Ode to Nightwing

Chapter 38: Back Home

Outside of Gotham

        "Why are we leaving them?" I whisper against Dick's back as he sped us away and down the long freeway back towards Bludhaven. "It doesn't seem right, considering everything that's happening."

        "Batman ordered us to. While you were dealing with that one guard that heard you moan." Dick chuckled and I poked into his side slightly.

        "And I wonder who's fault that was." I grumble. "Also, when you said let's get something to eat, I figured you meant in Gotham." 

        He shakes his head. "No, I never did specify." He laughed. "They'll be okay, Cal." 

        "Well, I know that, but we should've stayed to help more." 

        "No, no. Let's just get home before I have to go to work." Dick laughs and I groan. 

        I hug my arms even tighter around him. "Noooooo, I want you to myself." 

        "Then I guess you'll have to come with me then."

        "Yay." I grin from behind him, before he revs the engine and we speed off into the night. 

The Next Morning

        The blanket is ripped away from my almost bare body, since I had slept in Dick's muscle shirt that night. "Get up, you sleepy butt." Dick murmurs, folding the blanket up before placing it on his side of the bed. 

        "You like my sleepy butt." I grumbled back, reaching for the blanket, but Dick grabs my ankles and yanks me towards the end of the bed. 

        "Yes, but that is besides the point. Did you want to come with me or not?" 

        I roll over, glancing up at him. "Hmmm, stay in bed, or go with my walking pillow....?" I grin as I hold out my hands, and he tugs me off of the bed. "I choose you."

        "I'm so flattered." He laughed and I shrugged. 

        "You should be, it was a close race between you and the bed."

At The Police Station 

        "Oh, look at you finally decided to show up." Amy greeted us. "How was the police work over in Gotham?"

        She pulled Dick and I into a big hug, and I could swear she was as strong as Tim was, and he works out everyday. "It was good. We were able to track down the Penguin. We had some slight interference with the two vigilantes from here though. I guess they followed the Penguin also."

        "Hopefully they stayed in Gotham then." Amy murmured, and Dick and I shared a small glance before laughing. 

        "Hopefully." I laugh, before glancing around. "I see you guys cleaned up a little bit around here huh?" 

        "Yeah, Soames finally left the precinct so I was able to get stuff cleaned up around here." Amy winked and I felt as if a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. 

        Dick looked just as happy. "He actually left?" 

        "Yes, so your girl here is safe." Amy grins and now I pull her into a big hug. "Okay, okay, too touchy." She laughs and I let go. 

        "What have the criminals here been up too?" Dick questions Amy, and she leads him off to their desks, handing him some case files. 

        I decided to just wander around a little, heading over to a whiteboard that had a very blurry picture of me on it. Well, not me, but Nightglider stuck onto it. It had pictures of possible hideouts and possible accomplices. I giggle softly when I see that they had a Nightwing column too. "Partners in crime." I whisper softly to myself before turning to look at Dick and Amy, who were still very intent on a case. I crept over, glancing over Dick's shoulder. "Oooo, who's Blockbuster?"

        Amy glanced over at me with a slight startled look. "Wow, you are quiet on your toes."

        "Don't worry about him." Dick answered me. "You don't have anything to worry about with him." Dick swiftly closed the file before I could finish looking at the rest of it, making me very confused. "I'm going to drive Cal home and then I'll be right back." 

        "But..." I mumble, but he was already dragging me by my hand to the motorcycle. "Hey, what's up with you?" 

        "What do you mean?" 

        "You suddenly read that file and then just... don't shut me out, Dick." I glance over at him as I slide onto the seat behind him. 

        I could hear him sigh heavily. "That's not what I want to do. I'm just trying to protect you, is all. Blockbuster is no joke, and neither is his gang. He has it out for me, well Nightwing. I have been always one step ahead of him usually."

        "But since you were away...." I trail off, knowing that things might've gotten worse around here. "Let me help. Please."

        Dick just shook his head. "Not this time. No patrolling tonight either. It will start to get suspicious if Nightwing and Nightglider suddenly return the day we return." 

At the Apartment

        I decided to clean up around the place, since it had gathered a little bit of dust mites. I still had to go to the grocery store eventually, since Dick needed a home cooked meal and not just take out every meal. I then decide to turn on the TV, flipping through the channels until I find a cooking show, where the competitors were using mystery ingredients to make a meal. I sighed, laying down on the couch and just watching it, wishing Dick was there so I could have some sort of company. 

        Maybe I should try and get a job down at the police station like Amy suggested before. Sure, I would have a different partner, but then I would actually be doing something to help. 

        As I turn the TV off and roll over on the couch to take a nap, I hear a loud explosion go through the air, before I hear the smoke alarm go off in the whole apartment building. I stand up, heading for the door when the floor beneath me crumbles away, sending me falling down to the floor below. I hit the ground hard too, knocking the breath out of me as I struggle to get away, dodging some pieces of the crumbling building as I head for the door in that room, noting how no one was in it. 

        The central pillars seemed to have been blown up, causing support beams to start faltering, thus causing the collapse of the floors, and walls. As I reach the fire stair well, I'm pushed from behind, sending me toppling down half of the concrete stairs. I hit the wall, curling up on myself slightly as I blink away my blurry vision. And then I spot Soames looking down at me. I scream for help, but its no use as he lifts me onto his shoulder, his shoulder digging into my torso that ached from the fall. I continue to scream as he takes me out of the stairwell, and into a back alley next to the apartment building, throwing me into the trunk and slamming it shut.