Time is an awful thing. And Nightwing had never hated it as much as he hated it now. He sat on one of the chairs that the team had gathered around, watching the seconds

pass by on the clock. His pills lasted for about 6 hours; he had had about 3 hours left more or less when he had entered the room before lock down. That had been nearly 2 hours ago.

"Dude, watching the clock isn't going to make you feel any better, it's just going to put you on edge." said Wally taking a seat next to his best friend.

"I can't help it" replied Nightwing, his eyes not moving from the ticking object "once the pills wear off all the pain in going to come back full force. I don't want to lose control of my emotions in front of the team. I'm meant to be there leader, I can't appear weak."

Wally frowned, taking a glance over to where his girlfriend and a few of the others were stood. Artemis, sensing someone watching her turned to face them; she still had a frown on her face. She had not been happy at finding Nightwing had lied about his recovery. A few of the others were upset also that he had led them to believe he was stronger than he was. Wally was slightly upset that his best friend had not let him in and admitted just how badly he had been injured, but he understood why Nightwing had kept it quiet. If people knew they would have treated him different and Dick wouldn't have got as far as he had.

"I don't think she's ever going to forgive me for lying to her. Or you for that matter"

"Na she'll get over it. And don't worry about me; you know I could never be mad at you. You're my little bro" Nightwing smiled at that.

It was around 20 minutes later that Super girl and Beast boy came running up to him a first aid box in their hands.

"Hey Wing, we found a med box. There are quite a few pain killers in here. Will any of these do?" Nightwing looked in the box they offered him. Most of the pills were weak pain killers that would be no good due to the fact that to even touch the pain he would have to take so many that he would risk putting himself into a coma...although maybe that was an option. Oh boy that was low.

There was also a single shot of morphine. That would ease his pain for maybe 3 hours if he was lucky. But it would also make him sick, just as it had a few years ago when he had been on a constant drip of it.

"The morphine will be good for a little while if it gets too bad"

"Didn't you have a bad reaction to that?" Said Wally frowning when his friend nodded.

"What do you normally take?" asked beast boy

"Vicodin" wally let out a low whistle. That was strong stuff.

5 hours later they were still stuck in the room. Most people had found some way or another to occupy themselves. For robin and the original members of young justice they occupied themselves by worrying over Nightwing. His pain killers had worn off 4 hours ago and he was now led on the floor with this leg propped up on a pile of jumpers and his arm covering his face.

"How you doing wing?" said Robin who was perched on a chair crossed legged above his brother.

Nightwing mumbled a response that no one could understand but they got the gist. He was in pain.

"Maybe we should call bats, see if he can send someone ahead of them." said M'gann looking worriedly at the broken bird on the floor. But the said bird just shook his head before taking a deep breath and removing his arms. Artemis held back her grimace. Nightwing was pale and clammy, sweat clung to his forehead and judging by the single flush of colour on his cheeks, he had a fever.

"Batman doesn't need to be distracted by this. We can hold out till tomorrow...or today I can't tell anymore".

"Yeh we can. But you don't look like you can" said robin the last time he had seen his brother look like this was when they had first brought him home after surgery.

"I'm fine. As long as I don't move the pain is manageable"

"Dude you look like crap" said Wally

"That's just from the lack of drugs. Vicodin is highly addictive. My body is craving it"

They're eyes widened. Most of this was caused by withdrawal symptoms?!

"If the pain gets any worse, we're giving you the morphine" nobody argued with Robin.

And oh did the pain get worse. Nightwing could barely breath it hurt so bad to move. They had been stuck in the room for nearly 10 hours.

"We have to give him the morphine" said Artemis looking over at her former team mate who was lead where he had been for hours but was now practically biting down on his sleeve to stop himself screaming.

"The league said they would be at least 24 hours. It's only been 10 we are going to be in here for a long time yet. Giving him relieve now would only mean he would be in more pain for who knows how long after." Wally's thoughts made sense but no one felt any better about it.

Finally Nightwing brought his sleeve away from his clenched jaw

"Hey guys if you going to talk about me can you either do it where I can put my input or somewhere I can't hear you please"

"Sorry Wing" said Robin sheepishly and they re-joined their friend in the cluster of seats.

A little further away the newer members of young justice were concerned fir their leader

"I've never seen him like this before" said Super girl "He normally brushes off injuries" Beast boy nodded in agreement.

"I heard about the incident when he was Robin, but since he became Nightwing I just presumed that he hadn't been extremely injured" said Blue Beetle sneaking a glance

over to robin and their senior members.

"You would have thought they would have given him the pain killers we found by now"

Nobody said anything for a while until Artemis' panicked voice echoed throughout the room.

"No, no, no, stay awake Nightwing" this grabbed everyone's attention.

"What's going on?" asked Cassy.

"His body is going into shock from the pain. You have to stay awake wing!" Robin was gently but firmly tapping the side of the older heroes face to make sure he didn't close his eyes and pass out.

"You need to give him the morphine!"

"But we don't know how long were going to be in here!" Wally and Artemis fought a lot but never before about something this serious.

"You're the scientist West. If he doesn't get relieve from the pain his body will go into shock. If we don't get him help soon after that then he will die." Wally's eyes widened when he realised this girlfriend was right.

"We'll need to get him close to a bathroom. Morphine makes him sick" was all he could think of to say as he plunged the needle into the arm of the man he considered his little brother.

Almost instantly the pain expression on Nightwing's, face that had been there for hours, relaxed slightly.

"So what now? Asked beast boy

"Now we wait" Wally's tone was sad and distant "he's in for a hell of a bumpy ride".

Nightwing's condition was starting to give them all whiplash. One minute he was almost passing out of the pain, next he was sat up feeling a lot better but now he was currently sat on the bathroom floor with his head by his knee (just the one since he still couldn't move the other that well) as another wave of nausea ran over him.

"No offense Wally, but when your uncle gets back, I'm gonna kill him."

"Fair enough" Wally laughed lightly, hoping it might brighten the other.

Back in the main room Blue Beetle was fiddling with the computer again, Connor came to join him.

"No offense, but the last time you played with this thing we all got trapped him here" he dead panned, but even Blue had learnt to detect the humour in the clones' voice.

"There must have been a reason for the computer to act up, if I can just get past the main frame then I might be able to see what virus if any way placed there"

"And how are you planning on doing that?" the blue creature shrugged

"I have no idea. I only know the theory behind it. I'm not entirely sure on the practise. And unfortunately there is only one person who is".

OoOoOo

Nightwing honestly couldn't tell which hurt more, his leg or his pride. Ok so it was

most properly his leg, but throwing up into a toilet while some of the youngest members or his team were asking for his input was not doing his pride any good either.

"So you see, you're the only one who knows how to go around the mainframe" blue beetle finished explaining. When Nightwing felt sure he could open his mouth without throwing up he nodded slowly.

"I built the main frame so it should be a piece of cake. Under the desk is a portable computer panel. Bring it in here so I can hack it." they gave him confused looks

"There is no way I'm moving from here anytime soon" he said and as if to prove his point his face paled dramatically and he leant over the basin again. There wasn't

anything left in his stomach so he was just dry heaving by this point.

"Do you want to say it or should I? Said Wally when Nightwing had settle down again.

"So not feeling the aster".

A/N Sorry if the lay out too this chapter was a little funny, i had to do it on my phone and then email to my laptop. I think its alright but it cut up a lot of my words so if i've missed putting any of them back together just let me know. Here is the next chapter, i wanted this chapter to show just how much Nightwing/Dick has to suffer with and that he has to work even harder than when he was Robin to stay on top of everything. :) Hope it shows.

Please Review. Karin x