-Athena's POV-

I stood up and rolled out of bed. I tugged on a pair of sweatpants, heading towards the door. As soon as my hand touched the doorknob, I heard the window slide open.

"Leaving so soon?" Dick slid in from the window, smirking. He was clad in his Nightwing suit. I had woken up at ten -- which was pretty late for me -- so Dick must've rose before the sun did. I was mostly surprised by the fact I hadn't realized he left.

"I was actually. Don't take it personally. Last night was great," I walked towards him. Dick chuckled, patting my head. When he went for a hug, I rejected him. "Sorry, Grayson, but I have places to be."

"Oh yeah, me too. I have half a mind to take you out to breakfast. Ever been to Pancake Palace?" He pulled off his Nightwing top.

"Do I look like a girl who has been to Pancake Palace?"

Dick laughed. "Good point. Well, they have the best breakfast in Gotham."

"I could eat. I don't have work today, but I do have a ton to catch up on," I said, pulling out my phone. I had written down all the papers I had to pick up from my office. The Team birthday party had
seriously set me back. I had piles of work to do that I could've done yesterday. Who would've known being a Wayne Enterprise worker and superhero was so hard? Well, other than the obvious person who knew what it was like...

"By the way, Bruce is hosting his Christmas party tonight," Dick told me as we left his room.

"Alright. I'll drop a present by."

"No," Dick explained, "you have to be there. It's an image thing."

I rolled my eyes. "You're saying I get to be introduced with you Wayne boys this time? Oh boy!"

"Yep, part of the family! Gotham will see you as one of us, which is very important."

"Gotham still doesn't trust me? I've been to all of Bruce's public meetings."

"You are still new, relatively. On the brightside, Bruce's Christmas parties are way more fun than his Charity ball. Trust me on this." Dick wrapped his arm around my shoulder. I shrugged it off and stared up at him.

"Do I really have to go to another party?" I clutched my purse in my hand, feeling the outline of my utility belt tucked inside.

"Unfortunately. But, I have something to cheer you up. After breakfast and after we make a quick stop at Wayne Manor for organizing the party, I have a surprise for you. It's a late birthday present," Dick smiled, getting on his motorcycle. Since mine was still safely in Gotham, I got on right behind him.

Pancake Palace filled us both up with rich, sugary pancakes drizzled in it's famous Gotham maple syrup. I enjoyed two stacks of the fluffy food. Dick wolfed down at least twenty pancakes and two eggs. It was a typical Bat boy thing. Those boys sure could eat.

Dick and I went straight from the Pancake Palace to Wayne Manor. Christmas decorations already littered the outside. The hedges had shiny tinsel criss-crossing them and a giant christmas reef hung on the wooden door. Many other holiday decorations were hanging from the outside of the house. Even the columns holding it up were wrapped with pine needles.

"Good afternoon, Master Dick and Vic," Alfred said, "has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"

"Yes it does," Dick nodded, "we're just here to help with anything."

"I think the decorators have their job down, but it would much appreciated for you two to help me in the kitchen. I insisted Bruce to never hire a cook for this joyous occasion." A truly happy smile lit Alfred's tired, old face up. I almost felt a tickle of Christmas spirit. Almost.

"We'll be happy to help," Dick insisted.

"I can't cook, but I could clean I guess," I added, glancing around the house. The chandelier had green pine tinsel and ornaments dangling from it. Green and red streamers as well as miles of tinsel decorated every corner. Mistletoe hung from almost every corner. On the floor, a giant mat with Santa Claus on it covered the whole area.

Alfred led us to the huge kitchen. Every time I went there, I felt a bit overwhelmed. The Wayne kitchen was gigantic, even bigger than Bruce's bedroom. It was also the only area that Rudolf, Frosty, and Santa hadn't puked on.

"Alright, Dick will you get out the mixing bowls? Victoria, will you grab the ingredients?" Alfred handed me a recipe. Apparently, we were making the desserts first. The recipe was sugar cookies with frosting. I was glad I had been assigned ingredient assembly. I didn't know where anything was besides the food.

After everything was gathered, we got to work. To my surprise, I was forced to help. I had warned the two I couldn't cook. But, Alfred kept bringing up the time I made breakfast.

"You made diet specific food, Victoria. You can make cookies," Alfred scolded.

"I didn't make it in bulk though. And look at these stacks of recipes! We are making at least fifty different things!" I cracked an egg angerily and stirred it into the dry ingredients. All three of us were working on the same recipe, except doubled. Each recipe was going to be doubled and then made separately by each of us. Lots of people were coming to the party.

Alfred finished his batch first and had it in the oven. Dick and I were still working. Dick stood beside me, occasionally knocking elbows with me as we stirred. I was still a bit outraged that no one had listened to me when I said I never cooked desserts.

"Don't tell anybody," Dick whispered, grabbing a glob of dough between his fingers. He popped it into his mouth. Alfred had his back towards us. I watched Dick chew it with a satisfied and almost child-like smile. "Go ahead, you try."

Making sure Alfred couldn't see me, I pinched out some dough. Tossing it in my mouth, I also smiled at the sugary delight of it. Alfred turned to peek at us. We both pretended to stir until he returned to his job. When he did, we both took another glob. I giggled when Alfred's eyes pinned on us. But, he was too slow. We pretended nothing happened.

"He'll never know," Dick chuckled. He reached for a glob. Before he could put it in his mouth, Alfred turned. On a panicked instinct, Dick pushed the glob against my nose. The dough stuck. He laughed, trying to quiet the sound with his hand. I glared and grabbed a glob myself. I rubbed it across his face, smearing it from cheek to cheek. With the tan dough on his face, I couldn't help but kackle. Dick looked ridiculous! Pretty soon we were both red faced and teary eyed trying not to get Alfred's attention as we rubbed dough on each other.

After a couple more cupcake, brownie, and cake recipes, we were kicked out of the kitchen. While making the red frosting for a marble cake, Alfred caught us in the act. I had put the red frosting on Dick's lips like lipstick and he had rubbed it all over my face like blood. Alfred yelled at us like we were kids and booted us. But, just like children, we got our revenge when we wrote on Alfred's apron with the frosting. His white apron read "Bat Brats" in red frosting.

"Now what," I said, flopping down on the couch. Dick sat beside me, crushing my legs with his body. Out of the millions of couches he could've sat on, he decided to sit directly on top of my legs.

"It's almost four. The sun will be going down in an hour. Want to go out?" Dick looked down at me. I was laying on my back and my legs elevated him.

"Sure," I sat up. With the unexpected movement, Dick toppled off my legs and onto the floor. His head hit the ground, his feet flying up in sporadic jerks. I laughed and pulled him to his feet.

"Before we go, you might want to change," he said. Dick put on his Nightwing uniform. The usual black mask was pressed tightly against his face. Despite his white contacts, I could tell he was winking. His smirk gave it away. I quickly slipped into my costume and we left.

Dick and I zeta-tubed to an unknown location. He told me it was part of his surprise for me, so he mechanically put in the location. He had planned on getting there in a plane, but I told him it wasn't really early enough in the day. By his expression, he had obviously had something planned involving a plane.

"Alright, close your eyes," Dick insisted. We had arrived inside a shed. A small one, at that.

"Why?" I asked, looking around. The only thing inside was a small wrench. I had no idea why he had taken me there.

"I have to walk you to your present, since you didn't want to use the plane," he said, "now close them. Please?"

"Ugh, fine. But you owe me." I reluctantly obeyed. Clicking off my mask, my vision went to black. Without my contacts in my mask on, I couldn't see anything. I had learned this when I was fighting Dick. Unlucky for him, he hadn't developed a strong firewall for his systems. I had hacked his mask once and cut his vision during a fight. He said it was unfair but I said it was just good hacking.

We walked for about ten minutes. The only things Dick really said was where to put my feet. I could tell we were walking through some kind of forest thing. We didn't go up any hills, but the ground was pretty rocky. Dick told me when to step. Sometimes, he would just lift me up by my shoulders. Eventually, we got there.

"Okay, you can open your eyes now."

I clicked on my mask. My senses had been correct. We stood in the middle of a forest with a small dugout looking building. The building was brown and camouflaged, sitting underneath the ground. It was long with a tiny doorway. I couldn't glimpse what was inside. The forest was beautiful with vibrant greens and earthy browns. The trees were tall, almost like redwoods. We were definitely away from Gotham. It was almost five and the sun was still shining through the trees. It was nice to have no snow and a nice warm breeze.

"What is this?" I asked, turning away from the beauty to look at Dick.

"Your birthday day present. Happy birthday."

"You...gave me a forest?"

Dick laughed. "No! I gave you an experience. A break," he walked towards the small building, opening it with a passcode. Dick went inside first, pulling me through. Inside, the room was much bigger. It had hidden windows to see outside. But, the most exciting part about the place, was it was stocked with weapons. It was like a candy shop. There was everything! There were swords, bows, escrima sticks, staffs, everything! I picked up a longbow and held it gently.

"This is amazing! But if you were going to give me weapons, why bring me here?" I caressed the beautifully made bow.

"You don't get it. The weapons aren't the gift," Dick took the bow to draw my attention towards him, "during my time as Robin, Batman and I would train here. This section of rainforest is owned by Wayne Enterprises as a wildlife preserve. He owns the forest for farther than we can even see. So, Bruce took a section of his land to use for his own purposes without destroying nature."

"Okay, that's cool of him," I commented.

"Every month, Bruce would take me here to train. A course is set up specifically to test us as a team to make sure we can stand together as Batman and Robin. But, since I'm not Robin anymore and Tim never really was into this type of training, I decided to set it up. That's why I brought you here. So we can train as a couple on a tunnel of love, except with fighting and weapons."

"So, you're saying your gift to me is this training tunnel of love that you trained as Robin with...so you and Bruce trained in a tunnel of love?" I raised an eyebrow, smirking.

"What!? No! That's not what I'm saying!" Dick scrambled over his words, making me laugh. "I'm saying I built a course for us to build a strong training bond together with. It's my gift to you."

"I know, I know. I love it. Thank you, Dick," I kissed his cheek. It really was a very thoughtful gift. Though some of the gifts I was given I could really use, Dick knew I didn't really care for possessions. I was more of someone who loved experiences. So, that's what he gave me. His present to me was an experience that brought us together while doing my favorite thing, training!

"So, how does this work?" I asked.

"Simple. We go through the course using a map to get to the top of the hill. The course is filled with lots of puzzles and challenges we will have to get through. We can take as much weapons as we can carry," Dick grabbed two escrima sticks and put them in their rightful place on his back.

"Please tell me you got some guns." Dick pointed to a hidden part that looked newly stocked. Pistols and other handheld guns were stacked -- with rubber bullets of course -- glinting in the sunlight. "You don't happen to have a pair of katanas." Dick pointed again to a row of swords. "Perfect." I grabbed two katanas, two pistols, two daggers, a bow and quiver, a bow staff, and two cartridges full of Batarangs. I didn't want to use Dick's WingDings and I didn't have my own shaped ones yet.

"You ready to go?" Dick asked, pulling me in for a hug. I smiled into his chest and snuck a quick kiss.

"Thank you for this. Really."

"It's my pleasure. Now let's go!"

We ran up the hill when we got to the first challenge. We had to get across a fallen tree. The answer was obvious. The tree was balancing on a couple of rocks. It would make it unstable for an unbalanced person to get across, like one person trying to make it. We had to use each other to balance. And the challenge was very important towards our success. It was the only way across the huge gap in the ground.

"You go first," Dick urged. I stepped onto the log. It tittered, but Dick got on right behind me. I took a couple of steps forward, making the tree rock. Dick followed about three feet behind me to make sure it stayed balanced. Once we both got to the middle, the tree was stable. I took a deep breath before continuing. I quickly trotted across to keep my weight as low as possible for Dick to continue. Before no time, we were across.

"We did it, now for the next one!" I cheered. The next challenge involved was up a hill. I could barely make out the shape of a rope sitting atop the cliff.

"One of us has to go up--"

"To get the rope--"

"To help the other," Dick finished, smirking. He flashed me a wide grin before dashing to the base of the cliff. I chased after him, latching onto the rocky slope just below him.

As soon as I reached for another hand hold, Dick's fell loose. Rocks cascaded down from where he hung. I gasped as one boulder barely missed my shoulder.

"We can only climb one at a time. The wall is too shifty," Dick said, pulling himself up to stand on a single rock.

"Can I please climb?" I batted my eyes. Dick pouted his lips, but begrudgingly agreed as he hopped down.

I reached up and gripped the edge of gray rock sticking out. With my other hand, I swung up to another hold until I was standing up. I shifted over a bit while standing on a tiny ledge. From there, I jumped up, barely snagging a rock. My fingertips gripped the hold as it tilted a bit. It was balancing under two smoother, bigger boulders. I dangled by one hand, eventually pulling myself up to the top of the cliff. I glanced down over the side at Dick.

"Get the rope!" He called up to me, his voice echoing through the valley.

"Romeo, oh Romeo. Here is thou's rope," I chuckled. I let it tumble down to him. I tied it to a large tree beside me. Once it was stable, he climbed up.

"The next challenge is archery," Dick said, "you ready?" I nodded. He sprinted forward with a wink. I smiled and took off right behind him.

For the next hour, we encountered many challenges. After firing arrows to get a key down, we entered a cave. In there we had to do mazes using each other's balances. Once we got out of the cave, we had to navigate our way through the forest using parts of a map. After many obstacles, we stumbled upon a large waterfall that formed a wide river in front of us.

"What now?" I asked, checking what supplies I had left. I had used all my arrows, my pistols were empty, I had about two WingDings left, and my katanas were dull. Dick searched the area, but there was nothing around. The river had fast flowing rapids. I could see a distant black flag sticking out over the horizon where the waterfall started.

"This part is new," Dick knelt down beside the river.

"Maybe we can make some sort of boat?" I spotted several trees with thick, brown bark.

"It won't make it past the rapids. Hmm...I have no idea how to get past. There are no rocks to cross with, there are no fallen trees, there isn't even a shallow area." Dick stood and looked around. I glanced up at the lush trees that created some overcasts. That was when I saw it. Long, green vines. My inner tarzan and inner silk girl sprung up. I jumped up and grabbed one between my fingers.

"Over here, Dick. I think I found something," I called. Dick joined me in amazement. There were huge groups of trees with vines on this side of the river as well as the over side.

"Yes, we could swing over! But, the momentum won't be enough to get us all the way across...unless, we could help each other," Dick's eyes brightened with excitement and discovery, "it's just like back at the circus! You could swing over from the ground level and I could catch the vine from high above as it swings back!"

I smiled and bounced on my heels. "The potential energy from the swing back will propel you across. Like an acrobat!" The words tumbled out quickly. But, once they did, they stung. My face drained of color and my smile dropped. I was instantly reminded of the times Dick and I shared back in Haly's. Times that he probably didn't even remember.

"Is something wrong, Vic?" I was met with Dick's searching, blue eyes. I glanced down at my boots then met him again.

"No, let's do this." Dick pulled me in for a quick hug. He could see right through my lie. I buried my nose into his chest. His warmth reenergized me.

I grabbed a vine and pulled back as far as I could go without snapping it. I blew a kiss at Dick before I ran forward. When the rope was over the water, I picked my feet up. I saw the river bank. Quickly, I flipped off to give it more momentum. I landed in the mud.

I looked up to see Dick successfully have the rope. He let go, also about to perform an aerial stunt. Dick flew up in the air and tucked in his legs. He did a quadruple flip, spinning over and over. I watched like I was a child. After all, it was what Dick was famous for. He was the only one in the circus who could perform it. When he landed beside me softly, I clapped. Dick's eyes flicked over to me. He seemed to have remembered he was in the middle of a forest and not in the middle of a tent. I was happy to see the boyish innocence behind his gaze.

"We did it," he whispered. I nodded and ran towards him. He caught me in his arms, surprised. It was one more trust fall for him. He had caught me. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he spun around. We climbed to the top of the waterfall.

The land leveled out to form a perfect resting area and helicopter pad. We let our ankles dangle over the edge of the cliff. I unlaced my boots and let my toes wiggle in the waterfall. Dick sat beside me, his shoulder brushing against mine. Our thighs were pressed together tightly. There was a pool of water in the middle of the meadow that connected to the waterfall. The end of the pool was like a freefall drop.

"I think I'll take a dip," Dick said. I turned to see him stand up. He unzipped his costume, tugging it off. He stood in his boxers. I rolled my eyes.

"It's going to be freezing."

"I guess I'll test it then," he looked down at the water. Unconcerned, I looked back at the forest below me. I heard the ground beneath me shift, but it was too late. Dick had me by the waist.

"Let me go, you barbarian!" I screamed, beating my fists against his bare chest. He smirked and strode over to the pool of water. "Richard John Grayson, put me down before I make you regret ever dating me."

"Oh, be quiet. It'll all be over soon," he smiled. Slowly, he raised me above the water. I bit down on his bicep in an attempt to make him let me go. And he did. He let me go right into the water. It was cold, but I had experienced colder. I surfaced and make eye contact with my soon-to-be-dead boyfriend. His face went white and his smug smirk vanished. I pulled myself out of the pond. His feet were like blurs of tan as he ran away. I tackled him to the ground and picked him up.

"How can you even pick me up!?" He asked, squirming. I tossed him into the water. He came back up with a mop of wet, ebony hair on his head. His shaggy hair hung over his eyes.

"Now I have to wait for my clothes to dry in the dark," I complained, tugging off the wet fabric. I shivered a bit, prompting Dick to scoop me up again in his arms. Once again, his natural warmth was very warm. He was like a furnace.

The sun had started to go down, casting an orangish pink glow over the sky. Dick sat us down, him laying down across my legs. I sat up straight and enjoyed the moment.

After a few minutes of serene silence, I felt fingers swirling over the upper part of my thigh. Dick's rough fingers wandered over my leg. I glanced down. "What are you doing?" He turned his head to look at me.

"Writing my darkest secrets, duh," his fingers continue to draw invisible shapes on my legs. The intimate contact made each swirl feel like lava. I was about to make him stop when I actually realized he was writing letters. His rough fingerpad glided across my scarred skin in a very fancy I. The next letters came in agonizing slow swirls. L, O, V, E, Y, O, U. My eyes went wide and I tensed up. Dick realized this and looked up at me. A goofy smile stretched across his face as I kept a tight lipped expression. I gasped realizing what Dick had confessed. My cheeks got hot. I went pale.

"I-," I choked. Dick sat up, his lips meeting mine. I let my eyes flutter closed as I melted into his embrace. Something inside me melted away. I could feel it. I could feel the love, love I had craved since I was eight years old. Love I needed in a world I thought I was alone in. I'm not alone.

"I...love...you," I coughed up. Dick didn't react, making me question if I had even said anything at all. The smile that was on his face proved me wrong. He had heard me.

~~~~~~~~I'm going on a trip tomorrow, so I won't be able to post until probably Saturday...sorry updates have been really slow...if you want to find out why I haven't been posting or what my plans for this series are, I posted a little update on my profile. Anyway, things will go down in the next chapter. Just wait. Don't forget to vote, comment, and follow if you aren't already!~~~~~~