Tale of Two Gothams

Ch. 5: Do Something

Dick sat on the couch in the living room of Wayne Manor, watching TV, when Bruce walked through the front door. Dick turned to look at him. "Bruce, how was work?" he asked with a smile.

Bruce gave him a small, weak smile back. "Pretty tiring. How was your day?"

Dick shrugged. "Ok," he said as he watched Bruce walk over to the couch and sit down next to Dick.

Bruce took a deep breath, closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the back of the couch. They sat there, the TV making the only noise in the room. "So, I see you made it out of your room," Bruce said looking at Dick with a smile.

Dick smiled and looked over to Bruce. "Yeah, Alfred thought I should get out of the room, but I can't get around to good with a fractured leg. Can't even use crutches 'cause of my arm."

"So how did you get down the stairs?" Bruce asked a bit confused.

"Alfred helped me walk without putting pressure on my leg, but it was difficult."

"Yes, but we accomplished it," Alfred said as he brought a tray with two mugs of hot coco over to them. "Thought you might like a hot drink on such a cold day."

"Thanks, Alfred!" Dick said happily as he took one of the steaming mugs.

Bruce chuckled as he took the other mug. "Thanks. So," he then turned to Dick, "since you won't be going on patrol for some time, how would you like to go down to the cave and see if we can find a way to keep you from jumping dimensions?"

"Have you jumped in the last two days since you found yourself in this dimension?" Alfred asked.

"Not that I know of, but I was in that other dimension for four days before I got back here," Dick replied sadly at the thought of going back to that other dimension.

"Don't worry, Dick," Bruce said as he placed a hand on Dick's shoulder, "I promise, we'll find a way to keep you in this dimension."

Dick gave him a small smile. "Thanks, but will you be able to find a way before I jump again?" he asked loosing the smile. He really didn't want to go back to the other Bruce and get beat again.

The room was silent.

After a few more minutes of silence, and no one looking at one another, Bruce stood up and stood in front of Dick. "Come on," Bruce said as he smiled down at Dick reassuringly, "Let's get to work."

Dick gave him a small smile again and allowed Bruce to pick him up and carry him down to the cave.

Once down there, Bruce sat Dick in the chair in front of the computer then went over and examined the blood sample that he took from Dick when this all began.

About twenty minutes later, Bruce still hadn't found anything and turned to check on how Dick was doing, but before he turned around, there was a small flash of light. "Dick?" he asked as he turned around and walked toward the computer. "Dick, what was that light?" he asked as he turned the chair around so he could look at Dick.

"B-Bruce... I... uhhh... I was just..." Dick stumbled as he struggled to figure out what to say.

Bruce closed his eyes and sighed. 'It happened again.' He opened his eyes again and stared down at Dick. "It's ok, Dick, I'm not your Bruce. You've jumped dimensions again," he said as he knelt down so he was eye level with Dick. He saw Dick relax. "Was your Bruce in the cave?"

"No, I wouldn't be caught dead in the cave if he was there."

"Good," Bruce sighed then stood up again. "We're trying to figure out how to stop the jumping. That's what the Dick from this dimension was working on." He looked at the computer. "And it looks like he hasn't found anything either."