As Rory walked through the grey afternoon lighting, she kept her hood pulled over her face. She was famous because she was a Queen and because she was dating Tim Drake, and wanted nothing more than to get to her destination without interruptions. Knowing Dick and Barbara, they would be back at Wayne Manor and informing the others that Rory has gone off the grid and didn't want to be found. Knowing Tim, he would ignore them both and would try to find her. 

That was why she took the battery out of her phone. 

Tim may be a computer genius, but so was she and Rory knew how to hide in plain sight. She didn't want people knocking on her door to bug her, and she most definitely did not want to see Tim before she knew how to tell him. 

Her destination was an old Team Arrow safe house, hidden deep in the back streets of Gotham. It was a dangerous part of town, even in the day time but Rory knew how to protect herself. She kept her pace quick and walked with a purpose, making sure not to look at any possible cameras or do anything that made her stand out and even took the time to walk through large crowds just so she could disappear if they had managed to follow her.

It took Rory about an hour to get to the safe house, hoping that Oli never changed the code. This was the safe house Team Arrow used when they were deep undercover and not wanting to be found, Rory had designed the security and firewalls in a way that the building could not be found with a satellite and no one could trace any phone or computer once they were inside the building.

Luckily for her, Oliver never changed the code. Quickly she slipped into the building and locked the door behind her. With a sigh, she took her hood off and looked around. It looked the same as the last time she saw the place, she and Roy had chased Merlyn across the country and lost him in Gotham. They didn't want anyone to know they were in town, so the two of them stayed here.

She walked to the main bedroom and dropped her bag. Now that she was inside, she grabbed out her phone and put the battery back in, tossing it on the bed so it could blow up with notifications from the others, probably wondering where the hell she was.

Even though the tests came back negative, Rory still felt like shit. She was nauseous and wanted to vomit constantly and punch things all at the same time. Heading to the bathroom, Rory decided it was a good idea to get into a shower and try to clear her head.

Once she was in, Rory felt her muscles relax as the hot water hit her skin. With a sigh, Rory washed herself as she got lost in her thoughts. What was she going to tell Tim, and how was she going to tell him? She knew that this was something she couldn't keep hidden from him forever, he would eventually find out and she wanted it to be the one to tell him.

Rory could faintly hear the ringing of her phone from the bedroom and decided that maybe it was time for her to talk to someone. Turning off the water, she stepped out and dried off before pulling out spare clothes she had stashed and got dressed. Looking at the bed, her phone was still ringing, and like she had expected it was Tim who was calling her.

Taking a deep breath, she picked up the phone and answered it. 

"Rory, where the hell are you and why can't I find you!?" he snapped.

Rory flinched back from the phone, Tim's voice ringing in her ear. "Tim I-"

"You said that you were with Barbara, then Dick comes back from breakfast and says that you disappeared and don't want to be found? Rory, what the fuck is going on?"

With a sigh. "Tim, please. I promise that I am okay, I'm just trying to take care of some personal stuff right now and I can't do that at the manor," she replied.

"Rory, what is so wrong that you can't tell me? I thought we were partners and did everything together. Remember, no secrets?" 

Rory could hear the pain in his voice, and it killed her to know that she was the cause of it. Right after they had gotten together, they made a pact of keeping no secrets. Tim knew that Rory had a past that she didn't want to share, but she had promised that she would try to open up to him when she felt the urge. This was the first thing that she was actively hiding from him, and it was hurting him.

"Tim, please. I don't know how to tell you, it's why I left. I need to figure this out with myself before I bring it up to you, it wouldn't be fair for me or you. I know that it's not fair keeping you in the dark, but right now it's the better option." she explained.

There was silence on the other end as Tim listened and processed her words.

"Promise me that you are okay?" 

"I promise Tim, with everything I am I promise you that I am okay at the moment," she answered.

Tim sighed. "Alright, but please come home soon? I love you, Briar Rose. Take care of yourself."

Before Rory could respond, Tim hung up the phone and she stood there in a state of shock. He had just hung up on her, not giving her a chance to say she loved him back. She must have really hurt him with leaving the manor for Tim to do that.

Dropping her phone, she fell to her knees and started sobbing. She hated that she hurt Tim, but Rory needed time to herself. She needed time to think through the pregnancy scare and what it meant to her, and how she felt about it before she even thought of telling Tim.

With the thought of telling Tim, her stomach twisted again and she dove for the bathroom and threw up once more as she kept crying. Between the pain of vomiting and nausea, Rory wanted to curl into a ball and cry.

Initially, she had only planned to be at the safe house for a few days. But those few days turned into a week and that week turned into two. Before she knew it, Rory had been gone for almost a whole month and she knew that it wasn't getting easier.

By this point, she knew how she felt about having kids and it was a future possibility that she longed to have. The symptoms hadn't subsided, she still threw up almost every few hours and constantly had a headache from nausea. The tests were negative, but why the hell was she still feeling this way?

Rory was brought out of her thoughts by a knock at her door. Quickly she turned to look at it, worried about who the hell was waiting for her on the other side. Only four people in the world knew where this safe house was, let alone the fact that it exists in the first place. That list consisted of Oliver, Dinah, Rory, and Roy. 

She carefully walked over to the door and opened it slowly, Rory didn't even get a chance to see who it was before it was shoved open and she saw a familiar mop of bright red hair. Roy Harper pushed his way through the door and gave Rory a hard glare.

"Aurora Queen, you have a lot of fucking explaining to do. Why don't we start off with the fact that you are hiding here of all places?" he snapped, slamming the door shut.

Rory jumped back at the sudden slam and looked at Roy with wild eyes. "Why are you here?"

"Why am I here? Why are you here Rory! No one knows where you are other than the fact that you are still in Gotham and none of them had seen you in a month!" he yelled, stepping towards her.

Rory's anger flared. "Don't you fucking dare come in here and start yelling at me, Roy Harper! I've been here trying to figure out what the hell is going on with me, and I didn't want to drag the others down as well." she snapped.

"That's why I am here Rory! Jason called me, saying that you had been gone a month and you quit talking to everyone! I just want you to talk to me, Rory I want to help you figure this out." Roy said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"How did you find me?" she asked.

"Well, when Jay said that not even Tim could track you through your phone even though it was on, I knew exactly where you were. I was with you when you set up the security and firewall, and I know that there are very few people on this planet that can keep Timothy Drake out of something related to technology," he explained.

Rory sighed and looked at Roy, she had to tell him. There was no way she could lie to him, Roy knew her too well for that to work. He was the closest person she had, they told each other everything even the nasty parts.

Roy saw the look on her face, with a concerned look he pulled her into a hug, and no sooner did he do that, she had wrapped her arms around him and gripped him tighter and the tears spilled from her eyes. He rubbed her back in a comforting way and held her tight to his chest as she cried. The weeks alone had done a number on her, Rory needed to talk to someone that fully understood her and where she came from.

It took some coaxing but Roy got her towards the couch and held her as she cried into his shirt. His phone got a notification and saw that it was Jason asking where he was. He sent a quick response back saying that he had found Rory and they were both okay.

Rory began to calm down, and her sobs quieted. She knew that Roy wanted an answer to her problems. With a sigh, she turned and stared at her hands. "Before I went off the grid, something happened."

"What do you mean, something happened?" he asked.

"I thought I was pregnant, and I didn't know what to do." 

Roy sat there in shock. "Pregnant? Rory, what the fuck? I'd say whom the fuck, but I have no doubt that it was Tim. But what the hell, is that what has you so freaked out?" he asked.

Rory gave him a nod. "I needed time, Roy. The time I wasn't going to get if I stayed at the manor surrounded by everyone. I didn't know what I felt, what I was supposed to feel. Barbara and Steph have both had it happen to them, but I'm not them. The two of them have their life together more than I ever will, and I can't just drop a baby bomb on Tim, not in the middle of a case."

Roy nodded. "Alright, it's been a month now so why are you still hiding? You're not pregnant, so what is keeping you here then?" he asked.

"I haven't told Tim, and I don't know how to," she answered, playing with her thumbs.

"You don't know how to, or are you too scared to because you worry about how he will react?" 

Rory stayed quiet. Roy knew her better than anyone else in the world, even herself sometimes. If he said that she was scared, it was because he saw something that she couldn't see about herself. But it was the truth, more than anything Rory was terrified of telling Tim what had happened. She didn't want to see his face when he found out that she hid it from him, and it's why she was hiding for a month.

"You need to tell him, Rory. He is worried about you, they all are. I think even Damian is a little concerned about you, and that's saying something. You can't hide forever, or you're going to lose him and he is the best thing to ever happen to you." he said, "I don't want to watch you lose that because you're scared."

Rory looked at him, Rory's dark eyes were kind and caring. He wanted nothing more than to keep her safe and take care of her, but again he could see that there was more to the situation than she was letting on.

"The Aurora Queen I know, would not hide from something because she was scared of it. Rory, you are the most badass person I know and I have never seen you back down because of fear. Don't let the fear stop you from living your life, it's not meant to be easy especially in our line of work." he explained.

She listened as he spoke and as usual, Roy was right. Rory Queen never backed down from a fight or anything because she was scared. Why the hell was she letting a pregnancy scare stop her? She needed to tell Tim, but she still couldn't find the words no matter how hard she tried.

"Since I am here, why don't I cook lunch, and maybe we can head back together?" Roy asked, pulling her off of his lap and got up and headed to the kitchen. 

Rory rolled her eyes and followed him to the kitchen. "So what are we cooking?" 

"I'm thinking sandwiches, with fried ham and maybe some cheese?" he asked.

Rory grinned "Sounds perfect, I'll get the ham and cheese. The bread is in the cabinet if you want to get it out." and walked over to the fridge and pulled out the sliced ham and cheese. She made it over to the stove and began to prep pans for the bread and the ham. The two of them goofed around as they fried it, Roy poking Rory in the side and making her giggle. 

He twirled her around the kitchen when Rory felt sick again, the smell of the ham cooking making her nauseous. "I'm sorry, give me a sec." she muttered and ran towards the bathroom and threw up for the third time that day. Once she was done, Rory slowly got up and washed her face, and brushed her teeth ignoring the fact that Roy stood in the doorway watching her. 

Glancing at him, she clenched her jaw and looked away. "Don't look at me like that Roy, I swear I'm fine." she snapped.

"Rory, when you took the tests a month ago they were all negative right?" he asked.

She turned to look at him. "Yes, normally when the tests were negative that means I'm not pregnant." 

"There is a thing called false negatives, Rory. It happens more often than not, have you been having any of the symptoms besides the vomiting still?" he asked.

Rory stood there silently. She had nausea, the vomiting, the stupid cravings, and now that she was thinking about it, she was late by almost a week. In the beginning, she had just brushed it off as all the stress and worry affecting her body because it happened quite often.

The look on her face told Roy that she was still having symptoms, and he let out a sigh. "Rory, I think you should take the test again." 

Quickly she turned to face him. "No Roy, I am not doing that again. It was bad enough the first time." she snapped.

He frowned and crossed his arms. "You don't have a choice, I'm going to buy more and when I get back you are going to take them. Regardless of the results, I am dragging Tim here and the two of you are going to talk."

Before Rory could protest, Roy was out the door and off to a store. With a huff, Rory left the bathroom and cleaned the safe house up. She hadn't seen Tim in a month now, and she was nervous. The last call they had was when she went off the grid, wanting to be left alone and it hadn't gone well. 

She had gotten what she wanted, and was able to sort out her thoughts without outside influence but what did it cost? Was her relationship even savable at this point? Why was she even so nervous about seeing him again, they were still together right?

The urge to clean got stronger the more she thought about seeing Tim, she didn't want him to see something and worry about her mor than he needed to before they even got the chance to talk. She was in the middle of cleaning the floors when Roy walked back into the safe house with a plastic bag on his arm.

"Rory, what are you doing," he asked, looking at her as she picked stuff up.

"I'm cleaning, Roy. What the fuck does it look like I'm doing?" she snapped.

He rolled his eyes and grabbed the items she was holding and put them back on the floor before shoving the plastic bag into her hand and ushering her towards the bathroom. "I will pick up the floors, you take the tests. Now." 

Rory flipped him off and entered the bathroom and shut the door. The anxiety about taking the tests again rose up inside her once more as she pulled the boxes out of the bags. Her hands started to shake, there was no Barbara, Stephanie, or Cassandra there to calm her down this time. Rory had to do it herself.

Taking a deep breath, she took the tests and sat on the edge of the tub while she waited for the amount of time written on the box. For some reason, Rory was calmer than the first time but she was still nervous as hell. Her knee bounced rapidly as she waited, the anxiety eating her alive from the inside.

Roy was dragging Tim to see her regardless of the results, but what was she going to say to him? 'Hi honey, I thought I was pregnant with your child and hid for a month to process it because it was such a shock.'

Yeah, that wasn't going to work, Rory needed to be honest with him for sure and she needed to listen to him as much as she wanted him to listen to her. She had no idea what the last month was like for him and the others, something could have happened and there was no way she would know.

The timer Rory set on her phone went off, and she got up to look at the tests.

"Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fucking fuck!"

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So.... what did I do this time? That's for me to know and you guys to find out tomorrow!

I wrote majority of this at like 2 am. 2 am me and normal me don't always see eye to eye so I almost scrapped this, but normal me thought it through and now I see the path.

Next one is going to be a bumpy ride, so buckle up folks.

P.s. I might have dropped hints to an upcoming project in my message board. 😉

Until Next Time,