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seriousficTitle: Wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Lian Harper, Dick Grayson
Word Count: 2,578
Summary: Being a godfather means you watch out for your god-daughter. It’s like a promise in that way.
Lian dug her Batgirl doll out of the toy box. It was the Batgirl with no skin and stitches for a mouth. Daddy didn’t buy her any bad guy action figures, not since he threw away her Dr. Light one, so she made Batgirl a bad guy because Batgirl looked scary. Plus, Aunt Dinah had gotten her an action figure of the original Batgirl for her birthday and there couldn’t be two Batgirls.
It was five minutes until 3:00, when Spongebob came on, and she had finished her homework. “’RRR!’” Lian voiced as she puppeted Batgirl. “’I shall beat you all up because I am evil and evil is stronger than good!’”
“’Nuh-uh!’” Lian narrated in a new, baritone voice as she brought out her shiny new Red Arrow figure. “’You’re the one who’s gonna get beat up!’”
Lian stopped playing and looked around. Her nanny was nowhere in sight. She bashed the toys together, then dropped Red Arrow to the floor.
“’Owie-owie-owie! Someone help!’”
Lian got out her Wonder Woman action figure. “’Don’t worry, I’ll save you!’”
The front door opened and slammed. Dad? Lian scampered to the stairs leading down from the TV room. Uncle Dick was standing on the landing, head bowed like he got when he was thinking. Lian spied on him, wondering when the detective would notice her. But he was so deep in thought, and so motionless, that it wasn’t until she shouted “Uncle Dick!” that he looked up.
There was an obviously phony smile on Uncle Dick’s face. Lian wondered if he wasn’t happy to see her. “Hey, munchkin. Got a minute?”
Lian glanced at the VCR timer. “Spongebob Squarepants is coming on.”
“We’ll tape it. Pack your things. We need to leave.”
“Like for a sleepover?”
“Yeah. Kinda like that. You need any help getting the suitcases out of the hall closet?”
“No. Daddy showed me how.”
“Good ol’ Roy.” Dick watched Lian run to her room at the constant sprint of the prepubescent. “Only pack what you need,” he called after her. “We’ll come back for the rest later.”
Lian threw a few sets of clothes into her backpack, some snacks, her Game Boy, and put on the Teen Titans panic button necklace she was supposed to press if she ever felt like she was in trouble. She put on shoes and socks, put a rubber band around her deck of Pokeman cards, and put some more clothes and books into her suitcase. Then she tugged it out to the TV room on its wheels.
Uncle Dick was putting things away into the toy box, a cell-phone nestled against his ear by his shoulder. He was talking quietly in that way adults did when they had very important things to discuss. Lian strained to hear…
“I got her, she’s fine. No, she doesn’t know… yeah, well maybe I’m not ready.” Dick paused, action figures of Arsenal and Nightwing in his hands. He noticed Lian. “Talk to you at home. Oh, and tape today’s Spongebob. No, not for me… I love you too, bye.”
He tossed the action figures into the toy box, flipped the cell-phone shut, and stood to stretch his back. “Alright, Lian, all set for a road trip? Used the bathroom and everything?”
She nodded brightly.
“Good deal.” He gestured to the toy box. “You ever play with these?”
“All the time.”
“Alright then.”
Dick stooped and picked up the heavy toy box, precariously balancing it down the stairs.
“I thought you said we would come back for stuff later,” Lian said.
“Later might not be for a while. It’s not safe here.”
“But daddy and Grandpa Ollie and Aunt Dinah keep it safe.”
Dick grunted with exertion as he reached the bottom of the stairs. “And they’ve… done a real good job. But right now things are a little touch and go. Mind getting the door?”
Lian did. Dick’s car was parked on the curb, the engine idling, smoke drifting out of the tailpipe like there was a monster inside puffing on a cigarette. The sun was so bright that Dick squinted as he dragged the toy box out the door. He set it down on the porch and locked the front door behind him.
“But you don’t have to worry, because I’m going to take care of you, okay?” The door locked and held fast when Dick tested it. “Hey, where ya wanna go to eat?”
“Anywhere I want?”
Dick threw his arms wide. “Anywhere you want!”
“McDonald’s!”
Dick looked crest-fallen, exaggeratedly so. “That’s it?”
“They have a new Happy Meal toy and…”
“So you don’t want pizza?”
“Pizza!?”
Dick grinned, but it was a tiny thing. “Maybe a sundae to wash it down?”
Lian threw a fist in the air triumphantly. “Yay!”
They threw their luggage in the back of the car, then piled into the front seat. Dick almost started the engine, then stopped expectantly. Lian buckled her seatbelt. Dick nodded, turned the key. The car came on, including the radio. A boring news station…
“Authorities still mum after the Green Arrow left one supervillain dead, another hospitalized, both suspects in the…”
Dick switched the radio off, took the car out of park. He stepped on the gas hard and tires squealed as they took off. Fifteen minutes later they were at Chuck E. Cheese’s. Lian grabbed two plates of pineapple pizza from the buffet table, then grabbed a cheese pizza for Dick. When she found him, he was crying.
“Why are you sad?” she asked.
Dick rubbed at his eyes with his napkins. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. With nothing to say, he shut it again.
“You wanna play at the arcade? That always makes me feel better.”
“Yeah,” Dick said, his voice so hoarse he might not have used it for a million years. “Yeah, I really would like that.”
They played Time Crisis two-player, Dick letting Lian rack up more points than him, and helped her come up with a cool initial to put in on the high score table. Sluggish from too much pizza, Lian slumped into her seat and they rode off again. She fell asleep from the Detroit motor rumbling.
When she woke up, it was night and the car had stopped. Dick was still in the driver’s seat, again in his weird trance, hands still on the wheel. Lian yawned.
“Hey, get it in gear,” Dick said, jolted into motion by her awakening. “We’re here.”
Lian followed him out of the car. “Where’s here?”
Wherever it was, it was cold. Dick took off his jacket and put it on her. It was much too big for her, the hem dangling down near her ankles, but the warmth from Dick’s body heat made it nice and toasty.
“We’re in Metropolis,” he said. “You’re gonna be staying here a little while.”
“Why can’t I stay in Star City? With daddy?”
Dick bit his lip. “Come inside. I’ll explain there.”
He got the luggage and Lian toyed with the zipper on her jacket. She felt nervous, like before a big test at school. They went into a big building and took an elevator up. Lian watched how the elevator button lit up when Dick pressed it.
“Is my dad o—“
“Your father’s a great man,” Dick said. The elevator chimed, cutting them both off.
They walked out into the biggest room Lian had ever seen. It kinda reminded her of the big meeting rooms in Titans Tower. This one has lots of paintings on the walls, and wood paneling, and studio lighting. There was a semi-circle of furniture at the far end, with hallways branching off past it. A woman in a wheelchair was moving toward them. She was pretty, and had nice hair.
“Hello Lian. My name is Barbara Gordon. I hear you’re going to be staying here for a while.” Dick took her hand. “With us. I ordered pizza…”
“I had pizza for lunch. What happened to my daddy?”
“Babs, give us a moment, okay?” Dick squeezed her hand and let go of it as she went away.
Then he sat down on a couch, black leather not like the comfy fuzzy fabric at her home. He patted the cushion beside him. Lian jumped up. Dick hunched forward to rest his elbows on his knees, his hands kneaded together. Then he put an arm around her. It was strong, but curiously cold. Limp.
“Your father was at work when he heard about a bank robbery. He made an excuse, changed into costume, went to help just like a thousand times before. The robbers were a pack of supervillains pooling their resources. They set the bank on fire to cover their escape. Roy fought them, managed to knock out one. He got shot through the shoulder by one of their henchmen…”
“So he’s in the hospital, but he’s gonna be okay? He’s gonna be okay!” Lian insisted.
Dick proceeded in a calm, low monotone. “He bandaged the wound and went back into the bank to help people. He got everyone out, but he inhaled a great deal of smoke. Then he commandeered a vehicle to go after the robbers. When he caught up to them…” Dick paused, swallowed, pressed his lips into a thin line. “The wounds had taken their toll. They slowed him down and of the robbers fired a blast… he didn’t feel any pain.”
“No,” Lian said, hollow. Then, she gathered her conviction. “No! No! You’re lying! He’s been replaced or in a coma or he’s in another dimension, like Aunt Donna…”
Dick shook his head slowly. “His body’s at the morgue. There’ll be a funeral in a few days. It should be safe by then… Ollie’s handling things in Star City for now; the Justice League’s helping out.” Dick paused and blew out a deep breath. “A long time ago, Roy and I made each other some promises. I made him promise that if something ever happened to me, he would take care of Barbara… she’s the woman you met, my girlfriend. And I promised that if something ever happened to him, that I would look after you…”
Lian leaped down from the couch and kicked him. “I don’t wanna stay here! I wanna go home!” She ran for the elevator, but her legs quickly failed her.
Dick caught up to her where she was lying on the ground, crying. He fell to his knees and hugged her to him, her head against his chest, hearing his heart pound like the clenching of a fist.
“I know, baby, I know.” He patted her back. “I miss him too.”
“But… b-b-but it’s my birthday in June and he promised he would make it, Dad promised, and he never breaks a promise, never ever…”
Dick dried her hot tears with his sleeve. “Shh. Shh. We’re gonna take care of you, Barbara and me. And Dinah and Ollie and Connor are gonna come down here when they can. Your daddy was a hero and we’re gonna… we’re gonna keep him alive…” Wordless, Dick tapped his chest.
“In our hearts?”
“Yeah.” Dick said, choking back his own tears. “Where nothing can hurt him.”
Lian cried for a long time. She thought she would’ve ran out of tears, but she never did. And eventually she just chose to stop crying, because her dad didn’t raise a crybaby. She lifted her head from Dick’s chest and saw that the red-haired lady, Barbara, was there too. She had a hand on Dick’s back, rubbing supportively. Dick’s eyes were reddened, but dry.
“Come on, let’s get you to bed.”
But that night, Lian couldn’t get any sleep. She played it over and over in her head. She’d seen her father defy death, dodging it by inches. This was just like that, but a few inches closer. She shut her eyes, but that didn’t keep the images out. She could see how his flesh must’ve blistered, the smell of boiling tissue as he slowly cooled…
She got up out of bed and went to where Dick had said his room was. There were voices coming out from under the door. She bent to listen to them.
“I’m not letting her go into the system, Babs, you know what those people do. Just pull a few strings…”
The second voice was Barbara’s: “But how long is she supposed to stay with us? I mean, we’re not exactly…”
“You want me to let Ollie take her? He couldn’t raise a cactus. And not Dinah, not after that whole thing with Sin…”
Barbara’s voice cut across his arguments. “We’re not ready for this.”
There was a long silence. Lian held her breath.
“We have to be.”
There was a sigh, like Donna used to make when she gave into one of her father’s…
Daddy.
“Just… promise me you won’t turn her into your sidekick.”
Dick laughed, but it was a thin sound.
Lian pushed open the door. Dick was in bed with Barbara, who was lying on his chest. His fingers were stroking her hair like it was keeping him sane. They saw her and turned on the bedside lamp. Barbara pulled the sheet a little higher over her nightie. There were rings hanging down over the bed.
“My…” Lian paused, unsure of what to say. It was like the emotions were fighting it out in her stomach, trying to decide what she’d feel next. “My daddy always used to read to me from a storybook.”
Dick got out of bed, grabbing a robe to pull on over his boxer shorts and blank white T-shirt.
“We don’t have any storybooks,” Barbara said.
“I’ll buy some in the morning,” Dick replied.
He went with Lian back to her room. It was big, but bare, with none of the posters of her old room. It didn’t even have the scorch marks or bullet holes from a wannabe kidnapper getting his butt whooped.
“Cheery place, eh? We’ll grab some decorations while we’re getting storybooks.” Dick held his fingers in a view-finding rectangle. “I’ve got some old circus posters that would look great over there. You like the circus?”
“S’okay.”
“A little more than okay…” Dick chuckled, forced.
Lian climbed into bed and Dick pulled the sheet up to her chin. For a few seconds he sat at her bedside, not saying anything. Then he rubbed at his face and began.
“This one time, Roy and I… we’d just gotten you back and he’d bought a Polaroid camera to document your childhood. Wanted to start a scrapbook. He went through the whole roll of film in one day. You couldn’t have been more than a year old… A few weeks later, you’re all settled in and you have a nanny and Roy’s about to go on a mission with us Titans. The thing is, no one shows up for the briefing on time. So I go to see what’s taking so long and I find Roy in the middle of this crowd of superheroes. He’s passing around pictures of you, Donna’s swooning, Vic’s yelling at Gar for calling you an ugly baby, Kory’s looking at me and clearing her throat… I tell Roy we need to concentrate on the mission and he looked me dead in the eye and said ‘this is the mission.’
He loved you very much.
I remember this other time…”
And Lian slept soundly that night, and for many nights to come.
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Lian Harper, Dick Grayson
Word Count: 2,578
Summary: Being a godfather means you watch out for your god-daughter. It’s like a promise in that way.
Lian dug her Batgirl doll out of the toy box. It was the Batgirl with no skin and stitches for a mouth. Daddy didn’t buy her any bad guy action figures, not since he threw away her Dr. Light one, so she made Batgirl a bad guy because Batgirl looked scary. Plus, Aunt Dinah had gotten her an action figure of the original Batgirl for her birthday and there couldn’t be two Batgirls.
It was five minutes until 3:00, when Spongebob came on, and she had finished her homework. “’RRR!’” Lian voiced as she puppeted Batgirl. “’I shall beat you all up because I am evil and evil is stronger than good!’”
“’Nuh-uh!’” Lian narrated in a new, baritone voice as she brought out her shiny new Red Arrow figure. “’You’re the one who’s gonna get beat up!’”
Lian stopped playing and looked around. Her nanny was nowhere in sight. She bashed the toys together, then dropped Red Arrow to the floor.
“’Owie-owie-owie! Someone help!’”
Lian got out her Wonder Woman action figure. “’Don’t worry, I’ll save you!’”
The front door opened and slammed. Dad? Lian scampered to the stairs leading down from the TV room. Uncle Dick was standing on the landing, head bowed like he got when he was thinking. Lian spied on him, wondering when the detective would notice her. But he was so deep in thought, and so motionless, that it wasn’t until she shouted “Uncle Dick!” that he looked up.
There was an obviously phony smile on Uncle Dick’s face. Lian wondered if he wasn’t happy to see her. “Hey, munchkin. Got a minute?”
Lian glanced at the VCR timer. “Spongebob Squarepants is coming on.”
“We’ll tape it. Pack your things. We need to leave.”
“Like for a sleepover?”
“Yeah. Kinda like that. You need any help getting the suitcases out of the hall closet?”
“No. Daddy showed me how.”
“Good ol’ Roy.” Dick watched Lian run to her room at the constant sprint of the prepubescent. “Only pack what you need,” he called after her. “We’ll come back for the rest later.”
Lian threw a few sets of clothes into her backpack, some snacks, her Game Boy, and put on the Teen Titans panic button necklace she was supposed to press if she ever felt like she was in trouble. She put on shoes and socks, put a rubber band around her deck of Pokeman cards, and put some more clothes and books into her suitcase. Then she tugged it out to the TV room on its wheels.
Uncle Dick was putting things away into the toy box, a cell-phone nestled against his ear by his shoulder. He was talking quietly in that way adults did when they had very important things to discuss. Lian strained to hear…
“I got her, she’s fine. No, she doesn’t know… yeah, well maybe I’m not ready.” Dick paused, action figures of Arsenal and Nightwing in his hands. He noticed Lian. “Talk to you at home. Oh, and tape today’s Spongebob. No, not for me… I love you too, bye.”
He tossed the action figures into the toy box, flipped the cell-phone shut, and stood to stretch his back. “Alright, Lian, all set for a road trip? Used the bathroom and everything?”
She nodded brightly.
“Good deal.” He gestured to the toy box. “You ever play with these?”
“All the time.”
“Alright then.”
Dick stooped and picked up the heavy toy box, precariously balancing it down the stairs.
“I thought you said we would come back for stuff later,” Lian said.
“Later might not be for a while. It’s not safe here.”
“But daddy and Grandpa Ollie and Aunt Dinah keep it safe.”
Dick grunted with exertion as he reached the bottom of the stairs. “And they’ve… done a real good job. But right now things are a little touch and go. Mind getting the door?”
Lian did. Dick’s car was parked on the curb, the engine idling, smoke drifting out of the tailpipe like there was a monster inside puffing on a cigarette. The sun was so bright that Dick squinted as he dragged the toy box out the door. He set it down on the porch and locked the front door behind him.
“But you don’t have to worry, because I’m going to take care of you, okay?” The door locked and held fast when Dick tested it. “Hey, where ya wanna go to eat?”
“Anywhere I want?”
Dick threw his arms wide. “Anywhere you want!”
“McDonald’s!”
Dick looked crest-fallen, exaggeratedly so. “That’s it?”
“They have a new Happy Meal toy and…”
“So you don’t want pizza?”
“Pizza!?”
Dick grinned, but it was a tiny thing. “Maybe a sundae to wash it down?”
Lian threw a fist in the air triumphantly. “Yay!”
They threw their luggage in the back of the car, then piled into the front seat. Dick almost started the engine, then stopped expectantly. Lian buckled her seatbelt. Dick nodded, turned the key. The car came on, including the radio. A boring news station…
“Authorities still mum after the Green Arrow left one supervillain dead, another hospitalized, both suspects in the…”
Dick switched the radio off, took the car out of park. He stepped on the gas hard and tires squealed as they took off. Fifteen minutes later they were at Chuck E. Cheese’s. Lian grabbed two plates of pineapple pizza from the buffet table, then grabbed a cheese pizza for Dick. When she found him, he was crying.
“Why are you sad?” she asked.
Dick rubbed at his eyes with his napkins. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. With nothing to say, he shut it again.
“You wanna play at the arcade? That always makes me feel better.”
“Yeah,” Dick said, his voice so hoarse he might not have used it for a million years. “Yeah, I really would like that.”
They played Time Crisis two-player, Dick letting Lian rack up more points than him, and helped her come up with a cool initial to put in on the high score table. Sluggish from too much pizza, Lian slumped into her seat and they rode off again. She fell asleep from the Detroit motor rumbling.
When she woke up, it was night and the car had stopped. Dick was still in the driver’s seat, again in his weird trance, hands still on the wheel. Lian yawned.
“Hey, get it in gear,” Dick said, jolted into motion by her awakening. “We’re here.”
Lian followed him out of the car. “Where’s here?”
Wherever it was, it was cold. Dick took off his jacket and put it on her. It was much too big for her, the hem dangling down near her ankles, but the warmth from Dick’s body heat made it nice and toasty.
“We’re in Metropolis,” he said. “You’re gonna be staying here a little while.”
“Why can’t I stay in Star City? With daddy?”
Dick bit his lip. “Come inside. I’ll explain there.”
He got the luggage and Lian toyed with the zipper on her jacket. She felt nervous, like before a big test at school. They went into a big building and took an elevator up. Lian watched how the elevator button lit up when Dick pressed it.
“Is my dad o—“
“Your father’s a great man,” Dick said. The elevator chimed, cutting them both off.
They walked out into the biggest room Lian had ever seen. It kinda reminded her of the big meeting rooms in Titans Tower. This one has lots of paintings on the walls, and wood paneling, and studio lighting. There was a semi-circle of furniture at the far end, with hallways branching off past it. A woman in a wheelchair was moving toward them. She was pretty, and had nice hair.
“Hello Lian. My name is Barbara Gordon. I hear you’re going to be staying here for a while.” Dick took her hand. “With us. I ordered pizza…”
“I had pizza for lunch. What happened to my daddy?”
“Babs, give us a moment, okay?” Dick squeezed her hand and let go of it as she went away.
Then he sat down on a couch, black leather not like the comfy fuzzy fabric at her home. He patted the cushion beside him. Lian jumped up. Dick hunched forward to rest his elbows on his knees, his hands kneaded together. Then he put an arm around her. It was strong, but curiously cold. Limp.
“Your father was at work when he heard about a bank robbery. He made an excuse, changed into costume, went to help just like a thousand times before. The robbers were a pack of supervillains pooling their resources. They set the bank on fire to cover their escape. Roy fought them, managed to knock out one. He got shot through the shoulder by one of their henchmen…”
“So he’s in the hospital, but he’s gonna be okay? He’s gonna be okay!” Lian insisted.
Dick proceeded in a calm, low monotone. “He bandaged the wound and went back into the bank to help people. He got everyone out, but he inhaled a great deal of smoke. Then he commandeered a vehicle to go after the robbers. When he caught up to them…” Dick paused, swallowed, pressed his lips into a thin line. “The wounds had taken their toll. They slowed him down and of the robbers fired a blast… he didn’t feel any pain.”
“No,” Lian said, hollow. Then, she gathered her conviction. “No! No! You’re lying! He’s been replaced or in a coma or he’s in another dimension, like Aunt Donna…”
Dick shook his head slowly. “His body’s at the morgue. There’ll be a funeral in a few days. It should be safe by then… Ollie’s handling things in Star City for now; the Justice League’s helping out.” Dick paused and blew out a deep breath. “A long time ago, Roy and I made each other some promises. I made him promise that if something ever happened to me, he would take care of Barbara… she’s the woman you met, my girlfriend. And I promised that if something ever happened to him, that I would look after you…”
Lian leaped down from the couch and kicked him. “I don’t wanna stay here! I wanna go home!” She ran for the elevator, but her legs quickly failed her.
Dick caught up to her where she was lying on the ground, crying. He fell to his knees and hugged her to him, her head against his chest, hearing his heart pound like the clenching of a fist.
“I know, baby, I know.” He patted her back. “I miss him too.”
“But… b-b-but it’s my birthday in June and he promised he would make it, Dad promised, and he never breaks a promise, never ever…”
Dick dried her hot tears with his sleeve. “Shh. Shh. We’re gonna take care of you, Barbara and me. And Dinah and Ollie and Connor are gonna come down here when they can. Your daddy was a hero and we’re gonna… we’re gonna keep him alive…” Wordless, Dick tapped his chest.
“In our hearts?”
“Yeah.” Dick said, choking back his own tears. “Where nothing can hurt him.”
Lian cried for a long time. She thought she would’ve ran out of tears, but she never did. And eventually she just chose to stop crying, because her dad didn’t raise a crybaby. She lifted her head from Dick’s chest and saw that the red-haired lady, Barbara, was there too. She had a hand on Dick’s back, rubbing supportively. Dick’s eyes were reddened, but dry.
“Come on, let’s get you to bed.”
But that night, Lian couldn’t get any sleep. She played it over and over in her head. She’d seen her father defy death, dodging it by inches. This was just like that, but a few inches closer. She shut her eyes, but that didn’t keep the images out. She could see how his flesh must’ve blistered, the smell of boiling tissue as he slowly cooled…
She got up out of bed and went to where Dick had said his room was. There were voices coming out from under the door. She bent to listen to them.
“I’m not letting her go into the system, Babs, you know what those people do. Just pull a few strings…”
The second voice was Barbara’s: “But how long is she supposed to stay with us? I mean, we’re not exactly…”
“You want me to let Ollie take her? He couldn’t raise a cactus. And not Dinah, not after that whole thing with Sin…”
Barbara’s voice cut across his arguments. “We’re not ready for this.”
There was a long silence. Lian held her breath.
“We have to be.”
There was a sigh, like Donna used to make when she gave into one of her father’s…
Daddy.
“Just… promise me you won’t turn her into your sidekick.”
Dick laughed, but it was a thin sound.
Lian pushed open the door. Dick was in bed with Barbara, who was lying on his chest. His fingers were stroking her hair like it was keeping him sane. They saw her and turned on the bedside lamp. Barbara pulled the sheet a little higher over her nightie. There were rings hanging down over the bed.
“My…” Lian paused, unsure of what to say. It was like the emotions were fighting it out in her stomach, trying to decide what she’d feel next. “My daddy always used to read to me from a storybook.”
Dick got out of bed, grabbing a robe to pull on over his boxer shorts and blank white T-shirt.
“We don’t have any storybooks,” Barbara said.
“I’ll buy some in the morning,” Dick replied.
He went with Lian back to her room. It was big, but bare, with none of the posters of her old room. It didn’t even have the scorch marks or bullet holes from a wannabe kidnapper getting his butt whooped.
“Cheery place, eh? We’ll grab some decorations while we’re getting storybooks.” Dick held his fingers in a view-finding rectangle. “I’ve got some old circus posters that would look great over there. You like the circus?”
“S’okay.”
“A little more than okay…” Dick chuckled, forced.
Lian climbed into bed and Dick pulled the sheet up to her chin. For a few seconds he sat at her bedside, not saying anything. Then he rubbed at his face and began.
“This one time, Roy and I… we’d just gotten you back and he’d bought a Polaroid camera to document your childhood. Wanted to start a scrapbook. He went through the whole roll of film in one day. You couldn’t have been more than a year old… A few weeks later, you’re all settled in and you have a nanny and Roy’s about to go on a mission with us Titans. The thing is, no one shows up for the briefing on time. So I go to see what’s taking so long and I find Roy in the middle of this crowd of superheroes. He’s passing around pictures of you, Donna’s swooning, Vic’s yelling at Gar for calling you an ugly baby, Kory’s looking at me and clearing her throat… I tell Roy we need to concentrate on the mission and he looked me dead in the eye and said ‘this is the mission.’
He loved you very much.
I remember this other time…”
And Lian slept soundly that night, and for many nights to come.
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no subject
Date: 2008-01-28 04:55 pm (UTC)In-character characters taking care of their own the way we knew they always would; Roy the consummate hero; Dick the truest friend. I hope nothing like this ever happens in the DC Universe, but if it did, it would go down this way. Thanks.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-28 09:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-28 09:10 pm (UTC)That was the second hardest part of writing this, the first being avoiding mentioning all the people Lian's known who've "died" and come back... it made me take out a rather good line about Cheshire, because it would've tripped people up.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-28 09:47 pm (UTC)I had the same thing come up in the story I've been writing (in which Lian has been portrayed as an adult struggling with emotional problems). I think the nebulous finality of death in the DC Universe would ultimately do a number on poor little Lian. Why wouldn't she think everyone was coming back? Hadn't most of the people she's lost?
You obviously made some good editing choices, since your story has hit home with so many of us.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-28 05:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-29 04:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-28 08:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-28 08:27 pm (UTC)*sniff* Roy!!! I miss you! *sniff*
no subject
Date: 2008-01-28 10:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-28 10:47 pm (UTC)Oh. Oh my goodness, this was heartbreaking. I'm seriously crying my fool head off! Best roy deathfic I've EVER read.
Ever.
(not that I LIKE deathfic... but you understand)
no subject
Date: 2008-01-29 04:54 pm (UTC)Is there a big spectrum of Roy deathfics? That poor guy...
no subject
Date: 2008-01-29 12:19 am (UTC)This was so touching and powerful, and, gahh. I'm too choked up to coherently write anything down.
Seriously buddy, go write a book or for comics or whatever. You're marvelous.
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Date: 2008-01-29 01:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-29 04:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-29 02:39 am (UTC)*cries*
Oh, Lian! Oh, Dick!!! *cries some more* :( I thought... maybe you were following up on Connor being in a coma, but... gods, Roy!! *hugs them all tight*
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Date: 2008-01-29 04:52 pm (UTC)I would've, but so much of the fic is centered around Lian and her perspective that knowing something she doesn't (deathfic warning, Dick acting tight-lipped around the subject of Roy) would've destroyed the tension. Now if the fic had begun with Roy dying and then been about Dick, a warning wouldn't have been so spoilery. Hopefully, the summary and the lj-cut quote served as warning enough that the fic wouldn't be about rainbows and hot dogs.
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Date: 2008-01-30 08:26 am (UTC)Yeah, that's a case of me thinking up the perfect ending to a fic while I'm writing it.
Lovely job of not letting us know any more than Lian did at any given time- that's what really made the story even more poignant. The one part that jostled me was where Lian thought of Dick stroking Barbara's hair like it was keeping him sane, which I thought was a bit sophisticated for her.
That was a bit of a cheat, but dramatically necessary. I wanted to show that just like Lian was coping because she had Dick to lean on, Dick was coping because he had Barbara. Plus, my mental image of Dick stroking Barbara's hair robotically, not seeming to even enjoy it but just this background action as he talks... I'd put it out to Dick's very open emotions and Lian's knowledge of him.
Beautifully painful, and I'm never sure how to thank people for making me so sad...
With a rec? ;)
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Date: 2008-03-01 07:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-17 04:56 pm (UTC)Plus I wanna see Babs trying to figure out how to deal with Lian. That ALONE would be enough to charm anybody's socks off.
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Date: 2009-01-08 07:57 am (UTC)