The first thing Dick Grayson discovered once he regained consciousness was that most of his body was in pain.

What a way to wake up.

Dick slowly opened his eyes and blinked softly, absently noting that he was still wearing his Nightwing mask.

The acrobat attempted to get to his feet but he soon realized that this had by no means been his most brilliant idea when he was overcome by a fit of dizziness and nausea and Dick was forced to lie down again.

Okay, standing is definitely out of the question.

The eldest Wayne cocked his head down to examine his chest aka the area of his body that was most sore and he noticed how the kevlar of his armor covering his left side had been ripped away revealing his left side which had been bandaged and cared for very carefully.

The first Robin frowned, confused as to what had happened and how he took all the pain he felt when suddenly several memories rushed through his mind, increasing the pain in his head.

Concussions were always the hardest to bear.

Be that as it may, this was not important enough. The important thing was instead that the Bludhaven vigilante had remembered what had happened: starting from the kidnapping by David Cain and Lawrence Crock, he who managed to free himself from the ropes and who fought against the two assassins and that in the end he won against them, him taking the bullet that was meant for Shayera-

SHAYERA!

Dick sat up abruptly on the small couch and, doing his best to ignore the dizziness and nausea and pain in his head, he squinted through his blurred vision to try to figure out where the heck he was.

It definitely wasn't the warehouse where Cain and Sportsmaster had kidnapped him and Shayera. Instead, it seemed that he was in some sort of long-abandoned building but that it had been hastily cleaned and furnished.

The former Robin mentally stored this information for the future but for now he had to know where Shayera was and if she was hurt or not.

With a lot of effort Dick got off the little bed (which was in stark contrast to the rest of the building which was mostly empty and desolate) and he stood in his steps to make the dizziness go away which hit him again. When the 20 year old was sure he wouldn't regurgitate last Christmas' dinner as well, he began to walk slowly making various grimaces and hissing in pain when he felt his left side protest.

Nightwing did his best to ignore the burning sensation in his side and he continued to wander around the building, his feet making no sound.

After all, Dick didn't know if there were threats in the building to watch out for or if the place was actually safe. He didn't think there was any threat but his Bat paranoia was getting the better of him.

Not that Richard was able to fight if there was any bad guy. Another bit he couldn't even stay on his feet but still he would still fight at his best.

After a few seconds Dick heard a female voice coming from the direction he had started from swearing in a language he didn't know (or at least he thought she was swearing but he was pretty sure of it since he heard a lot of anger in her voice) and the acrobat turned around contemplating in his head whether to go back or not.

The first Robin didn't think about it when he heard something clicking softly in the distance and suddenly there was an angry looking angel in front of him.

No, not an angel but a very angry looking Shayera Hol.

Dick was sure they were one and the same.

As soon as Dick saw her he found himself releasing a huge sigh of relief that he didn't even know he was holding back.

Shayera was fine and she had no visible injuries.

This was the important thing.

Dick opened his mouth to speak but he was immediately interrupted by the Thanagarian's angry voice. "Now you have to explain to me how the hell you could think that walking around after being shot would be a good idea!" growled Shayera crossing her arms, her visible blue eyes filled with fury but the twenty year old also noticed genuine concern in them as well as in her voice.

"Are you worried about me?" Nightwing asked in surprise raising an eyebrow under his mask.

Shayera blushed slightly and her glare increased in intensity. She opened her mouth but after a few seconds she closed it, unable to find the right word to say. "I don't want you to die for your stupidity after all the hard work I've put in." she finally said.

At Nightwing's confused look she rolled her eyes annoyed and mumbled something so quietly that he couldn't understand.

"You tore off the stitches I put on you, you idiot." Shayera said impassively.

Dick stared down only to notice his bandages had turned a faint bright red and that little drops of blood were oozing from them.

"Oh." he said very cleverly.

Shayera rolled her eyes again and this time Richard was pretty sure she was insulting him in the Thanagarian language.

Dick would never admit even under torture to his surprised scream as Shayera picked him up and carried him bridal style.

He had a damn reputation to maintain, thank you very much.

"Do you know I can walk?" Nightwing muttered, a blush blooming on his cheeks hiding the fact that he strangely liked being carried around like this.

In fact, it's better to say that he strangely liked being carried like this by Shayera Hol.

Strange.

"Do you know that it is because you walked that you pulled your stitches?" she retorted in a flat voice, smiling slightly when Nightwing crossed his arms but remained silent.

Before long Shayera was back in the room where Dick had woken up and she carefully set the hero down on the cot, giving him a deadly glare as he moved to sit up.

Dick soon discovered that Shayera's gaze was far scarier than a Batman bat-glare and he found himself lying back on the couch, unwilling to face the wrath of the Thanagarian captain.

Shayera nodded satisfied and she slightly flew away heading towards some shelves a bit covered in dust and cobwebs. "Where we are?" Dick asked looking around curiously and when he saw that there was nothing of interest he returned his gaze to the Thanagarian who was flying towards him with something in her hand.

"It's some kind of abandoned shelter or something." she said shrugging and placing a stool (where the hell had she gotten that? Dick started to think he was faltering. Surely it was his injuries) in front of his little bed.

The hero of Bludhaven noticed Shayera holding a box of needles and stitches and he smirked at her. "Now I have to sit up when not even five seconds ago you said I had to lie down?"

If after Shayera's death glare Dick moved quickly to sit up without adding anything else for the safety of his own life, well, no one else will ever know.

The Thanagarian's lips lifted a few inches before she returned to her carefully neutral and impassive expression.

Dick much preferred to see her smile: her smile was hands down the most beautiful he's ever seen.

The former leader of the Titans blinked, confused where that thought came from but he didn't have time to think about it when the bandages were gently ripped off causing him a small gasp of surprise.

Shayera obviously noticed but she didn't say anything, which Richard really appreciated.

As Shayera removed the old stitches to put on new ones the two had a quiet civil conversation despite the fact that the two are technically supposed to be enemies.

"Where did you learn this?" Dick asked curiously.

"I learned this when I was about ten." Shayera answered without looking up, busy sewing up the hero's left side.

The first Robin made a small noise in surprise. Of course, Dick also knew how to sew himself up in the event of a gunshot or bullet wound, but he learned this shortly before he became Nightwing.

After all, when he was Robin, Alfred was sewing up every wound of him and Bruce, so Dick learned this in his late teens, around 15-16 years old.

Which was still impressive given his young age but still ten years was too young.

Not that he can speak since he went out patrolling the streets of the most dangerous city in the world at just eight years old but still the point remains.

"Cool." was the only thing he could say before taking a short pause. "How old are you?"

God, he hoped Shayera didn't puncture his left lung with the needle.

To his lucky and relief, she didn't. "How many would you give me?" she asked instead.

"Slightly older than me, so early 20s I guess."

"I am twenty one Earth years old." she informed him. Shayera froze slightly in her stitching before continuing. "You?"

"Twenty." Dick smiled even though the Thanagarian couldn't see him. "Eh, we are only one year apart." he thought idly.

Shayera let out a distracted murmur but Dick knew she was interested in that too.

Or at least mildly interested.

Shayera continued her work for a few minutes in silence before she was the one who broke it, which surprised even herself. "I'm curious how a human being like you is able to take down multiple Thanagarians at once and alone."

Dick smiled as he heard her sincere and genuine curiosity (and maybe even respect for her but he didn't know if he was imagining it or not) in her voice: no anger or disgust in it. "Well, let's just say I have a lot of experience on my side and I've seen literally everything in my life."

"How long have you been a hero?"

If Shayera noticed his hesitation she said nothing. "Since I was eight years old."

Shayera stopped short (thankfully without accidentally hurting him) and she jerked her head up in his direction, blue eyes clearly shocked. "Eight years?" he nodded with a small smile. "I didn't know that Earthlings also train at a young age."

"We don't actually do that." Nightwing clarified and at the confused look of the Thanagarian he continued. "This only concerns me since my situation was particular."

"Oh?" she murmured, picking up where she left off.

Dick nodded. "Yes. To make a long story short, I was taken in by a hero when my parents were killed in front of me when I was eight years old."

"I am sorry." she spoke, genuine sincerity in her voice.

"Thanks, but I'm long over it now. Like I said, I was taken in by a hero and I felt the need to bring justice to the man who killed my parents by taking him to prison, which is why I sneaked out in an old circus uniform in an attempt to track him down."

"Valid reason but idiotic action."

Dick chuckled. "I admit it wasn't my best idea but eventually Batman and I defeated him and took him to prison. From that moment on I understood that I wanted to do good, that I wanted to save others and prevent the tragedy that befell me from happening to others as well and I basically forced Batman to train me."

"Batman is the one dressed in a bat costume?" a nod. "And he took you in?"

"He is my adoptive father." he said, confused where Shayera was getting at.

"I'm sorry to say this but a man who dresses as a bat and beats up criminals doesn't seem sane to me."

Nightwing blinked in surprise behind his mask and just at the moment when Shayera feared she had upset him, insulted him or something he burst out laughing, surprising her slightly before she gave a small smile upon hearing his laughter.

"Well, I can't blame you." chuckled the hero once his laughter was over.

Eh, Shayera Hol had a great sense of humor.

It was another great quality of Shayera.