Gotham City airport was a loud place. People not only seemed to be in a rush because of flight, because of appointments that they were already running late for, but because they wanted to get back to the relative safety of home, or to find a hotel that didn't seem to have picked up the local grime. The tension in the air was it's own special kind of feeling. Everyone slightly on edge, wondering what the latest villain was going to do, what Batman and Robin might do to prevent disaster.

The thought brought a slight pang with it, but Dick didn't mind that any more. He'd done his time as Robin, he was here now to talk to Bruce, to make up for how they'd left things. The Titans had taught him more than enough. He needed to try and be his own person, at least for a little while. He didn't want to do that without making amends with Bruce though; it just wouldn't feel right.

'Richard!'

Dick didn't so much see A.J. as feel her collide with him. He let out a soft chuckle, hugged her back tightly for the brief moment that she allowed it before she tugged herself free. He'd missed her. Missed having his best friend by his side. Texts and calls were nowhere near as good as having the real thing.

'Not quite the welcoming I was expecting,' he commented, searching her expression for something, anything that might explain her laps in hugging comfort. But there was nothing, other than the usual flicker of a smile that seemed to linger at the corner of her mouth. 'Who are you and what have you done with A.J.?'

She whacked him gently on the arm, shooting him a somewhat sour look. 'In future I'll just coldly wave at you when you come back to the Manor,' she grumbled, taking the handle of his suitcase and starting out of the airport.

'Come on,' he complained, catching up with her quickly, 'I didn't say it wasn't nice.'

She smirked at him, more at ease than before. 'You know, Barbara was asking about you,' she teased, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. 'Wanted to know when you were coming back from that terrible boarding school.'

'Wait, you told her what?' asked Dick, baffled.

A.J.'s smirk deepened. 'What else could we have said? That you'd gone off to do your time with the hero babies?' She scoffed, shaking her head as if she couldn't believe how dumb he was being.

Dick heaved a sigh, he knew that she had a point, knew that the news had probably been filled with comments about him going away when it had all first happened. It was one of the downsides of living with Bruce: the constant limelight.

'Anyway,' said A.J., leading him away from the taxi rank and towards the busses into the city, 'you can tell her all about that another time; after all, she's basically one of the family now. Jason and Tim are eager to meet their big brother.'

Dick opened his mouth to say something more about Babs but the comment stuck in his throat as A.J.'s words finally sunk in. 'Jason and Tim are here? As in, Tim Drake?' His insides squirmed. He remembered the kid from when he'd been to see them, said about knowing who Batman and Robin really were.

His friend nodded, getting out change for the bus. 'And Jason Todd.'

There was something vaguely familiar about the name, but Dick couldn't quite remember what it was.

'Anyway, how was the trip?' A.J. asked, handing over the money and getting the two tickets. She nodded a brief thank you to the driver, and Dick shot him a warm smile, feeling the weight of the look on him. People were slowly remembering who he was, realising that he was older now than the teenager that they'd last seen in the city. 'Have you come back to tell us all that you're leaving? That you've decided to live in the super boring Metropolis? Or to hit the road and never look back?'

Dick chuckled as they settled into the seats at the back, his suitcase sitting between them despite how much he wanted to leave it in one of the racks to make more space. 'You know Metropolis already have a hero, right?'

A.J. shrugged as if it was nothing impressive. 'And everyone gets so bored they don't even have the enthusiasm to do something fun. Definitely not going there when I travel.'

'You're gonna travel?' Dick asked, cocking his head quizzically. 'How? You hate planes.'

'There are other modes of transport, Dick,' she reminded him, motioning to the bus that they were sitting in.

'So, roadtrip?'

'A little. But I wanna go back home. See Mum.' The admittance was said in such a small voice that Dick almost missed it over the low rumble of the bus. But the words sunk in nonetheless.

'I could come with you, so you didn't have to fly alone,' he offered.

She shot him a small smile, shaking her head ever so slightly. 'Anyway,' she said, louder this time, obviously wanting to move on, and Dick didn't stop her despite how much he might have wanted to, 'the others are meeting us at a café. Probably shouldn't have left Tim in charge of Jason, but there was no way the other way around was going to work.'

Dick chuckled. 'Anything I should know about them before I meet them properly?'

A.J. was quiet for a moment, mulling the idea over. 'I think the surprise is the best bit,' she teased, smirking at him in such a way that he felt a little more nervous about the whole thing than he'd initially thought he would. 

---

Dick was glad when they reached the café. It was tiring, travelling as much as he had, but there was also a comfort in seeing somewhere so familiar. It was the café that he, A.J. and Teddy had gone to a lot after school, when they just wanted to have some time as the three of them. It was down a side street, hidden from most of the people who would think it interesting to see Bruce Wayne's ward and his friends.

He spotted the two boys quickly, they were sat in the usual booth. Tim was instantly familiar to him, though he was much more grown up now than he had been years previously. There was something about seeing him that pulled at Dick's heart. Pride possibly? The boy seemed to have grown up into someone who was reasonable enough, even after everything that had happened. He wondered how much of that was Bruce's influence, and how much of it came down to the boy's father.

The other boy, Jason, was sitting in the corner, petulantly glaring out of the window beside him. He seemed to be ignoring everything going on around him, only interested in searching for something beyond the glass. His dark hair was mussed slightly, a stark contrast to the neatness of Tim's.

'He's the kid who tried stealing the tires!' The memory came back to him in an instant, and caused A.J. to scoff as she nodded a greeting to one of the baristas as they entered, the one who had on occasion tried to flirt with her despite how oblivious she was to the whole thing.

'Hubcaps actually, but he's the one and only,' she assured him, waving briefly at Tim who had pulled his attention away from the news. 'Who'd have thought that he'd be sitting in the thing nowadays,'

Dick sighed. He knew that Bruce had replaced him, and to be honest he couldn't blame the man, but there was still something about the thought that tugged at his heart.

'Took your time,' Jason said, not looking away from the window as A.J. slipped into the seat beside him and Dick took the spare one next to Tim.

'Sorry, there was a robbery on fifth and we thought we'd lend a hand,' A.J. replied coolly, earning his attention. A smirk ghosted the boy's lips before turned his full attention towards Dick. There was something almost piercing about it, but Dick didn't falter as he expected was the usual reaction.

'Nice to meet you,' he said, extending his hand across the table. 'Dick Grayson.'

'I know,' said Jason simply, but he shook his hand nonetheless. 'These two wouldn't shut up about you.'

'Hey!' complained Tim, his cheeks darkening slightly.

Jason, however, ignored him. 'I guess A.J. told you who I was.' It was a statement rather than a question, as he shook the proffered hand.

Dick nodded as he retracted his hand. 'How're you finding it at the Manor?' he asked, shifting his gaze towards Tim as well. He knew that the boy wasn't living there, knew that he was still staying with his father - A.J. had given him the story on the bus after he'd finished telling her about his travels - but spent a lot of time in the Manor training.

The two boys shared a quick look, but it was Tim who spoke. 'The library's good.'

Dick quirked an eyebrow at A.J., who merely shrugged. 'I'm getting drinks,' she announced, leaving the three of them alone. She shot him a smile when he turned to watch her. For a moment he felt panic clutch at his heart. He'd seen Teddy be an older brother long enough, but now faced with the prospect of doing it himself he felt completely unprepared. What was he meant to say?

'Why anyone needs a house that size though,' murmured Jason, something almost bitter about his voice that took Dick by surprise. 'But what else do you expect I guess.'

'You don't get used to it,' Dick admitted, shifting back in his seat a little. The space still intimidated him sometimes - or at least, it had. He wondered if it still would now. It wasn't that the place didn't feel welcoming, Alfred had done an awful lot to keep it that way, but there was something about the space that seemed too much. Dick had grown up used to tents and trailers, used to open air and a lot of it. The Manor was all at once too confining and oddly empty.

'Didn't think so,' murmured Jason.

They fell into an uneasy silence, none of them quite sure how to deal with the others. He wondered how long Jason and Tim had known each other, wondered if they were any different when they were alone together. Though, having seen them upon entering the café, he doubted that.

'What was it like?' asked Tim, lowering his voice so much that Dick had to bow his head a little closer just to hear him. 'With the Titans?'

A small smile slipped easily onto Dick's face; he noticed that Jason appeared a little more interested than he was before. 'Maybe here's not the place,' he admitted, smiling as A.J. joined them again, putting his drink in front of him. 'But when we get back.'

'You're coming to the Manor?'

A.J. hit Jason lightly around the back of the head. 'Of course he is,' she assured him, shaking her head as if she couldn't quite believe how dim he was being. But something shifted behind her eyes when she looked towards Dick. 'Right?'

Dick nodded slowly. He knew that she was thinking back to the row, to the whole thing that had started this. Instinctively he rubbed where the old gunshot scar still lingered, however pale it was now. 'Can't miss an Alfred cooked meal!'

Jason hummed a response, nodded slightly as he lifted his cup.

'He was gonna order takeaway,' joked A.J., frowning over at Tim as if he was a fellow conspirator.

'Pretty sure the world stops the day he does that,' said Dick, earning a grin from Tim.

'It'd have to,' murmured Jason, a smile properly having snaked its way onto his face this time, even though he was trying to cover it with the rim of his cup. 'It's the only way anyone would stop him cooking.'

Dick chuckled, shared a grin with A.J.. He was glad for the little diversion before they headed to the Manor, glad that she had decided they needed time as a little group. He just hoped that things would get easier between them. After all, as she'd said, they were a kind of family now whether they really saw it that way or not. It was something they were going to have to work on, but he knew that eventually they'd get there. Even if it was in their own special kind of way.