Yup. That new month resolution didn't really help that much. Sorry.
Dick didn't sleep. He wished he would because it probably would have been way less painful but he couldn't. He just kind of sprawled out across the bed, shut his eyes and held onto the sheets until the world stopped rolling around underneath him. For a few seconds he wondered if this whole thing had been a good idea but then they were over and he didn't regret it. He shuttered forcefully and wondered if he was getting a fever or if it was just cold down in the Batcave.
"Damian?" he asked without opening his eyes.
"Yes," he heard the boy answer back moodily. God, what was that child going to be like when he became a teenager? He was going to be practically impossible. No, he was already practically impossible – what was worse than practically impossible?
Completely impossible, Dick thought miserably.
"Is Tim here?" Dick still couldn't be bothered looking. The moment he lifted up his eyelids everything would seem blindingly bright and make his headache so much, so he was going to put it off as long as possible.
"He thinks we are wasting our time," Damian said. "He's training or something."
"Kay," Dick murmured.
"Why?" Damian asked. Dick almost smiled at the slightly jealous note in Damian's voice. Sometimes it amazed him that he was even alive standing between the two of them.
"I just need some water," he rasped. "Then we can get started."
He heard Damian walk away from him. God I must be running a fever, he thought to himself. I almost called him back because I don't want to be alone. He sighed loudly and was pleasantly surprised to find that it didn't hurt that much. He was cold though, and he started to shiver.
"Grayson."
"Yup?" he answered without moving.
"Here's your water."
"Oh." That seemed worth facing the bright world so he pried opened his eyes and found himself looking into Damian's curious glare. "Thanks."
"You look terrible," Damian said.
"Don't feel great either," he answered, sitting up slowly and sipping the water. He was really thirsty but after the first time he'd gulped back a cup of water and thrown it all up again he learned the value of little mouthfuls. "How are you?"
"Fine," Damian said.
"You cold?" Dick asked after a sip of water and some teeth chattering.
"No," Damian looked at him with a piercing gaze that was alarmingly similar to Bruce's. "Maybe if you were under the blanket instead of sitting on it, you'd be warmer," he said coolly.
"Uhh, good point," Dick agreed. "Come on, we've still for a few hours before you've got to go out again right? Let's see what we can find out."
"All right," Damian said. "Doesn't that mean we need to be over there?" Damian pointed over to the computer screens.
"Yes," Dick agreed.
"Can you get there?" Damian pointed out practically.
"Probably," he said.
It was an exhausting trip across the Cave to the computer consul, but he managed it without vomiting, passing out and hurting Damian, who spent the whole time hovering around him anxiously and trying to look like he wasn't. "Could you bring me that blanket?" he asked, a little pathetically as he pulled his legs up onto the chair. His whole body was shaking with cold.
"Yes Grayson, I am your butler," he snapped but he did it anyway.
By the time he'd got back Dick was fast forwarding through the footage from a few street cameras. "Here," Damian said, throwing the blanket up around his shoulders and almost tucking it there before moving closer to the computer. "It's going to take forever."
"Thanks," Dick said, pulling it tighter around his chest. "Do you have any footage from the eaten by dogs guy?"
"Yes," Damian said, pointing over to another monitor.
"Did you ask the computer to cross reference the footage?"
"Yes," he said, glaring at Dick. "I'm not an idiot."
About an hour later Dick was fighting ever single second to keep his eyes open. He hadn't found anything yet and judging by Damian's increasingly irritated tsks he hadn't either. Dick caught his head as it dropped down onto his legs and dragged it back up. That was pretty helpful, only his eyes couldn't seem to focus. So not actually that helpful really. And suddenly his head was on his knees again.
"Damn it," he mumbled sleepily.
"How's it going?" That was Tim.
"Grayson fell asleep," Damian answered.
"Didn't," Grayson said, lifting up his head with a surprising burst of energy. The world didn't quite look the way he remembered. All the colours seemed brighter, everything looked clearer. Nothing was pulsing along with his heartbeat. "I just closed my eyes for a minute."
"Dick, it's seven thirty," Tim said. "That was more than a few minutes."
"Damn it," Dick said. "Sorry Damian, I didn't mean to pass out on you there."
"Tt," Damian responded, but he looked surprisingly sympathetic behind Tim's back.
"I'll be more useful now," he said. "I promise."
"My father thinks you getting better is the most useful thing you can do," Damian pointed out. "Perhaps you should focus on that. I can manage this you know."
"I know Damian," he said with a tired smile. "But I want to help you."
"I'll get you some tea," Tim said. "And maybe some dinner and then we'll go out on patrol."
"Yes Drake," Damian sneered. "You can be the servant. Perhaps you will be better at it then you were at being Robin."
"Don't start," Dick said firmly. "Damian, leave Tim alone. Tim, thank you, dinner would be awesome." He yawned, but he didn't think he was going to fall back asleep either. "Did you find anything while I was out?"
The computer beeped. Dick looked over at it. So did Tim and Damian. The colour trained from Tim's face when the caller id came up.
"Shit," he whispered. "It's Alfred."