Chapter 10

Three days later Dick still didn't remember who he was. He didn't remember Bruce. He didn't remember Alfred. He didn't remember the Manor. He didn't remember anything.

They'd tried lots of different methods to bring his memory back: Bruce had pulled out photo albums dating back to when he'd taken Dick in – he didn't even remember being taken in, or the events that lead up to it. Bruce even showed him a picture of him with his parents – this photo at least tugged at something in his memory but not enough to actually mean anything.

When the photos didn't work Alfred suggested taking a tour, perhaps the familiar surroundings – the sights, sounds and smells of the different rooms and areas – would jog a few memories. All that did was make Bruce smile sadly because apparently he reacted in almost the same way that he had the first time he'd taken the tour (who could blame him though, the place was HUGE!). Then they tried going for a walk in the forest, using the same reasoning they had for the tour of the house, Dick didn't expect it to work but he went along with it any way.

That didn't turn out to be such a good idea. Dick was still sensitive to his surroundings due to the sensory deprivation he had gone through in that damned white room and the outside world turned out to be too much for him to handle – he'd been okay for the first fifteen or so minutes but after that he hadn't been able to take it anymore. He didn't remember exactly what happened then, Bruce told him that he'd basically had a mild panic attack and Bruce had to carry him back into the house and up to his room to get him to calm down. Bruce blamed himself entirely for that, saying that he should have taken Dick's sensitivity into consideration. Dick felt like he'd failed Bruce in some way and for some reason that thought alone was so upsetting that it caused him to burst into tears. Bruce had gasped and immediately started apologizing while holding Dick close. The closeness made Dick feel a little better but then he couldn't remember why it did which just made him cry more and… yeah, that's how the first day went.

Alfred brought them chocolate chip cookies later that night. Dick took one bite and immediately remembered that he loved those cookies! He supposed that remembering that he loved Alfred's chocolate chip cookies was better than nothing.

They decided to take it easy the second day. Dick and Bruce basically spent the whole day talking; Bruce told him more about who he was, what he did and his life in general and then Bruce got Dick to talk about the nightmares he'd been having.

Dick didn't feel like there was much Bruce could do about those, or that there was much to tell about them: all his nightmares were about that white room, but Bruce coaxed him into telling him everything about the dreams. He was surprised to find that talking about them actually did make him feel better and that night he found himself crawling into Bruce's bed for comfort after a particularly bad dream. He slept like the dead for the rest of that night which was something else that came as a surprise.

His memories still didn't come back though, which was less of a surprise. Bruce told Dick that he was sure his memories would come back with time. Dick hoped he was right; he was already so done with having amnesia.

Bruce decided to use the third day to tell Dick about Batman and Robin. That information just about made Dick's head explode. He and Bruce spent their nights running around in costumes and fighting crime? He couldn't decide if that sounded incredibly stupid or unbelievably awesome. Then Bruce showed him the bat-cave. As he stood in the middle of the cave, taking it all in in awe, he decided to go with 'unbelievably awesome'. If only it would jog a few memories, that would make it even more unbelievably awesome.

Dick could tell that Bruce wasn't taking the whole amnesia thing very well either. He hid it well, of course, but Dick could tell that it was bothering Bruce as much as it was bothering him. He mentioned it to Alfred at tea time; the old butler had smiled sadly and said that Dick still knew Bruce well, even if he didn't remember it.

Tea time. Alfred re-introduced that to him on the second day. He explained that it was something of a tradition between the two of them to have tea together every day at 3.30 in the afternoon. Dick didn't know why but sitting down with a cup of tea and a cookie with the dear old butler made him feel very happy. It even tugged at a memory, but once again it wasn't enough to actually bring that memory all the way back to him.

He really needed his memories to come back; he just didn't know how to get them back. He'd overheard Bruce say something about calling in someone called 'Manhunter' in to take a look at Dick's mind. Dick didn't know who or what he was talking about, but he didn't really feel comfortable with someone or something with a name like that poking around in his mind. He couldn't think of a different option though, whenever he tried he only thought of drinking blood from a Gorgon's right side. He had no idea why he thought of that, but it was obviously a preposterous idea, although Bruce was considering calling a Manhunter so maybe it wasn't so far-fetched of an idea after all.

Dick shook his head as he got into bed, tomorrow he would go through the library and find every book he could find on amnesia, maybe he'd find something that helps and maybe, he thought as he closed his eyes, he should look up the medicinal properties of blood from a Gorgon's right side while he's at it.

AN: Sorry for another long wait guys, but thanks for putting up with it! Thank you so much to all my followers and favs and especially thank you to all my reviewers! You guys rock!

Ps: for those of you who are not Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus fans: Dick is thinking of a book he read, namely 'Heroes of Olympus: The Son of Neptune' by Rick Riordan in which Percy Jackson got his memory back by drinking blood from the right side of a Gorgon (blood from a Gorgon's right side can heal anything but blood from their left side is deadly) … I couldn't resist the referencing it as the Percy Jackson books are my absolute favourite :D

Until next time guys! :)