Thank you all for your opinions, questions, and support. I'm sorry I could not immediately post this, but I could not find the time to type it up.

First week of summer, who can blame me?

...don't answer that. -_-

So here it goes, need to get those creative juices flowing.

Sigh. Maybe this will answer some questions, or not.

…I went white-water rafting! It was amazing!

(WALLY!)

I wouldn't have come back, not for anything. I was happy, and the stress crime-fighting caused in my life disappeared. I had Artemis, we shared a small flat and I didn't have to worry about her life, or mine.

I wouldn't have gone back, if it wasn't Dick who asked me, and it wasn't permanent. He asked me if we could go out on patrol together for old-time's sake.

At first I outright refused, but he kept asking and asking. Artemis for sure wasn't excited at all when I told her I was going out that night. In fact, she grabbed my arm and twisted it painfully behind my back, demanding me to stay with her that night. I knew she was concerned for me. Part of the reason we both quit was to get away from her father, Jade, and the worry when one of us was late for anything.

I tried to reason with her, maybe use my amazing charm to get her to see why I went out. I ended up begging for my arm back, explaining how I couldn't say "no" when Dick started pouting. (As old as we were, you would think I could resist my little bro when he pouts. I mean, what self-respecting eighteen year old pouts?)

I was startled when she pulled me around and initiated a desperate kiss. I enjoyed it for a moment before we leaned apart. I stared at her breathless and immediately wrapped my arms around her when I saw how upset she was.

Even with how quiet Bludhaven was ever since Nightwing made it his city, there was always a chance that one of us wouldn't come back from patrol. She knows this, I know this, every hero knows the danger, and I was out of practice.

I leaned into her shoulder and tried to reassure her the best way a speedster like me could. "Hey, babe, I'll be fine. What villain would dare to go up against the former Kid Flash and his faithful sidekick, Nightwing?"

I thickly laid on the confidence that I honestly didn't feel at the time. I was out of practice, and Bludhaven was rarely crime-free. (Hah! Bludhaven? Crime-free? I crack myself up!)

I looked down at her when she laughed shakily and pulled away from me. "Sure, Nightwing's the sidekick."

I was a little put-out at the lack of warmth I had felt. It must have shown because she immediately slapped my arm playfully and smirked. "Go on then, Flash Boy, rough up some thugs for me, kay?"

I smirked back at her and leaned in for another quick kiss, which she returned in an instant. I ran normally to the door and waved back with a huge, childish grin on my face that she laughed at lovingly. "Bye, babe. See ya later tonight. Don't you miss me too much while I'm gone."

The door closed behind me, but not before I saw the small smile fall off her face and her waving hand lower to her side. I brushed it off at the time, and I sped to the nearest Zeta tube port I knew of.

LINE BREAK!

When I arrived at the tower and the computerized voice announced my arrival, I walked anxiously into the Watchtower's main room that had the huge view of Earth. A few Leaguers were standing around or over by the moniters that dominated most of the room at eye-level.

Batman came from nowhere and spoke from behind me, making me jump and turn to face him. "Nightwing is not through with patrol yet. Your suit has been remade to fit your size and is in the back room, two hallways down and the first door on the left. Change and wait for Nightwing back here."

The Bat walked forwards a few steps, and just as I was going to turn and rush to do just that, the man turned his cowled head back to face me over his shoulder. "Oh, and Wally?" I stood back in attention to him as something that could be distantly related to a smile flashed across his stony face. "It's good to have you back."

I smiled brightly at the unusual warm welcome, and I raised my hand in a mock salute before I sped to the room he mentioned. I might have gotten lost a few times, but I found it eventually and stepped inside. My suit was there, just as he said it would be.

I stepped closer to it, and the automatic door behind me slid shut. It was hanging in a case and was obviously altered to fit my size. I gaped at it for what felt like an hour to me, and I shook my head violently to focus. I opened it and quickly changed.

When I rushed back in I ran into Wonder Woman. We started a conversation and continued to walk back to the main room. I stopped whatever I was saying when I saw the Batman slamming his fists against one of the moniters while grumbling to himself.

I was so not prepared for what he had to say. Nightwing was in trouble? Somewhere in Bludhaven? Why didn't he already know where his own son was? He was the Goddamn Batman! He knows everything!

I was angry, and I meant to show him exactly how I felt. "What do you mean 'he's down'? Is he hurt? Where is he? Why don't you know anything? You're Batman! You probably have histories on every hero and villain on and off planet!"

He brushed me off and continued to explain what the issue was. Why were we here? If Dick needed help, why weren't we just rushing out to help him? He's done so much for everyone, and we're waiting? I mean, obviously Batman was worried, but he's my little brother!

Said Bat turned and nodded at me. It actually took me a second to realize what he wanted, but when I figured it out I quickly reached over to activate the recorded conversation between the two Bats.

When it was over, I couldn't think. The entire thing was so…final, as if he really didn't think he would make it out of it this time. He had to make it out, not only was he the first sidekick –no –partner to ever fight crime along-side a superhero when he was nine, but he was trained by the Batman, so he absolutely had to make it. If he died on me, I'd bring him back to life just to kill him again! This just couldn't be happening, not to my little brother. We already lost one brother to the enemy, sure, in a completely different way than now, but all the same.

I listened vaguely to Batman as he issued out orders and complied by speeding over to the Zeta-tube. Wonder Woman passed by me and gently placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "He'll be okay, Wally. He knows how to handle himself."

I replied with only a grunt to tell her that I had heard her. She nodded in understanding and we continued to the Zeta-tubes. She went first and I hurried to follow.

Diana and I were beamed into a familiar shed in Bludhaven. I, of course, had been here before with Dick and Roy before I quit and Roy had become fully absorbed with finding his 'original' or whatever. Not like I don't care, or anything like that, but Dick and I, we had never even met Roy's 'original'.

I checked the coordinates on my virtual map that had been included in the updates to my costume. Wonder Woman and I rushed out, and I eventually passed a bill-board with the same address as Nightwing's last known location. It said something about Patrick's Perfect Paper Factory? Weird.

I called in to Bats and told him about the Bill-board. A crime? Well, I guess I could've thought of that, but still, a paper-making factory? Have to say, Dick, you sure know how to pick 'em.

And then I couldn't even let the police see me? Last I heard, Dick was part of the police force in Bludhaven. Seriously, all cities inhabited by Bats are insanely weird.

Wonder Woman stopped me from rushing into the smoldering pile of building we found instead of a factory when we arrived. My heart sank when I saw the remains of the factory. No one could have survived an explosion with that much force, not even Nightwing, but I wouldn't give up the search until I found him, alive or in pieces. I'm sure that everyone here would agree with me.

When the others arrived, I wasn't expecting for Roy to be here, but it wasn't surprising. Sure, he still wasn't back in his peak physical condition, but he was getting better. He shaved and cut his hair. It was still a bit long, but he didn't look like a homeless person in spandex and Kevlar anymore.

We shared a look and he nodded. It was official. Our oldest brother was back for good.

I expected to run in and immediately start looking for the lost bird, but all we did was wait. And wait. And wait. And wait for what felt like hours to me, but really it was more like thirty minutes.

My patience was wearing on thin when the last police car drove off and I snapped at the Bat. , "What are we waiting for? Dick is probably down there dying and we are just standing here watching birds fly away!"

They stared at me with varying degrees of irritation, and I reevaluated my words.

…

Oh. Crap. "Okay, you know I did not mean it like that." I looked to Roy for help, but he just shook his head at me. Thanks a lot.

Batman glared at me for a good five seconds before giving the right-away. Finally. I sped down and took to looking through the mess in my area. It was bad, really bad. Concrete and pieces of metal littered every inch of floor space. I had to carefully step around the debris on the floor as to not get my feet impaled. It was agonizingly slow going.

Why, Dick? Why did you have to get into this mess the night I agreed to go with you? Artemis is going to be so worried. She's going to kill me when I get back. Just be okay. Please be okay.

Five Minutes (or so) Later! Line break!

Oh, God. When I saw the remains that GA found, I nearly had a heart-attack. I thought it was him. I honestly thought that was him. That entire ordeal left me disheartened. In all honesty, if that's how a man larger than Nightwing ended up, what's the probability of him even remaining in one piece? Not likely. Not at all.

I shook my head violently to clear it of those thoughts. Bad Wally, bad! You do not think that way! Dick is alive and he needs your help. Get it together, Wallman!

Ugh. I really need to stop talking to myself. I sound like that Blue Beetle kid Dick was telling me about a few nights ago.

And then when GA voiced my doubts out loud, yeah, he deserved that amazing punch by Diana. I crossed my arms and smirked at them, laughing to myself as GA gently held his jaw.

I was on one side of this huge pile of debris that Batman was searching through, when suddenly I looked down and saw a hand. A hand. I, uh, may have manly yelped in shock. I called Batman over when I noticed the hand was covered in black Kevlar.

I found him. We all started to uncover him piece by huge steel piece. We got his upper body out, and I couldn't hold myself back when I jumped and fist pumped the air.

We lifted the rest of the debris off him with renewed hope and pulled him away from it all. Dinah assured us that he was okay, well, he wasn't completely fine, but he was okay for now. I fist-bumped Roy at the news.

Everything was great until he started to spasm on the ground and cough up blood. Definitely not good. No, no, no, no. We just got him out of there. He was fine, and now he's dying, again.

I panicked and vibrated in one place, too frightened to be of much use. I was rambling to thin air, I knew that, but I needed a way to relieve my pent up stress. Dinah had started CPR while Roy began yelling and cussing at him. I didn't know what to do. I could only pray to whatever deities that were out there to bring him back. Of course I didn't believe in all of that, but I was grasping at straws.

He gasped for air and I nearly went through the ground in relief. He was okay again, now he needed to stay that way. This kid, I swear he's gonna give me gray hairs before I turn thirty.

He looked around at us hazily. I wondered what he was thinking about when he saw all six of us there. He tried to get up, but ended up leaning on Batman. Roy and I moved closer when he winced and hissed in pain.

As we continued to stare at the bird, I noticed he was getting more anxious. I knew he needed his space, but I was worried he was going to give out on us again. I was not going to leave him alone until he was up at the Watchtower getting serious medical attention.

He looked around at us and tried to give a smile, but it turned out more like a grimace. He opened his mouth to speak. Probably something sarcastic or witty, but I didn't understand a word of it.

"Hei, baieti. Ce sa întâmplat?"

…what? Was that Romani? Normally when we were younger I would hear him mumble it in his sleep or when he was panicked, but I haven't heard it come from him in years. Not since we joined the Team. Did he even realize he was speaking it?

No one said anything for a while and Dick's face became slightly strained and worried. "Ce este greşit? De ce te uiţi la mine aşa?"

This is bad, really bad. If he can't speak English, can he even understand us? He has to be able to communicate some way to the Team; he's sort of the leader at the moment.

Batman had reached over and talked to him while I was mentally freaking out. It seemed like he understood, at least, but it could have been some sort of telepathic Bat communication. Hey, with the Bats, who knew?

He looked over at us as we waited for the jet to arrive and muttered something I couldn't quite catch.

We looked up about two seconds after the Bats did to see the jet hovering above the wreckage. Roy and I went to carry him up the ramp together so we could possibly get some answers from him. Seriously, this kid gave us all regular heart-attacks.

I'm still not completely sure if he could understand us, but Roy was willing to give it a try, so why not?

Hearing that he died for a little there definitely got his attention. (Now I'm sure he could understand us, brain-damage regardless, and I'm sure that even he couldn't come away unscathed from so many head wounds.)

He furrowed his eye-brows and said softly, "Fir-ar." Something I'm pretty sure was damn. (Remember, the first thing anyone learns in a foreign language is how to curse.)

He looked up at me from where I gripped his cut-up shoulders and began speaking again. "Deci, atunci cum ai facut –

I glanced back down at him and swallowed nervously. Okay, Wally, how to break the news… "Hey, um, Nightwing? You do realize your speaking in Romani again, right?" Smooth.

The whites of his mask widened dramatically and he choked out heavily, "Ce?"

I winced and shared a guilty look with Roy. I'm not really sure why I felt guilty. It's not like I had any direct part in the explosion, but I really hated to be the one to tell him.

Roy looked down and confirmed quietly, as if speaking too loudly would break him in his fragile state. "Yeah, it's true."

We reached the ramp and I had to readjust my hold on him to get him up to the medical beds in the jet without jostling his many injuries too badly. I winced every time he grit his teeth to keep himself from groaning in pain.

We all flinched when the jet started up and jolted him on his temporary bed. He just hissed and clenched his teeth even harder. I wondered idly if they would break if he held his jaw any tighter.

He was eerily still and pale. I knew he was okay for now, but until he was back up and flying around, I was going to worry. I straightened and looked around the hanger to every other hero in their seats. We all felt the same, and he was just going to have to deal with it.

LINE BREAKS ARE ANNOYING!

Kay! I finally got this done, aren't you happy?

I apologize for the wait, but I had to wait for Saturday's episode!

Bart! I feel mixed emotions about you, kid!

He's so cute, but Wally and Barry's timeline could be completely effed up!

At least he still has his powers!

His name is still Kid Flash! HAHA! YES!

I don't have to change anything! So there!

Now leave me alone to freak out about the episode. .

Still in shock about everything!

Barry was supposed to die this episode, so I love Bart!

But now the relationship between the existing speedsters will be more strained, so I hate you!

You're such a conundrum!