Don't Fear the Reaper

31) Floor Time!

Bruce was getting better and absolutely no one was happy about it. Nico remained just as removed from them as he had on the first day— though, for some reason, Tim seemed to be the only one among them that believed Nico was opening up more.

It had been three weeks since Bruce came back and the man was finally allowed to move around the manor and cave without a wheelchair. He still had a few cracked ribs, but they were healing well and his bruised were fading to near non-existent.

While Bruce was looking better each day, Nico was looking worse. His skin was paler, his eye bags darker, and his face more gaunt. He had reluctantly slept a couple of times in the last week, never for very long, and it always ended in all of them hearing a strangled scream coming from his room. He would sit at the table with them as they ate, but if he took a single bite of food, it felt like a victory.

Damian had finally insisted that Nico didn't need to follow him everywhere he went, probably exhausted from never actually being alone. The kid didn't seem too happy about it, but he still listened. He was never too far away from the youngest Wayne, but he gave him far more space than before— even taking to wondering around the manor on his own like he had done before.

It was while he was on one of his wanders that déjà vu hit Steph like a brick wall. She was having floor time in the library, obvi, when she heard the quiet sound of someone clearing their throat. She opened her eyes and there he was, Nico, in all his shadowy, corpsey, glory.

"Wanna join?" Steph said as she went back to closing her eyes. She really just expected him to leave— he hadn't interacted with her at all since his return and she didn't expect that to change any time soon— but then she heard the quiet sound of him sitting on the ground. She didn't open her eyes to look at him, not wanting to freak him out or scare him off considering he would most definitely benefit from some floor time. "You gonna stay sitting, or actually commit?"

Nico quietly huffed out a breath before the sound of him shifting and lying back on the ground was heard.

Steph smiled to herself. "Just close your eyes and take deep breaths. The point of this is just to be in your body."

Steph inhaled through her nose, held it in for a few seconds before exhaling out her mouth, once again holding it for a few seconds and repeating the process. After the first few time, she heard his breathing sync with hers. They stayed like that for a little while until her watched buzzed on her wrist.

"Okay, now we just sit up and sit cross legged for a little while," Steph said, opening her eyes and sitting up. Nico did as she said, mirroring her position as they sat, a few feet apart, but facing each other. "Now, we just kinda let it settle. Dr. Thompkins taught me that you should never go immediately from floor time to doing other things. Sometimes it can bring certain thoughts or emotions to the front of your mind and you just have to exist within them for a moment before you can let them fall away. If you just push them back down, then you've undone all the good stuff that floor time has to offer."

"Is it actually called floor time, or did you just choose to call it that?" Nico signed. His face was still neutral, though Steph could have sworn she saw a hint of sass in his eyes.

Steph just shrugged with a smirk. "Who's to say? The breathing exercise is called box breathing— inhale for 4, hold for 4, exhale for 4, hold for 4, and then repeat— and the floor part is a grounding technique that is based in just tapping into how your body is functioning. Plus, it helps with spinal alignment, stretching out muscles, helps reduce stimuli, and can lower blood pressure."

Nico nodded. He didn't say anything else for a while, his eyes seeming lost in thought as he stared at the ground.

Steph's watch buzzed quietly again, but she silenced it, honestly just kinda enjoying the silent company that Nico offered. She was usually a very chatty person, but she enjoyed the silence that Nico and her had; it wasn't awkward and there was no pressure to fill it. They were both in their own thoughts, but his presence across from her brought some solace that she wasn't alone in it.

Nico snapped once, drawing her attention, before he signed that he had something for her.

Steph looking at him in surprise as he pulled out a letter. The front of it had Tim's careful handwriting, spelling out an address and name she didn't recognize. She looked at Nico in questioning, not understanding why he gave her a sealed, addressed letter.

"Send that letter in a week," he signed, his eyes giving away an undertone of anxiety at the idea of it being sent. "The person it is addressed to knows where the doctor I mentioned is. I requested for the man to get into contact with him and ask him to come here as a favor to me."

Steph felt hope swell in her chest. She thought Nico had forgotten about their conversation and he had already done so much for them, sacrificed so much, that she didn't want to bring it up. "Why in a week?"

Nico looked away from her. "I will be gone by then," he signed. "Talia has sent for me already, but I postponed it until a week from now. Bruce will be healed enough by then."

Steph nodded slowly. Her mind immediately filling with a million thoughts about him leaving: why Talia wanted him back, why he chose to stay longer, what kind of job was he going to return to— and yet the loudest one was that he had done the sign for 'Bruce'. He learned the signs that Cass had created for each of their names. He had taken the time to learn them from the girl— either by asking her or by taking note of when she signed. Those signs were something only their family and close friends really knew... and he knew them.

"Thank you," she said quietly, holding the letter closer to herself. "It... this means a lot. I... just, thank you."

Nico nodded, moving to stand up. Steph did the same so that they were standing across from each other as he signed once more.

"She was targeted because of who her father was," he signed, a look in his eyes that Steph had never seen. It was a mix of both grief and understanding. "She shouldn't be forced to live with the ramifications of a situation that she never had a say in. She didn't get a choice back then, but she should get to choose now."

Steph nodded, receiving a nod in return, before the boy turned around and left.

Steph looked down at the letter in her hand. It was just paper and ink, but it felt heavier knowing what it could do.

A/N: I also love Steph... I really just love the entire Batfam I think lmao

Vote. Comment. Tell me your favorite Batfam character (I switch so frequently that it is hard to pick, but I think Jason is at least my favorite to write).