Nancy Mulligan
A/N: I’M BACK!! Hey guys, sorry it took so long! So this was inspired by Nancy Mulligan by Ed Sheeran. I’m obsessed with this song. This is Layla and Dick thinking about their lives together. Enjoy!
“We’ve been married for over sixty years now, Love.”
“I know, dear. I was there for the party the kids threw for us. Just like you were,” the magic user recited to her now wrinkled husband. Slowly but surely the former hero had been losing his memory, little by little he was forgetting his wife and the life they had led together. Layla realised this was happening before anyone else. Of course she did, they had been married for 63 years now.
“Right. Of course I knew that,” Dick tried to defend halfheartedly. “I was just thinking about our lives together. I’m so happy I got to spend mine with you. And all the kids of course.” Smiling fondly, Dick could only just remember some vague memories of the woman he still loved after all this time.
“Nightwing!” Turning towards his father’s voice, Dick was surprised to see a person he didn't know. It wasn’t often there was someone new on The Watchtower. Especially not a girl around his own age. Walking towards his father and this new person, Dick couldn't help but be thrown back a little at the beauty of this girl, with her bright blue hair and ocean blue eyes, that had such a curious look to them.
“Nightwing, this is Layla Constantine. Figure out what she needs and take care of it. She’ll be helping the team for now,” Batman grumbled before turning to leave. Without a goodbye, the younger man noticed.
With the most charming smile he could muster, Dick turned to the girl. “Like the old man said, I’m Nightwing. Ignore his grumpiness, you get used to it.”
“Layla,” the girl replied, smiling. “23, magic user and a former sidekick. Nice to meet you,” she informed, holding her hand out to Nightwing. After only a simple touch, neither could believe the energy that sparked at their contact.
Those two words, not even a question, was all it took for Layla to be the happiest she had ever been. A ring on her finger, much bigger than she ever expected, a yellow rose in her hand and knowing that Dick Grayson was going to be forever hers made her beyond happy. So much so, that she dragged her now fiancee to her father’s home to give him the news before anyone else.
What she didn’t expect was for her father to say no.
John had no real reason. Not one Layla could accept anyway. The couple’s fathers had never been on great terms, and Layla would never force them to be. She had thought that John liked Dick, that he was happy his daughter had found happiness. Apparently not.
Dick had tried to take his proposal back. “Only until we can get everyone on board,” he had said.
“No. I love you and I’m going to marry you,” the blue haired girl argued. “I don’t care what anyone thinks. Not even my dad,” she told him as tears fell down her face.
A month of being depressed. A month of Dick not knowing what to do went by. Of all people, it was Jason that helped Layla take that first step to being ok.
“Hello, family,” he yelled, barging into his brother’s apartment, not caring that he wasn’t actually invited. Spotting his favourite person and his brother on the couch, he plopped down next to them.
“What now, Jay. We’re not in the mood,” Dick warned.
“But I bring gifts!” Jason defended, giving a piece of paper to Layla, with a grin big enough to rival the Cheshire Cat’s.
“Whats this Jay?” Layla asked, looking down at print out of a house.
“Thats your house,” Jason said proudly.
Layla and Dick were shocked into silence, leaving a grinning Jason to explain that he loved them both and felt bad for everything that had happened to them. Leading the man to go and buy the pair a house so they could start their life together.
Layla all but jumped onto Jason to give him a bear hug, while Dick could only look over at the two best friends and smile, with a lone tear running down his face.
Layla and Dick had gone through so much together. Eight kids, 22 grandchildren and a wonderful life together. Dick still made sure there was always at least one yellow rose in the house - he had called Layla his yellow rose ever since she fell into a bush of them on their third date.
Looking over to his eighty-something year old wife, Dick knew that he was the luckiest man in the world. The white streak in her hair only added to her beauty, and the lines on her face told her story of love and pain.
“I love you, Layla Grayson.”
Looking away from her children and grandchildren playing in the garden, she looked over at her husband. Layla smiled, knowing that even with his foggy memory, his feelings would never change. He would honestly always love her.
“I love you too, Richard Grayson. I’m so glad I met you that day on a space ship.”
Reaching over, Dick pushed a strand of hair behind his wife’s ear. “Me too,” he said returning her smile. “Me too.”