So, spoiler alert. Of sorts. Takes place immediately after "Auld Acquaintance." Great episode, by the way.

This one was a bit of a struggle. A good struggle. But, a struggle, nonetheless. See, I have a rather difficult time balancing between Bruce's callousness and his apparent love for Dick. It's not sappy or fluffy at all, but, my inner fangirl wills it to be. So, I'm kind of hoping I caught it a little in between. As sappy/fluffy as Bruce can get, without over doing it. I do hope you like it, though.

He awoke with a sharp gasp, wide eyed and short of breath. He lashed out with his entire body, throwing himself awkwardly off the strange bed, landing hard on the floor below. His aching body flashed pain throughout and he cried out in surprise. And then he groaned, flopping back onto the floor, only to wince again.

"Robin?" The voice came from the door.

Again, he ignored his body's murmurings and shot up into a sitting position. "Batman?" He rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands. "What time is it?"

"It's six in the morning. You haven't gotten even three hours of sleep." Batman was next to him, suddenly.

He managed a chuckle. "More than you've gotten."

He fully remembered where he was, now. Batman's quarters on the Watchtower. As pressing as the current mystery was, Batman had ordered his young protege to sleep for a few hours, at least.

Batman chose to ignore Robin's statement, taking a seat on the mattress while the boy stood up. "I had thought you would've used the bed, at least."

"I was in the bed."

"Then why did you end up on the floor?"

Robin sighed. The lead coverings were sliding into place, hiding the stars and earth from view, blocking the windows. The door was closed, and the lighting turned up. He took off his mask. "It was nothing."

Batman slid his cowl off. "'Nothing' doesn't make people fall off beds like that."

Dick winced. "How much did you see, exactly?"

"I walked in when you were attacking the air." Dick could easily hear the amusement in Bruce's voice. And, honestly? It felt good to hear the man in a lighter mood considering the events of the past twenty-four hours.

"Please tell me that looked way more awesome than it sounds."

"It would depend on your definition of 'awesome.'" Bruce paused. "You're avoiding the answer, Dick."

Dick looked up at him, meeting the man's gaze. "Because, it's nothing. Really, Bruce, I'm fine. It was just a-" He stopped short, biting back his words.

Bruce turned more fully to him. "Just a what?"

The boy barely managed to resist rolling his eyes. He hated it when Bruce did this...prodding answers out of him that the man already knew. "Just drop it, Bruce, will you? It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does."

Dick hesitated. "It was just a dream."

"What about?" The question was in the air almost as soon as the boy's initial answer.

And, for a moment, Dick considered telling Bruce to back off. But, he couldn't. Snippets of previous conversations were melding themselves together, and Dick really couldn't ignore them. "It was about what happened. It was about..."he brought his knees up. "It was about our fight."

Bruce nodded. He had seen the bruises forming, and he had a very good idea as to what happened, and had so cemented his suspicions with security footage. He hated every frame of it. "Yeah."

"It was just," Dick continued. "You didn't care. And, I know it was the mind control at work, but, Bruce, it was really terrifying. You are so...terrifying when you don't care."

Bruce lowered his head. He didn't know how to respond. He was...ashamed.

"And, honestly, I don't blame you. I really don't." Dick's voice was shaky. "It's just..."he sighed. "I would almost prefer hate to apathy. Because, if you hated me, if the expression I had seen on your face was hatred and anger, I think I would at least know if it mattered to you if I survived or not. But, with apathy...you could go either way. It wouldn't effect you. It would be like I didn't exist."

Silence fell between them. Dick's breathing was deep and strong. Bruce simply stared at the floor.

"You know that's false."

"Yeah."

"I do care."

"Yeah. I know."

"Don't ever think otherwise."

A sniff. "Okay."

They sat still for a while, thinking on just that.

And they knew.

So? If the ending was a tad bit confusing, I understand. Review! -Jimmy C.