Half of this chapter was written like a year and a half ago and half was written tonight so I'm sorry if there's a clear change in writing styles/tenses (I've gotten really used to writing in present tense, but this story is in past, so fingers crossed that I caught myself!). I'm also sorry that there was a like a year and a half between real, true updates.

I know this shorter-than-I'd-like chapter won't make up for it, but I hope it proves to show that I'm serious about taking this off of hiatus. I'd make it longer, but I just couldn't delay it any longer.

I'm incredibly grateful for all of your support and lovely reviews. I honestly thought I left this story for so long that it would almost be too late to try and bring it back, but you guys proved me wrong, and I thank you dearly. It was because of the wonderful response that I was so motivated to write this again.

I will be continuing to edit previous chapters, and there will be an edit note with the date at the bottom of each of them just in case I end up changing any small plot things. Nothing major will be changed, though, since I've had a timeline of this planned out for a long time (which I am very grateful past-me did, or else it would not be as easy picking this back up as it is. I even had a doc that listed things in the story that people predicted that I can use to shout-out people with at the end!) Hopefully that will allow for more smoothness, instead of abrupt changes in style due to my absence.

That all said, I hope you enjoy!

Bruce had been...less than pleased.

He had been at the Cave upon their return, and he had wordlessly followed the Dark Knight towards the Zeta beams. The Team would doubtlessly be confused about the lack of a formal debriefing, but neither he nor his mentor currently cared about that.

He watched as Batman took off his cowl as they entered the Batcave rubbing a hand through his hair with slight exasperation. Bruce reminded him of himself dealing with his own Robins.

"Parasite was using the circus. Haly's circus," He found himself speaking before Bruce had a chance to begin to chatisize him. "What was I supposed to do?"

"Wait for backup. You can't use the Team like that. You should have talked to me, and we could have figured something out that didn't involve you running away to Europe." Bruce said.

Maybe he would have yelled before. Maybe he would have argued and then gotten so angry that he would have stomped off. Maybe that had been who he was when he was younger.

"Bruce," He said, his voice calm. He was calm. "I know this is a lot, but I'm used to being independent. From my perspective, I've been in the hero game longer than anyone. I had to take a world on the brink of chaos and make some sense out of it all. I had to rebuild everything out of nothing." He took a deep breath, "This is all...so different yet still the exact same. I'm sorry for not telling you. I'm sorry for handling this on my own, but in all fairness, it was the best course of action. You were needed in Gotham, and I was needed in Europe. By the time we caught Riddler, it would have been too late for the circus."

Okay. He didn't mean to say all of that, but...that's okay. This is okay. They need to start vocalizing things more. As long as he stays grounded, maybe they can actually talk about some things.

Bruce drew a breath, and it's through all his time knowing the man that he can tell he's drawing strength. He can't blame him - he's not really known for this emotional openness that they're doing, and he knows it's even harder because Bruce cares so much about him. "I know that Dick. You have always been capable. But we don't know everything about your situation. We aren't aware if there are any side effects from the simulation that we need to take into account. The only case J'ohnn had ever heard of was ten years to another Martian, and you are a human dealing with three times that." He sighed, "Dinah said it was PTSD, and I agreed with her, but there is so much that we don't know and that doesn't line up with specific standards, that it might be something complex and foreign enough that we haven't even heard of it before."

He was silent for a few moments, "Do you...want me to tell the Team?"

"It's up to you," Bruce said, his voice emotionless but he knew that there were emotion and care behind those dark eyes, "It always has been."

Telling the Team. He had been devoting more thought to it recently than ever. "I don't want...I don't want them to feel guilty." He found himself explaining. "And I don't want them to treat me differently." It was hard enough dealing with everything, but with the added stress of his friends tiptoeing around him, it would just be too much.

"Then you don't have to." Bruce simply replied, "But no more running off. You know you can always talk to me or Dinah, right?"

"Yes, sir." He said, giving a smile and a mock, two-fingered salute, trying to ignore how much more Nightwing the action was than Robin.

Just a bit over a week later, was the time for the new members' induction ceremony to the Justice League.

Doctor Fate. Atom. Plastic Man. Icon. Red Arrow.

Atom had been on the newly reformed Justice League, and he had been friendly with the man. Plastic Man he believed had died in the Invasion, but his fate had never been officially confirmed.

Icon was by far the most interesting.

The hero had been killed less than a week after the Invasion, during what would later be called 'Death's Week'. A week of pillaging, looting, and just fear as the world's heroes and governments were struggling to rebound from all of the casualties they had faced.

And that led to him meeting Raquel.

The girl was clever and had a sense of humor not too far away from his own. They were good friends, with the girl even being one of the bridesmaids at his wedding due to her similarly good relationship with Barbara.

And she was currently standing in the same room as him, them having never actually spoken before, as they all watched the introduction ceremony on a television in the Hall of Justice.

"I'm glad they didn't kick Billy out," Wally remarked, seeing Captain Marvel on the screen. He took a bite of his apple, before saying with his mouth still slightly full, "And I love the fact that there's a ten-year-old on the League."

"There is?" Rocket - Raquel - inquired.

At Kaldur's scolding look, Wally said defensively, "I mean, she's part of the Team now, right?"

And it was true, she was. Roy was gone, off to join the League, but Raquel was there. Both people he had memories of about a life never lived. Both people he had been close with in the world that never was, but in different ways.

When the camera panned to Superman handing Doctor Fate a membership card, he could sense Zatanna's grief. He wished to move forward to comfort her, but his own guilt stopped him.

He should have done something. If he hadn't been so weak…

"You know, I was the one who convinced Icon to become a hero in the first place," Raquel grumbled as the camera moved to Icon, "I should be outside celebrating with him, not hidden away in here!"

"Welcome to our world," Kaldur said amusedly.

"Well…" She grinned, "I suppose there's an upside too."

He forced himself not to watch Raquel unabashedly check out Kaldur. He smiled slightly, remembering how much of a flirt Raquel could be at times.

Good luck, Kaldur.

In his amusement he nearly missed Roy getting his own membership card, and officially becoming a member of the League. Any hints of a smile died on his face, as he remembered their confrontation.

The coldness Roy had shown towards him.

"Way to go Roy!" Wally cheered.

Kaldur agreed, "At last he has his wish."

And, as much as he knew it should be the opposite, he couldn't bring himself to be happy with them. A part of him just didn't - couldn't - trust the archer. There was too much that was wrong. Too much that didn't add up.

Yet, he still didn't trust himself enough to share his suspicions. It was far too likely that he was just comparing the Roy of reality to the one in his mind.

His wrist computer suddenly beeped, and he looked at it in surprise. He was in civvies, so he hadn't been wearing his gauntlets, but he still brought the small device in case anything happened.

He scanned the information before his eyes suddenly widened.

Cheshire.

"Are you sure it's her?" Artemis inquired as they flew in the bioship across the Smoky Mountains. "I mean, are you absolutely positive?"

He could understand her concern. Cheshire was, for her, a representation of her secrets. A past that she wished could just be left to rest but refused to.

He sighed, "This is the security footage from the Ashfield Regional Airport." He said, bringing it up for his teammates. "Facial recognition confirms it."

He stopped himself from adding it's Jade Nguyen because, in a way, he felt like he would be betraying Artemis' trust. As if he had broken some promise that had been wordlessly made when they were alone on the bioship a while ago, and to shatter that would be equivalent of a betrayal. It was foolishly exaggerated in his mind, he knew, but he couldn't help but be cautious. He has been toying around with the idea of telling them his secret so much recently that he couldn't help but be hyper-aware of everyone else's.

Artemis sighed, "That's her." He heard her mutter under her breath.

"Focus on what she carries," Kaldur spoke, and he made the picture zoom in on the case she was carrying with an easy series of tapes on the holographic keyboard. "Is that the case you saw in New Orleans? The one that got away?" He asked, looking at the blonde archer.

To Artemis's credit, there's little hesitation in her answer. He probably wouldn't have noticed if he wasn't looking for it. "Yes."

"Okay, so I'm guessing from the mug shot that this Cheshire's the bad guy," Raquel stepped in, her tone light but still serious, staying focused but lightening up the mood slightly as if she could sense an undercurrent of tension that no one besides himself and Artemis should know of.

Then again, she always was startlingly perceptive.

"But what's so important about that case?" She said, looking at them all.

He hit a few more buttons, and the picture changes to that of a certain infamous group. "Remember the Injustice League?" He asked, ignoring how similar this could be to one of his many mission briefings with the female hero.

"And their giant evil plants? Uh, yeah." She said, and he realizes suddenly that this will be much worse than with Roy. How little difference there is between her and the one in his mind.

"Soooo," Raquel's voice started out behind him, and he looked back to see his friend, surprisingly in civvies. "I heard there's a new Bat in the works."

He closed out of the program he was on - it's not pressing, and he can handle it from the Batcave easy enough. He's only doing it on the Watchtower because he was just back from a quick debriefing from a mission he had done with some of the League. "Yeah. She's good stuff. Knocked me down to the mat the other day with a nice flip."

She chuckled, "Good on her! Good to hear Batty won't be alone in a house of boys anymore."

"She hates that nickname, you know." He reminded her, an amused smile on her face. "And it's Oracle now."

Raquel waved a hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever." She then looked at him impatiently. "Now come on."

His eyebrows creased in confusion, but he still walked towards her. "Where are we going? And why are you in civvies?"

"I'm going to be introduced to your latest recruit." She said as if it was obvious. "Now come on, bluebird. I need to meet Batty 2.0"

"Approaching Cheshire's jet." M'gann's voice was the first thing he heard when he came out of the memory, and suddenly he was staring at what was clearly a crash site.

He forced himself to refocus, fighting down the brief daze that sometimes follows after a flashback.

I'm in the bioship. I'm with the Team. The Invasion didn't happen. He made himself to think as he took stock of the scene before him. He nearly missed Artemis look away, unable to handle the sight of the plane that had been carrying her sister reduced to more than rubble.

"Looks like there were no survivors."

He couldn't think about that. Couldn't think about Artemis or Cheshire or grief. It would only lead to him thinking about his own relationship with Cheshire, and if he had another flashback so soon then the dam's going to break fully until he is able to make himself get a grip.

No matter how much he wanted to comfort his teammate, thirty years of simulated memories and a psychologist's diagnosis was stopping him from doing so.

I have not written Batman or Raquel in over a year so I apologize for any OOCness!