Lazarus Project

It was confusing. He couldn't feel, he couldn't see, he couldn't move... yet everything felt fine. He felt... well love. It was dark but comfortable. Reliable. He felt safe...

then the brightness came. The world exploded in front of him, shocking him into the loud noises, the aimless beeping, people were yelling and suddenly nothing. It was dark again. Calm, peaceful...

--

Talia moved some of Dick's hair away from his face. She slowly blinked, unsure if what she had done would stop her Beloved's family from collapsing onto itself. Dick was the linch pin of the Bat-Clan. She would not have her Beloved be crushed under it weight.

Dick would live, he would have to.

Or all was lost.

--

Dick had woken up several times, unsure of what was going on around him. He remembered fighting, being held and having his neck snapped. Each time the memory repeated itself his neck seemed to throb. He moved his hands to his neck, finding it hurt to move.

"You'll be escorted to the Pit, Ibn al Xu'ffasch." He heard a voice that seemed oddly familiar... but the name threw him off. His name was Richard Grayson, Dick for short. Why was she calling him something, he had no lick of an idea of what it meant. Damian would know, wouldn't he? He groaned as his arm fell limply to his side as his world blurred into darkness.

Talia...

--

Talia observed her minions placing the bandaged fallen hero into the Pit. Somehow she knew that Dick was needed, more than anyone ever let one. People, even weeks near months after his death, were still strung up on it. What she was doing was right, she knew.

They'd have their Grayson back soon.

--

Dick felt light headed, but he didn't ache anymore. If anything he felt above par for his usual self. He didn't felt tired... okay maybe a little. He'd crawl back to Laura's room and...

Oh God, Laura!

He hadn't seen her once since he woke up. She had to have been worried, right? He moved from the Protector's hands, running into the house. They hadn't had time to re-collar him just yet, but it wasn't like he needed one. He wasn't Meta, he just could punch really hard. Not as hard as the Kent family, but he could do some damage.

He shook the thoughts from his mind as he bolted from room to room. Checking everyone one he passed...

But some how he just knew to check in her room. He just hoped she was there. With a bit more running he quickly knocked on the door, trying his best not to sound overly excited. He couldn't just open the door, they needed warning...

(( OOC: Felt weird posting again. Trolol ))

Laura was sitting on her bed, thinking of how she would raise the baby on her own. And wondering how Bruce and Tony would help..

Though they had made sure she was getting rest.. They both did it differently, but it was something. And she seemed to be protected from the protectors since she wasn't thrown into a arena.. Something she thought she would already be thrown into..
Especially since she had claws. Yet other people were getting thrown into the arena and she wasn't.

But before she could think more of this, there was a knock on her door. Which made her jump out of her thoughts and get up. She slowly walked to the door and opened it.. Before she saw someone she would never see again...

...

...

...

...

...

Laura's eyes were wide as she backed up, her body trembling as she stared at Dick. She backed up, before she ran into the book shelf in her room.. Making her stumble onto the ground.

"D-Dick...?" She thought out loud.

H-how.. how is he alive? What is going on!?

...

No! No.. This isn't real, it couldn't be! The protectors are playing tricks on me!

She suddenly stood up and held a fighting stance.

"Whoever you are stop making yourself look like Dick! Before I tear you up in pieces! How dare you look like someone I loved! How dare you try to break me more than I already am! How dare you.. I know you know about what happened in the last couple of months.. So how dare you make yourself look like Dick Grayson, you fucker!" She yelled at him, not believing it truly was him.

Though her right arm was covering her stomach as she talked about the months.

Dick's face lit up but soon became confused as she fled from him. His eyes conveyed the very confusion he felt at the bottom of his heart, something... something about this felt wrong.

When she started screaming at him he didn't know what to say. She didn't believe him? He was... alive. He knew he was really him. What was something only he would know.

"You've never been to a circus." He started, fishing for some other piece of information, but it hurt. It hurt so much.

"You sat with me, made love to me when we knew... when we knew I... I wasn't coming back to life. I... I don't remember much. Hands on my neck, it snapped... But my God Laura... Lu, you have to understand..." Dick felt betrayed, slightly. But he knew she had ever right to be wary of him. This is something right up the Procter's alley.

"I'm alive... Lu... I don't know how," Talia... but she doesn't have to know that, "But I'm here. By God I'm here." Dick couldn't stop the tears they built in his eyes. A few fell but not that many. Not as many as he could tell she shed. How long had he been dead?

Laura glared at him, before her eyes widened when he spoke.. And listened to him as he kept speaking..

He sounds the same.. He looks the same..

"Lu.."

Her body was frozen in place.. Her eyes were wide.. And the tears started to form.. Only him.. Only himself called her Lu.. And he spoke that nickname just how he when he was alive..

And it was getting even more, and more convincing when she saw how he reacted to her outburst.

"D-Dick...?" She asked, but her voice was shaky.. And her body was starting to tremble.. "I-Is it really you..?"

Please.. please don't let this be a trick.. Please.. Oh god, please..

"Is it..?" She asked but with more a pleading tone. Wanting to know if what was in front of her was real.. And that he was alive.

Dick moved into the room, slowly of course. His body screamed in need to just run over to her and hug her until he could hug the sense into her.

"Lu... it's really me. I don't... I don't know what they tried to do to you if you think I'm not real... but... please, Lu. It's me. It'll always be me..." Dick's voice wavered as he used his foot to shut the door, effectively making the room sound proof from the outside world. He didn't need anyone else coming to interrupt this conversation.

"Lu... it's really me. I don't... I don't know what they tried to do to you if you think I'm not real... but... please, Lu. It's me. It'll always be me..."

The way he said that.. The way he looked at her.. It was all proof it really was him. Especially when he kept eye contact throughout the whole thing.

Laura's eyes softened as the tears came. And left her eyes as she covered her eyes. All the emotions were coming to her now.. Dick was alive, he was alive.. He was real, and was alive. And she felt happy, oh god she was was happy..

Her legs started to tremble, and started to fall to her knees.

Dick moved in an instant. There was no longer to inhabit his movements as he rescued Laura from falling completely to the ground. He pulled her close to his chest as his perfect ass moved contact with the floor. He held her as tightly as he could, letting her bury herself into the embrace.

"I'm here, Lu... I'm here... I'm not leaving... it's okay." He tried to calm her fears. He tried, desperately but he didn't know what to say. It was just... hard. And he was confused.

What happened while I was gone..?

Laura quickly hugged him when she felt his arms around her. The arms she never knew she would ever be in again. She kept her head buried into his chest as she cried. Her hands gripped his shirt as if she was making sure he wouldn't disappear. And she still couldn't figure out how he was alive.

"H-how are you alive? H-how..?" She asked as she kept still in his embrace. "H-how is this p-possible?! How!? I t-thought you were g-gone forev-forever.. That I w-was going to be a-alone.." She whimpered as she hugged him a bit tighter, but not too much to hurt him.

"I... Bruce's ex. I don't know... I don't know why she did it. But she did... God, I'm sorry. I should have fought. I should have... I just my code, my morals... God I didn't..." Dick just held on to his crying lover, his crying girlfriend.

"I'm not leaving again, I swear. I swear, Lu..." He placed his head on top of her own, trying to calm her down but letting her down off of her emotional roller coaster gently.

"You won't be alone, I promise..."

Laura listened to him speak as she kept on clinging to him. God how she missed his embrace, his touch, his scent..And his voice, his lovely voice that spoke such great things to her. Her head buried deeper into his chest, before she looked up at him.. And let her bright green eyes stare into his bright blue eyes.

"I'm never.. letting anyone kill you again.. I'm never losing you again! I won't be able to handle that if I do!" She suddenly said, before she cupped his cheeks gently and kissed him. Kissed the person she cared so much about.. And god how she felt so much better to know this wasn't a trick, or a dream..

Dick went to reply, saying she wouldn't have to but the feel of her lips caressing his own shut his brain down momentarily. All that esixted, for the moment, was themselves. He moved to deepen the kiss, something he hadn't done in a while. Something he was sure she hadn't done in a while either. She stayed loyal to him even after death.

Something fluttered in him.

"I love you." He whispered, but reuniting the kiss as much as he could.

Laura felt herself get engulfed by the feeling that wrapped around her when he kissed back. And how it felt like it was only them to in the universe.. And how much she had missed the feel of his lips on hers. And could just feel how she was suddenly washed away from the sadness..

"I love you."

Her eyes looked at him, and was about to respond but he kissed back. She then pulled away a little to breathe, but her lips hovered over his. And her eyes gazed up to look at his.

"I love you too, Dick.. I love you too.." She said as she smiled gently.. The first smile in the last couple of months.

Dick plastered a stupid smile on his face before leaning his forehead against her own.

"Let's not... think of me as dead, okay? I just... went away. For a little while, I'm back and it's okay... It's okay..." Dick started before needing a few answers.

"What... what happened while I was away?"

"Okay.." She said softly, and smiled more.

"What... what happened while I was away?"

Her eyes widened as suddenly everything that happened came back to her.. How she found out she was pregnant, and how she is pregnant.. And how everyone just broke down due to his death. Also how Bruce seemed to feel about all of it. And now she was going to have to tell him.. everything..

She got up and moved back. "A lot.." She started as she sat on the bed. She told him how everyone reacted after the death.. How Bruce became broken, and Jason punched him and blamed it on him. And what Tim had done to himself, and how Kon had helped him through it. And told about everything else that happened after his death..

And when she was done, it was time to tell him about his child..

His..child..

"And.. I found out.. that.." She started to tremble and she finally looked at him. "That.. I'm pregnant.. With your baby.." She said softly.

Dick wanted to leave, wanted to find his family and show them he was okay. Be the brother he was supposed to be, the son he was supposed to be... but he couldn't just leave. Tim's actions struck a chord. He knew the young adult would do it. Apparently not even Kon could stop him. But, he found out that, if anything, it strengthened their relationship and the two seemed to be fine now.

Then she paused and seemed to collect herself. There was something she was holding back, something that made his heart squeeze for a moment. Did someone die? Did...?

"That.. I'm pregnant.. With your baby..."

Dick's breath hitched as the thought hit him on full force. She was pregnant... with their baby? But they had used protection. How could it have happened? Dick just held her tighter to his chest.

"I told you I wouldn't leave you... the Universe works in mysterious ways." Dick remembered a few Romani tales his mother had told him when he was younger, some that only just now (as he was an adult) made sense. Dick's throat consticted before he took a breath once more.

"I'm... I'm glad. Someone could have kept my promise. I promised you, you wouldn't be alone... and now you'll have us. both of us..." Dick gave her a smile that seemed half hearted, but it was about all the excitement he could muster. Dread filled his being, a baby here? It would be challanging... but...

"Did you tell anyone else?"

Laura looked at him, and watched his expression.. Hoping it wasn't going to be a bad reaction. She stood still and waited for him to speak, not wanting herself to speak before he would say something..

Even though she probably wouldn't be able to speak.. Her throat felt like it was in knots.

"I told you I wouldn't leave you... the Universe works in mysterious ways."

Her green eyes widened a little as she heard him suddenly speak.. And saw he wasn't responding in a negative way.

"I'm... I'm glad. Someone could have kept my promise. I promised you, you wouldn't be alone... and now you'll have us. both of us..."

She smiled at him, feeling something inside of her just give her warmth. She wanted that reaction from him. That very reaction. She wanted him to say he would be there for her.. That he wouldn't leave her with the child.

Oh god how she was happy he wasn't abandoning her..

Laura moved forward and hugged him, showing him how happy she was.

"Thank you.." She whispered, before looking up at him.

He then asked her a question.

"I told.. Bruce, My brother Logan.. and a hero named Tony. I don't know how he found out.. He just knew.. by just looking at me.." She bit her lip.

"Logan's not going to kill me right?" Dick teased, using his hand to brush away the strands of hair that littered her forehead. He felt ashamed that he couldn't remember Laura's eye color. He knew green, but the shade escaped him. Forest green. More vivid than Wally's but lighter than Babs's. It was a nice color. A perfectly acceptable color.

Actually he rather enjoyed the color immensely.

His thumb pad slowly removed the tear marks off from under her eyes. His blue than blue eyes just taking the moment in.

"I have no idea who Tony is... and I'm hoping Bruce didn't attempt to do anything stupid, right? The man's full of himself with that kind of logic."

Laura laughed softly at his little tease.

"No, no he won't." She said, before smiling up at him. She was happy he was standing in front of her. And that this wasn't a dream. She put her hand on his cheek when he brushed her hair out of her face. Her eyes gazed into his amazingly blue, blue eyes.

She then shook her head when he asked about Bruce.

"He hasn't.. He was helping me quite a bit." She said softly, before looking down at her stomach. And her hand slowly went to rest on top of it. "Your father is back.." She whispered.

Dick couldn't refuse the need to place his hand on top of hers, curling his fingers in between Laura's own. She was warm, he could feel it through the thin shirt she wore. It made him feel a bit... well, possessive. That was his, this was his. Well, their's. He still felt the over baring need to be completely protective of them.

"I'm going to be a Dad." It was a bit breathless. Hell, he didn't even know if it was a he or a she and he was already head of heels in love with it. With it. It didn't do it justice. It was the product of love in a hopeless situation. It was hope that days could be better. That love came through even in the darkest of times.

"We're going to be parents, Lu..." And suddenly, reality was a figment of his imagination. All that existed was the three of them at the current moment.

And he couldn't have been happier.

Laura looked up at him when he suddenly placed his hand on top of hers. She gently gripped his hand and could feel the warm in the caring gesture. It made her happy, so damn happy.

"And... I'm going to be a mother.. A mother to your child.." She said softly with a soft smile that showed she was happy.

She then looked down at her stomach and closed her eyes. Before looking right back up at Dick once again. With tears in her eyes.

"I'm so happy your back, Dick.. So damn happy.. I'll make sure to treat both of you right. I will not lose either of you." She whispered as she was trying her hardest to not cry.

[[OOC Excuse my grammar, Em.. Kind of having a hard day with it. XD]]

[[ You can never have a hard day with grammar! ASDNASNDASK loljk ]]

Dick leaned down and planted a light peck on her nose. Gazing into those eyes that had shown so much pain.

"If they throw me back in, I promise to kill. I promise not to die on you, Lu." He moved his arms to wrap around her waist, pulling her closer.

Laura blushed lightly when he kissed her nose, and saw how he gazed into her eyes.

"If they throw me back in, I promise to kill. I promise not to die on you, Lu."

Her eyes widened as she wrapped her arms around him when he pulled her close to him. Though her eyes softened as she smiled at him.

"I love you.." She whispered suddenly.

[[OOC THE FEELS~!! AASKDSJALFDJSFKAJLKFJSAKJFLKASJFKLJSFLKJ!!!!!]]

"Love you too." Dick whispered, moving his hand to adjust her chin a little higher to give her a brushing kiss. Nothing with too much substance but just enough to show affection. His free hand moved down to caress her stomach.

"Have you thought of names?"

Laura kissed him back, loving the feel of the soft kiss he was giving her. She gently caressed his cheek while he caressed her stomach.

"Have you thought of names?"

Laura looked at him and shook her head.

"No.. I've been.. struggling to think of something.."

"Mind if I monopolized that male names? If we have a boy; I wanna name him Thomas... After Bruce's dad." Dick spoke shyly, biting his lower lip.

"I'm also going to have to visit everyone else soon... But I'll stay as long as you want. Or need."