What are you even doing up?" Uh, oh.
I sat up quickly to avoid him seeing right through me. "I was running. Training."
I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping that the situation would somehow float away.
"At 4:30 in the morning?" I turned to face him and peeked through one eye.
"Please don't get mad at me..." I spun completely towards him, with my hand clasped together. "I can't help it."
"Kris," I wasn't willing to go through this arguing again, but with him, it was probably inevitable. His voice was stern and it reminded me a lot of Mal. "Why didn't you tell me?"
This time, it was softer.
I only groaned and fell over. With my eyes closed, I pulled the covers over my body as I lay flat on my back. Why did he have to press questions? I felt the covers behind me lift up, and a warm body settled next to mine. I swear my heart almost stopped completely. What the hell was he doing?
"This is important, Kris. Am I not allowed to care, even just a little bit?" What was he doing to me? Keep your head in the game, Kristen. Focus.
But it was so comfy here, and exhaustion was taking over my body. I had been working all night and had decided to work out at about 3:30. I might have been overworking my body just a little bit. Soon, my eyelids were too heavy to keep open.
I lifted my head just a centimeter to speak.
"What's your name?" I mumbled. At this point, I couldn't even register the words coming out of my mouth.
"Dick. Dick Grayson."
"Hmmm." I rested my head back on my pillow and smiled to myself. "Thank you for caring, Dick."
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There was a small, almost inaudible gasp. Somewhere in the darkness of my dreamless sleep, someone was there. Consciousness was slowly coming back to me. The first thing I noticed was the soft breath on my neck and the strong arm around my waist.
Next, was the light streaming in from the door, which was wide open. That's not the way I remembered it earlier.
"What the?"
There was the voice. My body shifted in place, and I turned onto my other side. The arm moved as well, pulling me closer, so I nestled my head under his chin, and in turn wrapped my arms around his waist. Out of curiosity, my eyes cracked open just a tiny bit to see Dick's face directly above me.
Slowly, I sat up and rubbed my eyes. The clock on my bedside table read 10:00. Five hours of sleep? Wow, great improvement. Dick was next to me, and he grunted in his sleep, pulling me even closer. Or as close as I could get while I was sitting up.
I ran a hand through my hair and looked towards the door. Standing there, frozen in place was Cassie. She had a somewhat horrified look on her face.
"What?"
She only stared at us. "You know what? I don't want to know. Kaldur called for the Team. Suit up."
She glanced at Dick again with a disgusted look on her face, making me blush. The Hall is a very small place, and word travels faster than Bart can run around the world. I wonder what the story would be.
Dick was still asleep. His hair hung over his eyes, and his mouth was hanging slightly open. He was so peaceful, he didn't look burdened. That made me smile, but sadly, I had to wake him up.
"Dick," I whispered. His name felt foreign in my mouth. I should've been saying Nightwing. He stirred as my hand brushed away the strands of hair in front of his face. "Wake up."
I began to shake him a little which was mostly working. "Dick, you better wake up, or I'll push you out of the bed."
I smiled as he started to twist and turn, and before I knew it, he had pulled me back down. "Kaldur called for us, we have a job, you know."
"Kris," He croaked, as I escaped his grasp and climbed out of bed. "I'm tired."
"You're not five. Now get up and get out." I pulled out my suit from the closet across the room. My staff was suspended on the wall next to it. The sight of the red and black made me smile every time.
It was Saturday, and weekend missions were normally distributed by Batman unless it was urgent. Crap, if it was urgent, and we didn't hear it, we would definitely be the last ones there. Dick finally rolled out of bed and walked over to where I was in front of my mirror and dresser. I was still in my workout clothes, and he was still the black t-shirt and jeans he had on last night.
Last night. Huh, I don't even know what happened last night. I shook my head of the thoughts.
He leaned against the dresser, facing me, and ran a hand through his messy raven hair. Well, this was awkward.
"First few hours of sleep in the past week. It's an improvement," As soon as I said it, I knew I shouldn't have.
Dick pushed himself off the dresser and stared at me. I rushed to the bathroom to avoid his gaze and put on my suit. The spandex and kelvar fit me like a glove. After zipping up the boots from the back, I turned to the mirror above the sink to fix the mess that was my hair. The brown strands were sticking up from the ponytail and staticky.
I placed on my domino mask, pulled my hair from the pony, and shook it out. "Dick, suit up. I'll meet you there."
"This isn't over, Kris. We'll talk later," I heard the door click, and I sighed in relief.
To hell, we'll talk later.
By the time I had finished and met Dick at the entrance of the mission room, the Team had assembled. As usual, we were the last ones. Just as I expected, it was only Kaldur at the front of the crowd of teenagers. And boy did he look urgent. He didn't even acknowledge the fact that we were the last ones to show up.
"Klarion and Abra Kadabra." There was a groan from the left, it was Artemis. It was something about cats. "They are attacking San Francisco Bay. From our sources and a few of the news sites, Klarion is casting some type of spell above the water. Our best guess is, he is looking for something."
Artemis stepped forward. "Scarlet, Blue Beetle, Superboy, Robin, and Wonder Girl. You are Alpha. Your mission? Stop Klarion and Abra Kadabra and their attacks on the city. The spell is taking a toll on surrounding civilians. Aqualad, Miss M, Lagoon Boy, you are beta. You three are to find the whatever Klarion is fussing about before he does."
"Find the artifact and stop the magician," Kaldur finished. He turned away from the computer to face us. His expression was grim, and he certainly looked tired. I wonder if he's been back home yet.
"What about either or?" Cassie spoke up. She sounded serious, but the question made someone laugh. Kaldur only shook his head.
"Dismissed and good luck."
We all filled out and awaited the bio-ship. This was my second mission with the Team. This time, it will be a success. Hopefully. Maybe.
Before I stepped onto the deck, I was turned around by Nightwing. He stared into my eyes, and his gloved hands gripped my forearm. Everything went into overdrive. I really hoped I wasn't blushing.
"Be careful, okay?"
I nodded and put a small smile to help reassure him. But I don't think that helped. The bio-ship lifted from the ground. Just before the hanger doors were opened, I saw the rest of the Team standing below us.
Here we go.
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Hey Heroes
So very short today. Sorry, not sorry. I didn't feel like doing much in this one. Next chapter should be exciting.
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