Sad Beautiful Tragic | Dick Grayson [ON HOLD}

6

Gotham City, New Jersey

Ashley stood by each other grunting as they dug down in the chilly night air of Gotham, occasionally looking at Jason's headstone like they couldn't believe they were illegally exhuming a coffin. They hadn't talked about what had occurred in Hobb's, how they kissed, or the fact that both of them had feelings that weren't going away. Ashley couldn't help but wonder if he would stay in Gotham with her, let Kory run the Titans if that was what it took. She knew the second she let him back in, it would be over for her. She knew she shouldn't be thinking of her and Dick's relationship as they dug up a grave, but her mind was hyper-fixated on him being so close to her. Ashley looked over to him and saw him beating himself over Jason's words, and she wanted nothing more than to quiet his mind. Ashley let out a sigh of relief as the shovels hit the coffin and Ashley nodded at him. She stepped to the side and Dick turned on the flashlight and Ashley opened the coffin, grimacing when she saw it was empty. "If he was ever in it, I imagine there would've been more red" Ashley commented, her mouth pressed into a thin line. "That was Jason" Ashley said, putting her hands over her face and shaking her head disappointedly.

"Ash" Dick said in confusion as he looked at the empty coffin. 

"Let's go" Ashley said, shutting the coffin in anger. "We gotta break it to them after everyone wakes up, and you need to sleep" Ashley said pointedly, ignoring the apparent bags under her eyes. The two grabbed the shovels and threw them over the top of the dirt pile. Dick helped Ashley out and she pulled him out of the false grave and the two shoveled the dirt back into place. They both walked back toward the Manor after they settled the dirt and stopped in the mud room in the East Wing and took off their shoes, not saying a word to each other while Ashley led the way back towards their rooms. Dick went into his room and Ashley walked into hers, quickly taking off her mud-crusted pants and throwing them in her bathtub before she moved her muddy shirt. She quickly rinsed the mud out of her clothes, her face scrunched up in disgust as she did so. "Gross" Ashley muttered and took a quick shower before she dried off and took the semi-dried clothes and threw them in the laundry shoot. She changed into pajamas and looked at her door, briefly wondering if she should go to Dick's room. Ashley sighed and curled up into bed, alone and confused, and attempted to sleep as the Gotham moon shown in through the open curtains. She briefly wondered what it would be like to have her mother in this particularly shitty situation she had found herself in and sighed as she attempted to fall asleep. She tossed and turned uncomfortably for hours as she sought the peacefulness of sleep, but her mind was loud and she opened her eyes to look at the door again before she made a decision. She pursed her lips and got out of bed with a shake of her head and left her room quietly and made her way to Dick's. She quietly opened the door like she was a child sneaking candy and quietly shut the door. She crawled into Dick's bed and laid beside him, her thoughts finally quiet.

"What?" He asked groggily, startled when she put her hand over his and gripped it tightly before realizing it was Ash.

"Shh" She said to him with narrowed. "The kids are asleep you hooligan and I can't sleep, so you're stuck with me" Ashley informed him. "So just...let it happen" Ashley said, getting under the covers and curling up into his side.

"You have got to be the strangest woman in the world" Dick muttered, readjusting them so her head was on his chest and his arm circled around her waist as one of her arms was thrown around his waist and the other tucked under his pillow. While uncomfortable to anyone who may have looked at them in their current position, it was one of their most comfortable positions to sleep in and Ashley relaxed almost immediately after they were situated.

"For the man who's been trying to get me back in his bed for almost five months, you suck at this" Ashley muttered, pinching his side. He pinched her side back with a sleep-filled chuckle and she smiled for the first time in what felt like forever, feeling no pain as she did so.