Chapter 2- The Walk
Author's Notes: So I finally got around to writing this. It took honestly about a week, on and off, whenever I had the time to. This takes places right after Chapter 1, picking up where we left off. Special thanks to Stronger123 for enjoying the first part of the story, which influenced me to write the next 4-6 chapters which will be coming soon in the upcoming months.
"So… what happened?" Wally asked, knowing that it was probably the wrong thing to ask at time like this; he had only seen Dick this sad and angry once before; when Jason died years before. He knew he needed to be there for him no matter what. After all they had been through everything, knew everything about one another; besides he promised Bruce that he would look after Dick when things got too bad.
That's what best friends are for, he thought.
"Joker shot Barbara in the spine, the doctor said she will never walk again, she's paralyzed for life." Dick explained, looking Wally directly in his emerald eyes, holding back the tears as he tried to get the words out.
Barbara meant the world to him, to him she was the one shining light in the world of corruption and darkness that he could see and touch whenever things got to too bad.
"I'm sorry man; I can't even begin to understand what she's going through." Wally said, sensing that he probably said the wrong thing; besides he always said the wrong thing at the wrong time. It was a gift he got from his father.
"You don't get it… She… will never walk again, practice gymnastics or even just get out of that wheelchair. She's going to be like that until the day she dies." Dick said, his blue cerulean eyes started to tear up.
"I could not help her, no matter what I do. I failed her… I was too slow. I choose you over her and I paid the ultimate price. She's never going to walk again and it's all my fault." Dick could not contain the tears any longer; he dropped to his knees in the middle of the lobby.
People just stared at them, wondering what was happening.
Wally bent down on his knees to console his friend, hoping that he could help with this situation, after all this seemed all too familiar.
"Dick, I'm sorry. I know she means a lot to you. But you need to get up, she's not dead be happy about that." Wally said.
"How can I be happy about that?" Dick asked.
"You don't, you learn to live it, just like the way I did after Barry was hurt. Sure I wanted to hurt Vandal Savage even kill him but I knew that if I went down that road, I was not going to be the same person I used to be." Wally said, picking his longtime friend off the ground and then dusted him off, just like he used to do.
"Come on, we got work to do, if we don't do it, Bruce will have your head and Barry will have mine." Wally said, hoping that it would make Dick happy again.
Dick and Wally continued to walk down the hospital hallway, hoping to find the exit; since Wally insisted he knew where the exit was.
Truth was, he had no clue where it was but he would never tell Dick that.
Besides they would find it eventually.
Wally wondered what happened to the person he knew. Dick seemed more distant as the time passed by; he was worried that Dick would do something drastic, so he decided to keep an eye on him at least for now.
It was the least he could do after all that happened.
They found the exit after walking around in circles for seemed like hours. They made it back to the bikes they parked about two miles away.
The walk did Dick some good, clearing his head for the most part.
He seemed less angry than before, Wally thought.
He wasn't sure that was a good thing when it came to Dick, he never let his emotions show.
That was the way Bruce raised him, for him to show emotions, something was going to happen; the only question was how long?
Dick was angry as hell, at Joker, at Batman.
Why was he not there?
What was so important that he could not do anything to help her?
The worst part was that he felt like it was his fault, one hundred percent. He was supposed to be with her to just hang out and to meet her father but instead he chose patrol duty with Wally at the last minute. His face became filled with rage, just wanting to go back in time and change things.
That was the one thing he could not change, no matter how hard he tried. It was something he had to accept.
Gotham City General Hospital, 2007
11:00 pm EST
Barbara sat in her hospital bed, staring blankly out the window into the darkness, thinking about the long talk she had with Dick about an hour before and about all the things she used to do when she could walk around.
She thought about the good times that she and Dick shared; walking on the beach during the summer, making sure she was okay every time she fell or hurt herself, taking her to the carnival only to be attacked by Two Face and the times they were alone with nothing to do.
Those were the days, she thought to herself, wondering the future would be anything like the past.
The thought of never being able to do anything like that pissed her off to no end. She pounded her fist into the nearby drywall, again and again, relentlessly. Realizing that punching a drywall would solve nothing, she realized this after the eighth time hitting it after her hand was all bruised up and bloody. A number of unanswered questions ran through her mind all at once.
Was she really going to be like this for the rest of her life?
Did Dick really feel that way about her?
It would explain a lot about his behavior around her; the way he acted around her; he used to take pictures of her whenever he got the chance, he used to give her these elaborate Christmas gifts and she would just sit there and say thank you, not knowing the true way he felt about her.
Before she think about it more and maybe figure something out, a visitor appeared in the doorway of her hospital room. She looked up to see a familiar face, once she had not seen in a week.
It was a welcome site to see.
"Hey, how you feeling?" Tim asked, knocking on the door frame, wondering if Barbara was up to seeing him on such short notice.
"Pretty crappy, the doctors have me on painkillers." Barbara explained. "Did you hear about what happened?"
"I did, Bruce and me are on it. According the intelligence we got, he fled Gotham right after, we haven't been able to find him… yet." Tim explained, feeling awful for telling her this, so soon after what happened; he felt small and wanted to make it up to her, no matter what.
She had enough bad news today.
Tim pulled a chair up to the bed.
"So, what's new with you?" Barbara asked, trying to take her mind off everything that happened.
"Well, Bart asked me if I wanted to go the movies with him tomorrow." Tim said. "I think he likes me, should I go?" Tim asked.
"Two things, Do you like him back? and Do you want to go with him?,"
"I do but he's been like a friend to me, I do want go see the movie; it be nice to get out of the manor once in a while" waiting for an approval from her adoptive sister, whom he loved dearly and valued her input. She was usually right about these types of thing.
"That's how me and Dick started out, he used to ask to go there all the time and I would always say no until I could not take it anymore so I said yes; I don't care about anything like that. If you like him, then you like him. It's not my place to judge." Barbara said.
Tim could not believe what he heard, his sister agreed with him for once. Usually they would at each other's throats on matters like this but this was different. She cared for him, after all he was the best brother she had.
"So what's in the bag?" Barbara asked, wondering what was in there since he walked in.
"Something I think you'll like." Tim said.
Barbara opened the bag to find a bottle of sprite. She was happier in this moment than before, Tim remembered what she told years ago, that made her happy.
"I know you loved that, you mentioned it when we were in the cave last time."
"Thanks Tim, I really needed this." She said softly.
Barbara pulled out two glasses from the other bag that was on the other side of the bed. "A gift from Bruce, he sent it earlier". She poured both glasses to the rim and handed on to Tim.
"A toast to you, the greatest adopted sister I could ever have or ask for and the best tech genius of the year" Tim stated.
They clinked both their glasses together and just talked for the rest of the night, just about some things like things that happened in the past couple of days.
Barbara did not care in the slightest. She was being released in the morning, so it was nice to spend some time with friends to take her mind off everything that happened to her.
After talking to Barbara, Dick went home to his apartment near the manor to make sure that he was still in one piece, physically, mentally and emotionally.
The one person who he cared about the most in the world was paralyzed to a wheelchair for the rest of her life and there was nothing he could do to fix it; no magic cure, no bone replacements, nothing.
Dick sat at the edge of the bed, feeling guilt ridden about everything that happened, not being there to protect her, not being able to be with her when she was laying there and sure as hell not being there to if she died. Holding a photo of him and Barbara at the 95th annual Gotham carnival last year, tears came to fill his eyes.
If that happened, what would he do? He did not want to think about that, not after everything that happened.
Dick was distraught until hearing someone at the door. It was late about 11:00pm at night, so he was not expecting anyone till the morning. Dick heard another knock on the door, it was unusually fast so that meant that it could only be one out of three people either Barry, Wally or Bart.
His money was on Wally; 11:00pm was his favorite time to drop by and just talk to him, maybe eat some food and play some video games like they used to do.
"Hold on, I' m coming." Dick said, hurrying, rushing to the door after getting up off the bed.
He unlocked the first lock, then the second, but the third took a while; it always jammed up at night.
One of life's many mysteries, he thought.
"Hey what's the matter with you? You look like you've seen a ghost." Wally said.
"It's nothing, just thinking about everything."
"Really, I find that hard to believe, even for you."
"I know, what are you doing here?"
"Came to see how you're doing. Bruce was worried that you would do something you would regret"
"Fine, have a seat."
Wally sat in the dark wood stained chair, while Dick sat on the bed where he was sitting before.
He looked at Wally, hoping at least one of them would say something to break the awkward silence in the room.
"Barbara told me everything about what happened." Dick said.
"Are you sure you want to be telling me this?"
"I'm sure,
"Dick can I tell you something, just between the two of us?"
"Sure, spill."
"I care about you or Barbara but this whole thing with you wanting revenge, does not end for anyone. You need to give this up, she paralyzed and there's nothing you or I or anyone else can do about it."
The fact that Wally would even be able to say this to his best friend of the past five years baffled Dick, how the hell could he even say that; if it was Artemis he would do the exact something in his position.
"GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE AND STAY THE HELL OUT. DON'T COME BACK OR I'LL KILL YOU."
Dick got up, anger flooding his whole body, shoved Wally out the door. Wally hit the wall outside of the apartment, nearly being knocked out, but he was tougher than he thought.
"Dick, I thought you were better than this."
"Turns out you're wrong, I never changed." Dick said shutting the door in his best friends face for the first and final time.
Wally limped down the stairs, wondering what actually happened back there, but that was something to think about for another time. He had a date with Artemis in a couple of hours, so his speedster healing needed to kick before that.
"What happened to you, Dick?" Wally said, looking up at the silhouette of Dick in the window, he still cared about him but this crossed the line.
Things may never be the same, he thought. Only time would tell if they could repair the damage Dick caused.
Wally continued to walk down the street, hoping Dick would come running after him, but he didn't, he did not even try to.
That's what hurt Wally the most, either way he did not care now; now after what Dick acted like.
Besides he needed to meet with Artemis, they had a date at the Iceberg Lounge, which was something he would not miss for the world, not even for his best friend.