I tried to go to sleep—definitely should've been able to after everything we'd done—but my body felt too buzzed to let me close my eyes even for a few seconds. Dick had finally fallen asleep a half hour ago, his chin resting atop my head and his fingers long since having stilled from the comforting circles they'd been rubbing into my lower back. His skin was warm under my cheek and his abs flexed sporadically as I softly trailed my hand above them.

After slowly turning my head just enough to watch him sleep for a few minutes, I gently pulled myself away and off the bed towards the bathroom. Leaving the door open,I walked over to the large angular tub in the corner, setting it for a hot bath to soak. Maybe a couple of more rounds with Dick would wear me out enough to sleep, but I saw the exhaustion weighing on him towards the end. If I wanted to calm the frenzy he'd set in my body, a relaxing soak would just have to do.

For now. Knowing Dick, I could wake him up in another half hour by climbing in his lap and he'd say he'd rested enough. As much as I'd love to believe that, I know he needs the sleep more than me at this point.

Once the tub is filled enough, I turn off the water and toss in a vanilla bath bomb to foam up while I tie up my hair on my head. Then I climb in and rest against the edge, closing my eyes as the heat on my skin starts to sink in. That buzzing need throughout my body started melting away, my muscles loosening enough to finally acknowledge how tired I was. Within fifteen minutes the day's events had finally taken over completely, my eyes heavy enough that I barely bothered more than a flutter of my lids as I continued to lay there.

"I was wondering where you disappeared to." I glanced over my shoulder to see Dick making his way over, a soft smile on his half sleepy face. "Mind if I join?"

"Of course not," I smiled back, pulling my knees to my chest to give him room as he stepped in. Rather than sit across from me as I'd expected, he settled in, grabbed an ankle under the water and tugged me toward him. I let out a surprised giggle as he spun me around so that his legs were on either side of my hips, my back against his front and his arms weaving their way around me tightly. I felt his lips press to the skin just below my ear and sighed contently.

"Tonight was fun," he spoke against my skin, images immediately flashing across my mind. I licked my lips at the memories.

"Mmmm."

His arms unwrapped from my body, hands coming up to massage my neck and shoulders. His thumbs working into the muscles almost immediately made me melt into them, a moan escaping my lips as his ghosted against the rim of my ear. "You know what would make it better?"

I smiled, having a feeling I knew, but kept silent and shook my head teasingly.

Dick's fingers flexed more tightly against me and I arched my head back to rest against the side of his face as he spoke again. "If you died."

My head snapped up again and I twisted just enough to see his face despite the words and voice sounding nothing like him. His hands at my neck tightened further and suddenly he was forcing my head beneath the water, holding me there. Caught off guard, I sucked in more water than I wanted, filling my lungs heavily as I thrashed beneath it. I tried to call out to the plants but it was as if they were too far out of reach. Finally a new idea pierced my foggy mind and I slammed my elbow back into his groin, his hands involuntarily letting me go.

I slid back up to cough and gasp in air, turning on him in the tub; my eyes practically popping out of my head to find Hurricane instead of Dick.

His face was contorted into a grimace but still there was something not right about it as I stared at him in confusion. "This is getting silly, Emmy," he said, his voice sounding distorted. "Just die already." He lunged at me, hands out and wrapping around my neck, forcing me back under the water before I could think to react.

When I jumped back up, chest heaving and eyes wildly scanning around me, it was to find myself back in Dick's bed. I looked at his side, feeling the sheets and finding them cold as if he'd been gone awhile already. Looking around more I found the room exactly as I remember it from earlier; lamp on the floor from the tremors I caused, clothes in heaps trailing to a few feet from the bed, tension wire at the foot of the bed where we left it. I worked on slowing my breathing as I clocked it all, my eyes falling on the open door of his en suite bathroom. I faintly heard the shower running and slip out from the covers, carefully making my way inside.

The first thing my eyes find are the tub in the corner of the room; entirely empty and unused. A sigh of relief escapes me as I realize everything I'd seen before was just a dream. The only problem now was that I didn't know if this was reality.

"Madds?"

I look over at the frosted shower glass, Dick peaking out at me from one end, hair wet and curling behind his head. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah," I said quickly, shooting him a tired smile. "I just woke up and didn't see you, so..."

"Needed a shower," he said simply before his mouth curled up at one end. "Arms were feeling kind of stiff from the restraints."

I felt my face flush at the memory, a smile of my own taking over as I looked at him. Glancing at my own arms I notice the slight red marks just above the crease of my elbow. I suddenly felt the faint strain of the muscle too, but the memory of the events made me focus more on the craving building in me again.

"You were the one who said you could break free of the vines," I teased and he laughed.

"I'd say I learned my lesson but that would imply I didn't intend on trying again." I raised a brow quizzically and he laughed again. "Not right now, unfortunately. We have a new guest, remember?"

"Ugh, right," I groaned, suddenly remembering Aiden. Whatever else we wanted to do, we needed to figure out him first.

"I'm almost done here but you come on in, if you want," Dick offered and my spine stiffened, remembering again my dream. For all I knew I was still sleeping and this was just another layer to it.

"No objections here," I said calmly, making my way over to him slowly. Last minute, I purposely slammed my foot into the shower door, wincing at the sharp pain going through it. Dick held out his hands to catch me as I tripped, watching.

"You okay?"

I had a throbbing toe, shooting pain in my foot and a slight limp for the moment. "Perfect," I said through my teeth, happy to confirm this time that I was awake. I let him pull me under the fountain shower, his hands moving down my arms to my wrist, inspecting the light marks there before migrating to the cut on my palm.

He unwrapped the gauze there, fingers softly probing along the edges of the stitches he'd done before we finally went to sleep. Dick was pissed when I told him how I'd gotten it but I managed to keep him from stomping out the door to break the poor kid. Now, he let the water run off the skin at an angle, his thumb just barely touching over it. I winced slightly but he zeroed in on it immediately. "Sorry, just making sure they're tight enough," he said, still holding my palm up.

"Huh," I said with a slow smile, stepping into him more as I pulled my other hand free and rested it on his abdomen. I felt the muscles tighten reflexively and my smile grew. "Maybe I should've used that line last night. Guess there's always next time."

Dick laughed as he bent his face to mine, his lips moving on mine softly as one hand came up to cup the side of my face. We stayed like that for a couple minutes, tasting only each other and the warm water that dripped it's way between us. I slid my hand up his torso and around his neck, making him shudder into me as he let go of my other hand, turning us to walk me into the tile wall behind us. He kept me between him and the wall with one hand by my head against the tiles and the other holding the side of my face, thumb running along the bottom of my jaw.

Just when our kiss grew deeper, my arms wrapping tighter around him and drawing him in, I felt him start to pull away and I let out an annoyed groan. With his hand still on my face, forehead resting on mine, I glared at his guilty smile and amusement playing in his dark eyes. "Don't you dare," I nearly growl, making him laugh.

"We have things to do today, Madds."

"Yeah, and this could be one of them."

"As much as I'd love to never leave these two rooms again with you, I'm going to have to take a rain check."

My eyes narrowed further. "Tease." Dick smirked, annoying me further; I let my arms drop from his neck and moved to break free of his hold, only succeeding in taking two steps before he pressed me back against the wall.

He kissed me again, clearly meant to placate my fake tantrum and I latched on to his bottom lip, grazing and pulling on it with my teeth drawing a groan from him. A smile crossed my face as I leaned in to take hold of it again, feeling his hand beside me coming to the other side of my face. Holding me there, he kissed me harder making me think I'd won until he pulled breathlessly away again. "Hours," he shook his head with a disbelieving chuckle. "And yet you still make me want more. Maybe your pheromones are finally working on me after all."

It was clearly meant as a joke but the second he said it, a switch flipped in me. My nightmare of the plants bursting through him flooded my mind, my greatest fear knocking the air out of my lungs as I flinched away from him. Dick let go of me like I was on fire, his hands hovering unsure in the air as his faced contorted in regret. "I didn't mean—"

"I know," I interrupted him, eyes dropping to his throat as if waiting for the dream to come true. Maybe I was still asleep and about to watch him be ripped apart from the inside before screaming myself awake again. Maybe hitting my foot only hurt because I wanted it to so bad my brain just told me it did. "I know what you meant, don't worry about it."

"Madds, I'm sorry—"

"Don't."

"I wasn't thinking," he rushes out quickly before I can interrupt again. My eyes are still fixed on his throat; thankfully nothing tearing through. Dick ducks his head to draw my attention again, searching my face. "I'm fine, Madalyn," he says more forcefully, trying to break through what he knew was keeping me silent. "I'm better than fine, okay. I was just being stupid. I don't know if you've noticed, but you tend to have that affect on me." He tries to give me a teasing smile and I roll my eyes at his attempt, the corners of my lips tilting up.

"That I know," I respond, leaning forward and hugging him to me. His arms wrapped around my shoulder, his head dropping to kiss the top of my shower soaked head.

"I'm sorry," he says again, starting to make me feel guilty.

"There's nothing for you to apologize for Grayson," I said against his chest, listening to his steady heartbeat. "My fear, my problem." I expect him to do his usual and claim the problem to be both of ours, but he must've realized it would go against his efforts to calm me and instead stayed silent.

Smart man.

*****

Dick held me for a few minutes after that before reluctantly reminding me we had things to do and then slipping away when I told him to go ahead. I could feel his eyes on me through the glass as he wrapped the towel around his waist and I went through the motions of washing my hair. I was pretty much on autopilot at this point, my mind's main focus being on what he said.

He'd assured me before that his inoculations were adjusted to my most recent pheromone mutations, but what if that wasn't true? What if he'd said it to me just to calm me down? Or the lab brains that he and Bruce had working on it only told them that was adjusted because they didn't know how to explain that they couldn't actually? What if, instead of horrendously killing him the way it did everyone else, when Dick kissed me his body's response was to crave more and more until finally he'd ingested enough poison to kill him? It would definitely explain his frenzied need for me lately...

I imagined waking up to his cold, lifeless form on the bed, toxins darkening his veins from poison, his eyes open and bloodshot. Bile rose in my throat at the image and I had to physically shake the thought away, refusing to accept it.

Dick was fine; he said he was so he had to be. I had nothing to worry about, my mind just playing tricks. It's just those stupid nightmares floating around in my head and his stupid—but oddly sweet—comment about my pheromones fueling him. Everything was fine.

In the off chance that it wasn't though, it couldn't hurt for me to keep a closer eye on him...

Once I was out of the shower I'd gone back into the bedroom, a small smile crossing my face as I noticed Dick had cleaned some of our mess from the night before. The lamp was back on the dresser, my clothes gone from the floor and presumably in the hamper, the bed meticulously made. My broken makeup mirror was gone, likely in the trash, and the only real sign of anything out of place was a stray leaf from one of the vines tucked just under my side of the bed.

Noticing it gave me a flash of a memory; Dick on his back while the vines kept him restrained and I teased every inch of him endlessly, frustrated sounds vibrating through his chest. My smile turned wicked at the memory as I went through the closet for some clothes.

Twenty minutes later I was dressed in black denim cut off shorts that fell just above my knee and black thigh high lace up sneakers. Though my marks were faint, I decided to cover up my wrists and arms with a long sleeve black and blue knit sweater with thumb holes I'd cut in myself one very bored afternoon. Plating my hair into two French braids behind my head and outlining my eyes with dark eyeliner, I finally made my way towards the common area and the others.

The more I walked, the more sounds I could make out coming down the hall. I could hear Hank faintly saying something that earned a laugh from Dick and Conner, followed by the clattering of a plate and then a video game. I didn't take a chance to look at the time before heading out of the room, so I couldn't tell what meal was being had until the sweet smell of syrup and chocolate surfaced beneath the fresh brewed coffee.

Turning the corner into the kitchen, I saw Dick at the stove flipping a pancake while a plate towering with more stood on the counter beside him. He too wore a long sleeve shirt, reminding me of his marked wrists too and flooding my cheeks with color.

Hank leaned on the island beside the coffee maker with a big smile across his face, hands crossed over his chest as his eyes fell on me. He looked at my sweater sleeves and then over to Dick's and back, his playful smile turning into a knowing one. He raised a brow at me tauntingly and I returned it with a silent smirk. He clearly guessed what we'd been up to the night before and I was in no way embarrassed by it.

Completely at ease, I looked around and spotted Jason and Conner on the couch in the living room playing a video game with their backs turned. Dawn and Kory weren't around but I didn't know if they were out or not and I noticed that Aiden hadn't appeared yet either. Gar sat at the kitchen island with an iPad in his hand, eyes deeply concentrated on whatever was on the screen.

"Pancakes are almost done," Dick called over to me, drawing my attention back to him. "Chocolate chip."

"I knew there was a reason I love you," I said happily, pecking a kiss on his cheek before walking over to Hank and the coffee. I reach for my mug in the cabinet above and Hank pours out the dark liquid, the bitter smell nipping at my nose. Reaching across the counter, I grab the creamer and sugar and put them in, mixing until I'm confident it's done.

"Somehow I don't think the pancakes are what you love about him," Hank teases me quietly and I narrow my eyes at him. He chuckles as I walk over to stand beside Dick.

"Bite me."

"How hard?" Hank counters with a wink, earning a glare from Dick over his shoulder. I just roll my eyes and take a sip from my mug.

"Mmmm," I groan into the cup, my eyes closing briefly at the taste. "Vanilla." Dick's eyes drop to my mug with a small smile and I hold it up to him as an offering. He leans over as if to take a drink but passes around it to put his lips on mine. His tongue slips from his mouth and and traces the shape of my lips, tasting the beverage on my mouth.

Pulling away with a smirk, he turns back to the stove to flip the pancake again, leaving me staring at him with my lips still parted. "Tastes good," he said simply.

I realize I probably look like a fool with my mouth open and the coffee still out in front of him so I pull it back and take another drink, giving myself time to recover.  I don't know what's going on to make Dick act so impulsively right now and I'm torn between loving and being worried about it.

"Has anyone seen Aiden?" I ask once I get back on track.

"He was still sleeping when I stopped by his room a little while ago," Hank answered with a shrug. "He looked pretty beat when I picked you guys up last night, so I figured I'd let him sleep in."

"How long ago was that?"

Hank and I looked up at the clock on the wall as he answered. "A couple of hours ago." It was almost noon.

"Someone should get him," Dick said without turning to us. "With Roman looking for him too, we have some things to figure out."

"I'll get him," I volunteer, just catching the tick of his jaw from the corner of my eye.

"I can do it," Hank said, pushing off the counter and heading for the hall. "I have to take a piss anyway."

"TMI but thanks?" I said and he laughed, turning the corner.

"Here," Dick said suddenly, passing me a plate stacked with pancakes. Taking it, I moved over to the island while he turned off the stove, grabbing his own plate and the syrup. I take another swig of my coffee before putting the cup down, stealing the syrup out of his hands as he joined me.

"Good morning to you all, too, by the way," I said loudly as I drowned the pancakes, pointedly talking to the teenage boys all lost in their own worlds.

Jason waved a hand over his head before putting it back on his controller, Conner shooting me a silent smile over his shoulder quickly. Gar was so lost in whatever he was doing that he didn't seem to notice. I nudged Dick and nodded over towards him questioningly. He shrugged.

"Everything okay over there, Gar?" he asked, swiping my mug and finishing the remains of the liquid. I narrowed my eyes at Dick but he just smiled, waiting for the boy to answer. "Gar?"

"Huh?" Gar said, slightly startled as he lifted his head to look at us, green hair falling into his eyes. "Sorry, yeah."

"What's so interesting over there?" I asked, reaching for another mug to pour more coffee for me and Dick. He shoveled some pancake into his mouth, looking at Gar curiously.

"I was just checking the alerts I set up from when you got here," Gar answered. "I'd forgotten I'd put anything for weird weather or nature anomalies. You know, because of Hurricane." Dick's chewing slowed at the name, his muscles tensing.

I put the mugs down next to our dishes, one hand coming up to rest calmingly on his arm. He took a deep breath, swallowing his food before shoveling in more.

"Okay, did something happen?" I asked.

"Maybe? I don't know, I mean it's weird," Gar answered looking up at us briefly before refocusing on the screen as he went on. "We know Hurricane is dead but there was this weird non-seismic activity last night?"

"Non-seismic?"

"Basically there were tremors, like a small earthquake, but there was no actual earthquake. And on top of that it only seemed to affect under our building. I can't find anything to explain it but maybe it has something to do with Aiden."

"Aiden?" I repeated, thoroughly confused. "Why would you say that?"

"Well, we don't know much about him so maybe there's an ability we're missing out on," Gar answered. "It would make sense time wise too; the first tremor happened about an hour after you guys got back and then there were another three in the few hours that followed, each one only lasting a few seconds."

Four non-seismic activities that took place specifically at our building not that long after Aiden and I got home. The first within an hour...

Dick started choking on his bite of pancake, dark eyes fixed on me as he came to the same realization that I did.

The tremors had nothing to do with Aiden. It was me and Dick's newly favorite bodily reaction.

I felt my cheeks heat slightly as I slapped hard against his back, helping him to clear his throat while Gar looked up at us. I tried to keep my features as blank as possible, hoping to play off Gar's innocence to not figure it out on his own.

Not that I would imagine a sonic moan would be the first explanation in his mind.

"Dick, you okay?" Gar asked and Dick gave him a distracted thumbs up as he swallowed what was left of his food in his mouth and washed it down with some coffee. His eyes flashed over to Conner and Jason but they were still playing their game like we didn't exist.

Thank God. Talking to Gar about this was awkward enough, even if he didn't know it.

Once Dick was over his choking fit, his features rearranged to his normal stoicism as he focused on Gar. "You're positive that they only registered here?"

"Definitely," Gar answered, focusing again on the screen. His fingers started tapping away as he went on. "I looked over it a bunch of times already, tried putting in the data from each tremor and cross referencing it against any other possible activity in San Francisco but there was nothing. It both started and ended here."

"Even if that's true, we can't assume it has anything to do with Aiden," I countered. "For all we know, it was just some minor result of work being done in the tunnels or something. It wouldn't be the first or last time any sort of construction work resulted in explosions of any kind."

"I thought of that too, but I checked and there aren't any permits for underground construction in the area. Plus, if it was that, it would've been something that made the news. And as far as I can tell, no channel is covering this."

Fuck, this kid is too smart for his own good. No matter what I threw at him, he was ready to hit me right back. An amazing asset to the team that was currently just being a major pain in the ass.

"Guess we'll have to wait for Aiden to ask if he has anything to do with it then," Dick said, his mouth turning up slightly as he glances at me from the corner of his eye. "Though I'm inclined to agree with Madds; something tells me he had nothing to do with it." With Gar still looking away, I shot a glare at Dick which only seemed to amuse him more as he continued on. "I am surprised none of us noticed last night. Out of curiosity, how long did these tremors last?"

I moved to elbow Dick in the ribs but he twisted away before I could make contact. I rolled my eyes at him as I reached for my coffee.

"Mainly about 30 seconds," Gar answered obliviously. "Except the first one; that was 62 seconds."

"Impressive," Dick remarked with a quick smirk to me, making me spit my coffee back into the mug. Some backsplash caught me in the eye, undoubtedly taking away from the glare I shot him for his amusement. He licked his lips, trying to fight the urge to laugh outright. "You would think someone would've noticed that one at least. How about you, Madds? Feel anything last night?" He shot me a wink as he hid his full blown smile behind his own mug and I kicked his ankle, forcing a grunt out of him as he spilled some coffee on himself.

It was a small victory but I'd happily take it with a wide smile. "Nope, can't say that I did. Must've not been anything worth noticing." His brow raised at the taunt and I just shrugged. The way his gaze raked over me told me I was going to pay for that later.

I'd happily take that too.

From the corner of my eye I saw something move by the elevator hall and my eyes shifted, all amusement drained. My teeth clenched tight, my eyes narrowed and I felt my hands ball into fists. I had to be losing my mind because there was just no way I was seeing what I thought I was.

"Madds?" Dick called out, voice instantly concerned from my sudden shift in mood. "What's wrong?"

"You don't see him, do you?" I asked flatly, not even bothering to look his way.

"Oh, come on now, Emmy. You know the answer to that," Roman called across the space to me, leaning against the wall with a smug smile.

This chapter came out  longer than I originally intended, so all the real drama is next lol I hope you at least enjoyed a little bit of domestic NightDahlia ☺️