Rory wasn't taking well to being on bed rest, Dick's initial assumption was correct when he had that she had two broken ribs and several cracked ones. That was just her chest, her collarbone was fractured, so was her radius and her shins. Her spleen was inflamed and had to be watched constantly to make sure it didn't rupture.

Of course, the press had gotten suspicious with the lack of Aurora Queen sightings, ever since she was seen with Tim at the ballet and the Wayne New Year's Eve gala people were keeping tabs on her. Tim had once told her that being a Wayne was basically the same as royalty, and it wasn't more true than this.

Both Bruce and Oliver had to issue an official statement saying that Rory had gotten in a car accident and was staying with Tim in Wayne manor until she recovered. It was no secret that the Wayne family was widely admired and that admiration had trickled down to her as well. She had received multiple gifts and cards with flowers, someone had leaked that her favorite movie was My Fair Lady and her favorite flowers were daisies.

She lost count how many copies of the movie she received and her room was covered in vases filled with daisies to the point she had to keep a window open or she would start sneezing like crazy. Tim had taken a leave of absence from WE to take care of her, making Bruce have to go in every day and drag along either Dick or Jason because just one man couldn't handle the workload Timothy Drake did on a daily basis.

Rory was sat in her bed, staring out her window as Tim worked on his laptop beside her with his hand resting on her thigh rubbing circles with his thumb. It was a beautiful spring day, and she was stuck inside. Looking to her left, she saw that Tim was so engrossed in his work he didn't notice just how high his hand was on her leg and she let out a giggle.

"Timmy, what are you doing?" she asked. 

"Hmm?"

"Your hand is awfully high, is there something you want?" she teased. Tim blushed at her words and moved his hand lower, but not moving it away completely.

"I didn't say that you had to move it." Slowly, she moved closer pressing her side against his. 

"I know what you are doing, and the answer is no. You are still recovering and I have work that needs to be done," he said, glancing at her with a small smile.

Rory rolled her eyes. "Tim, I am mostly healed I can handle it." she buried her face in his neck and placed soft kisses on his shoulder, running her hand over his arms. She could feel Tim leaning into her touch, trying not to give in and do his work. 

"Mostly healed, is not completely healed Songbird. I don't want to hurt you," he said, placing a hand on the one she was running down his arm.

"Maybe not, but I know you won't hurt me." She trailed her kisses up from his shoulder and to the collar of his shirt and pushed it aside, biting on the skin softly. Her actions made Tim let out a small groan, she could tell that he was losing focus from work.

Rory grinned against his shoulder and moved her hand down to the hem of his shirt, tracing her fingers over his toned stomach just above his pants line. Tim let out an airy breath as she sucked the skin between her teeth that was sure to leave a mark. "Rory, you are making it really hard to concentrate. I need to get this done..." he muttered. 

"You can get it done when I am done with you." Removing her hand from his shirt, Rory moved his laptop and papers to the side as she crawled onto his lap and kissed him fully. Tim's hands went to her waist, holding her in place as they kissed. He could feel her hand slide up his body as she slowly pushed his shirt up with it.

Rory slid his shirt up and off of him, breaking the kiss and moving towards his neck and kissed his pulse. Tim's grip on her tightened, bunching up the shirt she wore in his hands as he moaned softly.

He felt her hands slide lower and work on the button to his pants that were starting to get too tight for his liking. Quickly, he lifted his hips and helped Rory pull his pants and boxers down making Rory giggle softly.

"Someone is a little eager."

"Hard not to be when my girlfriend is trying to seduce me." he groaned as he felt Rory touch him softly.

"Sweetheart, this isn't seducing. If I was trying to seduce you, you would be a blissful, moaning mess." she grinned, pushing him back on the bed and ran her hands over his body making Tim shiver at her touch.

"Fuck Rory..." he muttered. "Isn't that what you do to me anyway?" 

Rory looked down at Tim and leaned down and pecked his lips. "If I was trying to seduce you, this would have happened weeks ago." she grinned kissing him fully. The sounds of soft moans sounded against the walls as Rory and Tim indulged into the pleasure they gave each other.

Two hours later, Rory and Tim were laid out on the bed basking in the sun rays against their bare skin. He ran his fingers through her hair, admiring the dark-haired beauty with him. Her eyes were closed as she soaked up the sunlight, sweat glistening against her skin with a few marks across her neck. 

Tim was covered in marks, even more so than she was. Letting Rory take control resulted in her marking Tim as her's, she took extra care to make sure that they weren't visible from behind a suit collar but poked out from a regular t-shirt. His body had red marks across his skin from Rory's nails and he could feel how swollen his lips were. 

"Hey, Briar Rose?" 

Rory tilted her head towards him. "Hmm?"

"Did you lock the door at all?" Tim had a feeling he knew the answer but was curious to know. His brothers were infamous for barging in unannounced, they were brothers after all. Rory had the same experience with Roy more times than she could count, and it almost always at a bad time.

Rory stayed silent, giving Tim his answer. Rory rolled onto her back and looked out the window. "Why don't we go for a walk in the garden? It's beautiful out and if we stay quiet much longer someone is going to barge in."

Tim pulled her closer to himself and nuzzled her neck. "I have something beautiful right here." 

Rory blushed and wiggled out of his hold with a wince and got up, pulling her clothes back on. Tim watched her, his eyes lingering on the acid burn on her back, and the bandages wrapped around her torso. She looked so beautiful to him, even when she was injured and the scars showed just how tough she was.

Rory's eyes glanced at him as he watched her. Once she was dressed, she picked up Tim's clothes and threw them at him, while he was on the bed. "I'll be in the garden, don't take forever Dragon Boy," she called and shut the door behind her as she left.

Walking down the hall, Rory wrapped a scarf around her neck to hide the bites and bruises Tim had left. Neither of them would live it down if they saw the marks Tim left on her, let alone know how often they slept together. She had made it to the stairs and took a deep breath as she slowly went down them. Her ribs were still on the mend and it made movement harder, but it was tolerable. 

Stopping at the front door, she slid her shoes on and walked out the back door to the gardens. Once she was out, Rory closed her eyes as she enjoyed the warmth from the sun taking in the feeling. 

The birds were singing and cicadas could be heard all around her. Brushing her hair back, Rory walked further into the garden and towards the hedge maze. It wasn't an actual maze, just enough that it could prolong a walk. Rory kicked some rocks as she walked, lost in thought.

If the next week went well, she would be safe to send out in the field and it scared her a little. Rory didn't feel ready, let alone worthy of going out and protecting those of Gotham every night. Slade Wilson was still out there and he was probably waiting for the perfect time to strike, the Joker had done what he asked. He had gotten her to kill, unhinging her enough that she pulled the trigger without a second thought until after it happened.

What would happen if she went out again? Would she slip up and kill again? Was she even capable of saving others anymore? 

Rory didn't realize how much she had walked until she came upon the middle of the maze where a gazebo was set up with rose vines going up the grated sides. The roses were a beautiful shade of red and looked well cared for. What intrigued Rory the most was the person sitting in the gazebo already, with a book propped open on his lap as he took a bite of an apple.

Quietly Rory walked over and sat with Jason and leaned back against the seat, wincing as she did so. Jason had noticed her long before she sat, and could tell that something was wrong with her. Rory wasn't normally this quiet and she was alone, so that proved that something was wrong.

The two of them sat in silence, Rory lost in her thoughts and Jason reading the book she had gotten him for Christmas. It was about five minutes before he spoke up. Setting the book down on the table, he turned to look at her. "What's on your mind princess?" 

Rory gave him a shrug, wincing and instantly regretting the action. 

"Where's Timbo?"

"He was getting dre- uh taking care of something before he could join me." she quickly finished, trying to cover her slip up. 

Jason laughed at her awful attempt at a cover-up. "You two might be able to hide it under Bruce's nose, or he may just be purposely oblivious to it, but you can't fool me. Who the hell wears a scarf in spring?"

Rory scoffed. "A lot of people wear scarves in the springtime, it's fashionable." she crossed her arms roughly, making herself wince again.

Jason raised a brow. "Yeah, and how often are they to cover up hickeys?" 

"Fuck you."

"No thanks, I don't want my brother's sloppy seconds." he grinned.

Rory's jaw dropped and grabbed the apple out of his hand and threw it at his head, the apple bouncing off and rolling under a hedge as she quickly gripped her side trying to hide her whimper of pain.

"You're violent when embarrassed, calm down princess." he chuckled rubbing the spot on his head the apple bounced off of. 

"You're insufferable, it's like living with Roy and Jesse again," she muttered. 

Jason laughed and looked at Rory his laughter dying down as he saw the look on her face. "Rory, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing Jay, I just... I just have a lot of thinking to do," she said softly, looking out at the hedges across the court. 

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Rory stayed silent, Jason was about to bug her again when Tim walked in and saw them sitting there. He walked over and looked at Jason, who just gave him a shrug. They both could see that Rory was acting weird, but how could they fix it? She wasn't opening up to them about it, and Rory didn't open up to them she wouldn't open up to anyone in the manor.

Tim sat next to her and wrapped an arm around her waist, placing his hand on her hip. Rory's expression didn't change as she carefully leaned into him. She was still holding her side, it being in pain from launching the apple at Jason's head, which was starting to bruise.

"What happened? You weren't holding your side when you left earlier." Tim asked, looking at Rory's hand that was gripping her side tightly.

"I threw an apple as Jason's head," she muttered.

Tim raised a brow and tried to hide his laugh. "You threw an apple at his head?" he looked at Jason who was sitting there laughing with his book in hand. "Why did she throw an apple at your head?"

"You wanna tell him princess, or should I? I mean it's embarrassing for both of you either way." he chuckled, watching the two of them. 

"Jason what did you do?"

"I just complimented her on the scarf, it's not like she's trying to hide anything with it right?" Jason grinned, leaning back.

Tim's ears went pink as he hit him on the shoulder. "Don't you have your own love life to mess with?" he said.

"Not today no, besides it's more fun to pick on my little brother and his girlfriend." Jason grinned poking Rory in the cheek who only gave him a glare in turn. Jason laughed at her glare and poked her again.

"Jason, you poke me again you're going to regret it." she snapped.

"What are you going to do to me? You can't even laugh without hurting yourself." Jason poked her cheek again as Rory's eyes narrowed. 

"You really want to try that, or did you forget I can still kick ass tied to a chair? A few cracked ribs won't hinder me." she threatened. Tim bit his lip to hide his laughter as Jason sent him a glare.

"Tim, your girlfriend is mean to me." 

"You're just as mean to her."

"I am not." Jason reached over and poked her cheek again. "Rory absolutely lo-"

Rory grabbed his wrist and twisted his arm, throwing Jason face-first onto the table with a grunt. "I said do not poke me again."

Jason tried to wiggle out of her hold but she only twisted his arm tighter, making his use his other hand to tap out. "I fold I fold!" he cried. Rory let go and sat back down as Jason rubbed his face.

"You're so violent, remind me to never actually piss you off. I might actually die for real this time."

Rory gave him a look. "Do you ever stop talking?"

Jason shook his head with a grin. "That's my special talent, I never shut up."

Rory rolled her eyes and leaned against Tim as he held her close. "On a lighter note, are you excited to get back out on the field again?" 

She stayed silent again, Rory honestly wasn't sure how she felt about going back out.

Jason and Tim both noticed her hesitation. "What's wrong, Songbird?" Tim asked, looking at her.

Rory just gave him a shrug. "I guess I'm just nervous about going out again, what if I hurt someone else or worse?" she asked. "It took months of convincing from Roy, Oliver, and Dinah for me to finally join them on patrol." 

Jason sat there and listened quietly. "So, what if instead, you went on a mission with me and Roy?" 

Tim and Rory both looked at Jason like he was crazy. "Go on a mission with you and the Outlaws?" she asked, raising a brow.

Jason nodded. "You know the team already, and maybe getting you out of Gotham for a bit will help. Give you another perspective, and plus Roy will be with us. You don't even have to do anything, just hang around. I'm sure the others would love to see you again."

Rory thought about it. Maybe Jason was right, she needed to get out of Gotham City for a while and away from everything even if it was for a few days. Looking up she saw that Tim was looking at her, the only thing was that she was leaving Tim in Gotham. There was no way Bruce would sign off on him going with him.

"I think you might be right. Maybe a trip is what I need to clear my head," she said after a few minutes.

"Are you sure, Rory?" Tim asked. Of course, he didn't want her to leave, but he wanted her to what was best for her. If that meant going on a trip with the Outlaws then he wouldn't fight her on leaving.

Rory sat up and nodded. "Yeah, and it'd be good to see Roy again." He was there for her after what had happened with Slade and she really needed to talk to him. Roy's opinion was important to her, and she wanted to know what he thought of everything.

Jason leaned back with a nod. "Alright, I'll tell Bruce and he can pass the message to Oliver. We leave in a week from today."

Rory smiled softly. "Alright, where are we going?" she asked.

"We're going to Paris, hope you have a passport princess." 

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

Ooooooh, Rory is going on a trip with everyone's favorite band of Outlaws. I am actually really excited about this, I was trying to work in scenarios I wanted in this story but none of them would work unless she left Gotham and wasn't with Tim. How do I make that happen? She goes to Paris with the Outlaws.

I have two ideas on how I want this story to end, but I am still trying to decide on which one I want more. I think it just depends on where Rory ends up at the end of the story (don't ask how long away that could be because this book was originally supposed to be only about 25 chapters and here we are going into chapter 28 and I don't feel anywhere close to it atm.)

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go read more about the rest of the Outlaws minus Jay, Roy, and Kori.

Until Next Time,