Thanks everyone who's been super nice about this. Also patient. I'm not super confident in this story but loads of people have been really supportive and kind and that's been really awesome. You guys rock.

When Dick woke up he noticed a few things. One, there was a blanket covering his chest. Two, Damian was sitting next to him, clicking away at something on the computer. Three, Tim was on the other side of Damian and neither of them were killing each other. Damn, was there must be an apocalypse.

"What's happened?" he asked urgently, if a little sleepily. The two of them setting side by side and neither of them had any new bruises? Clearly Gotham was falling into the sea. Which would have been pretty impossible but it was about the only thing he could think of that could possible explain the lack of shouting.

"Nothing," Damian said. "Well, we've found the assassin."

"That counts as something," Dick said, or kind of croaked a little. Tim silently handed him a water bottle from somewhere. Was there ever a situation he wasn't prepared for? Dick grimaced his thanks and had a mouthful. "Who is he?"

"Jackson Brown," Damian said, sighing very loudly. "You were right. He seems to be a completely standard, boring hired gun who has never done anything remotely interesting."

"Who's he working for?" Dick asked. Damian shrugged. Tim shook his head. Dick almost grinned and made a crack about their detective skills but stopped himself suddenly. Bruce was back, there was going to be a lot more criticism getting thrown around the Cave. Why kick start it early?

"We'll find out tonight," Tim said, looking at Dick with weird expression caught somewhere between scepticism and confusion. "Now that we know who we're looking for it shouldn't be too hard to catch up with him." Dick nodded. "You wanna have dinner with me before we leave on patrol?"

"Absolutely!" Dick agreed. "As long as it's down here," he added as an after thought. "I need to practice standing, I'm not ready for another up the stairs adventure."

"Uh, you make everything so difficult," Tim whined playfully. "Fine. I'll bring it down here."

"Damian, will you eat with us?" Dick asked. Damian glared at Tim very forcefully but he nodded after looking at Dick quickly.

"I don't suppose you're going to help me get it ready are you?" Tim asked.

"I will not do Pennyworth's job," Damian snapped.

"You're damn lucky I'm here Dick," Tim said meanly. "Otherwise your Robin would have let you starve to death."

"I would not let Grayson starve to death," Damian snarled.

"No," Dick groaned.

Damian was crouching defensively, like he was getting ready to spring into an attack and Tim had raised both his fists like he was about ready to punch the flying Damian that seemed pretty inevitable. "No!" Dick shouted, forcing himself out of the chair as fast as he could. "Ow!" he shouted, as a hot poker jabbed at his brain.

"Sorry," Tim said a little sheepishly. Damian grabbed Dick and forced him back into the chair. Dick tried to glare at both of them, although it wasn't nearly as ferociously as Damian.

"Damian, stop being mean to Tim. He's pulling more weight around here than either of us so either you say thanks or you shut up. Tim, Damian isn't the brat who tried to kill you the first time you met and I trust him. So either accept that or shut up. Any questions?"

Neither of them spoke.

"Excellent," Dick said. "Is there anything I can do to help with dinner Tim?"

"Don't pass out," Tim answered. "I'll be right back." He was short about it, but Dick got that. Tim had been on his own for a long time, living here again with Damian throwing mental daggers at him all day and Dick depending on him for every little thing was probably pretty frusterating.

Damian didn't say anything, just sat back down and started typing at something. Dick reached for a keyboard too and ran through a few things that he'd stated running before his nap. Damian was going to talk, Dick could tell, so he was just trying to look busy until Damian did.

"Grayson," Damian said suddenly. "You said before that being angry at people was part of loving them."

"Okay," Dick agreed. "That sounds like something I would say."

"So even though you are angry at me right now..." he trailed off nervously.

"Yeah Damian," Dick agreed with a smile. "Of course." Damian nodded twice. "But you need to let up on Tim a little," Dick continued. "You don't have to like him, but I need to know that the pair of you aren't going to take this too far someday and get someone hurt. And if you want Bruce to trust you, you're going to need to back off."

"Fine," Damian agreed reluctantly. "And I wouldn't let you starve."

"I know," Dick said. "Damn I wish I was going out with you tonight."

"You looked like you were going to faint when you stood up. You couldn't even get into the Batsuit."

"Obviously," Dick muttered. "That doesn't mean I have to like it."

Tim came down a few minutes later with three bowls of Alfred soup. "Nice!" Dick said as Tim awkwardly set the tray down. "Why are you guys all on hospital food too?"

"Because I didn't want to warm up anything else," Tim said. "Honestly, remind me to send Alfred thank you flowers or something. I haven't been nearly grateful enough."

"None of us have," Dick agreed. "Thanks Tim, for everything. What kind of flowers should I send you?"

Tim looked like he was considering punching Dick but thought the better of it just in time. Dick was grateful for that too. It would have hurt a lot to get punched by his little brother and the possibility that Damian would respond by trying to decapitate Tim seemed a little high.

"So has anyone heard from Bruce?" Dick asked as he started on his soup. Suddenly he felt like he needed a week's worth of food to consume just to make up for the last few days. His food as half gone and the other neither of his brothers had more than a few spoonfuls. Apparently being hungry enough even stopped him from worrying about how hot the soup was.

"Yeah I talked to Alfred earlier," Tim said. "Things seem to mostly be going okay, Alfred was a little vague on what they're doing exactly. I think they've touched base with Cass though, so I assume that's a good thing."

"Do you think he'll bring her home with him?" Damian asked with passive interest.

"Who knows," Tim said. "I'm not sure what he's trying to accomplish there but he might fill us in later if he really has to. Maybe. You know Bruce."

Dick smiled as he scrapped the last of his soup up. Damian frowned.

"But anyway, Alfred seems to be okay with whatever Bruce's up to, so it can't be that bad."

"I'm comforted," Dick agreed. He made a ridiculous face as he tried to keep his teeth together while yawning, in hopes that Tim wouldn't notice, give him a vaguely Alfred like concerned glance and bundle him off to bed. He hoped it worked because it sure hurt his head.

"Right," Tim agreed.

"Where are you going to start looking for the assassin tonight?" Dick asked. "The kills are kind of all over the place."

"Yeah, we've got a lot of ground to cover," Tim agreed.

"But we'll find him," Damian insisted.

"I know," Dick said. "I'm just struggling with my feelings of jealous that I don't get to go with you." Tim smirked and Dick grinned at him, even though it seemed like a lot of effort.

"Once we've finished you need to get your ass back in bed," Tim said. "We'll tell you all about it tomorrow."

"You're mean," Dick muttered.

"You were raised by the Batman," Tim pointed out. "You can take it."