Chapter Thirteen
The county road had more traffic on it than it had seen in probably years. Once the interstate had been built with a faster way to reach between the cities, the leisurely winding road was all but forgotten.
Bruce's hands gripped the steering wheel tightly. If his son was… No. He wouldn't be. Tim was resourceful. He would be the one to figure out what to do. He would.
He couldn't lose another one of his sons. He couldn't.
There were too many police cars at the site of the crash for his liking. He pulled over to the side of the road and ran to the tape barricading the rest of the world from the scene. He didn't think and flipped the tape and began to walk towards the wreckage.
"Sir! Sir, you can't be on this side of the tape!" One of the officers shouted when they looked up from their notes.
A few officers came and attempted to lead him back out behind the tape. Bruce struggled against them, but didn't really try. He had caught a glimpse of a blood pool behind the smoking bike. A part of the fight that was in him died. That was his son's blood spilt on the ground.
"Sir, what were you thinking?" One officer asked him.
"My son. That was my son," he murmured. If he was broken inside already, he was shattered now.
The officer called over one of his superiors.
"Mr. Wayne?! What are you doing here?" His superior exclaimed when he made it over.
"He says that the kid was his."
The other officer nodded and looked to Bruce. "Do you happen to have a picture of your son that we could have a look at to confirm this? He had no id on his person at the time."
Bruce fumbled to get his phone and wallet out. He knew that most parents had images of their kids in their wallets. He didn't have any that he knew of, but he never knew what Alfred slipped in there when he wasn't looking. He rummaged through it and was surprised to see that there was indeed a small image of Tim. Of all of his boys actually.
He pulled out Tim's photo and handed it to the officer.
"It may be out of date, but that's Tim."
The officer looked at the image, adjusting it for age, and possibly whatever happened to him before his mouth was set in a grim line.
"That's the kid. I'm so sorry Mr. Wayne," he said handing back the photo.
"Where is my son?" Bruce asked.
"Mr. Wayne," the officer began.
"Where is my son?" Bruce asked again with a bit more of the Batman creeping into his voice.
"Gotham Mercy General. Hey!"
Bruce was off running towards his car. He could let the police handle the investigation. They wouldn't get anywhere with it. He knew that. Talia was far too clever to allow the police force to find out that it was her. But he knew, and that was what mattered. And his son.
He was dialing his phone for the manor as his engine started up. Why they even had a home phone still confused him still, but they did.
"Pick up, pick up, pick up. Come on." He muttered to himself as he started speeding towards the city.
"Wayne residence, this is Alfred speaking."
"Alfred! I need you to gather the boys and tell them to meet me at Gotham Mercy General. I know where Tim is. Make sure that they bring Damian. I doubt that his mother is anywhere in the area still, but I want him under some surveillance until I have a chat with his mother."
"Understood, Master Wayne."
Bruce hung up and continued his drive to the hospital. He only hoped that his son was hanging on.
There was a sense of dread as Alfred walked down towards where the boys were still located. As glad as he was that Bruce had found his son, he was concerned. What would be waiting for him, for them when they got to the hospital?
The mood was somber in the little medical bay they had. No one was speaking. Alfred was afraid to break the silence.
"Alfred? What's going on? You've got that serious look on your face," Dick asked.
"He's always got that serious look on his face. He's Alfred," Jason muttered.
Alfred gave him one of his looks telling him that his humor wasn't appreciated. He turned back to Dick and Damian.
"Master Bruce believes that he's-"
"-Found Tim. I know. Barbara called while you were upstairs. She and Stephanie are outside the operating room waiting for Tim's surgery to be over. It," Dick breathed. "It doesn't look very good."
"Then I suggest that we move ourselves and get on our way to the hospital. Your father wishes that we meet him there."
Everyone got up and started moving. Dick was almost to the door when he noticed that Damian hadn't moved.
"You coming Little D?"
Damian leaned back in the bad. "No."
"Your father explicitly told me that you were not to be left alone for the time being. So whether or not that you wish to come, you will be." Alfred stated.
There was a moment of surprise and relief that flashed across Damian's face before he started to move out from under the covers. He moved slowly as to not pop any of his stitches.
"I could handle myself if anyone was stupid enough to attack me in my father's home," Damian grumbled.
Alfred took a deep breath.
"It's your father's wishes. He would feel better if you remained within one of our sights."
Damian continued to walk out behind his brothers with his little limp that he had. He tried to hide it. Alfred followed closely behind in case the lad needed any help. Not that he would ask for it. He was too much like his father for that.
Only Dick was waiting for Alfred and Damian when they got up to the garage.
"Where's Master Jason?" Alfred asked opening the door for Damian.
"He said, and I quote, 'fuck this shit' and took off on his motorcycle."
Alfred gave a little frown. He was hoping that they all could have ridden to the hospital together. But Jason was his own man and he could do what he wished. It didn't mean that he had to be happy about it.
They piled into the car and started their drive towards the hospital. About halfway there Dick reached out and turned on the radio, claiming he couldn't take the silence anymore. The radio crackled.
"In other news, a single vehicle crash involving a motorcycle happened on the old county road. One person was injured critically, but the identity of the injured hasn't been released to the press at the moment."
Dick was quick to turn off the radio. "Maybe silence is better."
"Perhaps you're right, Master Dick," Alfred commented having watched Damian's face as the broadcast had been speaking. The lad would deny it if anyone came to him and brought it up, but he was definitely getting paler with every word that was being said about Tim.
The boy does care for his older brothers. Thank heavens, Alfred thought.
There was a minimal media presence outside the hospital when they arrived there. They spotted Jason's bike midst the other bikes. Dick helped Damian out of the car, despite his grumblings and stopped him before he could really walk away.
"We need a cover story for you. You're limp is kind of a dead giveaway that something happened."
Damian narrowed his eyes at his older brother. "I injured myself skydiving."
He shook Dick's hands from his shoulders and walked as purposefully away as he could with his limp. He walked right towards the hospital doors.
"Is he old enough to actually be skydiving?" Dick asked watching him.
Alfred shook his head. He started to follow the young master.
"What did Miss Barbara say about Tim's condition?" Alfred asked Dick once he'd caught up with him, but they were still far enough away from Damian that he wouldn't overhear.
"It's not looking good like I said. Babs said a nurse offered to take them to an overlooking room to see if they could identify him. It was Tim, but they lost him on the table for a bit. Steph was distraught about it. They got him back, but they're not sure if he'll survive the surgery. And if he does, they're not really sure that he'll wake up."
Alfred pursed his lips. That wasn't a good predicament at all. He prayed that Tim would find the strength to wake up again.
Barbara was still holding onto Stephanie. The girl's crying had stopped, but a few tears still managed to drip down her cheeks. Babs wiped her hair back from her face.
"He's gonna be alright."
"He died. Right in front of me. He died." She murmured.
Babs sighed. That had been her response for the past hour. The automatic doors whirred open and Babs looked up.
"Bruce!" She called.
Bruce turned surprised at the sound of his name. He quickly walked over.
"How?" He asked.
"It was my lead. I was right." Steph moved her head quickly from Babs lap and attempted to wipe her tears away. The motion didn't escape Bruce.
"How is he?"
Barbara was opening her mouth to answer him when the doors whooshed open again and in came Jason, Dick, Damian, and Alfred. Stephanie stood quickly and wrapped Damian in a hug.
"Geroff me woman! I do not need your sympathy!" Damian shouted pushing against her.
She let go a bit reluctantly, but sat back down on the sofa. Her eyes remained on Damian, but every once and a while they would dart to the door where Tim was behind. Dick took a seat next to her and wrapped an arm around her. Jason sat on the back of the sofa much to the disapproval of Alfred. He stood right beside Damian, hand rested on his shoulder.
Bruce turned back to Barbara.
"It doesn't look good Bruce. I can't tell you the prognosis, but it doesn't look good."
Bruce sat down on a chair before getting up and starting to pace across the waiting room floor. No one said anything while they waited for someone to come out from the back with news on Tim.
Eventually Dick moves from his space next to Stephanie and wrapped an arm around his fiancée. He kept Steph close though. Her tears had dried earlier, but she still looked downcast. Jason started to pick at the loose strings of the sofa, which in turn annoyed Alfred and Damian. Damian mainly because he would flick those strings at his head.
They were there for an hour more before the nurse that had first helped Barbara and Steph came back in with a clipboard in her hand.
"Barbara?"
Everyone's heads picked up and looked at the nurse. She looked a bit shocked at the amount of attention that she was now receiving.
"Tracy, this is my fiancé and the rest of his crew."
"Would it be correct to assume that one of you is Tim's father?"
"Adopted. But yes," Bruce said standing up. He wiped his palms on his pants and walked to her.
Tracy bit her lip. "Maybe you would like to come with me."
Everyone's eyes watched as she led Bruce away from the group. Barbara held onto Dick's hand tighter. She only hoped that whatever Tracy had to say wasn't as bad as she was thinking. Dick lifted her hand and kissed the back of it to reassure her. She wasn't quite sure that it worked.
"Mr. Wayne, I'm terribly sorry about this. I can't imagine what it feels like."
Bruce folded his arms across his chest and waited for whatever bombshell she had waiting for him.
"How is he?" Bruce asked.
"I'm sorry. But your boy's in bad shape. He practically crushed both of his lower legs when the bike landed on him. His hipbone was fractured on the right side and he suffered massive amounts of abrasions on his skin. Some ribs were fractured and he suffered internal bleeding."
Bruce closed his eyes and looked away. Tracy stopped talking.
"Would you like me to continue?"
There was more? Oh god. He nodded anyway. He needed to know what was wrong with his boy.
"We lost him three times. Once on the way to the hospital, and twice on the operating table. He's in a coma right now. We're not really sure how long he'll be under or even if he's going to wake up."
If Bruce were any other man, he would be on his knees.
"When can I take him home?" He pushed out.
"Excuse me? It would be the best for Tim if he stayed here in the hospital where staff can monitor his functions."
"I'm taking my son home with me. When is the soonest that we can make arrangements for him to come home?" Bruce looked at her with a steely look in his eye.
"That's not for me to decide. You would have to discuss that with his doctors. He's going to need to be heavily medicated for the duration of his healing process. It would be very expensive to maintain him in your home; you would need to hire a live-in nurse just to handle his daily needs."
"I don't care what the cost is."
There was a pause where there were no words said. Tracy stared down at her feet for a moment.
"He's being moved into room 254 for the time being. I assume that you would want to see him. He won't know your there, but it may help your family."
Just like that, she turned on her heel and left him alone with his thoughts. Slowly he walked back to the rest of his ragtag group. They looked at him expectantly. Hope and fear in their eyes.
"He made it through the surgery. But he's in a coma. They don't know if he'll wake up."
His family then saw the one thing that they thought was impossible in life.
Bruce cried.
A/N: So the consensus was that I should update more quickly. Good. I wanted to anyway.