One Last Dance | R. Grayson

[05] Thanksgiving

Erica finally had something to look forward to in her otherwise repetitive daily life. With the Thanksgiving holidays coming up, she was going to spend the weekend at her cousin Walter's house.

Walter Jones, the precinct Captain and Erica's cousin, had a lovely family who adored their aunt wholeheartedly. They invited her over as much as they could and her holidays were often spent surrounded by her two nephews and youngest niece.

However, that year on Thanksgiving, the Jones family had invited another special guest too.

The doorbell rang and the youngest siblings, Matilda and Mathew, excitedly got up and went to open the door. Their elder brother Alex was helping his mother and Erica set the table and he simply called out to his siblings not to mess anything up in their excitement.

"Hi!" The collective greetings of the duo could be heard followed by excited laughter. Erica put down the apple pie she had brought and went to check who had shown up.

Much to her pleasant surprise, it was Richard Grayson.

Erica smiled at the lovely sight in front of her. Richard had brought a bouquet of flowers for the family and seeing how excited six-year-old Matilda had gotten upon the flowers, he carefully took a white rose out of the bunch and gave it to her.

Walter had invited him because he thought that Richard would be feeling left out on Thanksgiving as his family was in Gotham and he didn't have any other place to go to. So Walter ended up asking him to come over to his place.

"Happy Thanksgiving," he greeted her, "I thought of bringing something to contribute to the meal but unfortunately, I'm a terrible cook so I didn't take the risk. I hope the flowers can make up for it."

"Anita loves flowers," Erica remarked, "and we have already prepared everything so it's fine."

"I hope you like flowers too, Miss Leslie," he gave her the bouquet and watched her smile widen.

A brief thought crossed his mind that perhaps he could do anything to see that beautiful smile. For some reason, seeing Erica at peace made him feel much lighter too.

"You do know you can call me Erica, right?" She remarked as he followed her inside. 

He only smiled in reply, a slight tinge of color spreading on his face at that remark. But he didn't say anything just yet. 

Erica, on the other hand, placed the flowers in a vase at the dining table, the white and pink blossoms lending a bright happy feel to the entire setup. In the meantime, she introduced Richard to Anita and her children, and shortly after Walter joined them as well.

The Jones household was filled with lively chatter and laughter for that evening as the warm and welcoming family spent a delightful time with their guest. Richard appreciated their kindness and thanked Walter profusely for inviting him.

That cheerful thanksgiving dinner felt like a much needed respite in his usually hectic life.

After dinner, the children wanted to go out for a walk so Richard and Erica accompanied them. They were keeping slightly behind as the three siblings walked ahead, leading the way past the carefully trimmed hedges of their street.

Dusk had fallen and the sky was darkening from a lovely rose to a royal purple shade. Dusk in Bludhaven was probably the prettiest time of the day.

"Was it your first Thanksgiving away from your family?" Erica asked, keeping up a light conversation between herself  and Richard.

"Not really, I have spent some time in boarding school so I'd say I'm used to it," he replied but then turned to look at her as he added, "besides you all didn't let me feel that I was away from my family either."

"You're sweet," she remarked, not noticing the slight tinge of pink coloring his face again.

He didn't say anything further in order to avoid fumbling with his words. He was an excellent conversationalist usually but with Erica, he found himself doubting everything he said.

Even though she had never said or done anything that would make him self conscious and she was always so naturally accepting of other people, he still found himself checking that he didn't end up saying anything awkward.

Just seeing her in front of him made his heart do a somersault, he could hardly keep himself from getting flustered after that.

She was a few years older than him and he sometimes felt that he had quite a schoolboy crush on her. He hadn't thought that way about anyone in a long time but Erica Leslie had become an exception.

Perhaps his colleague Gary was right.

He admired her and with the fact that he got to see her quite often, the feelings shared between them were getting stronger and deeper.

He wanted to spend more time with her, to get to know her, to listen to her calming voice and to see her beautiful smile each time he was with her. What he thought of her was slowly moving past the crush stage to something more definite.

But he was hesitant that perhaps that feeling was only one sided. Perhaps Erica didn't feel the same way.

Plus that silver band on her ring finger kept him at bay, coming in between them akin to an invisible barrier that he couldn't yet cross.

His watch beeped, interrupting his thoughts and he looked down to see the time. It was time for him to leave on patrol so he would have to excuse himself from his hosts.

"I had a lovely time with you all but I must go now," he spoke up politely.

He bid his farewell to the Jones family as well, especially the young children who had become rather fond of him. He was about to say goodbye to Erica as well but paused as if seeing her made that decision of leaving a bit difficult.

And she too stopped him before he could leave, her hand resting gently on his arm, "why are you always in such a hurry?"

He considered what to say to her but then remarked, "I always have things to do."

It seemed as if she was about to say something but had stopped herself right before the words came out. Seeing that, Richard smiled politely, holding her hand gently.

"I'll see you around, Miss Lesl- I mean, Erica," he corrected himself and let go of her hand after a light squeeze, his thumb involuntarily brushing over the thin metal band, "thank you once again for letting me be a part of your evening."

"You're always welcome," she replied, "take care."

"I will."

***