Chapter 19 Break

Ryeanne answered the door after Lindsey rang the doorbell once the Red Hood was down the street.

"What the hell happened to you?" Ryeanne asked as she saw Lindsey standing in front of her. She had tear-stained cheeks, red eyes, and she kept sniffling.

"I got into a fight with my grandparents," Lindsey said between sniffs. "I decided to go to Damian's and stay there for a couple days. Then we had an argument and we broke up. I can't stay there. Is it okay if I stay with you for a couple days?"

Ryeanne stared at Lindsey in shock before moved out of the way so Lindsey could come in. "You go sit on the couch I'll make you some hot chocolate."

Lindsey moved to the couch in the living room and waited for Ryeanne to come back. She looked around the living room, seeing pictures of Ryeanne's family and cute decorations that probably held lots of memories for the family. It reminded her of her home in New York. The Holling Manor had nothing like this. It was so bare of any hominess. Lindsey decided to just look at her hands so more tears wouldn't fall. Ryeanne came back a few minutes later with a piping hot mug of hot chocolate in her hands.

"So, you had two fights, one of them ending in a break up tonight?" Ryeanne as she sat next to Lindsey with her legs crossed.

"My grandparents want me to take over the business after I graduate from college with a degree in business," Lindsey decided to explain before Ryeanne could ask. "I told them that's not what I wanted. And when they insisted, I left the house. Damian lives the closer to me than you do, so I went over there first. When I got there, he wasn't home, but when he did come home, with his brothers and Bruce, everything went bad. He's been lying to me this whole time. I can't be with someone who lies to me."

"Come here, girl," Ryeanne said opening her arms. Lindsey fell into her arms. She began to cry in her friend's arms.

Ryeanne kept her mouth shut as she comforted her friend. Lindsey let out all her emotions on her best friend's couch.

"Why did my parents have to die?" Lindsey cried. "If they weren't dead, I wouldn't have to deal with my grandparents. If they weren't dead, I wouldn't have ever met Damian. You all were right, Ryeanne, I was hurt by him in the end. I should have listened to you guys. I should have tried harder to stay away from him."

"He was the first guy to show interest in you, Lindsey," Ryeanne said with sympathy dripping from her voice. "It makes sense that you would be drawn to him. And you two were so cute together."

Lindsey continued to cry in her friend's arms until there were no more tears left in her eyes.

"I'm going to go talk to my parents and explain what is going on," Ryeanne said as Lindsey pried herself from her arms. "You drink your hot chocolate and I'll be right back."

Lindsey nodded, grabbing the mug and taking a sip. It was luke warm but still made her feel better. That was when she realized she left her bag at Wayne Manor. She grabbed her phone out of her pocket and went to her contacts to find Alfred's name.

"What are you doing?" Ryeanne shouted as she came down the stairs seeing her best friend on her phone.

"I'm texting-"

"You are not going to text Damian!" Ryeanne shouted as she launched herself to grab Lindsey's phone. Lindsey quickly held it out of her reach.

"Stop yelling, Ryeanne, your brother needs to sleep for school tomorrow," Lindsey heard Mrs. Lewis shout from upstairs.

"Sorry, Mom," Ryeanne called upstairs. She turned to Lindsey and spoke quieter. "You are not texting Damian. I refuse, as your best friend, to let you do that."

"I was going to text Alfred, the Wayne's butler, to bring my bag that I left there," Lindsey explained.

"How did you get here?" Ryeanne asked.

"One of Damian's brothers brought me," Lindsey said.

"And you left your bag?"

"I needed to get out of there," Lindsey whispered. "I didn't want to stay longer."

"What about Damian? How did he react?" Ryeanne walked around the couch to sit next to Lindsey again.

"I left him in tears," Lindsey said.

"Damian Wayne cries?" Ryeanne asked, shocked.

"It's the first time I've seen him like that," Lindsey said. "He didn't want to let me go. I never thought he would act like that. Ever."

"I guess you didn't know Damian like you thought you did."

"I guess so."

{}~{}~{}~{}~{}

Lindsey only half listened to what Ryeanne was saying the next morning in their World History class. She was more focused on the edge of her notebook and picking at it.

The bell rang to signal everyone to get to class. A few seconds later she heard someone gasp. Lindsey looked up toward the door. She couldn't help it when her mouth fell open. Whispers erupted from around the class. Lindsey almost stood up and walked over to him.

Damian was standing in the doorway. He shirt was untucked and wasn't buttoned properly. His tie was skewed and loose against his neck. His hair wasn't styled at all, it didn't even look washed. What really hurt everyone – especially Lindsey, was Damian's eyes. They looked dead. On a normal day his eyes were cold and would only lighten up when they reached Lindsey. Today his eyes were red and tired, and he keep them looking at the floor.

The people in class looked between Damian and Lindsey, expecting something to happen. Lindsey tore her eyes from Damian and started talking to Ryeanne. The class became confused. That's when most of them realized, they broke up. Damian had heard Lindsey's voice and closed his eyes. He felt the tears creeping from his eyes. He couldn't let anyone see him cry.

He made his way to his seat and sat the whole class staring at his desk. He could hear the rumors start. And if the rumors got around that the two of them had broken up, boys would go after Lindsey. No matter what, Lindsey was still his. Lindsey was still his beloved, the only girl he would ever love. He couldn't let another boy touch her, but there wasn't much he could do now.

By lunch, the rumors of Lindsey and Damian's break up had spread like wildfire around the school. Even the dean of students knew. The Elite girls were already talking about moving in for the kill. Boys were placing bets on who would be the first to ask her out. Lindsey was sitting with her friends and they all wanted to know the story of how they broke up.

Lindsey knew they couldn't hear the true story; she wouldn't screw the Waynes that bad. Alfred texted her during third period and told her that he dropped her things off at Ryeanne's house, her mom had taken the things.

Lindsey told everyone the part of the story that she could and they all stared Damian down. Lindsey looked at him and realized that he wasn't eating. No matter how much she still loved him, she couldn't bring herself to care about his health.

It was after the school day was over and Lindsey was standing at her locker, making sure she had everything for the weekend when someone tapped her shoulder. She spun around and saw Jane.

"Tim told me," Jane said.

"I'm sorry?" Lindsey asked.

"Tim told me what happened last night," Jane said. "You broke the demon's heart."

"You know about . . ." Lindsey looked around the hall in case anyone was listening before whispering, "them being superheroes?"

"I wouldn't be a good girlfriend if I did," Jane said. "And to honest, I found out before he told me. Tim isn't the best at keeping secrets from me."

"So what now?" Lindsey asked.

"You haven't told anyone have you?" Jane asked.

"I wouldn't screw them over that bad," Lindsey said. "Besides I'm not sure anyone would believe me."

"Why'd you break up with him?"

"He lied to me," Lindsey muttered.

"If that's all, what's the point of loving someone who all they want to do is protect you? Damian just wanted to keep you the way you are. He saw how I changed after I found out about Tim and he didn't want the same thing to happen."

"How are you different?"

"All of us who are apart of this hide who we really are. I pretend to be the popular, cheery girl. Bruce pretends to be the billionaire playboy. Dick is the ace police officer. Jason even pretends. Damian pretends to not be an assassin. And he's getting really good at it, it's almost believable when he's Robin. So yeah, we all lie, but it's for good reasons. Don't take it out on Damian. He really does love you. Bye, Lindsey. I hope you make the right choice."

And just like that Jane walked away and Lindsey saw the cheery smile become painted on her face before calling to a friend down the hall.

"What were you talking to Jane about? Damian?" Ryeanne asked from behind Lindsey, making her jump.

"You scared me," Lindsey said. "But yeah. She was saying that she hoped I made the right choice."

"Well, let's get back to my house. The girls are going to be joining us tonight for a break up slumber party.

When the two reached Ryeanne's house her little brother, Taylor, was confused about why Lindsey was spending another night, but didn't ask too many questions. He just disappeared into his bedroom.

Around five o'clock, Lindsey's grandparents finally called her. She didn't answer and let the phone go to voicemail. A few seconds later, a text appeared on her screen from her Grandmother.

We're sorry, Lindsey. You can stay mad at us, just come home whenever you feel like it.

That's when Lindsey shut off her phone. Throwing her phone onto Ryeanne's bed. She didn't know how much her heart could take at the moment

Later that night, Blaine, Juliet, Abigail, and Kelsey came over. Lindsey spent the night with the others downstairs, eating ice cream, watching movies and trash talking Damian. Well, the others trash talked, Lindsey kept her mouth shut looking anywhere but her friends. She knew she was still in love with him, she probably always would be, so she would never be able to say anything bad about him.

Lindsey didn't want to admit it to herself but maybe she overreacted a bit. But Damian has killed people. He was Robin! Then she remembered, the night of the Gala, he was there. She remembered being entranced by the Boy Wonder, just like how she was when she first saw Damian. She remembered how she couldn't look away from him as he fought the goons. She couldn't understand how she didn't make the connection before.

Maybe one day she would forgive him for not telling her and they could be together. But at this moment, she just couldn't.

Lindsey spent the rest of the weekend at Ryeanne's until she was okay enough with her grandparents to go back to their place. Luckily they didn't bring up Thursday night and she hoped they never would. They had heard about Lindsey's break up with Damian and comforted her before letting her be alone to her own thoughts.

Monday morning, Lindsey made her way into World History with Ryeanne. As she walked in, her eyes automatically fell on Damian, sitting at his seat in the corner. He looked like an even bigger mess than Friday. It was noticeable now that he hasn't taken a shower. His eyes were still red and he had large purple bags underneath his eyes. What really surprised Lindsey was the bruise on his jaw and bandage on his nose. Lindsey's eyes traveled to his knuckles, which were red and scabbed along them.

As Lindsey and Ryeanne got to their seats, Ryeanne leaned over to Lindsey and asked, "Do you think he got in a fight with his brothers?"

Lindsey knew what happened. He went out as Robin and got himself beat up. He was hurting himself now, whether it be punishment for letting Lindsey go, or on accident because he wasn't paying close enough attention, Lindsey didn't care.

It was at lunch when Lindsey was staring at Damian that Ryeanne finally said something. Lindsey was sitting facing Damian and hadn't stopped staring at him.

"Okay, that's it," Ryeanne said standing up. "You have been staring at him all lunch and every time he's in your line of sight. You are obviously still pining after him and he is obviously in pain. You two need to talk out whatever happened between you two."

"I don't need to talk to him," Lindsey said. "He lied, and I'm not going to date a liar."

"Okay, but Lindsey," Blaine started. "You two obviously still care for each other. And at least Damian, is dying inside."

"To be honest I thought you two would be back together by now," Logan spoke up. "You two are obviously meant for each other.

"I thought so as well," Juliet whispered.

"Where is Ryeanne going?" Abigail asked.

Lindsey had been looking at the others further down the table unable to notice that Ryeanne had walked away from the conversation. The group watched as she made her way to Damian. Lindsey let out a squeak, wanting to run over and pull her away, but it was too late.

Damian could hear the footsteps coming closer, but he didn't think anything of it before he heard his name.

"Wayne. You and Lindsey need to talk."

Damian looked over his shoulder to see Ryeanne. "Leave me alone."

It was the first time he's spoken since the night Lindsey broke up with him. His voice was deep and cracking. Ryeanne almost cried hearing his voice. He sounded so broken.

"You know what, you are obviously suffering," Ryeanne said. "I don't care if I have to drag you to her myself. You two are talking."

"Please, leave me alone," Damian cried out, putting his face in his hands. "Please."

It was the first time Ryeanne had heard him say please. He really was broken. That was when Ryeanne grabbed his arm and pulled him out of his seat.

"You are coming with me," she growled to him.

Lindsey watched as her best friend yanked Damian from his seat and begin to pull him to their table.

Once Ryeanne was close enough hauling Damian behind her, she spoke to everyone, "Everyone, except Lindsey, we're leaving." She shoved Damian into the seat opposite of Lindsey. "And you two are going to talk."

All of Lindsey's friends stood up and walked away quickly whispering to one another. Others in the cafeteria were staring at them.

Once everyone was far enough away, and the cafeteria started talking again, Lindsey finally looked at Damian.

"I don't want to talk to you," she whispered. That's when she noticed Damian's shoulders were moving. "Are you okay?"

Damian looked up at her and Lindsey saw the tears spilling onto his cheeks. His teeth were clenched so hard, Lindsey thought they were about to break. He looked a bit thinner all around.

"I'm so sorry," Damian cried. "I haven't been okay since you left. After you left, Father tried talking to me, but I pushed by him and ran to my room. I locked myself in there until Pennyworth told me I was going to be late to school, I didn't even sleep. That whole day I couldn't look at you, knowing I let you down. The whole weekend I cried by myself in my room. I know I screwed up, but there was nothing I could do."

"What about the bruise? You nose? Your knuckles?" Lindsey asked.

"I needed to get out one night, so I did," Damian explained. "I saw these two guys holding a girl down in an alley. I of course stepped in, and when I saw the face of the girl, I saw you. One of them got my hands behind my back and by the time I realized it wasn't you, they had beaten me pretty bad. My stomach and thighs are worse than my face."

"You thought it was me?"

"Every time I look at any girl, I imagine you at first," Damian said. "Lindsey, I love you. I will never love another girl, but if you don't take me back, I'll be better off dead."

"I will admit that still love you, Damian," Lindsey said. Damian looked hopeful for a second before Lindsey continued. "But you still should have told me about everything. I would have understood. And don't say it's because you didn't want me to change. I know there's a deeper reason. But how can I be with you knowing you've killed people, and so recently?"

"I lost control. I've been working on it ever since. I know it's wrong, but I would never do it again, unless you were involved."

"No, not even if I'm involved," Lindsey said quickly. "You can't kill anyone again."

"Okay. I promise. For you. No more killing ever again."

"You have to promise me, from now on no more secrets. You will tell me everything once we get the chance to be alone."

"I will. I will tell you everything about my life as far back as I can remember."

"But first, you have to take a shower and you have to eat something. When was the last time you did either of those things?"

"I showered Thursday afternoon and ate Thursday night before I went out."

"Did you ride the bike here?"

"No, Alfred drove me."

Lindsey opened her phone and dialed Alfred's number.

"Did he finally collapse?" Alfred asked as soon as he picked up.

"No, but can you come pick the two of us up? We have a lot to talk about," Lindsey said.

"I'll be there in twenty," Alfred said hanging up.

"Us?" Damian asked as Lindsey put down the phone.

"As your girlfriend, I have to make sure you're taken care of," Lindsey smiled.

And that was when Lindsey saw Damian smile for the first time.

"God, I love you," Damian said as he smiled.

"I know," Lindsey said. "And I love you too."

"Should you tell your friends so that they stop looking over here?" Damian asked.

"They'll take the clues when we leave together," Lindsey said.

The two sat there talking until Lindsey got a text from Alfred saying he was in front of the school. The two of them walked out of the cafeteria together, Damian taking Lindsey hand when he fell in step with her.

That's when her friends began cheering. Lindsey couldn't help but smile. She couldn't believe she was finally happy her Robin.