Got Your Back, Always

II.II

Three months later

"I've got a triple venti mocha for Rochelle, a double dirty chai for Massie, and a small coffee for Dirk."

"Dick."

Cassie snorted but grabbed her drink sending a smile to the man behind the counter.

The barista handed him his drink, "Excuse me?"

"Oh. Uh...Never mind. Here."

Rachel takes her coffee from him and laughs, "Nice." They walk away, "So, have you put any thought into our name?"

"What do you mean?" Dick asks watching her.

She takes a sip of her coffee and proceeds to add a ton of sugar to it. "Well, you two, Hank, Dawn, and Donna were the Titans. So, what are we? The New Titans? Titans 2.0?"

Dick smiles, "Titans: The Next Generation?"

Rachel stops and looks at him, still holding the sugar, "You're not helping."

Cassie grinned at the two, enjoying watching their interaction.

"Look, Rach, it doesn't matter what you're called. It matters what you do. We're training for whatever's next. There's never a shortage of people out there who wanna screw things up for the rest of us. You know what they say, 'All it takes for evil to succeed-'"

"'Is for good men and women to do nothing.'" Rachel responds, and Cassie chuckled.

Dick grabbed Cassie by the waist and pulled her closer, thinking that was somehow payback for laughing, "That's Titans. Good men and women not doing nothing."

He walks away, not letting go of Cassie, as Rachel finishes stirring her coffee, "You could put that on a T-shirt, Dirk."

Cassie laughed even more, which of course made Dick tickle her sides, making her gently squeal.

Back at the tower Gar and Jason are training, Jason is blindfolded.

Jason takes his blindfold off, "Fuck, man!"

"You said don't hold back," Gar defends himself.

"What were you doing? I was fucking blindfolded."

"You said, 'Don't hold back.'"

Rachel walks into the training room, "Should I get the hose?"

"What's goin' on?" Dick asks.

"Boys, are you playing nice?" Cassie crosses her arms.

Jason responds, "We did what you said, the blindfold thing, then he went nuts on me."

"He said, 'Don't hold back,'" Gar defends again.

"Then why do we even learn to fight like this, man? Hey, it's idiotic. We have eyes."

"In battle, anything can be taken from you," Dick explains, he grabs Jason's arms and twists them so he takes his staff, "Your hands..." he goes after Gar with the stolen staff, slamming it into the ground, "Your feet..." he turns and points the staff in Rachel's face, "and your eyes. No matter what is taken, you must be able to keep fighting. And win."

"Your mind must be strong in order to actually win a fight, strength isn't just physical," Cassie adds to Dick's explanation.

He steps back and looks at them, "All right, get changed. Attack scenarios in the tech room in five minutes. Then breakfast."

Gar and Rachel leave.

"Yo, look, it's been three months, man," Jason calls after Dick. "When do I get to go back to Gotham City?"

Cassie looks at Dick, "I'll let you two talk." She gently touches his arm, sends a smile to Jason, and leaves the room.

After breakfast, the kids go to their rooms to "study". Cassie sees Dick sitting on the couch. She had been getting ready for work, as Cassie still had a job to do.

"Hey, you," she says gently sitting next to him.

He sits up, "Well don't you look professional. You really wear stuff like this all the time?" He pulled her into a hug, not really wanting her to leave for work, as he leaned the two of them back.

"Well, I am the boss. It would be a bit weird if I showed up in my normal clothes."

"Hmm." Dick leaned his head against hers, "Do you have to go?"

She chuckled, "Yes, Gray, I do. I haven't been in the office for a few days so I know there's going to be papers for me to look over. I don't like when they pile up, it stresses me out."

"Why are you so responsible?" he grumbles.

"Because one of us has to be," she faces him and boops his nose.

He crinkles it in response. He looked at her closely, and she placed her hand on his face gently stroking it. The two of them could have stayed like that for hours, but Cassie's phone chimed.

"Mmm, that's my uber." Dick groaned, closing his eyes and pulling her closer, "I have to go."

"But Cass," he whined.

"I'll be home around dinner, don't make the kids eat something awful ok?" Cassie tried to sit up, but Dick pulled her closer one more time.

"Don't stay late, they might burn down the place if you're gone too long."

"Oh, I'm sure the kids will know to take the lighter away from you before taking the gasoline."

"Hey!"

She laughed and stood up. He flopped back onto the couch and watched her leave, "No kiss goodbye?"

She rolled her eyes, and his eyebrows rose as she walked closer. He was still laying back on the couch, she placed a hand on his cheek, his face was intently watching her upside down and she gently placed a kiss on his forehead.

"Bye, Gray!" she smirked and left the building, she could hear him groaning as she left.