girl wonder | dick grayson ✓

seven.

girl wonder.
chapter seven

WHEN Dick arrives, I give Dad the tightest hug I possibly can without crushing his bones and assure him that I'll be okay.

"I know you will be," he says as-a-matter-of-factly. I glance down at the box in my arms.

"Take care of yourself, Dad. Call or text me if you need."

He nods vigorously and I know he'll be okay too. From those few years of watching me do martial arts, I don't have a single doubt that he picked up some moves. He just won't admit it.

I turn to Dick, who eyes the box. "I hope you don't mind me bringing a few clothes along."

"Oh, sure. Here, you can put it in the back."

I follow him to the back of the car, where he pops open the trunk and motions for me to set the box down. After that, he climbs into the driver's seat and I into the passenger seat.

With one final wave to Dad, we pull out of my driveway, leaving D.C. behind.

I lose track of time when I begin to gaze out the windscreen, watching as cars roll past us. There's a car coming towards us. No, we're in the wrong lane of traffic. Why are there two of the same car?

"Natasha!"

I let out a breath I hadn't realised I'd been holding. My hand releases its grip on the handle of my door, which had caused my knuckles to turn whiter than paper. The cars are all in the right lanes. No one's coming towards us anymore.

"Are you okay? You're paler than a ghost."

"Uh, yeah. Sorry. Just... It never gets easier leaving my dad, no matter how many times I go away for work."

"Do you want me to turn around?" He's eyeing my hands, which I wring in my lap as they tremble.

"No, uh, that's okay."

A few minutes and some deep breaths later, I find myself feeling somewhat normal again. As normal as I can be, anyway.

"So," I begin, as Dick steers onto the highway. "We have seven hours to kill, right? Why don't you explain everything to me about Rachel?"

Dick chuckles. He's silent for a moment, his eyes concentrating before he speaks as if he's choosing his words carefully. Then he huffs, and begins speaking. "About two days ago, one of the other cops brought a girl, Rachel Roth, into questioning for throwing a brick at one of our cars. They had me go talk to her and when I did, she recognised me, for some reason. Said she came looking for me because she saw me in one of her dreams, well, nightmares. I obviously thought it was a stupid prank, so I let someone else take care of her, but she ended up getting drugged and taken to some abandoned apartment building. When I found her there, she... killed the guy who took her, but... I don't know. It's hard to explain how she killed him because I didn't see exactly what happened. All I know is that when I got inside the room where she was, guy was laying in his own blood. All of it."

My face scrunches up in disgust.

"After that, I knew there were people after her, probably the same people that killed her mom, so I had to take her somewhere safe. The only place I knew to go was here, to Hank and Dawn's. I knew they could provide her with everything she needed, you know?"

I nod my head. "Of course."

"When we got home yesterday, Rachel wasn't in the apartment, but I found her up on the roof." He stops to sigh. "She found a note and an envelope full of money that I was gonna give to Hank and Dawn so they could take care of her for a while, just until I could figure things out."

"She thought you were gonna abandon her, huh?"

Dick turns to me, gazing at me with surprise. "Yeah, she did, but I was just trying to do the right thing. I mean, I'm not exactly great at relationships. Dawn and I had a thing a few years ago, but... things just didn't work out."

"You and Dawn?" I grin. "Wouldn't have pictured it. That's besides the point. Look, I get where you're coming from, but I also get where Rachel's coming from. She's young. She's probably terrified. I know I would be if my mom was murdered and I had no one to go to but some guy from a dream. No offence."

"None taken."

"You should have at least spoken to her. You know, tried to explain to her that you wanted to help her."

Dick shakes his head. "I did try."

"Maybe not hard enough." I shrug.

Dick doesn't say anything, only stares ahead at the road. After a while of gathering his thoughts, he continues.

"Anyways, we were all up on the roof last night, and then this... family showed up. A mom and a dad, and two teenage kids. I had no idea what was happening until they started attacking us. They were strong, Natasha. Really strong. One of them ended up throwing Dawn from the roof and they took off with Rachel."

"What the hell?" I question, my face morphed into confusion.

"Yeah. I got a call this morning from my precinct saying there was a woman seen in Rachel's home, the crime scene for her mother's murder. She beat up three of their cops. They spotted her again at a gas station in Ohio."

"Damn," I mumble, staring down at my lap, my brain trying to put puzzle pieces together as the information settles in my mind.

"Alright, your turn."

"Huh?"

"I told you a story, now you tell me one. Seven hours, remember?" Dick smirks.

"I'd hardly call that a story. More like intel for Operation: Find Rachel Roth."

He glances over at me, laughing and shaking his head. "How do you suppose we pass time, then?"

"Hmm... How about a classic game of I Spy? Or I could search for some riddles on my phone. Or we could play bingo. Oh! Or word association!"

Dick's chuckling again. His eyes are bright as he stares at me and I feel my cheeks burn up.

"Sounds like you're no stranger to long drives."

"My job requires me to travel a lot, so I can't say I am, no."

A comfortable silence falls upon us. My eyes linger on him for a little too long, but I quickly tear them away when he notices and turns to look at me. Blood rushes to my cheeks again.

For the next few hours, I mostly sleep. I offer to swap with Dick and drive for a little while, but he insists there's no need.

Ever so often I glance over at Dick to find his eyebrows knitted together. His eyes look like they're half focused on the road and half lost in thought. I don't find the courage to ask him what he's thinking about.

We pass three gas stations and stop at two of those for coffee and snacks. Dick begins to turn into a fourth after what feels like not even an hour and I perk up from my slumber. When my eyes land on dozens of cars, yellow tape and men wearing luminous coats, I come to the conclusion that we're not here to buy more snacks.

"Stay here. I won't be long," he says and begins to step out of the car.

"Wait," I exclaim. He freezes for a second, then sits back down. "You dragged me all the way out to Ohio and now you're making me wait in the car?"

Dick glares at me for a second and I swear I see a flicker of a smile on his face.

He hesitates, and then, "fine."

author's note | i just want to see brenton as nightwing is that too much to ask for