The fresh night air struck him as he swung agilely from his grappling hook, the red and black cape billowing behind him. It felt exhilarating to be out on patrol again; the starry night sky, the cool gusts of wind, and the company of the other vigilantes all made him feel much better.

Red Robin was finally able to spread his wings and fly through the dark skies of Gotham, his sharp eyes looking out for any signs of upheaval as he scanned the alleys. The freedom he felt in being able to wear his suit again was overwhelming since he hadn't been out in Gotham as Red Robin for more than a year.

He held onto his grapple gun as he kept watch over the city but something still felt amiss.

He had thought that since he was able to patrol again, he would finally overcome that emptiness inside him. He used to think of himself as a bird deprived of flight but even getting the chance of lying again didn't cure that hollow feeling.

Something felt strangely wrong.

He should have felt free that night but it still felt as if there was an invisible chain tethering him to the past. Right then, Tim was on patrol but his heart was miles away, out of his own reach.

He remembered the words he had said to Colin Donnelley when the boy had asked him if everything would go back to normal or not. Tim had come back to his normal life but after a year or so of getting entangled with the Donnelleys, he was no longer certain if that normal was something he wanted anymore.

He returned to his perch on Gotham Tower after completing his rounds but his lips were set into a tight frown as he was pondering over everything that had happened in the short time that he had gotten to spend with Roxanne.

They were lovers bound by contract initially but somewhere along the way, real feelings had blossomed in their hearts.

It had been a wild roller coaster of a year fueled by Bruce's urgency in finding out what Romero was up to, the danger presented by the death threats Roxanne had received, and the conspiracies woven around both the Donnelleys. 

Tim had managed to make it through all of that, just like he always made it out of any difficult situation. But after making it out of the contract and the case, he still felt as if something had been left incomplete.

It felt as if he was left incomplete. Almost as if a part of his heart had stayed in Edinburgh with the woman who had come to mean a lot to him in just the span of a few months.

How could he fall in love with her so quickly? That was a question to which he had no answer.

His communicator beeped, shaking him out of his thoughts. He knew Barbara Gordon would be on the other end of the comm as he accepted the incoming signal.

"Red Robin, is everything okay? It's time to return to the cave. Where are you?" She sounded concerned as she checked his status on the Batcomputer.

He sighed, looking up at the blank night sky, "yeah, everything's fine. I am at Gotham Tower."

"Right."

"I wanted to stay out a little longer," he resumed, perching on the edge of the tower's old parapet, "I will come back in a while."

There was a brief moment of silence until she spoke up again, "no problem, I understand. It's been a long time since you last went out on patrol."

"Yeah..." He mumbled, not telling her that the real reason he wanted to stay there was because he needed some time to himself. 

"Alright then. Take your time and if anything happens, alert us right away," she told him before disconnecting the comm link.

He disconnected his comm at that and reclined on the cold and thick stone edge, looking down at the city from the second-highest point in Gotham. 

Everything below looked so small from that height, almost as if it was all insignificant. Very few cars were on the roads and even fewer pedestrians could be seen as night had deepened into the darkest hours. But from above, everything seemed far out of reach.

And as Tim lay there, he was thinking about how he and all of them were those small pieces in the vast scheme of fate. How every single thing that had happened in their lives tied them to the present moment that none of them could escape from.

Fate and destiny were two words that had intrigued him deeply. Right then, he couldn't help but ponder on it all.

Perhaps he was fated to meet Roxanne Donnelley and perhaps he was destined to fall for the enigmatic woman. Had he known earlier that it would have such a heavy impact on his life, he might not have signed the contract.

But he couldn't go back in the past to change that event. And thus, he could not change his present.

"Hey, Burger Joint, don't fall off the roof, will you?"

He almost fell off at the cheerful voice behind him but then sat up, recognizing the black and purple shades of Batgirl's costume.

"Hi," he straightened, turning to face his best friend Stephanie Brown.

"I picked some coffee on my way here," she remarked, handing him a cup of his favorite Starbucks flavor as she sat down beside him.

"Thanks," he smiled, accepting the cup, "you're a blessing."

"You're welcome," she replied and for a while, there was just silence between them until she asked, "what are you doing here?"

"My thoughts are a mess and I was just trying to gather them," he answered nonchalantly, focusing on the warm coffee for the time being.

"Oh... Right," she looked as if she wanted to ask him further, and soon enough she did, "I heard about your girlfriend. I'm sorry."

Tim paused, trying to make sense of that remark until he realized that the rest of his family still wasn't aware of the whole contract situation. Only Jason and Bruce knew about the actual reason for his involvement with the Donnelleys, the rest of them had no clue.

He looked at her, considering whether or not to tell her the truth. She was his best friend and she had always listened to his problems and helped him find solutions for them.

Right then, he wanted to tell her so that he would share a bit of the confusion weighing down on him. Perhaps, she would be able to help it out as she was a third person in the entire scenario and could have a different perspective.

"I knew it would eventually come to this point," he spoke up after a lot of consideration, deciding to tell her everything, "I should have been prepared for this."

"You knew...?"

He lowered his head, "I didn't meet Roxanne at a business convention... I met her when I signed a contract to be her bodyguard."

"What?" She looked at him in surprise, not expecting to hear that.

"It's a long story..." He took in a deep breath, a weary expression creasing his features, "care to hear it all?"

It didn't take her even a minute to agree, "tell me everything."

The darkness was slowly fading as the two vigilantes stayed on the roof of Gotham Tower while Tim recounted his past with Roxanne. Stephanie was listening closely, observing him as he spoke, his voice tainted with a strange melancholy.

He had fallen deeply in love with her, she could see that too.

But right then he did not know what he should do. And he was sharing his story with her so that she would help him find a way out of that confusion.

Because ever since he had gotten closer to Roxanne, his head and his heart were at war with each other, and he couldn't find a solution on his own.

***