A.J. never really had much cause to go to hospitals, but she hated them. Hated the too bright lights, the hushed voices and the constant beeping of machines. Hated the way that they made her feel as though devastation was always around the next corner; as though there was nothing that she could do about it.

The fuss that they had made over her hadn't helped either. She understood that they needed to do their jobs, but all she wanted was for them to focus on Teddy. Her ear wasn't even that bad. The ringing had stopped and she had wiped up the blood in a vague attempt to stop people looking at her. It hadn't worked, but they had dealt with her quickly and assured her that Teddy was getting all the help they could give him.

Now, she hated the looks of pity shot her way as she waited for Teddy to get out of surgery. As she picked nervously at her pocket, the one where her lighter was and which had once housed her cigarettes. She longed for the distraction of rolling one, of making sure that it was just so, even if she wasn't going to smoke it. That was the thing she missed the most, the motions of something that she hadn't even needed to do. Just a personal preference that had always baffled people.

Tim was sat on the plastic chair opposite her, staring at the floor as if all of this was too much. She understood that feeling more than she cared to admit to, but he had been in hospitals too many times in the past few years. Between his parents and then training, this seemed to be a familiar haunt of his for the moment. Dick, however, was pacing the corridor, unable to sit still. He disliked the helpless feeling as much as she did.

Doors squeaked open. A.J. jumped up, tense. A gurney was wheeled out, her brother on top of it looking completely at peace. That alone made her feel worse.

'Is he all right?' asked Dick, by her side in an instant, an authority behind his voice that no longer surprised her.

A doctor paused in front of them. 'Mr. Kane will pull through,' he assured them, relieving a little of the tension knotted in A.J.'s chest. 'He'll need rest, but we have a bed prepared for him. The bullet was a little further in his shoulder than expected, but the head wound was only minor.'

'Thank you,' Dick said, gently taking A.J.'s hand and lacing their fingers together.

The doctor nodded briefly before heading into the room. An unspoken instruction that they couldn't go in until they were told.

A.J. sank back into her chair; her head falling into her hands. She refused to accept that this was happening. Teddy had to be fine; the doctors had even said so. But until she saw it for her own eyes she wouldn't, couldn't, accept that.

Why had she acted? Why had any of them even tried to stop the alien? They weren't ready; mentally or in the sense of having a proper plan in place. They all knew the importance of plans, of underestimating what they were facing; the consequences of not doing it. And yet –

A hand gently on her back caused her to tense. She knew it was Dick, but that did little to alleviate any of her worries. Too much had happened for her to ignore them. Too much for even the anchor of him to help as much as she needed it to.

'Hot drinks?' asked Tim, and she heard him shuffling away, obviously as in need of something to distract himself with as they were.

For his part, Dick remained quiet, knowing that it was what she needed. He just kept his hand on her, more firmly than it probably needed to be. But she was grateful for it. It stopped her from spiralling too much; reminded her that he was there for her. That there was still someone, someone who wasn't injured or gone.

Someone that she hadn't failed.

Why hadn't she checked on Teddy before rushing to attack? Why hadn't she checked the area, spotted the kid so Teddy didn't have to? Why –?

'Here you go.'

Tim's voice was louder than expected, causing A.J. to look up quickly, dislodging Dick's hand. The younger boy was holding drinks out at her, two keeping the third in place. She took the one at the front, barely acknowledging that it was even hot.

And yet, there was something about his expression that set her teeth on edge.

'What happened?' she asked sharply; latching onto the distraction before it could disappear.

Tim wetted his lips, took a sip of his own too hot drink.

'Timothy,' she encouraged, drumming her fingers against the polystyrene cup. She didn't even realise how long he'd been gone for, couldn't even begin to figure out what it was that had him worrying his lip.

'Aliens kind of messed up our low profile,' Tim mumbled, not looking at either of them, instead looking at his shoes. 'Ms. Grant called.'

'What, you?' asked Dick, concern colouring the edges of his voice.

'No. No,' said Tim, shaking his head. There was something close to relief behind his voice, as if he hadn't even worried that might have been the case. 'She called the hospital. They declined to say anything, obviously, but I heard them brushing her off.'

He paused, as if mulling the idea over, not quite sure if he should share the worst of the news or not. After a beat he took a deep breath and ploughed on. 'I... It's just, I remembered what James said, about her taking it as an insult if we didn't go see her, and I didn't think that'd help anything. You know, trying to enjoy the holiday and everything? So, I got them to call her back. She wants to see us in an hour, and she'll send false trails to the other places. Give us some privacy.' He glanced briefly at A.J., towards the door that was hiding Teddy from them.

'How decent of her,' said A.J. bitterly. She was a little glad for it though, but she hated the cost it came with.

Dick heaved a deep sigh. 'I suppose we had to face her eventually,' he admitted heavily, though his expression was oddly blank when A.J. looked around at him. 'You stay here. We'll keep them off your back.' He gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze as he stood up, but his smile looked more like a grimace. It wasn't that he was averse to dealing with the press, far from it in fact as he'd been one of the people at the circus to drum up business, but there was a stark difference between speaking to them for that reason and what this interview might entail. Cat Grant put even Gotham City press to shame.

'We've got to see her?' asked Tim, eyes wide as he glanced towards Teddy's door. 'We can't, like, postpone?'

Dick shook his head solemnly. 'You've made a deal with the Devil, Tim,' he teased, a small smile curling onto his lips.

'And anyway, he's not going anywhere,' A.J. assured him softly, but her gut twisted at the thought. 'Not for the time it'll take you to speak to Cat Grant. And, if he does, I'll let you know.'

Dick took a pensive sip of his drink. 'We'll be back before you know it. At least if we do this now we can enjoy the rest of the holiday and not insult the queen of all media in the process.'

'Unless you say something horrible and that follows us,' she teased, but her heart wasn't in it.

He shot her a small smile, kissed her briefly on the forehead, and steered Tim away. A part of A.J. wanted to go with them, just so she wasn't alone, so she wasn't in the hospital, so she could breathe. But a larger part wanted to be with her brother, to be by his side, to watch over him just in case.

***

Dick hated leaving A.J. and Teddy behind, but he knew that it was for the best. In the hospital there was little he could do, other than help A.J. calm herself; other than be there when she needed him, even if she wouldn't admit to it. But even then, she'd been doing that herself for long enough now. She was getting better at doing it for herself, better even than she seemed to realise.

The hospital felt as though it had sucked everything out of them, not that he realised that until they were out in the fresh air. It hadn't been the fight that had altered the mood of the holiday, it was the aftermath. It was the fact that they were trying to cope with the worst of their job. Too much in too short an amount of time.

And besides, Tim was right. Their best way to get Cat Grant off their backs was to face her head on, that way they could be a little less cautious in future. Not entirely forgetting about the press, but enough to make things feel somewhat normal. It wasn't his favourite idea, but at least it brought A.J. and Teddy some peace. For the moment.

The CatCo building was as impressive as he'd expected. A skyscraper among others that somehow seemed to radiate its owner's own self-confidence. Large windows gave good views of the city, possibly to try catching a glimpse of a story as it unfolded, to figure out if it was worth getting a closer look at. In fact, Dick could almost picture Ms. Grant getting images of the Wayne boys, figuring out where they were and following the ambulance as it snaked its way through the city. All to figure out where to call first.

'Don't worry,' he told Tim softly as they waited in the main office of the building, the hub of the newsroom, chatter overlapping into an almost incoherent babble of noise. 'I'll handle this. Just...' His voice petered out. He didn't want to sound condescending, after all Bruce had probably already given Tim the same lessons Dick had had when it came to dealing with the press.

'Dick? Tim?' James's voice snapped Dick's attention behind them. The man strode over, leaving a blonde lady and the tie-wearing guy from earlier in his wake. Had that really only been a couple of hours ago instead of years? 'I'm so glad you're all right,' James said, clasping Dick's hand, pulling him in for a quick hug, before clasping one of Tim's in both of his. His attention skimmed the area around them, searching for the Kanes.

'Ted got injured,' Dick told him, briefly nodding to the others as they joined them. 'But he'll be OK.'

'Seems we didn't have to wait too long to meet Supergirl,' said Tim simply.

A flicker. That's all. There was the barest flicker of something on tie-wearing man's face that. But right then Dick couldn't decipher it. Instead he shot the other man a charming smile and offered out a hand. 'Dick Grayson,' he introduced. 'And this is Tim Drake.'

He glanced briefly at the younger boy, trying to work out where his comment had come from. There was a flicker of fire behind his eyes, as if he were working something out. Dick didn't have time to wonder about it, but he was glad that the boy had found something to occupy himself with.

'Winn Schott,' the man said, shaking the proffered hand.

Dick mentally stored the name away, specifically to give Teddy's crush an identity, before turning to the woman.

She opened her mouth but was cut off by a shrill call. 'Kira! Bring Mr. Grayson and Mr. Drake in as soon as they arrive.'

The woman sighed, shot them a smile. 'Kara Danvers,' she corrected politely, causing Dick to briefly look at James. 'We should probably go.'

'Of course,' Dick said, allowing her to lead. 'It was a pleasure meeting you, Winn,' he added, before following Kara to the large open office just past the reception desk.

Cat Grant was sat behind her desk, attention trained on papers that covered the table top. Behind her, screens showed the rolling news. Stories from political cover-ups to images of Supergirl leading the purple alien away. Dick spotted himself in one, at the back of an ambulance, hand carefully on A.J.'s back as she climbed in.

They waited in silence for a moment before Kara coughed softly.

Ms Grant closed her eyes, as if mentally counting to ten, before looking up. She surveyed the two of them as her assistant quietly left the room, only the soft closing of the door announced her departure.

'Welcome to National City,' Ms Grant said, putting a hand on the desk and using the other to gesture at the spare sofas. She snatched something out of a draw before joining them as they settled into place.

Oddly, Dick felt on edge. Usually interviews didn't really bother him. He'd been at the side-lines for enough of them, even had to take a few himself as he got older, but never before had he felt so nervous about one. Even those following everything in Gotham had come with a kind of relief, a way of working through his own grief by talking about it. Even if he hadn't been able to speak the whole truth.

'You don't mind if I record this, do you?' asked Ms Grant, putting the Dictaphone between them. Dick knew that it was only a curtesy though, knew it without having to see her flicking it on a moment before he could nod. 'I see you've already had quite the first day here, Mr. Grayson.' Her eyes seemed to sparkle with keen interest. 'An alien attack almost as soon as you stepped onto solid ground.'

Dick chuckled softly, that charming kind of humour behind it that Bruce used most often. All falseness, mild arrogance and exactly what she expected of him because of his link to Bruce. 'We couldn't come without a bang,' he said, gently clapping Tim on the shoulder.

'Where are your friends? Your girlfriend? Boyfriend? Not hurt in the attack, I hope.'

'Friends; and they're resting,' said Tim evasively, causing Dick to smile, briefly turning away from their hostess.

'At least you got to meet our resident superhero though,' she said, a saccharine smile on her face, one that assured Dick that this chat wasn't some small puff piece about a new celebrity in the city. This was a larger piece, one that would probably put Gotham at odds with National City, prove the dangers and prove which one coped with them the best. 'Do you think Gotham needs a few more female heroes?'

Dick gently chewed on the inside of his lip. He knew plenty of women who were heroes in their own rights. Not all of them needed a costume and a secret identity to do it. 'Gotham has a few.'

'Well, there is space now,' she said, eyes glittering.

Suddenly, Dick's throat was very dry. Robin. She was talking about the whole ordeal with Robin. Of course she was. It seemed to be all anyone wanted to talk about when it came to Gotham. That and –

'Tragic what happened there,' she said softly, looking between the two of them. 'Any comments?'

'No,' said Dick carefully, forcing himself to look at her directly. 'I just... I feel sorry for the family he left behind.' He forced the words out; beside him, Tim seemed to tense.

'Yes,' she agreed, nodding slightly. 'After all, I'm sure you can sympathise.'

Dick felt as though all the air had been sucked from the room. He should have known that this was coming, that there was no safe ground with the conversation, but still it disarmed him completely. Everything he'd even contemplated saying seemed to get stuck in his throat. Everything that he had said at the time evaporated.

He was completely unprepared. Again.

'I'm sorry for your loss. Please, pass my condolences onto Bruce about poor Mr. Todd.'

'Thank you, Ms. Grant,' said Tim, gently nudging his shoulder against Dick's. 'Though, we should probably head to find our friends. Check up on them.' He stood up, carefully dragged Dick with him; clasping the back of his arm so it was less obvious. 'Sorry to cut it short.'

'Not at all,' she dismissed, standing to shake their hands, eyes still glittering. 'I'm sure we'll bump into each other soon.'

'Of course,' Dick said, forcing a smile, just wanting to get out of there. He thought he was ready for a conversation like that; to try and think about it all while away from the heartache rather than linking it explicitly with Gotham. But apparently not. 'It was a pleasure.'

She nodded briefly before they wandered away, and even as they left the office and headed to the elevators, Dick could feel her eyes on them. Probably trying to figure out what meaning there had been behind their words, what scoop she might actually have got from them in the short interview.

'Are you all right?' asked Tim, pressing the call button but looking at him with concern burning brightly behind his dark eyes.

Dick heaved a sigh, raked a hand through his hair. 'Between Jason and Teddy? Not really,' he admitted. 'But I will – Oh! Hello.' Dick blinked, as if to double check that it really was Maxwell Lord he had almost walked into, in the man's haste to move further into the newsroom.

'Mr. Grayson,' he greeted curtly. 'And you must be Mr. Drake.'

Tim's eyes seemed to brighten at the fact that one of his heroes knew his name.

'What brings you to CatCo?' asked Dick, guiding them away from the doors, allowing the rush of people in and out to get by more easily.

Mr. Lord seemed to shrink slightly, as if he didn't really enjoyed being there at all, least of all for the reason he was. 'Giving Cat a personal invitation to my train launch.' He paused for a moment, as if weighing something up, before saying, 'You should both come.'

Dick chuckled softly. 'Oh no, we wouldn't want to imp –'

'No, no, I insist,' Mr. Lord said smoothly; there was something oddly calculating behind his eyes. 'With plus ones, of course.'

'Well, thank you,' said Dick, shooting the man a charming smile. 'Now, we really must be going. But we'll be there.' He clapped Tim gently on the shoulder, a silent vow that he meant it.

'Excellent,' Mr. Lord said before saying a brief goodbye and heading to the main office.

'Are we really going to go?' asked Tim as they waited for another elevator. There was a kind of childish hope behind his voice that made Dick's heart melt. A keenness that he'd been worried the boy might have been missing recently.

'Yes,' he assured him, quickly ruffling the younger boy's hair. 'All of us are.' It was time they got the opportunity to make the most of their holiday, that they got to start it with a clean slate in a way. This time, however, he was going to be prepared for whatever National City might try and throw at them.

***

Eventually, and A.J. had no idea how long it had been since she was left alone, a nurse told her she could go into the room. She downed her too cold drink, threw the rubbish away, and was practically in the room before the announcement had even finished.

Teddy somehow looked so small in the bed, so much thinner than normal, that she thought her breath stuttered for a moment. His skin was paler than normal, and a little clammy. They'd patched up the graze at his hairline. A white bandage poked out at the collar of his dark pyjamas, the only real reminder of what had happened. She vaguely wondered if he was going to have to wear a sling.

She was by his side in an instant, hands gripping his uninjured one, fingers brushing the pulse in his wrist; reassuring and steady.

'Why'd you do that, Teddy?' she murmured, drowning out the beeping of machines. 'You saw the gun, didn't you? And it didn't matter because of that kid. You should've let me do it.'

'And let you get yourself hurt?' Teddy's voice was hoarse, barely more than a whisper, but it struck her as if he had shouted. Carefully he opened his eyes, squinting slightly in the light. 'Not a chance, Amy.'

She gave his hand a squeeze, felt the tears pricking her eyes. He was all right. He was awake, and oddly coherent. It really hadn't been that bad. It hadn't been anywhere near...

'I was so worried,' she admitted in a tiny voice, unable to look at him. 'I thought... I thought it was going...' She took a deep breath. It had been too close, way too close. She wanted to shut it away, to ignore it. But that hadn't worked before. This time she forced herself to speak, to tell him the things that were worrying her. After all, he had always been there for her, always ready to help her when she needed it. Always ready to listen despite how infrequently she used that. 'I thought it was going to be like Jason.' She forcefully wiped away a few tears before they got the chance to fall.

Teddy was silent for a moment, but his hand gripped hers a little tighter, caused her to carefully raise her eyes to look at him. There was a tender smile on his face.

'Do you know something? I'm proud of you, A.J.,' he told her.

She scoffed softly, opened her mouth to dismiss it, but he kept talking, cutting her off.

'I'm serious,' he insisted. 'After everything, after shutting down for so long because that's how you protected yourself, that was a big step. Do you know, you've not said –'

'Ted, I love you, but right now can we not?' she asked softly, feeling the burning sensation of tears at the back of her throat. Of course he was turning this on her, trying to pull her out of herself a little now that she had stepped that little bit out of her comfort zone. But right then she couldn't deal with this, couldn't do any more than she already had by voicing those things. She needed to be there for him, needed to know that he was safe. 'You need to rest.' She gently patted him on the knee.

Carefully he closed his eyes, settled further into the pillows. 'Just... just promise me we can do this again sometime. Talks like this,' he murmured, his voice drifting further and further into the realms of sleep.

'Of course,' she whispered, feeling a little of the tension rising from her shoulders. For once, she honestly meant it.

Dick had needed a walk. As soon as they were outside CatCo he had started walking away from everything. Tim didn't question him, merely walked alongside him, either not wanting to be alone or not wanting to leave Dick alone. He wasn't sure, but he was glad for the silent company. He knew he should head back to the hospital, but he couldn't go in there as tense as he currently was. A.J. would latch onto that, would focus on him instead of herself. He couldn't let her do that.

They walked in silence, Dick's attention skimming over the passers-by, ignoring the looks of almost recognition that flashed across some of their faces. He smiled politely, but it was more out of habit than anything else. He had no idea how much time had passed, but that didn't bother him. He'd needed this, needed a moment to think about everything that had happened. A pause in the hecticness that appeared to be his life.

Maybe they should have stayed in Gotham. Maybe they were just tempting fate in some way by trying to outrun everything.

His thoughts were broken by his phone vibrating against his leg. He hastily fumbled for it and stepped aside to let other people past.

His chest tightened when he spotted A.J.'s name, but it quickly eased up a little when he noticed the start of her text.

Without thinking he opened it, skimmed it and then showed it to Tim.

Ted's been given drugs and released. See you at the hotel.

'We walking back?' asked Tim, peering at Dick curiously.

Dick shook his head, a small smile on his face. 'We'll get a taxi,' he said.

Tim seemed to give a sigh of relief, one which only made Dick's smile grow.

'Anyway,' said Dick, something coming back to him. 'What was that about Supergirl earlier?' He walked towards a taxi rank and waved an arm, all the while watching Tim. That light seemed to ignite behind his eyes once more. The excitement, as if he were looking at a puzzle that no one else could see.

'We met her twice,' Tim told him, assurance ringing behind every syllable.

'Cat Grant?' Dick teased, smirking at the horror that seemed to cloud Tim's face momentarily. 'You mean Kara?'

Tim nodded enthusiastically as a taxi pulled in for them.

'And Winn knows about it.'

Dick beamed at him. 'Have you been reading those "How to think like Sherlock Holmes" books again?' he asked, realising the look the man had shot his friend was concern, mingled with a little fear.

Tim shrugged modestly, but there was no ignoring the pride that seemed to radiate off him. At least something good had happened from their morning in National City.

***

It was much quicker getting to the hotel by taxi, which shocked Dick. He was used to taxis seeming to take longer, used to the driver complaining about the traffic. Somehow, National City seemed to have it's quiet even drummed into their taxi drivers. It was odd, but somehow a little refreshing.

He was barely thinking straight as he told the receptionist who they were. He only really perked up when she assured him that his friends had already taken their keys. He nodded his thanks and all but ran to the elevators.

It wasn't until he entered their room that the full weight of everything fell from Dick's shoulders. He gave a sigh of relief as he pulled Teddy into an awkward hug over the back of the sofa that he was lounging on.

'I like all the hugs being injured comes with,' Teddy said lightly, patting him carefully on the back with his good arm. The one where he'd been shot was in a sling, keeping it a little raised. Dick couldn't remember why they did that, but it didn't matter. Teddy was there.

'Bit of an extreme way of doing it though,' noted Tim as he slipped further into the room, nodding his greeting to the older man. There was no ignoring the slight look of concern on his face though, the realisation of just how close they might have been to something terrible happening all over again.

'Dramatic's his middle name, so kind of expected,' teased A.J. from her perch on the arm of the sofa. A quiet sentry for her brother. Dick had a feeling that she'd been by his side ever since he was allowed out of bed.

Dick chuckled as he straightened, shifting his attention around the room briefly. It was reasonably impressive; the living space was filled by two large sofas in front of a TV, and a large window gave a view of the city probably rivalled even Cat Grant's. To the right was a little kitchenette, one of the things that had drawn him to it, a way for them to be together without other people nosing in on it all. Two twin rooms had to be behind the doors on the left, but Dick didn't bother looking. He merely flopped onto the other sofa, closing his eyes.

'You can't be worn out already, Richard,' said A.J.. He heard the creaking of the arm before feeling her patting his cheek; he tried to bat her hand away but was too lethargic for it to be of any use.

'He can't actually,' said Tim, causing Dick to open a curious eye. 'We've got invitations to the train launch.'

A.J. stopped attacking Dick and he could have sworn that she almost fell off the arm. 'You what?'

Dick heaved a sigh and swung his legs back over the sofa so he was sitting up properly. 'Met Maxwell Lord –' A.J. groaned, mumbled something irritable under her breath '– and he said we should go. You up for it?' He glanced towards Teddy who seemed to have perked up considerably. Not that the other man had seemed all that down, if Dick was being honest, but it was a noticeable shift in his demeanour.

'Am I!' he said quickly, beaming around at them.

Dick raked a hand through his hair. He needed to make sure that they were all on the same page, needed to come clean to them now the worst case situation seemed more like a possibility. A when rather than an if. 'I know we said no hero stuff –'

'But you came prepared?' asked A.J., cocking her head to one side.

With a sigh, Dick glanced around at the others but there was no ignoring the looks of guilt that appeared to flash behind their expressions. The way they glanced between each other as if they already knew that the others had done exactly the same thing.

It was Tim who broke the silence, who shot them all a kind of smirk that Dick had never seen before. 'You didn't think any of us would go anywhere without at least something, did you?'

'Once a vigilante, always a vigilante,' said A.J., amusement laced behind her voice.

Dick chuckled, heard Teddy groan. But there was no denying that they were all in agreement. This time they weren't going to be completely helpless. This time they were going to break the one rule that they'd set themselves up for the holiday. They were going to be prepared for the worst that came with being heroes, not just being civilians.