Memorium~Nightwing

Adoption

"You want to what?" Alfred looked at him agasht.

"Dick has been put up for protective adoption and I want to adopt him. We have a lot in common, and he needs someone."

"Adopt a kid. You want to adopt a kid."

"Yes, I've established that. I've done tons of reading. He'll have the upstairs room and I'll hire Emily's sister Anne as his phycologist. Its flawless."

"Except for the fact you have have no skills to raise a traumatized child!"

Bruce rose to his feet. "I've made up my mind!"

"Master Bruce! If you take this child in, he will emerge more broken than when he first was!"

Bruce opened his mouth to retaliate when his phone chimed. He picked it up imediatly. "Its Emily. The doctor says he should wake up soon."

"Go. He needs you. Don't do anything rash."

"Alfred-"

"Just leave."

>>>------->

"So they're really taking him off sedatives." Bruce handed Emily a steaming cup of coffee.

Anne leaned against her sister. "Yeah. Were going to start with Em, she's going to be the familiar face. She reassure him and such, then we switch and I explain the situation from there. CPS has decided to keep Dick at Emily's once he gets dismissed, until we can find a sutible adopter. It might take a while, there's a lot of boxes to check."

"When can I see him?" Bruce massaged the tendons in his hand.

"Maybe tomorrow. You said he won't remember you, so its best not to overload his delicate system. Ready?" Anne took her sisters hand.

Emily took a deep breath. "Yeah."

>>>------->

The world was blurry and bright. Dick managed to pry his eyelids open and he absorbed his surroundings. He didn't recognize the place.

White was all he saw.

Dick panicked and sat up, gasping as a searing pain burst through his midsection.

Tears sprung to his eyes, but he blinked them away. He was under sheets. They were automatically kicked away. He had to find Slade, he would be furious that he had slept-

"Dick? You're okay, take it easy." Someone's voice pierced the cloud fogging his brain.

He looked around, his eyes wide and they met a familiar set. It was that woman, the detective from the night he was taken. She had black hair and dark skin, a middle eastern ethnicity.

Dicks mouth flew open. "I have to go back, if he knows I'm gone-"

"Its okay Dick, you're safe and far away from the man who took you." Emily rested a hand on his. "Please just lie back. What do you remember?"

He rested against the stiff pillows, not daring to disobey the woman. "I failed. I didn't do what he wanted, there was wind I wasn't expecting. Then he threw me in the trash." He uncounsilly rested a hand on his midsection." I went looking for The Tears but a monster showed up, its face twisted unnaturally.

The boy is crazy. Emily thought.

The woman's eyes glittered with tears, he did not know why. Something sparked in his mind, a flash of recognition. She was the woman who sold him to Slade. Deathstroke always reminded Dick that he could be resold again to someone much worse than him. "Please, don't take me back! I cant go back!" He buried his face in his hands.

He peeked through his fingers to see the woman sprint out of room. She was probably going to fetch something to punish him for speaking out of line. He had to escape.

>>>----->

Outside the hospital room Anne and Bruce were talking in hushed tones when Emily flew through the door, tears streaming down her face.

"Emily? What happened?" Anne tried to grab her sister, bur she ran down the hallway.

Emily turned for a split second. "I'm sorry- I just cant- I'm sorry..."

Anne hissed through her teeth. "She left him alone!" She entered Dick's room.

His IV was streaming fluids onto the floor, and his sheets were cast aside. Dick was crouched in a corner, his head between his knees.

"Dick?" Emily asked softly as she knelt besides the shaking boy. "What's wrong?"

"I-I am so sorry. The lady sold me to him last time, I just didn't want to go back. I-I'll go, just not to him."

"Who?"

"My Master said the lady sold me to him, that I was his. I'm sorry. Punish me, I understand, its my fault I made her go away. My fault..." He rambled.

Anne gasped as it dawned on her. "Its okay Dick, I would never hurt you. That woman didn't sell you. You're safe here. Slade Wilson can't get to you here, we gave guards set up just for you. Now you need to rest."

She stood, and he shot up quickly, a small moan escaping his lips as his wound throbbed.

"Easy there." She guided him back into his hospital bed. She twisted a knob on the IV, stemming the flow of fluid. Anne clipped his SB O2 monitor back onto his pale finger. He flinched, and Anne released his hand.

"Dick, my name is Anne Walker and I'm a CPS physiologist. I was also tasked with making sure you understand the situation your in. You have no-surviving relatives, which means you have been placed in protective custody. If the doctor clears you today, you will either stay at me and my sister's house, which is a legal protective custody estate, or you could go to a foster home until you are adopted. The choice is entirely up to you."

"I-I don't understand."

Anne tried to explain it as best she could, but his face was still twisted in confusion.

Oh god. She thought bitterly.

"May I make a recommendation?" She massaged her wrist.

"Of-of course Lady Walker."

"Please, again, call me Anne." She sighed. That habit was clearly forced into him over the past five years. "I want you to stay with me. Please."