"'We'll see'?"

"'We'll see'."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Man..."

"Yeah..."

Two young men sitting across from each other at a Manhattan diner share a mutual sigh. The black haired one seems to shrink inside his leather jacket, and stare at his coffee. His brown haired companion takes a long swig from his own coffee and struggles for something to say.

"You sure?"

"I was there. I heard her." The black haired man stares up from his mug. "She said 'We'll see.'"

"Did she hear you right?"

"She's paralyzed, not deaf, Wally."

"I know." Wally finishes downing the last of his coffee. "I also know you tend to mumble when you're nervous."

"What?"

"You do. You get all mumbly and drop your head like you're talking to your belt buckle."

"I do not."

"The first time you met Dinah* and she commented on your shorts, you spent the rest of the conversation talking to your belt."
(Dinah is Dinah Lance, Black Canary)

"I was thirteen, and a leather clad blonde in fishnets commented on my shorts." The dark haired man shot back with increasing irritation. "I was trying not to stare. Unlike some people I could mention."

"Hey," Wally grinned broadly. "I was thirteen too. I looked, I admit it."

"You gawked, there's a difference."

"No. You're getting things confused. Yes, I checked Dinah out." Wally chuckled. "Now gawking, that was the first time we met Sandra Knight* on duty."
(the infamously scantily clad Phantom Lady)

"You're right, there." Wally's companion blushed slightly at the memory.

"You say something, Dick?" Wally nodded for the waitress to refill his cup. "See I told you. Mumbling."

"No thank you, I'm good." Dick waved off the server, and turned back to his friend. "And I do not mumble. And I did not mumble."

"Are you sure? Cause I'm just saying that 'We'll see' sounds a lot more like the answer to 'will you carry me?' than 'will you marry me?'. I'm just sayin'."

"I don't mumble."

"I'm just sayin'." Wally sipped again from his fresh cup. "And you do."

"Well generally I don't get on one knee to ask for a wheelchair ride." Dick finally took a sip from his coffee. "But..."

"But?"

"I never finished the question."

"You didn't actually ask?"

"I was trying to when I got the 'We'll see'."

"She cut you off?"

"I got 'Babs, will you-?' out."

"That's it?"

"Yeah."

"Man..."

"You did have the ring though? The one you showed me last week?"

"Yeah, I kept fiddling with the box in my pocket all night. She caught me at it as I was trying to get my words together."

"You were stumbling for words? Man, I am sure you were mumbling then."

"I do not mumble."

"You do. And considering who raised you the last half of your life is it any wonder you have problems with expressing anything besides an intimidating brood?"

"I do not." Dick smiled just a little. "But point taken."

"How is Bruce? I haven't seen him at work for a while."

"Still banged up and brooding. Not surprising with how everything went down."

"I heard it was a really nasty..."

"Skiing accident."

"Skiing accident, yes. Well Rose's dad does like challenging slopes. Used to take on the lot of us back in the day. Well, tell Bruce I hope he feels better soon. No one's glowered at me for something I said in days... until today that is. Do you guys practice that look in the mirror, really? Very creepy how similar you look when you do that."

(Bruce 'Batman' Wayne recently had a run in with Rose Wilson's father Slade, a.k.a. Deathstroke the Terminator, beginning in Batman #18)

"I'll pass that along."

"Did he know?"

"Before hand?" Dick grimaced as he sipped his now luke-warm dive diner coffee. "I didn't tell him I was going to, not with everything going on. Probably should have, but there never seemed to be a good time. But you know Bruce, he probably knew anyway."

"I told Linda."

"You told."

"I did."

"You promised you'd keep your mouth shut."

"I know. But it was just Linda." Wally shifted uncomfortably on his bench, and took another drink. "It's not like I told Roy or Gar or anybody who we KNOW can't keep their mouth shut."

"Apparently we need to add you name to that list!"

"Aw, come on, man! Don't live up to your name so well. My best friend was going to ask his girl to marry him, so I told my girl 'cause I knew she'd get all giggly and happy and stuff. It's not like she's not keeping the most secrets of any civilian outside of my aunt Iris already."

"You're right, you're right. I'm sorry. Linda's a great girl."

"S'ok. You're upset."

Again an uncomfortable silence blankets the table.

"You like the hair?" Wally gestured at his head.

"I was going to say that looks better than the fake mustache you had. That the stuff you used to wear to work*?"
(during the early days of Wally's heroic career as Kid Flash, Wally used a washable dye to change his red hair to brown while in costume.)

"Yeah, Aunt Iris was going through some old stuff and found like a case of it. I forgot we bought so much."

"Well I appreciate the effort."

"Anything for my 'old chum'."

"I will hit you."

"You will try." Wally finished his cup again. "So..." Wally smacked the empty cup on the table for effect, "did she keep it?"

"The ring? She tried it on that night, and she still has it, yeah. Not sure if she's wearing it regular, though."

"So she didn't really answer the question you didn't finish asking, but has the ring anyway."

"Pretty much."

"So did you get engaged? I'm confused."

"You're confused? Imagine my world."

"Well, you're the detective. I thought you'd have put it together by now."

Har-dee-har-har

"Seriously," Wally gestured for the waitress to refill his coffee cup. "Did you ask her what she meant?"

"You think I didn't ask her?"

"Hey, you didn't actually manage to ask her the first question."

"I tried. I asked. I just got 'We'll see, Wonder, we'll see' again."

"Geez, how many times did she say that?"

"5."

"And that's all you got?"

"Pretty much."

"She liked the ring at least?"

"So she said." Dick agreed to let the waitress refresh his cup. "She even teared up a bit."

"Did she?"

"She did. And yet..."

"And yet... Wait... 'Wonder'? She calls you 'Wonder'?" Dick's reddening cheeks are Wally's only reply. "Oh man. Heh heh heh. Urge to call Roy rising."

"I should have called Donna. Why did I not call Donna? I might have actually gotten useful support and none of the childish derision."

"I'll let you ponder that till I get back." Wally finished yet another cup as he stood up.

"Wash your hands this time."

"Yes, Wonder."

Dick sat for a long moment trying to resist the urge to fling his spoon at Wally's head. A familiar rush of wind removed that decision from his hands. Fortunately, the waitress arrived with their orders.

"He just stepped to the bathroom." Dick gestured to the empty seat in front of him. "He's going to want some Tabasco sauce for his eggs, and strawberry syrup if you've got it. Thanks."

There was another familiar rush of wind and Wally was walking back toward his seat.

" Ooo food is here! Great."

"Yeah, asked for some Tabasco for you."

"Oh you rock!"

"They only have strawberry syrup left."

"Whaaaat?" Wally wrinkled his nose in mock disgust as he slid back into his seat. "Things certainly have gone downhill since we used to come here back in the day.*"
(He's talking about the early days of the New Teen Titans when the team was first based in New York.)

"I don't know." Dick sampled his omelet. "I do remember reminding you, we needed to keep a low profile, and yet here you are running home to bathroom."

"You would if you could and you know it." Wally poured the red liquid over his pancakes with a smirk.

"Point." Dick looked around the dinner with a sigh. "And this place... seems about the same to me. Coffee's still weak, eggs are still overcooked, and it has that wonderful mix of stale cigarettes and bacon grease in the air. Pretty much exactly how it was when I lived down the street."

"Yeah, we used to come here after work all the time in those days. Me, you, Donna, and Roy when he turned back up. In fact, this is where I told you I was quitting the business*, wasn't it?"
(Wally's powers were causing him pain in the days just before Crisis on Infinite Earths, and he had decided to retire from heroics)

"Yep. Told you I was done with the short pants* here too."
(around the same time, Dick decided to stop being Robin)

"True, true." Wally mumbled through a mouthful of eggs. "And I do believe this is where we discussed your last engagement too."
(Dick was engaged to their teammate Starfire/Kory and the two made it all the way to the alter before everything went to hell... no really)

"Aaand mark!" Dick looked down at his watch. "23 minutes, 7 seconds. Congratulate Linda for me; she's doing wonders on your sensitivity levels. You made it 13 minutes longer than I thought you would before bringing up my last failed engagement. Good job."

"Very funny, very funny." Wally finished his coffee... again... and motioned to the waitress for more. "My bad, though. Let's not turn the morning into another round of which of us has more train wreck relationships, okay?"

"Oh, why not, it's always such fun?"

"Cause you'll just bring up Francis* and then I'll have to bring up Duela*, who we both know is a bigger nutcase that Francis ever was, and it'll be all down hill from there."
(Francis Kane and Duela Dent, both stable as water, sometimes heroes, sometimes villains, and women that Wally and Dick once dated respectively)

"How it is this supposed to console me?" Dick stared at his friend in a combination of bewilderment and irritation. "Isn't that what you, as my best friend, are supposed to be doing right now?"

"Am I? Really? Sorry, I just thought you wanted to grab some breakfast." Wally dumped some sugar into his latest cup of Joe. "Actually, I did have a point there."

"Oh."

"Yep... you survived."

Dick stared with increasing confusion at his coffee swilling companion.

"Look man, this business we're in guarantees a pretty crappy life, and that's not counting whatever personal trauma prompted of us most to take it up. I mean, yeah, there's folks who seem to have their stuff together, but there's an element of tragedy to all our lives that we can't escape from completely. And you... you've had more than your fair share. And most of the others who've been through the gauntlet you have, have pretty much given up on trying to let people in and have something resembling a normal life. Like Ollie and Bruce. But not you. You're still trying, still believing that you can find love and happiness and picket fences and go to work and do your night job too. And I admire the hell out of that." Wally sat back and crunched on a piece of bacon for emphasis. "So no, I don't know what in the world Babs is saying... I barely know what Linda is saying half the time. But I know no matter what, you'll be okay. Cause that's what you do."

"Wally, I..." Dick struggled to find his words. "Thanks, man."

"Don't mention it, and quit talking to your belt." Wally slurped down another long drought of coffee. "See? Stumbling for words and mumbling. Need to work on that. You want your bacon?"

"Of course I want my bacon, don't be an idiot. I was just stunned you strung together a whole series of meaningful sentences."

"Had to happen sooner or later. You know... chimps, Shakespeare and all."

"You said it, I didn't."

"I'm sorry I didn't catch that."

"Stop with the mumbling thing. I don't mumble."

"Maybe if you didn't, you wouldn't have to wonder, Wonder."

"Apparently 'we'll see'."