Lian has an important chat with Tim. It’s something Roy should have asked.

( At first he’d been amused, but taking in the determined look on Lian’s face - so like Roy’s, that expression, only younger, but just as uncertain - Tim grew…not worried, but…watchful. )

They’ve never been able to make it work, but then, that takes work. And Dick is determined that they’re going to make it this time…

( Dick rarely ever got to see Roy and Lian without Cerdian in tow. )

Things are going perfectly normal for Roy - he’s in another universe, the alternate Teen Titans are weird, and he cannot wait to get back home. The other Speedy can’t wait, either.

( Of course, ‘normal’ only applied in his own universe. )

Chapter 4: Domesticity

( “Is this love?” When he first said the words, Tim nearly smacked himself for quoting a cheesy eighties pop song. )

Jane Howard wrote: Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one. After his father’s funeral, Tim gets a reminder from an unexpected source that sometimes family is what you make of it.

( Nothing anyone said could make it better, and he didn’t want to hear any more fumbling attempts to try. )