A/N: Hey, you guys, guess what? This fic is coming to it's last chapters! There are maybe two or three more chapters I'll add to it. Please tell me what you thought of it~!
How long has it been?
It's been five weeks and four days since they let Dick out of the hospital. And they've been the best and worst five weeks and four days of everyone's lives.
Seven weeks.
That's how long the doctor guessed Dick would have once he left. That's his best chance. He's almost made it to the sixth week. But, they hope, by some miracle, that he will make it past the seventh week, and the eighth, and the ninth, and tenth, and just get better.
Richard's been restricted to his bed. Not that he can really make it out without falling over. The few foods he can keep down are soups. His skin is snow white and all his bones jut out noticably from his body. If you hold his hand, you can feel every bone without even trying. His voice is so soft now. The majority of the time, he's sleeping.
And it scares everyone.
Because he's so quiet. He barely ever moves in his sleep and the rarely noticable rise and fall of his chest make it seem like he's dead. They suggest a heart monitor, to tell them when it's actually happening, but they're unsure. They know the little bird detests hospitals, and the heart monitor will only act as a reminder of one.
But he says he's fine with it. If it helps them, he's willing to do it. So they add it to his bedroom and hook him up to it.
Young Justice has been temporarily put off on missions. Batman as well. The League knows how hard this is for them. And it's hard for the League, too. Dick is their family. They wish they could visit more often, but if League stops missions for a while, all Hell could break loose. Someone has to keep things in order. Luckily, Gotham and Bluhaven are surprisingly in check. It's strange, but they won't push their luck.
The last time the League visited, they had their hearts rippped out of their chests. It is so heartbreaking to see him looking so fragile, yet smile, despite his condition. He hugs them all and the feeling of his bony arms makes them want to cry. He tells them how much he misses them and how much he loves them and he asks Clark to retrieve a very large box from his closet. The Man Of Steel does so without objection.
The box is placed beside the small boy on his bed and he retrieves smaller boxes from it.
They're gifts. Gifts that he got for the Justice League. And they're so touched and cry. Because each gift came with a picture. A picture of the first time he met them all.
"Just something to remember me by," he responds. (He's already given gifts to Young Justice and Bruce and Alfred.) They cry even harder when they hear his voice again. It's so quiet. They don't want to leave, but they know they have to. They hold tight to Richard and tell him they love him so much and hope he gets better, say they'll try to visit again.
He nods and watches their retreating forms, silently crying and begging that they'll turn around and decide to stay for longer. But he knows they can't. And he just has to accept that.
Dick constantly mumbles. He zones out a lot and is often unknowing of his surroundings. He's getting headaches - and many of those headaches turn into migraines.
The excitement he feels when he's visited is not as much as it used to be, due to his illness, but his body has become so weak that he overexerts himself and passes out.
In a way it sort of relieves everyone. They don't want their little brother to see them cry about him, cry for him. They just can't help how devastated they feel when he can't withstand the happiness he feels.
Roy and Wally.
The team can't even imagine how the redheads feel. They knew Richard from early childhood. The three share secrets. Pain. they understand each other and they are family. Closer to Robin than the rest of the team.
Young Justice can't even begin to fathom how heart-breaking this experience breaks them. To watch a family member weaken and slowly die before their eyes and know there's nothing that can be done. They may be heroes - skilled in saving lives and rushing into life-threatening situations - but that means nothing now. With that kind of experience or not, they're as useless as anybody else would be.
So the team will hold onto each other. When they know they're about to fall apart, they'll keep each other together. Because that's what they do. That's what a family does. And they pray. Pray for each other and pray for Richard Grayson-Wayne.
Because that's all they can do for him now...
A/N: Hi. Here's Chappy 6. It's a bit rushed, but it's okay to me. Sorry about it, if you dislike this chapter. I wrote this when I was only half-alive. Please review and tell me what you think. Whoa, so many line-dividing-thingies... And, on my profile, if you could give it a visit, I have a poll. It's for another fic I'll write after each poll is closed. Oh, the poll will close in late July. Specific date? I'm not sure yet. But if you have time to vote, could you please? Thankies~!