'You have no idea what your lies have done to us!'

He could still hear Conner's voice ringing in his head, clear as day even as he sat there perched on the rooftop of one of Gotham's buildings.

'M'gann believed Kaldur had killed Artemis. So when she found him on the Reach ship she fried his brain. That's gotta be why Artemis grabbed her, to try and save Kaldur's broken mind. But M'gann doesn't know how to do that. '

Why hadn't he been told about what had happened? He should have known sooner about what had happened to Kaldur. He should have told them sooner about what their plans were.

Manta may just kill her and Tigress if she blows her cover trying to save her. And we'll have lost all three of them because you thought it was a bad idea to share.

Dick lowered his head to his knees. Conner was right. He had kept everything from the rest of the team; kept everything from two of his closest friends. If this went south…If they couldn't get M'gann back, if Artemis or Kaldur were compromised; it would all be his fault. At the time he thought it was a good idea. They thought it was a good idea. He assured Wally of Artemis safety and even now, the speedster wouldn't talk to him. None of them would.

As it stood, he didn't want to be Dick Grayson; Nightwing and team leader. He wanted to be Robin; the scrawny little teenager who only had to worry about keeping up with a bunch of meta-humans. He hated himself more than anything right now. What would Batman think when he came back to find not only the Hall of Justice in ruins but Mount Justice too? He'd be disappointed and he hated when Bruce was disappointed in him, even after all these years.

He listened to the sound of his communicator ringing in his ear. Word spread like wildfire through the rest of the team and now everyone was angry with his decision. No one, not even Tim or Barbara would answer when he called. Was this what it felt like for Kaldur when he chose not to tell them about the mole? When they turned on him out of anger? How did he put up with it? He just wanted to apologize…

'So why are you hiding in Gotham?' A voice, sounding an awful lot like Conner, asked. 'Why not face the team in person?

He didn't want to admit that he was afraid to. He left Gotham's sister city of Bludhaven to get away from his team. His excuse of course, would be that he was patrolling for Batman while he was away. That was part of it but not the whole reason. He didn't want to deal with the problem at hand. Something else Bruce would probably be disappointed with.

With a final sigh he got to his feet and stretched. He needed to move. He needed to find something to keep his mind occupied.

The gunshot sounding from down the street couldn't have come at a better time.

Conner narrowed his eyes a little as his phone went off for what he counted to be the twelfth time that hour. He hated the stupid little device. It bothered him to no end but Dick and the rest of the team suggested years ago that he get something a normal teenager would have so they could get a hold of him. The first couple phones they got him he had accidentally broke.

He pulled it out of his pocket to check the caller ID and sighed, seeing that it was once again Nightwing. The clone hit the button on the side, ignoring the call and went back to half listening to whatever the others were saying. Word was out and everyone was pissed. Not that he blamed them. Nightwing, Artemis, Kaldur and Wally all kept this from them. They came up with this big scheme and their team leader decided to keep it to himself.

Part of him understood the younger members; the newer members. But to keep it from M'gann? From him? Over the past couple of years, after Kid Flash retired from this life, he and Nightwing had gotten close. He trusted the other man, probably more than he trusted the others but now? How could he take anything he said to heart?

The group settled down and decided to focus on something else. His phone had gone of two more times, one after the other in that duration of time. He caught Robin and Batgirl checking their devices once or twice as well and figured Nightwing must have tried to call them too which they chose to ignore. Now he felt just a little bad. Robin and Batgirl were the two other people Nightwing was close to and even they wouldn't talk to him after finding out.

A movie was decided on and Conner sighed as he was reluctantly dragged outside with them, the phone in his pocket now eerily quiet. And it stayed quiet the entire time their little group moved through the new city trying to find the movie theater until it suddenly rang once more. Falling to the back of the group and letting them argue about directions, Conner tugged his phone out and after a moment of debate from seeing Nightwing on the caller ID, finally answered.

"What do you want?"

''C-conner….Don't….Don't hang up. Please."

Nightwing had been glad to escape when he did. When he went to investigate the gunshot he was expecting a petty robbery or purse snatching gone wrong. He hadn't expected to crash in on both The Joker and Two Face running a heist together with their goons. It seemed the two villains were expecting Batman and Robin to show up with how many guys they had on hand. The two of them didn't know that the Dark Knight was off world for some time still.

If his head was completely in the game this would have been a cinch for him to do. He could have taken out the goons then worked up to both Two face and Joker. But he wasn't completely into the fight, his thoughts elsewhere and he was suddenly finding himself in over his head. Several times he brought the screen on his holo-com up; trying to find some back up from his team who were just across the bridge in the next city over but he received no answer.

Then it happened.

He was too busy fighting the goons to pay attention when Two Face drew his gun, flipped the coin and grinned. He fired two shots and the teen wasn't fast enough, taking both hits. Luckily the Kevlar in his suit stopped them before it could break skin but it had left him open to The Joker and his knife, feeling the blade rip through his suit and stab into his side before it twisted painfully.

That was when he decided to make a hasty retreat. It took a while to shake some of them off but Dick eventually ducked into an old abandoned apartment complex, throwing them off. So there he was now, hand gripping his bleeding side tightly as he tried to catch his breath. He needed medical attention but he was so far away from the manor he had no idea how he was going to make it there unnoticed. Not if those goons still around.

Tilting his head back he pressed the button on his communicator once more, letting dial the last person he tried calling before he had fled, surprised when Conner actually picked up.

"What do you want?"

''C-conner….Don't….Don't hang up. Please."

"Give me a reason why I shouldn't"

"Just…please. Listen. "He was going to ask for help but…did he really deserve it? Maybe this was his punishment for the things he put his friends through, for the lies he told. "I'm sorry…"

There was a snort "I bet you are. I'm hanging up Nightwing."

"Conner…Please. You won't have to talk to me after tonight. I promise." There was a shift and he could tell that Conner was debating about it. "Please just listen…"

"Fine…"

"I should have told you from the beginning. You and M'gann. But—"He paused, thinking he heard voices before continuing. "I thought that…if you all knew, you wouldn't have fought as seriously as you did when you thought they were our enemy. We had to make it believable. I-I was wrong."

"Nightwing—"

"Listen…Can you tell the others that I'm sorry? I know that it won't make much of a difference but I'm sorry that I lied to them too. I thought I was doing what was best for the team but as it turned out, I was just turning into someone I told myself years ago I never wanted to be. "

"Why don't you tell them yourself? Where are you?"

Nightwing let out a sigh and slid down further, curling up on his side. He was getting tired. "Gotham…"

"What are you doing in Gotham?"

"Patrolling but—"

"Alone? Nightwing you should have- "

"I-It's fine Conner. I said what I needed to say okay? Tell them I'm sorry. If you can, get M'gann back and…and get Artemis and Kaldur out of there. I don't want them to suffer because of the idea I had. Promise me."

"Nightwing." Conners voice had become stern, as if he could hear the teen's breathing becoming labored despite him trying to keep it even. "What happened?"

"I guess I should stop lying to you. Don't need you angrier at me then you already are. I had a run in with Two face-" He needed to pause, take in a breath "A-and Joker. I'm not entirely feeling the aster."

He winced when it sounded like a rush of wind passed through the phone. Did the wind picked up outside? He couldn't tell from where he was curled up.

"Nightwing? I need you to keep talking. Where are you? "

"Near the docks somewhere; an old apartment building. "He shuddered and curled up tighter "You almost sound worried. "

"I am—"

"You know…I never thought I'd see the day you'd calmly tell me off. "He chuckled though it ended with a pained noise. "I remember when you used to yell and just charge ahead without thinking. You've come a long way from being that hotheaded, thick skulled—"

"Nightwing"

"Sorry…" He blinked tiredly "Hey Con, I don't think…It's getting hard to stay awake."

"Don't! Don't you dare fall asleep just yet. Keep talking for a little while longer. You're good at that remember? "

"Good at all a lot of things. Like screwing up. "

"Stop—"

"I have something else I wanted to tell you." He cut him off before he could say anything else. Despite what Conner requested he just couldn't keep his eyes open any longer. "I used to have the biggest crush on you. SB?"

"….Yeah NW?"

"You remember that day, when you, M'gann and Artemis told us those secrets you were keeping?"

"Yeah…"

"Sorry I didn't learn… from that example. M'so so sorry…"

The world faded to black right when someone crashed through roof of the room he was in. He heard a shout of his name before everything fell silent.

When Nightwing came to he was aware of hushed voices. It was warm and the space around him was echo-y. It was very familiar actually. He groaned and blinked several times, trying to look around as his vision focused.

"Nightwing? "

"Mn..M'I in the batcave?" He tried to sit up but a pair of hands held his shoulder and gently guided him back down. He looked up at not only Conner but Tim and Barbara as well. "What's—"

"You gave us a pretty big scare. Superboy told us something was wrong when you called him on the phone and we rushed over as soon as we could. Just don't tell Batman we showed Superboy where the cave is and we should be fine. " Tim rubbed the back of his neck. "You tried to call us for back up didn't you?"

"Yeah but..it's okay. "He looked over at Barbara. She seemed just as guilty as Tim did. "Really. I understand why you didn't pick up guys. "

"It's not okay. If Conner hadn't picked up…"

"Don't worry about. You found me, I'm fine. It's okay. I'm the one that needs to apologize. "

"No. We talked about and…your logic in the situation was pretty sound. We understand why you did it. ''

"You do?"

"Now why don't you get some rest and we'll come down to check on you in a little bit okay?"

Nightwing managed a faint nod, watching Batgirl and Robin leave the little medical area. Conner however stayed behind, sitting down in the chair next to the bed with his arms crossed.

"So…Welcome to the batcave?"

"It's….not what I expected really."

"Ah…hey, Thanks. You know, for coming to find me."

"What are friends for?"

"I guess that makes a good point…so…We're still friends? "

"Yeah, of course. I'm sorry about how I acted. "

"Don't be." Nightwing smiled happily and shook his head. He was happy things between them weren't as tense as it was before.

Seeing as it was now safe to close his eyes he now did so, planning to get some rest.

"So….What's this about a crush you used to have on me?"

Or not…

AN: Bleh, sorry if this doesn't come out as great Dl I'm not feeling all that grand but I wanted to get it over and done with after watching yesterdays Young Justice episode. \owo/ It only fueled my ship further. You know the drill. Reviews are always loved.