Fool Me Once | T. Drake ✔

[24] Constant

Roxanne had no idea where she was or how long had passed since the dreadful experience of almost getting burnt alive. She had been passing in and out of consciousness, the heavy dosage of medicines and painkillers keeping her in a lethargic state.

All she knew was that she hadn't died in the fire. She was still alive but barely, unable to comprehend anything that was happening around her.

Even the times when she was briefly awake, it felt like she was caught up in a dreamless sleep, too tired to open her eyes but able to hear things such as sounds and voices that she couldn't recognize.

For her, it seemed like a long time had passed in that comatose state. While in reality, it had been a day and a half since she had been brought to the hospital.

She could hear things again after an undetermined while of silence and despite the exhaustion, she tried to focus. Her hands and feet still seemed frozen in place so she trained all her strength on peeling open her eyes that seemed frozen too.

At last, she was able to look up at the blank white ceiling, the light in the room making her squint her eyes in resistance. The voice she heard before hadn't faded yet and as she listened closely, it felt familiar and close to her.

She tilted her head with quite an effort to see who it was and when she was able to turn in that direction, for a second she felt that she was dreaming again.

She blinked twice because seeing Tim Drake standing by the window of a hospital room close to her was the last thing she could expect. He was on the phone, talking in a low voice so as not to wake her up.

Roxanne didn't know how he could have found her because he wasn't aware that she would come to her nephew and sister-in-law's house in Edinburgh. That location was what only Romero knew aside from her. And even if Tim had gone to ask Romero about it, he would never tell him.

So the fact that he was there and she hadn't yet woken up from that dream didn't make sense.

He put down the phone at last and turned to come back to that seat but saw her staring at him with wide disbelieving eyes.

He smiled slightly though that one smile hid a lot behind it. Concern, pain and an effort to cover it all up as he didn't want to worry her.

She didn't know what to say to him but he came to the seat and sat down beside her, blue eyes looking down in brown.

"How are you feeling now?" He asked and her lips parted to speak but no words came out.

At least not immediately.

She was just looking at him as if trying to decipher whether he was really there or she was hallucinating. He realized what she could be thinking so he reached out and took her limp hand in his carefully.

"You're not imagining things. I'm here," he remarked.

She didn't react, almost not feeling the hand gripping her own. It was all too much to process for her and she needed some time to come to terms with the present.

The last thing she remembered was being stuck in the deadly fire and then getting engulfed in perpetual darkness. She hadn't expected that darkness would clear up eventually to show her the person she had been hesitant to face ever since her silent departure from Gotham.

Once again, he was there with her after she had gone through a very rough incident in her life. Just like he had been there for her the day she had almost gotten killed by her brother.

For some reason, Timothy Drake had become the only constant in her life ever since they had met. One that she was reluctant to face as she knew she had caused him pain by leaving without even giving him a proper farewell.