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Acethebatdog2039
Chapter 14: Earthquake
Summary: The aftermath of an another Gotham earthquake leaves one bat out of commission.
Timeline: Terry is twenty-four.
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"Bruce!" Tim rushed passed the crowd of people. Tim's arm was in a soft cast, he had a cut above his eye. A nurse was cleaning a cut on the side of Bruce's face. "He's in surgery right now." The nurse gave him a soft smile before walking away. Tim took her seat next to his adopted father. "How bad…?"
"Broken ribs, one hip is broken, part of his pelvis, part of his left leg, his right ankle… and," he trailed off. Tim wondered what could be worse than all of that already. "And what?" Tim frowned. "He has a large group of microfractures in his back. At the base of his spine, the doctor says the breaks are pressing on part of his lower back causing him unable to feel his feet and part of his lower legs." Tim sighed softly looking away. Diana showed up with cups of coffee while they waited for news.
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Bruce was on the phone with Terry's mother who was stuck in another part of the ruined city. After telling the woman that Terry was in good hands he hung up with her to go meet with the doctor. The doctor informed them that the surgery went pretty well, they wanted to keep an eye on Terry's back. The doctor said something a Lumbar puncture to inject pain medication into Terry's back to help with the pain. The doctor led Bruce into Terry's room. The young man was laying as of right now the best position for him, on his side. It wasn't on his broken ribs or any other broken bones he had gotten in the earthquake.
"Hey old man," a soft grunt from the bed, Bruce thanked the doctor as the younger man left. He went to sit next to the bed in Terry's line of slight. "Long time no see," Terry's face was a little bruised. "I wanna go home…" Bruce rested his cane against the bed as he sat down. "I know you do, Terry, but you can't. Not for a while." Terry whined a little. Bruce would blame the drugs. "Just sleep. I got you."
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The next time he woke up Bruce was gone, Diana was in his seat. Terry's eyes focused slowly, the pain meds were kicking in. He hated being all fuzzy. "Hey you," her gentle voice reached his ears. "Where's Bruce?" His voice was cracked from almost no use and all the yelling from the last few days. "He'll be right back, hon." She said. "He went to talk to the doctors." She reached out to gently touch his hair, moving it from his eyes. His eyes closed, he thought for a second he fell asleep again. The hand on his shoulder woke him up. "The doctor said you're doing pretty well, Terry." Bruce had come back. Terry's eyes opened back up looking up at the old man.
"Heard from your mother, they're doing okay." Bruce wouldn't tell them that his mother and brother had both gotten hurt in the quake. Matt had a broken arm and collar bone from a fall and Mary had a few broken ribs and her shoulder had popped out of place. They were luckier than Terry. They didn't have a building dropped on them. "With the city the way it is, it's going to take them awhile to get out here."
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The next couple of weeks went slowly for Terry. It felt like everyone was in better shape than him. Then again most of the where, not everyone was hurt badly, but they were hurt. The doctors told him if he tried to get out of bed again they would tie him to the bed. He was bored. He wanted the tubes taken out of him, mostly the one in his dick out. The city had started to rebuild and while it was doing that he was healing. Slowly. They said months it would take him to get back to even thinking of walking again.
That is if he could ever do that again. His feet and toes would go numb from the break in his lower back. The lower part of his spinal cord was damaged in the fall. The numbing feeling in his feet drove him nuts. His doctors said another surgery would be needed to fix the rest of the damage. At least one of them was hopeful of his chance to walk again, she was a bright woman. Terry had a feeling she was a friend of the Wayne family.
"Knock knock." Tim's smiling face entered his room. "Hey kid." He came in the room with a book bag on his shoulder. "Figured you could get use to seeing another face around here." Tim sat the bag next to Terry's bed. "Hey man." Terry smiled for the first time in hours. "Now don't laugh at me Terry, but I brought a board game for us to play. Something a bit different than what the old man has brought you to do." Tim smiled pulling the game out of the bag,
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It was his first week home after almost four months in the hospital. He had proven his doctors wrong. He was moving around with the aid of forearm crutches. It took a while for him to get use to, but once he did he could move around pretty good. Terry still couldn't use stairs so his bed room was moved downstairs to the first floor. There was a small welcome home party for him, mostly his friends and his mother's family. It was a nice change of pace for the young man.
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After bed rest had ended for his newest back surgery Terry was back on the road of recovery. He was able to use his crutches to get himself to the kitchen. They were all smiling at him when he entered. "What's going on?" he asked. They wouldn't tell him. Said it was a surprise. Next Terry found himself with Dick, Tim, Barbara, Diana, and Bruce at the league tower.
Dick and Tim smiled at them as they went to the training room. They couldn't hold it anymore. "Can we tell him?" They both asked Bruce. Bruce just nodded as they both broke into a long rambling that Terry couldn't keep up with. He looked at Bruce; the old man explained it to him. Using the zero gravity in the training room it would allow Terry to be able to move like he did before the earthquake.
With Tim and Dick's help Terry stood in the center of the room as Bruce turned the zero gravity on. At first with his feet off the ground Terry held onto the older men. Dick let to show the kid what he could in the training room. "Come on, kid!" Tim gave him a gentle push sending Terry towards Dick. "You'll get the hang of it, T. It's like swimming." Tim smiled.
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Terry found it comforting being in the training room like this. His body didn't hurt. For the first time in months nothing hurt. He was able to do flips and spins like he use to again. He saw Barbara and Diana smiling as Mr. Kent came to join them. His son Connor came out with him. The current Superman came to visit him as much as he could; the two men had become close friends. "Is this what it's like to fly?" Terry asked the two Supermen. They both smiled. Terry did a little handstand, smiling and waving at everyone else in the control room. Terry could swear he saw Bruce smile.
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A/N: I got lazy. Sorry. Was going to do some flashbacks but that didn't happen. And yes, I will one more chapter. One more, ya hear? One more. -Ace