When Slade and Richard got back home, Slade made dinner.

They eat quietly as the tension built up.

After dinner, Slade made some coffee and sat down on the couch with a pile of papers.

"You can help or go to sleep on the couch." Slade said.

"It's not long enough with you sitting there." Richard said. "So I guess I'll help."

"Good. Here's an answer sheet. Just x the ones that are wrong and put the amount out of 30. I'll get the percentages later." Slade said. 

"Okay." Richard said.

He sat down beside Slade and started to grade papers.

A while after, he laid down with his head and upper body on one cushion, and had his legs up so he could fit onto the other cushion.  

Slade rolled his eyes and pulled Richard's head onto his lap so Richard could stretch out. 

Richard looked up questioningly. 

"We sleep in the same bed and share the same apartment. Personal space really doesn't matter between us anymore." Slade said. "You're just being silly."

"Sorry." Richard went back to grading papers.

After a few minuets, Slade tapped Richard's shoulder and said, "Lets take a break."

Richard nodded and got up and stretched. 

Slade did the same and then lead them to the kitchen.

"You want hot chocolate?" Slade asked.

"Yes please." Richard nodded.

Slade spent a few minuets walking around the kitchen to stretch his legs while he waited for the water to become hot.

Meanwhile, Richard got a cup and poured some mix into it.

Richard started to take glances at Slade, wondering if he should ask Slade about this 'Addie' person.

"What?" Slade suddenly asked and looked at him from the coffee maker, getting more coffee.

"Nothing!" Richard said fast.

"It's obviously not nothing seeing as you keep giving me glaces all day. You're wondering about something. If you're going to ask, ask." Slade said.

Richard bit his lip before he asked, "Who's Addie?" 

Slade sighed and put his cup down.

"Richard."

"I know, okay? I shouldn't have asked! I just...I...I wanted to know." Richard said.

Slade pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Listen, Richard, it's over and done with. Addie and I were...We were married." Slade said.

"Oh. I-I'm sorry for butting in. I didn't mean to-" Richard started.

"STOP! Addie and I were married. We got a divorce and I don't see her anymore. It's done with. What happened happened. Let's just not talk about it." Slade said.  

"S-Sorry." Richard said.

"No, I am." Slade said, but Richard got the feeling Slade wasn't talking to him. 

"Hey, water's hot!" Richard announced.

Slade snapped out of whatever he was in and went over to the sink.

"Right, okay. Here's your hot chocolate." Slade handed Richard the hot chocolate.

"Thanks." Richard gave a small smile.

"Yep." Slade picked up his cup of coffee and they went back to grading.

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

The next morning, Richard and Slade were eating breakfast when Richard remembered that he had a councilor session after school today.

"Oh! Slade, I have a session with Black Canary today." Richard said.

"Greeeeat. How long?" Slade asked.

"I- what?" Richard asked.

"How long is the session?" Slade asked.

"I-I don't normally keep track of time. I don't know, like... an hour and a half?" Richard guessed.

"You don't keep track?" Slade deadpanned.

"No." Richard said.

Slade shook his head.

"Sorry." Richard said and pushed his scrambled eggs in different directions.

"Just eat." Slade said.

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

"Hey there Richard." Black Canary pointed to a seat in front of her.

"Hey." Richard said.

"It's been a while since we last saw each other." Dinah said.

"Yeah. Last time was when we got this on." Richard pointed to the handcuffs.

"How is that going? Did you two get everything figured out?" Dinah asked.

"Yep." Richard popped the 'p'.

"Anything in particular you want to talk about?" Canary dived in.

Richard shook his head.

Secretly, he didn't want to talk in front of Slade about his problems.

"I can already tell that this is a problem." Black Canary said.

"Just pretend I'm not here." Slade said and pulled out a book.

"I'd like to, but you have a presence that demands everyone's attention and respect." Richard said.

"Funny, I can't get either of those from you." Slade replied.

Dinah laughed. "You two are something else."

"So, how about we start with last break. How did it go with you and Bruce?" Dinah asked.

Richard groaned.

"I'm taking that as a 'Not good.'" Canary said.

"Well, I was mad at him. And the car ride home was tense. Before we got home, we ate at Big Belly Burger. Yummy burger place. Ten out of ten. Anyways, we talked. And it got emotional." Richard said.

"How so? What happened?" Black Canary asked.

"We started talking about how I was mad at him for leaving me. And it brought up old memories. Like memories before I came to live with Bruce." Richard bit his lip, trying to keep from remembering or crying.

"What do you mean 'Before you came to live with Bruce'?" Black Canary pressed a little more.

"I didn't always live with Bruce. You know how I told you about my parents? Well it was after their murders. I was taken by Child Protective Services. I was SUPPOSE to go to an orphanage. But, they had no room. So instead, I went to Juvenile Detention Center." Richard grabbed a tissue and wiped the tears falling down his checks.

"Oh my gosh. Richard, I'm so sorry." Dinah said with wide eyes.

She looked like she was about to cry too.

"Why? You couldn't of done anything." Richard said.

"I know, but still. It's sad." Dinah said.

"It gets worse." Richard said and put the box of tissues between them. "You might need some."

"So I was taken to JDC. And there, the children were horrible, the guards didn't care, and the staff just wanted to get out of there. No one cared. And so, nothing was done when it came to background checks on people. Heh. I thought the Detention Center was horrible. I was wrong. You know the worst that happened at the Center was that my food was taken away or I was hit by the other children. Outside of there? It was WAY worse." Richard said.

"I was trialed by a few people. All of which weren't the greatest. One left me at a place and never came back, so I had to find the Detention Center all by myself. I was six. A little later, I was trialed by a couple. They hit me and locked me in their closets. I only got food when they were done with it. Scraps. I was forced to do all the chores. If I didn't do it, I was beat with a belt. I ran away from them. I went back to the Center though." Richard said. 

"It was when I was six and a half when Bruce came. He was so nice. But so where the people before him. I didn't get comfortable at first. I knew I wasn't going to stay long. But...a week became two. Then three, a month, then before I knew it, a year. I'm still with Bruce. Eventually he adopted me. But the first few months were so hard. Every time I broke something, I thought I'd get hurt. When I got hungry, I thought I couldn't go get food. I thought I had to do chores before I got food. And nighttime. That was horrible. I had nightmares every night. Some days, I wouldn't sleep and soon days and nights became one horrid nightmare. I couldn't sleep, I could barely eat, and I didn't know what Bruce was like because he was gone so much. I was actually scared whenever he was home. I didn't want to be in the same room with him 'cause I feared he'd hurt me like all the other people." Richard said.

"But one day Bruce stayed home. And Alfred made us hang out. And turns out, he's really nice. Like, he was WAY nicer than everyone else. But he was withdrawn a lot. Like, he wasn't sure what to do. And then he told me about his past. How he saw his parents get murdered in front of him. He also talked about not ever having any children. So, we were both new to the 'new parent and child' thing. But I'm still here, so he did good!" Richard laughed a bit.

Dinah laughed too.

"You know what Richard? I've had kids come in and out of here and I'll tell you. It's always the kids that have been through the most that have the best smiles." Black Canary said.

Richard shrugged, "I don't know."

"So how did the rest of break go?" Dinah asked.

"Uhmmmm...okay? I was asked about school and I didn't tell them everything. Like, that's going to be hard to explain when I come home for next break with a shock collar on." Richard said.

"Oh, no. You need to tell them. And don't say that it's a fashion statement." Black Canary said.

"Of course I can't say that! What if I hide it though? Then I wouldn't have to tell." Richard thought out-loud. 

"No Richard. You need to tell them." Black Canary said.

"And say what? 'Oh yeah, I have a shock collar on because I have anger issues. Oh and if you see me being handcuffed to someone when I get back, it's okay. That's just my teacher.' Yeah, that's going to go over well with them!" Richard said.

"Well maybe you should've thought of that BEFORE you decided to get angry and almost kill your teacher." Black Canary said.

"But I didn't mean to!" Richard almost screamed, his collar shocking him. 

"AND THE COLLAR!" Richard did scream that time.

Barry poked his head in.

"You okay?" Barry looked around the room at the three of them.

"It huuuuuuuurts!" Richard clutched at his collar.

"Are you done now?" Black Canary asked Richard.

"Yeah." Richard said.

Barry raised an eyebrow.

"We're fine." Black Canary said.

Barry nodded and closed the door.

"So Christmas break will be soon. You better find out what you're going to say." Canary said.

"I know." Richard said.

Dinah's phone ringed.

"It's time Richard." Dinah said.

"Okay." Richard said.

"I'll see you the day before break starts." Black Canary said.

Richard nodded and stood up.

Slade was still reading.

Richard poked Slade's shoulder.

Slade looked up with his eyebrow raised.

"It's time to go." Richard said.

Slade nodded and put his book back into his satchel. 

"What's for dinner?" Richard asked.

"I was thinking Mexican food from a place on campus." Slade said.

"Oh, are we getting lazy today?" Richard teased. 

"Yes, incredibly so. Also, I can't make good chips like they can." Slade said.

"They do have good chips." Richard nodded.

"You know what else sounds good? A burrito." Richard said.

Slade nodded.

The two exited the room and went to the Mexican restaurant. 

"So how are they?" Barry asked.

"They're getting along." Black Canary said.

"Hum. So the handcuff thing IS working." Barry said with wide eyes.

"Yeah, who knew." Black Canary said.