One Last Dance | R. Grayson

[06] An Accident

After that Thanksgiving dinner, Erica did not get to see Richard again for almost two weeks. She hadn't gotten the time to visit the BCPD headquarters either because she was busy with the new project her friend had instilled her help on.

All she knew was that the case on Abagnale Pharmaceuticals for which she made a suspect sketch had also gotten solved, and the culprit had been arrested. As a result, things were busier at the precinct than usual so she thought it better not to intrude.

But when she finally did visit the precinct, she was surprised to see that a certain cheerful face was missing from the surroundings.

Richard Grayson never took any day-offs so it struck her as strange that he wasn't there. She thought about asking Gary as she had often seen the two together while working. He'd know where Richard was at the moment.

Her assumption turned out correct as Gary knew his friend's whereabouts. But learning the reason for his absence made Erica quite worried.

"An accident? But how? And is he okay?"

A hundred worrisome thoughts dashed in her head as she asked the questions, knowing full well the dangers anyone in the police force would have to handle daily. And then Richard was one of those people who always went the extra mile and did all they could to save every single person in need of help. He was one of those people who didn't care much about themselves but did all in their power to keep others safe. She knew if he had gotten into an accident, it must have been for that very reason of trying to save someone or to fulfill his duty of keeping the city safe.

"He's doing much better now. I took him to the hospital but it's not anything serious," Gary reassured her, seeing that she had gotten so worried for him in just that short instant.

"But what happened?"

"He was on duty by himself and got into an accident during a chase," he explained, "thankfully, he managed to hit the breaks on time which prevented his car from crashing. Or it could have been much worse."

"Oh..." Concern flickered in her blue eyes as she asked, "Gary, will it be okay if I go pay him a visit?"

"Of course, he loves to have company," Gary smiled, noting down Richard's address on a piece of paper that he gave to her, "and from as much as I have known him, he is too much of a workaholic that he forgets to take proper rest. If you do go there, tell him not to overexert himself. Maybe he'll listen to you."

"Thank you," she read the address and put it safely in her purse, "I will see what I can do."

She stayed at the headquarters for some time and finished the sketches Walter had wanted from her. After submitting her work to her cousin, she left to go to Richard's house on her way back home.

He didn't live very far from her place so it was convenient for her to walk back to her home after she got free.

***

Richard hated being injured.

He wasn't used to staying at home to rest so he felt awful as he considered how he would manage that night's patrol. He could still go out as Nightwing if he got enough rest in the day, he thought.

But resting itself was a task that he found hard to take to completion, unlike all other tasks he could easily accomplish.

He had gotten so accustomed to keeping himself swamped in work that laying in bed felt like an awful waste of time. Moving around, however, wasn't easy as usual either so after thinking much about it, he had come out to the living room and was going through the newspapers that he hadn't gotten time to read in the past few weeks.

He was flicking through a past edition of the Gotham Weekly to catch up on what was happening in the neighboring city when the doorbell rang, startling him.

No one ever came to his house as he would usually not be at home. So he found it strange as to who could come to visit him.

However, when he slowly walked up to the door and looked through the small glass visor, he saw Erica Leslie standing outside.

She could easily have been the last person he would have expected to show up but then he realized that she must have gone to the HQ and found out from there that he was injured. He knew already that Gary would have been the one to give her his address, the man wouldn't refrain from any opportunity he got to play cupid for them.

Before the bell could ring again, he reached out and opened the door, coming face to face with the beautiful blonde woman.

"Good day, Miss Leslie," he greeted her with a polite smile.

Seeing the cuts on his face and arms, her eyes widened in concern, "Good heavens, Richard, you're hurt much worse than I thought. Gary made it seem as if it was nothing..."

He stepped aside to let her come in and closed the door behind her, "in my line of work, this probably is nothing. Nothing to worry about, I mean."

"Doesn't mean you should take it lightly," she had brought flowers with her that she placed on the table in the living room, taking in the sight of the scattered newspapers. 

"I'm sorry everything's such a mess," he remarked and would have started clearing up but she made him sit down on the couch.

"It's no big deal, I visited unannounced and a few newspapers don't bother me," she brushed off his concerns as she sat down on a chair across from him.

"Still," he gathered the newspapers and placed them on the table carefully, "it's the first time you came to my house and I feel like such a bad host already."

A light laugh resonated around them and Erica's concerned features relaxed as she spoke, "You don't have to entertain me. And how terrible it would be if my visit only increased the work you have to do. I came because I just wanted to make sure you're okay, not because I wanted to be treated like a guest."

Her laugh had the magical effect of calming the surroundings, he thought, feeling somewhat better himself than he had done so earlier on his own. It was almost as if Erica had brought a tranquility with her that was distracting him from worrisome thoughts such as his patrol getting affected by his injuries.

"Have you had breakfast?"

He paused ever so slightly before replying.

"Yes. I am fine, really..." He tried to ward off her concerns but just the mention of breakfast almost gave away his little white lie.

He hadn't felt that up to the mark to go into the kitchen and prepare anything for himself so he had just taken a cup of instant coffee and some biscuits. Hours had passed since then and the hunger was starting to kick in.

"If you don't mind, I can fix you something to eat," she offered, her kind blue eyes gazing gently at him such that he couldn't bring himself to say no.

He took her to the kitchen but once there, his lie about having breakfast was revealed too.

"Richard, you can't just survive on coffee alone," she remarked, noticing only a single cup in the dishwasher. If he had breakfast earlier like he said, then there would have been at least some signs of it being prepared as well and Erica had caught onto it in an instant.

"I... Well..."

"It's okay. Sit down," she said and he took the chair placed by the breakfast counter, eyes nervously flickering to Erica's comforting presence in his little home.

It felt almost natural to see her there with him.

***