Dick continued to laugh as they watched Dinah chase Oliver out of the room and out into the hall. She shut the door behind them.
"I have a hard time believing he didn't say that on purpose." Bruce said from the shadows, ever irritated by Green Arrow's presence. "She's right you know."
"I know." Dick had jumped back into the rafters where Bruce had been sitting through his whole session with Black Canary. "It doesn't make it any easier though. I'm still worried."
Bruce put his hand on Dick's shoulder. "Artemis is going to be fine; M'Gann is going for a world record in meditation. You'll be well enough to go on missions in a few weeks. What is there you have to worry about?" He knew he was being over optimistic, but he wanted to help him cheer up. Even if he did have to sound like an idiot to do it.
Dick was silent for a minute and Bruce was afraid he wouldn't respond. "I still don't know why I froze. What if it happens again?"
He had asked himself this question many times. He had watched the surveillance tapes enough times to memorize the scene. Every time he expected it to change, for Nightwing to stand up and grab Artemis' hand. Every time he was frozen in a crouch, staring at the billowing smoke and falling girl in front of him, a horrified look on his face. "Artemis is one of your best friends. You haven't had to see someone close to you fall since your parents."
"I've seen you fall off of plenty of fire escapes. And construction sites. And moving vehicles."
He hadn't realized he was that prone to accidents. It's nothing more training can't fix. "Now that is a different situation. I wasn't in a position where I needed saving. Besides, I'm Batman." Dick snorted at his comment. He didn't often pull out the Batman excuse, but it was true.
"Okay, so what am I supposed to do about it?" Bruce had thought about that too. This wasn't something that thousands of dollars and hours of therapy could fix.
"Why do we fall, Dick?"
"Um… gravity?" Dick answered.
He laughed. Actually laughed. "So we can learn to pick ourselves up again."
"Who said that?"
"My father." He heard Dick's mouth fall open. Bruce hardly ever talked about his parents; sometimes it hurt too much for either of them to think about. "When something bad happens, we can wallow in our sorrows, or we can chose to be stronger for it. It all depends on you." Bruce squeezed his shoulder gently.
Dick sighed. "I'll try Bruce."
Author's Note: Despite the title of this chapter it is not the end of this story. Part 13 will be up soon. It will be an epilogue of sorts that will set up the sequel to this story. I know some of you may be thinking, "Why does this need a sequel?" But trust me, Batman does not believe in things just 'happening'. Everything happens FOR A REASON!
