YJ: Moments 2

Dick felt like his world was on fire his entire body ached but he shivered uncontrollably. Dick wanted to close his eyes and fade away into a drug induced sleep but every time he would close his eye the horrifying images of that fateful night would resurface. Tears of pain and loneliness slipped from Dick's eyes soaking the pillow. Alfred had spent most of the day by his side taking his temperature, changing the cold towels and tucking him into bed but it wasn't the same. Alfred had offered to call Bruce, but the last thing Dick wanted to do was to cause his new adoptive father trouble. When he was sick his mother and father use to sit with him, hold him and sooth away all the pain with gentle kisses. Now more than ever since their death Dick felt so very alone. Dick's bedroom door opened and a set of steps heavier than Alfred's walked towards the bed.

"Dick." Hearing Bruce's voice Dick quickly tried to wipe away his tears but Bruce caught his hand and tucked it back under the blankets. The man gently wiped away Dick's tears with his thumb. "How are you feeling?"

"I… am fine…" Dick lied unconvincingly trying to put up a brave face.

"Why did you tell Alfred not to let me know?" Bruce asked stroking Dick's hair gently.

"I… am fine… you are busy…" Dick's words were cut off by a fit of coughs. "I didn't want to bother you."

"You are never a bother Dick." Bruce's large cool hand felt good against his forehead. "Taking care of you is very important to me. More important than anything else in the world." At these words the tears Dick has been trying to hold back began to fall.

"Will you stay with me?" Dick whispered clutching weakly at Bruce's suit jacket.

"Of course." Bruce said, lent down and planted a soft kiss on Dick's forehead. "I'll be right here."

It was an awful day for a funeral. It was one of Gotham's few sunny days, the sky is clear, the sun is shining. The heat was unbearable even if he wasn't in a black suit that soaked up all the heat and a tie that made it impossible to breathe. There were so many people, some people from the circus, and then a whole bunch of other people he didn't even know all dressed in black. Many people came up to him and shook his hand, gave him pitying looks, patting him on the head, the shoulder, touching him in general. Dick didn't want any of it. Dick wanted to stand up and yell at all these people to go away; that they didn't even know his parents and that he didn't need to know how sorry they were that his parents were dead. Dick fought hard against the tears that threatened to fall, he would not cry in front of all these people. The only thing kept Dick steady was Bruce's presence behind him with a steady hand on his shoulder. Slowly one by one people dispersed leaving only Dick and Bruce standing in front of the Graysons' grave stone.

"Hey." Bruce gave Dick's shoulder a gentle squeeze. "You did great."

"Do you think they were watching?" Dick asked still staring at the ground they had buried his parents in.

"Yes, and they are proud of you." Bruce said softly. "You have been very brave." Bruce lent down and gave Dick a gentle kiss on Dick's tiny forehead. "Let's go home." Tears flooded out of Dick's eyes. Dick threw his arms around Bruce and buried his face in to Dick's suit and sobbed his tears soiling Bruce's suit. Bruce let him.

At nine years old Dick has never been to school before having been home-schooled all his life travelling with a circus and all. Dick rarely got to hang out with any other kids since he was the only young child in the circus. So to say that Dick was nervous on his first day of school was an understatement. The night before Bruce had sat down with him and went over exactly what school would be like and what he would be doing. There would be lots of other children his age, they will learn different things, all he has to do was pay attention and be good. It sounded simple enough, but Dick still felt queasy just thinking about 'school'.

"Good morning Master Richard." Alfred said as Dick entered the dining room. "Your breakfast is ready. You should eat up so you won't be late for school."

"Where is Bruce?" Dick asked looking around at the empty table. Bruce was usually at breakfast before him, and he had promised to take Dick to school for his first day.

"Master Bruce was called away for an emergency this morning." Dick's face fell at Alfred's words. The butterflies that fluttered in his stomach just multiplied. Dick prodded at his eggs before putting down his fork with a sigh. He felt sick. Dick wondered if he told Alfred how ill he felt perhaps the butler would let him stay home.

"Master Richard are you alright? Why aren't you eating? You will be late for school. Master Bruce is on his way home to pick you up." Dick's face lit up and began shovelling food into his mouth. Bruce remembered. Just that thought made Dick so happy and all of the nervousness faded. A car horn sounded outside and dick quickly swallowed the last mouthful of food before dashing out the door with his school bag.

"You didn't have to come back for me you know." Dick said sliding into the passenger seat of Bruce's car.

"Of course I did." Bruce said straightening out Dick's hair. "It's your first day. I wouldn't miss this for the world."

As they pulled up to the school the butterflies began fluttering again. Bruce smiled and placed a comforting hand on Dick's shoulders.

"You will do fine." Bruce kissed the boy on his forehead. "I will be here to pick you up at four. I promise you will be having so much fun you won't want to leave."

The ride back to the Batcave was silent. Dick knew he was in trouble. To be fair they had foiled a plot of the Superboy weapon, discovered, and exposed a large Cadmus laboratory. All in all they had done a good job, but now as Dick sat in the Batmobile under Batman's critical silence Dick knew that there were hundreds of ways that it could have ended with all of their demise.

"Bruce… I…" Dick paused to take another breath for a moment to maul over his words. "I am sorry for hacking the league computer, and I am sorry that we went to the lab. But I am not sorry that we did what we did. If we hadn't Superboy would still be trap there, the Blockbuster project would have been completed and the League would still be in the dark about this whole thing." Dick had said everything after the last apology in one breath too afraid that if he stopped he would lose his nerve.

"You got lucky." Bruce's harsh voice got louder as he spoke. "My specific instructions were to 'stay'. You violated my direct order. You entered a situation without any information about what could be down there. Your bright idea was to bring a four story building down on yourselves. You nearly got yourself and the others killed." The Batmobile stopped. Dick cringed squeezing his eyes shut waiting for Bruce to continue yelling, instead he found himself wrapped gently in Bruce's arms.

"Bruce?" Dick gasped.

"When you are by yourself, with them, without me, I can't protect you." Bruce's voice was shaky as he pulled Dick into his arms careful not to hurt Dick's injured ribs. "I didn't even know where you were. You could have died." Bruce pressed his lips against Dick's forehead. "I could have lost you."

Dick waited anxiously outside the Batcave infirmary pacing back and forth in front of the door. Dick wanted to be in there with Bruce but Alfred had physically moved him out of the room. Dick should have been there with him, this would have never happened. Dick was supposed to have accompanied Bruce on patrol that night, but a mission had come up for Young Justice. It was an easy mission; Robin didn't have to be there, it was a simple recon mission they didn't even need anything hacked. When Dick got the message from Alfred he left his team without an explanation and rushed back to Gotham. When he found Bruce the man wasn't moving, he was tangled up in Poison Ivy's vines that were slowly strangling the man to death crushing his body. A whiff of the air told Dick that Ivy had released some kind of paralytic poison in the air. If only Dick had been there sooner, if only Robin had been there with Batman.

"You can come in now." Alfred said coming out of the infirmary. "He is stable and awake. He is asking for you." Dick rushed past the old butler and into the infirmary, as he saw Bruce lying there alive and awake Dick began to tear up.

"I am sorry, I am so sorry." Dick said throwing his arms around Bruce's waist careful of his wounds.

"Dick…" Bruce said weakly but the boy seemed inconsolable.

"They didn't even need me! I should have been there Bruce. I should have…" Dick sobbed but stopped when a hand gently stroked his hair.

"Dick you were there." Bruce said smiling softly. "You saved me. Are you alright?" Dick sniffed, collected himself and nodded. Bruce smiled patted the empty spot next to him on the bed. Dick hopped onto the bed and kissed his adoptive father's forehead before leaning his head against the man's chest listening to Bruce's heartbeat simply satisfied that he was alive.