A/N: This story takes place 10 years after the first season of Young Justice. Robin is now Nightwing, but he still patrols in Gotham; only, alone. For the sake of this story, I decided to assume that at the time of the show Batman was 30, Black Canary was only 23, and Green Arrow was 33; since their ages are never really given. I know Black Canary is probably a lot older than that, but I needed her to be younger for this story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or any of the characters portrayed…blah, blah, blah; you know how it goes.

Birds of a Feather

'How the hell did a loser like this manage to capture me?' Black Canary thinks as she continues to struggle against her bonds. 'I must be slowing down with age.'

"It won't be long now, my dear. The Bat should be along shortly, and then the game will begin." The Riddler says.

She mumbles into her gag, wishing that he had not known about her Canary Cry, and gagged her.

"What was that, dear? You want me to remove the gag?" The Riddler asks, tauntingly. "I'm afraid that won't happen; but if you're lucky, the Bat will manage to save you before time runs out."

The Riddler turns back to his monitors, and starts mumbling to himself.

'Bruce will never let me live this down.' She thinks.

Suddenly, there is a twirling sound, and a batarang sails through the air, crashing into The Riddler's keyboard.

"What?" Riddler shouts. "It can't be." He jumps up from his seat, and turns around, looking for any sign of Batman.

A dark figure drops in behind him, landing silently on the desk. "Boo."

"Argh!" Riddler shouts, jumping away, and turning around. "You!"

"Were you expecting someone else?" Nightwing asks.

"It was supposed to be Batman, not you." Riddler says.

"Sorry, Eddie, but Bats is out of town for a while; so you'll just have to make due with me." Night wing replies, smiling. "Now, how about you give up, and I won't have to hurt you."

"You're not playing fair." Riddler whines. "Batman always makes an effort to solve my riddles; he doesn't just barge in."

"Well, I'm not Batman, Eddie." Nightwing says, stepping down from the desk. "So, what's it going to be; easy or hard? I hope easy, because I've still got a lot of patrolling to do before I can call it a night."

"But I went through all the trouble of setting up this trap for Batman…" Riddler whines some more.

"Hard it is then." Nightwing says, punching Riddler in the face, dropping him to the ground.

"Hey Canary, I'll have you out of there in a minute." Nightwing says, walking around the chair she is strapped too, and untying her bonds. He hears her mumbling urgently, and knows that it's a warning.

A large man grabs Nightwing from behind, and drags him to his feet.

"Uh, why do they always have lackeys?" He asks out loud, kicking himself free of the goon. "One time, just one time, I'd like to fight a villain, who isn't Deathstroke, by themselves."

It's a matter of 3 moves, before Nightwing stands triumphant over the goon, smiling. "Now back to Canary." He says.

"Not so fast, Boy Blunder." Riddler says.

Nightwing turns around; surprised the Riddler is already up on his feet. He is just in time to see Riddler lunging at him with a sword that was concealed in his cane. He dodges out of the way, but still gets nicked by the blade, as it slices through his suit, and gouges into his side.

He grunts out in pain, but still manages to punch Riddler in the face again, knocking him unconscious this time.

"What an asshole." He says, looking down at the cut, and seeing what appears to be the sword hovering in midair.

He turns around and his eyes go wide when he sees the sword impaled into Black Canary's shoulder. "Dinah!" He shouts, rushing to her, and removing the sword. Blood has already started gushing out of the hole. "Oh crap."

He quickly cuts through the remainder of her bonds, and removes the gag. "Are you okay?"

"Dick?" Is all she says, before her head tilts to the side, and she passes out.

Black Canary wakes up in a large bed. She tries to move, but can't as a sharp pain in her shoulder causes her to cry out.

"Dinah!" She hears Nightwing say. "Don't move!"

She opens her eyes, and looks at her shoulder. Nightwing is busy stitching up her wound.

"I'm sorry that I didn't give you anything for the pain, but you lost a lot of blood, and I didn't want to do anymore damage." He says. "I'm almost done."

He finishes his last stitch, and cuts the thread.

"There we go." He says, taking a clean cloth, and cleaning the area. He stands up, and starts collecting his tools.

'Not bad.' She thinks as she looks at his handiwork. Then she notices that she's not wearing her jacket; so she lifts the sheet, and sees that she's not wearing anything. 'What the hell?' She pulls the sheet up to her chin, and asks, "Why am I naked?"

"Like I said, you lost a lot of blood, and your costume was soaked in it; I removed it, and cleaned you up, so that you would be lying in your own blood." He replies.

"You undressed me?" She asks.

"Yeah." He replies, casually. "It's not like it's nothing I haven't seen before." He looks up, shocked at what he just said. "I mean, not you, other women; I've never seen you naked before tonight. I mean I wasn't really looking." He starts to get flustered, and stutters.

"It's okay, Dick. I understand." She says, trying not to laugh at his reaction.

"I'm sorry if I crossed a line; I was only thinking about making you comfortable." He says, looking down at his hands, and she sees the young boy that she remembers watching grow up as Robin.

"I said, it's okay, Dick; let it go. It was just the initial shock." She says. "Thank you for saving me."

"You're welcome." He says. "Riddler, as pathetic as he is, has always been able to somehow kidnap people that he shouldn't be able to."

She knows that he's just saying that to make her feel better, and she appreciates it; Batman would be lecturing her about allowing herself to be captured by The Riddler.

She hears him grunt, and looks over at him, as he stands up. She notices the rip in his costume, and blood staining his side. "Dick! You're hurt." She says, sitting up, and immediately struggling to keep the blanket in place with her one working arm.

"Yeah, it's nothing." He says, brushing it off casually. "I'll clean it up later."

"No, you'll come over here and let me look at it right now." She says.

"It's nothing." He repeats.

"Richard John Grayson, get over here right now." She says in a stern voice.

He walks over to the side of the bed, and turns to allow her to see the cut.

"Oh my God, Dick; this needs stitches." She says, running her hand over the cut. "Get that first aid kit, and bring it back over here; I'll stitch you up."

"With one hand?" He asks, laughing, but his smile disappears when he sees her face.

"Get the first aid kit, Richard." She says.

He walks over to the first aid kit he had just put away, retrieves it, and brings it back to the bed.

"Take your top off." She says, struggling to open the first aid kit.

When she finally manages to open it, she looks up to see Nightwing standing there with his costume rolled down to his waist. 'Oh my.' He is busy wiping away the blood with another cloth, and she can't help but admire his physique; he is all lean muscle, and tight, toned skin.

'Snap out of it, Dinah.' She thinks to herself, shaking her head. 'He's 10 years younger than you, and probably thinks of you as an aunt. You shouldn't be looking at him like that.'

"Come over here." She says, and Nightwing steps closer. She manages to pin the blanket between her weak left arm, and her side, freeing up her right hand to attempt to stitch up his wound. "Hold still." She says.

"I am, you're just still woozy from blood loss." He replies. "I can do this myself, you know? It wouldn't be the first time I've had to stitch myself up."

"Shut it, and stand still; you're going to make me miss." She says, finally managing to insert the needle, and start the first stitch.

They remain silent, as she manages to make 8 stitches, and close the wound.

"There we go; done." She says. "Hand me the scissors so I can cut this."

Nightwing, hands her the scissors, but in her haste to take them, she losses hold of the blanket, and it drops down, exposing her chest.

"Oh crap." She says, struggling to grab the blanket, and pull it back up, while still holding the scissors.

"I'm not looking." Nightwing says. "Just make the cut."

She looks up to see him facing away from her. She forgoes the blanket, and cuts the thread. Then, after placing the scissors down, she collects the blanket and covers herself. "Done." She says.

He turns back, and says, "Thanks." Then he examines her handiwork. "Not bad for a one handed job. I'd like to see what you could do with only your off-hand."

"I may write right-handed, but I'm pretty much ambidextrous." She replies.

"That must be nice. I have this scar from a cut that I had to stitch up with only my left hand." He says, showing her a jagged scar on his right bicep. "I think my sloppy stitch work made it that bad, because the cut was pretty minor."

"Wow; that is pretty nasty." She says, running her fingers over the scar, and feeling his muscle flex. 'Wow, indeed.'

"Not the worst one, though." He says, turning his back to her, and she gasps. "Courtesy of Deathstroke." He explains. "Sliced me pretty good during one of our many fights; nearly severed my spine."

She places her hand on his back, and traces the long scar that runs diagonally across his back, from right shoulder to left hip. She also sees many smaller and older scars crisscrossing his back.

"If Wally hadn't shown up, I never would have made it to the Watchtower in time." He says.

He feels her fingers press against two scars that he knows all too well.

"Are these..?" She asks. 'These must be the ones.' She thinks.

"Yeah. Those are the scars from the two bullet holes I got from Two-Face." He says; his voice suddenly somber.

He steps away, and her hand falls into her lap. "I'm sorry about that, Dick." She says. "I know how hard Bruce can be."

"Yeah, well I showed him, didn't I?" Nightwing replies. "He may have forced me to stop being Robin, but he couldn't stop me from being a hero."

'Say something, Dinah; change the subject.' She thinks. "I got this scar from Roy, when he was first training." She says, causing Nightwing to turn around and look at her. She points to her left arm, and shows him a faint scar on her forearm.

He walks back to the bed, and holds out his left arm. "Wally sliced me with a butter knife when running away from Artemis about 8 years ago."

"A butter knife?" She asks, as she looks at the thin white line across his elbow, trying not to laugh.

"Hey, at the speed he was running, he could have sliced me with a spoon." He replies.

"Pistolera." She says, indicating a faint scar on the right side of her neck. "Grazed me with a bullet."

Nightwing lifts up his left arm, and shows her three scars running across his side. "Penguin gave me these two." He says. "And I got this one from Cheshire." He says, indicating another scar a little lower down his side.

She turns her back to him, and pulls her hair forward over her left shoulder. "Cheshire stabbed me with one of her sai." She says.

Nightwing reaches forward and touches the circular scar on her right shoulder. "What about this one?" He asks, running his hand from her shoulder down her back to another scar.

'That feels nice.' She shivers as his fingers trail along her skin. "That one was from Lady Shiva, just last year." She replies.

"Joker." He says, and she turns to see him pointing to a mess of scars on his chest. "He's sliced me so many times that I've forgotten how many of them there actually are."

She places her hand on his chest, and gently runs her fingers over the scars. "There are so many." She says. 'Why am I letting this continue? I should be stopping this before it goes any further.' She thinks, but is unable to remove her hand.

"Yeah; Joker likes his knives." Nightwing says, his body shuttering slightly.

"What's this one?" She asks, running her hand down his chest and over his washboard abs, coming to a newer scar on the right side of his abdomen.

He laughs. "That's just my appendectomy scar." He says. "I had it removed last year, when it started flaring up after I was poisoned by one of Poison Ivy's plants."

"Oh." She says, letting her hand slide down over his thigh before falling into her lap.

She pulls the blanket off of her right leg, and points to a long scar on her right thigh. "Cupid tried to cut my femoral artery with one of Ollie's old arrows, and bleed me to death." She takes his right hand, and places it on her thigh. "You can still feel how deep the cut was." She says, squeezing his hand.

"Yeah, you can." He says, starting to get flustered again.

'What am I doing?' She thinks to herself, as she continues holding Nightwing's hand on her thigh. 'I can't let this go any further.' She releases his hand, but he doesn't move it, and instead continues to squeeze her thigh.

"I've actually got a scare from Bruce." Nightwing says.

"You do?" She asks, surprised.

"Yeah; he was being controlled by Ivy, and I had to fight him." Nightwing explains, finally removing his hand from her leg; causing her to sigh, longingly. "He clocked me right in the jaw, and split my lip. It never really healed properly." He points to his mouth.

"I can't see." She says, standing up, and stepping in close to him. She reaches up, and cups his face with her right hand, holding it still while she examines his mouth. 'He has such lush full lips.' She thinks. 'What am I saying? This is Dick; I have to stop this.'

"It's right here." He says, pointing to a spot on his lower lip that is slightly misshapen.

"That must have been painful." She says. 'Oh my God; why am I feeling this way? I practically helped raise him into the…the fine young man he is today; the fine, incredibly hot, sexy, young man.'

"I was only 14 at the time, so yeah; but, hey, chicks dig scars, right?" He asks, smiling.

"Yes they do." She says, dreamily, before realizing the tone in her voice might have been a little suggestive. "I mean, I'm sure they do."

"Do you like scars?" He asks, covering her hand with his.

'Oh God, don't let this happen. Please stop this before it goes too far.' She thinks. "Ah…yeah." She says, watching as he licks his lips. 'I'm too weak; I won't be able to resist if this goes on any longer.'

"So do I." He says, tracing the scar on her neck with his free hand.

"I pictured you as the supermodel type." She says, shivering as his fingers run along the length of her neck.

"No, that's Bruce." He says. "We're very different people, Bruce and I. I'm not interested in a continuous series of meaningless relationships with women whose greatest accomplishment is getting on the cover of a magazine." His hand slides down to her shoulder. "I want a woman who is more than just a pretty face. I want someone who can challenge me on every level; someone who I can consider a true equal."

'Stop this now, Dinah; it's about to cross a line that can never be uncrossed.' She thinks to herself. "There are plenty of young woman out there that can challenge you, Dick." She says, emphasizing the word young.

"I don't care about age." He says.

'Oh crap.' She thinks, visibly swallowing, as he leans in closer to her.

"I want someone who is mature, and isn't afraid to speak her mind." He says; his breath hot on her face.

"I want you." She blurts out, surprising herself. 'I did not just say that out loud.'

He doesn't reply, but instead captures her lips with his own.

All thoughts of stopping disappear from Black Canary's mind, as she lets herself go, and collapses into the strong arms of Nightwing.

She awakens for a second time in the same bed, but has company this time.

"Hey." Nightwing says.

"Hey." She replies, resting her head on his chest.

'What did I just do?' She thinks to herself as she listens to his heart beating in his chest. 'How can I be so weak?'

"Dinah?" He says, making her look up at him. "Don't even think about it."

"About what?" She asks, pretending to not know, but knowing that Nightwing has already figured it out.

"Don't even think that what happened was wrong." He says.

"Dick, you're just a kid…" She starts to say, sitting up.

"I'm 23, Dinah; I haven't been a kid for a long time." He replies, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm just so much older than you." She says.

"Only 10 years; Bruce dates women half his age all the time." He replies.

"That's different." She says.

"It's only different because you think it's different; it's not." He says, turning her to face him. "Ollie was 10 years older than you when the two of you started dating, and you were only 20 at the time."

"I was one of your teachers; someone who was supposed to be a role model."

"You were one of my teachers, and are still a role model." He says, tilting her face up. "And you were the first crush I ever had."

His comment surprises her enough that she forgets about feeling guilty and asks, "I was?"

"Yeah. I had the biggest crush on you growing up." He replies. "Everyone thought I had one for Wonder Woman because I spent a lot of time with her, but she was always more motherly to me than you; you challenged me, and made me feel more grown up than I really was. But I was just a kid at the time, and came to figure that I would never have a chance with you. So I tried to be realistic, and go for girls closer to my own age."

"Zatanna?" She asks.

"Yeah." He replies. "Don't get me wrong; Z is great, and I really did like her, but she wasn't like you. And it didn't work out."

"I see." She says.

"It was when I started hanging around with Donna that I realized that I wanted someone more mature; someone who knew who they were, and what they wanted out of life." He says.

"We all thought the two of you would end up together, not her and Roy." She says. "You were so compatible."

"Too compatible." He says. "She's my best friend; probably even more so than Wally, but don't tell him that."

She giggles, but the mention of Flash makes her remember her guilt.

"I'm not a little kid anymore, Dinah; I'm all grown up. And I never did get over my crush on you." He says.

"I just…I can't, Dick." She says, turning her head away from him.

"You just did." He says, with a cocky smile.

"You know what I mean." She says, but can't keep the smile from her face.

"I know." He says. "But you're wrong."

She turns around to see him climb out of the bed, and stand up, naked, and stretch. 'Oh God, he's gorgeous.' She thinks. 'No, don't go there. You need to end this now, before it gets even more complicated.'

"You may not believe me, but I've been in love with you since I was 12." He says, slipping into his costume. "I can wait until you come around; it won't be long."

"You don't love me, Dick." She says.

"Yes I do, Dinah." He replies, sliding his arms into his sleeves. "I'm not Bruce; I only sleep with someone if I truly care about them." He adjusts his gloves, and picks up his mask. "I can wait."

"You'll be waiting forever, because it won't happen." She says, holding the sheet up to her chin.

"Oh it'll happen." He says, walking back to the bed. "I'm a Bat, remember; I always get what I want. It's part of my charm."

'Look away, Dinah; don't look into his eyes. Whatever you do, don't look into his eyes.' She thinks, turning her head away from him.

He takes her by the chin and turns her back to face him. "I'm going out on patrol; there's food in the fridge if you want, and plenty of hot water for a shower. Lock up if you head out."

"What do you mean if?" She asks, trying not to look in his eyes.

"You know what I mean." He says, capturing her lips again.

She can't resist, and kisses him back. When he pulls away, she opens her eyes and sees his bright blue eyes starring back. 'Crap.' She thinks.

He smiles, and puts on his mask. Then he walks over to the window, and opens it. "I'll see you later." He says, jumping out.

She hears the sound of him firing off a grappling hook, followed by his telltale laugh. She rushes over to the window, clutching the blanket to her, and looks for him, but he is long gone. She closes the window, and returns to the bed. 'I'm not going to give in.' She thinks. 'I'm going to get dressed, and leave. And we'll both pretend that last night never happened.'

She starts collects her things, and is about to get dressed, when she sees a picture on Nightwing's dresser. She walks over to it, and picks it up. 'You've got to be kidding me?' She thinks when she sees it. It's picture of her and Nightwing, back when he was still Robin, taken in Mount Justice around the time that the team was formed.

She places the picture back, and sighs, "Damn it." She places her things back on the chair she took them from and heads into the bathroom to take a shower.

The next morning, after finishing his patrol, Nightwing returns to his apartment, and climbs in through the window. He is disappointed to find his bed made, and the room empty. He quickly strips out of his costume, and jumps in the shower; letting the hot water wash away the blood and sweat from the nights patrol.

He wraps a towel around his waist, and heads out into the rest of his apartment. He stops in his tracks when he enters the kitchen. Standing there, dressed in one of his dress shirts, is Black Canary; preparing food.

"I figured that you might be hungry." She says.

"Ah yeah." He replies, letting a smile creep onto his face.

"I hope you don't mind, but the only thing I had to wear was a blood soaked costume." She says, indicating the shirt.

"Not at all." He replies; a smile now plastered on his face.

"Wipe that smile of your face, young man." She says, sternly, but playfully. "If this is going to happen, then we are going to have to set down some ground rules; because you may be getting what you want, but we're going to do it my way, not yours. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Ma'am." He replies, his smile slowly creeping back onto his face.

"Good." She says, pulling him into a kiss. "Now go put some clothes on; the food will be ready soon."

He reaches past her and turns off the stove.

She turns to face him, and he drops the towel. Then he pins her to the counter. "We can eat later." He says, kissing her again.

THE END