A/N Woohoo! Finished! Of course I just got a laptop, so I actually have a way to write wherever I want. I would do traditional pen-and-pencil, but I'm just not crazy about writing that much out. I have weak wrists.

Anyways, I hope you've enjoyed my story -even if I was horrible about updating. I'm actually going to finish the next one, or at least get most of the way done, before I post it.

Sick And Twisted Affair
My Darkest Days

Bludhaven
December 1st, 2012. 02:32EST

Nightwing places his eskrima sticks back into their holster and handcuffs the two thieves together. Standing up, he rubs a sore spot where one of them managed to get a lucky hit on his shoulder and groans. That's gonna bruise.

The hero almost flinches, half-expecting a voice to yell at him for getting hit. He shakes his head and flies up onto the nearest roof, looking for any more trouble. It's been over a year, and it was only in my head for a couple of days. You would figure I would be over it by now.

Deciding that he has done enough for the night, Dick makes his way to his apartment.

He slides in through his bedroom window silently, glaring at the light trailing in from his living room. I know I turned that off before I left. Grabbing his eskrima sticks, Nightwing moves to his door, which is thankfully still closed. Pressing his ear up against it, he can hear the muffled sounds of eating. After he listens for another minute, trying to get a better idea of who he is going to have to kick out of his house, Nightwing hears a familiar voice whine about Dick not having enough food.

Nightwing rolls his eyes and peels off his mask. Sliding his eskrima sticks back where they belong, Dick slowly opens the door and leans against the doorframe.

"I have enough food, I'm just not a speedster, and I wasn't expecting guests." He keeps his face emotionless as Wally jumps and swears at him, muttering something to do with 'the stupid ninja bat thing'.

Calming down, Wally responds to him. "You had, like, four things to eat in the fridge. That isn't enough food, even for you."

Dick ignores the 'had', walking past the speedster on the way to the living room. "What do you want, Wally?"

Looking at Dick like it's obvious, Wally makes his way to the couch. "It's your birthday."

Dick sits in a chair and blinks, checking his phone to check if Wally's right. December first. I guess I'm sixteen now. He looks into Wallys green eyes. "So?"

Wally throws his hands in the air. "Zatanna brought it up earlier and everyone wanted to see you, only nobody knew where you were. Well, nobody but Bruce and Jason."

Dick flinches lightly at the easy tone used while saying his family's secret I.D.s, and he hopes Wally didn't see it. "They shouldn't want to see me." He looks down at the floor, trying not to let his emotions leak through his voice. "I'm not the same thirteen year old boy that was on their team."

A hand grabs his shoulder and he looks up on instinct. Wally is kneeling in front of him, looking him in the eyes with determination. "You're the same person, Dick-"

"No I'm not!" He snaps, standing up. "The only thing that is the same is this stupid body. I doubt the team would even recognize me."

Wally stands with him, holding his shoulders and pushing him back into his chair. "You've changed, yeah okay. Everyone does that while they're a teenager. You're only two years older than you were when you were on the team, and you haven't changed as much as you think you have." Wally paces the entire time he's speaking, stopping in front of Dick to look him in the eyes again. "You're still my best friend."

Dick slumps forwards, placing his head in his hands. "How are you acting so normal? After all I did..."

Wally pulls Dicks arms away from his face and glares into his eyes. "No. What you did last year was not your fault, so stop blaming yourself. Blame the Joker, if you have to blame somebody."

Dick glares back at Wally. "Blaming the Joker is what caused Harley's death." He growls. "That was nobody's fault but mine."

Wally sighs and leans away. "You're wrong, but you're incredibly bull headed, so I can't convince you. Fine, think what you want." He stands, grabbing Dicks arm and pulling Dick up with him. "Come on, bird boy. We're going to the mountain."

Dick lightly tries to pull his arm back. "Wally, they won't-"

"Dick, they're already waiting for you."

As the light from the zeta beam recedes around him, Nightwing stops in his tracks. He had known that there were new members of the team, of course, but he hadn't expected them and the rest of the team, without Conner, to be lined up for training with Black Canary in from of the zeta beam. He turns briefly to glare at Wally for not warning him, then faces the team.

Wally chuckles, running his hand through his hair. "Oops, did I forget to mention it was training time? Team building, and all that."

"Dick!" M'gann squeals, flying forward and pulling him into a hug. "I've missed you!"

"It's Nightwing, Miss M." Nightwing smiles lightly, pulling back from the hug.

M'gann smiles and nods, floating a few feet in the air, a nervous habit she has yet to break. "Come on." She says, pulling him by the arm towards the team. "Let me introduce you to the new team members." She gets stops a few feet away from the line of people, all of which are staring at them, and points towards a girl with black hair. "That's Rocket. She joined about a year ago." Rocket nods at him, and he returns the favor, sliding his face into an emotionless expression. M'gann points next to a young green boy who is looking up at Nightwing like he is a puzzle. "And you remember Garfield Logan. His mother was in a car accident and I've adopted him as my brother. He goes by Beast Boy, since he has my Martian morphing abilities."

Garfield's eyes lit up with understanding. "You were the Robin that was on the team when they came to my house."

Nightwing allows another light smile to grace his face and he nods. "It's nice to see you again, Gar."

Garfield laughs and smiles, and M'gann points to the third new member. "This is Batgirl. She hasn't gone on any missions with us yet, but she's been training with us for a couple of months."

The familiar red hair causes him to smirk. "And I figured you would've been a part of the team since you started training with Batman."

Barbara rolls her eyes at him, although most people can't tell. "I wasn't ready to work as a team, apparently. Bats said I was too headstrong." She looks at Nightwing for a moment before launching herself forward and wrapping her arms around him. "He wouldn't let me come see you. I would've took it from the bat-computer, but he hid your location so I couldn't find it." She whispers into his neck.

Nightwing hugs her back for a quick moment. "I'm sure he was just trying to protect you, Babs." He releases her, and she takes a step back.

M'gann introduces a couple of other new recruits, but Nightwing stops paying enough attention to remember their names later. After he's acquainted with the new members, the old members step forward to say hello. Zatanna and Artemis hug him and Kaldur grabs his shoulder and tells him its good to have him back.

Robin walks up to him with a scowl and slaps him upside the head. "You're an idiot. I told you not to leave."

Nightwing rubs his head. "Okay I deserved that. You knew where I live. You and Batman even came to visit that one time." Robin scoffs and walks away, not bothering to hide his anger.

The silence that fills the room is replaced by two quick beeps. "My cookies are done!" M'gann exclaims, flying off in the direction of the kitchen with Wally right behind her. The rest of the team chuckles and follows them, leaving Nightwing and Black Canary alone.

Black Canary breaks the silence. "So, Nightwing. Isn't that from a story Clark told you?" She asks, walking towards him slowly.

"Yeah. I assumed he wouldn't mind." He responds. "How is Clark doing?"

"He's fine. Everybody's doing fine." She grabs his shoulder, and he winces in response. She switches her grip to the other shoulder. "We all miss you, Dick."

Nightwing closes his eyes and looks away. "I'm know, Aunt Dinah. I'm sorry. I just-," he pauses, taking a deep breath, "couldn't come back. I planned on never coming back. After what I did, I couldn't stand to face everyone."

She opens her mouth, probably to argue with him, but seems to think better of it. "Conner is in the gym. He's been there since Wally told the team that he was going to bring you here."

Nightwing looks at her, perplexed. "Why-"

"I know you." She interrupts him. "You'll never get over what happened if you don't talk to him. Now, I am going to go up to the Watchtower and tell them all that you're here. That gives you about five minutes." She walks away from him, asking him over her shoulder. "What happened to your shoulder?"

He shakes his head and looks at her retreating back. "I got hit. It's a bruise, nothing serious." She nods at him, and he walks down the halls towards the gym as her zeta designation rings out throughout the mountain.

He can hear Conner punching the punching bag long before he makes his way through the doorway. He watches the clone for a second before coughing, signifying his presence. Conner stops mid-punch and looks at him for a second, before lowering his arm and sighing. "What do you want?"

Nightwing walks toward Conner, trying not to set the teen on edge. "We need to talk."

"No we don't" Conner stands his ground, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "You killed a person and I drove you to it. Nothing to talk about."

Killed a person. So Wally didn't tell anybody about the person before Harley. "You drove me to it? Who told you that."

"Nobody told me. Everybody talked about what would've happened if we had been nicer to you. And it was pointed out that I was the main one being mad at you."

Nightwing sighs. "So you think they blame you? No, it was my fault, not yours." Conner doesn't respond, so he continues. "I would've pushed you all away anyways."

Conner looks at Nightwings mask, trying to see the eyes underneath. "You, Wally, and M'gann are the only ones that have told me it's not my fault." He pauses, and Nightwing opens his mouth to respond, but he continues. "I need someone to blame. You say its your fault, but they both told me that it's the Jokers fault. So which is it?"

Nightwing thinks for a minute, trying to think of a proper answer. "I suppose you could blame both of us. I would like to say that it's all my fault, but I've been telling myself that for over a year and I'm not over the incident yet, so that doesn't seem like it's working. Wally says I 'wasn't myself' and that it's completely the Jokers fault, but I could still think for myself, so that's not completely true either."

Conner huffs and steps away, glaring at him. "So I just blame both of you?

Nightwing nods and looks down. "I guess we both have to blame both me and the Joker."

Automatically, Conner corrects him. "The Joker and I." Nightwing looks at him in shock, causing him to explain. "M'gann has me helping Garfield with his English homework."

'Of course she does." Nightwing chuckles. "Speaking of M'gann, I'm sure we could still grab a cookie or two before Wally finishes them off." Conner gives him a small smiles and nods. As the two head out the door, the zeta beam goes off.

Recognized: Superman 0-1, Batman 0-2, Wonder Woman 0-3, Flash 0-4, Green Arrow 0-8

Nightwing leans his head back and groans, receiving a small chuckle from Conner. Guess it's time to say hello to his second family.