Before The Truth

Ch 4

Dick didn't wake up until the next afternoon. When he finally woke up he groaned in pain. His leg was throbbing, and his ribs felt even worse than they had yesterday.

Dick knew he should get up and do something, at least take some pain medicine, but he couldn't bring himself to sit up, knowing that it would multiply the pain in his side. Screwing his eyes shut and preparing for the pain that he knew movement was going to bring, Dick slowly moved his legs down onto the floor. The throbbing pain in his leg grew worse once his legs were no longer elevated.

Now that he was one step closer to being in a sitting position Dick stopped to take some calming breaths. He made sure not to breathe too deeply, knowing that this would cause him even more pain.

After a few seconds to get used to the throbbing of his leg Dick slowly began to move his upper body into an upright sitting position. His side was burning, and tears started to fill Dick's eyes. He grabbed onto the couch, using it to haul himself up.

When he was finally sitting up Dick wiped his eyes, clearing the tears that had been gathering there. He then proceeded to rest for a few minutes, until the pain in his ribs had gone back to more of a stabbing pain, as opposed to a "being torn apart by rabid wolves" pain.

After his moment of rest Dick sat pondering the question of how he was going to get up in the first place. He had no idea how he was going to get off of the couch, let alone walk all the way to the bathroom to get a pain reliever.

It was at this moment that a memory surfaced in his mind. It was a memory he had almost forgotten, one that he had pushed to the back of his mind, labeling it as unimportant. This memory was from when he had been Robin, before he had even conceived of the idea of Nightwing. It was from when things had been easy, before his relationship with Bruce had become strained.

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"Hey Dick are you up?" Bruce gently called from the doorway to Dick's room.

"Y-yeah." Dick sniffled and buried his head in his blanket to hide the fact that he had been crying. He was sitting up in the corner of his bed. He had been crying because of the pain in his hip. During the previous night of crime fighting he had been shot by a robber while Batman had been trying to stop the man.

Luckily the bullet hadn't cracked any of his bones or punctured any organs, but that fact didn't make it hurt any less.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Bruce asked as he sat down on the edge of Dick's bed.

Dick only whimpered in response and burrowed his head farther into the blankets. He didn't want Bruce to think that he was weak, that he couldn't handle the risks that come with being a superhero. He had to hide the tears that just kept coming... At least that's what he thought, until Bruce reached over and wrapped him in a warm, gentle hug.

Dick brought his face out of the blankets and laid his head on Bruce's shoulder. Bruce rubbed small circles on his back as he cried for what felt like hours.

Bruce only released the hug when Dick's sobs turned into shaky breaths which eventually evened out.

"It hurts." Dick whispered, looking down into his lap.

"I'm so sorry." Bruce replied.

Dick looked up at Bruce in surprise when he said this. "It's not your fault." He blurted out.

"Yes, it is. I should have protected you better. Or even took down the robber faster, but I didn't, and now you are having to pay for my mistake." Bruce looked absolutely miserable as he said this.

"It was my choice to come, I don't blame you at all." Dick said as he leaned forward and wrapped Bruce in another hug.

Bruce seemed to relax when he heard this and he returned Dicks hug.