Rory awoke with a splitting headache and a pain in the side of her neck the next morning. What the hell happened last night? Looking on her nightstand she saw a note: 

"Ivy toxin gives you a killer hangover, take this. It will help."

~Tim

Rory looked and saw a couple of pills sat there with a bottle of water. Slowly she sat up and took the Advil and sighed. How did she get Ivy toxin in her system and why was her neck sore? With a groan, she got up and grabbed her robe and pulled it around herself. Looking in the mirror as she passed it, Rory sure as hell looked hungover.

Her eyes had bags and her hair was a complete mess, and was that a bruise on her neck? What had happened to her? The last thing she could remember was running from the giant monster plants and calling Tim an idiot, something to do with potatoes and lemons. But after that was completely blank.

Exiting her room, she heard commotion downstairs. Following the noise, she entered the kitchen and saw the entire Wayne family including  Bruce. Hearing the door, Jason turned to look and saw Rory there.

"Well if it isn't Sleeping Beauty, need a kiss to wake you princess?" he grinned.

At his words, everyone snorted a laugh and Tim almost choked on his food. Eyeing them all, Rory grew more suspicious. "What the hell are you talking about Jay?" she asked, grabbing a cup of coffee and drinking it immediately. 

"What do you mean, 'what the hell am I talking about'? According to Timbo and Babs, you made out with Ivy last night." he grinned, taking a bite of his apple.w

It was Rory's turn to choke on her coffee. "Excuse me? I did not." 

"You did when Jay and I got there the two of you were in a total lip lock. Speaking of which, how does the hangover feel?" Dick tried to hide his grin behind his cup.

"Why the hell would I kiss Poison Ivy, last I checked supervillains were not my thing boy, girl or other," Rory said sitting in the only open seat there was and that happened to be between Tim and Jason, and across from Dick.

"Should you tell her Timmy, or should I?" Jason teased, poking Rory in her side. 

"Don't touch me again, Jason," she said trying to drink her coffee in peace, and then looked at Tim awaiting an explanation. "Tim?"

Tim had been silent the entire time and barely looked at her, and Rory was confused as to why missing the looks Dick seemed to be giving them.

"What's the last thing you remember?" he asked, almost seeming afraid of her answer.

"It was when we were running from those monster plants of hers, I said you were an idiot and I vaguely remember something about potatoes and lemons. But everything is blank after that, I'm guessing that is a side effect from Ivy's toxic kiss?" she asked.

"Yup, isn't that right Bruce?" Jason called out with a grin. If looks could kill, Jason would be six feet under, again.

"Well, we managed to get away from those plants but we walked into a trap. She caught us and she was going to kiss me, but you managed to convince her to kiss you instead. When I asked you about it once we were out, you said it was better you than me. What did you mean by that?" Tim asked, his voice was quieter than usual and he was acting really odd, too odd for Rory's liking.

"I'm guessing I just wanted to protect my best friend. I don't know what I would do if something happened to you dragon boy," she admitted, it seemed like a reasonable explanation and she was sure Tim would have done the same.

When Rory called Tim her best friend, his heart plummeted. Of course, she had thought of him as her friend and her friend only. 

"But none of this explains the bruise on my neck and why it hurts so much."

"What!?" Rory nearly jumped out of her seat and saw that everyone was now staring at the bruise on her neck, and the more she thought about it she realized that it did look similar to a hickey. There was no way in hell that Poison Ivy did that to her.

"Timothy what did you do last night!?" Jason yelled at him wrapping his arms around Rory in a protective manner and pulling her closer. "Jason let go of me!" she snapped and looked at Tim, who was flushing a bright red.

"I didn't do anything, I swear! It was the syringe you saw last night, I sedated her so she would sleep!" he said quickly holding his hands out.

Rory was trying to get out of Jason's 'protective hold' still and looked at Tim. "Why the hell did you have to sedate me! What did I do?" she yelled. "Jason, I swear if you don't let me go I will make you want to cry." 

"You were drugged up on Ivy toxin, what the hell do you think you were trying to do?!" Tim yelled back. It was Rory's turn to go bright pink, she quit trying to fight out of Jason's hold and went still. 

"I did not..." she said quietly. 

Tim nodded, "Nothing happened but that's why the bruise is there. I stabbed you with a sedative so you would sleep it out of your system." he explained, of course, Tim left out everything in between but no one needed to know that. He didn't even tell Dick what had happened, only the fact that he was falling hard for his best friend.

"Well, now that whole situation is settled I need to have a talk with you two," Bruce said, standing in his seat and walking over to Rory and Tim. "Did I or did I not tell you two to not engage Poison Ivy last night?" he asked.

"You told us not to Bruce, and we didn't," Rory answered. "Right Tim? We did not start it?" 

Tim nodded in agreement. "Ivy was watching us through her cameras that I had no idea where there, apparently she can use the potato and lemon trick." 

"Is that what I was yelling at you for?" Rory said, breaking her gaze from Bruce and looking at Tim who nodded in response. "But yeah, we didn't break that rule boss. She found us and attacked us."

"Last I checked, telling her to kiss you instead is engaging." Bruce narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms and stared down Rory. She scoffed and stood up to meet his gaze. 

"So you're upset that I saved your kid and put myself in danger instead?" she asked, disbelief laced in her tone. She couldn't believe what she was hearing, Bruce was upset that she got poisoned last night but surely this kind of thing happened a lot.

"I'm upset that you still engaged her, you could have gotten hurt or killed. Ivy isn't known to show mercy often so you got very lucky." Bruce's voice dropped to a dangerous tone as if daring Rory to say anything else on the matter.

"So what the hell was I supposed to do then? Let her possibly kill Tim? Oliver sent me out here to learn how to be a better hero and I am getting scolded for doing what was right? Of course, I would prefer me over Tim getting hurt or killed any day because, in this manor, I am expendable. He isn't." Rory was pissed, she knew Bruce cared for everyone but sometimes he didn't show it very well and this was one of those moments.

"And how would I explain to Oliver that his daughter got herself killed on my watch?" 

"With the truth. I subjected myself to save my best friend, Oliver knows that I would give my life to save those I care about but if you can't accept that then I see no point on staying here any longer." She turned on her heel and stormed out of the kitchen, slamming the door behind her. 

Bruce stood there quietly, his anger and irritation radiating off him. It was moments before he too exited the kitchen and everyone left there were stunned into silence.

"Is that what I look like when I fight with the old man?" he asked. 

There was unanimous "Yes!" from everyone and he shrunk down in his seat, defeated. 

"I'm gonna go check on her," Tim said getting up and leaving the kitchen, following Rory. Knowing her, she would have gone somewhere she didn't want to be disturbed, but where was that?

Deciding to check her room first, he knocked on the door and there was no answer. Slowly he poked his head in and saw that her room was empty so he shut the door and made his way down to the bat cave, only she wasn't down there either. 

When he came back up, Alfred was waiting for him. "If you are still looking for Miss Aurora, she is in one of the rooms Master Bruce had refurnished for her." 

"Thanks, Alf." he smiled and went to the south wing of the manor, that's where the rooms were that no one used anymore. The closer he got, he began to hear music from down the hall so that meant she was down this way for sure.

The further down the hall he got he heard the music coming from the last room, there were no known plans for it that he was aware of. So why was Rory using one? Once he was outside the door he could hear the music loud a clear and oddly he recognized the song. It was Sleeping Beauty No. 4 Carabosse -The Lilac Fairy. 

Tim quietly opened the door and saw that the entire room was remodeled into a ballet studio, just for Rory. In the middle of the room stood Rory who was doing a variation of Carabosse's solo. The way she moved with such precision, Rory's movements were sharp and jagged like Carabosse.

With the music blasting in the background it was no wonder she didn't notice Tim enter. She was angry, he could see it in the way she moved and the look on her face as she danced around the room spinning and jumping into the air on her point shoes. 

No wonder she had always been so agile, Tim had never seen her dance even when she was in Gotham. Her mother and teachers forbade it because outside influence was distracting, but that never stopped him from supporting her.

With the climax of the song, Rory's movements got sharper and sharper. She was the embodiment of rage and anger while she danced and it should have scared Tim, but as he watched he couldn't think of her as anything but beautiful.

The song ended and Rory spun around and landed in a finishing pose, her breathing heavy and ragged. She hadn't danced like that in a very long time, but she had forgotten just how exhilarating it was to dance her heart out.

There was a clap behind her and she quickly turned to see Tim standing there, how long had he been watching her?

"What the hell are you doing here dragon boy?" she asked.

"I'm the dragon boy? Shouldn't I be calling you the dragon now, I wouldn't be surprised if you began to breathe fire after I saw that. Wasn't that the Carabosse solo?" he asked, walking towards her as Rory hit pause on the stereo system. 

"It was, how long were you watching me?" she asked, grabbing her bottle of water and taking a big drink of it. "Almost no one manages to see me dance, so you must have been very quiet." 

"Not very long, but enough. Even as kids, I never got to see you dance so I took the chance and stayed. You're very good, I can see why that school accepted you." he smiled. 

Rory laughed, "Well, what you witnessed was my Carabosse variation from my last ballet. I may have graduated early, but the school wanted to keep me around for their more intense rolls. What they wanted for Carabosse none of the other girls could pull off, so they brought me in and I was Carabosse in that year's spring ballet."

Tim's eyes widened, "They kept you around for a couple more years because you were that good?" 

"It's almost insulting how surprised you sound Timothy." she chuckled and sat down, unlacing her point shoes and sliding them off her feet and pulling socks on instead. "Besides, I was one of the best dancers to come out of that school so of course, they would want to keep me around after I graduated."

Tim watched her, he could see that she was still upset over her fight with Bruce so he came up with a brilliant idea.

"Alright songbird, get up," he said and walked over to the stereo and looked for a specific song. Once he found it, he hit play and walked over to Rory and held out his hand to her.

"What the hell are you doing dragon boy?" she gave him an amused smile and took his hand. He pulled her up and close to himself. Tim placed a hand on the small of her back and the song began.

Rory recognized it as the Waltz from Sleeping Beauty, with a light chuckle she looked at her friend and placed her hand on the arm that was on her back. "Do you even know how to waltz Drake?" she asked.

"Of course I do, all us Wanyes know how to dance in various forms. Now, I may not know how to do ballet but I know how to waltz and the last time I checked this was the waltz at the end of the movie after the prince saved Princess Aurora, right?" he asked. 

Rory rolled his eyes. "You are so cheesy, but yes it is but my dress isn't changing colors and you are not exactly a prince," she said as Tim led her in a waltz around the studio.

"Those are semantics, besides being a Wayne is basically royalty in Gotham so close enough." he smiled and spun Rory around as she let out a giggle. Pulling her back to his chest, he held her close as they kept time with the song his eyes not leaving hers.

"You ready?" he asked after a few moments, his smile turning into a grin.

"Ready for what- Hey!" Rory squealed a giggle as Tim picked her up off her feet and swung her around a few times as her feet dangled off the floor. "Timothy you put me down!" 

Tim let out a hearty laugh and set her feet back on the floor. "I asked if you were ready." he grinned. Rory just rolled her eyes as the two of them kept waltzing around.

Damian was walking by the hall when he heard Rory squeal, curiosity took the better of him and he walked down to the hall and peeked in the door to see Drake and Sonnet waltzing in the studio his father had made for her.

"Hey little D, what are you looking at?" Dick asked and looked and saw Tim and Rory who were both caught up in their own world to notice them. 

"tt" Damian huffed. "I can waltz better than that," he muttered.

"Then, by all means, go interrupt them." Dick grinned and shoved him in. Damian let out a noise of protest and that brought Rory and Tim out of their trance and looked over. "Damian thinks he cal waltz better Tim, I told him to prove it." 

Rory and Tim stopped and laughed, "Alright kiddo, prove it." Rory said and held out her hand. Damian to flush red a little and took her hand, basically shoving Tim back.

"I was not only taught by my father, but my mother believed dancing helped improve your fighting technique," he said as he began to lead Rory in a very by the book waltz. "I can see that when you fight, your movements are fluid almost like Greyson's but he was an acrobat. You were a ballerina weren't you?" 

Rory looked at Damian who was just barely shorter than her. "You are half right, I am still a ballerina. I just haven't performed in a few years." she danced with Damian and his movements felt much stiffer than Tim's but then again she could tell that Tim was trying to make her laugh after her mood went sour. 

"Hey Gremlin, you're a little too stiff. Let a pro show you how to waltz and sweep a girl off her feet." Jason said from the door making everyone look over. Not only was Jason there but so was Stephanie and Barbara who were trying to hide their giggles. Damian did look a little stiff like he had never been that close to a girl before.

Before Damian could object, Jason moved him over and took Rory's hand and began to move around the floor with her, Jason's movement more fluid than Damian's but not as loose as Tim's. "So question for you princess, did your parents name you after the movie or something?"

Rory shook her head. "Technically no, they named me after the ballet, like my grandparents named my mother Clara after the Nutcracker. My mother's last performance before she found out she was pregnant with me was Aurora in the Sleeping Beauty ballet here in Gotham. Both my parents decided that if I was a girl they would name me Aurora." 

"Well, I think it suits you," he said and kept waltzing with her. 

"Alright, my turn." The two of them stopped and saw Dick standing there.

"No way Dickiebird, it's still my turn," Jason said, stopping and turning to look at his older brother.

"You got your dance, I want a turn." he pouted. Rory crossed her arms at their argument but felt a pull and turned to see Tim behind her. 

"I think we may have started a competition on who is the better dancer." he laughed. Rory chuckled, "We all know it's me. Professional ballerina over here." 

Tim rolled his eyes and offered his hand once more. "May I have this dance songbird?" 

Rory smiled and took his hand and the two of them began to waltz once more, ignoring Jason and Dick's argument. It took Tim almost tripping over his feet and Rory laughing for them to look and see them dancing again.

Dick looked back at the door and saw the girls watching Tim and Rory longingly. He walked over and offered his hand to Barbara "Come on Babs." he smiled and picked her up out of her chair and held her up as the two of them waltzed around, making Barbara smile the biggest smile she made in years.

Jason watched and saw Stephanie frown a little and with a light chuckle, walked over and dragged her over and danced with her too making Stephanie laugh. The only one not dancing was Damian, but he preferred to watch anyway. 

It had been almost an hour and neither Alfred nor Bruce had seen any of the kids and it started to worry them. Normally when they are quiet for this long, something bad was happening like another paintball war in the gardens or some stupid stunt competition that usually ended with someone having a broken bone. 

The two of them went up and down the halls before the heard laughter coming from the south hall where they had set up a ballet studio for Rory. Walking down there, Bruce stood in the open doorway and saw his kids waltzing around and having a generally good time. Barbara was laughing the most, while the others were just laughing with wide smiles on their eyes but in the back of the room, he saw Tim and Rory off in their own little corner and ignoring the others as they danced around.

It was then he realized just how much those two cared about each other. It worried him, Tim was so young but the look on his face he had seen when his father Thomas looked at his mother. It was complete adoration and he was more than happy that Tim had found someone he cared about like that.

Alfred let out a chuckle from his side. "I think Miss Aurora is a wonderful addition to the family. I haven't seen any of them smile like this in a while. She is truly something special, maybe it was fate Master Oliver sent her to us." 

Bruce looked at his butler and smiled a little. "Yeah, maybe you're right Alfred."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, that was so much fun. The inspiration to this was just listening to the Sleeping Beauty Ballet on repeat. Also, Carabosse is the name for Maleficent in the ballet. Anyway, let me know what you think and if there is anything you want to see more of. 

Until Next Time,