A/N: Hey, guys! Sorry for not updating in a while and sorry for this being such a short chapter. Just letting you know, I've been very busy and I probably won't be able to update too often, but I'm soon to be a second semester senior (my school's semester ends mid January) so right around then I might be able to update more, but until then, back to the story:)
Wally West "Kid Flash"
The Cave
December 24th, 2012
Sylvia wasn't going anywhere, and I needed to do something to keep myself busy. If I wasn't busy, I would be giving Joker another visit. But I was still distracted, still reminded of what happened every time I saw my girl immobilized in a full leg cast, an arm cast, and her jaw still wired shut. She was getting a little skinny again with the inability to chew real food. She had to drink everything and it just wasn't enough. So I was back in the hero game again, waiting for her to get better, trying to distract myself. But at least it's the kind of distraction that feels gratifying, saving people from her fate. If I couldn't save her, I would make sure no one else had to suffer like that. Now that the Team has returned from our mission to stop a human trafficking ring, I was ready to go home. I had already hit the showers and put my spare suit back in my locker before walking to the mission room.
"See you later, Wally!" M'gann waved as she and Superboy were walking past me in the corridor.
"Bye, guys." I smiled, waving behind me as they kept walking. The mood in the Cave had been lighter lately since Christmas was the next day. Canary had been helping everyone with grief counseling too, so we've all been working through at our own paces, getting through the grieving process and mourning him in our own ways.
I walked into the mission room and made my way to the zeta tube, programming it for the Batcave and putting in the passcode since it was restricted to the others. The machine began to whir as I walked in, my surroundings changing in a flash of golden light, walking out the other side of the tube in the Batcave. Batman was out on Patrol with Nightwing, so the Batcave was quiet since Alfred was tending to Sylvia. When I got upstairs, Alfred would be making his way down to man the computer. So I got into the express elevator and came out into the study, wandering through the house until I found Alfred in the Kitchen and judging by the smell, he was making dinner.
"Back already, Wallace?" Alfred asked me, and I nodded.
"Yeah, the mission wasn't too difficult. Where's Sylvia?" I asked, leaning on the wall. I didn't see her in her usual spot in the livingroom.
"I helped her upstairs for a bath. They removed her cast today and gave her a brace to start her back into mobility work since she's healing a little faster than their usual patients. There's a special one for water so she's all good without the plastic wrap now-" I Alfred was updating me, but I was already gone, heading to my girl who was had too much pride to ask for help. I know she has trouble helping herself get clean, so I hurried upstairs until I made it to her room. For once, the door wasn't closed, but slightly ajar. Her lately disturbingly immaculate room was different, her clothes were on the floor in a trail to the bathroom. When I opened the door to check on her, I could make out a mass in the bottom of the tub. I assumed she was dunking herself to wash the shampoo out of her hair, so I sat on the counter for a second, waiting for her to come up. When she didn't, I walked over to the tube and saw her naked figure lying still in the water. Her emerald green eyes were staring back up at me from the bottom of the water. She just blinked and when I realized she wasn't coming up, I lunged into the tub and pulled her up. She gasped for breath, her naked body shaking.
"Why would you do that?" I barked at her. My eyes were wide as I held her upright, my hands on either shoulder. She looked at me blankly, her eyes bloodshot from the lack of oxygen. I just looked at her for a second, not knowing what to say. Then I started to understand from the expression on her face that she was bothered by me. "What was I supposed to do? Let you drown yourself?" I asked her, wide eyed with my hands still around her shoulders. She just looked down into the water at her legs. There was a brace running the length of her leg. She rested one arm on the edge of the tub with a thunk, the plastic wrap not doing much to muffle the sound of the cast. But it was doing enough to keep her cast dry. "Well, either I'm helping you out of the tub now, or I'm sit here until you're done washing yourself so I can help you out after. Your call." I looked at her and she sighed.
"No, I'm done." Her voice was quiet and small, muffled by the wires keeping her jaw shut, but easily made out. She lifted her arms and I pulled her up. She swung her braced leg out and hopped the rest of herself out as I held her up. I handed her the towel and waited for her to dry herself off before helping her to her closet. It took a little while to help her into her pajamas, but once she was in them, I gave handed over her crutches and helped her downstairs to the kitchen.
After Alfred made dinner and chatted up Sylvia, I took her back upstairs and helped her get into bed. She seemed to sleep now, more than ever. Probably because she was so broken, inside and out. She just wanted to sleep through everything. So, I laid down in her bed, letting her rest her head on my stomach as I sat up, reading a book for my World Literature class. I got pretty far, annotating page after page when I heard Dick come home from patrol. I slid out of the bed and went downstairs as quietly as possible, so as not to wake up Sylvia.
"How was patrol?" I asked him, stopping the teenager in the hallway on the way to his bedroom.
"Fine," Dick replied quickly, moving to go into his room, just like every other night he spent back at the manor. But I used my speed to get between him and the bedroom door.
"Look, I'm sorry, but I have to ask you one more time. Do you want to talk about it?" I asked him, just as I did every time I saw him. He shook his head. Trying to get past me, but I wouldn't budge. "You know, I came home from a mission today and found your sister trying to drown herself. She was just letting it happen before I pulled her out. I can see it, torturing her every day. Every night, she wakes up screaming, regardless if I'm there holding her or not. Regardless if Bruce is there for her. I know all of it is getting to her, she definitely showed it today. So please, talk to me, because I'm afraid that I'm gonna find you too, and I don't want it to be too late. Fastest kid in the world, and I wasn't there in time for Jason, I wasn't there in time to save my own damn girlfriend from being… f-from be-eing…" I couldn't even say it. I could take on metas five times my size without breaking a sweat, but I was too much of a coward to say what happened to my own girlfriend. I could feel the tears pooling in my eyes, and even now in front of my best friend, I was trying to be a man by not crying. But Dick didn't care. He just hugged me and started crying all on his own.
"Neither of us could have saved them," Dick finally stated after a couple of minutes crying in my embrace. I just consoled him and stroked his raven hair, just like his sisters. I kept thinking about the two of them. They seemed like so much more than just adopted siblings. They even looked alike with their high cheekbones and raven hair. They both sported the same olive tone that was a special kind of Gotham pale. The two of them were the greatest people I would or could ever know, and now, they were both broken. I was going to do everything in my power to make them feel better, and at least try to get them back to where they used to be, or as close to it as I could.
After a couple hours of just talking with Dick, he finally talked out his feelings and I let him go to sleep. I didn't feel tired yet, so I went to the kitchen and started late night snacking. Engorging myself on a massive ham and cheese sandwich with lettuce, bacon, extra cheese, tomatoes, and mayo to top it off. When I was finished, I still wasn't tired, but I figured laying with a sleeping Sylvia would be better than wandering around the house. So, I went back upstairs and got back into bed with Sylvia. She opened her eyes and groaned. She looked at me and lightly touched her jaw and pointed to the pain meds on her bedside table. Since she couldn't open her mouth because of the wires, I poured the right amount into a cup and gave her a straw. She drank her pain medication and stretched out like a cat, closing her arms around me before going back to sleep. I slid down and took her arms off me, getting comfortable with my arms around her.
"I love you, Sylvia Wayne, and I'm gonna fix you," I whispered to her sleeping figure, giving her a kiss on the forehead before I went to sleep myself.