When he awoke, the bright lights above him made him squint. He took a deep breath and breathed in the smell of disinfectant. His body felt slow and heavy, making him feel like he was trapped under sand. He moved his toes and found that he could control them. He tried his fingers next, his left and then his right. As he moved his right hand it pressed against something.

With a little bit of effort, Joey moved his gaze to his side and saw Dick leant forward on the side of the bed, his head nestled in his folded arms. He appeared to be asleep. Slowly, trying not to wake the sleeping man at his side, Joey tried each of his limbs and found that with each one he tested, it was becoming easier to move.

'You're awake.' The voice was quiet, but it still startled him. He looked toward the other end of the room and saw Bruce approaching. 'How do you feel?' Joey considered for a moment, trying to work out where he was and what had happened. Oh, that's right, he was in the Justice Leagues medical facility, they'd operated to fix his vocal cords. He raised his hands, mindful of Dick and gently signed that he felt fine. Bruce nodded and sat down in the chair on the other side of the bed.

'He hasn't left your side since you came out of surgery.' Said Bruce with a smile, indicating to his sleeping son. Joey asked him how long he had been out. 'A little over a day.' Was Bruce's response. No wonder Dick was out of it.

Joey gingerly lifted his hand and placed it on Dick's head, running his thumb through the black mess of hair. Dick didn't wake up, but he sighed and curled closer to Joeys side.

Joey brought his other hand to his mouth, touching his chin and bringing his arm back down to sign his thanks.

'I told you before, this is my thanks to you.' Said Bruce. 'Dick has always been a little closed off from people. Which was probably because he was raised by me.' He chuckled and then grew serious. 'After the incident with Deathstroke, he seemed to retreat into himself even more. The smile he gave people became his biggest mask. I worried about him.'

Joey watched the older man's face, he could see the pain there, the worry. It was a look of fatherly concern that he had never seen on Slade's face.

'I don't worry quite so much now.' Bruce confessed. 'At least when he's with you, I know he's in good hands.' At Bruce's words, Joey couldn't help but beam. This was Bruce Wayne, the Batman, giving him his full blessing to be with his son.

The mass to his side began to stir, and the pair looked over as Dick's head lifted sleepily.

'You're awake,' he said, rubbing his eyes. 'How are you?'

Joey reconfirmed that he felt fine, but then added that he was tired when he realised, he actually was. 'Go home – sleep.' He signed to Dick. His boyfriend looked unsure.

'Come one Dick, let's leave Joey to sleep and get you into bed too.' Said Bruce, coming over and gently steering his son from the room by his shoulders. Dick gave a final glance and a wave at the door, and then they were gone. Leaving Joey to the stillness of the room to fall back into tired slumber.

oOoOoOoOoOo

For three months after Joey's surgery, he and Dick stayed at Wayne manor. Bruce had offered. Alfred had insisted. During their three months stay, Dick transferred temporarily to the Gotham PD and worked alongside Commissioner Gordon. Dick had to admit he enjoyed working with the man; after all Gordon was the person who had inspired Dick to become a police officer. Each day he would come home from his shift and find Joey either on the couch, in their bed or sat with Alfred in the kitchen. On the days Joey happened to be in the bedroom, Dick would curl up against him. Until Joey's throat was healed, there was to be no funny business. But neither of them minded too much. Their relationship was more than just sex. Just being in each other presence was enough. However, Dick could tell Joey was beginning to get frustrated. He would trace his fingers down Dick's side, lingering over his hip bone. After a few minutes, his hand would drop, and he would sigh deeply – one of the only sounds that he could make while his throat was healing. Dick grinned, pushing himself on his knees and kissing Joey's lips gently.

'Soon.' He said, chuckling as he rolled off the bed and headed to the bathroom to get changed. He heard Joey slam his fist down onto the mattress and laughed again before shouting, 'One more week!' That week could not go fast enough for the man who had once been Jericho. He could not decide whether Dick had no idea how great he looked when did random things, like getting changed, eating a banana or working out… or he knew exactly what he was doing and was torturing him. Joey had gone twenty-five years without needing to talk to Dick Grayson, to feel him, to have him. But now, it was killing him that he could not.

'How is it feeling now, anyway?' Dick called from the bathroom. Joey waited until his boyfriend came back out before he signed that his throat felt fine. The pain had died away about a week ago. Now all that was left was the anxiety and the fear that the operation had not worked. Bruce had faith in the League's surgeons and Joey had faith in Bruce. Still, it had been explained to him that there was a slim chance that the operation would not be successful, and Joey had never considered himself to be the luckiest of people.

'You're dwelling again.' Dick's voice broke through Joey's melancholy thoughts. 'It will work, I know it will.' Dick crawled back onto the bed, now dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, and kissed Joey's forehead. 'Have faith.'

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

'Well, it all looks fully healed,' said one of the doctors which Bruce had hired for Joey. 'How does it feel?' Joey held two thumbs up.

'When will he know if it has worked?' asked Dick, nervously kneading his hands in his lap.

'No time like the present,' the doctor said brightly. 'When you're ready, try saying a few words. Be patient and talk softly to start with. Like any muscle it needs time to build strength.' For a few moments, all eyes were on him, Joey opened his mouth but a wave on anxiety swept over him. What if it did not work? What if after everything Dick's family, what Bruce Wayne, had done for him, it ended up being for nothing. What if the last words he said to Dick were in anger. Noticing his tense posture, Dick came and crouched down in front of the older man.

'It's okay, we don't have to do this now. If you think you need more time?' he said quietly. But Joey shook his head and took Dick's hands in his own, squeezing them. He looked into his boyfriend's brilliant blue eyes and opened his mouth again. He would not let that be the last thing he ever said to this man. It took a few attempts, but finally something in his throat seemed to catch and a sound passed his lips.

'I…' He gripped Dick's hands tighter as he fought off a new wave of anxiety. 'I love you,' he breathed. The smile that broke over Dick's face was contagious, and Joey found his own mouth following suit. In the back of his mind, he began making promises to himself. He considered promising that he would never again say words in anger towards the young man. But he knew that was inevitable; Dick was infuriating at times and his temper was as short as Joey's own. They would no doubt fight many times in the future. But silently he promised himself, that in all the time in between, he would tell him that he loved him as often as he could. 'I love you so much.'

'I love you too,' said Dick and then he blushed. That was the first time he had ever said it out loud.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

The apartment felt musty as they walked through the front door. Although Alfred has been around a few weeks prior to clean, it felt unlived in. Joey placed his duffle bag by the door, watching Dick as he walked around the space, touching the polished surfaces. He had a weird expression on his face, that Joey was struggling to place.

'You, okay?' he asked. Dick nodded slowly, sitting down on the sofa and picking up the photo from the table. Joey tightened his jaw as he remembered his father looking at that very picture as he threatened his boyfriend. He would have to put a new image in the frame.

'It feels so cold,' Dick said quietly. 'So much has changed since we were last here.'

'It will feel like home again soon,' said Joey, coming to sit beside him. He wrapped his arms around the younger and felt him settle into the embrace. 'But we need to leave the past behind us. We can't change what happened.' He swallowed and gripped Dick tighter. 'I wouldn't want it to.' Dick pulled away so that he could look up at him with a confused expression.

'Why? The last few months almost ended us. Several times!'

'But it didn't, we made it through and now we have no secrets. So much of the start of our relationship was built on secrets. Now we can move on with a clean slate.' He gently ran his fingers along the side of Dick's face. 'No more hiding Nightwing, no more Deathstroke, no more Jericho. Just me and you.' Dick's lip trembled as he raised himself up to claim the older man's mouth and Joey sighed into the kiss. As Dick moved to straddle his lap, something in the back of Joey's mind reminded him to make sure Jason did not have a key to their new locks.