I'm back with another chapter. I know, so soon. Don't get used to it. Enjoy!

Dick

Hospital waiting rooms, it seems, are the only places in the world where the downpours of grief match the explosions of joy. As Dick sits and waits for Barbara to make her way down, a lukewarm coffee growing ever colder in his hand, he watches on. About 3 yards to his left a family of 4 sit anxiously, a young woman spinning a wedding band around and around her finger as her children cling to her pant legs. Dick watches as she rises and greets an aging surgeon that sits down beside her and shatters her world. There is silence for a moment before the wailing begins. That awful choking wheeze that people make when they're entire world falls away. She clings to her children as she sobs and Dick has to ask himself how she'll make it home today, how anyone goes home after their life has been flipped upside down.

At the same moment, on the far side of the waiting room, out of sight, Dick can hear a young man exclaim that whoever he was there for has made it through surgery as his family and those around him cheer. The hoops and hollers of celebration intertwine with the wailing into a bustle of emotion that causes everyone else in the waiting room to shift uncomfortably in their chairs, Dick included. It really is incredible how quickly everything can change.

Downing the rest of his now cold and very unsatisfying coffee, Dick stands and makes his way across the room to Barbara who has appeared in the far doorway.

"How'd it go? How's he doing?" Dick asks as he settles into a plastic chair beside her.

Barbara sighs heavily and rakes a hand through her hair. "It's kind of hard to say." She admits.

"Well Tim was making it sound like he was at the end of his rope, at least tell me it's not that bad." he says.

"Well you know how stubborn he is Dick," She begins, "And he's made up his mind."

Tears begin to prickle behind Dick's eyes when she speaks again. "But, I talked to Dinah for a long time about it and she suggested just reminding him of what he loves and what he'd miss. Convince him to stay, and I made a little progress with him." She pauses for a moment, fighting to keep her voice steady. "We have to convince him. He deserves to really live, you know it. We- we have to keep him here." She says sternly.

Dick rests a hand between her shoulder blades. "Listen, I'm going to do my best, and if I can't get through to him we'll bring in the big gun." He assures her.

Alfred, the only human on this planet that Jason has nothing but love for. In all honesty, Dick is positive it's biologically impossible for Jason to turn Alfred down. If all of his siblings can't get through to him, then they always have Alfred to come in and pick up the slack. And if that doesn't work? Then there really isn't anything else left to do but let go.

Barbara yawns, "I'm going to go get some real sleep. Call me if you need anything, okay?"

Dick nods, "Okay."

He watches her for a moment as she makes her way outside to where Alfred is waiting with the car before he turns and makes his way up to Jason's room. It's still dark when he finally finds his way, the morning sun hasn't quite reached the slits in the window shutters. Noticing that Jason is awake, Dick makes no effort to hide his approach and instead closes the door loud enough that he's certain that Jason can hear him coming.

"Hey Littlewing." Dick says as naturally as he can force himself to. He plasters on a gentle smile as he walks to the foot of Jason's bed, but the young man before him doesn't react or even glance his way. "Barb and Tim are looking for a better hospital to transfer you to, one hopefully a little farther away. How does that sound?" Dick asks, reaching down to gently shake Jason's uninjured left ankle. But again, there is no response.

Jason lay with his head facing the window to his right, his bandaged right eye obscured from view. Dick can see his open left eye, knows he's awake, so what gives?

"Jason? Can you hear me?" Dick asks as he makes his way into Jason's line of vision, dragging a chair up behind him so he's sitting directly in his eye sight, but still the man stares through him. Dick leans forward and touches the back of his hand to the younger man's cheek, a gesture that Jason always, without fail, has withdrawn from in the past.

"C'mon Jay, let me know you're in there." His hand lingers uncomfortably on Jason's cheek before he pulls it away anxiously. Studying his brother's face he holds in a deep breath and clasps his hands in between his knees. He'd almost forgotten about this part, the waiting, the helplessness, hands idly picking at the skin around his fingernails.

A small knock sounds from the door and Dick stands to greet the man who enters. He smiles and extends his hand, which Dick takes and shakes firmly.

"Hello, my name is Jake and I'm your brother's physical therapist." He greets warmly.

"Hi Jake, I'm Dick." He responds.

"A pleasure." He smiles as he pulls a clipboard out from under his arm. "Well today we're going to go pretty easy but we do have to get him walking so that we can get him using the bathroom on his own and so that his muscles don't atrophy any farther."

Dr. Messic, Jason's primary surgeon, enters softly "but we have to go very slowly." She interjects. "Your brother re-injured his ribs during his last episode, so we must be careful not to do anything to aggravate them any more. We also removed his catheter this morning so it's important that he's able to make it to the restroom himself. "

Dick nods and glances over his shoulder at Jason, hair a greasy mess. He wrinkles his nose slightly. "Will he be able to shower?" Dick asks.

Dr. Messic almost laughs, "yes, hopefully today. His concussion has almost completely gone away and the burr holes have healed so I don't see why not. "

Dick nods when he's alerted by the sound of Jason's heart rate spiking, he turns to see Jake has approached his brother's bedside and has reached out to touch him. Without thinking, Dick rushes forward and shoves the young man away and places himself between Jake and Jason. Jake has already put his hands up in an alarmed surrender as a shaky apology falls from Dick's mouth. He glances behind him at Jason who hasn't moved, except for his eyes, which are trained on the newcomer.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Dick repeats, leaning forward to place a reassuring hand on Jake's shoulder. "It's just…" Dick bites his lip as flashes of memories bombard him. Bits of a classified personal file Dick wasn't meant to see, words Jason let slip when he was too drunk or too injured to notice, puzzle pieces fitting together on dark sleepless nights. A small boy shoved down onto the dirty pavement of an alley. He meets Jason's glazed expression. "It's just he doesn't like when people touch him, especially strangers. I'm sorry I should've warned you."

Dr. Messic and Jake stare back, slightly startled, but understanding. "In that case," Dr. Messic begins, "We were going to have a nurse help with bathing today, but if that would be too uncomfortable for him-"

"I'll do it." Dick interjects.

"Alright. We'll be able to talk you through it, with his injuries and all, when we get there. Sounds good?" She asks. Dick nods gratefully. Dr. Messic checks her watch and assures them she'll be back to check on them both after Todd's PT and wishes them well before leaving in a hurry.

Dick turns his full attention to the PT, Jake, to get the rundown.

"So, as you know, your brother has been through the wringer and hasn't been moving in weeks. What that means for us is that he'll be very weak. Usually I have my assistants help with getting them up but if you'd prefer to help instead, for his sake, that'll be fine. But I will need them here just in case." He says, gesturing to a small group of doctors waiting outside of Jason's door. "As far as his injuries go, his left leg shouldn't be a problem, though he'll be a little stiff, it's the fractured ankle and strained knee on his right side that's going to cause a problem."

Jake walks around Jason's bed so that he's in his line of vision. "Hey Todd, I'm Jake and we're going to get you moving today, okay?"

They start slow, working on getting Jason to clench his fists and stretch his now supposedly healed sprained wrist. Then to his feet, get him to bend his hurt knee, stretch his uninjured leg. They have him move his unharmed right shoulder, pulling it above his head to were a handle waits for him so he can help himself up. Jason doesn't really react to any of it, a few grunts and groans of pain but nothing more. He's sweaty and shaky, but his eyes are as blank as ever.

Slowly they incline Jason's bed until it's in an upright position and force him to swing his legs over the side, which causes more than a few pained whimpers to escape the man. Despite his aversion to checking in fully to the reality around him, he clamps a hand tightly around Dick's wrist as Jake's team fits Jason with a boot and knee brace. Off to the side, Dick watches as a nurse administers another round of morphine and once it's entered Jason's arm, remove the IV from the port in the crook in his elbow. Because of the location of his injuries, the fractured left arm and collar bone and the broken right ankle, he can't yet use crutches or a walker. So, at least until one or more of his fractures heals, he'll need someone to help him to the bathroom at all times, and he has a wheelchair if he wishes to go outside or get out of his room for walks.

"Okay Todd, I'm gonna ask you to put your feet on the ground and start putting a little weight on your good leg okay? Your brother is going to help you and we're all here too if you need us." Jake asks, placing his hands out in front of Jason in a cautionary manner.

Jason, who has begun to tremble and lose a little bit of that clouded look nods numbly. He's soaked with sweat and Dick can feel his battered ribs as he gently places one hand on his back for support. How much weight has he lost? Dick let's himself wonder, before Jason's grip on him tightens and brings him back to the real world.

Slowly and painfully Jason increases the weight on his left leg, pausing momentarily when the limb begins to shake under his weight. With one final push (and a tug from Dick) he stands up completely on his left leg, using his right leg for balance. Jake and his team step forward to help stabilize Jason, who has gone paper white and has tears gathering in his eyes. His breathing has started to become a continuous whimper and he looks pretty close to passing out, but Jake pushes on.

"Great job Todd! You're doing amazing. Let's get you to the bathroom okay? It's just a few steps away. You can do it." Jake says optimistically. Jason shakes his head frantically, breath hissing through clenched teeth. But Jake has already begun to guide him across the narrow room. One agonizing step after another they make their way into the bathroom and deposit him on a bench built into the wall. From the expression on Jason's face Dick can tell his vision is starting to black out and he settles himself next to him on the bench and rubs soft circles on his back.

"Great work Todd! That was amazing!" Jake beams as he kneels down in front of Jason's face. Jason has squeezed his eyes shut and offers no more than a sharp nod of his head in answer. Jake then turns to Dick, who is still holding Jason upright on the bench. "So since he's already in here, we have to see if he can use the restroom on his own and then we can talk about a shower for him." Jake says, standing and gesturing for Dick to let go of Jason's arm.

Dick glances between the two men before he leans in to Jason, "Okay buddy, all you have to do is use the bathroom by yourself and then we can get you cleaned up. We're almost done." Dick whispers as he stands and helps Jake pull Jason to his feet. They leave the room with him standing awkwardly in the middle of the room, holding onto the built in railing for dear life.

As the door clicks shut before him Dick turns to Jake expectantly. "He's doing really well, he's actually right on track with a lot of other patients in his state." Jake insists. "When he's done in there, my team and I will wrap his cast, stitches and boot with plastic so that he can shower. There's a shower bench in there that he can sit on and we have a shampoo you can use. Usually we'd wait until his incisions were healed up more but since he's been here for nearly ten days we've all agreed it's time. Now, I don't know about your relationship with your brother, but are you sure you don't want us to take care of it?" He asks.

Dick thinks about it for a moment, it's true that he and Jason never got a chance to be brothers in the normal sense of the word, hell most of the time they were trying to kill or arrest each other. But there was a real sweet period when he was little that they really had something good. And recently, in the last year or so, they started to grow back together. They'd meet up after patrol and talk about normal brother things like girls or video games or Bruce being an asshole. And they've seen each other through enough trauma- wait, no. Dick never really was there when Jason needed him most, not his death, his resurrection, or the loss of his team. In all honesty in most recent years it's been Jason there for him more times than not.

But he knows him, he knows the way he operates. The way that Jason doesn't like to be touched but loves to touch others, he has to be in charge of who he touches and when. Whether it's slinging an arm around Tim's shoulder or holding onto Damian's hood while on a stake out, or even sitting close enough so his and Dick's elbows touch when they sit down together, it's how he connects. So no, they might not have the picture perfect relationship but Dick can do this one thing for him, it's the least he can do.

Dick waves Jake's concern away. "I'd be happy to help, it's the least I can do."

They hear the toilet flush and walk in just as Jason has hobbled over to the sink, Dick steps forward and helps Jason wash his right hand as his left is still cast and in a sling. As he's drying his hand for him, gently rubbing a paper towel back and forth across his skin, Jake tells Jason about the shower. Jake and his team help Jason onto the shower bench and start wrapping him in plastic wrap to keep his cast dry, then step back just as Jason's 'deer in the headlight' expression was getting worrisome. They hand Dick a bottle of simple clear shampoo and a bar of soap and leave the two of them alone in the bathroom.

Something Dick had yet to think about was just how awkward this whole encounter could be, but he shakes the feeling away, there's no time for awkwardness now. He approaches Jason slowly, carefully watching his expression. Jason's brow is furrowed and he's breathing in shallow catch breaths, he's still ghostly pale and trembling and looks incredibly small in his loose hospital gown. Dick crouches down beside him, taking note of the detachable shower head, and turns his gaze back to Jason, who seems to be almost lucid again.

"Hey Jason, how're you feeling buddy?" Dick asks. Even though he knows it's a stupid question.

"Like I've been fed through a woodchipper." Jason mutters.

Dick allows a small smile. "Yeah, I bet." He gestures to the shower, "You ready?"

Jason attempts a shrug, "Whatever."

Dick sets the soap and shampoo next to Jason on the shower bench and moves to untie the back of his gown when Jason grabs his hand, stopping him. "Hey, it's okay Jay, whether you'd like to admit it or not, we've all pretty much seen every one in our family naked in the med bay at one point or another. It's no big deal, promise." Dick assures him, because it's true. When someone comes in with a knife wound to the upper thigh, no one wastes time being shy. They've all been desensitized to it at an early age. Dick thinks for a minute that maybe his hesitation is due to his past on the street, but as Jason hesitantly releases him and lets Dick untie his gown so it comes to rest at his waist that Dick realized that wasn't the case.

No matter how many times Dick sees them, or how used to them he thinks he is, the sight of Jason's scars still makes bile rise in his throat. And now, with the accompanied bruising and surgical wounds and the astounding amount of weight he's lost, not to mention how bold they seem against his pale and sweaty skin, Dick finds he's having a hard time getting a breath.

To spare Jason from the usual pity routine he's accustomed to when people see him like this, Dick looks him up and down before saying lightly, "I think Cass might officially outweigh you buddy."

Jason almost smiles. "Let's just get this over with okay?"

Dick pulls off the rest of his gown and tosses it aside, trying to ignore the way Jason sinks into himself. Dick stands and reaches for the shower head with one hand while he peels the bandage off of Jason's right eye with the other. And although he tries to keep his face blank, the sight of the thing makes his stomach turn. He turns on the tap and runs the water over his hand until it's to the right temperature before he hoses Jason down with it.

"Jason?" Dick asks as he squirts a puddle of shampoo into his hands.

"What?"

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry, for not being the kind of brother to you that I should've been." Dick says, messaging the shampoo into Jason scalp. Expecting Jason to argue with him, or to dismiss him entirely.

"You're forgiven." Jason says matter of factly.

"Jason, I'm serious." Dick insists, not being able to fight the urge to form a giant spike with Jason's sudsy hair.

"So am I. I didn't exactly make it easy for you." Jason hesitates for a moment. "I was just nervous, I mean you had been a hero to me even before you put on the cape."

Dick abandons his shampooing. "What do you mean?"

"I saw you when I was really young, it was the circus's first night in Gotham and my old man stole us two tickets. The flying Graysons were my favorite set." Jason says.

"All this time, how come you never told me?" Dick asks, standing to grab the shower head again to rinse Jason's hair.

"Don't really know." Jason replies.

Dick rinses out Jason's hair and is handing Jason the soap so he can wash himself when he speaks up again.

"When you see Tim can you tell him I'm sorry?" Jason asks quietly.

"What for?" Dick asks, taking the bar of soap back from Jason so he can get his back, disliking the way the soap bounces along his now visible ribs.

"I said some stuff a few days ago when he was here, I think I really scared him and I didn't mean to do that. He's a good kid y'know?"

"He sure is. But you can tell him yourself when he comes back to visit, how about that?" Dick says, turning the water back on and rinsing to soap away.

Jason looks unsatisfied but nods anyway. Dick steps away to get a towel and makes Jason stand so he can dry him off. He helps Jason into a clean pair of boxers and is just tying up the back of his fresh gown when Jason moves to step out of the shower. Dick tries to stop him, because it's wet and dangerous, but he's pulling away from him and before Dick knows what's happening he's falling- no hurdling to the ground and there's nothing he can do to stop him.

Jason lands, and lands hard on his side. Dick fumbles after him, waiting for some cry of pain, a groan, anything! But he's silent. Dick rolls Jason onto his back, his eyes are wide with pain and his right hand claws at his chest desperately. The world begins to spin and Dick is having a very hard time keeping his cool. His ears are ringing with adrenaline and for a second he has no earthly idea what to do.

"Hey. Just look at me okay? Look at me. Breathe, Jason." He demands, desperately trying to keep the tremor out of his voice. But that's exactly the problem, Jason can't breathe. He's gaping like a fish out of water. Dick remembers seeing a call button on the wall opposite of the toilet when he first came in, and looks up to find it now. He tries to move to it but Jason is holding onto him tightly, keeping him from moving. He thinks that maybe he's scared but at a second glance a strange peace has fallen over his brother's face.

No. No, this isn't how this will end. He's wrenching his arm free and scrambling on all fours to the button, slamming his hand into it. Blood is rushing in his ears and all he can hear is the awful sucking sound that Jason is making as he tries to breathe. He scoots back over to Jason's side now, feet slipping on the wet tiles.

"I know this hurts but you need to stay awake." Dick shouts. But Jason, always the rebel is fading fast. The door explodes inward and a medical team pushes Dick out of the way where he huddles into himself. A jumbled mess of medical jargon fills the air, the air that feels like static against his skin. He's panting and there are tears stinging his eyes. Despite his better judgement, Dick pushes forward into the fray of doctors.

"What's wrong with him?" Dick nearly yells into the fury. Hands push him back immediately and he's too shaky and nauseous to press in again.

"I think he punctured a lung!"

"He's crashing, we need to get him to the OR now!"

"Call up to the OR, tell them we have an emergency pneumothorax coming in!"

Words bouncing off the stark white tiles of the bathroom. There's a stretcher and suddenly they're scooping up Jason and carting him away, Dick moves to follow him when an aging nurse places her hands on his chest, stopping him. She tells him that his brother has gone into surgery, that they'll have an update for him soon, to please stay calm and to be assured that they're going to do everything that they can. Then he's left alone in a deafly silent hospital room with nothing but an uneaten container of lime jello.

Dick feels like he might just start crying at any moment so he takes a second to sit down and slow his breathing. His hands tremble and his cheeks are flushed from the adrenaline, something Jason used to tease him about. Dick pulls out his phone to call someone, to tell them what happened, but who? Barbara is probably finally asleep, Tim would probably have an aneurysm, and he doesn't want to bother Damian or Cass with something like this. So, he calls the only person who is always good in a crisis.

"Hello dear boy, how is master Jason faring?" Alfred chirps over the line.

And that one sentence is enough to send Dick over the edge completely. He breaks down all that has happened, what happened in PT, the fall, Jason's rush to surgery. He tells him how afraid he is, how tired he is of always feeling like he's pulling Jason off of the ledge of a skyscraper. Alfred listens intently, offering perfect words of comfort as Dick watches the sky turn milky with storm clouds.

"Would you like me to come down and sit with you?" Alfred asks, the worry palpable in his voice.

"No, it's okay Alf I'll manage. I'll keep you guys updated okay?" Dick responds.

"Alright lad."

"I'll talk to you later. I love you."

"And I, you, dear boy."

Dick ends the call and ends up waiting nearly an hour before a surgeon comes in with an update. They sit down next to him and explain very slowly that Jason's lung was already damaged when he came in nine days ago, so when his rib shattered and punctured it the lung was already in bad shape and it's taking longer than expected to fix the damage. Dick nods numbly, watching as a storm cloud begins to weep outside. The surgeon assures him that they are working as hard as they can to return his brother to him, before guiding him to a nearby waiting room and settling him into a plastic chair so that Jason's room can be cleaned.

Dick is once again left alone and ends up falling into a fitful sleep. He wakes nearly a half an hour later from a nightmare by a flushed OR nurse who tells Dick that they almost lost him a few times but Jason pulled through surgery and is once again resting in his room. She beckons him out of his chair and he follows her back to Jason's door.

When the door shuts behind him he finds himself frozen to the spot. Every fiber in his being tells him to rush to Jason's bedside to hold his hand, to brush his now clean hair back from his forehead, but something holds him here. An acidic fear rises up from his gut, eating away any traces of confidence still left inside of him. The truth is he's terrified, but he's never let fear stop him in the past.

Dick makes his way around Jason's bed, careful not to look at him, to the chair he was occupying earlier. Once seated he allows himself a glance at the boy in the bed. And that's just what he sees, a boy. Heavily muscled with a tapestry of scars yes, but a boy. A young one, beaten and tortured by his time on this earth, but never fully broken. Dick reaches forward and grabs Jason's hand, his skin translucent against Dick's dark olive tan.

Time ticks by as the storm begins to shout, it's words rattling the walls of the hospital. Dick looks up to his little brother's face, now obscured by an oxygen mask and a warm towel that covers his forehead, and thinks about how much Jason is similar to a thunderstorm. Even asleep he wears a small scowl, the same one that he'd wear as a kid. Brows slightly drawn, one corner of his mouth pulled slightly downward, a small scrunch in his nose. Dick squeezes his eyes closed and forces himself to stay whole.

"Hey." Jason croaks from the bed, the oxygen mask over his face nearly obscuring his words.

"You're awake." Dick says, breathing a heavy sigh of relief.

"Hmm." Jason hums, still looking very thoughtful.

"What are you thinking about?" Dick asks, as he rubs the warmth back into Jason's hand.

Jason's eyes find Dick's tired face and he frowns. "Nothing." He mumbles, already slipping back under.

Although completely unconvinced Dick forces himself to smile. "I'm going to step out and call the others, okay?" He asks, stretching his back as he stands.

Jason barely nods, but it's enough to get Dick to untangle his hands and walk away. Dick opens the door, cell phone already in hand when the world takes another alarming shift, because standing before him is the one and only, Bruce Wayne.

Let me know what you guys thought of the chapter and what you guys want to happen next!