Room 44: the Great Steph-Dick Conversation of Doom

[alwaysroomforhope]

Steph's cleaning up. The windows are wide open and she can hear voices from the lake, people laughing and talking; in the hall, every so often, someone runs up and down happily. The whole bar feels lighter, warmer, since the questers came back with the cure; everyone's happy.

She doesn't own that much, but she'd kinda let everything go while she was too sick to move, so there'd been clothes and books and water glasses lying around everywhere. She tosses the last pair of jeans into a drawer and flops triumphantly down on her bed, just enjoying the day and the mood.

[millitimed to After Sick Plot Is Done, for great ease of conversation, and Before Steph Leaves Bar, for great logical sequence of events.]

Comments

[blue-bat.livejournal.com]

One can't really be around all that cheeriness without being a little happier themselves; plus, Steph is better. Dick knows this, so it's with a small smile on his face that he strides into her room. "You're letting yourself get lazy!" He announces at the sight of her flopped on the bed.

[alwaysroomforhope]

"A little bit of laziness never hurt anyone," Steph responds, smiling. "Besides, look, I cleaned!"

[blue-bat.livejournal.com]

Dick glances around the room, and grins, now. "So that makes two Robins who can take care of themselves outside of Alfred."

[alwaysroomforhope]

"Hey, some of us didn't grow up in the lap of luxury," Steph says. "With a deadbeat dad and a junkie mom, if I didn't clean, nobody did." She grins at him; there's no bitterness behind the words. Steph came to terms with her home life a long time ago.

[blue-bat.livejournal.com]

Dick doesn't wince at it, mostly; he can tell she's come into terms with it. There's no need. "Well, keep it. It's a useful skill." He squints at the floor. "Alfred would die at this, though."

[alwaysroomforhope]

"Hey, so, I never got the hang of mopping." She laughs up at him. "Hey, thanks for sitting with me when I was sick. That must have sucked for you."

[blue-bat.livejournal.com]

"It sucked to see you sick, but not to be with you," Dick pokes her in the side, gently. "So don't do that again. You're welcome."

[alwaysroomforhope]

"My mom never would have," Steph says, "or anyone else I knew. Thanks."

She thinks of something. "So - when I was sick, I went down to the bar a few times just to get water or whatever, and ... no, it's silly, I'm pretty sure I was hallucinating anyway. Forget it."

[blue-bat.livejournal.com]

"Tim would have," Dick points out. It's true.

And then he blinks at what she said next. "What? What did you see?" Why does he have a bad feeling about this?

[alwaysroomforhope]

"Yeah, I guess so." She smiles at that. "You guys really are my family, especially now. Um." She eyes him cautiously. "Jason. At least, some weird older version of him, I think. I mean, I only met Jason that one time after I died, so I could be wrong, but..."

[blue-bat.livejournal.com]

Dick freezes. "You... saw him?" His voice sounds strange.

[alwaysroomforhope]

"Yeah, and that's weird, isn't it? I mean, it's not like it makes any sense for him to be eighteen again, so when I came back upstairs I just figured it was a weird dream or hallucination or something. Only all the other things I thought were hallucinations turned out to be real, like the antlers and stuff, and ... Dick? Are you okay?"

[blue-bat.livejournal.com]

"It wasn't a hallucination," Dick says, staring at the ground again. He's kind of frozen in place without moving. "It's real."

[alwaysroomforhope]

"You're not okay, are you."

[blue-bat.livejournal.com]

Dick waves it off. "Don't worry about it." She shouldn't have to think about things when she's getting better from sick. Give it a few days, right?

[alwaysroomforhope]

"Dick." She sits up and grabs his arm. "Sit down here and talk to me, right now. You're not gonna get anywhere if you keep bottling things up."

Like she's not the poster-girl for bottling things up. But Dick's worse, and he clearly needs to deal with it somehow, and maybe she can help. That's what family does.

[blue-bat.livejournal.com]

"I'm not," He protests, but sits down despite it. "I've already talked all about it." Once.

[alwaysroomforhope]

"You have not, I bet." Steph continues to glare. "So, talk. Is it really Jason, and why is he here, and is that all that's bothering you?"

[blue-bat.livejournal.com]

"Why are any of us here? The bar takes us." Dick sighs. "And yes, it is really Jason."

[alwaysroomforhope]

Steph nods. "Okay, so, why is it bothering you so much? I would have thought you'd be glad to see him."

She doesn't miss his non-answer to her last question, but she'll deal with that once she's got this bit straight.

[blue-bat.livejournal.com]

"It's complicated." Dick really shouldn't be avoiding the topic. She should know everything that's going on. It's just... an automatic reaction. That's a good excuse.

[alwaysroomforhope]

"Dick. You're talking to a dead ex-Robin who's just gotten over a crippling magic disease. Trust me, I know about complicated."

[blue-bat.livejournal.com]

...heh. She did, didn't she? "He's different now, Steph. Because we weren't there for him."

[alwaysroomforhope]

"He was dead! How were you supposed to be there for him? And, what do you mean, different?"

Steph can see Dick really believes that whatever happened was his fault, which is worse. And she's not sure how to make him see it.

[blue-bat.livejournal.com]

"But he -wasn't- dead. I don't know how or why, but he wasn't. And now he's grown up and all alone."

Dick can't sit any more. He needs to pace, or stand, or -something-. So he does pace, just a little.