Before The Truth

Ch 23

The next evening Babs came to visit Dick just like she promised. She walked into Dick's room with a stack of board games to find Dick's sleeping form slouched against a wall.

"Dick. Wake up." Babs said while gently shaking Dick's shoulder.

"5 more minutes." Dick said with a groan.

At the sound of Babs' laughter Dick cracked one eye open and put on a fake pouting face. "Babs."
He whined.

"Come on, sleepy head. Time to get up." Babs said while trying to stifle a laugh at Dick's antics. "What were you doing on the floor anyways?"

A blush crept across Dick's cheeks and he looked down bashfully. "Well, since I missed your birthday... I was finishing this." Dick said, grabbing a small brightly colored box out from under his bed.

A blush found its way onto Babs' face as she took the box and opened it carefully. Inside was a miniature painting of her and Dick together. It was almost photorealistic, and it took Babs' breath away. "Dick... it's amazing." She breathed. "Did you paint this?"

"Uh ya." Dick said, still looking bashful.

Babs suddenly launched forward and wrapped Dick in a hug. "Thank you." She whispered.

Gesturing to the stack of games she had brought into Dick's room, Babs asked Dick which game he would like to play first.

Dick chose monopoly, and Tim, who had followed Babs upstairs when he saw all of the games, joined in as well.

Everything was going well until about ½ way through the game. Dick could tell by the throbbing pain in his leg and the fiery stab that accompanied every breath that his pain medicine had worn off.

Dick's pain medicine tended to dull his senses and make him a little loopy. Not wanting to make Babs deal with him while he was like that, Dick swallowed his pain and stretched out his throbbing leg in front of him on the ground.

Not long after this, Dick landed on an unowned property and decided to purchase it. It was the last remaining green property, and Tim just so happened to own both of the others.

Tim wasn't usually one to react violently, especially over just a game, but the last few weeks had been an emotional roller coaster for everyone in the bat family. Tim wasn't an exception to this, in fact he had been stuck in the middle of it all. This one last thing caused Tim to break. He finally lost control and his calm demeanor came crashing down.

When Dick bought the last green property Tim jumped to his feet and sobbed, "I needed that property!" Through Tim's tear filled vision he lashed out, kicking first at Dick and then at the board.

He managed to kick Dick directly in the ribs, as well as on his outstretched knee. Dick fell to his side and curled in on himself, crying out in pain.

When Tim realized what he had done he immediately stopped his rampage on the monopoly board and quickly ran to his room and hid under his bed. He'd been on the receiving end of the batglare before, and he didn't want to face it again.

Dick lay writhing on the ground and Babs raced down the stairs to find Bruce.

When she found Bruce instead of explaining she simply grabbed his arm and raced back to Dick's room with him in tow.

Bruce gently scooped up his son and placed him lightly on his bed. Dick lay there moaning, with his arms wrapped around his torso.

After putting Dick on his bed Bruce raced down to the kitchen where all of Dick's medications were being kept. He returned with a syringe which he inserted into Dick's arm.