Disclaimer – Own nothing.
To Seraphim 0 – Thanks for your review! I haven't read it yet, the rating has me a little nervous. It's just because of the language right? Cause I can deal with that. Oh don't worry about that, a lot of stories have the Team either hating or ghosting Dick after the invasion, I didn't come up with it. 'Digress' is a fun word to use, but if you're wondering what it actually means, it means leaving the main subject of conversation, like when you're rambling and you want to go back to the original topic, you use the phrase 'I digress'. So yeah, I think you used it properly. So glad you like the last chapter! Hope you like this one as well!
To Whisper – Thanks for your review! I'm so glad you liked how I portrayed Cobb and wrote his death! Hope you like this chapter too!
To Asilla – Thanks for your review! So glad you liked the chapter! I was a bit nervous about that one cause I wasn't sure if I wrote it very well. You'll find out how Dick is doing in this chapter. I hope you like it!
AN – Hey everyone. Like I said, updates are Mondays and Fridays now. For those who skipped the last chapter, they all went to fight the Court, Dick defeated Cobb but Cobb revealed that he had a bomb put in his own head and detonated it, killing himself, because he didn't want to be taken prisoner again. The chapter ended with Bruce finding Dick in shock and taking him home. Chapter title for this chapter is taken from the song Worn by Tenth Avenue North, but it doesn't really have anything to do with the chapter. Hope you all like this chapter!
Enjoy!
Bruce stared at Dick's sleeping form on the bed from his spot in his son's bedroom doorway, worry flooding his entire body. It had been almost nine days since the Court had been exposed and the Talons destroyed. After finding Dick near the dead body of William Cobb, he brought him to the Cave so Alfred and Leslie could treat the young hero's injuries. Despite being assured by them that his son would be okay, Dick hardly left his bed and spent most of the following days sleeping. True, he needed rest in order to heal, but Bruce knew that something else was going on. Having raised the boy since he was eight, he knew that if there was one thing Dick struggled to do, it was staying still. The only time he was still, was when he was badly injured or sedated.
He was beginning to wonder if the drugs the Court gave him were playing a part in this. Dr. Mid-Nite came over the day after they fought the Court of Owls and told them that the tests he ran found drugs in Dick's system, and not just the ones needed to activate the electrum. The purpose of these drugs was to weaken his brain function, to slow down his thinking process and make it difficult to recall things. The doctor assured him that the dose he was given wasn't that strong and should've worn off at that point. He also said that he would've needed larger and more doses for it to work and figured that it was a step in their brainwashing process, but Bruce still couldn't help but worry. There was something wrong with his son, he just didn't know what.
"How is Master Dick doing sir?" Bruce turned his head to the side and found Alfred coming down the hall towards, a tray of food in his hands.
"Still sleeping." Bruce answered his surrogate father. Turning back to face his sleeping son, he added, "I don't like this Alfred. He's so still, and too quiet."
"Dr. Mid-Nite did say that he needed rest. It's very possible the reason for his exhaustion might simply be because of his new healing abilities." Alfred pointed out as he came to stand beside the billionaire.
"Maybe, but he's never so still, even when he was injured or sick." Bruce reminded him. Alfred couldn't really argue with that, Dick had always been such an energetic person. Then Bruce asked, "Do you, do you think he's depressed or something like that?"
The butler remained quiet for a few seconds, pondering the question. He then said, "He has been through quite an ordeal over the last year or so. It's very possible."
Bruce was scared of that. He could handle taking care of physical injuries, but dealing with a mental illness, he had no clue. He sucked at dealing with anything emotional or mental.
"I don't know what to do Alfred." Bruce told him, still staring sadly at Dick who remained unaware of what was going on.
"Just be there for him. I'm sure that's all he really wants." Alfred quietly advised. Bruce nodded but didn't say anything. So, the butler held out the tray and said, "Here is his breakfast."
"Thanks." Bruce replied, taking the try from him. As he entered the room, Alfred gave a long sad look at his grandson before he walked away.
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Dick was pulled from his peaceful rest by someone shaking his shoulder. He waited for a few seconds to see if the person would assume that he was deeply asleep and leave him alone, but unfortunately, that didn't happen. Groaning, he tried to move to shake the hand off but the person, now knowing he was awake, tightened his grip and continued trying to rouse him. So Dick just turned around completely so his back was to the intruder.
"You slept through breakfast again Dick. You need to eat." The person, Bruce, told him.
"Not hungry." Dick mumbled.
This had become routine over the last several days. He would sleep throughout the night, mostly, then spend the day either sleeping or dozing or just lying in bed trying to go back to sleep. A small voice in the back of his head told him that this was bad, that it wasn't healthy, but he ignored it. He didn't really want to be awake. Being awake meant seeing Cobb's headless body lying in front of him, meant knowing that the Team and Justice League knew the truth about where he came from, it meant that Bruce would soon start lecturing him at how he failed to catch Deathstroke, allowed himself to be kidnapped by the Court and needed everyone's help to get out of it. Being asleep didn't have any of that. It didn't even have nightmares which was surprising but not unwelcome.
"Just eat a little bit. Please chum?" Then Bruce would come into the room with either breakfast, lunch or supper, ask him to eat and Dick would push himself up and try. Bruce almost never said 'please' and hadn't called him 'chum' in years. The fact that he was doing both told Dick that it was really important to him, so he did it. And to his surprise, Bruce never pushed him to do more, to talk and he didn't try to give him a pep talk or a lecture like he expected. It was probably only a matter of time before that happened though.
What surprised him the most though was Tim. Every day since he came back to the Manor, the younger teenager came and sat in his room with him either doing homework, detective work or just watching TV. He didn't talk much, mostly just staying quiet. Dick didn't know if it was because Tim was waiting for him to talk or if it was because he had nothing to say, but whatever the reason was, he was glad for it. While he normally loved noise and talking, the silence was peaceful. There was no pressure or tension in it.
With Bruce, there was a type of tension. Dick didn't really know what kind of tension it was, but whenever he was awake and Bruce was in the room, he had this look in his eyes. He seemed worried or something and there had been a couple of times he looked like he might actually address it, but he never did. Dick didn't know if he was grateful for that, or if he wished Bruce would.
After Dick managed to eat about half of the scrambled eggs Alfred made him, he put down the fork and pushed the plate to the edge of the tray. Seeing that, Bruce asked, "Can you eat a little more?"
Dick simply shook his head and laid back down, wanting to go back to sleep. Like always, Bruce didn't look all that happy about him not finishing his plate, but he didn't argue. What was different this time though was that he put the tray of the bedside table and said, "Dick, I think we need to talk about this."
The young man almost scoffed, and almost gasped in shock. Bruce hardly ever initiated conversation. He sucked at communicating what he was really thinking or feeling. Dick didn't want to have a conversation with his adoptive Dad though. He knew it would only end with Bruce yelling and lecturing him about his actions, about his failures and he didn't think he could handle that right now.
"I'm tired Bruce." Dick said as he turned onto his side with his back facing the billionaire. He heard Bruce sigh, then stand up and walk out of the room. Dick felt a twinge of guilt for pushing his Dad away, but he ignored it and closed his eyes. He wanted to go back to sleep.
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Roy and Wally walked down the hall towards the Watchtower's living room in dejected silence. They had just tried to contact Bruce, or more accurately, Batman, to see if they could come and visit Dick, but again, he said no. It was driving them crazy. The last time they saw their friend, he was lying in Batman's arms, looking completely lost and injured. That was over a week ago and besides hearing that Dick would be okay, there was no news.
As they entered the room, they found Cassie sitting on the ground, school work laid out in front of her and Kaldur sitting on the couch, looking over what appeared to be files.
"How's it going?" Cassie asked when she saw them enter the room.
"Fine." Wally grumbled as he fell backwards onto the couch while Roy did the same on the chair beside him.
"What's wrong?" The new Wonder Girl asked, growing concerned by their response. Kaldur also looked over at the two redheads worriedly.
"Batman still won't let us see Dick." Roy answered, voice filled with anger and frustration. Though Cassie and Kaldur both knew that Dick was Nightwing and Tim was Robin, Cassie still didn't officially know that Batman was Bruce Wayne.
"And Tim hasn't been here since that night either so we have no idea what's going on." Wally added. He had no doubt that if Tim was here, he'd let them know how Dick was doing and why Batman wasn't allowing visitors. The Dark Knight however simply took Dick home and said he didn't want any visitors. He even went so far as to shut down the zeta-tubes to the Batcave and Gotham. He had been hoping that Tim would show up and tell them what was going on, but he had been in Gotham ever since the fight against the Court. He also hadn't been answering his phone.
"Does Barbara know anything?" Cassie wondered. She had only seen Barbara once or twice in the last week, but she didn't stay very long.
"If she does, she hasn't said anything. She's hardly been around either." Wally replied. He knew that Barbara would also tell them what was going on but the only updates she gave was that Dick was healing. That was it.
"I am positive that Batman will inform us when there is a change in Dick's condition." Kaldur chimed in.
"Or, we could just go over there and find out what's going on ourselves." Roy suggested. He was so sick of waiting that he was actually willing to risk Bruce's wrath by disobeying his orders.
"He'd probably kick you out." Cassie pointed out, fiddling with her pencil.
"He might." Wally agreed, then added with an evil twinkle in his green eyes, "Agent A on the other hand,"
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A couple of hours later, Roy and Wally found themselves exiting the car they took and started walking up the steps to Wayne Manor. Kaldur tried to talk them out of it, tried to get them to respect Batman's wishes, but they refused. They had waited long enough.
Wally rang the doorbell, and less than a minute later, the door swung open to reveal an elderly British man.
"Mr. West, Mr. Harper, what a surprise. Come in." Alfred greeted them, moving to the side to let them enter the house.
"Thank you, Alfred." Wally responded as he and Roy came inside.
Alfred closed the door and said, "I assume you are here to see Master Dick?"
"Yes, we are." Roy told the butler, doing his best to be polite. It wasn't Alfred keeping them from seeing Dick after all, that was Bruce. And angering Alfred would only make it harder for them to convince him to let them see their friend. Only Alfred could change Bruce's mind about letting Dick have visitors.
"I am sorry, but Master Bruce still insists that Master Dick has no visitors for the time being." Alfred told them with a regretful tone of voice.
"It's been over a week Alfred. All we know is that he healed physically. We need to see him." Roy said, his voice slowly getting louder with frustration.
When Alfred remained silent, Wally added, "Please Alfred."
At that moment, the elderly Brit turned his gaze to something behind the two young men and said, "Master Bruce. We have some company."
Roy and Wally turned around to see Bruce Wayne coming down the stairs. As he got to the bottom few steps, he asked, "What are they doing here?"
"They have come to see Master Dick, sir." Alfred informed the billionaire.
"Dick's not up for visitors right now." Bruce responded as he reached the three of them. Before either Roy or Wally could say anything to that, Alfred suddenly and unexpectedly interceded on their behalf.
"If I may Master Bruce, I do believe seeing his old friends might be beneficial to Master Dick's recovery."
At first, Bruce glared at Alfred, clearly annoyed that he was getting involved, then dropped it when the butler raised an eyebrow. Even the infamous Batman listened to Alfred. Roy and Wally waited as patiently as they possibly could while the two adults silently argued. Finally, with an angry expression, Bruce said, "He's in his room, sleeping. You can go sit with him. If you upset him or agitate him at all, you two are out of here. Understood?"
Wordlessly, Roy and Wally nodded, then headed up the stairs towards Dick's room.
AN – I know Dick's behaviour might be a bit OOC, but I'm trying to show how everything has been affecting him. He was under a lot of pressure during the invasion, felt extremely guilty for lying to his friends, Wally almost dying, then pretty much all of his friends and family had shunned him and wanted nothing to do with him, he spent 4 months having practically no contact with people outside of his job, spent another 3 months on the run with even less contact with people, during all of that time he began feeling that his friends and family hated him, and now is feeling guilty for the Court attacking Gotham and for Cobb's death. I hope that I wrote it believably and that you all liked this chapter. See you all next time!