Wonderland | Dick Grayson

3

San Fransico, California

Ashley was startled awake and she looked around in confusion. She looked down before she looked over at Dick who was on the phone. "Is everything all right?" She heard her father ask.

"I got kind of a weird situation. Found this young woman, and she's in trouble. Someone's trying to kill her, but she's special Bruce. The three of us kind of special. I think she can heal herself" Dick told her father. Ashley shook her head and flipped herself back over to attempt to put herself back to sleep in spite of her creeping paranoia.

"Where is she now?" Bruce asked him.

"Here, in the Tower, she doesn't wanna stay" Dick sighed. "Ashley doesn't want her to stay either."

"You didn't wanna stay either, not at first" Bruce said. "As for Ashley, I can't help with her. Once her mind is made up she's rarely changing it."

"How long did it take?" Dick sighed

"A long time" Bruce told him.

"I don't have a long time" Dick sighed. "Do you know why I stayed?"

"I think so. It's hard to be angry in a vacuum" Bruce explained to him. "I provided a target and a focus for your rage. I became a tangible enemy and provided a much-needed friend in a hard time" Bruce said honestly. Ashley rolled her eyes and grabbed another pillow and put it over her head in an attempt to drown them out.

"I was mad at fate and death, but those are just concepts. You're a person" Dick paused. "More or less."

"She's a tougher case than me" He told Bruce. "She's scared. Really scared-" Dick said before being cut off by her father.

"Do you know who she is?" Bruce asked him.

"She doesn't want me to know" Dick said.

"Well, there are ways to find out" Bruce said.

"Yeah, I know" Dick said, his voice laced with sarcasm. "And I haven't put nine trackers in her, either. I know that's your thing, but it's not mine" Dick said, his agitation obvious in his voice

"It's not about 'my thing' or 'your thing'" Bruce told him. "You can't make an informed decision without information nor can you can't keep my daughter safe without said information."

"That's the point" Dick said. "I'm not sure it is my decision. You adopted me when I was a kid, she's an adult."

"Still, you said she's scared and in trouble. That's no frame of mind for anyone to make life or death choices" Bruce said to Dick and Ashley heard something slam down. "You keep her there till she can make them, and then make sure they're the right ones" Bruce told him. Ashley sneered at her father's words, hesitant to keep the girl within a one hundred mile radius.

"Okay, here's what I have to know. Would you do it again?" Dick asked him. "Take me in... devote all that time and trouble for someone that just wants to leave?" Dick asked.

"I would do everything exactly the same for you" Bruce said to him. Ashley closed her eyes and held back everything she wanted to say in that moment. Ashley waited for them to hang up before she let Dick know she was awake.

"You should talk to her" Ashley sighed, getting up and putting her hands on his shoulder. "If she'll willingly give up the information and she's deemed not dangerous, I'll put in my vote for her to be allowed to stay, otherwise I don't want her anywhere close to us" Ashley told him. "That's also not going to stop me from finding out who she is whether you like it or not." Dick sighed and nodded before turning to face Ashley and pulling her into his lap. Dick kissed her, almost as if it was the only thing that could give him any direction. "The kids will catch us in here" Ashley said as he moved her to straddle him before he moved onto her neck.