So, I really thought this was done after the first chapter. Only, then it kind of ... wasn't. I'm not sure if there's more or not... Suggestions?
"You promise not to let your son murder him?" Tim was saying.
"Damian just saved his life. He's not going to murder Dick," Bruce answered, with a slight edge of amusement in his voice.
Dick wanted to weigh in on the conversation before Damian did but it was taking longer than usual for thoughts to make it from his brain to his mouth. That was because his brain wasn't working that well. Because he'd recently been shot in the head and had brain surgery. He had to start remembering that. It explained the headache.
"Damian's not gonna kill me," he mumbled quietly but he didn't think anyone heard him. Maybe he hadn't said it out loud. Why'd he let Tim give him another dose of morphine? Oh that's why he thought with a grimace as his brain started pounding on the inside of his skull so hard he had to gulp back a mouthful of bile.
He managed to open eyes. His vision wasn't great. Bruce and Tim, he assumed anyway since all he could see was their belts, were on his right, arguing or discussing something important very quietly. Listening was hard. He looked over to the other side of his bed, where Damian had been the last time he'd been awake.
Damian was still there.
He might have been the world's greatest detective but Bruce could be really slow sometimes. Damian wasn't asleep.
"Damian," he said, a little louder. The kid uncoiled way faster than he possibly could have if he'd actually been sleeping and bounced over to his side in two quick steps. Bruce and Tim stopped talking quickly. Bruce frowned, Tim looked a little embarrassed at least. "Is not going to kill me."
"Grayson," he said. "How are you feeling?"
"Alive," he said. "But not great. You?"
"I'm fine," he said a little scornfully. "I did not get shot. You did. I haven't been asleep for eighteen hours either."
"Is that all?" he said. "Hey Bruce," he added.
"Hi," Bruce said. "You all right?" Dick nodded. "Good," he said. He dropped a hand onto Dick's shoulder affectionately. From Bruce that was the equivalent of wildly jumping up and down, throwing his arms around Dick and spinning them both in a circle. Dick smiled, even though it seemed to take a whole lot more energy than he remembered.
"Tim said you had a crazy plan," Dick muttered. "Hey Tim." Tim grinned with half his mouth and nodded his head.
"We'll talk about it when you're feeling better," he said. He looked so paternal, gazing down at Dick with a half smile and something in his eyes, pride maybe? What had Dick done to deserve that? Survive brain surgery? It hadn't been that hard, although at the moment he was kind of wishing he hadn't. His head and belly would probably feel a lot better if he was dead.
"Bruce," he said softly. "Will you stay here for a few minutes?"
"Yeah," he answered. "I'll be right here."
"What about your plans?" Dick asked. Waking up had been easier the last time, why was it harder? He was in less pain, that wasn't helping. He was happier too, less worried about everyone. Without the adrenaline everything was foggy.
"Tim can handle them for a bit," Bruce said. "If you don't mind," he added, looking over at Tim who was looking at Dick with a sort of half amused, half concerned smile.
"Nah, Dick and I already had our bonding moment of the day," Tim said. "See you later Dick. Feel better."
"'Kay," he agreed. "So you said you'd talk about time when we had some," he said looking up at Bruce. Damn it, he usually had eyes that actually focused but it was just so hard to do right then. He sat up but about two inches of effort made him so dizzy he blacked out for a minute.
"Easy," Bruce was repeating to him. "Breath. You're all right Just breath." Bruce's hands were on his shoulders, he was pinning him back in the bed.
"What's wrong with him?" Damian sounded like he was begging.
"Nothing, he's fine," Bruce said agitatedly. "Dick, keep breathing, you're all right." His hands were on Dick's shoulders, they were squeezing him gently, they were trying to comfort him. "Another deep breath."
"I'm fine," he said at last, a little weaker than he wanted but there it was. He took another breath and repeated it. "I'm fine." He should have brushed Bruce's hand away, that was how he would show he was okay but he didn't really want to. Bruce's steady hands were reassuring. And Bruce had been dead, and he'd felt alone and empty for so long. It was nice to be close to him. "Sorry."
"Maybe you should stay down," he recommended gently.
"Coming from the master of obeying doctors' orders," he growled.
"This isn't a doctor's order," Bruce informed Dick. "This is my order."
Dick leaned back into the pillows and nodded. Then yawned. Man, brain surgery can really take a lot of you, he thought to himself. He took another deep breath and tried to relax his muscles, really any of them. Damn he was sore.
"Oh, damn it Dick I forgot to tell Tim something. Will you be okay for a minute?"
"Yup," Dick answered, trying to sound irritated or sarcastic or anything but disappointed. "I assume that if the doctors thought I was gonna die you'd have told me by now."
"I'll be right back," he said, reassuringly. "Damian?" he asked
"I will stay here to prove to Drake that I have no intention of killing Grayson," he said, standing up and stepping closer to Dick's beside with a haughty look on his face. Dick smiled a little and looked down at his hands. Bruce patted his shoulder and then left. "Grayson?" Damian said very quietly once Bruce was gone.
"What's up?" he asked.
"I am sorry about that time I tried to kill you," he said softly.
Dick managed not to sigh out loud. His head hurt way to much to whip up a decent pep talk form Damian, but he clearly needed one. "It wasn't your fault Damain," he said, gesturing weakly for the boy to come closer. The kid looked so tired and upset, Dick thought that he might be able to get away with convincing Damian to sit on his bed. It would make looking at him a little easier. "That was Talia, not you."
"I was angry at you," he said desperately. "If I wasn't mad she wouldn't have been able to take control and," it was so rare that the kid rambled that Dick almost let him keep at it just to see how long he could go, but that seems a little mean. And his head was killing him.
"You don't know that," he said, kind of weakly throwing his hand towards Damian's. Apparently he was looking really pathetic because the kid took a few steps closer and sat down the edge of the bed. Dick wanted to smile, but he didn't. Nothing spooked Damian like a public display of affection. "It's okay to be mad at the people you love Damian. Actually it's normal. You think I've never been angry at Bruce or you or Tim? It's just part of loving people. Talia, Ra's, they always try to use love against us, because they think it makes us weak. It doesn't."
"Now that Father is back, what will happen to us?" Damian asked.
"Don't know," Dick said. "We'll work it out though, I promise."
"When Father resumes being the Batman, what will happen to me?" Damian asked. "Father doesn't trust me. No one does."
"Alfred does," Dick said with a smile. "And I do. Tim'll get over it. I mean, you did try to kill the guy the first time you met him but he's smart. After a while he'll realize how good you are. Bruce too. Just be patient and try not to injure or threaten anyone they like for a few weeks okay?"
"Fine," he agreed.
"Damian, I umm, I don't think I can stay awake for much longer," he said. "Would you just hang out with me for a few minutes until I'm out?" God he must have brain damage somewhere they didn't fix. It wasn't like he was ten years old anymore. He was perfectly capable of passing out all by himself. But he just didn't want to.
"Yes Grayson," Damian agreed. "I will tell Father he took too long."
"I'm not sure that's the best way to go about getting him to trust you," Dick muttered. "But I'll give you points for balls if you do." He smiled sleepily and didn't hear what Damian said.
Bruce came down a few minutes later Damian had curled up next to Dick, apparently sleeping but he wasn't going to let the boy trick him with that again. He pulled up a chair and dragged it next to the bed. He needed to think, and here was as good a place as any. Maybe better, since everyone he loved was safe and in easy rescue range.
"You took too long better back," Damian said quietly, and pretty viciously. "He fell asleep again."
"I'll wait," he said. "You both waited a lot longer for me." He sat back in the chair and wrapped his arms around his chest. He was more tired than he cared to admit and if he couldn't keep working, a nap would probably be a good use of his time. "You still are, aren't you?" he said.
Damian glared at him as he moved away from Dick, obviously being very careful not to wake him. "Thanks for staying with him," Bruce said as his son walked around the bed and headed for the stairs.
"Someone had to," he tossed back.