Jason wasn't used to the feeling of waking up warm, since he had been brought back from the dead he had been living pretty rough and was constantly kept awake by cold drafts. So to wake up feeling warm, and dare he say safe brought back unwanted memories of his first night at Wayne Manor almost 7 years ago.

"You awake?" the voice startled him but he managed to stay composed

"Yeh" he mumbled realising how slurred his speech still was, he opened his eyes to see Robin sat next to him "What happened?"

"You passed out from blood loss, here drink this" he took the cup he was offered and took a sip, it was extremely sweet tea, he obviously made a face because Robin apologised "Yeh sorry, it needs to contain sugar to let your blood levels normal again".

Jason shrugged taking another careful slurp before looking back at his little brother

"How is he?" Tim didn't need him to elaborate to know who he was talking about.

"The surgery was a success, though it would have been too late if it wasn't for your quick thinking"

Ignoring the compliment Jason went on "Is he awake yet?"

"No" said Tim shaking his head "He's still recovering; you've been unconscious for nearly 5 hours. Batman says your body needed rest even before you gave Dick all that blood" Jason pulled another face, trust the bat to realise he had been at the end of his rope.

"Well keeping you lot out of trouble would be enough to make anyone need rest" he laughed humourlessly. There was a moment's pause before Robin looked back at the elder.

"You were the one who put us in lock down weren't you. That's why Nightwing couldn't over run it, because you knew all his hacking habits" when the other didn't answer robin added "Why?"

"Because a part of me can't stand the sight of seeing you too hurt. Since I died I've been trying so, so hard to move on and to get my revenge. But then I heard on the grape vine that death Stroke so going after his apprentice again. I remember the last time that sick bastard got his hands on Dick, I couldn't let that happen again" he paused taking a deep breath "But that was just the beginning, he wasn't going to give up, so I tried to warn Nightwing without blowing my cover. That's why I kept drawing attention to myself in Blud Haven".

"Why didn't you come out with it?"

"Because I knew the knowledge that I was alive would cause a turn for the worst. I tried to stay covert but when I came face to face with Dickie bird and he didn't even recognise the sound of my voice I got so angry that I said things I shouldn't have. If I had kept my mouth shut, none of this would have happened".

They sat in silence for a moment, Tim wanted to comfort his brother, tell him that it wasn't his fault but that would be a lie. So instead he told him the truth.

"We're all to blame for this" that was when Wally ran in looking for the boys

"He's awake!"

OoOoOoOo

His chest was tight with pain. He felt like he had been hit by a double decker bus, with the amount of throbbing that was all over his body.

When he opened his eyes, everything swam in a blur for a few moments. He could see figures above him; they were shining a light in his face and talking. But he felt like he was underwater and couldn't make out what they were saying.

Then suddenly as if someone had flipped a switch in his brain, the world swam into focus and the sound came back with a pop.

"Nightwing? You with us? Can you hear me?" He frowned for a second before closing his eyes again and nodding in response to Black Canary.

"Thank God for that" he hear d Flash say "You gave us quite a scare there kid, we didn't think you were gonna make it back there".

Dick opened his mouth to talk but found his throat was closed up and croaky from disuse

"Here drink this" Dinah helped him drink a glass of water before letting him settle back down against the pillows.

"What did I miss?" he said finally

"Well, once the drugs were stopped your body started shutting down until finally you went into cardiac arrest" said Flash

"Yeh I know, I was awake for that bit remember" said Nightwing sarcastically

"Just checking, well when you flat lined Bats started doing CPR and Red Hood gave you an emergency blood transfusion of his blood, because apparently his blood has special chemicals in that keep the heart pumping or something, he won't let me have a sample to test so I'm not sure of the science, but the blood basically kept you alive and cleared your blood stream of any traces of the bloody Slade used" he paused letting all this sink in.

"So is that why I feel like I've been hit by a bus?" Dick asked weakly, suddenly feeling very tired and confused.

"No, even with the blood transfusion, your heart was badly damaged, you needed a heart transplant"

"You have got to be kidding me" he closed his eyes again as he felt sleeping taking over.

"Sorry Kid. Now can you tell me your full name?" he looked at the speeder confused

"Your heart stopped beating for nearly 9 minutes and you underwent surgery, we just have to make sure there's no brain damaged.

Finally understanding he answered "Richard John Grayson, son to John and Mary Grayson ward of Bruce Wayne".

"Ok and your other name?"

"Nightwing, first ever Robin and first side kick to the Batman"

"Good, now can you recite the alphabet for me" sighing the young man went to start but stopped.

"You alright?" he tried again but had the same result.

"I can't remember" Flash frowned

"What comes after C?"

"D" said Dick straight away. After a few more test they found the damage those 9 minutes had caused. Dick could remember information and recite it but when it came to rhythm of rhymes, he was completely lost and couldn't process it. He couldn't understand the words when listening to music; it was like he was listening to gibberish rather than English.

If anything was said to him with a rhythm such a sequence of numbers, unless you paused between each number he would forget the one before.

Seeing how distressed this information had made the boy, they decided to leave him alone to rest, later they would allow batman in to see him.

oOoOoOoOo

Later seemed a very long time for Batman but finally the man in the bed he was sat by started to stir.

"Hey, how you feeling?" his face showed Batman but his voice showed Bruce.

"Like crap, having a heart attack, heart transplant and finding out your brain damaged all in one day will do that to you" Batman cleared his throat trying to ignore the hatred that was dripping from those words.

"You'll rest here for a few days so that we know your bodies not going to reject your new heart and then we came move you back to the manor"

"No"

Batman looked up at the younger who was looking straight ahead

"What?"

"I said no. I'm not going back to the manor, once I get the all clear from Barry and Dinah, I'm going back to my flat in Blud Haven"

"Don't be ridiculous"

"I'm not Bruce. I meant what I said up on the roof when you had me and Slade surrounded. If you had just had faith in me then none of this would have happened. And the only thing I would have had to have worried about was my god damn leg. Now I've not only got that by my brain and my heart. With all that to worry about I don't need the cause of it staring me in the face every day".

Bruce was speechless. Finally he let Batman take over.

"You won't be able to patrol for a while"

"You won't have to worry about that" there was another awkward pause as Dick collected himself "I lost the right to my hero person the second a chose to go back to Slade" there were tears in his eyes as he turned back to face the older man.

"I quit".

A/N Almost at the end! Please Review. Karin xxx