Tim's expression softened--slightly--at Dick's tone of voice. Dick came all the way here to see him, and Bruce hadn't bothered. He wasn't surprised, and it didn't bother him.

In fact, it made things a lot easier.

"A new Batman? Hm. I never thought he'd pass the mantle down. Whoever this new guy is, Bruce thinks he's worthy, so it's not really our business anymore." Tim said. He hadn't kept with Gotham news or anything, so didn't know who the new Batman was. Finding out would take some work, but not too much, considering what he already knew.

"I take you've never met the guy outside of costume. It wouldn't bug you so much otherwise." he said, walking forward and opening the door to the apartment. Inside, Dick would see that there was no furniture in the place, except for a dinner table that held the laptop and three external drives. There was wide blue-mat in the living room area, but nothing else in the way of furnishings. There were several large, man-sized cases standing in a corner at the other end of the room.

Beyond that was a wall covered in photos. If Dick chose to look there, one-half of the pictures on the wall are of dead bodies posed in strange fashion. Others are chalk outlines.

And one of them is the picture of a beautiful woman with black hair, dark eyes and a beautiful smile.

"How is Barbara, anyway?" he asked suddenly.

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After being greeted the way he was, Dick wasn't sure he wanted into that lion's den. Tim wasn't the Tim that Dick had said goodbye to and that bothered him as much as it bothered him that the newest Bat-Brat knew his name, but that Dick didn't know his.

"No, never met him. He's an arrogant cock though." replied Dick in a dark voice as he followed after Tim. The lack of furnishings didn't surprise him all that much. Tim had just moved back, though the obsession shown in photos and on the wall made him give pause. Dick was starting to put some of it together - Tim had some great loss, though Dick wasn't sure what. He didn't look too hard at the wall though, not wanting to intrude too much.

"Babs and I've not spoken either. In a long time." came Dick's soft reply. "I just got back to Gotham after living in New York for a long time; Babs does her Oracle thing, but she's pretty robotic these days. She won't respond to my requests to meet face to face."

Not sure what to do with himself, Dick just shoved his hands into his pockets and then gave a soft sigh. He was starting to feel pretty heavy-hearted about things, but he wasn't going to let onto that. Maybe ten years ago, he might have; but it didn't seem like Tim wanted anyone close to him at all. He was haunted by the past and whatever happened had changed him drastically.

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"Batman's arrogant? You know what they say. 'The more things change, the more they stay the same'." Tim offered.

He saw the Dick look at the wall for a moment, and knew he'd put it together sooner or later.

"It's a case I've been working on for awhile. A man I knew in Europe was framed for these murders while the real killer went free. He lost everything. I tried to help him, but I blew it, Dick. The girl in the picture died because I blew it." Tim said, bitterly. The story was true, from a certain point of view. Tim could have elaborated more, but he chose not to when Dick spoke of Barbara.

"I...I guess I always thought you two would figure things out. Why don't you just go to her and make her deal with you? She uses the computer to keep people out, but you know where she lives. She'd talk to you, I think." he says.

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Dick just shrugged some, not really feeling comfortable talking about Barbara. The honest truth was that he was afraid to confront her with himself, and wasn't sure if she would refuse him or not. He had done things over and over again to ruin their relationship. It was a wonder to Dick that she even still spoke to him at all as Oracle.

"I guess I always thought we would figure things out too." replied Dick in a low tone. "Everything has changed, Tim. Nothing is what it used to be, and nothing is going to make things be that way again. I've accepted that I messed up one too many times with Babs.." he then gave another shrug, "I guess I never considered that I might have another chance."

Sighing, Dick put his back to the wall and made a point of not looking at it at all. Whoever Tim was chasing, he would ask for help if he needed it. Dick was fairly sure that the man before him would want any help, family or not.

"I'm not going to patronize you and say that it wasn't your fault. I trust your judgment." Dick then said, "Just know that if you need help.. I'm here for you. Everyone grew so far apart in the time that you were gone. Lately I've been realizing just how much and it made me start to focus on what people meant to me, y'know?"

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