stranger things | dick grayson

fifty two

word count: 2k

~

'This is where we're living now?' Zoe asked as she ran her hands over the windowsill in the small Bludhaven apartment. 'I like the manor better... Eleanor, I want to go home,' she whined with eyes brimming with tears.

Eleanor sighed and placed her bag down as she turned to look at her.

'I know, so do I. But I just can't have us there with it being so dangerous. Right now, you're my only priority and if moving out here means it's going to keep us safe, then so be it. It'll only be for a little while, I promise,' she said quietly. 'I'm sorry we didn't get to say goodbye to anybody.'

'It's okay. I trust you know what you're doing.'

Eleanor smiled a little and opened her arms, letting the younger girl wrap her own around her.

'We're gonna' be okay.'

+

Gar shook his head and muttered, 'It's been a month. We haven't gotten anywhere on the Red Hood front and Eleanor still hasn't made an appearance.'

'And she won't,' Kory said as she spun the tablet around to show Gar the tabloid she had found. 'Billionaire's daughter slumming it with the poor,' Kory read the article. The picture was of Eleanor shopping at the markets with Zoe.

'Do you think Bruce is helping her?' Gar asked. Kory shrugged. 'I miss her. I miss Rachel too, and Zoe. We're falling apart Kory, and I don't know how we're gonna hold this team together for much longer.'

'Hey, we're strong, Gar. I miss them too but they just need some time. Eleanor will never abandon you guys, she knows what that feels like. She'll be back when the time is right...'

'I know... I wonder what she'll say about Barbara and Dick. They seem to be getting a lot closer than friends should,' Gar muttered distastefully.

'Let's not go there,' Kory said with a sark glare through the doorway and at Dick, who was on the phone, laughing.

+

A knock on the door provoked two reactions from the girls inside the apartment. One leapt from the couch to answer the call, one froze with her hand on her gun.

'Zoe, sit down,' Eleanor said as she crept up the hallway, pushing the young girl behind her.

'Why? If someone was going to kill us, don't you think they would have beaten down the door and come in here blazing with glory?' She retorted with a roll of her eyes.

'Nobody should know where we are, so will you just go hide?' Eleanor asked and pushed her further into the lounge room. She moved up the front door and quietly leaned closer, poking her eye through the peephole.

With a scoff, she stepped back and swung the door open.

'You shouldn't open the door wide enough for someone who...'

'What the fuck are you doing here Bruce?' She asked as she slammed the door behind him after he entered the apartment with his hands casually resting in his pockets.

'Bruce?' Zoe asked as she ran into the hallway, She laughed in shock and ran over to him, jumping on him at the last second.

Bruce laughed and picked her up, giving her a firm squeeze as Eleanor sighed and put her hands on her hips, her gun still firmly in her right hand.

'Geez, you've grown kid!' He placed Zoe down and looked back over at Eleanor. 'I've come to talk to you,' he said to Eleanor. 'It's important.'

'Well, you better make it quick.'