Rising Robin

Chapter VII: Don't Tell Bruce

Dick sat at the dinner table, eating his plate of eggs & bacon while clicking away on his laptop. He didn't think it was rude to use the laptop while eating breakfast since Bruce & Alfred had already had breakfast hours before.

Dick remembered Bruce stopping by the bedroom in the morning. Bruce had said something about Dick staying low & not going out for a while. Bruce may have said why, but Dick didn't remember. He was too dozed off.

Dick glanced up at the clock in the kitchen. It was a quarter past 1:00. Dick had basically slept through all of breakfast.

Dick didn't care. It was the first day in a while that Dick had to rest. Dick didn't want to throw it away.

Dick sighed in relief. He went back to his computer. He typed in "Cheyenne Freemont" in a search engine. He had been thinking of her ever since he got out of Nolan's Underground. He even had a dream about her the night before, despite his late night terrors. He was standing next to Cheyenne on the rooftop of a building in Gotham. It was a rainy night in the dream. It felt a bit scary, but with the feeling of her next to him, Dick felt great.

Now, with a chance to start anew, Dick only hoped he'd get a chance to start again with Cheyenne, wherever she may be.

Dick scrolled through the search results. A few were just social network pages of irrelevant women under the name. Dick took a bite of bacon, continuing through the results. Eventually, he found an online adoption record of a Cheyenne Freemont. According to the record, she had been adopted from the Gotham City Orphanage when she was 10 years old.

"Morning, Master Grayson," Alfred said from behind Dick, startling him.

"Gah!" Dick called out. "Don't do that!"

Alfred let out a laugh. "I apologize, sir," he said. Alfred took a seat at the dinner table. "How did you sleep last night?"

Dick shrugged. "A few nightmares, a few pleasant dreams. Just the average subconscious of an adolescent boy." Dick took a bite of egg from his breakfast plate. "How did you sleep?" Dick asked with a full mouth.

Alfred smiled. "Swell, sir," he responded. Alfred nodded to the laptop. "Doing some online browsing?"

Dick nodded, turning back to the laptop screen. "Just searching up an old friend from the orphanage. I'm considering visiting her soon, but I dunno..." Dick trailed off.

Alfred eyed Dick for a few moments. He raised an eyebrow. "Do you have an address, son?"

Dick began scanning the page. He looked everywhere but only saw the names of the adoptive parents, Xavier & Linda Foster. Dick entered both names in the search engine & found an address in Gotham. Dick turned to Alfred. "3546 Westin Road," Dick told Alfred.

Alfred stood up. "Grab a coat, Master Grayson, I'm driving you there."

Dick held his hands up. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" he cried. "What? Really? Are you sure? I'm supposed to stay here, Al."

Alfred let out a sigh. "This girl, she's special, right?"

Dick hesitated before answering. He wanted to answer properly. "Cheyenne," he started, "she was my only friend at the orphanage. She was all I had. We both felt alone. My parents had died, but her parents had abandoned her. We were both lost & confused. I remember she had asked me about the circus & my time there. I told her about some of my shows & performances. She made me do a few tricks for her. I had ran up a wall, flipping backwards, & continuing with a triple backwards flip. She was amazed." Dick began staring off into space. He could almost see her standing before him, smiling in awe.