Tuesday, 8 December ~* It*~

"I'm worried about him," Robin mumbled, gently touching Slade's arm.

"Look at his arms, the scars aren't as deep anymore, are they?" Bruce pointed out.

"I guess… but he was so hungry, and now he hasn't even had anything to drink since before I found him."

"If you want to call someone in..? I'm not sure what anyone could do, though?"

"Me neither. I was thinking of Raven, but… Slade wouldn't like that."

"Let's give him more time, then. As long as he keeps healing…?"

"Yeah," Robin shrugged, sounding as unhappy as he felt.

"Got classes today?"

"Yeah. You have work, right?"

"Unfortunately, yes. Working from home, and still having to wear a suit…" the man muttered.

"Come on! You don't have to! You can hold a meeting bare chested and just set a new standard," the teen chuckled.

"Well..." Bruce said thoughtfully and then shook his head. "Better not. Alfred will yell at me."

Robin snickered. "Well, I need to set things up," he told the man.

"Of course. Are these dishes? Should I take them with me to the kitchen?" the man asked and pointed to an empty tea mug and a few plates.

"Please do. Or Alfred will yell at me," Robin smiled.

"Was the tea any good today?" Bruce, who had found out about the calendar, asked.

"Yeah, it was white tea with blueberries and… elderberries, I think?" Robin said. "It was different, but nice."

Bruce hummed in agreement and left with the dishes.

Robin sat in the wide bed, next to Slade, with his computer. They didn't have to participate today, just listen, with their mics and cameras turned off, so he could sit anywhere. He had his notepad and a pencil ready, though.

He managed to stay focused, although his thoughts tried sneaking away to the project Slade had been working on. Both he and Bruce had tried to continue the man's work, but they couldn't make sense of it. Bruce, of course, refused to admit that, but Robin saw right through him. Slade seemed to have looked at many things at once. Rented out buildings, power usage, sewer analysis, money transactions… but without knowing what the man was actually looking for, it was impossible to help. At least that way. Bruce had reached out to his contacts both as Wayne and Batman, asking them to tell him anything they might hear about anyone offering a protentional new weapon of any kind. Unfortunately, even some of the eyes and ears were now either sick or keeping away from people, so no news had reached them so far. Robin appreciated the help, but it was frustrating not being able to do more.

As class ended, he put his computer away in his room, and when he returned, he stopped dead. Slade's head had turned to the side.

"Slade? Slade, are you awake?" he asked, carefully touching his shoulder.

The man made a grunting noise and turned his head again. Robin smiled widely at the progress. He sat down on the side of the bed and was still there when the man opened his eye, half an hour later.

"Hmm?"

Robin interpreted that as 'where the hell am I, what happened?"

"You collapsed in the cave. We took you to your bedroom, you've been sleeping for quite a while. We think your body shut down. Hungry? Thirsty?"

"Mmm…" the man gave a short nod.

Figuring water was probably the most important right now, Robin, with some difficulty, pulled the man up far enough to help him to drink. Slade made some more grunting noises that Robin was pretty sure meant things like 'don't fuss' and 'I don't need any help', but, as the man was clearly wrong, he decided to ignore it. He helped the man eat some crackers that Alfred had left for him, and then pulled a tassel by the side of the bed. In the old days, a bell marked with the room number or room name would ring in the servant's quarters. Now it sent a message through an app to Alfred's phone. Alfred had objected to this but, in the end, it was much more reliable, of course.

"I'll ask Alfred to get you something more to eat if you want to," Robin told him. "You've been out since Sunday night, and it's Tuesday today."

"Need to… work," Slade forced out and tried to sit up.

"The hell you do!" Robin said and hurriedly straddled the man. If Slade had been his old self, Robin sitting on top of him would barely have slowed him down, but now he couldn't move. He did a bit of glaring, though.

The door opened, and an "Oh, my, I apologize!" was heard.

Robin realized what the old man had just seen and shouted after hm.

"Al! No wait!"

The butler somewhat edged into the room again, looking anywhere but the bed.

"He wanted to start working, I'm just holding him down!" Robin explained, blushing.

"Ah. I see." Cool and collected once again, Alfred strode up to the bed.

"There will be no working for you until you're stronger, Mr. Wilson," he told the man firmly. "Now stop this nonsense at once. You lie back and I'm going to bring you some soup."

Slade snorted but relaxed back into the pillows. Robin gave him a triumphant grin. As soon as Alfred left, however, the mercenary moved again. This time he put his hands on the teen's hips and leered up at him.

"Bad boy," Robin told him firmly. "Don't get any ideas, or Alfred will be back here scolding you in a moment."

"If you want to keep me in bed, I thought you could entertain me," the man said. His voice was still weak and gruff, but at least he could form full sentences now.

Robin huffed, loosened the man's hold on him and climbed off.

"Aw." Slade sounded like a kicked puppy, but the small smirk on his face was too smug for the teen to believe any feelings had been hurt.

"Stop it. This thing, you collapsing like this… has that happened before?"

"No. Not like this, anyway. I guess I was closer to death than I thought."

"You're an idiot," Robin snorted.

"I need to stop them," Slade insisted. "I see there's a wheel chair over there. Help me down into the cave."

"No! You need to rest. We'll help, ok? We'll stop them, but you need to rest right now. Even if you find them, you're in no shape to as much as frown at them, no less break into their building!"

"Ouch."

"You know it's true!"

Slade looked away, and Robin knew he had won that argument. Not much later Alfred came in with the promised soup. Slade was able to eat by himself after they helped prop him up.

"Now young man," Alfred said and turned his firm gaze in Robin's direction. "There's lunch served downstairs and then you have school work to do, don't you? I'm sure Mr. Wilson needs some real rest after his ordeal, I don't think you need to watch over him anymore right now."

"You watched over me?" Slade asked. His tone was teasing, but there was a seriousness behind it that made the teen feel warm inside.

"He wouldn't leave your side," Alfred announced, making things more embarrassing, as he shooed Robin out from the room.

To show the mercenary that he wasn't at all a worrying mother hen, Robin didn't return to Slade's room until the evening. He got reports from Alfred that the man was sleeping, eating slightly more normal amounts of food and so on, however.

"How are you feeling?" he asked as he opened the door, after knocking this time.

"Wretched. Haven't felt this weak since I was a kid," Slade grunted, sounding very annoyed with the situation.

"I'm glad you're telling me the truth now," Robin smiled.

"Well, Alfred told me off about that too," Slade chuckled, looking a bit embarrassed. He was sitting up in bed more firmly now. As Robin got closer, he could see that the man's hair was damp. He was also wearing fresh clothes, at least the white t-shirt, which was all Robin could see, was new. The sheets had been changed as well.

"Did you shower?" he asked, as he found it a bit hard to believe.

"Alfred helped."

"He… helped you?". Robin sat down on the bedside. It was a bit awkward, but it was better than standing over the man.

"Yes. So?" Slade asked tersely, and the former hero knew it was a sensitive subject.

"No, no, I mean… that's good! I just… He's… seen…?"

"I'm sure he's helped both Bruce and you on occasion," the mercenary snorted.

"Yes, but- No, no, it doesn't matter, of course. But… you could have asked me?"

"I didn't know if you would be up for it. Me being a monster in your mind and all." Slade said dryly.

"I'm sorry my brain is weird, alright?" Robin exclaimed. "I wish it could just… switch back, but I just… just give me some time, okay?"

"Okay. Okay," Slade raised a hand. "Time. It's all we both need, but there's not enough of it," he added irritably. "I'm sorry. I'm frustrated."

"You'll be well enough to start again tomorrow, I'm sure," Robin told him soothingly. "Is there anything Bruce or I could look into in the meanwhile?"

"I found out that the samples need to be kept in extreme cold," Slade started.

"Mr. Freeze!" Robin exclaimed.

"Just because something needs cold doesn't mean a specific super villain is involved," Slade snorted.

"No, I didn't mean that. He's in Arkham anyway," Robin said. "What I meant is that any of his old lairs would have the capacity and maybe even some of the equipment that they would need!"

"Ah. And you think this organization could have found one of these places?"

"Are you kidding me? If a supervillain or a hero has ever as much as been sighted at a location, it's in the realtor's sells pitch." Robin chuckled. "Bruce will be able to check."

Slade nodded and Robin could see him relaxing back against the pillows again.

"I'll go tell him about it right now," the teen said. Before he could stand up, however, his arm was grabbed in a loose grip. Loose to be Slade, at least.

"How about a goodnight kiss?" the man asked him.

Robin hesitated. The look in the man's eye was almost challenging, in a way, and knowing how weak Slade was at the moment somehow softened the image of the man in his mind. The worrying had caused some of the old positive feelings to come back as well. He swallowed and nodded. Slade coaxed him closer and Robin bent down. Their lips just grazed each other first, before meeting properly. Robin gasped as his brain seemed to explode with emotions and sensations, and didn't resist as Slade pulled him even closer, deepening the kiss.

There was a knock on the door and Robin pulled back so violently that ne almost fell off the bed. He shot to his feet just as the door opened and Alfred came in.

"Some tea before bed, sir?" he asked and then looked between Robin and Slade. "I do hope I wasn't interrupting anything?"

"Of course not! Just telling him to stay in bed!" Robin claimed. "Goodnight, Slade, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yes. You can 'convince' me more then," the man smirked.

Robin made sure to hurry away to tell Bruce the news, before Alfred could ask him any questions.

To be Continued…